Office Ladies - Phyllis' Wedding w/ Ken Whittingham

Episode Date: September 9, 2020

This week we're breaking down Phyllis' Wedding. We are joined by this episode's director, Ken Whittingham, who shares his memories of this episode and his time on The Office. And we aren't stopping there, the shimmy queen herself, Phyllis Smith, sends in audio memories for this episode as well. We jump in by discussing Pam clocking Phyllis using all of her wedding ideas, we get a 'shallow dive' on Ivan Pavlov, and we get a Dwight talking head that will be important later in the show series. Then, we go to the room where the fart happened and Phyllis Smith answers all your questions about that scene. Finally, ladies share some funny wedding memories, chat about that hilarious bouquet swat, and we end with a deleted scene that proves Phyllis didn't steal every wedding idea from Pam.

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. Hey, lady. Hey, lady. How are you? I'm good. I'm taking an Instagram video. What? They can't hear you, though, on my video. I can hear you on my headphones. I was doing all these little dance moves. Oh, I missed that. Right before we record, Sam plays a little bit of Creed song or music. And Jenna and I kind of just bop around and we kind of just

helps us get into the episode. Every week we dance to Creed song. Love it. Well, what are we talking about this week, Angela? Oh, Jenna, I am so excited because we are talking about Phyllis' wedding. I love it so much. It's so good. This is season three, episode 15 written by Carolyn Williams and directed by Ken Whittingham. Summary. Do it. Phyllis and Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration are getting married. Today is the day. Phyllis has asked Michael to push her father's wheelchair down the aisle. But after getting upstaged when Phyllis' dad decides to walk down the aisle, Michael tries to steal the show and is eventually bounced from the reception by Dwight. In the meantime, Pam is sad and upset by Jim and Karen's

relationship and the fact that Phyllis stole all of her wedding ideas and she leaves the reception with Roy. I forgot that Pam left with Roy. I forgot. Me too and I'm Pam. It's so good though. It's so good. But doesn't that happen? Like if you've been with someone a really long time and then you break up, you get back together a couple times before you really break up, right? That's real. Especially you're at a wedding and there's all these couples and the person you want to be with doesn't seem like they want to be with you. All of a sudden, the thing that you know is sitting right next to you. So you're like, well, okay, I feel like having some lovin'. Yeah, I guess so. All right.

Well, listen, fast fact number one. A lot of people wrote in Sovereign Hurley, Ellie Trevelyan, Winter Pulver, Leah Barbaro, Tia Minowski and many more want to know where was the wedding filmed. But then Colby Linderman, Dana Hill, Christina, Carolyn and Jennifer all wanted to know is it the same church where Jim and Pam had their wedding because they look very similar? It is not the same church. It's not the same church. But listen, before I tell you where Phyllis's wedding was filmed, we got even more mail about it, okay? Charis wrote in to say, at some point Phyllis and Pam both say they are Presbyterians. Was the wedding filmed at an actual Presbyterian church? I'm guessing the answer is yes, because the

crew pays a lot of attention to detail and Presbyterian churches love Maroon carpet. Chris Furr said, I am a pastor in the Christian church, Disciples of Christ, a small Protestant denomination, less than a million people, mostly in the US and Canada. In this episode, the Disciples logo is clearly visible around the 20 minute 32 second mark as Phyllis and Bob are cutting their wedding cake. I was curious about the choice to leave that specific banner in the background from a prop point of view. It's lighted and it's pretty distinctive. So he goes on to say, the funny thing about it is that theologically this would be a perfect compromise choice for a Lutheran and a Unitarian who like to keep things quote unquote spicy.

Any background on this would be cool as it is a big hit with our little Disciples family. Yes, we filmed Phyllis's wedding at the first Christian church of North Hollywood, which is located in Studio City and they are a Disciples of Christ church. Yes. So when I first moved to LA, I was looking for somewhere to go for Easter services. And I was driving around and I drove past this church and it's such a beautiful church, you know, it's the red brick and it has a steep, it looks very much like that is what a church looks like. You know what I mean? Yeah. And I drove past it and they had a big sign about their Easter service. And I thought, Oh, well, I'll go there for Easter services. And I did. And it was

very nice. Well, I'll give you another little fun fact about this church. And what this is where Kent Subornac and his wife Shelly got married. Oh, come on. And guess what? They just celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary this past May. Oh, that's so great. That's so lovely. Congratulations, you guys. And then guys, the reception took place in their social hall, which was on the second floor. So we were able to film everything at this one church. Yes, they have a fellowship hall. And they had, you know, they had the rooms like where Phyllis gets ready. Yeah, you know, all of that was already at this church. Well, incidentally, years later, we filmed a school recital scene for my TV show splitting up

together in that sort of hall. And our holding room for hair and makeup was that same room where Phyllis is getting ready before her wedding. And there's that famous scene with Michael. Yeah. And I was like texting everybody was like blowing up everyone's texts. I'm like, I'm in the room where the fart happened. Here's another little thing about that church. I filmed there one day by myself because it's where Philip went to daycare. Oh, well, are you ready for fast fact number two? I am. We reached out to Phyllis. It's Phyllis's wedding. I know. How could we not talk to Phyllis, you guys? We are so thrilled. So Phyllis is back in St. Louis. She moved back there semi permanently a couple of years ago, and

she sent in some audio clips. So the first thing we asked Phyllis was just what was it like to get this script and wear a wedding gown? Here's the fun thing. Jenna, Phyllis and I are the three cast members that had big weddings. And it's kind of like it is your wedding because it's all about you. It's kind of really fun. Yes. All right. So Sam, play her clip. Hi, ladies. It's Phyllis Smith. Our soon to be known as Phyllis Lapin Vance of Vance Refrigeration, at least after this episode, right? I was so thrilled when I saw the script. Let's be truthful. Every time we had a table read, we'd all get to the table, look at the script, and see how many lines we had. So I was really excited and taken

back when I saw that I was getting married to my love of my life. The whole episode, I really enjoyed it all. You ask about my dresses. Well, back in those days, it sounds like the Dark Ages, but it was early 2000. Plus size women didn't have a lot of choices. We either looked like the grandmother or the great grandmother or the bride. There were not a lot of choices to be made for heavy set brides. And so I was just glad that I had a dress that looked pretty and was pretty comfortable. I have to give a shout out to wardrobe. They really, really took care of me. Every time I had to go to the restroom or anything, they were right there to help me out with everything. But yeah, back in

those days, I didn't have a lot of choices. And so I just wanted to make sure that my arms were covered. I have a thing about my arms showing on camera and in public. As far as the dress was concerned, yeah, I was happy with it. It was fairly comfortable. And like I said, wardrobe really kept me. They were right there every second of the moment. Aw, I thought she looked gorgeous in this episode. She looked so beautiful. That is the first time I've heard Phyllis's voice in a while. And Jenna, it just, it really made me tear up when I listened to it the first time when she sent them over. Yeah.

She just, you can just hear Phyllis is just pure. She's just a pure soul. You know what I mean? And you just hear it when she talks. Do you know what one of my favorite parts of that audio clip was, and was that she referred to herself as Phyllis Lap and Vance of Vance Refrigeration? I know. She added it to the end. I know. I love it. Well that was so fun to hear Phyllis. And she sent in several audio clips, you guys.

So we're going to hear from her throughout this episode. Oh, and she sent in some good stuff. Yeah. So tip number three is Ken Whittingham, the director of this episode, joined us for an interview. Ken directed several episodes of The Office, and we just loved him. The cast loved Ken. And Sam, play his interview. Ken Whittingham, thank you so much for stopping by. Hi, Ken.

Hey, hey, thank you for having me. It is so nice to see you. Just so lovely. I think about all the great times we had on the show, and I haven't seen you guys in so long, and it's so, so amazing to see your faces. We look just the same, right, Ken? Exactly the same. Maybe a little, well, maybe a little younger, I'll say. Oh, okay.

That's what I would have said as well, yes. Well Ken, we always like to start by asking our guests a little bit about how they got their job on The Office. Can you tell us how you met Greg and how you came to be a part of the show? Sure. I got a call from my agent, and he said they're going to redo The Office in America. NBC is going to do The Office. And I was already a big fan of the British version. I said, sure, I go for the interview.

And so they sent me, they actually sent me the DVD, and I didn't have a lot of hope for it. I said, oh man, I hope they don't miss this stuff because it was such a brilliant show. And I watched it, and I was like, wow, this is really good. So I went in for the interview, and I met with Terry Weinberg and Greg Daniels, and we talked about it. And we talked about if America was ready for this type of show, and we really talked extensively about it, you know, if America was going to get it.

