Office Ladies - Frame Toby

Episode Date: July 21, 2021

Today we’re breaking down Frame Toby. NOOOOOOOOOO! Toby’s back and Michael is horrified. Michael does what anybody would do to get rid of Toby, frame him with drugs and get him fired. Meanwhile, the office fights over a very disgusting microwave and Jim buys his parents’ house. Jenna does a deep dive on how to clean a microwave, Angela has a soap box moment about street names, and we find out who ended up cleaning the microwave which was accompanied by… a slow clap!

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're The Office ladies. Hi Angela. Hello lady. We're not in the studio together today, are we? We're not. But you look like you're in a fancy studio. I am in the fancy New York offices of Stitcher. Get out. You're in New York City. Yeah. And guess what lady? What? Guess what? What? Our picture is on the wall here. In New York? Yes. In the New York offices. They have our Office ladies picture on the

wall. I took a picture with it. Ah, that's so cool. I know. We have photos in two cities. In two cities. That's the big time. We're bicoastal. Right now. Wait a second. Right now we're bicoastal. Office ladies has gone bicoastal. That feels real boss lady. It does. I like it. Me too. Well, since we're talking about being in offices, Jenna, guess who's back at Dunder Mifflin? Toby. Well, not everybody's happy about it. No, God. No, God, please no. No. No. No. That's right. Today we are talking about frame Toby. It is season five, episode nine. It is written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Jason Reitman. That's a good duo. I'm going to give you a summary. I was hoping you would. Michael reacts poorly to

the revelation that Toby is back at the Scranton branch. I like the use of the word poorly. I know. That's an understatement. So he and Dwight hatch a plan to frame Toby for drugs that Michael has purchased from the two Vance refrigeration employees, Geno and Leo. Pam is incensed by a mess that is left in the microwave by one of her co-workers. We don't know who. She leaves a pointed note, which elicits mixed reactions from the fellow employees. Meanwhile, Ryan breaks up with Kelly and Jim surprises Pam with the news that he bought his parents' house for them. That's a lot. It's a lot. These headphones are tight. The headphones are tight in New York. I fixed them. Do you want a different pair? No, I

fixed them. Okay. You guys, that was Jared in New York. Yeah. Jared is the Sam of New York. Yeah. Sam, say hi. Little dig at LA there in our loose headphones. Why? I like some loose. I like a loose headphone. Oh, in that case, take that Jared. Jared's all squeeze in my brain with the headphones here in New York. Should we go into fast facts? I think we should. All right. Fast fact number one, you might remember because we shared this earlier that NBC ordered 28 episodes for season five. It was our longest season. I remember, Geno, when we wrapped season five, we all got sick. Oh, yeah. Like we all got the flu or something because I remember the next week, like texting a few people. I'm like, I have

a cold. Okay. It was like, yeah, me too. Like I think our bodies were just like. Yeah. A standard network television season usually runs on television from September to May. We work from July to March, right? So that we can get the episodes ready. And a standard television schedule is usually where you do three weeks on one week off of filming. So usually a show will take one hiatus week a month, but the writers always continue to work for that week. That week off is meant so that the writers and the producer, they have a sort of catch up week because they're constantly writing, prepping, editing, delivering the episodes. They would have these episodes in multiple forms. They're like doing an

outline for one, but they're writing another. They're punching up another one. They're doing post editing on another one. They've got like five episodes going at once. We would just be like, what are we filming this week? Right. This year, with this crazy 28 episode season, Steve Carell also had a commitment to do a film. I think it was Get Smart. And he needed like a six to eight week break from the show in the middle of that July to March filming schedule so he could film Get Smart. How did we ever do that? In order to do that, we had to film 19 episodes in a row. That's when we got sick. That's when we got sick. I just have a memory of a bunch of us getting a cold buck. That was it. Yeah. So frame Toby was

right in the middle of this crazy 19 episode schedule. And here's why I think this is significant. It's really crazy to me that they decided to bring Toby back in the middle of this 19 episode stretch. Because remember, he was now our showrunner because Greg was doing Parks and Rec. So Paul Lieberstein is now showrunning and acting in an episode. Again, because they gave him that break. And now they're like, sorry, bud, you need to be Toby again. You're back in the mix. So I reached out to Jen Salada who was running the show with him. And I said, do you know why you did that? Did you just want Paul to never sleep? What was your plan there? And she said, she can't remember exactly the

reasoning, but because Holly had left, they were either going to have to cast someone new or bring Toby back. And that dynamic between Toby and Michael was so beloved. She said, as a fan of the show, she wanted Toby to come back to that role. As a co-showrunner, she was freaked out at the idea of Paul having to wear both hats. But she said he did it so well. And Paul said he doesn't remember sleeping a lot. Aw. But also, he enjoyed doing it. You know, he liked his time on set with us. Well, I love Toby coming back just because watching Michael spiral is delicious. This is one of my favorite episodes of the season for that reason. So thank you, Paul, for doing that. We're Paul, but thank you.

My fast fact number two is a big thank you to James Carey because he gave us the shooting draft for frame Toby. Yes, James. This was so fun to watch it with the shooting draft. Jenna and I were texting each other and calling each other like, oh my God, that's not in. But this is, but did you see that? It was really fun. And this is a particularly amazing episode to have the script for because this microwave runner, the dirty microwave runner, it was much bigger in the original script. Yes. And it was full of Angela and Pam stuff. Yes. So we get to share about all that today. So thank you, James Carey. Thank you, James Carey. We are also going to have some great location details. Thanks to Randy Cordray.

He told me all about Jim and Pam's new house. And I have to share something that Randy said in his email to me when I reached out to him about this episode. Are you ready? Okay. Yes. He said, a particular delight of looking forward to your questions each week is that I get to revisit each episode to refresh my memory of what we collectively accomplished. Here's what his process is when I write him an email. Oh, he says, my process is to reread the shooting draft, watch the episode, watch any deleted scenes and listen to any commentary that might have been recorded. Randy, this is what I do every week. This is what Jen and I are doing. That's what I said. I said, you are an office lady. You are an office

lady. And Jenna, every time you email him a question now, I'm going to be like, don't ask him that. I don't want to send him down a rabbit hole. I know, but he really said he's really been liking it. And remember when our podcast for weight loss came out and Randy wrote us that night's email, he wrote us the most lovely email. Yeah. He was just like, ladies, you nailed it. You got every bit of information that could be known about how we did that engagement scene with the rain and the parking lot. I'm so proud of you too. I know. It was like we got an email from our dad. That's how I felt. Like dad thought we did a good job. I know. I want Randy's respect. I do too, because I respect him.

