Transcript - Ep 220 - Jenna's news and A.A.R.M., Pt 1

TRANSCRIPT

Office Ladies | Episode 220 - A.A.R.M. Pt 1

Angela [00:00:00] Hi everyone. We recorded today's episode a few weeks ago, but before we play it for you today, we wanted to pop on because, Jenna, you shared something very personal on your Instagram and you said you'd also like to share it here on Office Ladies. 

Jenna [00:00:18] Yes. 

Angela [00:00:19] And this is our second try at this because I got so emotional the first time we started talking about it. It’s just difficult when someone you care about goes through so much. 

Jenna [00:00:22] But I told Angela is she starts crying then I’ll start crying 

Angela [00:00:25] And there is so much you want to share. 

Jenna [00:00:26] Yes. So I'm aware that this is a big share and it's kind of hard to know where to start. But since I'm one of those people who tends to deal with emotional subjects by leaning into facts and statistics, we all know that an Excel spreadsheet is my happy place. 

Angela [00:00:34] It really is. 

Jenna [00:00:35] I will start there. Last December, I was diagnosed with stage one triple positive breast cancer. And for anyone who doesn't know what that means- I did not have a clue- triple positive breast cancer is a very aggressive form of breast cancer that can spread and grow quite quickly. But luckily my cancer was caught very early. It had not spread into my lymph nodes or anywhere else in my body. However, it still required the greatest hits of cancer treatments; surgery, chemotherapy, radiation. 

Angela [00:01:11] All of which has been going on this past year. And and, lady, I know someday you're going to share more about this... In your time when you're ready. But... I just have to tell everyone as your bff, I can't believe how much you held onto these past few months. 

Jenna [00:01:30] Well, I have to say I've had a lot of people helping me hold on to this. 

Angela [00:01:34] I know. 

Jenna [00:01:35] I did not carry this alone. 

Angela [00:01:36] I know you didn't. But you just had such courage and such grace and. You know, I'll cry if we talk about it too much. But I want you to share the first steps after you were diagnosed. 

Jenna [00:01:52] Yes. So. The first thing was I had surgery in January. Then I did 12 rounds of chemotherapy. I had to do it every week. I completed that in May, and then I completed three weeks of radiation in July. And I like sharing those details, Angela, because those were things when I was diagnosed, when I was reading about other people's stories, I appreciated those details. So that's why I'm offering them now. I also want to say that I was recently rescreened. I can very happily say that I am cancer free. 

Angela [00:02:31] Cancer free! 

Jenna [00:02:33] Yes. 

Angela [00:02:34] I remember the day you told me that you were cancer free. I remember how emotional we were in that moment. It was tears. And we were so thankful to hear those words. How does it feel for you to finally share this? 

Jenna [00:02:47] Well, it all still feels very surreal, even as I'm saying this out loud, even after making this announcement, even after living through it, I can't believe it's true. I mean, it's just it's one of those things that you just never think is going to happen to you. I mean, for a long time after the diagnosis came down, Lee and I just kept thinking that this was some mistake on the paperwork. 

Angela [00:03:10] Yeah. I remember just saying, do you like, are they sure? 

Jenna [00:03:14] And, you know, I am still receiving treatments. There are things that are designed to keep me cancer free. So I get an infusion every three weeks of a drug that's called Herceptin. I'm also taking a drug each day to block my body from absorbing estrogen. So I'm still riding waves of super fun random side effects. But I am over the hump of the big treatments and I'm feeling more hearty. And I really wanted to share my story in case it can help other women. Really. That's what it's about for me. 

Angela [00:03:48] Yeah. We talked a lot about how you wanted to go through your treatment with privacy and how important it was. All I could think about during this time, Jenna, was that I just wanted to protect you, you know? And I wanted you to be able to focus all of your energy on your treatment and healing. And I knew that when you were ready that there would be a time for sharing. And I also know that you sharing is going to help so many people. And now you're ready to share. 

Jenna [00:04:19] Yeah. I mean, I did need that bubble. 

Angela [00:04:22] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:04:22] I did need to focus all my energy on my treatment and my family. I have kids. 

Angela [00:04:28] Of course. You have young kids. And this was really that time where you just needed the space to heal. 

Jenna [00:04:34] Yes. 

Angela [00:04:35] And to put your health first. Do you want to tell everyone how you found out? 

Jenna [00:04:41] Yeah. I also want to say, Angela, you are a great protector. I lost my hair during chemotherapy and I was wearing these hats with fake hair coming out the back to all of our podcast recordings, all of our meetings. You guys, Angela started wearing hats to all our meetings, too. We became the hat gals, and it was really moving to me, Angela. This was your idea. Angela also came over to my house, and she stayed with my kids during my surgery so that they didn't have to go to school that day. And it just meant so much to me that they were with you. 

Angela [00:05:19] Well. 

Jenna [00:05:21] I could go on and on about all the ways that Angela and Josh supported us during this time. But to answer your question about how I found out, it was through my routine mammogram. And by the way, that test was inconclusive because I have really dense breast tissue. So my doctor ordered a follow up ultrasound, and that is when they found the tumor. It was in my left breast. It was too small to feel on a physical exam. So I don't know exactly how my sharing can be of service, but maybe this is your reminder out there to schedule your mammogram. Because it was that routine appointment that caught my cancer early enough that it had not spread and it was more easily treatable. 

Angela [00:06:10] It's so important. It's something you and I have talked about a lot that, you know, it's easy to put those things off. And to put yourself second. You take care of everyone else. You put yourself second. And I remember after you were diagnosed that you, you know, I was just amazed by you, Jenna, because you just did that thing that you always do, which is you immediately wanted to get as much information as possible. 

Jenna [00:06:38] Yeah. I mean, I was scared. And... The thing that made me feel better was that information gathering. I really scoured the Internet looking for any information I could find about my diagnosis. I read interviews and cancer blogs and Reddit threads. I got connected with an amazing team of doctors and nurses. They have been so patient and explained things over and over again until I understand them. Their patience is amazing. And then I got connected to other women who had had breast cancer, and they helped me. And I really want to pay that forward. So this is just the start. I hope to share more about my journey in the future. But right now, lady, we have a rewatch to finish. We do, because I love doing our podcast. I love it so much and I want to say thank you to you and to Sam and Cassi. I just think that the space that we have here to work in, I am so lucky to have. And I know I'm lucky. Going through cancer treatment requires a lot of flexibility. This job afforded me a lot of flexibility. And more than that, though, it gave me a safe place to come... And laugh. And escape. I felt a sense of purpose here. It is important to me and I cannot thank you all enough. And this is a thank you to our Office Ladies community as well for this space existing, I guess. And I like being in it. And we have a really good episode today and I want everyone to hear it and enjoy it. 

Angela [00:08:25] Well, lady, we love you and we are here for you and I'm going to give you a hug. But I bet there's lots of other folks just sending you virtual hugs as you share. And you're right. We have a great episode and you're so good in it. So let's let's hear it. 

Jenna [00:08:44] Here it is, everyone. A.A.R.M., Part One. I'm Jenna Fischer. 

Angela [00:08:54] And I'm Angela Kinsey. 

Jenna [00:08:55] We were on The Office together. 

Angela [00:08:57] And we're best friends. 

Jenna [00:08:58] And now we're doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. 

Angela [00:09:02] 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 [00:09:09] We're The Office Ladies. Hello! 

Angela [00:09:14] Hi! 

Jenna [00:09:16] We have a big, big episode today. 

Angela [00:09:19] I mean, the next four are big. 

Jenna [00:09:21] That's right. It's A. A. R. M. Part One. Season nine, episode 24, written by Brent Forrester and directed by Dave Rogers. And here is your summary. The group readies themselves for the premiere of the documentary. Wow. It's really happening. 

Angela [00:09:39] It's happening. 

Jenna [00:09:41] Dwight is going to conduct a series of challenges because he needs an assistant to his assistant. That's the A.A.R.M., assistant to the assistant regional manager. And Jim's having a great time. But Pam wonders if Jim staying in Scranton for her is a mistake. Meanwhile, Dwight reveals his plan to propose to Esther. Darryl tries to Irish exit from Dunder Mifflin. Andy lines up to audition for a TV singing competition, and Angela and Oscar bring Phillip to work and sort of co-parent him. 

Angela [00:10:16] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:10:17] A lot is happening. 

Angela [00:10:18] They're actually really good team. 

Jenna [00:10:20] They really are. Well, before we dive in, I'll have you know, I am using a mug today that is maybe my new- not maybe- it is my new favorite mug of all time. 

Angela [00:10:32] It's the cutest thing. I've never seen anything like it. Tell us about it, Jenna. 

Jenna [00:10:37] All right. We went through our fan mail, and this was in there. It is a handmade mug by this gal named Catie. Catie. And it is a mug with pockets. 

Angela [00:10:50] It looks like denim. With the stitching. And there's all these little denim pockets. 

Jenna [00:10:55] And, you know, I love to drink my coffee out of a handmade piece. 

Angela [00:11:00] I know. 

Jenna [00:11:00] It just brings me joy in the mornings. 

Angela [00:11:03] We should also say that Catie made me a mug as well, and it has hummingbirds on it. 

Jenna [00:11:08] Yes. 

Angela [00:11:08] Does she get us or what? 

Jenna [00:11:10] She definitely gets us. Catie wrote us the sweetest letter, Angela. She said that she is from my hometown of Saint Louis. Born and raised, although she does not say farty-far. 

