Office Ladies - Second Drink: Goodbye Toby, Part 1

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

Today we’re breaking down Goodbye Toby. To kick off this two part episode, Paul Liberstein sent in audio clips to talk about what it was like to write himself off the show and introduce Holly Flax, played by Amy Ryan. When Toby has his last day at Dunder Mifflin, Michael insists on throwing him a huge going away party. Angela Martin scoffs at the idea, so Phyllis steps in. While breaking down Pratt Institute, Jenna ends up quoting her own book, The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide. Creed chimes in about his famous “quabity assuance” scene and Angela learns the difference between “hot to trot” and “fired up”.  This episode is cruisin’ for a bruisin’, so listen up! Link to Jenna’s book, The Actor’s Life: A Survival Guide: https://www.amazon.com/Actors-Life-Survival-Guide/dp/1944648224 Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTube Follow Us on TikTok 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

Welcome to our second drink of Goodbye Toby Part 1. This episode kicks off the end of season four of The Office. Wow. Yeah. We had a lot of fun folks from our office family sharing behind the scenes details with us for this two-parter. So thank you once again to Jen Salada, Paul Lieberstein, Kit Zabornak, and Creed Bratton. Angela, this is also the episode where we got into a debate about what the phrase hot to drop means. Yes, I know.

People wrote in. Maria F. said, I first heard hot to trot on happy days. Richie was going to a dinner at a divorcee's house. His friends say, you know what they say about divorcees. They're hot to trot. Jenna is correct. Because I said hot to trot means you're hooking up. Yeah, and you said it means you're mad.

Yeah, you're coming in hot to trot. You're ticked off about something. Well, Raquel G says, Angela, I have also used hot to trot in the same way you did. And Linda G. wants us to know that it has two meanings and we are both correct. Thank you, Linda. I do remember a few people DMing me saying, I think you meant like hot under the collar, Angela. Yes, hot under the collar. I'm hot under the collar. It's definitely means you're getting mad. Well, I still say hot to trot when I'm mad, but I'm more careful where I say it. Well, here's a question I have for you. Now that you've learned this second meaning for it,

Have you ever said to Josh, sweetie, I am hot to trot? No. And he thinks you're mad, but really you mean it the other way? No, I've never said it. I've never said it. Because he probably had to learn in your relationship. If you said, I am hot to trot, it's not what you're not to think. No, it means you're mad about something.

Hmm. Hmm. I like to keep it interesting. You never know. I'm going to interpret something. Okay, we also got a great background catch. Louisa C said, ladies, at exactly two minutes, I noticed something shiny on Steve's hand. I stopped and I saw that Steve had his wedding ring on.

All right. Louisa, I went and I looked. You are absolutely right. It's in the cold open when Michael is dancing through the office. It's part of a montage. It's Toby's last day. Michael is very excited. And he's sort of doing this scissor move with his arms, like as he's dancing through the office.

And when he's sort of like slides his arm, across the screen, you see his wedding ring. He must have forgotten to take it off, but clearly someone caught it because then immediately right after he has a talking head to camera, and it's gone. Wow, that's a good catch. Do you remember that week that Steve jammed his finger playing hockey and he couldn't get his wedding ring off? So we had to cover it with a band-aid? Yes. Oh my gosh. I forgot about that. Yeah. Because he was like, you're not cutting this off my finger, obviously. So there's, I can't remember what episode it is, but I think it's in season three. We talked about it on the pot. We also got this observation from James L in Arizona who said,

Hi, ladies, this is my second listen to the podcast. I have a long commute and decided to go all the way back to the beginning and listen through again. And I wanted to point out that Pam is wearing a pink sweater in this episode. It's not the same one that you discuss in a later episode as in Pam's sex sweater theory, but I want to throw this out there. Maybe Pam just wears pink when she's feeling extra happy. Loving the second drinks, James. I love that. She is wearing pink. Yeah. I mean, it's not her sex sweater. No, but she does get good news. She learns about the Pratt Institute, and then she's super flirty and gives Jim a little kiss. She's happy. True. Yeah. Well, I love that question. Well, when we first broke down this episode, I shared that there were some awesome Phyllis deleted scenes.

One of my favorites that we discussed was put back in the superfan version. I really want us to hear it. Okay, to set the scene for you guys, Phyllis is super stressed about planning the party, and Jim walks in. This is so great. I'm so glad it's back in. You got to hear it. Well, who can do a party of this size? But you're in the business.

You must surely know of some other businesses. Okay, well, I just want a damn dance floor. I'm sorry. So sorry. I shouldn't have sworn. I'm so sorry. Thanks for your time. What?

Sorry, I shouldn't have said what like that. It was really rude. Scared me. How's the party planning going? Jim, I am so f***. So it's going great, sounds like. I don't know. I'm not used to this dress.

That's so funny. I should say the top of the scene, she's pacing on the phone. She's with some type of like event, you know, party rental place. Yes. Oh my gosh. Oh. Well, that was all amazing.

Everyone, now here is your second drink of Goodbye Toby, Part 1. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. Each week, we will break down an episode of the Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're the office ladies.

Hello, everyone. Howdy. Today, we are breaking down. Goodbye, Toby, Part 1. I can't believe it. We're at the end of season 4. I can't believe it, Jenna. I'm excited, though.

This is such a good episode. Oh, I loved it. Beyond Loved It. It is Season 4, Episode 18, written by Jen Salata and Paul Lieberstein, and directed by Paul Feig. Hashtag beyond loved. Yeah.

Beyond Love. Well, I know you've got a great summary and some fast facts. I can't wait to hear them. Let's get started. Toby is moving to Costa Rica. Finally, his lifelong dream is coming true. Michael insists the party planning committee plan a huge going away party, and when Angela Box, he puts Phyllis in charge.

