Office Ladies - Lecture Circuit, Pt 2

Episode Date: September 29, 2021

This week we finish breaking down Lecture Circuit. Pam and Michael make a detour to visit Holly at the Dunder Mifflin Nashua branch only to encounter her new boyfriend, AJ. Angela Martin sold her engagement ring from Andy to buy Princess Lady, a fancy cat, and now has to intervene with her other cats to make sure Princess Lady is bonding appropriately. We hear clips from guest star, Rob Huebel, on what it was like to play AJ, Angela gives us a breakdown of the cat licking scene and Jenna reveals who wrote the Holly letter she read on Michael’s behalf. This episode is so good, you’re gonna ask for more “Office Ladies” at your work birthday, instead of an hour of napping or an hour of TV. Friend Zone with Rob Huebel and Paul Sheer: https://www.twitch.tv/friendzone The Fan Connection: https://www.fanconnectionmovie.com/the-fans Cat Tongue Pacifier Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_beJnlTeTk

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're The Office, ladies. Hello, everybody. Good morning. Oh, it's morning for us. Our good evening. We don't know when you listen. We don't. Although I'm always fascinated. I love it when people share where they listen and when and what they're doing. I just love it.

A lot of people listen while they do chores. Yeah. I think that's a good time to listen. I do too. I had one gal say she sneaks and listens at work. Oh. What does she do? I don't know. I should always do the follow-up question. Hmm. Don't know what you do at work. But thanks for listening to us. I hope everything else in your office is safely going about its business.

Yes. I hope you're having a good day at work. Mm-hmm. Today is lecture circuit part two. It is season five, episode 17, written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Ken Quapas. Here's the summary. Pam and Michael are still on their speaking tour because, remember, Michael was asked by David Wallace to tell all the other branches how to be as successful as Scranton. Mm-hmm. Well, they've decided to take a detour.

They're going to add Nashua to the lecture circuit so that Michael can see Holly and get some closure. And Pam is all about it. Pam's up for it. Yeah. But guess what? What? Holly's not there.

Oh, no. You know who is there? AJ. Holly's new boyfriend. New boyfriend. Oh. Back in Scranton, Jim and Dwight are still trying to do right by Kelly's missed birthday. And Angela has a very new, expensive cat that she bought with the money from selling her

engagement ring from Andy. And she has to keep tabs on it with a whole video system. Not even just keep tabs. She's delighted to just watch her cats while she's at work. That's what she's doing while she's at work. Yeah. Exactly. Well, fast fact number one, if you listened last week, then you'll remember that we explained

how lecture circuit was originally meant to be a single episode. But when they got to the editing room, it was just so good, they decided to turn it into two. Yeah. Jenna, weren't you so surprised when you started watching this one, even though I knew that information? Because we talked about that last week. On the screen, it said previously on the office.

Yes. And then there was a whole recap. Never seen that before. Never. Not very documentary. Not very documentary. Well, they had to add extra stories in order to make it two episodes. Remember last week, they had the story of Andy trying to date Stanley's client.

Well this week, the extra storyline is all about Angela and her cats. Oh, yeah. Angela, I texted with Mindy about this. You did? I did. What did she say? She said, she thought that on paper, that that cat storyline was a little broad and a little silly, but here was a thing that the writers knew about you, Angela.

What? And this is something that Jen Salata said. Remember back in the duel, that you do such a great job of grounding comedy and making it work. And so they could just throw these broader storylines at you and you made them sing. She said, what a gift. Let me tell you something. I am on cloud nine right now.

I am absolutely giddy. Mindy and Jen Salata's opinion of my acting and comedic skills mean more to me than any award you heard me. I will take this Mindy and Jen award to my heart. I'm going to make you a little Mindy Jen and a little Mindy Mindy statue and give them to you. Is that weird if I have a miniature statue? Okay, Mindy and Jen, if you hear this, it's because I so highly regard your opinion.

You just won a Mindy today. Oh! And on the duel, you won a Jen. Thank you. Yeah. I'd like to thank the Academy of Badass Women for believing in me. Fast fact number two is a location breakdown. Let's discuss the Nashua branch.

I was really hoping you would. Everyone's curious because we did not go to Nashua. We filmed the exterior and interior scenes at different places. The exterior of the Nashua branch was actually T&R Drywall in Van Nuys. Huh. Yep. Then we relocated to get this. Where?

For the interior scenes. Where? M&M Paper Company. A real paper company. That's amazing. Right? Yeah. We shot all of the scenes for Nashua at the very end of the week.

It was on a Friday and the very last thing we shot was Steve cutting the sleeve off Holly's sweater. Oh! That was the last thing. But here's something else that we shot that day that I found fascinating. Here's a little bit of, like, I don't know, is this movie magic, something- Well, you tell me and I'll tell you. Insidery Hollywood.

Yeah, tell me. We shot a background plate. Oh, that's very Insidery Hollywood movie magic-y. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. So a background plate is a shot that they could put behind a future talking head that might take place in Nashua.

So it's just like an empty background. And they could superimpose a person there with a green screen. So if AJ or Holly or anyone from the Nashua branch had a talking head in a future episode, we wouldn't have to rent this whole building again. They could just shoot it on a green screen and add our background plate. It is really cool. I've only worked with the background plate one time. It's for a TV show I shot this year.

I don't know if I can say yet, but we had to be driving through Los Angeles and we were in a car Jenna on a rig and it would move. Yes. But we were inside a studio and then all around us was this sort of like curved screen of like the streets of Los Angeles. And I got dizzy. This is the thing you don't think about in acting school, which is you're going to do a fakey car scene with fakey street going by.

