Office Ladies - The Cover-Up

Episode Date: July 27, 2022

This week we’re breaking down “The Cover-Up.” The office convinces Michael that Donna is cheating so Michael hires the best private detective he knows to find out! (It’s Dwight.) Rainn Wilson sends in clips sharing what it was like to both act and direct this episode. Jenna does a deep dive on signs someone may be cheating, Angela shares a deleted runner that adds another layer to Ryan and Kelly’s relationship and the ladies come to terms with the fact that their friendship entails many things, but not exercising together. So trust us, enjoy this episode and do not take Dwight’s spin class. 

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. Hi, Angela. Hi there, lady. Hi, everyone. Hi. Today we're going to talk about the cover up. It is season six, episode 24, written by Jean Stupnitzky and Lee Eisenberg. We love them and directed by our very own, Rainn Wilson. Rainn! Here is your summary. Michael becomes convinced that Donna, remember the manager from Sid and Dexter, who bought all the printers

last week. How many we don't know. How many she needs, we're not sure. But it turns out Michael was right. She was giving signals they are full on dating. But today he's going to become convinced that Donna is cheating on him. Yes. And he's going to ask Dwight to find out the truth. I mean, this is Dwight Superbowl. He's so excited. He's so excited. He gets to go undercover. I mean, he like dives across a table in the break room when he gets the news. That wasn't even in the script. I wanted to see. I looked it up in the shooting draft. It just says Dwight sprints out. But that table move, that was Rainn. I believe it. Well, meanwhile, Darryl gets delayed revenge on Andy for a past issue that

upset him. And he does this by making him think that Gabe is going to fire him for revealing the truth about the faulty Sabre printers. Turns out, sometimes they catch on fire. Turns out there might be something really happening. Fast fact number one is that Rainn Wilson directed this episode. Rainn directed three episodes of The Office. And this was his first. We reached out to Rainn. And he sent in some audio clips, which he recorded while driving in traffic. And you can hear at the end, it's like accident up ahead. Rainn, maybe he stopped talking to us. All right, here is what Rainn had to say about directing. Hello there, Office ladies. It's me, your old pal Rainn. So I understand you're doing

the cover up in this week's episode. How exciting. Dwight unleashed as a private detective to investigate Donna. A lot of great scenes in the gym with that great ending of Dwight leading the cycling spin class. A lot of people ask about what it's like to act in the show while you're directing. You know, the fortunate thing is that we, we were so familiar with the show at that point, it would have been impossible in the first three seasons. Impossible. You know, we're still kind of learning the landscape and still discovering stuff about our characters and, you know, getting used to how everything's going. But by season six, here we are four or five, six, we get the show, we get how it's shot, where to place

cameras is a lot easier. There's always some scenes that are quite challenging and difficult to figure out how you're going to cover them in a unique and interesting way. The thing I always said about the directing of the office is like, the scripts are so good and the cast is so good and the camera crew is so good that you'll always get at least a B plus episode. So what the really good directors like Ken Quapas and Paul Feig and several others were able to do is like, take a B plus A minus episode and move it to an A. So you always want to just those little touches, the little flourishes, the little improvs, interesting ways to shoot things can kind of just raise the level a little bit. And that's kind of

always the goal as a director. I think Paul Lieberstein was an excellent director for the office. He really got that, captured a lot of subtlety in the show. And what an amazing bounty for all of us to kind of flex our directing muscles and get an opportunity to direct. I learned so much. You know, it keeps coming up again and again with our directors, whether established or new, how great our crew and how supportive our crew was. And what a well oiled machine we were at this point. I mean, Rain's really right. Yeah. And we also really knew our characters.

Well, I also asked Rain, what was challenging about directing? Here's what he had to say. It was challenging because, you know, you're working with your castmates and these are people that know you as an actor. So you have to be quite gentle and diplomatic in your notes and in your thoughts because you're working with your family, you know, you're not all of a sudden horse and wells, the boss, you're a collaborator offering a point of view on directing the episode. But I found it really fun to kind of put on the director hat and then put on the Dwight hat. But like I said, you can only do that if you've been doing it for many, many years and feel really comfortable in your character, you're just

able to slip on your character clothes and personality and point of view and jump right in. Otherwise, it would have been extremely difficult. And we got a lot of support as actors moving into the director's chair. It's a delightful episode towards the end of season six and had a blast. And I'm glad you guys are digging into it. All right, all for now. Love you guys. Bye. I could imagine it would be really weird to direct people you've been hanging out with for six years. Oh, for sure. But I loved this quote from what Rain said. He said he saw himself as a collaborator offering a point of view. I have to say, I feel like that encapsulates

the whole tone of our show. We were all collaborators with a point of view. And we had this safe place where we could share our point of view. Thank you, Rain, for sending in those audio clips. It was very generous of him because he just got back from Iceland. Yes, he literally just flew back from Iceland. Rain, you brave jet lag to talk to us. What he was doing in Iceland is a new television show called The Geography of Bliss. One grumps search for the happiest places in the world. I cannot wait. I cannot believe this job. How do you get this job? I mean, Jenna, how that is just like the coolest thing. He gets to travel all over and just be himself. Yeah, he gets to go to Iceland, Ghana, Japan, and more.

