Office Ladies - The Paper Ep 6: Churnalism

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

This week on Office Ladies 6.0 Jenna and Angela break down the sixth episode of The Paper, “Churnalism.” When Ned tries to boost the paper’s credibility by turning the staff into product testers, the newsroom fills with sketchy supplements, glowing face masks, and one very alarming skincare side effect. Meanwhile, Esmeralda takes Ned’s “boring” park bathroom story and blows it wide open into a real City Hall scandal. The ladies try out some actual viral health gadgets, expound on conspiracy theories and delve into Angela’s fraught relationship with monkeys. So slather on that face mask, double-check your sources, and enjoy! Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question for Around the Town, Chit Chat and The Paper: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion  Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod Follow Us on YouTube Follow Us on TikTok To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You know, your eyes go through a lot. Every day with things like reading and dim light, too much screen time, that happens to me all the time. Bright sun in your eyes when you're driving. Even nighttime driving can cause eye strain. So, yeah, we're putting our eyes through a lot. So it's important to take care of them and monitor their health with regular eye exams. Check their healthy with an eye exam at spec savers from $99, which includes an OCT eye health scan that helps to detect eye and health conditions at early stages. To find a location near you and book an eye exam with an

OCT scan from $99, visit specksavers.capsavers.c-a exams are provided by independent optometrists. Prices may vary by location. 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 lovers podcast just for you. Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews behind the scenes details and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Lady 6.0. Hi, Angela. Hi, doll. What's up?

Not much. We both dug out of our closet some really cute little jackets today. Today's the day of the cute jacket. My jacket I have had since before Isabel was born. And it's so cute. Is it still in style? It's kind of like a little bomber jacket? It feels in style?

Sam's nodding. I mean, why would you ask me this question? I don't know. This is true. How would I know? This is true. This is what happens when two best friends neither have any fashion sense. We start advising one another. I like your jacket too. Thanks. I love it. I got it at that store. Oh, God, what's it called, lady? This is my brain. The Gap? No. Zara. No. Just keep naming stores until we get there. Anthropology. No, it's that one where you go in and they give you a little stylist. Like you go in and you... Macy's? No, the one where you go in and then you pick stuff out and then they style you where they like fill in all the blanks.

Wow, that sounds really cool. I did it in Oklahoma, every Eve, every Eve. Yes. I did it in Oklahoma City. Those ladies loved you. Yeah, I needed a blazer. I hadn't packed a blazer and Lee wanted to take me out for an early birthday dinner because he was going to miss my birthday last year. I mean, this is going all the way back to March.

And I said, I'm just here for a blazer. and, you know, of course, they were amazing, and they put a bunch of cute stuff in my dressing room. Shout out to the ladies at Ever Eve in Oklahoma. Yeah. Well, first of all, I think we need to take a picture of us in these jackets. I agree. And do a little side-by-side. Oh, my gosh.

I know you love a side-by-side-by-side. It's not really a side-by-side. It's just a standing side-by-side. I like that, too. Well, we are kicking off this week's The Paper episode. It's episode six, journalism. And before we get to this breakdown, it's time for a quick little chit-chat. Don't worry, we are going to do around the town.

We're going to get to that a little bit later. But first, let's hear this chit-chat suggestion from Darby in Iowa. Hey, office ladies. I absolutely love your podcast, and I'm so honored to be chosen to read my question for you guys today. So I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do find them fascinating to hear or read about. One of my favorite things about your podcast is when you do deep dives. It's fun to learn so much about random things. So my question for you guys is, was a conspiracy theory that you could be convinced as true?

Or maybe you already have one that you believe in. I thought it would be interesting to hear what you guys come up with. Darby, we loved this suggestion. This both got our brains buzzing. It did. Did anything come to mind? You know we both have one. I don't even know what yours is.

Okay, here's mine. Shall I go first? Sure. Darby, I'm a little obsessed with Stonehenge. Okay. So when I was in college, I did a semester abroad in London, and I signed up for this bus tour. We loaded up on a bus and we drove to Stonehenge. And I got goosebumps. It was like foggy. These things are huge. They're huge. I also took my yielded camera and I took tons of pictures. And then when I got back to my dorm room, I realized I hadn't put any film in it. I don't have a single picture. Well, what's the conspiracy about Stonehenge that it's arranged by like aliens or something? Like, what is it? When you go and see it, it's hard to imagine how these stones got there, how they got upright.

Does like nobody know how they got there? Well, there's a lot of like different theories and things. But the thing that I think really kicked off some conspiracy theories, at least from what I saw online, is in 2024, the science journal called Nature revealed that the six-ton altar stone at Stonehenge came from the northeast of Scotland and not whales like the rest of the monuments blue stones. Wait, there's one stone that's different than all the other stones. Yes, and it's a pretty fascinating revelation because it really ignited the question, how were the stones? Some weighing 45 tons transported and arranged to where they sit today. I mean, there was no basic transportation. The wheel hadn't even been invented. The wheel was like was invented five centuries.

later. Wait. What? Yeah, I know. So much of what scientists do know about the construction of Stonehenge is from educated guesses and constantly evolving research, the most recent of which suggests that, in fact, two of the largest boulders that make up Stonehenge have always been there where they sit today, but they don't know where the rest came from. And so theories are, if not aliens, perhaps giants. Giants! Yes! One of the earliest... We used to be a land of giants?

Listen, one of the earliest names for Stonehenge was, and I'm going to say it wrong, guys, Correa Gigantum, which has been interpreted by some as Giants' Dance. So, you know, I don't know. Is this like giving credibility to giants used to roam the Earth or aliens or who knows? But let me tell you, whoever arranged those, was an amazing engineer to make all that happen. But you feel it. When you're there in person, something feels like eerie, something extra.

It feels like this doesn't look like it should belong here. I got to go. It feels really old. Like I felt like when I went there, like I was entering a time I didn't belong in. It felt very old. Like, I felt the passage of time. from the earth. Wow. So there you go. I don't know, Darby. Like Stonehenge is fascinating to me. That is a conspiracy theory I can get sucked into. What about you, Jenna? Well, I had a hard time.