And I was very optimistic in saying that I think America's ready for something different, something new. And that's how we met. I guess it was right before the season started, yeah. So they had done the pilot, and then they were looking for directors for the series. Correct. Wow. I can definitely see Greg eating up that conversation, you know, sort of like talking about the show and how it's going to hit America, and how America's going to react to it. That's all sort of like, he's so open to those kind of conversations, you know?

Yeah, we talked a long time about it. That's basically all we talked about, because I referenced another show that really didn't work that well in America. I think it was called Absolutely Fabulous. Oh, yeah. They tried it in America, and it was funny, because I was going down this row, but I really didn't want to go. I said, yeah, just like the show, Absolutely Fabulous. They said, oh, before you say too much, we did that show also. We produced this show.

Oh. It was Jerry Weinberg. So they said, well, what did you like about that show? I said, well, I said, I think everybody, which was true, I think everybody looked too pretty. Everybody was just really good looking, and it just didn't feel real, you know? Mm-hmm. Ken, you directed a lot of episodes on The Office, and two were on location. You had Michael's birthday that was at the ice skating rink, and now Phyllis' wedding. What was it like having us travel and be on location?

It was great. It was great being outside, because sometimes The Office can get a little claustrophobic, and it's very safe. The challenge to moving outside and going on location is still give it that feel of Scranton, or someplace other than Studio City. Yeah. So we didn't want to see palm trees. So that was a real challenge. And so during prep, we really prepped heavily to make sure that it looked somewhat like Scranton or somewhere else, someplace nondescript. So that was fun. And it was just fun to be in new spaces and try different things and kind of open the show up. I'm always a big fan of any show

that I do, going outside and getting into the world a little bit. I think something people don't realize is the prep process for an episode. How long would you get to prep an episode? Because we've said we shoot for a week, but how long was your prep before shooting? Our prep was, believe that show is four days. That's it. That's not a lot to move a whole show. No. Cow.

And then don't you like ride around in a little van and look at locations, like a bunch of you all crammed in a van? I do. I have such a memory of you guys loading up and leaving set, and we're like, where do they go? Yeah, it would really be the first day, because they would do, they would lock down a couple of, like the location of the department would lock down a couple of options that we would have. And then I would go to those options, the director and producers, we would go to those

locations. There might be two or three different places. And then we would make the decision then. And it was all about whether or not it was shootable, you know, just backgrounds and just accessibility to the location. Could we get it? Could we load cameras in easily and load out easily? Well, there are a lot of things we had to, we had to be aware of or be conscious of. So yeah, that would be basically on that prep date. That'd be the first thing we would do is go out and try to lock down the locations because it would take a few days to get a

permit to use specific locations. Now, did you have a preference of shooting the episodes inside the office bullpen or outside? I didn't really have a preference. I didn't really have a preference because, you know, the writing was just so good. I mean, literally, I was reading Phyllis's wedding yesterday, reading the script again. And it was just so, I don't know, it's just written so well. I mean, it's just written so well. So it was just like wherever it was, it didn't matter because the words really kind of drove the comedy, you know?

Yeah. So it was, that's what was great about it, you know? There were all of these great little moments in this episode, you know, you had the Pam and Roy dancing and then you had Angela and Dwight outside and then all these little vignettes like Michael's head bobbing up in the window. And what was that like to sort of figure out where those little moments would happen and how you captured them? Well, what I would do is I kind of, I'm a super prepper. So I would, I would, I kind of, I think for this episode, I've made a shot list and in the order in which we would

go on and go in. So what I would do is I kind of hopscotch. I would set up something somewhere else and then take a camera and go shoot something else. And so I was always staying ahead a little bit to be able to capture all that stuff because that episode we had, I was just looking at it a few days ago. There were so many moments that weren't in the episode that we shot, you know? And so, and I think typically we would be about six, seven, eight minutes over typically on every episode. So we'd shoot more than a lot than we, more than we really needed. But I would just stay ahead and just try to get it all in, you know, and just, and it was very, very planned. And some things, you know, on the day we would, we

would do things that weren't planned. Like when Uncle Al went outside, I think initially he was supposed to be sitting on a bench. And, and we got outside. It was nighttime. And I said, if he walked into the street, he was green. And then he went the opposite way against traffic and cars came down and literally cars were honking and everything. So we used all that stuff is written. So no, that was scripted. We just kind of came up with that, you know, off the, off the top of our heads, you know, so that created so much more tension. Yes. Then him just sitting on a bench. Yes. Such a good idea. You were really worried he was just going to be wandering off somewhere in the night. Right. Exactly.

Yeah. I think then never saw you see the light turn. Yeah. So we timed it and everything. So it was, that was really a lot of fun. I'm glad that made it into the cut. Yeah. Well, Ken, I got so tickled just watching that moment when Angela Martin arrives and sees Dwight and they have that brief exchange, but that, that was kind of it. And then, then we had to go into the church. And I remember playing with you about how do we then like, if you're like, break left, don't linger. And I just remember you letting us play a little bit with that. And it was so absurd and ridiculous. We just had so much fun. That was fun. That was a lot of fun because I just, I really wanted to create the awkwardness between the

two of you, you know, because I knew that you were supposed to be meeting Dennis later on. Yes. And then so they had to be this little, you know, this tension, especially when he gave you that compliment, you know, and so I think that kind of, you know, I, I don't know, in my mind, that kind of sealed it. Like you just became more attractive to him. And so it was easier for you to, to kind of blow this other guy off who was so perfect for her. Yeah. That's why you guys didn't make it in the episode. Phyllis sits Angela next to this

guy named Dennis. She kind of tries to set her up at the, you know, at the reception. And Dennis is a vet. He loves cats and Jesus. I mean, she, she chooses Dwight cause he told her, she looks like the queen of England. So funny. I know. So yeah, I wish, I wish some of the stuff would have made it in other stuff from Dennis, but I guess we, you know, again, we just didn't have time. But there's so much good stuff in here, you know, Yeah. Yeah. And we even had, I think it was, I don't think it made it into the episode as well. We had

Mike going, there was a chair that kind of, you know, those chairs where people can't walk upstairs. Yes. That was going up and down. We didn't use any of that either. We were just, it was just so much. And that's the beauty about being on location is that you have these spaces that, and you get these ideas that you can just do stuff that's not scripted at all. You know, so that's, that's, that's one of the great things about being on location.

Well there are a lot of really great deleted scenes. So for people that have the DVDs, you have to go see all the other stuff that Ken shot. People always want to know if the directors of episodes also have to shoot the flashback moments. Did you have to shoot that moment with little Michael at his mom's wedding to Jeff? Yeah. Yeah. That was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun because we, we knew that it needed to look a little vintage and, and, and so, and we kind of moved the camera like was old VHS camera, you know, and, and then we, you know, of course in, in post we kind

of doctored it, but, but it was really fun. It was, it was a lot of fun that we, and we, we shot it and we just hope that it would look great and look, look vintage, you know, look older. So I think, I think we achieved it. It looked fantastic. Do you do that on the first day so that then Michael can watch it later or do you like CGI it onto the TV? Yes, we did. We shot it on the first day and then we, we played it back. I believe that's how we did it.

Well, there were so many just fantastic big setups for this episode. Was there any moment that was the most challenging to shoot or like something really funny for you? Just, just one of these scenes that, that just hit you. I don't, I don't think that there was really anything too challenging. One, one, there was one scene that was really hard to get through. And I would say that was kind of challenging because we were just, we could not stop laughing. And that's when, when Michael went into the check on our Phyllis to see how she was doing, and then he said, you know, the two, the two, uh, pass gas or break wind, yeah, yeah, yeah. And, and you know, the funny

thing about that is, um, that was a joke that was put into the script that wasn't really supposed to stay in the script that really, yeah, that was never really supposed to, it was just like a joke that wouldn't be funny if this happened. And then it just lived. And then it, and then it took, I guess Carol, and Carolyn was telling me that's Carolyn Williams, the writer of the episode. Um, so it just kind of stayed and we just shot it. And Michael, you know, Steve was so good. He could not stop laughing. And, and he could not stop. And I've never seen him break like that. And we all were just like, it took us about an hour to get there. Cause we could not stop laughing.

