Office Ladies - The Convention

Episode Date: May 27, 2020

Pass those freedom fries because this week we're breaking down The Convention. We can't start this episode without checking in with Kentapedia (Kent Zbornak), to get the inside scoop on how the crew pulled off a full paper convention, and Jenna gives us a missed Dwight - Gareth meeting. Then we get a fun fan callback to those pesky bugs on set, Jenna's got some beef and Angela reveals she watched The Edge! Finally, Angela give us inside scoop on that hotel room scene, we check in on Pam's double date, and Michael finally gets his best friend back.

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. How do you everybody? Angela Kinsey here. It's Jenna and today we're talking about the convention. This season three, episode two. Written by Lee Eisenberg and Jean Stepnitsky. And directed by Ken Whittingham. Jenna, this was a really fun episode for me. I got to travel. I got to go on the road. I know. Remember last week we were talking all about how we got that

big season three bump so we could leave The Office and do things? Hello, we created an entire paper convention in episode two. We are going for it this season. All right. Well, let's get into this episode. I have a summary for you. I'm so excited. Here we go. I know. Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, babe. Babe, read me your summary, babe. Sweetie, here we go. Dolphys. Read your summary, Dolphys. Hey, Toots. I got a summary for you. Sweet cheeks. Read your summary, sweet cheeks. You know what? I might have just watched the Broadway HD 42nd Street. Oh, by the way, we watched that. Lee and I, we really miss life theater. We really miss it. It's one of our loves. And they have this great catalog of Broadway

shows on Broadway HD. And so we watched 42nd Street. It's so good. The woman who plays the lead, her name is Clara. And oh my God, she is mind blowing. The tap dancing this woman does is just insane. So anyway, but that show has a lot of like Toots, darling, babe, honey, because you know, it's all set back in the time. I don't know what time that was. What was that? The roaring twenties? When is the time? Roring twenties, probably. Yeah. All right. Anyway, summary. Summary. Listen, you watch your Broadway shows on the telly. I'm going to watch my humming birds. Yeah, this is what we're doing. This is what we're doing. Maybe I'll put on the

weather channel. I don't know anything could happen. Okay. Okay. Michael and Dwight traveled to Philadelphia to meet Jan, Jim and Josh for the North Eastern Mid-Market Office Supply Convention. Meanwhile, back in Dudder, Mifflin, Kelly sets up Pam on a date with her neighbor, Alan. He's a cartoonist. They're going to have so much in common, right? Yeah. But Angela sneaks off to surprise Dwight. Yeah. All right. Fast fact number one, we've got a big guest star, Robert Bagnell, who played Alan the cartoonist. Now you might recognize him because he also played Tom Peterman on HBO's The Comeback, starring Lisa Kudrow.

Did you watch that show? I did. I thought she was so funny. Well, the whole cast was phenomenal. I was obsessed with that show, obsessed. It is such an amazing satire of the entertainment industry and of an actress. There's a scene where she opens up a refrigerator and there's nothing in there except for seltzer water and these pre-packaged diet meals, and it made me laugh so hard. She's so self-obsessed and narcissistic and she plays it perfectly. Check it out, guys. It's amazing. And Robert Bagnell is on there. So I was so excited to get to work with him, but I knew him. How? We used to do this thing called Instant Films Together where they take these writers, directors, actors, and crew

and you get 48 hours to make a short film. You're randomly matched. You start at like 7 a.m. on Saturday with a little script that's been written for you. It's usually like four pages long and on Sunday night, everyone gets together and there's a little film festival. And it's so fun. Yeah, I have friends that did this and I don't know why I didn't participate, but I have friends that did this and loved it. Well, it's funny, Angie, because you're always kind of talking about how you did the groundlings or you did the sketch shows, improv a little bit. Improv festivals. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't do any of that stuff, but I did do these like short films, short film festivals, and then they do one for plays

as well. They do like a 24-hour play where you have to stage a mini play in 24 hours. So I would do like that kind of stuff, but I knew him from that. That's how I knew Robert. He was in the Instant Film World with me. Oh, wow. That's so cool. So I reached out to him and we had the best conversation about his time on the show and then he sent me like two pages of memories. Stop it. Yes. That's so fantastic. So kind, so generous. So he told me that the way he got the role on the show was through Mike Scherr. How? That Mike Scherr had been a writer on season one of The Comeback. Oh. And he had actually left The Comeback to go work on the office. I never knew that. Me either. Oh my God, I

would totally have talked to him about that. That's so cool. I know. How did I not know to pepper Mike Scherr about come back questions? Yes. Lisa could wrote it, please. But here is the craziest thing about him. Do you want to hear this crazy personal connection? Okay. All right. Were you and him dating in college? No, I'm kidding. Go. No. No. But around the same time that he was guest starring on the office, he also had a role in a movie written by my now husband Lee Kirk. But we didn't know. Stop it. Yes. He was in this movie called Pants on Fire that was directed by Colin Campbell written by my husband Lee. And so it was like he was doing this scene with me on the office. And then he was shooting this role in Lee's

movie. And Lee and I weren't in love. We were not even a thing or knew each other on each other's radars. That is crazy. No. I know. Such a small world. That is so crazy. Yeah. Those are the little mind melt moments for me where your lives are crisscrossing and you don't even know it. So you and Lee had this existence crisscrossing and that's so wild. I love that. Well, the crazy thing is, is that movie Pants on Fire, that script was sent to me as a writing sample of Lee's. I was going to produce a movie and I needed a writer and I got Pants on Fire as the writing sample and I fell in love with it and I took a meeting with Lee. Oh my lord. And then he ended up writing a film for me called The

Giant Mechanical Man and that is how Lee and I fell in love. That's so crazy. With that we worked together on Giant Mechanical Man, which Lee then directed. Wow. And Robert was in that movie. Robert was in Pants on Fire. Isn't that crazy? That is so crazy. I love that. All right. So anyway, I have a ton of fun information from Robert and I will sprinkle that in as we get to those scenes. Okay. So what's up? What's up? What's next, lady? With your fast, fast. Next. Fast fact number two. Sam, could I get a fan question? What? Fan question. It's a fan question, Angela. Fast fact two is a fan question. I only have got to get my kids recording some stuff and then I've got to send it over to Sam and I'm

going to sprinkle one in next week. That was my daughter. That's my daughter. It's so cute. It's so cute. Well, you know, because my son got to do the deep dive last week. So that's good. That's good. She gave me a fan question sting because fast fact number two is all fan questions starting with Ryan Apgar. Where was the convention filmed? Jennifer Berman. Was it an actual hotel? Did they have to completely rent out entire floors or the entire hotel? Sarah Holtz wants to know, were the vendors at the convention real or fake? So many questions about this convention, Angela. Yeah. So you know, I went to Kentopedia. Kentopedia. I know one or two of these, but Kent will have the full lowdown. So let's hear it. All right. So Kent told

