Office Ladies - Secretary's Day with Ellie Kemper

Episode Date: July 13, 2022

This week we’re breaking down “Secretary’s Day” and the ladies chat with the wonderful Ellie Kemper (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Bridesmaids) who played Kelly Erin Hannon! It’s Secretary’s Day and Andy convinces Michael to take Erin out to lunch to celebrate her being the office receptionist. Michael begrudgingly does so while also letting slip out to Erin that Andy was previously engaged to Angela Martin. Ellie Kemper shares what it was like to become a regular cast member and shows the ladies an iconic poster she took from the set. Then the ladies break down the episode which includes sharing a special deal “The Office” made with “Sesame Street” to use Cookie Monster and pointing out a pair of earrings that two characters each wore in different episodes! Aaron Schur also sends in clips on what it was like to play the waiter that gets Michael too many pickles. This is a jam packed episode, so enjoy!

I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together and we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're The Office, ladies. Hello, everybody. Hi there.

We are back from our vacations and so excited to be back. So excited. The irony is that we recorded this before our vacations. So we have not actually vacationed yet, but in terms of it being released and your feed, here we are. Back from vacation. Yes. I don't know why that tickles me.

We're time traveling right now. We are. In truth, we are recording on a Saturday because I got food poisoning last week. Yeah. But everyone came in. Hi, guys. Hi. Happy Saturday, everyone.

Happy Saturday to you as well. Today we are talking about Secretary's Day. It is season six, episode 22, written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Steve Carell. So exciting. That's a great duo. Would you like a summary? More than anything. All right.

Here it is. Andy tries to make Secretary's Day special for Erin. He encourages Michael to take Erin to lunch. Doing which, Michael accidentally reveals Andy's past engagement to Angela, something Erin did not know about. Meanwhile, a spoof video circulates likening Kevin to Cookie Monster, which Gabe finds offensive and he flexes his authority to squash it. I love that you called it a spoof video.

What would it be? Maybe like a parody video? Are they not the same? I think they are. I think they are. Maybe. It's just funny to me. Spoof video sounds funny to me.

Well I want to tell you all we do not have fast facts today. None. No fast facts. You want to know why? Why? I'll tell you. What is it? Ellie Kimber is our fast fact.

That's right. Yes, you guys. We spoke to Ellie earlier in the week. While Angela had food poisoning, by the way, you'll hear it in her voice. Ellie knew right away. Here's the thing. We had to do it over Zoom because I was, I had to be by a bathroom. Sorry, TMI.

And Ellie looked at me right away. I hadn't even said a word and she goes, are you okay? Yeah. But you guys, we were so excited to talk to Ellie and I didn't want to miss it. So here is our interview with Ellie. She's the best. Hi, Ellie. Hello, Ellie.

Hi, Jenna and Angela. How are you? Good. Welcome to Office Ladies. Welcome, welcome. Hello. I am so happy. To be here, I am a huge fan of your show, I'm a huge fan of the two of you and it is

always delightful chatting with you. So thank you for having me. Ellie, you are a ray of sunshine that I can really use right now as Jenna knows. I have a little bit of food poisoning and I am, you're my first thing back from food poisoning. Okay. Congratulations. I hope I don't send you back, back into illness.

But I'm sorry that you're, I hope that you are feeling better, Angela. You are a trooper. I know you're not, you're not asking for compliments, but I'm here to tell you you're a trooper. So I'm glad that you're feeling a little better. I'll take them today. I'll take it. Well, Ellie, we always start our interviews with asking each person how they got their

job on the office. I got my job on the office in sort of a roundabout way. I met with Greg Daniels and Mike Schur, like, you know, at the beginning of 2008, maybe when they were developing Parks and Recreation. And I believe, although I was never explicitly told that I was auditioning for Parks and Recreation, like there was an untitled script that I read from in a room with Greg and Allison Jones. Nothing ever came of it. The characters didn't have any names that matched the ones on what was to become Parks

and Recreation. I really don't know what I was doing in that room with them, but that's how I met them. Then later that, you know, like a few months later, there was an audition when Pam went to go work at the Michael Scott paper company. There was an opening for a temporary secretary. And so since I had already met some of those, you know, big guys from the office, it was two guys. That's why I said big guys.

I was, I guess, on their, in their world, in their orbit. So I came in to read for that part, I read with Ed Helms. And then I got the call, you know, the next week that I had booked the part. So that's how I got on the office, you guys. Wow. That is so wow. You know what though? I remember like showrunners would do that if they had a project, they didn't want it

leaked out in any way. You would go in sometimes and read and not really know much about what you were reading for. Right. And that's kind of how you met Greg. You were, I'm sure that was Parks and Rec. You know, it sounds like it. It had to have been, I don't know what part it was, like I never, they wanted to keep

everything a little tight-lipped. But, but yeah, I mean, you guys, it goes without saying. So that was, that was the end of season five, I think that I came on. I was such a fan of the office. So it's like, I mean, I watched it with my family. I watched it, you know, by myself. It was surreal actually meeting you guys for the first time because I was so familiar with the show and felt like I already knew you.

You played it so cool. Oh, Ellie. I know. I would have never known. You were super like, Hey, what's up? You weren't, you didn't go crazy. Oh, well, that is my finest performance because I was like, my heart inside was just like beating a million miles a minute with a sitcom.

They're in your living room every week. You feel like you know them. I'm sure this happens to you all the time where people feel like they know you very well, even though you've never met them. And so I felt like I knew all of you and yet you had never seen my face before. So it's a surreal experience of suddenly working alongside these people who you sort of consider to be your friends, but also icons. And so it was all of that at once and it was, it was a lot.

So I'm really glad you thought I played it cool because I didn't feel cool. Now originally it was just supposed to be a few episodes, right? And then Pam was going to come back from Michael Scott paper company. And I remembered discussions about whether or not Pam would return to the receptionist desk or do something else. And I had sat down with Greg and he asked me my opinion. He said, what do you think Pam would want? And I said, well, I don't know after art school and this big move with Michael, I feel like

it might be a little depressing if she's just back at reception again. I would love some movement for this woman. And he agreed and he said, all right, I think we're going to make Pam part of the sales team and we're going to move her to the desk clump with Dwight and Jim. And then that kind of opened the door for we need someone to sit at reception. And Ellie, you were so beloved by everyone. I mean, listen, there is a chance that Greg was making me feel like I had a part of that decision.

But the real story was, listen, we're not letting Ellie Kemper go. So we're going to make you feel good by telling you Pam to move to sales. But OK, because everyone was so excited for you to come on in a more permanent position. What was that part like for your end? OK, Jenna, first of all, I have to say first and foremost, thank you for your input that Pam should be promoted to salesperson because you gave me in real life a job with a paycheck on one of the most iconic shows in television history. So thank you.

I did not give you gave yourself a job by kicking ass in that role. That's right. You won that job. You won the over in the room, Ellie. You really did. And then you showed up and you crushed it. So you're the reason you were there 100 percent. Yeah.

Everyone is I just more. I need you. I need to listen to you when I wake up every morning, like you need to be in my bathroom me or say, God, you can do it. You can do it. So thank you for those very, very encouraging words. What was that moment when they called you and they said, we're going to make this character a regular character?

That was insane. Oh, yes. I think the arc was at first four episodes and maybe six. But then it, you know, Aaron stayed for the rest of the season and then it wasn't until June. So the show had stopped. I guess the show and that season ended in May. And in June is when they called my agents and then my agents called me to say that we

want to offer her a, you know, a regular spot on the show. And that that is like you have won the lottery, of course, because and which I do feel that I did because not only creatively is the show just so spectacular, but I just felt so lucky to be working with normal people who didn't have, there were no egos. There was, I mean, you were there longer than I was, but I, there was no like fighting or like drama. It felt like a very, very nice group of people to work with and it was. So I felt again, like, okay, this is, wow, this is my big break.

And so that, that was an exhilarating moment when I got that call. Our writer, Jean told us that for your first episode, and this is so crazy, Ellie, that you were asked to perform the role of Aaron two ways in every scene because they were still trying to figure out exactly what they needed from your character. And so the one way we know her as right is just so adorable and she just desperately wants Michael to love her and like her and it's so cute. But I guess the other way was like a sarcastic version. Do you remember this?

