Office Ladies - Happy New Year & A Look Back on Traveling Salesman

Episode Date: December 29, 2021

Happy New Year! This week we look back on “Traveling Salesman”. What a great way to bring in 2022 with some “Laundry and Betrayal”, clips from Greg Daniels and some Dwangela Heartbreak in the Break Room.And, a special bonus to kick things off as the ladies break down the History of New Years. Enjoy, and we'll see you next week for "Company Picnic"! Vote “Office Ladies” for the iHeart Podcast of the Year! Go to Twitter and use hashtags #PodcastOfTheYear + #iHeartPodcastAwards + #OfficeLadies

Hello, everyone. Hi, you guys. We are still on vacation. It's just a wonderful time to be home and with our families. But you know, we always like to pop in and say hi. It is almost a new year. 2022. OMG.

I know. Where does the time go? I don't know. I don't know. Well, listen, Ange, I thought it would be fun since we're approaching a new year to do a little deep dive on the history of New Year's. Oh, no way.

Yes. I can't wait. I'm getting a cup of tea. I'm settling in. OK. So here's what I found out from my three to four articles that I Googled. In America, we celebrate the New Year with a celebration

that sort of encompasses December 31st into January 1st. Yes. That's our big New Year's celebration. Yes. And you can take down your tree after that. Oh, we can't? That's what I'm telling you. I leave mine up till after New Year's.

Well, we usually do too, but I'm just telling you out there. It's OK if it's up after New Year's. Have you ever had your tree up until, like, February? No. Like, what's the latest? Have you met my husband? It's coming down on January 2nd. He would pack it up on the 26th if I didn't stop him.

That is true. All right. Well, listen, the earliest recorded New Year's festivities date back 4,000 years to ancient Babylon. However, they did not celebrate on December 31st, January 1st, because the calendar wasn't sort of the same calendar. They celebrated on the vernal equinox. And that is the day in late March

when there is an equal amount of sunlight and darkness. That was their New Year? That was their New Year on that day. Babylon, crazy. So in general, civilizations around the world developed calendars that would pin the New Year either on, like, an agricultural event or on an astronomical event.

OK. So in Egypt, for example, the year began with the annual flooding of the Nile and the rising star Sirius. OK. The first day of the Chinese New Year occurred with the second moon after the winter solstice. OK.

The early Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days. And the New Year also began at the vernal equinox. But guess what happened? What? Their calendar got out of sync with the sun. Huh? Yeah.

So in order to realign the Roman calendar with the sun, Julius Caesar consulted with all these astronomers and mathematicians. And in the year 46 BC, he added 90 days to the year. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? It's like, it's 46 BC. You feel like, what if you've had a tough year? Yeah.

And you're like, it's almost over. I mean, it's almost a new year. And then Julius Caesar is like, guys, we're going to add 90 days to the calendar. You know what I can't stop thinking about is how did they get the word out? Because like, let's just talk about, you know, for example, our kid's school when there's something,

like a soccer game changes and the emails you get and the text you get. But what if you're not on the text thread and then you show up at soccer practice and it's not that day? How did they get the word out? I don't know. I feel like people were showing up for work.

They're like, no, no, no, dude, dude, dude. We got like 90 more days of vacay or something. They're like, no, no, no, no, no. Actually, that was last year. That was last year. This is the new year. What are you talking about? Yeah.

I mean, the Roman Empire was vast. How did they? It was a lot of scrolls. A lot of scrolls in different languages. Did they do like, hear ye, hear ye, news on the street? Yeah. 90 more days of the year. Yeah.

I don't know. I just felt like they're someone that showed up to work and, you know, they were like thinking it was one year, but it was the other year. I mean, can you imagine the paperwork problems? I don't know. Well, listen, he called this new calendar the Julian calendar. Of course he would.

Of course. And he also declared that January 1 would be the first day of the year. He named January in honor of the God Janus. And he wanted to give Janus the honor of starting the whole calendar. So Julius Caesar is the reason why our new year's in January? Yeah. Oh my gosh. However, we don't use the Julian calendar anymore.

We actually use the Gregorian calendar, but it's very similar. And they also consider January 1st the first day of the year. So that's kind of how we got to January 1st. In the United States, we have the Times Square Ball Drop. That's our big tradition. Yes. I worked it with Carson Daly one year. I can't believe you did that.

I froze my- It's so cold. Yes. I was so cold. It was really fun. I can't believe I did it because I hate being cold, but I did it. That is epic. That is an epic like thing as a performer, as a comedian,

actor to be part of that celebration. Live TV is terrifying. Well, this tradition has been going on since 1907. The ball started as a 700-pound orb made out of iron, wood, and 100 light bulbs. Only 100. Now it's like the Griswold's little like house in that Christmas vacation movie. It is now 12 feet in diameter.

It is 12,000 pounds. It is covered in LED lights and Waterford crystal. Very fancy. So that's it. Those are your like little New Year's tidbits. You can bring those out at your party this year and sound very knowledgeable about the New Year. Well, I loved that, Jenna.

I loved every single second. We will be back next week with an all-new episode. It's extra long. Yes. We will be breaking down the 100th episode of The Office, Company Picnic. Am I good or bad at volleyball? We'll tell you.

Before we go, one final reminder to please vote for us for the iHeart Podcast of the Year Award. We'd really love to win. Yes. You vote on Twitter by tweeting three hashtags. Hashtag Office Ladies, hashtag Podcast of the Year, hashtag iHeart Podcast Awards. The voting closes on January 2nd.

Yes. Tell your friends, have a little tweeting party and vote for us. All right. Let's re-listen to Traveling Salesman, also known as the Larry and Marjorie episode. Yes. Laundry and betrayal. Come on.

Happy New Year. Happy New Year. 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 re-watch 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, everybody. So if you see a photo of us podcasting, I am now in my husband's closet. Those are not my baseball hats.

That is his baseball hat collection. I like to wear baseball hats. You do. You are sort of like a baseball hat family. I feel like all of your family loves baseball hats. Oh, Lady, one Christmas we were trying to find a family photo that we could put on our Christmas card. And I couldn't find one where one of us wasn't wearing a hat.

And so we decided to make it a bit. And we did a collage of just a baseball hat Christmas card. My mother-in-law was mortified. Mortified. She was like, why are you all in hats? Yes, baseball hats for your formal Christmas card. But yeah, it was like an inside joke. We're a hat family.

We would fit in very well in Josh's closet, I guess is what I'm saying. I think you would. By the way, side note, your Christmas cards are always awesome. My favorite, and I have it hanging up in the kitchen still, is the one where you guys are all holding Sunny, your cat. Oh, yes. That was another fun collage.

We had a good time with that. Lee has Sunny on his head. I'm holding Sunny upside down. It was a good one. Thanks, Lady. You guys have a floppy cat. And floppy cats are so great in photos. My cats would have like shredded our heads,

like if we tried that. Okay, okay. So here we go. What are we doing today, Jenna? Today we are talking about season three, episode 12, traveling salesmen. Oh, it's so good. It's so good.

I rewatched this one and the return with my kids. We all snuggled up in bed and watched them. They were laughing hysterically. Well, Angela, it's a good thing you watch those together. I did too because they were actually created to be kind of one big episode, to be watched together. And that is why they were written by three writers, Mike Scher, Lee Eisenberg, and Jean Stupnitsky.

And both of those episodes were directed by Greg Daniels. All right, Jenna. Well, why don't you hit us with a summary? All right. So in traveling salesmen, because that's the episode we're covering today, Dwight covers for Angela after she misses an important deadline.