me that we filmed this at the Burbank Hilton Hotel, which is now a different hotel. It's not called the Burbank Hilton anymore. Right. But it's nearest. If memory serves, it's kind of over by the Burbank Airport. Yes. Yeah. He said they did not book the entire hotel, but they did book the largest convention room that the hotel had. And they had to book that room for the entire week because it took two full days just to set it up to look like a convention. So he said they started on Monday filling it with all the booths and all the stuff. When I got there, it looked like a full on convention. It really did. So Kent told me that he really leaned on his production staff. And when he wrote me, he said, will you please give these guys a shout out because they were

instrumental in making this happen. Angela, I'm going to hit you with some names. Okay. Okay. Do you remember Angie Hamilton and James Carey? Yes. Who worked with Kent? Yes, of course. Of course, I remember them. Angie was our co-producer. James Carey was the office manager. He said they were tipped off a few weeks before this episode was set to film, that they were going to have to pull off a convention. So the two of them reached out to literally hundreds of corporations and businesses and asked if they wanted to be in the episode. And here was the deal. The deal was they had to bring their own convention materials. They had to set up their own booths, provide their own staff and wardrobe

to sort of populate them during the episode. And they were told that they could not promise that they would get screen time. But they could try, you know, they're like, we'll try to get everyone on camera. He said they got tons of people who wanted to participate. The show is now so popular. People weren't like delighted to participate. So all those people, he said in the end, there were 176 total quote unquote extras background performers and 140 of them were actual employees of actual companies. That's why it looks so real. Because I thought that I thought when I looked through it, I was like, these look like real companies and their shirts matched and things like that. Like details that I feel like would have been so hard for us to pull off, but it's because they were

actual companies. I feel like this is the only way you could have done that. There's no way that Carrie Bennett, our wardrobe designer, could have painstakingly designed matching wardrobes for multiple companies. Yeah, in two weeks time. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that movies have months of preparation for, you know, and in TV, you have to pull it off in just a matter of weeks. So that's how they did it. That's amazing. You know, James was so sweet. I have such fond memories of him because I don't know. I feel like there was always something that wasn't quite working at my house. Like I was like, oh, James, I was supposed to print this out. My printer was out of ink and we were on set all day. So it's not like we could just run and buy printer ink or run and

you know, whatever it was we needed to do. And I would go in there so many times and he'd be like, all right, Angela, what do you need? And I'm like, can you print this for me? Because I told my mom, I'd mail it to her and my printer. He was just always there to help. And just they were amazing. Angela, I found a bunch of old photos of our crew. And I cried looking through them. I just, you know, it's, there's the thing that everybody sees when they're watching the show, which are the actors. But what we saw on the set were all these other faces looking back at us. And to see these pictures of our sound folks and our gaffers and our, our lighters and, and our PAs and to see all their faces again, it was just, oh my gosh, Angela, it was amazing.

All right, all right, where are we at, lady? Fast fact number three. This episode almost featured a cameo by Mackenzie Crook, who played the original kind of Dwight in the British office. Yeah, on the BBC version. Yeah. Yeah. So this was a little nugget that I found on, I believe it was Dunderpedia, but I remember this. So I believe if memory serves, Mackenzie was in town doing a big press tour for a movie. I think it might have been one of the, oh my god, Angela, what's the name of that movie that Johnny Depp is in where he plays the pirate? Oh, Pirates of the Caribbean. What's that Johnny Depp movie where he plays a pirate? I don't know. He kind of said in the Caribbean. Yeah. And he's like, he's like, Yosefie. Yosefie. My Stepson Jack was so

obsessed with those movies that one year for Halloween, he wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow. We got him the full costume. And then on Christmas Day, we were like, guys, you want to dress up for Christmas? We bought them all like Christmas onesies. And Jack said, can I just dress as Captain Jack Sparrow? So we have this hilarious photo in front of the Christmas tree and Isabel and Cater in Christmas onesies. They look like an elf, you know, and Jack is full Jack Sparrow. Well, you know, Mackenzie Crook was in those movies. I know. Yes. Yes. Yeah. So I believe he was in town doing this press junket tour. He wanted to have him just appear at the convention in one of the booths and have a little chat with our Dwight. So the two kind of Dwights would meet.

That would have been so great. Wouldn't that have been amazing? But then the scheduling did not work out. He couldn't come. You know what that's like when you're doing a press junket, especially, I mean, I don't know what it's like to do a press junket for a movie that size or a series that size, but he couldn't come. He wanted to, he couldn't come. He's the nicest guy. I've met him. He's awesome. But I know almost almost a meeting of the Dwights almost happened, but did not. Jenna, I am so bummed he didn't come because I'm such a fan. And I love that Greg was always trying to incorporate the BBC cast and we, we got to meet them several times, but that would have been really cool. Jenna, thank you so much for three fantastic fast facts. Maybe we should take a

break and then we'll come back and get into this episode. I like it, lady. I like it. All right. And we are back. Pam is at her desk and Michael enters and says, Hey, did you see Oprah? Because I want to be a father. And you're like, wait, wait, what was on, what was on Oprah? Michael's big takeaway from watching Oprah is that he learns that Angelina Jolie has adopted a baby. So now he wants to adopt a baby. Yeah. And he wants Pam to get on it. Pam, get on it. And Pam's like, I think you should wait because Roy's sister looked into it and like the application alone cost a thousand dollars. And Michael's like, can't you find me a cheaper baby? And then she's like, well, also it takes a long time, like eight months, period. It's like eight months.

And he's like, Oh my God, I don't even know if I'm going to want a baby in eight months. Steve's play on that was really funny. And your reaction was so good. Your reaction to when you say, what was on Oprah? I'm like, I'm scared. Where is this going? Where is this going? Well, in the end, Pam agrees that she will have Michael's baby if neither one of them have a baby in 30 years. Because she sees like, I can't, I'm not going to get out of this. But I know that's going to come back to haunt her. So in 30 years, when you're 50, you'll have his baby. I'll have his baby. Oh my gosh. Exactly. When I'm like 56, basically. Well, there you go. But you know, Michael's going to go around and tell people that he and Pam have agreed to have a

baby. You guys are going to leave out the in 30 years part. This conversation is going to haunt her now. Yeah, for sure. For sure. He's going to tell people you guys are each other's backup plan. Yeah. So now we're in the actual episode and Michael, you know, is packing first trip. He has Ryan helping him. Here's his his packing list, right? For this convention. Three pairs of pants, three pairs of socks, three packs of condoms, three packs, fun jeans, three packs. Jenna, I shouldn't have, but I did a deep dive on how many condoms come in a pack. How many? Like a dozen? I mean, I feel like there's sort of a range, but normally it's like 36. What? 36 in a pack? That's what I saw on a website that maybe that's not true. I don't know. I don't know. Do we go

to Sam on this? Sam, do you want to contribute to how many packs are in how many condoms are in a pack? Well, I do appreciate you guys always throwing to me for drugs or sexual deviant things. I don't actually know this one. Oh, good answer, Sam. Good answer. Okay. Also, switching gears. Michael points out that he also wants to take his fun jeans, just so you guys know fun jeans apparently are white jeans. I'd like to point out he is still dry cleaning his jeans. Yes, we set that up in an earlier episode and I love that that got called back. So Angela comes in and she needs Michael to sign for his per diem. I have two things I want to point out. Number one, Jenna, did you see how sassy my ponytail is? Yes, I pointed it out later.

