Office Ladies - The Fire

Episode Date: January 8, 2020

Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam... That's right, The Office Ladies are back and covering The Fire episode of The Office. This week Jenna and Angela discuss Woofle Ball vs Wiffle Ball, what their Deserted Island movies would be, and what is a Cheese Pita anyways? Finally, it is declared, Ryan started the fire and Legally Blonde is a great movie.

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. Hello everybody.

We have some news about Angela's note cards. Well, I ran out of note cards last night. She ran out of note cards, everyone. I ran out of note cards because that's how many note cards I've been using on this podcast. So I started writing on a photo paper. Oh, I see that. You kind of cut some photo paper into the side of the note card. I didn't cut it, Jenna.

Who do you think I am? I didn't cut it. Oh, that's for a four by six photo. What do you think I was up late last night? Oh my gosh, they're glossy. On one side and I wrote on the mat side because I wrote on the glossy side and I got Sharpie all over me. Anyways, very exciting guys.

I have to go buy some note cards today. I have to go to Staples or somewhere. Staples was Dunder Mifflin's competitor. Yes. Yeah. And we got a lot of fans right in and tell us about all of the Staples merchandise that they see scattered around our set. Yeah, somebody got really like in a tizzy about it.

Do you remember? I was very upset about some Staples thumbtacks on Pam's desk, I guess. What is she doing? All right. Today, everyone, we are going to talk about the fire. Season two, episode three, written by BJ Novak and directed by Ken Qopis. Yes. Here is my first fast fact.

It's very short. This is the third episode from the team of BJ Novak and Ken Qopis. They teamed up on Diversity Day, they teamed up on Sexual Harassment, and now here they are again, the fire, finally tackling some rather non-controversial topics. Yes. Wait, do I look like I'm looking at you oddly? Do I look weird looking at you? What?

Well, I'm wearing my readers so I can see my note cards. Okay. But I can't see you that well, and I wonder, because you look blurry, do I look weird looking at you or do I look normal? You aren't blinking a lot, but besides that, you look normal. Oh, you guys, I got readers. Okay, sorry. Just put them down at the end of your nose.

You have to do that thing. You look over the top of them at me, like that. Okay. Now she's got it, guys. Okay. That was it on the first fast fact. I mean, I said it was short. That was it.

I think that's a great fast fact. BJ and Ken made a phenomenal team and created some really, really great episodes. You know what? They're never going to team up again. That's it. This is it, guys. Why would you do that? Third and final.

Oh, you were like, they were so great. Yeah. And never again. And then never again. Here is fast fact number two. This was the first episode we shot when we came back from our season one hiatus. It was the fire. And I have a fan question, Latimania, I hope I said that right, Latimania asks, what was

the atmosphere like on set? What were some of the biggest changes you noticed between filming season one and season two? I thought that was a good question. It is a good question. The biggest difference was that we were no longer shooting in a real office in Culver City. We were now finally at our home on the sound stages deep, deep in the San Fernando Valley

off of Satakoy Street. So a lot of TV shows are shot on these big studio lots. You know, if you come to LA and you get like a tour of Paramount Studios or Universal, that is not where we were. That is not where we worked. Those studio lots, they have little like... Cafeterias. Yeah.

Gift shops. What do you call those places? Gyms. A gym. I don't know. Wait, I don't go often. Clearly. I'm not quite sure what they're called.

What are those things called? What are those places with the muscles and the heavy things? And you walk in place for a long time. A gym. Yes. They have gyms and, oh, the Warner Brothers has its own preschool for the people who work there. Yeah, you can bring your kids and they go to preschool on the lot.

There are all these bells and whistles when you work on a lot. We did not. We worked in this very industrial area and on a dead end street, there was definitely no coffee shop. There was. There was no gym. There was definitely no gym. We were across from a train track.

Yeah. And like, was there like a junkyard? Yeah. It was like a car scrap towing yard. And so we would see people in the mornings, very angry, come to claim their towed car and if they didn't come, they would sell them for scrap. There was like usually a line of just really ticked off people. And then on my commute, I remember like right before I would turn left to go on our street,

I would sit at this red light and there was a mortuary, like where you go to be cremated. Yeah. That was my morning commute. It was like, it was very industrial. The crazy thing is that during the break before we came back to shoot, I got a guest job on that 70s show. Oh, and they were fancy. Fancy doesn't even begin to describe it.

Really? Give me the dish. All right. So they were on a lot. They had a coffee shop that served Starbucks coffee. Wow. Yeah. They had a gym.

They had a cafeteria. Wait. Wait, a cafeteria like with a train, you want down a lot, like a buffet? Yes. You would have loved it. Like a Vegas buffet. Like a Vegas buffet. I love a buffet.

They're fancy. That's what I'm telling you. What was your character? I played this character, Stacy Wanamaker, and I was, I was a wedding planner and I was there to plan the wedding of Wilma Valdirama and Mila Kunis. They came and consulted me and I only worked with the two of them. All of my scenes were just with the two of them. Here's the thing.

That entire cast was so famous. Ashton Kutcher. Yeah. He was married to Demi Moore at the time. Oh. Yeah. Wilma Valdirama was dating Lindsay Lohan at the time. Airman.

Right? Tofer Grace. All these guys are there and they're all talking about their very famous lives. And I'm just listening to stories about Lindsay Lohan. They're talking about it like. It's their life. It's their life. And I wanted to be like, you guys, I'm just like a regular person and I'm hearing a lot

of dish. But I have never repeated what I heard because I believe that there is a code of silence when you're on a set. This is true because I'm looking at her right now like, what the heck lady you've held out on me. I know. I don't repeat what I hear on sets. I believe it's actually.