I am such a naturally wired, skeptic, critical thinker. Yeah. When it comes to these things, nothing came to mind for me. So I instead Googled what are common conspiracy theories. And I, thought I could list them and maybe we could all just say if we could get sucked into them or not. Okay. All right. Matt, Sam, alien abductions. Oh. Yes, but I think a lot of the people that say they have them haven't had them.

Okay. But I do think it's feasible. All I can ever think of is that SNL sketch. Oh, the Kate McKinnon one. Yes. Basically, if you haven't seen it, Ryan Gosling, he gets abducted and he has the most magical experience. and they just, they surrounded me with love. And then Kate McKinning, like, has a cigarette.

She goes, yeah, that didn't happen to me. And they, like, came by and, like, swatted at her boobs. It's just hilarious. I'm sorry. Okay, go on. Matt, do you want to weigh in on alien abductions? I think they've happened. Okay.

To me, but I think they're out there. Matt, oh, we don't know very much about you. And I am already just like, ooh-hoo. I'm not big on it, but I could go with it. You could be made to believe. Here's where I'm thinking Darby is coming from. Like if one day one of these things was proven true, you'd be like, yeah, I see it. Yeah, fair enough.

Okay. JFK assassination, one shooter or multiple? Oh, my gosh. I'm one shooter. One shooter, but a lot of people planned it. I don't think Lee Harvey Oswald did it alone. I think he did it by himself. I think I'm a one-shooter guy here.

Oh. Huh. This one is tricky to me because I think it was one shot, but I always wondered why he was assassinated so quickly right after. That part always felt a little cover-up to me. Lee Harvey Oswald then being killed. Yes. Seems like a nice, like, tie it up with a bow.

Yeah, it's too neat and tidy. All right. The moon landing was a hoax. No. No. The earth is actually flat. No. No. Then, you know, always that like somebody is still alive or faked their death, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Tupac.

Yeah, I don't believe those. No. Okay. What about fake Melania? No, I just think it's just different makeup and styles. You know, she doesn't do a lot of public appearances as First Lady. So there has been a conspiracy theory that there's like a body double that shows up in like sunglasses and big hats for like short photo ops. And stands next to the president. But that, the person being replaced by somebody, that goes back to like the Beatles. Yes, Paul McCartney has been replaced by a lookalike is another conspiracy theory. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. What about the New Coke conspiracy? Do you know about that one? No. Do you remember back in our childhoods when Coca-Cola changed to New Coke? It was clear? No. No, that's Crystal Pepsi.

That's crystal. That's different. But everyone got pissed off. They were like, we don't want New Coke. Yeah, nobody liked it. Right. That's what I remember. Because they were going to get rid of old Coke.

Well, they did. They got rid of old Coke. They replaced it with new Coke. And then they, everybody got mad. So then they came out with Coca-Cola Classic. And for a while, you could buy either new Coke or Coca-Cola Classic. So the conspiracy is that they intentionally changed to an inferior product, new Coke, to drive up demand for the original Coke, which they then re-released with cheaper products and made more profit.

See, that just seems pretty straightforward business to me. I'll buy that one. That seems like a little marketing-like strategy, but also it could just mean that someone shi-the-bed and then they had to scramble. Yeah. See, I can't get behind that conspiracy. I think it's more likely just poor business decisions. Yeah.

All right. Well, finally, this is my last conspiracy, and this is the one that I believed in. We finally got to my one. Oh, Bermuda Triangle. Now, what is the conspiracy? I think that it's got some kind of magnetic field that makes planes drop from the sky. Yeah. There's some kind of thing.

Like, I believe in it. Like, I believe that the Bermuda Triangle, I don't even know. Okay. But I would never fly over it. I'm not going to sail a ship into it. No way. Yeah. I think that's more superstition, though.

But no, it's happened. All these ships and planes have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle, never to be seen or heard of again. Is that where Amelia Earhart went down? I don't think so. Yeah. It is? No. We don't know.

I'll tell you the Bermuda Triangle. It is loosely defined as a region in the North Atlantic Ocean bound by Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. And it kind of forms a triangle over sort of deep part of the ocean. Is it where Amelia Earhart went down? No, but there is a fringe conspiracy theory that I'm looking at it now. The Amelia Earhart-Bermuda Triangle theory. Conspiracy theory, yeah. It's a very fringe belief of that.

Okay. Well, there you go. Darby, we dug into conspiracies for you. I hope you enjoyed it. That was fun for me. Yeah. Now, there is one conspiracy that I did not mention, and it's because it was a chit-chat suggestion, a single item to discuss in a future chit-chat. And I think we should save it, but it's Bigfoot. Oh, yeah. We could talk so much about Bigfoot. I know. And, you know, Lee did some deep dive research on Bigfoot. I feel like I need to get it in here. Okay, save. Yes. Oh, yes.

And let's have Lee come in. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Well, listen, why don't we take a break? And then when we come back, we're going to get into season one, episode six of the paper, journalism. Yes. And writer Eric Rayhill, who also plays Travis, gave us some great behind-the-scenes details.

He sure did. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Sometimes it can feel like everyone else has it all together. Their love life, even whether they're married or dating or single. Like, they've got it figured out. But the truth is, I think we're all still. figuring it out. No matter where you are in your romantic journey, therapy is kind of great because you have someone to talk it out with, get advice from, kind of help you determine what you want and take

some of that pressure off yourself. Yeah, and maybe to help unpack some elements of the past that might be holding you back, well, BetterHelp therapists work according to a strict code of conduct. They are fully licensed in the U.S. And BetterHelp will offer you the therapist match commitment. You get a a short questionnaire, you say your preferences, and they'll match you with someone. But guess what? If you don't like them, you can switch to a different therapist at any time. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 5 million people globally. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash office ladies. That's betterhelp.com slash office ladies. 2025 was a great year for TV, movies, and music, and we are highlighted.

the best of the best, including K-pop demon hunters, and severance. We're talking about our favorite moments of the year, including some of the best pop culture you might have missed. Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour wherever you get your podcasts. We are back. As we said, this episode is Churnalism. It was written by Eric Rayhill and directed by Jason Walliner. Jason has also directed St. Dennis Medical, Nathan for you, and The Last Man on Earth. Here is your summary. Ned takes over Esmeralda's advertorial department and enlists his staff to personally try out sponsored products, believing the move will strengthen both the paper's profits and its credibility.