I noticed it when you are in the break room. I actually wrote it down. Do you want to know why it looks like that? Why? Well, this was around the beginning of the whole Emmy season, award show season. And we were going to parties and things and I had had a fancy hair blowout. And when I came to work on Monday, I still had great day to hair. So Kim Ferry, who did hair, put it up in this ponytail and it had all this wave and texture to it. And she was like, let's just go with it. Angela has a sassy ponytail. And so then she had to match that each day after. But that's why I have a fusted pony. I totally 100% noticed it. So now Michael has a very funny talking head, but Jenna, I have a question for you. These are these scenes that we never see,

that were never written, that I wish had happened because at two minutes, 36 seconds, Michael refers to Josh as the poor man's Michael Scott. Or at least that's how he's known around my condo. Jenna, is he talking about Josh Porter to his neighbors and his condo unit? Like, is he like, well, you know, poor man Michael Scott? Like, how much is he just jabbering away at his neighbors about Josh Porter? It's funny, I did not even hear it like that. I heard it as maybe something Michael has muttered out loud to himself within the walls of his own condo. Oh, that's even sadder. Yeah, that's how he's known around Michael's condo. In my mind, I saw him like, you know, at the little wall where all the mailboxes are.

And he's opening his mailbox and someone walks up and he's like, poor man's Michael Scott. It's, I guess, friends with Jim now. And the person's like, yeah, yeah, okay, by Michael. All right, sorry, that just tickled me. Okay, so now we're going to move into the break room. Angela and Dwight, they're standing on opposite ends of the room. They are not looking at each other. Angela is upset that Dwight is going on this trip because she just really wants to spend time with him. But Dwight is so excited to go on this trip. It's a big deal for him to be included, assistant regional manager. This is like a big part of his job. Angela, it so tickles me how you guys are standing, how you guys aren't looking at each other. Your characters would do this all

the time, as if people would not be confused by this if they walked in the room. Now, this is sort of a classic Dwight Angela moment within the office that I love so much. Here's a little interesting tidbit about this. And this is on the internet so you can read about it. But there was a different scene at the table read. I believe it was at the table read. It didn't make it into the shooting draft where I was upset with Dwight that he was going. So that was the same. And Dwight and I have this exchange in the kitchen where I'm upset with him. And then at the very end, I say, I'm late. And it's like this cliffhanger. I'm late. Yes. It's like, what? Is she pregnant? Yes. Okay, that did not end up getting shot. That did not happen. Because I think Jenna

as soon as we read it out loud, everyone was like, oh, and I think Greg was like, wait, this is, okay, maybe this is too soon. This is too soon, right? That would have been crazy. That would have been crazy if in this episode Dwight and Angela are already having a baby. And you know, it would have been a weird sort of callback to that time when he asked her sort of in code if she was had any prescriptions, right? Oh yeah. So anyway, needless to say, they decided to change their minds. Angela was not late. She was just upset because she wanted to spend some time with him, which I actually think is really sweet. You sort of get to see the softer side to her. And then I have to bring this up here because so it will make sense. You guys, there are other

scenes that we shot that explains how Angela ultimately ends up in the hotel, but they're in the deleted scenes. Yes. There's a whole sort of extra plot line here where Dwight, Dwight secretly gives you a ticket on the train to meet him. Yeah. I know. He gives her that before he leaves. But in the break room, I have to just share with you guys this setup of us back to back and me at the water cooler and him at the vending machines. We tried a few different positions and this is the one we settled on, but we got so tickled. We laughed so hard in the scene. Just say how absurd it was. And then also Ken Whittingham really let us play with how long our pause was until I said, are you still there? Yeah. And so there were times where we left a

ton of space and we, the longer we didn't say anything to each other, but stood back to back, the more tickled we got. And then at the very end, Jenna, I'm curious because I know you have the script, but at the very end, I say, don't monkey me. You can't wait to get out of here. A-R-M. And I just like walk out all mad. Now, I remember I improvised that. Oh, yeah. That's not in the script. Well, when I rewatched it, I really felt like I heard my accent when I said, A-R-M. I think when you improvised, your accent comes out a little bit more. Yeah. So there you have it. That's our little secret break room scene. And Angela was almost going to have Dwight's baby here. Yeah. In an alternate universe. Okay. So now we go to your talking head, Angela. Okay. And this

has one of my favorite lines, Angela. You say, in the Martin family, we like to say looks like someone took the slow train from Philly. And you explain that that's code for checkout the slut. Yeah. I am. And then I say, why are there flies in here? Yes. We have a fan question from Cody Gold about your talking head. In Angela's talking head, she swats at a fly. Was that scripted or did another bug harass Angela like in the episode, the fire? First of all, Cody, we love that you called back the bug from the fire episode. Angela, what is the deal? I don't know. I don't know what the deal is with me and flying bugs. Seriously. But I was because I was wondering about this too. I have the shooting draft. I didn't see anything about a fly. All right. So Jenna,

do you remember when we were filming this episode? It was insanely hot. There was this crazy heat wave. It was in August. And as a result, there were all of these like flies. I don't know if you remember this. Oh, yeah. It was like a fly infestation. I think they were coming in to get out of the heat. I think they were too. I think we'd open the door. The flies were like, it's super hot out. Yeah. The flies were like, oh, air conditioning. I'm getting in there. So this talking head, we filmed it right after lunch that day. And you know, whenever we would have lunch, Jenna, they would leave the doors open longer. Yeah. To kind of air it out. And there were like five or six of these dudes buzzing around my head the whole time I was doing this talking head.

So one time I just swatted at one while staying in character. And Jean, our writer, was in the room with me and that cracked him up. He loved it. And he was like, Ang, will you, will you swat at flies again? And I was like, okay. So I did it again. But this time I ad-libbed the line. Why are there flies in here? And then we did another take and I swatted more and I ad-libbed that, you know what, this is all Kevin's fault. He had smelly takeout. And I did this whole, really mean riff on Kevin's food that attracted the flies. That did not make it in. But my other improv line did. Oh my God. That is amazing. But here's the thing, Angela, I'll have you know, none of your talking head that is in the script is the same as the episode. I looked it up.

What? So the slow train from Philly isn't in the script? Slow train from Philly is not in the script either. Fly is not in the script. Slow train from Philly not in the script. Here is what your talking head was supposed to be. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Here, I want to hear it. Here it is. Yes. Michael and Dwight Schrute are going to a convention in Philadelphia. Personally, I find even the idea of a convention repulsive. All those people from different places gathered together, breathing hot breath all over each other. It's disgusting. Did you like my attempt to read it as Angela Martin? I loved it. I loved it. I remember when we were doing this talking head, Jane and Lee handed me a page of alts, Jenna. I had a huge alt list. We called it the candy bag, you remember.