Not even to your BFF. Not even to my BFF. You know what? I'm applauding you. Hey. Thank you. I don't know that I can say the same. Oh.

I think I would tell you. I would tell you. Well. You're the vault if someone tells you something. Just if I overhear stuff like that, I just think that's an actor space. Those people should be able to come to work and talk about their lives and not worry about being in the tabloids. I just think that's important.

I think that's important too. But I think you could tell your best friend. Okay. Maybe so. I wouldn't call a tabloid, but I'd maybe say to you, okay, so guess what? Lindsay Lohan. Haha. Well.

But you know what? Bless her heart. Okay. But I'll also say these guys were huge stars and they were so nice. At the end of their taping, they went out into the audience for probably almost an hour and signed autographs like they had been on the air for something like seven years at this point. Nice.

That's classy. Yeah. And I just thought, I thought they were really classy group. I actually met Wilmer a while back. I do a charity in Kansas for Children's Mercy Hospital. I love it so much. And really the people that started it are Eric Stone Street and Jason Sudeikis, Paul Rudd, Rob Riggle, who was on an episode of The Office later on Boo's Cruise and Dave

Keckner. They're all local Kansas City boys and they support Children's Mercy Hospital, which is amazing because Children's Mercy Hospital takes all kids. You don't have to have insurance. They take you no matter what. That's amazing. It's amazing. They do a few celebrity things to raise money and they had a celebrity woofle ball game.

Is it woofle ball? It's woofle ball. It's woofle like a dog thing. It's a woofle ball. Is it woofle ball? Woofle ball. Oh God. I've been calling it woofle ball for a long time.

Oh, Ange. Maybe that's why. People don't know what I'm talking about. I said woofle. It's not woofle ball. It's spelled with an I. W-I-F-F-L-E. How often are you writing woofle? Woofle ball.

Woofle ball. Oh, good God. Okay. So we're playing woofle ball in Kansas City to raise money for Children's Mercy Hospital. And I was on Rob Riggles' team and he was like, Kinsey, you cannot strike out. Jason Sudeikis is pitching. He's going to throw a lot of wacky stuff at you because it's a woofle ball. And he was like, you can't strike out.

I was like, okay, Riggle. There was like a whole stadium full of people. Like we played on the practice field for the Kansas City Royals. Yeah, you're right. I've seen it. It's amazing. It's a bunch of people. And so Wilmer had a bat before me.

Okay. And he swung as hard as he could at that woofle ball. And? And he struck out. It was like air. And I was like, oh no. But then I thought, I can't do worse than that. So I was up next to bat and I hit it to third and I got on first and I was really happy.

And Riggle was like, yes, Kinsey. But Wilmer was really nice. This is my point. Your Wilmer Valderrama story is that he struck out a horrible woofle ball player. He's not horrible. And you outshined him. I just want to break down. That's a summary of what you just said.

Well, basically, I'm pretty sure Jason Sudeikis did not throw him a very nice pitch. Well, now you're just throwing Jason Sudeikis under the bus. No, I'm not. Wait, I am giving him a compliment. He clearly was throwing some zingers. And that is why Wilmer couldn't hit the woofle ball. Yes, Jenna. Okay.

Well, I do want to say in all seriousness, Angela, I really admire what you do with that charity every year. And I just think Children's Mercy Hospital is a really special place. Thanks so much, Jenna. It's really such a special event every year, and I'm so thankful that Rob Riggle and those guys invite me to participate because it's really meant a lot to me. Yeah. But maybe this coming year, you should call it by its proper name, woofle ball.

You know what? I'm going to make a shirt that says, I'm here to play woofle ball. Okay. Where are we? We are on Fast Fact Number Three. Okay. I'm moving us along. Please.

Fast Fact Number Three, when we shot this episode, it was mid-July 2005, and it was 100 degrees outside in the parking lot of that episode. So hot. Do you know my ears sunburned? No. Yes. My little ears sunburned. I had this French braid, right?

So my ears were fully exposed, and we didn't put sunscreen on them. And there are a few time codes I could give you where you see my ears look like these little pink elf ears. We also are dressed like it is cold out because this aired in fall in Scranton, but we shot it in the dead of summer in Los Angeles. Oh, yeah. It was triple digits. Yeah, it was crazy.

So before we go to break, I just wanted to take a moment and say something kind of serious. I want to dedicate this episode to one of our young fans who passed away recently. Her name was Lauren. She was 10 years old, and I was speaking with her mother. The office was a really big source of comfort to their family and continues to be a source of comfort to their family. And that's something that's really meaningful to Angela and I, and it's not lost on us that this is the case for a lot of people.

And so I just wanted to share with you that Lauren's favorite episodes were lecture circuit because of Kelly's birthday, and she also loved Michael's birthday. Well, you know, Jenna shared with me a little bit of Lauren's mom's story, and I was crying as I listened to the message you left as a mom, and I know it really impacted you as well. And we do meet people throughout the course of just living our lives here that share with us what the office has meant to them and what it's gotten them through. And you guys, it is with our whole hearts that we tell you that means a lot to us.

Yeah. We're honored to be part of something that brings comfort to people in times of need. We really are. So thank you so much, everybody, for watching the show and for listening to us, and we'll be back after this break. All right, Jenna, I think you forgot something. I forgot the summary. Yeah, I think you need to tell us the summary.