And it says it's a six part travel series where he will try to discover how changing your location and perspective can change your life. This is the greatest job of all time. It's so awesome, Rain. Why didn't we think of this? Rain, we cannot wait to watch. Can me and you do The Geography of Bliss part two to ladies who love factories? Yes. Can we do that? Can it just be ladies who love factories? We'll just travel the United States. We don't even have to go far. I like this show. I really like it. Call us anyone who makes shows. Anybody. All right. And fast fact number two, this show centers around Michael's suspicion that Donna is cheating on him. So guess what I Googled. Wait. Sign someone's

cheating. Oh my gosh. Yes. Really? Literally. Sign someone is cheating. Let's hear them. Did you look at my piece of paper? I did not. I just listen. I'm getting better at guessing your deep dives. All right. Well, according to psychology today, there are 10 signs that your spouse or significant other is cheating. Number one. Number one. What is it? One is crazy. What? Improved appearance. Oh, they care now. Yeah. Are they getting gussied up each day in a new way that they haven't before? Did they put the sweatpants aside? Number two, are they having secretive phone or computer use? You know, like do they sneak away to use their phone when maybe they didn't before? Stepping outside to take a call kind

of thing. Exactly, lady. Exactly. I'm feeling very mom detective right now. Yeah. We should use this list if we have a case like this. Oh, yeah. For our show. A checklist. Yeah. We'll check them off. Check it off. All right. Number three. Are there periods of time when your significant other is unreachable? That would be part of our interview. Turn the phone off. Not answering. I don't know why you're cracking me up so much. All right. Number four. This one feels like a tough one. Is there significantly more, significantly less or different sex in your relationship? Huh. Like, I kind of get it. If you're married, you've got a bit of a sex routine at a certain point. Yeah. You know, you've got your favorite

moves, the old standbys, the ones that you know are going to get you there. Also, you know your windows of opportunity. Right. Especially if you have kids. Is there sudden spontaneity? Are they trying new moves? Yeah. Where'd they get those moves? Right. Or are they not even interested at all? Not at all. I don't know what. It's cracking me up. All right. We're only on number five. Oh gosh. Is there hostility toward you and the relationship all of a sudden? Distain. Are they annoyed? Yeah. Number six. Do they have an altered schedule? Number seven. Okay. Do friends suddenly seem uncomfortable around you? And this is important because as a couple, like your friends or just you personally, they say it's because the betrayed

partner is almost always the last to know. So people know. And so then they like avoid eye contact with you or they're real shifty. Yeah. Number eight. Are there any unexplained expenses? Mm-hmm. Travel. This is your character for mom detectives. Okay. Like a hundred percent. You are this person. Okay. I will sit with the client and I will ask these questions and you will say these things. Just one word. Yep. Yep. All right. Here on the next one. Okay. Let's pretend we have a client. Okay. Client is sitting next to you. Yeah. I'm sitting across. All right. Okay. Ma'am. Mm-hmm. Has the emotional intimacy faded? Nothing happening in the sack. That's not one word. That's all right. It doesn't have to be one word. I,

you know what I realized? My job is like, I think I'm a translator. You're translating my very clear question. Yeah. Do another one. This is the last one. Okay. Number 10. Sign that someone is cheating. Has your partner been deflecting or avoiding being questioned about cheating? Like if you say, hey, where were you last night? Were you with someone else? Where were you? Exactly. What? That might mean they're cheating. There you go, guys. I think this is our first episode of mom detectives. Someone is having an affair. We think maybe. Who knows? That couple down the street on the left, the house with the green door, we're going to get to the bottom of it. I like the idea that neither of them

came to us either. There's no client. No, no. It's just our own snooping. We've seen a new car parked out front. What's that about? Yeah. Going to run those plates. Wow. We don't have any contact. We'll Google it. All right. Fast fact number three is straight from our mailbag. Oh, I love our mailbag. I know. I hadn't been in the general folder for a while and I took a peek and here are two that I found delightful. First up, Stephanie from Sydney, Australia said, did you ladies know that there is a song by Post Malone called Candy Paint and in the lyrics, they say, I love paper like a Michael Scott. What? I just thought it was a fun thing for you guys to know about and to hear the office has even

made it into some of the best known songs of this generation. Here's an audio clip. I love it. Thank you so much, Stephanie for telling us about that. Also, Tommy from Salt Lake City, Utah and Hannah from Seattle, Washington wrote in to say, have you guys heard the song Netflix trip by AJR? It is a song where the singer outlines the major events of his life and how the office tied in and influenced all of them. It finished by saying that so much of who he is as a person is contained in the office and it is more than just a show to so many of us. Here is a clip. So it's this really sweet song and he just goes through all of these different aspects

of his life and major milestones, his first crush, but it's like he's watching the office at the same time and so many of his personal moments are tied into his favorite moments on the show. That's just so cool. I know. I can't believe we're on a show that keeps finding a home in people's hearts like that. I know it's in that Billie Eilish song, which is so cool. Yeah, where she actually sampled parts of Threat Level Midnight, which we're going to get to next season. We're almost there, season seven. Oh my gosh, Billie Eilish, will you come on our show for Threat Level Midnight? Billie Eilish, my daughter asks me once a week if we are going to have you on office ladies for Threat Level Midnight and she has asked

me if she can hide in the background of that Zoom so that she can see you. Awww. Every week, she asks. Well, I met Billie and she's a sweetheart. She's the loveliest. Billie, come on, bye. We'll have to reach out. And now for a DVD box set moment. Oh, I made it sound so official. For those of you with the DVD box set of the office, you will know that the episode, The Cover Up, starts the very last disc of the season. Okay. And since it's the last disc, it has some really fun bonus features I thought I would share. In addition to the usual deleted scenes for the last three episodes, which are The Cover Up, The Chump, and The Whistleblower, it has 23 minutes and 41 seconds worth of bloopers from season six. Oh, all the season

six bloopers are on there? Yes. It was really fun to watch them. It also has a digital short called Wait For It? Drumroll, Please. Do you just ask for the drumroll? I know. I don't know how long the drumroll calls. Like, when does the drumroll end? Ding! Okay, it ended. It's called The Podcast. Oh, yeah. We did a digital short called The Podcast. It is about Gabe on a quest to find a way onto the Saber website. He wants to be on the Saber website and he decides to do a podcast. It features Brian Baumgartner, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, Ellie Kemper, Oscar Nunez, Zach Woods, and myself. It's crazy. I watched the whole thing and I had completely forgotten that we did this digital

short. Should we break down some of these things like the digital short, the podcast, and the web episodes sometime? I think we should. It's like a really fun bonus episode because they're good. Yeah. Also, this disc has all of the office promos for the Olympics in Canada. One that I had not seen. It's called Dwight's Tribute to Canada. Oh, no. You have to hear it. I can't believe Rain learned this. The Olympics are in Vancouver. Is that British Columbia? Well, Pam, there's really only a few things you need to know about Canada. There's Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. Prince Edward Island's very small, but British Columbia tops them all.