And it might make you a little dizzy if you're prone to that. Now could you see the fake street on the screen? Yes. No, it was surrounding us. Wow. Like, you know, one of those fancy movie theaters where the screen goes around you. I don't know. They have those, don't they?

Yeah, I think so. Somewhere. Something like that. Yeah. It like went around us. So we would look out the car window and there'd be the street driving by. Wow. Not the street driving by.

You know what I mean? I know what you meant. I did a fakey driving scene like that in a studio as well, except it was just a green screen and they inserted the images later. But I was on a little thing where they make the car move and it's, yeah, fans blowing in through the windows. Yes. For motion.

Yes. Yeah. Movie magic. Movie magic. I love doing that stuff because that's some of the stuff as a kid that was fascinating to me. Yeah. The fakey movie magic.

It's also like so fascinating, sorry guys to go off on a total tangent here. Great to see that many different departments working to pull off one moment. I always think that's so cool. Yeah. All right, Angela, this next location breakdown is all you. Will you please tell us where was Angela's apartment such that we could see all your cats on camera? Oh, will I?

I have a whole cat camera location breakdown. And then later, Jenna, I have a cat guest star breakdown. Oh, I can't wait for that. You will not want to miss it. All right, so you guys, Angela's living room was built on stage two. That was inside our warehouse set. Remember the warehouse where we go? Yes, of course.

Okay. We would build a lot of those swing sets. Swing sets. Yeah. We'll turn for you. They shot the scenes individually and then later they took the one scene with all the cats and they burned that into the computer screen. They also burned into the computer screen at my desk the one of me with the cats.

Does that make sense? Okay. A little bit. You burned it far prior to when you did the scenes at your desk because then what is burning it onto your computer screen mean? I think that's the term Randy used. I think it just means uploading it, right? In post-production, they were able to like take the clips and put them on my computer

so that Kevin and Oscar really watched those. Oh, so they didn't have to imagine what they were seeing. No, they really got to watch that. How delicious was that? Also when we all gathered around to watch the cats on the screen, you know, when it's Meredith and the whole gang, we're really watching the cats. Oh, okay. That's amazing.

So you were really just over in our warehouse set. That's right. I worked all day in the warehouse. Many times when you went to Angela's apartment, even years later when you went to Oscar's apartment, that was all in the warehouse. Wow. Mm-hmm. The interior shots, I should say.

Yes. Fast fact number three, we have a big guest star alert. We do. It's AJ Holly's boyfriend played by Rob Hubel. Yeah. Now, Rob is a very successful improviser, actor, writer, Emmy-nominated producer. He's like a quadruple threat. That is four.

That is four. Yeah. A double-double threat? Yeah, he's a double-double threat. He's been in over 140 films and television shows. Good lord. He was very recently and transparent with Melora Hardin, little office reunion there. And Angela, you know Rob.

I do know Rob. I mean, I met him a long time ago through our mutual friend, Rachel Harris. Here plays Angela Martin's sister. It's that little like LA comedy club circle, you know, between the groundlings and improv and stuff. Rob is very funny. He's also just delightful to talk to because he's just one of these people to me, kind of like Will Ferrell, who's just walks into the room funny.

He's friendly. And he's friendly. Yeah. So I knew this episode was coming up and I was like, we got to reach out to Rob. We need to hear his story about how he came to be on the office and he's going to answer a few questions for us throughout this episode. Well, here is how he got his job on the office. Hey guys, it's Rob Hubel.

It's early in the morning. So my voice is a little crackly. Well these ladies will tell you that sometimes in Hollywood you get offered parts, but it's kind of few and far between. And I think the great Allison Jones cast this show and I had done some movies that Allison had cast. So that may have helped me maybe get offered the part. But I also might have been offered the part because I knew Steve Carell from The Daily

Show. I worked at The Daily Show before I got into comedy. I worked as a producer on a lot of shows. And I worked at The Daily Show when Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert were there. In fact, I shared an office with Nancy Walls, who is married to Steve Carell, the great Nancy Walls. And so that all may have helped me get just offered the part. Otherwise, if that wasn't the case, I probably had a great audition because I'm great at

auditioning. But I was very lucky and nervous because the show was so big and everybody had become these rock stars by that time. So I didn't want to screw it up. Aw, he did not screw it up. No, he did not. Well, Angela, we got a fan question from Joe S. Did Rob Hubel know he would have a recurring role on the show as Holly's boyfriend, or did he think that it was just one episode?

And he sent in an audio clip about that, too. I think I knew that it was a recurring part, but I didn't know what the plot was and what the story arc was. But I did know that it was going to be the new boyfriend. And I knew that Steve Carell would be giving me a hard time in those scenes. And I knew that it was with Amy Ryan, who I was such a fan of because I just finished watching The Wire and she was on The Wire, I think season two, which is another great show.

Someone should do a podcast about The Wire, but Amy Ryan is just such a great actor also. So again, I didn't want to screw that one up. So like Angela said, Rob answered more questions. We'll sprinkle them in later. Sprinkle. Sprinkle. But you should also know that he has a weekly Twitch show with Paul Shear, which is Twitch TV slash Friend Zone, and it's live every Thursday at Five Pacific.

One more plug for Rob because I think he's so hilarious. And he does the show with my friend Erin Hayes that I did a show called Hot Wives of Orlando with. Their show is called Medical Police Guys. It's really funny. It's on Netflix. It's a spinoff of Children's Hospital. Really funny folks.

I think we should take a break and then go to Nashua and a birthday party and lick some cats. I mean, did you think you'd ever say that in a sentence? No. Today is unique. Well, you know what I didn't think I would do, but Google how to lick your cat. I can't wait for this. Okay, we begin this episode in the kitchen.

