Transcript - Ep 206 - Vandalism with Lee Kirk

TRANSCRIPT

Office Ladies | Episode 206 - Vandalism with Lee Kirk

Jenna [00:00:04] I'm Jenna Fischer. 

Angela [00:00:05] And I'm Angela Kinsey. 

Jenna [00:00:06] We were on The Office together.  

Angela [00:00:08] And we're best friends. 

Jenna [00:00:09] And now we're doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. 

Angela [00:00:12] 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 [00:00:20] We're the Office Ladies. Hello!

Angela [00:00:25] Hi there. 

Jenna [00:00:27] Oh, we have an exciting episode today. 

Angela [00:00:30] Jenna has a real cute smile on her face, you guys. 

Jenna [00:00:33] Well, today we're talking about Vandalism. It is season nine, episode 14, written by Owen Ellickson and and directed by my husband, Lee Kirk, who's here today! 

Angela [00:00:44] Hey Lee! 

Lee Kirk [00:00:45] Hey, yes I am. Hello there, ladies. 

Jenna [00:00:48] It's so fun to have you in our studio. 

Lee Kirk [00:00:50] Yeah, this is pretty. It's. You know, it's pretty crazy to be at season nine. You know, I mean, I've known for so long that this was coming. When you guys started the podcast, I figured someday I'm going to be on there talking about Vandalism, and it's crazy that we're here, so... 

Jenna [00:01:03] It kind of is. 

Angela [00:01:04] It kind of went by just like that, didn't it? 

Lee Kirk [00:01:07] It really did. 

Jenna [00:01:09] Well, Lee, before we jump into our questions for you, would you like to hear a summary of your episode? 

Lee Kirk [00:01:13] I would. Yes. 

Angela [00:01:14] It's my favorite thing. 

Lee Kirk [00:01:16] Yeah. Okay. Let's get into it. 

Angela [00:01:17] It's my favorite thing when Jenna goes, Would you like to hear a summary? She asks me every week and every week I'm like, yes, I would. I don't know why. 

Jenna [00:01:24] All right. Here it is. Someone in the warehouse has vandalized Pam's mural. Pam enlists Nellie and Dwight's help to find and punish the vandal. Meanwhile, Angela and Oscar compete for the senator's affection at a donor party, and we get a glimpse of what life is like for Jim and Darryl as roommates in Philly. There's a lot of storylines to manage, Lee. 

Lee Kirk [00:01:46] Lotta story going on there.

Angela [00:01:47] Yeah, you were busy that week. 

Lee Kirk [00:01:49] I had a busy week. Yeah. 

Jenna [00:01:51] Well, listen, we always like to ask everyone, how did you get your job directing The Office? 

Lee Kirk [00:01:57] Well, it started, I think, with a conversation that you had, right? With with Greg. 

Jenna [00:02:03] Yeah. You want me to tell that part? 

Lee Kirk [00:02:06] Well you might as well. 

Jenna [00:02:07] I guess so. It started there, right? 

Lee Kirk [00:02:08] I think so, yeah. 

Jenna [00:02:09] Okay, so Greg called me into his office one day, and he had watched your movie that you wrote and directed that I starred in, The Giant Mechanical Man. And he just was going on and on about how much he loved it. He was really impressed. And it was he was so complimentary. It was just making me so proud. And then at the end of the conversation, he said, do you think Lee would like to direct an episode of The Office? 

Angela [00:02:31] And then you pooped your pants cause you're like, how fun! 

Lee Kirk [00:02:34] Yeah. And then you told me, and I pooped my pants. 

Jenna [00:02:36] Yeah, exactly. 

Lee Kirk [00:02:37] It was so cool of Greg to watch the movie, first of all. And then to make that offer. And then. I don't know if you remember what happened, but Ron Howard was, slated to direct this episode, Vandalism. And I think a couple weeks before he had to drop out. 

Angela [00:02:51] I did not know that! Oh, my gosh! 

Lee Kirk [00:02:55] Yeah, so sorry you didn't get to work with Ron Howard, ladies, but you got me. Okay? 

Jenna [00:03:00] So you filled in for Ron Howard? 

Lee Kirk [00:03:02] I filled in for Ron Howard. 

Jenna [00:03:02] Oh my goodness. 

Angela [00:03:03] I'm so glad it worked out because it was such a fun week. You know, I took a picture that I just love, and I know it was really special for Jenna. But we were in the conference room, and you were directing, and Jenna's kind of standing off to the side. It's when Pam has her big meeting. And I took a picture of you and her in the conference room, and I'll share it in our stories, because I just loved that you were on set. It was so fun. 

Lee Kirk [00:03:26] It was a really fun week. I had a blast. 

Angela [00:03:29] Okay, so here's question number two for you. How was your experience directing on the show? 

Lee Kirk [00:03:36] I mean, okay, first of all, I when I've been asked that question before, I usually say something like, it's as if Greg Daniels handed me the keys to a Rolls-Royce and said, do you want to drive it down for a week? But but actually a better analogy is I'm going to give you guys a golf analogy. 

Angela [00:03:50] Oh, I love a golf analogy. 

Lee Kirk [00:03:51] Probably the first golf analogy that's been on the Office Ladies. Right? 

Angela [00:03:54] I think so. 

Jenna [00:03:54] I think it might be. Yeah.

Angela [00:03:55] Yeah. 

Lee Kirk [00:03:56] So about ten years ago, if you remember, Jenna, I went on a golf trip to this place called Bandon Dunes. It's in Oregon. It's an incredible golf course on the on the ocean. It's a link style golf course. So it looks like Scotland and it feels like Scotland. And it's a very difficult course, right? 

Angela [00:04:10] I'm in. I don't play golf, but I'm in. 

Lee Kirk [00:04:12] It was amazing. It was an amazing trip. Every golfer out there, you know, it's probably on their bucket list to go there. Anyway. I shot the best round of my life at Bandon Dunes. 

Jenna [00:04:21] The hard golf course. 

Lee Kirk [00:04:21] The hard golf course. I broke 80, which for me is a huge accomplishment. Now, the reason I did that is because at Bandon Dunes, you don't ride in golf carts. You walk the course and you have a caddy who walks with you and sort of hands you your clubs, but also gives you advice. These caddies, like, know every right corner of this golf course, right? 

Angela [00:04:41] This is like old school. 

Lee Kirk [00:04:42] Old school golf. Right. Well, I had this caddy, okay? This guy, this guy knew every nook and cranny of this course. Okay, so we'd walk up to the ball, he would pull out of club, he'd hand me the club, he'd say, just swing 75% on this club, right? And he'd say, see that sand trap up there? There's a tree on the left side of it. Aim at that tree. And I'm thinking, the green's way over the right. He's like, just do it. So I do. 75% at the tree. Ball goes up, flies in there, turns a little bit, lands right before the green, rolls up maybe ten feet from the cup. Right? Incredible. Incredible shot. I'm shocked. We walk up on the green. Same thing. It's a difficult green, really fast, hard to read, he tells me, just tap it 30% right here, you know, and just just right to the spot. I do it. It rolls, it goes it. Right? I'm feeling great. I shoot the best round of my life. Okay. Now that is like what it was like to be on The Office, because at The Office, I basically had like, 100 caddies, you know what I mean? I had like the incredible cast, the incredible crew, and all I had to do was like, swing 75%, you know? I mean, like, I had to have a little bit like with the golf I had to have a little bit of knack for golf, right? 

Angela [00:05:53] Like, you have skill. 

Lee Kirk [00:05:54] Had to have a little skill. Director, I had to have some skill as a director. I had to know what I wanted to do. I'd have made some decisions. But then everybody else made it so easy, you know? So it was a good time. 

Angela [00:06:06] I loved everything about that answer. And now I want to pick up golf. So... 

Jenna [00:06:10] You do? 

Angela [00:06:11] Not really. Only at that course. 

Lee Kirk [00:06:15] That course is pretty special. That course is pretty sweet.

Angela [00:06:17] No. I can't mess up my tennis game. Let's be real. 

Lee Kirk [00:06:20] Yeah. Stick with tennis. You know. 

Angela [00:06:22] I just want you to make a golf movie now. I'm like, You should make a golf movie. 

Lee Kirk [00:06:26] Maybe that's my next movie. 

Jenna [00:06:27] Maybe it should be. 

Angela [00:06:28] Yeah, call it The Caddy. 

Lee Kirk [00:06:29] The Caddy.

Angela [00:06:31] So, Lee, I mean, you had been on the set many times. You'd been around us shooting. You even had a role. You were the lactation consultant. 

Lee Kirk [00:06:39] That's right. I was Clark. That's right. 

Angela [00:06:40] So did you gain any new insights from being on the set from the perspective as a director? 

Lee Kirk [00:06:45] That's a good question. You know, the thing is okay, so I had directed indie films up to this point. Right? So an indie film, you're making the movie, you guys know this, but for your listeners... You have 20 days or 21 days to shoot 110 pages. You're moving really fast, you know, and usually the first time it's kind of messy, and then you start- the job of the director is to kind of shape it, you know, like maybe don't take your jacket off and maybe take a breath before you stand up to go, you know, and slowly you kind of form this scene, you know? But at the same time you're rushing too, you know, you're like, holding your breath. So take that. And then I walk on The Office. Right? And so here's the experience. We we would set up a shot, you know, and I'd kind of tell Matt Sohn, who was the DP, who was just an incredible person to work with. I'd say, you know, I want to have maybe they come in over here and we play this scene at the reception. And, you know, he's like, great, we light the scene, you guys come on set and it's like you guys are walking on with like a cup of coffee and you're like, what scene are we doing? You know and then you get your sides and you like, look him over. And I'm thinking, I'm not sure they've read this scene since the table read. You know? 

Jenna [00:07:54] You might have been right. By season 9. 

Angela [00:07:58] By season 9. 

Jenna [00:07:58] We would just truly we would like, be like, what are we doing right now? Like sitting down wondering what is the scene. 

Angela [00:08:05] Especially if we didn't have huge chunks of dialogue. If you're just going to like cruise through reception and Angela goes, excuse me, is that like and that's all I say? 

Lee Kirk [00:08:14] Yeah, not a lot of preparation for that. 

Angela [00:08:15] I'm gonna wait and just like, like figure it out on set. 

Lee Kirk [00:08:19] But the funny thing is, so that's what happens. And then everybody in their pla- I tell you guys, oh you're going to come in here, do this scene here at reception bar. Okay. Let's try one. Action. And then a perfectly executed scene happens. Like everything. Like every moment's perfect, every joke's perfect. Every nuance perfect. Okay, cut. Everybody looks at me and it's like, I gotta have something to say. You know what I mean? Besides, just we could move on, you know what I mean? So that was a challenge. Like, that was a challenge to find. Of course, there were a number of spots where like, I had to actually do some directing, but a lot of it was that. A lot of it my job was having a vision for how the scene should work, and then just kind of keeping everybody's spirits up. Being in a good mood. Keeping everybody loose, you know, and trying different takes and trying to have fun. But it was so much different than doing an indie film where you're just constantly got your you're looking at your watch, you know, and you're and you're stressing and you're just trying to get, you know. 

Angela [00:09:19] It's just a hustle, hustle, hustle. 

Lee Kirk [00:09:20] Yeah. And you're worried that you're not going to get it. You know, there was no worry we weren't going to get it. We got it on take one every time I felt like. 

Jenna [00:09:26] Well, Lee, I remember you telling me that you did have a few ideas that you wanted to throw in there, that you talked to Matt Sohn about and he kind of had to let you down gently. 

Lee Kirk [00:09:36] Well, he was awesome. So when we first walked through- so you get your script and then like a week before you're shooting, the DP and the director kind of walk through the set and kind of look at and kind of form an idea of what the shoot is going to be like. And so I said to Matt, I had this idea because I always love on those old episodes, especially on the British Office, but they did it on- I think they did it on the American too. Where just in a transition that you just cut to a copy machine, just making copies or like just someone like walking across, like delivering a piece of paper to someone's desk. Just that little quiet shot that, like, reminds you, this is a documentary, right? So I thought I'd be fun to put one of those in. You know, that would be my little Easter egg that I'm going to put in this episode. So I said to Matt, I'd love to do one of these, like, little shots. And he said, well, we could shoot whatever you want, but I can promise you that won't go in the episode. Because he was like, and he was right, I mean, there was no time for it. And at the end of the day, you know, Claire and I, who was the editor, we were doing everything we could to keep every piece of that episode in there. And of course, that was impossible. And there's a whole storyline. There's a whole not a storyline, but there's a whole, sequence that was cut, which was, I don't know if you remember, we did a whole driving sequence. Do you remember that? 