Look what he's doing just off an email of questions. We got to have him on the show. He's got to come on. He's an office lady. We need to have Randy and James come on. Yes. Because they worked together. Okay. Future revisited everybody. Did you hear that, Randy and James? I guess that's my serious tone. What am I doing? Did you hear that? You're coming on the pod, fellas. I'm going to move us into fast fact number three. Okay. I think the world is going to be grateful for this fast fact because I was grateful for it. Oh no. Somebody did a deep dove. This is how to clean a microwave. Oh Lord. This episode's about dirty microwaves and I thought how could we clean this microwave? This episode is about

dirty microwaves. All right. Ainsley Bubaco, our associate producer, helped me with this and I love it. Here is how to clean a real dirty microwave. Okay. All right. Get a microwave safe bowl. Fill it with two cups of water and two tablespoons of vinegar. Now side note, if you'd like, you could add a drop of your favorite essential oil if you want. If you want to be fancy. Yeah. You can clean your microwave fancy or regular. Okay. Now turn the microwave on, obviously put the bowl in the microwave and then put it on high for five minutes. You want it to get real steamy in there. Okay. That's what she said. Mm-hmm. After it's done, don't open the microwave door for 15 minutes. Why? Because you'll burn

yourself or something? No, because that makes all the baked on grime sort of softened. Oh. And then you can wipe it off? Yeah. That's step three. Wipe it off. Just wipe it out. Done. Your microwave is clean. You're welcome. You're welcome. That's it. We can go to break. You can clean your microwave while you listen to some advertisements. Or if you're listening on Stitcher Premium, you won't have time to clean your microwave because it's ad-free. Oh. Well, let's take a break because Jenna just told me the bathrooms in New York are real far from where you're sitting. They are and you need a key. Oh. Yeah. Well, in LA, it's a porta-potty on the side of the road. So I'm going to go now. I'm kidding. Sam is

applauding. All right, guys, we'll be right back. We'll be right back. Well, we are back and everyone's real excited because there's brownies in the conference room. Every time I worked in an office and someone brought in a baked good, it was the whole exciting moment. Heck, yeah. I loved it. We're not sure why there are brownies, but everyone's real happy about it. It's true. We had a fan question from Jessica L that says, why are there brownies in the conference room at the beginning of the episode? Was it someone's birthday? And then Jessica would like to know, did Angela bring the brownies? Because we've heard a lot of references to Angela's famous brownies. Yeah. Well, I looked at the script. Yeah. Because I had it. That's

right. It says Phyllis is giving away brownies, but there is no further explanation as to why. But it does make a note that Angela is not eating the brownies. Yeah. In the script, Pam is like, Angela, why aren't you having any? Yeah. Pam, a little bit of a s*** stir. Andy says she's dieting. My baby's trying to fit into a child-size wedding gown for our big day. Ugh. And Jim says, why? And why do those exist? Yeah. And then Angela says, it's from my pageant days. I was Miss Tiny Mid-Atlantic Bride when I was 10. What? Was Angela's childhood? I don't know. Seriously. And you guys remember, this is a callback. Remember performance review season two, Angela had a talking head where she said, and I quote,

I actually look forward to performance reviews. I did the Youth Beauty Pageant Circuit, and I enjoyed that quite a bit. I really enjoy being judged. I believe I hold up very well even to severe scrutiny. Well, we know that you won Miss Tiny Mid-Atlantic Bride when you were 10. And that's my wedding dress. There it is. I wonder how many more of these that you won. I wonder, were you a big winner in your mind as the character of Angela? Do you think she won quite often? Yes. I think that Angela Martin like peaked at 13. Okay. Like she was it. She won all of like the young pageant, junior pageant, and then she retired. I see. Okay. Let us move on. While we're in the conference room, Kelly is going to take

two brownies. One for Toby. Right. And Michael kind of scoffs at this, but nobody else seems to think it's a joke. Yeah. He calls her a weirdo. He's like, whatever weirdo. I know. And Jim is like, Michael, Toby is back. And Michael's like, okay. And so he walks back to the annex and no one's there. But then suddenly someone is there and it is Toby. It is Toby. I want you guys to know at one minute, 23 seconds, is Michael turns to see Toby and he has that look of horror in his face. If you look at the wall behind him, you will see that there are three framed sort of things on the wall for Toby. There is an award for Toby Flindersen, a certificate of achievement, and a diploma from the California

Coastal College. So Jenna, he had been back long enough to hang up his framed items. And in the script, Toby had a talking head where he said this, I've been back for six days. I think I've even talked to him. I wish that stayed in me too. I wish so much it had stayed in. For my background catch folks, the California Coastal College, I don't think that's a thing. I googled it. I couldn't find it. I did find the California Coast University, which is a private online university based in Santa Ana, California. Oh, there you go. My background people. Well, we got a lot of fan mail. People wanted to know if Michael's screaming no and all of that was improvised or if it was in the script. In the script, it just says Michael

turns and screams in all caps. Yeah. But that whole like, no, no, God, no, that was Steve. That was Steve's interpretation of that script note. And how funny was that? You guys, if you read that you scream, I think most of us would just be like, right? Yes. But Steve made a meal out of that moment. In the best way. He's a comedy genius. Yes. You know, Screen Rant did a list of the top 15 pop culture references created by the office and the meme of Steve saying no is one of them. I don't doubt it. I have been online where I see people that I don't even know, like respond to other people with just Steve's face going, no. It's anything. Well, the episode starts and Michael is spiraling. He's going to call David Wallace.

