Office Ladies - Second Drink: The Coup

Episode Date: June 2, 2025

This week we're breaking down The Coup, so you better get ready for a fashion show, fashion show, fashion show at lunch! We start off with Movie Monday, Rainn Wilson shares a few memories about this episode, and a fan submits an interesting theory about Jim's shirt sleeves. Then we talk about Stamford and Call of Duty, we get Outlet Mall deep dives, and of course we couldn't forget Crentist the Dentist. Finally we wrap up with Michael and Dwight hugging it out, and Angela shares a journal entry and a couple deleted scenes.  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Episode Transcript 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

Some trips are just better in an Airbnb. And right now you can discover Canada and their many local hidden gems with an Airbnb. I worked in Canada off and on for two years. Yes. And my first year, the production put me up at a place. And the second year, I was like, hey, whatever that production budget is,

can I have it and go find my own place in more of a neighborhood, you know? Yes. And I did, I got an Airbnb, I got a little apartment, it faced a park, it was so lovely. I loved the host and I stayed there for two months. Wow. Yeah, and I was near a grocery store.

I really felt like I made a little life there. I'm thinking about like the Rocky Mountain areas in Canada where they've got the lakes and the Alberta Rockies. I don't know, it just feels like if you got yourself a cozy little cabin there. You know what I mean? Yeah. Like Banff National Park.

Well listen, maybe you should consider Airbnb for your next adventure. I mean, we love it. Love it. What's better than a well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well-marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well-marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Whatever groceries your summer calls for, Instacart has you covered. Download the Instacart Hello, welcome to the second drink of the coup. We have some fun stuff for you today to kick off this episode.

I'll start with a great background catch. Diego Efeo spotted this. Andy's nickname while he is playing Call of Duty is Here Comes Trouble, his acapella group. And Karen's is Karen the gym slayer. I remembered that one, but I forgot that Andy's was Here Comes Trouble. Well, we also got some mail about a scene that was added to the superfan version. Hulls06 wrote in and said, do you have any info or tidbits about Jan's visit to Stanford

and the interaction with Jim regarding the meeting with Dwight? I had never seen that clip and thought it was so funny and strange. Okay, so I went and I watched the scene. It does seem like it's out of nowhere. Jan's behavior is so different. She's jokey and she clearly likes the Stamford branch better. And I wanted to read how it was in the shooting draft.

I have no memory of Jan visiting Stamford. It's in the super fan version. Okay. Yeah. But here's how it was scripted. And it was in the shooting draft, so they, you know, they did shoot it. It starts with this narration. As Jim turns to Karen, he sees that he is greeting Jan, who has just entered. Jan says, Hello, Jim, how's work? Jim feels caught because they're playing Call of Duty. He says, Good. Jan casually walks over to his computer, hits some keys to explode a grenade, killing his soldier.

Jan laughs, someone turns the lights back on. And then Jan says, Jim, I'm meeting with Josh now, but remind me to tell you before I go what Dwight said to me earlier. You'll get a kick out of it. And she's like all jokey. And it says she heads into the conference room, Karen smiles at Jim.

And then Jim has a talking head where he says, things are a little different in Stanford. It's not so bad. Wow. Yeah. Jokey Jan. In Stanford. Who knows Call of Duty?

And who like typed in some stuff and ruined Jim's game. I see what you mean. I also wanted to share some extended footage from the deleted scenes. I'll set it up for you. It would have happened at the very beginning of the cold open. It's about movie Monday.

And Michael has gathered everyone in the conference room, but there is someone missing. We discussed this a little bit in our breakdown, but there is one person who refuses to attend. Do you know who it is? Is it Stanley? Let's hear it and you'll find out. Let's go. Let's go, let's go, let's go! Let's go! Everybody here? Yes. Where's Angela?

Where's Angela? No, not everyone approves of Movie Monday. I won't say who. I don't approve. I don't. Dwight. Oh it's you. It's me. Well I have to imagine pretty much any movie Michael would choose, Angela would not be a fan. No and also it just goes to her rule following. Like what are we doing? Are we working today or are we watching a movie? Yes. Well, we also got a lot of mail because this is the episode with the Crentus scene. Mm-hmm.

Ugh. One of my favorites. And we got this letter that made me chuckle from Lee B, who said, I had a pain management doctor named. I know, I know, it's so funny. I can't even say it. Named. It's so ridiculous.

It is the same as Crentus the dentist. Okay, Lee's pain management doctor's name was, I can't get it out, it was Dr. Bochter. That's so silly. Dr. Bochter. Lee said I heard this scene in my head every time I had an appointment. I don't know how I could not have Dr. Bochter as my doctor. I couldn't. Dr. Bochter.

Could you? No, it's too funnyter as my doctor. I couldn't. Dr. Bokter. Could you? No, it's too funny. Oh my goodness. Well, lastly, I thought we could wrap up with a candy bag alt. It was a Creed talking head about Dwight and Angela's Macbeth-like storyline in this episode. And it read like this.

Creed says, I'll bet the blonde girl loves this. She's been sleeping with Dwight for, oh, I'd say about a year now. Oh my goodness! So I think they were really debating on who's gonna out Dwight and Angela. Yes! And they played around with maybe the idea

of it being Creed in this episode. Wow, I love it! There you have it. And now here is our breakdown of the coup. 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. Are you ready for some conniving and some backstabbing? It's the coup. It's a little bit Macbethy. I think that's a term. Look it up, Macbethy. Season three, episode three, written by Paul Lieberstein and directed by Greg Daniels. You know what I would really love? What? A summary! Guess what Angela? I have a summary! By the way, why did I say that almost like Cookie Monster? A summary! Here is my summary. It's a

little bit like Stacy. Oh it is. It's some Stacey undertones. We're all Kevin. It's a little Cookie Monster mixed with Kevin. Here's my summary. Michael gets into hot water with Jan after she catches him throwing a movie Monday in the office neglecting work. So, egged on by Angela, aka Lady Macbeth, she convinces Dwight to undermine Michael by meeting up with Jan in an attempt to steal the manager position. You're gonna see a whole new side of Steve Carell that is amazing in this episode. At the same time, Kelly convinces Pam to have a... Fashion show. Fashion show. Fashion show. At lunch. Fastback number one.

So this is a very, very big Rainn Wilson, Dwight, Angela, Michael episode. Wouldn't you say this is like, the three of you, Angela, Michael episode. Wouldn't you say? This is like the three of you are really driving this episode. I mean, we have this weird love triangle, if you will. I feel like. Yes. I mean, it's true.

I feel like I'm in love with Dwight. He's in love with Michael. Yeah. It's weird. Well, we really wanted Rainn Wilson to come on the podcast this week, and Rainn Wilson wanted to come on the podcast this week. But guess what? If you can believe it, we had some technical issues that kept us from being able to make

that happen. However, Rainn Wilson did send in some audio clips, and we're going to sprinkle those in throughout. So he will be making an appearance. Although very soon, he will be making an appearance, although very soon he will be making like an appearance appearance. I'm so bummed about the dang wi-fi of it all. You guys, it gets glitchy. It gets glitchy up in here. I don't know. What am I even talking like? Am I 21 in the club? What am I doing? Glitchy up in here? Oh baby that's not 21 in the

club. It's not. I mean I hope it's not. Is it? It's getting glitchy up. You think when you're 21 in the club you talk about glitchy Wi-Fi? Glitchy up in here? That could be your undies in a wad. It could be anything. Alright. You know what I'm saying? Glitchy up in here could mean a lot of things, but apparently when you're 48 in your converted tough shed that you made into an office, you say, is glitchy up in here? We are so sorry that it's hashtag glitchy up in here, but we're going to figure it out. We're going to figure it out. So listen, my fast fact number one is that even though this episode is the love triangle of Michael Dwight and

Angela, there was a big internet stir as the kids would say. Do they say that? Do they say there's a stir? Pretty much. Pretty much you and I have our finger on the pulse of the hip lingo. Do they say the internet was a stir? The internet was a stir with the fact that this episode has the first Jim Caron flirt. Oh, oh I know.