I do remember that and I'm glad you brought that up because I do remember that specific direction, which was we haven't really figured this character out yet. And so there were, I don't know if it was every take, but there were moments where it was, okay, they were just sort of, you know, I think adjusting and like modulating the character in terms of what she would be. And so there were a lot of takes where it was just more straightforward and a little bit, you know, I guess, I don't want to say cynical, but just a little bit more serious, I think, but that's not the direction Aaron ended up going.

But that's very interesting to be there, you know, at the introduction of a new character as and to see like how, you know, the writers and director and actors sort of figured out this new person in the office. Do you remember when they told you, okay, we figured it out. We've picked an Aaron. Yeah, no, I think it was more, I think it was more gradual and honestly, it's like, I don't know if it was just from talking with them in real life because I do, I did you guys ever experience this where you'd be like talking with a right with Midi or BJ at the

crafty and then all of a sudden you're like, wait a second, it's not exactly something you said, but something sort of related to what you said made its way into a script. I'm not taking credit for writing. I'm just saying that I think certain parts of my personality may have been incorporated into the aspects of Aaron. We're here to like, um, Oh, Emily, we talk about this all the time. We totally say that one of the things we became aware of is having writers on the set, which

is pretty unique and having them as cast members, that they were sort of always paying attention and little moments of our real lives or things would end up in scripts very subtly, but they'd be there. Right, right. And so, so then I'm like, oh, to be fly on the wall, that writer's room, like, what are they picking up? But also like checking what I say, I think I learned the lesson, not that it's a lesson, but I think I picked up on that too late where I was like, Oh, right, they're, they're everything's

material or everything's copy, whatever that quote is, but anyway, yeah. And I love, love how different her relationship with Michael is than Pam's relationship. And I thought that was really important. She brought out this whole other side of him and I, I loved it. I always thought of it as a father-daughter relationship and, you know, Aaron didn't have a dad, a stable father, paternal figure growing up and, you know, Michael, they have quirks that are similar, I think, and so they mesh, but yeah, Pam, like, I don't know if it's a wisdom or just like a, a ability to perceive that's a little sharper than Aaron's,

but that was not the relationship you had with Michael. I mean, Pam had with Michael. I think maybe Pam had a kind of mother-son relationship with Michael. Pam was a bit of like a surrogate caretaker. Yeah. More of a nurturer, try to steer him, steer him exactly that's exactly what I was looking for. Yep.

That's exactly right. Um, well, I love your romance with Andy. I have been really enjoying that part of this rewatch and I feel like that was one of the first things that really brought your character more to the forefront. And now here, secretary's day, big A story, I mean, what was that like, Andrew and I know what it's like to have a little bit more of a supporting role on the show. And then all of a sudden you get thrust into one of these big storylines and you suddenly have all these scenes with Steve Carell, who is also directing like it was, that was crazy.

And I didn't have any warning or anything like it wasn't until sitting down at the table read, right? What? Yes. You just, you sat down at the table read, opened your script and you're reading it cold and you're like, oh my gosh, or maybe you read it in your trailer 30 minutes before, but still, that is my experience of like every script we got. Like that's how I found out.

Right. Angela was going to hook up with Dwight. Right. What? Right. 30 minutes. I mean, because Mindy broke that episode, as we all know, and maybe there had been, maybe she had been saying, I can't remember.

I remember that having a discussion with her where she was like, oh, it'd be, it'd be fun. I can't remember if it was about secretary's day, but it was something she was writing and she had some idea for Aaron. So maybe there was an inkling of that, but certainly not the A story, which is such a thrill. And like you said, it was probably 30 minutes before the table read in your trailer and you're like, oh my gosh, and then, and then like, and, and like very seriously for Aaron, who did have, you know, a very supportive role, that's to say, like a few lines every episode

that suddenly you're saying all these things and you're into all these important scenes and it feels, it felt really, really cool. And not that there was anyone who wasn't, you know, great writer or director on the show, but I really loved that Mindy had written it and that Steve was going to direct it because like, you know, it's, he's, he, he, he's so beloved. And then to know that he was going to be directing this episode, it just all felt very special to me. Yeah.

And you and Mindy were, you know, you guys were friends on set, you would hang out and so all of a sudden she's there too. And that must have been a great feeling that you had two people that you knew and trusted and worked with a lot up until this point. That's exactly right. So it felt very, I like, I used the word safe and felt just like there was a lot of security there because I did know both of them. I loved your driving scenes.

I loved that Erin looked up conversation topics and she was just going to throw them all out, everything she had. And there's even more in the deleted scenes, you know, I'm going to share them in the episode, but you look like you were having a lot of fun. Lady, that was like, again, it feels like something that you offer as a prize at an auction. You're like, oh, you can, I mean, I know that I do this professionally, but it's still felt like, you know, something that, oh, you get to, so the prize is you get to ride in

a car with Steve Porral. You're acting. He's also directing it. And then you get to say these like really crazy absurd and funny things to him and like, you know, and there were just, as I recall, there were a lot of just like, you know, alts and, you know, and just we kept doing those in the restaurant and in the car and like, I think there had been one driving scene with Michael Scott before that on for Scott's Tots.

And that was, I think that was the other time I had been driving with him, but yeah, they're such a funny pair. It's fun to see those two characters together. There were a few moments where Steve is Michael just as exasperated on how to connect with Aaron. And it's, it's like so painful for him. And it was so funny to watch him do those scenes because we don't really see Michael like that.

It's constantly once everyone else's attention and approval. So to see him not wanting someone's attention is really funny. It's so, it's like, I was seeing the exact same thing. I just rewatched it and seeing him be exasperated. You never see that. He's always the one exasperating others. And so for him to be out, you know, annoyed, and I'm not sure that's the right word, but is really rare and hilarious.

Ellie, we got this fan question. It's not even really a question. Part of a comment, Reagan H. from Boston, Massachusetts wrote in to say, shout out to Ellie Kemper for this episode, because every single line that she delivers in the restaurant scene is Emmy worthy, Emmy worthy. She loves your performance. I have to agree. I agree.

Excuse me again, bring Reagan into the bathroom mirror. I don't know how I'm going to set this up guys. I want to look in the bathroom mirror and have your faces coming out and saying encouraging things to me. I think you're on to like some kind of app. I think I am. I think you are too. I think you should sell this.

It's going to be something that projects up there and they're just holograms coming. I'm working on it. I'm working on it. That's incredible. Those lines were written by Mindy and it's easy to deliver lines that, as we all know, that are written so brilliantly. And they were just like, I think there were a couple of times when Steve was like, okay, and then, you know, because we all know there was room for improv.

I found that to be so scary, like doing a run or whatever, because I think there's so much pressure on, and there were, there were a few. I don't think any made it into the show, but I remember, I was like, I don't want to have, I don't want to do that during the table scene, but it's like, it's like the, it was such an opportunity for Aaron. And then it was just like every line that was written was, was so pitch perfect. So, so thanks for sharing that, Jenna, but half of the work was, you know, in the, in the writing.

Well, my other favorite scene is in the conference room after you throw cake and Andy's face, and it hits him with like a flap. Like it is such a, I couldn't have hit him better. Like, his eyes are completely covered. Terrific aim. Thank you. Thank you.

Really well done. But then you have this breakdown. I just, and the emotion underneath it, and what's so great about it is just how you really grounded it in some real emotion and real hurt. It was never just like sort of like an over the top comedic take on it. It was, it was so, oh, it just really broke my heart for your character. I love that scene. Yeah.

Well, thank you for saying that I, I remember, I, I do have vivid memories of that day and episode because it is the first time Aaron really has an emotional moments and a full on, like you said, breakdown. And I was very nervous about that because not only from an acting point of view, which was just, okay, you need to find these feelings in there and need to dig deep on this day. But also I was really intimidated to do it in front of all of you guys. Because I did, again, there's always that element of like, I joined halfway and like everyone is, I just did not want to derail any train.

So I was like, okay, this is going to be, you know, the first time doing this in front of this group of people, something more serious. And so I just was very, very anxious that day. But I do remember making the target of his face and feeling like, okay, good, we're not going to have to clean up the cake and do it again. That would have been, I would have been stressed about that. Did you only hit him with cake one time? I feel like yes.