Angela [00:11:22] Not like Phyllis? 

Jenna [00:11:23] No. 

Angela [00:11:23] Okay. 

Jenna [00:11:24] She currently lives outside of Saint Louis, but pottery is her passion. And Catie, I can see why. 

Angela [00:11:31]  You are so good at it. Catie, we love these bugs. 

Jenna [00:11:34] So incredibly talented. And I want to give her a shout out. But, Catie, unless I'm missing something, I do not see an email address. I do not see your last name. I do not see an Instagram handle. We are looking for you. 

Angela [00:11:47] We're looking for you. So, Catie, if you hear this or anyone that knows Catie in Saint Louis that made us coffee mugs with amazing hummingbirds and pockets, will you tell Catie we love them and we'd love to give her a proper shout out? 

Jenna [00:11:59] Well, I know that I have not had a big soap box in a while. 

Angela [00:12:04] Do you have one? 

Jenna [00:12:05] I might have one. 

Angela [00:12:07] Is it about the Jim and Pam story line? 

Jenna [00:12:09] It is. 

Angela [00:12:10] Is it going to be fast fact one? 

Jenna [00:12:12] It's not. I'm saving it for later, but I'm prepping because I feel like this is my mug for soapboxes now. 

Angela [00:12:19] You got your pockets mug. 

Jenna [00:12:20] I do. My fast fact one is that A.A.R.M. Part One aired on May 9th, 2013. And remember how we said that Diversity Day was like the pilot after the pilot? Well, this was considered the finale before the finale. This was really the last time we're going to see all of these characters in this, like, chronological real time, because the finale is going to flash forward in time. 

Angela [00:12:51] That's right. 

Jenna [00:12:52] Well, this episode was also very well received by critics and fans. Jenna Mullens of E! Online said that it was, quote, Full of emotional moments that seemed like love letters to fans who have watched the show since the pilot, which is really what Greg was going for in these especially last few episodes. But do you remember how it was Greg's intention to bring back different cast members throughout the last season? How we've seen Roy, Jan, all of Dwight's crazy friends... 

Angela [00:13:23] Todd Packer. 

Jenna [00:13:26] Mmhm. Well, he also wanted to make sure that we had an episode that featured that classic Jim Dwight dynamic. That is what inspired this episode. You know, Jim's been gone. We haven't had this playful Jim Dwight business. 

Angela [00:13:41] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:13:42] And so that is what inspired this episode. 

Angela [00:13:45] Well, I love Dwight and Jim, you know, So it made me very happy to see them and their shenanigans again. 

Jenna [00:13:51] And now fast fact number two, Angela. I'm handing it over to you. 

Angela [00:13:55] Thank you. So I'm going to do fast fact two and three today. Here's fast fact number two: A few things. This episode is the start of the final DVD in the whole boxset. We're on the last DVD. It's just number five, season nine. Here are the bonus features on it. There are season nine bloopers. The final table read of the whole series. Yeah, that'll tug on the heartstrings. The 2003 casting auditions of the cast and an auto tuned version of Andy's audition song from this episode. I have a few really fun things from my digital clutter that I will be sprinkling in to A.A.R.M. Part One and Two. Here's the first one. Per my emails that I clearly never get rid of, guess what we were doing this week? 

Jenna [00:14:50] What were we doing? 

Angela [00:14:51] I'll give you a hint. It's also on the call sheets. We were filming the interviews for The Office: A Look Back. 

Jenna [00:14:59] Yes, of course! You know, when I rewatched this episode, I immediately flashed to us sitting in Caffeine Corner. 

Angela [00:15:07] Yep. 

Jenna [00:15:07] Doing those interviews between scenes. In fact, I specifically remember walking out of the warehouse set where we're doing the whole obstacle course and doing those interviews. 

Angela [00:15:18] Well, you know, John organized the filming of this. It's actually all on disc four, but they're so great. They really capture where we all were in our minds and in our hearts as we were filming this episode. And I thought we should play some. 

Jenna [00:15:31] Oh, I love this. You know, they really got a combination of cast, writers, crew talking about their time on The Office. And then it aired on NBC before the finale. 

Angela [00:15:43] That's right. All right. So now for fast fact number three. And I'm going to share clips from A Look Back every week until we finish the rewatch. And for this episode, my first clip is us all sort of pondering, what is this show? 

Jenna [00:15:58] I like it. 

BJ Novak VO [00:16:02] It was simple. It was just an office. Very little happened at Dunder Mifflin. They didn't really get much work done. 

Mindy Kaling VO [00:16:09] It is a quintessential American workplace comedy show. 

Angela Kinsey VO [00:16:13] It was awkward, painfully awkward and hilarious. 

Oscar Nuñez VO [00:16:16] We've all had a boss. They get in the way of you doing your job. 

Jenna Fischer VO [00:16:20] I just love how real it was. 

Paul Lieberstein VO [00:16:22] We were everybody's experience at work. 

Ed Helms VO [00:16:25] It celebrated those human interactions that annoy us all and make us chuckle or make us mad. 

John Krasinski VO [00:16:32] And I think that's what allows people to connect to the show because they can see themselves, they can see their jobs. They can see their relationships in this show. 

BJ Novak VO [00:16:39] The premise of the show when we started was, What if you had the world's worst boss? And the irony was, this is a guy who bought a mug for himself that said World's Best Boss. 

Angela [00:16:50] And then later in the clip, I really thought B.J. sums up the show really well. Let's hear it. 

BJ Novak VO [00:16:57] Who could not relate to the show? The guy wants the girl but can't have her. There's a weirdo working next to you, and your boss is insane. 

Jenna [00:17:07] Yeah, that is it. 

Angela [00:17:08] Isn't that perfect? 

Jenna [00:17:09] That is perfect. 

Angela [00:17:10] All right, well, I'll be sharing a few more things for my digital clutter throughout this episode and the next one, plus some more clips from that look back. 

Jenna [00:17:18] Wow. I can't believe that we're really getting to the end, Angela. 

Angela [00:17:23] I know. You know, I was trading emails with Brent Forrester, who wrote this episode, and he said, Oh my gosh. He said, I am having feelings. Is this the last time I get to share about The Office with you guys? And I said, Nope, no, Brent, it's not. 

Jenna [00:17:39] Yes. Did you tell him about Office Ladies 6.0? 

Angela [00:17:42] Yes, I did. I said, Brent, don't you worry. We're not going anywhere. 

Jenna [00:17:46] No, Brent, we are still going to be emailing you constantly, we promise. And I know we shared about this at the top of our show last week, but for anyone who missed it, after we are done breaking down all of The Office episodes, we will be busting out Office Ladies 6.0. 

Angela [00:18:04] I love it. I love the title and it's so perfect. 

Jenna [00:18:07] You guys know the reference. When Katie, the purse girl, comes into The Office during Hot Girl, Michael calls her Pam 6.0. 

Angela [00:18:15] Jenna and I were talking about this. We think it's because there was an iPhone five at the time. 

Jenna [00:18:18] Or like a Microsoft something five. 

Angela [00:18:21] There was something five, at the time. But it just tickles us so much that we are now going to be Office Ladies 6.0. 

Jenna [00:18:29] And basically we're going to keep chatting about The Office. We're going to dig deeper into characters and storylines, webisodes. Themes. We're going to interview people. And of course, there will be plenty of best friend banter, deep dives, soap boxes, I'm sure. 

Angela [00:18:45] What? More soap boxes? 

Jenna [00:18:47] Possibly. 

Angela [00:18:49] And for all of you that love rewatching the show over and over and relistening to our breakdown of the episodes, don't you worry, because we are going to rerun the entire rewatch in order every Monday from the beginning. And guess what we're calling that? 

Jenna [00:19:06] Second drink. 

Angela [00:19:07] Second drink. Isn't that perfect? 

Jenna [00:19:09] Yeah. We're going to pop on each week with some bonus tidbits. You know, there are people who tell me that they just found the podcast. 

Angela [00:19:17] Yeah. And we've been breaking it down for five years, but people are discovering it, and we want to make sure it's there for them. 

Jenna [00:19:23] Well, I know for example, in the UK they just got The Office on Netflix. So for anybody who wants to relisten or start listening, we'll be starting our Second Drink on November 11th. 

Angela [00:19:35] And Office Ladies 6.0 starts on November 6th. All right. Why don't we go to break? But before we do, real quick, I have one more thing, you guys. You know I love some seasonal clothing. Okay. So I saw some really cute Halloween socks that feature little cats. And I got us all a pair. 

Jenna [00:19:56] Aw. Thanks, Lady. 

Angela [00:19:57] This is what happens to me when I'm alone in a shopping mall. I'm like, Oh, cat socks. I'll buy those. 

Jenna [00:20:04] Well, I want to give you fair warning. I've been saving Instagram videos of Halloween crafts that you can make from Dollar Tree. 

Angela [00:20:13] Please tell me we can make one. 

Jenna [00:20:15] We might be crafting one Saturday soon. 

Angela [00:20:17] You guys each get to pick out a pair. Sam, it said one size fits all. I don't know. But maybe. Maybe they'll fit everybody. 

Jenna [00:20:26] All right, Let's take a break and we will be back with A.A.R.M. Part One. 

