Office Ladies - The Secret

Episode Date: March 11, 2020

We're starting our spring cleaning early this week and breaking down The Secret! Jenna and Angela chat about Steve Carrell's charming Golden Globe speech from 2006 and Angela notices it's another Friday that's not a Casual Friday. And of course the ladies cover the hilarity of Micheal's struggle to bond with Jim over "the secret", Dwight spying on Oscar, and hold the chicken breast, because Jenna does a deep dive on Hooters.

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. Hi, friend. Good morning, friend. Today we're talking about The Secret. We kind of have a big day today, you guys. We have some fun stuff. We have family coming in town, both of us. So I think we're feeling all of that. But we're excited to

talk to you about The Secret. Season 2, Episode 13, written by Lee Eisenberg and Jean Stupnitsky, directed by Denny Gordon. Let's talk a second about Denny Gordon. Denny Gordon is my first fast fact. Let's do it. You hit me with a fast fact and then I'll add a little color to it. Fast fact number one, directed by Denny Gordon. Denny is a woman. D-E-N-N-I-E, Gordon. She would go on to direct Boys and Girls. She's also directed several episodes of John Krasinski's show Jack Ryan for Amazon. She does a lot of dramas. Yeah. Denny was fantastic. She was just a wonderful, delightful person to be around. I have a great photo of all of

us. All of us gals gathered around her. We were excited to have another female director. Yeah. We gathered around her and we have a great picture with her. I often did this though. It wasn't gender-specific, you guys. I have photos with us with all the directors. Yes, you would take photos with the male directors as well. I did not discriminate. I did not discriminate. I have a great picture of me with Harold Ramis. But Denny was just such a delight and I wanted a photo with her. We actually had only six female directors through the nine years of the office. And they were Mindy Kaling, Jen Salata, Amy Heckerling,

Claire Scanlon, Kelly Cantley, and Denny Gordon. So ladies out there directing. We love you. Keep doing it. Yeah. Let's get some more ladies directing. That's my little speech there. I love it. Denny was and is a trailblazer in terms of female directors. She's been around a really long time and when researching this episode, I ended up reading a bunch of articles and interviews with her about her experience. Her journey. Yeah, I did too. And it was very inspiring. So guys, Google her. Yeah. D-E-N-N-I-E Gordon. Denny, if you hear this, we're sending you some love. All right. Where are we at, Jenna? Fast fact number two. We've got a

big guest star. We're going to introduce a new recurring character, Tom Chick, who plays Gil. Yes. Oscar's boyfriend. Oscar's love interest. It's a secret. He appeared in four episodes as Oscar's boyfriend, Gil. He also had a recurring role as a reporter on the West Wing. So you might recognize him from that. But here's the crazy thing about him. His big passion in life is video gaming. Okay. And he is a very famous video gaming writer. He's written tons of articles, tons of blogs. He's like a video gaming critic. This is amazing. Fascinating. This is just proves, guys. I always say this. You don't know me. You don't know someone. You have

no idea how layered and complex people are. I had no idea. Yeah. Wow. That's cool. All right. Are we ready for fast fact number three? Yes. Steve Carell was nominated for a Golden Globe for playing Michael Scott. This was his first nomination for playing Michael Scott the week we shot this episode. And then he won the Golden Globe the week this episode aired. Yes. This was a huge upset shocker win. First of all, the fact that he was nominated was insane because he was nominated for those six episodes from season one. You have to remember, we were barely on the air. We were gonna get canceled at any minute and we didn't

have a lot of clout around town. No. Not at all. So this was like an upset and we were thrilled. It couldn't happen to a nicer person. Steve's acceptance speech is amazing. You can go on YouTube and type in Steve Carell's Golden Globes acceptance speech for 2006. He gets up there and he's like, I didn't really know what to say. So my wife Nancy wrote my speech. It's one of the best speeches ever. It's so great. And then the whole thank you is from Nancy's perspective. Yes. And it's really funny. Steve was invited to go to the actual ceremony, but the cast, we were invited to a viewing party that was held on a roof of a building. It was

it's actually a parking garage. Okay. And it's like the roof of the parking garage, but they tint it and we're basically across from the hotel where the globes are where the globes are happening. We're sort of like, if you self-parked to stay at this hotel. Yeah. We were in the self-park garage building. We are now the only actors on top of a parking garage in a fancy tent with a bunch of people that look like bankers. Yeah. Who are very quiet as they watch the show. We are now the rowdy crowd in the corner. Yeah. And Steve's category comes on. They announce him, you know, when they announced his nomination, we're

like, whoa, yeah, Steve. Go Steve. Go Steve. That already raised eyebrows. We're already like, whoa, Steve. People are already like, when are they doing? So then y'all, he won. Wait, can we reenact what you and I did when they said, and the winner is Steve Carell. Ready? Okay. And the winner is Steve Carell. Tackle people. Hug people. Tackle. Have you seen, like, when a team wins the World Series? It's a bad news bearers moment. And they haven't won in like 50 years. That is what the cast of the office looked like. We were tackling one another. In our fancy dresses. In our fancy dresses. Running around, whooping it up. I