And that's where Vancouver is. But before I finish up my story, you should know the territories that are only three so well be quick. You come Northwestern on of it. If you want to have a Baldur's Saskatoon in Montreal and if you want to pack your sacks, we'll be going off to Halifax. And if you're looking for a wife, be sure to visit Yellowknife. Natural Resources! Perennial Geraniums, Nickel Think Uranium are filling up my cradium, the exports that they boast. Keep going. No, please. We're good. Thank you. Isn't that amazing? I remember shooting that. He had to learn that whole song. That's pretty amazing. I thought it was amazing. The last bonus feature on this disc is an episode from Parks and Rec that

was written by Dan Gore and directed by Greg Daniels called Hunting Trip. Oh, that's so cool. So there you have it. Let's take a break because when we come back, Pam and Jim are going to be talking using some pins. Yeah, some pin talk. Well, we are back. It looks like Pam is purposefully tapping on her computer mouse and then Jim is kind of clicking his pin and Dwight is getting annoyed. But wait a second. He starts picking up on something. That's right. Are Pam and Jim communicating in Morse code? Dwight thinks so. Pam and Jim are like, that's ridiculous. But then they have a super cute talking head. They do. And I just want to say that Jim stills one of Pam's moves. What's that? He starts

with yup. It turns out that with their limited time and resources, they did hire a nanny so that they could take a course on speaking in Morse code just to drive Dwight crazy. It's exactly what they did. Lady, we got so much mail about this cold open and it sent me down a number of roads. Let's start with the fan mail flurry. That's right. Katie A. from Nashville, Tennessee, Cammie D. from Richmond, Virginia, and many others would like to know, did John and Jenna have to learn Morse code for the cold open? And if so, what were you guys saying? Well, here's what I'll tell you. Lindsay G. from Texas has the answer. Okay. Lindsay says, my husband Jason is a licensed amateur radio operator.

And when I introduced him to the office, I showed him this episode. Jason let me know that Pam and Jim are saying random letters and characters, but nothing that matches the actual script. Yes, Lindsay, Jason, you are right. We did not learn anything for this scene. We randomly clicked our pen. And if you look at the script, it doesn't even tell us how much to click our pen. It just says we're clicking. Right. Just click away. This is like that moment when I took my dad to see Armageddon. Uh-huh. Starts out, they're drilling engineers. And my dad just sat there and kept going, never happened. That never happened. Yeah, that's right. Never happened. Lindsay went on to say, some radio info for you. My husband has had his license since he was 11 and learned from

his dad. When he got his license in the US, it was required to pass the Morse code test. Today, it is not required to know Morse code to get your radio operator license. Yet he frequently uses Morse code in radio contests and knows it as well as he can speak English. Wow. She said, there are several Morse code and voice contests throughout the year. One of the biggest being Field Day, which happened every summer. Field Day is meant to be a practice run for radio operators in emergency situations. That's so cool. Very, very cool. All right. Next up from the mailbag about the cold open from Julia T. in Orange, California. Can we talk about the way John Krasinski says pen in the cold open? Julia, we can, but first I think we should give it a listen.

We should. Jim, are you clicking a detonator? It's a pin. Well, and what do you think? Did you hear it? He says, pin. But he says more like pin, like instead of pen, he says, pin. Do you say, pin or pen? I say, pin. But that's when, you know, I'm sort of just letting myself be a little lazy with my accent. But if I try to think about it, I would say, pen, pen. Right? Am I saying it right? Pen. Pen. But I have to think about it. If I don't think about it, I just say, can I borrow your pen? Yeah. Yeah. He also says, D white. He says, D white and pin. Well, there's another thing he says too, but I'll bring it up later. All right. Finally, we got this fan question from Allen Jay in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the beginning of this episode, the pen that Jim is clicking is a Parker

Jotter made by the Parker Pen Company. I've noticed this pen in several episodes of not only the office, but Parks and Rec, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, all of which Mike Shore has had his hand in. Are these pens used by Mike Shore personally or in all of his projects? Or is it just a random prop coincidence? Well, all of those shows are NBC shows. True. I emailed Mike Shore. What did he say? Can you imagine? I think we are so weird. Hey, Mike, do you have a signature pin on all of your shows? Thanks, K. Bye. Yes. I sent the fan question and he said, he does not know anything about this pen. But then he admitted, quote, my family owns 28.5% of Parker Pen Company and it's a total boondoggle product placement. He's kidding, of course.

He is kidding. He is kidding. Well, I got a little curious about this Parker Jotter pen. They retail for about $12 each. I see. And here is where my curiosity led me. There is a podcast called The Pen Addict. Really? Yes. And these are people that are pen aficionados? It is a podcast about pens and stationery hosted by Brad Dowdy and Mike Hurley. They have done over 500 podcast episodes about pens. Wow. Yes. They also have a website and they did a review of the Parker Jotter ballpoint pen. Tell me you're going to share the review. You know I am. Yes. Here's what they said about Jim's pen. Quote, the all aluminum body is made in France. It is quite small and slim, so it may not be comfortable for long writing sessions if you

have large hands. But listen to this. Okay. Listen to this. Okay. Quote, this pen has one of the most satisfying clicks I've ever experienced. It's loud, solid, and has a good amount of resistance. You could drive people crazy with this click and I love it. End quote. I'm sorry. Did we pick the perfect pen for this episode based on that review? Yeah. If you need a pen that you have to click to drive your coworker crazy, head on over and pick up the Parker Jotter. I also love that this podcast has a click rating, like a click meter. That's amazing. I loved every second of that lady. Well, at the very end of this cold open, they are no longer clicking or tapping. They've started blinking at each other. That's right. Did we all catch the wink to camera from