Oh yeah. Yeah. No, when we would do our talking heads, we would have the one that was in the script, but then as soon as we sat down in the chair, they would hand us pages of alternate talking heads. And sometimes the alternates made it in the show and sometimes it was the scripted version. Exactly. And this is the perfect example of that. Lee and Jean, our writers from this episode, gave me a page of alts. Clearly, slow train from Philly won. Everyone loved that. I improvised the line about the flies because flies were literally buzzing my head the whole time. And that's how we got this talking head. Cody, we loved your question. So now Kelly comes up to Pam's desk. Guys, she's full Mindy. She's very excited because she has set up Pam with her neighbor, Alan.

Yes. I was going to play my sting, which sounds like this. Full Mindy. Yeah, you got to get your stings in, Angela. I've got a few. I got a few for this episode. You got to get yours in. When I say play my sting, it's just me doing it. There's no button. I'm not hitting a button. Well, Pam has this talking head where she explains that Alan is a cartoonist for the local paper. He likes to draw. She's kind of nervous because she has not been on a first date in nine years. And then she says probably shouldn't broadcast that. And I don't know why, Jenna. It just tickled me that Pam would say broadcast. Like really? I don't know why. It just seemed like such like an old lady term. Don't broadcast it. I don't know.

Well, of course, Michael is leaving now for Philadelphia and he overhears that Pam is going on this date. And Kelly tells Pam not to sleep with Alan on the first date, but Michael tells Pam that she should unbutton her blouse a little bit. Let those guys breathe. Doesn't he say something like that? Let them breathe. He's always wanting them to breathe or set them free. He's very concerned about your tautas being confined. So people wrote in and wanted to know if the sort of like song and dance of Michael and Dwight as they're leaving the office, if that was scripted, or if those guys just made that up, they totally made that up. They totally made that up. There is a stage direction after they give her grief for saying. And then it just says they both laugh

and walk out the door. Yes. So that whole that whole out the door business, that was them having fun for sure. Well, one of the things I really remember about this episode, once I got to the hotel where we were filming is those guys were like, they were like kids in the candy jar. They were having so much fun, just all riffing off each other. And I think they really did when they would get together, especially John, Rain and Steve, they would just get giddy. There is so much improvisation that happens at the convention. We will get there. But yes, you're right. You're right. All right. So now Angela, we have this scene in the kitchen. Creed comes up to you and he asks you how he can get a little of that per diem money. Yeah. Right. So then Meredith makes a comment

that the whole town of Philadelphia just smells like cheesesteaks. And for whatever reason, Angela, you are very offended by this. Yes, I say that town is full of history. And I get up and I storm out and I leave my food, Jenna. Sam, can I get my sting? Oh, good God. Where's the beef? Where's the beef? Where's the beef? I'll tell you where the beef is, Angela. You have a beef with me? I have a beef and I'm not the only one. Oh, my Lord. Megan Keller wrote in to say, not a question. But in the hot girl podcast, Angela laughed when Pam got up and left her lunch when Roy says if he wasn't dating Pam, he would ask Katie out. But at four minutes, 55 seconds, Angela walks away from her cereal. She just stormed away from her food. Sarah Donaldson says, Jenna, can you please give

Angela some what's for after the hard time she gave Pam for storming off and leaving her plate of food when Angela does the same thing at four minutes, 55 seconds. All right, Angela, I have a beef. Fine, fine. Okay, fine. I get it. I get it. Apparently on this show, if you get ticked off enough at someone, you just get up and you leave your food. Fine. Okay, fine. I'm sorry, everybody. I am sorry. My character does it too. I apologize. I apologize. But let me just say in the moment when you were taping that scene, did you stop and say, guys, I'm so sorry. This isn't realistic. I would never just storm away and leave my cereal here. But you actually had to leave your cereal there because Creed's going to start eating it. Creed is going to start eating it, which is hilarious.

And then he has one of his all time favorite lines. He has told me this is one of his favorite lines from the whole series. That's Andrea, the office bitch. You'll get used to her. And then he introduces himself to Merida. Exactly. Exactly. And then I have to point out my character, she's sort of being a hypocrite because earlier she's like, well, you know, Code for Slut is like someone who looks like they took the slow train to Philly. So Philly is like not a good place. But then here she's like, it's full of history. All right, now it's five minutes, 10 seconds. And Dwight and Michael are on the train. They are headed to Philadelphia. That's right. Michael has his headphones on. He has Dwight's neck pillow,

which he pretends he can't hear Dwight asking for. I have some fun facts about this. On Dunderpedia, it says that there is no passenger rail service between Scranton and Philadelphia. And maybe that was true back in the day when we shot this. But today I looked it up. Amtrak does offer two trains per day. Takes about three hours to get to Philadelphia from Scranton by train and tickets start at $41. Well, I would think that there would be a train. That makes sense. It does. So yeah. So now there is a train. I went to Kentopedia because I was fascinated by the fact that we shot on an actual Amtrak train because we did. That was not like some fancy weird green screen thing happening. That was a train. So here's what Kent told me,

Ange. What? I want to hear it. They let us shoot on the train for free. For free? Yes. But we had to agree that we would not disrupt their schedule in any way. So on day two of filming, while the set dressers and the production designers were setting up the hotel room at the convention, Steve and Rain and a very small crew with about five extras, they loaded into vans and they drove to the Seami Valley train station. They boarded the caboose car at 10.30 a.m. They were given the caboose car all to themselves. They got settled. The train started moving. Kent said they got their first shot off at 11.03. Then when the train arrived at the Burbank Airport station at 11.27, they got off the train and there were vans waiting to pick them up and take them back to our main

set. And that's how we got that train stuff. Isn't that same? I love that. What like specific details that Kent like gave you is amazing. Kentopedia, you are amazing. One of the reasons why Kent and I are friends is because I so fully appreciate the detail that he has kept in a way that I'm not sure many other people would. I know you do. I'm like, Kent and I are of a similar mind with our spreadsheets in order. We love it. Well, you guys, there are some other deleted scenes from the train that are really funny. So you go to the DVD set. If you have them, they're funny. All right. Well, then they're going to arrive in Philly. They're going to greet Josh and Jim. They're reunited. They're reunited. Dwight and Michael and Josh and Jim. I have a little bit

of a background catch. Oh, give it. All right. At five minutes, 34 seconds, Dwight is wearing his name tag. You know, they have these lanyards around their neck, right? Yeah. Dwight is wearing his and then at five minutes, 59 seconds, he's putting it on and it's got all this writing on it. Like he's got all of his phone numbers in Sharpie. He's got his cell phone, his home, his pager. He's got his room number, 556 on there. And he has written in a little assistant. He wrote in a little arrow. So it's like assistant to the regional manager. He like changed his like title. Oh my gosh, that is amazing. So they're all reunited now at the convention. And this was calculated. They knew that they needed to keep Jim and Pam apart by sending Jim to Stanford,

but they did not want to keep Jim from interacting with Dwight and Michael. So that was kind of the reason for this whole episode was to get Jim back in the world with these other characters, but still separate him from Pam, who is back at the office dealing with her own stuff. All right. I have two things, Jenna, that I think will be kind of fun that we clock. We like to track things guys at six minutes, 15 seconds. Oh, there's a good, good example of Jim saying Dwight. Oh, there's a Dwight. Yes, Jim has a talking head and John says Dwight. It's like, it's huge. So there you go. I love to track it when he says Dwight. And then back in the office at six minutes, 31 seconds. Well, some big information is revealed to Toby about Pam.