Asmeralda retaliates by commandeering Ned's story about a park bathroom shutdown, blowing it up into a dramatic investigative expose with mayor as her sidekick. What begins as a publicity stunt unexpectedly exposes a real scandal at City Hall. I mean, you and I would have so much fun if you and I got to hit the streets and question someone at City Hall and bust them. I mean, we're going to get to it, but I thought they did an excellent job here. I know. You know, we asked Eric what it was like to be a writer and actor on the show, and this is what he said. He said, I've mostly just acted before this job, so it's really crazy to see how much it takes to make a TV show come to life from

start to finish. Hundreds and hundreds of people. I mean, maybe everybody knows that, but it really is insane. And I thought about that. I thought about like the first time my parents came to the set of the office. My dad was like, all these people. Yeah, dad, all of them. I mean, this is why we don't want AI to replace actors, because you maybe only see a handful of actors in the project, but behind that are hundreds of people being employed. That's right, building sets and, I mean, all of it. Yeah. It's a real community effort to get a show or a movie made. Yes. Well, listen, this episode is going to start in the conference room. Ned is leading the team in a story brainstorming session.

Esmeralda is going to pitch a story about the most effective face product in history. This is a new product. It's a face mask from Korea. Yeah. She has made two posters, and one of them featured. this Ulazang mask, if I'm saying that correctly. And I looked on the internet, and I guess it's a popular South Korean term, literally meaning best face or good looking. And, you know, I was looking into these face masks. And I was trying to find one that was very similar to what Esmeralda is pitching.

I couldn't, although I found one that the internet is raving about. And I brought one for me, you and Sam. We obviously can't do them today. I want you to go home and do them, and I want you to report back. Wow. Exciting. Are you ready? Look at this.

What is it? It's a Dr. Jart plus Cairo rubber mask. Lady, Dr. Jart is expensive. I know. I bought it with my own money. I didn't use the company credit card. You guys, this one I bought is a firming mask. We're going to get firm, y'all.

I can't wait. That's what she said. Okay. Anyway, you each have one. All right. The other thing on her poster is a jawline enhancer. It says it's a game changer for men. Oh.

Mm-hmm. I looked for one for us. You have to order them. It takes a while. I don't have them. Oh. Well, I'm excited to just see what this rubber mask will do. Mm-hmm.

Wow. It's very, it's a little creepy looking on that. It is. I know. I feel nervous. But Ned is not impressed by Asmeralda's pitch. he's like, let me give you an example of a great news story. He bicycled past the park today and the restrooms were closed.

He found out that they're going to replace those bathrooms with an e-bike kiosk. What's up? What's up with that? Why can't the park have a bathroom? This made me laugh. Nicole said, Asmorelda's article seems like clickbait. And then she said, Ned's story seems like something my mom would text and it wouldn't be clear why. It's just out of the blue.

It's very funny. So Ned has some Ned sass. He kind of talks down to Esmeralda. He calls what would be her article, journalism. And it was like, who's ever learned anything from such an article?

And everyone raised their hands. They all feel like they've learned something. Yeah, Ned says, I don't know if there's a place for this kind of story at the truth teller. And then Ken appears kind of out of nowhere. And he says, actually, can I tell you a story of my childhood friend?

and I loved this story so much. I also loved Oscar in this exchange, so I wanted us to hear it. Now, I don't know if I've ever told you guys about my old childhood friend Douglas Keane. No. So Douglas grew up in a 10-bedroom estate in Cardiff. Sounds sick as hell.

It does indeed. Thank you, Travis. But do you know how Douglas' parents paid for this 10-bedroom estate in Cardiff? No. Anyone? No. Oscar. Textiles?

Pardon me? Textiles. Prostitution. God. I'll give you it. Prostitution. Well, we are Douglas Keen. This beautiful office is the 10-bedroom estate,

and these, yes, slightly dodgy, clickbait articles, are prostituting themselves for us. Without them, the TTT will die in darkness. I just, I don't know why I loved it so much. I did. It's just great conference roomy vibe, you know, where people have these little, like, one-off lines because I love Travis in that, too. Yes. Yeah. Well, you know, I asked Eric, who are his favorite characters to write for? And he said it's a tie between Barry and Ken. He loves them. Yeah. I get it. I do too. And Ken has some great couplets of dialogue in this episode. I'm going to mention a few as we go. Well, Ned says, fine, we'll do this article about this beauty product. In fact,

Why don't we do an article where we test a whole bunch of these products, but we have to review them with rigor and integrity? Mm-hmm. And now Esmeralda is mad. She's like, Ned just stole her story idea. So she's like, fine, I'll take your boring bathroom story and show you what. Exactly. So in the next scene, Ned enters the bullpen and he's got two big plastic bins

full of free products for the team to test out. And he says you have to be neutral and honest in your reporting. And he starts handing him out. He gives Nicole some kombucha. Barry gets this like tooth whitening device, this thing he puts in his mouth and it lights up. Oscar is going to get a product that promises six-pack abs without a single crunch. And then this leads into an Oscar talking head, which I really loved and I thought we should hear it. Guaranteed six-pack abs.

No crunch is required. Obviously, I know these things don't work, but they may work for me. This is me. This is me every time I see a stupid Instagram ad. I know. You're like, this could work. I mean, I know that it's stupid, and then I just spend my money on it every time. And, you know, Eric shared with us that this was basically the inspiration for this episode.

He said, I think the inspiration came from the writer's room talking about what, in quotes, health products we've all fallen for. He said, we loved imagining Esmeralda pitching this idea just to get free stuff. Eric said, I've fallen for so many powders. Good God. Instagram ads have me in a chokehold. I know. You and I did trade messages.