The sales team all pair up for sales calls, but at the same time, Angela uncharacteristically invites Pam to coffee and then discusses her love life in code, but she discusses her love life. And then upon the return of the sales team, Michael learns that Dwight went to corporate behind his back. He doesn't know why.

Dwight quits Dunder Mifflin. Yes. And then Karen finds out that Jim once had a thing for Pam. That's a lot of stuff. That's a lot of stuff. Phyllis, man, spilled the beans. I know Phyllis. Phyllis.

Okay, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. I bet you have some really good fast facts. Well, you know I do because you know that we got something. We did. All right. Here's what we got. All right.

Fast fact number one. Like I said, both this and the next episode, the return were written and treated like one big episode. They were both directed by Greg Daniels. What do we do, Ange? Tell everybody what we did. We reached out to Greg and he sent in audio clips and they are fantastic.

And now Jen and I want him to send in audio clips every single week. Yes. His audio clips are so good. You guys were giddy about them. So the first thing we asked him was, what was the inspiration for this episode? And here is what he had to say.

Travis Salesman and the return is a little two episode arc that we did as part of the working out of the merger of the two branches stories. Andy was always conceived in Gay Witch Hunt to be the Stanford version of Dwight. So it was natural that they butt heads when the branches merged. And we liked the idea that Dwight, as the hometown favorite,

gets to have a really strong and romantic arc here. You see a very noble side of him protecting the woman that he loves. And I think one of the reasons we made it two episodes was it didn't feel real to me or earned to have him leave and come back in only one episode. So it just felt a lot better to spread it out over two. And another part about that storyline was that it was pairings. And a writing exercise that I often did with the writers was

I'd have them try and come up with pairings of characters that we hadn't had scenes together before. And so this entire episode was fun pairings like Ryan and Stanley or Phyllis and Karen. And of course Angela and Pam, who have a great emotional storyline where they really are kind of growing as friends. And it was really cool to see Jim and Dwight, too,

and see their backstory. And then the other thing about Traveling Salesman was we used, in the client, we used being good at sales to make Michael more likeable. And in Traveling Salesman, you see a whole bunch of different characters and how they are as salespeople. And you see how great Jim and Dwight work together

and Michael being like a straight man for Andy, who's just terrible. And so it kind of helps distinguish the more likeable original Dwight versus the more sinister, schemy, you know, new Dwight. Keep talking. Talk forever, Greg. Talk forever.

It's so fascinating. I love that not only were there these new pairings of characters, but also of writers. It's just so interesting. Yes. Yes, Ange. And so much comes out in this episode when you put these different people together

for the first time, really. Yeah. So you guys, I don't know if we need to start some sort of a petition, but we really want to create a new feature of the show called Inspiration with Greg. And he will send us an audio clip

of the inspiration behind every episode. And there's like piano music. Greg will tell us the inspiration and then Kent tells us the nuts and bolts of how he made that inspiration happen. Greg is listening right now and is like, ladies, what are you signing me up for? Exactly.

What is Fast Fact number two? Well, Angela, speaking of Kentopedia, Fast Fact number two is called Locations, Locations, Locations. So for this episode, because we actually shot it in conjunction with the return, we did something called crossboarding. It's a little lingo that they use in the biz.

Lingo alert. Show biz lingo alert. So crossboarding is when you shoot two episodes at once. We normally shot one episode each week, but we shot these episodes over a 10 day period from October 16th, 2006 to October 27th, 2006. And the main reason for this was because of locations. We just had a lot of places to go in these two episodes

and having the flexibility to shoot it over a two week period was really helpful. Yes. And they would also do a thing, you guys. They call it shooting out a location. So for example, every scene that happened in that coffee shop, they would film in one day. And then they could close out that location.

They don't have to pay for that location for multiple days. So sometimes when you crossboard, it's a great way to save money because you can shoot out a location. Yes. Have we bored you to tears? With a little behind the scenes lingo. Lingo alert.

Shoot out a location. So since you brought up the coffee shop, Angela, we had a fan question from Brianna Kernan, Harshita Verma, and Molly Ottawa. Did Pam and Angela go to the same coffee shop that Jim and Karen end up going to later and is the coffee shop location the same one used in later episodes?

Yes. Yes and yes. Yes and yes. And here's a little tidbit, Jenna. I don't know if you remember. That coffee shop was next door to the place we filmed the tattoo parlor scene. What?

Yes. An upcoming episode with Andy. That tattoo parlor was next to the coffee shop. It must be some little strip mall that Ken just had good favor with. So he was like, okay, we'll take that. We'll take that. Well, here's what Kent told me.

He said the coffee shop was a real location. We filmed at a place called Java Groove Coffee. It was on Victory Boulevard in Van Nuys. Yes. However, it has been closed and replaced by a printing company. So I'm sorry if you come to LA, you cannot get a cup of coffee anymore

at Java Groove Coffee. Well, we'll have to find out if they can get a tattoo next door still. Yes, perhaps. What a fun office set tour that would be. You could go see the outside of Dunder Mifflin, grab a cup of coffee and get a tattoo. I mean, if you're a diehard fan,

right? Yep. But now you can just get something printed and then get a tattoo. All right. Well, I am not done talking about FastFact number two, Angela. Oh, I'm sorry.

There's more locations. We have so many more locations. This is a question from Kylan Hadley and Jordan Simpson. Were all the sets that the salesman traveled to local office buildings or were they built in the warehouse set like the fancy Stanford branch was? All right, are you ready?

Mm-hmm. They were not a set. They were a location, but they were all the same location. Here's what they did. The building where Jim and Dwight are in the parking lot and Dwight's like pumping himself up. That was in Van Nuys.

It was at the Panorama Medical Plaza. Plaza, St. Louis. Was it at the Plaza? It was at the Plaza. Oh my gosh, that's so St. Louis. Oh my gosh, I have a St. Louis catch later in the episode, but that's the first one. Plaza, Plaza.

So at the Panorama Medical Plaza, they found a completely vacant floor, and they dressed five different spaces to be the various offices that everyone visits. Isn't that amazing? They took one location and made it five different places, but there's more. Oh, more?

So you know how we said we shot these two episodes together? In the next episode, the return, at the beginning you see Dwight going around with his resume, two of those offices were also part of the Panorama Medical Building. That Plaza covered a lot of ground, lady. So much Plaza. So one thing, the church scenes with Stanley and Ryan, those were filmed at the Panorama Presbyterian Church on Roscoe.

So that was another separate location, and then there's even staples, but we'll talk about that next week. So many locations. So many. All right, I think we've covered all the locations. Let's move on to fast fact number three. Another fan question.

Okay. Guys, we love your questions. They are so helpful in structuring the podcast. Thank you. All right, fan question Rachel Labish and Rebecca Kelly said, I noticed a weird discrepancy between the Netflix episodes and the DVD episodes. In the DVD episodes,

there is a whole subplot about Pam winning an art contest. In the Netflix version of the episode, the whole thing is cut out. I haven't been able to find anything online about it. Do you know why this is? Ladies, that is a fantastic question because this whole podcast almost went haywire because Jenna was watching the Netflix episode

and I was watching the DVD episode and they're totally different. Angela and I were so confused because we were trying to outline this episode and there were all these scenes that Angela was talking about that I remembered shooting Angela, but that weren't in the version I was watching. Yeah.

