Office Ladies - Finale, Pt 2

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

This week we’re breaking down “Finale, Pt 2”. It’s Dwight and Angela Martin’s wedding and the Dunder Mifflin employees reunite to celebrate. Jenna shares how they hid Steve Carell’s cameo, Angela talks about how busy her schedule was during the filming of this episode and a special guest stops by. You’re going to love this episode full of surprises and fun facts, and you won’t believe who came. … That’s what she said. Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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a simple one. 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. Happy finale part two. This is really it. This is season nine, episode twenty seven, written by Greg Daniels, directed by Ken Quapus. Would you like a summary? I would.

All right. Dwight and Angela are getting married. Kelly and Ryan are going to reunite. Nellie gets the baby she's been hoping for. Pam and Jim make a very big decision about their future. And everyone at Dunder Mifflin gathers for one last night together. And this, you guys, remember when Greg asked us all what we hoped for our characters? Mine was, I hoped that Angela and Dwight would end up together. So I love watching this, it's so awesome.

It's so perfect. Well, fast fact number one, Angela is your look back moment. All right, this is our final look back. You know, this is the bonus feature on disc four for season nine. And when I was watching all of it, one of the things that really stood out to me was when everyone reflected on what the writers meant to the show and what Greg Daniels meant to everyone. Let's listen. First and foremost, it's a writer's show and we really owe everything to the writers on this. We also owe the writers and especially Greg Daniels a big debt of gratitude

in that they trust the actors enough to let us play with their lines and improvise off of them and come up with other line ideas and pitches. You don't get to do that on a lot of other TV shows. I think what helped it push through was a phenomenal cast and really great writing staff. The perfect man for the job in Greg Daniels. Greg Daniels said in our first meeting, he's like, you know, American comedy is like this big ship, you know, a big like cruise liner. And if you can just point it one degree in the right direction, you can make a big, big difference but you can't turn comedy that sharply and I feel like that's what The Office did is it took

American comedy and it turned it one degree in the right direction. At the time comedy was very silly and there were a lot of very broad shows on the air and it was just the perfect time for reality to hit comedy. I think that there's something sort of like it was lightning in a bottle for the entire cast and the entire creative team. It's kind of a troupe of people who understand writing and performing all at the same time. I spent more time here than I did on the set. I spent more time here than I did at home. I definitely spent more hours here over the past 10 years than anywhere else in the world. And it's not a very pretty place to be, but there was a lot of laughter and a lot of great ideas.

Well, Greg really was the visionary behind this show. It was not an easy thing to adapt something that was only 13 episodes long, but a brilliant concept, and turn it into this 201 episodes of American television. I mean, that was Greg. Yeah. And also our writers. He assembled such an amazing team. And you know, as Jen and I have done this rewatch, those of you that listen know how gracious the writing staff has been and Greg, they've come on this show,

they have sent us an answers and audio clips and we're just so appreciative to them. Well, Lady, you shared in our book that you had a writing professor who said, if something is a pleasure to do, it's a pleasure to watch. And I think that's what BJ was saying in that clip. Like, it was my pleasure to sit in this dumpy writer's room for 10 years.

If you watch it on the DVD, he is in the writer's room and there's not much there, you know? But it is true. We just all had such a joyful time doing this show and I think people feel it when they watch it. Yeah. Well, Angela, I loved your look-backs. Thanks. I enjoyed watching that. I couldn't watch it, everybody.

I told Angela, I'm like, I'll be a puddle. I can't do it. I said, Jenna, do you want to watch it together? And you were just like, no. Well, I was a puddle. So yeah. I'll say I haven't watched the finale until we had to watch it to break it down.

Because I don't know if this is true, and I actually wish we would have asked Billie Eilish this. I know some people who will watch the whole series, but they won't watch the finale. Oh man. They're missing some really good nuggets. I know, I know and actually I'm glad now that I've seen it. But yeah. Well I'll tell you what I did after I watched the look back and I recommend that you do this because it's

really emotional. I then watched the season 9 bloopers. Oh no! And then I was just laughing. So I went from tearing up to laughter and that's the way you gotta do it. All right, well let's move on to fast fact number two. I'm calling this one, wedding weather. Yeah. We shot all of Angela and Dwight's wedding at Big Sky Ranch.

We shot for three days at the ranch. We shot on a Thursday, a Friday, and a Sunday. Thursday was actually my birthday. Oh yeah, that's right. It was also the day Steve was there. Oh, so that was a really, really fun memory for me from that birthday. But there was an issue.

Like any real wedding, we couldn't control the weather and it was crazy windy. It was cold. It rained. The high was 61. The low was 45. Yeah. I remember them being worried the tent would blow away.

They were waiting it down. The lanterns were swaying. You saw the cloud bank rolling in. Well I remember wondering, are we able to shoot this? Yeah. Because the sky was very, very gloomy and ominous, and Matt Stone actually had to put up all these giant lights and like floodlights in order to try to brighten up everything.

It was. Yeah. But the call sheets for these three days, they said, we will shoot rain or shine. Please be prepared. Yep. And we have some great, great pictures that really showcase the windy conditions. I mean, I have one of the clouds rolling in. I don't know if you remember, Jenna, but my veil kept blowing all over my face. I do. I have a picture of me and John and the veil is about to wrap around us. But our favorite, hands down, is a photo we discovered when we wrote our book, The Office

BFFs. Yeah. I took the picture standing in Angela Martin's shallow grave of everyone looking back at me. I really wanted to remember what I saw on Angela's wedding day. And I took that picture and I never thought anything about it. You know, we looked at it, I put it in a scrapbook.

But when we started to do our book, we were really zooming in on pictures to make sure the image was good, the quality was good. And Catherine. It's so funny. It was, I can't believe we didn't see it for years. I know. Catherine, in this picture, everyone looks cold.

Jenna, you look freezing. Yeah. Kate Flannery is actually doing a thing with her face like, ooh. But Catherine's face is completely covered by her hair. Yeah. It's hilarious. We'll put it in stories. I also found in my digital clutter an email from our key second assistant director Stephanie. Oh my gosh I was just texting with Stephanie recently. I love her.

Remember I told you I went to that birthday party where we discussed whether or not the birthday boy was right? Right. Okay. Show her, grow her. Right. So I thought oh the morning not the birthday boy was right. Okay, show her a grower. Right. So I thought, oh, the morning after the birthday party, I'm gonna send a fun text to all the ladies about some inside joke from the party. So I send it to my friends, Michelle, Ann, and Steph. Oh no, you texted the wrong Stephanie.

Texted the wrong Stephanie. And so Steph, our second AD, after a while of us not hearing from Steph, who was at the party, she texts back, hey, ladies, this sounds like a really fun party. Oh, no. But I think you mean this for a different Steph. Oh, no. But anyway, and then I was like texting her on the side and was like, how are you though? All right, so go ahead.

Steph sent an email. She did. It was to the entire cast and here's what it said. Hey guys, I'm looking forward to the giant days we have coming up. They should be a lot of fun. I am trying to make the days run as smoothly as possible and want to alert you to our plans in advance. Due to the nature of the set

and the gorgeous views at the location, there is very little indoor space available to us. We are planning to take advantage of the remoteness of the set and we will see 360. Oh, I remember this. Yeah, so that meant we do not have any holding areas planned. Yes, there were no trailers up there. The trailers were down this long hill.

You had to take a van. Uh-huh. So once we got ready at the bottom of the hill, you would take a van up to the top. Yep. And then you were just at this wedding. Right. Stephanie said, while we're shooting, there will be a small group of you who are working inside the house. This is a hot set, please don't move anything around.

So we were inside that house, Dwight's farmhouse. The other thing I wanted to note is she wrote, there are 33 principal actors working today. And 50 background performers. Yep, she wrote, we are preparing for rain. And lastly, please be aware that there is no cell phone service. My cell phone has not been working at this location. Production is renting a temporary cell phone. Please try me by that or email me. We were

really in the middle of nowhere. She included directions which were very detailed. And I remember that drive, don't you, Jenna? In the morning, it was full fog and mist. And we were driving. You would have thought we were sort of like in the highlands of Scotland. Yes, very much. That's a great comparison.

We had to go through two different canyons. Well, I think that these conditions actually lent themselves to a really, really fun final shoot experience. It really reminded me of our early days on set when none of us had phones or working computers. And we just would sit on set. And hang out. And that's what we did when we shot this wedding.

We just hung out. And it was really fun. We hung out in parkas that had a piece of tape with our name on it. That's how we knew which parka was ours. It was super cold. So cold. And we just huddled up in that drafty house

and talked and laughed. And it was great. All right. This is a big top of show everybody. And I've got a big fast fact three. Yeah. Because we had a big guest of show everybody, and I've got a big fast fact three. Yeah. Because we had a big guest star on this episode. Mr. Steve Carell.

I still can't believe how they pulled this off. I really can't. We got a lot of fan mail about it. And I have a whole breakdown on how we made it work. Let's get into these fan questions. Bailey E. from Manitoba said, one of the scenes from The Office that never fails to make me cry is when Michael comes back to be Dwight's best man. I've always wondered whose idea was

it to have Steve Carell come back and was it a surprise to the cast? And Megan Kay from Tampa, Florida said, I'd love to know your ladies feelings on Steve coming back to the set. In the opening credits, his name is not mentioned. So it was a huge surprise for viewers to see. I absolutely ball every time I see it and I would love to know how it all came together. And Hugo S from Kyoto, Japan said,

what was the process in getting Steve to return for his final episode? Well, Jenna, you know everything that was happening behind the scenes that the rest of us didn't know, so you have to share. All right, well it was Greg's idea to have Steve come back. He had wanted that for a very long time and he asked him pretty early in season 9. But Steve was reluctant. He felt like Michael's story had really ended. He didn't want to open it back up again. And he especially did not want to come back after two years and have this finale episode be about him.

Steve really felt like my character had his ending. This is everybody else's ending. And he didn't want to overshadow that. Well, he's very gracious that way. Yeah. But then Greg had the idea of the final episode being Dwight and Angela's wedding. And Steve agreed Michael would be there.