Angela [00:20:41] We are back. We have cute Halloween cat socks and we are ready to break down this episode. Kevin is going to arrive to work. He waves at Erin. There's a very sophisticated sort of like, keypad buzzer thing happening. He buzzes the keypad and Erin says, The tea in Nepal is very hot. And Kevin has written some kind of like, passcode on his arm. And he answers, But the coffee in Peru is much hotter. And then Erin lets him in. 

Jenna [00:21:08] Dwight has a talking head where he explains he has made some upgrades to the office security. He got these new doors from an old jewelry store. He has this passcode that he sends everybody first thing in the morning. It's not the KGB, but it's a start. 

Angela [00:21:25] He loves to lock it up. He loves a tight security system. 

Jenna [00:21:33] He does. 

Angela [00:21:33] And then he arrives to work and he gets the code wrong. And then they hit the steam button. Dwight says it's harmless steam to scare intruders, although he wanted dangerous steam, I guess. But it was too expensive. 

Jenna [00:21:46] Creed likes it. He's, I think, been purposely steaming the room because it's saving him on dry cleaning. Now we have our opening credits. They're very short, but we got a lot of mail about them. 

Angela [00:22:03] I bet I can guess. 

Jenna [00:22:04] Yeah?

Angela [00:22:05] We have a new manager. Where are our new credits? What? What little bobblehead thing would Dwight have pushed to the front? 

Jenna [00:22:12] Angela, you are not the only person who was disappointed. Let me read this one from Jesse B in San Clemente, California, who said, We have been waiting as long as Dwight has for him to be manager. So now that he is finally manager, why does he not get the ending manager slot in the intro? 

Angela [00:22:30] I know. 

Jenna [00:22:31] Well, we reached out to Dave Rogers, director of this episode. We asked him a bunch of questions, and this is the first one. Dave said that there was discussion about adding a Dwight as manager shot at the end of this title sequence, but ultimately they never filmed anything new for it. And here is why. The main reason was they wanted to use Pam and Jim kissing as the final image in the main title for several episodes because they felt that at this point the idea of who is manager had been eclipsed by the characters' personal lives, and they felt like the focus here of these final episodes was more about summing up Jim and Pam. He said also they were really pressed for time and they literally didn't have time to shoot a new little manager title with Dwight. And also there was so much in this episode that they had to make the main titles really short anyway. So there were kind of three reasons. 

Angela [00:23:28] I was thinking it was for time, that we were just really crunching to get these episodes out, and they were such big episodes as it was. There's a whole entire Nellie and Toby storyline that is cut. 

Jenna [00:23:41] I know. 

Angela [00:23:42] So they really needed to use every second and minute they had for this episode. 

Jenna [00:23:47] I'm going to tell you something right now. I would have preferred to see Dwight at the end of these end credits rather than Jim and Pam, and this is going to relate to my soapbox later. But Jim and Pam are on my last nerve right now. 

Angela [00:23:59] Okay. 

Jenna [00:24:00] So. 

Angela [00:24:01] Stay tuned for the soapbox. 

Jenna [00:24:02] Stay tuned. Next up, we are in Oscar's apartment and there is a very interesting sleeping arrangement going on here. It looks like Oscar's apartment has sort of a main bedroom. And on either side of the bedroom, there are two walk in closets. This is very nice closet storage. Baby Philip is in a crib in one walk in closet and on the other side of the bedroom, Angela is sleeping in the other side.

Angela [00:24:30] Yes, lady, I love these Angela and Oscar roommates scenes so much. And I want to take a moment to appreciate how amazing Oscar's loft looks. It was built entirely on our stage. Our art department and set dressing did such a fantastic job. Here is my digital clutter item number two. I call it a loft because that is what our art department called it. At the time, I was remodeling my own house and redoing my kitchen. And I loved the kitchen they built for Oscar so much. I asked them if I could have some photos of it. And one of our set dressers, James, a.k.a. Jim McDermott, we love him, sent me all the photos of Oscar's entire loft. I still have them. I found them and I'm going to share them and stories. This is a gorgeous, gorgeous loft. 

Jenna [00:25:19] I'll tell you two things that I noticed, two background catches that really impressed me and I felt like they were great details. 

Angela [00:25:26] Let's hear it. 

Jenna [00:25:27] At two minutes and six seconds, Oscar has a red landline rotary phone on his bedside table. You know he does. You know he's a landline guy. 

Angela [00:25:38] He's ready. 

Jenna [00:25:39] He's ready. He is ready. And then at two minutes and 11 seconds, he has a red canister set in his kitchen. He clearly loves a pop of red. 

Angela [00:25:50] He loves a pop of color. 

Jenna [00:25:52] I love these details. 

Angela [00:25:54] Well, Phillip is going to cry, and Oscar tells Angela he's crying for her. They're getting ready for work. It's kind of like that busy morning where you're getting kids out the door. Angela's laying out Phillip's outfit and Oscar says, Saddle shoes with denim? I will literally call child services. So Oscar's like, helping Phillip's look. And I just loved doing all of these scenes. They felt so easy and organic for these two characters to be roommates. 

Jenna [00:26:20] This is definitely one of my favorite Angela storylines ever is this pairing. 

Angela [00:26:25] Yeah. Me too. 

Jenna [00:26:27] Speaking of pairs, Esther has driven Dwight to work. And they kiss goodbye. 

Angela [00:26:35] We learn some big news now in a Dwight talking head. You know, he's sort of listing off all the things that are going well for him. Manager of Dunder Mifflin, check. Owner of a 600 acre beet farm, check. Engaged to an actual milkmaid. Well, almost check. Right? That's going to happen later in the day. He's going to propose to her with his grandmother's ring from her butt. 

Jenna [00:26:56] Well, from a bullet from her butt. 

Angela [00:26:58] A bullet from her butt. 

Jenna [00:26:59] Yeah. 

Angela [00:26:59] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:27:04] Next up, Andy is going to arrive to auditions for America's Next A Cappella Sensation. He's checking in, and he seems nervous, like, will I be allowed to audition? They're like, no problem. Head to the back of the line. He's like, yes!

Angela [00:27:21] Yes! I mean, he felt like he had to list off his resume so far. He was like, You might know me from a TV documentary that's premiering tonight. I also killed it in local theater, and I'm fresh off a hot industrial flick. They're like, We don't care, buddy. Just go get in line. 

Jenna [00:27:35] I asked Steve Burgess, Where did we shoot this giant audition line? He said, We shot at Pickwick in Burbank. We shot outside and inside their convention center. 

Angela [00:27:45] Pickwick is like a bowling alley, an ice skating rink. 

Jenna [00:27:48] It was. They tore down everything except the ice skating rink. The L.A. Kings purchased the ice rink and all the rest of it, the bowling alley, all the rest of it, the convention center has been torn down and they're putting up condos. 

Angela [00:28:01] You are kidding me. I loved that bowling alley. 

Jenna [00:28:04] I bowled there constantly. All the time. That was my bowling alley. 

Angela [00:28:08] Yeah. Oh, I didn't know that. 

Jenna [00:28:10] It was kind of like an L.A.. I don't know. I feel like it was iconic. Pickwick.

Angela [00:28:15] Yeah. Pickwick. 

Jenna [00:28:19] We got a fan question from Adam W in Webster, New York, who said, At three minutes, 36 seconds, when Andy is walking to the back of the line, exactly how many extras were in this scene? There are so many. 

Angela [00:28:30] I wondered the same thing. The line looks like it goes on forever. 

Jenna [00:28:34] Steve Burgess said 234. 

Angela [00:28:36] That's a ton for us. 

Jenna [00:28:38] That's a lot. We also got a fan question from Nikita C in Sydney, Australia, who asked,  Why did the documentary crew continue to follow Andy after he left the office? They didn't follow Michael or Robert California or anyone else. Guess who had an answer for us?

Angela [00:28:57] Dave Rogers. 

Jenna [00:28:58] That's right. Dave said The in-universe answer to this question is simple. If a person moved far away and was no longer tied to the company like Michael in Colorado or Robert California in Europe, then the documentary crew no longer covered them. They just couldn't afford to send crews to follow these people. 

Angela [00:29:19] They did send a crew to Tallahassee, though. 

Jenna [00:29:22] Because our Dunder Mifflin people went. 

Angela [00:29:25] Like the Stamford branch. Yes. Tallahassee, enough of the employees went. 

Jenna [00:29:30] Correct. They were still affiliated with Dunder Mifflin. He said also, the camera still followed Michael, Pam and Ryan when they formed Michael Scott Paper Company because they were still local. They were still intertwined with the Scranton branch. 

Angela [00:29:46] They were also in the same building. 

Jenna [00:29:48] True. But the camera also followed Andy when he went to Florida to get Erin. You know. However, when Andy went sailing on his boat with his brother, the crew did not stay with him. So because he was only very recently fired to pursue his dream of being a singer, the documentary crew felt that a trip to Pittsburgh to see if he was going to make it was worth following. 

Angela [00:30:13] I buy that. I buy that. It sort of wraps up his story. 

Jenna [00:30:16] And remember, he did spend a whole episode following his dream, not following his dream, following his dream. I think there is some value in knowing, could he be back at Dunder Mifflin next week? 

Angela [00:30:28] Right. Right. 

Jenna [00:30:29] So that was how we explained it internally. Why the camera is still with Andy. I buy it. 

