Office Ladies - A Look Back on Casino Night with John Krasinski

Episode Date: December 28, 2022

This week, we’re taking a trip down memory lane with “Casino Night,” which includes an interview with John Krasinski! This episode was written by Steve Carell and the ladies start this JAM packed episode by explaining how Steve ended up writing this episode, we chat about Pam's wink to Jim, and Jenna shares some behind the scenes tidbits about the Scrantonicity video. Then we get some fan catches about Pam's casino night dress paired with her watch, and that Dwangela slap heard around the world. Finally, we call up the one and only John Krasinski to talk about his memories about this episode, the teapot, and that iconic episode ending.  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestionFollow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPodCheck out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies

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. Lady Luck, roll those dice, it's Casino Night, everyone. Oh, baby.

Yes, it is. I'm so excited for this episode. I had not watched this since it aired until we prepped for this episode. And Angela, oh my gosh, it is so good. It is. I saw God really quickly before we get started, you guys. You know, we're recording from home right now and it's pouring rain. So if you hear some rain, that is why.

Yeah, I had to move into my daughter's closet because the rain outside of my closet, it kind of sounded like I was tinkling the whole time. I didn't want it to sound like inappropriate. I mean, I know there's rain, but then you know how sometimes the rain happens to come off of a gutter in a sort of waterfall-esque way? Apparently, that's what happens outside of my closet. So I'm in my daughter's closet. Well, I'm in my, that's what she said, because all three kids are inside and they're so loud.

And I'm just like, what? I can't tell them to like not make any noise ever. Yeah. Okay. So here we go. Casino night. I'm so excited. Season two, episode 22, written by Steve Carell.

Steve Carell. All right. Written by Steve Carell, directed by Ken Quapas. This is already off to a good start, Jenna. Oh yeah. This is a good team. All right. Hit me with a summary.

Here we go. Michael decides to hold a casino night down in the warehouse to benefit charity. However, Michael is going to have to juggle two dates. Bum, bum, bum. Also Jim is dealing with his possible transfer to the Stanford branch. Yeah. And that's going to lead him to ponder his relationship with Pam. It's a good one.

Should we get into some Sam? Fast facts. Yeah. Fast facts. Fast fact number one, written by Steve Carell. So here's something that maybe a lot of people don't know. Steve also co-wrote 40-year-old Virgin. This is not the first thing that Steve has written.

So he got to write this episode. You know, he also wrote another episode of The Office, season four, episode seven, Survivor Man. So we'll get to that one. But I found an old article from the LA Times where Steve did an interview all about how he came to be the writer of this season two finale. Lady, that is some good detective work. I love it.

I was very proud of myself. All right. So here's how it went down. So Steve had the idea as a general episode that Michael should throw a casino night down in the warehouse. And he pitched that idea to Greg and Greg said, oh, that would make a great setting for the finale episode. And then I guess, remember when Steve had to fly to New York to do the Valentine's Day

episode? Yeah. On the airplane, Steve and Greg were together and on the way there and on the way back, they sat down, they sort of plotted out together what the finale would be with this casino night idea. Because they're on the plane and they're outlining this episode. I love that. And Greg said to Steve, why don't you write it?

You should write it. And Steve was like, OK, yeah, I mean, I think that's great. But then this is a really fun tidbit. Steve got cold feet. And he tried to get out of it. So I guess this was during the time when he was still doing Evan Almighty on the weekends. You know, he would shoot on our show sometimes like four days a week. We would shoot him out in four days.

And then he would fly. And on the weekends, he would be doing Evan Almighty. And so he flew home and he had one weekend to write this finale script. And his parents were in town visiting him at his house. And so he went into Greg's office and he said, I just don't think I can do it justice. There's no way I can do it. I should get out of it. But Steve had this great quote where he said, I don't know, Greg managed to talk him into

doing it anyway. Like Greg has a way where by the time he was leaving Greg's office, he was like, I'm writing this episode again. How did that happen? I should not get out of it. So that makes me smile because it's very Greg. Greg, you know, we've sort of all said that he was kind of like our dad. Yeah.

Although he's not old enough to be our dad, obviously, but he had sort of that father mentor thing of like, you figure it out, you're going to do it. It's going to be OK. And then you're like, wait, wait, wait, I can totally see that. I came in here to tell you I'm not doing it. But now I'm writing it. Yeah. But he did say he was really pumped.

Like that was the other part of it was that Greg really infused him with this enthusiasm. So he was really excited. So what he did was he went home and he would write the script after his parents went to bed. So he would stay up at night and write the script and he turned it in and he said then the writing staff did a bunch of punch ups and like they usually do. And that's how we got the script. Wow.

Way to go, Steve. Way to go. Isn't that crazy? Man, I love that story. All right. That was a good one. Moving on to fast fact number two. This is a super sized episode.

Greg said that he was doing an interview for the Chicago Tribune and he had mentioned in the interview kind of casually that he wished that the finale for season two could be super sized. Well, this started a whole online petition by office fans. They started writing in like crazy, the NBC, give me my remote, Northern Attack and Office Tally started these online petitions. And it was the fans that got us the super sized episode. That's great.

And you know what? This was before Twitter and Instagram. It was not easy to start an online petition back then. Yeah. No, you didn't have the same outreach and they really just like kept at it and NBC was like, okay. And Greg was thrilled. Thank you so much to the office fans for making that happen because I could not imagine this

episode being 22 minutes. There's so much we would have missed. I wish this episode was an hour. I could have watched even more. I know. But I kind of feel like that about almost all the episodes. But this one in particular, I'm so happy it was longer. That's what she said.

That's what she said. Well, speaking of longer, this podcast is probably also going to be super sized today because well, we're going to have a special guest join us later. Ben and I got to talk to someone about this episode and this person was such a delight. Jenna, we talked for like almost an hour. We did. And we just want you guys to hear it all. So buckle in.

It's going to be a super sized episode. It is. It's going to be jam packed. Bum bum bum. Wink wink. Fast back number three. We got a lot of questions from fans about what it was like to transform the warehouse into a casino.

I mean, seriously, can we talk about this for a second? Can we talk about Dunder Mifflin's budget for parties? I mean, as head of the party planning committee, I usually had some streamers and a cake. I mean, and one plastic tablecloth. It's true. But then Michael takes us on a booze cruise. He throws us this casino night. Where is he getting the money for this?

At eight seconds, Jenna, you see them converting the warehouse and there's all these extra employees. There's giant neon signs. There's dealers. I mean, where is this budget coming from? That I don't know. That I don't know. But I did reach out to Kentopedia to find out how we transformed the warehouse into

a casino. And this is what he said. He said that he hired a company that specialized in creating casinos for special events like Christmas parties or college fundraisers. I've been to those things. I've been to fundraisers that are casino nights. Yes. So there are these companies and they send dealers, they send all the equipment.

And so he just said he hired one of those companies and then he used all the employees from the company as extras in the episode. What was this budget? I'm sorry. I can't stop talking about the budget, but it was, it was crazy. Do you think we raised more money than the party cost? No. No.

It was definitely a loss. It was a loss for sure. Speaking of the whole casino setup, fan question from exploring Lauren. She asked, in between scenes, did you all play any poker games? Did you, Amj? Did you play any of the games? No. I didn't.

Did you? Oh, yeah. You did? Oh, yeah. There were any time that I was living- Well, you love poker. I love poker. I know. And it was professional dealers.

So my character was stationed at the poker tables too. You know, whenever I was in the background of any scenes, I was sitting at a poker table and we'd play poker. It was like the greatest time, the best time. I mean, I have a memory of like sitting and watching you guys play cards because I really didn't know how to play poker. I only just learned. I'm not great.

I mean, I always think I can win with a pair of threes. I'm that, I'm basically Phyllis. You can? I know. But I'm basically, you know, Phyllis, like, oh, look, the one with the flower, one. Yay. The Clovers. But a lot of you guys were poker players.

I mean, Rain had a poker tournament, didn't he, in his garage or something? You guys all went? Yeah. It was the people who played the most together outside of work were me, Rain, David Denman, Chris Workman, and Ed Nielsen Jr. Those guys were on the crew. And I'm trying to think who else, but there was, there was a little group of us, like six or eight of us, and we would go to Rain's garage and play poker on the weekends.

Yeah. So I love that you guys were doing that in between scenes. I'm sure I just was sitting there being chatty. Well, listen, I think we should take a break and get into this episode because like we said, it is, it's a long one. So we'll be right back. Okay, we are back. And let's get into this episode, Jenna.

We've got a lot of ground to cover and at 36 seconds, Dwight's in a tuxedo game on. It's starting. Oh, yeah. He explains that it's a family heirloom. His grandfather was buried in it. Yeah. So that's special. And now you have a gym, Pam Prank, right?

Can we talk for one quick second about the fact that Pam winks at gym with Roy or right there? I have that down. So yes, Roy and Pam, they're talking about Casino Night. This starts a whole conversation about who can win roulette. Right. Jim says he can win by using mind control, right? And Dwight says, Oh, really?