Angela [00:10:53] I do, it's in deleted scenes. 

Lee Kirk [00:10:54] Is it in deleted scenes? Okay. Yeah.

Angela [00:10:56] And there's a whole runner with Toby that's hilarious in deleted scenes. 

Lee Kirk [00:10:59] Oh, yeah. 

Angela [00:11:01] That I want to share when we get to it. It's it's, he's trying to impress Nellie when he questions Frank. It's really funny.

Jenna [00:11:08] Mm yes of course.

Lee Kirk [00:11:09] I remember that, I remember that, yeah. So that was. That was fun, though. 

Jenna [00:11:14] Well, I absolutely loved episodes where Pam and Dwight got to team up. And on this episode, I remember in the crafting of it, because I was in the writer's room, I was saying, could we please have a scene where Pam and Dwight have, like, a stakeout? I wanted them, I don't know, Angela, if this is part of early Mom Detectives. 

Angela [00:11:33] It is. 

Jenna [00:11:34] I wanted to have this moment where they were spying on everybody in the warehouse, and I just remember we had so much fun doing all those scenes. All the Pam Dwight scenes. 

Lee Kirk [00:11:42] Yeah, those were a lot of fun. And you guys, just your chemistry and your, you know, the the Pam and Dwight, like seeing those two team up was just a lot of fun. And there was a lot of fun stuff. I remember the one thing I remember about that was- in terms of directing- was, before the scene there's a scene where you guys are spying on the warehouse, and Dwight has a pair of binoculars he's looking through. So moments before Phil Shea, the prop guy. 

Jenna [00:12:09] Yeah. 

Lee Kirk [00:12:09] He comes up to me and he shows me two different binoculars. It's, you know, which ones would Dwight be using, right? 

Angela [00:12:16] Very Phil. 

Lee Kirk [00:12:16] One was very small, very small, tiny binoculars, and one was very big. Okay. And I'm thinking, oh, man, this is a real test. You know, this is a real test. I thought the small ones would be funny because I thought it would be funny. Like, can he whip something out and then it's, like, ridiculously small. So I said, oh, these. So Rainn walks on set. He looks at the binoculars, he goes, Is there another set of binoculars? And Phil goes, I got these big ones. He's like, yeah, I want the big ones. So. So I failed that test. 

Angela [00:12:49] Well, you should know, I, I nicknamed Rainn on set Carrot Top because he loved a trunk full of props. I was like, the man loved a lot of props. It's no surprise to me that he wanted the big, over-the-top binoculars. 

Lee Kirk [00:13:03] Amazing. Amazing. It made sense too. When we shot it, I was like, oh yeah, okay, I see the big ones. That's funny. 

Angela [00:13:08] All right, well, Jenna and I weren't there when you shot all of those scenes with Craig and John as horrible roommates. Like, Jim and Darryl were such bad roommates, but Jim is such a slob. I just loved all of these scenes. I loved thinking about how two people lived together on the show. We never got to see that. We never even go into Pam and Jim's home and see how they lived together. 

Jenna [00:13:28] True. 

Angela [00:13:29] We saw a snippet of how Dwight and Mose lived together, but I loved seeing Jim and Darryl. And can you tell us about shooting those apartment scenes?

Lee Kirk [00:13:38] Man, shooting with John and Craig. We had such a blast. 

Angela [00:13:42] I bet.

Lee Kirk [00:13:43] We had so much fun. We couldn't get through takes. You know, we were just laughing and goofing off and having so much fun. I remember the first scene we shot in that apartment was when Darryl comes back on his lunch break and Jim is sitting there and Darryl's got that little cooler. 

Angela [00:14:00] Yeah, he opens it up. 

Lee Kirk [00:14:01] He opens it up, and there's something about that cooler, man. Something about the way he was holding that thing, that we couldn't get through it. I mean, they couldn't get through it. They were laughing so hard, and I'd be like, okay, cut. We'll try it again. And we. Finally, it wasn't working so finally I just let 'em go, you know? I mean let them just laugh and laugh and laugh and kind of laugh it out of themselves. But man, that was that was so fun. Like that was just a total blast. And those guys were so fun together. Like they were really working off each other. The same with you, you and Rainn, Jenna. Like, you guys were just like such a fun chemistry going on there, so. 

Jenna [00:14:34] Well, I remember you coming home from that shoot day, and it was very clear to me that you had just spent the entire day broing out with those guys. 

Lee Kirk [00:14:43] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:14:44] You you were like, they are so funny. We just kept laughing. But then also, I remember you coming home from when you shot at the senator's house with Angela, Brian and Oscar, and you had a lot of fun at that, too. But I remember you told me a story from that one where you said was one of the most challenging moments of the shoot, which took me by surprise. 

Lee Kirk [00:15:02] Well, yeah, you're talking about the the baby. 

Jenna [00:15:05] The baby. 

Lee Kirk [00:15:06] Okay. So this is actually this is a good example of more independent filmmaking, right? Because we weren't on the set. We were in a house. So like when you're shooting on the set, it was kind of obvious how scenes would be blocked out because everyone kind of had their spot. So if it was Angela's scene, you knew you'd probably be over in accounting, and that's how you, you know, but shooting in a house, it's like no one's ever been here before. And we had a ton of extras. So there was this element of like, okay, I really have to direct this stuff. So that scene with the baby in the little white communion outfit, I remember, like staging that. And I thought, okay, we'll put it in living room. And then you guys would kind of appear as if you're kind of almost presenting yourself standing up a little higher than everybody. And have this moment. And so let's try it. So we did it and it worked. It was fine. It was good. I was like, great, let's do another one. And around that time that baby decided, I'm not doing another one of these things. It started squirming at first and then just crying and having a fit. And I was like, oh no, no, like, let's try- can we fix this? You know, is there another baby? What are we gonna do? And there wasn't another baby and we couldn't fix it. But then Rusty, who was you know, you guys know Rusty the first A.D., he said to me, you know, we got one take. And I was like, yeah, but is that is that good? He's like, I think it was pretty good. Anyway, that is the take that's in the show. 

Angela [00:16:27] The first take. 

Lee Kirk [00:16:28] The only one, that's the only one we got. Yeah. 

Angela [00:16:31] So I remember, breaking quite a bit when we took the group photo because I was looking back and none of our dialogue, me and Oscar's dialogue is scripted. And I. 

Jenna [00:16:44] I didn't think so. I had a suspicion. 

Angela [00:16:47] It's not scripted. And so literally what the script says is that Angela elbows Oscar. Oscar says, ow. That's it, that's it. So everything else you see is us. And I, when I watched it, I see myself breaking. I like look down. I'm like, because that was so fun. 

Lee Kirk [00:17:02] Oh that's amazing. Yeah, that was really fun. That was really funny. Yeah, I'm surprised we got through that. 

Angela [00:17:07] I know. Me too. 

Jenna [00:17:08] Well. Speaking of being surprised we got through things, I know that there were two other scenes that were very challenging to shoot. 

Lee Kirk [00:17:15] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:17:16] Lee, do you want to share? 

Lee Kirk [00:17:17] Well, we had the Brian character and he had a couple of big moments. So we had the fight, for example. You know, that took some choreography to figure out. And we had, you know, and we had that actor, Brad, who played Frank, who was, you know, such a big, imposing figure. So just trying to figure that out was a little bit of a challenge. And also Brian had that equipment. 

Angela [00:17:35] Oh he had the boom. 

Lee Kirk [00:17:36] He had the boom and stuff. He couldn't just throw it on the ground. Like you- he had to kind of, like, gently set it down- 

Jenna [00:17:41] Oh, yes, I remember that whole conversation. 

Lee Kirk [00:17:44] -And then fight. So it was like this weird moment of like, he had to, like, gently put his stuff down. So that was a little tricky. But the trickiest scene was definitely the reveal of you guys in that closet. 

Jenna [00:17:56] Yes. 

Lee Kirk [00:17:57] Right? And in the script, I don't remember exactly how it was worded, but somehow it alluded to like, we have a scene in the closet and then you guys leave the closet and we realize the closet is like right in the- 

Jenna [00:18:08] It was the opposite. I went back and I read the script. It was that we're walking through somewhere. It described it as like a hallway into this little room. And then at the end, we walk out. Kind of what you're saying. At the end, we were we were to walk out and reveal that it was the closet. 

Lee Kirk [00:18:29] That's right. Yes. Yeah, yeah. 

Jenna [00:18:31] But I remember doing that scene, Lee, and the whole conversation with Brian, doing it like on the move, like walking and talking and me saying, I'm really sorry. They shouldn't have fired you. It was like you couldn't get any tension. You couldn't get any of the emotion of the scene by doing it as a walk and talk. And then getting in and out of there. It just was very awkward. And we spent oh my gosh, I don't even know how much time trying to figure that out. 

Lee Kirk [00:19:00] Trying to figure it out. And it was Owen, the writer Owen, who had the brilliant idea of of how we ended up shooting it, which is that we shot it sort of as a spy shot, and we pushed in so that you couldn't tell where we were. As a viewer, you would just see where- and then as you left, we pulled back and revealed where this closet was. You know? 

Angela [00:19:22] I loved that because of course, that door has been a mystery for us. You know, everyone's like, what's behind that door? But, you know, it's also the door where Jim and Pam hook up. 

Jenna [00:19:32] Where they made Philip. 

Angela [00:19:33] Yes. And then also, it's the door where we wanted to escape during the fire drill, which does not make sense. 

Jenna [00:19:38] Yes, we got some fan mail about that actually. People noted, why would they be trying to run into a closet during this fire? So. Yeah. Yeah. So when we sat down kind of over the summer and the beginning of the year with the writers to talk about what things do we want to tie up and what things do we want to reveal in this final season? I can't remember who pitched it, I wish I did, but someone said we should finally find out what's behind that dang door. 

Angela [00:20:08] I love that. 

Lee Kirk [00:20:09] That's amazing. 

Jenna [00:20:10] Yeah. So we let you know. And you were there. 

Lee Kirk [00:20:13] I was there. 

Jenna [00:20:14] The big door reveal. 

Angela [00:20:14] You made it happen. 

Lee Kirk [00:20:15] Then I did the door reveal. Yeah. 

Angela [00:20:17] Well, Lee, before we wrap up our interview, Josh made lemon madeleines for us. 

Lee Kirk [00:20:23] Aw, Josh. 

Jenna [00:20:23] Hey! 

[00:20:24] Josh is such a good baker. 

Angela [00:20:26] I can't not bring them out. So there you go. Everyone gets lemon madeleines today. 

Jenna [00:20:30] This is nice. This is now both our husbands are here. 

[00:20:33] Thank you, Josh. Thank you, Josh. 

Angela [00:20:33] They are!

Jenna [00:20:34] Josh through his madeleines. And Lee literally here. 

Lee Kirk [00:20:37] Literally sitting here, yeah. Eating a madeleine. 

Jenna [00:20:40] Yes, exactly. Well, Lee, to wrap things up before you go, how did you like directing television versus movies? You have not directed any more television since. Is that because you hated it? 

Lee Kirk [00:20:52] No. Well, actually I actually I loved it. Well, I don't know if you remember what happened, but- So I directed this episode and I loved it. I loved it. It was so fun. And I thought, oh, I want to do some more of this. 

Jenna [00:21:05] Maybe you don't want to be attached to your stressful watch doing the independent films.

Lee Kirk [00:21:10] I want to yeah, I want to do more of these where you just kind of keep it on the rails. And so I remember I had some meetings about maybe doing New Girl, maybe doing Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but they weren't shooting then. And so that was on the horizon. But then I went off and made a film. And then after I made the film, we moved to London. Remember? 

Jenna [00:21:28] Yes, I, I did a series there. And you edited the film in London. 

Lee Kirk [00:21:31] In London. So by the time I finally came back to LA, it was like a year later, you know, and The Office wasn't on the air anymore. 

Angela [00:21:39] That's crazy to think about. 