I believe that. I believe Michael would want to be there for Dwight and Angela. Yeah, it was a creative reason that was supported by history, you know? So I remember being up in the writer's room with John when we found out that Steve was going to come back and we were sworn to secrecy.

This was like really epic to pull off. I've told this story before. Rainn Wilson turned to me and he said, not even Angela, Jenna. I was like, okay. So aggressive. I mean, he knows I tell you everything. I know. It was really hard not to tell you.

Because, Angie, you did not find out until he showed up on set that day. I know the exact moment. I had driven through the two canyons, I had taken the dirt road. I was at our base camp in the middle of nowhere. It was cold and foggy. And right as I was getting to hair and makeup, the set PA turned to me and said, Oh, Steve is here. And I said, what are you talking about? And at first I thought she meant Steve Burgess.

And she was like, Steve Carell is here. I said, what? And I opened the door and there he was. He was sitting in hair and makeup. And I just was like, Steve. I was like, oh my gosh. And I just hugged him and we were laughing. I couldn't believe it.

I was like so confused. And then we just got to chat in hair and makeup and it was absolutely wonderful. I remember the vibe in the hair and makeup trailer when he was in there. Buzz, buzzing. Yeah, a body buzz. Everybody was like, it was a party.

Yeah. Well, this was really crazy because Greg did not tell NBC that Steve was coming back. Well, this is what I remember at the table read when all the NBC suits were there, all the executives. In the script, it was Creed, right? Yes. So that's the thing.

When you turn in a script, they use those script pages, those locations, those scenes to set a budget for your episode. And so they had a scene at our table read between Dwight and Jim, but it wasn't the scene that ended up in the show. But there was a scene, it was a placeholder of Jim helping Dwight right before it's time to go to the wedding. Same number of lines, same page count as the real scene with Steve. And then later, Michael has a

talking head where he says, oh it's like all my kids grew up and they got married. Creed read that. Yes, at the table read Creed read it. It was a Creed talking head. It got a laugh. It did. So no one at NBC knew. No. And Steve Burgess told me that NBC has a rule that nobody can be filmed for the show without a signed contract. So in order to follow the rules and still keep the secret,

Steve Carell signed a contract to do the show for this episode, but Steve Burgess kept it locked in his desk drawer until the day the show aired. Steve Burgess? So he could be like, no, no, no, look at the date. I had a contract. I just forgot to hand it in. This is some serious maneuvering. There's more, lady.

So usually, every day after you shoot, you send those tapes into the studio. They're called the dailies. Right, for them to review if they have something they didn't like, they want to take out, yada yada. They didn't send Steve scenes. They kept them locked up somewhere else. And then Dave Rogers did a cut of the episode

because the network has to give notes, sent a Steve-less version. So there's a lot of people in cahoots here to keep Steve's appearance a secret. And I know Greg had a specific reason. Share it, Jenna. He was afraid that if he turned in any footage of Steve Carell on the show before it aired, that NBC would make promos out of it and ruin the surprise. Oh, they would want the ratings for sure.

Right? Yeah. And then it wouldn't have been a surprise. I get that. So finally we had our final cut, the version that we had to turn into the network. With Steve. With Steve, but we weren't turning it in. And I guess NBC finally put their foot down and said, we will not air something that no

one here has seen. So Greg and Steve Burgess and Dave Rogers and Claire Scanlon said, you can come stand in our edit bay and watch it. Did that piss him off? I'm sure this never happens. Steve Burgess was like, I'll never work in this town again. Greg was like, it'll be fine.

So Steve Burgess said, you should have seen their faces as they're standing in the edit bay, the day before the episode was gonna air. Were they so grumpy that they had to come to our studios and stand in that edit bay? He said when they saw Steve come on there was this mixture of them being like so pissed and so excited. And Dave Rogers said that they waited until 9 a.m. the day the finale aired to actually hand over the episode. Wow. Is that the greatest kept secret?

I mean, yeah. It's gotta be one of the best kept secrets in television. I would have been so stressed. I would have been horrible. But also- I'm so glad I didn't know. I'm so glad. I was so excited when you finally knew. I was like, ah!

But I mean, even that, we still had to keep the secret till it aired. Oh yeah. We did so much press, and everybody asked us if Steve was coming back. David Letterman asked John Krasinski if Steve was coming back, and John lied to him. Yeah, lied to his face.

Lied to David Letterman. David Letterman. No, we were asked tons of questions about the finale, and Greg sent out an email and was like, I need you all to come together and not say a word on this. And we didn't. Mm-hmm. All right.

Well, like I said, that's a very long top of show, but there was a lot to cover. There was, and there still is a lot to cover. Maybe we should take a break. And when we come back, I brought some show and tell items. I can't wait. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get a nice rank on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Goltenders? No. But chicken tenders? Yes.

Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

Metrolinx and Crosslinx are reminding everyone to be careful as Eglinton Crosstown LRT train testing is in progress. Please be alert as trains can pass at any time on the tracks. Remember to follow all traffic signals. Be careful along our tracks and only make left turns where it's safe to do so. Be alert, be aware, and stay safe. We are back and we are starting with finale show and tell. Should I be getting my camera out? Sam, Cassie, guess what I brought today? I brought my finale part one and two script. It's the shooting draft that we were given

at the table read and I had the entire cast sign it. Wow. Wow, I love that. Isn't that cool? You should frame that. I know, right? This is what I found as I went through my bins of stuff. I had a bin called trailer finale.

Oh. Yeah. What's next? What's next is, I'm gonna share one more here and then I have two more that I'll share later in the episode. Okay. So here's the thing I want you all to know about Jenna and I's friendship.

Jenna is a card giver and it's something I love about her. And I have saved all the cards you've ever given me. And you always give me a card that marks a big moment. I am horrible at giving cards. I love to make a gift. I love to buy a gift. But in our friendship, you give cards. And I brought a few. First of all, you gave me a card when we started this podcast. I did?

Yes. I have no memory of this. And you wrote in it, you said, I have no idea if anyone is gonna listen to us, but I'm just happy I get to do this with my best friend. Such a nice card. You're such a nice card. You're a good card writer. Okay, then I saved the card you gave me at the end of the show when we wrapped the office.

Here it is. This is a picture of me coming over the partition. We shared this in our book. This is how you saw me for nine years, just my little tiny head coming over the partition. It shared this in our book. This is how you saw me for nine years, just my little tiny head coming over the partition. It's how I met you. That's right. And you wrote this. And if it's all right, I'm going to read it. Okay.

Angela, it's true what Steve said. No matter what happens with the show, I am so happy to have met you. You have quickly become one of my closest girlfriends, and it is such a gift. At my age, I don't always expect to meet a new person who I could bond with so easily. You are the funniest woman I know. Now it's in writing. And I just love our time together. BFF, Jenna. Well, you are the funniest woman I know. You put it in writing. It's in writing. It's in writing.

It's been written down. Anyway, it's one of the things I absolutely love about our friendship is you are great at giving cards and I save them and they mean so much to me. Well, I guess I'm good at giving cards and you're good at saving things. This is true. And that's one of the things I love about you.

Well that ends our show and tell right now. Oh, I also want you guys to know I have tons of pictures from this episode. I had brought my camera. I'll be sharing them in stories. But also Steve Burr just sent us so many fantastic behind the scenes pictures from this episode, just like a treasure of pictures. He did. We'll be putting those in stories as well.

Well, let's get started. Here we are. We're at Shroot Farms. The wedding guests are arriving and they're bringing cats as gifts. I loved it. Here's how this scene was described in the shooting draft. Kevin puts his cat in the gift basket. Behind him, Pete has a cat for her too.

Behind him, Creed wearing his beard puts a cat in the basket. Behind him, Pete has a cat for her too. Behind him, Creed, wearing his beard, puts a cat in the basket. The cats keep escaping from the basket. A caterer keeps scooping them up and putting them back in the basket. Meredith shows up with a cat. She looks gorgeous and classy. Oh. Mmm. Well, that's a little bit more than what we see play out in the scene. In this scene, we do see Dakota introduce herself to Creed.

This is when we learn her name. Creed says he's Jeff Bumato. He sells ceramic tile out of Newark. Yeah, he has a wife named Catherine. He can show you his social security card if it helps. Dakota's like, okay, whatever. I would like to point out that our writers, Jen Salata and Graham Wagner, are reprising their roles as the Schrut family members. They're arriving for the wedding during the scene as well.

– Now we see Kelly and Ravi, they're in their seats for Dwight and Angela's wedding. When Ryan approaches, he's got a baby strapped to his chest. – I have a show and tell moment for here. – Oh, already? – Already. – What is it? – Kelly and Ravi are holding the wedding program. Oh! And I kept one. Phil Shea gave it to me and I still have it. Look, Sam, Cassie, I

have the wedding program. Wow, that is a good prop to have. We share this in our book as well, but it says that Angela and Dwight's wedding is taking place on Saturday, the 14th of June at three o'clock in the afternoon. Okay. It says that her co-maids of honor are Pam Halpert, Meredith Palmer, Phyllis Vance, and Rachel Martin. So that was actually a plot point that got cut out. It's why we are all throwing your bachelorette party because we are your co-maids of honor. And the groomsmen are Andy Bernard, Oscar Martinez, Zeke Schrute, and Mo Schrute. Bestest Minch, Jim Halpert. Angela does not have a maid of honor. Oh, interesting. It also lists Dwight and Angela's parents. Do you want

to hear their names? Sure. We're gonna see Angela's parents later. Angela's mother and father are Anne-Marie Martin and Sean T. Martin. Okay.. Angela's mother and father are Anne Marie Martin and Sean T. Martin. Dwight's mother and father are Hedda Mannheim Schrute and Dwight Schrute Sr. There was a flower girl, Cece Halpert. And the ring bearer was Philip Halstead Lipton. There you go, Dwight and Angela's wedding program. Well, that was all done by the late, great Phil Shea. Yep. Kelly's gonna ask Ryan if he's a manny. And Ryan's like, no, this little guy's mine.