Well, you know, Phyllis always was able to have such this earnest expression, you know, and whenever you had to be mean to her or just like have some random line towards her and she would look at you with these sweet eyes. So I can, I can see Steve not being able to get through it. Being like, that is really pungent. She's just like, right. And then he started messing around with her hair. Oh my God. She's just like, okay, you got to, you got to go. I feel like her whole interior monologue was just six weeks vacation, six weeks vacation. Right. Because that's what she was going to get. Exactly. That's how she's going to get through it.

Yeah. With Bob Bantz. Yeah, exactly. And I loved, I loved in the wedding. I loved so much that they were like, do you Phyllis take Bob Bantz a fans refrigeration? You're taking the whole thing. That's what was so great about it. I think it was in the merger when she told, when she told Rashida, you know, you don't know who Bob Bantz is. You got a lot to learn, Missy. And that's what was so funny about it because Bob Bantz is a big deal in that town. Yeah. So he was all, you know, it's all about Bob Bantz refrigeration. Everybody knew him. Well, Phyllis is now the first lady of Vance refrigeration. I mean, she's going to play the part. Right. Right. I'm sure she's going to have to go to, I don't know. Is there ribbon cuttings

involved in Vance refrigeration when they install like everything in a new restaurant or something? Yeah. I feel like there's a shopping mall where there's little like kind of stars like the Hollywood Walk of Fame and Bob Bantz gets one. They all go to downtown Scranton. That's right. And then there has to be a commercial and she has to be in the commercial for Bob Bantz. Oh, I wish we never shoot that. Ken, that is brilliant. Exactly. Oh, that's the content we're missing. Ken, so we said before that you've directed nine episodes of The Office. Do you have a favorite? Can you pick a favorite? That's hard. You know what? It's a toss-up. I think between Phyllis's wedding, actually, and health care. Oh, yeah. Hot dog fingers. Yeah. Yeah. Health care. Oh,

my God. I can watch that over and over and over. I mean, and it was so great about it. We were just, I think we shot, we definitely shot it within the first six, but we were all trying to figure out what the show was about and trying to make it our own and trying different stuff. And we were all getting used to each other. It was just great. I loved doing the, you know, being in the beginning of it because it was, was that the third episode we shot? Do you remember? You know, I think we shot that season a little out of order. So it might have been like, it was the fifth episode we shot, but it was the third episode that aired. It aired. That's what it was. Yeah. Those were the early days. That was when we only got six and then they sent us home. Yeah, exactly. That was a really

magical time. It really, really was. And everybody was so unsure about it. And I just remember walking away and just feeling so good about it. You know, just feeling so like, wow, that was really fun and different and great. And the cast was, it was, everybody was perfect. And I remember my agent saying, the next season came around and I saw the, all the, the attention that it was getting from, from, from iTunes. And, and so I, so I made sure I called my agent and said, look, you got to get me back on that show, you know, that show is, you know, because I think it was up in the air. We didn't know if we were coming back or not. Yeah. I said, if they come back, I got to be, I want to be involved in that show. So, so luckily the college kids got us, you know, got to put on the map.

Yeah. The college kids and now the middle schoolers. Exactly. They're keeping us going. You know, it's funny is that, that I still, I really lead with that, which when people ask me what shows, if I explain to somebody that I'm a director and they say, well, shows, have you done anything I've known? I goes, well, we'll show call the office. You know, I bragged about it. They're like, what? So I get a lot of props for that. I'm just so appreciative to be a part of that show. It's just such, just such a great show. And it's the kind of show that you can just still watch over and over and over and still, because there's all these little subtleties and, and just moments, you know, like we talked about Michael jumping up and down in the, you know, in the,

you know, the window and it looks like when, you know, when Pam and Roy were dancing and, and then, you know, Pam and Roy and then, and then, you know, Dwight, you and Dwight, you know, it was just, it was just really sweet, sweet moments. And you just, you know, just cherish those, those great moments. Ken, this was so lovely. Thank you so much. And what, what are you up to now? I'm well now, I know that you directed some bless your mess, which is the show that replaced my show that was. But just, but if it makes you feel better, we got canceled too. So I mean, I'm not saying I feel better. But yeah, I'm just, I'm doing a new show with Jamie Foxx on firm Netflix. It's called death stop embarrassing me. It's loosely based on him and his daughter's

relationship. And then, and then in the fall, late fall now, I think after the election, I'm doing a show for NBC with Kenan Thompson. It's called wake up with Kenan. And it's Kenan Thompson and Don Johnson and Maya Rudolph. Maya Rudolph was his wife. But it passed away. So I think, so that's basically the storyline is he has his, he has a morning show and then he's taken care of two kids and Don Johnson is his father-in-law. Oh my gosh. Yeah. So, so that's, it seems like it's going to be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to that. Well, Ken, you were so beloved by the office cast. We, we have talked to so many of the cast members and doing this podcast, we reach out to people, Phyllis sent us an audio clips and she was like, oh, and it was Ken Whitting

Hamlin. We always loved it when Ken was there. And just know that you have so much love for you from our cast and Jenna and I would love for you to come back. So, so yeah, come on back. Anytime. I would love it. Anytime. I love you guys and I miss you guys. And I even still think about you, Jenna, I go, when I'm in Laguna, I go, did Jenna move down here? I wonder if she around here. Well, we would spend how much time just talking about Laguna, moving to Laguna, looking at the house of Laguna. I have this dream of like one day moving to a beach house, cashing out of LA. Right. Yeah. You are talking up Laguna. You know, it's really funny because right after I get off when, when I'm done with this, I'm going down there, my wife's down there now. So, I'll be there.

Oh, man. Well, all of our love to you. Thanks for coming on today. Thanks, Ken. Thanks, my mom. Bye. Bye. How fun was that? He's the best. Well, let's get into this episode, Jenna. We start with a cold open. It's a classic Jim prank. You know, Jim says he has to reboot his computer and it makes this chiming noise. And then he offers Dwight an Altoid. And then he keeps doing this over and over, sort of like that Pavlovian, you know, sort of experiment with Dwight. Yes. And Jim's prank works. Yeah. After several times of doing this, the ding goes off and Dwight immediately puts his hand out for a mint. And he doesn't know why. Yeah. He's just doing it on reflex. Yes.

So, we got a lot of mail about this. Blakey, Emma, Kayla, Bethany and Elise all wrote in to say, in the cold open of this episode, the scene is a montage of multiple days. Did John and Rain have to constantly change outfits just to get this one scene? Yes. They had a rack of clothes of all these different changes and they would film go change, film go change, film go change. Yeah. Yeah. And all the while wardrobe is keeping track and Vada on set. She's like keeping track of when they're in what outfit and so that they could just get it done. But guys, it wasn't just John and Rain. All the rest of us were in the background. Yes. Anyone that the camera saw had to change as well. Well, I remember getting to work to shoot this cold open. And there were like

seven outfits in my trailer, which never happened. We would have one outfit we would wear it every single day for five days. I mean, they washed it guys. They washed it. You know, but yeah, we wore the same thing every day. Yeah. But to walk in and like my little closet was totally full of all these clothes. I had to go back and look and be like, wait, what? Oh, yeah, it's the cold open with the dinging computer. That's a great catch. And then we just had this funded bit from Amanda Teague who said, my psychology professor use the cold open of this episode to teach us about the Pavlovian theory. Oh my gosh. Well, last night I read up a lot about Pavlov. I'm not going to go into it. Here's the first time I'm doing a deep dive and I'm like, you know what,

you guys? It was fascinating. It's a whole podcast in itself. Well, now I'm intrigued. Okay, I will read one thing that I discovered. Okay. You know what? It's a shallow dive. Give me a shallow dive. Pavlov studied a lot about conditioning and how we react to things, how we can have involuntary reactions to stress or pain, or like the cues that Jim was doing to Dwight with the chime, and then you get a treat. Okay. This is the part I found really fascinating. They began to study trans-marginal inhibitions, the body's natural response of shutting down when exposed to overwhelming stress or pain. I mean, I guess like going into shock. Yeah. Yeah. Like when your body just shuts down. Research showed that different temperaments move through the

responses at different times. I thought this was fascinating because you know something might happen traumatic in your life and you and the members of your family or your friends all experience it a little bit differently. Yeah. And you travel through stress and pain differently. Pavlov commented that the most basic inherited difference of people as they travel through stress and pain was how soon they reach the shutdown point and that people that are quick to shut down have a fundamentally different type of nervous system. Like on a cellular level, they have a different nervous system. I guess this is why it needs a massive deep dive. Well, that's a shallow dive that's making me want to dive into the deep end. I'm going to start ordering more books.