Yeah. Jenna, what? You are now, Pam is like the, the hot new meat in the office. Yeah, she's back on the market. Kevin, Kevin says that if he wasn't engaged, he would quote, so hit that. Kevin. Gross. Guess what I wrote down. Track in the perv. Track in the Kevin. You're tracking the Kevin perv. This is Kevin perv. It's not true. 31 seconds, Kevin perv. But the look that Paul Leverstein does as Toby, that look is gold. Oh my gosh, Toby has it so bad for Pam. I know. I know. And then Pam is in the kitchen and she's reading some of Alan's cartoons. Her, her blind date, Alan. I'm sorry. Is, is Pam prepping for her date? Jenna, is this a little bit of Jenna and Pam? Like,

oh, I have a date with this person. I'm going a deep dive. Is Pam doing a deep dive? I don't know if reading his cartoons on the page. She's taking an interest. She hasn't been on a date in nine years. She's trying to, she's doing her due diligence. And Kelly enters and she gushes about how smart his cartoons are that she doesn't even understand them sometimes. And then Toby walks in the kitchen and he kind of tries to get Pam's attention. But no, she's not clocking Toby. It just, when I watched him try to, he tries to wave. She doesn't notice. Then he goes in the bathroom. The track that I could hear was totally. It's like the sad scene from like peanuts. All right. Well, then we go back to the convention and Michael and Dwight are setting up their hotel

room. They've got a mini dartboard. They've got some booze. And Michael has strategically asked for and chosen a room close to the elevator because he thinks that he'll get more foot traffic that way. Yeah. He thought about it and he knows. Hopefully it wasn't by the service elevator. Yeah. This is true. Who wants the room by the elevator, Michael? But he's ready for, you know, he's ready to party Jenna. Because there ain't no party like a Scranton party because a Scranton party don't stop. What? What? Ain't no party like a Scranton party because Scranton party don't stop. What? What? You know it. Jim and Josh come by and they think that they should get to their meeting with Jan. Yeah. Right. I mean, they are here to work. They're here to work. But Michael is like,

come on, you've got time for shots. And then Jim and Josh have an inside joke. A shot of Midori. Jim and Josh have this inside joke and they start cracking up. And then Michael and Dwight so desperately want to be a part of this. They start laughing really hard, like too hard. Yeah. They have no idea what they're laughing at. And it's so embarrassing when Jim's like, no, actually is an inside joke. Yeah. You would not actually laugh at that. You don't know what we're talking about. And then Michael has that sad, sad line that he loves inside jokes and he's always wanted to be a part of one. Yeah. I wish I was. I love inside jokes. I'd love to be a part of one someday. Now, I want to point something out here. What? Michael and Dwight are wearing

matching gray Dunder Mifflin shirts. And then Jim and Josh are wearing kind of matching light colored shirts. They're wearing white and downs. Well, one of them has like a slight pink hue to it. And I feel like Johns has a slight yellow hue to it. Maybe that's just my computer monitor because I watched this on my computer. They were not exactly matching to me, which actually I felt like made it even cooler because they're like, you know what, just any light colored button down will do. Just make it a light color. Cream off white, white, light pink, light yellow, anything. They are strategically unbuttoned at the exact same place. Maybe that's just where all men unbutton their shirts, but I found it a little odd. I don't know. Check it out. But

I want to say something about those gray Dunder Mifflin shirts that Dwight and Michael are wearing. Okay. After this episode, I went to Carrie Bennett and I asked if she had any extras and she gave me one and I sent it to my dad. Oh, now this was before you could buy them. This was before Dunder Mifflin merchandise was out there and he used to wear it around. He was an engineer, a plastics engineer and he went on the road a lot and he would have to visit factories to help them with troubleshooting issues with their production line. Okay. So he traveled a lot and he would wear it when he traveled to these factories and people would say, oh, Dunder Mifflin paper company, what is that? And he would just, he would smile and he would

just say, oh, that's the company where my daughter works. Oh, look at your dad being coy, but so proud. That's so cute. But then some people would put it together and then he would be so excited and he would be like, oh, well, my daughter gave it to me. Oh, your daughter gave it to you. Where did she get it? Oh, she has an in. She, she's the receptionist there. And they would be like, wait, what? Yeah, he was so proud. My dad is so cute. My dad was the same way. He would, any photo from anything I was in, I mean, anything, he would either screen grab it or find a way to print it or get a copy of it. But he would always make the photo so big and he'd hang it on the wall and I would go home and there'd be a photo like Jenna of you and I

at some, you know, event, it'd be just like some little thing you and I were doing. There were photos with you. I don't know that I've ever shared this with you, but there are photos of you in my parents' home that my dad printed up. Jenna, you're like eight by eight by 12, 11 by 14. They're humongous photos of us on the wall. Oh my God, I love that. And you get it, right? Could you imagine if one of your kids was on a TV show? I feel like I would do the same thing. Oh yeah. I would collect everything. I would save everything. Parents are the best. Call your parents. Okay, so nine minutes, 13 seconds. Michael and Dwight are at the convention. There's some really great shots now of all the vendors and you really get a sense of how big this room was.

Michael is going around to all the booths and guys, he is really into swag. He's really into the freebies. He's got like a foam finger. He's, I don't know, some shirts, a lanyard or two, some sunglasses. He's got all kinds of stuff. I want to say this talking head is not in the script. Also, Jenna, at nine minutes, 12 seconds, we get to see a really fun cameo. It's Jerome Bettis. Yes, the bus. The bus. This was huge. Guys, to give you some context on Jerome Bettis, in case you don't know, Jerome Bettis is a former NFL halfback who played for the Rams when they were both in St. Louis and in Los Angeles. And he also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers. We shot this episode in August 2006. That February, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the

Super Bowl. Jerome Bettis retired after that game, like literally at the game, they won the Super Bowl. He gave an interview and was like, and now I'm retiring. So here's how this went down. I asked Kentopedia. Jerome Bettis had just been hired by NBC Sports as a commentator. And Angela, do you remember our NBC rep, Vernon Sanders? Of course, I love Vernon. Love Vernon. Vernon called Greg and Kent and said, what do you think about a little crossover thing here where Jerome Bettis does a cameo at the convention? Greg loved the idea and got together. They wrote a scene like on the fly, and then they shot it on day four of the shoot. It's so perfect too. It's so perfect that Michael would invite him to his party and then want him to commit to coming. Can I tell

people you're coming? So good. All right, so Jenna, I have a question for you since you have the script. As Dwight and Michael are walking away from Jerome, Dwight says, why do they call him the bus? And I swear I heard Michael say, because he doesn't like to fly. Yeah, that was scripted. That was scripted? That exchange was scripted. Yeah, his nickname was the bus. Yeah. And the reason his nickname was the bus was because he had this ability to keep running down the field while carrying other players on his back. Through people, basically. If you grabbed onto him, he could keep on going. He just kept going. Yes. But Michael thinks it's because he doesn't like to fly. Yes, exactly. Well, I just want to round this out by telling you guys a few things when