mean, we were insane. Now we have to wait for the whole rest of the show to be over. And finally. But we're in full party mode. We're partying it up. I mean, we're having a blast. We're waiting for Steve to come to the party. Yeah. So here's the thing. When the show ends, everyone, I guess that's inside where it's being filmed, they file out and they actually come into the tent where we are. Yeah. And I don't even think we knew that. You're like, oh my god. And Steve walked in holding his award. And we tackled him. And then we started posing for group photos with the Golden Globe and Steve. The looks on our faces, we

look maniacal. My favorite photo. My favorite photo is the photo. I know. I know what you're going to say. Where Angela had gotten her hand on the Golden Globe. Well, first of all, wait a second. We were all, Steve was letting us all hold it. Yeah. And I guess it was at People Magazine. They were taking pictures. There was this little photo booth that you could get into for People Magazine and we shoved the entire cast of the office into this photo booth. Angela's got the Golden Globe and she holds it above her head and goes, yeah, I like right at the moment that they snapped the picture. And when the

picture came back, she is hitting Phyllis in the face. I hit Phyllis in the chin. It was a Golden Globe. And the photo actually shows her face contorted, like, oh. So funny. It's so funny. We have to post it. We have to post that picture. Phyllis, I'm so sorry. I hit you with Steve's Golden Globe. Oh my god. I blame Brian Baumgartner and the just pure happiness for Steve. Here's something really special too. Do you remember when we went back to work the next day at lunch, the catering department served lobster and steak for lunch? Oh, yeah. It was

surf and turf to celebrate. It was so decadent and it was really sweet. I know. I remember that and being like, do we have the budget for this? I know. What can we not do this week because we're eating this? Yeah. All right. Thanks for taking the detour down the Golden Globes Journal entries. Yeah, that was fun for us. We hope that was fun for you. I'm going to hitch up with a summary and then we'll take a break. Okay. So in the booze cruise episode, Jim told Michael about his crush on Pam. In this episode, Michael finds out he is the only person who knows the secret and he is delighted in the status that it gives him. So he

decides Jim must be his very best friend, that Jim must consider him his best friend since he told him this secret and he struggles the entire episode to keep the secret to himself. Also in this episode, it is spring cleaning day at the office. Oscar says he can't come to work because of the flu, which causes Dwight to start an investigation into whether or not he's really sick. There it is. That's a good one. And when we come back from the break, we will get into it. Angela, I think you have a little bit of up dog on your cards. What? You have some up dog on your cards. What's up dog? Not much. What's up with you? The

cold open of this episode. What's up dog? What's up dog? And Michael is so excited that he's part of this joke and that he gets it and he cannot wait to tell it over and over and it never works. He never gets anyone to ask until the end when Dwight finally says what's up dog and he forgets the punchline. He forgets the punchline and also I thought it's just one of those moments where rain is so cute as Dwight where he's sincerely like, oh thanks for asking. Yeah, thank you so much. Michael's like, ugh. I reached out to Leah Eisenberg, one of the writers of this episode, and he said that this up dog joke idea happened because this

actually happened to those guys. Oh. Yes, they were on the receiving end of an up dog joke that wasn't landing and they always think that's what writers do. They observe things from their life and they pin it and they're like, I'm gonna put this somewhere one day and it went here. He also reminded me that there was an alternate cold open for this episode. What was it? Michael comes into work and he has purchased a new executive golf set. Yes. And he goes into his office with Dwight and they're trying to use this little putter and in the process his world's best boss mug breaks. Yes, and he has a replacement one right away. In his

desk and you can see this in the deleted scenes and I watched it. But what's fun is later in this episode, you're gonna see evidence of this golf set cold open that we replaced with the up dog. I'll keep you waiting. I have time codes and everything. I was gonna say about somebody's gonna be tracking the golf stuff. I'm gonna track it. Alright, so after the cold open, the episode begins. It's spring cleaning in January. It is. I have a little story about what happens over in the accounting department. Do you want to hear it? I do. Okay, so at one minute 56 seconds, you see Kevin. He's tossing things into the trash, but just

like really kind of haphazardly. My character is annoyed, you know, that he's throwing things away. He shouldn't be throwing away. Well, there is a scene that didn't make it. It's an improv scene. It's in the bloopers though. If you go on YouTube and look at season two bloopers, this is where you can find the scene. Kevin then starts digging in the trash because he realized he's thrown away things he probably shouldn't have. And he improvises, I need to go through this again. And then I improvise, but you guys, I sound so southern when you watch it. This is what I improvise. I do not believe you are engaged. I do not believe

it. That is a great improv. That's what I improv. I wish that made it in. What a good dig on Kevin. I know, right? Anyway, it's a really fun little blooper moment, and you can find those on YouTube. Also, Kelly is cleaning out magazines. We have half up, half down, Jenna, but barely, barely any up. It's like only her little front whispies. I don't know if it's too soon, but I kind of want to declare that we've hit Full Mindy. Full Mindy and personality, that she still has a little front part up, but still, this is now Mindy. But this updo, this half up, half downdo is completely different. It's not fussy. It's super stylish. Her clothes, I