All right. Here's a summary of the fire. Ryan in the office has to evacuate after the fire alarm suddenly goes off. And while in the parking lot, the employees play games like Desert Island and Who Would You Do, Michael learns that Ryan the temp wants to run his own business, and he starts to mentor him until he learns that Ryan is going to business school and knows more than he does. The attention that Michael is paying to Ryan makes Dwight very jealous, and we all want

to know, how did the fire start? Yeah. Who started the fire? We started the fire. The episode begins with a famous Pam line. Dunder Mifflin. This is Pam. Oh, yes.

Who's calling? Who's calling, everybody? It's Katie. Oh, yeah. Calling Jim. Pam has to transfer Katie. Uh-huh. So, Jenna, I have written here, what does that say?

Pam sass. There is some serious Pam sass in this episode, and it comes right out of the gate when you say, you can just give her your extension. Yeah. Oh, so much sass. You are ticked off that Katie is calling. I mean, just give her your direct line. Why do I have to answer the phone?

Yeah. Why do I have to take your messages? I have to deal with that. I'm not your secretary. Wait, I know this is like backing us up a little bit, but right at 14 seconds, there is something that brought such a big smile to my face. There is a yellow duck stuffed animal laying under Jim's computer screen. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack.

And you guys, and seasons later, you know, my daughter was born season five, and she would come to the set all the time, and she would come on set to my desk area. She was obsessed with that little yellow duck, and she would grab it and squeeze it, and it'd be like, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. And then they got a monkey she would squeeze, that would be like, whee, whee, whee. I'm sure it drove everyone crazy, but she would go around set, little tiny Isabel looking for the duck and the monkey. I'll never forget that.

I'll never forget that. I have pictures of her holding that duck on set. Okay. So, okay, back to the PAMSAS. She's ticked off at Katie, and here we go. The next scene is Michael and Ryan in Michael's office. Michael has to do Ryan's evaluation, which turns in to Michael teaching him about business. He has 10 things he's going to tell him, but he can only think of one, and he's going to

get back to him. He's going to tell him the rest later in the day. I have a little screen grab moment, guys. At three minutes, six seconds, we've talked about this before. I have that there is a green magic eight ball on his desk. There's a great shot of it on Michael's desk. It's got a dollar sign on it. It's not actually the number eight.

It's a dollar sign. Oh, this must be some sort of other product, not a magic eight ball, like a special like money magic eight ball. Yeah. Yeah. And I like looked online for it last night. You could find it? I could not find it.

I just grabbed my phone to Google it. I know. I looked up, you know, but yes, he's got a green magic eight ball that's got the dollar sign on it. So if anyone knows anything about that, I want you to email me. Yeah. Please. Office ladies at earwolf.com.

Yeah. So if you have a green magic eight ball with a dollar sign on it, I want to know. Angela wants to know, please. And I want to know what it says when you shake it and look at it. That's what she said. That's what she said. I know. Listen, I thought, I thought your first line out of the gate, you can just give her your

extension. That's what she said. That's a little bit. All right. All right. Next up. The fire alarm goes off. Yes.

Both Dwight and Angela start yelling and instructing people Dwight, everything. He grabs the water bottle. He punches the extinguisher. He grabs Kelly. How did Mindy get through that? I don't know. But she has a bun. Still.

Still. When will her hair come down? When will she not have a bun? Angela, what was that scene like when you were shooting that? It was so much fun. How much of that was improv? I mean, that scene was scripted and there were beats we had to hit to get everyone out of the room and people were reacting off of our cues.

My lines were scripted. I think a lot of some of like rain stuff was improvised because I have lines clearly my character has taken some class and being the safety officer because my lines are do not panic, arms at your side, find your safety partner and his are like, uh, no, panicking is warranted. You should be panicking. How excited was your character when the fire alarm went off? Like your character is one of those people who's so prepared.

Who were the two most excited people? When the fire alarm went off. Dwight and Angela. So when we get down into the parking lot, I noticed something. This is another episode where Jim takes charge just like office Olympics. He's the fun guy. He's the guy who's going to keep everything going. And I thought it was interesting that in real life, John was kind of that guy on our set.

Who did that? He would. We were like stuck somewhere on location or in the conference room, definitely in the conference room. Whenever we had conference room scenes and it was our five and we were in a slump, John would rally us. John would. He would like do bits and like he really, he would get us laughing and yeah.

So I thought that was a way that he is sort of like his character. Yes. A little bit. Yeah. Okay. I have some time codes really quickly. Go for it. First of all, we skip past this, but at three minutes, 34 seconds, Meredith has pink workout

weights on her desk. What is Meredith doing? Like arm lifts over there? What's she doing? Oh my gosh. I don't know. Also, there's a bright red book that looks like a Bible. I'm positive it's not.

It's probably some kind of fake accounting book, but it looks like a Bible. And then at five minutes, 20 seconds, I have to bring this up. We all walk out of the building, right? I was wearing my own giant chunky loafers that I had bought at Payless for the pilot. So for the first like two seasons, I had two pairs of shoes basically. I had my chunky Payless loafers and my sass shoes. How did you decide which ones to wear each day? Did you get to pick or did they pick for you?

They would set them out, I think. Okay. But knowing me, I just wore whatever I wanted. Yeah. So we've been over that. I did get fancier shoes season three, everybody. This is very important, Jenna. Go.

This is the episode of the crappy phone. Oh. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. First of all, two people walk out of the building on their phones. Do you know who they are? Who? And Devin, both are on calls.