I was like cleaning out my bathroom and I was like, here are things I'm never allowed to buy again. No more neck firming cream. Give it a rest. Pick one. Stick with it. Like, I have so many creams. You know what I don't need another one of? A hair mask.

When do I have time to put something on my head? I wash my hair, then I have to put a hair mask on, and then I wait 10 to 15 minutes, and then I have to get back in the shower. This is never happening in my life. You know what I bought? What? I bought these pouches. You stick your feet in.

It's like a foot mask. Oh, I love those. My daughter and I love to put those on and then watch a movie. We do like movie spa night. They have them for your hands, too. I know, but I'm good. You know what I'm saying? Like they last forever.

Okay. I don't need to buy anymore. Okay. Well, Mayor is now going to go into Esmeralda's office and she's like, I'm here to like assist you. Ned thought I could help you out. And then you know what their dynamics going to be. Esmeralda's going to run the show.

And now she has her guy Friday. Well, did you see the book she's reading? I mean, she's taking this very seriously. I zoomed in on it. When Mayor enters her office, she's reading a book called Basic Journalism Exploring the Fundamentals, a comprehensive study book for university-level students. Wow, I did not catch that. Well, for what it's worth, it's a real book.

Wow. Well, now Adam is going to test maybe some type of mushrooms, but Ken quickly comes in, tosses those out and gives him this packet, and he's like, here, take these pills. You know, they're like a supplement. And Adam, without even looking at the package, takes the pills. What the hell? Yeah. And there's this packet.

It's called Scorpion Sting from Rudy's gas station. There's some type of like... Like male enhancement. Male enhancement. Yeah. It's going to pump up his sperm count or something. And Adam's instantly worried. He's like, oh, God, I can't get my wife pregnant again.

They have four kids. Yeah. I have a few questions for Adam. What are they? One, you don't look and see what you're, you're taking before you take it. What? Two, he quickly downs them with water.

Thankfully, because if he drank them without water, it'd make me cringe. Okay. Does that make you cringe when people, like, take pills without water? One of my pet peeves is movies where people open up a prescription pill bottle and then they pour, like, just a bunch of pills. Like, they're in pain, and they don't, like, take the prescribed amount, and then they just put them in their mouth. and then they just like, they chuck their head back and just swallow them dry.

Josh takes his vitamins like that. Don't. What? He just puts them in the hell? Yes. And I'm like, I'm sorry. How in the hell? I can't do that.

And every time he does it, it makes me want to gag. Wow. Anyway, lastly, Adam, get a vasectomy. Snip, snap, snip. Shut it down. Well, he says his father-in-law doesn't believe in birth control. Would that be considered birth control? Yeah, I also have a question about that.

How is your father-in-law in your marital bed? How does he know your business? Who's telling your father-in-law? Oh, we're not using condoms this month. Like, who's reporting back? Don't report back. I don't know. It sounds like they have a very emmeshed relationship with her parents.

It's creeping me out a little bit. Okay, so in the next bit, Oscar, he gets this ab device, right? It's like on a belt, it looks like, or something you, like, puts it around his abdomen. It looks like little, it looks like, pulsing things. Yeah, they look like little stickers like when you're getting an EKG. Right. Or we actually have these little things you can put on a muscle that's like tight or locked up.

Josh has them and they give you little pulses. Yeah. And they help work out. Like when I had tennis elbow, it was amazing. Oh yeah. I've had that from a physical therapy before. Yeah. Yeah.

So it's kind of like that. He's put it on his abdomen. It's supposed to, I guess, like help you get a six pack. he puts it at a level three and he's in so much pain. He's like, and then Adelola walks up and she's like, I'm going to put it on because it can't be any more painful than cramps. Basically, Oscar keeps turning the notch up and it isn't until level nine that she like is like, okay, yeah, that kind of hurts. Yeah. And he's like, holy crap.

Yeah. And so then he puts it on at a nine and he's like convulsing in the chair. It's amazing. I really need to give Oscar a standing ovation. for his physical comedy in this scene. We also got a fan question from Yasmin Y in Dallas, Texas, who said, great callback to Oscar and the ab workouts from the end of the office. Yes, I thought the same thing, Yasmin.

I guess Oscar has always been a sucker for ab gadgets. I went back to the episode from the office in season nine. It's the episode moving on, and Oscar has a talking head about it. I want you to hear it. I watch way too many ads online, and I don't do enough sit-ups. So I bought these. Now, every time an ad pops up online, I get 30 seconds of ab blasting. I call it ads for abs.

So he's always wanted to get a six-pack. Anyway, it just cracks me up. And, you know, I recently worked with Oscar. You'll see what it is soon. It's nothing to do with the paper, but it was fun. Yeah. But we were between scenes. And Jenna, you and I were texting about this specific scene.

So I was like, Oscar, we got to know about this ab contraption. because it looks like you're in a lot of pain. Like, what were you doing? Was it really kind of pinching you or something? And he said, oh, no, it was just these tiny little pulses. It wasn't painful at all. He said that was all acting. In fact, when it goes up to the level nine,

I wanted them to put a pillow on my desk because I wanted to slam my head on my desk. But I was like, okay, maybe that's too much. I can't believe it actually was doing something. I just assumed it was fake. No, he said it was like tiny little. things, but his reactions were all his own. All right.

Well, now Detrick is going to have a talking head, and he's wearing his device that he's meant to be testing. It's like a jawline defining device. It's like a red LED thing that you put on your neck. I looked online. There are several versions of things like this. Oh, well, did you bring one? Yes, lady.

Have you bought one? I bought one for us. Wait, did you buy this just because? of this episode? Uh-huh. Oh my gosh. I've been plugging it in all morning. Wait, basically I got us firming facial mask and you got us.

This thing. This chin strap thing. Yeah. Here, I'm going to put it on. All right. Ready? Yeah. Okay.