Oh Angela, the internet was a buzz. Was it a buzz? Well, you know what? I like the internet was a stir. All right. That's what I'm gonna say now. It's glitchy up in here and the internet was a stir about it.

Oh doll face. Oh doll face. So yes, the flirt begins. The distance between Jim and Pam is growing. They are not in touch. Even though Jim does bring Pam up a couple of times in this episode, the message boards blew up. Do you remember that after this episode came out?

A lot of strong feelings. A lot of strong feelings about Jim and Karen. Poor Rashida, she was like, Rashida was like, I'm gonna go into hiding. People hate me. Except that she's so cute in this episode. She's so stinking cute. And you know what?

She doesn't know about Pam. It's not her fault. That's right. People always- She's not doing anything wrong. People are like just hating on Karen but it's not Karen. Karen's not doing anything wrong. Yeah I mean do you think Jim ever told Karen about Pam? Probably not. Why would he bring that up? Why would he bring that up? Also for some weird reason the only person Jim ever really confides into is Michael. Yeah. No, he did not tell Karen about Pam. No way. All right. Well, this is leading me into fast fact. Number two, Angela, you have a fast fact for us today about Karen.

I do. I have a fast fact about Karen. So Karen's name, Karen Filippelli, was based off an NBC exec named Rachel Filippelli. And this is just a classic Greg Daniels move that he loved to use people's names that he actually knew. I feel like all of our writers would probably pitch names of people they already knew, but Rachel Filippelli was an exec

and Rashida said she actually met her. So Karen Filippelli was based off Rachel Filippelli was an exec and Rashida said she actually met her. So Karen Filippelli was based off Rachel Filippelli. Greg did that all the time. Mm-hmm. If you knew Greg, you better bet your name is going to end up in one of his shows. Also part of fast fact too, Jenna. I don't know if you remember this, but Rashida would sometimes spill things on set and she got the nickname of Spill-a-Pelly.

I don't remember that. Spill-a-Pelly. Oh, that's amazing. That's amazing. All right. I'm going to move us to fast fact number three, because this is a huge fast fact. Angela, I don't know if it's that people are spending a lot of time at home, but this week we got a lot of mail from people that was very long, very involved, a lot of deep dives, a lot of conspiracies, and I'm gonna go into this conspiracy sent in by Susie Kowalski. This is the Jim Halpert sleeve conspiracy. You got my attention, Susie. Here is what Susie says. Guys, I took a deep dive on Jim's sleeves, as you have done on Kelly's hair and shirts.

Someone please tell me why for all of season three, Jim's sleeves are not rolled up. He is famously known for rolling up his sleeves, yet in season three they are not rolled and he is even sometimes wearing a blazer. Here's what Suzy says, I believe it's love stay with me for a second. Oh she wrote stay with me for a second. Go on. She says, Jim's iconic look is him with his dress shirt sleeves rolled up and never wearing a blazer, even though the rest of the men in the office do. However, when Jim moves to Stanford,

he's either wearing his blazer or his dress shirt with his sleeves not rolled up, which is weird because also Andy does not wear a blazer. But after the merger, Andy wears a blazer every day in Scranton. Oh, Suzy. Oh, Suzy. All right, Suzy also says, this is also seen in season three, episode three and four, not two because that's the convention,

five, six, seven, and eight. Eight is the merger, where Andy suddenly starts wearing a blazer all the time, and Jim keeps not rolling his sleeves. But since he's quote unquote home now, you would think he would go back to his old ways, but he doesn't. It's not fancy Stanford, Angela. It's not.

He keeps not rolling his sleeves even when he gets back to Scranton. She says, even in episodes 9, 10, and 11, even when in 11 he's in the warehouse handing Karen the lease he's back in a blazer. But why? It continues in episodes 12 through 21, not 22 because that's beach day, and episode 23. Guess what? Season four, episode one, no blazer, his sleeves are rolled up. I repeat, the sleeves are rolled up, people.

Jim is back, baby. And this is her conclusion. I believe Jim's sleeves are directly correlated with his dating of Karen and not dating Pam. I think when he moved to Connecticut, the sleeves were his way of starting a new chapter. Maybe it's symbolic that he was never comfortable with Karen, he couldn't be his real self

and roll up his sleeves. But in season four, episode one's cold open, he's comfortable again, he rolls up his sleeves, and we know at this point he's comfortable again. He rolls up his sleeves. And we know at this point, he's dating Pam. Let's give her a clap. CLAPPING Suzie, that is some serious sleeve tracking. I applaud you on your attention to detail.

Suzie asked if this was intentional or an accident. Suzie, this was intentional. Suzy, I'm telling you, you are making some ladies in wardrobe really, really happy. They did a lot of things like that. They would change our wardrobe depending on what our characters were going through. And wow, Suzy, I am so impressed.

You're going to see a lot of moments from Pam where her wardrobe changes or her hair changes because of you know who she's dating or what she's up to. Some work, some don't. You know we do that in life right? We try on new looks. They're not all winners guys. They're not all winners. Well listen you know we're all stuck inside. We're wondering what are we going to do? Maybe something you could do is rewatch season three of The Office and look at Jim's sleeves. See what Suzy saw.

Let me tell you something, Suzy, from here out, I'm going to be looking at his sleeves. So, yeah. All right. Fantastic. Fast facts, lady. All right, guys, we're going to take a break. And when we come back, we're're gonna break down the coup and get ready for some sweet audio clips from Mr. Rainn Wilson. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Lady did you see that hilarious Saturday Night Live sketch they did about men's health and mental health where like in order to trick men into taking care of themselves they made a medical clinic that

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We've got our cold open. Michael and Pam are popping some popcorn in the microwave because guess what? It's Movie Monday. I guess that means we find out in this episode that Michael makes everybody go in and watch a movie or maybe a medical video or maybe an episode of Entourage. I have to tell you at 42 seconds, Jenna, your look to camera when you said that they ran out of like instructional videos, then you watched a medical video, your pause and look

to camera is absolute genius. Oh, lady. It was so good. You know, we got a lot of mail of people asking, why did I pause and look at camera? Because he made you watch a medical video. OK, I rewatched this with my daughter, and she was like, mom, what's the deal with the medical video?

I was like, imagine they ran out of videos related to paper supply or work-related videos, and then he just found one on how do you give someone a root canal and you had to watch that. She was like, ugh. And I was like, exactly. Exactly.

Also, that look to camera that you're talking about, that is in the script. In the script, it says Pam looks at, gives camera a look, like, can you believe it? Oh my Lord, it was so good. Well, you know, Michael says this is the only cure for the Monday blues. And then he goes into his cabinet, lady. At 13 seconds, he goes into his cabinet, into his safe, to get a copy of Varsity Blues. Do we need to revisit all of the things in his cabinet? You know, I saw Pringles, I saw the rubber chicken that has to be in the safe.

You know? Yeah. There's a blue pack of gum. Mm-hmm. Here's the thing. His silver tea set that was in there during Dwight's speech. Where did it go? I don't know. He had to move it for his movie stash. There's more than one movie in there. There's also a new photo of Jan taped over the old photo.