Mm-hmm. I would like to give the cutest smile in the finale, Dundee, in this scene. Is it to the little baby? Yes, what a cutie. Steve Birch has said we had three pairs of twins. Oh wow. As possible babies, but there was one baby

and he unfortunately did not know the name that was like superior to all the babies and that's the one you see there, winning the smiley Dundee. What a cutie. Oh, I wanna give a guest star shout out to Centil Rama Murthy who played Ravi. He's back.

He's amazing. He's so good. He's so good. Well, Kelly thinks Ryan's baby is adorable, especially compared to some of the Uggos that Ravi treats as a pediatrician. Ravi says they're called premature, sweetie. It's good to see you again, Ryan. And you know, from the minute Ryan sits down,

we see a look on Kelly's face, and I think we all know what's gonna happen. Oh, you know it. You know it. We are now in the bridal dressing room. Pam, Phyllis, and Angela's sister, Rachel, are helping Angela get ready. Angela's really struggling in her heels.

I guess, you know, spending hours in a trunk, her legs are all sore. She can't really stand up or walk. And she's really mad at Phyllis about it. This is the first time we see Angela in her wedding dress. Yes, that's true. We've mentioned this before, but it looks very similar to Phyllis's wedding dress. It's a strapless dress with a lace jacket.

Angela's hair is half up, half down. This was a very fun wardrobe fitting. I still have the pictures from it. And of course, Kim Ferry wanted to do a little classic mini bun swoop. So her hair is half up, half down with the cute little knot. I saw it. I loved it. It was a great detail and a call back to the character.

Well, Phyllis is going to tell Angela, I'm going to get you to the altar and you can take that to the bank. Yes. I have such a clear memory of Phyllis saying you can take that to the bank. She was so proud that she was going to take care of things and it was a really sweet moment. Well now we're going to go to the groom's dressing room. Dwight's getting ready. Jim is helping him. We have a callback, another little Easter egg. Dwight does his air guitar to pump himself up.

Oh, yes! I love that. He's like, I was born ready. And it's that callback to what he would do in the stairwell before there was a big meeting. Well, Jim's going to give him some news. He says, I just found out that I cannot be your bestest mensch because the bestest mensch has to be older than the groom. What are we gonna do? Rain and John are really funny in this scene.

They are. When John is Jim is like, I'm significantly younger than you and Dwight's like, I don't know if I'd say that. Significantly. Maybe a teeny bit. That's when Jim says, I just really wish there was something I could do. And then his eyes kind of look off.

The camera pans over, and guess who's there? Michael Scott. I know. And Dwight says, Michael, I can't believe you came. And Michael says, that's what she said. And that's the last time Steve Carell ever said that's what she said. And that's the last time Steve Carell ever said that's what she said. He has not said it since. That was the last time. Well, it was perfect. That's going to be your last one. That's a great way to go.

Perfect. Jim says, best prank ever. Now it's time for the wedding ceremony. The processional begins and Phyllis is carrying Angela on her back while a string quartet plays Sweet Child of Mine. Steve Burgess said Sweet Child of Mine was very difficult to clear. This is the song the writers wanted. But since we did not use Guns N' Roses singing it, it was allowed, but it still cost $50,000. Damn! Just to have a string quartet play it. Popular song. It was allowed, but it still cost $50,000. Damn.

Just to have a string quartet play it. Popular song. Wow. I have to think that Angela and Dwight had a few arguments over the song choices for the wedding. You think so? I don't think Angela would have picked Sweet Child of Mine as her entrance. We got a fan question from Jenna F. in Los Angeles who said, this seemingly simple bit of Phyllis carrying you down the aisle actually required a pretty elaborate set of circumstances to pull off.

You wrote about it in your book, The Office BFFs, but Angela, will you tell the story on the podcast? Thank you, Jenna F. for writing in. You've been a loyal writer, commentator on this podcast. Well, this is how it was described in the shooting draft. Dwight stands in a shallow grave with an empty one next to him. Beside Jim and Andy and the ushers under a bower of flowers. The guests are in suits and look great, seated on hay bales with white cloths covering the

tops. Phyllis walks down the aisle with Angela riding on her back, smiling and nodding to all the guests. When she gets to the front, Angela daintily steps off and into the grave next to Dwight. But to make this walk down the aisle happen, well, first of all, Phyllis could not carry me down the aisle. That was not safe for her to do.

So they actually got a stunt woman that had Phyllis's similar hair color that carried me down the aisle. And we had to practice this. I had a rehearsal. So we had to set up two different angles for the camera. The camera that would be behind Phyllis and I walking down the aisle were really filming me on the back of

the stunt woman because you couldn't see her face. And I am really being carried and that's why you see my legs dangling, right? But of course they also needed a shot of us coming towards the camera and as we walked towards the camera it was actually Phyllis and me behind her on this wooden plank being held by two men. Yes. And we had to practice the walk together because Phyllis does one step together, you know, that traditional kind of walk down the aisle where you take one step and then your feet come together and you take one step.

So we had to practice this and there was one time where Phyllis got too far ahead and my arms are on her neck and the men with the plank did not meet her and I almost fell off the thing. It was such a crazy thing to see, Angela, because we're all sitting there being the wedding guests and, you know, the two guys holding you on a piece of wood and you're sort of holding onto Phyllis. And then they removed the guys in post. And the wood. Which is so crazy to me,

because I remember I turned to John and I was like, I don't understand. We can just paint them out? We can just get rid of them? Yeah. He was like, uh-huh, they did. There's a whole wooden plank and tube in. You wouldn't expect that on The Office,

there would be like an elaborate special effects moment. But this was, this was of the caliber of something you might see in The Matrix, dare I say. Exactly. Oh, thank you for bringing The Matrix into the finale. I needed Keanu to be here with us in some way for the finale. I really appreciate that.

There are so many things that have happened to us over the last five years since we have been making this podcast. I was going over them in my head. I was thinking of life and just world events and all kinds of things. And I was filled with such gratitude for all the things that we've done, you know, over

these five years. But I thought, I am not done here, though. I am not done. And the one thing, the one thing that we have not managed to capture in this five years is Keanu. I know. And so we cannot stop podcasting. Until.

Until we have that. Until we get to interview Keanu. You know, he's gonna be on Broadway and waiting for Godot with Alex Winter. And that's next fall. And I feel like that's a reason to come talk to us. Maybe we go to the play and then we talk to them in New York City. Well lady, you know any reason to go to New York City

and see a play I'm all over it. Done! Done. I do want to say while we've been talking our balloons that say congrats have fallen. They're hanging on by one string. We have a few other things to cover from this scene. Number one, I want to say I think Greg Daniels should have won an Emmy for this episode in particular for all these wedding scenes. They are so funny. So funny. And so well done.

I love that even though Angela Martin is on Phyllis's back, she is still waving to people who are seated. Kind of awkwardly, my hand is in Phyllis's face. I'm holding a bouquet in the other hand while I'm trying to hold on. I love that Kevin fist bumps Angela and she fist bumps him back. And Meredith gives her real enthusiastic thumbs up. Those were improv moments. And it's just such a happy thing.

And then when Angela crawls into her, Michael comes over and gives her a hug that was not in the script. Steve did that in the moment. And I love it. I'm just so happy to see him. I'm hugging him for real. 31 minutes, 6 seconds. I want to give a shout out to the couple who I assume are playing Angela's parents.

They're in the front row, both tiny folks, both blonde, and then when Oscar comes down the aisle with Philip, the woman playing Angela's mother is just gazing at Philip like a grandma would. Also wanna give a shout out to Michael Tuba-Heathernton. He is back, he is the minister, and he's gonna marry Dwight and Angela. Yes, that's Veda's husband. Veda, our script supervisor, and he was the minister in the farm,

but he's had multiple roles on the show. Yes, we've broken down. He has been so many different characters. He's sort of like our soap star who keeps coming back as different characters. He is or like Kirk from Gilmore Girls. You know, Sean Gunn played the character of Kirk on Gilmore Girls, but he has like multiple jobs and like even for a while had multiple names. Oh, very much like Kirk then. Yes. Well, now we're gonna have Kevin read a passage.

Yes, it's from the Song of Solomon. We had a fan question. Okay. From Stephanie C. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. What is this timeline for wedding guests? First of all, Dwight and Kevin just buried the hatchet yesterday and now he's not only at the wedding, but he's a reader?

And Angela had Kevin read at her wedding? Then Erin just met her parents this morning and now they're at the wedding of her coworkers? Not only are these people extremely flexible with their day, but Angela and Dwight are extremely flexible with their wedding plans. I'm sorry, but as head of the PPC, I'm surprised she would allow for these last-minute changes. I don't disagree. All right. We also have a bullsh**t card from Annette G in Newcastle, Australia, who said,

I call bullsh**t. They took time to introduce Dwight's siblings on the farm only for them to disappear from the show and not even attend the wedding? In the farm, and I know it was created with the intention of being a pilot, but it was still an episode in the office. They showed this bond between Dwight and his siblings and nephew

only for none of them to be at his wedding. I so agree with this. Where is his brother? Where is his sister? And his cute little nephew who he taught how to milk? Yes. I see that bullsh** card and I raise it. What do you raise it to? Super bull****** card and I raise it. What do you raise it to?

Super bull******. Okay. Good. Well, people had more things to say. Cora C. in East Hampton, Massachusetts said, this bothers me every time I watch this episode. Why have none of the children aged? Both Cece and Philip look the same as a year ago. Cora, it's true, and we actually discussed this, but here's the thing. Those kids were such cute petudes, and we were so attached to them, we just put them in the episode anyway.

It's true. Philip should be a year older. Cece should be older. I know. We don't care. I hear it, I get it, but also I always find it jarring when one of your shows all of a sudden the character's aged and they look so different. Like they're clearly not the same person. Right, exactly. We would have to cast a whole new person.

Yeah. And I think you might've been like, who's Oscar carrying down the aisle? We had to know it was Philip. Yeah. And I think you might've been like, who's Oscar carrying down the aisle? We had to know it was Philip. Yeah. You know, and Jim looking at the unveiling last episode, he needed to have the Cece that we all know. Yeah.