Jim at the very end? Of course. It was adorable. It was so cute. Well, we're going to open this episode with Michael and Donna making out in the lobby in front of Hank, played by the lovely Hugh Dane. Yes. I had to walk past them as they made out. What was that morning of shooting like? It was it's just so odd. You know, it's just always weird. You're just going to walk by. They didn't do very many takes that I remember. We got that pretty quickly. I love how Hank is like eating his bowl of cereal. I love everything Hank does. Every choice, everything about Hank is the best. Michael has a talking head here where he says things with Donna are going great on every level. Like he's not used to relationships going

as well and he's having trouble focusing on his job. Well, that's going to become clear in this episode. Oh yeah. But you know, one of my favorite things to do is to go to the candy bag alts of talking heads. Here's Michael's alternate talking head for this moment. Things with Donna are going great. I've had good relationships before, but never with another manager. I think that makes all the difference. We co-manage our love. Profits are through the roof. I thought it was so cute. This is reminding me of the one you shared last week. Yes. He kept getting like stuck on this idea that they're both managers. Yes. He's very enamored by that. She gets him in a way maybe no one else has. We're going to go into the conference room now. Michael has called a meeting to ask

everyone for ideas of things that him and Donna can do on the weekends besides have sex. It's just been so much sex. I know. Any ideas? In the shooting draft, everyone quickly threw out suggestions. Here's how it was scripted. Stanley said, I have an idea for your weekend. Let me go back to my desk right now. Andy said, Apple orchards. Oscar said, hiking may be a picnic. Ryan said, learn one skill. Touch one life. Angela said, make soup. You can eat all week. Erin said, popcorn. And then Meredith said, you and Donna should hit the Poconos, heart-shaped jacuzzis. Room enough for three. So that's how it was in the shooting draft. Of course, in the actual scene, there's a variation of that, but I thought that was fun.

Well, at three minutes and 20 seconds, when Meredith said the jacuzzis have room enough for three, did you see Ryan's reaction? Like he's not even fully on screen, but it made me laugh. He has this expression where he's like, that's not a bad idea. Well, he's been working that angle with Kelly. You know, there was a whole deleted runner after Andy and Erin broke up where Kelly and Ryan hit her up for a threesome. What? Yes. This was a whole runner in secretary's day towards the end of the episode when people are trying to comfort Erin. This is Ryan and Kelly's way of comforting her. You did not share. I didn't share. That is news to me. Well, there you have it. We had a fan catch from Ray H in Jacksonville,

Florida, who says, Michael says he and Donna went to the PF Changs in Mount Pocono, but there isn't one in Mount Pocono. The nearest PF Changs is in Philadelphia, and it's about an hour and 48 minutes away from Scranton. And now here is my other audio clip about how people say things. Oh, we got a fan catch from Julia T in Orange, California, who says, okay, I have become the rum tracker. All of the Massachusetts people say rum instead of room. John, Steve, Mindy and BJ, and we hear a big old rum from Ryan in his talking head. Here it is. Does she keep her phone locked around you, Michael? Does she watch how much she drinks around you, Michael? Does she leave the room when she takes phone calls?

There it is. Did you hear it? Does she leave the room? Rum. That's such a fun catch. I love it. So here's what Ryan is talking about in this conference room meeting. Everyone starts wondering, like, why do you have to go to these weird places to be with your girlfriend? Is she avoiding someone? Is she cheating on you? Kelly is the first person to pick up on this. Kelly says, why did you go to that one? It's so far. And then she's like, Ryan used to do that to me. Yeah. Yeah. Pam tries to be a voice of reason, but by the end of this conference room meeting, Michael is now convinced that Donna is cheating on him. Yeah. It happens so quickly. Oh, yeah. Pam says, Michael, do not let your imagination

run out of control. Michael says, well, that's easy for you to say. You have a bad imagination. It's stupid. I live in a fantasy world. Now Michael is going to do something that he should know better. Oh, Michael, Michael, he is going to go in the break room and I titled the scene, whispers in the break room. Anyone want to write a song called whispers in the break room? He goes up to Dwight and gets like in his ear so much so that Dwight's like, what are you doing? And he whispers, I want someone to follow Donna. I want her tailed. I need the name of a good private investigator. And Dwight is going to give Michael his

business card with rates. This scene was longer. It was in the shooting draft. And this is how good our scripts come in. As I was reading the shooting draft, I started laughing out loud just because this is so absurd. Listen to this. I have to share it. Dwight goes through his wallet, removes the card. Michael, this is you. Dwight smiles to camera proud. Yes, it is. I used your card guy. Michael, Wade, is he still at the mall? Dwight, he doesn't have a kiosk anymore. He's just working out of the food court. Michael, well, what do you charge? I love that he's like, Wade in the food court, you know, the card guy. I love it that Dwight says that he charges $100 a day plus expenses.

Michael says he'll give him 50. Money is no object. I know. Then of course Dwight's going to scoochie across the table. He's on it. Mm-hmm. He's so excited. Well, Jenna, in the episode now, Andy is going to get a call about a printer that caught on fire. Yeah. In the shooting draft, after Andy gets the phone call, rather than turning to Stanley or Gabe, the first person he goes to is Kelly. Oh. Yes. He wants to know if a client has called customer service complaining about faulty printers. Makes sense. We learn a lot about Kelly's attention to detail in this scene and I thought we should hear it. All right. Hey Kelly, have you been getting any calls about the Saver GH400 printers?

Yeah, people hate them. Really? Has anyone said that they like blow up or anything? I can't remember. Can you check? Where? Your records? Okay, I don't keep records per se. Well, like in your files, whenever. Here's Ruby. Those are empty. How do you do your job? You know the bank of file cabinets next to her desk? We see in all the episodes, they're empty. There's nothing in them. I love that he says, how do you do your job? I know. Lady, do you know that I worked as a customer service representative on a complaint line? Oh no. How was that? It was for a major soda company. I won't say which one.