Angela [00:30:35] I buy it. Well, Andy is going to have a talking head where he says he burned all of his bridges at Dunder Mifflin and it's time to become the next American Idol by winning America's Next A Cappella Sensation on Channel TBD. I love that it was TBD. To be determined. 

Jenna [00:30:52] He said This is basically a new take on American Idol and The Voice because this time all three judges are mean. 

Angela [00:31:00] We now have a really great scene between Jim and Dwight in Dwight's office. Jim is going to give him a sales form to sign, but first he has to put it in the inbox so he can't hand it to Dwight. No, he has to put it in the inbox. Then Dwight signs it, then Dwight puts it in the outbox where then Jim can pick it up, and then they shake. But Jim does not let go of his hand. And then this goes into one of those classic great fakey talking heads where you think it's just Dwight. But we reveal the sidekick, and it's Jim sitting just behind him. 

Jenna [00:31:32] Angela, did you do a breakdown of Dwight's office decor? 

Angela [00:31:39] No, I didn't. I did a breakdown of his hierarchy mobile. 

Jenna [00:31:43] Well, that is good. 

Angela [00:31:45] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:31:46] I did a breakdown of it. 

Angela [00:31:47] Well, I know everything on the hierarchy mobile table. 

Jenna [00:31:50] All right, well, let's- when we get to that, I will give that over to you. 

Angela [00:31:54] Let's hear it. 

Jenna [00:31:55] Here's what I spotted: multiple old timey photos on his desk. On his credenza. The hierarchy mobile. A photo of a jet. 

Angela [00:32:06] Yes, I saw that, too. 

Jenna [00:32:08] I zoomed in. I got the details on that. It is the I.K.H.A.N.A. It is an unmanned aircraft that is designed for high altitude long endurance science flights. And it was actually used in a joint project of NASA and the U.S. Forest Service and was flown in to monitor forest fires in the western U.S.. 

Angela [00:32:31] That's very specific. 

Jenna [00:32:33] Very specific that he loves that particular aircraft so much. He has a giant picture of it on his wall. I also spotted some binoculars, a boar's head and an award of merit from March 2002 from the Greater Scranton Agrarians for outstanding service to the farming community. 

Angela [00:32:56] What was on his desk?

Jenna [00:33:00] Old timey photos. 

Angela [00:33:02] Okay, Next week we're going to break down what's on his desk. 

Jenna [00:33:05] His desk is very efficient. He doesn't have a bunch of crap on his desk like everybody else. 

Angela [00:33:09] That's fine. We're still going to break it down. 

Jenna [00:33:11] He has the inbox in the outbox that you mentioned and some old timey photos. And the end. 

Angela [00:33:15] That's it?

Jenna [00:33:16] Yeah. It's not a lot. 

Angela [00:33:17] No magic eight ball. 

Jenna [00:33:18] No magic eight ball. But there is a kind of what looks like a type of eight ball on his credenza. 

Angela [00:33:25] I. Listen.

Jenna [00:33:27] Not on his desk. 

Angela [00:33:27] I got you covered. 

Jenna [00:33:28] You got the credenza? 

Angela [00:33:30] Yes. Because I zoomed in like crazy on that hierarchy mobile. So on the credenza, there is a gold frame with two old timey oval pictures of some old timey relatives. In front of it, at first I'm like, That's a magic ball. No, it's not. 

Jenna [00:33:46] What is it? 

Angela [00:33:46] I zoomed in on it. It's a globe. 

Jenna [00:33:50] Oh. Of the earth? 

Angela [00:33:51] Yeah. It's like black. But then the continents are green. 

Jenna [00:33:55] Okay. 

Angela [00:33:56] And then I did a breakdown of the hierarchy mobile. 

Jenna [00:33:59] Let's hear it. 

Angela [00:33:59] Okay. I feel like this is the energy we bring to our Mom Detective stuff. You're like, Did you do that? I'm like, No. 

Jenna [00:34:06] I know. 

Angela [00:34:06] Did you do that? Sort of. Okay, here we go. Now, if you want to go to ten minutes, you get a really good view of this, okay? 

Jenna [00:34:14] Yeah. They're going to talk about it. 

Angela [00:34:15] They're going to talk about it later. But we'll share what's on it now. It is a hierarchy mobile. You have the center and then you have two arms that go off of it. Right? So down the center, you have Dwight K. Schrute, regional manager. Then you have Jim Halpert, assistant to the regional manager and salesman. Nellie Bertram, Director of Special Projects. Angela Martin, Head Accountant. Oscar Martinez, Accountant. Kevin Malone, Accountant. To the left of the arm you have under Dwight and Jim, Toby Flenderson, Human Resources. Pam Halpert, Office Administrator. Meredith Palmer, Supplier Relations. Pete Miller, Customer Service Rep. Erin Hannon, Receptionist. And then to the right, under Dwight and Jim, it has Darryl Philbin, Head of Shipping and Distribution. Stanley Hudson, Salesman. Phyllis Vance, Salesman. Clark Green, Junior Salesman. Did we know Clark's last name? 

Jenna [00:35:09] I don't think we did. 

Angela [00:35:10] Now we do. He is Clark Green. And then Creed Bratton, Quality Assurance. 

Jenna [00:35:15] Wow. 

Angela [00:35:16] Yeah. And I thought Phyllis might have been Phyllis Lapin Vance, but she only has one last name listed. There you go. Clark Green, everybody. 

Jenna [00:35:27] And I think we now have the official word on what Creed does as well. 

Angela [00:35:30] Quality assurance. Yeah. Also, I didn't realize that Meredith was supplier relations. 

Jenna [00:35:35] You know what? Maybe we did know that because isn't that why she was sleeping with people? Keeping up the relations.

Angela [00:35:39] Yes. Yes. Yes, we do know that. That's right. 

Jenna [00:35:43] Okay. Well, before we leave this office, I've got one more fan question. It's from Alexis PE and Marietta, Ohio, who said, There is a portrait of Dwight and Mose in the background behind Jim inside Dwight's office. Did Rainn and Mike Schur have to sit for a portrait together? Also, who was the artist? Please tell us everything. 

Angela [00:36:03] Well, this painting has been established before. It was in The Farm. 

Jenna [00:36:06] That's right, Angela. Yes, I did not remember that. But Dave Rogers pointed that out to me. Steve Burgess said that it was painted by Jules Kmetzco, who Phil Shea had make pretty much all of our Office art. She did Pam's watercolor, for example. She did this portrait. She did the one that you're going to see in the conference room soon. And nobody had to sit for these portraits. She worked off of photographs. 

Angela [00:36:34] Cassi, will you put her on our list for Office Ladies 6.0? I'd love to hear about all the different artwork on the set of The Office and what she created and just hear all about it. 

Jenna [00:36:44] That's a good idea. 

Angela [00:36:46] Our list for Office Ladies 6.0 is really getting along. 

Jenna [00:36:49] We realize there's a lot of stuff to still talk about. Listen, I know it's a little early, but I might need to take a break. I want to refill my pockets mug. I want to use the restroom. I want to eat a cheese stick. Is that all right? 

Angela [00:37:03] I am never, ever going to stop you from eating cheese. Ever. 

Jenna [00:37:09] Thank you. Well, we're going to take a break and we'll be right back. 

Angela [00:37:22] We are back. We have had snacks and we're ready to talk about the fact that Jim and Dwight run a no nonsense office. 

Jenna [00:37:30] It's been six days since their last nonsense. 

Angela [00:37:33] That's right. Jim holds up a chalkboard that says Five Days, and Dwight erases it and writes in the number six. They're very serious about the no nonsense. 

Jenna [00:37:42] Now, Jim is going to join Pam at their desk clump and he is going to say the pre-conference four meeting went well, which bodes well for the post conference room meeting. Ultimately, it all does depend on the conference or meeting itself. 

Angela [00:37:55] And then he gets a call and it's from the folks at Athlead. They're wondering, you know, what's up with him? Is he coming back? What's going on? 

Jenna [00:38:03] Is he going to go on this three month tour? 

Angela [00:38:06] 32 cities or something like that? 

Jenna [00:38:08] Yeah, they really want him to go. 

Angela [00:38:09] Jim is going to share a little bit more about this in a talking head. He said I guess they would be meeting athletes on their own turf, building relationships. It sounds really fun. But he said no, and that's final because he doesn't want to risk losing Pam again over Athlead.

Jenna [00:38:24] And then Pam has a talking head where she feels relieved but also a little guilty. She kind of feels like he's giving up this big thing for her, but he seems happy. You know, he's been goofing around a lot and she really loves Goofy Jim. 

Angela [00:38:37] Here's what I want to say to that. 

Jenna [00:38:39] Oh. I've got my mug in my hand. 

Angela [00:38:41] Okay. Well, my mug doesn't have pockets, but it has a hummingbird that's ready to buzz around. 

Jenna [00:38:46] All right, you start. 

Angela [00:38:49] Um. Grow up. 

Jenna [00:38:51] I spit out my coffee. Go on. 

Angela [00:38:56] That's what I want to say to Pam. Grow up. And, Jim, you're adults. You have family. You have a home. Goofy Jim was in his 20s. They're older now, and the two of them need to evolve as a couple at the workplace and with their goals and... Goofy Jim. It just pissed me off. 

Jenna [00:39:21] Okay. Okay. 

Angela [00:39:23] How was that? 