So. I know, I know. Ah. All right. I have something I noted. Okay. I spotted Val sitting next to Nate. You know, in the last episode we were talking about the people who were on the panel versus off the panel,

and I thought about listing Val because she was not on the panel, but I kind of thought, you know what, I bet she moved on. Maybe she moved on. We don't even know. Does she still work in the warehouse? I'm not sure. But here she is, she's at the wedding, but she's not sitting with Daryl, but later on she's gonna leave with Daryl. What's happening? Do you think they were broken up?

Are they gonna hook up after this wedding? Is it one of those where they're like, he's been gone? Yeah, it might be a wedding hookup. They happen. I had a wedding hookup at my wedding. I had a wedding. I know you. I know who it was too. It was not me. Had sex in the bushes of my wedding. That is crazy. My real life wedding to Lee. Yeah. Two of the people I had already left in the bushes. I had already left. Or did they just make out? I think it was like heavy petting make out.

This is what I heard. Do people still say heavy petting? Is that a term? I don't know. I've never spoken to them about it. I've never spoken to either of them about it. Guys, they're famous. Two famous people did some heavy petting

in the bushes of my wedding. There's an Office Lady 6.0. I was surprised. I was like, okay. I was surprised. You know, I wasn't, I wasn't. Because here's the thing, it was your wedding, so you're busy. People are coming around you.

You got a lot going on. I observed this from the beginning. I was like, what? What? What? What? What's happening over there? You saw sparks flying. I saw some looks happening, like Kelly and Ryan kind of looks. Yeah. Yeah. And I was like, what? What? What? What? What?

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? Okay, where are we? Okay, I know one thing I want to talk about, which is now the minister pronounces them man and wife and he says, release the doves. Yeah. The doves do not move. They do not.

Everyone has this huge reaction like, what? Like the reaction does not match what's happening, in my opinion. Like, so the doves don't fly away. People wouldn't be like, what? I don't know. Does it feel like bad luck that the doves don't fly? That was how I interpreted it, that everybody was like, oh no, the doves aren't flying for their love. For their love.

So funny how you said that. Well, I'll tell you, there was a reason. Okay. So I remember this gag for the wedding. I remember talking about it with Phil. The idea was that one of the things Angela had on her registry were cats. You could bring her cats.

They have this basket of cats. Well, it said in the shooting draft, after the minister says release the doves, Nate bends to the wicker cage that has a dozen cats clawing at it. He shoes the cats away and opens a door. Doves shoot out in a hurry to get the hell out of there. Everyone applauds. I have this very clear memory of talking to Phil Shea about it and asking him, how is this going to work? You can't really have cats clawing at the basket, you know? And I guess they were going to do some movie magic with that.

And ultimately, it didn't work. And I asked Steve Burgess about it, and he said when they went to release the doves, the doves would not fly. Oh, that just happened. That was real. That was real. He said maybe it was the wind or the stormy weather, but they wanted to stay in their little basket. They were happy. They did not want to leave it. So then they had the character of Nate

trying to shoo them out. And he said they would not fly away. And in the final cut, they did get one or two out, but they just walked back and forth around the basket. So they did have to CGI these doves walking around the basket and not flying. They had to CGI them out. Wow. Yeah. So we had to remove two men in a plank and some lazy doves. Some lazy doves. And everyone had the reactions they had because we were told there are cats clawing at the basket. Oh, we were still doing that story. Yes. Got it.

So that's why everyone has that huge reaction, because it's like cats are maybe going to kill these doves. Right. But none of that happened. They left the reactions in. Well, one of my favorite moments now is coming up. It's a small moment, but Dwight and Angela, they exchange their rings and they kiss and they're married.

And Dwight says, everyone, the hay you're sitting on are also your seats for the reception. So there's some hay hooks. Complementary hay hooks are placed on the aisle. Just stab them on in there. Is your moment about Ed Begley Jr.? It is. It is. Oh, gosh stab him on in there. Is your moment about Ed Begley Jr. It is, it is. Oh gosh, it's so good. Just, can I give him a Dundee for best pratfall

for his fall when he's trying to move the hay bale. It's so committed and so amazing. He falls and the hay bale comes on top of him. It's so good. What I loved about it is remember when Erin kicks the box and then her leg gets stuck in it. Her foot gets stuck and she loses her shoe. of them. It's so good. What I loved about it is remember when Erin kicks the box and then her leg gets stuck in it. Her foot gets stuck and she loses her shoe. It felt like it is in this family's DNA. I just really loved it. Yeah, I did too. I do have a bull

s**t card to play here. What is it? It's not super bull s**t. It's just bull s**t. Just regular? We never see the bales of hay at the reception. We never see them again. We never see them again. It's chairs. I know. I know. Well, lady, why don't we take a break and when we come back we'll go to the reception with no hay bales added at all. But there is a pretty awesome first dance. There is. We are back and Dwight and Angela are having their first dance. It is to Motley Crue's Angela and Dwight is carrying Angela around. This is a callback to the fact that your legs are still hurting you. We had a fan question from Sarah M. in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania who said, was Angela in a harness

for the wedding dance? No, Sarah said, was Angela in a harness for the wedding dance? No, Sarah, I was not in a harness. That was just Rain holding me. He held me the whole time. It was described in the shooting draft like this. Dwight and Angela are dancing their first slow dance to the Tom Petty song, Here Comes My Girl. Oh, yeah, which that song does come later.

The script says, we reveal that Dwight is holding Angela up closer to his face, her feet dangle. Mm-hmm. That's all it said. Rain and I improvised our whole first dance. I loved that they changed it to Montlie Cruz Angela. I think it fit the weather so perfectly, I want us to hear it. When the winds cry Angela, it was a windy stormy day and this was the song.

But yeah, when we started dancing, Rain did this really great tango move. And then when he turned, my legs kind of kicked out and I purposely held them rigid so they would fly out behind me. We had such a blast. All of the smiles you see are real. We were having so much fun. Well, it was fun to watch.

It was very joyous. It felt like a real reception. It did. It really did. And then Dwight says. It felt like a real reception. It did. It really did. And then Dwight says, everybody else come join us. And that's when you hear Tom Petty's Here Comes My Girl. And Jim and Pam have this really sweet moment. Yes. Oh, wait, Cassie, what you have something? Yeah, I have something I noticed in the background of the scene, Pete and Aaron are dancing together. So I think they're still dating at this point. Oh, good catch.

I did not catch that. I didn't either. I caught that later in the episode, they are seated together with Erin's parents, but they were not seated together during the wedding. Do we have another wedding hookup? Is it possible that they were not together? Because they were not together on the panel.

They're not together as the wedding is happening. But now here they were not together, because they were not together on the panel. They're not together as the wedding is happening, but now here they are dancing together, and then he sits at her table. I mean, this is what happens at weddings. Clearly. People hook up. Good catch, Cassie. And speaking of hookups, Ryan is about to approach Ravi.

He needs some help with baby Drake. He gave baby Drake a strawberry, knowing he's allergic, knowing he would have this rash and fever to get Ravi away so he could hook up with Kelly. It's the most romantic gesture to Kelly. She can't believe it, and they start making out right there. Yep, she says, you gave your baby an allergic reaction just to talk to me.

She's very moved. She's hot to trot now. She sure is. Now we have this sweet scene where Michael is showing photos of his kids to Pam. So cute. I loved getting to have this moment with Steve. I got him all to myself.

I know. For about 20 minutes while we shot this little bit. Pam says, Michael has so many photos, he had to get two phones with two numbers and two bills, but he's just so happy to have a family plan. So sweet, so stinking sweet. We had a fan mail flurry about this little moment. Summer J from Houston, Texas said,

I find it hard to believe that Michael would not bring Holly to the wedding. Was this a scheduling conflict with Amy Ryan who could not attend? It just seems so strange and a little sad that we see so many cameos at the end of the show, but the love of Michael's life is gone. Please explain. Summer, it was a scheduling conflict. It was originally intended for Holly to also come to the wedding and also bring their kids. But Amy Ryan was not available on these dates.

There was a talking head that was scripted for Holly and she was gonna be holding their children, some Irish twins. Elizabeth P from Toronto, Canada said, we find out that Michael has a few kids with Holly. Does this mean he got his third vasectomy reversed? Snip, snap, snip, snap, snip, snap. And also a fan question from Ivana O in Aurora, Colorado, who said, I'm dying to know what Michael named his kids.

Is there anything in the show Bible or deleted scenes that tell us this? There is. Holly's talking head. That's right, read it, Jenna. It says, Holly was gonna have this talking head while Dwight and Michael were dancing together in the background to Rosalita.

So we see this happen, but that's where this talking head would have been and Holly says this, life is good. We have two sons, Chebenshire and Loshaben. Michael named them. He said it was based on the feeling he had when he first saw them. Then we were gonna see the kids dancing.

Chebenshire? Chebenshire and Loshabin. How do you spell Chebenshire? C-H-E-B-O-N-S-H-U-R. Chebenshire. And Loshabin. L-O-W-S-H-E-B-I-N. Well, when they go to Disneyland and everyone else can find a magnet with their name on it,

they're not going to be able to. They will not. But you know, it made sense to me that just Michael came to the wedding. I mean, when you have young kids, if you don't have childcare, one of you stays home. You kind of have to divide up these events and say who can go to what, can someone watch the kids? And if they can't, one of you goes and one of you stays home. You kind of have to divide up these events and say who can go to what, can someone watch the kids

and if they can't, one of you goes and one of you doesn't. Yeah. So that made sense to me. It made sense to me too. Well now we have a montage of people dancing. First up are Erin and her father and they dance just the same. So sweet.

So sweet. Now Toby and Pam dance together and Toby just sobs the whole time. Yes, he's very sad. Pam's like, is it me? Is it Nellie? And he's like, it's everything. Toby.

You know what? I'm glad we had that because that also happens at weddings. That's what I was gonna say. There's always some person who is just weepy. Yep. Now Phyllis and Stanley dance together. This is so cute. Phyllis says, I missed you. Stanley says, I missed you too.

And then Phyllis has the sweetest talking head. She's crying real tears here, because we were all getting pretty sad. With each passing day as we filmed the finale, it got just more and more real that we were saying goodbye to the show. Yeah. Phyllis has a talking head where she says,

people think that Stanley is a mean old grump, but would a mean old grump make this statue of her? And it's like Phyllis, because he told us he carves birds. Yeah. Now he's carved Phyllis as a bird. Yeah, the top half is Phyllis, and then her legs are like bird legs. It's so cute. I have a secret about this talking head.

