TRANSCRIPT
OFFICE LADIES | EPISODE 142 - CHINA
Jenna [00:00:06] I'm Jenna Fischer.
Angela [00:00:07] And I'm Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:00:08] We were on The Office together.
Angela [00:00:09] And we're best friends.
Jenna [00:00:11] And now we're doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.
Angela [00:00:15] 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.
Jenna [00:00:22] We're the Office Ladies. Hello!
Angela [00:00:26] Hi there!
Jenna [00:00:28] Today's episode is China. It's Season seven, episode ten.
Angela [00:00:33] Episode ten.
Jenna [00:00:35] Yeah, we're more than a third of the way through season seven.
Angela [00:00:37] Oh, my gosh.
Jenna [00:00:40] This episode was written by Halstead Sullivan and Warren Lieberstein, and it was directed by "Action!"
Angela [00:00:46] Charles McDougall.
Jenna [00:00:47] That's right. Here is your summary. As owner of the building, Dwight has made numerous cutbacks to electricity use, toilet paper, that has everyone in the office pretty grumpy.
Angela [00:01:02] Mmhmm.
Jenna [00:01:03] As office administrator, Pam goes toe to toe with Dwight, threatening to move Dunder Mifflin to a new office space. Hmm. Meanwhile, Michael and Oscar find themselves competing for the title of Smartest in the Office.
Angela [00:01:17] That was my favorite.
Jenna [00:01:18] Me, too. Because it appears that Michael, not Oscar, actually knows more about China. Finally, Darryl regrets giving Andy his phone number because Andy will not stop texting him.
Angela [00:01:31] He is blowing up that text thread.
Jenna [00:01:33] Yeah, well, fast fact number one. This episode aired on December 2nd, 2010. It was viewed by 7.31 million people. And I remembered what I was doing when this episode came out.
Angela [00:01:48] What?
Jenna [00:01:49] I was in Detroit and we were filming The Giant Mechanical Man. It's the movie that Lee wrote and directed. I was in it with Chris Messina and Topher Grace.
Angela [00:01:58] I got lots of photos from you on that set in the biggest parka I had ever seen.
Jenna [00:02:03] Yes!
Angela [00:02:03] I was like, you took the Detroit weather seriously.
Jenna [00:02:07] I mean, I think the first day we got there, it snowed. And there's this scene we were shooting at the zoo, because my character works at a zoo in the movie and I have a meet cute with Chris Messina.
Angela [00:02:19] It's very cute.
Jenna [00:02:20] And it started like a flurry of snow falling as we met. It was so amazing and romantic. And this was a really low budget movie, so there was no way we could have brought in snow machines to make it happen.
Angela [00:02:34] So you were so excited. You got a little bit of that weather magic?
Jenna [00:02:36] Yes, it was like we got this big budget looking moment and it was just the sky.
Angela [00:02:42] Well, the photo you sent me, I'll never forget, because your coat, I guess it's the first time I'd ever seen a coat like this, but now I'm like, I know they're common. It looked like you were wearing a sleeping bag.
Jenna [00:02:52] Yes!
Angela [00:02:52] It, like, went all the way to the ground.
Jenna [00:02:54] It was so cold. But, lady, the reason why I bring this up is because we were trading emails during this time and I found some of these emails.
Angela [00:03:05] Oh yeah?
Jenna [00:03:06] Because, you know, in our book, Office BFFs, we talk about how we stay in touch now through voice messages.
Angela [00:03:12] Right.
Jenna [00:03:13] But this was before we were doing that. We were still typing it all out to each other. Long emails.
Angela [00:03:18] So long. So long. We would write each other like a journal entry, but better than my actual journal entries. Don't worry, Sam. It was better. But I remember, like, sitting down and writing you like a small novel about my whole week.
Jenna [00:03:32] Well, you did that, and I found it. Here's what you were doing the week of December 2nd, 2010. You had bought your house in the spring.
Angela [00:03:41] Yeah.
Jenna [00:03:42] But you had not had a chance to nest yet.
Angela [00:03:44] No, because I was working when I got my house. Yeah.
Jenna [00:03:46] So you were using this hiatus to fully nest, and you wrote me an email announcing a very exciting home purchase. Do you remember what it was?
Angela [00:03:56] I do.
Jenna [00:03:58] It was.
Both [00:03:59] A treadmill.
Angela [00:04:00] I was so excited, you guys. I looked for a long time, and I bought one at Sears. And it promptly became the place where I hung my sweaters and put boxes on it.
Jenna [00:04:12] You were so excited about it in your email. You really believed that this was going to kick start a habit in your life.
Angela [00:04:22] It's such a joke. For any of you guys that follow me on Instagram, you know that like I would just post photo after photo of what all I was using my treadmill for, other than exercise.
Jenna [00:04:31] Yes.
Angela [00:04:31] It's a great place to dry clothes that, you know, you want to take out of the dryer a little bit early. So that's real good.
Jenna [00:04:37] But you don't have it anymore.
Angela [00:04:39] No, I finally just gave it to my neighbor because I was like, Who am I kidding?
Jenna [00:04:43] How long did you have it? It was like, I mean, five, eight years?
Angela [00:04:47] Yeah, it took me like a decade to give up on it. To realize it was just storage. But then I reimagined the space.
Jenna [00:04:54] Yes.
Angela [00:04:55] I made myself a little nook.
Jenna [00:04:56] And it is so cute. And, bringing it back to the book, you spent a lot of time working on Office BFFs from your new nook that went in the place of this treadmill.
Angela [00:05:07] The treadmill slash storage area.
Jenna [00:05:10] But this email really brought back memories for me because I just remember this whole treadmill thing.
Angela [00:05:16] I was so. I was so determined.
Jenna [00:05:19] I don't know what the moral of that story is.
Angela [00:05:21] I don't know.
Jenna [00:05:22] But maybe if you haven't used your treadmill.
Angela [00:05:24] In a long time, just get real with yourself.
Jenna [00:05:27] Yeah. And put in a cozy reading nook instead. It's okay. We give you permission today. We're talking to you. You know who you are.
Angela [00:05:34] Yeah, you know who you are.
Jenna [00:05:37] All right. Moving on, fast fact number two, we got a fan question from Hailey H in Alberta, Canada. This was such a great episode, but also a very unusual premise. What was the inspiration for this episode? Well, Hailey, we reached out to Warren and Halstead, who wrote this episode, and Halstead gave us some great intel on the inspiration for all of the various storylines in this episode. He said that the writers had been tossing around the idea of a China episode for a while because China had been rapidly rising as the next superpower, but that the real seed of this idea sprung from a discussion in the writers room after they had watched the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony in Beijing. Because he remembered they were all just talking about just the sheer number of performers and how they were all moving with precision and the drummers. And, you know, Warren told us that in their first draft, they had Michael watching the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony on YouTube with Erin.
Angela [00:06:41] Oh, you know, I did read that in an earlier draft.
Jenna [00:06:44] Yeah. But it took them a little while to figure out how could this become an episode?
Angela [00:06:49] Mm hmm.
Jenna [00:06:50] He said eventually the writers came up with this really fun idea of Oscar being known as "Actually..."
Angela [00:06:58] Yes, I loved that!
Jenna [00:07:00] And that kind of grew into him being considered the smartest in the office, and what would happen if Michael bested him? And then they joined the idea of focusing on China and then focusing on Michael becoming the smartest in the office, to come up with this episode. But they also wanted to explore Dwight as the building owner, and since Pam was the new office administrator, they thought it would be really fun to have a showdown between the two of them.
Angela [00:07:29] And it really sets up some future episodes like even Classy Christmas. You know, she actually plans an amazing Christmas.
Jenna [00:07:36] They also like the idea of Pam having to deal with this rather than Michael. You know? Like the whole banner on the side of the building, that Pam has to do this. And then as far as the Andy and Darryl texting storyline, they said they really wanted to deepen the relationship between Andy and Darryl. That kind of started when they made their band. They liked those two together. They said texting was relatively new back then.
Angela [00:08:06] Oh, my God, we're so old!
Jenna [00:08:08] The iPhone had just come out in 2007, and we finally had this whole keyboard that we could text from. You didn't have to do like just-.
Angela [00:08:16] One, one, one, two, two.
Jenna [00:08:18] Yes. All that. If people even know what we're talking about because we're so old.
Angela [00:08:21] I know.
Jenna [00:08:21] They said something that was very popular back at the time was this new idea of texting etiquette. So that's what they decided to throw into that relationship.
Angela [00:08:31] This is so funny to me because, well, in the last few years, we got my mom, not a smartphone, but like an iPad. And so now she texts. She's never texted in her life. She's in her eighties.
Jenna [00:08:43] Okay.
Angela [00:08:44] And just like watching my mom's learning curve on texting is so adorable. And, like, you know, like, the moment your parent discovers an emoji?
Jenna [00:08:54] Right? Yes.
Angela [00:08:55] It's so cute.
Jenna [00:08:57] Well, I guess all the different generations have their own texting etiquette. Our generation writes full sentences with punctuation.
Angela [00:09:04] I know.
Jenna [00:09:04] But apparently that's really annoying to- is that the millennials hate that? Or is it Gen Z?
Angela [00:09:11] I don't know. We're looking at you guys in the booth.
Jenna [00:09:12] Also, like, somebody hates emojis.