Lee Kirk [00:21:41] And those execs weren't at Fox anymore. And I kind of missed my moment. Like it's it's hard. It's a very hard job to get like a TV directing just job. Just to be that TV director. And so I kind of missed my moment. And it's a regret, you know? It's a regret. So I guess if anyone out there, if you got Ron Howard tapped up and he, he can't do it. You know who to call! 

Jenna [00:22:02] We sure do. 

Angela [00:22:03] Well, let me tell you something. If Mom Detectives ever happens. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:07] There we go. 

Angela [00:22:08] You're our director. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:09] Okay. Very good. 

Jenna [00:22:09] Yes. For sure. 

Angela [00:22:11] Right? 

Jenna [00:22:11] That's right. 

Angela [00:22:12] We'd have so much fun. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:13] I would love that. 

Jenna [00:22:13] Well, we know he's good at shooting stakeouts, and there are a lot of those in Mom Detectives. 

Angela [00:22:17] Exactly, exactly. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:19] I've experienced picking binoculars. 

Jenna [00:22:23] Well  you just confessed you didn't pick the right ones. So we will take that into consideration. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:27] Let's delete that. 

Angela [00:22:29] We'll take that part out. 

Jenna [00:22:31] Lee, thank you for coming in. It was so fun to have you here. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:34] So fun, y'all. Thank you for having me. And what a blast. It's so fun to sit in this little room with you guys. 

Angela [00:22:39] Thank you so much, Lee. I love you, buddy. I'm coming in for a hug. 

Lee Kirk [00:22:42] Aw, yeah. 

Jenna [00:22:43] All right, well, we'll take a break and we'll say good bye to Lee. I might give him a smooch on the way out the door. 

Angela [00:22:48] All right. 

Jenna [00:22:48] And then we'll be back to break down the rest of Vandalism. 

Angela [00:22:51] I'm going to eat a madeleine. How fun was that? 

Jenna [00:23:06] I did linger in the parking lot. 

Angela [00:23:08] You were gone for a bit. 

Jenna [00:23:10] He's very handsome as well, everyone. 

Angela [00:23:12] He's a cutie. 

Jenna [00:23:13] He is, and I just. It was like you get to bring your lover to work. 

Angela [00:23:19] Oh. Oh, gosh. 

Jenna [00:23:20] I don't know why I did it. 

Angela [00:23:21] Now you're Toby! 

Jenna [00:23:22] Oh, no. I'm sorry. 

Angela [00:23:24] Oh, you Toby'd us. Well, let's start this episode. It's going to begin with a cold open. Nellie can't seem to find Darryl. And Erin's like, you know what? He's around here somewhere. Just a regular Thursday. Erin is giddy. She's acting kind of stranger than normal. And we find out that in her mind, she's helping Darryl pull off his whole secret other job. 

Jenna [00:23:47] Yes. It's their big sneaky sneaky. 

Angela [00:23:49] Sneaky sneaks. 

Jenna [00:23:50] Part of this ruse involves a giant bear named Bearryl. It wears, a shirt, and she sets it in his chair in his office. 

Angela [00:24:03] Yes. I want to point out that we did have a secret conversation in the place where all secret conversations happen; the super secret stairwell. 

Jenna [00:24:12] That's right. The super secret stairwell for sneaky sneaks. 

Angela [00:24:16] There it is. 

Jenna [00:24:18] Yeah. We had a fan question from Lee M in San Jose who said, it looks like there's a piece of painter's tape on the back of Darryl's jacket. In the scene in the stairwell. What is this? Lee M, I looked at it, and you know what it is? It's actually a blue strap guard for his shoulder bag. I zoomed in. It's just a little something I like to do for people. This maybe has been bothering Lee M for a while. 

Angela [00:24:45] Yeah, you do the zoom in. 

Jenna [00:24:46] I did. We also had a fan catch from Patrick K in Spring, Texas and Catherine H in Somerset, U.K.. I think maybe they did a zoom in because they said around the 30 second mark, Erin is doing jumping jacks to distract everyone around the reception area. 

[00:25:03] I know. I know. I know. I know. I know. I know.

Jenna [00:25:06] What is it? 

Angela [00:25:07]  I'm quoting Dwight. I know, I know, I know. It's your Uggs. 

Jenna [00:25:11] Well, before that. 

Angela [00:25:12] What? 

Jenna [00:25:13] There's a double catch. Uggs was one of them.

Angela [00:25:14] What was the other one? I saw Uggs. 

Jenna [00:25:17] Okay. They said Pam clearly isn't at her desk in those shots, but then at 35 seconds, Pam is that her desk and is wearing Uggs. So maybe we didn't think I would be in the frame, and I was. Maybe I was late to set. 

Angela [00:25:34] Maybe they added you last minute. 

Jenna [00:25:36] True. 

Angela [00:25:37] Many options here, but they all end in the fact that you had on your Uggs. 

Jenna [00:25:41] Yes. I clearly didn't have time to put on my shoes. So, Angela, you reached out to the writer of this episode, Owen Ellickson. 

Angela [00:25:49] I did. You know, Owen is such a wonderful person, and we reconnected at Phil Shea's memorial and got to talk for a while, and I told him this episode was coming up for us, and he said he'd love to contribute. So we sent Owen a few questions, and we're going to share some of his answers throughout the episode. Jenna, you want to kick us off? 

Jenna [00:26:06] Sure. One of the first things he said was how much he loved shooting Darryl's talking head in this cold open. 

Angela [00:26:12] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:26:13] He said that saying sneaky sneaks would just crack them up, that every time Craig said sneaky sneaks. 

Angela [00:26:21] He even said in his email, just typing out sneaky sneaks is making me laugh. 

Jenna [00:26:26] And you know what? Now I kind of love saying it. 

Angela [00:26:28] Me too. 

Jenna [00:26:29] Finally, for this cold open, we got a fan question from Alexandra T in Los Angeles, California, who wanted to know how did we get Bearryl to slowly fall off the chair? The timing was amazing. You know that shot through the blinds? I'll tell you, Alexandra, we had a crew member sitting on the floor, and they were pulling on the bear with one of those, like, filament wires, one of those little invisible strings that magicians use. That's how Bearryl fell over. 

Angela [00:26:57] It was perfect. Before we dive into the meat of the episode, the meat of the episode? 

Jenna [00:27:02] Sure. 

Angela [00:27:03] Why not? The meat of the episode? I have a call sheet tidbit and a quote of the day from my digital clutter. 

Jenna [00:27:10] Whoa. Okay. 

Angela [00:27:12] I've been real excited. 

Jenna [00:27:14] You're real excited. 

Angela [00:27:14] I am really excited. First of all, per the call sheet, we filmed this episode the week of December 10th, 2012, and here's your weather report. The week started with partly cloudy skies and a high of 72. And halfway through production we were dealing with rain and highs in the 50s. 

Jenna [00:27:32] That sounds like December in LA. 

Angela [00:27:34] It does. But you know, I always love that Steve Burgess sends us the call sheets, Jenna, and I immediately look at the date that we started filming, and I go to my digital clutter every week. And sometimes there's something there, sometimes there's not. And there was a delicious nugget for this week. 

Jenna [00:27:50] A quote of the day, no less. 

Angela [00:27:52] Quote of the day. On Thursday, December 13th, 2012, I had an exchange with Oscar Nunez and I emailed you about it, Jenna. 

Jenna [00:28:01] Okay. 

Angela [00:28:03] I wrote the following: So we are in hair and makeup right now. We are talking about movies, etc.. Oscar recently saw Finding a Friend For the End of the World. He said he liked the movie and then he sighed and said, Oh Steve, man, he gets to make out with Keira Knightley and Anne Hathaway. I get (BLEEP) Jack Coleman. And we all burst out laughing. And you wrote back hahaha! 

Jenna [00:28:34] Oh my goodness. Oh, that is very funny. 

Angela [00:28:39] That's my digital clutter quote of the day. Well, let's get back to the episode. 

Jenna [00:28:43] Let's begin. 

Angela [00:28:45] We're going to start with a Pam talking head. She says she's putting in a lot of hours on this mural, and her boss is okay with it because guess what? He's in the Bahamas. 

Jenna [00:28:54] Yes. This was a talking head on the move. A lot went into this. I remember setting up the scene. There was originally the scene where I was in the parking lot, and I was talking on the phone to Jim. 

Angela [00:29:05] Yeah, it was in deleted scenes. It was kind of like a flirty conversation where Jim's like, you come here this weekend and you're like, I'm busy. You come here. Like, like that. 

Jenna [00:29:14] It was like, who's going to visit who? 

Angela [00:29:15] Right. 

Jenna [00:29:16] So then we were going to cut to Pam doing this talking head in the warehouse. And it was originally supposed to be Pam standing kind of with her back to the mural, talking about how excited she was to work on it. And then the camera would pan up and we would see the graffiti and Pam would freak out. 

Angela [00:29:32] Okay. 

Jenna [00:29:33] The problem with that was when we got in place, we realized Pam would have seen the vandalism as soon as she walked into the warehouse.

Angela [00:29:43] How could you miss it? 

Jenna [00:29:44] How could she miss it? So Lee said, why don't we do this talking head on the move so that when she gets to the end of her talking head, she's just coming around the corner of the warehouse shelves, and then she sees the vandalism and the camera swings up to see it, too. And we were like, yes, that's great. But timing it out exactly perfectly was a little tricky. So what we did was I stood in the spot where I needed to be to realize it, and then I said my lines and we backed up. And then that was our starting position. I don't know why I remember that so vividly, but I think it's just because it's the first time that, like, me and a whole camera crew went backwards. 

Angela [00:30:23] Yeah, well, let's talk about what was on the mural. It's a whole bunch of big old butts. 

Jenna [00:30:31] And the words "this sucks". 

Angela [00:30:33] Oh yeah. There's that. 

Jenna [00:30:34] It's so mean. 

Angela [00:30:35] It's really aggressive. 

Jenna [00:30:38] We had a fan question from Bailey H in Overland Park, Kansas who said, Was the shape painted on Pam's mural always scripted to be butts? I feel like a different shape is more common in graffiti, but maybe it wouldn't pass standards and practices without a whole lot of blurs. So, Bailey, this scene really evolved through many drafts. In the table read draft, the graffiti was described like this. Quote, the mural is now covered in splashes of red paint, crude drawings, and a few messages like this sucks and Hide rules. And then when Pam entered, Val was going to apologize to her and say, I'm just seeing this myself. I think the guys got drunk last night and did it. So that was like the original moment. Then in the original shooting draft, it was described like this: quote, the mural now has some obvious striking graffiti on it. There are a couple of crudely drawn butts. And someone has written "this sucks". And then they took out that extra part with Val. And Bailey, standards and practices did have notes on this. 

Angela [00:31:49] I bet. 

Jenna [00:31:49] Here is what they said. They said, The crudely painted butts on the wall should not be lifelike in appearance. 

Angela [00:31:58] Lifelike. 

Jenna [00:32:00] Very cartoony. 

Angela [00:32:01] Can't be too realistic. 

Jenna [00:32:02] Exactly. 

Angela [00:32:04] Well, you know, I asked our writer, Owen, was it always the plan for Pam's mural to be vandalized? And here's what he had to say. He said he didn't think it was always the plan. It started as a way for Pam to flex her art muscles at work. But then when they started the storyline with Brian, the boom guy, they wanted to create an intense situation for Pam that he could help her with. So the fight over the mural fit right in. 

Jenna [00:32:30] Yes. You know, and it's interesting, I remember being in these discussions because, you know, a big question when we decided on the storyline was, well, who did it? 

Angela [00:32:38] Right. Because whoever did it is going to get fired. 

Jenna [00:32:42] And we kind of thought like, oh, Hide had been giving Pam grief when she was painting. Maybe it's him.

Angela [00:32:50] Can I say in defense of Hide? Not so much grief as just like like, hey, get started. He had like, had critiques, he had thoughts. But it wasn't so much like he was not a fan of what she was doing. He just had a lot of opinions about it. 

Jenna [00:33:03] Yes. But we didn't want to fire Hide. 

Angela [00:33:05] Of course not. 

Jenna [00:33:06] So we did that kind of sneaky sneak thing where we're like, I guess we'll reveal a new warehouse worker who will be responsible for this. That's how they came up with the character of Frank. But another thing was that later, we knew that Frank and Brian were gonna fight it out. 