You can do mind control. Why don't you try moving the coat wrap? So he stares at it and it moves to everyone's surprise and then Pam winks at gym. And I wrote down, discuss how do we feel about this? It's a big wink. It's not like, and Roy is right there. Is he? Yeah.

Does he not have eyes? Is he not? Yeah. Is Roy looking at his fiance? What the hell? Why are you winking at gym? So the flirt is starting early on. This is early.

For sure. Early in the evening. It's not even the evening. It's the day. The flirt is starting. I had a fan question from Batya who said, was the wink Pam gave Jim scripted? Yes, it was. I was going to say, absolutely.

It was. It was in the script. I actually, I have the script from this episode, Angela. I love that you have the script. So you could go to it. Yeah. I looked it up and it's right there. It says Pam winks at gym.

I had another fan question too from Brittany in the cold open, Jenna, did you actually move the coat rack with an umbrella? No. No. No. And Jenna, what? In a time capsule called the DVD commentary. You talk about it.

Oh, I went into it. Yeah. You went into it. You said that there was a crew member that had a string. It was like a clear like fishing line. We tried to have me do it. We tried to have me use the little, even like tried to have me use that string thing. And you just saw my arm moving too much.

I was too far away. Like the, the umbrella with the hook on the end, it couldn't, I couldn't even reach the coat rack with it. I was going to say the coat rack is actually further away from you than people realize. Yeah. It's actually quite far from you. But the optical illusion makes it kind of seem like I could have, but no, I wasn't really doing it.

And then Pam is very proud of herself because she has a silent talking head where she's showing off the umbrella and Jenna, you're like as Pam, you are beaming, you're so proud of that moment. I know. Well, I think it's meant, you know, that wasn't set up that whole idea of mind control. I think the idea of that was that in the moment, Pam figured out how to have Jim's back. Yeah. And so I think she's like, that's where the wink comes from and that's why she's so

proud. Exactly. She's super proud. They didn't know Dwight was going to pick the coat rack. Pam didn't know that Jim was going to set that up. No. Yeah. She's like, look what I did.

Oh my God. I know. I had another fan question, Angela. This is from Chelsea Glover. Were there any deleted scenes that your sad didn't make the final cut? And actually there is an original cold open to this episode. This little prank bit with the coat rack, this was actually originally meant to go after the credit sequence and there's a whole cold open that was cut out, but that you can see

on the DVD extras. Did you watch it, Angela? It's where Michael brings us into the conference room and makes us do a Dunder Mifflin themed madlib. Madlibs. Yes. It's great. Yeah.

So I thought that was kind of cool, but we had enough time, so we had to cut it out. Well, listen, I have a pretty big thing to point out. I'm pretty sure a lot of you guys were thinking about it. You're going to be talking about it. It's kind of a showstopper moment. What is it? At three minutes, one second, there's a new plant at reception, a new potted plant. There is a yellow flowering plant at reception.

This is a big deal, guys. We got so much mail about this. We got no mail about it. I always crack up whenever Pam, I feel like it's Pam brings in a plant and then it doesn't live very long, but she tries. That's my backstory. She tries to, it's like casino night, I'll buy a plant at the, you know, at the pharmacy. They have those plants by the checkout.

I'll buy one. She's doing her best. She's trying to bring some cheer to the reception desk. Well, we have the scene where Michael is on the phone with Jan. She's trying to explain her concerns about what's going on with the branch, but he just invites her to casino night. And she's like, Michael, she's concerned for the branch and he wants to have this elaborate party that costs so much money.

Yeah. And she's just like, Michael, I'm not, I'm not coming to that, but maybe later, something else. Okay. So next up at four minutes, 11 seconds, Michael's in the bullpen. He's sitting on Pam's desk. She's explaining that we're having casino night, that the beneficiary is Boy Scouts of America and that the big winner of the night is going to get $500 to donate to the

charity of their choice and a mini fridge compliments of Vance refrigeration. Yes. To which Phyllis is so proud. Oh my gosh. So proud. If you freeze at four minutes, 34 seconds, Phyllis's face, she actually sticks her tongue out, she's so happy that Vance refrigeration is donating the prize. But before we get there, I have to point out a great screen grab at four minutes, 14 seconds

for those of you guys that have been tuning in. I talk about what I call the accountant stack. It's how they stack the accounting department to get them in the bullpen, right? Cause we're tucked around the corner. So you wouldn't see us. So they would pull us out in this formation and it's the best screen grab of it. I have seen yet it is me at the copier with Oscar, just like two feet behind me and then Brian like three feet behind Oscar.

It is like literally we look like a row of dominoes and it's so we could be in the scene and react. And that is perfect. I remember that they would do that and sometimes it would make no sense that everyone else was able to sit at their desks and listen to Michael, but you guys would have to get up and walk over a little bit and stand and bring them up by the copier the whole time. Yes. I would be so envious of people that got to sit through really long scenes because we

just be standing by the copier. Oh, that's a good thing when you're rewatching these episodes for people to just know how often the accountants are standing up. Yeah. While everyone else is sitting. So then we lead into this series of talking heads where everyone explains where they would donate the money should they be the big winner for the night. And you know, Creed has a talking head where he says he's going to give the money to a

soup kitchen. Yeah. That has a really delicious pea soup on Thursdays. Oh, Creed. Creed. Kevin says to animals or people, once again, reminding us that he is maybe not the smartest person. Angela, you have a great talking head.

So much sass. I am not wanting to participate in this casino night. I say that we're just going to be giving money. That's from gambling. Why don't we just deal drugs or prostitute ourselves? Yeah. Just give that money to charity. I know she is.

I'm sure she's a not happy because she's not getting to plan this party. B is gambling and there's alcohol, but Jenna, she shows up. Well, she's going to show up later to this casino night. Yeah, she does. So this leads into one of my favorite scenes with some of my favorite lines of all time ever from the series, ever. I know what you're saying. I know what you're going to talk about.

Michael announces that at the end of the night, they're going to present a giant check to some Boy Scouts. He's so excited. That's so him, right? He's so delighted that they're going to have a giant check. And Toby's like, oh, actually, Michael, that's not true. And then he lists the many reasons why it would be inappropriate to have kids come to a casino night.

He's like gambling, alcohol, it's in a dangerous warehouse, it's a school night, Hooters is catering. Do I need to say more? Yeah. Do I need to go on? So this leads to the classic Michael line. Why are you the way that you are? Michael Sass, I wrote Michael Sass, Michael Sass.

This next line is my most absolute favorite, Angela. I hate so much about the things that you choose to be. I could not get through that. So that whole thing that Michael says like that, why are you the way that you are? All of that was scripted. It's in the script word for word. So good. Then Michael announces that he is going to donate to Afghanistanis with AIDS.

But we got a fan question from Augusta. She said, one of my absolute favorite scenes of all time is the Afghan, Afghanistanis scene. Was any of that improvised or was that all scripted? All right. I went to the script and it's mostly all scripted with the exception of one line, which is John Krasinski. He improvised Afghanistanis. He was supposed to just say Afghanistanis.

Way to go, John. Way to go. Way to put a button on it. Way to put a button on it. Jenna, I need to talk to you about what happens at seven minutes, 31 seconds. Oh yeah. Because Jim offers to watch crappy wedding bands with Pam and she's so happy. Oh my gosh.

She's so happy. Well, she should be doing this with Roy. I mean, she says Roy was going to pick the band, but now he's too busy planning his bachelor party. I mean, how many red flags does someone need? I don't know. She's planning her wedding with the guy she's in love with that's not her fiance. Yeah.

And then Jim has the line that breaks your heart. At eight minutes, he says, I mean, I talked to Jan about a transfer because I have no future here. Yeah. He has no future there. I know. I know. So now they go, you know, we're jumping around a little, but let's see this Jim Pam

moment through. Okay, lady. All right. They're in the conference room, they're watching these band videos. By the way, we got a ton of questions about Brian's drumming. Yes. So many people wrote in. Yes.

So they put in a tape and they realized, oh my gosh, that's Kevin. Yeah. Kevin is in a band. Guess who came up with the band name Scrantonicity? Who? Mindy. Really? Yeah.

That was Mindy. That was Mindy. That's that was her idea, that name. So we'll check this out. When I looked at this scene in the script, the name of the band is not Scrantonicity. Oh yeah. What was it? Jokers and Tokers.

So I texted Brian because we got a lot of questions about is he really drumming, is he really singing? Yeah. And I also had to get to the bottom of this Jokers and Tokers business. Brian told me that he is actually playing and singing a Steve Miller song in the video and I mean he says he's playing but he's really kind of faking it because he didn't really learn to drum until later when his band had to play. Was it at Phyllis's wedding?

Yeah. He had to be on stage, right? Yeah. So he's kind of faking his way through the song. So after they shot this whole scene of him and his band, they could not get permission from Steve Miller to use the song. So in post, they turned it into a police tribute band and that's when they changed the name to Scrantinicity and Brian had to dub his voice singing Don't Stand So Close to Me.