Angela [00:09:15] Yeah.
Jenna [00:09:16] What is it?
Cassi [00:09:16] I know for me, if you put a period at the end of the sentence, that means you're mad at the person.
Sam [00:09:20] Yeah.
Jenna [00:09:22] See, that's what I mean.
Angela [00:09:23] We put a period all the time, Cassi.
Sam [00:09:25] I know a bunch of emojis is in old person thing. Like a bunch of like the crying emoji for laughing is a-
Angela [00:09:32] Oh, that's me. I do it all the time.
Jenna [00:09:34] What do you do if you're laughing so hard you're crying?
Sam [00:09:37] I don't know. I'm 38. Check in with someone who isn't me. Find a youth.
Jenna [00:09:40] Well the other thing, I guess, to write out full words is considered ancient as well. There's all these abbreviations.
Sam [00:09:48] That's also read is like passive aggressive.
Angela [00:09:50] Yeah.
Jenna [00:09:50] Yeah. I write, see you soon, exclamation point. And I write out every word. But I feel like someone else writes the letter C, the letter U, and soon with no period.
Sam [00:10:02] In lower case too.
Angela [00:10:02] Oh, yeah, right.
Jenna [00:10:03] Oh, that's right. Don't capitalize anything. My gosh.
Angela [00:10:06] Isabel just taught me a new one. She had a cold bug, and I was like, How are you feeling today? And she said, I'm going to get it wrong. She said, Med.
Jenna [00:10:14] What's that mean?
Angela [00:10:15] I said, Med? You know, she's like, you're you're so-so-.
Sam [00:10:18] Mid?
Angela [00:10:18] So you're like, oh, yeah, yes.
Sam [00:10:20] You just feeling mid?
Angela [00:10:20] Mid. Oh, so I got it wrong. I got it wrong.
Jenna [00:10:22] I thought you were saying meh.
Angela [00:10:24] I know. Was. I got it wrong. She's feeling mid, which is like, you know, in the middle. Like, so-so.
Jenna [00:10:30] Oh.
Angela [00:10:31] I know.
Sam [00:10:32] What's also not good, like a song that's mid would be bad.
Angela [00:10:35] Okay.
Jenna [00:10:36] But let me ask you this question. Let's say Angela and I took a class on young people texting.
Sam [00:10:42] Nothing would make me happier. Go on.
Jenna [00:10:43] But if we did.
Angela [00:10:45] Is there a class?
Jenna [00:10:45] And then we started texting that way, would it be annoying? Like, are you supposed to stay in your lane? Just stay in your generation?
Angela [00:10:54] I don't know. But you know what? I'm going to text Is I feel mid, and I'll let you know what she writes back. She'll probably be like, Ughh, Mom!
Jenna [00:11:00] You know what I mean? That's like when I was a kid, if another kid's parent dressed too cool, it became uncool.
Angela [00:11:08] Yeah.
Jenna [00:11:09] Because they were, like, trying too hard.
Angela [00:11:11] No, I know.
Jenna [00:11:12] Like, would we be trying too hard if we're trying to text...
Angela [00:11:14] For sure.
Jenna [00:11:16] Mid, with no emojis? I don't know. Well, one more quick little fact about this episode is Warren and Halstead said the original title was Michael Fixes America. And then it became The Lease because it was kind of focusing on the storyline between Pam and Dwight. But eventually they settled on China.
Angela [00:11:40] That makes a lot of sense because I found an original draft called The Lease, and at first I thought it was a missing episode. I was like, Ooh!
Jenna [00:11:47] Oh, that would have been a find!
Angela [00:11:49] I know. But then as I started reading it, I was like, Oh no, this is this is China.
Jenna [00:11:54] Halstead also pointed out that this episode is a theme of battles. It's Michael versus Oscar, Pam versus Dwight, and Darryl versus Andy. And in each one of the battles, the underdog wins.
Angela [00:12:07] Oh, yeah.
Jenna [00:12:08] I liked that. All right. Moving on to fast fact number three. You know, toilet paper features very heavily in this episode.
Angela [00:12:18] So much.
Jenna [00:12:19] There was a lot of toilet paper, a lot of un-plying and re-plying of toilet paper.
Angela [00:12:25] Some Stanley sass when Pam suggests him to double up. He says, Stay out of my business.
Jenna [00:12:31] I thought we could use a history of toilet paper.
Angela [00:12:34] Oh, could we? I can't wait. Wait. Let me get comfortable. I'm getting my tea.
Jenna [00:12:38] Here's something that I found very interesting that is on theme with this episode, which is that, you know, paper... Regular writing paper, originated in China. And so did toilet paper.
Angela [00:12:53] Huh.
Jenna [00:12:54] How about that? Mass produced commercial toilet paper began in the mid 1800s, but before that, in very ancient times, people used all kinds of other things. Here's the stuff they use to wipe their tush.
Angela [00:13:07] Okay. Is this the uncoddled anus as Dwight would have it?
Jenna [00:13:11] That's right.
Angela [00:13:11] Okay.
Jenna [00:13:12] A stone.
Angela [00:13:14] Ahh!
Jenna [00:13:15] Mm hmm. Seashell.
Angela [00:13:17] No!
Jenna [00:13:18] Animal fur.
Angela [00:13:20] Uhh?
Jenna [00:13:20] Leaves.
Angela [00:13:22] Meh.
Jenna [00:13:22] Sometimes people just rinsed themselves in water.
Angela [00:13:26] That's like a bidet.
Jenna [00:13:27] Yeah. Or snow. You know I love a bidet. That's a story for another time.
Angela [00:13:32] It is. I would not want to put snow up there.
Jenna [00:13:35] It'd be very cold. In Roman times, they used a sponge attached to a stick.
Angela [00:13:44] Fancy.
Jenna [00:13:45] I saw a picture of it. It kind of looked like a loofah on the end of a branch.
Angela [00:13:49] A stinky loofah.
Jenna [00:13:50] I mean, listen to what they would do. They would keep it in a bucket full of vinegar or salt water to sanitize it. And then you would sponge your butt with it after you pooped.
Angela [00:14:04] Okay.
Jenna [00:14:05] Some really rich people would use cloth. But because cloth was handmade at the time, that was considered like very decadent if you used cloth.
Angela [00:14:14] Yeah.
Jenna [00:14:15] But by the early 14th century, the Chinese were manufacturing toilet paper at around 10 million packages a year. But you know what? The modern toilet paper did not get to the West until 1857. And before that, you know what we were using over here?
Angela [00:14:34] Please don't say a shell.
Jenna [00:14:37] It was not a shell.
Angela [00:14:38] Okay.
Jenna [00:14:39] We were using corncobs.
Angela [00:14:41] Corncobs?
Jenna [00:14:42] Or old newspapers or magazines. Yeah. The first toilet paper roll was introduced in 1890. And then really the biggest milestone in toilet paper happened in 1930 when Northern Tissue Company made the first splinter free toilet paper.
Angela [00:15:07] Splinters?! All this time people were wiping their butts with paper that had splinters? Good lord!
Jenna [00:15:13] I had to read that several times. Yeah. But thank you, northern Tissue Company.
Angela [00:15:19] Seriously.
Jenna [00:15:20] Splinter free since 1930.
Angela [00:15:23] Good night.
Jenna [00:15:25] Here's something I learned. In 1973, America experienced its first toilet paper shortage, and it was all because of a joke that Johnny Carson made on The Tonight Show.
Angela [00:15:36] What did he say?
Jenna [00:15:37] I have an audio clip.
Angela [00:15:39] Ooh!
Johnny Carson [00:15:40] Of all the shortages we have, there's a gasoline shortage. You know what else is disappearing from the supermarket shelves? Toilet paper. Ha ha ha. You can laugh now. There is an acute shortage of toilet paper in the good old United States. We've got to quit writing on it. But I want to tell you, it is serious. I just saw a commercial where- I know, it's coming- where Mrs. Olsen comes in with a shopping bag and a housewife says, Forget the coffee, just give me the shopping bag. I want to tell you... (AUDIENE ERUPTS IN LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
Jenna [00:16:26] Okay. So here's the thing.
Angela [00:16:27] So based off that bit.
Jenna [00:16:29] Yeah. It seems sort of innocent, this joke, but I guess there was a gas shortage going on, and he had read an article that there was a commercial toilet paper shortage, but nothing to do with household toilet paper. But after people heard this joke, people made a run on the supermarkets and they bought up all the toilet paper and created a toilet paper shortage. And Johnny Carson had to release a statement. He said this: "I don't want to be remembered as the man who created a false toilet paper scare. I just picked up the item from the paper and enlarged it somewhat. There is no shortage."
Angela [00:17:08] I like that that's how he doesn't want to be known.
Jenna [00:17:10] Yeah, please. All right. Final thing before we go to break, Angela, about toilet paper. The hanging of your toilet paper on the roll is a huge source of debate. People want to know, should the tail go over or under?
Angela [00:17:26] Over!
Jenna [00:17:27] Over. The answer is over.
Angela [00:17:27] Over. It rolls more naturally. Over. What debate? Over.
Jenna [00:17:31] In a survey of Americans, 70% prefer over the top because those 70% of Americans are right.
Sam [00:17:40] Yes, you are correct, actually. There's a patent from 1891 for the Albany Perforated Wrapping Paper Company. They filed their patent, which shows it in the overhang fashion, and the patent was approved. This is the way it was designed to be used.