I haven't gotten my books yet about Jan Levinson Gould's name, psychology people yet, but I'm waiting. You have a lot to read, lady. You're going to be very busy. All right. Well, should we move into the meat of this episode, the spam of this episode? You reminded me when you said that of like Michael like, who wants my meat? Yes, let's get into the meat of this episode. We're at the church. Phyllis's wedding party is out on the steps being photographed. Michael is trying to squeeze himself into these pictures. The photographer does that great bit where he's like, you know what? Just Phyllis and her parents, but then also the bridesmaids and also you too. Everyone but Michael. Well, people wrote in Sidney Pappas, Henry Wengard, Tara S, James G,

and Emily Langsham all want to know who played Phyllis's bridesmaids and family, were they all actors? Were any of them her real family members like Mindy's parents and Diwali? No, they were all actors. Her main sister that we see throughout the episode was played by Maley Flanagan and the photographer in the scene was played by John F. Schaefer. So those are just a couple of the guest stars. You know, Maley Flanagan is a great improv sketch actress and she performed with Wayne Wilderson and Nancy Walls before she was Nancy Carell. OMG. Well, next up, Michael explains that he is part of the wedding party because Phyllis has asked him to push her father down the aisle. So he's basically giving away the bride. And it's a big day for Phyllis,

but it's also just a really big day for him. He's employer of the bride. Well, then Phyllis has a talking head explaining the reason why she asked Michael to be in the wedding. She said she is going to get a six week vacation. Yeah. A six week honeymoon and that's never been done. So she had her motives. She did. And she's going to pay for it. She will. Decision. Nothing really is free, guys. Nothing comes for free. Well, then Pam has a talking head where she says Phyllis used the same invitations as her and Roy. There's a big P and a big R. I have a question for you about this because you hold it up. Yeah. I took a screen grab. I looked at it. So you remember your save the date that you handed Angela Martin in conflict resolution?

Yeah. That was like shades of purple. That was a save the date. That's different from an invitation. But didn't we say that Pam's bridesmaids were going to have like lilac dresses or something at one point? Yeah. Like purple was her color. Purple's not here today, guys. There's orange turquoise. Yeah, you're right. There's a big jump from whatever her save the date idea was to what her wedding was going to be. Yeah. Some changes were made. You're right. Yeah. It ends up being more bluey. But then in Pam's wedding to Jim, she goes back to lilac. I know. I expected to see more purple people. That's all I'm saying. Well, then Stanley, Jim and Karen arrive. And we find out that they've both purchased toasters. Yes. I called it the dueling toasters. Stanley is really,

really annoyed. Carissa, Kaitlyn, Nicole, Kimberly, and Angela all said Stanley bought Phyllis a toaster for her wedding present. Do you think it's the same toaster that he bought for Pam and Roy's wedding that he couldn't return and now he's re-gifting it? 100%. Yes. I think that's part of the joke. Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if it's in the same wrapping. He just put it on a shelf. I feel like Karen and Jim checked the registry. They picked the toaster. Maybe Stanley checked the registry and he's like, oh, she wants a toaster. I've got a toaster over here. I need to unload. Yeah. So imagine, you know, Jim and Karen's surprise. They're like, well, wait, it said it was still available on the registry. What the heck? I think that's why we

get the dueling toasters. I love it. Next, Dwight and Angela arrive separately, but they run into each other in the parking lot. He tells her she looks as beautiful as the Queen of England. This is apparently a very high compliment. Angela really loves it. And then she insists that they, you know, they can't walk in the same. And she's like, don't linger, break left, left. And Jenna, part of that was improvised because I remember that on the day. And Rayne and I had a lot of fun being so silly in that parking lot. But I have to talk a minute about my outfit. Oh, well, you're going to make Hunter Sexton and Kennedy McAllister very happy because they want to know all about it. I remember Wardrobe saying that this was vintage, that they, it was like a

vintage suit that they found. It was very much like Jacqueline Kennedy, right? Yes. Jacqueline Kennedy for her husband's inauguration 1961 wore a pillbox hat and wore this cloth sort of wool coat. This was radical at the time. I looked it up because everyone would have been wearing mink, mink coats, mink hats. And there's Jacqueline in like cloth and wool. It's like, what? Oh, and I forever in my brain thought that her pillbox hat and dress were a shade of blue on that day. Are they not? No, no. So this was so cool. I looked up to see who made her hat. It was made by Halston. And when I did, I found out all of this information. Most people think it was blue, because at the time, I guess color films struggled to match real hues and photos.

But this dress is actually at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. That's where this outfit is stored. And it is in fact beige, beige, not blue. She wore a beige pillbox hat and a beige coat. Whoa. Yes. And if you look up this image in so many images, it's blue, except if you look at the cover of Life Magazine from the inauguration, it is beige. I mean, I'm a little surprised she wore beige to an inauguration. I know. I thought so too. She did have a mink. What do you think? Call it that you put your hands in? Stole? Stole? Is that what it's called? Stole? I don't know. Is it a muff? Is it a muff? A muff? No, muffs are for your ears. It's a handful. It was like a mink, brown mink ball,

and you put your hands in it. I know exactly what you're talking about. And I just, you can tell you and I are on the cutting edge of fashion. A mink ball. She had a mink ball. She had a mink ball. She put her hands in. And the collar of her coat was trimmed in the same color mink as the ball she put her hands in. But the whole outfit was beige, very bold. And then the thing that Halston, I think, would really want you to know, because he did an interview about it, is that he spent hours shaping that hat so it would have a perfect rounded dome top. And then when she went outside, the wind began to blow and she had to put her hand on top to hold the hat and it dented it in the middle. Wait. The shape of the hat that I've become,

like, that's burned in my brain was a mistake because she had to flatten it. She had to hold it to her head. She didn't mean to. It was blowing off, so she grabbed it. And that action put a dent in it. And so it was photographed the whole entire day. This was right at the beginning as she walked out. So it was photographed the whole day with this dent in it. And I mean, within, you know, several days, all across America, people were selling this dented hat to match Jackie's Pillbox hat. I cannot believe that her Pillbox hat was supposed to be rounded. Oh yeah, it's supposed to be like a little dome.

I have to say, I think God sent that wind that day because a domed hat would have just looked so silly. But a dented hat. I think the dent was the right move. I don't know. All right. Halston, put on your earmuffs. I'm just saying sometimes there are acts of serendipity. Jenna thinks the dent was ordained. I don't know. Well, after this scene, Angela, we have a Dwight talking head that will become so relevant and important later at the end of the series. He explains that the shrewds have a tradition of getting married while standing in their own graves.

And we are not going to forget this later when Dwight finally marries. We'll get there, but people had to help me in that hole. Well, so everyone's sort of filtering in. They're signing the guest book. Yada yada. In the meantime, Michael is checking in on Phyllis. Mm-hmm. He comes into the room. He wants to make sure she's all right. Yeah. He's really taken his role seriously as employer of the bride. Mm-hmm. This scene is absolutely fantastic. It's famous. It's famous. You know, Ken talked a little bit about how much they laughed while they

were doing this scene. We had a lot of people write in. Kat, Marilee, Emily, Stephanie, and Dan all wanted to know if any of the Michael and Phyllis dialogue in this dressing room scene was improvised, specifically the word pungent. Well, guys, that was all in the script. They performed this almost exactly as scripted. I think that just tells you how well-written this scene is, but we had to ask Phyllis what it was like to film this scene. That scene was unbelievable. We had the best time. I don't know how many times we had to stop to start over, because there was one word in particular that we just could not get through,

and that was pungent. Every time Steve said the word pungent, he would break out into this high-pitched cackle, and then I would start laughing, and then all of a sudden we heard the video village and the sound people outside the door, because we were in a small dressing room area with just the camera guy and a sound boom. I'm not even sure if the boom guy was in there, so we could hear them cackling and laughing on the outside, so we had to stop. They had to move. They had to go down to the bottom of the stairs and set up down there. I couldn't breathe. I was laughing so hard. I couldn't breathe. He was laughing so hard, and we took, I don't know how many times we started over, and it was all because of the word

pungent. It's so pungent. It makes me laugh to think of it now, and the only way I found, because I didn't want to keep ruining the scene from laughing, and the only way I got through that scene was to hold my breath. When I wasn't talking, I literally had to suck it up and hold my breath, otherwise we just couldn't get through it. It's a very fond memory and one of the best that I can have in my entire life. It was a great few moments there, so when you hear the word pungent, know that all hell broke loose every time we said it. Oh man, I love that so much. I know. I know. This scene made us laugh at the table read, and then it made us fall apart when we watched it. What really got me was the word pungent, but it was the breath that Steve took

before he said it. Yeah. Oh man, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall. I would have ruined the tics even as a fly. Oh my gosh. Well, you know, this scene was supposed to go on. Bob Vance is supposed to come to the door. Yes, it's in the deleted scenes on the DVD. Oh my gosh. Well, I guess they couldn't get through that part either. Bob comes to the door, and he's like, you know, Michael's there, and Michael's like, and he's like, oh, what is that smell? And Michael's like, that was Phyllis. She has some nerves, some wedding jitters. And Phyllis is like, it's not me. And Bob was like, I'm gonna go. Oh my gosh. I wish that was still in the episode, I have to say. It's really funny.