feel like, have really changed in this episode. Her personality? Her personality is 100% Full Mindy. I want to declare that it's Full Mindy, that the secret is Full Mindy. I'm scared to do it because I feel like there's more to come. I think there's more to come, but I'm willing to say we're pretty much there. We're 90% Full Mindy. We're 90% Full Mindy. I'll declare that. We're 90% Full Mindy, the secret. Lee told me also just fun fact, not a fast fact, a fun fact. This is super fun, that Lee's friend who works in San Francisco told him about having to do spring cleaning in his office, and they put this storyline in at the very last

minute. They did not have a lot of turnaround on this episode. Once again, remember last time they told us that they barely got any kind of outline and they had to write their episode, and this time there was a super big rush on the episode. They only had like three to four days to write it. Usually you get a couple of weeks. They had to turn it around really quickly, and they needed some storyline for the whole office. They knew the secret storyline between Michael and Jim, and they knew the storyline about Oscar and the investigation about whether or not he was really sick, but they needed something

for the rest of us to be doing. So he called Mike Scherr and he pitched this idea. My friend told me that he had to do spring cleaning at their office. I think I could make it really funny, and he wrote me and he said that Mike Scherr's response was, quote, if you have to, you have to. If you need it, do it. At two minutes, seven seconds, Jenna, you must have been so tickled. This is like your favorite thing where Michael's talking, and then we reveal two other people. Oh yeah. Not only are you getting a Dwight reveal, but then you get Ryan on the floor. Yeah. And he said, Michael says a cluttered desk is a cluttered mine. You

guys, my mom, Bernie Kinsey, would say this to me every week. She would say, Angela, a cluttered room is a cluttered mind, because my room would get messy. And when Michael said that, I was like, oh my god, it's my mom. It's my mom. Well, you mentioned the reveal of Ryan sitting on the floor. Mm-hmm. There is a deleted scene that explains why he's sitting on the floor, and it is he has two boxes, and one says keep, and one says trash. And he is sitting on Michael's floor going through all of Michael's things while Michael reads a newspaper. Yeah. Not cleaning at all. And he's like, this People magazine from 1994. And

Michael's like, keep, keep it. He's like, okay, he's like, I might do the crossword. And he's like, it's from 1994. Michael's like, I know, keep. There is nothing in the trash box. It's amazing. It's a fun little, fun little nugget. Alright, I need to talk about two minutes, 34 seconds, the very, very long stare between Dwight and Angela. Yeah. Dwight and Angela. Yeah. I have a fan question. Okay. From where are the turtles? Okay. The long stare with Dwight and Angela is so brilliant as our future stares. Is it hard to not crack up while filming those? Angela, tell us all about it. Yeah, it's hard not to crack up. I'm sure there's tons of footage of me

getting tickled. And also, it was so fun. It is so fun. One thing I think we do in society is like, we know not to stare. We grow up, right? And our parents are like, don't stare, don't stare. And so all of a sudden, you're given permission to just stare at someone and draw it out as long as possible. There were times when I thought the director was going to yell cut because I'm like, surely they're done watching us stare at each other. And they're like, no, keep on going. It was really fun. But yeah, very hard to keep a straight face. And of course, having like Kevin there watching us like, what are you doing? Well, some context to the

scene is that he comes up and says that Oscar is out sick and says something like that's unacceptable. And you say, I agree. It's unacceptable. And there is like some charged like you both are very aroused by your agreement that this is unacceptable. Oh, no, I put we get really turned on by unacceptable. Exactly. Exactly. Jenna, I have something to point out. My lady friend, what is it at two minutes, 50 seconds? When Dwight says Oscar is out sick, Michael says, and on a Friday, it's Friday again, a Friday and no one is dressed casually. Uh huh. Thank you for catching that. Yeah. I don't even know what to do with that. I don't even know

what to say about it. I don't know what to say about it. Four minutes, nine seconds. Pam and Kelly, Pam is planning her wedding. Kelly asks to be a bridesmaid. That is hilarious. I love that so much. Like, who has the audacity? Like, not even a really good friend to be like, Oh my God, can I be in your wedding? And she's like, you don't have to answer now. There's also so much going on in the scene because Pam takes her hair down and she floofs it out. And you can see Jim in the background over Kelly's shoulder. Poor Jim is what I wrote. Poor Jim. And then, you know, Michael comes out of his office and has

to make a comment. It was, this was a tricky one to film. And I always want to point these scenes out because I just think they're really great examples of the choreography of our director, our camera operators. It's really something special to capture this stuff. Well, Michael says you should leave your hair down more because it's sexier. And then I walks past Jim and he goes, Oh, this must be so hard on you. Yeah. Way to make it all worse, Michael. Then we move on to a spy shot conversation between Jim and Michael in Michael's office. This is when Michael finds out that he is the only person who knows about Jim's

feelings for Pam. And I want you to notice that four minutes, 57 seconds, Michael is playing with a golf ball. Oh, yes, he is. That is because of that cold open that we cut out. Right. And he had all the golf stuff in his office. Yeah. Right. Well, Michael says something in this scene that I thought was so great. It's his talking head and Steve is so brilliant in it. He just talks about how special it is, you know, obviously that Jim shared with him and what good friends they are, blah, blah, blah. But his last sentence just made me laugh. He goes, And it is why I intend on keeping that secret for as long as I