Angela [00:17:54] Come on, you guys. From 1891!
Jenna [00:17:57] Oh my gosh. Who's the guy who applied for the patent? Shaun Wheeler. Shaun, thank you.
Angela [00:18:02] Thank you for the over.
Jenna [00:18:04] For also proving us right. That's all I got for fast facts.
Angela [00:18:10] Well, I loved all of that. Let's take a break, because when we come back, there is a moment that Phyllis could not get through. She laughed every time. They don't have a take of her not laughing, so what you see was just Phyllis trying not to completely lose it.
Jenna [00:18:25] Yeah, but you can see her kind of losing it.
Angela [00:18:28] I know. But that was the best one they had. We are back and Dwight has decided that he is going to work on the dexterity of his feet. He is going to learn to use his feet to do things. And this is what leads to him trying to drink a cup of coffee with his feet, and he spills it on his crotch. You guys, Rainn really did spill that on his crotch. He had to change pants. It was not hot. But Phyllis lost it every time.
Jenna [00:19:03] And you can see her covering her mouth with her hands. And we were all supposed to kind of be giggling, I guess, when he spills the coffee. But.
Angela [00:19:14] She's so completely out of character.
Jenna [00:19:16] Yeah.
Angela [00:19:16] I want you guys to look at 55 seconds. Did anyone else notice the coffee mug that Dwight is using? Anyone else out there?
Jenna [00:19:24] I noticed it because it said Coney Island, which is far from Scranton.
Angela [00:19:31] Okay. Are you ready for a little Mom Detective journey?
Jenna [00:19:35] Please.
Angela [00:19:35] Okay. So I went online to see if I could find the exact one that Dwight is using in the scene. And Jenna, I remembered that when we broke down the Sabre episode, you had done some digging on hot dog eateries in Pennsylvania.
Jenna [00:19:49] Yeah.
Angela [00:19:49] Because Dwight has that great scene where he's holding the tray of hot dogs and he doesn't know where to put them when he meets Gabe. All right, well, you found an article in Pennsylvania Eats about a local spot in Scranton called Coney Island Lunch. And I was like, Oh, that's got to be it!
Jenna [00:20:05] Right.
Angela [00:20:05] They serve Texas wieners. This has got to be it. But Dwight's mug said Coney Island Texas Lunch. So I started Googling, because we are ladies who Google, and I found two different restaurants. They had almost identical names, but two different storefronts. And I thought, Well, maybe I've got this wrong.
Jenna [00:20:25] Okay. There's two places in Scranton called Coney Island something?
Angela [00:20:30] Yeah. So I was like, this has got to be wrong. So I dug a little deeper, and then I came across this delightful blogger who writes about food as he travels.
Jenna [00:20:39] Okay.
Angela [00:20:40] I only know him by his blogger handle hack knife.
Jenna [00:20:43] Okay.
Angela [00:20:44] So hack knife, if you're out there, this delighted me. He was traveling to Ohio with his family over Thanksgiving a few years back, and he made a pit stop in Scranton for lunch. And here's what he had to say. "We walked up Lackawanna Avenue to find two very similar sounding restaurants located just a mere steps from each other. Coney Island Texas Lunch at 100 Cedar Ave, and Coney Island Lunch at 515 Lackawanna Ave.
Jenna [00:21:11] Okay, wait. So the only thing that's different is one of them is called Texas Lunch and one of them is called Lunch?
Angela [00:21:17] That's right.
Jenna [00:21:17] Okay.
Angela [00:21:19] So here is what Hack Knife learned after further investigation.
Jenna [00:21:23] Okay.
Angela [00:21:23] The founder of Coney Island Texas Lunch was named Steve Karampilas.
Jenna [00:21:29] Okay.
Angela [00:21:29] He started the business. And then in 1972, when he passed away, he left it to his sons, Ted and Jack. And everything was fine until 1987, when there was a dispute regarding the future direction of the business. Ted wanted to keep renting space in the old building, while Jack preferred ownership in a new location. The brothers went their separate ways. Jack opened up a rival Coney Island Lunch.
Jenna [00:21:59] No. No.
Angela [00:22:01] And Ted cashed out to his partner in 2004, but they kept the original building, Coney Island Texas Lunch. Their original location. And now a set of owners runs that there. So you have Coney Island Texas Lunch.
Jenna [00:22:16] Right.
Angela [00:22:16] And you have Coney Island Lunch. They're right around the corner from each other.
Jenna [00:22:21] And this is based on a feud between the brothers?
Angela [00:22:23] Yes.
Jenna [00:22:24] But the one brother, Coney Island Texas Lunch, doesn't even own that anymore. He sold it.
Angela [00:22:29] That's right.
Jenna [00:22:29] But still operating out of the original location.
Angela [00:22:32] That's right.
Jenna [00:22:32] I'm with you.
Angela [00:22:33] Right.
Jenna [00:22:34] Okay.
Angela [00:22:34] So on their building, it can say since 1923.
Jenna [00:22:38] Because it's been there.
Angela [00:22:40] That's right.
Jenna [00:22:41] Uh huh.
Angela [00:22:41] But Coney Island Lunch managed to keep the original phone number.
Jenna [00:22:46] But how? Who kept the menu? Do they serve the same stuff?
Angela [00:22:50] Yes, because it's the same-.
Jenna [00:22:51] No!
Angela [00:22:52] It's the same- it's the same recipe for 93 years of this Texas wiener with the chili. So all of that to say, I then found Instagram accounts, and then I found both the restaurants' websites. Neither of them had a shop toggle.
Jenna [00:23:09] So at the end of all this, I'm not getting a mug, is the end of this story.
Angela [00:23:11] You're not getting a mug. And the end of this story, which I think is how all Mom Detective journeys end, which is, we may never know.
Jenna [00:23:19] We we never get the original thing we were searching for.
Angela [00:23:22] That's right.
Jenna [00:23:23] So, well done.
Angela [00:23:24] And you know what? I read reviews of both restaurants, and people love both. So.
Jenna [00:23:29] It's the same food! Of course! They use the same recipes.
Angela [00:23:32] But I feel like if we go to Scranton, we're going to have to have a hot dog from both.
Jenna [00:23:36] Well, Angela, I loved that journey. All right. Well, let's get into this episode. It begins with the shortest opening credits of all time. Did you notice?
Angela [00:23:45] Yes. I noticed that Randy pointed that out to us, too. I loved what he said in his email to us. He wrote, At 1:21, Jeez, could this top the leaderboard for shortest main title in the show's history?
Jenna [00:23:57] Yeah. It was just the street. And then Michael moving his Dundie.
Angela [00:24:03] They clearly just had a lot they wanted to make sure stayed in.
Jenna [00:24:05] Yeah. This episode opens with Andy arriving to work. He's down in the lobby and he finds Dwight's built a new coffee stand.
Angela [00:24:16] I love that Hank had to work it.
Jenna [00:24:17] I know.
Angela [00:24:19] He's so clearly, like, annoyed by it.
Jenna [00:24:21] He said Dwight said that it was a waste of space, and now they're going to sell all kinds of things. I made a list. They've got muffins, donuts, magazines, biscotti, a frosted bundt cake, there's a coffee station with sugar and sweeteners. It's called Caffeine Corner. And the muffins cost $8, we learn.
Angela [00:24:44] Yeah.
Jenna [00:24:45] You know, there's a real Caffeine Corner located in Berlin, New Jersey.
Angela [00:24:51] Really? Aw.
Jenna [00:24:51] And their muffins are only $2.50.
Angela [00:24:53] Better deal. Dwight is going to have a talking head where he says, Owning a building is a war between the landlord and the tenant.
Jenna [00:25:01] That's what he sees building ownership as: a war.
Angela [00:25:04] I know. And he says he's going to use some of the tactics. Like in war, he's going to surround the army, slowly starve them out. He installed a timer and motion sensor so the lights go off to save electricity. And it's part of his green initiative. Green meaning money. I did look at the candy bag alts for this talking head, because I knew they had a bunch of different alts, and they did. There were a few that were hilarious. Here was one of my favorites that I'll share. Dwight would say, To save on electricity, I've installed a timer and a motion sensor on the lights. I've also unplugged Kevin's, Creed's, and Meredith's computers. They have yet to notice.
Jenna [00:25:45] Nice.
Angela [00:25:47] Michael is going to enter for the day, and he's hot to trot.
Jenna [00:25:51] Yeah, he's picking up stuff on Erin's desk.
Angela [00:25:53] Everything's made in China.
Jenna [00:25:56] Erin's like, What's up? Well, it turns out that when he went to the dentist, the magazine he wanted to read was not available. A kid was reading it.
Angela [00:26:05] Right. So he had to read that one.
Jenna [00:26:07] He had to read Newsweek. And it was all about China. He still has the magazine. He's taken it from the dentist's office.
Angela [00:26:13] Yeah, he read it once, then he read it again.
Jenna [00:26:15] Randy Cordray told us that that was not a real Newsweek magazine, but we did get the rights from Newsweek magazine. James Kerry was able to get those for us.
Angela [00:26:26] Wow.
Jenna [00:26:27] So we could put their logo on there, but we had to make our own magazine. So the cover was designed by Henry Saine, and Phil Shea had it printed at Earl Hay Press. Fakey magazine.