Can I guess? No, I feel like I shouldn't say which one. Oh, come on. You can guess off air. Oh, you guys. So it was my job to sit. Shmepsie? I'm not going to say. Shmokishmola? I'm not going to say. Okay. The best part of the job was that I got free soda. They had free fountain sodas in the cafeteria. Oh, it was hurt. Located in a very kind of remote area, so you couldn't leave at lunchtime. Your choices were bring something or go to the cafeteria, but you got free soda all day. And you worked the complaint line? I worked the complaint hotline for two weeks as a temp when the person who normally worked there

was on leave. Okay. I had a little bit of training. A little bit of training. Like half an hour. It was like a day, but basically there was a binder. They explained you answer the phone, you listen to the complaint, you take it seriously, you log it, and then you offer to send the person coupons for free soda as a way to apologize for whatever inconvenience they have. And now did they have a script because you know I worked in telemarketing and you usually have a script when someone calls to complain that you follow? There wasn't really a script, but there was a binder that outlined the top complaints and suggested responses. Okay. So for example, the top complaint at the soda company was someone has found a piece of glass

or other object in their soda. Okay. And the response to that was our sodas are canned in a glass-free environment. Most likely the cases were stored next to some kind of broken glass, and then when you opened the soda, it fell in, but there's really no way that we canned it with glass. Okay. But we are so sorry. Right. Even still. We'll send you a coupon. We're going to send you the coupons. And then the second most common was there is a bug in my soda. Okay. Same response. There's no bugs in the soda factory. Right. The third most popular complaint. Okay. Applied only to their diet soda. Okay. And it was there is a gelatinous slug-like creature in my diet soda. When you look in the binder. Is it alive? No. Everyone who called about it was like,

I can't tell what it is. It's like a gelatinous sort of thing in my soda. I don't know what it is. Oh my God. Third most popular complaint. Do you know what the binder said? No. The binder said, we have no explanation for this. Offer coupon. So they knew. They knew in the diet soda there could be a gelatinous thingy. This is a mom defective. When I read that, I was literally sipping their diet soda. Wow. I'll say I continue to drink their diet soda even with this insider info. Have you ever found a gelatinous thingy? I have not. One of the hypotheses was like there's something in the ingredients of the diet soda that if for some reason that soda has gone from very extreme high temperatures to extreme low temperatures and back again can cause it to

like congeal. And that's what that gelatinous thing is. It's just like a congealing of some ingredients. But they don't know. They don't know. Well, this sounds like the soda that would exist in stranger things. Oh my gosh. This season is so scary. Anyway, I really love my job there. It was great. I have a feeling you were better at recording files and documenting things than Kelly. I was. I mean, we had to keep very detailed notes. But you know, one thing I did do. What? Should I admit this? I told my friends and family that if they called me, I could send them coupons for free school. They would work in the system, lady. I did. Well, one of the things that cracked me up about the scene between Kelly and Andy, which would only have like supported his

whole theory, is that Kelly's like, oh yeah, they hate those. Like people are calling in, they hate the printers. They hate them. This is going to become the beginning of an arc, though. Well, in the script and the episode that aired, Andy goes instead to Gabe and says, hey, someone called said the printer caught on fire. And Gabe acts weird. He's very distracted. He's looking for almond butter. Yeah, Gabe really wants a jam sandwich. Yeah, I have a question. Who buys the food for the kitchen? I mean, I have thought this for years. I mean, I just assume people brought in what they wanted and kept it there. But Gabe's question sort of implies that there's someone stocking the kitchen with stuff. It certainly looks like it in this

episode. If you look at the counter, there's all this variety of tea, so many different kinds of tea. Well, you would notice that. Well, yeah. You love tea. I love tea. Anyway, well, listen, Daryl overhears all this and he says to Andy, did you think that was weird? Gabe's acting weird. He's hiding something. He plants the seed. Well, we're going to find out why and Daryl's talking head. Oh yeah, Daryl's been holding on to something for two years. I guess Andy blamed the warehouse for a late shipment that Andy forgot to process and Daryl almost lost his job and he was mad, but he was like, you know what, I'm going to be patient and I'm going to get my revenge on Andy. We had a fan question from Kim See in Langley,

British Columbia, Canada, who said, how is there a window in Daryl's office? The building has to be bigger than that. There cannot be windows on both sides of the building because the warehouse seems way bigger. Kim, thank you. Thank you for writing in this window. From the time we saw it behind what was Jim's desk, now Daryl's desk has bothered me. It does not fit with the architecture of this building. It is the only window right there. Like if you follow that window over, now you're in the bathrooms. And if you keep following it over, you're in Kelly's nook. Kelly doesn't have a window. No. In fact, Kelly next to her desk has a door. She has an exit door. Similarly, if you track over to accounting, they have a door that we're going to find out later

goes to a room. Right. Right. Yeah. So if you follow the wall that we're talking about behind Daryl, there's no window. It's the only window. It makes no sense. But I have been like afraid to question it because I'm thinking, well, is that just because I know what's behind there? Like what's behind there are the bathrooms and a working bathrooms that we would use. Yes. And a walkway in the soundstage. You could walk behind that wall to get to like food and stuff. Yeah. So I'm like, I know the building is bigger. But anyway, Kim, I feel validated. Thank you for writing in. Kim, thank you for validating Jenna. I needed it. We're going to start Dwight's undercover work. He's going to find Donna in the parking lot of her gym. That's right.

This initial meeting in the parking lot was longer. It's in deleted scenes. Listen to how Dwight kicks off his investigation, which relies on him wooing Donna. Listen to how smooth he is. Hey, stranger. Oh, hi. You work for Michael. I work with Michael. Right. White Trout. Donna. Hi. How are you, Donna? Good. How are you? Good. Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it? What? A cloud. What? Which cloud? Cloud of Nats. I could follow a cloud of Nats around for hours. Cloud of Nats. That's how you get them. Well, you know, like you said, Dwight says that the way he's going to find out if Donna is cheating is that he's going to seduce her, bring her to orgasm,

and then break the news to Michael. I have a location breakdown. Let's hear it. Both the interior and exterior of the gym were filmed on location in Recita, California at 360 Health Club, which is now closed. Well, let's take a break because when we come back, there's no ice cream in the kitchen. Oh my God. I can't wait to talk about this. Did he really eat mayonnaise? I'll tell you after the break. Okay. All right, we're back. Michael is glum. He's in the kitchen. Jim and Pam come in, and they find him eating ice cream. They think it's ice cream. There was no ice cream, so he's eating mayonnaise and black olives. We got another fan mail flurry about the mayo

