Office Ladies - Livin' the Dream, Pt 2

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

This week we’re breaking down “Livin’ the Dream, Pt 2”. Dwight is offered the job of regional manager when Andy makes his final exit, and Oscar offers Angela Martin his place to live while she gets back on her feet and she shares a big confession to him. Angela has a special movie announcement, Jenna breaks down one of the last all cast bullpen scenes of the series and the ladies have some hot takes on inventions. This is another great, heartfelt episode so let’s celebrate that both Dwight and Creed are the new manager and enjoy!  Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's it like to trade crypto on Kraken? Let's say I'm in a state-of-the-art gym surrounded by powerful-looking machines. Do I head straight for the squat rack? I could, but this gym has options, like trainers, fitness pros, fodders to back me up. That's crypto on Kraken, powerful crypto tools backed by 24-7 support and multi-layered security. Go to kraken.com and see what crypto can be. Not investment advice. Crypto trading involves risk of loss. See kraken.com slash legal slash ca dash pru dash disclaimer for info on Kraken's undertaking to register in Canada. What does possible sound like for your business?

It's more cash on hand to grow with up to 55 interest-free days. Redefine possible with Business Platinum. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms and conditions apply. Visit amex.ca slash business platinum. 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. ["The Office Theme"] Hello.

Hi. We're talking about Living the Dream Part 2. It's a two-parter. Wasn't supposed to be a two-parter, became a two-parter. Mm-hmm. This is season 9, episode 23, written by Nikki Schwartz Wright and directed by Jeffrey Blitz. Do you want a little summary catch up?

I think we need a recap because even in the episode when it aired, there was a previously on The Office. Yes, well that's how it is now. It originally aired altogether, but now they, for syndication or what do you call it? The DVD and Apple. It's one episode on the DVD. No kidding.

Yep. But it's two episodes on Apple. It is. We got to the bottom of that. We're solving cases already today. Oh man. Oh, I'm feeling good. Well.

All right. Let me tell you what's gonna happen this week. Dwight will be appointed manager. Yes. And he's gonna offer Jim a new role in the company as well. Now, in the previous episode, Andy decided to quit to pursue his dreams. Well, now he's gonna decide to stay, but be a salesman.

He's doing a little bit of snip, snap, snip, snap. He is, it's true. Because at the end, he's gonna change his mind again. Big time. Finally, Angela is gonna be evicted from her apartment and Jim is gonna receive some very good but complicated news about athlete. But before we get into all that, Angela,

I believe you have a share. I do, and I'm really excited about it. I'm excited. I've been waiting for weeks for you to be able to share this. Okay. Well, let me start by asking you and Sam and Cassie this question. Have you ever written a family Christmas letter or received one? Well, I receive many every year and I love them. I really like the little update letter that people send with all the details.

I love them, I live for them. I'm on a few of like my mom's friends' Christmas card list and I get the letter from some of these ladies that I grew up knowing. I hang on every word. Same. Now, have I written one? I wrote one one year and I found it so stressful

I never did it again. Really? Yes. I couldn't, it was just, I was like, what do I include? What do I not include? It is, it's stressful, right? It's very stressful. Sam, Cassie?

I don't get letters, but I always get pictures of my friends with their pets. And I love those. I've received many. I've written zero. Okay. All right. Well, I love a Christmas letter.

And if you saw my post last week on Instagram, you know I was super excited about this opportunity that came my way. I am the lead. The lead, the lead, the lead. In a new Hallmark Christmas movie. I am so excited about this. It is such a sweet movie. It's funny, it's heartfelt.

I can't wait for you guys to see it. My mom is over the moon. Oh, my mom is over the moon. Well, Ange, I know this has been a bucket list item of yours and when this came along, I feel like we just both squealed with excitement and I'm so glad that it got to happen. I have to say two big thank yous.

One is to my husband Josh, who held down the fort at home so I could go do this. Cause you were gone, maybe the longest. You've had to be gone for a role. It's the longest we've ever been apart in our marriage. It was three weeks. Which feels like a long time. It does.

When you're never apart. And then also I really want to thank you and Cassie and Sam for the way you came together and helped me get through this time. I took my microphone with me. I was recording ads at night when I rapped. I was loopy. But you guys all really came through for me. So thank you.

Well, we can't wait to see it. Will you tell us what it's about? I will give you a little summary. I'm going to do a summary, Jenna. It's called Confessions of a Christmas Letter. And the premise is that this little town where my character lives has an annual Christmas writing letter contest. And the winner gets proudly displayed on the post office wall along with a picture of the family. So your letter's in a frame, your family picture's in a frame, and it is a big, big deal in this small town.

And my character is horrible at writing Christmas letters. And her next door neighbor who's like the town snarky lady wins every year, you know? Yeah. So my character decides this year she's going to hire a novelist to write her letter for her. That's very sneaky. Very sneaky and hijinks ensue. It's really fun and it's just a really sweet, fun movie and I hope you guys all like it. I already love it. And there's a really fun cameo, Jenna Knows This, it's by Brian Baumgartner.

We had such a fun time working together again. So cool. I know. And hey, I just wanna throw this out there. Listen, everyone at Hallmark was so fantastic. I had such a blast. I kinda feel like there's a mom detective Christmas caper out there, lady.

Stop it. You and I could be the mom detective Christmas Hallmark movie. Let me say one thing to that. Y-E-S exclamation point. Okay? For sure. Do you know when your Christmas movie is coming out yet? Yes, I do. It's going to premiere on Sunday, November 17th, and it's going to re-air throughout December. Yay, I love it. We have to have a viewing party.