Angela [00:26:39] This is going to lead us to the first Darryl and Andy text exchange runner. I loved this so much. I loved when Darryl said, You need to change your standard for what's a worthy text.
Jenna [00:26:51] Mmhmm.
Angela [00:26:52] Ask yourself, is this something Darryl needs to know? The answer almost always? No. This scene leads to a Darryl talking head. He says, There was a time when the only people who texted you were the people you wanted to text you. Like girls.
Jenna [00:27:06] Yeah.
Angela [00:27:07] Right?
Jenna [00:27:07] Yeah.
Angela [00:27:08] Well, Halstead shared something fun with us about this talking head. He said that Craig came up with the BTB joke on the spot.
Jenna [00:27:14] The bring that booty?
Angela [00:27:16] Uh huh.
Jenna [00:27:17] Oh, that's fun.
Angela [00:27:17] That was a Craig Improv.
Jenna [00:27:19] Is that a real thing? BTB?
Angela [00:27:20] Is that. BTB anyone? We're old.
Jenna [00:27:22] Real young people?
Angela [00:27:23] BTB?
Jenna [00:27:24] Bring that booty?
Angela [00:27:25] Or did Craig just make that up?
Jenna [00:27:28] A texting booty call? You've never heard this.
Angela [00:27:28] Call? You've never heard of this?
Sam [00:27:29] No, I have not.
Both [00:27:30] Okay.
Angela [00:27:31] All right.
Sam [00:27:31] I assume it would be...
Jenna [00:27:32] It was made up.
Sam [00:27:33] You would be bringing it already. Like, if I was going-
Jenna [00:27:36] That is. You've never sounded older. You've never sounded older. I don't need to text BTB, she's already bringing it.
Sam [00:27:44] It's implied.
Jenna [00:27:44] The booty's coming. Arghhh. The most old man you've ever sounded.
Sam [00:27:50] Get off my porch.
Angela [00:27:52] Oh, my gosh. The next thing that happens is that Stanley is really upset that Dwight has been putting single ply toilet paper in the bathroom. I have a catch.
Jenna [00:28:02] What's your catch?
Angela [00:28:04] Jim has a rubber band ball.
Jenna [00:28:06] Yes, he does. And it's going to keep coming back.
Angela [00:28:09] That's right. I went to the shooting draft. No mention of rubber band ball. So then I went to our table read draft. And this is all it said. And it comes back a few times. Interior Office. Jim, Pam and Dwight are at their desk. Jim is making a rubber band ball. Stanley approaches.
Jenna [00:28:27] That's it.
Angela [00:28:28] That's all I could find.
Jenna [00:28:29] Hmm.
Angela [00:28:30] That's all it said. That's all it said.
Jenna [00:28:31] Yeah, that's so crazy.
Angela [00:28:33] I know.
Jenna [00:28:33] We had a fan catch from Vaishnavi S in India. I am sure I wasn't the only one to notice that Stanley pulls a major John Krasinski in this episode. At 3 minutes and 29 seconds, we get a big D-wight from Stanley.
Angela [00:28:49] Yeah!
Jenna [00:28:50] It's true. I also had my own catch for this scene at 4 minutes and 47 seconds. Kate is playing solitaire on her computer and Oscar is reading a book or a script in the background.
Angela [00:29:07] You know what?
Jenna [00:29:07] And Angela, you- it's very interesting- are just sitting there. You're just sitting there and you kind of put your hands together. You're just sitting.
Angela [00:29:17] You know why?
Jenna [00:29:17] Why?
Angela [00:29:18] I was freezing.
Jenna [00:29:19] Oh, yes. That makes sense now. I'm like, what is she doing with her hands?
Angela [00:29:22] I was freezing. Oscar, by the way, would often bring a book to read. He would sit there and read and I'd be like, You're on camera. And he's like, Can't Oscar be reading? Like, he's reading.
Jenna [00:29:33] I mean, it makes sense.
Angela [00:29:34] Well, Pam is going to step in as office administrator and say, Dwight, we need to have better toilet paper. You need to take care of all this.
Jenna [00:29:41] Yeah, but he says, you know, when he's at Dunder Mifflin, he's Dwight Schrute, a salesperson. If she wants to talk to Dwight Schrute, building owner, she should call Nate and make an appointment.
Angela [00:29:52] Pam calls Nate. Okay. Jenna, you and Mark had so many more scenes that did not make it in.
Jenna [00:29:58] I remember.
Angela [00:29:59] They're in deleted scenes. They're in the shooting draft. They are so funny.
Jenna [00:30:03] He was so funny.
Angela [00:30:04] He's hilarious. Nate ultimately tells Pam that his boss is busy. Dwight is busy. Well, first of all, Pam can hear all of this. Dwight's like, just make something up. And to think the go to that Nate says is, He's being questioned about a string of dog nappings.
Jenna [00:30:21] Yeah.
Angela [00:30:22] That Dwight is part of a string of dog napping.
Jenna [00:30:24] Yes.
Angela [00:30:25] And Pam's like, you know what, Dwight? You're really screwing over your friends here, your coworkers. Like, this is affecting all of us, and you need to do something about it. In deleted scenes, this moment was bigger. And when Dwight has the line about Kevin smiling...
Jenna [00:30:38] Yes.
Angela [00:30:39] John was in the background, instant messaging someone on his screen.
Jenna [00:30:44] Whaaat?
Angela [00:30:44] Yes!
Jenna [00:30:45] No way.
Angela [00:30:47] It was so clear. Remember the AIM little box we would get because we're dinosaurs?
Jenna [00:30:52] Yes!
Angela [00:30:52] He was instant messaging someone. I tried to zoom in to see who it was, but it was too blurry.
Jenna [00:30:59] Our next scene is going to be in Michael's office, where he and Erin are researching China on Wikipedia. And I'll have you know, that was the actual China Wikipedia page. We just cleared it to use it.
Angela [00:31:12] Well, Erin is going to find out that according to the Internet, the tallest man in the world is Chinese. And Michael says, So much for keeping our secrets up high.
Jenna [00:31:21] I mean. This is the most ridiculous thing to say.
Angela [00:31:23] So ridiculous. He decides, though, he's going to put the best minds in America on this. And that is the Dunder Mifflin bullpen.
Jenna [00:31:30] Yeah, he charges into the bullpen. It's clearly DEFCON five again. And he needs our biggest ideas because we need to get ahead. So what do we got?
Angela [00:31:41] Kevin's ready to go. Kevin's raising his hand.
Jenna [00:31:43] Oh, yeah.
Angela [00:31:44] Antacid. Once a week.
Jenna [00:31:45] Yeah.
Angela [00:31:46] And then Michael's like, okay, that's what we have to beat. Antacid once a week.
Jenna [00:31:49] Once a week Antacid. I know. It's so good.
Angela [00:31:54] There was a part of the scene that I labeled WTF, for the kids out there. They know what that means.
Jenna [00:32:00] Oh, yeah. Erin's whole thing?
Angela [00:32:02] What the heck?
Jenna [00:32:03] It was so great. She says, Hey, you guys, I have an idea. How about we hire someone new, take out $1,000,000 life insurance policy on them, and then kill them? And then she has a talking head where she says, I think that's what they're doing to me. I can't prove it, but I just wanted to see their faces when I said it.
Angela [00:32:22] What?
Jenna [00:32:23] She learned nothing, though.
Angela [00:32:24] Immediately after Erin shares this, Michael says, I don't know what the (BLEEP) that was.
Jenna [00:32:30] We got a fan question from Casey A in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, who said, I need to know if that line was scripted or improv.
Angela [00:32:38] That was totally improvised.
Jenna [00:32:39] Oh, I remember when he did it and we all started laughing.
Angela [00:32:41] Yeah. And the crazy thing is, in that moment, Michael was all of us. Michael was the audience!
Jenna [00:32:47] Yes! Well, Randy said that leaving that improvization in was, you know, a big deal for standards and practices.
Angela [00:32:55] Here we go!
Jenna [00:32:56] After watching a rough cut of this episode, we got this note, "Scene 13, Michael's (BLEEP) remark must be bleeped completely. We're hearing the leading f sound and blur his lip flap."
Angela [00:33:10] No lip flap on my watch.
Jenna [00:33:13] And then later, after they watched the final locked cut, they got this note. "Scene 12, blur the lip flap when Michael says (BLEEP)."
Angela [00:33:24] Once again. Jenna and I got the funniest tweet. His name is Josh Roller. Here's what he had to say. Josh, this cracked us up. "I was today years old when it struck me that standards and practices is to the editors of The Office what Toby Flenderson is to Michael Scott." Thanks, Josh!
Jenna [00:33:45] I love that. So now is when Michael is going to start giving us a lot of statistics about China... Which Oscar is going to refute.
Angela [00:33:58] Yeah, actually, he is.
Jenna [00:34:01] And guess what? Michael got his info right.
Angela [00:34:07] Yes. So they were going back and forth about China's population, whether they were agrarian, urbanizing quickly. And Michael says that China had 56 cities with a population of over 1 million and the U.S. has nine. And he was right. Ryan fact checked it. He was correct. Immediately, Meredith is like, suck it, Oscar! Everyone is so excited that Michael bested Oscar.
Jenna [00:34:32] Well, you know who else is right in this scene?
Angela [00:34:35] Who?