and olives. What do we got? Well, Emmie L from Baltimore, Maryland, and many others would like to know what was Steve really eating? Yeah, what was he eating? He was not eating mayo and black olives. I'm pretty sure if I remember correctly, it was yogurt and grapes. He sold it. I don't know why. Washington made me so grossed out. He's going to tell them that he's put Dwight on the case, and Pam and Jim are like, no, Michael, you have to cancel this. Then Michael has my favorite line of this episode. This thing is going to spiral out of a muck. He's trying to use the word Pam used earlier in the conference room, which means out of control. Well, Pam tells Michael that he has a tendency to self-sabotage and torpedo his romantic relationships. Michael

agrees that he often ruins everything with the loves of his life, which he begins to list. All but Helene. Pam says, Helene? Michael can't seem to recall who this person is, Helene. She's like, my mother? He's like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I love Steve's look. Mm-hmm. After he's like, oh, yes, of course, of course. But then he doesn't aside. That's like, I don't know. Not really. Yeah. That's pretty amazing. Well, I guess they get through to him because Michael is going to try to call Dwight and I guess take him off the case. But Dwight's not answering. No, he blocks Michael's call. And he's going to start following Donna around the gym. And I guess this is flirting. It's very strange. Whatever it is, it needs to stop.

Because Dwight, what are you doing? What is that thing he puts on his head and he's trying to lift? It looked medieval. That's a real thing. I looked it up. No. Yes. It is a thing that is supposed to help strengthen your neck muscles, but Dwight is doing it totally wrong. Like what? The head strappy thing? Yeah. The head strappy thing with a weight on it is a real thing. Now, why do you need super strong neck muscles? I don't know. Maybe it helps you lift other things. You know, like if you're a big lifter, you need a big neck. You need a big neck. But you're not supposed to bend over. You're supposed to stand straight up. So it looked like rain was hurting himself. I was concerned. I did Google something. I got curious. Let me ask you. Okay. Do you know

how much the average human head weighs? Oh gosh. Because I was like, why would you need like, what are we holding up every day? Well, here's the thing. I just sort of have this vague memory from like a science class in school that our heads are really heavy. Like I kind of remember that we have big heads. So what do you think? Sam, do you have a guess? How much does the average human head weigh? I'm going to say 15 pounds. Okay. Angela? Yeah, I was going to say, I don't know. Should I try to lift my own head? How does it feel? I don't know. Like I think 10 to 20 pounds. Okay. On average, a human head weighs 10 to 12 pounds. Oh, I'm giving someone a pretty big bed at 20 pounds. But listen, your head is balanced on just seven vertebrae in your neck and is surrounded by about

20 muscles. And a recent study published in the journal Surgical Technology International shows that if you lean just 15 degrees forward, your head weighs more like 27 pounds. If you lean 30 degrees forward, it weighs about 40 pounds. And when you're hunched over in a position, very common for looking at your phone, your head is putting about a 60 pound strain on your neck. Any wonder you get a neck ache after you've been like on your computer or something? Yes. Our neck muscles were designed to hold our heads when we're straight, not when we're looking at our phones. So everyone right now straighten up. Yeah. Don't be so slouchy over your devices. That's right. I also Googled something this episode. What's that? It's probably a random

time to bring it up. But you know, we do a lot of research. We prep. I always try to find articles written about the show or something specific to the episode. So I Googled the cover up. Thinking maybe one of the first things that would come up would be our show. Oh dear. I got some real random movies and television shows. Okay. With the same name. I'm just going to share my three favorites. There were a lot. Okay. There was a movie in 1949 called cover up starring Barbara Britton, Dennis O'Keefe and William Bendix. The movie poster said it takes more than a kiss to cover up a killing. Oh, I know. I even watched the trailer. I'm like, I kind of want to go watch it. It's on Turner classic movies. Okay. I found an 80s television

show called cover up for CBS starring Jennifer O'Neill and John Eric Hexham. The show poster was my favorite. Ready? Yeah. She's the world's sexiest photographer. He's fashion's hottest model. They go where the government can't helping Americans in trouble. What is this show? I know. This is amazing. And I also found a movie from 1991 with Dolph Lundgren and Lewis Gossett Jr. called cover up. The movie poster said if the lies don't kill you, the truth will. Wow. World's sexiest photographer. Fashion's hottest model going where the American government can't. I don't even understand that tagline. I don't. I envision nothing when I hear that. I'll show you the TV poster. Here it is. Undercover, under fire.

This is incredible. I don't even know how to put words to it. Uh-huh. I'm speechless. Please post this in office ladies pod stories so all can see. Back at the gym, Dwight is working hard. He's getting very sweaty and he will not wipe down his equipment. I have a guest star alert. The woman who would like Dwight to please wipe down his equipment was played by Faye DeWitt. She's been on a ton of television shows including Monk and also Colombo and Mork and Mindy all in the family. Threes company and most recently Crazy X girlfriend. That is quite the resume. I agree. Some amazing shows. Dwight is finally going to leave. He's going to come back to the office and he's going to tell Michael that Donna is not cheating

but she's furious and she'll be on her way shortly. Also, he signed up for gym membership. Yeah. Michael's going to be billed monthly. I loved Rayne's commitment to his sore legs. I thought it was very accurate. I cannot tell you how many times after I haven't worked out for a long time and I decide that I'm going to work out. I go at it too hard and then I walk like that for about three days. I remember one time I came over to your house. Oh dear. Because you had started trying to do this workout. You had like a what do you call those things? A circuit? You know, you're like, and we're going to do 10 push-ups. Then we're going to do 10 jumping jacks. You had like a thing that you had worked out and I was going to do it with you. Yeah.