What is it? Phyllis is not at the wedding. She's in the Dunder Mifflin parking lot with a green screen. Oh. Because the carving wasn't ready when we were up at Big Sky Ranch. So they had to pick it up later. You cannot tell that's a green screen.

That's really well done. That's some secret intel from Steve Burg screen. That's really well done. That's some secret intel from Steve Burgess. That's some movie magic. We did get a fan mail flurry of people wanting to know if Phyllis got to keep the bird and she did. She said that in her interview with us that she kept this. I texted with her because I don't think we knew where she keeps it. She said she keeps it in her home office. because I don't think we knew where she keeps it. She said she keeps it in her home office. So she does not have her bushiest beaver dundee, but she does have the bird carving.

Well, I'm glad she has it. Me too. Kelly and Ryan are now gonna leave the wedding together. They're running down the hill to their cars. Ryan says, I love you. Kelly says, I love you too. Ryan says, we're gonna be together forever. And Kelly says, we're running off into the sunset.

And then Ryan has this line, OMG. He says, I finally mastered commitment. As he leaves his own child behind, he's mastered commitment. I liked the sending for this pairing. It's perfect. It was all in character. It's so perfect.

Well, the reception is now in full swing. Dwight and Michael are dancing together. I loved seeing these two guys having fun on the dance floor. Angela and her sister Rachel are dancing as well. We improvised what our dance moves would be, and we decided we'd dance just the same. Also dancing are Meredith and a man. Yes.

That man was Kate Flannery's real-life boyfriend and our set photographer, Chris Haston. Now later in the warehouse, he's also going to be the photographer who's taking our photo. So I like to imagine that he was the PBS photographer sent to Dwight and Angela's wedding to document things. And we have another wedding hookup. But it mirrors her real life romance

because he was our photographer. That's right. We got a fan question from Stephen Kay in Fairlawn, New Jersey who said, "'Everybody's dancing' to Springsteen's Rosalita. "'How was this song decided on "'and how much did it cost to get the song?' Well, Steve Burgess said,

"'We always wanted to use it. "'It was scripted. "'This was in the script, this song suggestion. And Bruce Springsteen songs are very difficult, if not impossible to clear. So Steve was like, I mean, I'll give it my best shot. He said it took a while. We found out that our request went to Bruce himself.

Whoa. He was a fan of The Office and said, you can use the song. It cost a lot of money. The boss agreed. The boss agreed. What did it cost? $100,000. So I hope you all enjoy that dance scene.

Wowza. Well, Ravi is now going to return with baby Drake, and then he learns from Kevin that Kelly and Ryan have left. And he gives the baby to Kevin says call child services they'll find someone better to take care of him than Ryan. Ravi is a pediatrician yeah and he's just gonna hand the baby to Kevin yeah and say call child services yeah Nellie is gonna take the baby from Kevin. She's so happy.

She's finally going to have her baby. We had a bullsh-t card from Kyle M in Albany, New York who said, you can't just take a baby, Nellie, especially on camera, especially on an airplane, to Europe. Especially out of the country. You just can't. I think that's a super bullsh** card.

It is. Kyle said, the writers wrap things up so well with the other characters in believable ways, but now I call bullsh**. It's a F-bomb bullsh**. Well, now we have this famous Michael Scott line. He is watching Pam and Jim and Angela and Dwight. They're talking, they're laughing.

And you know, I just think we need to hear it. I feel like all my kids grew up and then they married each other. It's every parent's dream. Every parent's dream. Yeah. Angela, we had a fan mail flurry. Oh yeah.

In all caps. Angela, don't forget the tapeworm story. You promised us you would tell us. You promised that you would tell everybody what we were talking about back there in the background of Michael's talking head. What are we laughing about? All right.

Well, we shared a little bit about this in our book, The Office BFFs, but I will tell you the whole story. When the camera pushes past Michael while he's doing this talking head, you see Angela, Dwight, Pam and Jim, and we are all laughing. And I am being very animated, way more animated than Angela Martin ever would. I'm clearly telling a story. And you know, Ken Quapus told us, it doesn't matter what we're saying back there, we're not going to hear you. So we just really started chatting. And I don't know how this subject came up,

but Rain told us the story of how he had a tapeworm when he was a kid growing up in Nicaragua. He wrote about it in his book. He did, the Bassoon King. He said he was walking down a road and his butt itched. I'm quoting Rain. Rain said this, his butt itched and he reached up to see what was going on and he pulled a worm out of his butt itched. I'm quoting Rain. Rain said this, his butt itched and he reached up to see what was going on and he pulled a worm out of his butt.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. We were like, what? It was such a random share. It was such a random share. We all started laughing, but then I couldn't catch my breath and I was laughing and laughing and you're like, lady, what's going on? And I said, my sister had a tapeworm. And then we all started laughing. I mean, she's fine now, you guys. But when we lived in Indonesia, she got this tapeworm.

And I told all of you this story. This is what's happening in the background. I said, here's the deal. It laid dormant in her body for years. And then one day it woke up. John couldn't take it. John could not take it. He was like, what are you talking about? It laid dormant. And then she started having like some stomach issues. Like, it's like she couldn't eat enough, you know, because the tapeworm was like eating her food. Yeah. Yeah. Then she went to doctors. They tried,

you know, what's going on. They couldn't figure out what was going on. Then everything stopped. It went dormant again for years. And then it woke up. She had this like yo-yo thing happening in her body for so long. And then finally a doctor figured it out that she had this tapeworm and they gave her this medicine. This also wrecked John. He was like, what did they do? I said, they gave her this medicine that killed the worm inside her and then she pooped it out. That's what we were talking about.

There it is. Those are some tapeworm stories and we were cracking up. It was probably one of those you had to be there's, but we were so thrown by rain share and then we thought we were done and then I was like, wait a second, I got one about a table worm that went dormant for years. That was a nice moment. I remember. We were laughing so hard. Well, the wedding is over now. Val, Daryl, Meredith, Andy and Pete are all leaving. They convinced Toby to join them in the warehouse

for a documentary after party. Yeah. Andy says it's only six. Come on, let's go. Six p.m. I'm glad I have the wedding program that said the wedding started at three because I feel like 6 p.m. is a quick wedding and also 6 p.m. and it's done? That's so early. Listen, I have some things to say about this. This is the longest day.

This day started with a panel discussion. Then we all went home and changed clothes. We went to a wedding, a reception. Yeah. Everyone's leaving the wedding reception. It's still light out and we still have another documentary reception to attend. It's a big day.

This is a big day. Before we leave the wedding all together though, I really need to give an award to the best outfit at the wedding. Who is it? Val. Oh, she looks so chic. Her dress is gorgeous.

It's very structured. The top of it is like a tank top neckline. It's white. Then there's a big square of this vibrant blue with a high waist with like two gold kind of belt buckle accessories on the waistband. And then the bottom is black. She's got this gorgeous blue wrap, a gold braided bracelet, and a green handbag with

white trim. She looks fantastic. You really liked this outfit. I loved this outfit. That's quite a description. Well, it was really a showstopper, and I think she gets best outfit at the wedding. Something that I failed to mention until now

is Pam's disappearing flower. Oh, flower in the hair? Yeah, flower in the hair, flower not in the hair. In the hair, not in the hair. You know what happened? When? We put a flower in my hair hair and we shot for a whole day and then we were like, I don't know if we like this flower.

So we just took it out. Oh no. I was like so, so there you go. When Jim and Pam arrive home, Pam does not have a flower in her hair and they are tired. Pam's like, oh, this day. I mean, yeah, because you still have to go change clothes and go to another event.

But guess who walks out of their house? Nancy Carell. Nancy Carell. Because Pam has sold their house. I have so many bullsh** cards to play here. Well, yes. There's this really fun scene where Jim's like, what's happening?

Who are these people? Carol walks out of their house with a couple of potential home buyers. And this is when Pam says, I just wanted to say thank you for being so great this past year. And I don't want you to have to give up anything to be with me.

So to show you how much I love you and to show you how much I believe in your future, I have been showing our house for about two months. Two months! Yeah. He's like, oh, that's why it's so clean. She's like, uh-huh. Uh-huh.

And then she has this line, you know, you bought it without telling me. I thought maybe I could sell it without telling you. Kaboom! This is such a great marriage. This is, okay, thank you for saying that. I know that this is supposed to be a big romantic gesture. It feels a little tit for tat, but I know for the story they want Pam and Jim to be able to move on together, you know? Yes, Jim got his big moment with the teapot. They wanted Pam to have a big moment,

moment with the teapot. They wanted Pam to have a big moment. But I said in the writer's room, I said, I'm not sure that the answer to this couple's problems is for Pam to adopt this habit of making big life moves without consulting the other person. Yeah, they don't want to be the gotcha couple. Gotcha, sold the house. I know.

It's like, here's what we're doing now. Actually, originally, they were going to come home and there was going to be a sold sign in the yard. And Jim was going to be like, what's this? So I said, maybe their big romantic gesture is that she's been showing the house. But you notice in the scene, they do actually decide together to do the move. The people say, we'll take it. And then Pam kind of looks at Jim. So in a way, Pam is like offering an opportunity. And then they do finally agree on something together in the moment. And I was like, Okay, I like that. That does feel romantic. Yeah. And they hug. They're super happy. I did love that both Steve and Nancy got to be in the finale. I thought that was really nice. Yes. And the home buyer was played by Jay Falk, our season nine script coordinator.

Well, Pam and Jim are now going to arrive at the PBS viewing party. It was described in the shooting draft like this. Interior warehouse. We see people from the office mixing with various members of the crew. There is a promotional backdrop with the logo for the office and American workplace on it. Kevin and Meredith pose with several executives for a picture. After the picture is taken, they try to walk away, but another group approaches them and they have to pose for another picture. There's a table with food and refreshments and another table is full of office and American workplace swag.