Oh, I really want to. Yes. Anyway, yay, that's my big share. Yay, I love it. Well, listen, why don't we take a break, and then when we come back, we'll break down, live in the the dream part duh, part duh. Here we go.

["Live in the Dream Part Duh"] Summers here and you can now get almost anything you need for your sunny days delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken Parmesan delivered. A cabana, that's a no, but a banana, that's a yes. A nice tan, sorry, nope, but a box fan, happily yes. The The only way we go home is together. From New Season now streaming exclusively on Paramount+. I'm Jean Marie Laskus.

I'm a journalist. I spent my career helping Americans understand the lives of other Americans. Coal miners, gun shop clerks, staffers in the White House mailroom. In my new podcast, Cement City, I tell the story of an entire town. A dying town that you have absolutely no reason to care about. But trust me, you will. Listen to and follow Cement City, an Odyssey Original Podcast in partnership with Cement City Productions. Available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.

["The Odyssey"] ["The Odyssey"] All right, we are back and this episode is gonna pick up literally where last week left off. Dwight is entering the conference room and David Wallace has something to say. Rain played this so well, the emotion on Dwight's face. It was this combination of being teary. I was like teary and laughing.

Yep, I have watched ahead to AARM part one and two. You and Rain, your combination of emotion and comedy in these episodes leading to the finale is so amazing. I mean, I'm going to get to yours later in this breakdown, but so good, Angela. Oh my God. Thanks, lady. Well, David says, I would like you to be manager.

Dwight already has a business card ready. I know. You can't believe it. He had one ready just in case Michael or Andy ever got killed in a traffic accident and there was a trade show on the exact same day. He's a planner. He sure is.

Listen, we got a fan question from Sammy B in Barrington, New Hampshire who said, at what point was it decided that Dwight would be manager? It's the perfect culmination of his storyline. It really is. Well, basically, Sammy, as soon as they knew that the spin-off wasn't happening, they knew that Dwight needed to end this series as manager of Dunder Mifflin. I actually reached out to Greg, and he said that the discussions over how to end the show focused a lot on what each character deserved.

Like, how could we make everyone's, maybe make their wildest dreams come true, but also what do they deserve to get from this journey? And Greg said that Dwight was a man with very clear passions. It was not hard to figure out what would make him happy. And he said most character arcs were decided about a quarter of the way through season nine

so that they could slowly write toward all of them. Well, I have to tell you guys, while I was in Canada filming this movie, Greg and I were texting and we realized we were both in Vancouver on the same day. And we both realized this on our last day there. So we were able to meet and have lunch. It was so great.

We hung out for two hours. We laughed, we talked about the show. It was so great. We hung out for two hours. We laughed. We talked about the show. He is so happy for Office Ladies and for what we've done in the rewatch, Jenna. And I hope we get to have him on again because he's just rooting for us. And he's like, Ange, where are you in season nine? Tell me everything. I love him.

I know. You know, he told me that when they start filming this spin-off, that we can come to the set and get a behind-the-scenes, I guess, view of all the goings on. And I can't wait. And we get to tell you guys about it. Yeah. Well, speaking of behind-the-scenes, how do you like that segue? Angela's doing something behind-the-scenes under her desk.

She is pouring, is it vodka? It's a clear alcohol. And to her, big 7-Eleven Super Gulp is what it looks like. She's basically become Meredith. Yes! She's got a lot going on, and she's not handling it very well. Meanwhile, Pam goes back to the Annex to visit Jim.

She has a question for him, but she can't remember what it is. Oh, this is such like back to Jim Annex to visit Jim. She has a question for him, but she can't remember what it is. Oh, this is such like back to Jim and Pam flirty days. I love that they rack focus to Toby. He's in agony. Yes. It was so fun to finally get to play Happy Jim Pam again. Yeah, I bet.

And now when I'm rewatching it and I'm seeing it, I see how very long it has been. Andy is now going to address the whole bullpen. He announces he's decided to stay at Dunder Mifflin and transition to sales. Nellie thinks this could be his best role yet. Everyone's very supportive of this idea. Yeah. I need you all though to go to four minutes and 26 seconds. What will I see? Well, I have a Dundee to four minutes and 26 seconds. What will I see? Well, I have a Dundee to give out in this scene. What is it?

It's the hair-ific Dundee for most beautiful hair in the office and it goes to Nellie. Yes, I meant to mention this last week. There was that scene of her and Kevin in Andy's office and her hair is so voluminous. It is like what a blowout. What happened? I said this is like Victoria's Secrets model hair. You know when they stand in front of the fan? Yes. Yes. I looked in the script to see if there was a deleted storyline that pointed to why her hair is so terrific. It is phenomenal hair day for Nellie. Anyway, she gets a dundee for hairrific.

Hello, did you see what I did there? I love it. Ah, I love a hair pun. Well should we go back to the annex? There's some cutie pie business happening right there. There is. Pete is showing Erin a new way to use the stapler. I didn't know this.

Is it a real thing? Yes, but when am I using this? I've known this about the stapler all along, that you can switch the foot plate, and then instead of crimping in, it crimps out. When do I need to crimp out my staple? Is why? Would you use it for like a poster on the wall or something?

No, no. I would use... I hadn't thought about it. Yeah. There's no use for it. Someone please write in and tell me the use for the reverse crimp. I would like to know. I would too. I should have done a deep dive on it.