Kevin's eating two ice cream treats. He has a popsicle, you know, the double stick popsicle. Yep. And then like the ice cream cone with like the chocolate with the peanut topping thing. Yeah. What's that called again? Some kind of drumstick. That's it.

That's it. Oh, it is a drumstick. Drumstick. Yeah. Anyway, he's got both of those going. But you know what? It's because he didn't eat his lunch. Well, I mean all his lunch.

It doesn't matter. Angela enters smiling. It's strange. Beaming. So happy. Giddy. She's so happy that she looks at Kevin and you know, normal Angela would just look at him eating that double stick popsicle and the drumstick and just go off on him.

Like she says nothing. No. Actually, she says, oh, hello everyone. Oh, ice cream. Nice Kevin. Looks good. Nice Kevin. What is happening?

Well, I'll tell you what's happening. She is going to announce a new addition to her family. It's a cat, a rare special cat, a $7,000 cat. She's hypoallergenic. She doesn't struggle when you try to dress her. She's a third generation show cat. Her father was in meet the parents. Wait.

So the cat that pees on the toilet and meet the parents is somehow related to Angela's new cat. It's Princess Lady's dad. Wow. I know. Well, the gang wants to see this cat. They're like a $7,000 cat. I got to see it.

And Angela's like, I can do better than a picture. Oh, she can. She has a kitty cam set up at home. So she takes the whole gang over to her computer and they are watching these cats frolic in her living room. How many are there? I didn't count. I mean, there's lots.

There's lots. There's probably 12. I mean, there were at least seven or eight, at least in the picture. Who knows if someone was sitting in the window. We don't know. Angela, we got a lot of mail about this scene because your character mentions that she's annoyed that she can't take any time off. She doesn't have any sick days left.

And they don't recognize cat maternity. Yeah. And it's not fair that she can't take off a year like those people who have human babies. And Meredith agrees, right? Meredith says, yeah, I had my second kid just for the vacation time. Flurry of mail. I mean, it was a snowstorm of letters. Lots of people are like, how many children does Meredith have?

In Alliance, Dwight says she has two kids. In the injury, Michael says she has one kid, no husband. In Take Your Daughter to Work Day, she brings one child in. But then here, she says she has a second kid. What does the show Bible say? I'll tell you guys, the show Bible just says whatever the show says. So the show Bible is as all over the place as these episodes. I think we don't really know.

I think maybe we didn't do a good job keeping track of the children. I mean, what happens to the Senator's son? Oh, yeah, we'll get there. Children disappear and reappear all the time on our show. I think what happens is they write the episode and they don't check the show Bible first. And then the person who keeps the show Bible is like, dang it, I've got to write something in the show Bible now that contradicts what was already in the show Bible. But you know, their job is just to record what happens.

I've gotten questions quite a bit about Princess Lady. People want to know why would she sell Andy's engagement ring? One sort of really judged Angela for this on the comment boards back when the episode aired. There was a deleted talking head where she sort of explained it and I think we should hear it. As you may know, I am no longer in a relationships. It's been really stressful here. So I decided to treat myself to one of God's most perfect creations, a beautiful new cat.

It's tacky to talk about money. But she cost $7,000. Okay, you guys, judge Angela, if you will, but she's had a tough time because she's no longer in a relationships. Both of her relationships have ended and she has to work with both of them and see them every day. She's sort of been shunned, kicked off the party planning committee and she went and made an impulse buy to make herself feel better.

Here's what I'll say. She should have given the ring back. I know that. I know that. Because she was unfaithful. Yes. You know, the ring is a symbol of your promise, of your contract to be married and I think that if the person who has the ring breaks that contract, they should return it.

But I believe that etiquette says that if the person who gave the ring breaks the contract, you get to keep the ring. Well Angela Martin's going to use hers to buy a cat. She broke with the etiquette. Yes. Okay. I mean, that's what your character would do. Do you think Pam gave Roy the ring back?

I do. Right? Yeah. Now listen, you might throw some shade at Angela Martin. Her affair was very out there, but I think Pam had an emotional affair. You think? Of course she did. So I'm just saying.

That's why I think Pam gave the ring back. Well, Princess Lady is here folks. Yes. Well, speaking of people who are excited today, Jim is thrilled to have purchased Kelly an ice cream cake. He's putting it in the freezer. He's so proud of himself. He did it.

But then he hears Dwight yelling, screaming at Kelly. Right in her face. Dwight does this. Remember when he got right in Phyllis' face? Yes. Did they laugh a lot during this scene? I don't know how Mindy kept it together. I'm sure.

All right. Well, the reason Dwight is interrogating Kelly is because last week he looked in her files, trying to figure out when her exact birthday was, and he finds out that she was in juvie when she was 14. And now he wants to know why. I have one thing I have to bring up. I don't know why this bugged me so much, but it totally bugged me. I did that thing where I paused the TV and I talked to the TV.

What? By myself. What? I paused it and I said, what in the correct spelling of her name been on her juvenile detention record? I thought the same thing. Guys, later in the episode, Jim is going to misspell her name on the cake and I thought, my goodness.

Yeah. He has a whole talking head. Still don't know how to spell her name. Maybe look on the form in Dwight's hand. I don't know, guys. Listen, Jim and Dwight are not good communicators. They're not sharing information. Clearly.

They're not. Well, Jim is going to try to cheer Kelly up by showing her this birthday cake. He's so proud of. Who's lurking in the corner watching the whole thing? Phyllis. Phyllis. The cake is blank. Mm-hmm.

There's nothing on it. There's no theme. She hates it. I don't know why, but I became inspired to learn the history of the ice cream cake. Are you kidding? No. Is this a good place for it? Is there ever been a better place for it?