Oh, can you believe it? I mean, she does a really good job. You know what? I don't need to hear it. Well, I'm going to talk about it more later. Well, okay. There is a new HR representative coming in. Holly Flacks.

She will be taking over for Toby, and this is her first day at Dunder Mifflin. Michael assumes he will hate her, but he is quickly smitten. Very quickly. Very quickly. But that is Michael. I mean, Michael falls in love at hello. He does. Meanwhile, Pam gets some good news.

Should we get started? Fast fact number one, I thought you were going to like tip your hand a little bit. Is it tip your hand or tip your hat? Is tip your hat? No, I think it's your hand because you're playing poker and you tip it and people see your cards. Right, but you tip your hat for something else. A hello, maybe. But I thought you were going to hint at what Pam's big news was.

But no, let's get into some fast facts. All right. Let's not tip anything. We're tipping nothing right now. Tip nothing. Fast fact number. Number one, I find it very funny that Paul had to write himself out of the show. I thought it was funny, too.

But knowing Paul, because he's very practical, it was probably like, well, it needs to be done. There is a very practical reason for why he wrote himself out of the show that we know. Paul and Jen are going to take over as the showrunners of the office starting in season five because Greg was going to be working on parks and recreation. Yep. Now, Greg was still around. He had a foot in both worlds. Yeah, he'd pop by, but he wasn't going to be there day to day.

That was Jen and Paul. So they teamed up to write this episode, and they were really trying to set themselves up for next season. Paul needed a break from the acting. He wanted to concentrate on writing the show. We traded emails with Paul, and he sent in an audio clip all about it. Jen Salada and I were taking over as showrunners for season five, and that was absolutely part of getting rid of me.

Give me some time to just show run and concentrate on that. Did we know for a fact I'd be coming back? No, not for a fact. Didn't really think about it that far in. There was a lot of things started. Pam's acceptance to art school, that was something we had talked about for a long time. We always knew she liked it, but we were looking for, you know, a whole new complication after doing so much with the romance. And then Angela's engagement to Andy, we always knew that was not a relationship.

to be. That was a bad relationship, a comedy relationship. But it gave us some fun stuff, obviously. There's so many big storylines that they set up with this finale. I know. I mean, we haven't even talked about Jan. That's part two. But my goodness. Oh, I know. Big, big, what do they call it? The cliffhanger. Big cliffhanger. Why am I having a hard time with like common phrases today? buckle in everybody because this might be a bumpy ride. Well, I'm here for it. I love when you mingle common phrases. It's one of my favorite things about you.

I don't know why. I almost said it's like the cliff's edge. And then in my brain, I was like, no, no, no, that's not right. You'll find it, lady. All right. Are you ready? Fast fact number two. Yeah.

Jen Salata said that this script took about five days to write. Five days. That's crazy. How did they do it in five days? Geez, it would take me so long to write this. This is a juggernaut. I know. She said they had an outline and they divided up the work and they each wrote different parts

and then they put it all together and they did a rewrite together. So, I mean, I guess there were two people on it, but still. Also, the original cut of this episode came in at 72 minutes and they had to cut it down to 40 minutes. Lady, guess who found her shooting draft of Goodbye Toby! You, electronic hoarder. Yes, digital hoarder, Angela Kinsey. All right, Jenna, since I have this shooting draft of Goodbye, Toby, I have a little quiz for you. Oh.

All right. You're like, I didn't know I was going to get tested today. Okay. Can you guess how many pages were in the shooting draft? Oh. Well, let me think. If I remember correctly, our standard shooting drafts were usually around 30. pages. Yep. So since this was a double episode, I'm going to say 60 pages. 75! Oh my gosh. Well, no wonder the

original cut came in at 72 minutes. I know. They always say each page of a script equals one minute of screen time. On average, right? Well, lady, there were so much on the page that did not make it in this episode. Well, I'm guessing there are a lot of deleted scenes. Oh, there's some, wonderful deleted scenes. And then there's even more scenes that aren't in the deleted scenes. I really enjoyed this. I'm going to sprinkle things throughout. And you know what? It really made me respect, Jenna? What? Our editors. I'll tell you why. I rewatched this episode four times. And one of the times I rewatched it, I just followed along in the script. And the scenes were moved all around in editing. I was fascinated by it. And it really just shows you what a

storytellers, our editors are. You know, I remember that, Angela. I remember that they would almost like rewrite the script again in the editing process. Yeah. Because they would do that. They would move scenes around from where they had been placed in the script originally. I love that. Well, are you ready for fast fact number three? Yeah. Fast fact number three, Amy Ryan, aka Holly Flacks, a.k.a. Michael's true love. Aw, I loved Holly Flax. I loved her. We had a fan question from Zianna G. Was Amy Ryan asked to play Holly, or did she have to go through the audition process?

Amy did not have to audition for the role of Holly Flax. It was offered to her, and this is why. First of all, Amy Ryan had just been nominated for an Academy Award. We had another Academy Award nominee on our show. She'd been nominated for a movie called Gone Baby Gone. And in addition to that, the writing staff of the office was slightly obsessed with the TV show The Wire. And Amy had been on the Wire. And whenever we had big guest star roles come up, the writers would try to get cast members from the Wire to do them.

I mean, spoiler alert, Idraselba is coming up. Mm-hmm. But there is actually even more to this story, but we will let Paul Lieberstein tell you. Here's an audio clip from Paul where he also talks about their overall plans for the role of Holly. Amy Ryan, her agents were asking her, well, what do you want to do? And she said, I want to do the office. And at the very same time, we were talking about her. And I don't really know who reached out to who first.