He's watching Stupid Toby as he shows us stupid photos of Costa Rica to Phyllis. Yeah. He manages to get David on the phone by texting him 911. Call me. But you know what? Michael said he's learned that people will not return his calls unless he texts 911. And now everybody does because they think something horrible has happened. So I had a pager when I first got to LA. So did I. You had to because you didn't like really have cell phones. You had a pager. And the only reason you had a pager was so that your agent could page you if you got an audition. And then you would have to go find a phone. You'd have to find a pay phone. Call them back. Yeah. I used to keep a Ziploc bag full of change in my car for

two reasons. One for all of the metered parking that didn't accept credit cards, just coins. And two so that I could find a pay phone and call my agent back when my agent paged me, which was maybe twice a year. Oh, yeah. I remember one time distinctly I was driving through Santa Monica with some friends and my pager went off and I almost swerved off the road. My career is happening. I've hit the big time. I've been paged. We were supposed to be going to the beach. I was like, no, we can't do that now. I have to find a pay phone. So we're all like driving the streets looking for a pay phone. I pulled over. I ran up to the pay phone. I put my quarters in, called them and they were like, all right,

have you ever needed any kind of glasses? I'm like, what? No. And they're like, we have an audition for you for Lens Crafters. They would like people who wear glasses. I'm like, that's not me. All right, bye. Yeah, that's pretty much it. But then I did have a boyfriend once who was not calling me back. Did you light up that pager? I sure did with a bunch of 911s. You know it. Did you really? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I did. Were you a psycho girlfriend? You know what? He was cheating on me that night. Oh, so you knew. You knew. I knew it. We broke up after that. Oh, man. Yeah, I wouldn't light up the pager. I'm like sitting here calling you psycho. I wouldn't light up the pager, but I would drive over

and like hide out in a bush. That's so much more elaborate than texting 911. Here was my plan. I was like, I know he's cheating on me. So I'm going to light up that pager and make it buzz so that while they're whatever they're doing, the pagers just like, yeah, I'm just going to ruin their good time. He probably just turned it off. I guess I'm just going to jump out of a bush and be like, Hey, what are you doing? Gotcha. Now I'm going to go home because I've got twigs in my hair and I'm embarrassed. Is this a plot line for mom detectives? Should we set mom detectives in the past where all we have are pagers and bush hiding? Yes. Oh, bush hiding. Oh, that could be something else.

What's wrong with this? Can we call it bush hiders? No. We can't. It doesn't even make any sense. It doesn't make any sense. You go pitch it. Hi, our show. It's called bush hiders. And if you don't want to buy it, you're a natural because this is gold. And they're like, what's it about? And we're like, it's two mom detectives. It's two older women and comfortable clothing. Yeah, we're not wearing any designer clothes. We want like 30 minute wardrobe sessions. It won't be fitted. And we want a lot of old tech that no one watching it will really understand. And we're going to hide in some bushes. Yeah. Do you want it? Okay, where are we? We shouldn't have shared that on the air because someone's

going to steal it. I guarantee you in two years, you're going to turn on HBO Max and there's going to be two 20 year old starring in a show called bush hiders. Mark my word. Mark my word. And they're going to be young, hot detectives and designer clothes. That's how it works in this business. That's right. I'm not jaded. All right. Should we move on? What's happened to me in New York? Who am I here? I don't know. You just took a big swig of coffee and you're like, that's how it works in the business. Well, listen, you know what? David Wallace tells Michael he's just going to have to deal with it. Yeah. And he couldn't believe that one of his employees had been back so long and he didn't know.

And Dwight and Michael let him know that the annex is icky. It's icky back there. Yeah. And he really wants David to get rid of Toby. And David says, I can't get rid of him without cause. And Michael says, he has cause. It's because I hate him. Because. But that is not obviously cause. Well, they're going to find something. But Jenna, another issue is happening. Yeah. It's a day of drama in the office. Pam is preparing food in the kitchen and she discovers a mess in the microwave. Jenna. Yeah. Did you see what Pam was preparing? I know what Pam was preparing. Share. This is maybe one of my most frequently asked questions outside of what was in the teapot note. No way. Yes. People are like, what is Pam microwaving in

the episode with the dirty microwave? Here are some guesses. We got mail. Here are what people are guessing that I was microwaving. Okay. Apple juice. A probiotic drink. Okay. Egg whites. Bone broth. Soup. Milk. Porridge. And yogurt. Well, I had no idea. So I looked at the script, but Jenna, you tell us. It's egg whites. It's egg whites, which I, by the way, knowing my BFF in real life thought was kind of fitting. Yeah. Because you can buy egg whites in these little cups. And that's what she's doing. She's going to microwave herself some egg whites. A lot of people also asked, what was in the microwave? That is also in the script. And it just says like a saucy mess, basically. I typed it out. It says, Pam opens the microwave door to

put in some egg whites, but the microwave is splattered all over with red sauce. Yeah. Now we're in the break room. And what would we title this? Jim's exposed in the break room. No, that doesn't sound good. Exposure in the break room. Exposure in the break room. Andy, I guess, has peepers like a hawk and read Jim's email and found out that Jim is buying his parents house and hasn't told Pam. Yeah. Or as Kevin puts it, the same house he used to pee the bed in. Phyllis thinks it's romantic. Until she asks Jim where it is, Jim says it's on Lyndon Ave. And Phyllis makes a face. And then in the background, you see me kind of roll my eyes like, ooh. I looked up Lyndon Ave in Scranton. I couldn't find a Lyndon Ave. I found a Lyndon Street,

but it's sort of like in the heart of the city. There's like shops and churches and definitely no quarry nearby. Oh, interesting. We got a lot of questions from, for example, Brittany Y and Jenner B. Whose house did they use for Jim's parents house? Was the interior a set or was it the actual house that they used for the exterior? This is where Randy Cordray really came through for me, Ange. Bring it home, Randy. I remembered that it was two different houses. We used one for the interior and one for the exterior. And Randy said that our location manager, Kyle Alexander, had found several choices and that Randy had really hoped that they could find a single residence that they could do both interior and exterior, just because it would be so much easier

to shoot at just one location. But it didn't work out that way. Randy said everything they looked at either worked for the interior, but not the exterior or vice versa. So for the exterior, we used an occupied home on Calvert Street in Van Nuys, California. But the interior was not suitable to shoot. This was because it was absolutely adorable inside. And it needed to look a little janky. Yeah, it was so cute. And when we were shooting there, they would let John and I step in to the house to kind of get our makeup refreshed and touched up. But we would just stand right inside that front door. And then we would go back outside again. And that was it. And it was cute inside. Oh my God, it was so cute. It was decorated like, oh, like an English