All right. Well, now Michael has a talking head that, you know, believe it or not, he's only ever been to one other wedding. Jenna, this made me sad. Oh, I can't deal with Michael's childhood. I know. It rips you up. It's too much for me. Well, he's only been to one other wedding, and it was his mom getting married to Jeff. Yeah. And there's a flashback video. It looks like maybe he peed his pants, you know? Oh, yes. Walking down the aisle is the ring bearer. And he runs out, and he says, I hate you. And anyway, it's clearly a traumatic experience for him. And Michael is carrying all of that in now to only the second wedding he's ever been to. Yeah. There's, there's so much this, this scene is really important, because it's meant to justify why Michael behaves

the way he does all day. You know, Michael's trying to heal an old wound here. Yeah. He's trying to make up for the one other horrible wedding he's ever been to. You know, I feel like this is very relatable. If you had a horrible experience back in high school, but now you've made it big and you're going back to your reunion, you're trying to make up for all that lost time. And I think that's a little similar here with Michael. I think the other thing going on here too is that once again, Michael sees his coworkers as his family. So he really thinks he has a bigger role in this wedding than he does. Yes. So now folks are entering the church, right? They're arriving for the ceremony and Dwight and Jim have this exchange. Dwight's like,

who are all these people? Yeah, he clearly doesn't like crowds. He says he has this line. He says, we need a new plague. There's too many people. Did you say plague? Plague. Plague. Plague. There's an A. Have you said plague your whole life? Yeah, plague. We need a new plague. Oh my god. I'm saying plague. Plague. It's a plague. Plague. I'm saying plague. I cannot believe I'm saying something correctly and you're not. This is, let's go buy a lottery ticket. Anything can happen. All right. He says we need a new plague. Thank you. Well, we had a fan question from Brianna Everett who wants to know, because it's feeling very relevant now, did Dwight improvise that line about the plague? No, that was scripted. I mean, this episode was really well written.

It really was. Yes. So there's, I feel like there's a lot of lines that feel like they're improvised, but they were written. That was written. So now Dwight has this in his head that people are crashing the wedding and he's going to have to go find them, Jenna. He's a man on a mission and everyone else is arriving and they're sort of like mingling and talking. Yes. Kevin introduces himself to Toby's date who he does not believe Toby met at the gym. He's like, basically implying she's a hired escort. This is classic pervy Kevin. We had some fan questions from Cassidy Hill, Allison Lolis and Lisa Rice. Is Toby's date a hired escort? Or did Toby really meet this beautiful woman at a gym? And why don't we ever see her again?

Well, I'll tell you. I don't know why we never see her again. Well, there was a talking head in the script after she catches the bouquet at the end. Toby says that she's a pediatric nurse. Yes. But that was cut out of the episode. That is in the DVD box set. There you go. So it was a deleted scene. I believe that she's a pediatric nurse. Yeah. Well, also we have a quick moment, a little joke that I really like, which is that Kelly has worn white to the wedding. It looks like a wedding dress with a tiara. I know. Yeah. Tiara, tiara. I'm going to let that one slide. All right. Well, now it is Michael's moment. He's about to walk Phyllis down the aisle. He's about to start pushing Albert. Yes, folks. Did you hear that? Albert. I got into a big

debate with my family. They were positive that he was saying Albert. And I said, no, it's Albert. I know I'm hearing Albert. It's weird because her father's name is Albert. And then there's Uncle Al. But it's Albert. Albert. Correct. Thank you. Well, as the doors open, we reveal Phyllis in her wedding dress and Pam turns to camera and says, oh my God, that's my dress. So she has stolen the invitations and now her wedding dress. We had a fan question, Angela, from Kaylee Connolly. And I'm going to need your input here. Okay. She says throughout this episode, Pam realizes that Phyllis has stolen all of her wedding details. And then she's wearing the same dress. Well, in the season finale, Angela looks like she's wearing the same dress that Phyllis wore

in her wedding to Dwight. Was this planned? Okay. So I wrote this down too. You guys, when we were watching it, I was watching it with the kids. I said, oh my gosh, that's my dress. And then the kids were like, no, you mean it's Pam's dress? I said, no, it's my dress. And I have all these photos on my phone. I took a ton of photos for the finale, Jenna, of my wardrobe fitting, all of it. It is almost identical. I don't think this was planned, obviously. I don't think Angela Martin would try to emulate Phyllis's dress. I think it was by chance. But you guys, it is so similar. I had a little lace shawl jacket thing. It didn't come long sleeve. Like Phyllis's goes all the way to her, her wrists, you know, mine went sort of just to the

elbow area. And then we had a strapless kind of dress. I do not have a broad ribbon band on mine, like hers. But it's super similar. I looked it up too. I had pictures side by side on my computer. They are so, it's like the cut of the dress is so similar. Crazy. I know. Okay. So they're walking down the aisle. And as they get about halfway down, Albert is sort of moved to stand up. He's like, he wants to try, right? It's his daughter's wedding. And Phyllis is so delighted. She just starts to smile and everyone applauds. And Michael is like, no freaking way. He had one job. He had one job. And they just took it away from him. Yes. And he just reverts back to that little boy who didn't get to walk down the aisle with the rings. And the dog took his spot. So Michael is

just watching Phyllis and her father walk down the aisle to all of this applause. What he does is just sort of awkwardly pushes slash drags the wheelchair down the aisle behind them. So here's my question, Jenna, because you have the script. I sort of figured in the script, I would say Michael awkwardly walks behind them. Was that dragging of the wheelchair? Was that Steve or was that in the script? Oh, Angela, you are not the only person to wonder. So I did look this up because Camille, Sarah, Dylan, Megan and Katie all asked the same question. Yes, it was scripted. Here's what it says in the script. It says, Michael can't figure out how to undo the lock on the wheelchair. So he drags it down while still doing a traditional wedding walk. Amazing.

Yeah. So all of that of him doing the like step together, step together. That was, you know, a script note. Well, we asked Phyllis about this moment. And here's what she had to say. One of the scenes that stood out in my mind was when I was walking down the aisle. And since I've never been married, to me, that was a real thrill. And then Michael, Steve, Michael, when he started dragging the wheelchair after my dad had gotten up and was going to walk me down the aisle and Michael was dragging the wheelchair, I could not keep a straight face. And I was so happy that the majority of the time, my back was to that to that action, because it was just hard to keep it in just the sound of the wheelchair dragging down the aisle. I remember that. I

remember it was very hard to get through. Jenna, I don't know if you remember, but I sat directly behind you. No. Yes. And we were tickled because between scenes, we could turn around and chat to each other. Well, it's funny because someone pointed out that it seemed like all of the Dunder Mifflin employees were on one side except for Pam. Yes. Usually there's a bride side and a groom side, but I guess we sat on the groom side. But I do remember I have such a memory of how beautiful the back of your hair looked. It looks so beautiful. I watched this episode and I just thought I looked fantastic. You did. I was like, oh my gosh. You did. My hair looks amazing. That dress, that color, that chocolatey color dress. I had never seen you in that color before,

personally. Why don't I wear that color more is what I thought. I don't know. I feel like that color inspired me because that was the color of the dress I wore to the Golden Globes. Remember that time when we met Ben Affleck? Yeah. Yes. Yes. I was like, if Pam can wear it, I can wear it. Well, I noticed something else about the wedding guests. What? No, Geno and Leo. Bob Vance did not seem to invite any employees. So Phyllis invited all of her work friends, but I didn't see a big bunch of Vance refrigeration people. Well, you only know two of them really, Geno and Leo. Maybe Phyllis was like, those two will do something. They're always up to something. They're on my list now. They're on my no list. Yeah. Well, I'm sure Bob was like, we're inviting

Michael, but I can't bring Geno and Leo. I don't think Bob cared. Well, I don't know if you noticed in the line of groomsmen standing up there, there are a set of twins. Those are meant to be Bob's grown sons. Oh. It's in the script that Bob's twin sons are standing up for him. So he has his best friend and who gives a little bit of a speech later, and then his twin sons. And then I don't know who the other man is meant to be, but no Geno and Leo. So Phyllis is now a stepmom. Yeah. The minister is trying to finish the vows, but Michael jumps the gun and he pronounces Bob and Phyllis' man and wife. He had to get something in there. And it's crickets because the vows aren't finished, everyone. You know what the best job for Michael would have been is if he could have just

been the DJ at the reception. Just be the person who announces them in. Yes. For the first time, I'd like to introduce to you. Yes. That could have been it. Give him a microphone. It would be like at the dundies for him all over again. He could be like, and now for the first dance and all of that. Well, I don't know. I don't know if you should give Michael a microphone as we will see soon. Oh, yeah. Well, you you know what, Angela? I always like to give shoutouts to our guest actors. The minister was played by Rick Scary. And Michael does finally get it right. Everyone cheers. And he's he's a little happy with that moment. He's like, oh, good. And he should have just left it alone. He had his moment, Michael, but Michael can't leave it alone, you guys.