I worked with Amy like a million years ago on another show, and we knew each other. her and I was I was all for it I loved working with her both times so we didn't know how much of an arc was it going to be with Amy we didn't really know we didn't have this kind of long-term deal we wanted to kind of test it out and see because you never know about chemistry right you never know if she's going to have chemistry with Steve and she sure did I don't think we knew that this was going to be the you know love of his life we we hadn't planned it that far and ahead We were also watching what happened and reacting to it. Can you believe that she said The Office?

I was so tickled by that. I mean, she did this interview where she said she had been doing these heavy dramas. And she really wanted to lighten things up. She wanted to do a comedy and she loved our show. So that's what she told her agent she wanted to do. Here are her crossover the office connections. Jenna, she was not on Monk. Oh, no.

She wasn't on Monk. But the show that her and Paul worked on was in the 90s, and it was called The Naked Truth with Taya Leone, and Paul Lieberstein was a writer on it. So that's where they met. And then she and Steve Correll did a movie together in 2007 called Dan in Real Life. So they had worked together before. Yes. Kentapedia told me that they had locked her down for six episodes for season five when she did this guest role. But that's as far as they went.

And kind of like what Paul said, they didn't know if this was going to be a temporary love interest for Michael. They weren't sure, but they did have her set to start off the next season. There are so many great scenes between Holly and Michael in this episode. And there are even more wonderful ones in the script. I really wish they all could have stayed in. I know they had to trim them, but you really see the build of their sort of mutual, like, crush on each other. I got choked up watching this episode. Every time she returns his affection or flirts with him a little bit, I mean, I was so excited

for Michael that a woman was being kind to him. I mean, I was emotional. Not just kind, but she gets him. They have the same humor. Yes. Well, lady, that's all I got. Should we take a break? And then we'll come back and get into this episode.

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That's better help.com slash office ladies. All right, we are back with a classic gym prank. This is our cold open and Michael is not in it. Did you notice? I did notice. His door is shut. We're being led to believe that Steve is behind that door, but he was not. He was probably prepping for a film.

Or maybe finally getting to sleep in for a second. Oh my gosh, having the morning off. I hope he had the morning off. Dwight's cell phone rang. and somehow Jim answers it on his little Bluetooth thing and his, you know, his ear. Do you remember those? Yes, and people would walk around with them. Yeah, I mean, we kind of still have this like earbud thing that we do.

But back in the day, y'all, those things were giant. Did you see how big that thing was on Jim's ear? This is an old tech alert for sure. And it is starting to drive Dwight crazy. Why are all of his calls going to Jim? Jim explains that Dwight left his cell phone on his desk. So naturally, he paired it to his headset. But it goes on.

Dwight's like, fine. Then I'm going to reprogram my cell phone to go to my desk. Well, Jim took care of that too. He forwarded Dwight's desk phone to his desk phone. You know, I'm probably going to get some hate for this, but it does make me feel like Ryan was correct in sort of calling Jim out on his productivity. because look at all the effort he went into this whole like earpiece prank. And he probably could have made some sales during this time.

Here's what I want to say about that because I worked in corporate America for a long time. And I often felt like I could get all of my work done in about five hours, but I was required to sit there for eight. Yeah. I mean, sometimes you can get what needs to be done faster than the company has allotted. And so I think that was the case with Jim. I think he does very good in sales. I don't know.

I guess Ryan was like, what if you really spent those extra hours making sales? But I don't know. He's getting it done. And he's, I mean, sometimes I feel like these work hours are rather arbitrary. How about work until your work is done and then go home and enjoy your life? I like that. Jenna, you sound like some upstart company where you're like, here's the thing.

Everyone gets pockets. Yes. You work as long as you want. Get your shit done. We don't care. Also, we have a soapbox in the lobby and you can stand on it at any point in your day if you need to make any declarations about anything. Yeah, and finally, we have like a zombie apocalypse shelter ready to go. Yeah, we have a panic room totally stocked.

That's Jenna's company. Who wants to work for me? Come work for me. That sounds amazing. You know what? It's funny. I've basically created that job with this podcast. You have.

You've given yourself all of those things, except maybe the zombie apocalypse room. I don't know. Do you have a... Wait, is there something you need to tell me? I don't have a whole room, but I've got all my backpacks ready to go. I have a catch for this cold open. It's a Jenna catch. During this cold open, Jim pretends to talk to Dwight's mother.

Yeah. Right? He says, mutter, tell Fatter I'm getting married. Yeah. Well, in Fun Run, do you remember, Angela? When Dwight is trying to make your character feel better about Sprinkles dying, he offers to have sprinkles stuffed, or he offers to have sprinkles buried in the East Field by mother.

Yeah. Dwight's mother is not living. Yeah. Little continuity error. Yes, I was very proud of my catch. Well done, Jenna. Guess what? What?

It's Toby's last day. Michael is dancing through the office. He's gotten there so early. No one is there, and he's literally dancing. I mean, he says, today is one of those days. You know you will remember for the rest of your life. I know. It's a countdown until his horribleness is out of the building.

He sets an alarm on his watch. Mm-hmm. That's going to go off as Toby has his final moments in the office. He's so excited. He's giddy. Toby arrives. He goes back to HR and Kelly hugs him. She can't believe it's his last day.