I want to say yes. Amazing. I don't want to brag and I don't want to rewrite history. That may not have been the case, but I just remember feeling happy that it didn't go on the wall. Like there wasn't a massive cleanup and I remember there wasn't. When I watched that scene, everyone's reaction seems so genuine that I feel like it was the first take because we're all like, oh, I feel like there's two things happening.

One, as actors were reacting to this moment, but then as just humans were like, Ellie nailed him. I agree with Angela. That is definitely our real reaction to the cake hitting his face in that scene. And I could not have faked that reaction. That was your phenomenal actions. You could have, you could have rewatched the scene for the reactions. It's just us.

I'm going to rewatch. I was going to say, I was so excited because Angela and Aaron got to have a scene together, which rarely happened. I know. And I mean, at front reception, sitting over there in these hushed tones and I remember that we had that scene, but Ellie, I had forgotten the dialogue, you know, like I knew I was basically saying to you, don't, you don't need to be worried, right? And then when I watched it and I was like, you're throwing up for the wrong reasons.

And our dialogue was so ridiculous, but the sentiment was so real and that's exactly right. And then to see that Toby had been there the whole time, it's just like, it's so funny. And it's also, and in my memory of it before rewatching it, I, I thought it was longer and had more substance like that though is, is, is inconsequential, but that is like, it was quick and it's mostly about throw up. Yeah. So it's like, yeah, so, so it's like, I thought for some reason it was more of a heart to

heart, but it wasn't. No. And that's really a funny lie. Throwing up for the wrong reason. Yeah. Well, Pam tries to have a heart to heart with Aaron and it was really good. I thought what Pam said was so good. And I thought, oh, maybe this is sinking in.

I thought so too. No. Well, Ellie, another question we always ask our guests is if they took anything from set when the show was over. Yeah. What'd you take? I took something that I feel confident I was not supposed to take. It's in my closet.

So I'm not going to show. Okay. It's, I don't, I mean, not that anyone could see it, but you'll know immediately where I'm trying to out. It's in Michael Scott's office. It's music is the friendship of life. Wow. Friendship is the music of life is that bulletin board, you guys, with all of the photos in

a music night. Stop it. Yeah. I have that. Oh my gosh. You got to hold it up. You got to hold it up. That is so amazing.

That is so cool. I mean, how did I get this? Did you just grab it off the wall and like leave after we wrapped? I must have. And how cool is it? It's got all the pictures of the cast and everything. Ellie, did you take anything else? I took Aaron's.

It was like a ski. I really hope this wasn't Pam's. The ski boot. The ski boot. The ski boot. We loved it. You took the ski boot. Yes.

Okay. Good. I took it, but you're going to be there. That was Aaron's. That wasn't Pam's. That was never on Pam's desk. Yes. We noted that.

Oh, there was also a little bear. Yeah. And we were like, is Aaron a ski enthusiast and we didn't know it? I never. Was that question ever answered? No. I don't think it was ever brought up. We're going to continue to rewatch and we were curious if you ever were revealed as

a skier. I don't. I want to say no, but I mean, maybe we'll, you know, uncover something that none of us remembers. I'm glad we all have a little piece of the show is such a big part of our lives. Well, let's see. Is there anything else? Like Ellie, is there any sort of favorite memory you have from this episode or anything

that you wanted to share behind the scenes moment or anything like that? I was just going to say my favorite part of this episode is the end. I felt like that when Michael is trying to cheer Aaron up on the bench outside and it's a really, really tender moment. I thought where it is this dad saying like, you can do better. And I mean, I've had those moments in real life where my dad is, you know, like I'm getting over a breakup or whatever. And my dad who's, you know, not normally emotional like that would try to help me feel better.

And that's what this felt like with Michael and Aaron. And it was just a great moment because, you know, we were shooting it and it was a scene between the two of us and it just felt like Steve Carell is also saying it's going to be okay. It felt like a part of the cast in real life. And it felt like I'm in the fabric of the show now and it just felt very special. So to be able to do that, of course, is something that I'll remember forever. And it was, I just, I remember that as being my favorite moment from that episode to answer

the question. I love that. You know, what's such a sweet way to end the episode? I know. Yeah. I love those moments when Michael gets the opportunity to rise to the occasion and, and he does. I know.

And that was one of those moments. Yep. I, I loved that scene between the two of you. I loved it. And I remember talking to Greg at the end of the series and, and just talking about the show as a whole. And the thing is that like, it's such a funny, funny show. Like that's why I started watching it with my family.

Like it's, it's immediately relatable and really funny show, but it's so rare because it has such a heart, you know, at the center, but I know it's all been said before, but it really does. And in a way that's so different from shows, both then and now, which like, you know, makes it, I think stand apart. And I'm saying this as a fan, like before being on the show, I just, whether I consciously noticed that or not, it had to resonate in some way. So yeah, that's, that's my, that's my take on it.

Ellie, what are you up to now? Can you share about what you're up to? The last thing I worked on was a movie for Netflix, which is a date TBD is called happiness for beginners. And it's honestly about a woman who finds love. So talk about heart. There you got it. But it's a hiking movie.

It's based on a book by the same name, happiness for beginners. And we'll wait and see when it is released, but they haven't, they haven't named a release date yet. So that's mostly what I'm working on and figuring out what's going to be next. So that's, that's it from these parts. Well we will let people know when that movie comes out. Thank you, Jen and Angela. Thank you so much for coming on the show today, Ellie.

Ladies. You're so fun. Yes. You guys, this has been, I was looking forward to this on so many levels. It was such a pleasure chatting with you, but I really wanted, I mean, obviously congratulate you on your book, which is like number one. Like congratulations. That's huge.

Thank you. So I mean, you make it look easy. So hats off. I mean, that's really incredible. But thank you very much for having me, you guys. I, I, I adore you. So I was very much looking forward to this. You made my day, Ellie.

You made my day. Oh, Angela. You brought me back. I mean, listen. Angela. True her. That's a lot. Oh my Lord.

Thank you so much, Ellie. My Lord, my Lanta. Isn't that what they used to say? My Lord, my Lanta. Give me some my Lanta. Love you so much. Thank you ladies. I hope we'll see you soon again in person.

I hope we see. I hope I get to see you soon in person too. Well, we are back. That was delightful. I love her. Love her. Jenna, let's get into this episode. Let's do it.

I have some stuff about the cold open. I do as well. Who's going first? You go first. Oh, okay. Well, maybe we should describe the cold open. Nah. Skip it.

You describe it. All right. Everybody is gathered around Oscar's desk. Whenever the writers wanted us to watch something at someone's desk, it was always Oscar's desk. Facts. And what they are watching is a Cookie Monster video, but Cookie Monster has Kevin's voice. Yes.

So, per Randy Cordray, this was actually scene number 15 in the shooting draft. It was not the cold open, but in editing, they did some rearranging. Well, I went to the shooting draft, Jenna. And guess what was the cold open in the shooting draft? What? I mean, I love that I'm saying guess because you're going to be like, I have no idea. You can tell I'm feeling better because everything tickles me. Everything is like wonderful.

Every little thing about life is making you happy. Yes, it is. Yes. Okay. Here's what the cold open was. Interior conference room morning. Toby is running a meeting. He is energized and excited in a way we've not seen.

He holds up a small booklet. Toby says, a citizen's guide to Radon. This book could save your life. Yes. Toby's obsession with Radon. Yes. That was the original cold open. It will eventually end up in the episode, The Chump.

But the one we went with as Jenna shared was when Oscar dubs Kevin's voice. Jenna, there were many, many alts for this scene. First of all, it started with an Oscar talking head that did not make it to air. This was the Oscar talking head, Oscar. I was listening to a message Kevin left me and I thought for a second it was Cookie Monster. So I edited this together at home. And then that would have led in to the scene with everyone gathered around his computer. Oh, okay.

I know. Fascinating. I think it is. Oh Lord. Here were some of the alts they gave to Brian. Oh my gosh, Jenna. Oscar, I'm going to be late today. I'm stuck in a drive-through behind a bus.

Bye. Hey Oscar, I'm at the dentist. Turns out I have a cavity. Can you save me some cake? Bye. Oscar, I'm pushing the volume on my phone. Do I sound louder? Oscar, do my hands feel sweaty to you?