Jenna [00:39:24] That was good. And it was not my soapbox. So here's what I have to say. It's not that Jim almost lost Pam because he went to Athlead. Jim almost lost Pam because he was dishonest and sneaky and non-communicative and made decisions without her input. And now all they've done is swing too far in the opposite direction. What this couple needs is to communicate. 

Angela [00:39:52] And grow up. 

Jenna [00:39:53] Yes, exactly. Jim is allowed to start a business. And Pam is allowed to feel overwhelmed and lonely. And there is a way that they could do this all if they would just talk to each other more. 

Angela [00:40:07] That's right. 

Jenna [00:40:09] It's not solved by just making this giant new decision to just come back and be goofy Jim. Clearly. They are on my last nerve. 

Angela [00:40:21] Yeah. Equally, the two of them. 

Jenna [00:40:24] The two of them. But also, Pam is really on my last nerve. She's going to get on a major last nerve a little later in this episode. 

Angela [00:40:35] Okay. 

Jenna [00:40:36] Right now, it's both of them. All right. 

Angela [00:40:38] Nana, put your tissue back in your pocket. 

Jenna [00:40:40] I know. All right. It felt good to get that off my chest. 

Angela [00:40:44] Well, good. We are now going to have a conference room meeting and we learn Dwight begins every meeting with an inspirational quote. He's made himself a fast fact. Right now, it probably seems fun, but several meetings in he's going to be like, God damn, I got to come up with a stupid, inspirational quote. 

Jenna [00:41:03] He's going to make Jim do it. 

Angela [00:41:05] Yeah. But then Jim will pass it on to his other assistant, so he'll be doing it for himself. Here's the quote. Some say the only failure there is is the failure to try. And then he rings a buzzer. Eh! That is wrong. Failure of any kind is failure. Jim, over to you. 

Jenna [00:41:21] Now, Jim is going to remind everyone of their no nonsense rule. Pam is going to raise her hand and present a scenario to clarify whether or not this is nonsense or not. 

Angela [00:41:31] Now we have Goofy Jim and Pam. 

Jenna [00:41:34] Pam's example is if someone came in and they were carrying water jugs, could you say nice jugs? 

Angela [00:41:43] I was very surprised by Pam's example. Pam's example sounds like something Todd Packer would pitch. 

Jenna [00:41:49] Well, interestingly enough, this was a candy bag joke. This was not the originally scripted joke. 

Angela [00:41:54] Interesting. Well, Jim says that's obviously nonsense. And what percentage of nonsense do we tolerate in this office? And everyone replies, Zero. No nonsense. You can't have any nonsense. 

Jenna [00:42:05] Now Angela's going to arrive. She's just gotten to work. 

Angela [00:42:08] She's a little late. 

Jenna [00:42:09] And she's carrying Phillip. 

Angela [00:42:11] Yes, we did film a whole scene that got cut out where Angela takes Phillip to daycare, and they turned her away because of the Senator scandal and Oscar. There is a blooper from that scene. It's on the DVD extras because the little boy playing Phillip really wanted to, like, run. There was, like, grass and, like, stuff. And I'm holding him and he wanted down. And so I'm, like, trying to say my line and juggle him, and I just get so tickled. He wins. He gets down. I let him down. 

Jenna [00:42:43] Well, it's interesting you mention him because we got a fan question from Jess C in Edmonton who said, Is the actor that plays Phillip related to Rainn in any way? Because they really look so alike. And if not, hats off to the casting team. Well, Baby Phillip was played by twins Vince and Evan Edwards. This was their first on camera gig on a professional set. 

Angela [00:43:05] They were so cute and they were just so sweet. You know, we've shared we would go and spend time with any kids that played our children just to get to know them. And I just remember them being so stinkin cute. 

Jenna [00:43:17] They were so cute. And they were also not related to anyone on the set. I asked Dave what were the casting requirements to find this baby, Phillip? well, he said they did not actively search for babies that would look like Dwight or look like Angela. That was just luck. He said their main search criteria was could they do all the actions required because they actually have a lot that they need to do. And it's really challenging for babies to be on set with a lot of strange people, you know? And that after meeting with several sets of twins, Evan and Vincent came in and Dave said he instantly knew this was the new baby Schrute. He said they were just really calm, very attentive, and they were really cool with being held by both you and Rainn. 

Angela [00:44:05] Yeah. And Oscar. And you know, you'll see me in the conference room. I have a little toy that was his actual toy, you know. So we did have things even on set that were actually his to make him feel more at home. 

Jenna [00:44:18] Well, anyway, that's how we found them. And Dave did say he was absolutely delighted that they did sort of look a little bit like Rainn and they had your blond hair. He said it was amazing. 

Angela [00:44:26] It was really good casting. Dwight is going to say Phillip can stay and he announces that he's going to let everyone off half an hour early so they can go watch the documentary. 

Jenna [00:44:36] But you have to make up the time. You know, he said you can make it up by either staying 30 minutes later tomorrow or one minute. 

Angela [00:44:45] For the rest of the month. 

Jenna [00:44:46] Yeah. What would you do? Would you stay 30 minutes or one extra minute? I would stay 30 minutes. 

Angela [00:44:51] I would say 30 minutes and get it done. 

Jenna [00:44:54] But also, like, what am I going to do with one extra minute a day. 

Angela [00:44:57] Unless I run one minute late usually. Then it doesn't change my day much. 

Jenna [00:45:02] It doesn't. Well, now we're going to see some talking heads from people, and we're getting some insights into how people feel about the fact that this documentary is going to be airing starting tonight. 

Angela [00:45:14] Meredith is like, I better come out smelling like a rose. I've been on my best behavior for nine years. If it wasn't for the cameras, I would have done some truly vulgar crap. Noted. 

Jenna [00:45:25] Stanley notes that over the course of the documentary, he's had three affairs. 

Angela [00:45:30] And if you find his body in a ditch, let me save the police some trouble. My wife did it. 

Jenna [00:45:35] Kevin announces that he's going to be watching the documentary at Poor Richard's and that everyone is welcome. 

Angela [00:45:40] Well, why is he watching it at Poor Richard's?

Jenna [00:45:42] Well, it has something to do with an all you can eat shrimp commercial. 

Angela [00:45:46] He charged the TV. When the shrimp commercial came on and he broke his TV. 

Jenna [00:45:52] You know, my friend Luda, who I was out here with in my very earliest of days, she went to college with me. We both came out to L.A. to be actresses. She was in a Red Lobster all you can eat shrimp commercial. 

Angela [00:46:06] No way. What was her part? 

Jenna [00:46:09] She said-. 

Angela [00:46:11] She had a line? 

Jenna [00:46:12] She had a line. 

Angela [00:46:12] That's huge. 

Jenna [00:46:13] I know. She had a line. And then there was something about it where she got to eat at Red Lobster for free for a while. We ate so much Red Lobster because she had done this commercial. I mean, it was so many of those cheddar biscuits. 

Angela [00:46:32] Wow. 

Jenna [00:46:32] That are so good. But I mean, she got us through that commercial and that free Red Lobster. It got us through some lean times in our early days. 

Angela [00:46:41] I bet. I did the Lay's WOW potato chips commercial, and I had to eat them. You know, the one. 

Jenna [00:46:47] That had Olestra? 

Angela [00:46:48] That caused anal leakage? I had those chips all day. I'd take a bite and I'd say, Wow, that was my only line. I was fine. Did not mess up my constitution at all. So anyway, I didn't get free shrimp, but I did get some potato chips. 

Jenna [00:47:07] You also didn't get anal leakage. Which I think is good. 

Angela [00:47:10] It's a bonus. 

Jenna [00:47:12] I think they discontinued those, though, right? 

Angela [00:47:14] I think they did. And Red Lobster went out of business because of their all you can eat shrimp. 

Jenna [00:47:19] My God. I think that's right. 

Angela [00:47:20] Yeah, right? I think I read that. 

Jenna [00:47:23] I think I did, too. That it really did them in. 

Angela [00:47:25]  Well, it did Kevin's TV in. See how I brought us back? 

Jenna [00:47:29] You brought it back, lady. Now, Oscar's also going to say he can't believe that this documentary is finally airing and notes that when they started filming, he was still having sex with women. 

Angela [00:47:41] As was Kevin, I believe. Creed says this airs tonight? Oh man, if my parents see this, I am toast. 

Jenna [00:47:50] Creed's parents?

Angela [00:47:52] I want to do an episode just called Creed. 

Jenna [00:47:55] Well, who else wanted to do that? Was it Mike Schur or was it B.J. Novak? One of the two of them told us that they wanted to follow Creed for a whole day. 

Angela [00:48:04] I'd love it. 

Jenna [00:48:06] Well, now we're going to cut back to Andy. He's still waiting in line to audition, and suddenly a cute blond is going to appear behind him. She wants some camera time. 

Angela [00:48:16] She's Casey Dean!

Jenna [00:48:18] We don't need to tell you who she is. She's going to tell you herself. 

Angela [00:48:21] Let's hear it. 

Casey Dean [00:48:23] Woo hoo! Casey Dean, Cincinnati, Ohio. Doctor, doctor, I give me the news. I got a great Casey Dean for you! America!  

Andy [00:48:32] This is my time. 

Jenna [00:48:35] Casey Dean was played by Jessica St. Clair. She is a member of Upright Citizens Brigade improv comedy. She is a powerhouse. She co-created and starred in USA's Playing House. She has a podcast. 

Angela [00:48:48] She sure does. 