The old photo was a picture of Jan from a newsletter when her last name was still Levinson Gold. And now there's some other photo. But I couldn't catch it exactly what it was. I like to think that it's a photo he took of her that she didn't want him to take. Oh, 100%. Well, I have a little something about this cold open. Sam, will you play Mustang? What's going on? And now it's time for Kinsey Tidbit. Hey, look who got her kids in on it.

All three of them. We had to make a sentence so they could all have an equal amount of time so it was fair. You guys know how it is. With multiple children, it all has to be fair or somebody gets their feelings hurt. We got a Kinsey tidbit. I have a Kinsey tidbit about this cold open. Jenna Fischer, did you know that in 1999, I auditioned for Varsity Blues? What? Oh yeah.

What? I did. I auditioned for the part that Allie Larder got of Darcy Spears, the cheerleading captain. She was known famously in this movie as the character who comes out in a whipped cream bikini. Oh my gosh. Whipped cream bikini to Mox, who was played by James Van Der Beek. Yeah, she seduces him in a whipped cream bikini. That's the role I auditioned for. I did not get it. So there you go. Lady,

I have questions. Yeah, go. Did you have to do any cheerleading as part of your audition? Or the fact that you had been a cheerleader, was that a plus? Did it come up in your audition? It came up in my audition, yes, that I had had cheerleading experience. I think it's probably I was such a like unknown nobody.

I think it's probably how I got the audition because I could imagine my agent at the time who was like she's from Texas because it takes place in Texas she's blonde she was a cheerleader yeah I got the audition and I had like my Texas accent everything I did not get the part it's okay but I had read the sides and I remember being like whipped cream bikini. How does that stay on? How does that work and This movie varsity blues I had to go see it because I had to see you know the role I didn't get and there are so many things that if

You're from Texas. You're like, okay, whatever. That's a that's a bit much But one of my favorite lines that my friends and I used to say to each other was by James Van Der Beek in his Southern accent. As the character mocks, he gets into a fight with the football coach who's played by John Voight. They had some like big names in this movie. And he looks at him and goes,

I don't want your life. Yeah, we would say it to each other all the time. All the time. Hey, what's up? I don't want your life. Yeah, we would say it to each other all the time, all the time. Hey, what's up? I don't want your life. Okay, all right. Relax. How did you feel when you did not get the part?

Were you super bummed or were you relieved that you didn't have to wear a whipped cream bikini or both? Was it a mix? I think it was a mix. It was a mix. I was like, oh, I think this is gonna be a big movie, you know? Yeah. And I never got to- This is a game, that would a mix. I was like, oh, I think this is gonna be a big movie, you know? Like, and I never got to-

This is a game, that would have been a game changer. Game changer, I never got to audition for movies. I was just really just going in on commercials. That was my big success is I had, you know, done a commercial about potato chips that gave you anal leakage. So, you know, this would have been a big deal. Pretty much on camera, all I had said was, wow, and then took a bite of a potato chip.

So it was it was a really big deal. But I didn't get it. And that's OK. And that is my Kinsey tidbit from the cold open. I love your Kinsey tidbit. I thought that was very, very good Kinsey tidbit. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We also had a fan question about this cold open Angela.

We had a lot of people ask, what did we do with all the extra popcorn? Because Pam pops a bunch of popcorn and then no one takes it. You guys, we ate it. And we also just put it out on the snack table for the crew. We did eat all that popcorn. It was great. I'll never forget it. Yeah, we were excited about popcorn. We had a lot of snacks all the time, but all of our snacks, they had to be very quiet snacks because the snack table was behind the walls of the set.

So our crafty people, they couldn't pop microwave popcorn because we were shooting and it would make noise. Remember we had that one cappuccino machine for like a hot second Angela, but it was so loud and it kept ruining takes because people would go back and fix themselves like a frothy cappuccino while we were trying to shoot and they were like, get that machine out of here. So this was, I mean, to say we were tickled to have some like microwave popcorn,

we actually really were because it was usually all things that made no noise. Yeah, like a lot of our snacks were like cheese. Lot of cheese. Lot of cheese. Guys, don't worry, Angela did not string it. Who had time for it? I don't have time for that. So I guess Pam also shares that they watched an episode of Entourage six times.

Yeah. Which episode? I wish we knew. But Jenna, did you know that our lovable curmudgeon, Rainn Wilson, was a guest star on Entourage? No, he was not. Oh, yeah, he was. Rainn, this delighted me so much. Rainn was in season two, episode nine. The episode is called I Love You Too. He played R.J. Spencer, who was an internet comic expert. And he interviews Vincent Chase at basically the San Diego Comic-Con because get this, Vincent just got the big role of Aquaman. Okay? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And so R.J. Spencer is going to interview him. But during the interview, Jenna, he starts talking about, I heard that you were engaged

to Mandy Moore and she broke up with you. You know, and guess what? This pisses Vincent off. This calls him an a hole. This is not the interview he was expecting. No and he calls him an a-hole and he storms off and RJ is like I will ruin you. I will write horrible reviews of Aquaman. You know you had your chance and I'm going to destroy you on the internet. Okay so now E, Vincent's manager right? Yeah. He's got to fix this. He's like, what do you want? You know, he's like trying to bribe them. What happens? RJ says, I want $350,000

or I'm gonna destroy Aquaman online. So, meanwhile, Johnny Drama is at Comic-Con and he has a really good friend, an adult film star, Jesse Jane, played by Jessie Jane. She's promoting her fake comic series titled F*** Patrol. So he says, hey, will you guys visit, quote, RJ in his hotel room and convince him not

to write a bad review of Aquaman? And because of her love of Vincent, she's like, yeah. And her and two of her pals in very very interesting outfits uh-huh and knock on the door and RJ is like whoa whoa and guess what does rain have a love scene with three women I need to ask him about it I need to ask him about it because they go in there they shut the door we don't know what happens, but I wonder if there was ever a scene of anything happening. Like, was there a scene that didn't make the episode? I don't know.

But then, of course, he writes, you know, Aquaman glowing review. So there you go, Rain. Rain, I have questions. I have questions for you. I will be texting you later. I really wish I knew this before Rain sent in his audio clips because I feel like the audio clips would have more. They would have anything to say about this. When I was listening to your description of this episode, it became

very clear to me why I didn't watch Entourage. That and I feel good about that. I feel good that I didn't watch it. And I feel like yeah, that good call. There you go. Rainn Wilson as RJ Spencer on Entourage. I kind of want to see just that episode. Maybe just rain scenes. I just fast forwarded to rain scenes. You don't really need to see anything else from it. That was some shade. And so now we can get into the episode. Jan is visiting unexpectedly and discovering Movie Monday.

Yeah. And guess what? Not everyone approves of Movie Monday, Jenna. No, Angela, you do not approve. I do not approve. It is me.. No, Angela, you do not approve. I do not approve. It is me. I will own it. I do not approve. And then Angela is so sneaky. When Jan comes in, she like points to the conference room like, Mm-hmm, tattletale.

She is. But Angela, at 1 minute 49 seconds, where are you sitting for this talking head? You're by a window and there's a plant? Where are you? Oh, I know where I am because there's a deleted scene that's not in here where Dwight has to come find me. Michael's like, go get Angela, right? And Dwight's like, why me? He plays this really coy, it's like sort of a hilarious performance of like, well, I don't know where she is.