Guess how much this was? $40. $21. Oh my gosh. My face mask costs the same. What do you think? Looks good, lady. It looks really good.

I think you should wear it for the entire episode. Great. See how you feel. Okay. at the end. You tell me if my neck looks firmer at the end. Okay. Here's what the brochure says. It says red light therapy boasts a broad spectrum of applications and health benefits. Right now, you're reminding me of when my kids got their wisdom teeth out and they wrapped their chin with this like ice pack thing. It says that the wavelength is particularly effective in managing acute and chronic pain conditions like sports injuries, joint pain and inflammation.

but it also improves blood circulation and alleviates pain and stiffness giving me a headache, taking it off. Ow. I don't want it. Okay. I'll just have a saggy chin. Lady, I'll have one with you. Why don't we take a break because us and our saggy chins have more fun stuff to discuss.

We are back from break. Before we get back to more of the paper, it is time for around the town, which I really think we need a sting for. Yes. Right? I want to go back to Ye Olden times when we had a sting. Sam? On it. Yay. Angela, kick us off. I will. This is from Josie W. in Syracuse, Utah. I'm so tickled by this, okay? Okay. Listen to this. What? Josie says, it's bald eagle season in northern Utah, exclamation point. Bald Eagles migrate from the mountains and from colder northern regions, and one of them comes to my little neighborhood every year. During January and February, we see him flying around the pond, perched on phone lines, and flying over our house.

I'm a birder, and seeing a bald eagle so close and in my literal neighborhood is easily one of my favorite times of the year. I love that it's the same one that keeps coming back. It makes me so happy. Remember when I had those ducks that would come and hang out in my pool a few years in a row? When I was a kid, my parents had a Purple Martin house in the backyard, and we would just, wait for the Purple Martins to come each season. Look at that. I never knew that about you.

Yeah. Now, when I see your parents, I'm going to say, you know, how's the Purple Martin business going? Well, it's not going great. They moved. They brought the Purple Martin house with them. I mean, it's not like they moved to a whole new state or anything. They just moved across town. Yeah.

No. I know my ducks moved too. Okay. Well, Josie, I loved that. All right. Next one is from Izzy A in Philadelphia. Pennsylvania. Izzy says, I was part of a live podcast recording event in my neighborhood of West Philly, in quotes, best Philly, about the local Yiddish cultural community. I am part of a group of

people who are learning Yiddish to reconnect to our ancestral language and also do Yiddish music, dancing, and theater. I'm currently organizing 53 people in Fiddler on the roof in Yiddish. Oh my gosh. And I got to talk about that on the podcast. I'm I'm proud that my little neighborhood has this much interesting culture and art going on. I love that. And Jenna, you were in Fiddler on the roof. Lady, I was the fiddler on the roof. In high school, the musical, I was the fiddler. It was the lead, the lead dance role, because I was only ever in the dance chorus. I never broke out. You're a very good dancer. Well, I mean, I was. You know, like, every once in a while, there'll be a little song on and you get your little hips way and little, you do some like toe tacks. tapping things. Well, I was trained in Bob Fosse. Oh. It's a way you move your hips. That's a

flex. A little bit of a flex. But yeah, I had the lead dance role in Fiddler on the Roof. My dad's favorite joke. This is such a dad joke. He was like, you know what, sweetie, without you, it would just be called the roof. That show needed you. That's adorable. So cute. Well, Izzy, that was fantastic. Next up is Kelly M from London, UK. Kelly says, Dear ladies, happy new year. In news from London, I visited the Marie Antoinette style exhibition

at the V&A Museum yesterday. It was wonderful. Items actually used by the queen, chairs, desks, tea sets, finishing with a room filled with modern designs inspired by her. 10 out of 10, recommend. Lots of love to you and the pod team from London. this is making me want to get on an airplane right now and see this exhibit.

I want to see the T-set. I want to see it all. I want to see it all, but I need to see the T-set. No. We're going to go to London. Are we? Office ladies in London! Lady, we are having a hard time planning our one-day work retreat in town.

I know. How are we going to London? Well, we're busy. We have five kids between the two of us. I know. We're busy. But, I mean, Kelly, I'd love to get there. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for writing in with your. around the towns. Let's get back to the episode. Next up, Detrick lets us know that Nicole is really struggling. I guess the kombucha that she drank was supposed to be refrigerated. She's not going to have a good time. She's going to spend a lot of this episode in the bathroom. Yes. Like, you know. And as Morelda calls Frank Durham, the administrative manager of McGundry Park. And he's very dismissive towards her. He is. Yeah. He says, listen, that's what's happening. But Esmeralda is not dissuaded. In fact, it emboldens her.

She's like, you know what? There's a story here. She thinks he was being dodgy on the phone. Yeah. So her and mayor are going to go down to the city hall offices. And do some digging. Yeah. They go tell Ned who has this insane blue face mask on his face.

Honestly, it looks like the blue version of the mask you bought us. Lady, this is what inspired me to get this mask is Ned's blue mask. And guess what? You can get a blue one. It's like hydration, but I thought we should get the firming quad. What are you saying? What are you implying? That's what we ever talk about is like, how do we firm up our wobbles?

Anyway, Sam, sorry to lump you in that. Nope, I'm good. Well, all of Hollywood is firming up their wobbles. They're doing all the things and we have done nothing. What do they call it now? You look snatched. Oh, snatched. You look snatched.

We're not snatched. Your neck is all like, ten. Tight. What's the term if you're not snatched? Us. Office ladies. But here's my question. When you snatch up your face like that, when you do all that, right? Yeah. What about your hands? Do you still have old lady hands? Or are you snatching your hands? Here's what I told you when we were talking about this. I said, I feel like it's like my house. My house is an older house. Well, guess what? We've got a leak in Cade's bathroom. It's going to have to be gutted and redone. And now Kate's bathroom is going to look amazing.

And the rest of the house is going to look like shit. So this is what happens. You like fix up one part and then the rest that isn't working is very obvious. Yeah. It's a slippery slope. So like if I did my neck, then what about my eyebrow, my forehead? I don't know. It's a domino effect.