possibly can. He totally owns that he sucks at keeping a secret. Yeah. You guys, my dad was someone who absolutely could not hold onto information. Now he was a wonderful friend and father and confidant, all of those things. But if there was like some great information, there was no way he could not like tell you or it just, it would be all over his face. Yeah. I had no poker face. When Steve said that, I just sort of chuckled and thought of my dad and how hard it was for him to like keep any news from us. Are you good with secrets? Are you more like your dad? I think I'm good. I think I'm good. I don't know, Jenna, you've

known me a long time. I think you're good. Yeah. We had a fan question actually. It was Shanice who asked, Are you too good at keeping secrets? Do you have that one person that you just have to share it with because you trust them and that's okay? Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyone who tells me anything should know that I'm gonna tell Jenna. I am unless you like, if you're like, Hey, you can't say this to anyone. Yeah. Okay. And then I'm gonna tell my husband. I tell my husband everything. Like you have to really say, All right, you can't. And then I probably will at some point tell you or my husband. I might sit on it for a bit.

But eventually, I mean, I honestly, I'm sitting here like thinking like, I don't know, Jenna, that I pretty much have to download everything to you. It's like kind of how I process information. I receive information. I know how I feel about it. But then like it either becomes more real or more clear to me once I share it with you or Josh. I feel the same way. You and Lee are the two people that I tell everything to. So if someone tells me something in confidence, I assume they know that they're telling me, Angela and Lee simultaneously. My best friend and my husband. That's right. However, I will say there are things that

you have told me, Angela, that I have not shared with Lee. And there are things that Lee has told me that I've not shared with you. Same. So I do. Those two people are like, they get special treatment. Yes, that's right. All the rest of y'all just know I'm blabbing to Lee and Angela, if you told me. Yeah. Unless you specifically tell me not to. And then similar to you, Angela, I will sit on it for a bit and then tell them anyway. Oh yeah. At five minutes, 43 seconds. Dwight goes up to Ryan and he wants, you know, Ryan basically to take over the spring cleaning stuff because he's got this investigation to conduct. Now, I

did a ton of scenes with Rainn Wilson and Rainn loves a prop. And once he gets a prop, he's very attached to a prop. So he did this thing in the scene that made me laugh so hard. He walks up to Ryan, he has his little notepad he's writing in. Yeah. And as he walks up to Ryan, he takes it out of his jacket pocket and he flashes it at Ryan as if it's like a badge. You have to wash it. It's a very subtle move. It's just a notepad. It looks like one of those notepads that you win for 200 tickets at Chuck E. Cheese. Exactly. Yeah. Exactly. So he's like, I'm conducting a little investigation. He flashes the notepad.

Like that is going to be like, oh, okay, this is legit. Yeah. To Ryan. And Ryan, of course, is just like, ugh. So then we move to the vending machines. Mm hmm. Michael is trying to talk to Jim more about his love of Pam at the vending machines and Stanley enters. Oh, gosh. And Stanley is taking forever to pick a beverage. He is. Just forever. And he's in the way. And Michael is trying so much to capitalize on this bonding time with Jim. Yeah. He's like, we're best friends. We share secrets. I want, I just want to spend now as much time as possible with him. I want to chat about his love for Pam. I want him to know I'm a great

friend. At the end of that scene, Michael like just picks an item for Stanley and it's peach iced tea. And then Steve says, you're going to hate it. That was improvised. And that was a moment that a lot of people wrote in about when I asked, what do you want us to talk about for this moment was the peach iced tea? You're going to hate it. And it was an improvised moment. It was so great. And also in that scene, John could not stop laughing. He could not stop laughing. This whole episode, he had to spend a lot of time with Steve doing scenes. And John really loses it. So this was one of those scenes. John, when he loses it, his whole

body collapses. Yeah. He just becomes a noodle. At six minutes, 58 seconds, my background observers out there, I need your help. Dwight is calling Oscar again. Poor Oscar. Dwight's just like calling him like crazy. But as he's sitting on his desk, he's on the phone behind him. Okay. So the hand that's holding the phone, look at the hand holding the phone. Look behind his hand. It's like a file cabinet next to Phyllis's desk. There is a hairy object. It's a black hairy object. What is it? Look, wait, Sam, can you pull up six minutes, 58 seconds? I kind of need Jenna to see it. There it is. You got it. Look at it. I see nothing. What are you talking

about? What is that? What is that? It looks like a wig on a wig stand. I know. On a file cabinet next to Phyllis. I'm gonna get up and I'm gonna physically look closer. Okay, we've looked at it in Jenna's picture. I know what it is and look at what Cody is holding in the booth. Look through the window. Do you see Cody? Cody's our producer. Yeah, what is that thing? A feather duster. Stop it. Are you sure? Feather duster. Really? Yeah. I think Phyllis has a feather duster as part of her spring cleaning and I think that's what it is. Oh, that's a good call. And also, Cody, where the heck are you? Cody, where did you get a feather duster just now?