No. And it's all going to blow up at the reception. Alright, well, let's take a break. And when we come back, we'll talk about what happens. All right. So we are back. We're about to go to Phyllis and Bob's reception. And Angela, it is really hitting me that we were on location this entire episode. Jenna, I wrote about it in my journal. I said, we were on location all week, and we got to spend a lot of time in our trailers together because we had no quote, office set to call home. Oscar and I, Oscar and I played music and danced in my trailer. Oh, and John's trailer was Hangout Central. The guys were playing Madden football in there. And we went us gals and hung out in there too. Rain actually attempted to teach me how to play Madden. Oh, I was horrible. And he was so

patient. At one point, our second AD was trying to find us all. And when he came to John's trailer, it was John, Rain, Jenna, Rashida and me. Us gals took turns hosting lunch. Today, I hosted and I realized I spent the morning sprucing up my trailer. Isn't that crazy? I cleaned it and then I lit a candle like I was at home having people over for dinner. Of course you did. Oh my gosh, this is so cute. I think the thing that's striking me, Angela, is that it's true how little time we spent in our trailers when we were back on our Dunder Mifflin set because we would just hang out at our desks between scenes. Exactly. That's why I said we didn't have our office desks. So yeah. And I know a lot of these scenes, Jenna, if we weren't in them, they really wanted us to go to our trailer

because they didn't want, you know, they didn't want to be looking for us all throughout the church. So when we weren't in scenes, they wanted us to go to our little base camp area. And we didn't do as much background work in this episode as you might think. They really crafted these shots and Ken kind of talked about that. He had a very specific shot list and he knew exactly what he wanted to see and when he wanted to see it. So if you weren't a part of that storytelling, you were back in the trailer. Yeah. Learning how to play Madden football from Rain Wolfson. I guess so. Now that you bring it up, I have a vague memory of Rain very patiently trying to teach you all the buttons on that controller. I was horrible. Back at the reception. I guess

on the way into the reception, they have a traditional receiving line. Everyone walks through. You have a nice little moment with Phyllis. Yes. I say that her dress is so white. It's almost blinding. I think I know what the implication is there. Yes. But did you notice that I have little lace gloves on? No. Yes. And I had to wear them the whole week and they drove me crazy. Well, you know, they would especially drive you crazy today because you cannot wear lace gloves and operate a smartphone. Oh right. I wouldn't be able to swipe up or do anything. No. That was my first thought. My first thought when you told me that. But then my other thought is, were they itchy? They were a little too long for my fingers. So I had this

little floppy bit. That's what she said. I have a deleted talking head where I show up to the church and it's one of the craziest shots. I meant to bring it up to Ken, dang it. It's like he put the camera on the ground, Jenna. And it's shooting up from the asphalt like under my chin. It's not super flattering. And I'm looking down and a high above my head is the cross in the steeple of the church. It's a very dramatic talking head where I basically say, you know, I like traditional weddings. So let's see what this one's going to be like. And as I'm doing it, I have black gloves on and I'm taking them off slowly. And as I do underneath are my lace gloves. I adore that detail. That is very funny. So people are milling about. People are kind of like, you

know, checking out the food, they're walking around. Kelly finds Pam. And she is like, oh my God, you must be so miserable right now. Yeah. And Pam's like, I don't know, I'm fine. I'm okay. And she's like, well, she would be freaking out and getting drunk and telling someone she's pregnant. Pam's like, Pam's like, it's a lot of good ideas. I feel like Kelly is a friend of me. I feel like she's one of those types of gals. Like, clearly Pam is noticing all of this. She really doesn't want anyone to then like rub it in her face. But she's like, oh my God, are you so bummed out? Because they totally took your wedding and Roy's here and Jim's with someone else. I would be miserable. Yes, but it's all under the guise of like, are you okay? Yeah. She doesn't care if you're

okay. No, no, this is a gossip moment. Yeah. Well, Dwight is determined to find the wedding crashers Dwight finds an elderly guest at the buffet. He's like putting a roll in his pocket. I respect that move. I have put bread in my purse before. I've done it too. Yeah. Many times. Many times. I've done it with you. I don't like to be without food. I want to have a snack on me at all times. Okay. So Dwight thinks he's a wedding crusher. He starts asking him all these questions and the man is confused. And Dwight's like, that's it and kicks him out. He kicks him out. And that's when Michael checks in with Phyllis, who's like, is everything okay? He mentions he sent back the chicken because it was undercooked. Phyllis is like, it was fish. He's

like, I'm on it. Well, we had a fan question from Ashley Brooks. She wanted to know, did either of you have a funny story or a wild card guest like Michael at your weddings? You know, I didn't. But two people did have sex in the bushes at my wedding. I know one of them. It wasn't me. Well, I know both of them because they were guests at my wedding and they didn't come together. What? Oh, oh, that sounded weird. I don't know that much. I don't know that many details about their, about their rendezvous. I was like, deer in headlights. I was like, what? Oh dear. They didn't arrive to the wedding. Wedding together.

They hooked up at your wedding. Yes. Okay. Well, I can tell you at my wedding, we didn't have a random guest, but my husband really, really, really wanted to have a signature drink. He was like, so excited about it. I love a signature drink. I know. He did too. I was like, eh. But he wanted, he likes a Moscow mule, so he wanted to have the Moscow mule, but he wanted to use, is it bourbon? I'm going to get this wrong. It's actually called a Kentucky mule. They make it a little different, but he wanted everyone as their wedding favor to get a copper mug. Do you remember this, Jenna? I love my copper mug. Okay. You took yours home. Yeah. I told Josh, I was like, Josh, people are not going to realize they can take them home.

They're not. And he's like, yes, they will. We'll say it's the party favor. They get to take a copper mug home engraved on it. It was like our wedding date. I was like, babe, this is really nice. People are not going to take them home. And we got into a little fight about it. It was planning the wedding. Guess what? What? We have 55 copper mugs. Oh, no. Well, Lee and I both took our mugs home. I knew that that was your wedding favor, probably because you told me. And also we had a sign. It had your table where you went to get seated, tied in a ribbon with your name. And they said this copper mug is yours to take home. Now, to be fair, Angela, if you had been a guest at your own wedding, would you have read the sign

and taken home your mug? Jenna, when it comes to getting free things, I read. Okay. That's it. You know what I wouldn't have read? The instructions on where to park. That's correct. I would have circled around until I figured it out. But I would have known to take the copper mug home. Fair enough. All right. Well, now we have some big news. Scrantinicity is going to be playing at Phyllis's reception. She hired Kevin's band Scrantinicity. It's their third gig. Their previous two gigs were for members of their own band. But before they begin playing their set, Kevin asked the crowd, has anyone seen Uncle Al? He has dementia and his family is really worried about him.