She feels so weird. Toby feels fine. He's not a lot. upset. Yeah. All right, conference room meeting, Angela. The party planning committee is going to discuss Toby's goodbye party. I loved every minute of this scene. I loved every minute of doing it. I loved every minute of watching it. I am so very pregnant. I'm at that stage in pregnancy where you can't hide it. Look at my face. No, your belly is practically in your neck. Let's be honest. I don't know how you fit under that table. I'm a short person, you guys. Tall people when they're pregnant, they go up. But when you're

short, you just go out. And it was like my head was sitting on top of my belly. Angela tells Michael, here's what they've got for the party. A buttercream cake and a slideshow of Toby, but they only have two photos of Toby. They're just two different expressions standing, getting coffee in the kitchen. It's amazing. Michael is like, absolutely not. No, no, no. This needs to be very special. Toby is going away forever. He wants the party to end all parties. Yeah, he says when someone in New Orleans leaves, they throw a parade for them. And Pam says, you want to throw Toby a New Orleans funeral? Because that's what that means. That's the parade Michael is talking about. In the shooting draft, Jenna, there were a few more extra lines to the scene that really tickled me.

So Pam says that line. And then Michael says, if that's appropriate, then that's what I want. I want something that says, oh, wow, okay, oh God, thank God. And then Angela says, a prayer, you want a prayer party? And then that's when Michael says, if the devil were to explode and evil disappeared. That's what he says in the script. That's the kind of party I want to throw. Angela explains they only have enough money for a cake and maybe to develop a few more slides. Toby will not be in them. And that That is when Michael gets out his shoe. As one does, you get out your shoe, you pull up the insult, and you have a lot of cash.

Yeah. Michael explains every year his grandma sends him $50 for his birthday, but lately she's been sending him about nine or ten checks a year. He was saving for a motorcycle, Angela, but he thinks this is what he wants to spend his money on. We had a fan question from Isabella D. In Catcher in the Rye, Holden says that his loaded grandmother, has been losing her marbles a little bit and has been sending him money for his birthday multiple times a year. Was this a happy coincidence or an intentional reference? And who came up with it? I don't know. Do you know? I found out. Paul wrote this. He said it was not intentional.

It's just a happy coincidence. But I would like to say, Isabella D. Applaud. I applaud you for being very, very well read. Yes. And bringing up this literary parallel reference. Yeah. Well, Michael starts listing all of these ridiculous things he wants at this party. He says he wants to feel like he's flying through the air without this ugly weight holding him down. He wants an anti-gravity machine. And you know what? Angela has had it. She has had it. She said she doesn't want us foot money. Oh, that made me laugh out loud, lady. I loved foot money. I mean, I laughed out loud. You know, in the script, Jenna, I looked, because I was curious about the direction. of the scene. And it says that Angela pushes the money back towards Michael. And I added that I did it

with my pen. That was me. That's what I loved about it. You didn't even want to touch it. No. It disgusted you so much. Yeah. But it was so fun. I remember us getting really tickled, Jenna. Oh my gosh. We loved these scenes with Steve and the party planning committee. They are truly some of my favorite to shoot. Yeah, it was just candy. It didn't feel like work. I just couldn't wait. And my biggest goal was just to not laugh so that we could get some usable footage. Well, now Michael is going to put Phyllis in charge. I loved it so much. Phyllis crushed it.

The way she said yes. When Michael asks her if she will plan the party, it is like she has waited for this moment her whole life. So I have a little script tidbit to share. After Phyllis says yes, it would have cut immediately to an Angela talking head. And it says Angela's talking head just starts with a huge fake laugh. And then Angela says, I was going to let Phyllis be in charge of cups today. And even then, I had a stack of cups standing by in my trunk.

Of course you did. That's so good. They must have just loved writing those snarky talking heads for you, Angela. They're so good. I was going to let her be in charge of cups. Sort of. But I doubt she could handle it. Well, now the big moment.

Holly Flacks arrives, new HR rep. Yes, and Toby has a talking head that as part of his last day, he's going to be training the new human resources rep. And he says, again, the company has allotted only one day for this one training day. That's all you need. That's it? Yeah. That's all you're going to say about this moment in the show.

What? What are you hinting at? I can't believe I have to bring this up. Lady, what? The blooming plant at reception? Hold up with your shade, Jenna Fisher. I have a whole plant breakdown. I was going to bring up later.

Thank you very much. I was going to let Holly have her moment. Oh, all right. Well, I shouldn't have doubted you. I'm sorry. Don't doubt me. But I mean, all I saw was a blooming plant at reception. She's carrying a plant in her box.

It was just like a plant explosion. And as I was watching this episode, I thought, well, Angela's just going to love that. So many plants. I did not notice the plant in her box. She has a plant in her box? She has a plant in her box. How many times are we going to say plant in her box? Hashtag plant in her box.

It sounds dirty. Is that just me? No, it's not just you. But I kind of like it. I like it. Be like, hey, how was last night? Did you get a plant in your box? Is that too much?

I want you to know if you go down there, I have a plant in my box. Oh, my gosh. What are we even talking about right now? We don't even know what we're talking about. We just know we're going to get the E. Oh, my gosh. Okay, wait, since we're bringing up plant, I might as well do my plant breakdown here, lady.

Here's the thing. That is a very tall blooming plant. Two shades of pink. It's the happiest plant I've ever seen at front reception. I think I could be wrong, but I think they're gerber daisies. My plant people, I want to hear from you. What are these plants? Pam has a blooming plant in her box.

Pam is the happiest she's ever been. Yeah. And her plant is reflecting that. Now, it won't live past this week. She's going to have a dead plant in her box later. Oh, dear. You don't want a dead plant in your box, everyone. Well, here is why Pam is so happy, everyone.

And it's why her plant is blooming. She gets a very exciting email. and she is going to rush to the break room to tell Jim, he's just sitting there having some chips in a soda, just tracking, again, not working. Yeah. So far today, he's played a prank and he needs a chip break. Mm-hmm.