I was deep diving on Jerome Bettis. He seems like a super great guy. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, and he has the Jerome Bettis Bus Stop Here Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the overall quality of life for troubled and underprivileged inner city youth. And he has delivered over 1,000 pairs of cleats to children in the Detroit school system. So he's a good guy. Jerome, just so you know, if you ever hear this, we tried to figure out how to contact you, but we couldn't figure it out. We wanted to give you a little love and ask you a few questions, but we couldn't figure it out. So if Jenna slid into your DMs, no red flags, she was just wanting to talk to you about this episode. Oh, the number of DMs I've slid into

for this show, Angela. It's a lot. It's a lot. So now you're going to just see some wide shots of the convention and Michael walking around and he goes up to a Blackberry phone mascot, right? Yeah, he does. Someone in a Blackberry costume and he just starts messing with them and he even invites them to the party. Yeah. Well, we had a fan question from Rebecca Specter and Lauren Wood. They both want to know who was in the cell phone mascot costume. I want to know that too. Yeah. So there is some lore. There's some office lore. Okay. That it was Phil Shea. Well, that's what I thought. Yeah. I reached out to Phil. He said he was not in the Blackberry costume. He said he had a contact at R. A. M. Technology, which are the people who make Blackberry. And he got them to

send over someone from their company with the Blackberry costume and that's who it was. Well, it was an official. An official Blackberry. It wasn't us pretending to be the mascot person. It was the official mascot. Oh, that's right. Yeah. Okay. There you go. So should we go back to Dunder Mifflin and see Pam and Toby again? Should we visit Pam and Toby and Toby's awkward attempt to ask Pam out? Yeah. Oh, it's so sad. He walks up to her desk and she gets a phone call. And he waits and waits. And he loses his nerve. He can't do it. Now, while he's losing his nerve, did you notice that Paul drums his fingers on the reception desk? And remember when I told you guys that Paul would do this? He was a drummer. Oh, yeah. So here he

does it. He drums at reception while he's waiting for Pam. It's just something that Paul does naturally. So I don't even know that he really realized he was doing it. I know he was showing that Toby was nervous and anxious, but that movement that you see his hands do, he used to do all the time. Well, we had a couple of fans write in with a catch at 10 minutes, 35 seconds. What? Bailey Aspenson said, why are there the times and names of TV shows on a post-it note at reception? Oh, yeah. And Claudia Cano said there are two post-it notes on Pam's desk. One says seven to eight PM, Big Brother CBS, eight to nine PM, Animal Planet, Jane Goodall returns, A and E first 48 hours. And then there's a second post-it note, which reads facts, Jan, David and Connie. So she wrote,

my two questions are, are those a list of TV shows that Pam watches? And my second question is, who is Connie? So I looked at these. These are both in my handwriting. I don't know. I don't know who Connie is. I clearly just threw that in there as a little bit of, I don't know, spice. And guys, that was a list of the shows I was planning to watch that night. That's just a note to myself. Apparently, I remember being very much into Big Brother. And I guess I really wanted to make sure I didn't forget to watch this Animal Planet special on Jane Goodall. And then if I had time, I was going to watch some 48 hours. But you guys, just to know Jenna, she of course would write that down and write down the time and everything. It wouldn't just be like, Oh, I think I'm going to check these

out tonight. I will make a schedule of my evening. Here will be my viewing schedule for tonight. Well, I think this just tells you everything you need to know about me. I want a little trash TV. Yeah. I love animals. And then I do like a good mystery. Yeah, it really does say everything you need to know about you. I think that's a great night of TV personally. All right, lady. Well, why don't we take a break here? And when we come back, let's join Michael and Jim at the buffet. Oh, let's join them at the buffet. Yeah, you know, I love a buffet. We need a sting for that. All right, we are back. Jenna, I have a question for you. Okay. Who left the ham out? What? And why would you want a sandwich

when you went to bed? Huh, El McPherson? Huh? What are you talking about right now? I'm going to keep going. I'm going to wait to see when you get it. Oh, leaving the ham out for the bear was a joke. Oh, it's his birthday. Oh, surprise. What a bunch of assholes. Are you with me yet? No. El McPherson left a ham out. El McPherson is in bed and says, you know, I'd really like a sandwich. And then. Oh my, wait. No, you did not. I watched the edge. You didn't. Oh, I could cry. What did you think? I watched the edge. These were my comments right out of the gate. Okay. Right away as I start watching the movie. I'm not getting on that plane. Who's getting on that plane? What do you mean getting it? That did not look safe already.

Already. I'm anxious, Jenna. They're on this plane and now they're going to the middle of nowhere. And then they say, don't leave a hand. Don't leave food out. Then he's got to get up and make her a sandwich. And she left it. Someone left a ham out and there's a bear. And then they're like, surprise. And I'm like, they scared the crap out of me. And then I said, what a bunch of dicks. Those aren't good friends. I know the quote you love is what one man can do. What one man has done another can do. Do you know the one I love from this movie? What is it? There goes a guy with a plane. I have to say, I don't remember that. Come on. Robert says that a lot. And then what did Ellen MacPherson, what did her character have

like edged on his watch for all the nights? Okay. Listen, you didn't love the mental fortitude and gymnastics that it took for these two people who are kind of at odds to have to work together to survive the wilderness and a bear that was actively hunting them. Tracking them. Okay. I like the part when, when Anthony Hopkins, his character, Charles, as you know, because Alec Baldwin, who plays Robert will say Charles 300 times. When Charles is like, repeat after me, this bear is not going to kill us. The bear is not going to kill us. Yes. It's so good. It's so good. Angela, this is written by David Mamet, one of the all time great American playwrights.