Should I do it right now? Hold on. I'm going to Google it. All right. I'm going to have some iced tea. Why would I... How are you going word it reverse? crimp a

Staple it looks like it's for temporary or permanent stapling One is easier to remove Which one's easier to remove? I guess the crimped outward one is easier to remove Then creamton the crimped area of a stapler is used to bend the ends of a staple into secure shape that holds a paper together. Okay, so the plate that makes up for the crimp area can be adjusted for either temporary or permanent stapling. I mean, is any staple truly permanent? No, because there's that special little prongy thing that you can use to unstaple things. Stapling with the crimp area set for outward bent staples results in the weaker but easier

to remove staple. Hmm. Well, I feel like we learned a lot and nothing all at the same time. Not satisfying at all. I feel like someone really over thought the staple, Ler, when they designed it. I'm not going to judge that person. They wanted to give you options, but they didn't know the prongy thing

was gonna be invented. There you go. That's what happened. I have an invention that I hope someone is working on. What is that? Is anyone working to make? What? You're so tickled. What is it? I got really fired up last night about it.

It's so dumb. I really had this thought. I thought, is anyone working on this? Why are you angry about it? Is anyone working on making bags of cereal easier to open? Why? Why do it? making bags of cereal easier to open. Why? Why does every time I open the cereal bag,

does it look like a Wolverine came in to my cereal box and tore it open? Like, why is this so hard? Is anyone working? I said it out loud in my kitchen alone. I said, is no one working on this? The person who thought so deeply about our stapling needs, where is that person in the cereal bag design?

Right. Exactly. Exactly. I want to put, you know who I want to put? What? You know? Oh, gosh. This is so stupid.

You know who I want have put on the case? Who? Ah! Ah! This is ridiculous. I am so thankful for the person that got rid of the springy toilet paper holder. I'm so thankful now that you can get it just like on a hook or like a little arm that bends. I'm so thankful for that because no one in my house ever changed the toilet paper when

it was the springy thing. But now that it's an arm or a hook, we have fresh toilet paper. It's like the whole house collectively decided, I will do this thanks to this one person. So I'd like to put them on the cereal bag project. How can we? I can't even sip my tea. I'm laughing too hard. How can we honor this person?

I wanted to sip my tea, but I'm laughing so hard I couldn't pucker my lips to sip my tea. Sam Cassie, can you find out who invented, please, the toilet paper roll hook? Person? If possible, so that we can honor them by name on the podcast today. Hook or the arm? You know what I'm talking about, the little arm that bends down. If you could find that out.

That'd be great. Okay. Okay, well little arm that bends down. If you could find that out. That'd be great. Okay. Okay, well meanwhile, in the annex. You can tell we haven't been in the room together in a while. It's true. Pam enters and she's going to sit on Jim's desk. And they're both flirty flirting with their fellas. Yeah.

Erin with Pete and Pam with Jim. And they say maybe we should go on a little double date. Yeah. It's kind of like a double date. Let's do it for real. Yeah. Pete's like, boop-boop-a-doop-a-doop-a-doop.

Yeah. Well, we had a fan question from Adam W. in Webster, New York, who said, when Pam sits down at Jim's desk, did they purposely make Pam and Erin look the same with their wardrobe and the way that Pam sat next to Jim? Well, I will tell you, Adam, it was scripted that I mirror the way Erin was sitting. I don't know about the wardrobe, but I have to imagine that was also intentional. But I have a question about this scene. Mm-hmm. Oh, is it about making plans with people?

A little bit. I was in the scene. I played Pam. And I can't tell if Thursday is really bad for us or if I'm trying to get out of this idea of a double date. What did you think? Here were my thoughts. If someone sort of says, oh, we should do this sometime and you immediately throw out a date, it can be just a little scary because you're like, I like the idea of us getting together. I need a minute.

OK, I need a minute. Maybe I'll look at my calendar. Don't put me on the idea of us getting together. I need a minute. I need a minute. Maybe I'll look at my calendar. Don't put me on the spot right away. I think that Erin was so quick to be like, okay, great, how's Thursday? And they're just like, well, you know. Well, and I think that when you have littles, the way Jim and Pam do, you can't be that spontaneous.

You can't just go out on Thursday. There's so many moving parts to making that happen. But I wasn't sure. And I checked the script to see, like, did it give me a direction, like, Pam trying to get out of it, or, you know, Jim trying to cover. But it didn't. It was just our lines. And I really don't know if we would want to go on a date with them or not.

I couldn't decide. I was in the scene. I don't know. I don't remember what I was playing. Yeah, I really think that it wasn't you weren't trying to throw shade at them, but just the fact that you hesitated. Erin got so pissed off. She really did. I kind of loved her performance. I thought it was fantastic. Well, Dwight and David Wallace are now going to come out of the conference room. David says they have a big announcement, and Dwight says, can I please just do this one thing?

I'll only ever ask to do it once. But then David gets a phone call, and it sort of stops the announcement. Yes. And then Dwight just sees his moment and takes it. He stands on top of his desk. He says, Dwight, Trute is manager! And everyone is so happy for him. Genuinely happy for him.

I was surprised by Erin's reaction. It's the strongest reaction of the bullpen. I don't know if you clocked it. I didn't. She does a huge like fist pump in the air kind of thing. Okay. So I went to the script to see if this is something Ellie came up with. No, it was scripted. This is what it said. Erin jumps up at reception. She does Arsenio arm pumps and hoots as she runs to Dwight and hugs him. From accounting, Angela proudly and shyly watches. Andy also gets up from his chair giving Dwight a standing ovation.