Well, here you go. Food historians? Mm-hmm. That's a job. Food historians. Fascinating. They do. They just study food?

I guess. I kind of want to be one. I want to meet one. Well, food historians believe that ice cream cakes were invented at the end of the 1600s. Who invented it? It's unclear. The recipes date back to the 1870s. And ice cream cakes were originally made from biscuits and cream.

In the Victorian era, the desserts were called balms, and they consisted of ice cream and fruit in a fancy mold. So it went through many permutations. In its early days, it was considered quite a luxury item, and it was only enjoyed by the wealthy because they were the only people who could keep it cold. Right. You'd have to get a block of ice. Yes.

Now, the ice cream cake's cousin would be a baked Alaska. That is frozen cream surrounded by meringue, but then it served hot, and there's no cake in it. A true ice cream cake has three layers. It has ice cream, cake or biscuits, and then icing or whipped cream. The leader in America for making the ice cream cake accessible and popular is... Can I guess? Can I guess?

Can I guess? Can I guess? Can I guess? Can I guess? Can I guess? Can I guess? Oh, why didn't I see that coming? Listen, I was just at Baskin Robbins with the kids because they wanted, like, afterschool

snack. Yeah. There's so many flavors. Oh, yeah. I love a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. But it started with Carvel soft serve. Yes. That's it.

It was a small history of ice cream cake, but there you have it. Well, you know what came out of that? What? My need to meet a food historian. I mean, really? Put it on my list. I have to say, while we were talking about the history of the ice cream cake, I don't know if you noticed this, but we got really, like, kind of like, oh, wow, like, it was

very, like, precious information. It felt like it was. It is tickling me. I am tickled. When we're really into something, we get real quiet. I know the importance of it. Speaking of importance, Pam and Michael have arrived at the Nashua branch. Well, the first thing we're going to do is take a picture.

Got to take a picture. We're documenting this. Michael's very nervous as they enter. They're greeted by a really nice receptionist. Yeah. Who tells them that Holly is not there? No. She's on an HR retreat for three days.

But if you really need to get in touch with her, you can just talk to her boyfriend over there, AJ, Selzman. Jenna, I, again, paused the TV and had to talk to it because I thought, Holly, you just got transferred by corporate because you were dating a co-worker. Yeah. And now you go to this new branch of your company and immediately start dating another co-worker? Holly!

I didn't even put that together. I didn't even think of that. It's the whole reason they moved her to Nashua. Yeah, you're right. And she works in HR. I mean, if anyone should be on top of this, it's her. Holly. Well, Angie, you mentioned that the receptionist was really nice to Michael and Pam.

And we got mail about that. Baranee C said the receptionist at Nashua branch is really friendly and happily expecting Michael's arrival. She said, maybe they really don't get very many visitors, like Pam said. I think they don't. I think they're the forgotten about branch. That's what Pam said earlier. Well, the receptionist was played by actress Catherine Flynn.

Just wanted to give her a shout out for her friendly greeting. Michael has to get outside for some air. He is not doing well. No. He is about to fall apart. Yeah. In this scene, I wanted to make two observations. Okay.

Okay. One is it was really hard for me to sit on that curb and a pencil skirt and heels. And I think I did a good job. It really is hard to sit on a curb like in any kind of skirt like that because your legs don't really have anywhere to go. Yep. You can't bunch under. No.

And I had to like tuck my hands under to keep the skirt up from flapping down. Yeah. Yeah. Second, I have a windshield wiper hair going back and forth on my forehead during this entire exchange. A little hair that just goes, yep. The whole scene. And on a normal television show, they would have cut and they would have had someone come

in and just shellack your head, spray it down. We don't want any flyaways. And they would have been like holding for hair. They would have actually said flying in for a flyaway, but we didn't do that on our show. We just let stuff happen. I thought maybe this is one time since it was such an emotional scene, maybe, maybe we should have shellacked it. Were you distracted by your windshield wiper hair?

A little. You didn't notice it. I did not notice it, but now it will be all I can see when I rewatch it. Yeah. Enjoy that, everyone. Mm-hmm. Well, lady, I think we should take a break because we're going to get into the thick of Angela's cats and Michael's presentation soon and I need to center myself before both

those things happen. I think you do because I might have stories about how I created this. It was very good. Thank you. We are back in Scranton and Kevin here's, what is happening on Angela's computer screen? A lot's happening. And Mr. Ash is humping Princess Lady. Oh.

Angela's like, these are decent cats. Don't, you know, make an assumption about them and Mr. Ash is fixed and Meredith is like, I know fixed, I'm not even fixed. Meredith, Meredith and her like super gulp from 7-Eleven with her sidebar comments. Angela is so upset she has to leave. Mm-hmm. She has to go check on her cats. Yes.

Make sure Princess Lady is okay. And now, Jenna, for the cat guest star breakdown. Let's hear it. Here we go. Once again, we reached out to Bob Dunn's Animal Rentals in Silmar, California. They are going to help us create this whole cat humping scene. But first, let me tell you who played Princess Lady. Who?

Princess Lady was a Persian cat named Potato. Oh. You might have seen her if you watched the deleted scenes in the duel. She was in them, but not featured. Oh. And also, Mr. Ash, the other cat in this relationship, was played by Roswell. Roswell! Yes!

The orange cat that looks like Sunny. That's right. I remember him from your cat headshots for the duel. That's right. Now, I guess it's good that we deleted that scene because we could bring Potato back now for this lead role. Right. Yes.

Potato went from a background player to the lead of the scene. Wow. Princess Lady! I mean, that's what happens in Hollywood. That's right. You go out for one role, you're like, oh, I didn't get it, and then you get Princess Lady. Well, Randy said he loved how Bob Dunn's company listed the cats in the proposed budget.