Yes, why are you asking me for Angela? And then he goes and finds her and he knows exactly where she is. I am sitting behind the vending machine, sort of squished up in the wall behind the plant on a chair. And I am needle pointing a foot like a cat. I'm needle pointing a cat. And that's where this talking head is. Yes and there is that window that goes from the break room into that little

hallway. Into the hallway and there's a big plant there and that's where I'm sitting. It was driving me nuts. There's a whole scene that happens there that didn't make it in the episode where I start plotting. That's the first seed I plant is that you wouldn't do this as a manager. You wouldn't waste everyone's time like this. I see. All while needle pointing a face of a cat. I love that. All right, we have a fan catch. Angela Beth Boss says, When Jan walks in, she puts her bag and coat down on the chair in front of Michael's office.

But when Angela points to the conference room and the camera cuts back to Jan, she's holding her coat and she's just now putting it down in the chair. Good catch, Beth Boss. Way to go. There's some Duangela sass in this episode as we know, and two of my favorite Duwayne Angela sass lines are coming up around two minutes 39. Angela's telling Dwight to meet her in the kitchen,

and she says that Jan is gonna be peeved off. Jan is peeved off. And then Dwight in his talking head said, "'Yeah, Jan's really been bitching out on him ever since he broke up with her. I'm like, what is up with Angela? They're like kind of cursing. They're being a little tacky, Jenna.

Oh, you think so? I think they're being a little tacky. They've hit their limit, Angela. They can't take it anymore. They can't take the inefficiency. They can't take it anymore. They can't take the inefficiency. They can't take, you know what happens? It's like for all these years, they've been separately stewing over all of this,

but now that they're together, you know how that happens in a couple? Yeah. Now they're kind of like mind melding. Yeah. Well, Ange, I love this scene with Dwight and Angela in the kitchen. It's around 2 minutes, 42 seconds.

You guys are back to back again, not facing one another. Angela's telling Dwight that he's the one who should be writing the office, and he should talk to Jan about it. We had a fan question from Evan Warburton. He says, Angela, did it make it easier or more difficult to film a scene when the characters are back to back? Because I know that Rainn and Angela did quite a few scenes like this. Like, did it make it easier to stay in character because you

didn't have to make eye contact? What was it like? Tell us Angela. Well, I'll tell you this. The biggest thing about these scenes that I remember was timing because you cannot see the other person speaking. So, you know, you don't respond quite the same way because you want to make sure they finish their sentence or sort of whatever they're doing. They're emoting, right? Whatever their thing is. So I remember the first time we did it, there were probably more pauses because we wanted to sort of make sure we had the give and take because naturally when you talk to someone, you're reading their face.

And so it was sort of just like acting off of someone's voice as well. Like all of my reacting was in listening. I think in some ways it made us more thoughtful performers because we couldn't face the other person and we had to really listen to them and react off the last thing they said. Did it make it hard to improvise? Oh, for sure.

I remember really being conscious of not improvising any lines within a written scene and anything that I did improvise came at the very end, when I knew I wouldn't be stepping on anything Rain said. So most of my improv in these scenes, if it made it in was something I said as I was leaving or at the very beginning. That makes sense.

So yeah, so they have this scene in the kitchen, Angela storms out, she's furious. She tells Dwight he needs to grow a pair, right? And a talking head. See what I mean? Jenna, she has had it. And on growing a pair, let's move to Stanford. Let's grow a pair and move to Stanford.

All right, so what's happening at Fancy Stanford, Jenna? They're playing Call of Duty. Jim explains that what started as a team building exercise has now turned into this super competitive game of Call of Duty, which keeps interrupting their workday. He mentions, this is where Jim brings up Pam. He's like, yeah, we didn't really play video games and Scranton. But you know, we did other things like Pam and I would hum a high-pitched tone and try to convince Dwight that he needed to see an ear doctor.

Pam called it pretendinitis. Oh, Jim. Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim. He's just thinking of Pam. Oh, Lordy. But then back in Scranton, Angela, Pam is not talking about Jim. She's signing for a package. She's gotten a delivery.

Listen, she went on a date last, the week for a package. She's gotten a delivery. Listen, she went on a date last, the week before, right? She went on a date. Now she's getting some new clothes. With the help of Kelly Kapoor, before we really dive into this scene, you guys, four minutes, 36 seconds, is Mindy wearing a side ponytail?

Come on. You're bringing up her side ponytail. What about her bangs? I mean... She has bangs. She has bangs, but she has an extension-filled side ponytail. There's a lot happening with her hair. I don't have a sting for it, but it would go, full Mindy! Yeah. Why don't we have a full Mindy sting? We really need to get on that.

Someone make this a full Mindy sting. Someone do it. Well, this leads to a very famous office line. Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show at lunch! Yes! Yes! Guys, that is 100% scripted. That was in the script. That was not an improv. It was written exactly like that. Mindy delivers it perfectly. We had a lot of fan questions about this scene. People mostly wanted to know, did I get to pick out the outfits that Pam gets in her online shopping spree? And also, were there more things in the box besides that single shirt that she gets out

and wears later in the kitchen? Okay, yes. We had a big wardrobe fitting about what would these outfits be, and there were more things in the box, but I'll have to tell you they were basically that same shirt, but there was a turquoise one. There was a lot of jewel toned shirts that looked almost identical to that one shirt that you see. And that was kind of part of the joke. Because have you done that when you're shopping? You're like, I'm going to get a whole new wardrobe. And then you just kind of go to the store and buy the same pair of pants in three colors.

Oh my gosh, I always do that. I find like one shirt I like and then buy it in three colors. And people are like, hey, I have you worn that? Oh, I is that it? And I'm like, no, it's the same shirt. It's the same shirt. Yeah. That was kind of what happened with Pam's, like, redesign of her wardrobe was that she managed to find one thing that she was willing to take a chance on and then bought it in different colors. Here's what I remember about that, Jenna.

Because all of us saw each other every day pretty much in the same wardrobe right? Yeah. Whenever one of our characters did get anything slightly different we were like hey so I remember our reactions to your red fancy blouse so similar to our characters minus the gross pervy stuff but we were all like oh my god you look so great oh my god you look amazing pervy stuff, but we were all like, Oh my God, you look so great. Oh my God, you look amazing. And you're like, Oh, it's just the wardrobe for the scene. It did feel like that whenever we got a slightly fancier hairdo or a slightly cooler outfit. Yeah, everyone noticed. We all talked about it. We're like, wow, look at that. Wow. So now we're back at Stanford, my lady.

Back at Stanford. And Andy is getting ticked off at gym for killing the wrong soldiers in Call of Duty. Yes, and did you notice that four minutes and 59 seconds, there is still a blue sticky note on Jim's computer that says smile? No, I didn't notice. That's a great catch.

Yeah, it's still there. Fan question from Shelby Hagan. How was Call of Duty chosen as the game that was played in the Stanford branch? Thank you so much for your question, Shelby. We actually got so many questions about Call of Duty, and this seemed like the perfect one to get us started. As you guys know, Jenna and I were not in those scenes at Stanford.

That's right. So Shelby, I reached out to a lot of people to get you the real deal on all things Call of Duty. Angela, I got all the scoop from our line producer Kent Sabornak. I texted with our editor Dean Holland and Andy Bernard himself, Ed Helms. Lainey, that is a serious deep dive. I like it, I like it. I deep dived, I really did.

Okay, so what'd you find out? All right, so Kent told me that after we wrapped season one of the show, the post-production guys moved to some offices in Venice to edit the episodes. And while they were there, Kent just, for whatever reason, just on a whim whim installed Call of Duty on everyone's computers, just so they could blow off steam during edit sessions.

