Office Ladies - The Surplus

Episode Date: August 4, 2021

This week we’re breaking down The Surplus! When Michael announces to the Scranton Branch that they have a surplus, the office fights over whether to use the leftover money to buy new chairs or a new copier. Meanwhile Dwight “helps” Angela and Andy plan their wedding. Angela tells us about shooting on Disney Ranch which was once known as Golden Oak Ranch, Jenna does a deep dive on Iowa State Farm's butter sculptures, and the ladies gush over one of the best Hank scenes in the entire run of The Office. But most importantly, it’s Angela’s work birthday! Will she actually get a cake at work this year?

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're The Office, ladies. Hello, everyone. Hello, you guys. Today is a very special day. Yes. It is the last day that Angela will be in her 40s. It is, you guys. I am 49, staring at 50. By the time you guys hear this, I'll be 50. Yeah. That's crazy. You'll be a hot 50 lady. Ooh, hot 50. I was asking you the other day, what does it feel like? Like, what does 50 feel like as

you're approaching this milestone birthday? I think I've been in denial because I've just been busy with life and kids and whatnot. But I'm realizing now it feels big. You know what I mean? Like, I realize I'm in a different survey group. Like, they're like, Americans 18 to 35 surveyed. Americans 35 to 45 surveyed. I'm like, oh my God, I'm not in the survey anymore. I'm in the senior citizens surveyed 50 to 75. You're going to get surveyed about all aches and pains and things now, right? You know what? My grandmother lived till 100 and I'll never forget when she was 96. Her and I were hanging out. She was the best. Her name was Lena May and I said, grandmother, you're about to turn 97. How does it feel?

And she said, well, you know, when I'm sitting down, I feel like I'm 23. It's when I stand up that I feel 97. Oh, that's amazing. Isn't that amazing? And then she said, nothing's broken, but none of it really works. So you guys, I'm very excited today because here I am at work the week of my birthday. And that means I'm getting a birthday cake, right? For the first time ever at work. Sam, do you have it? Is it hiding? I saw your Arby's bag. Is it behind it? Nope. What? Angela? Jenna, you said you had something in your car. Is this a ruse? No. What was in my car is my son's electric guitar that I accidentally brought today. I thought it was code for cake. I thought

you were going to get cake this whole time. No, I mean, I can bring you down to the car and you're going to see a red electric guitar in my trunk. When I got here, Lee texted me and I realized I picked him up from guitar last time. I never took it out of the trunk. Oh my God, you guys, do you want a red electric guitar? A weekend, strong, happy birthday on it? No, I think this is perfect. I think I need to finish my forties never getting cake on my birthday. But next year I want a f***ing cake. Okay, I'm going to be 50. It's about f***ing time. Someone gives me a f***ing cake when I'm at work for my f***ing birthday. So 51, do you hear me? Do you hear me? I want

a cake. Why are you looking directly at me? And now I'm looking at you. Oh boy. And Cassie, I know you're in there somewhere in the zoom. I'm 50. This is what happens when you're 50. You're like, I'm f***ing 50. Give me what I want. Okay, I think we all feel really bad. I would never want you to feel bad ever. Are you messing with me? Lady, I swear it's an electric guitar. I feel like now. I mean, you guys, it was really funny. She was like, I have to run to my car. I know. Sam, it's about the guitar. And I'm like,

this is code for cake. They're messing with me. Angela, we officially apologize that there is no cake here. I am going to see you tomorrow on your actual birthday to celebrate your actual birthday where you will be getting a cake because I'll be dropping by Gelsen's tomorrow tonight to get it because by God, you're getting a cake. Okay? Okay, all right, done. This week, we are talking about the surplus. It is season five episode 10 written by Jean Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg and directed by Paul Feig. Do you want to hear a fun little tidbit about the title?

Yes. As you guys know, I am a digital hoarder and every once in a while, it brings me a real nugget. I found an email from Randy Cordray saying that we were tentatively going to be shooting this episode in October of 2008, end of October. And the title, the working title was Spend the Surplus. Oh! Spend the Surplus. And then we just dropped the spend. Okay. So as you watch this, know that we're filming end of October, 2008. I went on a website that tells you whether years past, you guys, the high was 88 degrees. In October. And if you watch us shivering outside, know that that's a fakie shiver.

Oh, I have some things to say about that when we get there. Okay. I'm going to hit you with a summary. Do it. When the Oscar informs Michael, there is a $4,300 budget surplus that must be spent today or it gets returned and taken out of next year's budget. The office is then divided on what to spend it on, new chairs or a new copier. This creates tension between Jim and Pam who are on opposing sides. Pam is team chairs, Jim is team copier, Andy and Angela visit shrewd farms to discuss their wedding with Dwight. Michael then learns of a third

option for the surplus. He can return it in exchange for a 15% bonus for himself. What will he choose? Well, he doesn't like to make anyone mad, but he also wants the money. Yeah. Hmm. Fast fact number one, the character of Ryan does not appear in this episode. Good catch. Yeah. Remember last week, he told Kelly he was going to go to Thailand? Well, this marks

his first episode on his vacation and he will be gone for 11 weeks because he was filming in Glorious Basterds, the Quentin Tarantino film. This was such a big deal for BJ. We were so excited. He was working with Brad Pitt. I know. We really hit him up for Brad Pitt stories and he had nothing. He just said he was a nice guy. We're like, come on, give us something. I know. And then he would drop and do like a one-armed push-up.