And that's what they ended up playing. So if you watch that video, the lyrics do not match his mouth. I didn't notice it until after Brian told me all this stuff though. Oh, that's good. And I caught a couple of other little tidbits based on this knowledge. Notice that at 9 minutes 43 seconds, there's a close-up of John's hand putting the tape into the tape player and it says Scrantinicity. I remember shooting that later.

I remember having to do a pickup of John's hand putting in Scrantinicity. Okay. And then later in the warehouse, you know, Roy is going to come up to Kevin and he's going to say, hey, I heard about your band Scrantinicity, right? This happens at 22 minutes and five seconds. Yeah. The band name is said off camera. It's Roy's voice.

But on camera is Kevin and they had to dub that too. That was some good behind-the-scenes tidbits for Scrantinicity, lady. I know. Thank you, Brian Baumgartner. Okay. So we're jumping around a bit, but back at 8 minutes 16 seconds, we have Daryl in Michael's office. He's like, look, I'm not having fire eaters in a paper warehouse.

So why does he want fire eaters at a casino night anyway? Let me tell you, he would have a full surface in there if he could. He wants it bigger, louder, crazier. And then Dwight enters for, quote, protection. And then there's this very funny exchange where we learn that Daryl has taught phrases to Michael to help him with his interracial conversations. We learn about Dink and Flicka, Dink and Flicka, this handshake. And Daryl has a great talking head.

And Jenna, I'm pretty sure that this is Craig Robinson's very first talking head, I think in this episode. I think it is. Well, Angela, I looked up Dink and Flicka on Urban Dictionary. You did. Oh yeah. Does it reference the office? Yes.

It says made popular in a recent episode of the office, Dink and Flicka roughly translates to that's life or say lovey. I sort of remember that as talking about that, Dink and Flicka, and that Steve had just made it up. I don't know if I'm remembering that long, but I think that is just out of Steve Carell's mind. Also fleece it out. That was another one.

That's also in the Urban Dictionary. I kind of love that these two made up phrases are now in the Urban Dictionary as sort of fictional phrases. Way to go, Steve Carell. Way to go, Steve Carell. Well, there is some delicious Pam Saths coming up. Oh yes. Okay.

All right. I love this bit so much. This is one of the things our show did that I love where we find out information that something a character has been doing for years, but we didn't know it, and this is one of those moments. So at 10 minutes 58 seconds, Carell stills calls, and Pam's like, Michael, Carell's on the phone, and she does this thing where she doesn't let it through right away. She's like, still me, still me.

Yes, because she has to. She says Michael is better at the second attempt. He's better at his second pass with people. Because the first time he says some ridiculous thing, did you have it written down? What does he say to Carell the first time? He says, hey, Carell, how's the real estate biz, is it real good? Pam's like, still me. And then the second time, he's totally normal.

Yeah, he's like, hey, Carell, what's up? It's so good. And then the same thing happens. This is a great scene. So Michael's on the phone with Carell, and she just needs one last signature for his mortgage insurance. That's why she's calling, but he tells Carell, you should come to casino night. And she's like, yeah, to get the signature, it's a little confusing what he's asking,

right? And Nancy did such a great job with that. I've just been like, wait, to your party? That's where I get the signature? Yes. We should remind people, guys, Carell stills, played by Nancy Carell, Steve's wife in real life. So then the other line, Pam's putting through another call, it's Jan.

Uh-oh. Jan is calling to tell Michael, Michael, I would love to come to casino night. I feel like you can watch Steve as Michael, like literally break into a sweat. Yeah, he's like, holy crap, when in a million years did I think that I'd have two women on the line who'd both just said yes to me within seconds of each other to Queens on casino night? I'm going to have to drop a noose, oh boy, so that's a big cliffhanger. We go into like what would normally be a commercial break right there.

Should we go into a break? Let's go into a break because now we're going to get into the casino game and a lot, a lot is going to happen. All right, we are back and we are at the casino. The casino is open, gambling is happening. It's open for business. But 13 minutes, 22 seconds, it is happening, Jenna, you are wearing quite the dress. Oh, my God, very dressed up for this.

We got a ton of mail about your dress. Matt Mabe said, how many different dresses did you try on before you settled on the blue one that you wore? Danny Thurgood said, my wife has a theory that the dress Pam wears was an old bridesmaid's dress that Pam had in her closet. Danny, I wrote on a note card, Pam in a bridesmaid's dress, question mark, it really looks like a bridesmaid's dress. It really does.

Yes. And then original Gus girl said, whose decision was it for Pam to wear her watch with her gown? It was a subtle but great costuming and character choice. I love all of these questions. You guys are so observant. All right, let me start by saying Angela and Danny's wife, you guys are correct. Was it a bridesmaid's dress?

Well, that was the inspiration when I met with Carrie, our wardrobe designer, about this outfit that Pam would wear. We said, you know what, we want her to be dressed up in like a cocktail dress. But on Pam's salary and just thinking about Pam's life, when would she ever buy a cocktail dress? And she's certainly not going to buy one just for casino night. So we had a whole conversation where we were like, you know what, I think she rewears an old bridesmaid's dress.

That's the fanciest thing she has in her closet. And that's what she wears. I'll have you know, that was the first dress I tried on. We loved it. She had a whole rack of dresses and I tried them all on. That was our favorite. And we sent that picture to Greg and he approved it immediately. It was like a winner from the start.

Well, that is so great and perfect and really answers my burning question. Cause I was like, that, I feel like I wore a bridesmaid's dress that looks similar to that. Yeah. To a wedding in the 90s. By the way, I love that watch question, Angela, because that was a discussion. It was a discussion that Pam wears that watch every day, most of the time you can't see it, but every day Phil Shea would come up to me and he had a little tray and it had

my watch and it had my Pam wedding ring on it or my Pam engagement ring on it. And you pick it up, you put it on first thing in the morning, take it off at the end of the night. And so I've always been wearing that watch, but you cannot normally see it because it's underneath my sleeve, right? So we had a whole discussion, does Pam wear her watch with her fancy dress or not? And we thought, listen, guys, this is back before iPhones. You didn't have the time in your back pocket the way you do now.

And we discussed that Pam does not have a fancy watch. So she's got one watch and she wore it. And I can't believe someone noticed that detail. Thanks for noticing. Pam would wear her watch that made such sense to me. I love it. I feel like she also probably has a pair of Keds on standby that she can change into. I love that.

Angela, what about your dress? You're wearing a black dress, which is in your color scheme, but I mean, it's a little bit, it's a bit, what, sultry, it's somewhat tight. It's an LBD for sure. It is a little black dress. I mean, I have a little bit of cleavage. Yeah. A little bit.

A little bit. It is a tight little black dress. I feel like she probably wore it to a funeral and maybe it had some lace attachment over her decotage, but maybe she's feeling a little, a little saucy. So she was like, I'm not going to wear this sweater that goes with it. I do have a sweater that comes in and out of scenes. I don't know if you noticed at right at the top, I'm holding it and then later on you see me wearing it.

But yeah, I know I'm wearing a little black dress. I have to point out. I'm jumping around, but I have a great catch of someone breaking character and that someone is me at 13 minutes, 24 seconds. There is a shot of Angela Martin talking to Meredith and you see at the very beginning of the moment, maybe I'm aware that camera's panning over and so I have a solemn look and then clearly I think camera has gone off of us. And then I just go, I just like start gesturing and I think I can make out the words I have

to pee or something. Oh my gosh, what else is going on? Are you in the background of another scene? I'm in the background of an establishing shot of you and Roy gambling. And then it pans over to the rest of us. Jim's at another table, I'm talking to Meredith, I'm holding my sweater and at the very beginning of it, I have a solemn face and then within seconds I think the camera's gone. I just start being chatty.

It's a hundred percent me just talking. Oh my gosh. All right, should we get into it now? Let's get into it. Let's get into stealing poker chips. Carol has arrived, Dwight is Michael's wingman, I guess, and Toby just beat Michael at cards. Yes. And I have a few fan questions about that stuff.

The first one comes from Jessica Merkner. She says Dwight is a terrible wingman. His inability to warn Michael that Jan is coming is great. Was any of that improvised? All right. So I look at the script and you know when Carol first arrives and Dwight comes up? And says, code remax is here, but no sign of Land Jevenson. Yeah.

It's so good. That second part was improvised. So I'm not sure. That's so good. I know. I'm not sure if Rain did it or if it was like one of the writer pitches on set because we would have writers on set that would pitch us jokes. But the original line was supposed to be no sign of date number two, which is also very

funny because it is in no way coded and also out loud. He says Michael has a second date. All right. So Jenna, at 18 minutes, 26 seconds, I have a card called Kiss Slap some Merk. Oh, this is a classic. This is a classic Dwight Angela moment. It's when Dwight is playing crafts and Angela walks up in her little black dress and she's like, what are you doing?