Jenna [00:34:35] Dwight. We had a fan catch from Carly P in Sesser Illinois, who said, At 6 minutes and 57 seconds, Dwight says that by 2020, China would be the largest economy. I looked it up and he was right. China was the largest economy in 2020 with 24.6 trillion, I guess, dollars. And they were also the world's largest manufacturer and exporter.
Angela [00:35:01] We are finding out that Dwight is like oddly correct about so many random things.
Jenna [00:35:06] But I feel like we rarely believe him.
Angela [00:35:09] I know. And then we dig a little and we're like, Oh, well, yeah, I guess that's true.
Jenna [00:35:12] Guess that's true. We do like men who smell like our fathers.
Angela [00:35:16] I guess so. Michael is so delighted. He has a talking head and he's like, So I happen to know more than the smartest guy in the office. So what? I don't care. Like, he's so happy.
Jenna [00:35:29] But when we go back out in the bullpen, all of a sudden the room gets dark. But the lights did not go out. It's something else.
Angela [00:35:37] It's a disgusting, enormous banner. It's bright yellow with big cockroaches on it, with a slogan that says A&J Exterminators. We're roach killers. That's what we do.
Jenna [00:35:49] Yeah. Dwight has sold the space of the outside of the building for advertising. And, you know, this banner was a whole thing.
Angela [00:35:58] I bet it was pricey. It was the size of the building!
Jenna [00:36:01] I know. I remember when they unfurled it and we were standing there and I was like, wha?
Angela [00:36:07] Holy crap.
Jenna [00:36:08] Who- how do you even make something this large?
Angela [00:36:09] I know!
Jenna [00:36:10] It was the size of a billboard. But it was all one piece, right? With billboards, don't they put it up in pieces? I've seen them do it.
Angela [00:36:16] I don't know. I don't know billboard artistry. But-
Jenna [00:36:19] You've never seen a billboard going up in progress? It's really interesting. I mean, you could just grab a coffee and watch it happen. It's fascinating.
Angela [00:36:28] I guess maybe if I dig back in my brain, I've been driving and someone's been rolling a thing up.
Jenna [00:36:33] Yeah. You know, they don't put it all up in one piece.
Angela [00:36:37] Well, I'm sorry, Jenna. I've never pulled over and watched the whole thing like you have with a cup of coffee. Not the weird lady in the car.
Jenna [00:36:44] I love-.
Angela [00:36:45] Ahh!
Jenna [00:36:45] Oh, my God! What? What happened?! What just happened? What just happened? Angela just shoved away from the table and threw your earphones off. Did a bug get you?
Sam [00:36:58] It's hard to- It's hard to explain over an audio podcast how hard Angela... What just happened? She moved- she flew about, let's see, a foot and a half backwards?
Jenna [00:37:08] It was, like, did you get shocked? You looked like in the movies where you get shocked by an electrical wiring and your whole body flies backwards.
Both [00:37:14] My brain went to, do you remember in The Exorcist where she shoves her back like with her mental powers.
Angela [00:37:20] I crossed my leg and my thigh hit the volume button and all of a sudden you went to ten in my ear. And it was so painful. And it was right, as you were saying, I know!
Jenna [00:37:33] Oh, no.
Sam [00:37:35] You thought she just got su- You never seen a billboard?!
Jenna [00:37:38] I don't know what happened. Are you okay?
Angela [00:37:41] I'm okay. I have to pee now. I don't know. It triggered everything.
Jenna [00:37:45] Oh, dear. Well, maybe we should take a break then.
Angela [00:37:47] So sorry.
Jenna [00:37:48] Let's do that. Let's take a break and then I'll give you all of the details on this giant banner, because it's pretty fascinating.
Angela [00:37:54] And now I feel like I need to go to YouTube and, like, learn how you make a billboard, because maybe it's how I need to start my day with a cup of tea.
Jenna [00:38:01] I love watching slices of life.
Angela [00:38:04] I do, too.
Jenna [00:38:05] We're going to go to break. Sam found you a video called Installing a Billboard.
Angela [00:38:09] Let's watch it.
Jenna [00:38:10] We'll be right back. All right. So we are back. And let me tell you about this banner. So the first thing we had to do was we had to have something come down behind our windows, inside the bullpen, you know, inside the office.
Angela [00:38:29] Right. To cast that big shadow.
Jenna [00:38:31] Yes. And I guess this was a big deal because those windows are fake. And behind them is, you know.
Angela [00:38:38] The fakey backdrop of the street.
Jenna [00:38:40] Right. But they had to completely re rig that whole area because we had all kinds of stuff there, like electrical, lights, all kinds of stuff. And they had to design something that looked like it would be the backside of the thing we're going to see outside.
Angela [00:38:57] They had to make two banners?
Jenna [00:38:58] They did. They had to make a partial one that would come down over those windows. And then they had to make the real giant one that was outside. And it cost us $3,900 for both of those banners. They were designed by Michael Gallenberg and Henry Saine. And they were built at a, I guess, no longer in business banner supply store in Van Nuys. So our crew, led by Tim James, rigged the banner on top of the stage. And Mark was really up on the roof.
Angela [00:39:30] Oh, yeah. When we did the exterior.
Jenna [00:39:31] Yes.
Angela [00:39:32] But Mark didn't drop it. They had guys there.
Jenna [00:39:35] Yes. We had crew up there who really let it down. And, you know, we were doing all this. We had to have a safety officer.
Angela [00:39:43] Safety meeting!
Jenna [00:39:44] Safety meeting! Banner coming down. Make sure you stay away from the building in case it falls off completely.
Angela [00:39:54] You know, I just recently worked with Kelly Cantley.
Jenna [00:39:56] Yes.
Angela [00:39:57] And she made a video for you guys, our Office Ladies listeners and Jenna.
Jenna [00:40:02] Ah!
Angela [00:40:02] Ready?
Jenna [00:40:03] Yes!
Angela [00:40:03] Now, you guys know Kelly is who John and I would run up to and say, Kelly, we have to go pee. Can we go before the scene? Can we go after? And sometimes she would say this to us, and it became one of our favorite things.
Jenna [00:40:15] This is one of our catchphrases.
Angela [00:40:16] We still say it. Ready? Kelly Cantley, first A.D.
Angela [00:40:21] Jenna. This is for you, Jenna. That's. That's Brian in the background. This is for you. Ready? Kelly, I have to go pee.
Kelly Cantley [00:40:29] Quick like a bunny!
Angela [00:40:31] Quick like a bunny!
Jenna [00:40:33] Quick like a bunny!
Angela [00:40:33] She even has a little bunny on her laptop.
Jenna [00:40:35] Oh, really?
Angela [00:40:36] Yeah. Everybody is very upset by this. Maybe Gabe the most, because apparently we learn he has a fear of cockroaches. He has to run inside. He can't look at them. Angela says, Michael, take care of this. And he turns to Pam and says, Take care of it. Office administrator. Handle it.
Jenna [00:40:54] Yeah. Pam tells Dwight to take it down, but he just laughs.
Angela [00:40:59] She says, Take it down. Or else.
Jenna [00:41:01] Or else what? Dwight says.
Angela [00:41:04] We'll move out. Dun dun dun.
Jenna [00:41:08] Well, then we go to the kitchen, Angela.
Angela [00:41:10] I know. And this is the writers having fun. I even remember the table read. Everyone cracked up because I'm so short. This is a short person joke.
Jenna [00:41:21] The lights go out in the kitchen and you can't get them to come back on again because you're too short for the motion sensor.
Angela [00:41:27] This is how it read in the shooting draft. Interior kitchen. Angela is in the kitchen and the lights go off. She waves and jumps, but nothing happens. Kevin walks through and the lights go back on.
Jenna [00:41:39] Has this ever happened to you in real life? Have you ever been too tiny to set off a motion sensor?
Angela [00:41:45] Oh yeah, all the time. We have a motion sensor on the side of our house, you know, by the back door where the trash bins are?
Jenna [00:41:51] Mm hmm.
Angela [00:41:51] Josh walks out and it turns on. I walk out and nothing happens. I have to. I have to wave my hand at it.
Jenna [00:41:57] Yeah.
Angela [00:41:57] Yeah. No, this is my life. Well, Pam is going to return, and she says, Does anyone want to know where I've been for the last 2 hours? Jim says, Oh, God, I've been playing Zombie Soccer for 2 hours? I had to look it up.
Jenna [00:42:12] Is it real?
Angela [00:42:12] It is real!
Jenna [00:42:13] A real game?
Angela [00:42:14] It's a real game, it turns out. It came out in 2010, which would have been when this episode was filmed.
Jenna [00:42:21] Yeah.
Angela [00:42:21] It's called, if this is the one they were referring to, the one I found is called Pro Zombie Soccer. It's a game that features a protagonist named Jax, who's a wannabe soccer star, who is infected as a result of a zombie bite from another soccer player who was a zombie.
Jenna [00:42:40] Oh? Okay.
Angela [00:42:40] The players must quickly defeat hordes of zombies before Jax succumbs to the effects of the zombie infection.
Jenna [00:42:48] So you're playing soccer and fighting zombies at the same time?
Angela [00:42:51] I guess so.
Jenna [00:42:52] It's both?
Angela [00:42:53] It's both. And Jim played it for 2 hours.
Jenna [00:42:55] Very interesting.