Phyllis and Stanley are examining the swag. Phyllis takes a mug and a production person stops her and says, these are for PBS executives only. Well, the person who says that is Alison Jones. That's right. She said Greg really wanted her to be in a scene and she was kind of reluctant, but she said, I'll do it if my scene is with Phyllis.

Aw. Because they were coworkers, you know? Yeah. There is now a montage of scenes of everyone mixing and mingling and talking. Yeah. Pam is going to unveil her big mural, her warehouse mural called The History of Us. She dedicates it to Jim and the crowd applauds and Pam says, oh, let's take a photo in front

of it. And all these people crowd in for the photo. This was another opportunity for Greg to get some of our crew members in there. And Greg. And Greg. Greg is who has his arm around Pam. I thought this was really moving to watch because you see so many faces from our show,

so many of our amazing crew, our writers, our producers, our editors, the directors, the cast, and you get to hear Kate Flannery's real-life boyfriend, Chris Hasten's voice, as he's taking the pictures. Yes, I noticed Howard Klein, Stephanie, RAD, who I recently texted about my party, Rusty Mahmood, Veda, Dave Rogers is in there, Claire Scanlon is in there, there's so many people.

It's like... It's our show. It's our is in there, there's so many people. It's like, it's our show. It's our show. Yeah, it's our show family. We had a question from Mary M. from Maryland who said, who painted Pam's mural? Well, Mary, it was painted by Jules Comesco. She's the person who did all of our office art. But here's the thing. It was not finished when we had to shoot this scene. It was still in the conception phase, like Greg was still making tweaks to what this mural would be. So we are actually posing and reacting in front of a blank wall. Steve Burgess said that they were working on this mural until the very last minute, until 2 a.m. the night before the episode aired. Oh my goodness.

She never painted it on the wall. She painted a smaller version, which they then superimposed onto the wall in post, and that smaller version he thinks Greg got to keep. Oh, that's really cool. Yeah. Well, in this montage of the PBS party, we also do see Dave Rogers and Terry Weinberg, they even have a little scene together, and it's in deleted scenes. Well, now you see the employees giving each other

little sly glances and sort of motioning toward the staircase that goes nowhere. And that's because they have plans to have their own little Dunder Mifflin party up in the bullpen. Yep. And when they get up there, the phone rings just as Jim and Pam are entering. Jim goes and sits at his desk and Pam notices the phone is ringing. And she answers it. She says, Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam.

I really wanted to say that line one more time because I improvised that in one of our early morning work sessions on the pilot. And I remember Greg saying, oh, that's so good. That's so realistic. And I said, well, that's how I used to answer the phone at all my jobs. I would say the company, This Is Jenna. And he goes, I love that. That's a great detail.

And that then became part of my character. Yeah. So that was one of the things I said to Greg. I had very interesting requests for the finale. I was like, I want a scene with all the ladies. And I want one more chance of saying, Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam. Because I haven't been the receptionist for a long time.

And I wanted to sit behind that desk just one more time before the show was over. Well, I loved it. I mean, Jim clocks it. He immediately looks up. It probably took him back in time to their early days. And Pam says, oh, I'm sorry. Jim Halpert doesn't work here anymore.

Yeah. And then Pam has a talking head. And you know, I want to play it because I love it so much, Jenna. This is one of my favorite Pam talking heads of the whole series. And I know a lot of people quote Pam's end final talking head, right?

That's a very famous one that gets quoted all the time. But this one is actually my favorite. Let's hear it. I didn't watch the whole documentary. After a few episodes, it was too painful. I kept wanting to scream at Pam. Let's hear it. It took me four years to get to him. It'd be great if people saw this documentary and learned from my mistakes. Not that I'm a tragic person, I'm really happy now, but it would just make my heart soar.

If someone out there saw this and she said to herself, be strong, trust yourself, love yourself, conquer your fears. Just go after what you want and act fast because life just isn't that long. Isn't that beautiful? It's beautiful writing. It's so beautiful.

It's just so great. Yeah. Well, it's beautiful writing and your performance was just so great. And you know, this talking head, I think it just hit me differently than the first time I heard it. Well, it's beautiful writing and your performance was just so great. And you know, this talking head, I think it just hit me differently than the first time I heard it. I was in my 30s.

And I haven't really, really listened to it in years. And now it just hits different at 53. It does. It sure does. It's the wisdom of someone who's had a lot of life go by. Yeah. Be strong, trust yourself, love yourself. I love it.

I love it. Well, in the background of that talking head, you saw a lot of moments from Jim and Pam's relationship. You saw this one yo-yo moment with Jim kind of, that was us messing around on set. That was not in an episode. They just captured it. They just captured it.

That was one of the many times that like, they would be rolling on us early, early on, and they just wanted us to do stuff, to capture as B-roll. And that was just one of the little things we came up with that Jim and Pam did. It was really cute. I loved seeing it, reminded me of those times. I loved seeing the passage of time.

It really showed you how long you got to know these characters and how long we played these characters. Yeah. Well, the next talking head is Kevin. He says, if there's one thing I've learned through this whole experience, it's that if you film anybody long enough, they're going to do something stupid. It's only human natural. That's right. And then Angela and Dwight come in. Yes. Their honeymoon can wait, they say. I'm so curious what their honeymoon was. Same. I do want to play a clip from this scene.

I've titled it, guess which line I had to ADR. Oh, okay. Let's hear it. Hey guys. Hi. Hey. What about the honeymoon? I don't know if the honeymoon can wait until tomorrow.

We wanted to hang out with you guys. I mean, when are we all going to be here together again? Is that the line, when are we all gonna be here together again? Yes. Lady, that is so crazy. I did not know that you had to ADR that line, but when I was watching this episode,

I thought to myself, I don't remember Angela ever getting through that line. You kept crying. Every time you said it, it got like stuck in your throat. You couldn getting through that line. You kept crying. Every time you said it, it got like stuck in your throat. You couldn't get that line out. I couldn't get the line. I was too emotional. And then I had to go back and do it in ADR.

So I actually got to see a little bit of the finale before it aired. Just that scene, you know? And it was so wild to me because when I went to do the ADR, we had wrapped, we had packed up our trailers, we had taken everything we wanted to take from the set, we were gone, it was done. And then they called me to do ADR at Universal.

And for me, that was actually my last day of work on the office, was in this ADR booth. Saying that line, that you couldn't get out. That I couldn't get out. And I have a picture of me in the booth, because it says the office, you know? And that was my last day of work. Well, Dwight is going gonna propose a conference room meeting

with Jim and Pam just for fun when he gets back from his honeymoon. But Jim says, actually we need to talk. Yeah, Pam and Jim go into Dwight's office and they share with him that they're gonna follow Athleap to Austin. Austin now? Yeah, and Dwight says, no, don't say it, you're fired, you're both fired. And Jim's like, Dwight, come on, don't end on a bad note.

But Dwight was saying that because now he can give them a severance package. Yeah, he says in true Dwight fashion, don't be an idiot. It's for the severance. I know. And he gives them one month for every year they've been at Dundermifflin. So that's pretty nice. How long do we think they've been there? Like seven or eight years? Are they gonna get like almost a year severance pay?

That's what I thought. They're almost getting like a year's salary. That's a lot. Both of them. Both of them, exactly. Yeah. Jim also says, and you know what? If you're ever in Austin and and Dwight says, for what,

the art, the music, the incredible nightlife, no thank you. He's not interested. But if you're ever in the area, you'll always have a place to stay. In my barn. Yeah. Jim says, there it is. And then we have a Dwight talking head that I just really, really love. Yeah.

He says, do I get along with my coworkers? Well, first of all, I don't have coworkers anymore. I have subordinates. And then he says he does get along with his subordinates. And he kind of talks about each of us. And there's little flashbacks to him spending time with us. Yeah, we learned that Meredith Palmer is the only person who knows how to properly headbang to Motorhead.

Oscar is his godfather to his son. Angela, his former accountant, is now his wife. His top salesperson, Jim Halpert, was his best man at his wedding. And we find out who his best friend is. It's Pam. It's Pam. He says Pamela Beasley Halpert is my best friend.

So sweet. Meanwhile in the bullpen, there's a whole group that has gathered around Andy's old desk because they are watching his commencement speech for Cornell. And it's a big hit. Yeah. Daryl says, you know what, you did good, real good.

Andy says, thanks, Dad. I mean, Daryl. Yes. And then Andy has his famous talking head where he has the famous line, I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them. Yeah. And I think you can hear Ed's voice cracking

when he says it. You can. You can hear the emotion in his voice right after he says that, and he says, someone should write a song about that. Yeah. Well, you know, Sam and Cassie and Jenna, Andy's famous line, I've just thought a lot about it because that's how I feel about our podcast

Hmm, you know We're in the good old days right now. We are we had five years five years to get to do this What a gift and I want you to know that I've been aware since day one how special it was. Oh Sam There hasn't been a day that's gone by that I haven't appreciated this. And you know, it is almost exactly five years. Yeah, October 2019. Yep, to October 2024.

Well, this brings me to my last show and tell. And this isn't much, it's only something I think you guys would appreciate, but I saved my note cards from the first season of the podcast. Oh my goodness. And you each get one and I have a frame, but I didn't frame them yet because I wanted you to pick. I had a lot and I had to weed through. Here you go. Sam, you get to go first. You were with us go. Sam, you get to go first.

You were with us since day one and you get to go first. Here's what you get to choose. You get either, I watched the deleted scenes. Exclamation point. It's the first time I'd ever watched the deleted scenes. That was hot girl. Or you get Kelly still in an updo. Exclamation point. Cause we were tracking Kelly's hair.

Okay. Or great jam moment at the end, and Jenna's skin looks flawless. Oh, I think I know which one I want. Diversity day. This one. The peep shot. Asterix, through the blinds, Michael playing with his truck.

So busy. Healthcare. Eight minutes and fourteen seconds. Pan left her salad on the table. Exclamation point. COLLEEN O'BRIEN That led to a very fun conversation. COLLEEN Yes. John says D White.

COLLEEN Ooh, D White. COLLEEN So there you go. These are D White. Mm-hmm. So there you go. These are all from the early podcast days. It's gotta be John says D White. Okay. All right. I have a frame for you.