And they're very formal with one another. You know, very formal. And he's like, Angela, I need to roll an eight and everyone wins. And she says, so roll an eight. And then he does. Yes. And he is so excited that he grabs you and he kisses you on the cheek. I know.

And listen, even though maybe she's happy about that, she has to slap him for being inappropriate at work. Yes. Well, Angela, we got a fan question from Heather Lindo. Sam, will you play it? Hi, Jenna. Hi, Angela. Casino Night is one of my very favorite episodes for a lot of reasons.

And one of them being the scene at the craps table when Dwight kisses Angela for good luck. And then she slaps him, but when she turns around, her face is just perfection. She cycles through like 10 emotions in a matter of like three seconds. She is horrified and thrilled and embarrassed and obviously deep down very happy all at the same time. And I just love it. Angela, my question is, did you nail that on the first take or did you have to do it many, many times?

Thank you so much for letting me ask my question. I know everyone says this, but my sister Kim and I really are the Office number one fans. We just love you so much. So thank you. Oh my God, Heather. That was so sweet. I love that question so much. Okay.

So I was very excited about this question because I actually wrote in my journal about this scene. Oh my gosh. Of course you did. I wrote about it the week we filmed it to answer your question. Heather. No, I did not get it right the first time. Okay.

So I wrote that I was really nervous to slap Rain at first, you know, my slap was kind of timid, which makes sense because you were probably very, you were worried about hurting him. Exactly. I don't want to hurt him. And it wasn't a fake slap. They told you to really slap him. That was, they were never did a phony slap.

No, they wanted a real slap and well, I guess my timid little slap wasn't working. So Rain said, listen, Ange, just go for it. I can take it. So I started really slapping him. Oh no. And I wrote that it took us about 13 takes to get. Oh no. Yes.

Yes. That's 13 slaps. All right. Here's the one thing I need you guys to remember. I am 5'1". Rain is like 6'3". So it wasn't really easy for me to reach his cheek. And one time my aim was really off and I missed his cheek and I slapped his ear so hard.

He was like, I'd actually heard him. He said there was like a ringing in his ear. And then the other time I missed and I, I slapped and I hit his glasses and I knocked them sideways on his face. I know. I know. Well, I want to go back to something that Heather said too about that look on your face as you're walking away because it is, it is amazing.

And I have the script and I looked it up and all it says is that you slapped Dwight and that you smile as you walk away from the table. I think there's so much more going on in your face. So your character is angry that Dwight would kiss you so publicly and all of that. But what I love is that you have this little look to the camera at the very end. It's like 18 minutes, 48 seconds, where you sort of catch the camera catching you smiling. Right. That camera catch was not in the script.

Was that improvised? Yes, it was. Okay. So that, that just happened on the day, that little moment where I'm busted at the end. So in one of the early takes, I was walking out of frame and I just looked at camera and I quickly looked away. Like I was embarrassed that they caught me smiling and our director of photography, Randall Einhorn said, Angie, Angie, I caught it.

I caught it right at the end as you're leaving frame. And he really helped me find that moment. Then he showed it to our director, our director loved it. And so Randall was like, Angie, you don't have a lot of time to cycle through all that, but I'm going to catch it every time if you've glanced the camera and quickly look away embarrassed. So I have to thank Randall for that because he really helped me make that moment happen. I love that. Yes.

All right. So out there that love background catches, I have one more moment for you in this little scene at 18 minutes, 51 seconds, you can really see how red the side of rain spaces. And it's because I have slapped him 13 times. Well, there you have it, Heather. Thank you for such a great question. Thank you, Heather. I love that question.

Okay. Angela, you just described the big kind of Dwight Angela flirt moment that happens in front of everybody at the, at the casino night. So now we head over to the poker table where it is heads up between Jim and Pam. And I feel like this is the big Jim Pam flirt moment that's public. There is so much flirting happening. Pam is basically doing the giggle hair toss move from about last night. I mean, there it is on.

Well, we had a fan question from live love, California, the scene at the poker table when you and John are making those faces back and forth. Was that improvised or scripted? This is what was scripted. Those little looks between us. There was a scene description. And so what you're seeing is John and I's interpretation. This is what it says right after Jim's line, you're bluffing.

Pam makes a playful gesture like, who knows? Jim stares at her intensely. She smiles her best enigmatic smile. Jim enjoys this woman so much he finally has to break eye contact and shake it off. Oh, so that was what John and I, we had to take that note in the script and that's what made that scene. Oh, that's so good. I love that.

Yeah. I love that. Well, I have a question that's not related to you guys flirting, but at 19 minutes, 26 seconds. So Kevin wears glasses when he plays poker, but he doesn't wear glasses to be an accountant. Angela, we literally got a fan question that said the same thing. What's up? My theory about that is that he doesn't care about being an accountant.

I know. But as he tells us, he has won one of the satellite games in the World Series of Poker. He's an avid poker player this guy. He's a different person when he's playing poker. He's a smart person when he's playing poker, but also when he's playing in his band, he wears a hat. I know. Like when he comes to the barbecue, he's got a hat.

He's got a whole persona outside of the office that is very different than what we see on a daily basis. Oh, for sure. For sure. I want to follow this guy around. I feel, is he, is he putting us all on so that he doesn't really have to do work? What's happening, Kevin? Okay.

We have to talk about 20 minutes, three seconds, Carol and Jan are now side by side at the bar. Oh yeah. Okay. So I took a screen grab of them standing side by side. You know I'm friends with Nancy, Steve's wife. I just adore her so much. I texted her the photo and I'm like, Nancy, this is how I'm starting my morning.

And she was like, oh my God. She said, first of all, WTF with my hair. I said, Nancy, what do you remember about shooting these scenes? And she said, oh my gosh, well, our kids were six and three, so I had very few functioning brain cells at that point. And I said, well, Nancy, what was it like working with Steve? And she said, Angie, I was so intimidated because he's so good. I mean, he was really nice to me, of course, but I've sort of, you know, I had retired

and having our kids, that's what I was doing. I was being a mom, so I felt a little rusty, but it was so much fun. Oh, she is so great. And Steve's face would just light up every time she came to set, either if she was in a scene or if she was just coming by with the kids for a visit. I mean, his adoration of her was just, would go all across his face. Oh. They just were the cutest of cutie-cutes as a couple.

They are an adorable couple. They are so sweet with one another. I just loved them so much. I would get so excited too when Nancy got to be in scenes because we were often in hair and makeup at the same time, and we would just gab and gab and gab. I just adore that lady. So now Michael is at the craps table, and he has both Carol and Jan blow on the dice for luck.

So awkward. So weird. So weird. And then this is where Dwight starts peppering Jan with questions about where are you staying tonight? He's naming all the motels. And then Dwight has this line where he's like, oh, were you planning to stay with Michael? Well, that was not in the script.

Oh, it wasn't? No. No. I feel like that, when I heard that, I went to the script to look because I'm like, that sounds like a rain improv to me. That's brilliant rain. So good. So good.

So I'm giving that to rain. And Malora's reaction. Yes. So good. I think she was legitimately surprised that he said it. Yeah. I texted Malora. I told her she's so fantastic in this episode.

You just really feel Jan's desperation. And then you feel herself loathing. It's, oh, it's so layered. So now we go over to the poker table with Kevin and Phyllis. Mm-hmm. Phyllis the flapper. Oh boy. Phyllis the flapper.

Phyllis the flapper. He goes all in against Phyllis and she wins with a flush. But she thought she only had ace high. But no. Phyllis the flush to the ace and she is like, I have all the clovers. I texted Phyllis and I said, Phyllis, what do you remember about that poker game? And she wrote me and said, oh, I loved the poker game. Brian's face is Kevin was priceless when I won.

And then she wrote, I also loved watching Pam and Jim Flirt as they played because it looked real because they're such good actors. Oh. Oh, I know. She's the sweetest. She's the sweetest. She's the sweetest. She said it was a priceless episode.

My love to you and Jenna. Aw. Well, listen, you know what? Jan is going to walk outside at 22 minutes 37 seconds because she is just over it and she's outside smoking and Jim walks out. And Lindy, I don't know if you remember this, but at the time when this aired, so many people thought that Jim and Jan were maybe going to hook up in this moment and they were freaking out on all the message boards.

Oh my God. Yeah. I remember like, oh no. Oh no. Are they going to hook up? But no. They're just having a heart to heart. And then you find out the stakes for Jim, right?

That he, she's like, have you told anyone because he's going to transfer. But people thought they might hook up and they were all like, no. Yeah. So now we go back inside. Bob Vance is making an announcement. He is going to announce who the big winner of the night is. He said, it's Creed Bratton and he wins a refrigerator and Creed says, I've never owned a refrigerator.

Oh my God. This is his first one. The mini fridge is his first refrigerator. So here we go guys. We are to the jam-tastic part of this episode. There is going to be a big moment in the parking lot. There's going to be a big moment in the office. So we thought we better call John Krasinski.