Busy day for Jim. She tells Jim, she has been accepted to the Pratt School of Design for their three-month program. Yeah, I titled this scene, Happiness in the Break Room. She's really happy, but she's going to have to go to New York for three months. That's a long time.

It's not that long. It feels like forever. No, I'm kidding. Jim says it's no big deal. They'll just visit one another. He's being incredibly supportive. It's super, super swoony and wonderful. I went to the Pratt website because I want you to know how significant it is that Pam got accepted to this school.

Oh, let's hear it. It is listed as the 10th best art and design school in the world in 2020. The 10th, it's number 10th. It's number 10. So it just barely made it in. Oh my God. Angela Kinsey. I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. Let me tell you the other schools in the United States that made the list above Pratt. Oh, my God. Listen to her. Listen to the staff. I'm sorry of being so sassy. Oh my gosh. Pratt people, I'm very proud of you.

I think this is a huge achievement. All right. Well, here are some other great art and design schools in the United States. Parsons, Project Runway, anyone? Tim Gunn, hello? Make it work. Rhode Island School of Design, MIT, and the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Those were the other ones.

But how about this? Since you're down on its number 10 ranking, I am not down on it. I just was playing around. Well, in 2021, I found a list where it jumped to number four. Well, good job. How about that? But listen to this part. Uh-oh.

As I was reading these lists of schools and their credentials, there's a part of it where they talk about the average early wages of a graduate from art school. I found this fascinating. As an artist, as actors ourselves, right? The average yearly wages are around $40,000 a year. Out of college. Out of college. Okay.

But this led me to wanting to speak about the average wages of an actor. You guys, Jenna just got out her book that she wrote. We'll put in our stories where you can buy it. She's going to quote herself from her book. Yes, that's right. I'm holding my own book that I wrote. It is called The Actors Life, a Survival Guide. I was not expecting this to become a book plug, but there you go.

I'm going to now quote myself. You quote yourself, lady. I'm here for it. How badass is it that I'm about to quote myself from my own book? I'm sorry. That's kind of amazing. I mean, I would love to take a screen grab of you right now. It's adorable.

And then I'll put a swipe up in our stories, Jenna, on where you can get your book, which is a fantastic book for anyone who's making a way and whatever your form of art is. It's a great, great book. Well, here, as I quote myself, I did some research on the average wages of an actor in general. And according to the Screen Actress Guild, which is the union the actors belong to, the median income for a working actor is $52,000 a year. But most of the SAG after membership earns less than $7,000 a year from acting. And only 5% of union actors earn more than $100,000 a year.

But I did more math. I really break it down in the book. Because I said, let's pretend that you earn that median income of $52,000 a year from acting. you don't get to keep it because you have to pay agent commissions, manager commissions, taxes. So I calculated the average take-home pay per year of a working union actor, and it is $29,000 a year. If you're lucky. If you're lucky. Yeah. That's right. Listen, the artist's journey is not one that you do for money. You do it because you love to do it. It's because it's your passion and you feel like you couldn't do anything else, you know?

And so you have to have your eyes wide open. If you go into work as an artist, that you're doing it for the love of the art. And if you buy Jenna's book, you'll also get to see her early headshots, which are really a delight. And so many of them, I'm wearing overalls for a reason I can't explain. That was a thing. All right, let's get back to the episode. Moving on, Michael and Dwight are peering out of. Michael's office and they're looking on as Toby introduces Holly to Stanley, Michael hates her.

He hates her. Dwight hates her head. Yeah. Doesn't like how her head is. Dwight says it's an odd shape, right? And Michael thinks Dwight just says things to agree with him, but he does say, all right, fine, her head is weird. And then Michael says we should sell her an elevator pass. And Dwight's like, but our elevator doesn't require, hazing. Hazing.

This is going to kick off a whole storyline for Dwight. Dwight is going to really lean into this idea of hazing, Holly. Oh, yeah. Dwight's on a mission now. You know, he loves having a call to action. Meanwhile, Phyllis is trying to find an anti-gravity machine. So far, she's only found someone who can connect her to antidepressants. I'm telling you, I have a catch at 7 minutes, 39 seconds.

Phyllis is about to break when the lady on the phone says antidepressants. You can see her starting to laugh. We had a fan question about this, Angela, from Haley S. Corin T. Rose P. and Joe S. They said, who is she talking to on the phone? Because many of them think it sounds like Amy Ryan. They were like, did Amy Ryan fill in as the woman on the phone? No, she did not. I asked Kentipedia about this.

He said that we auditioned seven women to do this voiceover. He's pretty sure that we went with actress Molly Hagen. I could not find this part credited anywhere online, but I will tell you, if you saw Molly Hagen, you would recognize her. She's this brilliant, comedic actress. I'd also like to point out she's been on Monk. Oh, no way. Yeah.

I mean, Molly Hagan is like such a fantastic character actress. Like, if we got her, we were so lucky. I know. Folks out there listening, I want you to know there are many, many more delicious deleted Phyllis scenes as she tries to play on this party. So many, but I would like to play one of my favorites for you now. It's from the DVD. It's a scene between Kevin and Phyllis and then, of course, a little bit of Angela Sass at the end. Yes.

Good news, Phil. The band just had a last-minute cancellation. So we are available to play at the going away party tonight. No way. Do what you guys did at my wedding? That wasn't me, fellas. That was Chester on bass. I'm talking about 30 police songs in a row, all off key, off temple,

and you forgot at least half the lyrics. But, Phyllis, that was Scranticity. Day work. Now, I am with Scranticity, too. Give me a break. Fine, fellas. I'm sorry that I ruined your wedding. I didn't mean Kev. Kevin.