Angela [00:33:22] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:33:23] And you know, Brian, the boom guy was like a kind of big muscley guy. And we didn't want him to beat up Hide. That didn't seem- also, Hide didn't seem like a person who would, like, throw punches over this. Right?

Angela [00:33:35] No. Hide's not going to charge Pam. I think he actually likes Pam. He just has opinions about her art, like I said. But I totally see in casting that you needed someone big who looked intimidating if they were going to run at you. 

Jenna [00:33:48] Exactly. I mean, we'll get to it. We're a little ahead of ourselves. 

Angela [00:33:52] Yeah, we'll get to it. 

Jenna [00:33:53] But this is everything that went into like, the discussion of this storyline. 

Angela [00:33:58] Speaking of Hide, I have the cutest thing to share with you. 

Jenna [00:34:00] What is it? 

Angela [00:34:01] So, you know, we just had that eclipse, right? 

Jenna [00:34:05] Yeah. 

Angela [00:34:06] And I was talking about it in my Insta stories about the path of totality and all of that, because I love that title. Like they said it so many times, the path of totality. Are you in the path of totality? I was like, this should be a movie. Right? This should be a romcom called The Path of Totality. But anyway, I was going on and on about it, and then a few people sent me pictures they took of the eclipse, and Hide sent me a video that he took of the eclipse. 

Jenna [00:34:32] What?! 

Angela [00:34:32] Yeah. And I was like, Hide, this is amazing. And he was like, thank you. 

Jenna [00:34:36] Yeah. But he wasn't in the path of totality, right? It was a partial. 

Angela [00:34:39] He was in the partial here in California. We got partial, but he still sent me his video of it. Look, here it is. 

Jenna [00:34:47] Oh, it's really good. 

Angela [00:34:48] It's cool, isn't it? 

Jenna [00:34:49] I don't even understand how he got that. All right, well, next up, Angela enters simply to announce that she'll be leaving. 

Angela [00:34:56] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:34:57] Basically, you've come to work to tell us you're leaving early. You're so proud. 

Angela [00:35:00] I'm so proud. I'm so dressed up. I'm ready for a very fancy day. Real quick. At one minute and 53 seconds, we have a new Meredith wig. It is a dirty blond I would say a mullet. I think this is a mullet. 

Jenna [00:35:13] It is mullet like. Yes, yes. 

Angela [00:35:16] Angela is going to go on to tell everyone that it's Phillip's first birthday, and they're hosting a party at their house. Erin says, oh, cute. So there'll be a bunch of kids? And Angela says, ugh no, no children. Our house is not kid friendly. Most of our furniture is sharp. Also, ew. It will be mostly campaign donors. 

Jenna [00:35:35] Ange, we got a lot of fan mail about your hair. 

Angela [00:35:39] Oh, really? 

Jenna [00:35:41] Particularly from Hannah H. in Cleveland, Ohio who said, Angela, your hair is drop dead gorgeous in this episode. Hannah would love to hear how this hairstyle was decided upon. 

Angela [00:35:52] Oh my gosh, Hannah, you just made my day. Drop dead gorgeous? You know, this was so fun for Kim and I. Kim Ferry who did my hair on the show. We knew we wanted a half up, half down, but she wanted to do something fancy. Kim is phenomenal with hair, and so she was like, what about a little swirly thing in the back? And then we'll flip it up. This was all Kim's vision. She had a total vision for it. I said, just go for it, Kim. I'm here. I am your canvas. And then I got to go have a costume fitting. And they paired it with this dress, and it just all came together. 

Jenna [00:36:24] You know, I always felt bad for Kim Ferry because she was forced to do this just kind of boring everyday hair on all of us. 

Angela [00:36:33] Oh, yeah. 

Jenna [00:36:34] All the time. 

Angela [00:36:34] Nothing ever fancy. And so when it came along. 

Jenna [00:36:38] Oh my gosh. And because also she is so good at the fancy hair. 

Angela [00:36:43] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:36:43] She is so good at an up do. She is so good at event hair. Like if you need someone to zhoozh you for your wedding, she's your gal. Or a red carpet like, so for her to just have to do low ponies every week. 

Angela [00:36:57] I know. Or just a flat iron. 

Jenna [00:36:59] Exactly. 

Angela [00:37:00] So yeah, that was a lot of fun, Hannah. Thank you. 

Jenna [00:37:03] Well guess what? Oscar has a talking head, and he's going to reveal that he will be attending this party. 

Angela [00:37:10] Yeah, Oscar says, Angela's husband and I are in love. But as a politician in this town, you still need the conventional blond wife on your lawn signs. And then he's very proud. He goes, he is risking everything to have me there today. Me. Well, Angela is going to call Robert. Guess where she's at?

Jenna [00:37:29] The sneaky sneak stairway. 

Angela [00:37:30] Secret sneaky sneak stairwell. She says, Robert, we agreed that you wouldn't be seen with him in public. It's humiliating for me. You know what? If you get to bring a stud, maybe I do too. 

Jenna [00:37:41] Next we're going to go to Jim and Darryl's apartment. Jim is eating some cereal in the kitchen. He's just, like, leaning against the counter. He's not sitting at a table. Darryl's going to enter and they have a joint talking head where they say, we're sharing a sublet in Philly. Yeah, they're grown sexy ass roommates. 

Angela [00:38:01] And Jim says, you know, I miss Pam and the kids, but I'm really enjoying letting my hair down and living single life. Excuse me. You're not single, Jim. 

Jenna [00:38:10] Oh, you know what, though? Pam's the bad guy. So, yeah. 

Angela [00:38:15] We also find out that Darryl is the clean one and Jim is the messy one. 

Jenna [00:38:20] Yeah, we had a fan question from Clara D in Germany who asked, I think the storyline of Jim and Darryl sharing the apartment is so funny and relatable. Do you know who came up with it? 

Angela [00:38:31] Well, you know, of course we had to ask the writer Owen, and here's what he had to say. He said, I think I may have technically pitched it, but really the storyline pitched itself. Two of our people are in a different city. They'd probably be crashing together. And what would that look like? Darryl being quietly finicky was always a character quirk that I loved, and John leaned into being the bad roommate in such a wonderful way. 

Jenna [00:38:55] Well, I agree that this was a genius storyline and it generated a lot of fan mail. We have a lot of fan catches based on just this opening scene. Here we go. First off from Caitlin C in Tyler, Texas, who said, I've always found it strange that Jim is so untidy in this episode because at the very beginning of the show, during his barbecue, we see that he kept his place and his bedroom very neat and organized. 

Angela [00:39:20] Yeah, but I think my brain could make the leap that he was having a party so they cleaned up their apartment for the party. 

Jenna [00:39:27] Sure, sure. 

Angela [00:39:29] And a girl he liked was coming over. 

Jenna [00:39:31] Yes. 

Angela [00:39:31] So there might have been extra effort. 

Jenna [00:39:34] This is good. And finally, we had this fan catch from Noah R in Freeport, Illinois, who said, okay, ladies, this is a weird one and I apologize in advance. At three minutes, 27 seconds, when Jim and Darryl are explaining their rooming situation, the camera shows Jim's clothes spread out all over the floor. In this pile there are a pair of boxers. However, in Pam's wedding video diary from season six superfan episodes, Jim is shown in tighty whities. This leads me to my question, when did Jim make the switch? This is not something that needs to be analyzed, but my brain decided to do it anyway, so I thought I would bring it to your attention. Thank you. And I'm sorry. 

Angela [00:40:17] Yeah, I love that observation, actually, because I remember when we see Jim in the background of Pam's video and we see him in tighty whities, I was shocked because I thought Jim was probably a boxer guy. I don't know why, but that's just what I thought. So that is really funny. Like, yeah. When did he make the switch? 

Jenna [00:40:35] I don't know, but good catch. You cannot change things. People will notice. That is what I've learned with our fan mail and with the catches. And also I have to say, we have noticed some things too, Angela. 

Angela [00:40:46] Yeah, I mean, here's the beauty of this show. Every time you watch it, you discover something new, whether it's a really great line that a character says. There were a few in this episode that I completely forgot about made me laugh out loud. I'm going to point them out when we get to it. Or something in the background, because this show is such a comfort show that you rewatch it so many times. So yeah, I could totally see you catching the fact that Jim switched undies. 

Jenna [00:41:12] Well. Also in this montage you see Jim in the background strumming a guitar. Remember earlier in our breakdown, we had a whole debate about whether or not this proved that Jim really plays the guitar. 

Angela [00:41:23] Yeah. I mean he brought it to Philly with him. 

Jenna [00:41:26] He did. 

Angela [00:41:27] Back in the warehouse, I love this scene. Pam is now getting on the lift with the megaphone. She's got her hand on her hip. She is pissed. Off.

Jenna [00:41:36] Talk about a soap box. 

Angela [00:41:38] Yeah, exactly. Although I love I just love the background noise of the lift. Like meeeeeeeee. It just so funny. 

Jenna [00:41:47] Yeah. She's demanding to know who vandalized her mural, and she says, I'm going to stay up here all day if I have to. And then there's a pause, and then she's like, neeeeeeeeeeeee, maybe I'll come down if I want to. It's my choice. I remember doing that and it like cracked me up doing it. 

Angela [00:42:03] Pam is now going to have a talking head where she says, you know what? Unlike Angela, who calls a lawyer, whenever someone watches a YouTube video of animals doing it, she doesn't demand justice often. But someone should be fired over this. She's like, and I'm just kind of on my own here. And then we see a little flirty moment from Brian, the Boom guy, when he bops her on the head with the boom mic and she's like, okay, I'm not completely alone. Thank you Brian. 

Jenna [00:42:31] Hmhm. 

Angela [00:42:33] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:42:34] Yeah. 

Angela [00:42:35] I feel like Brian is really stepping over the line of that documentary film crew now. 

Jenna [00:42:40] Yeah. This was a hot debate. 

Angela [00:42:43] I bet. 

Jenna [00:42:44] Because so far we have only seen or heard from Brian when Pam brings him in. 

Angela [00:42:50] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:42:51] But this episode, Brian will be inserting himself. 

Angela [00:42:56] Yes. 

Jenna [00:42:59] This enraged people, this little boom tap. 

Angela [00:43:01] It really did. 

Jenna [00:43:03] Next up we are going to- wow, I love this storyline. I can't wait to discuss it. Jim and Darryl are at work. And Jim has walked in drinking coffee out of Darryl's to go coffee mug. It's clearly labeled with a piece of tape that says Darryl. 

Angela [00:43:22] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:43:23] And Darryl notices. I think we should just skip ahead, because I can't wait to talk about this. 

Angela [00:43:28] Okay, let's do it. 

Jenna [00:43:29] So the next beat in the storyline is that Darryl is going to call Jim out for taking his thermos. His clearly marked thermos. 

Angela [00:43:37] Yeah. I have an A-hole alert. This begins a standoff in which Jim spitefully pours his coffee out into the trash can. Darryl's like, man, you don't have to do that. But Jim just looks at him with this snarky look and pours it into the trash. And then he goes, do you want me to wash it out as well? And Darryl says, oh, are you going to wash it? Or just let it soak? Because now Darryl's had it. 

Jenna [00:44:07] I know. 

Angela [00:44:08] Jim then, just, like, hands him the thermos and he walks out. But things would have further escalated with two back to back talking heads, and they were in the shooting draft. 

Jenna [00:44:18] Oh my gosh, please share. 

Angela [00:44:21] It would have started with a Jim talking head. Jim says Darryl's being weird. Roommates share stuff. It's not a big deal. I mean, he can use my groceries... When I buy some. Which I'm gonna. Then it would go to Darryl. Darryl would say, messy is one thing. Now he's screwing with my stuff. He holds up the thermos. You see that? That's peanut butter. He got peanut butter on my thermos. He shakes his head. You don't do that. You don't go and do that. 

Jenna [00:44:51] Well, Jim's position is like, it's no big deal, really. You're going to make a big deal out of this. I'm using your thermos. So I have to ask the question. Is it a big deal? 

Angela [00:45:03] If you and I were roommates. And you had a thermos that you liked so much that you took a piece of tape and taped your name to it, I wouldn't use it. I'd be like, clearly this thermos means a lot to this person. They have gone out of their way to label it. I wouldn't use it. 