That's right. We didn't feel like we could talk about these scenes without him. So we did. We called him and he joined us. So guys, this is like we chitty chatted with John for a good 45 minutes. We're going to let it play out here for you. Enjoy. Guys, I watched an office episode for the first time in so long for this.

I haven't watched one for a little while now and that one in particular, that's some heavy machinery of content. That was some heavy machinery. We just threw you in the deep end, John. We were like, here. Watch this one. Yeah, seriously. And I was like, first of all, I went through a time portal.

I was like, who is that child? And I was talking about Jenna and then I saw some furry, you know, wood nymph come in looking at me. Man, we were young once, weren't we? Wasn't that nice? Yeah. Well, man, that was nice way back then. This is the first time I've watched Casino Night since it aired.

Same. Yeah. Did we watch it at Greg's? I think we did. We did. We did. I wrote in my journal that he had a viewing party and we all went over. Oh my God, you have a journal?

What am I doing with my life? Does she have a journal? Let me show you what my mic sits on so I can reach it because I'm shorty. Like seven journals. Like with Holly Hobby on the front. John, that's who I was. Oh my God. Wait, who you were, that seems like a current journal that is being written about right

now. I'm writing right now. By the way, speaking of Holly Pocket or whatever, Holly Hobby, either one of those E's, they made me think of that kid sister thing before I signed on. I was like, I had all these like sputtering memories that were like, remember this? And I blacked out for about 20 minutes. Okay. So I told on the podcast that we would do bits between scenes, kind of keep us going,

that you really kept us all going. You really did. And then I said, we would do this kid sister, big brother bit. And Jenna was like, wait, where did that come from? What was that about? I was like 1883 is where it came from. I know. But John, wasn't it because there was like a doll that was about my height?

Oh no, you were the identical replica of kid sister. And they had, it was a kid, was it big brother? No. No. Something. I would go. You, I would yell around. No, there was a boy one.

And then they came out with a girl one that looked exactly like you. And I was at a store one day and saw it on a toy store like shell. And I took a photo of myself standing next to it. And I sent it to you. You were like, Oh my God. Oh, I remember that. Yes. But also you're the exact size of it compared to me, especially you're like perfect.

And I remember one day, didn't you do like the stiff arms and stuff? And I like picked you up and you were like, yeah, it was great. It was good times. Someone, a fan wrote in and said, if you ever came on, could you and I do the bit? And I was like, well, it's a pretty kid sister, big brother. Oh, there it is. What jokes did we have? We didn't get along well.

What? What was it for us? Oh boy. What were our bits? What were our bits? Did we have so many bits? You know what? I remember bits wise was many different, um, inside jokes of like writing on post-it notes

and like all my memos that I had to hand to you for corporate always had selling written on them and John, you played one prank on me and the whole nine years of the author was like one like really fully formed, good, thought out prank. It was at Shroot Farms and you and I had this scene where we had to drive up to the farmhouse several times and we're doing it and I am getting increasingly more hot. I'm like warm. I'm sweating. I'm like, oh my God.

It was a hot day. It was so hot. And we had to turn off the AC for sound and you were like, yeah, I don't know. I'm okay, but you're hot, huh? And I'm like, I'm so hot. This went on for like 15 minutes and then all of a sudden you start snickering and you had turned on my seat warmer all the way to the hottest setting. Oh my God.

That was late in the run, wasn't it? That was late in the run and I, but I was so excited because whenever we would go on talk shows, they would always ask us if we played pranks on each other and I would always say no. And I mean, not really. I mean, besides just like little jokes on post-it notes or something, not really, not really. I'm terrible at pranks.

We weren't pranky, you know? But then finally after you did that in the car, I was like, oh my gosh, this is great. I can finally have a prank to talk about. Are you sad about that prank? What's sad about that prank? I realized that I'm such a bad prankster that I stole that prank from Clooney when we were doing Leatherheads. He did that to me.

So that's how unoriginal I am. I was like, I'm going to take George Clooney's back and do it to Jenna and I thought that would make me cool. I got a recycled prank. You got Clooney is what you got. I did. One degree of separation. I think that prank just keeps getting cooler, like that's a pretty fancy prank.

I think so too. That's a good prank. Let's get into the meat of your interview here, John. I thought we were doing pretty good. We were, but we should intro you a little. John, thank you so much for coming on the show. We always like to ask our guests a little bit about how they came to be on the office. And I know you've told this story like a million times, but is it true that you were originally

asked to audition for Dwight? Yes, I was. And that reminds me that about six seasons into the show, someone was like, I love how you say Dwight. And I was like, how do you say it? And they were like Dwight. And I was like, I know Dwight. And they were like, nope.

Dwight. And I was like, no, no, I'm saying it right. Dwight. And they were like, nope. It's not. So yes, I auditioned or no, I was offered to come in and audition for the role of Dwight. And I was so excited. I had met Alison Jones randomly out in LA on a general meeting when I had zero dollars

to my name. And she said, something's coming on our first meeting, our only meeting. She said, something's coming. Call the office. You'd be great for it. I said, great. So then I got back to New York and they said, there's this show called The Office. And I was like, oh my God, Alison Jones, the greatest human ever told me about this.

And they said, you're going in for the role of Dwight. And I had been a huge fan of the British show. And I was like, I don't know, man, that's not, I don't know if I'm right for that role. And so I weirdly have no idea what I was thinking. I said, you know what, I read the pilot and I said, you know what, I'm going to put my best foot forward. Let me know when they're casting gyms. And I remember the response from the NBC casting director to my manager at the time was, no,

but honestly, who does he think he is? Like passing up an audition, an opportunity to audition. And lo and behold, I thought it was over and I think it was like five, six weeks later that they called and they were like, all right, they're looking for gyms now and they'll have you back. Oh my gosh. And that's so crazy. And then when we finally did our screen test, you, you were living in New York and you had

to fly to LA for that screen test. With all these New Yorkers that were auditioning, which was so much fun. I remember I took the plane with Jim Gaffigan, who was auditioning for a role. And it was like laughing, I mean, just was surrounded by heroes on the plane and then got to, got to the callback or the test or whatever they called it. And because I'm so, so experienced now, I have no idea what I'm talking about. But I remember getting in this big room and it was the waiting room of where we actually shot our pilot.

I'm sure you guys have covered that, but like where we shot our pilot is what they measured down to the quarter inch or centimeter to make our set, this building that existed. We took an existing building. And I remember sitting basically where like Ryan's desk, no, like where Mindy's desk was like Toby and Mindy's desk was, I was sitting against that wall and I saw all these other people coming in. I had been there for like an hour or two hours and all the other people were the LA people and I realized they had separated us.

And so they were asking the New York people to leave after they were done and then I was the last New York person and I saw all these LA people in and I started to get super self conscious. I am, I am not a confident person and I was like, oh my God, this is so embarrassing. I'm the only New Yorker here. Cause everybody was like, hey, Johnny Tim, like greeting each other and I was sitting on a floor like, so I went on to the set cause all the producers were hiding in the background. And I said, I'm so sorry.

I think someone forgot to tell me to go home and from behind a like fake wall. I remember hearing like a lot of chair moving and stuff and like banging against the wall and it was Greg trying to get out of his chair and find the entrance to get back on set. And he was like, no, hold on one second, hold on one second, please hold on one second. And I heard Terry Weinberg being like, no, no, no, no, no, don't, don't go. And then I went back out to the waiting room, super freaked out and I saw Jenna walk in the door and she was like, as soon as I saw you walk in, Jen, I know I told the story at building time.

So people are like, we get it. We've seen behind the scenes. I, I genuinely had like a metaphysical event where I was like, oh, that's who's in the show. That person will be in the show. And so they held me back. You went in with a bunch of people and I remember thinking, if I don't go in with her, I'm screwed. And that's when I went on the thing and said, you should let me go.

And they said, no, no, no, there's one more person we want you audition with and it was you. And I thought, oh my God, you're saying there's a chance because if I'm in with you, I knew I had a shot. Oh my God, John, I can go back to that moment that I saw you at the audition and I had that exact same reaction. I, it was, I've tried to describe it to people like what it was like to audition with you. And the best, like the best explanation I could come up with was like, what if you walked

into a room and music started playing and you and another person just started dancing in unison, even though you'd never met. That's what it was like auditioning with you. Wow, that's really way more beautiful than what I would say, which is like, I felt like I could see the future. I was like, it actually gave me anxiety because I was like, she's so on the show. It's so weird that I'm like watching a piece get in. And I remember, I'm sure you remember too, but when after our audition and I loved auditioning

with you, we were walking through the kitchen and I said, because that was the way out. And I said, I just got to let you know, I think that you're going to get this part of your perfect for this. And you seem to remember, you said the same thing to me, I don't, because I blacked out. I was trying to not look you in the eyes. I was so excited that you said that because I felt like I had wanted to say that to you, but I didn't have the courage because I didn't know you. You were like, essentially a stranger to me.