BJ, we get it. You have to get in good shape. We get it. Mm-hmm. Fast fact number two, our cinematographer for this episode was Matt Sohn. Yeah. So, this actually happened back on business trip because remember Randall Einhorn, our usual cinematographer, directed business trip. So, while he was directing Matt Sohn, who was normally our B-camera operator, stepped in as cinematographer. But this started a stretch where Matt served as our A-camera operator and cinematographer for three weeks

while Randall was doing post-production on his episode of business trip. And so, these last three episodes, that's Matt Sohn, y'all. I love that. Matt Sohn was the best. He is such a hiker. Do you know that? Yeah. Didn't he and David Denman used to hike a bunch? They hike a bunch. I saw him on a hike one time, and I was like sucking air so hard, and he like strode past me with his kid in one of those backpack things. Oh, yeah. And I was like, shoot, he was really in good shape.

He and Randall both were in good shape. I know. But I mean, they need to be because they're lugging those cameras on their shoulders, although now Matt directs. Yes. Now he just hikes for pleasure. Yeah. Fast fact number three, a very big portion of this episode takes place at Shroot Farms.

And Angela, I know you will have a lot to share about that, but to kick things off, you have a location breakdown from Randy Cordray. I sure do. You guys, Randy Cordray is the best. Jenna has shared with you emails that he has sent to us. I reached out to him because I had questions about Shroot Farms. We have shared over the years that there were a few different locations for Shroot Farms, and I just wanted to ask Randy which location it was. And I had a question about the barn. He responded to my email, Jenna, with so many details. It was so wonderful. And photos. I'm going to share. Here we go. Are you ready for Randy Cordray's location breakdown of

Shroot Farms? Yes. These scenes were shot in Newhall at the Disney Ranch. It was originally known as the Golden Oak Ranch. And Jenna, Randy gives us a deep dive on the origin of the Golden Oak Ranch. Lay it on me. He did a deep dive. This is what he said. It was land owned by the famous singing cowboy movie star, Gene Autry. Gene Autry also owned the California Angels baseball team and the Los Angeles news station, KTLA, Channel 5, which was the first TV station on the West Coast. Randy also shared that the Walt Disney Company purchased the

property in 1959 and established a movie location on a still working horse and cattle ranch. There's more. He shared that just beyond the boundary of the property to the South, in Placerita Canyon State Park, is the site of the very first gold discovery in California. In 1842, a cow hand named Francisco Lopez was sitting under an oak tree and pulled up some wild onions. He found gold nuggets clinging to the roots. His discovery led to a mini gold rush six years before the more famous discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill. Wait, he pulled onions out of the ground and there was gold clinging to like the onion or the root of the onion?

Yeah. Gold nuggets clinging to the root of this onion. And it happened right there and that is why it's called the Golden Oak Ranch. It should be called the Golden Onion Ranch. He was sitting under an oak tree. It should be called a Golden Oak Onion Ranch. Golden Oak Onion Ranch rolls off the tongue. So there's the background on the origin of the Golden Oak Ranch, which then became the Disney Ranch. So we spent a lot of time at this Disney Ranch filming this episode. There's tons more scenes that didn't make it in. We were there the whole week. This was weird for me, Jenna, because I was the one not in the office and you were there, right?

Yes. When we shot there, the facilities were just limited to a few buildings, a farmhouse, some barns and stables, right? Randy shared with us that in the corner of the ranch, there was a very rundown Western Street that was really in disrepair and it was. It looked like a set that had been forgotten about because no one was making those spaghetti Westerns anymore. It probably had its heyday, but it was really falling apart. But Randy shared that since then, Disney has invested a ton of money and has completely modernized the grounds. He said, I wouldn't even recognize it. There are six state-of-the-art sound stages.

There's also a fake residential street and a business district. And there's a full feature back lot movie location now. None of that was there when we were there. It was like a rundown old Western set when we were there. I've been there because I was there for the bed and breakfast when Jim and Pam go to stay at Shroop Farms and there was nothing. There was really just these rickety farmhouses and barns that were basically falling apart. Right. And there was only a handful of them and then just sort of fields. Yeah.

Well, now it's a full studio. Wow. I know. I asked him a little bit about the barn we filmed in and he said, the very first scene you see of us walking into the barn, that stable was called the Rag Wing Barn. And Randy negotiated a rate to include the horses and mules and the horse that you see in the stalls. Oh. And then the other barn, which was like the fancy barn where Dwight made it to look like

a wedding ceremony, that barn was known as Pee Wees because it was the former location used in Paul Rubin's Pee Wees Playhouse. Oh, wow. So they all had names and the actual Shroop Farmhouse was an old farmhouse on the property known as Olivia's. That's really cool. I know. And he sent me pictures of the mules that he took that day and he sent me like the map

of the location, which it doesn't look anything like that anymore. It's so wild. It's completely different. That's so cool. Thank you, Randy Cordray. I know. He's the best. He really came through.

I know. So listen, should we take a break while I run to the store and buy you a cake and you go to the bathroom and we'll be back to break down this episode? Are you going to go get me a guitar? Yeah. I'm going to go get the guitar out of my car now. All right. Awesome.

I'm going to need about 20 minutes. Okay. Okay. All right, we are back and Oscar is presenting Michael with the overall budget for the fiscal year. And he is trying to explain that they have a surplus of $4,300. Michael's not quite getting it. He says, explain it to me like I'm eight years old.

Then he says, explain it to me like I'm five. I know. So Oscar does this great lemonade stand analogy. Michael seems like he's getting it. Ultimately in the end, we're not sure he totally got it. No. But Oscar says, you need to spend this money today and you should really spend it on a new copier because we need it.

We desperately need it. We had a fan question from Lauren Kay. Then Oscar is explaining the surplus to Michael and Michael says, explain it to me like I'm five. There's this great line when Oscar says, then next summer, and Michael says, I'll be six. That made me laugh so hard. So hard. Lauren wanted to know, was that scripted or was it improvised?