Thank you. All right. That leaves Cassie. I'll come pick. I know which one I would pick for you, Cassie. I'm curious if you'll pick the same one that I have on my mind. I think I'm gonna go peep shot.

The peep shot? Peep shot, I am surprised! Which one were you thinking I was gonna pick? I would have given you, I watched the deleted scenes because of all the late night emails that you get from Angela with time codes for deleted scenes. Yeah, I was thinking that was one you're probably thinking about,

but I like how random this is. The peep shot I got made fun of quite a bit for because it's called a spy shot. But I thought it was called a peep shot. I also like I put in quotes, so busy. So busy. He's so busy. All right, Jenna, that leaves you, Miss. I'd like the one that notates my flawless skin, please. I thought you might.

All right. There you go. All right. Thank you, Angela. You're welcome. That's the end of my show and tell for the finale. I want to note that, Cassie, you decorated everything. Sam, you got us a John Wick-themed drawing.

Angela, you've given us your note cards. I've shown up empty-handed to our finale. I hate to drop the big old sea bomb here at the end of the finale, but it's, you know, these are some of the details that you don't have the bandwidth for anymore. And it's been on my mind like what is my thing that I could bring or what could I do and we are planning a little team dinner. Yes and you're planning it. You're picking the restaurant. That's the things people don't see. It's true but I just I I guess I do want to take this moment, since we're in this moment, to just say again, a lot of life has happened in five years, particularly in this last year for me.

And coming here each week and doing this. It gave me purpose and joy, and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, and I thank our Office Ladies community as well. I love this podcast. I love being here, and I love you all. Well, we love you too, and we're just so thankful, Jenna. We're so thankful. You are doing great, and we're just so thankful, Jenna. We're so thankful.

You are doing great and we're so thankful. I am doing great. You're doing fucking great. Doing great. I lifted weights this morning. Yes. Yes. Get it, Jenna.

I sure did. Can I say that- 20 pounds on my biceps, everybody. I was going to do this weight training class with Jenna, but I can't lift as much as her. I have no upper body strength. So the lady is very nice. She's like, Angela, maybe you and I should do,

like, until I can catch up. Start with some baby weights. Yeah, baby weights. There was a lot of evidence that weight training, specifically, would really help me with some of my Side effects from some of the medicines I still have to take. It's a shame We're on the last episode because baby weights is such a good nickname Josh got me some two pounds and five pounds. So look out. I love you baby weights

pounds and five pounds, so look out. I love you baby weights. Aw. Well, let's see, where are we? We're in the middle of some very sentimental sharing, but so is everybody else in the office. How about that for a transition? I like it. Oscar has one of my favorite final talking heads.

For me, it's really between Oscar and Ellie. I love that Oscar says, you take something ordinary like a piece of paper. It's not much, but if you see it in the right way, and he's folding a piece of paper, he says, and that's what you did with this documentary, and he holds up a little origami swan.

But then he says, but seriously, you made a nine-year documentary and you couldn't once show me doing my origami? He found a way to get it in there though. He did. And now we're gonna see Creed come out of the bathroom with no shirt on, he's brushing his teeth. He clearly is living there again.

Yes, it brings up a lot of questions like I guess we don't use that closet or open that door. Ever. Everyone's very surprised to see him, but also very happy because he's going to get his guitar out and he's going to sing for us. Yes. We'll have more to say about Creed playing the guitar

for all of us a little bit later. Yes, we will. Now Jim is going to have his talking head. He says, imagine going back and watching a tape of your life. You could see yourself change and make mistakes and grow up. You could watch yourself fall in love, watch yourself become a husband, become a father. You guys gave that to me. And that's an amazing gift.

I feel like there was a lot of John in this talking head. Look, what's on my document. I put asterisk. I really saw John Krasinski in this talking head. Yeah. That's John. Yeah. All of those things happened to him in the course of this show. They did. It's true. In this moment, we're kind of flashing back and forth between Creed playing

his song and people having different conversations, different moments. Different talking heads. Yes. For example, Kevin is going to become so overcome with emotion, he tells Oscar he might be gay. And I love Oscar. You're not gay. I know.

Kevin is just feeling a lot of feelings. Erin is now going to have a talking head where she says, how did you do it? How did you capture what it was really like? How we felt and how we made each other laugh and how we got through the day? How did you do it? How did you capture what it was really like? How we felt and how we made each other laugh and how we got through the day? How did you do it? Also how do cameras work? I love her talking head.

I know it's really sweet. Now we have a fan question that I've placed here for a specific reason. It's from Lillian W. in Ontario, Canada, who wrote Justice for Angela. I feel so badly that Angela Martin does not get a talking head in the finale. Can someone explain why? Was there one that was filmed and maybe didn't make the final cut? Angela, how do you feel about this? Well, there were several.

You know, on the DVD and the deleted scenes, there are so much footage that didn't make it. And it wasn't just my talking head. Toby also has one that's really funny. But I did have one. And you know, when it aired and my talking head wasn't in it, I was a little bummed, but it was also my wedding day. I had a lot of fun stuff in this episode. Yeah.

But here it is if you'd like to hear it. I would like to hear it. Ten years ago a doctor told me the muscles in my cheeks had atrophied from lack of smiling. So I had exercises to do at bedtime. It helped some, but now I'm smiling all the time and I don't even notice. So yeah, I think I'm less of a total bitch now. That's very funny. And I have a picture when I was looking through my digital clutter. Greg Daniels emailed me after I did my talking head, and he took a picture of me from the side. You can see the camera. You can see Brian Whittle operating the boom, and I'm facing camera giving the talking head over by accounting.

What a neat picture. Yeah. Darryl is going to say, every day when I came into work, all I wanted to do was leave. So why in the world does it feel so hard to leave right now? And then there was a scene in the deleted scenes. It's not even in the shooting draft. I feel like this is one of those moments that happened on the day. This was part of those rewrites of the script

that we mentioned last week, how Greg was adding scenes, taking scenes away. So they were not in the sort of shooting draft. But you share what it is. This was originally Greg's idea for the ending shot. Yeah. So Darryl is going to ask everyone, who's idea for the ending shot. Yeah. So, Daryl is going to ask everyone, who's been here the longest?

And everyone starts to share their stories. The scene was so special to the cast. Everyone decides the person or thing that's been there the longest is that plant. Planty. Planty. Let's hear this clip. Who's been here the longest?

It was me. Oh, it's me now. I started two days after Stanley. Why do I remember working here before Stanley? I'm pretty sure I was here before you, though. I'll tell you who's been here the longest. That poor plant. Planty.

Wait, I don't remember that plant before. That plant is a survivor. It's time for him to move on. Let's set him free. Or her. Seriously, come on. I'm just saying. Let's get him some real sunlight once and for all.

Yeah. Somebody give me a hand. I'm on it. Oh my gosh, we're really gonna do this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yeah! Yes! Yes!

Peace and distance! Peace and distance! Go ahead. Don't overpack the dirt! Ah, amateurs. Office plant. Office plant. Office plant. Office plant, office plant, office plant, office plant, office plant.

Yeah! I remember shooting that and I have so many pictures from all of us outside. Yes, it was a really special moment for the cast. We all stand around planty and it's just one of the moments I remember so vividly. So originally, the idea was that the episode was going to end, like the final shot of the episode was going to be of Plante. And the idea was just like that this thing

was gonna like continue to grow. Yes. You know, after a lot of us have moved on. I went to the very final line of the script for the shooting draft and this is what it says. B-roll of the replanted office plant with Dunder Mifflin behind it as the sun comes up over the parking lot.

But we're gonna end a slightly different way. We're gonna have some more talking heads. We're going to see Creed get arrested. Meredith and Phyllis are going to share. And this is all kind of intercut with scenes of us gathering up our things and leaving for the final time. Yes. If you go to 48 minutes and 14 seconds,

that shot of all of us leaving was actually the last shot we filmed together as a cast. Yeah, so Pam has the final talking head, and when the one-liner, which is the schedule of scenes for an episode comes out, you know I would love to read it. I saw that the very last thing that was scheduled for the last day of shooting was Pam's talking head. I went to John's trailer and I said, John, did you see the one-liner? And I showed him and I said, I don't want to be here alone.

I don't want to be here all by myself. Yeah. I want us to end together. And John said, we have to end together. So we went together to Ken Quapus and Greg, and they said, oh, we thought it would be really poetic to end the show by filming the very last moment last, but we hear you. So here's what we'll do. We're gonna film your talking head,

if everyone doesn't mind waiting, and then when you're finished, we will film that final B-roll of everyone leaving the office and of Pam taking the watercolor off the wall. How does that sound? And John and I were like, yes, we need to all be together when you say, that's a rap on The Office.

That's a series rap. I'm like, I don't want to be here by myself. Yeah, yeah. And that's what they did. And we were all so thankful. And you know, I have video of all of us watching you do that talking head. I'm finally going to post it. I've been saving it for years. And it was just really moving that when they said that's a wrap, that we all we all just poured into the bullpen. Our crew, our writers were all standing around waiting, watching with us on the stage. And we all just hugged and cried and all of us. Well we did that exit way more times than we needed to. I know.

And Ken Quapus said after about like six times, he turned to Greg and he said, Greg, I think we got it. We're done. And Greg said, what do we do? And Ken said, well, we have to say, that's a wrap, but I think you should say it, Greg." So he said, I'll have him do it one more time, okay?

And Greg was like, okay. So we did it one more time. And I remember every time we would leave, we would crowd, all of us would crowd into that little area by the elevator. And we would stand there for a beat and then you would hear them say, all right, reset, back to one, going again. And there was always this very pregnant pause. Like once we got to like take three, take four, you're like, how many times can we do this? And then finally we were all standing there in that like pregnant pause.

I was heard. And we heard Greg's voice. Yeah. And finally we were all standing there in that like pregnant pause and we heard Greg's voice. He said, cut. That's a wrap. That's a series wrap on the office. And then we all came out from that area and we were surprised by our crew that they had

had gather. Yeah. Every time we walked to the elevator bank, I was next to Phyllis, because when you watch the scene, Dwight goes to help with the plant, and I'm kind of left perched on top of front reception. It's pretty high. And Phyllis and Oscar would help me down. So I would walk out with them, and Phyllis and I would hold hands waiting to see if we would go again. Mm. Yeah. That was pretty emotional.