Jenna [00:48:49] Called The Deep Dive with June Diane Raphael, who, as you know, is one of the women who inspired us to start our podcast. We reached out to Jessica via our old producer at Earwolf, Codi Fischer, who produced their podcast, The Deep Dive. She put us in touch. 

Angela [00:49:07] We were so excited to hear from Jessica about how she got her role on The Office, and we had a few other questions for her. We're going to sprinkle those in, but let's start with how she got her role in The Office. 

Jessica St. Clair [00:49:17] Hi guys. So thank you so much for asking me to even weigh in on this episode. It really was a highlight for me. I'm a huge fan of The Office and it was I know the season, the show was ending and I thought, well, that's it for me, you know, that that you guys were going to be the one that got away. And at the last minute I got a call, and I really think it was like two days before the before it shot. So maybe Sandra Bullock wasn't available. And then they went down the list. But I was so happy to do it because Ed Helms is such a dear friend of mine and an old friend from the UCB Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in our 20s. Back when I had Hugh Grant's hair cut from Four Weddings and a funeral. And so I knew I was going to get to spend the day with Ed, so that was amazing. 

Angela [00:50:12] I love that she compared her haircut to Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral. I have seen that movie so many times. I have an instant image of what her hair looks like. She's so funny. 

Jenna [00:50:25] So funny, and she's going to give us some more delicious nuggets as we go on. 

Angela [00:50:30] We now have a great scene with Angela and Oscar. They're over an accounting, but they're acting like an old married couple. Like she's saying, did you pack the snacks? And he's like, No, I told you to pack the snacks. And she says, Well, whenever I pack the bag, you told me I pack it wrong. And Kevin's like, Guys, Hey, guys, guys. 

Jenna [00:50:45] Yeah. Kevin's like, Guys, I want you to see this funny video on my computer. Look at my computer. 

Angela [00:50:51] Where someone says bold instead of cold. It's not that funny, Kevin. 

Jenna [00:50:56] But then Kevin has an amazing talking head. 

Angela [00:51:00] It might be my favorite talking head of the entire series. There. I said it.

Jenna [00:51:03] Okay, well, you are not alone. Katy F from London, UK said, I have been waiting four years and ten years because this aired ten years ago. 

Angela [00:51:16] Got it. 

Jenna [00:51:17] To tell you that Kevin's line in this episode is my favorite line of the entire series. 

Angela [00:51:23] I'm with you and I think we should hear it. 

Jenna [00:51:25] Let's hear it. 

Kevin [00:51:26] Phillip, Phillip, Phillip. It's all about Phillip. I hate Philip. 

Angela [00:51:37] Here's what I want you to know about that talking head. It was not the one in the script. It was a candy bag alt. 

Jenna [00:51:43] Oh my gosh! 

Angela [00:51:44] Yes. And I can share with you two other versions. Ready? 

Jenna [00:51:47] Yes. 

Angela [00:51:47] So here's how it was scripted. Phillip, Phillip, Phillip. It's all about Phillip. I hope Phillip runs away. And this was another candy bag alt. And it really made me laugh. Kevin says, on the one hand, Phillip is a cute baby. On the other hand, I hate his stupid face and wish he'd go to baby hell. 

Jenna [00:52:11] Kind of like that one. 

Angela [00:52:12] Anyway. Katie in London, I'm with you. Such a fantastic talking head. 

Jenna [00:52:18] Well, this really points to that dynamic that you talked about originally, Angela, which is that you always felt like you were this dysfunctional family over in accounting where you and Oscar were the parents and Kevin was your kid. And now here you have your next kid, and he's very jealous. 

Angela [00:52:35] We have a jealous toddler. 

Jenna [00:52:37] You do. 

Angela [00:52:38] All right. Jim is going to walk into Dwight's office and Dwight's like, not now, private time. I do have a background catch. 

Jenna [00:52:43] What is it? 

Angela [00:52:44] Eight minutes, 55 seconds. When the camera widens up, the mobile, the hierarchy mobile is moving. So I think this is like a second take or a retake because it hasn't like gotten still. 

Jenna [00:52:56] I think you're right. I think that's true. 

Angela [00:52:59] Anyway, that's my background catch. 

Jenna [00:53:00] I liked it. Well, Jim is going to say we've overlooked something. 

Angela [00:53:04] What? 

Jenna [00:53:05] Some PFN. 

Angela [00:53:06] That's right. 

Jenna [00:53:06] Potential future nonsense. They're looking at the mobile. He says look at it. We do not have an assistant to the assistant to the regional manager. 

Angela [00:53:16] We sure don't. 

Jenna [00:53:17] Dave Rogers told me Rainn improvised a line here, and it's so good. 

Angela [00:53:22] Which part? Is it about the hierarchy mobile?

Jenna [00:53:25] When Jim points to it, Rainn came up with the line, I'd have to get some more wire and string, but it's doable. 

Angela [00:53:33] I liked that line. 

Jenna [00:53:34] Very, very good. 

Angela [00:53:34] Good job, Rainn. 

Jenna [00:53:35] Very good job, Rainn. 

Angela [00:53:36] Good job, Rainn. He's going to MacGyver it. 

Jenna [00:53:40] Meanwhile, Andy and Casey Dean are hitting it off. And host Mark McGrath is going to come out and address the crowd. 

Angela [00:53:48] How charismatic was he? 

Jenna [00:53:51] My gosh. 

Angela [00:53:51] I so believed him as this character. 

Jenna [00:53:54] We asked Dave how we got him for the show. Dave said that they were hoping to get an Entertainment Tonight, like Extra type host. And Mark McGrath was perfect because he had been doing Extra. And also, he is a musician himself. 

Angela [00:54:09] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:54:10] You know, lead singer of the band Sugar Ray, everybody. 

Angela [00:54:13] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:54:13] Dave said that when Mark McGrath said yes to doing this part, he was so excited. Dave loves Sugar Ray. He said he has all their albums, and he even had Mark's duet with Shania Twain, you know that song, Party for Two, on a CD mix in his car. 

Angela [00:54:33] On the day we filmed it? 

Jenna [00:54:35] No, no, just in general. 

Angela [00:54:36] Because that would have been wild if he pulled up and was listening to him at the same time. Dave also shared with us that he was once at a rooftop movie premiere and saw Mark talking to some people, but he was too nervous to go up and tell him he was a huge fan. So now you fast forward to the morning that they're shooting these scenes together. And Dave, I guess, went into hair and makeup. And when he entered the trailer, he said, where's the rock star? And he said, Mark couldn't have been friendlier. He was really excited to play the part. And he nailed the performance on the first take. And Dave said, as a side note, Mark graciously invited him and a friend to be guests at his upcoming Sugar Ray show at the Greek Theater. And Dave had a blast. 

Jenna [00:55:23] Yes. Steve Burgess also talked about how amazing Mark was to work with. He confirmed that he nailed all his stuff on the first take. And Jessica St Clair also enjoyed working with Mark. Here's what she had to say. 

Jessica St. Clair [00:55:36] I also remember being very attracted to Mark McGrath and understanding, you know, why he had the career he did. He's got rizz for days. But I did spend a majority of my time on set trying to catch the eye of Mr. McGrath. And sadly, we never had our moment where our eyes locked over craft service. But I'm not ruling it out. But yeah, that's I think that's a woman of a certain age like myself can really get her motor running about Mark McGrath. So that was a real highlight. 

Jenna [00:56:13] Well, I'm a woman of a certain age and I think all of us remember Mark McGrath. 

Angela [00:56:19] Yeah, he's got the rizz. 

Jenna [00:56:20] He's got the rizz for days. I went on his IMDb page and I found this very funny trivia tidbit that I have to share. 

Angela [00:56:29] Okay. 

Jenna [00:56:29] It's sad that he is so often mistaken for Ethan Hawke that he sometimes just signs autographs as Ethan Hawke. And apparently the same thing happens to Ethan Hawke, who signs autographs as Mark McGrath. 

Angela [00:56:46] That's so funny. 

Jenna [00:56:47] Isn't that funny? 

Angela [00:56:48] Yeah. Well, I have one thing to point out from the script for this scene. You know, when Mark mentions The Mole and then he's like, I wasn't supposed to say that. And then Andy's like, What mole? What are you talking about? I already forgot about it. And Mark goes, Good man right there. I'll see you guys inside. Good luck. All right? And then Andy's like, Yeah, pour some Sugar Ray on me. And Casey Dean goes, Wow, on a roll much? You totally made a connection there. And Andy's like, yeah, it felt good. It felt funny. I love this interaction so much. I went to the script to see if they had improvised any of it. I think they might have a little bit, but there was a scripted line I thought was really funny where Andy would have said, I should be restin m'vokes but I can't stop riffing. 

Jenna [00:57:36] my gosh. The writers must have loved writing for Andy. 

Angela [00:57:38] Resting m'vokees. So good. Now we're in the kitchen. Jim is pouring Pam a cup of coffee. He's very giddy. He's having fun with this prank. We find out that he says by 2 p.m., Dwight is going to choose himself as the A.A.R.M., thereby making himself Jim's assistant. 

Jenna [00:57:57] Now, Darryl pulls up to the warehouse. He borrowed one of the warehouse trucks to deliver all his furniture to Philly. He has officially moved to Philly. 

Angela [00:58:08] Yeah. He's all in. We find out that Darryl hates goodbyes, so he pulled an Irish exit and left before anyone noticed. No hard feelings. No feelings at all. 