Nice job. Real nice. Thank you. I didn't mean it. Really? You didn't mean it? Oh my God. So many great details about Phyllis's wedding. 30 police songs in a row. Off-key, off-tempo. They didn't know all the words. That would be horrible. my gosh. And then I pop in at the end. And Jenna, for this scene, I remember filming it because I'm

supposed to walk into the conference room like I overheard, like way to go, but they couldn't hide my belly. So they had me snuggle up to the wall and then lean, like lean my head around the corner. It was so awkward. And on set that day was an NBC photographer and he was in the conference room and he took this picture of me leaning around the corner. And lady, it's the photo they used on so many things and I'm so clearly pregnant. I'm like, this photo, this is the day you're going to take my picture? I'm going to put it in stories. I can't believe it. Whenever I see it, I'm like, really? There's no other photos. This was the photo. This will live forever. Great. Fantastic. Congratulations. Thank you. Well, now Toby is going to bring Holly to meet Michael.

Michael is so annoyed. Yeah. Now he's got to deal with female He says, listen, my job is to make the office fun. Your job is to make the office lame. Only one of us can win. He's basically like newsflash. It's going to be me. And then Holly throws him a total curveball. She turns to Toby and is like, what did you do to him? And Toby's like nothing. And Michael's like, no, he tortured me with his awfulness. And then Holly's like, yeah, I know what you mean. I nearly fell asleep when he gave me a tour of the files. Michael is thrown. He has met his person. I know.

And it's crazy. It's two sentences. And he's in love. All of a sudden, she is the most attractive, wonderful woman he's ever met. He has this great talking head where he says, you know what? Thanks to Toby, he believed that the HR department was a breeding ground for monsters. But what he failed to realize was that not all monsters are bad, like E.T. Is Holly their E.T.?

Yeah. Is Holly our extraterrestrial? Yeah. She's just an awesome woman from this planet. Oh my gosh. Well, Holly is going to keep making the rounds. She's going to keep meeting people in the office. But before we do that, should we take a quick break? Yes, because I texted Creed about the moment that Creed meets Holly. And I'll share that when we come back. Yay, I love it. All right, we are back. There is a fantastic scene between Creed and Holly where Holly's like, hey, I look forward to, you know, spending time with you and finding out what it is you do here. What do you do here? And Creed's little computer shuts down.

His brain is like, oh God, oh, God. So I texted with Creed Bratton about this, and he said he was so excited for the scene. He knew it was definitely in his comedy wheelhouse. And he said he purposely took an extra long. beat after he shook hands with Holly and then walked away. He really wanted to drag out that moment. I thought it was so great because then it cuts to him hiding behind the refrigerator in the kitchen. And he's like, what is wrong with this woman? She's asking about stuff that's nobody's business. What do I do here? Qua, quack, quarr, quibbity, quare, quibbity, choir assurance.

Yes. His job is quality assurance. Yeah. And he's like, no, no, no, no, but I'm getting close. But I just thought Creed was so great and it. So good. Well, Dwight is going to ask Holly if she has met Kevin yet. And as part of his hazing, he is going to tell her that Kevin is here as part of a special work program because he is slow. She goes up to Kevin and she really goes out of her way. And he offers her some M&Ms. And Kevin is delighted that anyone is taking an interest in him. Right? Because all in Angela ever does is say, shut up, Kevin. I don't think Oscar talks to Kevin much.

He's stuck back there in that corner. He can't believe it. Someone cares about his M&Ms. I thought the way Amy Ryan as Holly did all of her scenes was brilliant. Well, Michael is going to come over, and he starts flirting with Holly. They are the worst. He says, if we hung you up, we'd have to kiss under you. He means mistletoe.

And then he calls her a hologram. Then he says, and this sounds like something I would say, he says, are these guys boring your ears off? What would you say besides that? I think you say, are they talking, chatting your ear off? Not boring your ears off. That's not a saying. No one says that. Oh my gosh.

I love that you are the person who is like, nobody says boring your ears off. When it's something you would totally say. I know. But Michael is flustered. And then, oh my gosh, you just starts speeding ahead. He's like, I'll make you a mix CD. What's your commute like? Oh, my gosh, Michael, slow down.

Meanwhile, at reception, Pam gives Toby a going away present. It's a photo of everyone in the office. And he can take it with him to Costa Rica. Isn't that so nice? So nice. Jenna, I found this photo. I have it. You too?

Yeah, they gave it to all of us. But I'm not in it. You took it. Exactly. So yeah, I guess you didn't get it, but I have it. Oh my gosh. Everyone is facing forward, except for a small blonde accountant who's facing sideways tucked behind people. Why? I wonder why she's facing sideways. Oh my gosh. That is so funny. Yes, Jenna, they took this on set one day. We had to do that thing where we had to be in different wardrobe. You know what I mean? Yes. And we took this picture in between scenes one afternoon. That's amazing. Well, I'm not in it because I was taking.

it. Toby's very sad. And he's like, well, I love it. But maybe I could get a picture of just the two of us. And Pam's like, sure, do you have a camera? And then Toby like screams out. Does anyone have a camera? Paul was so good. I laughed so hard at that, Jenna. We had a fan question from Mariah A. when Toby yells, does anyone have a camera? Was that scripted? Angela, can you check the script? Yes. Okay.

So it is in the script. It's written slightly different in the script. It says that Pam says, do you have your camera here? And Toby, louder than he's ever been, yells, who has a camera? Nobody answers. And Toby says, I'll go get one. So it is very similar. And it was in the script.