Oscar's on a call the whole time like Dwight and Angela are herding everyone out. He stays on the phone outside and it looks like a really old flip phone. This is when the show is really dated is if you look at these phones. Same with Devin. Devin has on like these slick sunglasses. Oh yeah. He's like, oh yeah. Those real skinny sunglasses.

He was so smart. I would have loved some sunglasses and he has a cell phone. And then in the later part of the episode, which I'll wait for two more cell phones make an appearance by two other castmates and they are both equally really old. I feel like something that really dated the show as well are some of the Desert Island movies. Okay. Desert Island movies was a big thing that came up.

Should we talk about them? We should. But you know, I have this card, but now I feel really stupid reading it, you know, because of my waffle ball moment. You've been, you've changed it again. You were calling it Waffle Ball like a dog. It's Waffle Ball. Waffle.

Okay. You just called it Waffle. Well, because I was trying to get it right and I got it wrong again. I went from Waffle Ball. Also, I'm Southern, so I think I just said Waffle Ball. You want to play Waffle Ball? I've sort of made an as of myself with the whole Waffle Ball moment, so this is not going to help.

What if I have this written on a note card ready? All right. You have it written on a photo card. Yeah. Because I ran out of note cards. Desert Island. WTF. What does that mean?

It's 640. John, as Jim says, Desert Island. It's Deserted Island. What would you take on a Deserted Island? It's Deserted Island. Come on, Sam in the booth. It's Deserted Island. What would you take on a Deserted Island?

Are you nodding? Yeah. Desert Island. That didn't make sense to me. It's a Deserted Island. You're so right. Thank you. A Desert Island.

Oh my God. Am I redeemed for Waffle Ball? Is it Desert or Deserted Island? Why? It's Deserted. Yes. Thank you. So he's like, okay, Desert Island.

I'm like, well, why do I want to go to some arid Desert Island with other people? No. It's a Deserted Island. Like castaway. Right. You're so right, Angela. Thank you. I have a fan question about, should we call it Desert Island or Deserted Island?

I don't even know now. Hayden asked, did any of Pam's Desert Island movies match your personal favorite movies? Pam's movies were Fargo, Edward Scissorhands, Dazed and Confused, Breakfast Club, and Princess Bride. And then you had your ultimate all-time favorite that you never got to say. That Jim wouldn't let me say. And a ton of people wrote in and said, what is Pam's favorite movie? I don't know.

It wasn't in the script. And I texted BJ and I said, did you ever intend, did you have a favorite movie? And he said, no. It was never written. We'll never know. Right. I'm so sorry. I even said to BJ, do you want to just make one up now, just like, give us an answer?

And he felt that for the integrity of the show, he could not do that. BJ is so honorable. I know. So we will never know her favorite movie. And then as for me, okay, I do like Fargo, but who wants to watch that over and over again on an island? I don't want to see that leg go into the wood chipper over and over again. Over and over again.

To me, when I'm thinking about what movies do I take on an island, I'm thinking what can I stand to watch repeatedly? Yes. And I love Fargo, but I don't know that I could watch it over and over and over. Yes. And I would say maybe Princess Bride. I've seen that over and over and over again. I do love Princess Bride.

And that holds up. But still, my list would be different. What, do you have your list? I did. I made my list. I have my list too. Let me futz through my paperwork, Jenna. All right.

Okay. This one, okay. Anyway, you go. Okay. My list would be The Edge. Do you know that movie? No. It's a movie by Hopkins and Alec Baldwin.

It's a survival. Is this the one with the bear? Yes. Oh, God. It's a survival movie. I watch it every year. It's so good. What?

It's written by David Mamet. It has one of my favorite lines, what one man has done, another can do. That gets me through tough times. Okay. I think to myself, well, someone else has probably done it. I can do it too. I love that that message gets to you. I cannot believe in all the years we've been friends.

I did not know that you watch The Edge every year as like some motivational thing. I also didn't know you had gossip from, you know, that 70s show, so I don't know what's happening. Oh, my gosh. There's a lot of things you don't know about me, Angela. I guess so. You're a mystery. All right.

I also felt like if I brought The Edge, there might be some like survival techniques that I could learn while on the island. This is very you. That could help me get off. That is very you. So I just thought it would be instructional entertaining. Okay. All right.

That is Dwight. Are you Dwight? A little bit. Okay. Then I would also bring the three amigos. Oh, that's a great one. I love that. Oh, I love Tootsie.

Terms of Endearment. Oh, I love Terms of Endearment, which was written by Larry McMurtry, who's from my hometown of Archer City, Texas. It's so good. All the performances in that. Deborah Winger made me want to be an actress. I love that movie. Okay.

And then my final movie that I'm going to say, I'm a little on the fence about, but I'm going to say it. Okay. Parasite. What? The Korean film. Here's the thing. I just saw it and I really want to see it again.

So I mean, I just loved it. I thought it was beautiful and amazing and just so good. Okay. I need to see it. Those are my movies. I need to see it. I haven't seen it. I don't know why I cited it, except that it sounds stressful to me and you already have

the edge on your list, which also sounds stressful. But I've got comedies. Okay. I've got a good cry with Terms of Endearment. And I've got some survival. Then three amigos. Okay. Jenna asked me if I would make my list and I want you guys all to know the minute I read

that from her, she texted me. I did an enormous eye roll. I knew you'd be stressed. I don't like to make. I don't like lists. You don't like to categorize. I don't like lists. So I did it, but I didn't like doing it.