Jenna [00:45:22] But isn't the point that, like Darryl has labeled everything? Darryl doesn't really want to share anything, right? 

Angela [00:45:30] Well, then. 

Jenna [00:45:31] Is he too fussy?

Angela [00:45:33] Maybe. But that's your roommate. 

Jenna [00:45:35] But also, isn't he being forced into some of this fussiness in reaction to Jim's messiness? Like, if he doesn't label his thermos and Jim uses it and doesn't wash it, then he doesn't have a thermos. 

Angela [00:45:47] Exactly. I support Darryl in this. 

Jenna [00:45:49] I support Darryl. Well, I think on that note, why don't we take a break? 

Angela [00:45:53] Yes. And when we come back, Pam is hot to trot in the conference room. Let's head back to the Dunder-mifflin bullpen, because Pam is just going to burst into the office and say, conference room meeting! 

Jenna [00:46:17] I had so much fun doing that. 

Angela [00:46:18] I bet, I bet that's like the best. That's like iconic Office moment. Everyone's like, what do you mean, Pam? Why are you calling this conference room meeting? And she's like, listen, David Wallace gave me the clearance to do this. And everyone's like, eh. But then Dwight's, like, conference room meeting and kind of gets Pam's back. 

Jenna [00:46:37] That's all he needed to hear. 

Angela [00:46:39] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:46:39] He's such a rule follower. Well, everybody gathers in the conference room and Pam is going to explain that her mural has been vandalized. They put paint all over her mural. 

Angela [00:46:50] So now Erin is like, but wait, didn't you want paint all over your mural? And Pam's like, yeah, but not that paint. She goes, so different paints? So it's like very funny. But the dynamic is so classic Office. If you're a big fan of the show, I feel like you had to see the parallels of whenever Michael Scott would hold a meeting and everyone would interject and get him off topic. 

Jenna [00:47:10] Yes. 

Angela [00:47:11] It's so fun. I love that Pam also had this moment. 

Jenna [00:47:14] Well, Meredith is going to throw out that she's also upset because someone wrote her number on the men's room wall and they got the number wrong. It's 6782, not 6783. 

Angela [00:47:24] And then Creed has this great line, and it's one of the ones I was talking about where you watch these episodes so many times and you discover new things. This line made me laugh so hard. He just goes six, seven, eight, three. Also a good time, less mileage. 

Jenna [00:47:39] So good. 

Angela [00:47:41] So good. And then. And then Oscar's so funny. Oscar's like, you know, I just don't think anything can be done. 

Jenna [00:47:47] Yeah. And I also love when Phyllis says, David Wallace called this meeting? 

Angela [00:47:52] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:47:52] And Pam's like, he sure did! Yes. Well, listen, it's clear David Wallace did not call this meeting, and nobody cares. 

Angela [00:48:00] No one cares. 

Jenna [00:48:01] Everyone leaves except for Dwight and Nellie. They say they will help her. 

Angela [00:48:07] Yeah. Pam has a talking head where she says, you know what? She wanted this, like, righteous mob, but instead she ended up with Dwight and Nellie. They do both have mob mentality, though, and she's pretty sure that Dwight has a pitchfork in his car. 

Jenna [00:48:19] And then Dwight pokes his head in and he's like, you need my pitchfork? And he, like, runs out. We had a fan question about this, Angela. Antoine S from Maryland, said, I really hope you both read this and discuss. This episode has become hard for me to watch along with Scott's Tots.  

Angela [00:48:37] Wow. 

Jenna [00:48:38] The vandalism of Pam's work is just downright mean. I know that some of these warehouse guys are newer, but I still can't believe someone would do that. Furthermore, Val really upset me. How, as the boss of the warehouse, does she not step in at all? And then what about certain office workers? Like how do they not seem to care about Pam's feelings after all of these years of working together? Weddings, baby showers. They are just so indifferent to this situation. 

Angela [00:49:05] You know, Antoine, this is a really good question. I personally liked the iteration that you shared with us, Jenna, where they did write that Val comes out and is like, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I think a bunch of the guys got drunk last night in the warehouse. That's the one that makes the most sense to me. And they did write that. I don't know how it didn't ultimately make it into the shooting draft, but I think there was this feeling that it wasn't as serious as it ended up being. 

Jenna [00:49:35] Yeah. I have to say, I think this might be one of those times when, like, they wrote this stuff about Val and then they took it out, but we all thought it had been addressed because we knew about it. Does that make sense? 

Angela [00:49:50] Yeah, but but in taking it out, it does make her seem like she's not trying to help. But there is, you know, there was way more in the shooting draft where Pam goes to Val's office and they have a whole conversation about it. It was a lot more fleshed out and none of it made it. 

Jenna [00:50:05] I know. 

Angela [00:50:06] So that to me, for Val as a character is a disservice that it didn't make it. The episode was just so big. Also from the story perspective. And now we're getting deep into story here. But Val's help would have been the rational help. And for the story to be funny and ultimately end in this scene in the parking lot, Pam needs help from people who aren't good at helping in this moment. 

Jenna [00:50:31] Yes, that's true. 

Angela [00:50:32] She needs like to be doing graffiti on a truck. Val would not have led her that way. 

Jenna [00:50:38] That's right. No. 

Angela [00:50:38] Right? 

Jenna [00:50:39] That's right. 

Angela [00:50:40] So that's the other reason. And then, Antoine, one last thing you brought up how no one in the office seems to care. And I have to agree with you. I think there has been a real pattern over the course of all these seasons that no one really supports Pam's art. No one went to her art show. 

Jenna [00:50:58] I know. 

Angela [00:50:59] Only Michael, so I don't know why everyone's being (BLEEP) holes about that, but yeah. 

Jenna [00:51:05] Well, listen, we know why Angela isn't invested in this. She's got a lot on her mind. 

Angela [00:51:09] She has a huge party that she is hosting. 

Jenna [00:51:13] And now she has to find her extra plus one because the senator gets an extra plus one. 

Angela [00:51:19] She gets to find her stud. 

Jenna [00:51:21] That's right. 

Angela [00:51:22] He gets his stud. Angela is going to approach Dwight and invite him to Phillip's birthday party. He said he's not interested. And then Angela is like, but you could pitch your beet salt idea to the state transportation secretary. Okay, okay. Come on, guys. I have two things about this moment. My first one, I titled Hold the Phone!

Jenna [00:51:45] Okay. 

Angela [00:51:46] Because you guys, remember in the episode New Guys, when Dwight had a talking head where he shared how his summer was, said he created a new energy drink made of beet run off?

Jenna [00:51:57] Yes. 

Angela [00:51:57] And then I looked it up and it turns out you can't really drink beet runoff. But then I found that article online about engineers using beet runoff because they were trying to find alternatives to road salt. So they were using this beet runoff salt and it's less damage to the environment. Jenna! 

Jenna [00:52:12] I, I remembered all of it the minute I heard the line, I thought, this is a real thing. 

Angela [00:52:17] Yes. I was like, our writers knew. Anyway, I was really tickled by it. I clearly I got very excited. I was like, I know about that1 

Jenna [00:52:26] What was your second thing? What did you title that? 

Angela [00:52:29] My second thing I didn't title. It's just that this scene was longer in the shooting draft. And there was an extra beat between Angela and Dwight where Angela is trying to flirt with Dwight and it read like this. It really made me laugh. Ready? Dwight is at his desk. Angela approaches and flirtily sits on his desk. Dwight: What is it? I have vengeance to exact. Angela: Exciting news. There's room for one more at my son's birthday event and I want- and she starts poking him- you. Dwight: Your fingers are like frozen knitting needles, and I'm not interested. And then it would have gone to the next beat where she's like, you could tell the state transportation secretary about your beet salt. But anyway, I just loved that moment when he was like, your fingers are like frozen knitting needles, and I'm not interested. 

Jenna [00:53:24] Well, I had a little catch from this scene. 

Angela [00:53:26] Okay. 

Jenna [00:53:27] In the moment, right before this, Pam's having her talking head, and Dwight says, do you need a pitchfork? And he runs out the door. The very next scene, he's coming from his desk. 

Angela [00:53:36] Yes, because I would have just been sitting on his desk flirting with him. 

Jenna [00:53:40] But he just ran out the door to get his pitchfork. 

Angela [00:53:42] I know. It doesn't add up. 

Jenna [00:53:43] It doesn't add up. Well, I'll tell you, Dwight isn't going to the car and he isn't going to the party. Where he's going is to the warehouse. He has a plan. He is going to have every warehouse employee draw a butt and sign it. And then he's going to compare those drawings to the butts on the mural. 

Angela [00:54:01] But the folks in the warehouse are on to him. They're like, you're just trying to see if we draw butts like the butt on the mural. 

Jenna [00:54:07] Yeah. 

Angela [00:54:07] And then Nellie's like, how about drawing big Ws? 

Jenna [00:54:11] Yes. And Dwight says, or breasts without nipples. All right. This is one we're going to get introduced to Frank, played by Brad William Henke, who is famous for his roles on October Road, Justified, Orange Is the New Black and of course, Lost. 

Angela [00:54:26] Yeah.  

Jenna [00:54:27] Which was noticed by Rochelle M from Denville, Ontario, Canada, who said, you know, throughout the series, Dwight makes a lot of Lost references. Wouldn't Dwight have recognized him from the show? 

Angela [00:54:39] I wish he had. I wish he had. I wish you'd said you look a lot like that guy on Lost. 

Jenna [00:54:44] I know. And I thought this was interesting. According to Brad's IMDb trivia, prior to beginning his acting career, he played defensive line at the University of Arizona and was drafted by the New York Giants in 1989. 

Angela [00:54:58] Wow. 

Jenna [00:54:59] After being cut from the Giants, he played for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 24, and then he retired from professional football in 1994 following numerous injuries and became an actor. 

Angela [00:55:11] Wow, that's so cool. 

Jenna [00:55:13] Yeah. 

Angela [00:55:14] This drawing of the W or the butts or the boobs, it's not working. 

Jenna [00:55:19] No. 

Angela [00:55:19] So they switch gears. Dwight's like, okay, Nate is who's going to crack. And I know just how to get him to crack. I'm going to tell him that his mother died. It usually works. Poor Nate. Poor Nate. He's like oh no, not again. And then Dwight's like, guess what? She's pulling through. She's going to be fine. He's like, what? 

Jenna [00:55:39] Yeah, they get Nate in Val's office and they are going to get him to say who did it, who vandalized the mural. 

Angela [00:55:49] It didn't take much. 

Jenna [00:55:51] Angela, there was an improv by Mark Proksch who plays Nate that was so funny and unexpected. It is my favorite blooper. I can't believe we didn't get it in the episode. Clearly we just all broke and I don't know why we didn't redo it and make this the new thing. I have to play it for you. It was amazing. 

Pam [00:56:14] Frank did it?

Nate [00:56:15] I don't know his last name. It's Frank. 

Pam [00:56:17] Frank did it? 

Nate [00:56:18] Diddit. Sure. Frank Diddit did it. (LAUGHTER) 

Angela [00:56:33] That is so good. I have seen that blooper before, but it is so good. Sure, Frank Diddit did it. 

Jenna [00:56:43] Exactly. 

Angela [00:56:43] That is so good. He's so funny. 

Jenna [00:56:46] We laughed so hard in that office doing that interrogation. I remember the first time that I, like, slammed my hand down and I said, who did it? We all laughed. I don't know why. Like, everything about it was just so- 

Angela [00:57:02] Over-the-top. Yeah. 

Jenna [00:57:03] Yes, it was so funny. We just laughed so hard in that room. Oh my gosh. 

Angela [00:57:07] Frank Diddit did it. 

Jenna [00:57:08] I know. 

Angela [00:57:09] It's too good. Well, now we're going to go to the Lipton's party. 

Jenna [00:57:14] Yes. Kevin has come. 

Angela [00:57:17] Yes. Oh, we should say that. When Dwight wasn't able to go, Kevin was like, I'll go. And Angela is like, no. And he goes, you're going to leave me here alone with all the money? And she's like, fine. Kevin is there for the appetizers. 

Jenna [00:57:32] He's loving the puff pastries. 