Yeah. Well, that's why I guess you have to do like it all at once. Yeah. Seems traumatic to me. Yeah. And painful. Yeah. And expensive.

And so expensive. Yeah. I mean, for that amount of money, just retire, go off the grid. I won't be in TV. Like, who cares? I know. No kidding. My gosh. All right. Anyway, one of the things that does happen, though, is part of Ned's face mask, a clump of it falls on a shirt, and he rubs it off and where it landed, it bleaches his shirt. So now he's freaking out. This is foreshadowing for how this face mask. is going to go, by the way. So now we're going to go to City Hall. Marin Esmeralda are talking to the City Hall receptionist. They're like, okay, so there was a hearing about the bathroom closure on the 13th. This was all on the up and up, this closing of the bathroom. This was approved by a vote.

Yeah. Esmeralda is still not convinced. She sort of fakes this giant migraine and then she goes off into his office. She gets his day planner. She takes a picture of it. Yes. And she sees that he was doing a trivia night whenever this meeting took place. He was even there, this Frank Durham guy.

Exactly. I want to give a shout out to Leslie Thurston, who played the City Hall administrator. She was great. She studied at Groundlings. She's been a gazillion TV shows, including Parks and Rec and the Morning Show. And I've also got a little location breakdown for you. Eric said Frank Durham's office in City Hall was shot. at the Freemasons Hall in Pasadena.

He went on to say, I don't want to make any enemies of the Freemasons, but I think that building is haunted. I looked it up. We were talking about conspiracies earlier. I could find nothing about the Freemasons Hall in Pasadena being haunted. But did you know, Pasadena, California is like the most haunted section of Los Angeles? They've got a gazillion buildings and parks that all have stories of being.

haunted and ghosts. There's this one park that people say is haunted by the Marks Brothers. Wow. Yeah. I bet you could do like a haunted walking tour of Pasadena. You probably could. Our driving tours kind of spread out. You could. Yeah. Oh, lady, can I also say my favorite Esmeralda line when she's showing mirror the pictures of her calendar? Now they're like outside. They're in the parking lot. And they're like, look at this. There's no mention of a hearing, only trivia night. And then Esmeralda says, yes, those kinds of men, they love to yell out facts. It's like a very funny thing. Well, did you notice the star sticker on her phone and all these stickers on her car, which looks like it's a Fiat 500X? I looked it up. Her car is also red.

I feel like this red color is a theme for her. She almost always has a hint of red, red yo-yo, red flowers on her blouse, red lipstick, red dress, red car. And stars, stars, are everywhere. Lady, I became obsessed with these stars like two episodes ago. I know when I did a breakdown of her office, I mentioned they're on all kinds of things. There's a star sticker on the lamp, on her frame. And they seem to be expanding. I feel like I keep noticing more. And like you said, I noticed them on her phone and her car. I reached out to Chelsea, Chelsea Fry. Oh, what did Chelsea say? What's the scoop? Chelsea, talk to me about these stars because I feel like this was Sabrina. Mm-hmm.

Can you find out, was it her, was it set decoration? It's so specific. Chelsea was like, I'm on it. So here's what she found out. Sabrina said it started with an email between herself and set decoration, just talking about what Esmeralda's office might look like. And Sabrina had really wanted the office to look personalized. So she brought in this sticker tape of stars.

Okay. Because Sabrina herself has always loved stars, and she thought this was a really good overlap with her character. So they just let her start putting these stars wherever she wanted, and she stuck them on everything, including the car. Sabrina stuck them on the car. There's so many. They like outline her window, her driver's door. So did she stick one or two on the car? And then set deck was like, okay, we'll take it from here?

No, I think she did it. I mean, I'm not 100% sure, but Chelsea was like, no, no, no, Sabrina stuck the stars on the car. Holy crap. I know. Isn't that crazy? I also have to point out something else from this scene. Did you notice that Maher's phone screen was cracked? They FaceTime Ned to tell him about this find.

And I just love it that little detail that Mary's screen is cracked. She hasn't fixed it. It's so relatable. I know. Well, I also wanted to point out, since they're filming outside, it's in a parking lot. We've filmed outside in parking lots in the summer in Los Angeles. They're dressed in jackets and winterwear. And Eric shared with us that the week they filmed this episode, it was crazy hot with temperatures over 100 degrees. Oh my gosh. Yeah. And he said that he and Jason Walliner, the director of

this episode, they decided to do a food truck that week, right? Yeah, so nice. So nice for the crew, for everyone. And they picked a Poutine truck. What's Poutine? How would you have it? I mean, it's like French fries with like stuff on it, like gravy and cheese curds. But the gravy is like hot. Okay. Yeah, they have those in Amsterdam too. Yeah. Okay. He said this poutine truck arrived on the hottest day of the year. He said so people were having to eat hot duck gravy over French fries and like triple digit weather. Yum. He said, not great. Well, it's getting close to the end of the day, and Ned has gathered most of the staff into his office. And it is revealed that he has burned his face from this face mask thing. He also started taking everyone else's products. Like, he went overboard. Yeah, because they were like, we can't do this anymore.

They were bailing. Yes, and he was like, I'm going to do everything. Lady, watching him put that lighted, chin strap over his burned face and then drinking the kombucha. It was like wound on wound for you. It was the same as someone getting punched in a wound. It really... I thought about you.

Thank you. Well, now we're at the bar. I mean, Mare's going to go undercover. Esmeralda has given her a makeover in the bathroom. She looks amazing. Do you think that is one of Esmeralda's dresses? Yes. This was my question.

I totally do. It looks like Mare is wearing an Esmeralda dress. It's got kind of the Esmeralda belt. look to it. Ned shows up. He's like, why is she dressed like that? And as Marlda says, she's undercover as a beautiful woman. I know.

And Mare is working at, man. She got Frank to confirm that he does do trivia every Tuesday night, including the 13th. This is very exciting. Very exciting. They're exposing him. I was curious about popular trivia game nights at bars. What about them? Well, I've never been to one.