I love meet the parents. Yeah. It has an all-time great line too, Jenna, that gets me through things. What is it? I have nipples, Greg. Can you milk me? They're so similar. The things that get us through things are so incredibly similar.

It's weird. I love Pride and Prejudice, the one with Keira Knightley. Okay. I love it. It's over and over. Yes. I've seen it so many times. I love it.

It's also beautiful. I love it. I love Out of Africa with Meryl Streep. And Robert Redford. Robert Redford. He's swoony. He's swoony. But I grew up overseas and when I came stateside, I said goodbye to people that I'd never see

again. And I watched this movie as a kid and when she had to say goodbye to everyone in Africa, like I was bawling. I love the matrix. Oh, that's a good one. There is no spoon. That gets me through too, Jenna. I don't know, guys.

I love The Empire Strikes Back. And then like a wild card. I love Shakespeare and Love. I also loved Elizabeth I with Kate Blanchette. I mean, I did write a term paper on Anne Boleyn, so I kind of love anything to do with like that time period, the age of, you know, the golden age. I did not know that about you. Yes.

I mean, I knew that you watched Pride and Prejudice a lot and I remember it because you texted me the first time you showed it to Isabel. Oh, yeah. Yeah. You know, I remember that was a big moment, but I did not know that you had such. Do you watch The Crown? Jenna, how do you not know this about me? You clearly never watch my Insta stories.

Oh, no. Yes, I watch The Crown. I can't believe it's taking so long for it to come back and I can't wait. And it's finally here. Olivia Coleman. Also, I almost put on here none of these movies just Downton Abbey because I watched Downton Abbey. I'm already like going, I've made it through twice.

I have another fan question. Okay. This is from Michael. Our episodes like this one where a good portion of the story is outdoors, a pain to shoot because of the need for daylight. Does it make for longer shoots? No. I thought the heat, the heat made it really hard because I felt really bad for the guys.

They were in wool blazers and pants. They were so hot. And by the way, we're complaining, but we had camera operators who were on their feet all day with a giant camera on their shoulder. And then boom operators who were out in the hot sun holding a bum above their head. It was a hot day to work outside. It was. And my legs and hips were really sore after standing on that concrete for two days.

I'll never forget that. Says the 75 year old. That's right. I needed some of those sass shoes. Oh yeah. So we talked about the movies that we would all take to the deserted island. Yes. And Angela, then there's that part with the books and I love your line.

The Bible. The Bible. A purpose driven life. And then say, what's your third book? Say it to me. What's your third book? No. But then also, I love that you say you would take the Da Vinci code so you can burn the

Da Vinci code. All right. What a great piece of dialogue. It's such a great piece of dialogue. And people ask me, what are lines that people quote back to you? Like you get Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam. I was at a concert for U2, a U2 concert. And there was a group of young guys in the section next to me and there was a whole banister

between us. Right? Yeah. And they leaned over this railing and they yelled, we take the Da Vinci code because we burn the Da Vinci code. Like that. And I was like, hey, fellas. So I actually get that line quoted to me.

I also love Stanley's face during Dwight's description of the book he would bring. Yeah. He would take the book, but then he would hollow out the book and put a bunch of stuff in it. A book that would actually be really helpful. Yeah. It's actually a good book to bring. He's going to hollow it out.

Exactly. I have a question. Yeah. At six minutes, 54 seconds, all of these people are in the parking lot. There's a ton of people that you don't know and I have a theory about who I think they are. Who do you think they are? Well, I'm assuming there are other people who work in the building because Dunder Mifflin

isn't the only business. Right. I think they're advanced for refrigeration. Oh. That's what I thought they were. We know that business is there. I can't remember some of the other businesses that were in there. There's an episode later on where they have the meeting of the five.

The five. Oh yeah, the five business heads. Yes. But I can't remember what the other businesses are right now. I would need to prepare that. And I would when we discuss that episode. Oh. Well, is that SAS to me?

No. When I brought something up that you're not prepared for? No. That wasn't SAS. That was just speaking. Why would I speak? Because you think it's SAS. I don't understand.

I don't know. You guys listening, some of my favorite lines are when Jenna is just like being Jenna SAS instead of Pam SAS where she's like, I am giving you a compliment. Oh no. You need to know something. You can tell. You may speak. You may tell that story now.

After we record these podcasts, we edit these podcasts all together with our engineer Sam and our producer Cody. We sit in a room and we go over the podcast and we have to listen to ourselves back. And we have honed in on a few lines that now you give me trouble for. Apparently, in an episode, I say, I am giving you a compliment. And now the three of them tease me. We say it all the time. I am giving you a compliment.

You may speak now. I did not ever say you may speak now. You may tell that story now. Oh, no. Oh, OK. Thank you. Oh, no. All right.

I have a fan question. Did they list their favorite books or was it all scripted to fit your characters? There are actually a lot of questions like this. Were the movies scripted? Were any of them are real movies all scripted? All scripted. I actually was talking to Kate Flannery last night on the phone and I asked her if any of her movies for her DVDs for the deserted island, thank you, were her own.

And she said, no, they were all scripted. And I asked her because Meredith says, my big fat Greek wedding, and in real life, Kate Flannery and Nea Vardalos, who wrote that movie and stars in it, are very, very good friends. So I thought maybe she had improvised that, but nope, they were all scripted. Oh, wow. That was some good, good little trivia there. What was that?