Oh, my gosh. It was so funny. I was thinking, at this point in the story, remember Ryan gave us all blackberries? There's a camera on your blackberry. I guess that won't do for Toby. He wants a proper photo. I think he wants a real deal picture. Well, next up, Jim's talking to Ryan on the phone.

He's kind of bragging that he made a big sale. Ryan is not impressed. He's like, oh, congratulations, you did your job. Not only that. He says to Jim, don't interrupt. I mean, the Ryan sass. is strong. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. He tells Jim, did you log it in the website yet? Log it in the website. Jim's like, well, I already entered it as a sale. He's like, I don't care. Log it in the website. Ooh. Mm-hmm.

Ryan Sass. Can we now talk about my favorite scene of this episode? Which one is it? Michael in his office downloading the N3P music for his CD mixtape for Holly. That whole couplet wasn't in the script. What? Yeah, the N3P and the CD mixtape, that wasn't in the script. But the rest of the scene was, but just that language, which I have to think was either

an alt or an ad lib, I don't know. Oh, I love it so much. And I love Jim's response, where he's like, close, not quite. Yep, no. Michael is asking Jim's advice. He needs to know what songs he should pick. that work on two levels. And here are the two levels.

Welcome to Scranton. And I love you. Yeah. And he fell in love with her when he first heard her voice. It was love at first C with my ears. Jim is going to try to get Michael to pump the brakes. Okay? And he says,

you know, I maybe have a little bit of experience with office romance. And Michael is like, who? Pam, that's still going on? I love this running joke that Michael is still surprised that they're dating. I know. It's so good. Well, he really tries to explain to Michael.

You can have this romance, but you just have to take it slow. Let it build. Basically, he's saying, don't be a weirdo, Michael. Don't be Michael, Michael. Yeah. Take a new approach on this one. But this whole conversation where Jim is talking about his romance with Pam, All of these milestone moments in their relationship took place at work in the office,

leads him to realize he should propose to her at work. Tonight, at the party. Full Circle Life moment. It should happen at Dunder Mifflin. It's really sweet. Jim goes into the conference room. He says, Phyllis, I want fireworks at this party. And then he hands her an envelope of cash.

Yes. Lady, there is a deleted scene. where when Jim walks in, he's like, hey, Phyllis, how's it going? And Phyllis goes, Jim, I'm f***. And they bleeped it out, but she clearly throws down the F bomb. And Jim's like, okay. It's so great. There's so many good Phyllis deleted scenes.

Oh, my gosh. Yeah, but she's excited to get fireworks. She needs some showstopper moments, so this is good. Should we go into the break room? Kevin is staring at the vending machine. He's trying to decide what to get when Holly sees him. She's going to come help him. They could not get through this scene, by the way.

They could not. There's bloopers from this scene. Oh, fan catch from Abby M. She thinks Brian's about to laugh on the button line. I mean, he almost breaks. He did repeatedly when they filmed it. So there's no doubt to me that she caught him breaking. This scene does it for Kevin.

He's like, I'm going to bang Holly. She is cute and helpful and seems really into me. Yeah. Kevin has found his person. He has. Lady, at 16 minutes, 18 seconds, I have titled this, wauza. Go Jim. Oh, yeah.

Jim is Hot to Trot. And he calls Ryan. Wait, lady, hot to trot means up for sex. Hot to Trot. I thought it means you're all fired up. You're fired up to hook up. Are you sure? Hot to trot is like you get all dressed up to go out to a bar.

I'm hot to trot. Anyone? Sam, Cassie. I have been saying this like when someone's irritated my whole life. I've always used it that way too, Jenna. Thank you. Hot to trot. It's like you're fired up to, you know, meet someone and hook up and get it on.

I thought it just meant you were pissed on. No, it doesn't. Angela, I have to ask in what scenarios have you been using it then? I mean, Sam, I'm like racking my brain now of how many times I said this wrong and someone probably thought, what is up with this lady? Where I'm like, oh yeah, I was at the grocery store. I was hot to trot. They didn't have any of the items I went there.

They're like, wow, Angela gets really turned on at the grocery store when they don't have the items she needs. She gets hot to trot. Oh, yeah, I went to kick gas and I was going to use the car wash, but it didn't work and I'd already paid the machine, I was hot to trot. Oh, no. Oh, I've been doing it wrong, guys. Well, learn something every day.

Okay. You could say Jim is coming in hot on the call to Ryan. Fired up? I think you're looking for fired up. I think I'm looking for hot and bothered. Yeah, hot and bothered is also a little bit sexy. Oh, my gosh. Oh, I'm so hot and bothered right now.

You're looking for fired up. up. You're thinking fire. That's making you think hot. You want to take hot out of it. Taking hot out. fired up. He is fired up. He is fired up. He's ready to trot. He calls Ryan and he leaves this message. And he's like, hey, Ryan, it's Jim. Look, man, I don't know what's gotten into you lately. But you know what? I really don't care because you're trying to get rid of me. And I bet you don't think I care enough about this job to actually fight back. But you're wrong because I do and I will. So you can keep trying to push me out of this place. But guess what? I'm not going anywhere. hangs up the phone because he is hot, he's fired up, he's bothered, he's pissed.