I like it. They really wanted Erin to celebrate this moment in the writer's room. Well Creed is going to jump on the desk and announce himself as manager. Yes. Crickets. Crickets. And then Jim and Pam are going to enter from the annex and find out the news. And this is great.

Immediately, Dwight is like, Clark, get out of this chair. Go back to the annex. Yeah. Jim, you get your seat back. I loved his line. He says, you're an Annex kid, you might be bullpen, we'll see. Here was my thing when I heard that, that's what we as the actors and the writers

and the production crew called those rooms. We called them the Annex and the bullpen. If you really worked there, would you call them the Annex and the bullpen? Did our like code names for these rooms slip into the script, do you think? I don't remember us on the show ever referencing them with this shorthand before as characters. A hundred percent, I feel like the Annex was our shooting vernacular. That's what I mean.

Yeah. Yeah. Because we would put the writers in the Annex so they didn't have to be in every scene. But if they worked there, it would just be human mean. Yeah, yeah. Because we would put the writers in the annex so they didn't have to be in every scene. But if they worked there, it would just be human resources. Yeah. I don't think we would have called it the annex if we worked there. I think that just.

Or the bullpen. Yeah, I think that just slipped in, like when Ed called me Ange in the scene. I think so too. Yeah. Well, Jim and Pam are going to happily take their places at their desks. They're going to air high five.

It was scripted as an actual high five. And I remember John and I were like, oh, no, no, no, no, it's air high five. We air high five. You got to bring back hope in a frame. We do. There it is right there. There it is. Well, there's a super nice moment between Dwight and Jim. Jim is truly happy for Dwight and then Dwight is going to offer Jim the position of assistant regional manager. Yeah, but Jim says, I cannot accept. It's not a real job. However, I will proudly take the job of assistant to the regional manager. So sweet. And they shake on it and Dwight's like, idiot. You didn't like that. How you negotiate. And they shake on it and Dwight's like, idiot, you didn't like that's how you negotiate. I was in the general office ladies mailbag and I found a really fun letter from Marcy M. in Ransom Township, Pennsylvania, who said, I am sharing a recent news article from the Scranton

Times with you. The Scranton School District recently hired two new people. They've created two new positions. And Marcy said, when you read their titles, I think you'll understand why I sent this. Marcy also said, I hope you can open it. I'm not tech savvy and I don't know how else to send it. Marcy, I'm not tech savvy either, but we did it. You typed out the HTTPS colon slash slash whole thing

and I got it in my browser and I saw the article. Here is what it said. The Scranton School Board promoted two veteran district administrators to assistant superintendent and assistant to the superintendent. Oh, that's great. Isn't that amazing? That is so cute. I love that.

Scranton. Scranton. Way to go. We got to go to Scranton so cute. I love that. Scranton. Scranton. Way to go. We gotta go to Scranton, lady. We really do. I hope that as we segue into the next phase of this podcast that it will involve more travel.

I know. Every time we brainstorm, you bring up a place you want to go. This is the problem. We have a lot of travel. Well, lady, I think maybe we should take a break. Yes, and when we come back, I have a few little things I wanna give you and Sam and Cassie from Canada.

Oh, I love a gift, thank you. A nifty gifty. Let's do it, let's do it. ["The New York Times"] All right, we're back. And Angela, while you're unpacking your nifty gifties, did we find out Angela's hero, the person who invented the toilet paper roll? Hook. Hook.

I'm very excited. So I'm trying to find like the modern version, but the person that invented the toilet paper holder is Mary Patrice Davidson Kenner. And she also helped invent the sanitary napkin for women. Love her. Yeah, which is super cool. I am trying to figure out when the hook came. So maybe it started off hook and then it got fancy

and now it's going back to hook. So her original design was a hook? That's what I'm trying to lock in, but think it was. Come on Mary. Yeah. Of course it was because Mary knew what was going on. Mary knew that her husband and kids were never gonna use a springy thing. And in the patent for it it's clearly the front-facing toilet paper. This is important to you Sam because you brought this up before. You put the toilet paper so the roll comes front-facing. Front down, that's what you do.

Not from the back. Don't do that to anybody. I'm so happy with that, Google. Thank you so much. All right. Oh, my gifties, my nifty gifties. Okay. So I got you guys each a little something in Canada.

Cassie, God bless you, because I would send you my ads at midnight when I was so tired and you were so helpful. So right by my hotel was the Roots flagship store. You know Roots, the brand? It's so cute. So Cassie, I got you a T-shirt. Is that the lamest gift? But it's so cute.

And I thought it looked so cute on you. And then Sam at the airport. Oh boy. Cassie, this is your shirt. Isn't it cute? Yeah, it's cute. So cute. It's very cute.

OK. I know these are visual props on a podcast, y'all. I'll put them in stories. Just let me have this moment. Sam, this was on the magazine stand. I know what this is. It is a full magazine dedicated to Emily in Paris. Thank you.

It says it's the style guide. Oh, good, because that's what I love the most is the outfits. I know. And it says season four secrets, new pics, and all the info. Will Gabriel and Emily unite? Who cares? And 200 plus photos. Good.