Angela [00:42:57] I have another thing about this scene. When Pam shows the photos of this new workspace to Dwight, there was a really funny Jim runner here. And it got deleted, but we learned a little something that annoys Jim about Pam.
Jenna [00:43:11] Oh!
Jim [00:43:14] Oh wow. These are nice. Did you take these?
Pam [00:43:16] Yep.
Dwight [00:43:18] Let me see.
Jim [00:43:20] What camera?
Jenna [00:43:21] Look at the huge offices, Jim.
Jim [00:43:23] Yeah, I know.
Pam [00:43:23] Check out that conference room.
Jim [00:43:24] Totally. If you'd just asked, I totally would have let you borrow it. It's just that- (TALKING HEAD) Hey, Jim, can I use your camera? That's all. What is that, like five words? It's not a big deal. Can I use your camera, please? Add that extra please in there. Still not hard. She just always changes the settings and...
Jenna [00:43:49] Jim!
Angela [00:43:49] Isn't that so funny? So when you go rewatch the scene, I want you to look for Jim's reactions to the photos that Pam's showing. It's not about the office space. It's about the fact this whole time Jim thinks that Pam took his camera and didn't ask. And I was so curious when I watched the scene, I thought, Jim is acting kind of weird.
Jenna [00:44:09] Yeah. And that's why.
Angela [00:44:10] It's why. It's because he's annoyed because Pam takes his camera and changes all the settings.
Jenna [00:44:15] This is a clear case of Jim thinking of it as his camera and Pam thinking of it as their camera. Right?
Angela [00:44:22] Yeah. Well, Pam is really going to sell this new workspace to the whole office. She's passing around the photos to everyone.
Jenna [00:44:30] It kind of sounds too good to be true because it seems to have something for everyone. It's next to an outback, so it always smells like steak. It's next to a nail place. That makes Kelly very happy. Later, one of my favorite things in the stairwell is when Jim says, Wait, so it's not near a bike path?
Angela [00:44:48] I know.
Jenna [00:44:49] Like she's clearly just found something about it for everyone.
Angela [00:44:53] Warren shared with us that there was a different version where Pam is going around talking to everyone about this great new office. And Pam approaches Toby, and this is how the scene would have played out. Toby tells Pam that he's resistant to move because moving is one of the most five stressful things in life, along with work, loneliness, debt and divorce, which he has experienced way too often in a myriad of ways. But if this new office had a window, then maybe he could get the cactus that he always wanted. And Warren said, Oh, Toby, it was really difficult to turn in a script without at least one sad Toby remark.
Jenna [00:45:33] Randy told us that those photos were photos taken by Michael Gallenberg, and they were actually scouting photos. When we were shooting The Sting, we were looking at locations that maybe we could go on location for those scenes where Dwight and Michael and Jim run into Danny Cordray. And I guess this was one of the spots that they scouted. So we just had these old photos and that's what Pam is showing everybody.
Angela [00:45:59] Well, I think we should title this next scene, Actually in the Break Room.
Jenna [00:46:03] Oh, I had a different title.
Angela [00:46:05] What was it?
Jenna [00:46:05] I called it Brains in the Break Room.
Angela [00:46:08] Oh, that's probably better. So everyone's in the break room and Oscar is going to walk in, and Kelly is really like teasing him. And Kelly and Ryan are like, Oh, actually, Oscar, actually. And that's when we have this Jim talking head where he says Oscar is known as, "actually" because of the way he inserts himself into every conversation to add facts or correct grammar. And then there's a montage of Oscar walking by going, Actually, actually.
Jenna [00:46:36] Mm hmm. But then Oscar's going to ask Michael to go to coffee. He's like, You know what, Michael? I'd like to hear some more of those China facts. This is a trap.
Angela [00:46:46] Yeah. Andy, Jim, everyone, they're freaking out. They're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, Michael, this is a trap. Oscar is going to set you up.
Jenna [00:46:52] Yes. Well, Michael has already accepted the invitation, so just to be safe, he's going to try to learn everything he can about China.
Angela [00:47:00] Probably geography and math and literature. But you know what? He's good on politics. He's got that down.
Jenna [00:47:06] Yeah. Apparently. And in the meantime, Andy is still trying to text Darryl something good. Darryl's at the photocopier, and he gets a text that just says, Megan Fox.
Angela [00:47:19] Darryl is going to say, Listen, you are one bad text away from getting blocked.
Jenna [00:47:24] Ah, but one good text away from a high five? Andy says.
Angela [00:47:28] I really wish we could say this, though. I wish that you could just have a rule that you have a limit of bad text, and then you could tell someone, Listen, you're one text away from being blocked. And it's okay. It's an accepted rule.
Jenna [00:47:40] I often feel overwhelmed by.
Angela [00:47:42] Text threads?
Jenna [00:47:43] The text threads.
Angela [00:47:44] Yeah.
Jenna [00:47:45] It's a lot.
Angela [00:47:46] It's a lot. And sometimes you have to scroll way back. Someone will make a reference way later and then you're like, What are they talking about?
Jenna [00:47:52] Yeah. I know. At 11 minutes and 8 seconds, I have a question about the scene, which is why is Darryl making a photocopy without putting the top down? It bothered me.
Angela [00:48:04] I don't know.
Jenna [00:48:05] I mean, does that even work? Can you even make a photocopy if you don't put the top down? I tried to Google it. I couldn't find out.
Angela [00:48:11] I think you can.
Jenna [00:48:11] Really?
Angela [00:48:12] Yeah.
Jenna [00:48:13] All right. Well, I just. I mean. The light flashing up as he made it. It was it's a pet peeve.
Angela [00:48:20] It was disturbing for you.
Jenna [00:48:21] Just put the lid down, everybody. If I'm with you, will you put the lid down for me, I guess? That's what I'm saying.
Angela [00:48:27] Yes. I'll put the lid down.
Jenna [00:48:29] Thank you.
Angela [00:48:30] In the kitchen, we're going to have some pirate talk. Dwight walks by, says, Parlay. My office. 5 minutes.
Jenna [00:48:37] Yep.
Angela [00:48:38] Pam's like, parlay? Creed's like, Pirate code. He wants to meet.
Jenna [00:48:41] Yeah. By the way, Creed cannot speak pirate, but he can understand it.
Angela [00:48:45] Yeah.
Jenna [00:48:46] Here's what Dwight is going to agree to. He's going to agree to stop watering down the soap if Pam agrees not to move.
Angela [00:48:54] Then they have this back and forth that is so good. And Jenna, I just wanted to read Pam's final put down.
Jenna [00:49:02] Okay, please.
Angela [00:49:03] Dwight has made some horrible predictions about what her future will look like with Jim, with Cece. Pam says, That's a sad story. I have another one. We move. The other tenants follow. The bank takes the building, takes your farm, takes your car, and beats the crap out of you. Penniless, you die. And my daughter Cece dances on your grave. Fully clothed. And then the lights go off and they both have to wave their arms to get them back on.
Jenna [00:49:32] It was really hard for me to do that without laughing. I think you can even see I'm smiling a little bit at the end of the scene.
Angela [00:49:38] I just like the idea that it's the bank that beats up Dwight.
Jenna [00:49:43] Well, you know, in the background of this scene, the whole time this is going on, Nate is at a very elaborate machine where he is turning one roll of toilet paper into two rolls because he is separating the plies.
Angela [00:49:58] This machine looks like something you would see on a school field trip if you went to, like, ye olde farming mine.
Jenna [00:50:04] Yes.
Angela [00:50:05] Where you got to, like, churn butter and pick some apples and there'd be this machine in the corner. Well, Jenna, we got a fan question from Akanksha in India. How on earth did Phil Shea make the toilet paper spool thing? Did it actually work? Did he give the assignment to an outside person or organization? How much did it cost to make? I have all the same questions.
Jenna [00:50:26] Well, thanks to Randy Cordray, we have the answer. This device cost us $3,000 in materials and overtime labor. Basically, this was a homemade machine. Phil Shea went out and found an old timey hand-crank off of some sort of antique device and then built a toilet paper splitting loom.
Angela [00:50:50] You are kidding. So they had this built. Someone built this. It was their job.
Jenna [00:50:55] Yes. Phil had to go to the engineers at the Hand Prop Room. Remember that place? And they designed it and made it. Randy said, remember Dwight's Nutcracker Christmas gift from Secret Santa?
Angela [00:51:08] Oh, they're the same people?
Jenna [00:51:10] Yeah. This is very similar too, where they basically said, Create something that doesn't exist in real life. It has to work perfectly, and I need it tomorrow.
Angela [00:51:20] And Randy sent us a test video when they were making it. It's really cool to watch. I'll put it in stories. Here they are, Jenna, making this machine.
Jenna [00:51:30] Oh. It is incredible. It's really fun. I have to imagine it's exciting to get an order like this.
Angela [00:51:41] Especially if you love to build things.
Jenna [00:51:43] Yeah, I mean, my dad would love to take on a challenge like this. My dad's an engineer. He would love it.
Angela [00:51:49] Halstead and Warren shared with us that there were so many times they would write a joke into a script, not even knowing if it was possible. And then, lo and behold, this amazing machine would appear. And not only did this machine work to de-ply the paper, they fixed it so it would be a disaster when Dwight ordered Nate to re-ply it. It spins out like crazy. And they both shared with us that it truly made the scene that much funnier than they could have ever imagined. So they wanted to give Phil a big shout out.