I got that. It's a masterful work. I got it. I got it. I think it would be maybe better on the stage is what I'm going to say. How do you do this on the stage? I don't know. You have a person in a bear costume? I don't know. It's just the way his cadence is. Charles, Charles, Charles. Anyway, I about pooped myself when several times in this movie, it was so stressful. But you loved it. You loved the movie though, right? I didn't love it. I didn't love it. But I watched it for you. I don't ever need to watch it again. Also, they did so many stupid things. Like, like they would finally, you know, get a gun they could shoot the bear with and then one of them would like throw it in the pit

or like get the bullets out of it or they would, they were just like, none of the, none of these things that you're saying. Yes. At the end, at the end, I don't want to ruin it if anyone hasn't seen it. And I know we're going off on a long tangent. The bear is already dead at that point, Angela. Yeah. But now there's a man pointing a gun at you. And then when he falls in the pit, you like, or like, I don't need the gun. And then he's just going to keep trying to kill you, buddy. Okay. So anyway, okay. I don't, I don't know what to say. Anyway, anyway, listen, here's the thing. I watched it for you because you're my BFF. I now get it. I get it. I'm fascinated that this is a movie that you choose to watch every year. It makes me really fascinated

by you. I've always thought you're an interesting person. You're even more complex to me now. I might have to rewatch it one more time with you. So I can trash talk it. And if you want to do the same with me, if you want to pick a Game of Thrones episode and trash talk it with me, that's fine. You know, I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't do that to you because you love it. And I wouldn't do, I wouldn't trash talk something that you love. You would maybe, I just don't think I would. I think you would make some grunting noises and eye rolls. There'd be something. No, I would just, I would just mock you to others behind your back. Oh, vicious. Anyway, I'm kidding. You know, Angela sweetheart, you know, I would mock you to your

face. That's the kind of friendship we have. Sweetheart. I was trying to figure out how to bring up the edge to you and then I had watched it. I watched it three weeks ago and I've been trying to figure out where to bring it up. And then when all of a sudden Michael was at the buffet, I was like buffet, ham. Here's my in. I'm going to say who left the ham out. She'll get it right away. But it's so random. I get it. It's so random. Anyway, lady, I watched the edge for you. I think we're even for a bit. You watched one 90 minute movie. I watched three seasons of a television show. Okay, maybe. Okay, fine. Okay, I'm going to start Fleabag. Okay. Okay. Yes. Okay, watch Fleabag. Okay. Anyway, so we'll discuss back to the episode. Jim, he is desperately wanting to

ask Michael about Pam. Yeah. But he just can't even bring himself to ask about her. No, he asked about Toby. Yeah. And Michael's like, Toby is everything that's wrong with the paper business. Is that why you left? And all of a sudden Jenna, it all becomes clear to you that this whole time, Michael really took it personally that Jim left. And he's been trying to figure out why he thought it was because of him. And he he needs to know why Jim left his friend. Why would he leave me? Yeah. And then there's there's one, there's a little couple of lines here that made me laugh so hard. Jim, they're talking about Ryan. And Jim says, tell him I said hi. And Michael with all seriousness says, I will call him later with that message.

And I just picture, I just picture that Michael just keeps calling Ryan. Yes. Yes. And then they all start to sit down to eat lunch. And Michael, he just wants to impress everyone. He whips out that $100 bill per diem is like, here's the tip. Yes. And the bus boy is so excited. The bus boy is like, that's amazing. Right. Yes. And Jan is not impressed though, because she's just sort of like, you know, Michael, we're here for work. We're going to be in and out of meetings all day. You seem to think this is a party. So there's a little bit of tension here. I have a fun fact. I just wanted to point out that $100 bill that Michael pays with today. I looked it up. That would be worth $126 and three cents. Oh, Jenna. I just wanted to know the value of $100

bill that I know. I just wanted to know. And I could have let it go. I could have kept it to myself. You could have, but you couldn't. But I couldn't. You couldn't. So there it is. There it is. Well, then Jan says, I can't stay on top of you 24 seven. And Michael has a small nosebleed looking camera. So desperately wants to say that's what she said. But then Angela scandal. Who's been the big sunglasses? What is your character having all of these like weird incognito disguise hats and glasses in her closet? You're hilarious. You draw more attention to yourself than not. She's got a closet of hats and wigs and glasses. She's like on the Americans. Yes. She's got her rendezvous. And she's like, and of course, why did they use Jane Doe? That's so creepy.

Do you know Jane Doe? She narrowly avoids Michael. But she gets her key. She's checking in. Oh, oh, Jenna, we have to talk about this is the one moment in the whole episode that Jim and Pam hear each other. Jim and Pam, it's as close as they'll get to being together. And it's when Pam calls Michael and Jim overhears and he's like, Hey, I'm with Jim and try and Josh say hi. And Pam's like, Hi. And that's it. That's their only moment. But not only that, this is a layered moment because in this moment, not only did they hear each other's voices, but in this moment, Jim knows that now that Pam is single and Pam now knows that Jim knows because Michael wishes her good luck on your first date. Yeah. So Pam, Pam knows, Jim knows I'm single. You know, she was

hoping he would find out somehow. Yeah. Now he knows. He doesn't call. He doesn't call. He doesn't call him either. Why aren't they calling each other? I don't know. It's like the age of innocence. I guess that book made me crazy. I'm like, just be together already. All right. Well, then Michael has a talking head where he's kind of going off on Jim. He says, Jim and I, we have different definitions of friendship. Apparently Jim thinks friendship is moving to Stanford. So he's not going to talk to Jim anymore. He's had enough. He's like a jilted lover. He is so heartbroken. He is. Angela, we had a really great fan catch. You'll like it. It's from Claudia Cano. She said, there is a rubber ducky in two shots. There's one at 14 minutes,

56 seconds, which is in the background of this talking head. And then again at 19 minutes, 47 seconds. Did Michael travel with the rubber ducky or get it at the convention? Oh, that was a convention giveaway for sure. That's swag, baby. That's the swag. There it is. Underneath, like on the duck's belly, you can't see it. It probably says a paper company name. For sure. We're not quacking around. We're number one in colored paper. Exactly. The duck stops here. Angela, you are really good at these. Give me more. If you think of more, shout them out. No, I won't. Okay. Well, my favorite part of this talking head, Angela, is that we widened to reveal that Michael is actually having a drink with the

hammer mill rep. I know. This whole talking head has been delivered with another person in the room. I have a fun fact about the hammer mill rep. Okay. That was played by actor Matt Price. Angela, Matt Price screen tested for the role of Dwight. No, I screen tested with him. He was one of the people that I was paired with at the final audition. They loved him and Greg wanted a way to bring him back. And by the way, as we go through the series, a lot of the people who had final screen tests for main roles are brought back as guest stars throughout the show because Greg just loved them so much. I love that about Greg. I know. He doesn't forget people. If you impress him, he'll find a place for you. All right. So at 15 minutes, 42 seconds, Jim is now going to

prank Dwight. It's like old times, right? He got a key to his room and he is going to go in there and do something. All right. I have some stories about this day. Yes, because what happens when he opens the door? Angela, what does Jim find? A lady on the bed. He finds someone who he thinks is a hooker. But it's actually Angela. All right. Well, Angela, fan question from Aiva Earl. Angela, is that really your leg that we see in Dwight's hotel room? Yes, it's really my leg. And of course, they had a whole outfit picked out for me. I had to have a wardrobe fitting for it, even though you don't really see much. It was conservative. Sorry to disappoint. But it was a pink pajama top, long sleeve. And then I have these black polka dot pants, like pajama pants,

but they were kind of satiny. Oh, that's the sexy part. Yes. And so you could see my calf when I raised my leg. And I had painted my toenails red. So there's that. But I had talked about this scene in an interview because I don't ever get any scenes with Jim. Jim and Angela rarely interact if you watch the whole show. Yeah. So John and I, as friends in real life, we were giddy. We were so excited to finally be in the scene together. And what you guys didn't see was when he opens the door, there's a mirror on the wall. And he sees my legs and he freaks out. But I could see his whole expression in the mirror. I could see everything. And his face when he saw my legs, every time John did the scene, he would do this range of reaction of like horror and just like

shock. And it was so funny. We were laughing so hard, trying not to ruin the takes. And then, of course, my character is like D. And they were debating on how much of me they were going to see. Yeah. Just my legs, to really sell it. Like how much did Jim see of me, right? Yeah. So we sort of played around with that a little bit. And then Jenna, I think this is the first time my character calls Dwight D. And we established that nickname. I think it is. Yeah. Yes. I don't know. We'll track it, guys. We'll track it. But I think this is the first time I call him D. Angela, I think we need to go on a double date now with Ryan, Kelly, Pam, and Alan. So cringy. Jenna, this scene was so awkward to watch. Yes. Kelly is force feeding Ryan some french fries with ketchup.