Of Emily, Mindy, Camille, and Sylvie's hottest looks. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Sam, I left you an audio's hottest looks. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Sam, I left you an audio message just yesterday to you and Beck about how much I have needed your breakdowns of season four in real time while I'm watching Enemy in Paris.

It is saying all the things that I want to say as I'm watching. And I really appreciate you. Good. I appreciate that. Sam's podcast, it's so funny. We're going to put another swipe up. I know we've talked about it before, but we love it. Lastly, Jenna, when I was on set, there was a gal named Olivia.

She was so talented and she was making hand-painted ornaments for a Christmas tree in one of the scenes that we were doing at the post office. And she does custom paintings on wood. I'm going to put a swipe up to her Instagram. I know you love a homemade gift and look at this. This one's for you for your Christmas tree. It's a little mailbox. Oh my gosh. I love it. Isn't it so cute? It's truly the cutest dang thing. I know it says dear. And there's a little mailbox. I know. And she also does pets. Like if you love your pet, I think these are going to be great gifts.

I think I want to get one for my sister who loves her dog so much. Angela, I love that you got us all gifts. It's so very you. And per usual, you got the perfect gift for each person. You guys, I love shopping for people. Well Dwight is now going to go check in over at accounting. Oscar and Kevin and a very sad Angela congratulate him. I wanted to share with you guys how thankful I was that Jeff Blitz was the director of this episode because

he's so kind and thoughtful. And he really worked with me on how to build what was going on in Angela throughout the episode. So that when I get to the car and we'll get to that what all my character is holding emotionally and all these little moments I just remember Jeff and I having a sidebar conversation about kind of where I was at in that emotional journey. While at the same time being so happy for Dwight and really understanding what a big day this was for him. Yeah, you know, we had some directors who we knew were just gonna really lean into comedy.

And then other directors like Jeff Blitz really liked to get into like the human details. And I think for this episode in particular, your character Journey, that was a really good match. Yeah. Well, Andy's watching as Dwight kind of goes around and is shaking hands with people and he's gonna have a realization.

He's gonna have a talking head where he says, I can't believe that I was so quick to abandon my dreams. And it's because he has this fallback. He shouldn't have a fallback. I would like to point out that Andy's talking head, he's facing out. He's looking out towards a future outside of Dunder Mifflin. And a lot of characters have that in this episode.

Very interesting. Well, Andy's gonna jump on his desk to announce that he's changed his mind again. He is going after his dream. And he's gonna run back and tell Toby his news, including the fact that he needs to eliminate all possibility of a fallback plan. Yeah, he needs Toby to fire him, so he can't go back to Dundra Mifflin ever.

Yeah, Toby's like, I have no reason to fire you. And so Andy's like, well, then I have no choice but to start groping you. Well first he says fire me for theft are groping wieners. Yes and so he's gonna I guess mildly grope Toby? Try to grope Toby. Yeah Toby's just like get off me Andy. I've got a little background catch. It's a whiteboard detail and it's also a shout out to our set decorators. We shot this episode the week of February 19th, but if you check out the whiteboard

above Toby's desk, it is for the month of May because this episode aired on May 2nd. So they had to track that and make sure that the whiteboard matched the month of release and not the month of filming. And in the next scene, we are about to go to accounting and you can see again that the calendar behind Angela is also for May. Very well done set decoration team. Angela is now going to get a call from her landlady. She's worried that maybe her rent check bounced. And Oscar and Kevin are listening and Angela is really getting into an argument with her landlady. I just want you to know there was no one talking to me.

There was no one on the other side of the call. I just had to pretend like someone was saying things to me. Well, lady, Adam W. from Webster, New York is very impressed. Adam said, I need to point out how amazing the phone acting is here. Every time I watch this scene, I can perfectly imagine this real conversation between landlord and tenant is happening. Amazing in all caps. Thank you. I agree. And also, we got a letter from Laura M. in Hampshire, England who said, not a question, but Angela goes all southern on the

phone to her landlord. I heard it. Is it when I say in the end or something? Yeah, clearly on your end. On your end. Yeah. I have an audio clip. Oh gosh, I heard it. Is it when I say in the end or something? Yeah, clearly on your end. On your end, yeah. I have an audio clip. Oh gosh, I heard it too. This is Angela. Oh, hello, Ms. Plonkowski. How can I help you? Did my rent check not clear?

Because I just transferred another $25 to that account. So if there's a problem, it's clearly on your end. There it is. It's clearly on your end. It's not my problem. It's on you, lady. Well you guys know I go southern in three situations. One, hungry.

Two, annoyed. Three, a little tipsy. That's true. Well, Andy is still determined to, I guess, burn all his bridges. He's going to burst into the conference room and confess to David Wallace that he is the reason why they lost the White Pages account.

And he might poop on Wallace's car. He really needs to get fired. And as he's leaving, he gives David Wallace two birds, two middle fingers. Yeah, shoots him the birds. I got the lowdown on standards and practices here. Here are their notes. They said this, quote, page 33, blur Andy's hand as he gives the finger gesture and then in parentheses they put, f*** you, to David Wallace.

In case you weren't sure what the gesture meant. Exactly. And then they wrote, page 35 and page 39, it is our understanding that Andy's squatting on the hood of Wallace's car, his pants around his ankles will play off camera. Well, standards and practices, your understanding was incorrect because when I watched the episode, it was not off-camera. It was full on-camera, but pixelated.