So I started digging around and here is what I found out. On March 15, 2007, NBC aired a repeat of this episode, but they didn't want to air an exact repeat. They wanted to get more viewers, so they called it a new Pete. A new Pete. You know, when they would run repeats, they wouldn't get as many viewers,

which meant fewer ad dollars for commercials, right? Because that's how networks make money. So they thought if we add a new Pete, where it's mostly the old episode, but then some stuff you've never seen before, maybe it would up the viewership. And that's why there are now like these two different versions of this episode living out in the world

because somebody in marketing at NBC came up with this new Pete idea. I don't think we ever did that again. I think this is our one and only new Pete. Am I right? Well, I guess it happens again in season four when Phyllis tells Jim about her house that Bob bought her.

It's on the DVD, but it's cut out of the Netflix version. So here's what's on the DVD. First of all, Traveling Salesman and the Return are one episode on the DVD. They're not two episodes. They're one like super sized, huge episode. Crazy, right?

Crazy. But in the Traveling Salesman, these are the scenes you missed if you watched it on Netflix. Pam gets a phone call that a watercolor she made won a sixth grade elementary school art contest. I remember shooting it.

These sixth graders picked your art. You were really excited. You won $100. You were really excited to tell Kevin about it. Kevin's like, yeah, well, I won $400 betting on a Celtics game. And you were like, okay, thanks for that, Kevin. And then she tells Angela.

Pam is just desperate to tell someone that her art won and no one's in the office. They're all out on a sales call. So she pops up over the partition. Jenna, we have one of those classic over the partition, Angela and Pam scenes. And she tells Angela, and Angela has all this good favor

in her heart towards Pam right now. You know, they've gone and got coffee. They've bonded. And so Angela goes, congratulations. And then she says, I really like having these little moments with you. And then she offers Pam, one of her kittens, Sprinkles has had kittens,

and she offers Pam the dominant male named Ash. And Pam clearly does not want this cat. She makes up excuses. She's like, oh, you know, my landlord, it's just, it's a thing. And you know, it'd be, I don't know. And Angela is like, F you. She instantly goes back to being

just this cold snarky person to Pam. That's it. Their friendship's over. It was so fleeting. And then lastly, when Jim finally comes back from his sales call, Pam is so excited to tell him, and he's on his way out to have coffee with Karen.

And Pam's like, Jim, and he starts talking to her about it. And Karen's like, we're going to get coffee. So it's this awkward moment. I remember shooting all of that. Here's the other thing I found really interesting. So in the opening scene of the Netflix version,

it's Harvey, the computer, right? Yeah. Talking to Jim. That's in the deleted scenes on the DVD. That's not even in the episode. Oh, so I, because I was wondering, well, what did they cut out of the episode in order to make room for Pam's art contest?

So there must be things when they aired this on NBC, there must be things missing. In the deleted scenes on the DVD, there's a lot of extra scenes in the cars driving. Yeah. There's a lot of extra driving scenes. And then there's this Harvey the talking computer. That's a deleted scene.

Wow. So there you go. We are going to be following along the Netflix airing because that way our time codes will match up. But that's what you will get if you go to the DVDs. I love it. I love it. I feel like I'm really happy with all of that.

I think we should take a break and then come back and break down the episode. Sounds great. All right. We're back. Let's dive right in this episode. Michael is really excited to show Jim and Pam, his new computer.

It's his buddy, his talking friend, Harvey. Oh my gosh. And basically he types into the keyboard and Harvey says stuff. Yes. And he's made the back of the computer like a face. Like he used some post-it notes. Anyway, Harvey is this talking computer.

Well, we got a fan question from Bailey Aspinson, Becky Gemmel, Megan Keele, Chelsea Lane, and Alyssa Sorensen. Everyone wants to know who is the voice of Harvey. Oh, that's a great question. Who is it? I recognized it immediately. And did you recognize it, Angela?

Oh, no, I didn't. Oh, no. As soon as I heard the voice, I was like, oh, it's Mike Scherr. Oh my gosh. That's such a great cat. So I emailed him and he was like, yes, it's me. I was Harvey. So he's the one that said, me so horny,

me love you long, Tim. Yes, exactly. And Pam's like, oh, I'd love to meet long, Tim. And you and John played off, Steve, and that scene made me laugh so hard because Michael's just gets so frustrated that you guys aren't thinking his talking computer is amazing. Well, some people notice that when we cut away to Michael's

screen, what he's been typing doesn't quite match with what you've been hearing. That's just because the scene was longer. And we actually did have Harvey say all those lines and we had lines. But then in the editing room, they cut some of them out. So the screen was indicative of the scene as written. And it got a little trimmed down in the editing room.

So that's why his screen doesn't quite match. Some really good fan catches right away. I know. All right. So now Angela, we move over to accounting. And Kevin tells Angela that corporate did not receive their tax forms. But Angela says, no, no, they arrived this morning.

And he wants you to know how very important this is. Angela, here's what I wrote down when I watched this scene. What? WTF is up with your hair. Why do you have a flower of hair on the back of your head? Guys, I took a picture and I'm going to post it because it's insanity. What is happening?

When we got the script, Kim Ferry and I started talking. Kim is who did our hair. And we were like, you know, Angela is happy in this episode. Now she starts out in the morning a little worried, right? Did Dwight make it? Is everything going to be okay? But she's a lady in love and her man has done this amazingly gallant thing for her.

And I feel like she's sort of dressing the part of like this lady in love. She's wearing her Janet Jackson Rhythm Nation mini short sleeve jacket. That's made a callback. And she did a little something extra fancy with her hair. Kim and I just thought maybe she's just a she's taking it up a notch. Yeah, she turned her hair into a pinwheel flower.

And clearly she has eight arms and multiple mirrors because how do you do that to the back of your head? Well, when I saw that hair, all I could think about was, oh my gosh, she couldn't lay down during her breaks. Because sometimes at lunch, I would want to, you know, lay back after I eat, maybe snooze it out because we would get up real early. Sometimes I need a little snooze at lunch.

But you, you couldn't do that that week, I guess, can lay on that. That would be so uncomfortable. I couldn't even lean back on a chair, lady. I couldn't even recline in any way. Guys, check it out. You don't have to look hard. It's insane.

It's also amazing. We had a lot of people write in Julia Lee, Bethany Devish, Kaley Wading, Anita Prasad. They all said Angela's hair looks incredible in this episode. Thank you. Thank you very much. And now we're going to come up onto this talking head that Rashida actually mentioned when she was a guest on

Benihana, where Andy talks about him and Karen being the last two left standing, right? And Andy says he's not going to be one of the kids touring Willy Wonka's factory. He will not fall into the chocolate river. I loved that reference. I loved it too. But all I could think about, Jenna, is that he does fall into

the lake. When? At beach games. Totally forgot that. He falls into the lake. He's in a giant sumo suit and he floats on by and I couldn't help but think what an amazing like callback to the Willy Wonka River thing.

I don't know. I thought that was kind of fun. Oh my God. Yeah. I totally. Yes. I'm so sorry. It's all coming back to me.

We'll get to it when we talk about beach games. But yes, Ed slowly floating away. I remember it now so clearly. So Angela, now you're standing at reception. You're getting yourself some jelly beans and Dwight comes in. It's so sweet. He lets you know the tax forms have been delivered. Yes.

You guys are kind of talking in code, but of course Pam is clocking it all. And then as you walk away, you say, I don't want these and you leave the jelly beans. We had a fan question. Okay. Ally Joe Higginbotham says, did Angela improv that line? I don't want these to Pam after she took the jelly beans.

Yes. Yes, I did. The note that Greg had given me in that scene is that, you know, I'm so anxious to talk to Dwight to find out that everything went okay, but I had to make some business for myself. Like why would I be at reception? So I decided to kind of dig in the jelly beans. I just sort of was like, oh, this is what I'll do.