It was scripted. That beat. Steve threw it away so perfectly. It was so cute. It was so innocent. I know. Oh, Michael, well, he's very excited. He knows it's something good, right?

He grasped at least that. And he's going to announce to the whole bullpen. Yes. They've got a surplus and he thinks maybe we'll get a new copier. And Pam's like, no, no, no, wait, wait, hold up. We need new chairs. Toby feels like they really need a good air quality inspection for some of the silent killers.

Here's Toby again. He's worried about the radon gas. He's worried about the asbestos. This is the runner that the writers loved for Toby. And this is the scene where we realize that Jim is not team chairs. He wants a copier. It really made me laugh hard when Creed goes, the ball's on you, man. Creed's delivery was so good.

And Jenna, there was a Pam talking head that would have gone here and it's about her chair and you delivered it from reception. It's a talking head from reception in my chair, standing next to your chair. Oh, what is it? Sam, play it. This is the chair that was here when I was hired. It was crappy then and it's even worse now. To give myself a break, sometimes I go outside and sit on the ground.

Oh yeah, I remember that now. That's how bad that chair is. I thought Pam made a really strong argument. She made me want to be team chair because she was like, I make the copies. I'm the one that has to deal with the copier. That should tell you how bad these chairs are. Well, and also everyone would get a new chair, right? Yeah.

So it really is something for everyone. But the other thing I thought was just, what about the copier and the annex? There's another copier. No one wants to walk to the annex. It's icky back there. Well then they should swap them. I know. Maybe Kelly needs to make a lot of copies.

It feels like there's a simple solution to the copier problem that no one's realizing. Well, Michael's going to digest all of their ideas and see what comes out the other end. Coming up at three minutes 56 seconds is a scene, Jenna, that I didn't think I was going to get through. I didn't think we would have any usable takes. Last week you talked about that clown painting on the wall in Jim's parents' house that you guys could not get through it. You were laughing?

Yes. This scene with Dwight giving directions to Andy and Angela, that was it for me. Ed and I, we could not get through it. Like truly, we could not stop laughing. It's in the bloopers and I think we got to hear it. You know, lady, last week I looked at the bloopers to see if I could find any clown painting outtakes. I couldn't find them, but I did see this.

It is so good. I feel like some of these directions to shrewd farms are a little weird. I mean, like 156 paces from the light red mailbox, make a left. Walk until you hear the beehive and make a right. If you are attacked by territorial crows, I had this really easy. If you smell bear pee, turn the other way. If you smell bear pee at any point, abort, wait in your car for further instructions. What's the problem exactly?

The other thing that's so great about this blooper is that you're hearing all those candy bag alt directions. Yes, because in the script, the only directions were 156 paces from the light red mailbox and then the one about the bear. All the rest are candy bag alts. So were they just, because in the clip you can see that Ed is reading, were they just handing him pieces of paper with like funny directions? They literally did.

They handed him a whole paper that were extra directions. And that's why he was like, I almost had it. And if you guys watch the bloopers, you'll see that I'm sniffling. I am sniffling because it was so cold on set that day that my nose was running. And I had a tissue in my hand that I was hiding under the table. It was that cold. That used to happen to me all the time my nose would run on set. I know.

I had my sneezing from the allergies and the runny nose from the cold. Well I rewatched the scene and all I can see is me sniffling and trying not to laugh. Well, you laughed a lot. I did. Well, Jenna, we had a fan question about this scene. Allie Jo H wrote in and said, when Angela and Andy are talking to Dwight, Andy says something about a three-way and it looks like Dwight mouthed something to Angela. Do you remember what he said?

I can tell you in the script, Rain had this stage direction. It says Dwight rolls his eyes to Angela like, check out the dummy. And Angela doesn't give him anything. So I think Rain was sort of mocking Andy in that moment, like looking at me like, oh, this guy. Coming up, we have a scene that was really, really fun for me. It's the scene in the kitchen between Pam and Jim, where Pam is kind of low-key threatening Jim.

Yeah. To be on her side. Not low-key. Full-key. Is that an expression? We had a fan question from Jessica Kay. She would very much like us to discuss Pam's, you're on dangerous ground moment saying, quote, I was like, damn, Jenna.

Well, Jessica, we came up with this little moment while we rehearsed the scene. So this idea of Pam going over to Jim and going in for a kiss, but then pulling back, that was something that we did in rehearsal. It was not in the script. And we just were so tickled. You know those moments when you're rehearsing a scene or you're doing a scene and you come up with this idea that just opens it up in this new way? It's so fun, and it's so fun to see everyone else realize it too, because I have to imagine

that when Paul Feig saw it, he was like, oh, yes, you have to do that. Yeah. It was really, really cool. And then we knew we shot this scene first. We were going to mirror it in the tag at the end with Jim. Oh, it's so good. And I love Jim's talking head after where he was like, oh, spooky. You guys were about to head out to Shroop Farms.

There was a deleted driving scene. It was so good. There's actually two. I'll get to the other one. Wait, there is a scene of you and Andy and Dwight driving in a car together? Two. Oh. They are bookends.

One going there, and then one when we leave. Stop it. Yes. The one on the way there, Dwight and Angela get into a fight. Also, Angela's driving. That tracks for me. Angela's driving in her car is filthy. It's like covered in mud.

It's so funny. Oh, I know. Is that because maybe she's been going out to Shroop Farms recently? Absolutely. Yeah. So she's driving. Dwight's in the front, and Andy's in the back poking his head through for both scenes. These scenes were so much fun to film.