Wow. Those were all in the shooting draft. That means Brian, as Kevin, read all of those. Yeah. So I wonder how they decided which one was going to win. I bet they just dubbed them all and then sat around and watched them and decided. Well, the two that made it in did crack me up. The first one is Oscar.

Toby said he loved my Girl Scout cookies on my chair. Have you seen them? Wait, I'm sitting on them. Bye. And then the second one is Oscar. What's the difference between a chimichanga, a chalupa, and a tostada? Call me back ASAP. Amazing.

It's funny. All of that is happening in the scene. But the thing I wrote down in my document is this. I need to talk about Ryan's outfit. I know. That's what I wrote down. He has on an untied bow tie. Here's the crazy thing.

I found an interview that Mindy Kaling did for OfficeTelly.com right after this episode aired and she talked about the untied bow tie. Oh, mom detective. Do it. I felt so validated. Do it, mom detective. Do it. She said, quote, I take a lot of pride in the choice of Ryan's undone bow tie, which is the infuriating style of some hipsters and hipster musicians. It has such annoying connotations of I partied so hard.

I am this unkempt or I don't even care what anyone thinks of me. I am an iconic last, both of which are perfect for the smug Ryan. Because by the way, it was in the script that he's wearing an untied bow tie. Like this was a Mindy Kaling detail. And I totally noticed it, Mindy. I want to know where Mindy was when she saw someone that looked like that and she was instantly like ticked off. Like, how dare you? Yeah, she was like, Ryan.

Well, Randy Cordray told me that getting permission to use the Sesame Street characters was not easy. It was a very long process. I remember this, Jenna. I remember there was like Scuttlebutt like, what if we can't get it? They're like being kind of sticklers. He said that it started off really easy and Mindy confirmed this as well, that they had a conference call with the Children's Television Network, which is now called Sesame Street Workshop, asking if they could use Cookie Monster.

And they had kind of shown them the outline of the script and they were like, yes, you can. But Randy said it was with the caveat that we had to show them the final cut for final approval. But they said, go ahead and shoot it. We think it's going to be okay. Well, I guess after we shot it and showed it to them, they said no. Yeah, that's what I remember. So they set up another conference call with Greg Daniels, Paul Lieberstein, Steve Carell and Randy Cordray with the senior executives at the New York headquarters of Sesame Workshop. Uh-oh.

Greg and Paul said, listen, this parody is really innocent. We are not making fun of Cookie Monster. We're making fun of Kevin's voice. So Randy was on the call. He said he could feel the executives softening to the idea. They're coming around, not quite there yet, until... Dun, dun, dun. Steve Carell volunteered to appear on Sesame Street in the scene of their choosing. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. He said he would be in New York City soon and he would do a cameo. Steve knows how to work it.

And they were like, yes, I found his cameo. You did? So we can play it. Oh, cute. Yes. Hi, I'm Steve. And I'm Abby and Elmo's Elmo. And we're here to tell you all about the word vote.

Yes, vote. Yes. Let's tell them what vote means. Well, the word vote means to make a choice between two or more things. And right now, we are going to show a vote. What is Elmo going to vote about, Mrs. Steve? Well, we're going to vote to decide what we're going to have for snack time. This is exciting. Elmo can't wait to vote.

That's adorable. It was so cute. I watched the whole thing. So they're going to vote on whether to have cheese or peanut butter and jelly as a snack. Okay. Very dramatically, there is a late breaking third candidate for snack and it's pizza. Oh, no. And pizza runs away with it. Pizza wins.

But it's really cute. But that is why we were able to use Cookie Monster and the Count in our episode because of Steve. Well, that is stinkin' cute. I love that Elmo calls him Mrs. Steve. I know. Kevin is very upset by all of this. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't know if anyone else has tickled. Dwight says, send me a link to that. And everyone's like, yeah, send me a link. Send me a link. Kevin appeals to Angela, who is beside herself happy. She says, this is my favorite day. And we got a fan question about it from Selena R. in Long Island, New York. In these later episodes, it seems like Angela becomes more emotional and humanized.

Do you agree? If so, Angela, how did you interpret this? Now as a viewer and as an actor. In this episode, especially, I felt like I saw so much growth in her character. I couldn't imagine Angela doing some of these scenes in the earlier episodes. Selena, I love this question because as a performer, my backstory for showing more emotion as Angela as the years went on is that she was very guarded in the beginning around the camera crew.

She is a distrusting person. She doesn't like strangers. This would have been very awkward for her to have these people there every day. I'm sure was very reluctant to participate. And so as the years grew and she became more comfortable, she just let her guard down a little bit more and showed more of her emotions. Right. So it's not like Angela is changing.

It's just she's changing how much of herself she's revealing to this crew. Exactly. It's so funny because we never really talked about it. It just kind of happened. Yeah. Naturally. Yeah. For all the characters.

Thank you for that question. I thought that was great. Andy has a very exuberant talking head. He's super excited. It's secretary's day. He's made a banner. He's decorated. He said he's so excited for everyone to celebrate Aaron.

He really wanted everyone to know to celebrate her. I don't know what he did. He sent an email blast, a text blast, a good old fashioned talk blast and a snail mail blast. Yeah. Also in his talking head, he says if it weren't for secretaries, he wouldn't have a step mom. Again with Andy sharing random stuff from his past. We got a fan question slash catch from Anne O in Norway. Hi, Anne.

Andy says he has a step mom, but later his parents are still married. What's going on? Welcome, Anne. Welcome to the mystery of Andy's backstory. It's true. I had to say Anne's catch because I think we were all thinking it. Yeah. Well, another thing's happening today.

Pam is back. She's back from her maternity leave. She is going to put a photo on her desk of Cece at two minutes. That was a photo of my real niece, Cece. Oh, cute. She's also going to notice that her plant died. Jim said he didn't even know it existed. That made me laugh.

Because I feel like my husband would do that. I have all of these plants. Whenever I travel for work, I'm like, okay, two things. Change out my hummingbird feeders and my plants. Yeah. I always am not sure what I'm going to get when I come home. Well, Dwight said he chose to let it die. Welcome back, Pam.

Fan question from Caitlyn C in Iowa. Is this proof that Pam was buying all the plants for the front desk? Oh, I like to think that. I do too. Well, there was more to the scene. At 25 seconds, what would have happened, it was a deleted scene, is that Pam would find a very old box of cupcakes. That was a gift, like a baby gift, that was left on her desk for weeks.

It was covered in fruit flies, and she had one of her drawers that was full of maggots. My gosh. Mm-hmm. Pam's dialogue would have been, ugh, who left cupcakes on my desk for six weeks? My drawer is filled with maggots, to which Dwight jumps up, runs over to the drawer, protectively, and says, those are mine. I was breeding maggots for personal use. I have nothing to do with the fruit flies, though.

Did we shoot that? Yes. I have no memory of that. It's in deleted scenes. That's crazy to me. Crazy. But this is what was happening on Pam's desk while she was away. Her plants were dying.

There were fruit flies and maggots in her drawer. Randy did share, for this deleted scene, we use Bob Dunn's animal rentals for flies and maggots. Trainers were Megan Frazier and Kevin Kinzer. So now, Andy is really going to do everything he can to have Erin have this great secretary's day. And that starts with going to Michael and asking Michael, what do you have planned? What are you going to do for her? And Michael says, he's going to give her $15, to which Andy says, I think maybe step it up. Like, why don't you take her to lunch?

Oh, Michael does not want to spend a lunch with Erin. Oh, no. It's like Andy said, I think you should get a root canal. It's so true. Michael's expression. Well, this scene was bigger and it explained the whole $15 thing. Yeah, that was a very specific amount of money. Well, it's in deleted scenes.

Michael explains the $15 and it leads into a Pam talking head. I think we should hear it. I was just wondering what you had planned for secretary's day. Oh, I'm going to give Erin $15. Wow. Why? Because that's what I always used to do with Pam. See, Pam decided that she would rather have the cash value of her half of lunch were I to take her out.

So she promises every year to take that money, go to Cooper's and buy herself a Sunday. Yeah. I can't believe that worked. That's pretty great. I know. I loved it. Well, I have a background catch for this scene. You know, earlier at reception, one of the gifts that Erin got for secretary's day was like a little stuffed dog.