We had seven milling about cats and two sex cats. So seven background performers and then two leads. Roswell and Potato. Our head animal trainer was Denise Sanders. She had been with us on Stress Relief. She said she required several days of training to get Roswell to pull off a believable kitty humping scene. How did she do that?

I don't know. The overall cost of the advanced training, plus the cats for the shoot days, and then the trainer fees was just shy of $9,000 to get Mr. Ash to hump Princess Lady, nine grand. That was a lot. And I feel like I want to call that woman. What was her name? The trainer's name? Denise.

Denise. And I want to be like, how did you do it? Was it a series of treats like every time Roswell stepped on potato, you got a treat? And then how do you get potato to stay put? I don't know. I don't know. These are questions for Denise. Do we need Denise on Revenge?

I want Denise on, and then I want an episode where we talk to a food historian. Odd jobs with Jenna and Angela. Yes. We have another spinoff podcast. We have so many. We have so many podcasts to do. Oh my goodness. We have so many factories to tour and podcasts to do.

Well, listen, lady, I think we should stick with the cats here, because I'm liking it. Okay. I'm liking the cat info. You want to see the whole story? I do. Okay. Because back in Scranton, Kevin and Oscar are working in accounting, and they're going to hear Angela's voice.

She's gotten home, and she is scolding Mr. Ash for his behavior. They have to watch. She didn't turn her computer off. She forgot to turn the kitty cam off. She did. They are watching her. She's hissing. She is communicating with the cats, with meows, and then she grooms Princess Lady with her

own tongue. There are so many things to unpack in this moment for you. First of all, I just love that she's like, excuse me, petals, I'm looking for Mr. Ash. Well, there you go. We know another cat's name is Pettles, but I don't think that's the question on everyone's minds. And I know that because we got a lot of mail about it. My favorite one was from Katie D, who said, I don't even know where to start.

So Angela, the cat cam scene, please explain. Well, Katie, let me tell you, Ken said to me, I want you to know you don't have to lick a cat today. Oh, yeah. He said, camera's going to be far away. I said, Ken, are you sure? He goes, yeah, yeah, no, you're not going to have to lick a cat today. No.

I was like, oh, okay. He goes, you can fake it. We'll be able to sell it. I said, okay. So we do a few takes and he comes up to me kind of meekishly and I said, Ken. And he goes, oh, you're just kind of moving a little bit closer with the camera. I said, I knew it. I knew it.

I knew it. So in one take, I actually licked the cat's face. I did it. And I felt bad for the cat because the cat's eyes were like, you know, did you get hair in your mouth? Yes. Of course I did. It was a very hairy cat.

Randy. Did it taste weird? I don't remember it tasting anyway, just being fuzzy. Randy told me that just in case I might lick the cat, listen, these guys knew they were going to ask me all along. They knew it. You think so? Oh, yeah.

I think so. I think they were going to try to get one shot. Yeah. What do you think? Yeah. Randy said, so in case you were going to have to maybe lick the cat, Denise Sanders the trainer gave potato a special bath and blow dry before she came to set that day. Oh.

Potato got a blow out. Fresh shower. Well, that's nice. So yes, I did lick the cat, but only once. The rest of them were fakey licks. I guess as the camera pans in, I don't know which one's the real one. So you don't know if they use the real lick or the fake lick? I don't know.

Oh. Now, why would the camera be able to pan in if it was like a nanny cam? You'd think it would just be one locked off shot. Yes. You know. These are things I should have brought up in the moment. I should have had you with me. We did a lot of rehearsals.

They were pitching different things to me that Angela would do to try to bond with her cats. They were all on the ground, roll over, pretend to groom myself. And then they were like, does Angela talk to her cats? How does she talk to her cats? And then they pitched the sort of hiss thing. And then I had to practice different hisses, guys. They were very good.

I thought your cat sounds were great. Thank you. I mean, I feel like Ken and I really bonded this day because I was like, Ken, tell me, what do you like? Do you like this one? Or do you like? Or do you like? Yeah.

And then you'd be like, oh, I like the second, and I'm like, okay. I like it that you scolded your cats in their own language. Thank you. I thought it showed your bond with them. Jenna, this brought me down a rabbit hole of Googling, do people really lick their cats? Apparently if you foster kittens, some people share online that they have licked a kitten's face if it's separated from its mom. What do you know about this?

You foster kittens. I've done it. You've licked a cat's face. I have. I knew it. I was like, I bet Jenna has licked a cat's face. Yeah. So I worked in cat fostering for three years, and I fostered many kittens who had been separated

from their moms at a very, very young age. And you know, I'm trying to socialize them, and I would just lick them between their eyes on their little forehead, give them a few little licks. That's what I read. Yes. Not with adult cats, but with little kittens. With kittens. That are very young and separated from their mom.

Yes. And it brings some great comfort, and they purr. That's what I read. I knew you would know. And I will say, I have also licked an adult cat. Okay. My cat, Andi, he had been sick, and he was an adult, and I licked between his eyes to give him some comfort.

So yeah. I don't know. I mean, people let their dogs lick their faces, and I don't know, when you have a pet, they become like a member of the family. I think it's kind of like, listen, I'm not going to go over to anyone's house and start licking their animals. And I don't love when someone else's dog licks my face, but I don't care when my own dog does it.