professor's home, like just cozy, cozy literary bookshelves, just beautiful kind of restored home inside. So great. I did something similar one time on this show called Haters Back Off. We filmed the exterior in one house and the interior in another. And when we were filming the exterior, it was cold and kind of misty raining. And they let us step inside just the front room. Yeah, same. But we waited, right? Yeah. We didn't go throughout their house at all. But we stepped in the front room and I was with Steve Little and we weren't really sure what to expect. We opened the door to step in. And there was maybe 4,000 tiny dolls. What? Yes. What? There were dolls and cases, all kinds of fancy dolls in every kind of case you could imagine. Cases on the wall,

little case stand on the ground. They were everywhere. And Steve and I stood right on the other side of the door and we're like, okay, so somebody likes dolls. Oh my gosh, I would be like run. Run now. It was like, okay, all right. If you have that many dolls, there's a very good chance that one of them is going to come alive and try to kill you. I mean, if we've learned anything, one of them is possessed. One of them is possessed. And you know who's on the case? The mom detectives. The mom detectives. We got that covered. We got it covered. We'll hide in the bushes. We'll figure it out. That's right. So this house was so cute. What Michael Gallenberg did, our set designer, he added a broken rain gutter to the outside. He changed the front door

so that it would match the other location. Okay. Where we go inside. And he also added that swinging screen door that bangs into the overhead awning. Oh, that was really funny. I know. And then they also asked the homeowner to turn off their sprinklers for a week leading up to the shoot to make the grass look kind of dry and weather beaten. And they did. They kind of killed their lawn for us. Thank you. Now for the interior of Jim's parents house and for the garage scenes, they found an unoccupied home on Allatt Avenue, which is also in Van Nuys. It was only a few blocks away from the other house. And for this one, they went in, they added the shag carpeting, they added the wood paneling. They changed the front door. Like they bought a front door and they put it on both

houses so it would match, you know. So he was able to go in and completely set design the interior of the home. Is it a LLOT? A LLOTT. And you say it a lot or allot? Allot. Allot? Allot. So from everything I said, the thing that we're going to discuss is the street name and how to pronounce it. I want you to know something. Whenever I think about like where I'm going to live, I think about the name of the street and having to tell it to like the pizza delivery guy. I live on allot. Allot. A-L-L-O-T. No, not allot. Not allot. Allot. I play it out in my head. You guys don't do that? Clearly, you'd rather live on Calvert Street. Calvert. Yes. Much easier for you to get your pizza on Calvert. That's right. I'm not spelling that every single time.

This is like how strongly I felt about pockets in women's clothing. This is your soapbox moment, Angela. Yeah. I can't tell you like how many times I've had to spell my street name out. It's annoying. I'm not going to say it. Don't need the creepers. You don't want anyone in your bush? I don't want anyone. Well, I might want someone in my bush, but I- I think he already lives with you. Oh, jeez, Louise. Oh my gosh. I don't know what's happening to us today. Should I go to New York more or less? I don't know. I don't know. Oh my lord. We had some more questions because Jim, during this talking head, he's showing us his parents' house. And Sam Kay would like to know,

please explain the clown picture in Jim's parents' house. Please explain. Yeah. In the script, it just says, Jim examines a hideous painting of some clowns putting out a fire. He tries to pull it off with all his might. Nothing. Jim grimaces. Randy Cordray told me that that clown painting was provided. It was made original for us by one of Phil Shea's go-to artists. He did not have the artist's name in his files, so we'd like to put it out there. If you are listening and you are the person who painted the clown painting, will you contact us on Office Ladies Pod? We want to know more. But Randy Cordray said that the artist actually provided them with multiple preliminary choices. And that Mindy, Greg, Paul, and Jen all had to stand and look at

multiple clown paintings. And that's the one they chose. That was their job that day. Yeah. Pick the clown painting. That was your day. I had to pick a clown painting. So crazy. It cracked me up that it was on the wall like that and that he couldn't remove it because I feel like that's such a dad move. You know, it's like that moment where your mom is like, that painting is always tilted. It's always tilted. And then your dad goes and super glues it to the wall because he's tired of it tilting. It just made me laugh. I want to know the story behind why they bolted it down. Yeah. What is the story there? There's a story. We don't know what it is exactly. We don't know. Well, now guess what? Oscar and Andy discover a note on the microwave.

It's a very shaming note. It is. They think that the note is worse than the mess. Angela likes the note. She does. Meredith thinks that the person who wrote the note is definitely rich and should get off their high horse. I love this moment with this note on the microwave. I do too. It's so relatable. If you have ever worked in an office, there is at least once in your time of working in that office, a note stuck to something about something that people are like, eh. Yeah. And also the note where the person leaving the note has clearly reached their limit. Yeah. Yeah. They can't take it anymore. No, the note is masking a deep river of anger. They're just pissed. Well, I think this is such

a fun moment because we get to see Pam and Angela in agreement about something. I think Pam starts to doubt her note a little bit when she realizes that Angela is on her side. Do you think? Yeah, I do. Well, the cool thing is that this moment at the microwave would have continued in the script. There are two talking heads here, one from Pam and one from Angela. And lady, I thought we could read them. I did too. And they really further the story. It's so fun. Okay. Here was Pam's talking head from the script. She's holding up the note. This is the front of the note. And then it says Pam holds up a memo. This is the front of my latest office memorandum. This can only lead anyone to believe that I wrote the note, which I did.

And then immediately it would cut to Angela's talking head. And this was what was in the script. Everyone keeps asking if I wrote the note on the microwave. It was so perfectly worded and a little bit snotty. I wish I had written it. Now, there were even more candy bag talking heads, which we'd filmed as well. And they ended up in deleted scenes. But these are the two that were in the script. Yes. And you guys, what cracks me up as well? I don't know if you noticed this. Not only are Pam and Angela kind of oddly on the same side of this argument, did you notice, Jenna, that they're dressed alike? Yes. I noticed that Pam is doing that thing that Angela always does where she wears like a weird short sleeve sweater over a blouse.