Angela [00:57:34] He and Oscar during this scene are standing below a ginormous portrait of Angela looking very stern. I would love for you guys to know that the set dec department gave me that ginormous painting of myself. It's like a print that looks like a painting. In the frame. I have it. For years, it hung in my hallway. And then... And then I thought, you know what? That's just kind of weird. Like when people come over. And I took it down. I still have it, though. Maybe I'll put it back up. Matt Sohn was also DP, as Lee mentioned, and he took a picture of me looking stern in front of a painting of myself looking stern. And I have that picture. It's so great. 

Jenna [00:58:13] That's what you need to blow up and put in your house. That's very funny. You know, that's a funny quirk that I have seen sometimes when I go to entertainers' homes, there are kind of like the people that decorate their homes with giant portraits of themselves. It's such a thing, right? Do you know what I'm talking about? 

Angela [00:58:34] Yeah, yeah, there's some people have sort of like an ode to myself. I would say in my home office I have, like a The Office memorabilia nook. 

Jenna [00:58:43] Yes. 

Angela [00:58:44] You know. 

Jenna [00:58:45] A lot of times I will get gifted giant portraits of myself. 

Angela [00:58:50] From a project?

Jenna [00:58:52] Throughout the years. From a project. Kind of like what you're talking about. But it will even be, like from a magazine shoot. And as, like a thank you they'll send to my house like a giant... 

Angela [00:59:02] Yes. 

Jenna [00:59:02] Picture of my face or of me doing the shoot. And I always think to myself, what am I doing with this item? I'm too shy to decorate my home with just portraits of me. 

Angela [00:59:12] I know it's weird. It's really weird. 

Jenna [00:59:14] I will say I have one picture of myself like that that's up. It is in my upstairs hallway so guests don't normally see it. But I did a photo shoot for an animal charity and I am dressed as Marie Antoinette. And I'm holding little kittens. 

Angela [00:59:29] I love that picture. 

Jenna [00:59:30] And the photographer, it was just this amazing photo. And after the shoot, they sent it to me in a giant frame. And it is above our piano in like our upstairs little alcove. 

Angela [00:59:42] I love it. 

Jenna [00:59:43] So that's pretty cool. 

Angela [00:59:44] That is kind of cool. I I one last thing, I, I did this project, which I can't talk about yet and, Zach Woods directed it. I can say that. Zach Woods. Amazing. He directed it, and he gave me a gift, and it's, it's a photo of myself doing this thing. At some point I'm going to share it, but I hung it in my podcast closet. 

Jenna [01:00:06] Okay. Very good. Not above your fireplace. 

Angela [01:00:10] Not above my fireplace or in my entryway. I do love the line that Oscar has here, though. He sort of looks up at the painting and he made Brian break more than once because they don't realize they're standing under the portrait. And Oscar looks up at it and there was one take where Oscar went, hah, like that. And it made Brian crack up. And he has this line where he says, how can anyone who weighs less than a guinea hen be so terrifying? 

Jenna [01:00:41] Well, now the senator and Angela come in. Angela, you're holding the baby. And we now know that this is the only take of this moment that was achieved. 

Angela [01:00:49] Yes, we got this I guess in one take. I didn't remember that, but oh my gosh. Here is how it read in the shooting draft. I wanted to set the scene for you all. The senator and Angela enter looking sharp. Angela is holding Philip, who's dressed in a baptismal robe. Angela hands him to an Irish nurse who immediately carries him back out of the room. Senator Lipton would have said, thanks for coming everyone. Philip didn't realize he was so popular. Everyone laughs. Angela's laugh is especially hard. I had a lot of fun doing that because I went, HAHAHAHA. 

Jenna [01:01:26] I remember. 

Angela [01:01:27] Robert, you're terrible. And then Angela notices a couple. Simon and Maxine, who let you guys in here? More laughter. Kevin: Wow. Turns out Angela and her husband are really funny. He finishes his hors d'oeuvre.  Oscar looks sad. I loved it whenever my character got to take great pride in being the senator's wife. 

Jenna [01:01:50] It's some of my favorite storyline beats. 

Angela [01:01:52] She loves being highfalutin. 

Jenna [01:01:54] This side of Angela. 

Angela [01:01:55] Yeah, we are now back in the conference room. Nellie and Pam and Toby are all questioning Frank. Pam wants an apology. 

Jenna [01:02:04] She wants him to fess up. 

Angela [01:02:06] That's right. So I guess Pam to get his apology her strategy is to first apologize to Frank if she did anything to upset him. 

Jenna [01:02:13] She's trying to be very diplomatic. But also it's I think it's a little bit patronizing. Right?

Angela [01:02:20] Well, yeah. Frank isn't having any of it. He says, you know what? I'll apologize for not liking your doodles. And he says that butts are funny. 

Jenna [01:02:30] And he also says, and you know what? You can't fire me. And he leaves. 

Angela [01:02:35] Toby was useless, basically in this scene. 

Jenna [01:02:39] Now, you mentioned earlier that there was a storyline that got deleted, and I am very curious about it, Angela, because I'm a little bit thinking, how did Toby get involved in this? 

Angela [01:02:50] Okay, well, he's the head of HR. Right? And there was a deleted Toby runner that I loved. It's in deleted scenes. And basically, Toby is alone with Frank in the conference room. Pam and Nellie have left. They have stepped outside, but they are watching through the glass, you know, window. 

Jenna [01:03:08] Yes. 

Angela [01:03:09] And Toby is wanting to impress Nellie, so he's kind of under his breath as he's questioning Frank, he's like, I'm going to make big hand movements. And he kind of tells Frank he's trying to impress this gal outside the window here. You have to hear it. 

Toby [01:03:26] So this is technically an HR issue. I am supposed to chew you out. Definitely not going to do that, but I am kind of jocking that girl over there. So I'd love it if we could pretend I'm being tough. 

Frank [01:03:43] You're pathetic. 

Toby [01:03:45] All right. All right. But, there's behavior of yours that I'm saying things to address. 

Pam [01:03:52] Toby is really going at him. 

Nellie [01:03:54] He's tearing strips off him. Who knew? 

Toby [01:03:59] I have this look on my face. Okay. It's very serious, being tough. And I really, really appreciate what you're doing here. 

Frank [01:04:10] You are the largest vagina I've ever seen in my life. 

Toby [01:04:16] Okay, I'll let that one go with a warning. I'll put my glasses back on now. And I think it's working, so I owe you one. You can go. Anytime you want. Convenient to you to get out of here then do that if that's what you want. 

Angela [01:04:36] So he's doing all this business like he's like and I am looking at you with this face and I'm looking sternly at you. I'm going to take my glasses off. I'm going to put them back on. Like he's doing. His motions don't match his voice because he's like kind of being- and Nellie and Pam can only see Frank's back. And then they just see Toby's face and his hand gestures and he's selling it, so he's really happy about it. 

Jenna [01:05:01] Now, does this reignite any interest in Nellie? 

Angela [01:05:04] Nellie goes, Who knew? And Toby's like, I think it's working. So I'm not sure if this scene came before the three of them were in the room or after because Frank storms out in both. 

Jenna [01:05:16] Right. 

Angela [01:05:17] But, maybe it was an alt. I tried to find the candy bag alts. I didn't have them for this episode, but it it was really funny. But it does set why Toby's there. He says I'm the head of HR. 

Jenna [01:05:27] Okay. 

Angela [01:05:28] But it's really funny. Like, Paul is very funny in this scene. 

Jenna [01:05:32] Well, since that didn't work, Pam is going to have to turn to Dwight. 

Angela [01:05:35] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:05:36] She wants to go scorched earth on that guy's face. Dwight is in. 

Angela [01:05:41] He loves this side of Pam. He says, you know, typically he sees Pam as a comforting unarousing presence in the office, like a well-watered fern. But he's really liking the side of her. It's making him notice her. And she has a good butt. 

Jenna [01:05:55] Yes. Suddenly. All right. Well, I guess they need an infiltrator is what Dwight says. They need a mole. They're going to send in Clark. 

Angela [01:06:08] Clark, I feel like Clark is the new Meredith. 

Jenna [01:06:11] He's just having to do a lot of things. 

Angela [01:06:15] Physical comedy. 

Jenna [01:06:16] It's true. Should we talk this out? Should we stay here? 

Angela [01:06:19] Yeah, let's do it. 

Jenna [01:06:21] All right. Dwight and Pam are going to very loudly banish Clark to the warehouse. 

Angela [01:06:26] Yeah, they march him over to that big warehouse loading dock door. He's in a it looks like a jumpsuit. Like a warehouse jumpsuit? 

Jenna [01:06:34] Yep. And they're like, you have to work down here now. And, oh, my gosh, Clark is so funny. He's like, you realize this is not going to work, right? 

Angela [01:06:42] He's like, Pam, you're a reasonable person. 

Jenna [01:06:44] Yeah. And she's like, get in there and remember your script! So now we're going to cut to Dwight and Pam, and they're up on that landing at the top of the stairwell. And this is where they're spying through the giant binoculars at everyone in the warehouse. You know, that door went to nowhere. 

Angela [01:07:05] RIght. We've discussed. It was just a tiny little cubby where you could hide. 

Jenna [01:07:09] This scene was one of my favorite scenes to shoot. I really do love a stakeout. I really do. It was a lot of fun. 

Angela [01:07:19] Me too. Yeah. I love a stakeout. I loved when Oscar and Angela would spy on the senator. So fun. 

Jenna [01:07:23] Why are they so fun? 

Angela [01:07:24] I don't know. 

Jenna [01:07:25] Are they fun in real life? 

Angela [01:07:27] I've never been on one in real life other than, like, me walking in my neighborhood, snooping on people. 

Jenna [01:07:32] We need to stake something out. I think it's boring, right? Because a lot of staking out is just the eating of snacks. But then that takes me back to it being fun again. Anyway, the end of this scene, the camera's going to pan down and we're going to see that Clark was, I guess, immediately duct taped to a chair. And the words "SPY YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS" are written across his chest and black marker. 

Angela [01:07:57] Well, you might be wondering why spy is scratched out, and then you'll pay for this is written under it. 

Jenna [01:08:04] Okay. 

Angela [01:08:05] If you are wondering, folks out there, I have the answer. Here is the backstory: In the shooting draft, and it's also in deleted scenes for folks with the DVD. You know, we are on disc three of season nine, everybody. Disc three. So there's a scene where Pam and Dwight are in the bullpen. The main office area. And they're waiting for Clark to report back. And then off in the distance by the elevators, we hear Phyllis screaming, Dwight! Dwight! So Pam and Dwight go running to the elevators, and the doors are opened and sitting shirtless, duct taped to a chair is Clark, and the word spy is written across his chest. Dwight is furious. He says, oh, they're going to pay for this. Then he takes a Sharpie and he draws a line through the word spy, crossing it out, and writes under it, you'll pay for this on Clark's chest. And he's like, we're going to send you back down there with this message. And Clark's like, come on, please, guys. Guys. 

Jenna [01:09:07] I'm remembering all this now that you're saying it. 

Angela [01:09:09] Clark's like Pam. Pam, you know that this is ridiculous, right, Pam? And, like, in the doors are shutting on him. And so that is how they send Clark back to the warehouse. 

Jenna [01:09:18] I just loved how, in this instance of Dwight and Pam teaming up, just how immediately infected by his bad ideas that she was. Because she was out for vengeance. It was very funny to me. 

Angela [01:09:30] Yeah, it sort of altered all her normal reasoning. 

Jenna [01:09:34] Yes. Well, let's go back to the senator's house. Oscar's holding court with some donors. 

Angela [01:09:39] Yeah. And, you know, Lee talked about how there was a lot of extra Angela Oscar Kevin moments? 

Jenna [01:09:44] Yes. 

Angela [01:09:45] While Oscar's holding court, Kevin and Angela are watching. The scene did not make it in. It's in deleted scenes. There's no dialogue, so I'm going to describe it to you, but it's so funny. Kevin is standing eating what looks to be like a pizza pocket. Some kind of pizza pocket, meatball looking thing. And Angela is sitting on the ottoman and she's just watching Oscar, and she's just so, like, ticked off just watching him and like, ugh. And while Kevin is eating the pizza pocket, it kind of busts open with the marinara sauce and it dribbles on to the ottoman Angela is sitting on right next to her. And it was like a whole thing we had to time out because it can't hit me but it has to get right next to me onto the furniture. And then Kevin is trying to clean it. But Angela is never aware because she's just so ticked off and watching Oscar. This is just one of these little moments I loved. I'm gonna put it in stories. 