On the way there, Angela and Dwight are arguing about centerpieces at the reception. Angela wants a fish bowl with a fish in it. Dwight's like, let's put a piranha in it, and that will kill the fish, and there'll be blood. And she's like, I don't want blood on my wedding day. And then he's like, well, I guess I have to reorder the cake. Oh, no. That's horrible.

I know. What is this cake? And Andy's like, you too. That is on the DVD. The other one isn't on the DVD, but I'm going to share it later because it's when they're leaving Shroop Farms. When Dwight is giving Andy and Angela a tour of Shroop Farms, they get into another discussion about, I guess, on theme with blood.

They're talking about the slaughter. Do they really have to slaughter the entrees on the day of the wedding? Yeah. I mean, yeah. I know. And Andy gets Dwight to not do it the day of the wedding, and then Andy's like, what's that smell? Oh my gosh.

I'm so southern. Did you hear that? Smell. What's that smell? It's a vowel before an L. I can't do it. And Angela goes, manure. Get rid of it.

We had a lot of fan questions about the manure. Oh, yeah. Like a lot. Everybody wanted to know, was it real manure? No, it was not. It was made by Phil Shea. That was Phil Shea's job that day, make fakie manure, and he... How did he do it?

He mixed mostly oatmeal, little bit of sand, and some food coloring. Well it looks like manure. It does. Good job, Phil Shea. Lee Eisenberg shared with me that his most vivid memory of shooting this episode was how hot it was at Shroop Farms, and that you guys had to walk around in coats pretending it was cold. I noticed my forehead was glistening.

I think. Yeah. I'm not one to sweat, guys. I'm not a big sweater, because I'm always cold. So if it tells you anything about how hot it was, I was sweating. Also real random side note, sorry if this is an overshare, when we were filming this, I had a five month old, and I would have to go and pump. You were pumping at Shroop Farms?

I pumped at Shroop Farms. Where? They had, like, first of all, our trailers were a little bit of a car right away, and they just helped me get there, because I would have to go pump. You pumped at Shroop Farms? I pumped at Shroop Farms in the heat. Wow. Things you do for your baby.

Back at Dunder Mifflin, Pam is trying to get Michael on her side with the chairs, but she gets interrupted by Oscar, who suddenly wants to go to lunch with Michael. Oh, Oscar knows exactly what he's doing. All Michael ever wants is lunch with the guys, and Jim's in on it. Yeah. Oh, this is a bold move. Oh, yeah. This is Michael's happiest day.

Pam says, it is on. It is so on. And then she puts on lipstick, and she tosses her hair. What? What is the outcome of this, just to, like, flirt with Michael and make him feel good? I don't know what she is planning, except maybe just to look at Michael with some happy eyes to pay attention to him laugh at his jokes. But Jim, Michael, and Oscar get back from lunch, and they are hysterically laughing.

I mean, they've had the best time. Yeah. I mean, how is Pam going to compete with this? She tries. She goes into his office. She compliments his pants. She compliments his tie. Hot tie guy.

Hot tie guy. Hot tie guy. And I love how excited Michael is to share that he got his tie for $4 and his pants for $9 at TJ Maxx. Oh, my gosh. That reminds me of my mom. Does it? Yes.

So my mom and my sister, they love to go to the outlets at Lake Ozark, Missouri. All growing up, we would go to this cabin in Lake Ozarks in the summer, and they would head out to the outlets. I'm not a shopper person. I'm like, I'm going to stay back. I'm going to sit on the dock and read a book. Oh, I would be hitting those outlets with them. I know you would.

Especially if there was like one of those pretzel shops, and I could get a pretzel while we shopped. Of course there's a pretzel shop. Come on. Of course. Give me that cinnamon pretzel. Yes. So you know how nowadays they have those haul videos where on YouTube, where people go shopping

and they just take things out of their bag and they show you their haul? H-A-U-L. Yeah. I thought you said, you know those haul videos. I'm like, why do they film themselves walking down a hall? That's what I thought. I thought, who does that? Are they walking through the hall of the store?

No. Like, haul. Like, here's my haul. Here's what I got. Yes. They would come home and they would get their stuff out of their bags. Yeah. And it was sort of like the haul videos because they would show every item, but part of the

showing of the item would have to include the price, how much money they saved. Yeah. So the retail, I got this purse. That retails for $45. I got it for $12. This shirt, this was 70% off at Ralph Lauren. I got it for $12 bucks. So the whole description was always saying the price with the savings.

I think it was a big show for my dad, you know, so that he would feel better about any... Well, your dad loves a deal. He loves a deal. This is what I know about him. Oh, yeah. He wouldn't want my mom to buy a $12 shirt unless she could get it for $7. That's right. You know?

So we would always have to make a big show of all the money that was saved. Michael's right there with your family. He sure is. He could get in on it with my mom and my sister. Pam really did lay it on thick. There is a Michael talking head in the script right after all of this, right? He's been taken to lunch. Pam has just complimented him and it didn't make it in and Jenna, I loved it.

Here it is. Michael's talking head in the script. When people kiss up to you, it's very easy to get an inflated ego. You can start to believe the hype that people are saying about you. I'm not at that point yet, but I'm going to get there. But I'm going to get there. That's pretty amazing. I know.

Back at Shroot Farms, they are inside the farmhouse and Angela and Dwight are arguing over what kind of butter sculpture she should have at the wedding. Lady, this scene was so much longer, it actually started with Andy signing a ton of paperwork because he was actually signing as a witness to the wedding, but he didn't know. Dwight said it was all these insurance forms so that they could get married at Shroot Farms. During this scene, Moe's enters and there's a really awkward moment with Moe's where Angela hisses at him and then Dwight goes, why do you have to do that? It's not necessary.