They both have v-neck short sleeve sweaters over short sleeve blouses. Angela's is like brown on brown and Pam's is black over purple. But what is this short sleeve sweater? I have to believe that was a genius wardrobe choice by Alicia Raycraft. I think so. Because that is funny. I screen grabbed them. I'm going to put them on side by side in stories. Well, we got a fan question from Maddie and Laura. They asked, in the episode, both Pam and Angela agree that the note on the microwave was acceptable and correct. Where do you guys stand in real life as Jenna and Angela note or no note? You go. You go first. You go. Why are you making me go first? Oh, I'll tell you what. I'm probably

a no note. I'll just sort of like stew and resent you forever. I'm probably a no note. But here is my reaction to the note. When I see the note, I'm like, you know what? You needed that. Whoever you are out in the world, you needed to get it out. So I'm okay with it. One time, Jenna, I'll never forget this. I was in high school and I had finally gotten my driver's license and we went to the mall. You know, you're going to go to the mall. And I think, Jenna, because I was so excited. I had my friends in the car with me. We're at the mall. I was a little distracted and maybe I didn't do the best parking job. Okay. And after our day of going to Claire's boutique and hitting up 579, maybe the candle store, we go back out to my car and there is a note.

I'm so sorry. You bought candles as a teenager? It goes that far back for you? I love the candle. And the candle. Teenage Angela went to the mall and she went to the candle store. She loved Yankee Candles, Jenna. Okay. I'm so sorry. Go on. You get to your car. Yankee Candles. It was right next to the Hallmark store. I could get myself a card, maybe a knickknack. Go get a candle. I'm sorry. How old are you? You're 16 in this story. I've been a grandma my whole life. Anyway, I walk back out to my car with my friends. This is my first outing in my car to the mall. Yeah. There's a note under my windshield wiper. What's it say? This is what it said. Hey dickhead. Next time leave me a can opener so I can get into

my car. Sorry. I was like, what? I must have sandwiched the guy's car. I don't know. Oh, but you know what? I was like, he needed that. Whoever he or she was, they needed this. They needed to get it out. Okay. So basically where you stand on notes is you wouldn't write one yourself, but you don't have a big kind of reaction. You don't take them personally when they're out. You sort of like that person needed to get it out. Think about the time it takes to sit down and write a note or type it out and print it on a piece of colored paper like Pam did. She had two different colors. She had black ink. She had red ink. It was on a yellow piece of paper. She clearly needed to be heard in this moment. Yeah. So I would just hear her.

Would you clean the microwave if it was dirty? I probably would. Wow. I would probably just clean it because I mean who needs and then that's done. Wow. I would just clean it. If I go into the little kitchen here at Ear Wolf and there's like a mess around the sink and it's not my mess, I just wipe it up. Here's what I would do. Okay. You look very serious. That's why I'm like, okay. While I'm thinking about it in my head, I'm really trying to, you know, ask myself, who am I? What would I do? I'm a problem solver, right? So if I kept going in the kitchen and there kept being a dirty microwave and there was no system in place for who cleans it, I would want to create that system or create that rule. 100%, Jenna, you would make a chore wheel. Yes. And we would all, like,

on Mondays, I would be in charge of cleaning the office sink. Yes. Or it's Monday Microwave Day. We'd give it a fun name and that's the cleaning day and it would rotate around and, you know, part of that would be the cleaner you keep the microwave, the less work on the day you have to clean it. So it'll incentivize us all to keep a cleaner microwave because no one's going to want to clean it on their clean day. I like that very much about you. You're solution based. I am. Well, in the script, the microwave storyline continues. There is now another note on top of Pam's original note and it says this, hey, anonymous coward who left the note, be a man, spend less time writing notes and more time cleaning up the microwave. Yeah. And then,

it continues. Throughout the episode, there would have been more notes piling up on the microwave, not just on the microwave, they're on the cabinets. They ran out of space on the microwave, they're taping them to the cabinets around the microwave. There are so many notes that clearly people have written multiple notes because there's not even that many people in the office to weigh in on this, right? So here's one of the notes. Hey, whoever was bashing the first note, grow up, the microwave is filthy and no one here is a maid. And then there's another one that says, you are all a bunch of idiots and privileged ass wipes who weren't raised right. If I find you, I'm going to knock your teeth out. That's got to be Meredith, right? Do you think it's Creed?

I think it's Meredith. I mean, Meredith is the obvious choice, but I think we could find out that Creed wrote it. Lady, I think we should take a break because when we come back, Michael is about to serve up some high caliber acting. I mean, watch out, Kurt Russell. Yeah, Michael Scott's coming for you. He sure is. All right, we'll be right back. It's time for Michael to do his best. This is Michael's best. Michael approaches Toby's desk to welcome him back. He's asking questions about Costa Rica. Toby says it was amazing, but he came back because it was kind of hard to meet people. It was hot, but Michael can't stand it. He cannot stand this incredibly innocent small talk with

Toby. No, he can't. He goes back to his office. He has this talking head where he's like, I tried, I tried, I tried to talk to Toby and be his friend, but it's like trying to be friends with an evil snail. I want to know who in the writer's room came up with evil snail because it's so funny. It's such a good description of Toby. Such a good description. And then he goes on to say, he feels like Nev Campbell in Scream 2. And he has this very funny talking head where he learned a lot, I guess, from the Scream movies. But Jenna, there was another talking head in the script. So the one you see with the Nev Campbell, that was not in the script. So that must have been an alternate talking head they handed him on the day. In the script, this is Michael's talking head.