Did you notice? Oh, yeah. Well, at two minutes and 33 seconds in the background through the window, I think Erin is like pretending to give her stuffed dog a drink of water. Oh, no way. From a cup. And then it's talking on the phone. She's doing all this business with her little stuffed dog. Well, Andy taped the phone to its head earlier and then she waves the dog's paw at Michael.

Yeah. She really is loving that stuffed animal. Well, on a rewatch, you can watch the stuffed dog show through the window during this scene. I need to see it. Michael is persuaded by Andy and he's going to invite Erin to lunch. He suggests Hayworths and Michael is like, oh, he's not feeling it, but ultimately that's where they go. I could not find a real Hayworths in Scranton. Same.

Looked it up, couldn't find it. I did find a great article on Mental Floss that gives you a Dunder Mifflin tour of Scranton of all the places that actually exist and that you can go. I found that same thing too. And Hayworths is not on the list. Two ladies at Google. Look at us go. Googling the same things. We have a few catches in this scene.

Oh, let's hear it. At three minutes and one second, when Michael is approaching Erin's desk, the front door is closed. Okay. But at three minutes and nine seconds, the front door is open. Continuity catch, folks. Ding, ding, ding. Also, through that door, there is a picture on the wall that I have personally never noticed before. It's some sort of, I don't know what, a mountainy or something.

It's hazy in the background. Did we always have a picture there? Why is this the first time I'm seeing it? I don't know. But here is the major catch from the scene. And this is truly major. And it is, in fact, also a fan mail flurry. It's a fan mail flurry.

Yay! I love my new sting. At three minutes and four seconds, Anna H. from Columbus, Ohio, Rudy D. from Utah, and Amanda H. from Boston, and many more all said, Erin is wearing purple flower earrings in this episode. Are they the same earrings that Pam wore in New York for art school? What? Yes, they are, folks. They recycled Pam's art school earrings and they put them on Erin for secretary's day.

I took a side-by-side screenshot. These are the earrings that Pam was wearing in the hallway in weight loss part two. What a fantastic catch. I'm applauding it. Super well done. I'm going to show you the pic. I want to see the pic. Oh my gosh.

Exactly the same. Yep. What's going to happen next? She's going to wear Meredith's vest? What's happening? Oh my gosh. I would love for Erin to wear Meredith's vest. That would be incredible.

In the kitchen, there's some people enjoying Kevin's Cookie Monster bit. It would be Meredith and Daryl. They have cookies out. They tempt him to have one. So then Daryl can just go, mwah, mwah, mwah, mwah. Yes. Kevin is starting to clue in that maybe they're not making fun of Cookie Monster. Maybe they're making fun of him.

At first, he doesn't want to eat the cookie. He is suspicious. He says, you just brought those cookies so that I'll eat one and you can make fun of me. And Daryl's like, I brought these cookies because it's my birthday. Fan question from Timber Bee in Tennessee. Hold on. It's secretary's day, but it's also Daryl's birthday.

Why didn't the PPC throw him a birthday party? Poor Daryl. No birthday cake for him. He needs a fudgy the whale. I don't think it was his birthday. Same. I think he was just making it up to make Kevin eat the cookie. Kevin is going to go to Gabe.

He's going to show Gabe the video. I think he wants to know, are they making fun of me? Is this appropriate? And Gabe is not having it. Oh, Gabe lights up. He's finally got his cause. Something that will demand respect from the coworkers. His talking had us hilarious to me.

He said that his beginning there has been a little bit of a fiasco. I loved it when he said some of them still think I'm the IT guy. That just cracked me up. I mean, some of them probably creed and merited. Have not paid attention. But the cookie monster thing is Gabe's opportunity. He's really going to show them that he's the authority figure. And this starts a whole storyline.

Well, lady, we got a fan question from KCA in Canada. Am I the only one who thinks everybody is being too mean to Kevin? Maybe I'm just too sensitive and have seen the episode too many times, but rewatching it now, it feels genuinely kind of mean. Thoughts? Casey, I'm glad you wrote in because I also kind of thought like, Gabe is right, he should shut this down. This is like, not cool to do to your coworker.

I'm with you. I'm with you too. I think it went across the line, but I will say this. I imagine everyone in that office hits their breaking point with Kevin. I mean, he did walk up to Pam and pretend to be a baby crying to see if her boobs would produce milk. Yes. So probably there is part of them that just delighted in it for a little bit,

but I think they went too far. Yeah. Well, I totally get why the characters at Dunder Mifflin would delight in this parody video. But at the same time, Casey, I'm with you. Yeah, I see it. Well, Gabe is going to address the bullpen. He's going to tell them that he forbids anyone from discussing

or sharing the parody video, and that is coming from corporate, so they better listen to it. Mm-hmm. It doesn't seem like anyone's going to listen to it. It really doesn't. Well, now we are in the car on the way to Aaron's secretary's day lunch. Michael is driving. He would rather not talk.

He's hoping that he could listen to his audiobook, which is a novelization of the movie Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire. Per Randy Cordray, all of these driving scenes were filmed on Burbank Boulevard near Balboa Park, which was our go-to street. There's no palm trees on the street. I love that it was someone's job to drive around the vicinity of where we shoot, looking for stretches of road with no palm trees.

Like, that was their job. They're like, go find me a street with no palm trees. This was the main one. As I watched the scene, I looked for palm trees. There weren't any. But I did see the mountains in the background. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

I mean, you're not going to find no mountains and no palm trees. I know. We just went with no palm trees. Steve was not actually driving in the scene. The car was being towed behind one of those camera insert cars. And Randy shared that we used lipstick cameras that were suction cupped to the windshield. That's how we shot it. Randy also shared that lipstick cameras were often problematic.

And whenever we could have a camera operator in a vehicle with us, that was preferred. But if you wanted to get people from the front, you had to use these lipstick cameras. But he said we had a special camera technician named Tim Arashbin, I hope I'm saying your last name right, who was an absolute master of these lipstick cameras. And we actually rarely had problems, thanks to Tim. So thank you, Tim. Thank you, Tim. We use those lipstick cameras a lot.

We did. So there's a lot of the scene in the deleted scenes on the DVD. Guess who narrates the book? Oh, I know this. I know this. In the script, they had a suggestion of someone, but that is not who narrated it when we filmed. Okay. I know who they put in the script.

It was David Hyde Pierce. David Hyde Pierce. Exactly. Who ended up doing it? Our editor, Dave Rogers. Oh my gosh, that's perfect. I love it. It was fun to hear his voice.

The other thing I loved about the deleted scenes for this is that Erin has a talking head where she explains how she is coming up with conversation topics. So she has things to talk about. Let's hear it. I really want to impress Michael and I don't want to take any chances. So I went to a website that listed hundreds of interesting conversation starters. And I'll just break them out whenever there's a pause or even maybe if there's not. Because bosses like women who can talk at length on things.

So that would have played before the car scene. And while she's searching on this website for these talking points, all of these advertisements keep popping up, these pop-up ads, and she's having a hard time clicking on her article. It's just a funny background detail. It's at two minutes, 25 seconds. Randy shared with us that all of the motion graphics were created by Henry Sane. Wow. Well, you're going to see a few of these conversation starters coming up in the car.

Erin says, so what decade would you have chosen to be a teenager? And then we're going to get to the restaurant for a very awkward lunch. And Erin is going to hit them with this. Do you have a favorite age or month? Michael does not know what to do with this. She goes on to say, how many pillows do you sleep on at night? Well, you know, in the script. Michael had a response to that that got cut out in editing.

Oh, what'd he say? Michael says, none, just my body pillow. And then he changes the subject to Andy. But that line did not make it in the final cut. But I think that's very funny. I just imagine Michael always sleeping on that little bench at the end of his bed. It's hard to picture him in the actual bed after that scene. I know.

Dinner party. Well, Erin is going to continue to overshare, if you will, at this lunch. She's talking and talking. She can't stop. Yeah, she says she used to work at a Taco Bell Express, but she couldn't hack it when it became a full Taco Bell. It was just too stressful. We had a fan question from Beth W in New York City who loves that line,

wants to know who wrote that amazing joke. Mindy Kaling said that Danny Chun wrote the Taco Bell Express line and it's one of her favorites in the episode. I looked it up, the difference between a Taco Bell Express and a Taco Bell. And I see why it might be more stressful for Erin. Taco Bell Express, if my memory is correct, there's no seating area. No. It is to serve, quote, hungry customers on the go.