He loves you. And Andy's like, how does he love her, how does he know her? And then Dwight's like, oh, Moe's loves everybody. He's a people person and it's so much longer. And then it ends with us arguing about the butter sculptures. And once again, we could not get through it. We were laughing so hard. It's in the deleted scenes on the DVD.

I'm going to put it in stories, Jenna, because I had to cover my face. I pull a Mindy. You can see me laughing with my hands over my face. But yes, then they get into this ridiculous argument about the sculpture and that's what made it in the actual episode. We got a fan question from Gabriella T who said, Angela tells Dwight she wants a cat sculpture made out of cow butter for her wedding. I am from Iowa and every year at the Iowa State Fair, there is a cow butter sculpture

on display. The very first cow butter was sculpted in 1911 and it has grown to be a famous tradition at the Iowa State Fair. Love it. I did a deep dive on cow butter sculptures. I want to hear it. All right. So at the Iowa State Fair every year, they make a life-size cow out of butter.

A whole cow? Yeah. That's huge. Yeah. It starts with a frame of wood, metal, wire and steel mesh. Okay. And then they add 600 pounds of low-moisture pure cream Iowa butter. It sits in a 40-degree cooler and then layers of butter are applied until it is full-sized.

It measures five and a half feet high and eight feet long. What? Yeah. I saw pictures. It's a cow, but it's butter. I need to see the picture. I'll send it to you. So a real dairy cow weighs like a thousand pounds.

Okay. The butter version weighs about 600 pounds. Wow. This butter cow could butter about 19,200 pieces of toast. And this part I'm unsure about, but every year most of the butter from the butter cow is recycled and it can be used for up to 10 years. I hope so. That's a lot of butter.

It is. Would you not use the recycled cow sculpture butter? Well, I mean, I don't know. Five-second rule. Kind of. Not really. They also do a companion butter sculpture every year. To the cow?

The cow has a buddy? Yes. That stands next to it? Correct. What is it? Well, one year it was Elvis Presley. What? A butter Elvis.

Elvis? Made out of butter. Oh, my gosh. Another year it was Harry Potter. Oh, get out. Another year they did Star Trek. And in 2018 they did a celebration of the 100th anniversary of John Deere. Was there a tractor?

Yes. Oh, my dad would have loved that. They did a replica of the Waterloo Boy tractor. I took a picture and it's a tractor out of butter next to the cow. Wow. I wonder if you could climb up in it? Probably not. Well, I'm not eating that recycled butter.

Okay. Sorry to interrupt you guys. I got one thing from the start of the podcast. It's done real quick. Okay. It's gotta fix it. Okay. No, it's fine.

Just give me one second. I can repair it. Okay. Oh, my gosh. I knew you guys were gonna do something. something. It's my birthday, Angela! Alright, Angela, how do you feel? This is your first work birthday. You guys so got me. You so got me. I was so surprised. I really thought when I got here that the

guitar was code for cake and then when it wasn't I was like oh well maybe they've just all been busy and okay. I feel bad I went off on that rant. Well what happened Angela was that we were gonna surprise you at the top of the podcast with a cookie-puss cake. A Carvel cookie-puss cake? Yes! But there was a problem that happened. The cake got lost in transit. Poor Cassie has been hiding out here since like 9 30 this morning waiting for this cake delivery. Poor Cassie! By the way this is the first time we've all been in person and it's amazing to see you. Cassie say hi to everyone. Hey everybody! Well I saw a few times you had

to check your phone and text but I thought it was all about the guitar. No it was a panic thread about your cake. Oh no. And then you called us out and we were like no but we had a cake and it's jimba jimba. And also Cassie put together this amazing board for you. It is all of these cards that people sent in because they heard that you did not get your birthday celebrated properly and so people from the Office Ladies Facebook page sent you cards. That is so sweet. That is so sweet. They know because I was real chatty that I never had a cake at work or at school. You guys that is so lovely. Well we could not let you start

your 50s without a proper work birthday. Thank you guys so much. I love every single second. I was truly surprised and I cannot wait to read all of these cards that you guys sent in. It's so lovely. I'm gonna sit down and read every single one. And thank you for my cake! A cake at work! It finally happened! It happened. It happened! Oh my gosh. Well before we did your birthday we were talking about butter sculptures. I know it's really hard you guys. Now I'm like okay we got to work. We still have work to do. I know. We were talking about cat butter sculptures and y'all I googled cat butter sculptures and let me tell you it does not

disappoint. Google image cat butter sculptures. Can I tell you the very first one that came up? Yeah. I'm gonna show it to you. I'm gonna put it in stories. How do I describe this to you guys? This is the first one that came up for me. There's more than one. It is a cat made out of butter pooping butter poop next to a block of butter. Oh my gosh! Yeah I guess it's a thing. There was more than one by different people. What's that about? I don't know. I have to think this is not the cat butter sculpture Angela Martin would want. There's also some majestic cats out there made of butter. It was amazing. People do really weird

things with butter. They do weird things with cats. There's the whole like litter box birthday cake. Have you seen those? Yes. Where it's a cake and it looks like litter and then you make like tootsie rolls into poops. Poops? Yeah. For the cat lover in your life. Put that next to the butter cat pooping butter. Yeah. Happy birthday. Next year. Next year. That's it. That's my cake next year. I want the cat litter box cake. Alright there was also a deleted Andy talking head after the scene because this would have been if you're keeping manure count the second pile of manure he steps in. Yes. It's really funny. You guys he's outside by

the barn hosing off his shoes and he's sobbing and he says this just isn't how I imagined it. There's just so much. It was really funny. That is on the DVD. Oh. Back at the office. Jim is watching Pam struggle with the copier. Everyone's really laying it on thick with Michael. They're making him hot chocolate. They're opening doors for him. It's the best day of his life. It really is. We had a fan question from Stephanie M. At 10 minutes 25 seconds Michael walks into his office and off camera we hear him say I almost choked. Was that a line that was scripted or did Steve Carell actually almost choke on his drink? It was neither.