Right? Just like how your own kid's poop and vomit doesn't bother you, but I don't want some other kid to poop on me. Well no. I don't know what that is. I don't know why. It's like, when it's your family, you don't care. Well, I want you to know, when I looked this up online, there's a big debate about when

and where and how to bond by licking your cat, and also guys, apparently, there's a whole industry of fake tongues that humans can purchase, yes, to lick their cats. Okay. So yes, there's also a little thing that you can put on your finger that's like sort of meant to simulate an adult cat's tongue. And if you foster kittens, you can get that and then you can rub that between their eyes. That's the thing you can get to. Cassie's in the booth.

Cassie, you just fostered a bunch of kittens. Did you lick any of them? I didn't. I didn't know this was a thing, but maybe next round I'll try it. Or you can just get the little finger brush thing that came out while I was like mid-fostering and I did move to the finger brush eventually. Yeah, I'll get that. There was one that haunted me.

It's a thing that you can, well, I won't be able to unsee it. It's a fake tongue that you can put in your mouth like a pacifier and then you can lick your cat. It can just be on your finger. That's what she said. Oh my God. I'm showing Jenna. Oh my God.

Introducing Licky Brush. I'm sorry. Cassie. I knew each other as a form of social bonding. As a human, you're left out of this intimate ritual with Licky Brush. It's also, they have like a big mussely man with a Licky Brush in his mouth. A pacifier. It's a pacifier that has a tongue on it and he's cradling his cat like a baby and then

like licking it and it's just that they picked someone I would not expect. I mean. I want you to know I saw that and I have been waiting to show you. I was like, I'm not even going to tell her. I want her to see it. I want to watch her react to it because I was like, what, what is happening? What did I just click on? Wow.

Okay. Well, I guess it can take the idea of bonding with your cat to a whole new level. They make them for your fingers is what I want to say. To finish out this cat storyline, Angela returns to the office and she sees her computer is on and she's like, oh my gosh, has that been on the whole time? And Kevin and Oscar are like, what, I don't, we were just, we don't have no idea what you're talking about. Oscar has a talking head where he says he needs to erase that image from his head.

But then Angela coughs up a hairball. Well, let's hear about that. I cough up a tiny hair, guys, right? It's like a little hair, but you know what? You've had your cat like cough up a hairball, right? It's so violent. It's like, yeah. Yeah.

It's so incredibly like the first time you get a cat and they do it, you're like, oh my God. I don't know what's happening. It's so intense. So once again, Ken and I and Mindy, we're talking about how big do you go here, right? How big do I really, because you have two choices. Either Angela Martin has to do that like, yeah, or it's like way more subtle. And so I practiced a few different ways and this is the one they liked where basically

I'm just pulling one hair off my tongue and it's like, what is it? Was it the cat? Is it something else? It was the cat. It was the cat. It was the cat. It was. But I had to do it enough to sell it to Oscar and not so much that it was like a total cartoon.

That was my work day, guys. That was my day that day. Hey, you're going to crawl around on the ground, pretend to be a cat, hiss at cats, lick a cat and then cough up a hairball. Mom, would you do it work today? Welcome to Hollywood. Should we go to Nashua? We do because Pam has talked Michael into giving his presentation because then maybe

they'll all talk about how great Michael was and Holly will hear about it, right? That's the way you show AJ, right? Yes. And you know what? At the beginning, it's going great. It is. He's doing a fantastic job. Just listen to all of his movie references.

Good morning, Vietnam. Ah, sales, sales is what brings us together today. How do we deal with clients who say, frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn about paper and get them to show us the money? Well, we are going to find out today. I had written this down. It's so interesting that you played that clip because I wondered, do our younger viewers get all of the references in Michael's opening remarks?

Do they know these movies? Good morning, Vietnam. Princess Bride, Gone with the Wind and Jerry McGuire. I guess this is Michael's taste in movies. But do people know all those today? I mean, you've got to know Princess Bride, right? I think. I don't know.

I don't know. But he's got them. They're laughing. They love his, like, voices he's doing. Nashua likes Michael from the receptionist to his opening remarks. They're eating out of the palm of his hand. If only he could get over this holly thing. He would finally have a day where he was the king of comedy like he's always wanted.

Those 30 seconds you just heard are the best that it is, because that's how quickly it falls apart. Because Michael zeroes in on AJ. He can't help it. Salesman. Salespeople. He's going to pick a random salesperson. You there, sir.

You. Mm-hmm. What's it like to be you? Oh, here we go. Yeah. And then Michael has a full-on panic attack. He winds up on the ground and he crawls out of the room. Mm-hmm.

Leaving Pam. Yeah. Well, before we get to what Pam is going to do, I wanted to shout out a few crew cameos. Oh, okay. So sitting next to AJ, the woman who asked the question about discounts from distributors, that was Mary Wall. Yes. And she was a member of our production staff and she is delightful and wonderful.

She has gone on to become a producer and a director. She currently is working on a documentary called The Fan Connection. You can actually check it out at fanconnectionmovie.com. You can see a trailer. It's all about the hockey fans in Buffalo. Oh, I would love that. And their commitment to their hockey team and you know I love hockey. So anyway, check out the trailer, guys.

I love sports documentaries. Mm-hmm. Love them. And then sitting in the row in front of AJ with the red hair was Claire Scanlon, our editor. And Pam's going to call her Freckles. Claire is a full-on badass, amazing editor and now prolific director. Yes.

I have another guest star I want to mention, Michael McCartney. He played the other Nashua employee who says, what does this have to do with sales when Michael is disintegrating? He has a very extensive resume. He is the producer and director of the series The Millionaires on Amazon Prime, but here's what I want to tell you. What? This is the first time I've seen this and all of my Googling of all of our guest stars.

Well now I don't know what to expect. Michael McCartney has been on Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, and Law and Order Criminal Intent, The Trifecta, Holy Cow, all three. Not on Monk. Not on Monk. There's still room. There's still room. Future guest star.