So I'm not sure what happened when their understanding was not met, but those were their initial script notes. Well, now Andy's out in the parking lot. He's packing up his car, and Angela approaches. I love doing the scene with Ed. This was a beautiful scene. Yeah, this was our character's last big scene together. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're so great in this scene. I really would love someone to write a series for you that is like this character. The one sipping on the big gulp at her wits end.

Kind of, yeah. You're really great at it. Thanks. I think this could be a series. This character could have a journey, and I'd like to follow that thread with you in the lead. Well, it would certainly be a fun role. I agree. And I'd never have to worry about doing the back of my hair, ever. Oh, it would certainly be a fun role. I agree.

And I'd never have to worry about doing the back of my hair ever. Oh no, no, no, no. That character does not do the back of her hair. No. She aggressively does not do the back of her hair. Right, and the cowlick that I have would just be. It just works.

It would just be an accent on the perfect hairdo. Exactly. I do want to point out one thing in the script. At the end of the scene between Angela and Andy, when Angela walks away would be the moment that Andy clocks David Wallace's car and makes the decision to poop on it. I see.

And so then when he walks into the bullpen with his guitar and says, no turning back, it's because he's already pooped on the car. Yep. Okay. Well, this next scene, I mean, if you wanted to make a lady sob at her desk at 2.30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, congratulations,

mission accomplished. I watched this, and I wasn't the same for the rest of the day. This is when Andy came in with his guitar, Lorelei. He wants to sing his goodbye. He's a performer and that's how he wants to say goodbye. Yeah, there was a fan question from Alexandra in Tasmania, Australia who said, I love the scene where Andy sings, I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan. And I think it's such a great choice for Andy to sing it in a normal singing voice and not his usual kind of a cappella

theatrical singing voice? Was that scripted or did Ed Helms choose to sing that way? Well, Alexandra, it was scripted. It was scripted that the song is good and that everyone in the office is impressed. Steve Burgess said that that song cost $25,000 for us to be able to do. And I think that when I watched this scene, it brought back so many deep personal memories from shooting it. And I really was not the same the rest of the day. And then I dreamt about the show that night. I dreamt, does this ever happen to you?

I have dreams where we're back on set and we're making more episodes dreams where we're back on set and we're making more episodes. Like we're making season 10. Yeah, yeah, I've had that similar dream that I am walking from hair and makeup to get mic'd. Yeah. To go onto stage and the stage is right there

and I'm looking at our desk and I'm about to walk into the bullpen and I'm getting mic'd and it's so real. So real. Watching this for this rewatch triggered that and I ended up having a dream. Also in my dream, we all pick up right where we left off. Yes, exactly.

Like no one has to get reacquainted with their character or instantly those people again. Yeah, it's not like those anxiety dreams where like, oh no, I don't know my lines. It's always like this pleasurable, I'm getting emotional thinking about it. I'm gonna move to a fan question from Maddie R. in Kansas City who said, when Andy sings to the office,

we see lots of emotional reactions from the staff. Were any of the emotions we see real reactions from the cast being sad about the show ending? Well, Maddie, we shot this at the end of the day on Friday. So the end of the day at the end of the week, it was the last group scene we shot for this episode, and it was deeply emotional. It was very emotional.

We just all knew that there was just a few more weeks left at this point. And Andy was really saying goodbye. This character is saying goodbye. And right before we did the scene, there were two camera setups. There was a master shot to get everyone. And then there was going to be a close-up of me and Rain as Dwight and Angela have their exchange. And Jeff came up to me and said, save it for your close-up. So feel the emotion, but really let it come through

on your dialogue line. And sometimes that's hard to calibrate because you just start to feel it when you feel it. But I do remember this scene, I was so emotional. I don't know how many takes we did, but I had to hold that for the whole time. Wow. Yeah, you know, this was one of our last

kind of everybody bullpen scenes. Cause we knew that in the next episode, Andy was off pursuing his dream and we don't see him until like the very end. And so yeah it felt like, wow. It felt like people's story arcs were wrapping up. Yeah. And this scene was a very tangible moment of that. Yes. In this scene of all the emotion I do have one moment that I'm calling busted. What's that? At 15 minutes and 18 seconds,

as Clark comes out of the kitchen into the bullpen, you can see Clark Duke for one second, look right down the barrel of the camera. Oh really? Just for a second. And we weren't supposed to do that, you know, we were not supposed to look right into the camera unless we had a talking head.

Or unless there was like a scripted note. Exactly, the way Jim would do that. Sure. Well, I had these guys pull an audio clip of the song, but I honestly don't even think I can listen to it. Oh, no, we need to. It's so emotional. I know, but we need to.

We've all been on this rewatch together. Everyone listening is here with us. And we're going to have to say goodbye to the show again, Jenna. We are. I don't mean, now you're tearing up. I don't goodbye to the show again, Jenna, we are. I don't mean, now you're tearing up. I don't wanna make you sad, but we are going. We can listen to it.

Okay, okay, we'll listen to it. Let me get some tissues. Here it is. Tuna, I'm a performer and perform I Shall. ["I Shall"] I will remember you, will you remember me? Don't let your life pass you by And weep not for the memories Remember all the good times that we had Let them slip away from us when things got bad How clearly I first saw you smiling in the sun I wanna feel your warmth upon me

I wanna be the one Cause I will remember you You're okay It's just really nice of you I will remember you Will you remember me? Don't let your life pass you by And weep not for the memories. Don't let your life pass you by. And weep not for the memories. You know what it is? It's like I can't believe that we have a recording of like Ed singing

to us, which is something that him and Creed and Craig and Kate, you know. They would do when they, we were just hanging out. Yeah. Yeah. And so that song brings up all the memories of us hanging out. And it's like, this is one of the crossover ones. This is like, it was for the show, but it was also for us. And it just hits deep.