That was good trivia. Angela, you're giving you a compliment. Angela, you had decent trivia. I have always loved Rain's reaction to the firefighters. Yes. When he punches the air. I remember it on the day. I remember it fondly every time I watch it.

And there was a fan question. Both Andrea and Thomas, two different people, not together, asked, did you guys recruit an actual fire department for this episode? The answer is yes. Yes, we did. And their uniforms are the Scranton uniforms so that they wanted them to look like Scranton firefighters, but they were in fact an actual firehouse here in Los Angeles. From what I understand, our wardrobe department reached out to the Scranton fire department

and they sent in photos of their uniforms so they could recreate them. Yeah. That's very cool. All right, guys, I think we should take a break and then we will be back and then we will finish talking about the episode. See, this is what she does. Do you hear it? You know what, you guys?

You get to have a break now. I am giving you permission to have a break. I am giving you a break. Okay, we're back from break and I do want to tell you guys that our days where we come in and edit are some of my favorite days because Jenna and I just crack up and it kind of reminds me of how we were on set. I agree. I agree.

We just listened to each other and we're like, oh my God, is that what I sound like? It is not easy to listen to yourself for long periods of time though. With your best friend. It's made me very self-conscious. Oh, wait, Sam is waving at us. Sam is waving from the bootman. What, Sam? Maniacally waving.

Hi, guys. Hi. What, Sam? So it looks like you both have stumbled upon a pretty big internet debate on whether or not it's desert or deserted islands. Oh, tell us more. It actually looks like both are correct because both stem from the same Latin word, which means abandoned or deserted.

Okay. So both are technically correct. Okay, fine. But I also feel affirmed that it's a big debate. Yeah. I think it's one of those cases where everyone's right. Yes, it's not a woofle ball moment. No, it's not.

It is not. But maybe. No one agrees on that. Well, maybe in parts of Texas you play woofle ball. You know what I'm saying? Okay, let's get back to the episode. A big part of this episode happens between Michael and Ryan. So there's almost two storylines.

There's the Michael, Ryan storyline and Dwight being jealous, and then there's the group of us who are all just trying to keep ourselves occupied in the parking lot. So during those scenes with Michael and Ryan in the car, all of us were just standing in the background for hours and hours. Hours. Your ears are getting sunburned. And do you remember that bug, Jenna? You know I remember that bug.

You know I screamed and ruined a take because of that bug. So guys, there was this bug. I looked it up online. It was as big as a bird. I said it was as big as a Buick. It was bright green and I looked it up. They're called Green June Beatles. Yeah, look it up because this thing is huge and it kept buzzing around us in the background

and we would have to pretend like it wasn't there because we didn't want to be flailing in the background and ruin all the shots that Steve and BJ were working so hard on in the back of that car. Yes, there was a tree not too far from us, that little tree. And the dude was hanging out in that tree. But every once in a while he would buzz by and then literally though you could hear it. It sounded like a hummingbird or like some toy flying device. And it would come and land on Angela's head in particular.

It really liked Angela. I think, well here's the thing. You asked what we did between our break, right? You went and worked on that 70 show and have gossip you don't want to tell us. I was very much on a budget. I went back to working at the improv theater I was working at. I needed to, when we were going back to work, I needed to get my hair dyed because my hair, I'm like a sort of a dirty blonde, a dishwater blonde.

And I decided to dye my hair myself to save the money because it's really expensive. So I went to the drugstore and I got a home kit. And so actually, I remember people wrote in on the comments section at IMDB, which you should never look at. They wrote in and said, what happened, why is her hair so bleach blonde? My hair is so blonde. And I think that dang bug thought I was a flower. I dyed my hair myself.

Look at it. It's like, I think I burnt my scalp. Well, John Krasinski started then doing this bit where he was pretending to be the bug picking you up and carrying you away from all of us. And we'd be like, bye, Angela. And I'd be like, but he would like do this. He's so tall, first of all. He would like do his arms like, and then like attach to my shoulders and then carry you

away and like drop me off. But here's the thing, guys. I do not like people scaring me. We've discussed this. I like swat or hit. I also don't like anything near my ears. My ears were already sunburned and this thing would buzz by my ears and I would shriek and flail about.

And I think I did ruin the take. And then I remember that John as a joke decided to come up right next to your ear and pretend to be the bug. Make the buzz noise. And you were so startled, you hit him in the face. I hit him as hard as I could. I didn't know I was going to be hitting John. No, you had your thing.

You had your reaction. So a lot was going on in the background. I have a question, because at 16 minutes, 12 seconds, you guys, Roy is waving about like David Dynman is waving his hand back and forth and he kind of jumps up and down and I couldn't help but wonder if it was the bug. That's amazing. I have to talk about the talking head where we learned that Michael lost all of his money in a pyramid scheme.

And he says it was okay because it taught him more than he could have learned in business school. Yes. It was just, I have nothing to say about it except for that I thought it was a great talking head. I know. Well, Michael has a line in this episode for me that is just one of those lines that sums up Michael.

Michael is in Ryan's car in the backseat with Ryan. Ryan feels totally uncomfortable, the majority of this episode. But Michael says to Ryan, I became a salesman because of people. I love making friends. Oh. Oh. He probably was a good salesman but he's horrible in management because he doesn't get to like, you know, butter up strangers.

Well, we see him be a great salesman in future episodes. So he was very good at that and then got promoted to manager and now I think he's lonely. My next fan question has to do with the scene where Dwight is pouting in his car. Oh, yes. Let's do that because I have a card about that. Great. So Lucy asked, how many takes did it take for the scene where you and John are helping Dwight with his emotions when he's listening to REM in his car?