It was an improvisation. He's doing that as Michael. He was not choking. He's gonna choke later on some tiramisu powder. It's the funniest choking scene I've ever seen. Ever seen. I want to study. I want to study it. I so believed it. At first I thought was that scripted? I had to go look. I had to look too. It was so brilliant and then he did that thing and we're jumping ahead you guys but after two bites that were failed attempts because he's choking he goes for a third and then with his hands he's like no no. He has to stop himself. So good. Dwight is gonna take Angela to a new barn. It's beautiful. It's gorgeous. He's decorated

it like how it will be on her wedding day with chairs and sparkly lights. Yeah and Andy's like hell because he's happy too. Yeah there's a priest and no manure. It's perfect. Dwight is gonna suggest that they sort of role-play the ceremony. He wants Andy to get a bird's-eye view so he says you know you walk her down as if you're her father and she'll marry me but you know so you can see what it looks like. Yes. And you know the priest doesn't speak any English. He only speaks German so they don't know what he's saying and the script it says Angela Martin is moved to tears by this moment. I think because it is really playing out

what's in her true heart which would be what it would be like to marry Dwight. Yeah. We had a fan question from LEB in the scene where Dwight and Angela are getting married at Shroop Farms. Is the minister actually speaking German? Yes. Mm-hmm. All of the German in the scene is accurate. The actor who played the priest was post-boyed and he was cast because he was fluent in German. Mm-hmm. And also because he was comfortable riding horses. Yes because he rides a horse at the end. Randy said that the actor arrived early to set that day so that he could select one of the horses and practice on it. Mm-hmm. Randy also said

that they had to submit a translated version of the priest's script to the NBC legal department of standards and practices because we had to prove that we weren't trying to sneak in any dialogue that would be considered unacceptable to the censors. Mm-hmm. It feels like they didn't trust us. I wonder why. Well, here is the translation. The priest is saying, groom and bride, you come here voluntarily with hearts prepared to receive each other in marriage? Will you love each other? Respect and be loyal to one another until death separates you. Are you ready to fulfill your obligation to raise your

children as Christian parents should? So that is what Dwight and Angela are agreeing to in their marriage vows. I guess Dwight is gonna forego standing in his own grave to marry her just so he can make it happen. Yes because that is truly the shrewd tradition. And would tip off Andy. This whole thing is gonna lead into Angela getting pretty sentimental. Yeah and she realizes I made a mistake with Andy. She says she made a mistake. I know she tells Dwight I picked the wrong guy. Dwight, man, he just messed it up. He does because he gets real arrogant. He's like I know and I took care of it. I fixed it. And he sneakily

had them married without her consent and she does not like that and does not appreciate it. No. He almost had her back. Yeah. In that moment. Yep. But no. No. She's furious with him that he would do such a huge life moment in the sneaky way. We got a fan question from Rebecca M. Does Dwight's secret marriage actually count in the state of Pennsylvania? Or did the writers make this up? Good question. Well, Pennsylvania is actually one of the only states where you can do something called self unite. So Colorado also allows this. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the tradition of self

uniting and marriage dates back to 1681. It has its roots in the state's Quaker population. And because the religious sect does not have any ministers, members of the Quaker faith traditionally self unite in marriage. So these are often referred to as Quaker licenses, but self uniting licenses do not require the applicants to practice any specific religion or any religion at all. So under Pennsylvania marriage law, couples wishing to marry without an officiant can obtain a self uniting license. They can perform their own ceremony. The only rule is there have to be at least two witnesses who are

required to sign the document, which Angela and Andy signed this insurance document. And I guess the priest would have signed something. Yes. In this scenario, the priest and Andy were the witnesses. So this marriage was legal. How about that? This would have led to a delicious deleted car ride home scene. Lady, it's a rough one. It's right up there with a Jan Michael car ride home. All right. This was in the shooting script. It's not on the DVD. It's out there somewhere in the world, you guys. It was so amazing. Angela is driving home, furious, Dwight's in the front passenger seat. Andy is in the back leaning

between the two of them and they start out the car ride and Andy's like, we did it. He's so happy and he starts singing at the top of his lungs this song. That's what he's singing in the backseat. That exact part of the song is in the script. What you just heard is four non-blondes and Angela is so annoyed that Andy is singing so she turns off the radio and Andy keeps singing and comes in with this part. That sounds like Andy to me. Right. Yeah. In the script it says Angela looks like she might drive the car into a tree. Dwight is stealing glances at Angela. Andy

oblivious is singing for non-blondes. Wow. How did you get through that with Ed singing in the backseat though? How did you keep a straight face? I'm telling you we laughed through this whole episode. Every single thing was funny to me. This next scene is the one that I could not get through. I don't know how you did. It's one of my favorite scenes of the whole episode. It's one of my favorite scenes of the whole series. Yes, it's my favorite Hank scene. Oh yeah. So Michael, who can't make a decision, has decided to call Hank from security. Yeah. Who, as he explains, hustled up the stairs because he thought it was an actual

emergency. Well, you know Michael texts people 911 to get their attention. So Hank arrives and I just want to say this was one of those scenes that was set at the reception desk and I'm in the shot and I wanted to edge myself out of the shot because I was ruining it because I was laughing. From the minute Hugh walks in, the minute he takes a few of the candies and starts eating them, I was like, I wouldn't make it. That was an improvisation and the first time he did it, I laughed because it was so brilliant. It's so brilliant. So Michael is gonna ask Hank, what do we do? He makes a big announcement. He's like, listen, Hank is