And you know what? I found a website. called Best Trivia Ever, and it lists different trivia themes and trivia night schedules nationwide. They're very popular. They're so popular. But, lady, I didn't realize how many different types of genres. I mean, obviously, there's sports, movies, books, musicians, animation, television. I mean, we know there's an office one.

Yeah. There's also, like, eras. Like, there's 90s night, 80s nights trivia. But listen to some of these categories. I just want to read you a few. They sound like so much fun to me. Action movie trivia night. Celebrity couples trivia night.

Stoner movie trivia night. Okay. It's all movies where they think people get stoned. Or are they movies you watch when you're stoned? I think there are movies where people are stoned. I feel like it's both. Could be. Next one, Nicholas Cage Trivia Night.

Is there a Keanu one? I'm sure there is. And Sam, there's an Emily and Paris trivia night. Good. You would destroy that night. Anyway, I just was very tickled, but there's so many types. We've been talking forever about doing one.

We never do it. I mean, which one would you do? I don't think we can do the office one. I wouldn't do well in the office one unless we got my friend, who I did Ashland Avenue with, Will, who won the National Office Trivia contest. Well, I think we would have to take Will and Billy I. And then also from Boy Meets World, we'd need to take Will Friedel. He has a photographic memory.

Well, then we would win. Then we would win. But non-office trivia night, I would do good at a horror movie trivia night. They have that genre. I think I could do really well. Yeah. Although I'm not up on a lot of the more recent horror films. I could do like horror films in history.

Yeah. I mean, we might do well at like 80s or 90s pop culture. Right? Sam, have you seen primate? No, I haven't. Is it good? I don't know. What's it?

It's a horror movie, right? It's about primates that take over? It's about a single pet chimp that turns. I mean, this is a total fear of mine. I mean, you shouldn't be that afraid. I don't think you're ever going to have a pet chimp. Well, you guys know I've had so many monkeys. There's so many ways to avoid this scenario.

I've had so many monkeys attack me. You know this. No, I don't. Come on. I did an open mic night. I wasn't there? When monkeys. attack me. I've talked about this. This is the title. When monkeys attack me. It's very funny.

That's great. Yes. Are you still doing it? Can I still come see it? No. It was like an improv night. And when you got a suggestion about, it was actually monkeys was a suggestion. And I was like, well, well, I knew that one-armed monkey attacked you, your friend's one-arm. Yes. Yes, Becky's one-arm monkey. It was a gibbon monkey. Okay, this was the 70s in Indonesia. And some people had monkeys as pets. My family did not. But Becky, had rescued this one-armed gibbon, and they built an enclosure for it. And she brought me inside it to meet the monkey. And then it started kind of going through the hair on my arm, like looking for bugs. And Becky laughed, and I swatted at her like, ha, stop it. When I swatted at her,

this monkey loved Becky, the monkey freaked out, started to bite me. I had a little light jacket on, started to bite me through my jacket. And then after that, whenever I was there, it would swing by the kitchen nook, they had a window, and it would open its legs and piss on the window every time it saw me. But there's more than that? You've been attacked by more monkeys than that? We went to, when I was in elementary school in Indonesia, you know the word orangutang tang in Indonesian is orangutan, which means person of the forest, orangutan.

So we went to this orangutan sanctuary sale. I'm laughing because you assume the listener knows so much. No, I didn't know that. Of course, I didn't know that. Exactly. I'm like, why would I know that? Anyway, we go to this sanctuary and they have this big mama orangutangangang. And they're letting these like second and third graders, they go up and you get to hold her hand and you take a picture.

Uh-oh. First of all, we're like the same size because I'm in second grade and I'm tiny. Maybe I was first grade. Anyway, she holds my hand. and she just starts swinging my arm, like swinging my arm, and then she swung up and then went, boom, and I face-planted. Like, she swung up. Like, slipped you over? Like, on my face.

And, but, like, she was so happy. Like, it was, like, I don't know. Anyway, so orang-a-tang-tang-tang-fac-planted me. Is there another one? There can't be a third one. There's a third one. Rule of threes. So, okay, I had the one-arm-gibbon bite me.

Mama orangutangang face plant me. And then I was in Indonesia. Years later, I was older, and I was at Uluatu, which is this beautiful temple on the ocean. But there are monkeys everywhere. And they say to you, the monkeys are Nakal, which means they're kind of like mischievous, right? Sure. And so you have to like be careful, don't wear glasses, water bottles, no earrings, nothing dangling because they'll just jump on you and take them. I had these tiniest hoop earrings.

They're so tiny. Like the kind that don't even leave room for your skin, you know, they're just flat to your earlobe. Sure. So I thought that doesn't dangle. I'm standing there. I'm looking out at the ocean. I'm like, oh, this is so beautiful.

There's a monkey in the tree. It literally torpedo jumps onto my shoulder and rips the earring out of my ear. Oh, my God. And I, and I didn't. It just popped right out. but I literally turned into the most southern person. I was like, oh, my Lord! And then it had my earring up in the tree, and it was kind of like gnawing on my earring.

And this guy that was kind of guiding everyone through the temple, he had these little bananas. And he traded. He looked at the monkey and he was like, you want a banana? And the monkey's like, you want this earring? And they went back and forth. And then they traded. And I got my earring back. Oh, so you think the monkey knew to do that to get a banana?

I don't know. I mean, here's my thing about these three. incidents. Yes, they all involve primates. Yes. They also all involve Indonesia. And there's a lot of primates. And human error. Well, there are also in sanctuary. All three of these weren't monkeys who should have been near in any scenario. Well, the temple, they're everywhere. So if you go to a temple anywhere, anywhere in Bali, the monkeys are there and you leave them alone. It's their temple. I mean, that's their area, you know. So you don't.

mess with them, but they're everywhere. Anyway, I don't know how we got off on that. You asked him if he saw a primate. I just asked if he'd seen the horror film primate. Anyway, I'm convinced, let's say you had a chimpanzee and I went over. I mean, it's coming for me. I'm never going to have one. Well, I'm just convinced that monkeys, like, I am not getting around a monkey.