And we don't know why we ever try to work out together. It never goes well. It never goes well. Well, we started doing burpees. Yep. You told me what a burpee was. Maybe I got three done and I was like, I'm going to skip this one. You're like, no, you can't skip. It's a circuit. We got to do this whole thing. I'm like, I'm just going to jump up and down now. I can jump up and down. You're like, it's not the circuit. Anyway, it was really funny. We only did it one time, Jenna. No, we've often started these like fitness things together. We tried yoga. We tried hiking. And recently, again, you were like, lady, we need to do this together. And I thought to myself,

why? Why do we need to do it together? We never succeed when we do it together. We are many things. We are best friends. We are business partners. We are lovers of many common interests. Scrapbooking, Target, so many things. Exercise is not our thing. It's not our thing together. It's not our thing together. I do remember though, once I bailed on the burpee and I just said, I'm going to jump up and down, then there was another thing we were supposed to do. And you're like, okay, fine, we can skip that one. We just sort of beat off each other. This is where our partnership ends. Unfortunately, exercise. We are not workout buddies. Well, anyway, I think Michael is moaning on the floor. He's moaning on the floor and Don is going to come in.

He tries to hide from her, but she sees him and she's going to confront him. And it does not go the way I thought it would. Me either. She's somehow charmed by Michael. Yeah. I mean, he does say he just can't believe his luck being with her and that everyone kind of convinced him that, you know, there was something going on. Yeah. And she says, when I say, I like you, I like you, let's go away to Vero Beach. And Michael says, is that on the water? That's pretty amazing. Meanwhile, Andy is going to go into Darrell's office. Did anyone else catch the giant bass fish mounted on Darrell's wall at 13 minutes, two seconds? Yes, I did, lady. Has that always been there? Was that there when it was Jim's office? I don't know. How did we miss

that big bass? I don't know. Darrell tells Andy that he overheard Gabe saying something about eliminating Andy because he's been a problem. Andy starts to spiral. Yeah. Meanwhile, in the break room, we had one of my favorite Kelly moments ever where she lists off every store and every mall. She knows every store anywhere. Yeah. Because Donna has on heart earrings and Kelly wants to know where she got them. And Donna is hedging. I loved it so much. I pulled an audio clip. Oh, hey, I love your earrings. Thank you. Did Michael get them for you? No, I bought them myself. Where? Steamtown Mall. Clairs, dales, rickies, earrings, earrings, fancy girl, bottom cat. Where? You know, I actually got them in Philadelphia and I'm all down there.

Franklin Mills, King of Prussia, Springfield, Governor's Place. Franklin Mills. Mm-hmm. Uh-huh. Pam clocks it right away. Also, did you notice what Meredith is reading through this whole scene? What? Men's health. I did not notice. Yeah. Well, Pam can't let this heart jewelry thing go. She's going to have another talking head with Jim, where she says women don't buy heart-shaped jewelry for themselves. A man definitely bought that for her. That's right. And Jim says, do you like heart-shaped jewelry? And she's like, no. I mean, except for this necklace that you gave me, which I love. She caught herself pretty quickly. Creed is going to pass Andy and he's going to do like the finger across the throat.

Yeah, gesture. This will make Andy spiral even more because Creed is head of quality assurance. Maybe he's wrapped up in this. Creed has a talking head where he says, so there I am, minding my own business. And Darnell offers me three bucks. All I got to do is walk by Andy and go like this. Darnell's a chump. I would have done it for anything. I've done a lot more for a lot less. I noticed the recurring $3. Remember? Mm-hmm. Didn't Creed have a $3 bill earlier? Yes. With, I thought it was Brad Pitt. Turns out it was George W. Bush. Well, there is a candy bag alt for the second part of Creed's talking head. Uh-huh. Instead of saying I would have done it for anything, I've done a lot more for a lot less. Creed's alt that

they did shoot, it was a must shoot was, can you believe it? I thought this was going to be a terrible week, what with my mom dying, but life surprises you sometimes. Oh my God. I know. Oh, Creed. Well, this Andy storyline would have continued with this scene between Aaron and Andy in the kitchen. Really? Yeah. We haven't seen anything between Aaron and Andy since their breakup. Yes. But they had a whole scene. We talked about it briefly last week and I said I would share. In the shooting draft, Andy enters the kitchen and walks over to Aaron who is seated at the table. She looks up and smiles. He looks behind him and takes a seat at the table. Andy says, I think I've uncovered something pretty big and if anything happens to me, I want you to read this

letter. It has every feeling I've ever felt about you. Everything I've ever wanted to say to you, but didn't have the courage. I put it all in this letter. He slides it to her. He then goes on to say, however, and I can't be clearer on this point. If nothing happens to me, absolutely do not under any circumstances read this letter. And Aaron says, okay. Oh my gosh. That is crazy. Well, now there's going to be a big break in the case of is Donna cheating and is a mom detective. She sure is. Turns out she and Donna have a friend of a friend in common on Facebook and she was able to see some of Donna's posts. Now, first of all, obviously Michael doesn't follow Donna on Facebook. No, because there are pictures of her canoodling with another man.

There's multiple pictures. Yeah. So we're going to come to find out in this episode that Donna is married and the person she's kissing in these photos is her husband. Yeah. And this character of Donna's husband is going to show up next week. Spoiler alert. Randy told me that the actor who is going to play Donna's husband named Shane had been hired for the following week. His name was Larkin Campbell. So they contacted Allison Jones and Allison gave them a general description of Larkin and they cast a background artist to stand in and be a photo double so that they could take the pictures for this episode for Pam to have as a prop. These photos were shot by Michael Gallenberg on a green screen over on the warehouse stage and Henry Sane built the

Photoshop composite and the Facebook printouts that Pam holds up. A lot went into these printouts. Yeah. Including Amy Pete's having to kiss a random fella for these pictures. Oh, yeah. Right? Yeah. These are details you don't think about. Also, I just want to say, Pam also shows a photo of Cece. Mm-hmm. That was a photo of my real niece Cece. Oh, it's such a cute picture. I know. It's at 15 minutes and 35 seconds. It's so crazy cute. Well, Pam is going to take these pictures in a folder and march into Michael's office where he is sitting with Donna. It looks like they're looking at places to stay in Varro Beach. Mm-hmm. And this was a bit of a stretch for me that Pam would hand Michael these pictures when he is seated next to Donna. And Donna,

what, doesn't even glance over? She doesn't even see what he's looking at? Pam tries to get Michael out of the room. She says, Michael, I need to discuss my sex life with you. I know. She's desperate to get him out of that room. I mean, what else is she supposed to say? She makes up multiple reasons for him to leave the room with her, and he will not. My issue is not with Pam. My issue is, how is it that Donna doesn't just glance over and see what Michael is looking at? Because she's too invested in finding a good vacation spot. Okay. I absolutely loved filming this scene. I had so much fun with Steve, so much of that dialogue. And back and forth, we kind of found on the day. Mm-hmm. I figured you did. It looks like you guys were having fun.