Jenna [00:52:16] Yeah, it's pretty amazing. Before we move on from the scene, though, Angela, I have one small little background catch for people who like that stuff, at 13 minutes and 13 seconds.
Angela [00:52:26] What you got?
Jenna [00:52:26] The picture behind Dwight is still tilted. So I guess he knows that no one has come in to rob him, because this picture is still crooked. And also, I noticed a plastic banana in his pencil cup. Don't know what that's about, but there it is.
Angela [00:52:41] There you go. Well, Michael is being quizzed in preparation for his big smackdown meeting with Oscar. Ryan says, Where is Tibet? Michael says pass. Ryan says, When was China founded? Michael: Pass. Jim says, Two for two. Keep it up. Ryan says, Who is Mao? Michael says, Lifeline. And Andy goes, Damn it, Michael! You're moments away from the smackdown of your life. They encouraged him to steer the conversation back to something he knows. Michael suggests boobs.
Jenna [00:53:11] Mmhmm. But then he doesn't know anything about boobs.
Angela [00:53:13] No. And then Andy says, Michael, I have to tell you something. It's from Rocky 2.
Jenna [00:53:20] This moment is so funny.
Angela [00:53:22] It's so funny. In the shooting draft, this is how it read. Andy delivers his Rocky speech like Burgess Meredith.
Jenna [00:53:29] Mm hmm.
Angela [00:53:30] Who was the coach. Ed kept cracking up Steve. Steve could not keep it together, and it made it into the bloopers. You have to hear it.
Andy [00:53:39] This guy doesn't just want to win, you know? He wants to bury you! He wants to humiliate you. And he wants to prove it to the world.
Michael [00:53:46] Wait, how long is this going to take?
Andy [00:53:47] I'm like a quarter of the way through. (LAUGHTER).
Angela [00:53:47] I loved it when anyone could make Steve break.
Jenna [00:54:01] Now, Nate and Dwight are doing a little Mom Detective work, frankly. They're going out to look for this building that Pam has supposedly found that's way better than Dwight's building. But guess what they drive up to? It's an empty lot.
Angela [00:54:16] The building's underground. That's what Nate says. Dwight's like, You know what this means?
Jenna [00:54:23] And then Dwight's like, Pam, Pam, Pam.
Angela [00:54:27] And then together they're like, Pam, Pam, Pam. And then a woman named Pam just happens to be walking by.
Jenna [00:54:34] Yes. We got a fan question from Amy Z in West Chester, Pennsylvania. How on earth did the extra Pam scene come together? Who is this actress? From the whole series, I love the line "I've been known to bend the truth." It's my absolute favorite.
Angela [00:54:52] It is one of my favorite, too, for so many reasons. First of all, if a perfect stranger says to you, You're not a liar, too, are you? Her response was like, like, proud. Like, I've been known to bend the truth.
Jenna [00:55:05] I know!
Angela [00:55:06] Like, where's this headed? I'm a little sassy. Well, Halstead shared with us that Charlie Grandy came up with the Pam, Pam, Pam joke, and he said they were trying to think of a funny out to that scene, and Charlie came up with the guys running into another woman named Pam, who was known to bend the truth. Halstead said it always made him laugh to think of this random encounter.
Jenna [00:55:28] The woman who played the extra Pam, was Sarah Zimmerman. She is an accomplished theater actress and has appeared on The Closer, Big Love, and Desperate Housewives. And she is an Audie nominated audiobook narrator. She has narrated over 300 audiobooks.
Angela [00:55:44] Wow.
Jenna [00:55:45] Yeah.
Angela [00:55:46] I thought she stole the scene.
Jenna [00:55:47] Stole the episode, really. It's so memorable.
Angela [00:55:50] It really is. I had one background catch here. If you notice they're in Nate's blue pickup truck.
Jenna [00:55:55] Yes.
Angela [00:55:56] It has an extended cab. And other than Sarah's brilliant performance, the other thing I kept thinking about was, How did our camera operator fit in to that tiny back seat? It's not a full back seat. And at the end of the scene, Dwight looks over his shoulder, so you know our camera operator was right there.
Jenna [00:56:13] Well, it was not just our camera operator. It was also director Charles McDougall.
Angela [00:56:18] They were both wedged in that little space?
Jenna [00:56:20] Matt Sohn and Charles McDougall were in the back seat, and our sound guy, Ben Patrick, rigged up microphones that were hardwired into the vehicle. And they went to a sound recorder that was mounted in the back of the truck. Before we move on, lady, I have a fan catch from Alexander W in Annapolis, Maryland. It's a good one. I looked, and Alexander is right. After Dwight and Nate drive away from the fake office building, you can see a police officer on a motorcycle blocking off side streets of traffic.
Angela [00:56:54] Oh, good catch!
Jenna [00:56:55] Yeah, that's what they would do when we would have to drive through an intersection. They would block the traffic for us.
Angela [00:57:01] Back at the office. Dwight's on to Pam. He's going to start turning the wheels. Is that what they call it? Squeezing the wheels. You twist the wheels.
Jenna [00:57:08] Grease the wheel?
Angela [00:57:10] You twist the knob. No.
Jenna [00:57:11] What are we? What are you talking about?
Angela [00:57:13] Turn the screw-.
Jenna [00:57:13] Turn the screws!
Angela [00:57:18] Sam, don't even. Sam is just looking at me, shaking his head.
Jenna [00:57:21] What did you think it was? Turn the wheels on Pam?
Angela [00:57:24] Turn the wheels? Squeeze the knobs.
Jenna [00:57:27] What is happening?
Angela [00:57:28] I don't know. Anyway.
Jenna [00:57:29] Tighten the screws.
Angela [00:57:31] He's tightening the screws. And he's really questioning her about the specs of the space. What's the square footage? Where's the one sheet? She's a funny guy.
Jenna [00:57:40] She's a funny guy?
Angela [00:57:42] That's what he says. He says, Pam, you're a funny guy.
Jenna [00:57:44] Oh, I miss that.
Angela [00:57:46] Oh, my God, it's such a great moment!
Jenna [00:57:48] Well, we had a couple of people write in with a fan catch that involves you, Angela. It's delicious. Nick N from Minnesota and Nicole W from Bowie, Maryland both spotted that at 15 minutes and 51 seconds, after Dwight tells Pam that he's the only one she hasn't asked about the new office building, and Pam replies, I know. That's because you're the reason we're moving. Over my shoulder in the background, as the camera zooms in on Pam, Angela can be seen quickly changing her computer screen and looking guiltily toward the camera as though she didn't realize they had started shooting. And it's true.
Angela [00:58:28] Oh, busted. Another thing would have happened right here. It would have been the second mention of Jim's rubber band ball. In the early drafts, it read, Act three. Interior office. Dwight and Pam are at their desk, Jim playing with his rubber band ball, which is now- and then in all caps- significantly larger.
Jenna [00:58:48] So I remember from my youth these rubber band balls. But here's my question. Why did we have so many rubber bands that we could make a ball? What was being banded? I don't feel like I come across that many rubber bands now in my adult life. But do you remember?
Angela [00:59:06] Yes.
Jenna [00:59:06] People would make these.
Angela [00:59:07] Yes.
Jenna [00:59:08] It was a way to store your rubber bands efficiently. But what was coming rubber banded?
Angela [00:59:14] I don't know. The newspaper, I think, is the only thing I have that's rubber banded. But clearly, Jim was bored, right? He's spending the day building a rubber band ball.
Jenna [00:59:23] And playing Zombie Soccer.
Angela [00:59:24] We did establish that he had met his sales quota. So maybe this is a continuation of that boredom.
Jenna [00:59:28] I think so.
Angela [00:59:30] We're going to have a little secret meetup of Jim and Pam in the stairwell. Pam is freaking out. She confesses to Jim that she lied about the new building.
Jenna [00:59:40] It doesn't exist.
Angela [00:59:42] Not even the bike path.
Jenna [00:59:44] Yes.
Angela [00:59:45] Jim is also going to find out that Pam didn't use his camera. I would have liked to have some reaction there.
Jenna [00:59:51] Oh, yeah, that's true. Well, this is when she says she really, really needs to win this. Because, you know, she failed art school, she failed sales. And Jim says, What are you talking about? You didn't fail. And I loved this line when they wrote it and I loved delivering it. She says, Well, I'm not an artist and I'm not a salesman, so what would you call it?
Angela [01:00:16] Hmm.
Jenna [01:00:17] And we get kind of a glimpse into maybe just some sadness that Pam carries around.
Angela [01:00:24] And also how much this position- that she created, by the way- really means to her. She needs a win.
Jenna [01:00:30] We had a fan question from Gabby C in Huntsville, Alabama, who said, Question for Jenna. In this episode, Pam talks about failing at things. I'm wondering, does Pam think she failed at being a receptionist, too, since she no longer has that job? I'm just curious what her thinking and motivation behind that line is. Well, Gabby, I did not feel like Pam felt she failed at being a receptionist, but I always thought that taking the job as a receptionist was something she felt she had to do. It wasn't maybe in her heart. She has that line early on where she says not many little girls, you know, dream of growing up and being a receptionist. You know, it's sort of like what you do when you become an adult and you have responsibilities. But it certainly wasn't her passion in life. But yeah, I think she's always carried around this feeling, this just this longing to express herself in some way artistically. And, you know, she left art school because she didn't want to get into graphic design. That wasn't how she wanted to express her artistry. But she certainly hasn't really spent a lot of effort figuring it out lately. And I think that's coming up for her. And I would remind myself of that as the show went on, that this was the thing that had gone unexpressed for her.