It's like your carrot top and you have a truck full of random props. Guys, Cody is a little bit like me. I think she is very organized and structured and I believe she might walk around with a feather duster. Well, we've never seen it before. Where is she keeping it? Oh my god. All right. Sorry, sorry to take us down that road but that was making me crazy last night. At seven minutes 34 seconds, again, Michael, desperate to connect more with Jim. He's so excited about having a friend. He's following him around like a little puppy. He is and he walks up to him and he goes, it's grape soda because he got a grape soda too because Jim got a

grape soda. So adorable. In this section, Dwight approaches and asks what's going on and then Jim keeps putting post-it notes on Dwight. And fan question from Tabitha, was the post-it notes on Dwight improvised? I believe it was. I think that was John. It's so perfect though. It is so perfectly their relationship and then Rain, you know, as Dwight would like try to stick it back on him. Yeah. It was just perfect. Yes. At eight minutes 46 seconds, Steve puts his leg up on Jim's desk. He puts his foot on top of his desk and leans forward. Like, leans really, really his crotch. Into Jim's face. And John lost it. I was there that day filming. John could

not stop laughing. Very similar to Diversity Day, Angela, when you and I were in the conference room and Steve straddled the chair. And leaned forward to us. Yeah. Really. And part of it too was that that desk is really high and it was not super easy for Steve to put his leg up there. And his dress pants. But he was super committed to the bit. It was something he just came up with and it made John laugh. So then he kept doing it. But I think it was like, that was not easy. No, the desk is really high. You have to be very flexible to pull that off. So kudos to you, Steve, for being so committed to that bit. Well, I wrote about

this as well. And I said that you guys, Steve always found ways as Michael to put his feet up on things or just really sort of push a physical comfort zone that you have with another person. Yeah. He always thought that was like sort of as Michael a really funny gimmick. And it got us every time. I just think at eight minutes, 55 seconds, it's just kind of funny to me that Kevin is just walking over a different reception and just setting boxes down in front of Pam. I know. Thanks. What am I doing with those? I don't know. I guess that's my problem now. Kevin doing. So next guys, Michael decides to take Jim out to lunch. Well,

Jim is just trying to get him out of the office so he doesn't spill the beans in front of Pam. So I don't think Jim would ever want to go out to lunch with Michael, especially to where he takes him. Hooters. Hooters. They go to Hooters. Oh, I have so many feelings about it, Angela. I know you do, honey. When I was watching it, guys, I'm not going to lie to you, not a fan of the restaurants of this nature. Well, did you read their origin story? It was like when five, I'm paraphrasing guys. I did. I went to the Hooters website. I had to spend a lot of time on the Hooters website. Yeah. More time than I wish I did. Well, it's

something like when a group of five guys who kept getting kicked out of places decided to, they wanted, you know, pretty girls and hot wings. So anyway, listen, for the y'all folks out there that enjoy Hooters, that, that's, that. That's for you. That's for you. Okay. Okay. Anyway, we did have a fan question from Rob M. Did you shoot in a real Hooters and were they real Hooters waitresses? Yes. We filmed in a real Hooters. And yes, they were real Hooters waitresses, except for the main waitress, Dana, that she was played by an actress. That's right. Dana is played by Lindsay Stoddard, who is a really funny actress writer, improviser.

I knew her back in my IO days, in Provolympic days. And this Hooters in particular was in Burbank. Yep. That they filmed in. It is now closed. It's out of business. So you can't go there. Not shedding tears. And of course, Michael had to say chicken breast, hold the chicken. Yeah. That's a classic moment. But I love Dana's response, which is, is that really what you want? Yeah. And he's like, no, gourmet hot dog. But let me say something. Jim orders a ham and cheese. Michael orders a gourmet hot dog. I could not find either of these items on the online Hooters menu. I couldn't. I don't know. Guys, anyone who's gone to Hooters, do they serve

ham and cheese and or a gourmet hot dog? I would actually love to know. Do you know what I noticed? I noticed the girls look like they have to wear pantyhose under their short. Yes, they do. And I, I did a deep dive on Hooters. They do. They do wear pantyhose, pantyhose. That would listen. I would be for that. I would, I like that. I like it that it's not their bare leg. So I do appreciate that there's that. I just don't like pantyhose. So, well, we know. We know. Guys, if not for that, Angela might have worked at a Hooters, but the pantyhose thing, she was like, no. I'm fine with the tank top, but you lost me at the pantyhose. Fan comment from Rick Wilson, he pointed out that there is no Hooters in Scranton. There are not any Hooters in Scranton. I googled it. It's true. I googled it as well. There are two Hooters in Pennsylvania, one in Concordville and one in King of Prussia. Okay. So that's where you can go.