And then when we moved to our new stages for season two, he did it again, but this time he also installed it on all of the writers' computers. And that is when the editors and the writers started playing one another. I remember is when the editors and the writers started playing one another. I remember this because our editors and writers were in the same building. They were over where the warehouse is, right? And the writers were upstairs and the editors were downstairs. And sometimes I would go over there at lunch because I was friends with Claire Scanlon, one of our

editors at the time. And I would walk in the editing bay and they were all like, get down And I would walk in the editing bay and they were all like, get down, over here. I was like, what is happening? I remember going up to the writers room and seeing the same thing. They had this big conference table in the writers room and they would have all their computers in a circle. And then some people had little offices and then some people would be around this conference room table. And it was the same thing.

They did exactly like what Stanford did. They would turn off the lights. Yeah. And they would have this elaborate match going on. Oh my gosh, they were so into it. Well, I guess Greg Daniels was particularly obsessed. In fact, our editor, Dean Holland, told me that the very first time he met with Greg to start editing an episode, within about 10 minutes, Greg said, have you ever played Call of Duty?

And Dean was like, yeah. And he said, Greg left the room and started a 20-person game. Like within 10 minutes. How perfect that Greg was the person that directed this episode, because he loves Call of Duty. I know. He loves it. I don't think that was a mistake. No.

No. All right. Well, I have a little runner-up question for you, Jenna. Okay. So Evan Warburton wrote in and said, hey, I need to point this out. Jim is apparently horrible at Call of Duty at the Stanford branch in this episode, but in the episode email surveillance, you can see in the background of the scene at 20 minutes, eight seconds,

that Toby is playing Call of Duty on Jim's TV. Remember at the barbecue, Jenna? Yes, yes. So, and then also in Jim's bedroom at 15 minutes, 52 seconds, you can see an expansion pack of Call of Duty on Jim's desk. Come on, someone please explain. All right, yes. you can see an expansion pack of Call of Duty on Jim's desk. Come on, someone please explain.

All right, yes. We actually had a lot of people write in about this glitch. I went to that time code, 15 minutes 52 seconds. There it is. There is an expansion pack Call of Duty. Here's how this went down, guys. Kent told me that the writers had a card up on the wall in the writer' room all through

season two about a possible Call of Duty storyline. But they couldn't really ever figure out how to put it in. And they had originally thought about doing something, an email surveillance. And if you remember, Angela, we did actually shoot some scenes where people were playing Call of Duty during Jim's party. Yeah. But it wasn't a storyline. Yeah. It wasn't a storyline. where people were playing Call of Duty during Jim's party. But it wasn't a storyline. Yeah, it wasn't a storyline.

It was just something people were doing at the party kind of in the background, but that was there in the script. Yeah, and it didn't really though go anywhere. So finally, when they went to Stanford, they wrote this full plot line. And they had to just live with the fact that there had been this tiny appearance of Call of Duty

earlier, but they so wanted a full Call of Duty story that they just went with it. I was like, it's worth it. They're like, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, whatever, email surveillance. We've got to have a real episode that features Call of Duty. You know what I did for myself? The way I made it make sense is that

Jim had roommates. You know, he had roommates who probably played it. Maybe it was never his thing. You know, maybe he stole the expansion pack and put it in his room to make his roommate stop playing. Maybe that's why it's in his room, along with his guitar that he never plays. Okay, Jenna and Suzy, come on. Come on. So I listened to the DVD commentary for this episode, and Jenna Rashida said that she got lessons on how to play Call of Duty from the writers.

As soon as she got the job, they started teaching her how to play Call of Duty, which just cracks me up. And John actually had something really sweet to say in the commentary. He said that going to the Stanford branch, all of those actors had never worked together before, right? And that playing Call of Duty with one another was actually a really fun icebreaker to get

to know everyone. You know, Ed and I traded some messages and he said the same thing. He said they all played with the writers and it was really, really fun. And he told me that they also played for real on set. Yeah. They were really playing during those scenes. and it was really, really fun. And he told me that they also played for real on set. Yeah. They were really playing during those scenes. And then when they would cut, they would just keep playing.

He said it was a lot of fun and people got super, super into it. I have a little FOMO. I have a little FOMO about it because I feel like we would have had fun with that at Scranton. I mean, all we- See, we knew they were having fun over there without us.

We knew us, dang it. All we were doing was playing solitaire. Exactly. Oh, Jenna, did you get any scoop in your deep dive on who was the best player? Who was our best player? Well, I don't think any of the actors were very good. Oh, really? Ed said he didn't remember anyone being particularly great, including himself. Kent told me that he was the best player when they started, but that during the editing phase of season one when they were in Venice,

co-producer Angie Hamilton was the best, hands down. Wow. But then, see, it sort of depends on who you ask because Dean told me that during season two, he and writer Mike Schurr were the best. They were at the top of the leaderboard. He said they got so into it that they took it over to Parks and Rec when they moved over there and they played it every day on Parks and Rec. And Kent did concur that Mike and Dean left as champions, but he also said

that their assistant editor Mike Zurer was pretty great. All right. All right. Well, I think those were fantastic questions. Thank you so much, Shelby and Evan. All right. Well, I think those were fantastic questions. Thank you so much, Shelby and Evan. All right. So now at five minutes, 12 seconds, we're in the parking lot. Dwight, you know, he's kind of psyching himself up like he does that. We've seen him do this before,

like in the stairwell. And in the DVD commentary, rain mentioned that that run that he does in the parking lot that Paul Lieberstein showed him exactly how he wanted that run done. So I picture these two guys just running back and forth. he does in the parking lot that Paul Lieberstein showed him exactly how he wanted that run done. Really? I picture these two guys just running back and forth.

It makes me laugh thinking about it. And then Dwight calls Jan. And he says, hey, I need to talk to you. It's not safe here. He's crouching down. People are walking about. Kevin's around. And he tells her to go to the Liz Claiborne outlet at exit 40

because he knows that she likes buying those blouses from Liz Claiborne. Yeah, he says he'll meet her there. Yeah, I'll meet you at the Liz Claiborne outlet. He says, go in and shop. I'll meet you there. And she says, how do you know I like their blouses? And he says, it's part of my job to know. And then she has that great line where she's like,

it literally is not part of your job. Yeah, he's like, it's absolutely not part of your job to know this. And then Dwight's like, noted. How long has Dwight been tracking her clothes? I feel like Dwight is the tracker, the way we track things on the podcast. That's what Dwight was doing of like everyone in the office. He's got some real creepy notebooks. Oh, he has meticulous creepy notes. the way we track things on the podcast. That's what Dwight was doing of like everyone in the office. He's got some real creepy notebooks. Oh, he has meticulous creepy notes.

Lady, I had to do a deep dive the minute he said exit 40. I had to know, are there Liz Claiborne outlets at exit 40? So I can tell you all the outlets in Pennsylvania. Did you go there, lady? Did you go there? Okay, I did not go there Angela because remember when I said earlier that our fans got real into some deep dives on this? We had multiple people write in about Liz Claiborne outlets and Exit 40. Jenny Aguirre wrote in to say there is no Exit 40 according to three Google Map suggestions from Scranton to New York. Did you find that Angela? No No exit 40? Yeah, I couldn't find an exit 40 either. OK, well, Michaela Brock said that the only Liz Claiborne store near Scranton is in Ramsey, New Jersey, which is about an hour

and 45 minutes away on the quickest route. But Elizabeth M said that Jan has said she's been driving an hour, supposedly to New York City, which would not be on the way to this Liz Claiborne outlet that is in New Jersey, and it would actually add 25 miles to her drive. Well, I want you to know, when I was in junior high, my favorite perfume was the Liz Claiborne perfume. Oh! It came in a little like triangle, you know,

and you took the top off. I loved Liz Claiborne perfume. So I would have been very excited about this Liz Claiborne outlets. And my mom loves the outlets. We have had to pull off on the side of the road. Like she would say to my dad, Bill, there's the outlets. Here we go.