Angela [01:01:56] Right. We're going to head over to Caffeine Corner now. There would have been a third mention of the rubber band ball here.
Jenna [01:02:04] Well, it's much larger. And he is banding the whole time that Michael and Oscar are debating China.
Angela [01:02:11] Mm hmm. In an earlier draft, it would have said, Jim, Andy, Kelly, Ryan and Erin sit nearby around a small, round table. Oscar turns to them and says, I didn't realize this place was so popular. Kelly and Ryan mime being busy and in conversation. Erin puts her hands to her ears, pretending to groove to music. Andy pretends to eat a sandwich but doesn't take a bite. I want you to watch the whole scene. Ed hovers over that sandwich and never bites down. And Jim is playing with his now bigger rubber band ball.
Jenna [01:02:45] Well, you know, at first it looks like Michael's doing pretty well.
Angela [01:02:48] Yeah.
Jenna [01:02:49] He's got some good China facts.
Angela [01:02:51] Mm hmm.
Jenna [01:02:52] But ultimately, Oscar's going to start steamrolling him.
Angela [01:02:55] At 18 minutes, 5 seconds, there is a great shot from Hank's point of view, looking at Michael and Oscar as they chat. And I want you to know, you can see two boxes of the game Call of Duty under Hank's desk.
Jenna [01:03:10] Well, you have a good friend in Matt C from Virginia who noticed the same thing.
Angela [01:03:14] Matt, did you see those? Yes!
Jenna [01:03:16] You know, you can also see paper bags and napkins, I think for to go items.
Angela [01:03:20] I saw that. And the paper bags made sense. Napkins made sense. And then I'm like, what's the two boxes of Call of Duty?
Jenna [01:03:27] Also, if you look at the sign in the lobby behind Andy and Jim, you know, the little sign that says what all of the different offices are?
Angela [01:03:36] Mm hmm.
Jenna [01:03:36] The sign in the lobby now reads, The Schrute Building: under new management, below Vance Refrigeration. A lot of fun little background catches in this scene with Michael and Oscar. But ultimately, Michael is going to prevail by giving a speech about how it's good to just keep talking.
Angela [01:03:55] Yes.
Jenna [01:03:56] And everyone's going to get really enthusiastic and riled up. And they're going to love America at the end.
Angela [01:04:03] Yes, Michael is going to do the thing he does, you guys, where he says crazy things with a lot of enthusiasm. He says, many people say you will get to China if you dig long and hard enough. But what they don't tell you is that if you dig long and hard enough in a conversation, you get to a friend.
Jenna [01:04:22] Yeah.
Angela [01:04:22] Everyone cheers. Case closed. Did you notice everyone leaves and goes up the stairs and not a single person gets in the elevator?
Jenna [01:04:30] No, I did not.
Angela [01:04:32] Elevator's right there. No one uses it.
Jenna [01:04:35] Everyone's getting their steps in. I remember how excited we were to get those tables and chairs that remained there in the lobby after this episode, because we finally had a place to sit down whenever we were shooting over in that area.
Angela [01:04:48] Yeah, we'd actually hang out there. There was a deleted Oscar talking head that would have followed Michael's big speech. Oscar cannot believe what just happened. I thought we should hear it.
Oscar [01:04:59] Once I pay the coffee, that's the coup de grâce. It's over. You can't make a 108 degree change of position. How could you possibly think you won? I don't know how to deal with tactics like that.
Jenna [01:05:12] Nice.
Angela [01:05:13] But it also proves that Oscar knows exactly what he's doing when he invites you for a cup of coffee.
Jenna [01:05:19] Which is exactly what Jim and Andy said.
Angela [01:05:21] Mm hmm.
Jenna [01:05:22] We had a fun fan question from Tibby H in Belgium. Was Oscar actually the smartest on set? I'll tell you who I think the smartest people on set were.
Angela [01:05:35] Oh, I have my thoughts, too. Can we see them at the same time?
Jenna [01:05:37] Okay.
Angela [01:05:38] Okay.
Both [01:05:38] Mindy.
Jenna [01:05:39] and B.J.. Yeah.
Angela [01:05:40] Ah! B.J.. Mike Schur.
Jenna [01:05:42] Paul.
Angela [01:05:43] Yeah.
Jenna [01:05:44] Basically our writers. Our writers were all so-.
Both [01:05:48] So smart.
Angela [01:05:50] But Mindy and B.J., I mean, I have shared, sometimes I would walk up to them just to be like, Hey, what's going on? And they would be in such a thoughtful, intellectual conversation that I would just slowly back away. I don't know how to I don't know how to add in.
Jenna [01:06:02] I would just like stand there and listen and stare at them and stuff.
Angela [01:06:04] Yeah. While all of this is going on in Caffeine Corner, Pam is going to get a little secret package from Nate.
Jenna [01:06:12] Yeah, he wasn't there.
Angela [01:06:13] He wasn't there. She's like, What? And he goes, It's a phrase. People use it. Feel free to use this phrase.
Jenna [01:06:18] Yeah, look into it, because it could be helpful.
Angela [01:06:20] My God, he's so funny.
Jenna [01:06:21] We had a fan catch from Abby S from Atlanta, Georgia, who noticed that at 17 minutes and 30 seconds, Nate sets the book down in front of Pam on the counter. But then just a few seconds later, as Nate is walking away, suddenly the book is in Pam's hand and it's open. It seems like, when did that happen? It's a good catch. Well, Pam is going to read something in this book. It's going to give her an edge. And she's going to march right into Dwight's office.
Angela [01:06:50] Yeah, she's going to say, You're breaking the law. And she's got all the things that a landlord is supposed to provide in a workspace. And Dwight's not doing that.
Jenna [01:06:59] Yeah. And she's right, and he has to put everything back the way it was. She wins it.
Angela [01:07:05] Yeah.
Jenna [01:07:06] The episode ends with them going outside, and they're taking the big banner down, and she's so proud of herself.
Angela [01:07:12] There was a Dwight talking head that says, The best vampires don't bleed their victims dry, but give them the strength to bounce back and be fed on again. And he said he spared Pam not because he was motivated by compassion. Not at all. But he spared her. He let her win.
Jenna [01:07:27] Yeah. During this talking head, there's a little bit of like a flashback of extra footage. We go back to that stairwell and the camera pans up, and you see that Dwight has overheard this whole exchange between Jim and Pam.
Angela [01:07:40] And he knows how badly Pam needs this win.
Jenna [01:07:43] Mm hmm.
Angela [01:07:44] There was a candy bag alt for this Dwight talking head, and it read like this, and I really liked it. B-roll spy shot. Dwight is in his car looking at Pam in the rearview mirror. She seems happy, and Dwight's face betrays the slightest hint of human warmth. Over the spy shot, we hear a Dwight talking head. Dwight says, She's clean. She's polite. She doesn't chat your ear off about medical dramas. Sometimes when Jim is being a tool, we'll roll our eyes at each other. In a way, she performs many of the functions of a friend. And then he goes on to say, So if someone had to beat me, I guess I'm glad it was her. Don't get me wrong. I'm really angry about that. Grrr.
Jenna [01:08:31] I wish that had been the talking head.
Angela [01:08:34] Wasn't that so sweet?
Jenna [01:08:35] It gave me chills.
Angela [01:08:36] I know.
Jenna [01:08:38] Well, this episode ends with another win. This time for Andy. He has texted Darryl.
Angela [01:08:45] There's some crazy pigeon stuff happening in the parking lot.
Jenna [01:08:49] Yeah, there's two pigeons, and they're eating an ice cream cone.
Angela [01:08:53] In the script, it said they had ice cream all over their little faces.
Jenna [01:08:57] We had a fan question from Sarah C in Lubbock, Texas. How did the scene with the pigeons happen? Are they trained pigeons? And how much does a trained pigeon cost? Well, Sarah, Randy Cordray has an answer for you. We got those pigeons from Bob Dunn's Animal Rentals in Sylmar, California. Denise Sanders was our head pigeon trainer, and it cost us $2600 for two trainers and three pigeons. Even though we only use two.
Angela [01:09:28] How the heck do you train a pigeon?
Jenna [01:09:30] I don't know.
Angela [01:09:31] But Bob Dunn, they know how to do it.
Jenna [01:09:33] They can train anything.
Angela [01:09:34] So... That made me laugh. I don't know why. Made me laugh. Well, that was China. Big thank you to Warren and Halstead for sharing with us about writing this episode, Randy Cordray for all the great behind the scenes details.
Jenna [01:09:50] And thank you again for all your questions.
Angela [01:09:52] Yeah, next week, you guys, it's Casual Christmas, and Holly is coming back. O-M-G. Holly Flax.
Jenna [01:10:01] We'll see you then.
Angela [01:10:03] Bye!
Jenna [01:10:09] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer, and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Codi Fischer. Our producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer. And our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.
Angela [01:10:25] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad free versions of Office Ladies, go to Stitcher premium dot com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code: Office.