Jenna [01:10:44] I think this is probably a moment that Lee loved, because it was one of those little, just slice of life moments. 

Angela [01:10:49] Exactly. 

Jenna [01:10:50] Okay, Angela, since you mentioned another hors d'oeuvres, I did do something. I had skipped it from earlier, but I'm going to bring it up here. But I'm going to give you a choice. I have a tangent choice. 

Angela [01:11:04] Oh, okay. 

Jenna [01:11:04] Would you like a mini deep dive on the best passed appetizers at a party? Or would you like an update on telephone landlines? 

Angela [01:11:17] Oh, this is so tough. I mean, I, I love appetizers. 

Jenna [01:11:22] I know, I know. 

Angela [01:11:24] I love like anything bite size. 

Jenna [01:11:26] You know I do too. I love a mini dessert. 

Angela [01:11:28] I love mini food. 

Jenna [01:11:29] Close behind is any mini food at all that you can pop in your mouth. I could eat a whole dinner of appetizers. 

Angela [01:11:36] I want to know the best passed appetizers. But then will you save landline for next week? 

Jenna [01:11:40] I will. All right, here it is. According to DailyMeal.com, here are the best passed appetizers ranked. Number 13. Sliders.

Angela [01:11:50] 13th? 

Jenna [01:11:52] I know. There's 13 and number 13 is sliders. Number 12 is crab cakes. 11, skewers. Ten,  belinis topped with caviar. 

Angela [01:12:03] Bellinis like the drink? 

Jenna [01:12:06] No blinis. The little.  

Angela [01:12:09] Oh, the cracker. 

Jenna [01:12:10] The little pancake thing. 

Angela [01:12:12] Wafer thing. Yeah.

Jenna [01:12:13] It's not a wafer. It's a pancake. It's soft. 

Angela [01:12:15] Yeah. Do you like that I went to bellini's? That's very different. Okay. Go ahead. 

Jenna [01:12:21] Well, listen. A Bellini topped with caviar, I don't know. That's a drink special. Nine, pigs in a blanket. 

Angela [01:12:28] I love pigs in a blanket. 

Jenna [01:12:30] I mean, nine? Wait till you hear some of their top ones. And I'm sorry, but sliders and pigs in a blanket need to move up the list. Number eight, bruschetta. Seven, shrimp cocktail. 

Angela [01:12:40] Love shrimp cocktail. 

Jenna [01:12:42] As a passed appetizer? 

Angela [01:12:43] Not really. 

Jenna [01:12:44] They were showing a picture of it in, like, a little shot glass. And there'd be, like, a little cocktail sauce at the bottom. And then the shrimp, a single shrimp. So it was like a little single. I'm sorry. I'm going to say something right now. It's not a passed appetizer if you're left with any kind of thing- 

Angela [01:13:02] Container? 

Jenna [01:13:02] Yes. And I'm going to include mini spoon or mini fork in that. 

Angela [01:13:05] Yours is like a napkin. What can I eat out of a napkin?

Jenna [01:13:09] That's right. And then I'm going to take your thing, I'm going to pop it in my mouth, I'm going to use the napkin. I don't want to have a toothpick. I don't want to have a mini spoon. I don't want to have a mini fork. And I definitely don't want to have a tiny shot glass that now I'm saddled with. Okay. Strong feelings from me. 

Angela [01:13:24] Strong feelings. Yeah.

Jenna [01:13:25] Okay. Next. Stuffed mushrooms. Number five, oysters. 

Angela [01:13:31] What? That's not a passed appetizer. 

Jenna [01:13:34] I don't know. 

Angela [01:13:35] Then you're stuck with the shell. 

Jenna [01:13:36] I know, that's what I'm saying. It's I... it enrages me. I can't have it. Okay. Number four... I don't know how to say it. I had to look it up. 

Angela [01:13:47] Oh. Sound it out. 

Jenna [01:13:50] Arancini. 

Angela [01:13:52] How dare you? 

Jenna [01:13:53] Is that it? 

Angela [01:13:54] I don't know. 

Jenna [01:13:55] It's a stuffed rice ball. 

Angela [01:13:57] Oh. 

Jenna [01:13:58] They explained that this is higher on our list because the dish can appeal to a wide variety of palates, from carnivores to vegetarians. Each rice nugget is a bite sized carb bomb and can be stuffed with cheese, many cheeses, Angela- mozzarella, salty parmesan, soft ricotta. Or you could have some meat in there. Or pork sausage. 

Angela [01:14:19] You know what happens to me with one of these? 

Jenna [01:14:22] What? 

Angela [01:14:22] I get really excited because I'm usually really hungry by the time they're passed around. And I pop one in my mouth, and the inside is so hot. 

Jenna [01:14:29] Oh, yeah. 

Angela [01:14:30] And then you're like, haaaagh. 

Jenna [01:14:32] Yeah. And it's. It's a hot, sticky goo. All right. The top three. I'm sorry, uh no. Number three, stuffed endives. No. I don't want your piece of lettuce with stuff in it. 

Angela [01:14:50] They need to rethink this list. 

Jenna [01:14:51] Number two, canapés. And number one, flatbread. 

[01:14:55] Flatbread? 

Jenna [01:14:56] Flatbread. 

Angela [01:14:57] Is that like a pizza? 

Jenna [01:14:58] I guess a piece of flatbread. But not a mini pizza. Like a slice of flatbread. 

Angela [01:15:04] Daily Meal, I want you to redo this list. I'm also going to go a little basic and say a tiny, those tiny little pizza things are good. 

Jenna [01:15:13] Yeah. Or how about a mac and cheese ball? 

Angela [01:15:16] Yeah. I love a skewer. Put it on a stick. I don't mind having to ditch the stick. 

Jenna [01:15:21] I don't want your stick. 

Angela [01:15:22] I want the stick. I want some chicken on it or shrimp on it. Give me your skewer. I'll take yours. You don't have to worry about the stick. 

Jenna [01:15:29] Well, if you take my stick, I'll eat the skewer. 

Angela [01:15:31] I'll hold your stick. 

Jenna [01:15:32] And also, finally, I'm with Kevin. Anything in a puff pastry. 

Angela [01:15:37] Bingo. 

Jenna [01:15:37] Literally anything. 

Angela [01:15:38] Bingo. Bango. 

Jenna [01:15:38] Whatever you want to put in it, I'm gonna eat it. 

Angela [01:15:40] Put it in a pastry, I'm going to eat it. 

Jenna [01:15:41] All right, there you have it. I will save my land line up date for another time. But I will give you this teaser... Front page of the New York Times Sunday edition. 

Angela [01:15:53] Your land line was on the front page... What? What? Why would you hold on to that? That's such big news. Why did you let me pick puff pastries? That is fucking huge!

Jenna [01:16:06] Not my land line. 

Angela [01:16:10] Land lines in general. 

Jenna [01:16:11] Yes. 

Angela [01:16:12] I thought you were giving us an update on your land line. 

Jenna [01:16:14] Well, it's a little bit an update on my land line. I'll save it. But there's your teaser.  

Angela [01:16:20] Okay. 

Jenna [01:16:21] That was a tangent. Is anyone with us? Are people starving now? 

Angela [01:16:25] I'm hungry. God, I want to eat all of it. 

Jenna [01:16:28] Where even are we? Okay, here, I got it, I got it. We are going to find out that the only reason that Robert invited Oscar was to pander the Latino vote. 

Angela [01:16:39] Yeah, and Oscar realizes it, too. He has a talking head. And Oscar was so funny when he delivered this talking head. I want to read it to you. He says, maybe I should be insulted that he only invited me here to be his token Mexican friend. But he could have invited any number of Hispanics that he knows. His gardener, Rogeleo. Or he could have invited... Rogelio. But he chose me... Rogelio's Malaysian. That son of a bitch is Malaysian. 

Jenna [01:17:09] I know, it's so funny the way he does it. We're going to go back to Darryl and Jim's apartment now. This is the scene that Lee said they couldn't get through. Darryl has this. 

Angela [01:17:21] Cooler. 

Jenna [01:17:21] Yes. 

Angela [01:17:22] His travel cooler. 

Jenna [01:17:24] Yes. And you know, it seems like they're going to make up. You know, it seems like they're going to come into agreement. They're going to put this whole issue to rest. And then that is when Darryl realizes that Jim deleted all his Tavis Smiley episodes. 

Angela [01:17:40] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:17:41] I have an observation from the scene. I have two observations. 

Angela [01:17:45] Okay. 

Jenna [01:17:45] Number one, Jim John is eating baby carrots. 

Angela [01:17:49] He loves his baby carrots. 

Jenna [01:17:50] He has a sandwich on his plate, but the only thing he's eating is baby carrots. Number two, in this back and forth, Jim says, are you really telling me that if I needed some flour, I couldn't take some of your flour? He's like, it's a 5 pound bag of flour, Darryl. I can't have some? And then Darryl says, what do you need flour for, Jim? 

Angela [01:18:12] Yeah. You're making bread?

Jenna [01:18:13] Okay. My question is, what does Darryl need a 5 pound bag of flour for? That is bread making amounts of flour. I'm just going to say it. I don't think you have 5 pounds of flour unless you're making bread. 

Angela [01:18:23] Maybe Darryl makes bread. 

Jenna [01:18:25] Or homemade pizza dough?

Angela [01:18:27] He's making something. 

Jenna [01:18:28] With a lot of flour. 

Angela [01:18:30] Well, this scene would actually set up more tension. There was another deleted scene where Jim and Darryl, they're kind of at their wits end. They're at Athlead, and they call Toby to help them problem solve their conflict. And Toby is clearly so happy to be of service, but he's so boring that I think this is the beginning of the bridge of Jim and Darryl making up. Because they they put him on speaker phone and they actually ultimately just walk away because he's so boring. Here. Let's hear it. 

Jim [01:19:02] So it started at home and now it's bleeding into work. You have any thoughts? 

Toby [01:19:07] I really appreciate you guys coming to me with this conflict. Okay. I'm going to put you through a series of exercises. I want you each to write down 12 things you like about the other and 12 things you just.... 

Darryl [01:19:19] This is a mistake. 

Jim [01:19:21] In my head he was such an asset. I don't know where that came from. 

Toby [01:19:25] Come up with the 12 likes first and then go to your dislikes, but I recommend building both lists simultaneously. And an interesting thing you'll find is that sometimes the likes and dislikes are the same thing. 

Jim [01:19:39] I'm sorry. I'm just going to get a hamper. 

Darryl [01:19:43] I'm sorry too. I'll get my own TiVo. 

Jim [01:19:47] That's what I'm talking about. 

Toby [01:19:48] Okay. Pencils down. Now let's trade lists. Whoever wants to start the discussion, just go ahead... I can wait. 

Jenna [01:20:02] So oh my gosh. 

Angela [01:20:04] They both hit mute and are like this is horrible. And then Jim's like, look, I'll just get a hamper. You heard Darryl. Darryl's like, I'll get TiVo. And then they just walk away and leave Toby on speakerphone. 

Jenna [01:20:14] Oh my gosh, that's really funny. That is really funny. So Jim and Darryl have called Toby for help. Pam is going to call Darryl for help. There's a lot of phone calls in this episode. And they find out that the thing that Frank cherishes is his truck. 

Angela [01:20:31] Yeah. So now they know how to get back at them. 

Jenna [01:20:33] They are going to paint graffiti on Frank's truck. Dwight is going to paint Pam's mural on the truck's butt. 

Angela [01:20:44] On the tailgate. Yeah. 

Jenna [01:20:45] Because Frank painted butts on Pam's mural. 

Angela [01:20:48] Pam has made quite the drawing down the side of the car. It's like a kind of a blob looking dude that looks like Frank a little bit. And he's farting. 

Jenna [01:20:57] Yes, and he has big saggy lady boobs. 

Angela [01:21:00] And Dwight's like, I love it. Now draw a penis on it. 

Jenna [01:21:03] We got a fan question from Berniece C in Upland, California who said, please tell us everything that standards and practices had to say about the pictures on the truck. Well, thanks to Steve Burgess, we know standards and practices said, quote, the saggy lady boobs, unquote on the side of the truck should not be lifelike in appearance. That was their note. 

Angela [01:21:24] Okay. 