She insists that he loves it. He loves ketchup. He loves it. And then Alan, I mean, Alan is just kind of cheesy, Jenna. He's just oh my gosh. Yes. Well, Robert told me that his favorite Alan line is people always say don't be edgy, but I don't know any other way. He was like, it was so pretentious. It said it was such great comic writing. He also told me that he still gets recognized as the freedom fries guy. And he's very grateful. Do people call him the freedom fries guy? Freedom fries guy. Hey, you're the freedom fries guy from the office. And he also told me this really sweet story. He said after we were done shooting, Mindy walked him out and just went on and on about how grateful she was to him for being on the show. And then she told him that while

Alison was putting people on tape, because that's what she would do. Alison would hold auditions for parts and put people on tape. They had this idea that they might want to cast an SNL cast member in this role. And I'm not going to say who, but Mindy said we watched the tapes that Alison sent over and you were so funny that we ended up giving you the role instead of offering it to this SNL cast member. And Robert said it is still to this day. He wears that as like a badge. A badge of honor. Yeah, he was like, I can brag that I beat out an SNL cast member for a part on the office. So he just he was so sweet and so humble and so grateful and so excited to talk about this. Such a nice guy. He's great. Alright, well, speaking of our lives, Chris crossing with

these guest stars at 16 minutes 37 seconds. Jenna, Michael gets the first guest to his party who doesn't stick around because no one's there and he's like awkward. But it's played by Steve Little. I noticed. I love Steve Little. You guys know he played Uncle Jim in the show I did on Netflix called Haters Back Off. It's it's based off Miranda Sings based off that character with Colleen Ballinger and Eric Stocklin and Francesca Rialet and Steve Little and I have maybe one of the most awkward romances, even more awkward than Dwight and Angela, you guys. I mean, we have a date and a bathtub. No, you think that a romance can't get weirder than Dwight and Angela until you watch Haters Back Off and see you and Steve Little for sure 100%. That man could read the phone book

and I'd be cracking up. I'd be laughing so hard. He can. He is so funny. Just everything that comes out of his mouth made me laugh and we got to improvise a lot together and really create this creepy relationship and I just I just love him. I am a huge, huge Steve Little fan. Well, I worked with him on Haters Back Off but a lot of people knew him from Eastbound and Down as well as many other things. He's just a really great comedic actor. Well, so you know Pam's date did not go great. She says Alan was a bit of a dud, right? Yeah. It was not a love connection. She says she says she'll know it when she likes someone again. She already likes that person. She does. Then Jim gets off the elevator and discovers Michael is alone in his room with a strobe light

and some dance music. Really loud music. Like loud. I couldn't believe no one called and complained on him. The music was so loud. I know I'm 100 but I was like that's very loud. Well, Michael is really grouchy. We don't see Michael like this a lot. He's being super passive aggressive. It's Michael Sass. It's Michael Sass but I have a little bit of backstory guys. If you watch the deleted scenes, remember how he said there's some of the Dwight Angela stuff that plays out that got cut? Yeah. So you actually see Dwight is checking his watch. He's got to get to Angela in the room and he makes up a lame excuse and he leaves Michael alone in his hotel room and Michael's grumpy about that. He's grumpy because he feels like Jim has ditched him for Josh Porter. So there's

a lot happening here. Michael feels kind of like his friends have abandoned him. This is also where Jim finally tells Michael, I did not leave because of you Michael. You were a great boss. I left because of Pam and Michael is kind of like, you did? That's crazy because Pam's single now. You can come back. Well, I also think I think he wants Jim to know that but he's also instantly relieved that it wasn't because of him and that his friend is still his friend. Yes. And Jim once again is sharing something incredibly personal with Michael. I know because Jim says, listen, man, I put it on the line for Pam twice and I got rejected twice. I'm just, I'm not going to, I'm not going to call her. I don't know. Like, and I think he has a good point.

Like he made it clear. He smooched her in the office as she knows how he feels. He said, I love you. Yeah. He said, I love you. The ball is in her court. 100%. I totally get how he's like, if she called off the wedding and she didn't phone me, what am I supposed to do with that? I'm going to go be like, Hey, did you call off the wedding now? Can I have a chance? No. Jim's playing this right in my opinion. Yeah. So then at the end, the hammer mill reps show up for the party. This is so exciting. They have two guests and Michael tells them that he and Jim are best friends, best friends. So it ends up being a win for Michael because he gets his friend back. He makes a huge sale with hammer mill, right? Jan ultimately is impressed

with Michael as a salesman. He's not number two behind Josh Porter. So Michael has a nice ending here. He does. He goes through a lot at this convention, but in the end he wins. And we've got a very funny tag at the end of this episode. Michael and Dwight are in the hotel room. They turn off the lights because they're going to turn on a black light because it's a party. I guess for their party. Yeah. Yes. And there are just these splatters all over the room. And Dwight says, well, it's either blood, urine or semen. And I love Michael's line. He says, God, I hope it's urine. I hope it's urine. When do you ever hope it's urine? I think in that situation. This was a really fun episode. I had such a great time doing it. It was so fun

to rewatch it again. I just remember laughing a lot. And that was a real joy for me this week. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I want to give a big shout out and a big thanks to Kent Sabornak for his Kentopedia facts and also to Robert Begnell for all his fun stories. You guys, you can follow Robert Begnell on his Instagram at Bobby underscore bagstagram. It's like Instagram, but it's bagstagram. Or you can find him on YouTube. He's got this amazing travel show called travel bags. He spent like the last five years traveling mostly through Southeast Asia. And he's been documenting his travels. He's turned them into these very watchable, fun, very addictive videos. I highly recommend. Anyway, big thanks to those guys. And we'll

see you next week for the cool. Thank you for listening to office ladies. Office ladies is produced by ear wolf, Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Cody Fisher. Our producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubaco. Our theme song is rubber tree by Creed Bratton. For ad free versions of office ladies, go to Stitcher premium.com. For a free one month trial at Stitcher premium, use code office.