Fan question from Ryan Ritter. Is it true that the Hooters girls singing the happy birthday song was an added bit? No. This was scripted. You put your front side in. You put your front side out. Okay. Here's the thing. This seems like an old birthday tradition. At Hooters. At Hooters. Okay. And they don't say put your front side in. The real song is put your Hooters in, put your Hooters out. Oh. And then they shake them all about. They get in a circle around the birthday boy. And shake their tatas at them. Right. And then they put their backside in, put their backside out, and shake that all about. That's their butt. That's right, Angela. Yes. That's their butt. Okay. So. So it's sort of like an inappropriate hokey pokey. Correct. Okay. But that seems to be the old birthday policy, although I did find a video from as recent as 2015 where they were still doing this down in Georgia. But the main birthday song is where now they dress you up like an owl. Okay. They give you a beak and they give you some menus and you have to flap your wings and then all the Hooters girls like sing that it's your birthday, it's your birthday today, birthday. Sort of like that. I have one fan question that I forgot to cover from Ben Shown. Does John actually like ham and cheese sandwiches? Guys, I texted John. Oh, you're like a text. By the way, you're on a real role. You texted Steve about, what was it? Something so random? If he had a fake foot in the injury. Yeah. And now you're like, John, do you really like ham and cheese? We're going to start alienating people. John wrote me back and said he does, especially when the brats. Bread is toasted. Okay. There you go. There you go. I have something at 10 minutes, 14 seconds. It is rain as Dwight eating only the black jelly beans. Yeah. Or like the purple ones. I mean, was that in the script? It seems like something rain would do because he likes to kind of be gross. It was in the script and he had to chew a bunch of them before we started and kind of stick the half bits up into his teeth. We had a fan question from Janelle. Does rain actually like black jelly beans? Tell me you didn't text him. I texted him. Oh no. Oh my God. And he does. Oh, well, that's a relief. That's a relief. I have a question for you. In this scene, I guess Dwight tells you there's three ways to sniffle. Yeah. Because he's trying to figure out if Oscar is lying, right? Yeah. And I said, he sounded like he was telling the truth. I mean, he was sniffling when he called. And then he's like, what type of sniffle? And you're like, are there types? And he's like, there are three types of sniffles. And then Pam says it was the second one. Yeah. And Dwight's like, okay.

He's like, was that so hard? But also he does. You say it was the second one as if he has told you what the three of them are. I think that's amazing writing. Oh my gosh. It's amazing writing. All right, should we go to break? Let's go to break. Okay, so we are back from break. Yeah. And on break, you guys, I was talking a little bit of Game of Thrones with Sam. Because Angela loves to just alienate and torture me. No. And I mentioned Khaleesi. Tell him what you said. I said Khaleesi. Isn't that a virus? Khaleesi virus. No. It is a virus. I'm telling you, it's a virus that cats get. It is. 100% is. It's called Khaleesi virus. And it's like, just I'm looking at Kelly. Khaleesi is Queen Daenerys Targaryen. Okay. She's the lady of Dragstone, the protector of the seven kingdoms, the unburnt. You're saying nonsense to me. Feline Khaleesi virus. How do you spell it? C-A-L-I-C-I virus. Khaleesi virus is a virus of the family Khaleesi variety that causes diseases in cats. It's a respiratory infection. Khaleesi is a respiratory infection in cats. This Khaleesi was married to Cal Drogo and it's spelled K-H-A-L-E-E-S-I. She's the mother of dragons. She is not a cat virus. To me, she's not a cat virus. Stop it. She's not a cat virus. How dare you. Tell my cat that. Stop it. He had it. Gross.

Right. We're back to the episode, everybody. 11 minutes, 54 seconds. Oh my gosh. What? Ryan's talking head about how he could basically disappear from Dunder Mifflin in five seconds. Yeah. Have you had a job like that? Every job I had before I became a working actor was that job. I had a temp job at Disney and I had a cubicle. I'd never even personalized it. Anyway, you wouldn't even know I had been there. Oh man. I engaged very little in my day jobs when I was a struggling actor.

Did you not talk to people? I talked to people a little bit, but I didn't really make friends if I'm being honest. I did not want to put down any roots. I was Ryan. I get it. I get it. All right. At 13 minutes. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. What? You're jumping ahead and one of my favorite moments of the whole episode.

Is what? 12 minutes, 16 seconds. One of my favorite moments of this whole entire episode. Amazing. Michael tries to make his hair look like Jim's. It's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. And then he walks around like that for the rest of the episode. It's how he wears his hair sometimes. Yeah.

Guys, I do this sometimes. What's the big deal? At 12 minutes, 27 seconds. I've seen with Michael. Yeah. I think my character always kept him accountable. Yeah. And he probably didn't like it. So.

He's trying to expense his Hooters launch. Yeah. And I'm like, this is from Hooters. I'm like, did Toby approve it? And he's like, I don't have to run everything by Toby. You know, he gets really annoyed. Yes. The immediate next scene is us standing in front of Toby.

I'll tell you a scene I would have loved to witness. I would have loved to see an angel in like, oh really? And march her butt across the office. Yes. And Michael like, no, like running after her like, Angela, you don't have to show Toby, Angela. And I'm like, I am showing Toby. Toby, we'll see this receipt.

And in that scene, it is revealed that his credit card was recently taken away because he made a big purchase at a magic store. He spent $80 at a magic store in his corporate card. And he says he almost closed a sale by doing one of those tricks at 12 minutes, 38 seconds. When Michael is explaining this in the talking head, if you look at his thumb, he's wearing a fake magic thumb. Oh, that's a good catch. It is a delicious detail.

That is a great catch. It is in the scene at Toby's desk where Michael spills the beans about Jim's secret. He says, I'm sorry. I had to take him in lunch because Jim is in love with a girl he works with who's engaged. And Kelly overhears and says, you mean Pam and Angela overhears and the secret is out. The secret is out. And when Michael realizes the secret is out, Steve's look to camera, he's like dead inside. He's like, oh no, I've done it.