And then he immediately launches into Roxanne. The timing of that is so perfect. Well, Angela, we got a lot of questions about the band. Becky, Hadassah, Marie, Sam and Sarah all wanted to know, was it really Brian Baumgartner singing at the wedding and was he really playing the drums? Yes and yes. Yes and yes. And he practiced, you guys. He took it really seriously. He worked so hard on that and I thought he did such a great job. Yeah. Well, I have an observation, Jenna. Wasn't this also the band that was going to play at Pam's wedding? Yep. So put it on the list. Put it on the list and speaking of, Roy is about to find Pam and he tells her he is so impressed by all the details at this wedding and that Phyllis

has such great taste. Well, Jenna, there is a deleted scene. It's fantastic. Phyllis comes up to Pam at the reception and is like, Hey, you might have noticed that Bob and I use the same after dinner mints like party favor from your wedding that you had planned. I hope that's okay. And you're like, basically Pam's like, uh, just the mints. So wait, can you play it Sam? I recorded it. Are you enjoying yourself? Oh yeah, I'm having a great time. Good. You know, I don't know if you noticed but Bob and I borrowed your idea for the after dinner mints that you were going to have at your wedding. Oh yeah, that and also everything. I mean, the dress and the flowers and the fish and the cake. You know, we sound like you're keeping track. Oh, I just, you know, I could make

an announcement if what you want is credit. No, I, oh, maybe I should just move on. Oh, that is amazing. I mean, how passive aggressive is that? Would you like me to make an announcement so you can get credit? It's so amazing. Well, we asked Phyllis about this particular storyline and she actually had some thoughts on the matter. So Sam, play the clip. Pam said, you know, that I'd stole her everything about her wedding that I had stolen it and that I think the writers kind of like to like to write Phyllis kind of snarky sometimes. Well, when I got to thinking about it, I don't think that Phyllis Vance, Phyllis Lapin Vance, stole Pam's ideas and colors and flowers and stuff because she was being vindictive. I think that Phyllis had an admiration for Pam

and I thought, if Pam likes those colors, then those must be pretty special. So if that was always kind of a back story in my mind that I wasn't being nasty, that I was being, you know, kind of honoring Pam's, Pam's wishes for her ill-fated wedding, but she ended up having a great wedding, didn't she? Aww. That is just Phyllis being Phyllis. Yeah. Phyllis Smith is so sweet. I do think Phyllis Lapin was a little, a little shady. Yes, I think so too. But it also kind of explains that snarky comment. You know, if that was where she was coming from of like, well, I was just, I admired your choices, but I guess if you need a bunch of credit, you know. Yeah. Well, I think it's sweet because it really speaks to how much Pam shared with Phyllis about her wedding planning.

And you see little snippets of that where Phyllis is showing an interest like they're in the kitchen and then Jim walks in. But this is the person that Pam could share with at work and was probably the only person who took an interest in her wedding. So I think that's why it was especially surprising to Pam where she was like, oh. Yeah. Oh yeah. Angela Martin didn't need to hear about your wedding. She probably judged you for doing work on it at work. She did. I think there's, you have a whole thing where you come down on me about it. I know. All right. So now it's time for the speeches, everyone. Bob's best man, Randy, finishes up his speech and Michael jumps up. He has an amazing line. He's got a 40 minute speech plan. Yeah. I'm gonna be your host for the next 40 minutes.

And it's all like on napkins. Well, a lot of people wanted to know how much of Michael's toast was improvised. Crystal, Sammy, Sarah, Aubrey and Regan all asked, also was it hard to keep a straight face? Well, almost all of that speech was scripted. And yes, it's always hard to keep a straight face. But Phyllis had a different take on this. Here's what she had to say. Anytime Michael opened his mouth, it was hard to keep a straight face. And at that point in the script, he was kind of hurtful, but he didn't even know it. So I didn't really have to, to strain to keep a straight face on, on that particular scene, because I was so hurt that he was saying all those crummy things about me. Some true, but some not. No, no. Yeah, I love that Phyllis is like, no, I was so in the moment

playing being hurt. And this reminds me of her scene in the first Christmas episode, when Michael was so rude to her about her homemade oven mitt. And all the rest of us were just cracking up and Phyllis stayed in character. She was hurt. And she didn't break. No, she's a total pro. I mean, she really took all of her, all of the different moments of the script that she was in. She really, really played it honest. Well, I want to give a shout out here to Bob's best man. He was played by Brian Douglas Hatton. And he's been in a bunch of stuff, including a recurring role as a detective on Monk. Oh, it's another monk person. Another office monk crossover. There you go. Well, I have to point out something that's so ridiculous, but you know,

it is my way. Michael continues his speech and says that their couple celebrity name would be FLOB. Yeah, I looked it up. I was like, when did people start doing this, like combining the names? And this is what the internet said, guys. The first time a celebrity couple's name was combined was Benifer. I was going to say Benifer. Yes. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. How does everyone know this? This is like a unanimous thought online that Benifer started it all. I knew it. There you go. The next one after Benifer was Brangelina. Yes, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. And then I guess there's one for Kanye West and Kim Kardashian. And it's Kim Yee. Oh yeah, Kim Yee. I've heard that. I haven't heard that. That one is not quite in my vernacular

as much as Benifer and Brangelina. Well, but some people pointed out that, you know, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston would have also been a Benifer. No, they would have been a Brenifer. Well, after he does their name mashup, he goes on to do what I think he thinks is like a fun, playful, kind of roast of Phyllis where he tells everyone that her nickname in high school was Easy Rider. Well, that's it for Bob. Bob's like, you're out of here, buddy. And he takes the microphone and he throws Michael out of the wedding. As Michael screams, I hate you. This is the second time he's screamed, I hate you at a wedding. This is full circle for him now. He's the little boy all over again, not getting to be part of the wedding. Groom's been out there. If Jenna and I

can impart anything on you, don't roast the bride. Yeah, good one. It never goes well. No, it's her day. Yeah, let her have her day. Yeah, you can roast the groom. Don't roast the bride. All right, we've got a bunch of little moments and we talked with Ken about this. I this we kind of move into like the rest of the storytelling here in this episode is done in these like little vignettes. We have Jim kind of comes up to Pam and is like, why aren't you going to dance? And it's a little bit of a flirty moment. A little bit. He says, you look cute. It's a total flirt moment. Yeah. And Pam knows it's a flirt moment. So now she's like, Oh, but then, you know, he's off dancing with Karen. This is a series of moments where Jim and Pam both kind of get their hopes up and then

gets their get their hopes dashed. Michael tries to sneak back in the wedding, but Dwight won't let him in. Dwight's so pleased. He's so pleased to be kicking him out. And then Pam is sort of sulking in a corner. And you hear you were meant for me by Jewel. And Roy comes up to Pam and is like, Oh, my gosh, they're playing our song. And she's like, Yeah, it's so weird. I thought they only played the police. And he's like, well, I gave him 20 bucks. Do you want to dance? Pam is very moved by this. It's thoughtful. It is thoughtful. And Roy is really making an effort. And they go when they dance together. And then the camera pans. And we see Angela and Dwight have sneaked off and they are dancing together. Yes. So you guys, this shot was really fun to do. We had to do it at night.

So we did it one evening. It was outside. And Ken, when he had scouted the whole church, found this back door that then had steps that led down, right? And so we decided to film it there. Those steps actually faced the street, which was a busy street. And we didn't have it blocked off. No one was crossing the street. So it was just people going about their evening. And as we slow danced in one take, a car drove by with the windows down and they went, Oh my God, Dwight! Dwight! Angela! We had to do the takeover again. That's amazing. Oh my gosh, I love that. After this dance, Roy is like, Hey, do you want to get out of here? And Pam says, Yes. And they walk off and they're holding hands and Jim sees it in it just hits you like a ton of bricks when he watches her leave with him.

And then he has a talking head where he's like, You know what? I'm glad I'm here with Karen. Yeah. Yeah. And then we have a few moments Karen singing with the band. Rashida mentioned this when she came on the podcast that she was so nervous to have to sing. She could not have been more adorable in this moment. When he says, I'm glad I'm with Karen. And then it cuts to her singing and dancing. She's the cutest person on the planet. She was so stinkin cute. Yes. And I think Rashida would be happy to know that Ariana November wrote in to say, Is Rashida Jones a trained singer because she is really good. And I thought she had a great voice too. I did too. I did too. And then I even thought, you know, Jim's reaction, like waving his phone in the air.