So I was digging in the jelly beans and I put a few in my hand throughout the scene. And then as Dwight walked away, I just had them in my hand. So I just placed them on the countertop like your kid would. I don't like this. Yes. Just walked away and it just tickled us so much and they left it in.

But the part I love even more Jenna is your look, your look of like, it said so much to me in the moment. It said people leave their water bottles and their trash on my desk all the time. After you would leave the jelly beans, I added a little bit that got cut out and probably it should have been cut out because it just would have gone on forever. But I would find all these various ways to get rid of the

jelly beans. So I remember one time I picked up the trash can and I scooched them into the trash can using a piece of paper. And another time I like took a tissue and I picked them up with a tissue. And another time I think I picked them up and put them back in the jelly bean container. But I had all these ways that I got rid of these jelly beans

and I had a good time with that. None of them made it in of course, but it was just kind of like a fun little bit we were doing. So should we move into the conference room now, Angela? Oh yeah, because somebody needs to pass the tardy sauce. Yes. The entire sales team is assembled in the conference room and Dwight comes in late.

So Andy is such a tool. Oh my gosh. So at the beginning of this scene, Michael explains that this is his dream team. This is my dream sales team. And we're going to pair up and go on some sales calls. And we had a fan question from Holly Anderson. Holly Anderson says, Phyllis blows her nose right after

Michael says, this is my dream team. Was that scripted? I wondered the same thing because it's brilliant. The timing is so perfect. It's so perfect. Yes, it was scripted. Amazing. Here is the script direction.

Quote, the camera pans to board faces of the sales team. Phyllis blows her nose. And you know, I got a guy's, I, this is a little moment because I watched it several times. It's so great. Phyllis gets out her little tissue. She sniffles a little bit and then she blows her nose. Like she times it perfectly, but she starts the bit a little

early. And I think that's what sells making it look so organic. It's, it's really wonderful work. Little details. Phyllis, man, with the tissue work. So everyone gets paired up. Yes. We get Karen and Phyllis and Ryan and Stanley, Dwight and Jim

and Michael and Andy. Now they're going to go out and be in cars together all day. I couldn't wait. I remember when we got the script in at the table read, when I saw like the groupings, I was like, oh, this is going to be so fun. Well, there's a Ryan talking head in here that makes me laugh so hard.

Because you are now Ryan in real life. I am now Ryan. I love it that he said he's flattered to be Stanley's second choice after pass, after pass. Stanley got to pick his partner and his first response was pass. And his second response was, I guess he'll take the kid. Well, I wanted to talk really quickly about Jim's talking

head. He holds up that photo of Dwight and Jim, like the old photo because they clearly, they clearly have been on a ton of sales calls together, right? And it shows their history a little bit, which I love. But in the DVD commentary, Rain said that his hair in that photo was from 1991. He was on tour with an acting company doing Romeo and Juliet.

And they all had long Elizabethan hair. And they sort of, they sort of like Photoshopped it on to current Dwight, but they left that big hair. I just thought it was hilarious. I love that detail. I know. So now they're all in the parking lot. They're paired up into their teams.

They're about to get in their cars and go. Michael tosses Dwight, his dirty laundry, which is a callback to the coup. I love it when our show does this and we have a few in this episode, but this is a callback to the coup. And now he tells them all to circle up and he's going to give them their marching orders. Yeah.

So then Michael says, guys, let's, let's go out on our sales calls. This is, it's like the, we're the amazing race and everyone's like, how are we the amazing race? Is there a prize? He's like, no, there's no prize. But we're the amazing race. And he keeps, gives everybody these team names and everyone's

very confused. And then Michael just gets frustrated. He's like, just go on your sales call. But I love that he brought up the amazing race. This was a really, really popular reality show at the time. And I was a huge fan. Jenna, we were so into it. I remember you and I watching the amazing race.

And then Jenna, do you remember how you and I were like, we should go on. We should be a team on amazing race together. I stand by that. I think we should. I think we, we would have been amazing. I think we would have been a total mess. Why?

Why? Because I think you would be like, let's go, let's go. And I'd be like, can we just take a break? Maybe we'll have a glass of wine. You'd be like, yeah. Also, I can't eat any of that gross stuff, lady. I can't eat the gross stuff. Well, this is the problem.

I think we would both have some of the same weaknesses. I think we couldn't eat the gross stuff. And maybe neither one of us would have great upper body strength for some of the like things where you have to like, like toss bales of hay down a maze or something. How about zero upper body strength? Yeah. Like zero.

So maybe we wouldn't have been such a great team, but we would have had fun. I think we would have had fun. I think we would have had one colossal meltdown and then a fight. And then we would have cried and then we'd laugh hysterically. We'd look like like crazy people, but we would have had fun. I tell you what, we would have been good TV. Oh my God, we would have been great TV.

Okay. Okay. Well, we actually asked Greg about this amazing race moment. And here's what he had to say. The comparison to amazing race was fun because it's a reality. We were a reality based comedy show. It was a lot easier for the visual look of the show to be able to try and do references to other reality shows rather

than movies, for instance. So the, there's like a Titanic reference in booze cruise, but I don't think it, it works as visually well as a amazing race reference for, for here. Yeah. It totally makes sense to me though. I think Michael is such a fan of pop culture and television and film. Like he wants any opportunity for his documentary of this paper

company, whatever this is, this camera crew that follows him around. He thinks he's on par with the entertainment of the day. Yes. Yes. Well, so now everyone gets in their cars and we kind of start driving around. And Angela, speaking of driving, we had a lot of questions about how we pulled off these driving shots.

Amy Jackson, Deandre Tessone, Holly E, T.J. McMillan, William Burke, and many more people all asked, how did filming work for the driving scenes? Are you guys actually driving or is there a green screen? What cameras were used in the car scenes and are the actors really driving around? Well, first of all, the actors really are driving around. That is not a green screen.

And then we went to Greg and we asked him to talk a little bit about what it was like to shoot people in the cars. And here's what he had to say. One of the things I had noticed in production was how easy it was to shoot in a car for our show. You just basically put the two characters in the car and set up lipstick cameras and drove around and improvised a lot. And so the idea for traveling salesman was we could get a lot

of production value out of getting out of the office and it wouldn't be too hard for us to do. We just tricked out these cars and they would go off. So we have a little lingo alert there when Greg talks about lipstick cameras. Those are itty-bitty tiny cameras that they would put up in our visors in the car at an angle and one would shoot one passenger and one would shoot the other passenger.

And we would just literally do what Greg said. We would just drive around and we would have a little walkie-talkie in the car. And there would be a car either in front of us or behind us that had the crew, the director, a sound person. They could hear us. They could see us on a little like mobile video screen. And they would talk to us over the walkie-talkie and they would

say, oh, that was great. We're going to do that again. And then we would just drive around. They would have police cars. Remember the police cars, Ange? Yeah, we had like the motorcycle police guys, too, who would sort of be in the front and we'd have this path that was cleared for us so that, you know, we wouldn't have to drive around

people who didn't know we were filming, right? So it was safe. And we would just basically make a loop usually in one neighborhood. We'd just make the same loop over and over. Yeah, that was the whole thing that Kent Sabornac, aka Kentopedia, he would have to clear that. He'd have to call the highway patrol or the police and they

would give us a zone that we were allowed to use for a certain period of time on that day. And we would just loop around. And it was always difficult in Los Angeles to find a loop that didn't have any palm trees. So we tend to film in the same neighborhoods over and over because clearly they found trees that looked possibly east coast ish, you know.