It's coming for me. I mean, I have not a single monkey story. Yeah, your ability to drop such deep Angela lore, so casual. is one of my favorite things about you. You've never mentioned this before. I swear, I thought you guys knew this in all these years about all the monkeys. I actually have more.

I'll save it for another day. I can't believe there's more. I look forward to it. Well, this was a tangent. It's a true classic tangent. Well, I've got a fact. Do you want me to bring us back to the episode with a little fact?

I'm sure everybody wants you to bring this back. Everyone listening right now is like, good Lord. All right. Well, listen, when Ned shows up at this bar, his face is like peeling off in huge sections. It's like red. It's flaking off. And I was really curious, how did they do this? Because we know that this would have been like an elaborate makeup test. And it also would have had to have continuity. Yes. Like, okay, this is the fifth hour into this face mask. What does that look like? And it does. His face progresses. It gets worse and worse. So I reached out to Kelly Cantley, who put me in touch with Autumn Butler, the makeup artist for this episode. Thank you so much, Kelly. And Autumn said this was a very fun makeup to design and that Greg

Daniels had very specific ideas. Greg definitely did not want it to look or feel like an actual condition that somebody would really have in real life. He didn't want anyone to feel like they were being made fun of about any actual real-life problem they might be experiencing. He also wanted it to feel very, as Autumn put it, charismaticly comedic. So Autumn said they tested this makeup for two days to find the perfect look and texture. Greg really wanted it to look like a snake

that was like molting and shedding in sheets and layers. Oh, it does look like that by the end. He also wanted pieces that could be peeled away. way on camera. So they had to create both this makeup that was on his face and also this interactive piece. So Autumn said first they tried it with silicone. They tried melted pieces of bald caps. They tried latex strips, but nothing was giving the right feel. So in the end, she created a mixture of Elmer's glue and duo applied to his face in really thin

layers, and then they scrunched up his face and started peeling portions off. She said it was like a total old-fashioned arts and crafts project. I mean, how was his skin in real life? I didn't ask her. I mean, he's wearing glue.

But she said they also made sheets of fake skin with that same Elmer's lash glue mixture, and they spread it out on wax paper, and then they let it dry, and then they would peel that off, and those were the pieces that they would use, like, they would just attach it very slightly to his skin, and then that would be the piece that he, like, pulled off interactively. And then Eric said, he remembered the test process for this whole thing. He said it was very thorough.

He remembered Autumn from makeup, hired somebody. to do the test makeup. Isn't that a crazy job? Yeah. You get hired to just come in and let them test stuff on you. I mean, yeah. Yeah. So anyway, Eric said that Autumn brought this guy into the writer's room.

He thinks it was like four times before Greg approved the makeup. Look how much went into this one gag. I know. Wow. Eric also said if I were net, I would have gone to the hospital if my skin looked like that. But I understand he's just very passionate about journalism. Yeah. Well, we do find out that in the end, his skin ends up looking amazing.

The next day, he's like glowing. Glowing. It comes around. And just to keep throwing facts at you, I have a location breakdown for the macaroni barn. First of all, there's no macaroni barn in Toledo, Ohio, but there is a spaghetti warehouse. Coincidence? Inspired by? Perhaps.

Eric shared that the interior and exterior of the macaroni barn were two different places. We've done that before. We did that with poor Richards on the office. The interior of macaroni barn was shot at the smokehouse next to the universal lot. And the exterior is actually a faky front restaurant on the universal lot right across from the high school, from back to the future. So if you go on the little universal bus tour, you could see it. So the following morning, we do have this little wrap-up scene between Ken and Adam. I just loved Ken in this episode.

I get why Eric loved writing for him. Ken says, how are you feeling? More importantly, did you make mad, ravenous scorpion love to your wife? We find out from Adam, they did it like three times. And Ken's like, wow, three times, big man, love that. And then Adam's like, maybe they were just sugar pills because three times is pretty standard for us. I mean, no wonder he has four kids.

No wonder. Snip, snap, Adam. And then we have a little hint at maybe a romance. Between who? Ned and Mare. He clearly thought she looked beautiful, but he was like, listen, I'm sorry of Esmeralda made you dress up like that. I know that's not something you like.

She's like, what are you talking about? I like dressing up. And he was like, yeah, but you know, you're asexual. also. And she was like, why would you think that? And then he's like, Esmeralda. And he's so ticked off. He's like, Esmeralda, you told me. And Maris like, it doesn't matter what she told you. What kind of journalists are you? You didn't even ask me? You didn't even follow up? But I mean, he's her boss. How can he go to her and ask her about her sexuality? He's not allowed to do that. I know. So it's like, I get it. Like, I thought it was cool of him to be like, hey, listen, I hope that

whole thing didn't put you in an uncomfortable situation. In general, you shouldn't have to be, you know, flirting with men and sources in order to get, you know, a story. And I just, you know, he was trying to be appropriate. He was. Well, this episode ends with the Ned talking head. He's just perplexed. He's like, why is she mad at me? Some people are just sensitive. And then he's like, she didn't even notice how revitalized I look. Exactly. And that's the end of the episode, everybody. Thank you to everyone who sent in their around the towns and to Darby for our chit-chat. Yes. And also a big thank you to Eric Rayhill, Kelly Cantley, Autumn Butler, Sabrina and Patchettori, and Chelsea Fry for some great behind-the-scenes nuggets on this one. Great. Before we go, I have something for you guys. Don't say it's a monkey. No. Okay. He goes,

at the end of a Christmas carol, he opens the door and he goes, what day is today? And he goes, today it's Christmas day. I wanted that to have this energy. Okay. Around the town. We have around the town. Thanks, Sam. Yep. You were working on that while we were doing that episode. Oh, I love that.

All right, you guys. Well, we hope you have a great week. We appreciate you all, and we'll see you next time. See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Matt Beagle.

Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubico. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Shultz. Our theme song is Ruppertry by Creed Bratton.