It's almost the same right up until the evil snail. So evil snail was in the script? Yes, evil snail was a keeper. We've always had that. But this is how it changed in the script. The last four months without Toby have been absolute bliss. I fell in love with a beautiful blonde woman. I fell out of love. I tried scallops. The office was broken into. I became a father. I grew a goatee. The Olympics were a great success for China. And now that I've tasted freedom, I can never go back. I'm going to kill him. No, too far. But I will do something. No, too little. I will get rid of him. Oh, I like it. I love his breakdown of what all happened. And I love that he included he grew a goatee. Me too. It's true, in fact, that Michael is going

to try to get rid of Toby. He is looking for fireable offenses. Dwight says there are two that he can find in this binder, workplace violence or sexual harassment. So I guess Michael's first plan is to try to get Toby to sexually harass Pam. He goes up to Pam's desk, he hands Pam a note, and he says, go give this note to Toby. Don't read it. Don't read it. Pam reads it. In the note, it's written as if it's from Pam. And it says, please hug and kiss me no matter how much I struggle. I'm too shy to confess my love to you. Can you imagine if Toby had read that note? His brain would have exploded. Yeah. Well, that doesn't work. Yeah. Pam's like, no, I'm not going back there. So now the new plan is to get Toby to beat up Michael. Yeah. So they march back

to the annex and Michael's sort of confronting Toby and trying to sort of, you know, antagonize him to hit him. And Dwight's like, hit him. And then Kelly jumps in so quickly, hit him. I know. First of all, her and Ryan were making out. Oh yeah. That they've stopped making out so that they can weigh in and therefore fight. They're like, do it. Hit him. Hit him. Toby refuses. It's not working. None of these plans are working. So you know what they're going to have to do? They're going to have to go big. They're going to have to frame Toby for drugs, like on the shield. I love that Dwight said I've framed many animals. I framed a raccoon opening a Christmas gift. Well, Michael thinks it sounds mean, but sometimes the end justifies the mean. That's such a good line. It's such a good line.

It's so smart. It's smart money. It reminds me of this gem. I'm not superstitious, but I'm a little bit stitious. Yes, that it's right in line with that. So yeah, Michael's going to go and hit up Leo and Gino over in Vance Refrigeration for some drugs. They give him what they say is two pounds of weed and they want $500. Michael has $500 in his wallet. I thought the same thing. That's a lot of cash in your wallet. And for my background catch people, did you see the Lackawanna library card? In Michael's wallet? Yes, when he opens his wallet, there's a Lackawanna county library card. Do you know what I found recently when I was cleaning out my closet? What? Pam's wallet. You did. And in it, there's a credit card that says Pam Beasley.

There's all these cards they made for my wallet, my prop wallet. I'll take a picture, we'll put it in pod. Yeah, we have to put it in stories. That's so fun. How crazy is that? They did that. That's how detailed Phil Shea was. If you had a prop wallet, it reflected your character. Although, is Michael going to the library and why? What's that for? I mean, I feel like Michael's probably had that library card for like 20 years in his wallet. Yeah. Maybe there was a time where he didn't have internet and he'd have to go to the library. Oh wait, we didn't have internet. I know. Maybe he used to go to the library to make copies because the copier in the office is crap. We'll get to that next week.

Yeah. So, Anne, you know how when sometimes we're watching an episode or we're breaking down our document to prep to do the podcast, we'll get curious about something and we'll do a deep dive? Did you do one on something? I didn't. Our associate producer Ainsley. Ainsley, what'd you deep dive? This is what she wrote me. She said, according to a regrettable Google search, the price of one pound of recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania ranges from $1,900 to $2,550. She had to know. She was like, okay, they're selling Michael two pounds of weed for $500. Ainsley got curious, how much is a pound of weed in Pennsylvania? And now I looked and we shot this in September of 2008. So how much was it in 2008?

I'm not sure, but today that's going to run you quite a bit of money. With today's prices, Michael got a deal because it would cost him close to $5,000 to get two pounds of weed today. I also want to say that's clearly not two pounds of anything in that baggie. No, it's green, but it's not two pounds. I mean, two pounds. I have two pounds of things all over my house, like two pound weights, two pound bag of flour. That's not two pounds of anything. It's not. I've had a two pound bag of spinach in my house before. It's much bigger than that. It takes up the whole crisper drawer. You're very passionate about painting a very clear picture of what two pounds is. I mean, it's so glaringly obvious that that's not two pounds.

There are so many signs that Michael is missing. Don't get Jenna started. Don't get me started on what two pounds of something is. I'll tell you about my two pounds of spinach. I just ordered two pounds of Epsom salts and that was a large package as well. What are you making? Warm soothing bath. Well, listen, we're about to find out that Pam has an ally in this whole microwave business. Does she? She has Ryan who's pretending to be an ally and he's laying it on thick and I love it. Yeah, he says I'm totally on your side. But the truth is he went to make a cup of noodles and the microwave is still a mess and he wants her to clean it up and she delivers some real Pam sass. Hey Pam, I just want to let you know I'm totally on your side with the whole microwave situation.

Thank you. I was just back there to make some cup of soup. The thing is still a huge mess. I know. Can you believe it? Yeah, it's crazy. But I guess the thing is at some point, notes are no notes. Someone's going to have to just get in there and clean it up. I guess that's why we have a temp, huh? Oh no, trust me. I would just make it worse. How would wiping it with a paper towel make it worse? I would find a way. You've seen things clean before though, right? I am hopeless at that stuff. I mean, that's some good Pam sass. That was all scripted. I know it sounds like Jenna sass. It was scripted. I just brought myself to it. You brought some real truth to it.

I did. Well, Ange, we got a lot of fan questions asking who did clean the microwave? Because this never gets wrapped up. We never find out. Did it get clean? Who cleaned it? This would have wrapped up. It's in the script and we filmed a big scene that would have explained all of it. It was a fun scene too. It was and it has a great Pam Angela moment at the top. Yeah. So it starts with Angela. She's storming in from the kitchen. She's super ticked off and she's holding up a note. Someone has drawn a penis on the note and she confronts Pam. I know. She thinks Pam drew the penis. Why does she always blame Pam for this kind of stuff? I don't know. Here's how it went.