I also want to point out at 16 minutes, in the background, Phyllis is not at her desk. John is at his desk, and Creed is standing at Dwight's desk. The reason for this was that Phyllis could not be in the background that day, and Rain, who was directing, could not be in the background. So in order to fill out that area, he had Creed step forward and stand at Dwight's desk. Michael and Pam are outside Advanced Refrigeration, where Michael is flipping out. Yeah. He's freaking out with this new information. Yeah. Michael does not know what to do with this information. He walks Donna to her car, and he's kind of trying to trick her by making plans for the weekend but then changing them.

Yeah, to Tuesday, and then she's like, oh, but I can't do Tuesday. Finally, Michael tells Donna he knows that she's cheating on him because Pam told him. And then he looks up, and Jenna, you like spring, like talk about this athletic move, where you like lunge and dive forward onto the ground. We got a fan question from Kelsey B. in North Carolina, who said, I love when Pam hits the floor so that Donna doesn't see her. Was this scripted because it's absolutely hilarious? Yes. That moment was scripted. In the script, it says, Pam hits the floor, and it was so fun to shoot. We kept laughing. I just kept trying to fling

myself on the floor in the most ridiculous way every time we were cracking up. We had a lot of fun with that moment. But this is when Michael is going to find out that he is the person she's cheating with. Yeah, he's the other guy. And next week, we're going to learn what Michael's feelings are about that. About being the other fella? Yeah. At 18 minutes, four seconds, Gabe is going to tell Andy that they have investigated all of the instances of faulty printers. In every case, it was user error. He's going to really creepily offer him a $5 Dunkin' Donuts gift card. Yeah, like as a thank you for bringing this to our attention. Andy seems happy. And then Daryl shakes him off like, nope, something's still going on. That's right. He manages to convince Andy

to film himself using one of these printers. They're down in the defunct Michael Scott paper company room. Remember, Michael rented that space forever. It's there. Yeah, he's going to have it for a while. In the shooting draft, the scene was described like this. Interior Michael Scott paper company. It barely resembles the old MSPC. There's some garbage in the corner and a few motivational posters on the wall. A Sabre printer is set up on a ledge, and it is printing many copies. Daryl videotapes Andy with the printer in the background, and the printer is printing. Well, Randy told me that they didn't think we were ever going to use that space again, and they had converted it back to being a post production store room. Oh my gosh,

they had to move everything out. They did. They had to take everything back out again. He said luckily they had left the fakey shower and the kind of stained walls, but he said our set deck team headed by Steve Rothstein and the lead man Jim McDermott had to totally recover that space, basically. Well, Andy is putting on the presentation of this printer. Daryl keeps making him talk in a higher voice. Yes. And now he's talking really high, and guess what starts happening? The printer starts smoking and catches on fire. Daryl is genuinely shocked. Randy told me that the printer in the scene was rigged by Ron Nary, our head of special effects, and our on set effects person, Mike Thompson, was there to kind of make it all

work. First, they had to hide a remote controlled electronic smoke generator, which produced the safe smoke, which is very similar to what we use in that fire drill, the opening of stress relief. And then the sparks were created using squibs, which were similar to what we use to make Andy's battery spark in mafia. And then finally, he told me that Craig used a real CO2 fire extinguisher. That looked real. I thought so too. But did you notice the fakie labels on the printer that say saber? If you look close, there's two. Fakie label. This moment is going to sober up Daryl pretty quickly. That's right. He's going to have a talking head where he says, I don't want to prank anymore. Things get real. It's not funny. I'm just going to be good.

Stay in my room. Go to church. Try to do one nice thing per day. I do not want to prank anymore. No more pranks. I don't like pranks myself. We've talked about this. I hate prank. I know. We hate pranks. We're on board with Daryl. Daryl, stay away from the pranking. This episode ends with Dwight back at the gym. He has aggressively taken over a spin class. Guess our alert. The spin instructor was played by David Mait and according to IMDB, he played professional ice hockey in Europe. Wow. I know. When we reached out to Rain, he said he absolutely loved doing the scene and he said he thinks the writers had for a while this idea that Dwight would take over an exercise class. It is pretty funny. I mean, talk about a class that would

make sure you worked out would be Dwight yelling at you on a spin bicycle. It's so true. Finally, we got a fan question from Sasha L from McAllen, Texas who said, I noticed that this episode was dedicated to Larry Einhorn. Who is that? Well, Sasha, that was Randall Einhorn's father. His father had passed away suddenly while we were in post-production on this episode and it was Greg Daniel's idea to add him to the end credits. Yeah. Well, there you have it, guys. That's the cover up. That's the cover up. Next week is the chump and we are winding down season six. Only two more episodes to go. Wow. I know. And then we're in Steve's final season. Oh my gosh. That's gonna be emotional. It is and Steve has got to come on. He said he would come on for goodbye, Michael.

When we reached out to him a long time ago to be on the podcast, he said, guys, can I come on for goodbye, Michael and just talk about it all? Oh my gosh. If Steve is able to come in studio, I will cry. I will cry. There's gonna be a lot of crying happening in season seven. Season seven. Buckle in. All right. Well, you guys, thank you so much for listening. Thank you to Rainn Wilson for sending us an audio clip. Thank you to Randy Cordray and we just hope you guys have a great week. 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 Bubico. 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 of Stitcher Premium, use code office.