Yeah. And it makes me miss Ed. It makes me miss Ed. It makes me miss all of us in a room together like that. Yeah. Because it was so, so fun. And so special. Yeah. And I think, you know, Andy's going to have his line about how you wish you were in the good times, you know, whatever that line is, later.

But we actually did know, we actually did realize. So I feel like we were really present to the specialness and also the limited time of this. Like we were aware it was coming to an end. So we were especially, it was heightened. Yeah. Well, you know, Phyllis and Stanley are gonna have a talking head.

They're facing out as well. Are they? Yup. They're gonna say maybe Andy can make it. Yeah. They were so impressed by his song. And Phyllis says, worse people make it all the time like Little Romeo. And Stanley is like, no, Little Romeo was good. I want you to know this scene was longer and the two of them debated musicians and artists for a bit. And it was so funny. It's not in deleted scenes, but it was in the shooting draft.

I love Phyllis's reaction to Stanley saying that Little Romeo was good because it's like she's going to bite her tongue. Like, I can't have this argument again. They've had it so many times. There's such a moment of assumed history between these two people in that moment. Well, I thought I was done crying as I was watching this episode, but no. Now we're going to go to Angela's desk,

and she's looking at tense on her computer. And Oscar's gonna approach her, realize that she's looking at tents on her computer and Oscar's gonna approach her, realize that she is looking at tents because she has nowhere else to be. What is wrong with me? And you know what? I'm gonna read these letters. Okay, we got a lot of letters about this scene

and they deserve to be read. Okay, here it is. Susan C. in Plano, Texas. I have been waiting to write to you since this podcast began over four years ago. Now's the time. I would like you to know that the scene between Angela and Oscar, when Oscar sees Angela in distress,

offers her living space until she gets on her feet and reaches over to place a comforting hand over hers. Oh, my gosh. This is the embodiment to me of grace and mercy. And after all they have been through together, all the ways they have wounded or tried to kneecap each other, all the ways they have irritated

the fool out of one another. Oscar compassionately reaches out to his friend in love and she responds not with pride or rebuff, but with tender acceptance. I love this moment in the series so very much and commend both Angela and Oscar for their acting. It could have been maudlin, but instead it is pure gold. And I couldn't have said it better, Susan, thank you.

And Angela, Christine C. from New York said, one of my all-time favorite scenes is when Oscar tells Angela to come live with him and Angela takes his hand saying thank you. I've watched the show over 100 times, no exaggeration, and this moment always moves me to tears. Angela, what was it like to approach this change in your character while also staying true to who she was?

Oh y'all are gonna make me cry. Um you know I approached it as oh gosh. Are we gonna make it to the finale? Angela we are a mess. We are a mess. Um you know to play these characters honestly they had to be real people to us. And Angela's best friend in the office was always Oscar. Even though we kind of like that sibling that you love but can get under your skin more than anyone else. That familiarity breeds contempt person in your life, but is the only person you probably really trust. Yeah.

And that's how I played that relationship, even though we had big disagreements that he was my best friend. Yeah. And so when he was so gracious and kind to me in that moment, I feel like all this pride that Angela had held onto had broken apart. And that's why she had that conversation with Andy in the parking lot. She was like, don't

let pride get in the way. Yeah. So thank you for noticing that in our performances. I'm really proud of that scene. And I'm really thankful I got to do it with Oscar, someone who I'd known for so long, and I trusted in real life so that I could go to that vulnerable place. But I want you guys to know one of the things I absolutely love when I rewatch this,

I loved when I touched his hand. Same, that was what got me. Yeah, and I just said thank you to him from the bottom of my heart. Yep. But what I loved about doing scenes with Oscar is we could play this emotion and stay in it and then also find a comedic moment. When you ask him if his place allows pets. I improvised that line. Oh lady and his response. That was not scripted. The scene ended with, let's go get Philip

and we'll get your stuff. And I say, okay. That's where the scene ended. And then we were to get up and walk out. And Oscar and I had been in accounting for a long time. We knew if we made it quick, especially on an exit, an improvised line might make it in. So we didn't even talk about it.

He said, let's get you the hell out of that place. And then there was this brief pause and I said, are you allowed to have pets? And he's like, oh, Angela. And it made it in and that delights me every time I see it. Well, it's so great because it helps you release some of your emotion with a laugh at the end. Yeah.

Oh, I love that moment. I did not know that was impro end. Yeah. Oh, I love that moment. I did not know that was improvised. Yeah. Oh, so good. Dwight now has a talking head. He says, just yesterday he was a paper salesman with a farm and a dream about beet fuel, but today he's regional manager with the black belt.

It's amazing how life can change in one day. I'd like to point out that his talking head is facing towards the bullpen. Because his future is at Dunder Mifflin. Yeah. I love that so much. Well, speaking about futures, Darryl is going to find Jim in the kitchen and share some happy news that Athlead received an offer for a buyout. And they want them to go on the road for three months.

They want them to pitch out west because they don't want this to be a regional thing. They want Athlead to be national. And Darrell's like, we're going on the road, buddy. We did it. He's so excited. But Jim says, I can't do it. I can't do it to Pam. And Darrell's like, can't do it. I can't do it to Pam.