Oh, my mom loves the outlets. There is a Carter's outlet. There's a Baby Gap outlet. My mom shops the outlet and she sends just like bags of clothes to me for my kids from these outlets. It's the best. Guys, loving on the outlets. So you can go to outletlocator.com and type in your state and find out your outlets. So this is what I found. There are three outlets in Pennsylvania for Liz Claiborne. There's one in Lancaster, one in Hershey and one in Redding. And then lady, when we get to it later, I'll let you know what outlet locator.com says about Ann Taylor. I'll hold on to that. I'll hold on

to it. Oh yes. Many people wrote in about Ann Taylor. So we'll put a pin in that. So, and then, you know, Dwight gets off the phone and he tells Michael he has an emergency crown that he has to get put in. Michael's like, oh, that, you know, that sucks. And he said, yeah, it's a new dentist

that is three hours away. And off Dwight goes. Well, Michaela Brock wants you to know that if Dwight goes to a Liz Claiborne store in New Jersey, he would have been gone longer than three hours because driving time alone would have been three hours. He wouldn't have even had time to meet with Jan. Guys, we did not think this through. Our writers did not go to OutletLocator.com when they wrote this scene. They did not. Well,

wherever he went, Dwight is now in a parking lot with Jan. And she has done some shopping. She's got some bags. She's got some bags. I have a question for you, Jenna, since I know you have the scripts. There is this line that Dwight says to Jan, and I feel like it's rain improving when he said, did you get a new blouse, halter top, camisole, Teddy? Is that rain improvising?

Yeah. All of that was scripted except for teddy. Teddy. There you go. I knew one of them. He threw in teddy at the end. I knew one of them had to be rain. Aw, you would be friends with Kate Lonergan who wrote in that same question, lady. Oh, hi Kate. All right. So now Dwight and Jan have a meeting at a nearby restaurant. And this is where Dwight really turns on Michael and he starts to campaign to take over the office. He campaigns and grosses me out at the same time. I mean I am impressed with his no-look poor. A no-look poor of syrup is no joke. Lady that was scripted!

I mean that was amazing. I thought the same thing. I looked it up in the script and there is a stage direction that says, here's what it says, Dwight takes the syrup as he talks without breaking eye contact with Jan and pours it over everything on his plate. Amazing. Amazing. We did get some questions, Lady, about his eating of the waffles and pancakes, which

is also delightful. That was not scripted. Rain just ate how he wanted to eat. Casey Halpin asked, how much of those waffles and pancakes did Rain have to eat in that scene? Was he really eating them or did he have a spit bucket? Well, guess what? Rainn Wilson answers this eating question.

All right, let's play the clip, Sam. Here's what Rain has to say. Here's my deal about eating scenes. I love to eat during eating scenes. I love, and if you'll see Dwight, he'll always, when there's an eating scene, he's got a mouth full of food to me. It's really funny He's just wolfing down big bites of food and talking while eating and it's disgusting But it just felt really really right for the character and I also like it as an actor So this was a joy to cover and I love that stage direction of Dwight's eyes never leave jams as he covers his plate entirely in syrup and Melora Harden is such a joy to act with because she's so specific and so underplayed and

No matter what you throw at her. She's right there. She's totally game and always in character All right. So there you have it guys. Rain was really eating. He was really eating, not spitting them out. Rain did not use a spit bucket. I have done a lot of scenes with Rain Wilson and I can tell you the guy goes for it. He goes for it across the board, whatever it is. So if he was going to eat a waffle, by golly, he's going to eat that waffle. Well thank you Rain. Thank you for sending in that clip. We've got more guys coming up. This is also the scene lady where at the end of the scene, he tells Jan there's an Ann Taylor

store nearby and he knows that she likes the earrings. Melora's performance as Jan is so great. She's like, where is it? Yeah, she's like, yeah, where is it? I do actually. I do want to look at the earrings. Well, Michaela Brock wants you to know that while there are 20 Ann Taylor stores around the Scranton area, the nearest one to a Liz Claiborne is about 16 minutes away. Now, Jenny added, Angela, I told these, everyone deep dived on this.

There is an outlet mall roughly an hour away from Scranton. I think this is the one you're talking about. It's on the I-80 East route. It's called the Crossings Premium Outlet. Did you find this one? Well, I can tell you on outletlocator.com, there is an Ann Taylor outlet in Lancaster as well, and also one in Hershey as well.

So if you were at Liz Claiborne, you could hit Ann Taylor at both of those outlets. And then there's another one in Tannersville and Pottstown. But there's no Liz Claiborne at those. No, but you have a Liz Claiborne crossover at Hershey and Lancaster. Well, Jenny was noting that at the Crossings Premium outlet, there is also Billy's Pocono Diner.

So they serve breakfast and it is possible that that's where they were eating. And then Jan could pop over to that Ann Taylor. According to Kentopedia, however, for anyone who wants to know, this was shot in Toluca Lake, California at Patty's Diner. Famous Patty's Diner. I've eaten there, and so I can tell you with great authority that Rainn Wilson was eating delicious pancakes and waffles at Patty's. All right, well, we've got to get back to the Scranton branch because the shiitake is about to hit the fan.

But before we do that, let's take a little break. Yeah, let's take a break. I'm going to refill my coffee. You refill your coffee. I'm probably going to go pee. Overshare? Maybe. That's where I'm at.

You always pee during our breaks. It's kind of like, remember when you gave me grief about saying, do you want to hear a summary? Do you want to hear a fast fact? When you know I'm going to say them anyway. It's kind of like, you don't have to tell us that you're going to pee on the breaks anymore, because we all just know. We just know. You have a tiny bladder. I have a tiny bladder. I'm a tiny person. I do as well. Listen, I pee on every break too. I just haven't been talking about it. But well, I am hell on a road trip.

If we can ever road trip again, you don't want me in the car with you because I need to know where I can pee. I'm that person. Where am I gonna pee? Yeah. Where am I gonna pee? Where am I gonna pee? Get me an iced tea. Where am I gonna pee? I know that's the... I drink my way through a road trip, just sodas and water and snacks, and then also pee seven times. Maybe we are perfect partners for road tripping. Because we would just know, we're gonna pee, and we're gonna... Yeah, but we'd have to sync up.

We would need someone to be the alpha bladder, and someone to be the beta bladder. Now you do sound like Dwight. All right, let's take a break. The best adventures start with the right vehicle and end with memories that last a lifetime. We know that's important to you. It's important to us too. Toyota, for what matters most. We know that's important to you. It's important to us too.

Toyota, for what matters most. than ever, whether it's reviving old memories with AI upscaling or seamless hands-free control with universal gestures. This isn't just television, it's a whole new vision because it isn't just about what's on, it's about who's watching. Learn more about Samsung Vision AI televisions at Samsung.com. All right, we're back. Jan has called Michael to tell him he needs to get a hold of his employees and do a better job because they are going behind his back to her, right? Yes, and Michael cannot believe that Dwight would try to turn his ex-lover-ish against him. One of my favorite lines, and it's probably because of how earnestly Steve says it as

Michael, is when Jan calls him and he says, you were at the dentist. Oh yes. Michael thinks that she randomly ran into Dwight where he was getting his crown removed. They're like, no, Michael, it's all a lie. Yes. Oh yes. I love it so much. Well, Angela then we move into the kitchen where Pam is modeling her new top for Kelly and Phyllis.

This is the fashion show. And then Roy walks in with a soda. And he is, oh, I Pam's like taking his breath away right here. Poor Roy. Also, what is there? Not a vending machine in the warehouse? Come on. In that whole warehouse, there's not a vending machine. You've got to come up to the office three times for a soda. Well, you know what? That line was improv by Mindy.