Yes. We got to know these loops very well. One of the things Dave Rogers said in the DVD commentary is that this was the first time that we used the lipstick cameras in the cars. Previously, when we had done driving scenes, one of our camera operators, Randall or Matt, would be scrunched in the backseat with a camera.

And, you know, I noticed the video quality was a little different on the lipstick cameras when I was watching it. It's not quite as crisp as a Matt camera or a Randall camera. Look at you, Miss Techie. You got a tech alert there? I noticed it. I did. So let's talk about all of these cars and all they're driving

around. Well, the first scene we really see is Andy and Michael. And Andy is determined to use this one-on-one time with Michael to chip away at Dwight, right? He's going to undermine him. He asks about the laundry. Michael tells him that Dwight went to corporate to try to get his job. And, oh my gosh, Andy is like so happy to get this information.

Yes. He's going to spend this whole episode slowly chipping away at Dwight's reputation. Yeah. Well, then we see Phyllis. She pulls into a beauty salon. Her and Karen are going to get some super glam makeovers. We don't know why.

It looks like when you used to go to the mall to glamour shots. Did you ever do that? I never did glamour shots, but my sister Emily did. Yes. I never did it either, but my sister Tina did. And they gave her this enormous hairdo, like this bouffant hairdo and all this makeup. And I think like a feather boa.

That was common. That was common. And they would shoot you on a green screen and then sort of insert different backgrounds if I remember correctly. Like the Eiffel Tower. Yeah. Okay. So that is what this makeover looks like. That might be like an old tech alert.

Does glamour shots still exist? I don't think so, lady. I don't think so. I think the era of the selfie and the iPhone, there aren't glamour. And the filters. And the filters. Glamour shots are no more. Well, then we also have Ryan and Stanley and Ryan asked Stanley

if he could take the lead on the sales call. And Stanley is like, nothing would delight me more. Oh, Stanley knows something and he's tickled. He can't wait. Oh, can't wait. We will find out why in a little bit. So now back at the office while all this driving around is happening, Angela invites Pam to coffee.

Yes. And Pam was like, what? But okay. Now on a personal note, I was thrilled to do this scene. You and I never got to do scenes together, let alone go on a location together. We were giddy, Jenna. We couldn't wait.

So some of that smiling and happiness you see in Angela Martin is just me being happy that I get to do a scene with my BFF. And I get to be normal. I get to smile and not be snarky. It was so, we were so excited, Angela, when we got this script. Yeah. All of my scenes are basically with you. Yeah.

We had the same work day and then we had a few days off. We were like, woohoo. It was kind of like BFF week. Yeah. For us. Well, some people pointed out that at the end of the scene, Pam grabs a notebook. And people were wondering, why is Pam bringing a notebook to

coffee? Is she going to take notes on Angela? No. No, you guys, there was a line that got cut out. Pam says to Angela, you know what? I'll go around and take some coffee orders. I'll see if anybody wants anything. Yes.

This is in the deleted scenes. She goes around. Meredith gets really angry at you. She's like, why would I pay $4 for milk and a cup? And she gets all angry. Her creed get real cranky, right? Yeah. They get real cranky about the fancy coffee orders.

And there is a scene, Jenna, that just won't break your heart because when we come back with a coffee, it's clear that Toby only ordered coffee so he could have some interaction with Pam. But when she comes back with all the coffees and she's passing them around, she just hands it to Kelly, who then takes it to Toby. And Toby just looks at Pam through the glass partition from the annex and he just, he just puts the coffee in the trash.

He didn't even get to talk to her. Aw, Toby. Poor Toby. Toby. So sad. Well, Ange, in the script, there is a scene where Pam is taking Toby's coffee order. Oh yeah, that's not in the deleted scenes.

Yeah. And he orders a chai latte and Pam says, oh my gosh, that's my coffee order. And he's like, oh, really? Oh, we have the same coffee order. Yeah. Aw. So not only does he not get his coffee delivered by Pam, he

ordered a coffee he didn't even really drink just to have something in common with her. Toby. He's stalking Pam and in love with her. So now you guys, we're in the parking lot and Dwight wants to amp himself up. He's got to get pumped for this sales call. Jim knows they have been on countless sales calls.

He's like, you still do the thing. And Dwight's like, just give me the keys. And then he plays like, I don't know, is it like Motley Crew or something? And once again, we see Dwight like rocking out doing air guitar to heavy metal, like punching the seat to get ready. Yes. Yeah.

This is their, this is his routine, I guess. Yeah. And Jim knows it. They're like old roommates. He's like, here we go. I stand out here. He does air guitar. So he is amped up because then when they're walking into the

building, Dwight has to be Dwight and he's like, you go in first because he doesn't want to get attacked from behind. Seven out of 10 attacks are from the rear. Right. And Jim is like, well, what about the other 30% and Dwight's like, I'd block it. I'd block it. You can't get me.

And then in like mid sentence, Jim just halls off and smacks Dwight and he is shocked. He can't believe he's been attacked from the front. He can't believe it. Also, he's about to break. Rain is about to laugh. You can totally see it at eight minutes, 50 seconds. Rain is about to laugh.

Oh, 100%. 100%. Well, we had a fan question from Rachel Fortune. Was Jim supposed to slap Dwight as they walk in the building because rain looked truly shocked? Well, guys, this was a scripted moment. But there's a reason why rain was surprised even though it was scripted and we asked Greg about it.

Here's what he had to say. So some people asked about the Jim slapping Dwight moment. So, you know, it's fun to think of the two of them as being teamed up earlier in their career. And we gave it kind of an Abbott and Costello comedy team feel, you know, where Jim is like stopping short. So Dwight hits his head and usually these little moments involve some comeuppance for Dwight.

And I remember John came up to me right before we were going to shoot the part where he hits Dwight in the face. And he said that he wanted to hit rain for real a little bit harder than they had worked out just to get a good startle out of him. And I can't recall whether rain was in on this but just didn't want to know which take. But we kind of worked out which take he was going to do.

And I'm pretty sure we used the one where rain was really startled that John had hit him. So here's the deal on the DVD commentary rain and John talk in depth about this moment. And rain asked John to hit him harder. He was like, I want you to hit me hard. And here's the thing about rain. He's very method, you guys.

When I slapped him, remember in casino night. Yeah. He said to me, and you got to slap me harder. Really slapped me. So in the DVD commentary, John was like, remember rain? You were like, slap me harder. And I was like, okay. And of course that's the take they use because rain was

legitimately like, whoa. And then he almost started laughing. Well, you can totally tell that he was taken aback. Yeah. And it ends up making a scripted moment look unscripted. But it was definitely scripted. I remember it said something like Dwight gets smacked in the head by Jim.

And you know, we would always have stunt coordinators come in. Anytime we had to put our hands on another actor, even if it was something that might be considered small like a slap. And they actually teach you how to hit someone with your palm in this certain sort of cupped way. So it makes a louder noise or it looks more violent

than it really is. And so, you know, we always had that training in us as well. So I guess I should say rain was not hurt in the execution of this, but he was certainly shocked. Well, it worked and it cracked rain up and everyone else. And that's the take they picked. So lady, where are we? Are we going into some sales calls?

We are. We're about to go into all these sales meetings, but why don't we take a break and then we'll pick up right there in just a moment. Yeah. All right. We are back. Let's talk about all of these sales meetings.

Yes. I think the first one is Michael and Andy and Jenna. Once again, we see that Michael is a good salesman. He knows how to connect with people. He really does. He really does. He doesn't know how to be someone's boss. That is his failing.