Jenna [01:21:25] So no lifelike butts and no lifelike saggy lady boobs. 

Angela [01:21:30] You know, all of this graffiti on the truck is actually making Pam feel better. And Dwight says, you know, I like hanging out with a vengeful bitch. And I love that. Pam's like you miss Angela, don't you? 

Jenna [01:21:42] Oh, yeah. I know. Well, now we're going to have this big fight. Oh my goodness. Pam is giving a quite gloating talking head. She's very pleased with herself. She does reveal that this is water based paint. Of course, Frank doesn't know that. 

Angela [01:22:01] She got back at Frank the best way. With her art. 

Jenna [01:22:04] Yeah, she used her art as a weapon. Frank is going to come charging out of the building, yelling at Pam. 

Angela [01:22:12] He's like, that's a $40,000 truck! 

Jenna [01:22:14] Yeah, and he's scary. So Brian, the boom guy, as Lee mentioned, is going to step in. He's going to hit Frank in the face with his boom pole, then very gently lay his equipment down. 

Angela [01:22:28] And then a full on scuffle breaks out. Two members of our crew made it into the scene. Our first AD, Rusty Mahmood, and our real boom operator, Nick Carbone. 

Jenna [01:22:39] Yes! We had a fan question from Hannah H in Cleveland, Ohio who said, was it frightening during that scene where Pam is almost attacked? It startles me every time. Was there a safety meeting, perhaps? Oh, Hannah, we had a whole afternoon of choreography for the scene with Brett Jones, our stunt coordinator. It was a fully choreographed fight, but I will tell you, when I watch it, it looks very real. 

Angela [01:23:05] It does. It looks very in the moment. So I thought they did a great job with that. 

Jenna [01:23:08] They really did. Well. Because he was stepping in, Brian got fired. 

Angela [01:23:15] Yeah. We have a scene where he's gathering his things to leave in that closet behind the door. 

Jenna [01:23:21] We talked about that with Lee. 

Angela [01:23:24] And Pam says to him, you know I'll go talk with the producers. I'm so sorry. And that he doesn't deserve to be fired for just protecting her. Brian's going to say, you know, I knew what I was doing and I'm just happy they fired Frank as well. And he's like, look, I don't want to sort of put myself in a place where I shouldn't be... But if you ever need me, just call me and I'll be there. 

Jenna [01:23:48] Well, now, here's one of my questions. All of this upset people so much. But has Brian, like, really... Has he stepped over the line in any way that Pam would have noticed? So far I think not. If Pam and Jim are friends with Brian and Alissa. Like I'm imagining, right? I'm off on a set. And let's say for whatever reason, Josh is there. And I'm getting picked on or I break down crying. 

Angela [01:24:18] Josh would step in for you. 

Jenna [01:24:19] Josh would- and Lee to you. 

Angela [01:24:21] Of course. They would make sure we were okay. 

Jenna [01:24:24] The only hint that we've been given as an audience that Brian isn't maybe on the "up and up" is that one shot of him kind of smiling at Pam. 

Angela [01:24:34] And the boop on the head. 

Jenna [01:24:35] And the boop on the head. You're right. You're right. 

Angela [01:24:39] Those two things felt a little flirty. Yeah. 

Jenna [01:24:43] Okay. 

Angela [01:24:44] Well, I have to share something really quickly that made me laugh that our writer Owen shared with us, because I agree. I called this hot take. Brian is too hot. Owen wrote this. This is not even strictly about the episode. Just a season nine take that I want to get off my chest. And then in all caps, he wrote, BRIAN WAS TOO HANDSOME. A bunch of us in the writer's room felt it was counterproductive to make the boom guy attractive, to the degree that we could sell romantic drama. It was then this other guy liking Pam not in Pam liking him back. So several of us were pushing for a schlubby actor for the role of Brian. In parentheses, he put I will protect my fellow schlubs by not listing their names. Instead, we got Chris Diamantopolis. Great actor. Fantastic actor. Disqualifyingly hot. And then we made it much worse by putting him in a tight t shirt that highlighted his muscles. As a wrestling fan, I'm all for dudes being jacked, but this was problematic jackedness. In retrospect, it was too late in the game for us to tease Pam ending up with someone else, and the audience could tell we didn't really mean it, so they rejected it. Brian's attractiveness was what made it really feel like a tease. Team schlubby Brian for life. 

Jenna [01:26:09] Yeah, it's very funny that he said that, because I did notice that he was in long sleeves for this whole episode. 

Angela [01:26:16] Well, it was cold out this week. 

Jenna [01:26:17] It was colder out this week, but I'm sure what we didn't need were his bulging muscles fighting Frank or his bulging muscles as Pam was like, I'm so sorry you got fired. And he's like, you can count on me any time. So I'll be interested to see if we cover up his muscles from now on. But we did note, oh my gosh, this guy is in amazing shape. 

Angela [01:26:41] Yes! The scene you were talking about, where he doesn't realize that he's smiling watching Pam and he's holding the boom. He's in a tight, short sleeved t shirt. 

Jenna [01:26:51] Well, I haven't had a chance to tell my audition stories yet, but I remember the slew of schlubby Brian's and, I will tell you that the other side of that argument was that a lot of the schlubs reminded us too much of Jim, and it seemed a little bit like you had this sort of like, aw shucks everyman falling for Pam, and it seemed like the argument was Pam is attracted to the aw shucks everyman, and it would be worse to cast that guy as Brian. That it was better to cast this person who looked nothing like Jim and seemed nothing like Jim, because Pam would be less likely to be attracted to him, although he does, I don't know, she was attracted to Roy. He was a big, beefy guy, right? What are you. Why are you laughing? 

Angela [01:27:46] Oh, man. Because I just I just imagine John hearing this. But if I'm John and you're like, you know what? Because he he would have been too much like schlubby John Krasinski. 

Jenna [01:28:02] Listen, John has moved from the schlubby basket to the muscle basket. Okay? It's fine. But he did start in a schlubby basket. He did. 

Angela [01:28:13] John, I'm sorry your first basket didn't have a six pack. 

Jenna [01:28:16] It didn't!

Angela [01:28:17] Oh my gosh. 

Jenna [01:28:18] It didn't. John, we love you. Okay? We love you. 

Angela [01:28:22] I am not participating in this basket conversation. I'm out of it. I'm out of it. 

Jenna [01:28:26] Listen, I started in the ingenue basket. Now I'm in menopause basket and everything that goes with it. 

Angela [01:28:33] Do not sell yourself short. You are in perio menopause basket. 

Jenna [01:28:39] There's a basket between. 

Angela [01:28:40] There is. It's a sexy period menopause basket. 

Jenna [01:28:45] Yeah. 

Angela [01:28:45] Put that in your women's journal. 

Jenna [01:28:47] I'm in it. What basket are we in now? 

Angela [01:28:50] We're not in any basket. We have skipped some scenes in the Lipton house that we need to go back to. 

Jenna [01:28:57] Oh, the whole photo op. 

Angela [01:28:58] Yes. This is the photo op that we talked about with Lee where I just broke. I just completely started laughing because Oscar and I were improvising. And then this is going to lead to all of us leaving the party. We're saying our goodbyes. 

Jenna [01:29:16] This scene is so good with Kevin. 

Angela [01:29:18] I know, and Angela apologizes to Robert for the conflict in the photo op. She says it was my fault. Kevin comes in and says, Robert, thank you for the food, but you suck. 

Jenna [01:29:31] Yeah. He said, these two people care about you and you're just using them. But again, the food was great. 

Angela [01:29:38] Oscar and Angela follow Kevin out. Angela has a little smile on her face that Kevin stood up for her. There was this extended driving scene that Lee talked about. It starts with a Kevin talking head, and then ends with the three of us in the car. And I'd love for you guys to hear it. 

Kevin [01:29:55] I've sat next to Oscar and Angela for 14 years. They're my people. If you just go by distance... Then... They're my best friends... I don't know why you'd go by distance, though, I guess. That's... Yeah. Thanks for getting me all this stuff, Ange. 

Angela Martin [01:30:18] We had way too many appetizers anyway. I don't know who did the ordering. How hard is it to buy for 40? 

Oscar [01:30:26] Some people are just terrible at math. 

Angela Martin [01:30:27] It's embarrassing. 

Oscar [01:30:28] It is. 

Kevin [01:30:29] Totally. 

Angela [01:30:31] So they bond over this moment where people are bad at math. I also love that Kevin's like, these are my people. 

Jenna [01:30:38] You know what? If that thing that breaks my heart that Brian Baumgartner does so well as Kevin when he gets that little quiver in his voice. And he gets, like... 

Angela [01:30:46] Vulnerable. 

Jenna [01:30:49] Yes. So sweet. 

Angela [01:30:50] Really sweet. And that scene was so fun to do. 

Jenna [01:30:53] Well Owen Ellickson said that he loved that scene. Angela, when we asked him like, what were some of your favorite moments? He said, the three of you guys driving back from the party, bonding over math mistakes. He said, you guys played it beautifully, and I hope that scene makes the light of day at some point. 

Angela [01:31:10] Aw. Thanks, Owen. 

Jenna [01:31:13] Well, this scene is going to end with a tag. Jim and Darryl's very clean apartment. 

Angela [01:31:18] And guess what? It's actually not how the shooting draft ended. So you describe how it ended when it aired, and I will share the final moment of the shooting draft. 

Jenna [01:31:28] Okay. Well, Jim and Darryl are playing video games. Darryl finishes the soda and he crumples the can and throws it on the floor. And Jim says, how did that feel? Did it feel good? And Darryl's like, it felt really good. And then if you want to know how John Krasinski laughs in real life, it is this laugh right here. 

Angela [01:31:49] Yes! He got so tickled. That is pure JK. Well, this is how the episode ended in the shooting draft. And of course, once I read it to you, you'll understand why they decided not to end this way. Already with the uproar about Brian the boom guy. 

Jenna [01:32:08] Oh, my gosh, is this something I've forgotten? 

Angela [01:32:10] Probably. But we did read it and it was in the shooting draft, so that means they did shoot it. It would have ended with a Brian talking head after his scuffle. Brian talking head outside. Brian's a little roughed up. Brian says to the camera operator, Fine, okay. He turns to the documentarian and sighs. I'm Brian Whittle. I was the boom mic operator on this documentary until about three minutes ago when they fired me. I don't regret stepping in. Nobody messes with Pam. Pam's my buddy. I spent nine years recording her voice. I followed her to art school in New York. Hell, if it wasn't for those no interfere agreements we signed, I would have... Whatever. It's fine. Then he looks to the boom guy. Hold it higher. Trust the mic. Right there. See? Perfect. 

Jenna [01:33:09] Oh, no. 

Angela [01:33:10] Yeah, that was in the shooting draft. 

Jenna [01:33:14] I think I remember that now. 

Angela [01:33:15] Yeah. If it wasn't for those don't interfere agreements I would have dot dot dot maybe. Whatever. 

Jenna [01:33:23] You know what? That sounds like five dots to me. Dot dot dot dot dot dot. 

Angela [01:33:28] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:33:30] Well there you have it everybody. That was Vandalism. 

Angela [01:33:34] I think we have some big thank you's to shout out. 

Jenna [01:33:37] Yes a big thank you to my husband Lee Kirk for coming into the studio today and talking with us. 

Angela [01:33:43] Yes. And also to Owen Ellickson, our writer, who was so gracious in answering our fan questions. 

Jenna [01:33:49] Yes. Owen is currently working on Saint Dennis Medical. It's an upcoming NBC comedy from The Office's own Justin Spitzer. But he'd also like to give a shout out to chocolate milk, which he says is, quote, an excellent drink that deserves more respect than adults give it. End quote. 

Angela [01:34:09] He's so funny. 

Jenna [01:34:10] And of course, the thank you to Steve Burgess and to all of you for your excellent questions this week. 

Angela [01:34:15] Yes, and to Josh for making us madeleines. We had some good treats today. We hope you guys have a great week. And we just love you and love doing this. And we'll see you next week. 

Jenna [01:34:26] With an update on landlines. 

Angela [01:34:28] See you then. 

Jenna [01:34:35] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. 

Angela [01:34:37] Office ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. 

Jenna [01:34:41] Our senior producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Jordan Duffy, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico. 

Angela [01:34:48] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.