Pervert. Ange, well, I didn't do that. So is this what they taught you at your fancy art school? Why would I draw a penis on my own note? Why do you wear bright colors for attention, Pam? Everyone, I have an announcement to make. I'm the person who put the first note on the microwave. Yeah. Pam comes clean. And I remember shooting this because Pam kind of goes on to take charge of the room after she admits that she wrote the note. She's like, and I guess I just have to say what's so wrong about the note? Why is everyone so offended by this note? Shouldn't you be more offended by a consistently dirty microwave? She gets on her soapbox. It's Pam's soapbox. It's Pam's soapbox. And you guys, as an actor, when we got to have a moment where we commanded the

whole bullpen, it was exciting. And also we were kind of terrified. Oh yeah. Because you're in charge of the pace of the scene. This only happened to me a handful of times when Angela makes a big announcement or something. But I remember Jenna watching you and you were so good in this moment because everyone is throwing you little curveballs, Oscar and Stanley and Kevin. They're all kind of sassing you. And you know, the last time that I had a scene like this was back in beach games when Pam is going to confront the whole group about her feelings and how they didn't come to her art show. But in this instance, people were interrupting me and they're coming at me. And I got such a window into what Steve's every day was. Yeah. At one point, the group starts

hazing Pam about being in New York. And Pam gives this speech that kind of takes Jim off guard. And I think we should hear it. Listen, New York. That might fly. Why? Because I went to New York for three months. That and the black sweater, Manhattan. Okay, yes. I went to New York, everybody. I'm not going to apologize for it. I experienced more there in one week than I experienced here in three months. I love New York. You know, I especially love that people there cleaned up after themselves. Well, Jim has just heard her say all that. Yeah. And the camera is pushing in on his face and he's realizing at the end of today, he's going to tell her he bought them a house in Scranton. She's not going back to New York anytime soon. This place she loves. I really wish this

moment had made it into the show because I feel like it just sets up the stakes for Jim because he's doubting his decision from the very beginning. Did I do the right thing? Is she going to like this? I don't know. And I feel like he needed to hear this and I feel like the audience needed to hear it. I do too. I think it's a shame that it got cut out. And you know, at the end of this whole scene, Pam says, fine, I'll go clean it. So it is Pam in the end who cleaned the microwave. Yes, in the script, the very last line of this big scene says this, Pam marches over to the kitchen and Stanley starts to slow clap. Oh yeah. We had a slow clap that didn't make it. Oh yeah, that's right. Oh, that's bringing back that memory of me walking to Stanley's slow clap.

So good. It's time for Michael to plant what he thinks is two pounds of marijuana in Toby's desk. And at the same time, Dwight is going to call the police and report that there is a drug dealer named Toby Flandersen on the premises. And when asked to give his name, Dwight says his name is Andy Bernard. Dwight is going to throw Andy under the bus any chance he gets. There was this deleted scene, Jenna, that for Michael to be able to have the time to go plant the drugs, they needed to get Toby away from his desk. So Dwight asked Toby to show him his photos from Costa Rica. Let's go to the conference room. I'll look at your photos. Toby is thrilled that someone wants to see his photos. And then Michael sneaks off to plant

the drugs. But in true Michael fashion, he can't keep this secret. He has to share with someone that he might have just done something. This is what he said. I think it's really cool that you wanted to see my photos. What's this for? Pink thing on that white oval. That's me. I was boogie boarding. Who took this picture? Did you make some friends? I hired a local kid to snap it. Tell me about this monkey. I am not at liberty to talk about it. Let's just say that I somethinged something in somebody's something. And if discovered, then someone will get something. I may have said too much. He can't not say anything. He can't. Containment is not his strong suit.

No. And then I have to say that scene with Dwight and Toby, to me, it sounded like Rainn Wilson improvising questions, trying to stump Paul Lieberstein. Jenna, you're not wrong. I'm looking at the script right now. The part with what's the red thing crawling on that oval, that was scripted. Okay. But the tell me about this monkey is not in the script. Okay. Also, what about that question? Who took these pictures? That's in the script. Oh, it is. Yes. That's a funny line. The improv moment is the monkey. Okay. Now the police arrive and they are going to look into this possible narcotics situation. Pam doesn't know anything about it. Dwight's going to take charge. And then Michael starts freaking out. Yes. And then they

realize it's a Ziploc of maybe like what, a Caprese salad? Yeah, it looks like there's definitely some cheese in there and some salad dressing. Yeah. I'll have you know, the police officers were played by Patrick Fossett and Michael Heridy, and neither of them have been on monk, I checked. Oh, good call to check though. Also, can we talk about how when the police first arrived, Creed stood up as if he was going to be handcuffed and then put his hands behind his head. Yeah. And then he's talking head where he's like, just keep talking to me until the police leave. I love it. So good. I love it so much. We got some fan mail. Brooke El said that Toby seemed very concerned about police officers searching his desk. Could this be because they might find

evidence of him being the Scranton Strangler? Oh, I don't know. At 16 minutes, 27 seconds, we have a very rare side by side talking head. So rare. How did they get through it? I don't know. Michael and Toby side by side. I know. I would have loved to have been a fly on a wall in that talking head because you know, I looked for the bloopers. I was like, surely, surely there's something on the blooper reel. I looked too. Yes. Because I was like, I know these guys. I know Steve and Paul together and they were as tickled by the Toby-Michael relationship as the audience was as we all were. Yes. And they would mess with each other. You remember in a scene, there's a blooper where Toby has to hand Michael a piece of paper and Steve and him start cracking

up because Paul wrote you on it. Yes. So I know they were giving it to each other and I wish there were some bloopers from this. There is footage somewhere for sure. Somewhere. Well, listen, in the annex, Ryan and Kelly are making out again. Oh, it's such a sloppy make out too. It is. Not that a tidy make out would have made it any better at work. Exactly. Well, Ryan wants out. He doesn't want a sloppy make out. He doesn't want a tidy one. He's going to Thailand with some friends from high school, a high school. You know, he has to break up with her because if he doesn't, he'll always resent her. If he didn't go, he would like them to be adults about it. Maybe they could have sex one more time. And does she have any cash? Then let's be adults

about it, but we could also have sex one more time. I've got such a dude move. I feel like I've heard that so many times. I know. Do you want to have some goodbye sex? No. No, just goodbye. Get your sorry ass out of here. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Fan question from Gracie are, when Ryan is telling Kelly he's going to Thailand, why are they both wearing different clothes? I'll tell you, Gracie, because this scene was originally supposed to be the tag at the end of the episode, and it was meant to be a new workday. So in the script, this scene was not during the same day that we were framing Toby. It was the next day. But in editing, they moved it up, and we are going to end instead with a delicious Dwight talking head. We'll get to it. But first,