And Darrell's like, can't believe it. And they kind of walk out, and you see that Pam has overheard this from the bathroom. Which I think is so important. I'm so glad they had that moment. I am too. And I know where this is going, and I have a few gripes about it, but I'll bring them up next week when we get to them.

Okay. Hold it, hold it. I will. Now we have this scene of Angela and Oscar in Oscar's car, they're in the parking lot, and Angela starts it off kind of snarky. She's like, so is your place all bachelor, slobby and gross?

And Oscar's like, no, it's neat and tasteful. Yeah, so you said it really lives up to the gay stereotype. Yeah, and then Angela, the sass, still in her, even when she's at her broken lowest moment, she goes, I wouldn't know, I never lived with a gay guy. And Oscar's like, Angela, you were just. Yeah, he's like, you did. You did, and then she completely breaks down and starts sobbing.

And she says, I love him. And Oscar thinks she's talking about the senator and she says, no, I love Dwight. Now Angela, I know you've shared this before in different places, but will you tell people how you got to this cry? There was this moment, a piece of direction from Jeff Blitz that really helped you here. Well, in the other scenes, my cry could build, but in this scene, they wanted me

to all of a sudden break down. They wanted just her to break apart. And that's harder to do. Yeah. Because emotionally you can, like when Andy was playing the guitar, there were so many moments I could run through my mind to be teary.

But this had to be go from kind of being snarky to an instant breakdown. Yeah. So we did one take and I did break down. I kind of built up to it a little bit. And then Jeff came over to me and said, Angela, that was great. And now I have that. And he said, can you step out of the car for a second?

I want to talk to you. I said, OK. So Oscar stayed in the car. And he said, will you do a favor for me? And I said, yeah. And he said, oh, it's going to make me cry. It's good direction. He said, in this take, will you say goodbye to the show?

And will you say goodbye to all the characters? And will you say goodbye to playing Angela Martin? So on your line, I love him, the subtext he wanted was goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye to these people I love. Mm-hmm. And this character. And so I was thinking about that even as I said my snarky lines. Mm-hmm. And so when I got to I Love Him, it was I'm never going to get to do this again. Yeah, this is it for me on the show. Nine years of my life I'm saying goodbye to. And I cried, big ugly cry. I cried so hard that after the take, Jeff came up to

me and said, that was fantastic. I can't use it. It's too much. That's what happened to me when Paul Feig told me to say goodbye to Steve at the airport. Oh my gosh. He was like, that was great. And he said, I don't want to say too much. He said, I want you to stay in it. Can you do that just a little less? And you guys, some people, I guess they can cry and look attractive, not me.

When I cry, it is like a full body wheezing. I can't talk. But what you see is real tears and it's me saying goodbye to the show in that moment. And I wanted to share one thing that just delighted me. I found an article that the AV Club did about this episode. It was written by Joshua Alston and he was very excited to finally get to review an episode of season nine in particular because he was a big fan of season nine. And the first one he was assigned to do was Living the Dream. And it wasn't his favorite. Oh no. But he wrote this, I can't help but wonder if I'd have the same impression of living the dream if I hadn't read that it was originally planned as a half hour installment, then padded out to fill an hour. But I suspect I would.

I hope this gets better. And he goes on to point out some of the things he liked about it, but that it had just kind of been stretched out maybe more than it needed to be. Listen, I felt that. Yes, than it needed to be. Listen, I felt that. Yes. I felt that. But I also know that the things that hit in this episode,

they couldn't have been done in 22 minutes. So sorry if you had to sit through a couple of repetitive beats, but it's what needed to be. Yes. And then at the end of his review, he said this, I didn't talk about the Angela story because I didn't want to go into too much detail. But her life sucks now that she's left the state senator.

Her cats were seized, she got evicted from her apartment, and is apparently a double-digit bank transfer away from indigence. I'd love for Dwight and Angela to end up together, but I wish the writers had chosen a path that didn't involve Angela being reduced to nothing first. That said, an uptight gay Mexican sharing an apartment with a differently uptight school marm whose ex-husband is his former lover? The words, the office spinoff, usually make me break out, but in all caps, that is a show I would watch.

Yeah. I always felt that way too. I was like, Angela and Oscar sharing in an apartment, sign me up. It's like the odd couple. I wish we could see more of that. Yeah. Well, I'll have you know that critically, this episode was very well received. And in fact, these last six episodes, Live in the Dream Part 1, Live in the Dream Part 2, AARM Part

1, AARM Part 2, Finale 1 and 2, this block of six episodes were rated the highest among OfficeTally.com viewers as well. There is this stretch here where we got people excited. Like the critics and fans alike, they liked where this was going. Well, by this time we're also invested in these characters and big life stuff starts happening. Well, that's the end of this episode. Thank you Steve Burgess for all of your behind the scenes tidbits. And thank you all for writing in. And Angela, thank you for your nifty gifties. You're welcome.

And thank you Mary. Beatrice. Davidson Kenner. Yes, for inventing the toilet paper roll hook and sanitary napkin. When she did the sanitary belt specifically, she did it with her sister, Mildred Davidson Austin Smith. So it was two sisters. Two sisters helping ladies out.

I mean, amazing. Amazing. Well, there you go. That's helping ladies out. I mean amazing. Amazing. Well, there you go. That's living the dream part too everybody. Thank you for listening. We love doing this and we hope you have a great day. We'll see you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss Berman and Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil. Our theme song is Rubberree by Creed Bratton.