It was cute. Yeah. So then Phyllis tosses her bouquet and Ryan swats it away from Kelly. Kelly was clearly going to catch that bouquet and Ryan swats it away. A lot of people wanted to know if that was a scripted moment. Yes. Yes, it was. Yeah. Ryan can't let Kelly catch that. Do you know what that would do for their relationship? No, no, no. But who does catch it? Toby's date. And I loved so much, Jenna, that one-on-one of Toby to camera where he's like, Toby, yeah. Yeah. Well, now we move outside and Michael is sitting on a bench with Uncle Al. Yeah. And they're having this big heart to heart. How perfect is that? Oh, it was such a great scene. We had some people write in Christie Carroll, Connor Yakes and Ashley Howell all asked,

can you talk about the actors that played Uncle Al and Phyllis's dad, Albert, because they were both fabulous? Well, guys, George Ives played Uncle Al and he was a longtime television actor. He appeared in Mr. Ed, The Andy Griffith Show, My Three Sons, Bewitched and a bunch of movies. He passed away in 2013 and the office was his last television show that he appeared in according to IMDB. Yeah. And he was just absolutely fabulous. Yeah. And then Hansford Rowe played Phyllis's father. He passed away in 2017. He was a very accomplished actor. Listen to the movies he's been in. He was in Dante's Peak, Baby Boom, Three Days of the Condor. He's been in a ton of television shows, Modern Family, Will and Grace, Curb Your Enthusiasm,

Six Feet Under. But here's the one that got me. He was in this mini series called V. Do you remember V? Was it about aliens taking over? Yes. And then you went- It was from the 80s. Yeah. People would do the sign, the V, the little sign with their fingers. Yes. Yeah. And the way you found out they were aliens is they would peel off their skin and they were like lizard people underneath. Yeah. Oh my God. I forgot about that show. Remember how shocking it was when you saw their lizard skin? Yeah. Well, listen, we had a fan question from Sierra, Katie Regan, Katie Slemp, Allison and Lexi. They all noticed that at 19 minutes 30 seconds as Phyllis is leaving the church, she seems to have a black brace on her right knee. Well, guys, I asked Phyllis about this

and she does not remember. She was definitely not injured during the making of this episode. But, you know, she said she went through a few injuries during her time on the show. And I guess this must have been when she was favoring that knee a little bit. But I stopped it and sure enough, there is a little bit of a bandage there. I did not catch that. But yeah. Oh man, we have really good background catchers that watch the show. We do. Well, now we have this tag, this little scene at the end and it's Bob and Phyllis. They're doing that thing where you shove the wedding cake in the face kind of thing. And of course, Michael wants to get in on it. It's really awkward. I don't know if you noticed on this cake. It was so amazing.

It was so well done. There was a full silver refrigerator made of fondant that sat on top of the cake as like the topper next to the little bride and groom figurine. I did not notice that. Yes. That is brilliant. Of course. Of course. There was a Vance refrigerator on the top of the cake with them. That was also cake. So, you know how you take the top part of the cake and you save it and you have it on your one-year anniversary? Yeah. They're going to eat that refrigerator their one-year anniversary. Did you do that? Did you save the top of your cake and eat it a year later? No. Did you? Oh, no. Did you? You know what? It's weird. I can't remember, but this past year, we just celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. Lee and I, 10 years this

year. That's amazing, lady. Well, and it happened during a pandemic and we had these plans that for our 10th wedding anniversary, we wanted to take a big trip and take the kids to the spot where Lee proposed to me and I wanted to have a family portrait taken in this spot. And that was, I mean, I've been had this in my head for like years since our 7th wedding anniversary. Yes. That this would be such a fun way to mark our 10th wedding anniversary. Well, you know, then we couldn't really go anywhere because our anniversary is in July. So, we ended up having dinner outside underneath our fruit trees and our original wedding planner, Beth Helmstetter, you know her, she set it all up for us. She came over, she wore a mask, she set this little table

out under our trees. And do you know what she did for us? What? She had the records from our wedding and she had a tiny replica of our wedding cake made for us for four people so that our kids could eat our wedding cake on our 10th wedding anniversary. That is so special. That is so sweet. I wanted to tell you though, we didn't eat the top of our cake. That wasn't the type of cake we had at our wedding, but I have to tell you our topper story, which is, you know, we're a blended family. We were two whole families coming together. So, our children were a really big part of our wedding. They all wanted to speak at the ceremony. And then when it came time for the cake, instead of getting a traditional bride and groom figurine, we let the kids design this out of Legos. Oh, that's right.

And so we had a little Lego sort of like, they made like a little archway out of Legos. And then they put little Lego flowers on the white archway. And then they made Legos of me and Josh and then of each of them. So all three kids. So we had five little Legos under a Lego archway on top of our wedding cake. So sweet. So cute, right? And we saved it. It's on our mantle. Well, Lady, I just love all that. So we did get some questions about this cake scene. And guys, I want to let you know, so this was originally shot to be earlier in the episode. And then they just liked it. So they used it as the tag, but it was meant to go right before Dwight confronts Uncle Al for stealing the bread at the buffet and throws them out. Okay. There were some questions about why this was at

the end of the episode. It was just sometimes we do that. Sometimes, you know, we cut back to a moment that might have happened earlier as our tag. Well, that's the fun thing about a cold open in a tag. Sometimes they don't have to be in sort of a time ordered manner. Yes. Yes. Well, the original tag of this episode was supposed to be a series of photos where Michael is photo bombing every single picture. I remember taking these pictures and you can find some of them. You can. Where are they? Office tally, maybe? Yeah. So for a while, NBC had these photos up on their website. And I don't think they're there anymore, but I'm going to do a little digging. And if we can find them, we'll put them up on the pod. But I remember shooting them. It was very, very fun. Yeah. I

remember those two. Well, you know, Jenna, we asked Phyllis about the cake and just about this episode, things she remembered and things that stood out to her. And here's what she had to say. Yes, it was very good cake. And we didn't really do that many takes of it. It was the end of the night. They didn't want to mess my face and hair up every time. So I think we just practiced it without messing it all over our faces. And then we did it just the one time. So no, we didn't, we didn't do that multiple times where it had to be cleaned up and this and that. And then Michael went crazy, of course, smearing it all over his face. And, you know, one of the funniest scenes that I think in the, that tore me up when I saw it for the first time was when Michael was outside

jumping at the window trying to look in after he'd been escorted out by Dwight. I don't know, for some reason, that just really tore me up. I thought that whole wedding was, was, of course I would, was a remarkable episode. Everybody had their, their shining moments in it. Kelly dressed in white and the whole Pam and Jim, Karen, Roy, Triangle, that was all great. It was just pretty special. And Ken, I think Ken directed that. He was fantastic. I always enjoyed working with him. And we were so blessed on that show. We had so many great writers, directors, and the fact that we all got to grow up together on the show, basically. Not just this episode, the whole nine seasons. And it was really a blessing then and continues to be to this day.

I'm glad you enjoyed the episode. I'm assuming you did. And I'll talk to you later. Well, now we're wrapping up the episode. But Jenna, before we say goodbye, I have to talk about a few deleted scenes. One I talked about with Ken Whittingham about Angela's whole runner with Dennis. Yes. Dennis, the veterinarian, who she says, I'm sorry, but I'm with someone. She does end up turning Dennis down. But here are the two other deleted scenes that were so funny to me. Number one, Kevin has a talking head. He says that he has proposed to four different girls. Oh my gosh. Four. But Stacey was the first one to say yes. And you know, if it couldn't be Melissa Riley, then he's glad it was Stacey. Wow. Who the heck is Melissa Riley?

I don't know. Okay. I thought that was delicious. And this is the other one. I loved Wedding Planners Listen Up. There is a deleted scene where Meredith holds up a party favor and it's a little tiny refrigerator magnet. And when you open the door to the refrigerator, there's a picture of Phyllis and Bob. Wow. Yeah. Well, she didn't steal that from Pam's wedding. She didn't steal that one. But don't you wish you had that magnet, that little refrigerator magnet? So in the deleted scene, we see this item. Yes. I took a screen grab of it. So who has that now? I don't know. But Meredith is the one who holds it up. She's like, did you guys get your little magnet? And it's a refrigerator. It's so cute. Angela, I love this refrigerator magnet that goes on your refrigerator so much

that I would like you please because you're in charge of our merch. I am. I love it, you guys. If you ever have ideas, let me know. Well, I have one. So I'm letting you know. Will you please make a refrigerator magnet with a little door that opens and inside the refrigerator is me and you. I don't know why we're in the refrigerator. I just want to be in there. Okay. Okay. I can be holding a little jar of sourdough starter and you can be holding something too. A glass of wine. Sure. You open up the refrigerator to us, but you can put your own photo in there. Or we can just be on your refrigerator. We'd be happy to be there to keep you company. Sure. Well, you guys, that was Phyllis's wedding. A huge thank you to Phyllis Smith for sending in those audio files. And

of course. Oh my gosh. Thank you, Ken Whittingham. Yes, guys. We love you. We'll see you next week. Yeah. Bye. Bye. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwool, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our producer is Cody Fisher. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubakow. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad-free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code Office.