It's a grab-and-go. And it also has a smaller menu. It's just the tacos and burritos. And so, yeah, if you went from grab-and-go to a seated restaurant, when I worked in fast food, I have to say, like 50% of it is just cleaning up that dining room. I bet, you know? People are messy.

People are messy. You know, the trash cans say thank you. And I used to say, you know, that's for you, the guest. They're not thanking me, the employees, for throwing your stuff away. They're thanking you. That's why carry your stuff over and throw it out on your way out. Maybe trash cans should have a longer message. Like, thank you for not being a total A-hole and putting your trash where you're supposed to put it.

It's literally on your way out of the restaurant. You have to pass by it anyway. Clean up after yourselves. If you make the mess, clean it up. My gosh, how hard is that? I don't even know where we are now. I do, I do. Okay, so this scene, Jenna was even bigger of Aaron just talking and talking.

There was part of it that just really cracked me up. It's in deleted scenes. It's about what's in her purse. You have to hear it. My foster home, I never had a desk. So it's like, I don't mean that I didn't like my foster home. I did like it. I just didn't have a desk there.

So, sorry. I know, I feel weird. I think I'm nervous and you're looking at me like I'm weird. But my blood sugar is really low. You know, I didn't have my Luna bar this morning. I thought I put my Luna bar in my purse. But it turns out I put my TV remote instead. You ever see?

There's no woman nutritious. Did you want me to take that? Oh, I just wanted you to know it was real. Okay. No pholic acid in that. Can you imagine eating your TV remote for breakfast? I don't know if it would kill you, but it wouldn't even taste good to begin with. But I don't know.

There's so many things that are nice about being a receptionist that I can't just pick one and say that it's my favorite. But you probably feel the same way about being a boss. You can't pick one. Did you have a favorite age? A month. An age or month? Yeah, like a favorite month. April when I was seven.

I don't have a favorite month now. It's sort of like every month is different. I could listen to it forever. It's so delightful. It's such a wonderful free association. She holds up the remote control. She fishes it out of her bag. And the look on Steve's face is Michael.

And he's like, what do you want me to do with it? What do I do with all of this? We got a fan question from Jenna R. in Los Angeles, California. Hi, Jenna. Where did they film Michael and Aaron's lunch scene? It was filmed at a restaurant in Encino called Boca, which has since closed. It is now called Monaco Encino. And Randy even sent us a photo from their location scout.

So what they would have done a week prior to an episode where we have to shoot something on location, everybody would get in a little van, the director, the writer, the producers, the camera operators. And they would go around to like three or four restaurants that are options to shoot at that our locations manager Kyle Alexander would have found. And they would sit in them and they would talk about like, we could put the camera here. This is what you would see if you put the camera here in this location. And then after that, they'd pick the one they like. Randy sent us a picture from the location scout.

You can see Steve in it. You can see our first AD Rusty talking about how they might shoot the scene in the background. And then Randy is sitting at a table pretending to be Michael. And our second AD, Jenny O'Keefe, is sitting pretending to be Aaron. Oh, I love that. It just warmed my heart. Oh, we'll have to put it in stories. Definitely. Well, I think we should take a break because when we come back, Michael is going to put his foot in his mouth.

Oh my gosh, he sure is. And Aaron is going to have quite the reaction. We're back. Aaron says, tell me about Andy before I met him. Oh, no. She's got like those dreamy eyes. Michael's like, let's see, Andy plays the banjo. She's like, yeah, I love that.

Other than the fact that he dated Angela, I don't think he's a snappy dresser. Aaron's like, what? And then Michael has what is my favorite line of the whole episode. Same. He says, I don't think he's the best dresser. Reminds me of Easter. I can't unsee this now. All of his outfits are like pastel and like beige and pinks and light blues. He does dress like Easter.

He does. But Aaron is like, that's not what I meant. Yeah. He's like, I don't know about Angela. At the same time, the waiter has come by to drop off their food. Yeah. He's like, here we go. Hot plate. And all of this chaos is starting to happen.

Michael is not picking up on it. Instead, he is frustrated that he asked for pickles, but there's only like five or six on this plate. To which the waiter says, I will bring you a bowl of pickles. Yeah. And then Aaron is going to hide inside of her hair. Yes. This is a shooting draft.

It specifically said that Aaron covers her face with her hair. Yes. I have a fun catch. The waiter in the scene was played by our writer, Aaron Schur. You guys know him as the master of the cold opens. Yeah. He was the go-to guy for cold opens and gave us some of our most famous cold opens. Yes.

The Kevin spilling the chili. He wrote that. He wrote the speed meter where everyone's trying to run in front to see how fast they can run. She said that Aaron getting cast as the waiter happened the day before we were set to shoot these restaurant scenes. She said at first they were going to cast like a young actor, but everybody just looked too Hollywood. This was supposed to be a restaurant in Scranton.

And so then in the writer's room, they pitched maybe it would be really funny if the waiter in the restaurant were like really, really, really, really old. She said, quote, like the night at the end of Indiana Jones and the last crusade. Oh my gosh. Super old. That's crazy old. But Steve Carell thought that might be distracting to the scene. So they decided to cast someone who was not too young and not too old.

And right at that moment of making that decision, Mindy said that our writer, Aaron Schur, got up, walked across the room and went to the bathroom. And everyone was like, how about Aaron? Oh my gosh. He is neither too old or too young. This is a great origin story of how did you get cast on the office? I had to pee and I walked by the writer's room. So Mindy said that he read for it.

He got the part. She also pointed out that he is a trained actor. Well, I reached out to Aaron Schur to ask him about this story and he confirms it. But he thinks that there might be something else at play, which was that in the weeks before this moment, he decided to grow a beard. He thinks maybe the beard had something to do with it and he's going to explain why. Hello office ladies. It's Aaron Schur.

I'm going to tell you the exciting story about how I became a waiter on the office. I had done a little bit of acting, but mostly I was a standup and improviser, a street performer, even a circus clown. And the audiences all said pretty much the same thing to me, which is you should be a writer. So that's what I did because I'm more of a back office sort of guy. But as you know, Dunder Mifflin has the annex, which is there just so that people like Mindy, Paul and BJ, who are all writer actors, they had somewhere to be behind a door. So there was a reason why we didn't wonder where they were when they were actually in the writer's room making the show.

So when you're on the show, it's easy to start to think maybe there's room in the annex for me too. Maybe I could also be a star. Obviously that was not going to happen. And so at a certain point I grew a beard, which is a daring thing to do in Hollywood where you're supposed to always look as young as possible. And that's when Mindy came in with her script and was like, hey, Aaron, could you read this restaurant scene? And I'm like, you want me to criticize your scene? And she's like, no, I want you to audition. And so she pulled me into the other room and there's Steve Carell, who's going to be directing this episode.

And I read the scene with him and I'm terrified. So I do a terrible job and yet they cast me. So the next week I'm on set and they send me to hair and makeup, the hair and makeup trailer. And when I walk in, they go, oh, it's our old waiter. So the beard, it turns out, actually got me the job. And then he started to trim the beard and kept trimming it. I was in there for like three hours and I got a little paranoid. Like, is this all because my beard was annoying Steve and he just cast me in an evil plot to get my beard to not look so scraggly?

Of course that wasn't it. Okay, but I want to say, Aaron, I hear you because remember when Ryan went blonde? Yeah. That was because Mindy thought it would be funny for BJ to have to dye his hair blonde. So they created this whole plot. So why the character would do it? So maybe Mindy was like, that beard needs a trim and a tidy. Exactly.

How can I do that? You know what? I'm going to write them into an episode. I also asked Aaron what it was like to shoot the scene. I wanted to know, like, did you get much direction? And he said they pretty much let him do his own thing, but that actually led to some problems. But I'll let him explain. Once I get on the actual set, I'm determined to do a good job for obvious reasons,

but also because there's a lot of hardworking actors out there who could have used this opportunity and I owe it to them to at least do a decent job. And also as a writer, I know how easy it is for an actor who has only a few lines to ruin his scene because they're nervous or because they think it's their star vehicle. So I'm going to do a good job. And Steve is directing it, but he assumes I know enough to do my own blocking. So I come up with my own, which is blocking is how you move around the set, right? And I come up with my own blocking and I did the dumbest thing, which is I started way back in the kitchen.