gonna decide, copier or chairs. And Hank's like, can I see the copier? Yeah. Opens up doors and stuff, looks at it and he's like, now let me see the chair and the room is riveted. They're hanging on his every word. But the scene ends amazing. My favorite is the ending of the scene. My favorite. Well, first of all, he sort of like explains his theory, why the office would need both. There's new copiers, they're amazing. Yeah. Although those chairs, he could not sit in. Yes. And Michael's like so and everyone's waiting and he goes, let me look at the copier again. Michael's like, get out. Get out. Get out. It's so funny. Angela, this was the first

time for Office Ladies that I have watched the show with my kids. Oh, really? Yes. Oh, I watch them all the time with my kids. I know. I know, but my kids are older. I know, I know. It was a pinch and I said, guys, I have to watch this. I have to watch it. You can watch it with me or you can go outside and scooter or something. So I turned it on. First of all, my son was just giggling through the whole thing. He's a little older. So I think he got more of the humor. The humor, yeah. But this moment when he says, let me see the copier again and Michael said, get out. They were dying. And then they started doing it as a bit. It was so good. It was so fun. Gosh, I'm so excited

as my kids get older for them to discover it. Yeah. I know. Well, my kids love the office and, you know, every once in a while, we'll watch an episode and Isabelle will go, mom, because Angela Martin is so mean. And you know, Jack, my stepson loves Office Ladies. I know. Whenever I see him, he'll tell me some fun thing he heard on Office Ladies, which I love. I know. He was like, I'm so excited that you guys are going to talk to Steven Merchant. I love that they watched it with you. So we kind of already talked about this scene where Michael is eating tiramisu while talking to David Wallace. But what we did not mention is that David gives him some new information. Yeah. He's like any

boss that comes in under budget gets 15% of that surplus. Michael whips out his calculator and he discovers that means he could get $645. Do you know how far that can go at Burlington Co. Factory? You're literally a king. Yeah. If you walk in there with $645. Well, Michael's got dollar signs now on the brain. Michael walks out of his office and he announces that he doesn't think they need a new copier or new chairs. He demonstrates that the copier works perfectly and then he's going to demonstrate how great Pam's chair really is. Two things. First of all, in the bloopers, Jenna, when Steve tries to use the copier, that copier actually was really crappy. It was awful. It was really old and crappy and half the

time would not work in real life. When we needed it to. When we needed it to. And it would eat paper. It would like make noises and he says, this copier works fine and he hits the button and in real life it went. And you guys all started laughing. It was so funny. Paul Feig sent us an audio clip because this was one of his favorite memories from shooting this episode. Here's what he had to say. There were so many fun things in season five. But weirdly, one of my favorite episodes that we did was The Surplus. And it's an episode that people don't talk about as much. And I just think it's got some of the funniest stuff in it. I think I laughed harder during that. My favorite gag, one of

my favorite gags that I ever got to do on the office was when Michael's trying to convince everybody that they don't need a new copier and all the chairs are good. And we had that gag, Jenna, where he comes behind the desk and just tries to prove that your chair's not broken. And I had them rig up this thing because the whole joke is, he sits on your chair and it just sinks down below the desk. And so worked really hard to have them rig this chair up that sunk so slowly that Steve just got in it and he's just talking like, see, there's nothing wrong with this. And you just, it takes you a few seconds to realize that he's just very slowly sinking down behind the desk. And then just Steve just destroyed

me one. Not only is he down low, but he won't admit it. And then the way he has to stand up is like, hey, I like to take such effort for him to get out of the very low chair. So that was a real favorite gag of mine. Well, every time he would get out of the chair, he would make some other different grunting noise and it would do me in. If you watch my face in the scene, I have this really like over exaggerated furrowed brow. I was having to make a very strong acting choice because I couldn't do blank. I couldn't do it. I had to do something with my face. Right. I had completely forgotten about this scene. And when I rewatched it, because it's

been a long time since I've seen this episode. And when I rewatched it this week, I was like, watching it and I was like, wait, is this chair sinking? Oh my God, it's chair sinking. It was so funny. It was so funny and it's so subtle. It's such a small moment. And in order to make it work, I could not be sitting on the chair at the beginning of the scene. So it looks like I'm sitting and then he comes over and takes my seat. Did you have to squat? I had to squat. Psy, work out.

And hold my butt and hover. And you can tell a little bit because in order to do it, I kind of had to like, you know, really like spread my legs to get like a good solid squat on the chair above the chair. Yeah. It's like going to the bathroom in a porta potty. Yes. Halfway through your pee, like your legs start shaking. You're like, oh crap, I need to work out more. This was a workout day for me.

Oh my gosh. That's how we pulled off that gag. Also in this moment, everyone starts to realize that Michael knows about the bonus. Oscar calls him out. He's like, I think you know. And he's like, what's 15% of 4,300? That's the surplus. And Michael immediately goes $645. And he's like, why'd you say dollars? And he's like, that's just how my brain works. Yeah.

And Kevin goes, he's a genius. But then Oscar says, okay, Michael, what's 15% of 200? And then Michael doesn't know. That little bit of Kevin thinking that Michael is a math genius in that moment. Paul Feek said him and his wife, Lori, love that little bit and that they do that bit that like, if someone says something, they'll be like, he's a genius. Oh, they do Kevin. That's their little bit.