The only time we had really spoken or interacted was during our audition. So we were kind of silently walking back to the kitchen and I was thinking in my head, should I tell him I think he's the best gym? Is that appropriate? Should I say you're the best gym? You're going to be gym or is that, is that bad form? I don't know. What's the etiquette?

And so when you said, I think you're going to get the role of Pam, my memory is that I was like, oh my God, I think you're going to be Jim, you're the best, you're my favorite gym, I was having a nosebleed at that time, don't remember much, but I do remember this though that I always say this and people are like, yeah, whatever, but it's true. I have a lottery ticket life ever since I was given the news that I was on that show. Everything changed in my life from every single way, not to get into a heady version, but not only every opportunity that I've ever had is from the show, I met my wife because she knew who I was in a restaurant for a show, we never would have been in the same city

or restaurant or anything. It's just so crazy how deep and crazy it goes, but I remember at the epicenter of it all, when I was told that I had the part, I actually jumped on a couch and then again, this metaphysical thing came over me where I went, wait, wait, wait, one second, did Jenna Fisher get the part of Pam? And they were like, we don't know, we just told you your life changed, are you happy enough with that? And I was like, no, you need to call them back and ask if Jenna got the part. Because I thought if you were on it, then I was going to be on one of the best things

that I'll ever do in my life. And if they were like, no, you know, Rhonda, something would ever got it. And I'd be like, no, not Rhonda. Well, when they called me and told me that I got the part, I had a very similar reaction. And the first question I asked was, did John Krasinski get the role of Jim? Because I just felt like, I don't know if I can do Pam without you as Jim. So I was like, I need to know, did my partner in crime get this part? And they were like, yes, he did.

And what's weird is that that's the first question he asked after he was told. And by the way, we never saw each other after the kitchen. I left. No, we didn't have each other's phone numbers. We couldn't text each other or email. So it was like, then I just waited until the pilot table read when we were all reunited. Same with Rain. I only met Rain at the audition.

And when I heard he got the role, I was like, well, that tracks because he was definitely the weirdest dude. Oh my God. I remember thinking, I remember doing this audition with Rain where Greg asked me to ask him to cover my phones. And of course, he said to Rain, under no circumstances, will you cover his phones? And I remember being like, hey, Dwight, will you just cover my phone? I just got to go to the bathroom.

And he was like, sorry. And then pretended to close barn doors. And then I asked him again. And he did like shipping container doors. And I kept doing it. And by the end of it, not to Dwight, to the actor Rain, I was like, you are infuriating. You're an infuriating human. And I was like, he's going to get it.

Well, oh my gosh, I love all of that. All of that just makes my heart happy, you guys, hearing all of that. I don't know that I've, you know, I've heard snippets of those stories, but I've never heard all of it and watched you guys tell it is actually really beautiful. Just go and say. No, that's what I was going to say. I've actually never told those stories with you in, I was going to say in person or not. In digital form.

Same. I feel like we've told those stories separately on talk shows or interviews, but actually never to one another. Yeah, it's like, there's always these things where you're like, is that what happened? It's so interesting. So amazing. I have so many stories that I'm like, I wonder if people know that it's like some of my favorite stuff is like, sort of, I guess it's a secret, but I don't know, oh, like one of my favorite

stories. I ever tell you this story was when we wrapped, by the way, how dare Greg Daniels do that rap. Remember that when he was like, yeah, I just got to get you guys leaving the office a couple of times for, I got to cut it into the earlier part of the show and we were all just totally goofing off and laughing, heading to like for Richard's line. And then when we came back, he was standing there all weird. Remember that?

Yeah. And it was like, that was the last take of anything like, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to tell you that the show has concluded or the office is over and that's a wrap. That's a wrap. And I was like, and I definitely threw up on my shoes. Someone took a picture of that moment. I don't know who it was, but what all give me that picture. We're disintegrating.

Yeah. We're like all of us. But he did. It was like some weird, incredibly smart move to like just because we all knew it was coming and then he did the smartest thing by being like, oh, shoot, I got to do this one more thing. Like just get out of the office, walk a couple of times. I just need you to exit.

And I remember Randall being weird, so he must have been in on it. And then when Greg came out, I remember we looked in all the crew, everyone that had been in Video Village had come out on the stage. They were all sort of like, yeah, and I was just like, what's happening? We all ended like together, like, it was so intense. It was like, I'm your dad and I'm leaving you and you're like, what? Um, but the funny thing was that day, everybody was really emotional and we had the rap party and so everybody was like trying to get themselves together.

And I think of myself as a somewhat moral person and I had the weirdest idea when I got back to the trailer, I was crying like crazy and I went, oh my God, there's one thing I want. It's like, like, what's the one thing you would want from the show? And I ran back and stole the Dunder Mifflin sign that we all did talking heads to. I remember that. And then I think I did tell you, Jenna, because I was like, so Catholic, I was like, most tell someone and then we got to the party and I'll never forgive myself.

I don't even know if he knows that we're at the party and I saw Greg and I was like, Greg, thank you for my whole life and like whatever. And he was like, yeah, yeah, no problem. And I was like, how are you doing? He goes, ah, good, you know, I'm a little bummed. The one thing I wanted was the Dunder Mifflin sign, he goes, but someone took it and literally my brain exploded and I went, that sucks, man, whoever did that, that sucks. I remember saying to him, I lied to my dad, I lied to my TV creator, I lied to his face.

I remember you loading out your trailer and I walked out and I have a visual of you putting it in your car. It was very large. It was very large. It was very large because I only had like a bath towel and that didn't even begin to cover it. It was just like, it was the worst heist of all time. And I also remember people being like, why is John leaving so fast?

And I was like, don't look at me. Like as I drove out of the parking lot, it was so weird. Do you remember the big sign that, well, it was like a fake painting of me looking angry that hung in the senator's house? Oh yeah. The art department gave that to me. That's amazing. It's enormous.

It's the size of a small love seat sofa. If we're sharing secrets, I'll say that I asked if I could have Pam's watercolor of Dunder Mifflin. And I was told officially from production that I could not have it because it was going to be cataloged as part of like the set decoration and it would be stored at NBC and no, I couldn't have it. I was really heartbroken because besides a couple of trinkets on my desk and like a few pieces of wardrobe, I really hadn't saved anything else.

That was really the one thing I wanted. And oh my gosh, I'm going to cry a little bit. As I was leaving, Phil Shea ran up to me and he said, here, you should have this. I made a color photo of it. They'll never know. No way. I have the original in my house. You owe me.

Oh my God. That's amazing. Dude, Phil Shea is the reason I have anything. He sent me a box like years, like three or four years later of my bag, my nameplate. Your satchel that you would use. Yeah, my satchel, my nameplate and the teapot, bro. You have the teapot. You have the teapot.

We have the teapot. We have the teapot. We have been wondering you had the teapot. Teapot, son. Son of a gun. Wow. You have it. Oh man, I thought you knew that.

No, no. I didn't know it was a great caper. Shea said, I have always wondered who got the teapot. Who got that teapot? I've always wondered. You know what's so funny is I had the greatest idea because I heard your amazing podcast about the teapot episode and I was going to take a picture of it in my room and totally forgot.

I wanted to like post it right after I had heard your episode. Oh my gosh, that would have blown my mind. Yeah. I'm sure there's a couple because in case anyone broke, you could probably get one, I'm sure. I know. But you have the teapot. That's huge.

So there you go. So John, we are currently on the scene outside in the parking lot where Roy just took off in his truck and said, told me to keep an eye on you. Remember that? Yeah. Jenna's dressed as a bridesmaid. Jenna looks like a bridesmaid. I remember talking to Jenna about this a couple of times about like how Jenna's take

on it was like, or for Pam's take, whatever she was like, little saucy of Jim to be like, you got it. Like a little devious right from the beginning, like this nice guy was like, oh, you bet. I'll take care of her. Oh, I'll take care of her. No, I remember that that that moment in particular was insane for so many reasons because I remember how, again, I keep talking about this like metaphysical thing, but I remember that like the cells of my body were really buzzing because I saw the crew like running around and deciding

where to hide the cameras and Ken Quapas was our director and was phenomenal and making it feel like it's no big deal. We're just doing a scene of a show that'll never be seen. And then you're like, I think that's going to be more than that. And he was like, who cares? Just do it. Like he was trying to like keep it so low. And I remember you and I were in like a stairwell or something waiting.

Yeah. And everybody was deciding, do you do the cameras? Can they see the cameras? Can they not see the cameras, meaning Jim and Pam, can they see the cameras, whatever? Are they aware of the documentary crew? And I remember, I think it was Ken, right, who just said, I think I'm going to make the decision that they don't. And I remember Matt, I think, I think I remember this again, I'm elderly, but I, I feel like,

I feel like Ken placed the cameras and didn't tell us exactly where they were going to be. Yeah. That sounds like Ken. Well, there was this big argument that went back to even when the script came out, which was, should we film this scene with video or with audio only? Like this idea. Oh, right, right, right, yes. And I think the reason we were in a stairwell for a very long time, John, was because they

were deciding if we should have walked inside and gone onto the stairwell and we said the lines and right when we got to the end of the scene, the camera would find us and we would be looking at each other in silence. Yes. The idea was that Randall would be running to try to get it on film. Yes. And that was kind of like Greg wanted that and like half the writers wanted that. Yeah.