But the episode ends after Pam's talking head. Yes. Pam famously says there's a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn't that kind of the point? Well, that's just, that was Greg's philosophy of this show. It was meant to mine the beauty in ordinary day-to-day life. It's beautiful. Yeah, that's what we were shining a spotlight on.

So amazing. And I loved shooting this talking head. I was talking to Ken Quapus. That's who was sitting across from me in the job when Jim finally asked Pam on a date. And that's who I got to deliver my final talking head to. And it's very meaningful to me. I love that we see Steve again one last time. Yeah, I love that we get to see Michael and he's hanging hope in a frame. Mm-hmm, that's right. And then that sort of morphs into our actual building.

They sort of go from the watercolor to the actual Dundermiflin. And I love how plain it is. I love it's literally the most ordinary looking building you could imagine. And that was our building. And Pam gets to take her painting home. And Jenna took it home too. It's in my living room. Well, guys, that is Finale Part 2, but we're not finished yet because from the moment we started this podcast, we knew exactly how we wanted to end it. We did.

And my neighbor is coming through for us because we reached out to Creed Bratton and we said, Creed, will you sing your song on our podcast All the Faces? That's the perfect way to say goodbye to this re-watch. And he said yes and he's here today. So give us a second which to you will literally feel like one second and he's gonna set up and we'll chat with him. Well here is our special guest we've been talking about. We are so excited. In fact, our very first guest in our new space here to celebrate the end of the rewatch with us is Creed Bratton. Hi Creed. Hi ladies. Thanks for having me. Yes, thank you. You are here. You are going to be leaving tomorrow.

We got you on your last day in town. Tell everybody where you're going. I'll be in Ireland and England, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Slovakia and Czechoslovakia. On tour. On tour for the month of October. Amazing. We're gonna put all of your tour dates in our Instagram.

Oh, thank you. Yes. Thank you. And then we're so thrilled because you're here today. This was actually something Jenna and I have talked about for years, and then you brought it back up to us, Creed. What did I call it accidentally that time? And will you tell everybody you really have called accidentally?

You know, online, people think that we set that up. No, no, folks. No, you really just called. Fans of the Office Ladies people think that we set that up. No, no folks. No, you really just called. Fans of the Office Ladies, I just called to check in because I was curious to see where you guys were on the show and I thought, you know, I'll call Pumpkin and check in. And you did. And I did and then you guys were on the air. So no, that's honest to God. And I know Creed lies, but myself as Creed, I don't lie.

That's true. That the character does. Well, this song is one that you sang on the finale. That's right. And tell us how that came about, because it's such a great story. It's a great story. It's probably about, I don't know how long it was before we

did the table read. You know before we did the table read, a month and a half, months, at least over a month. So I'm in my trailer and we've all been talking, how are we going to possibly end this show, this amazing show that we all love? What are we going to do for the finale? It's got to be amazing. Now, Greg Daniels came back to write the ship and do it with us, you know. So I'm sitting in my trailer and there's a knock on the door and it's a PA. Now you know Rain and I have trained them never to look us in the eye.

Stop it. No, don't. I opened the door. To the production assistant. His head production assistant, they help us out on the show. So his eyes are like, oh, Mr. Bratton. I said, speak up. He went, oh, Mr. Bratton. I said, not so loud. And so he, I said, what do you want? He said, uh, Greg wants to see you in his office. I said, why didn't you say so? So I push him out of the way.

I stopped it. And I charge, I charge, what's up boss? I always said that with Gray, what's up boss? He said, oh Creed, oh Creed. I'm asking all the actors how you think your character should lead the show. So I said, well I wrote this song called All the Faces in 1970 right after I left the grassroots.

I'm sitting in my house in Ramirez Canyon. My wife is in the other room, and my daughter, Ami, is in their little bassinet, and I'm playing guitar by the fire. And she yells at me, she said, that's a beautiful song. Who wrote that? And I said, I think I just did. So I tell Greg this, he said, well, let me hear it.

And I just told him, I think I should be playing this song in Poor Richards, and all the cast, all you guys walk through, we see your faces and I'm singing this song. He hears the song, I can see he's moved. I don't hear another word. Cut to a month and a half later, we get on a bus, we go over to over Universal, right? Everybody's there, the brass, NBC and Universal, and the photographers, and the press. Big finale, table read. Big deal.

Yeah. And a read in the finale, and we're going through with our yellow markers, marking where we're gonna talk. And I just have this little bit at the end, and I come and turn the page over and says, Creed sings his original song, All the Faces. That's how you found out.

That's how I found out, at the table read. That's the first time I knew I was gonna get to it. Because I thought, nah, I tried, but it's not happening. And then there was what's happening and I almost cried and I looked around, oh my, and then I started panicking. I thought, oh my god, I don't have my guitar. And there's that PA that I gave a bad time to. He looks, he hands me my guitar, but he looks like he's gonna drop it, messing with me, you know? Paybacks a bit, folks. So, Greg had arranged for your guitar to be there? Yes, yes, yes.

Oh my gosh. And I sang it. And of course, and the executives are there and there's not a dry eye in the house, not at all. And by the way, we know these people eat their own, for God's sake. So... You even made the execs cry, Creed. I made the execs cry. So, that's the execs cry. So that's the story. So then I played it. One more story.

When we were recording it, Brian couldn't get the boom right because it was in the shot. And John Krasinski says, he's sitting next to you. And he says, Creed, I'll put the microphone under my arm. So he puts this long telescopic shotgun mic underneath his arm right out here. So it's picking up my guitar. So thank you, John telescopic, you know, shotgun mic underneath his arm right out here so it's picking up my guitar. So thank you, John, for recording my guitar. Yeah. What was that like for you playing for us in that scene? I mean, it was very emotional for us. It was emotional for me too. I had to just tie it together and get real professional because I could have broken up. But I just, all I was, I was just,

I'm in my head, I'm not paying any attention. I'm just singing the song. Right, well we- But it was a big deal. It was a big deal. And it changed my life. Having that song get out and go viral like it still sells and still people come to the show

and they want to hear that song. It's a, what a gift, what a gift. Beautiful song Creed. And we are so incredibly fortunate to have you in the studio to play it for us today. We knew. Thank you for having me as friends, and this wonderful song keeps going.

And I knew the song was beautiful when I wrote it, but with the double whammy of being in our show, it's just taken on this mojo that's undeniable. Yeah. The Office fans are the best. They are. They are. Well, thanks for coming here before you leave on your tour

so that we could hear it live. Well, thank you for having me. I don't get the tissues. I know. There's no tissues. Seriously, I want to pause and get tissues. And then Creed's going to play All the Faces. Oh, All the Faces, take one. I saw a friend today, it had been a while And we forgot each other's names But it didn't matter, cause deep inside

The feelings still remain the same We talked of knowing one before you've met And how you feel more than you see And other worlds that lie in spaces in between And angels we can see There are the worlds that lie in spaces in between And angels we can see And all the faces that I know Have that same familiar glow

I think I must have known them somewhere once before But where, when, I don't know And all the faces we see each and every day When we get home at night, there's one face we need And when my mind's absorbed on my private little screen And I'm walking blind through a sea of unknown men I hear a voice reminding me there across the street Walks an old forgotten friend And we don't have to say a word

It's really better left unsaid Just light through eyes that recognize All the faces that I know All the faces that I know And all the faces we see each and every day When we get home at night There's one face we need And all the faces I see each and every day

When I get home at night I'm teaching every day When I get home at night You're the face I need When I get home at night You're the only face I need. I need. Yay! Wow. That was awesome. Creed, mic drop. Creed, mic drop.

Gotta give you a hug. I got so into it, I can't remember if I sang the last verse. It sounded like the complete song. I think it was perfect, Kree. I was getting emotional. I had to look away from you girls because you were so good. Kree, thank you so much. I love you girls. Well, that was just the greatest thing ever.

You know, when you're in a moment and you know it's special and you're just like, I don't want to forget this. Yeah. Yeah. Well, everyone, we always end our episodes with thank yous because this podcast really is a collaboration, just like The Office was. And for this episode, we want to give a very big thank you to Steve Burgess and Dave Rogers for helping us with all of our finale facts.

But we also have to thank all of our cast, our directors, our writers, our crew members, Greg Daniels, everybody who came on the pod and answered our text messages and weird emails over these past five years. There were many. So many. So many.

I also wanna just thank our Office family for texting us and emailing us words of encouragement as we went along, when they would hear an episode, if something meant something to them that we shared, it just kept us going, it meant so much. And I wanna thank you guys who are listening and who've been there with us from the beginning and you sent in amazing fan questions

and background catches and bullsh** cards and you have helped make this podcast what it is. We're so thankful. We also want to thank our office ladies team, especially Sam, Ainsley, Ileana, and Cassie. In fact, I'd like to give a special mention to Cassie here. Cassie, I feel like you really are the unsung hero of our team. Everyone, she does so much behind the scenes to make this show each week.

She helps us creatively. She edits the show. We really couldn't do it without you, Cassie. I mean, the only reason that we were able to transition from one company to another in the middle of our rewatch with everything that I have had going on personally this year was because you took such good care of us, and so thank you, Cassie.

Thank you, Cassie. Of course, it's been my pleasure. And of course, you guys know that Sam is the other person here with us each week. It meant so much to us to have Sam back to finish the rewatch, but we have some really exciting news to share with everyone. Sam is going to stay on with us for Office Ladies 6.0! We could not be more excited. We have our team. I'm so thankful. Second breakfast for everyone. Second breakfast. And Office Lady 6.0 starts next week. No breaks.

We are diving right in. Next Wednesday we will be here talking with casting director Alison Jones. She was number one on the list of someone we wanted to talk to. It's a fantastic interview. We love you guys so much. We will see you next week. Sam, Cassie, I think we all need to say at the same time, we did it.

One, two, three. We did it. See you next week! See you then! Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss Berman and Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. rotten.