And this scene was really hard to get through, you guys. We were, we kept cracking up. When we realize that it's Pam and Michael leaves, the camera pans over to Kelly and my character. And I'm sort of like biting my lip. You have a little smirky smirk. I have a smirk for information. I also was trying not to laugh. Yeah.

It's like all of those things. Well, the next scene is you and Phyllis cleaning out the fridge. And in this scene, Angela, when given the choice between Jim and Roy. Well, first of all, I love that I'm like, it's no one's business Phyllis, right? I first, I like admonish her. Yeah. Phyllis, stay out of it. Phyllis.

Be a better person. And then when my back is to her, I'm like, Roy. Roy. And again, it's like that same like weird arousal that we saw in the stair with Dwight. You like an alpha male. Angela Martin likes an alpha. Angela Martin liked a big guy that throws weight around. That's right.

So this leads to 13 minutes, 37 seconds. This is John Krasinski's favorite line of the entire series. He lost it when he saw it, when Creed says, which one is Pam? John loved Creed, the character Creed. Yes. He loves Creed and we're like, but the character Creed would make John disintegrate. I traded messages with Lee Eisenberg. I said earlier, Lee wrote that line, which one is Pam?

He said it is his favorite joke he ever wrote on the show and the one he is most proud of. I think that is great. So give him all the credit for that. Way to go, Lee. At 13 minutes, 54 seconds, we have a talking head inside of Dwight's car outside of Oscar's house. Did you notice the snow on the ground? Oh, I did.

I did. And I noticed the camera couldn't pan too far past the sidewalk of that house because then it was just solid green grass. That's right. But come on, great production design guys. So next we have Jim's talking head where he explains he quote used to have a crush on Pam. So fan question from Monica Dadashi.

In this episode, when Jim says he had a crush on Pam when she first started working at Dunder Mifflin, later in launch party, Jim says that when he started working there, Pam said to enjoy this moment because he could never go back to the time before he met Dwight. So which one is it? Who started working there first? Jim or Pam? Latimania and Joel Huber had a very long Twitter exchange about this continuity error. A lot of people wrote in about it.

This is a thing. Sometimes we have things, right? The thing is, who started working there first? Bless you. Sorry. That's why you wheeled away from the microphone. Did I get far enough away from it? No.

Did you get far enough away? You'd have to leave the room to be far enough away from it. I leaned back and I put, I did like the sneeze in my armpit thing. If you move away from it, it doesn't make the sound cease to exist. It just makes it not like blow out your eardrums. Okay, fine. Did I not blow out your eardrums? You didn't blow out your eardrums.

Thank you. You succeeded there. Continue about this heated Twitter conversation. I will. The answer is, I don't know. Oh. Boy, my sneeze interrupted this thing. I was feeling really bad.

And then it's like, I checked the Bible and everything. This is just a continuity error. That's it. There's, I don't know who started there first. In one episode, we say one thing and another episode, we say another. The end. The end. That's it.

All right. The senator had a son. We sent away and never saw again. It happens. It happens. Let's talk a little bit at 16 minutes, 45 seconds. Okay. Dwight, bus, Oscar and a male friend, Gil.

Yes. They have shopping bags. They have ice skates. Oscar is so not sick. He's not sick. And he's like, are you going to tell Michael and Dwight at 17 minutes, 34 seconds is like, no, I won't tell Michael in exchange for a favor from you that I will ask for at some point in the future.

Right? Yeah. He makes this big speech. Jenna, this made me think of a TV show that my dad watched and I watched it a few times with him called Stingray. It was in the eighties and Ray would show up to help someone and he would say, I will help you in exchange for a favor that I will ask of you sometime in the future. Do you think our writers had someone who watched Stingray?

I'm 100 years old. None of you guys know what I'm talking about. I don't know where to start. You have nothing. I'm just telling you. I have so many thoughts that I don't know where to start. First of all, I'm astonished and delighted by the description of that show because it seems like Ray is going to sting you, but then help you, but then call in a favor.

Well, I think he drives a Stingray. Oh, and his name is Ray? His name is Ray. He drives a Stingray. He drives a Stingray. There he is. Sam's pulling him up. Here's the description.

An adventurer travels and helps people in trouble in exchange for future favors. Just like you said, it was a television series. He drove a 1965 Corvette Stingray. Uh-huh. Was his name Ray or did you add that? No. His name is Ray. The character's name is Ray.

The character's name is Ray. And look, it says Ray, a man of mystery, gets people out of trouble asking for favors in return. Anyway, it might not be you guys, but it definitely made me think of that. So, you know, if you have Nickelodeon and there's Nick at night. Check out Stingray. Check out Stingray. Well, in this scene, it is also revealed not only that Oscar is not sick, but that he is gay, that Gil is his male companion, which Dwight completely misses.

Completely misses. He doesn't see it. They cut to the scene of them all watching a movie together, which a lot of fans asked, is this the favor that Dwight, you think Dwight's going to call back a totally different favor? I think Oscar is so relieved when he realizes that Dwight has no idea what he's stumbled across, that he's like, do you want to hang out? Stay and hang out with us. He wants to make it a positive, like, okay, bye Dwight, take care.