Imagine how good the show could have been if that was the case. I know. But instead, but then and on, by the way, on Wikipedia, it claims that we shot that footage and it has never been seen, but that's not true. We never shot that. We only rehearsed it. I don't remember ever shooting a version. Do you?

Yeah. I thought we rehearsed it. And then I thought, what I do remember maybe vaguely is that Ken was like, and if we do that version, we'll have the audio, so don't worry about it. Remember like, I remember Ken, I think was saying to Greg, like, listen, Greg, the good news is if we do end up going that route, we will already have the audio. Let's just shoot it out here first, and it was like a Jedi mind trick to get Greg to go with it.

Right. But I do remember that they did. Another reason we were in the stairwell was so that they were going to set the cameras outside. And when we came out, we wouldn't know where the cameras were. Right. And I remember feeling very alone in the parking lot. Well, again, because all the crew is like kind of buzzy about it and like, hello and

like, all our great friends that I would like be. I remember I was at the craft service table, not for this scene, but the next scene. And it's like, I remember going like, you know, hey, Chris, who we were like in fancy football, one of my favorite people, Chris Workman. And I was like, hey, Chris, and he was like, hello, John. And then like moved. And I was like, whoa, I don't think he's ever used the full word hello ever. That was the weirdest thing I've ever heard.

Like everybody was so buzzed up about that. I don't remember this, Jenna. Do you have any semblance of an idea of how many takes of that we did? Because I remember genuinely being extremely nervous, which I was like, this will be great for the scene because I think it was probably, or at least I had probably interpreted it as the biggest scene I had done on the show or something to that level of, that level of intensity was like super terrifying to me. And I remember in my head being like, Hey, bro, remember when you thought you were an

actor tonight ruins that whole mirage and I was so, I was so nervous to do that scene, but actually watching it again today. It was really amazing because we were like kind of standing close to each other and it was like, it was all very awkward and perfect. It was so good. I wrote in my journal, oh my God, John Krasinski, well, and that tear, oh my God, I have it. I'm just going to grab it, send it to you, John. Please.

Oh my God. You wrecked us. You wrecked me. Oh, you were so good. Both of you guys were so good. I think I also remember Ken being such a good director was like, you know, so in this scene, how you feeling and, you know, how you feeling? And I was like, yeah, good.

I said, you know, I'm going to be really honest with you, Ken, this is a, this is a layup for me, bro, because I lived it and he was like, what do you mean? And I was like, dude, in my high school yearbook, I have every single girl in the school being like, thank you so much. You were the shoulder to cry on. You were such a good friend when I was in love with Adam, like all this stuff. I was like, no problem. So then when he was like, hey, do a scene about the love of your life, having another

guy instead of you. And I was like, bro, it's called my default setting. Well, I, I remember shivering because I was freezing. It was really cold out and I was in that little dress and the desert night, the desert night we'll get you. Oh, it was chilly. And I also, so here, here was something that I, I traded some messages with Ken Quapas about this scene.

And he reminded me that we had actually filmed the kiss the night before that, yeah, we filmed the kiss the day before and that this was the very final thing we shot for casino night. It took longer than any other scene. We spent more time on it than any other scene and we played around with the dialogue. So I have the script too. And what's in the script is a little different. And the thing is, is that that's my memory. I remember when I think back, the scene we were most nervous about was this scene and

people always ask about the kiss, but this was the scene we worked hardest on. And it makes sense to me saying, I'm in love with you is such a vulnerable thing and you do it so honestly, John. And I also remember that those lines where I was saying like, Oh, do you want me to take your money now? Or I could take it later. Or when do that was all banter that we came up with on the spot that you were going to then like shock me out of.

And then I remember that stuff, that line where you said, when I'm like, I'm really sorry if you misinterpreted our friendship and you're like, don't. When you said, don't come on improv and I like my stomach, like my heart dropped into my stomach. I was like, Oh my God. I'm so sorry. That's what I love is like you're doing this as Pam and as Jenny, you're like, so sorry bro.

That was really rude. I was like everything. Like I was having to be Pam, but on the inside, I was like, I was sorry because you were, you know, and you, you cried in a couple of the takes, I remember. But the one that they used, I think was the first time like, cause it was so, it wrecked me. It wrecked me. And I was like, my job is just stand here and stare at him.

And after they yelled cut, I feel like I was like, Oh my God, I'm terrible. There you are saying, telling us now that you were there being like, Oh my God, I'm so sorry. And watching it back today. I was like, Jesus. It was cold as ice like that was cold, but I also think Pam was just like, and listen, John, I always defend Jim like throughout our podcast, when anything happens, I'm like, Pam is horrible.

Poor Jim. But in this moment, I really saw her as just totally completely was deer and headlights. Like everything was so real now. And once it's out there, it is out there, you know, and all of a sudden she's going to have to be accountable. Yes. I felt the same way watching it back. I was like, cause I remember it differently.

I remember like, there were like three more moments and casino night of us flirting. And then when, when my man turns around and is like, I want to tell you something, you're like, that's a fast. Like I even me was like, Hey man, that is bad game. Stop. You know what it though that the scene that I loved was, and I realized it didn't come out of the blue is cause of Jan and when she goes, did you tell anybody? And I was like, right, he has to tell her now cause he can never do it again.

That was, that was awesome. Such good writing. Who are those people? Yeah. Also, just like so kind. Like I feel like our, like Greg and Ken, like they were so gracious to let us have room to find those moments. You know, like they really like, right from the beginning, like we didn't need a lot of

room after that. Which is so, but for those moments, they were so respectful. So, which again leads to the second part, which is, sorry, I'm jumping on your end. No, no, no. I'll move us along, but I wanted to say one more thing, which was when I was watching it back, I was like, what does Pam think Roy is secretly taping her or something? Like she seemed like a spy who was like, I am very sorry, but I am loyal to Roy Anderson. I can't do this.

You are a wonderful friend to me. But I obviously was impacting her because we're going to move into the bullpen and she goes up and calls her mom. To compliment your acting though, that, I mean, that has got to be, my favorite thing on any performance is when it's exactly what you imagine it would be, right? Cause in the movies and TV, you're like, we've been programmed as kids to say that when someone says I love you when you're sort of with someone else, you go, excuse me, how dare you in this whole dramatic thing, but instead your brain's just like, run the program, shut him down.

Like there's no emotion. Mayday, mayday, escape. Exactly. Pull the cord, pull the cord. Should we talk about the big old kiss? It's not even a big kiss, it's a little kiss, but it's the perfect kiss. It was substantial. It's also my first kiss, first kiss I ever had acting.

That was my first acting kiss ever. Mine was with Dwight. It was my second. Now that I say that, I'm wondering when else I would have had the opportunity, but like, no college play kissing, no nothing. That was nothing. Wow. That was your first on-screen kiss?

My first fake kiss. It was my second. I had done a movie called Born Champion, and I had a kiss scene in that. It was a sag low budget, I think maybe a non-union film. So I was, I was one kiss more experienced than John. Which is a lot. I was so nervous. And here's something that Ken Quapas reminded me, John.

He said, let me find it, it was so sweet. Ken said, I remember the day we did the kissing scene, you and John were off the charts nervous. And he said, he felt like it was his job to be really casual about the scene, to kind of undercut how momentous it was. And I remember that he was being super casual about it, but he said, but what didn't help was that on the shooting schedule, this scene description read, Jim kisses Pam in all caps, italics, and three exclamation points. This is what we train for people, you're like, okay, like, geez, calm down, that's what I

went to. That's such a fun detail. And I think probably the crew was given the notice of like, guys, keep it cool, right? Let's not mess this up. Because that's when Chris Workman was like holding a, you know, a plate of like peanut butter pretzels or something was like, whoa, John. And then like walked away and I was like, Chris, what the hell was that? But I also remember you were in your trailer for a while and I thought you were upset because

I was on, I was on stage all the time because I was usually around crafty. And and I had heard that you were in your trailer and I was like, is everything okay? And I didn't know what was happening. And then I remember again, similarly, they told me that they were ready. And when we, when I got on set, I was first on set at how I remember at least I was first on set and was looking for Randall and Matt because I used to goof around with those guys. And weirdly, my default setting is like, make jokes when you're nervous. So I was looking for them and I was genuinely crestfallen when I couldn't find them because

then I was really nervous because I was like, oh my God, but if my, if my bit machine isn't going to work, then what do we do? And then they were like, John, so you're going to go to the front door and I was like front door? What the hell? And I got so, then I got so weirded out. And then someone came, I don't know if was it Jasmine was on yet? But I don't know.