I'm not even in the room. So all I can hear back there is Steve yell action and then I've got to walk in and I can't hear what's being said at the table and I got to find a way to land right on my cue. But this is my plan. I realized, OK, here's what I'm going to do. So my plan was I'm going to hide behind B camera. There's usually we had two cameras shooting simultaneously. And so if I'm behind B camera, I won't be in the shock as camera A isn't going to film camera B.

That's not how the pros do it. But I, of course, couldn't be in front of camera B, but you've got to be behind. Anyway, when I come out, camera B has been moved to the further side of the restaurant. So now there's no way for me not to be on camera and to hear the scene. So I come up with this what I hope seems like a human behavior of circling the table slowly, trying to hear what's being said. And in this scene, you can see Steve looks over his shoulder like trying to find this weird lurking waiter. And this is proof that I was never an actual waiter because a real waiter knows how to show up at the table

at the most awkward moment when somebody's heard terrible news and is about to start crying. But at the end of it all, I think it went fine and Steve was very kind and told me I did a good job. And that meant so much to me. I mean, what an opportunity to perform a script written by Mindy, directed by Steve, and to be on The Greatest Show ever. And now I'm on The Greatest Podcast ever. So thank you. Aw, thank you, Erin. Erin, that is so fun.

And we just love you. Also, Erin said for the record, he actually likes pickles, but not by the bowl. One of his lines that cracked me up because like he was saying, when you have only a few lines, it's really hard not to make them like the most important things you ever say. Yes. And he had this line when Michael says, could I get more pickles? And his first response is, of course. And that, of course, to me was so perfect.

Like anyone who's worked in food service knows that moment where you're like, absolutely, sure. I would love to do that. I would love to get you a bowl of pickles. Well, Erin is really starting to spiral. You know, she's got her face covered with her hair. She's making really heavy groaning sounds like that. Yeah. Michael delivers a famous line.

It's from when Harry met Sally. Yes. He looks around the restaurant and says, I'll have what she's having. Mm-hmm. I went back and watched the scene after that. It's so brilliant. It makes me want to rewatch when Harry met Sally. Oh, I rewatched it recently.

It's a flawless movie. It's terrific. Office ladies breaks down movies? Yeah. We have to do a series of rom-coms. Well, I also just rewatched Dirty Dancing. Yeah. I want to break down Dirty Dancing.

Nobody puts baby in a corner. Come on. We need to watch it. We need to watch it. We need to watch it. Well, it's a very awkward car ride back to the office. Oh, is it? And lady, there was more in deleted scenes.

In the shooting draft, Michael is trying to console Aaron in the car. Right? He knows he's messed up. Mm-hmm. He says, you know, I think it's probably best to not say anything about this. And Aaron is just, like, stewing. He goes on to say, you know, take a beat. Calm down.

Talk to him privately about it next week or a month, maybe never. It would probably make things awkward at work if you bring it up. Heck, you might even forget about it. And then, I don't know if you've noticed, Jenna, in the car scenes, there's a little patch on Michael's seatbelt that's frayed. It's right at his shoulder. And when I watched it, I did notice this sort of, like, fuzzy thing in a seatbelt. And I thought, why would they let that be in the shot?

Why wouldn't they get him a seatbelt that wasn't damaged? Well, in deleted scenes, Michael says, sometimes I chew on my seatbelt when I'm upset. You can feel free to do that. Aaron does not respond. And then Michael shows her and starts to chew on his seatbelt. So they actually had to put chew marks on the seatbelt on purpose. Yes. Wow.

And it's in deleted scenes. Michael, like, puts his seatbelt in his mouth. Anyway, that seatbelt was damaged on purpose. Well, when they get back to the office, Pam's milk is coming in. She's uncomfortable. She wants to pump. But her pump is missing. Yeah.

Guess who has it? This was so crazy. I forgot about the scene. I forgot that Meredith took Pam's breast pump because it feels good. She likes how it feels. Oh, my gosh. Once again, Kate is fearless. Yeah.

So Pam is like, it's not sterile. She's very upset. And then Dwight is going to offer to hand express the milk. He's going to get it out for her. Yeah. She's like, no, thank you. No, thank you. When I watched the scene, all I could think about was the time when I was back on set

after having Isabel and I was breastfeeding. And we were taking breaks so I could breastfeed. Kelly Cantley helped make that happen. And we were in the conference room. We were in there all day. And someone said, hey, what time is it? And I touched the side of my boobs. And I said, about 11 a.m.

And then they were like, yeah, it's 10.59. Do you remember that? Yes. We all started cracking up and like doing this bit that I could tell time by. Yeah. We would be like, Angela, what time is it? We started testing you and you were very accurate. Because I had my whole pump schedule.

Yeah. And your milk really does come in on a schedule. Yeah. Well, incidentally, you know, my mom told me that when I was born back in 1974, not as many women nursed their babies back then. But it was something that she was open to and she had done some research on. And she said when I was about two months old, her and my dad wanted to go out to dinner for the first time.

She said they hired their very first babysitter. And in order to leave for that period of time for dinner, it took her an entire week of self-expressing using her hand, one bottle of milk. She kept it in the freezer so that the babysitter could defrost it and give it to me. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. The things our moms did for us. I know.

Oh, incidentally, I will say, Mindy also said that the idea that Meredith would steal Pam's breast pump was a pitch from Charlie Grandy. Andy is going to ask Erin how lunch went. And she is very cold to him. She then completely bites Oscar's head off. Oscar says, I think we're out of fax cover sheets. And she says, God, Oscar, will you keep your pants on? It's easy.

At nine minutes, 48 seconds, you guys, Oscar looks right to camera. Like, what the hell? Mm-hmm. But Oscar never looked right to camera. So this was really fun to spot. And I just loved him in that moment. I love that. Well, now we're going to go to the conference room because there is a secretary's day party

underway. And Erin's honor, her face is on a cake. Yeah. And I think also it's on the plates. Oh, no way. I mean, it's a very elaborate party all thrown by Angela. Yes. Wait.

Is she the head of the PPC again? That's what I'm wondering. Oh, wow. They slid that right in there. There was a couplet of dialogue between Ryan and Kelly in the scene. And as I watched it, I was like, that's just BJ and Mindy. Which one was it? They're talking about the Cookie Monster parody.

Mm-hmm. And Kelly does her version of it. And Ryan goes, that's a little derivative. And Kelly says, but parody is always derivative. And Ryan says, it's not organic. Do you know what I mean? That just sounded like a conversation between the two of them. That could have been a conversation that we would hear them having on set.

Yes. 100%. So, you know, in this scene, Andy is going to put on his guitar. He's going to put on his harmonica. And he's going to sing Aaron a song called Secretary of Love. I had a question about the harmonica bit of it all. Uh-huh. He never straps on a harmonica.

I think it was a little scheme to make sure the cake stayed up around his face. Well, it was in the script. I looked it up. It says Andy gets his guitar and one of those harmonicas attached to headgear. And Andy begins to sing an original song called Secretary of Love. It has a feel of Ricky Nelson's Travelin' Man. In the interview on Office Telly, Mindy mentioned that she wrote lyrics for the song Secretary of Love.

And they were in the table redraft. And Ed does play the harmonica. And they had intended for him to play it. Okay. Here are the lyrics. There's the secretary of labor, secretary of health, health and human resources just asked me on a date. Secretary of energy keeps on a winkin' at me,

but I can't keep my hands off of homeland security. But all the different secretaries that I've taken to my bed, there's only one secretary I can't get out of my head. The red haired secretary is the one I sing of. She's my Dunder Mifflin secretary, my secretary of love. Oh my gosh. I mean, in some ways it's good that he didn't sing it because Aaron already thinks he slept with everyone in the office.

She's like, Phyllis Kelly? Pam? Jenna, in the shooting draft after Aaron says, who else did you sleep with, huh? Phyllis Kelly, Pam? This was the direction for us in the shooting draft. Angela hides her face in her hands. Phyllis Kelly and Pam Adlib. Oh God, no. Are you kidding me? Barf me to death. Aaron then lets out a weird sound from deep within her chest. Well, I know we talked about this moment

when Aaron hits Andy in the face with the cake during our interview with Ellie, but I also found a little tidbit from Mindy on Office Tally about it. She said that the cake was really dense and that the first time Ellie threw it at Ed, it made a really loud sound. It sounded like whack. That's why we reacted like that.