If you could be on all three Law and Orders and Monk, I'm going to drive to your house and give you a cake. So when I was trading emails with Rob, I was like, Rob, you've got to share what it was like in that room when Steve, as Michael, is falling apart and singling you out. I mean, I don't know. How did you do that? How did you get through it? And here's what he had to say.

My memories of shooting that scene in the conference room with Steve are mostly about just trying not to laugh because sometimes I just start laughing when people are funny because really, I feel like a lot of times on comedy shows, you're trying to make the other person laugh. In a way, you're kind of trying to f*** with them a little bit. So anyway, I was just trying to keep a straight face because Steve is so funny and Jenna is so funny and everybody on the show is so funny. And I also get very nervous.

I get nervous going into a new show and there's this whole other culture there already established. When you're a guest actor on a show, it's different because you don't know what you're walking into. So I was a little bit nervous and Steve is just iconic. Steve is just so funny. And when he's kind of coming at me like that, he's putting me down and ignoring me and calling me names in a very funny way, but it's all so funny. So mostly trying not to laugh.

I loved his description of what it's like to be a guest actor on a show, walking into the world and it's a comedy and it's supposed to be funny, but then you're not supposed to laugh. I just, I related to all of that so much. I did too. Well, we also asked him, does he still get recognized? As AJ, he's been on, what did you say, 140, 140 movies and TV shows. Does he get recognized as AJ?

Let's find out. Do I get recognized as AJ from the office? Are you kidding me? Yes. Yes, a lot. And I'm so thankful for it. It is very fun to be recognized no matter what people tell you. It is fun because it's, you know, it's people love it.

They love the show and that's fun. You know, like everyone had an opinion about Michael and Holly's relationship and I was just standing in the way so I would get threatened by strangers. You know, it was crazy. In fact, people used to come up to me out of the blue. I remember people would sometimes whisper in my ear, like come up behind me and say, you stay away from Holly, you stay away from Holly. And what's crazy is that my wife in real life, her name is Holly.

So I would have to decide in about two seconds, okay, is this someone that used to date my wife in real life that I should murder or is this just a fan of the office acting like a creeper? I love that his wife's name is Holly. I know. That's insane. That is crazy, though, that people go up to him and they're like, leave Holly alone. And he's like, wait, wait, that's my wife.

Oh, you're. Oh, okay. Oh, I know what you are. Amazing. Well, thank you, Rob, for sending in your audio clips. It was so nice of you. I love listening to your voice. I think he has a soothing, pleasant voice Rob.

She's not kidding. While we were recording this episode and you sent in your audio clips, Jenna was like, I just love the sound of his voice. I know. You get tons of voiceover work because I would buy anything you're selling. Hey. Yeah. How about them apples?

So Jenna, Michael has left, Pam is in charge. She goes right into Force Gump. Lady, this was one of my favorite shooting days ever, having to take over the presentation. It was so fun to watch you. It was hilarious. I loved watching Pam try to do Michael's movie bits. Angela, you know I'm not great with accents or impressions. I cannot tell you how hard I worked on that Forrest Gump voice.

Oh my gosh, lady. So hard. Lady, I thought you were doing a bit to be bad, right? Yes. And that is what Mindy and Ken Quapas thought on set. They were crying, laughing when I did it. Mindy said it was genius that I was doing it so bad. Yeah.

I was texting with her because I was like Mindy, do you remember this episode? And she said, yes, I thought you were so funny that day. Your Forrest Gump, it was such a funny choice, you know, to be bad. And I was like Mindy, that was my literal best effort. My acting limitations made me genius. Like that's one of those things where like if I tried to be bad, it wouldn't have been as good as me giving it my best effort. I can't do it better than that.

I need to hear it. I need to hear it. I got to hear it. I got to hear it. I'm getting my laugh. I got to hear it. I got now with that information in my brain, I've got to hear it because I thought like Mindy that you were doing a bit now at like, I'm going to read it.

My Forrest Gump kind of crappy, but no, it was your best effort, honey. I listened to his voice in my head over and over and over and over again and I tried to mimic it perfectly. I have never loved you more knowing now that that Forrest Gump was your earnest best effort. It was. Sales is like a box of chocolates. You never know which vendor you're going to get. Forrest Gump.

Lady. That's the cutest thing ever. That is the cutest thing. Oh my gosh. Look at Devin and Cassie. They're cracking up. You guys, is that adorable? Come on.

So cute. We love it. Thank you guys. Thank you. I love doing that scene. I loved the chainsaw. I loved the chainsaw. It was one of my most, you know, this was one of the few times when I was called upon to

do like, what would you call it? Like. A group? To be the comedy protagonist. Yes. I was usually the receiver of comedy. My job on this show was to amplify a comedic moment with my deadpan reaction. But in this case, I got to pitch the comedy ball and it felt really good.

Other people reacted off of you. Yes. And it was fun. Well, one of my favorite things to watch play out in any movie or TV show is when a character decides to step up to the plate and then bales. So at the end when Pam got out the chainsaw and was like, cutting down the competition. Yeah. The bale is my favorite.

She's like, I'm out. Well, during all this, Michael has gone over to Holly's desk. He's stroking her yellow cardigan. He cuts half of the sleeve off. Yeah. That made me laugh so hard, Jenna. And then he pushes the chair in and the screensaver pops up of Martin Short, which is so perfect. As Ed Grimley.

Yes. You know what Randy Cordray told me? What? That little moment, like that was the whole thing. He said we had this graphic artist on staff, his name was Michael Marcus, and he had to build that on-screen computer graphic where there were these documents on the home page, that picture of Martin Short. They had to get permission to license that photo from Getty Images.