He thinks that he's supposed to entertain you as a boss, but he does know how to connect with people one on one. And he really connects with this guy over fishing. He compliments the fish that he caught. And it's a callback to Lake Wallam Pawpack. Love a callback. Love a callback. And then Andy's like, yeah, my dad has a Bayliner,

whatever he says. I shot a shark. I mean, if you were a true fisherman, the idea of shooting a fish in any way is so off-putting. There's sort of an art to fishing and a lot of people even do like the throwback, you know, if they're fishing on a lake. So you could just tell this really was off-putting to this man. Angela, do you know all of that because of your ex-boyfriend

that made you watch Bassmasters? Oh, God, you had to bring up. I want to tell you, Angela, after we talked about Bassmasters on the podcast, they sent us each a little goodie bag of stuff and one of the things that they sent us, it was so sweet. They just said, hey, thanks for talking about us. It was totally organic and random, but they sent me this journal. A leather bound journal.

It's so nice. A leather bound journal that says Bassmasters on it. And I love it. It is my new favorite journal. So now because of your ex-boyfriend making you watch Bassmasters and you bringing it up on this podcast, I now journal in a Bassmasters journal. That is what has happened.

Well, you're welcome. And Kyle says you're welcome. That was his name. Well, thank you, Kyle. Oh, no. It's out there. Oh, boy. Yeah.

Well, Bassmasters sent me a hoodie that I love, and I walk around with my Bassmasters hoodie. Yeah. So here's the thing. There's a great little moment in the DVD commentary about this scene where Ed says that he and Steve did go off script in this scene. And the actor that plays the business owner they're talking to was not really ready for them to go off script.

He wasn't. Oh, dear. And he just gave them this sort of odd, quizzical look. Like, what are you talking about? And Dave Rogers is in this commentary and he goes, but it was perfect. Look, you see this man giving Michael and Andy, like, what? Is really earnest.

Oh, my gosh. I love that. I love that tidbit. Well, guys, the actor who plays the client that Michael and Andy are talking to is named Warren Sweeney. So, Warren, while you were surprised, your look worked. It totally worked. Well, then we cut to the car.

And you can tell Michael is not pleased with Andy, but Andy turns it around. And he's like, I'm so sorry for screwing up our sales call. I really shrewd it. Yeah. That's what we say around the office when someone really screws up. We say they shrewd it.

And then he's like, I wonder how that name came up. I wonder if it's because of Dwight. And Michael gives him nothing. Michael's like, well, who knows how words are formed. Like, he's not getting it, and Andy's getting so frustrated. Andy is planting all these seeds that Dwight is an idiot, and Michael is not getting it. It's awesome.

So let's now talk about Phyllis and Karen's meeting. They get a very large order from this gentleman. Oh, this is my St. Louis catch. All right. This is around 11. Oh, OK. This is around 11 minutes, 33 seconds. And Phyllis goes, well, thanks.

That's a big order. She doesn't say order. That's a big order. It says, like, order. Yeah, that's right in line with Fark. Oh, St. Louis catch. And then she asks how his wife is doing. And he shows a photo of himself and his wife on vacation.

And they look just like her. The same hair, the same makeup. And Karen's like, ah, I see what you're doing. Very smart. OK. We've got to talk about Dwight and Jim in their sales call, because Jenna, they clearly have a whole shtick. Yes.

I loved it. It's so seamless. Yes. I want you to know my kids left so hard when Dwight, when he's making the call, and he's going seven, three, if we're cracking up. Well, I don't know about you, Angela, but I hate those, like, robocall customer service lines

so much that I just, like, immediately when they come up, I'm like, agent, speak to a, speak to pharmacist, agent. I won't even say any numbers. I'm like, I can't. I can't. Jenna, I have such a fond memory of my dad. It's weird, you know, when you, when someone you love so much passes away, and I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer here

in this moment, because this is a happy memory for me, but it's interesting that things your brain latches onto and holds dear, things you would never, ever expect. But I have such a vivid memory of my dad on the phone with clearly, like, some kind of, like, robot. And he's, he's this, you know, he was just this sweet cowboy, you know, Southern guy, and he was going five. Five.

No. Yes. Talk to person. Person. Is it like whatever the password was? Tractor. Tractor. Oh, I love that, Ian.

I love it. You shared that. It made me think of him. It's weird. It's weird the way your brain works like that. Your brain and your heart. Yeah. Okay, so, yeah, so Dwight is doing this call.

We don't know who he's calling, and Jim presses on with his sales pitch, right? Yeah, through all of this. And the guy is like, listen, I don't know what to tell you. I mean, I just maybe feel more comfortable with the, with a bigger company, with one of the big guys. And they're like, well, is customer service important to you? And he's like, it's very important.

And he's like, well, we've been on hold with the customer service department of a big company. Oh, and there's the switch. Aha. There was a whole purpose. And then he calls Dunder Mifflin customer service and Kelly answers. I was like, hey, what are you guys doing?

Yes. Yes. So amazing. And then the guy is like sold. Sold. I'll give you my business. Sold. And Dwight hands him his business card.

And Jenna, I love what's on Dwight's business card. His cell number, his pager number, his home number, and his other pager number. Yeah. And then he says, I take no days off. I've never been sick and I don't celebrate any major holidays. And he's like, okay, okay, I got it. Interesting tech alert.

His email was not on his business card, Jenna. Huh. Nowadays, I think your email would be on there. For sure. For sure. But we shot this in the Stone Age. So now Ryan and Stanley go into the church for their sales call. And these four older, very sort of like dignified black men and

their suits walk out to him. They're clearly an older generation. They're Stanley's generation. And there's this young white kid who Jenna, I don't think, I don't think Ryan's been in the church in a while. No. And we've established that the way all these sales calls are successful is by people connecting with their client in some

personal way. And we quickly see that Ryan is going to have a hard time connecting with these gentlemen. And he just sort of starts stammering and he just keeps introducing himself over and over again. Hi. Hi. Hi.

Hi. And I love that Stanley's like, man, I'm not helping you. In fact, I'm just going to ignore you. I'm going to turn away and do my crossword and let you just, what's the expression to nowhere? Just you flap in the wind. Blow in the wind. Yeah.

Something like that. He's just going to hang him out to dry there. It's so good. I was able to find out the names of two of the clients, but I couldn't find names for the other guys, but Landon H. Lewis Jr. and Leon Simmons Jr. are two of the clients in that scene. I also loved how all of the men in the scene were so much

taller than BJ. Yes. Because it really also made him just look so young, you know? Yeah. And I think that's just the size difference. Yes. And then later when they're in the car, Angela,

Stanley cannot stop laughing. There are all these shots that go back to them driving back to Dunder Mifflin. And Stanley is just like, can't believe, he's so delighted by how that went. He's so tickled. It clearly made his day. I don't know that Stanley gets much joy out of working at

Dunder Mifflin, but this was a real highlight for him. And there's this moment that Leslie talks about in the DVD. He said in the script, it was just that Stanley is driving and laughing, and they just kind of let him go. And he improvised the whole thing about, hi, hi, you sounded like my six-month-old niece. And like all of that, Leslie was just riffing. Oh, that was so good.

I know. And he said, in fact, whenever Stanley would go off on Ryan, as he has throughout the show, they would just let Leslie just go. And I think there's some amazing moments. Oh, yes. Yes. Well, you know, and this is Ryan's second sales call now

that has not gone well. Remember, he went on the initiation sales call with Dwight. They did not make the sale. And now he's gone out on this call with Stanley. Now, I believe Stanley is going to save the sale. Oh, Stanley for sure saved it. Okay. So while all of these sales meetings are happening,

Pam and Angela are at the coffee shop. Angela is in such a great mood and she's telling Pam a story about how she had this friend who was in need and this gallant man came to her rescue. Yeah. She's like, he must really care for her a lot because he did this wonderful thing for my friend. Yeah.