I think it was Jazz came up and was like, and I was like, I just remember like a person being like, and go and it was like, I was in slow motion. I was like, do what? And I just went on and it was so weird. Well, I remember rehearsing, I'm going to put that in quotes. I remember discussing the scene in the days prior. I had a bunch of meetings with Greg and you and Ken where we all talked about it, like how big should the kiss be?

I remember asking how much does Pam kiss him back? We discussed that she would definitely allow herself to be kissed. And then, but did she really like kissing back? How long should it go on? Like just sort of general chitty chatness about how it would play out. And then I remember on the day doing a very rough blocking of it, but alone. Like when you were like, what is she doing in her trailer? They had brought me to set to rehearse by myself.

This is where you're going to stand at Jim's desk. There was a big discussion. Why am I not standing at reception? It was because it would be too hard for you to get to me. They wanted to put the camera in the kitchen so that we couldn't see it. They would shoot it through the blinds. It would be super secret spy shot. And that was the best position.

We worked out exactly how I would stand with the phone. And then they said, now we want you to go back to your trailer and not leave until you're called. Oh, wow. And don't speak to John and just be alone. And so it was super secret. Yes. They, they talk about this in the DVD commentary guys.

I wasn't there, but I listened to the DVD commentary and they wanted to keep you guys apart. Yeah. That's something that they talked about. My favorite thing is like, I'm reminiscing about it now with you and I remember one time talking to Brian about it years later and I was like, oh man, I remember that was the last thing we shot that day and he goes, no, it was not. And I was like, what are you talking about?

And he goes, we were all in our trailers like, oh God, let's go. We were in our trailers for like three hours. Like I took a nap. Someone was like, what is happening? My favorite is that that was the last thing we did that day. Me too. And Brian was like 1000% not all of us were in our trailers being like, you've got to be kidding me with these two.

Oh no. Oh no. I thought it was the end of the day. That's what I said to Brian. Oh my goodness. He's right. But I don't know. You guys, it was such an important scene.

They had to find it and in the commentary, they talk about how they wanted the first time that John as Jim saw Pam was in that moment on action. Yeah. They never rehearsed it on the stage together. And then I remember they brought me to set and all the lights were dim. There was no one around. It was super creepy. Yeah.

That was creepy. Yeah. That's right. So there was nothing. And they were like, John, please move to the entrance. I was like, who is that? Is that the devil? Who just saw me?

In your mind, John, it's like, slow down. Yeah, but it's super like scary, like weird. And then Ken, I think, and Greg, were hiding maybe in the conference room in the very back corner with a little thing, like a little, I don't know, what is that, like a handheld video monitor that they could see what the camera is shooting. We only used one camera. It was only the camera in the kitchen. So it was a one shot.

There was no way to cut. We had to get it all in one shot. And I remember I'm doing the bit with my mom on the phone and then you walked in and we shot the kiss and then we're staring at each other. And Ken said, cut. And do you remember Greg, do you remember Greg running out of the conference room, like clapping his hands and he was like, yes, he was like, he was giddy. He was like, yes, he was like, it was so good.

It was so good. It was how many takes of that did we do three? Wow. I only did. Greg in the commentaries said that he, I'm sorry, I wrote it down. Greg said he picked the last tape. The last take was his favorite. Oh, interesting.

Well, Ken Quapis and Kent Zabornak both confirm we only did three takes of the scene. And Ken said that Greg wanted to keep doing it over and over and over again. And Ken had to convince him that we had it. Wow. But Greg was like, it's just so good. It's just so good. And he wanted to keep doing it. And Ken was like, no, we're going to wear him out.

We're going to wear him out. That's obviously where the voice was coming from. And I imagine Greg just being like, Darren's for me. And you're like, what? You can't say that. Awkward. Awkward. That's so weird.

Oh my gosh. One other thing in the DVD commentary you guys, I thought was really cool is that Randall Einhorn said that he really wanted it to end so that you couldn't see Pam's face. So you never knew what her reaction was after that. That's right. So that was really thought out that, Jenna, you never looked around like you were facing this one way and camera never saw your face after the kiss. Yeah, that was part of what he argued for only using one camera.

That there was some discussion that another camera would come around by the front door and capture Pam's side of everything and sneak in. But he was like, no, I think we only managed to get one shot of this. So you don't know. It was amazing. Yeah. Crazy. It was beautiful, you guys.

You guys crushed it. It was the most fun ever to talk about this. Yeah. I mean, it was fun to reminisce. You guys, guys, congratulations on this podcast. It is so much fun and I don't think two other people could have done it. I mean, you guys do such a good job. Aw, you're so nice.

Thank you. Thanks so much. I don't know if there's two people from our show who like talking as much as us. Do you remember? Who talk constantly. Do you remember? Brian's at home going like, we know that. True.

You're like, Brian, jeez, settle down. Do you remember how Rand would make fun of us? He would say, there they go. Like, we'd be like, yeah. What more could you possibly have to say to one another? I don't know. God. Our curmudgeon.

Our curmudgeon. Aw, thank you, John. I love you both so much. Thank you so much for doing. Thanks for having me. We love you, John. Thanks for coming on. That was so great.

We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Yeah. Thank you, John. John Krasinski. You're the best. He is the best. He is the best. He is the best.

But Jenna, before we say goodbye, there are one or two moments that fans wrote in about. We have to talk about the phone call between Pam and her mom. Yeah. We have to talk about this moment. Yes. We got so much mail about this. Erin Louise, Matt Loveless, Mrs. Prince, Brianna and EJ. They all wanted to know if there was another side to this phone call.

Well, I'll tell you this, guys. There was no one on the other line. Jenna! I was just pretending. And the Emmy goes to Jenna Fisher. Wow. Oh, thank you. That's some good phone talk, lady.

Yeah. No one was there. No one was there. I invented in my head what the dialogue was. Yeah. And I had written it down in my script for what I thought my mom was saying to me so that I would have good reactions. And I was going through it in my head as I was doing the scene.

That's me applauding my BFF. Oh, my gosh. Thank you. Yeah. So there was one line in particular that everyone honed in on, which is when Pam says, yeah, I think I am. Yeah. What was she responding to?

I mean, I know what I thought. I think I know what all the fans think. What do you think? I think I am in love with him. That is what I had written in my script, that my mom asked me, well, sweetie, are you in love with him? Yeah. And that I answered, yeah, mom, I think I am.

Oof. Yeah. Oh, Pam. And then we got a fan question. A lot of people actually asked this question. Alyssa Dunn, Carrie Harvey, and more wanted to know if we knew what the next season would bring to the Jim Pam storyline when we shot those scenes in the parking lot and in the office.

Right. No, we did not. We were not told what would happen to them. It was a cliffhanger to the cast as well. I have to think that Greg probably had a few ideas and didn't want to tell us anything until it would become more concrete for him, what the plan was, you know? Mm-hmm. I would think.

I think he had an idea that they were going to have Jim go to Stanford. Well, yeah. But a few weeks before we went back into production for the season three, I did get called in to do a bunch of chemistry read auditions with possible Karen's. Yeah. And that was my first insight into what was going to happen in season three. Mm. Oh, that's juicy.

That would have been, that's like good intel back then because we were all clueless. We didn't know what was going to happen. I think another cliffhanger is, you know, obviously the Dwight Angelo was happening with them. But then also what is going to happen with Jan and Michael because you see that Jan actually did pack an overnight bag in her car. Yes. Yes.

Yeah. As she's leaving, the camera finds this overnight bag. She was 100% planning to hook up with Michael. Yeah. And just sleep over at his place, which is a big deal. Well, I did hear in the DVD commentary that it was this episode that Malora Hardin and David Denman became series regulars. So we knew that they were going to be coming back, but we didn't know how.

Wow. There we go. Wow. There we go, guys. That was a big, big episode. We hope you enjoyed it. We certainly enjoyed getting to watch it again and talk to John and all the cast members we texted and Kintopedia.

Thank you so much for giving us such great behind the scenes moments. Yes. And guys, after we did that interview with John, Angelo and I were a part of his show Some Good News. It was so much fun. First of all, my family and I are such huge fans of Some Good News. We've watched every episode and what John is doing, the goodness he's putting out there is so wonderful.

And Jenna, wasn't it a blast? It was so much fun. If you guys haven't seen it, you have to check it out. There's this couple, their names are John and Susan Lush, they're from Maryland. And when they got engaged, they reenacted Jim and Pam's engagement at the gas station. But then because of the pandemic, their May wedding was canceled. So John surprised them. We might have recreated the Dance Down the Isle from Jim and Pam's wedding and it was

just so much fun and such a wonderful thing to be a part of. Yeah. The thing that John is doing with that, it's just, it's great. He's bringing some light and love to the world and John, we love you. We love you. And you guys, we will see you next week with Can You Believe It? The first episode of Season 3. Gay Witch Hunt.

Can you believe we're on Season 3, Angela? I can't believe it. I can't believe it. And thank you guys so much for being along with us for the ride. We will see you next week, Season 3. 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 Jerkin. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubakow. 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.