I mean, that little moment, that was someone's day creating that. Right. I just, I love watching the show and thinking of those details. Well, to finish out the Nashua branch storyline, Pam and Michael, they pack up, I love when Pam was like, don't look up, don't look up, don't look up when they're packing up the car, and they go to a diner, and Michael confesses that A, he cut off part of her sweater, and that he saw a dear Michael folder on her desktop and he copied it, he's got it. And Pam says, you can't read that, but I can read it.

Right. Pam can read it. And I won't tell you what the specifics are, but I can tell you if she still likes you. We had a lot of fan mail about that, Emma S, Eric M, and Zachary C all wanted to know, was there a letter or was I just pretending to read something? There was a letter. I wondered that too. Phil Shea wrote a letter and I was very grateful because as I read it, it helped me get in

a headspace because there were all these things I read, but then I knew I was going to tell Michael the scripted lines of like, it's not over. And it was great. It was so helpful as an actor to have not just a blank screen there. So thank you, Phil Shea, for writing me a letter. I wonder if Phil had to consult the writing staff and say, guys, I'm going to write this letter. Do you have any, or he just did that on his own?

I think that was stuff he just did on his own. He was a very detail-oriented prop master. Yes. And he would often do that if we had a fakie piece of paper. A memo. Yeah. It was very detailed. Mm-hmm.

I have a question for you because when I watch this, I am always like relating it back to like things happening. Would you have read it if you saw like something on your ex's computer, would you have read it? Yeah. Me too. Of course. 100%.

Yeah. I would have just sat down right then and there and read it. Correct. Okay. I feel better now. Yeah. Michael is thrilled to find out that it's not over with Holly and we're not sure yet what he's going to do with that information, but he's happy to know it.

He feels like he has closure. Yeah, he does. We haven't talked about the rest of this birthday storyline. Well, listen, they're not doing very well. Jim and Dwight are still trying to brainstorm the perfect party for Kelly. Yeah. They're in the conference room. And Jim says, okay, so far, our ideal party consists of beer, fights to the death, cupcakes,

blood pudding, blood, touch football, mating, charades, and yes, horse hunting. Yeah. And Dwight's like, you're right, forget horse hunting, it's stupid. Just only lose that one. All the rest are viable. Yeah. All the rest sound great. But ultimately, they actually find a theme.

Everyone gathers in the conference room, Kelly comes in, there's a cake, her name is spelled wrong, and there's a chiclet. You know what a chiclet is? I do. It's a piece of gum and it's a square. It's a little square piece of gum. I love a chiclet. I love a chiclet too.

I like it that it has like a candy coating before I chew the gum. I like the crunch. Me too. Kelly wants to know what's up with the chiclet. Jim says, that's the best part. The chiclet represents a pillow. It's a pillow or a television. That's our theme.

A pillow or a television is their theme. She gets to decide one hour of TV or an hour of napping. What would you pick? I would, I don't know if I could sleep at work. I can't nap in general. I have to be sick in order to take a nap. Even if I've gotten three hours of sleep the night before, I can't nap. I get like wired tired.

So I would 100% pick an hour of TV. There's so much TV I haven't been able to watch lately because we've been working really hard on the book. So I mean, I'm in the middle of the white lotus. I'm in the middle of hacks. I only just finished Mare of Easttown. Do you hear how behind I am? Yeah.

So hour of TV, yes please. That sounds decadent to me. Also yeah, I can't sleep during the day. Something has to be wrong with me if I fall asleep during the day. Yeah. It's just like my body just won't do it. I do think this is a little bit of an old tech alert. What's the old tech?

They say that the chicklet represents a pillow or a television. And I think at work now we would just watch an hour on our phone or our computer. That's true. And also doesn't Stanley say there's nothing good on right now? Well Creed says Bonnie Hunts on. But it's that they're going to watch like live television. That's right. Not streaming anything.

No streaming. So I would say their theme was a little bit of an old tech alert. I agree. Well, Kelly chooses nap. And she takes a little nap under the conference table. And while she does, Jim and Dwight sit on that little couch by reception and they eat their cake and they're very proud of themselves. And I want to point out this scene to everyone because John is doing a classic, fakey, edy

acting technique with this cake. He's shoving the food around the plate. He would take a big scoop of cake, but then he smushes it back down. And so by the time he puts it in his mouth, it just has a little frosting on it. Watch it. He goes for the cake three times and never actually eats a piece. At the beginning he eats like half a piece. You have to do this because otherwise you're going to get sick.

However, sitting next to him is Rainn Wilson who eats the cake. Because Rainn always ate in scenes. It didn't matter. Remember he ate so many bananas, he got sick. Yeah. When Rainn as Dwight does anything, he goes all out. And I feel like Rainn eats in scenes the way Brad Pitt eats in movies. Watch in Oceans 12.

The guy is always eating. I wanted to know, like, is this a choice? You're constantly eating something. Watch Goodfellas. Do you see how much steak and pasta those guys eat? They dig in. Goodfellas makes me hungry. Yeah.

When I watch it, I get hungry. For sure. Guys, guess what? That was Lecture Circuit Part 2 with a little bit of movie extra stuff. We had, I felt like, a lot of interesting movie magic facts. A lot of cat grooming facts. And a forest gump impression. Not a bad day.

Not too shabby. And next week is Blood Drive. Oh, yeah. I've got some good facts about the Blood Mobile. It was actually on the set. It was. It was in the parking lot. A real one.

Yep. Yep. I'll tell you all about it next week. See you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Cody Fisher. Our producer is Cassie Jerkins, our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer, 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 at Stitcher Premium, use code, Office.