We had a fan question from Mary Kay in Portland, Oregon. I think the real question we all want to know the answer to is how good was that cake because it looks delicious. I really ate that cake. Me too. It was delicious. It was so good. Mary, good call. It was great. Well, people are going to start trying to make Aaron feel better. Kevin tries to console her, hit on her, and while that is happening,

Gabe overhears Pam doing an impression of Kevin. I want to point out when Jim laughs, that was John's laugh. Yeah. That is exactly how he starts to laugh. That's a good call. It's true. Gabe is going to suspend them. He suspends Pam, he suspends Jim, and then he even is going to suspend Dwight for slow clapping the suspension.

Kevin is so happy. He says C is for suspension. Oh, Kevin. Kevin. Meanwhile, in Michael's office, Andy has a great line where he's like, I don't understand how my past engagement came up in your restaurant talk. Yeah. It's secretary's day. How did this come up? But I'm with Michael.

Like, why did you keep this a secret from her? How is Michael supposed to know that she doesn't know? This is not, I think, an example of Michael revealing a secret. Right. Like he has been known to do in the past. Right. Exactly. Michael didn't even know this was an off-topic subject. Yeah. Well, Andy is now going to have a very agonizing talking head.

He's like, who cares? It'll blow over. Maybe I should have told her. Everybody does stupid things. He's like all over the map. Well, it's actually like a series of talking heads sort of intercut into one talking head, which I'm not sure we've ever seen before. Yeah. I just wanted to point out that at the top of the episode,

at one minute, 20 seconds, Andy says that it's not only secretary's day, but it's also he and Aaron's three-week anniversary. And I just want to put this out there. I think maybe if you've just been dating someone for three weeks and they go to such effort to celebrate you on secretary's day, maybe you can say, hey, why didn't you tell me about this previous relationship that really upset me?

It's only been three weeks, you guys. I think there's still some discovery. Am I wrong? Well, it's interesting you asked this question because we got mail from both Liza A. in North Carolina and Paul W. in Chicago asking, if you were Andy, would you have told Aaron that you were once engaged or would you have waited? And do you agree with Aaron's decision

to break up with him because of this? Well, listen, I think it would have been a big flipping conversation. I would have been upset. But at three weeks, I might have understood that maybe he was waiting for the right moment to tell me. I have to say I 100% understand Aaron's reaction. It's not just that he didn't tell her that he's been engaged before, but this is a co-worker that she sees every day.

So I think that that makes it different. I think that's something that you need to say right away. I agree. If you've just started dating someone, maybe around, I don't know, around this time, three weeks a month, you might say, oh, I was engaged before. Here's all my business because we've lasted three weeks.

Maybe we're going to make a real go of it. Here's everything. Right, but not if the situation is like, hey, you should know I actually used to be engaged to my roommate. Yeah. You know, like that's like that. Like, oh, I used to be engaged to this person right next to you. Right.

And everyone in this room knows. Yes. But you. That's the difference. Yeah, I see that. But do you think it's breakup worthy? Yes. Okay.

I would feel very embarrassed. Embarrassed. And humiliated and distrustful. Yeah. Of like, I don't know. It makes me think twice about the person, frankly. I get that. Yeah.

It's because they're in the same office. Mm-hmm. Well, now Angela is going to try to console Erin as best as she can. She's like, hey, Erin, and I love this line. Erin's like, you want to talk to me? Come to my desk. Yeah. She's ready to throw down.

They have this hilarious dialogue. We talked about it with Ellie, where they go back and forth about wanting to throw up just thinking about it. Yeah. And then at the end of the scene, the camera pulls back and Toby is standing there. He can't seem to work the fax machine. Suddenly, everybody has to fax things today and it's not working well. Yeah.

Everyone's real busy at reception. Mindy said that that reveal of Toby having been there for this whole exchange was Steve's idea. It was really funny. Well, now Pam is going to try to console Erin. And I thought she was so, like, eloquent in this moment. I know. We talked about this with Ellie, too. It doesn't work again.

It's too bad. But then Pam is going to walk over and give Jim a kiss. And we haven't kind of seen any, like, kissy-kiss between Jim and Pam in a while. So I thought this was a really nice kind of romantic moment. Kind of took us back. Yeah. Gabe is going to get some news now. At 15 minutes and 48 seconds, he is standing in a hallway.

He's talking to corporate. Randy told me that this was filmed in the stairway directly opposite the door to his office in the writer's area. He said that Steve Carell chose the stairwell because it was rarely used. And Steve thought that it would be good to see Gabe in a setting that was more unfamiliar to viewers. I love how so much thought goes into every moment. Little moment. Yeah. When I think of the stairwell, I always think of Dwight.

Pumping himself up. Yeah. Exactly. Or moaning and wailing. Yes. Well, on this phone call, Gabe is going to learn that he actually cannot reprimand or suspend anyone. And then Toby is going to call Pam and tell her the same thing. He also says to her, I found out some of the other things they're doing out there.

And she hangs up on it. Yeah. I know. She's like, I got all the information I need. She passes a note to Jim and now they know exactly what they're going to do. Yeah. They're going to take their suspension. Yeah.

Paid. They're going to go home and think about their behavior. Yeah. Well, Dwight is going to apologize, but Gabe is running after Pam and Jim. He does not want them to leave because now he's got egg on his face. When he comes back in the bullpen, Oscar's like, is it me or did they just get a paid day off? Mm-hmm. To which Gabe now tries to do his Cookie Monster impression.

Right. This leads us to what I'm calling Jedi Kevin. All right. At 18 minutes, 23 seconds, Kevin is at his desk when Gabe starts his Cookie Monster impression. And then at 18 minutes, 28 seconds, Kevin is now standing at Angela's desk as he starts doing his impression of Gabe. And then at 18 minutes, 37 seconds, Kevin is now standing next to Gabe by front reception as he continues his impression.

Those are amazing catches. He's just what? He's teleporting. Yes. Around. Second by second. He's moving around. Well, I don't know what was going on while we were shooting the scene.

I went to the script because a lot of the impressions that everyone starts doing of Gabe were not in the script. Like Dwight's impression of Gabe was not in the script, so I don't know what happened. It wasn't there. Were they just throwing out? Like, I think this scene changed a lot, and that's why maybe Kevin is all over the room. Yes. I made note of this as well.

I think we just started riffing, and some of the reactions you see are so honest. I want to show you at 18 minutes, 43 seconds, Creed and I are just hysterically laughing. We're not in character at all. Look at the screen grab. Oh yeah, for sure. I love that. I'll put it in stories. Well, this whole plot of the dubbing of the voice on the characters is going to end with

Kevin playing a video of Oscar as the Count, but nobody is getting it. Except Michael. Michael thinks he nailed it. And at the very end of the episode, Michael says, good work, Cookie Monster. It's kind of sweet. But then of course, the episode also ends with that wonderful scene on the bench with Michael there, and we talked about it with Ellie, where Michael is being really sweet with her. He is being the father she never had.

And Andy's kind of watching from his car, from across the street. Yeah. Andy says at least someone made her happy on Secretary's Day. Did you notice that it was like nighttime in Andy's car, but it's daytime on the bench? Did you notice that? Was it just me? I didn't notice that. I'll have to go back and look.

Yeah. Guys, that's Secretary's Day. This Andy-Aaron breakup is going to start a whole new series of storylines. We're going to see more of Gabe, and I'm very excited for that, because one of the things I loved about this episode was just seeing Zach Woods do his thing. He's so flippin' funny. So we'll see you next week. We've got body language.

Body language, and I've got a Pam hair catch, but you're going to have to wait for it. Oh. Well, stay tuned for that. We'd love to say thank you to Aaron Sher for sitting in those audio clips. Aaron, you're the best, and Randy Cordray for giving us those behind-the-scenes details. We'll see you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey.

Our show is executive produced by Cody Fisher. Our producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubicoe. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad-free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.com. For a free one-month trial at Stitcher Premium, use code, OFFICE.