Well, you see in the background while they're watching television that Oscar reaches out and touches Gil's hand and the camera catches it. So, now the audience knows that Oscar is gay, but no one in the office does, including Dwight. We had a lot of fan questions about this. Okay. So, I reached out to Oscar and I asked him, when did you find out that your character was going to be gay? And he said he had heard, like, some rumblings from some of the writers, but he wasn't really

sure, and then Greg Daniels approached him and said, hey, Oscar, we're thinking about making your character gay. What do you think? And then Oscar said, sounds great. I love it. And then Greg said, oh good, because it's in the script. So, there you go. Back to the episode.

Jim is in Michael's office and Michael is so gutted over revealing the secret. Now, John's performance in the scene, he is so silent and he's just, it's this mixture of compassion and disappointment. Embarrassment. He's taking it all in, but the truth is, John could not stop laughing again. I want you to be in a small confined space with Steve Carell when he does two things. When he fake laughs or fake cries. Yeah.

Because when he fake cries and he's like, it is impossible not to laugh. John could not handle it. He could not handle it. And then, did you notice when Jim comes over and then Michael kind of like hugs his crotch? I wrote awkward crotch hug. Awkward crotch hug. Should we start tracking those? No.

All right. So, then we have the scene in the kitchen, right? Where Jim has to confront Pam because it's going around. Well, he wants her to hear it from him and not someone else. Yeah. So, Jim tells Pam, hey, you're probably going to hear this thing that I told Michael or whatever, but just, I want you to know that was from a long time ago. That was when you first started.

Three years ago. Three years ago. Yeah. Because at first, Pam is so happy. Yes. She's like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. This is the conversation I wanted to have on top of booze crews. Right.

And then, when he is just so adamant that, well, I don't feel that way anymore, then she's sad. Well, when I leave the kitchen, most of the time, they kept the shot going all the way to me getting to my desk. The door would close and then they would do a spy shot of me sitting down at my desk. You would see me crying. They didn't keep it in, but I would leave and I would cry. And I, there are times when you're playing a character where you can't help but feel

their feelings. And I have to say, I really felt Pam's heartbreak. I really did when we were performing the scene. It's not just that she wants Jim to admit feelings, it's that she wants him to save her. You know, she doesn't have the courage right now to save herself and she's going to get there. And I'm glad that that's how the show is written.

I'm glad that ultimately, Pam saves herself, but there's all of this in her in this moment right now. And it was a really intense thing to shoot and I'll always remember it. Wow. I didn't know that they did a spy shot of you. I would have loved to have seen that. Yeah. It's not in the deleted scenes, but I remember doing it because I remember that walk from

the kitchen to my desk feeling very, very long and vulnerable. I'm sure. Okay. 19 minutes, 30 seconds. We are now at a scene with Michael and Pam where everything gets turned back on its head. Yes. We think, Jim is like, I've resolved it. Yeah.

You've collected yourself. It's fine. He liked me. He doesn't like me anymore. Fine. And Michael's like, oh yeah, no, it was on the booze cruise. He had a crush on you and you're like, wait, did he tell you he had a crush on me on the booze cruise or did he have a crush on me on the booze cruise?

And Michael's like, shut it. He's like, shut it. Now everyone's leaving for the day. Pam and Jim leave together. They do. They get an elevator together. Well in the elevator, you notice there are all of these glances where Jim looks at me while I'm looking forward, but then I look at Jim while he's looking forward.

It took us forever to time that out with getting in the elevator, glancing at each other. That was all intentional. The doors closing exactly when the doors close. It took a very, very long time. I'm very proud of how it turned out. Also David Calderhead wrote in and said, did you consciously lean into John in the final scene in the elevator? I didn't consciously do it.

It just kind of happened, but that was a little dance that we had to choreograph and get just right. Well, I thought it was great and it was a great way to sort of wrap up that storyline of that episode. And then we have it 20 minutes, 16 seconds. Michael reveals that he was watching a Cinemax movie. The name of the movie is called More Secrets of a Call Girl. Yeah, not a real movie.

I looked it up. No, it's not. It's not a real movie. Michael says, you know, wait, what does he say? Does he say, I don't want to be shy? Can we hear that? It's at 20 minutes, 16 seconds. I was watching Cinemax last weekend, this movie, portrait of a prostitute, something.

Secrets of a call, More Secrets of a Call Girl, an elite character of Shila, is framed for murder, goes on the run, and winds up working at a bordello in Malibu. I don't want to live like that. I like it here. I don't want to be Shila. I like being Michael Scott. I don't want to be Shila. He doesn't want to be Shila.

I want to be Michael Scott. That's a good quote. I don't want to be Shila. Why didn't I make people shirts with that? I should have. You should have. I don't want to be Shila. All right, everybody.

That was the secret. And we are back next week with The Carpet. There's some gross stuff on Michael's carpet, and he's going to figure out what exactly it was. See you next week. See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey.

Our producer is Cody Fisher. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer. And our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad-free versions of the show and our bonus episode's candy bag, go to StitcherPremium.com. For a free one-month trial of StitcherPremium, use code, Office.