Oh, way to go, Mindy. Isn't that so good? Yes. She had that same thought, right? Like, oh, third soda of the day. In the script, as he's walking out the kitchen door, she was just supposed to say, awkward. Oh, nice. All right, so when we go back to Stanford, Josh puts the game on hold. He calls Andy and Jim into the conference room.

Jim is like, oh, finally we're doing work. No, no, he wants to doing work. No, no. He wants to devise a strategy for the game. So speaking of improvisation, Ed had a bunch of improv at the end of the scene. So when he calls Jim a saboteur that was improvised, that was not in the script, and then when he says all that stuff where he's like, I am going to kill you for real.

This game is over. I am really going to kill you for real. This game is over. I am really going to shoot you. Like all of that, that was, that was Ed improv. Well, in the DVD commentary, John said that this scene was maybe one of the hardest that he had to work not to break. He said that Chip and Ed, Chip who plays Josh,

were just crushing it. And he said he was having the toughest time so I kind of want to rewatch it to watch his face. But lady I have a little trivia about Rain and Chip, Chip who plays Josh. Oh what is it? Okay so did you know that Rain and Chip were in an NBC pilot in 1999. It was called The Expendables. Now, Rain mentioned this in the DVD commentary and I had to do a deep dive.

I was like, what? It sounds like a superhero fantasy type show. Ready? I looked it up online. This is what IMDB had to say about it. The Expendables was an NBC pilot. It was about a scientist who creates two indestructible life-like robots. They have an affinity for television, particularly Starsky and Hutch. Their unexpected development of emotions prompts a need for them to help people. Chip played the character Ram. Rain played the character Newman.

Now, are those characters both the robots who developed feelings? They're robots. They're robots. Okay. Yeah, and Rain said it was so bad, but that he and Chip became friends, and Rain was one of the people that suggested Chip

for the role of Josh. That is some good, I would call that a tidbit and a deep dive. That's a deep tidbit. Can we go to Scranton now? We probably should. This is one of my favorite all time scenes of all time on any television show ever made ever. This is one of my favorite bits ever.

Crentus the dentist. Your dentist's name is Crentus. Maybe that's why he became a dentist. There is a deleted scene where Michael Scott, he's like Scott and he starts seeing what all would name with Scott. But he said none of them are occupations. Okay so in the script the Crentus dentist scene is word for word, you guys. There is nothing improvised about this scene. This was all written by Paul Lieberstein. Paul, you are a genius.

It is perfection. And you're right, there's a deleted talking head. And then there is even more to this scene in the script that is deleted. So if you want to see like an extended version of this genius, please visit the deleted scenes. I love it so much. We asked Rain about it and he sent in this clip. Alrighty then, Office Ladies podcast, Jenna, Angela. Hi, it's me, Rainn Wilson.

Remember me? Vaguely. Everyone talks about the crentest scene has being so spectacular and i know that it's some of the funniest writing i think polybrysian wrote it in all of the office the dentist crentest and that jousting between me and michael but the scene afterwards where apprentice and that jousting between me and Michael. But the scene afterwards where Dwight and Michael play this chess game and Michael pretends to give up his position to Dwight is absolutely masterful.

And I think Steve is I mean, he's great in everything, but he just kills it. And it's so subtle and underplayed. And I love how Game of Thrones it is. I forgot that this whole episode is like these power plays and power ploys and who's going behind who's back. It's like Littlefinger and Valeris in Highgarden or whatever, I think I'm getting all the Game of Thrones names wrong, But in the

Red Keep, all the maneuvering, you know, the Lannisters and backstabbing and loyalty and you don't know whose side who's on. And it's so fantastic. But the thing that gets me every time is that the reason it all falls apart is that Dwight insults the sea brain. And ultimately the sea bring is the hinge is the linchpin. And it all falls apart because of the sea brain. But this episode was so well written. I remember there's sometimes when you just are like, it's just best to sit back and play the lines and have fun with them as much as

possible. And I think this was one of those. And I often felt that way about Paul Lieberstein's writing. It's very specific and it was made worse through improvisation, not better. Sometimes the writing could benefit from some kind of actors bringing their mojo, but it was not that way with the coup. There you have it. You know I was screaming back at him even though he couldn't hear me because it was a recorded audio clip. I love that you brought up Littlefinger and Cersei And Cersei! And Game of Thrones! I love you so much! Because Reign, I love Game of Thrones too.

And I am Cersei. Angela is Cersei. In this episode, she's Cersei. All right. Well, Reign brought up the scene where they're in Michael's office and Michael turns the tables on Dwight and it all falls apart. And I have to agree in rewatching this, Crentus is so funny, but this dance between Steve and Rain and how they perform this scene, I think Rain is right. Like this is like,

this is just like amazing acting and performance and writing that scene. It's all genius. It is all Amazing. I watched this episode three times and I could watch it again just for that scene It is so good and one of the things they talked about in the DVD commentary and I actually remember this is Greg really wanted to live in the pauses He wasn't afraid at all is Greg really wanted to live in the pauses. He wasn't afraid at all to let them take their time because he wanted it to have that kind of weight to it.

And it just played so beautifully. We had a lot of questions about improvisation. I think because these scenes are so well performed, people think that they were improvised. So we had Carolyn Tuft wrote in about Michael's talking head, where he's talking about businesses like a jungle and he's the tiger. She wanted to know if Steve improvised any of that.

Nope, all scripted. Jerry Shue wrote in to say around 14 minutes, 40 seconds, Dwight calls Michael Mike. Yes. As they're getting ready to go out to the bullpen. And he said, I think this is the only time that Dwight ever called Michael Mike in the entire show. Would you happen to know why?

That was scripted. And it's scripted because Dwight thinks he has all the power now. So he is calling him Mike as a way to kind of demote him. Oh, yeah. No, he's doing that thing where you give people nicknames to sort of put them in their place. And it is so brilliant because he's also

taking the power away. Michael's like, should we go out there? And he goes, when I'm ready, Mike. Yeah, it's brilliant. Well, when Michael does break the news to everyone, oh, Angela, you are so pleased. So pleased. Stanley has a lot of questions. Phyllis asked Michael what he plans to do. And Kevin is very concerned that Michael's going to lose his condo. Rain had a little something to say about this scene too, Angela, let's play this clip. Angela, your reaction, the tiniest hint of a smile,

of the Lady Macbeth smile that you give to White during when he's announcing the few of you that will be left during my reign. I'm going to lead you into the black with ferocity. Your little look there is fantastic, and Jenna, I love your to lead you into the black with ferocity. Your little look there is fantastic. And Jenna, I love your line about the vacuum cleaner being as capable a manager as Dwight. It was so much fun to shoot.

It's so much fun to relive this with you guys. Maybe one day you'll have me actually back on the show again. Maybe the global pandemic has gotten in the way of that a little bit. I'm so glad for what you're doing with this show. I'm so happy, even though I haven't heard any of the episodes, and I probably never will, but I'm really happy for you because I like you both

and you seem like you're having fun. That's all I have to say. I love you both. Goodbye. Rain. You guys that is rain in a nutshell. He is our curmudgeon with a big heart and I love him so much. I love him so much. We're gonna figure this out and we're gonna get him on. Yes, rain. I love you. You tall, geeky man you. But this is true, Angela. I love how delighted your character is by this new shift in power. I love that when you're alone and you guys

talk about it, he tells you that you can be in control of the women. And you're very pleased about that as well. Well, this now starts a series of talking heads, right? Cause everyone is reacting to this news. I am of course delighted. My character's delighted. So Phyllis has a talking head that I love so much, right? She says, maybe I'll quit. But if you look at the deleted scenes,

this goes on for a bit. And this is such a great line. Oh yes, Angela. Yes, yes, share this, share this. Okay, so she says that her fiance says after they get married she doesn't even need to work anymore, that her new job is going to be being Mrs. Bob Vance, the first lady of Vance Refrigeration. Yes, I loved that so much. It was so, so cute. And by the way, you see her play that role.