She's talking in code. She's speaking in code. She's like, my friend, let's call her Noelle. And this gallant gentleman will call him Kurt. Well, we all know that Kurt is Dwight's middle name, right? Yes. And we got a lot of fan questions about this, Angela. Kenzie B., Elizabeth R., Julia Lee, Nicole Fink, and Katie Kroll

all want to know when Angela refers to her friend Noelle, is that because Noelle is Angela's middle name? It definitely sounds like a very Angela Martin middle name. Well, yes, it is Angela's middle name. Angela thinks she's being really savvy, but Pam totally knows who she's talking about. But yes, that is her middle name. But Jenna, I have a question for you.

Okay. Is Noelle in the script? Because I have a little story about that middle name and I'm curious, I think what was in the script was Colette. Okay. I looked this up. And in the script, Angela actually says this. She says, well, a friend of mine, let's just call her,

oh, let's just call her me. What? And then you giggle. Okay. So my memory of this is when we were shooting it that day that the writers were pitching me different middle names, like different things to say. I know in one of them it was Colette.

I have such a memory of saying that. And then we said Noelle. And I like Noelle the best because it sounds very sort of Angela Martin, doesn't it? Her love of Christmas, her love of the story of Christmas that Noelle would be her middle name. And that's the one we went with. Dave Rogers talks about it in the DVD commentary and he goes,

I remember it being Colette. And he thought maybe I improvised Noelle, but I didn't. That was a writer's pitch. I mean, I think I was part of the dialogue. I think we were pitching names, but that all sort of happened in the moment. I love it. It's perfect.

It is perfect. Angela Noelle Martin. And I believe that will appear on your wedding invitation. Oh, yeah. It's now part of my character's show Bible. We had another fan catch in this scene, Angela. Sarah Rouse wrote in to say Pam is holding a piece of paper at the coffee shop.

What is that supposed to be? And what does it say? Well, Sarah, that was the list of coffee orders from those deleted scenes. I had all the coffee orders written down on that piece of paper and I was going to use it to make my order. Well, Angela, also in this scene, just because we were talking about it earlier,

your flower hairdo is on full display. Just if you really want some great shots of it, guys, here it is, her WTF hairdo right here. WTF. Well, wait, wait. I have something to share. So while we were on a break, I had been texting Kim Ferry about this hair and she texted back.

And so this is what she had to say about it. Oh my gosh, it's a real-time tidbit. It's a real-time tidbit. It just came in a few minutes ago. I said, Kim, what was the inspiration for this bun? I mean, I know that we thought my character was going to, like, be in a great mood and so we wanted to try something new. She said, yes, here is the inspiration.

She said, my first job in the business was working on a sci-fi show called Babylon 5. I worked on this show for five years and I couldn't use any contemporary hairstyles because they wanted the hairstyles to look futuristic. So I started coming up with all these different kind of braids and buns with wires and fancy updos and zulu knots, basically anything different

that I could think of. And your bun with those fun swirls was a good one for me because I had done it on Babylon 5. It's fast and easy, but technically, this is a sci-fi hairstyle. Oh, my gosh. Isn't that great? Don't you feel like Dwight would have loved it

because he was Mr. Sci-Fi? Yes. Yes, no wonder she did her hair in this Babylon 5 hairstyle to thank Dwight for his, like, favor. Yeah, so yes, this hairstyle inspired by Babylon 5. It's the sci-fi bun. I don't think I could love that more. Kim Ferry, thank you for the real-time tidbit.

Thank you, Kim Ferry. Sam just wrote, Beats, Bears, Babylon 5. Beats, oh wait, here we go. Bears, Beats, Babylon 5 buns. Oh, okay, so now everybody is coming back from their sales calls. Everyone's done. And we have this amazing scene in the car

with Karen and Phyllis. Phyllis is so good in this scene because you guys, she is going to reveal such a big plot point and she just throws it away, right? It's not, like, belabored in any way. It's so perfect. Yeah, she's like, Karen, I had a lot of fun with you today. I really enjoy spending time with you.

They're bonding. They feel good. And then she just very offhandedly says, and I'm really glad you're with Jim. That makes me really happy because, you know, he was really hung up on Pam for such a long time. And she's not even looking at Karen. She's looking in a review mirror.

She's turning. She's just driving. She's sort of saying something off the cuff and it's that much more powerful. And then Rashida, oh my gosh, her reaction is so perfect. It's a fantastic scene, fantastic scene. I feel like her pulse stops for a second.

Like, I feel like I can see the wind go out of her, right? Yeah. Yes, I do too. You just, you see it hit her like a freight train, but she can't react. Yeah, the way it's really hitting her. It's so well done. These ladies did such a great job.

I agree. Yes. Well, Andy is the first person to actually get back to the office. And he starts sneaking around Dwight's desk. He goes through his car. Yeah, Andy is a total snake. I mean, what the heck?

I know. And he finds this toll booth receipt that proves that Dwight was in New York this morning. He didn't oversleep like he claimed, and he marches into Michael's office and he's like, I found this toll booth receipt. I wonder what he was doing. Was he, maybe he was talking to Jan.

And then he says like, I seem to kind of remember, I don't know who told me this, even though Jenna, this was like, like an hour ago. He's like, I don't know who told me this. It was something. And then he has maybe one of my favorite quotes of this episode. He was like, there's a story, I don't know. It was about laundry and betrayal.

In my mind, this is now a lifetime movie called Laundry and Betrayal. I want to see it. Yes. Yes. Laundry and Betrayal, I want to see this film. I do too. Well, so Michael calls Jan.

And Jan is like, well, I didn't speak to Dwight, but he did not give a reason for why he was here. Yes. This is my kid's favorite part. My kid's favorite part is Jan goes, he did sign into the security sign-in sheet, but under state your business, he wrote beeswax, not yours incorporated. I love that too.

My kids loved that. Well, when Dwight gets back to the office, Michael confronts him. He's like, where were you? Tell me where you were. And Dwight will not say. He won't say where he was. He overslept. The damn rooster didn't crow.

Yeah. But he will not, um, he will not fess up. And this becomes a problem. And Pam knows why. Pam and Angela are exchanging looks. Angela is sweating it. She's horrified that Dwight's going through this, but she doesn't want people to know about them.

It's very layered emotionally for Angela. Well, it leads to a break room scene with Dwight and Angela, where you are, again, not facing one another. One of your famous, famous break room scenes. There's a little bit of heartbreak in the break room in this scene. Oh, lady, I noticed it too. Here's what we had. My mama needed me.

A sexy sweater. I thought my life would get so much better. But all I got that afternoon was heartbreak in the break room. That was by Michelle Ferguson. Michelle, you know how much we love that song. We love it. Yeah.

Michelle, I literally listen to it all the time. It's super catchy. It's very catchy. I really love it. Someone give this woman a music contract. We'll buy it. Okay. We love it.

Yeah. So Dwight is like, listen, why don't we just come clean and, you know, let people know our love for one another. So this scene actually went on. It's not in the deleted scenes, but we did shoot a little bit longer of a version where as I cry behind me, Dwight's like, don't cry, monkey. Monkeys, don't cry.