Jenna [00:58:17] Yes. Please do not tell anyone he's there. He doesn't want anyone to know. All right. Now we're going to see what these challenges are to find the A.A.R.M.. Challenge number one is know your superior. And I guess the way you know your superior is by predicting what they're thinking. 

Angela [00:58:37] Yes. 

Jenna [00:58:38] Jim is like, what am I thinking? What song is in my head? 

Angela [00:58:42] No one can guess what Jim is thinking except Jim and Dwight say seahorse at the same time. 

Jenna [00:58:49] That's right. 

Angela [00:58:51] What are the odds of that? 

Jenna [00:58:53] I mean, they're pretty good based on how this went down. Don't you think so? 

Angela [00:58:57] Yeah, because what Jim did is just start to say a word. As Dwight already said it. Let's do it, and I'm ready. What am I thinking of right now? 

Both [00:59:07] What? What? No. You're doing it. 

Angela [00:59:10] Stop it. 

Jenna [00:59:11] Can I say something? 

Angela [00:59:12] What? This is an acting exercise. 

Jenna [00:59:15] Kristen Wiig and Fred Armisen on Saturday Night Live have a bit where they. 

Angela [00:59:21] They are the best at it. 

Jenna [00:59:22] But they're singing as well. 

Angela [00:59:25] I know. And then they're having to create a story like new information. 

Jenna [00:59:29] It is so good. It's the best. It's the best of this bit. 

Angela [00:59:34] It's so great. The whole bit is they have to sing a song on Weekend Update and it comes across like they haven't prepared and they're making it up on the spot and they are. And visually, they're having to watch each other to see what words they're saying. We should put one of them in stories. It's so funny. 

Jenna [00:59:49] All right. Challenge number two. We're in the conference room and we're going to talk about protocols. What do you do if there is a conference room meeting of very important people and a phone message comes in? Dwight hands this phone message to Clark, who immediately reads it out loud and insults one of the people at the table. Dwight is like, No! You don't read it! Clark has failed. 

Angela [01:00:13] Clark Green. Not going to get a corn dog. 

Jenna [01:00:17] Does not get a corn dog. Once again, Dwight is the only person who knows how to solve this problem properly. 

Angela [01:00:23] That's right. 

Jenna [01:00:24] It's uncanny. 

Angela [01:00:25] I know. Uncanny. Jim has a lot of clipboard acting in this episode. 

Jenna [01:00:31] A lot of pen clicking.

Angela [01:00:32] Lot of pen clicking, writing stuff on a clipboard. 

Jenna [01:00:35] Check marking. 

Angela [01:00:36] Check marking. He's clipboard guy. 

Jenna [01:00:38] He really is. 

Angela [01:00:39] Well, back in line for America's Next A Cappella Sensation, Andy and Casey are really bonding over the fact that they're getting annoyed with other people that they think are going to be pulling at the heartstrings of the judges. There's an Army veteran. There's like a single mom, and they're sort of chatting about it. Well, when we were filming this episode, I guess a real life drag race started to happen, like on the street. And everyone's, like, reacting to it. It's in the bloopers. I thought it was so wild. I want you to hear it. 

Casey Dean [01:01:12] Over by the porta potties they were interviewing a homeless single mother with three kids. 

Andy [01:01:16] What? 

Casey Dean/Jessica St. Clair [01:01:16] Who cares? Is that your head? What is going on? What is happening? 

Unknown [01:01:32] I think we can keep that one. 

Jessica St. Clair [01:01:33] What is happening? 

Ed Helms [01:01:35] Was that a bank robbery? What just happened? 

Jenna [01:01:41] Oh my goodness. 

Angela [01:01:42] Did you hear how loud it was? 

Jenna [01:01:44] Yes! Yes! 

Angela [01:01:44] Yeah, well, I asked Jessica about this, and here's what she had to say. 

Jessica St. Clair [01:01:49] Now, apparently there was a drag race happening during the scene when we were standing on line. I don't have a memory of that, but I do remember that everyone on the line, all the all the background actors were so lovely and just a fun hang. You know, and that isn't always the case. But everyone was so excited to be there. I think there was, you know, everyone was sort of a fan of The Office and everyone was really bringing like a backstory to their characters. So that was really fun. 

Jenna [01:02:24] You know, some of my favorite things to shoot are like situations like this where you're in this like big line or big group of people for multiple scenes because you really do kind of end up making up your own stories in the background and they become some of the most fun shoot days. 

Angela [01:02:42] Yeah, there's a guy with a cowboy hat in the background. I kept watching him. He clearly had a story for himself. 

Jenna [01:02:49] I should point out that our guest star who played the veteran was Nico Evers Swindell. He has been on Veep, American Horror Story and Grimm. He also played Prince William in the movie William and Kate. 

Angela [01:03:00] Wow. 

Jenna [01:03:02] And everyone, Jessica is so amazing and funny. We're going to have more audio clips to share with you next week and definitely check out her podcast with June Diane Raphael called The Deep Dive. And you also have to listen to her audio book with Casey Wilson. It is called The Art of Small Talk. It's on Audible. It is so funny. 

Angela [01:03:23] The two of them are so hilarious. 

Jenna [01:03:25] They're going to give you all the advice you need to go to any event with some great small talk. I feel like my trick of walking up to people laughing could be in this book. That's just a preview of some of their advice. I think that would qualify. They would like it. 

Angela [01:03:43] Well, Andy is going to decide if the judges want to feel good moment. He's going to give them a feel good moment. He says, save my place in line and he takes off. What's Andy got up his sleeve? 

Jenna [01:03:55] Oh. Something good. 

Angela [01:03:57] We're over at Caffeine Corner now, and I'll be damn if they don't have donuts. 

Jenna [01:04:02] So many donuts! 

Angela [01:04:03] They never had donuts. I remember being super excited to go over there, and I did sneak one. They let me have one. 

Jenna [01:04:11] Well, that's where we were doing all of our interviews for the look back. 

Angela [01:04:15] Yeah. Darryl's going to buy some to give some of the warehouse guys. He felt bad, I guess, because he didn't say goodbye to 'em. And Pam asked him, How's it going at Athlead. Darryl couldn't be happier. He's so stoked. He's going to, like, meet all of his sports heroes. He'll go to 32 different cities. He can't believe that Jim is happier at Dunder Mifflin. 

Jenna [01:04:35] Yeah, He says he's not having any second thoughts about leaving Athlead? And Pam is like, Nope. I mean, he seems happy. 

Angela [01:04:44] He seems happy. He's just going to try to recreate Office Olympics. 

Jenna [01:04:48] Pretty much. 

Angela [01:04:48] Maybe a call for help. 

Jenna [01:04:51] We're in the warehouse and there is a coffee obstacle course set up. 

Angela [01:04:57] Yeah. You have two cups of hot coffee. Your boss needs his coffee. Here's the thing. It's super piping hot. You got to step over three different sizes of, like, stacks of paper, and then you go through this chair obstacle spinny thing. 

Jenna [01:05:13] Yeah. The chairs are upside down. The wheels are spinning. This obstacle course was originally scripted to be outside, but Dave Rogers moved it into the warehouse. He said he moved it for two reasons. One, because he thought it would be easier for Erin to spot Darryl at the end if they were in the warehouse than if they were outside in the alley. But also, he said whenever we did a lot of scenes outside, we would all get hot and grouchy. And so he was like, Let's move it inside, folks. 

Angela [01:05:48] Save myself some grouchy folks. 

Jenna [01:05:53] Exactly. Phyllis is up first on the obstacle course, and she's moving too slowly. 

Angela [01:05:58] Dwight can't take it. He, like, grabs the coffee from her, starts running through it, is spilling coffee on himself. It's like burning him. But you know what? He's going to get that coffee to his boss, which is himself. 

Jenna [01:06:10] I would like to award myself a Razzie for my performance in this scene. My God. I could barely watch it. Could I be telegraphing or showing or indicating any more? Everyone, if you want to be an actor, don't do what I'm doing in this scene. 

Angela [01:06:28] Stop it. 

Jenna [01:06:29] I'm serious. Like everything about me, it's like, does anyone have eyes on me? Like, how is Jim not noticing that I've turned into a complete, sad sack and I'm just standing there like a big wet blanket. I mean, how about some subtlety, Jenna? 

Angela [01:06:46] When Jenna says a Razzie award, she's talking about a thing called the Golden Raspberry Awards. It's a parody, and it's an award show honoring the worst in cinematic failures. 

Jenna [01:06:56] Yes. They don't even cover television, but I think they should make an exception for me. 

Angela [01:07:00] Stop it. I disagree. 

Jenna [01:07:03] Well, anyway, as if you couldn't tell. Pam is now very preoccupied with this idea that Darryl has planted in her head that maybe Jim is not actually as happy as he seems. 

Angela [01:07:15] Yeah. Jim is going to present Dwight with a crown that he's made out of, like, tin foil and cardboard. Everyone applauds, but Pam. In fact, she runs outside. 

Jenna [01:07:25] Very dramatically. 

Angela [01:07:26] Runs away. 

Jenna [01:07:28] Overly dramatic, Pam. Dave said that Rainn improvised a line at the end of the scene. Originally, it was going to end with Pam running out, but Rainn improvised this line and I loved it so much. He says, from now on, anyone who needs to speak to me has got to go through me first. 