Like, you see her take on being the First Lady of Vance Refrigeration as this relationship plays out over the series. Yeah, it's really fun to watch. And at 15 minutes, 50 seconds now, we have that Dwight tells Angela that she can be in charge of the women. Yes.

She's a little annoyed because I think she was like, we can do so many great things here. And he's like, there can only be one person in charge. But then as soon as he gives her a job that she gets to have control over people, she's okay with it. Okay, fine. Yeah. Fine. She accepts it.

I'll be in charge of the women. I remember doing the scene and I was kind of struggling with that final look and of what my expression was and Greg gave me direction. He said, Angela, I want you to imagine what you'll do to the other women. Oh my God. That was the look I had. That's amazing. That is amazing. So now we're back at Fancy Stanford and Karen is making fun of Jim's lack of Call of Duty skills, right? He's not very good at it, but she's just sort of smiling through it and just, she's clearly a little smitten. Sam?

Flirty Karen. Yeah. I talked to my mom about it. I talked to Birdie Kinsey. Birdie said that's flirty Karen. Oh Angela, I love it so much. I love it that you made your mom say flirty Karen. It took a minute. I had to explain everything. She was like, what am I doing? And then I told her what Karen was up to and she said, well, she is being flirty. So this is flirty Karen guys. Karen is putting on the flirt. And this is what I was talking about in my fast fact.

This is what got everybody very, very, very upset. Yes. And then on a side note, Rashida said in the DVD commentary that this was her audition scene. Oh, really? This was a scene she had to audition with. So she really knew this scene well. Well, I want you to know something. This is jumping ahead a little bit,

but I just want to say to wrap up this storyline of the Jim Karen flirt, you know at the end of this, when Jim is packing up for the night and Karen's watching and he throws the fake grenade at her, this is now kind of like their first inside joke. That scene was not in the script. That was added later. We saw that Karen is kind of sweet on Jim a little bit, right?

In the scene you're talking about. But they wanted to see Jim give her a little helper. We wanted to see a little bit go her way and so they added that scene to show that there was a real connection between them. A playfulness if you will. Well it worked. We have to talk about the most uncomfortable groveling I've ever witnessed. And Rain in true Rain fashion, 18 minutes, 25 seconds, begins to beg. Beg Michael. And Michael is just watching him.

He gets on the ground. He kind of shugs his butt in the air. Then he lays flat on the ground. And then at 19 minutes, 11 seconds, Jenna, Jenna. The drool. Yeah. We got letters about the drool, Angela. It is so disgusting. It comes out, then he sucks it back in, then he kind of swallows it, then he hugs Michael hard. Yeah. Yeah, so all that stuff on the ground and the hugging and all of that, that was all scripted. The drool was just on the day. That was. Yeah. That was scripted drool. All rain. But rain is right in his little clip when he said it's the Sebring that breaks

Michael. It is so brilliant when he's like, take it back. That's my car. Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, my gosh. Well, you know when Michael tells Dwight to stand up and hug it out, bitch? We had a fan question from Kristen Bauer. She said, that line, hug it out, bitch,

is one of my favorite lines in the whole show, and it cracks me up. Who came up with that line? Well Kristen, this is a famous line from the show Entourage, which we set up earlier that Michael loves. Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold would say it all the time. This was in the script. This was a callback.

And I got curious about it though Angela and I watched an interview last night with Jeremy Piven. And he said, he was talking about improvisation on the set of Entourage, and he said, we really did not improvise. We really didn't. He said it was very, very, very, very rare to improvise. But he said, occasionally they did. And the thing about improvisation he was saying was like,

if you are in your character, then you will say something that your character would say. It's not about necessarily trying to be funny or clever. It's just about saying that next thing that your character would honestly say in the moment. He said that the line, hug it out bitch, was an improvisation. This famous line. he said it was crazy

because we rarely did it, but there was this scene that he was in and his character was trying to comfort another character and so he just improvised, let's hug it out bitch. Isn't that crazy? I love that that was an improvised line cause it sums up his character, his character Ari just perfectly.

This is an amazing callback, which I love. As an improviser, I know, Rain, if you're listening, you're making fun of me right now, but as an improviser, I live for a callback. So I love that they set up entourage at the beginning and they bring this subtle reference back at the end. Well, now the episode really wraps up with Michael and Dwight.

They're back in the conference room. They're watching a movie together. Angela, you walk by, you're not pleased, but listen, this're back in the conference room. They're watching a movie together. Angela, you walk by. You're not pleased. But listen, this is how it had to be. He chose Michael once again. I feel like Dwight is torn between Angela and Michael for years.

And then finally, it goes her way because he leaves. Well, Michael has his final talking head where he says, they hugged it out. He's still angry, so he did make Dwight stand in the middle of the office with a sign around his neck that says liar. And Dwight has to do Michael's laundry for a year, and that's where we leave it.

Before we wrap up, I have two little things to share with you guys. I did write in my journal about this episode, and I only wrote about one thing. All right, so Jenna, I wrote that I did a different talking head that didn't make it in the show and I said I thought it was so funny but maybe it was just too long.

But Angela Martin says that she has a friend who has introduced her to a show called Star Trek. And in Star Trek, there is a guy named Spock and he's very honorable and brave and he stands up for what he thinks is right and she just wishes that someone in the office could be more like Spock. And I just thought it was really cute that it's a window into their lives that Dwight is teaching her about Star Trek and what she'd never heard of Star Trek.

Yeah. It's this little show. You probably have not heard of it called Star Trek. Here it is. So that deleted scene is not on the DVD extras, guys. I don't know where that lives, but I did a whole talking head about Star Trek. But there is a deleted scene I have to share with you, and I will leave you with this, Jenna. This is on the DVD extras. We find out that Creed sleeps under his desk four nights a week, and then he goes to his place in Toronto. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. What? When I was rereading the script, I read that and I actually remember Creed

shooting that and it was so funny. And I remember Paul cracking up while they were shooting that because he was so tickled by the idea that Creed slept under his desk. Yeah. This is why he doesn't have a refrigerator. Oh my God! He's never had his own. He's never had his own refrigerator.

He's never had his own refrigerator because he sleeps under his desk. Four nights a week. I love it. And then what is his whole second life in Toronto? I am so intrigued. Guys, that was the coup. We love that you are sticking with us and continuing to listen to this podcast. It is a joy for us to make it.

Thank you again to Rainn Wilson for sending us your audio. If you want to hear more of Rainn's sexy voice, you can listen to his podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake with Rainn and Reza Aslan. Yes, they are discussing life's big human questions with heart, humor, and curiosity, stuff like life, death, love, fate, beauty, you name it. It is available on the Luminary Podcast platform. Rain, we're gonna get you back on here.

We're gonna get glitchy up in here, Rain. We're gonna get glitchy up in here, Rain. We're gonna get glitchy up in here, Rain! Thank you so much for sending in your questions and your comments and your deep dives. We love you guys so much. We'll see you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies' Second Drink. This episode was initially created

in collaboration with Earwulf. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna F Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins and our audio engineer and associate producer is Daniella Silva. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Wise-Berman and Leah Reese-Dennis.

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.