All of this leads to a very big smooch. Andy and Dwight and Angela have returned to the office. Yeah. And once you piss Angela off, she's going to dig in her heels. Mm-hmm. And she's going to make a very public show to Dwight that she has chosen, once again, Andy over him. Yeah. So Andy is eating a tuna sandwich that he's real proud of. He wants Jim to know,

tuna, I'm eating tuna. And Angela marches across the bullpen and kisses him. He's leaning back in his chair. She lays on his lap and grabs his face. Do you know what the stage direction was for this kiss? Read it. Angela kisses Andy with a passion we haven't seen since Jim and Pam in Casino Night. I know. I read that. We had a lot of questions about this scene though, Angela.

Oh, well, I bet I have some stories for you. Dory C and Amanda C both want to know, did Ed actually have tuna in his mouth when you kissed him? Yes. Oh! That was part of the joke. Lee and Jean, who wrote this episode, they thought it would be very funny if Andy was eating something gross when I had to go kiss him. And that's why he has that line, look, tuna, tuna fish sandwich, just like you. Because they really

wanted to make sure the audience knew he was eating this smelly tuna fish sandwich. And I was supposed to go over and we're supposed to have this huge kiss while he has tuna fish in his mouth. And then you see me get up and I wipe my mouth. Yeah. Ed was so sweet. And he said, Angela, I am going to hold my lips together. I'm going to take a deep breath. I'm going to take a bite of the tuna fish sandwich and then I am going to purse my lips together and not open them at all because I don't want you to get any of this tuna

fish. I was like, oh, Ed, that is so sweet. And so we literally did, you know, what we call like, grandparent kissing. You're just like, mm, mm. He did not open his lips for a second. And they really wanted me to sort of have this long kiss, right? Yeah. And I was in control. I was the one that grabbed him and then I was the one that released him. And I remember one time they were like, can you sell it a little bit more? Can you make it a little bit bigger of a moment? And poor Ed, the minute we broke apart, he went, oh,

because he hadn't been breathing. He was holding his breath with a big bite of tuna fish sandwich in his mouth. Here's my question. Couldn't Phil have made fake tuna fish? I don't know. Would that have been better? I don't know. I mean, what could it have been? I don't know. You could have maybe, I mean, whatever it is, it's gonna be mayo based, but it could have been chopped up chicken.

That's still gross. I would have bought it, but it's not as stinky. It's true. But Ed was a true gentleman. He kept his mouth closed. I didn't get any tuna fish on my person. And you guys, when my character stands up and says, and now I have a legal issue to attend to, I actually had a big speech that got deleted. Really? Yes. And I was so nervous to do it because it was one of those moments where I had a speech in the bullpen with everyone looking at me. This is how the script described everyone

reacting to the kiss and my speech after. Everyone watches with disgust. Dwight's eyes go wide. Angela pulls away. Andy continues to chew and then swallows the bite. Angela wipes her mouth. And here's the speech. I would marry you during an earthquake in the middle of a tornado. I would marry you in the front row of an Elton John concert. I don't care how terrible a place it is. I just want to be with you. Now I have a legal matter to clear up. Not an Elton John fan. Clearly.

Clearly not. But yeah, so I had that speech I had to do and they gave me a few alts, you know, and I was really nervous, but all that made it in was now I have a legal matter to clear up. And I actually think that was a good edit because the kiss was enough, right? That was enough of like shoving it in Dwight's face. I didn't need to make this speech. But yes, no tuna. Thank you, Ed. Very different from a kiss with Rain who actually was eating tuna in real life backstage for no reason at all, knowing he is kissing. Yes, that are drinking coffee while eating like an everything bagel that had onions on

it. Yeah. Different. Very different. Approaches. This whole copier chair thing is going to wrap up. The employees are going to confront Michael in his office and he basically tells them, you know what? You decide. You all have to agree or else I'm taking the bonus because he kind of thinks like there's no way that's going to happen, right? Of course he thinks there's no way. He thinks he got him. They very quickly decide to get the chairs. He was like, son of a...

He actually says mother. Yeah, he does. F. Was he putting sugar in his diet coat? He was. Yeah, he wanted to sweeten it. Oh, my Lord. The whole thing kind of ends with Michael. He has a talking head. He wants you to know what he learned. What did he learn? He learned that his team is faster at making a decision than he thought. He also learned that you should never buy a fur coat with a credit card until you actually have the money to pay for it.

Michael, why in the world are you buying a fur coat? You're never going to wear it. It's ridiculous looking. Yes. He's just like a kid that gets money and doesn't know what to do with it. In his mind, that's, I don't know, fancy luxury or something. Yeah. Fancy people have those or something. I guess so. The third thing he learned is that people think it's cool to throw fake blood on you as you leave Burlington Coat Factory. So he has a ruined fur coat that he bought on credit.

That he can't afford. Yeah. That's how his day ended. Yeah. Jim and Pam's day is going to end with a truce, but oh, can you make me three copies of this? I'm just kidding. I need four. Is this Jim Sass? Oh, that's some Jim Sass. I have one final question for you.

Yes. Is it Team Copier or Team Chair? Team Chair. What would you be? Team Chair. Yeah. Team Copier doesn't even make any sense to me, frankly. I mean, I would just suffer through a crappy machine. How many times have you worked in

an office where either the fax machine, I know I'm a dinosaur, or the copier didn't work great, but a chair, that's like your tailbone. That's your spine. That's your butt. Is anyone Team Copier? Can we put a poll in Office Ladies Pod today? Yes. I'm so curious. I'll put a poll and we'll see. We want to see. Well, you guys, that was Spend the Surplus and also Angela's birthday. Hey!

Woo-hoo-hoo-hoo! Yay, Angela. Yay. Next time I talk to you guys, I'll be American Survey 50 to 75. That'll be me. See you next week. Bye. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Cody Fisher. Our producer is

Cassie Jerkins. Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubico. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad-free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.com. For a free one-month trial of StitcherPremium, use code, Office.