You know what, Angela? Pam isn't there to hear this phone call, but if she had heard it, she would have been hot to trot. Somebody in this scenario is hot to trot. It's Pam. Well, now Michael is going to go back to HR. He can't find Holly. Where is she? You know where she is? She's on the floor. She's taken apart her chair. In the script, it says Holly is sitting. acutely on the floor. She explains to Michael that she's trying to fix the lumbar support on her chair, and she's like,

great story, huh? I'm going to sell the movie rights. Michael is so excited. There's a bit. There's a bit. So he goes, and the sequel, woman stands at desk and works. And Holly laughs. She chuckles. She chuckles. So Michael's going to get down on the floor with her. He offers to help her put her chair back together. But he can't sit how she's sitting. He says, how are you sitting like that? And she's says yoga. Well, Michael's brain, here's yoga, and then he does a Yoda impression. Sit on floor and put chair together, we will. And then there's this pause. And you're like, oh, no, oh, no, she doesn't think he's funny. Oh, no. But then she does a Yoda impression back. Oh,

melt my heart. Past curvy metal piece, you will. That's it. Michael is sunk. He is so in love. You know, Amy Ryan did not know Yoda? What? Mm-hmm. She had to Google scenes of Yoda in order to get the voice right. Well, she nailed it. She nailed it. Good job, Amy. Clearly you're in the Jenna Club of not knowing Star Wars. I'm going to let it slide.

Well, Michael, he is so smitten, right? But he's trying to take Jim's advice. So he very awkwardly asks Holly if she's going to be in town this weekend. but then says, because I won't be. Yeah. Hey, you're going to be in town this weekend? Because I won't be. What? I know.

And she says, that's too bad. You're going to miss my orgy. And Michael is like, what? I mean, in addition to the Yoda impression, now she makes a kind of sexy joke, which is usually Michael's wheelhouse, right? Yeah. And then she's like kidding.

And then he's like, kidding. Acting. And she knows immediately acting. They're doing love it. Both of them. Yeah. John Lovitz played this character on S&L called The Master Thespian.

And it's such a funny bit. He's like this sort of ego-maniacal actor. And he spoke with like this sort of plummy Shakespearean accent. And he would try to trick the other people in the scenes into believing he was hurt or that like something terrible was happening. And then when they would stop the see, be like, oh, are you okay? He'd be like, ha-ha, acting. It was such a funny bit.

So that's what they're bonding over now. It's just amazing. This scene was so charming, right? It was so cute. Amazing. Well, building on this moment, there was another scene in the shooting draft where Holly and Michael are in the kitchen at the same time and they're sharing coffee and they're doing cookie monster impressions.

Oh, my God. I know. And I'm sure when they edited it, they were like, we don't have enough time for both. Let's pick one. So they did the Yoda scene. But they sort of spent the whole day doing these bits together. It's really sweet. Well, it makes sense then when Michael rushes over to Jim's desk.

And everyone, as you watch this scene, I just want you to remember that Steve Correll never won an Emmy Award for playing Michael Scott on the office. And it is a tragedy because this scene. This scene of him, he is so wired. He says, I, I laid a base. I laid a base. And even though I wanted to kiss her, I didn't. I mean, it's such good acting. It's so good.

All of it. I know. Well, Phyllis now is going to go over to Angela and admit that she needs some help with the party planning. She's going to need the vendors that Angela has. All the lists, all the phone numbers, right? You know what? You know what just happened to that vendor list? Oh, someone shredded it.

just now. And Phyllis is like, why would you do that? And Angela says, hmm, why do you think? Yeah, I just don't know. So good, Angela. You're so good in that scene. And then Phyllis knocks the papers off of Angela's desk. I have two things to share. First of all, that whole scene was in the script. And Phyllis knocking the papers off the desk. I wanted to see if that was in the script, it was. So that was all written out. But I wanted to share something with you guys. I remember when we rehearsed the scene, because you know, you guys, we would rehearse for camera so they would know where to line up their shots, right? When Phyllis said to me in the rehearsal, can I get a list of your vendors? I'm supposed to bend over quickly, hold the basket up and say, I shredded it. There was no

quickly about it. I was very pregnant. I couldn't reach the basket. They said on the ground easily. So I was like, And then they're like, okay, that's not going to do. We can't see you struggling to reach the garbage bin, right? Yes. So Matt Sone, who was so sweet, who was our camera operator, he was like, let's just set it on an Apple box. You won't see it. So Angela doesn't have to bend all the way down to the floor.

So if you watch the scene, I have that basket so ready to go. It's because I don't even have to bend over to reach it. It's right there. Yes, I was very pregnant, guys. This is something that comes up for Genesis. and I, as we rewatch these episodes, there's real life that meets the fiction, right? All of the memories of what you had to go through to make these scenes work. To pick up a trash bin when you're super pregnant.

Exactly. Well, now we cut back to Michael and Holly, kind of still working on the chair and Toby approaches, and Michael needs to get rid of Toby. He's like, why don't you go home and come back for the party? But Toby says, while we still have to do my exit interview, bum bum. All right, guys, Michael has a talking head. He says he's been steeped in anticipation of this moment.

Toby has been, quote, cruising for a bruising for 12 years. And my name is Captain Bruzen. The look on Michael's face says it all. He has been waiting for this moment for a long time. And he can't wait. I'm sorry to tell you. that we're going to stop here. You will have to wait for this exit interview.

It's how we will start out next week with Goodbye Toby Part 2. It's so good. I loved this episode. Thank you so much to Jen Salata, Paul Lieberstein, Kitz Saboranak, Creed Bratton, for letting us hit you up with questions about this episode. I love our office family so much. They show up for us every week, you guys. Big love to those folks.

They are really helping us get all the details of these episodes. And I love that we're recording it. We're going to have it. We're going to have this record. Forever. Forever. All right. Goodbye, Toby.

Part one is done. You know you're hot to trot for next week and we'll be here. We sure will be. We'll see you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies' Second Drink. This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jorkins and our audio engineer and associate producer is Molly Nugent.

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.