Oh, I kind of wish that was still in there. I know. I know. Well, Angela, a few people wrote in about this scene because they noted that when you start dating Andy, you have no problem with everyone in the office knowing it. Oh, well, Angela revenge dates Andy, you guys. Andy is not her true love that she wants to protect

and keep all to herself because it's so special. She's starting to date Andy because she's mad as hell at Dwight. Right. Very different motivation. Right. In the meantime, Karen and Jim have gone to coffee and Karen is going to ask Jim if he had feelings for Pam. And, lady, I have a clip.

Sam, play the clip because everything you need to know is right here, Karen. Why couldn't you hear it? Let me ask you a question. Okay. Do you ever have a thing for Pam? Pam? Did I ever have a thing for her?

No. Why did she do something? It's so clear. That's all you need to know, Karen, he clearly has a thing for her, but poor Karen, she, you know, he convinces her that he doesn't. Maybe he's not ready to admit it, right? And she is not ready to really see truth, but you know down deep, she knows.

Well, lady, she says, I moved here. Yeah, I moved here. And I think that's the part of Karen that doesn't want to see the truth because it's a little humiliating to deal with the fact that you moved somewhere for the wrong person. Exactly. We all have a friend who has moved somewhere for someone and then it didn't work out.

It's devastating. But then they hang on to it because they moved. Yeah. And it's like you want, you're willing it to be right, even though you know it's wrong. So this is the moment where I know we've been coming down kind of hard on wishy-washy Jim, but this is the moment where Karen is now not reading the signals.

No, no. So, and should we go back to Dunder Mifflin to this grand announcement from Dwight? Yes. I mean, he makes this huge like speech and basically he's like, I'm quitting. So I quit. Yeah.

He quits rather than reveal his secret about his relationship with Angela and where he was this morning. He quits. Dwight leaves. He gives Michael his box of things. He does keep his Dwight bobblehead. I'll let you know.

Of course. There is a deleted scene where he goes around and gives us all items from the box Jenna. It's very funny. I remember shooting that. Yeah. And then he walks out and he does his salute. It's the same salute from the initiation.

Nice little call back there. And Dwight is gone. Yeah. And Angela, he has a line that, oh my gosh, he says in a talking head as he's leaving, there's this line where he said, I really believed I was going to die in that chair. That he was so committed to Dunder Mifflin

he thought he would die in his sales chair. I mean, oh, I have no doubt that's ultimately how it ends for Dwight someday. If the series would have gone. Yeah. In fan fiction, if you write the end, I see Dwight's funeral like, you know, have you ever heard of these funeral homes

that would stage family members doing their favorite activity? No. I have never heard of a funeral where a person is staged doing their favorite activity. So like, for example, if you love fishing since we've been talking about fishing. Yes.

The person would be staged like in a boat with a fishing rod? Yes. I saw a show. I saw a show all about it. Don't ask me. I think I was like just channel surfing, looking for something. But like, it's like a thing you can get

and they have devices that prop people up and things. But like, let's say you love surfing. You'd be posing on your surfboard. It's a real thing. And then instead of like a wake where they come and view the body and you're in the casket, like, and you say you're goodbye, you're on your surfboard.

Well, if it were me, I guess I would be propped up maybe watching TV, eating a bowl of frozen yogurt or making bread. And you can come say goodbye to me. I'd be, you know, hanging my hummingbird feeder and holding a glass of wine, I guess. Oh, Angela, now I want this for your funeral. If I outlive you, if I outlive you,

I am going to pose you with a hummingbird feeder in one hand and a glass of rosé in the other. And I'm going to come say goodbye to you. I will talk to you for hours. Please have it be a real hummingbird feeder with real hummingbird food and maybe they'll come take a drink while I'm standing there. Oh, please.

Okay, okay. Done and done. But yes, I guess your point was that perhaps Dwight's funeral, he would have been staged at his Dunder Mifflin desk. Okay. Taking a sales call. At the funeral home, there's even a lookbook that you can flip through.

Oh yeah, I'll take exhibit A at the desk, typing on the keyboard pose. Wow. I feel like you could do some real passive aggressive stuff with this. Like whoever is in charge of your funeral. You could be like, oh, you want to know Larry's favorite activity? I'll tell you what it was. It was Marjorie.

I was going to say it was. So I posed him holding his. God, why is that cracking me up so much? People go for the funeral. They're like, what is going on? And we're like, Larry's favorite activity. Being a to Marjorie online. Yeah.

So that's Marjorie. Bye. That's Marjorie's picture on the computer. That's him holding a shmini. I paid $5,000 for this. Thank you, Larry. Oh my God. Okay.

Oh my goodness. Okay. Listen. And Marjorie, meanwhile Marjorie's like, I didn't know anyone knew. I, oh my God. My God. Marjorie's husband, Joe is like super shocked. He's like Marge.

What's. Hey, it's all in laundry and betrayal on lifetime. We just wrote our script lady. The big reveal at the funeral. Okay. Okay. So now, now we have this amazing, we have to get it together. Okay.

Oh my God. Okay. Now we have this amazing Andy talking head. It's a Willy Wonka callback. It's awesome. It goes a little something like Oompa Loompa Dippity Dossum Dwight is now gone, which is totally awesome. Yeah.

I was like, who wrote this talking head? Who wrote this? And in the DVD commentary, they said it was Mike. Sure. Oh, there you go. Yeah. Ed said that Mike was in the room with him when he was doing his talking head and they were riffing around and, and they found this one.

And it's so, it's so perfect. And then of course Angela in the background of this talking head, the camera finds you hovering in the background giving a death stare. Oh yeah. Death stare. I remember this so vividly. So Greg was like, Angela, I really want you to glare, like really be angry. Just like Andy is going down.

You hate him glare at him. So I did. And he came up to me and he was like, can you give me more? I was like, what? He was like, even harder. I want you to, I just need the death stare of all death stares. I did it again. He's like, Angela, even more.

I wrote about it in my journal. I said, Greg kept saying one more time, Angela, more mad, more by the end. My eyeballs were shaking in my head. I wrote down, Angela, did you get a headache? Yes. I had the sci-fi bun. I was giving the super death stare and truly by the end, I think you can ever so slightly see me shaking.

That's how like angry my stare is that I'm like, I was curious if you like popped a blood vessel in your eyeball or something. It is so intense. I was about to. I'm not kidding. It is a great way to end the episode. I do have a fan question, Angela. Okay.

And I don't mean to unravel the entire plot of this show. What? But it's a good question. Okay. It comes from Grace D and she says, why couldn't Angela just bring her own tax forms to corporate? She has too many cats, Grace. Well, and also we know from the deleted scenes, some one of her cats just had a litter of kittens that she's dealing with.

That was my first thought to Angela. I was kind of stumped by that at first. And I was like, yeah, why didn't Angela just go to New York herself? But then I was like, no, she probably has, she probably gets up very early and has like a 90 minute cat routine she has to do every morning. Yes. Putting ointment on eyes and medicines and grooming, right? Yes.

And getting the litter boxes ready for the day and setting out food for all of them. I think she has a full morning before she gets to work and especially if she had a litter of kittens and I think she was probably stressing out and going through this whole list with Dwight and he just said, I'll take them. Don't worry. I'll do it. I'll do it. Yes.

That's right. The choices for Dwight were take the forms to New York or do the cat care list. And he was like, I choose forms to New York. Yeah. But good question, Grace. I thought valid question. Valid question. Valid question.

Well, lady, that is traveling salesman. Next week we head into the return. Yes. And the return is the return for several people. And it's such a fun episode. So we will see you next week. All right. Bye, guys.

Bye. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwool, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our producer is Cody Fisher. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubacow. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad-free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.com.

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