Rain seems to almost break at the end of that scene. Are you and John's reactions authentic or scripted? Well, it took a lot of takes. I'll say that. We spent a lot of time on that scene. I'm sorry. You were probably in the background with the bug on that one, Angela. I was probably fending for my life back there.

Me and Roy, apparently. And yes, I think rain is almost breaking. I think rain is almost breaking at the end, but I actually wrote this and I know my jam people out there are not going to be happy. But I said at 14, 22 seconds, I thought Jim and Pam were being mean to Dwight. I agree. When I watched this episode, I didn't like us. I didn't like you guys there either.

In fact, Jim suggests that he quits. Yeah. You know? I didn't like it. I didn't care for it. And then you guys laugh as you walk away. And here's the thing. I don't mind when you do pranks in the office because Dwight is so ridiculous and he takes

himself way too seriously. But in this episode, his feelings had been hurt and he was feeling sad and kind of rejected. Yeah. And I thought you guys were doing like jokes at his expense. And I didn't like it. Me either. I thought we crossed a line. Yep.

You know, something that I like about our show is that we were whole characters. And as people in your whole life, you probably aren't great every moment, right? Well, you have moments you're not proud of that you were like, you know what? I could have been better in that moment. Yes. And I thought Jim and Pam could have been better in that moment. Yeah. I was disappointed in them.

And Emil also asked a couple of episodes ago, you mentioned that the cars we see your characters drive are sometimes your actual cars. Is the car that Dwight listens to? Everybody hurts. Yes. Is that Reigns actual car? No. That was a Dwight car.

Yes. We bought that just for Dwight. And also Michael Sebring, they rented that just for Michael. That's right. And we only used our cars in some of those few first episodes. And really after that, I think we got a bigger budget. Yes. Pam had a Kia, I think for a while, and they rented that.

So they rented all these cars for us. What about the warehouse guys breaking bottles? Yes. In the background. I have that on a card. So the warehouse guys look like they're smashing beer bottles. And you know what? It actually even annoys Roy, which is Roy's motivation to come over to you and be like,

gosh, you know, those warehouse guys, like he actually almost seemed vulnerable to me in that moment. He did. Like he didn't want to hang out with them. And I thought it was sort of weird that he was like, can I hang out with you guys? Yeah. Can you hang out with your own girlfriend? I think you can.

Yeah. Fiancé. Fiancé. Look, see. I know. I actually kind of liked seeing Roy like that. I liked seeing him. But then he so quickly is a turd again.

Well, I guess you did like seeing him, Angela, because during the game, who would you do? He says Angela. I didn't say Roy. No. No need to ask me. So the question under construction, who would Angela's character do Angela? Would it have been Dwight or Roy? It would have been a toss up.

I would have liked to see them fight over me and be titillated. And then I would have picked the winner. Well, all of the women say Jim, except for Pam. Pam says Oscar or Toby. Now, she's obviously saying this because she doesn't want to admit Jim. But in a later season, she does say she always thought Toby was cute, so maybe. If Toby had heard that, he would have maybe fainted. And then the whole time, Kevin, poor Kevin, is like standing right behind them.

Meredith just sort of smiles like with this crazy eye look and nods her head at every single name. No, I did not. Yes. But did you notice that when they said who would you do, both Oscar and Kevin said Pam? At the same time. Wow. Jim says Pam.

A lot of desire for Pam. And then, of course, everyone is saying who they would do. Jim says Kevin, and it's kind of playful and lighthearted. But then Michael says, I would love to have sex with Ryan. And everyone's like, Michael, you just took a turn. Yeah. That's not. When you put it that way, when you're playing these games, it just, it's like, no, no.

You don't say, you don't say I would have sex with Toby. Like, no. You try. Yeah. Who would you do? Who would you do? I have some time codes, Jenna, that I want to get to before we come to the end of the episode.

I know this takes us way back, but 11 minutes, 20 seconds, Michael has a talking head by the building. And if you watch it, you will see that Steve is squinting so badly. But you guys, when I watched that, I started laughing because I remember it was so bright out because it was so hot that we were all squinting. Like it was actually hard to. Except Devon with his sunglasses. Except Devon with his like super slick sunglasses.

But just watching Steve trying to keep his eyes open, it was so cracking me up. Also at 14 minutes, 54 seconds, who is that dude sitting on the curb across the street? He's by like a blue hatchback. He's just sitting on the curb watching us. Who is that guy? He's probably from one of the local businesses. I think so. I think he probably works at like, you know, the train yard.

They used to try to shut down the street when we were, when we, our cameras would swing that way, they would shut down the sidewalk or ask people not to walk, but we can't legally make you not. Also those guys at the junkyard could give zero. Zero Fs. Fs about it. It's true. He was having lunch.

He's like, I'm going to sit here and watch what we're doing. What are these people swat bugs? Starting at 17 minutes, like 30 seconds, Michael can't find his phone. Right? Oh yeah. And so white runs back into the building. Runs back in. We're like, Dwight.

But Ryan the temp is like, what if I call it? You know, right? Yeah. And there's this awkward exchange that like Michael's like, I gave you my number and he clearly didn't put it in his phone, but his phone is ridiculously old. And then Michael starts ringing in his pocket and do you know the song is playing? Yeah. Yeah.

Mambo number five. Mambo number five. Our writers were obsessed with that song, obsessed with it. And then that was like a really old flip phone. So you guys just a lot of old technology in this episode. Well this just goes to show you these were the phones of the time. Yeah. And then finally I upgraded to a blackberry.