Jim needs to show Pam what he's done. That's right. Jim is nervous, but excited. He is, as my daughter says, nervous-sided. And she's like, why are we stopping at your parents' house? And he says, I bought it. And then, Jenna, at 18 minutes, two seconds, Jim says, let's go inside. I'll show you inside. What? Has Pam never been inside the house? We got so much mail about that. People wrote in. They said if Pam knew they were at Jim's parents' house when they pulled up, wouldn't that mean she's been there before and she's probably been inside? You would hope Pam has been inside his parents' house. They've been dating for a while. They live in the same town. Yeah. And it's interesting because his parents have moved out, but they've

left some furniture. Also, how rough were they on this house? I know. And Jim says, I was helping my mom out. Where's his dad? I don't know. I have a lot of questions. There were a lot of questions. Rachel M. and Megan L. said, question for Jenna. In this episode, when Jim is showing Pam his parents' house, I was wondering what went into how you decided to play this scene because she seems really worried and unexcited. But then in the end, she says she loves it. Any input you could give about how you decided to play this or what the director told you would be super appreciated. Well, guys, we've already discussed my personal opinions on someone buying someone else a house without telling them. So this was a little bit of a mental gymnastics for me.

To get Pam to the place where she's going to say she loves it and where she says that line, I mean, you bought me a house because it was like not how I would react as Jenna. I had to really play the character and play the character's truth. And in the script, I was being told that my character's truth was that she loved this gesture and it made her feel loved. Yeah. Well, I mean, I think we often did that. Obviously, we had to play the truth for the character. I mean, I hope you guys know, I'm not very much like Angela Martin and how I would react to things, but it made sense to me, Jenna for Pam, you know, and Jim made the garage into this art studio. And he's really putting down some roots with her. And I think Pam wanted a family and she

wanted all of these things that Jim is offering her. She had wanted that. Yeah, you know, I had thought a little bit back on the talking head where Pam discusses what her perfect home would look like, how she always wanted a home with a terrace. You know, picking her home seemed like something that Pam was attached to. So I did bring that up. I said, you know, we've established that Pam has daydreamed about what her home would look like. And now this person has taken her out of the process. You brought that up to the writers at the time of when we were filming? Yeah. And so I was saying like, help me understand why Pam now is so happy and so excited. And Angela, we got to exactly what you just said, which was that it was a vulnerable thing for Pam to give

up the art school track. And she did that because of two reasons. One, graphic design wasn't what she meant she wanted to do as an artist. And two, she's ready. She's very, very ready to start living this married life to be in the season of family and marriage with this man that she's been waiting years for. And so this home is her fast track to that season of her life. And she's just ready. Yeah. And you know, they're going to get to fix it up together. So there's still that element of nesting that's going to get to happen. And so that's kind of what I was thinking was like, I'm ready. Yeah. And you have to think when Pam talked about her dream house with this tower and the terrace and all of that, she was in an unhappy relationship. When you're in a place

you feel stuck in life or you're unhappy, you daydream. And you daydream about these fantastical things. And they're coping mechanisms. And then when you're with someone you really love, you don't need the fantasy anymore. That's such a good point, Angela. You're just ready to have a life. And she's ready to have that life. Yeah. Now we did get some mail about that garage. Katie C and Chris G said, when Jim is showing Pam his parents' house, he says the garage has great lighting. He then proceeds to open a windowless garage door revealing a completely windowless garage space. Where's the great lighting, Jim? Where? Okay, well, I thought that was really funny. That is really funny. I want you guys to know that I have a garage that we use as a home office.

And for a long time, we would just raise the door. And then there would be amazing light, you know? Yeah. So it did get great light, but you had to raise the door. And then years later, we actually just removed the door because we're like, this is never going to be a garage again. You know, we've sort of made it into this little home office and put an actual sliding glass door. But I get it. It does have great lighting. You just have to open it up. But he does present it like this garage has great lighting. As if the other garages that you open the whole side of the building wouldn't have great lighting. He's presenting as if it's like a special feature. Yeah. That kind of applies to every garage that doesn't have like a giant tree planted in front

of it, which it wouldn't because it's a garage. Right. Most garages are just boxes with no windows. I have to tell you two things about shooting these scenes at the house. The scene where Jim is trying to take the clown painting off the wall for Pam is one of the hardest I've ever laughed on the show. It is the second hardest time. The first was when we did the scene in dinner party where Michael's showing us the tiny TV on the wall. This is the second. Every time John tried to lift the painting on the wall, I could not stop laughing. I don't know what it was. Tears, tears choking on our laughter. We laughed so hard. I looked for it in the bloopers and it's not there. And I'm so upset it's not there. It took us like an hour to shoot that tiny

moment of him trying to take the painting off the wall. John is also so funny at physical comedy. Yes. I laughed out loud when he peeled back that fake wood paneling and it kind of startled him. Yes. So then at the end of the scene in the garage, when we're hugging, I improvised the line, what about the clown? And it made John laugh. And that's why he's like burying his head into my neck. And then when he said, yeah, I can't do anything about that, it made me laugh. And so I'm like smushing my face into his shoulder. You can totally tell we're breaking. And that's why it was because we were still, anytime we brought up the clown painting, we lost it. I love that moment. It made it intimate and funny and sweet. I think it's time to talk about the greatest white talking

head of all time. That's saying a lot because there are some amazing white talking heads, but this one really is like top five. He's going to describe his perfect crime. And I think we have to hear it. Every time I watched this episode, I laughed at that line and I watched it like three times. This entire talking head was scripted and it was delivered as scripted. I think this is one of the most brilliantly written pieces ever. It's just so good. It's so good and who better to deliver it than Rainn Wilson as Dwight. It was just perfect. I agree. There you have it everyone. That's frame Toby. Did you have anything else, Angela? I don't have anything else. I do want you guys to know

because Jenna and I both watched the bloopers. Next week on the surplus was one of the hardest I've ever laughed in a scene. Oh, I can't wait. Thank you so much to Randy Cordray, James Carey, and Jen Salad and Paul Lieberstein. I traded some emails with them as well. Man, that was fun. That was a delight. I will be trying to clean my microwave using your method. Thank you. And we'll see you here next week. I'll be back in LA next week. I wonder will I bring New York Jenna home with me? We'll see. I don't know. New York Jenna might put the E next to our podcast. Sorry. What can I say? See you next week, guys. See you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Irwulf,

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