Angela [01:07:48] So funny. Rainn knew his character so well. Well, Jim is going to catch up to Pam outside. They're in that little alley by the warehouse, and she's worried. Jim's like, Are you okay? And she says, Today was fun, but what about a year from now? What about five years from now? You know, she's worried that she's not enough for him and that he's going to resent her. 

Jenna [01:08:10] I need to pick up my mug. 

Angela [01:08:11] Okay, here it comes. Pocket's mug. 

Jenna [01:08:14] All right. This is one Pam lost me. Okay?

Angela [01:08:19] Uh oh. I'm going to eat my granola bar. Go. 

Jenna [01:08:21] For most of the season. Jim has been on my (BLEEP) list, but all of this is very crazy making to me on Pam's part. 

Angela [01:08:30] Hold up. Are you calling bull (BLEEP) on Pam? Are you playing a bull (BLEEP) card? 

Jenna [01:08:34] I don't know if it's a full bull (BLEEP) card because this is in character for them. This is just where their relationship is making me a little crazy. But herein lies the problem. In this scene, Jim says, This was my decision to come back. Okay? I'm not going to resent you. This was my decision. That's everything you need to know. This is their problem. He decided to start the business, and now he's decided to give up the business. Why are they not making decisions together? And I am losing my mind. 

Angela [01:09:07] He bought a house. 

Jenna [01:09:09] Yes. I remember hearing this amazing advice very early on about decision making in marriage. And this is what I want to say to Jim and Pam. When you're at odds over something, but you reach a compromise or you do eventually make a decision, that decision is not complete until you both agree to take responsibility for the decision. So later on, if something goes wrong, you can't be like, See, I knew it. Or like, Well, that was you. You're the one who wanted it. 

Angela [01:09:37] Yeah. No, I told you so's. 

Jenna [01:09:38] None of that. Whatever the consequence is, we both made it. And if Jim and Pam had made the decision together to start this business and they took mutual responsibility for how that decision played out, we'd be in a very different situation right now. If Pam was unhappy with that decision, too bad because you made that decision together, you're going to have to tough it out, Pam. That was a mutual decision. These are the consequences of your mutual decision. But all that happens is Jim makes decisions. But Pam is like letting this happen, too. You know what I mean? Like, she just sort of like. 

Angela [01:10:16] Well, she's got to be more vocal. And he's got to stop making decisions without her. 

Jenna [01:10:21] Yes. Thank you. Mug down. Thank you for hearing me. 

Angela [01:10:25] Well, Jim is going to have a talking head now. He's going to say, not enough? And then he looks at the documentary crew and he said, Look, I need to ask a favor from you guys. I know it's probably against the rules. And then we hear Dave Rogers' voice say, okay, you got it, man. Very quick to say yes, I have to say. I thought maybe they'd be like. Let me think about it. 

Jenna [01:10:45]  I know. Let me talk to some people. 

Angela [01:10:46] Yeah. Or maybe just don't have them respond at all. 

Jenna [01:10:49] I didn't think we needed the response. 

Angela [01:10:51] I didn't either. It sort of like threw me for a second. I loved that Dave's voice got on the episode because I love him, but I also was like, Well, that was quick. 

Jenna [01:11:00] Well, you know, we've heard the documentarian's voice one other time, and it was Dave at that time as well. You know, Dave said originally he just recorded his voice as like a temporary voice placeholder. And that the intention was that Greg Daniels would provide the voice of the documentarian. But Greg was like, No, I want it to be you. Meanwhile, Kevin is really acting out over his lack of attention. 

Angela [01:11:24] He's throwing a tantrum. He says to Angela and Oscar, You know what? Tell Phillip that a stupid little baby wish came true. 

Jenna [01:11:31] But Angela and Oscar don't have time to deal with this. They're trying to get Philip down for a nap. They've created kind of a bed out of the bottom drawer of the file cabinet. They've pulled it out, put a bunch of blankets in. Like a bassinet. 

Angela [01:11:44] Like a little bassinet. They have a little mattress thing on the bottom and some of his stuffed animals. 

Jenna [01:11:49] But Phillip is too excited to nap. 

Angela [01:11:51] Yeah. Angela said he's very excited to be surrounded by all this paper and he even ate some of the paper which Dwight overhears and is like, Well, that's the best tasting paper. 

Jenna [01:12:04] Hmm. Meanwhile, in the break room, Phyllis, Erin and Meredith are confronting Darryl about the fact that he left without saying goodbye. Now, Stanley's there, too, but he's just kind of eating his lunch in the background. He's weighing in, but he's not as passionate about this problem. 

Angela [01:12:16] Oscar shows up there, too. 

Jenna [01:12:19] You're right. 

Angela [01:12:19] Yeah. Clearly, they love Daryl, and they wanted more time with him, and they're really bummed he did the Irish exit. Darryl says, Wow. They're definitely in a weird mood. I picked the wrong day to return a truck. 

Jenna [01:12:32] I have a mug catch. 

Angela [01:12:33] Let's hear it. 

Jenna [01:12:34] Both Meredith and Creed are using their mugs from customer survey. That was season five. 

Angela [01:12:40] Aww. Yes. 

Jenna [01:12:41] I just love the dedication to this mug thing. 

Angela [01:12:43] Me too. Well, in Dwight's office, him and Esther are now having a picnic and just standing right outside the window of his office, Angela and Pam are having a whole conversation. And Angela is holding Phillip, but she's not really paying attention to what Phillip is looking at or doing. She's just chatting away with Pam. Are Pam and Angela friends? 

Jenna [01:13:04] I don't know. I mean, I do think children bring them together in a way. 

Angela [01:13:08] In a way. 

Jenna [01:13:09] I'll say that. 

Angela [01:13:10] Well, while Angela is holding Phillip and chatting away, Phillip is only got eyes, for one thing. 

Jenna [01:13:16] The Galactica. 

Angela [01:13:17] He points at it. He's smiling. Dwight clocks all of this. He can't even focus on what Esther's saying. 

Jenna [01:13:24] And you know this picnic in his office? This was going to be a marriage proposal. 

Angela [01:13:29] Yeah. He puts the ring back in his pocket. 

Jenna [01:13:32] He does. Dwight has a talking head where he says the way Phillip looks at the Galactica is the same way he looks at it. 

Angela [01:13:40] And they even eat the same kind of paper. Well, we had to ask Dave Rogers about this scene, because a while back, he shared with us his love of Battlestar Galactica and how it influenced the character of Dwight. Here's what he told us. For this episode, it was scripted that Dwight paints and hangs a model of the Battlestar Galactica in his office. And just to go back in history for a second, when Dave met Greg Daniels after watching the pilot, he pitched that Dwight should like Battlestar Galactica and have a Viper, one of the individual fighter ships on his desk. 

Jenna [01:14:14] Yes. Dave talked about this in his interview with us that originally Dwight was going to love Star Trek, which he does love Star Trek. But Dave pitched that it would be cooler if he liked this kind of niche sci fi thing. And that is why Dwight came to love Battlestar Galactica. 

Angela [01:14:31] Yes, Dave said Greg even bought him a model of the original Galactica Cylon base ship for one of his birthdays. And when they were prepping this episode, Phil Shea asked if Dwight would have an original series Galactica or the new series Galactica. He loves both series, but he wanted the original Galactica. And when the show wrapped filming, Phil Shea said that he could keep it and gave it to him. And Rainn signed it and wrote Dave, Galactica loves you. And he has it to this day displayed in his office. 

Jenna [01:15:01] And we saw it when we did our interview with him. We could see it hanging in the background. Well, I was wondering if we had to get special permission to use the ship. But Steve Burgess said legal said use it. Just use it. He said that we were not using it in any way that it was not intended. Like it was a model that you paint and hang. And that's what we did with it. So it was okay. And also we weren't saying anything bad about it. And also it's a Universal show. 

Angela [01:15:30] Okay. Well, Dwight shows Esther out the door. He gets a bean bag that says "now" on it and throws it at the back of Jim. 

Jenna [01:15:39] The summoning bag. 

Angela [01:15:40] Yes, it's a summoning bag. And he tells Jim he's going to need him to perform a test on a baby. Jim says, I've got a busy day. Write something on his clipboard. Tears it off and says, You know what? He's going to pass this off to his number two unless he can't handle it. And Dwight assures him he can. 

Jenna [01:16:00] Dun dun dun. 

Angela [01:16:01] To be continued. 

Jenna [01:16:03] Yes. Well, there you have it, folks. That is A.A.R.M..

Angela [01:16:09] Part one. Next week is AARM, Part Two. Big thank you to Dave Rogers. 

Jenna [01:16:15] To Steve Burgess, Jessica St Clair. Don't forget to check out Jessica's audio book, The Art of Small Talk, available on Audible. And I want to remind everybody that Kendra Adaji's book, The Plan is out now. We talked about it last week. 

Angela [01:16:30] That's right. And you guys, we hope you have a great day. We can't wait to see you next week. We have some really fun stuff coming up. 

Jenna [01:16:36] See you then. 

Angela [01:16:37] See you then. 

Jenna [01:16:46] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. 

Angela [01:16:48] Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. 

Jenna [01:16:53] Our executive producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kieffer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico. 

Angela [01:17:01] Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Reis-Dennis. 

Jenna [01:17:06] Office Ladies as mixed and mastered by Chris Basil. 

Angela [01:17:09] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.