Yes, we had blackberries. Sometime at the end of season two. And that was the other thing. And I was thrilled that I could answer an email for my blackberry, but I still couldn't do any like web browsing. Also this episode I think shows the time it's in because if you had a group of people like this outside, there would not be only Oscar and Devin on a phone. Everybody would have their phones out.

Oh yeah. That's what it would be now. Isn't that interesting? That's really interesting. And this episode wouldn't work. It wouldn't work because we wouldn't be forced to interact with one another. We wouldn't be playing games. We'd all just sit on our phones.

Guys, we gotta get off the phone sometimes. This is a good point. And also remember Phyllis, our burlesque dancer at 19 minutes, three seconds. Guess who starts doing a little shimmy, a little dance to Dwight's song. But you know what this song is because guess who started the fire? Ryan started the fire. His cheese pita. What is a cheese pita?

I feel like I've had one. It's a pita with just cheese in it? Kind of. It kind of reminds me of like a pizza pocket. Like a hot pocket? A hot pocket. Okay. I thought it was a weird thing to a cheese pita.

I don't know. All right. I wonder if the writers ate them in the writer's room. They must have. Right. I have a fan question. The name of the person is one of those Marvel nerds. So one of those Marvel nerds asked, did Ryan started the fire get stuck in your head

throughout filming this episode? Yes. Yes. Four days later. And every time I watch the episode, it gets stuck in my head for a whole rest of the day. So yes. Now I need to address something that I have some strong feelings about with this episode. We addressed one of my strong feelings, which is where I thought that Jim and Pam, we both

agreed they behaved poorly with Dwight. Okay. Now I have to say that. I'm really wondering if this is going to be what's, I'm hiding my last card from you. Yeah. I have one card left. And I have one sheet of paper left. Okay.

Okay. Katie arrives. Mm-hmm. She says that her Desert Island movies are legally blonde. That's all she gets out. Yes. And Jim cuts her off. And remember earlier, Pam.

Meredith had said it. And Pam said, I really liked that movie and Jim gave her trouble about it. And then she takes it back. Yeah. Okay. And then, which by the way, I don't like that. I don't like it that Pam took it back, that she changed herself. Yes.

She edited. She edited herself. Uh-huh. In front of Jim. Uh-huh. That bumps me out. I don't like how Pam then snarkily laughs at Katie. When she says it.

I don't like it. I thought it was Katie. I thought it was competitive. And I know that she's jealous of Katie, but Pam likes legally blonde. So why can't she just say that to Jim? I know. She doesn't stand up for herself. And then she shames Katie for it because she's trying to look cool for Jim.

And I think it's a flaw. I do. But I like it because I think it shows Pam being human and complex, but it does make me cringe. I remember dating a guy in college, oh my God, he loved the show Bass Masters. Guys, I don't give a crap about, sorry, I don't, here's the thing. I appreciate that you want to get out in nature. I don't need to watch you fish.

No offense to the Bass Master people. But I would watch hours of Bass Master with this guy in college because I liked him. And I'm like, oh my God. I think that's different. I dated a guy. Well, I think you edited yourself. I think Pam, not Jenna, edited herself for Jim because she likes him. But what I don't like is that it was at the expense of Meredith.

You like, Jim judged Meredith's picks and then he judged you and then you judged Katie. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Like that's the sort of behavior that I didn't like. I dated a lot of people where I took on their interests because I like them. I think that's love. You know? I will get up in the middle of the night and watch the World Cup with my husband because

he loves it. You know, I think that's cool. But anyway, after all of this happens, Pam kisses Roy in front of Jim. You want to see what I wrote? First of all, I said at 19 minutes, 52 seconds, we have some serious Pam sass happening. She laughs when Katie also says legally blonde. And then she says, what an adorable car. Which is basically Pam's moment of, looks like someone took the slow train to Philly.

This is Pam's moment, like she is being so snarky. I know. And then I put, and then Pam smooches Roy in front of everyone, tacky. Oh, you wrote tacky because I wrote, okay, I would do that. Tacky. I wouldn't throw like someone else's opinions under the bus and change all my way I think to impress a man. But I would try to make him jealous by kissing someone else.

Well, I said tacky. And I want to say two fans wrote in about this as well. Macy said, can we all agree that in this episode, Jim is completely wrong about legally blonde. It's a great movie. Everyone was right to pick it. And Chubby Bookworm said, why is Jim so opposed to a movie about a girl who is strong enough to go for what she wants and along the way finds herself and encourages others and up builds them and is capable and inspiring.

I agree. I think legally blonde is a great movie. It has a positive message. You heard it here. Jim is wrong. You heard it here. Reese Witherspoon. We got Reese Witherspoon in case you were worried that the movie did land.

It landed. We loved it. And everyone, that is the fire. I want to leave you with this final moment. When Rain as Dwight sings the song in the conference room, he's holding up the charred cheese pita, whatever you can tell. When Rain gets through the whole thing, he's so happy. I want to know.

I want to text Rain and ask him how many takes did he have to do because when he hits that final Ryan started the fire, he's like, he's like alive because I think it probably took a few takes to get it. I bet you're probably right. All right. Next week, everybody, we are going to be talking about Halloween with special guests. Yes, my neighbor and the delightful Creed Bratton. So be sure to join us for that.

And we'll see you soon. Okay. Bye. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our producer is Cody Fisher. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer. And our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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