TRANSCRIPT
Office Ladies | Episode 226 - The Accountants Webisodes
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 [00:00:07] And we're best friends.
Jenna [00:00:09] And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Lovers podcast just for you.
Angela [00:00:13] Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories.
Jenna [00:00:21] We're the office ladies 6.0.
Angela [00:00:27] Hey there.
Jenna [00:00:28] Are you ready to break down the office webisodes, The Accountants?
Angela [00:00:32] I'm so ready. I loved rewatching these.
Jenna [00:00:35] It was so fun.
Angela [00:00:37] I texted Brian Baumgartner this morning and I said, Brian, watching these webisodes is making me miss you so much. We just had such a good time. And of course, Oscar, too. And the three of us have got to get together. We have our accountants dinner, you know. Yeah. So we've got to get it back on the books.
Jenna [00:00:55] Well, these were written by Paul Lieberstein and Mike Schur, and they were directed by Randall Einhorn. This was his directorial debut.
Angela [00:01:04] Yes, It was so exciting.
Jenna [00:01:07] I'm going to give you a summary.
Angela [00:01:08] Do it.
Jenna [00:01:10] The accountants discover that there is $3,000 missing from the company money. Everyone is a suspect as they interrogate their coworkers to find the missing funds.
Angela [00:01:21] Everyone is on Angela's list.
Jenna [00:01:25] Well, not everyone.
Angela [00:01:26] Well, not Roy or Dwight. There's two. Two missing.
Jenna [00:01:32] Guess what? I'm going to give you three fast facts today. It's a rewatch breakdown.
Angela [00:01:38] Excuse me.
Jenna [00:01:38] I can't. Look, I'm trying so hard. They will not die.
Angela [00:01:44] Just lean into the sh*t you love, lady.
Jenna [00:01:49] All right. Fast fact number one, the accountants webisodes were originally released on July 13th, 2016, between seasons two and seasons three on NBC.com. This was their way of keeping office viewers engaged over the summer hiatus. They were ten mini episodes. Each one is about 2 or 3 minutes in length. And on July 13th, they released the first two on the same day, but then they spaced them out. You had to wait.
Angela [00:02:23] Yeah.
Jenna [00:02:23] To see the next ones. You can currently see them on YouTube and also as a special feature on the Season two DVD.
Angela [00:02:31] Yes, it's disc four everybody and they're on Peacock as well.
Jenna [00:02:37] Well, the accountants was the first series of webisodes. We end up doing more of these in the future, but these were the first. They were groundbreaking. I'm going to get into that a little more in fast fact number three. But Angela, we had some fan questions for you.
Angela [00:02:53] Okay.
Jenna [00:02:54] The first one is from Amanda G in Northern Ireland, who said, How did these episodes come about? And we also heard from Bria D. in Philly who said, What was your reaction to finding out you guys were going to do these webisodes?
Angela [00:03:09] I remember they reached out to us and I don't know if they reached out to everyone, but I know they reached out to me and Brian and Oscar and they were talking about doing these little things for NBC.com. And I had been doing my little segments called Adventures with Angela.
Jenna [00:03:26] Had those started already?
Angela [00:03:27] Yes, they had started already. Okay. And I mean, I'd only done like 1 or 2. Okay. So I remember talking to the folks in the digital department and they were saying, you know, we think this would be really fun to do. And I was like, Sure. Great. And I was also very excited to have a bigger storyline with the accountants.
Jenna [00:03:47] Yeah.
Angela [00:03:48] You know, we had our running joke, right, that we would do all these bits in the corner. They would never make it in. And I know I've talked about this that we sort of joke that we had a spinoff, but it was on Telemundo and Oscar said it was called Los Accountadores, Angela, Oscar, y Kevin. So now here we finally get to have a whole episode, sort of right about the accountants.
Jenna [00:04:14] Well, Angela, that leads me perfectly into this fan question from Dennis L in Calgary, Canada, who said, Oscar, Kevin and Angela looked like they were so close as friends on camera. Did that blossom into a close friendship off camera as well? Now Ang, I know you've shared many times that you guys were close. But I think I'm curious timeline wise, because here we are, it's between season two and season three. Were you guys super tight by this point?
Angela [00:04:43] We were super tight.
Jenna [00:04:44] Okay.
Angela [00:04:45] You know how you were sort of solo up front? Reception? Yeah. And so was Steve? And that bonded you guys?
Jenna [00:04:50] Yes.
Angela [00:04:51] We were in this corner, truly the corner of the office. There were no other desks that were so far pushed against a wall as our desks. Yes, like in a nook in a corner. And we were also behind that big partition that separated front reception. And we really just had our own little family dynamic back there.
Jenna [00:05:10] Okay, Are you ready for fast fact number two?
Angela [00:05:13] I am.
Angela [00:05:14] This is a fan question from Sara M. in Pennsylvania, who said, were the webisodes filmed on the same day as other episodes, or did the cast come in specifically to film them?
Jenna [00:05:25] Well, Sara guess who I reached out to? Blast from the past. Kentapedia.
Angela [00:05:33] KentaPedia. And then you also reached out to Angela Pedia.
Jenna [00:05:36] I did. Let me tell you what I found out, because Kent explained a little bit about how these were produced from his point of view. And I'm sure you can confirm a lot of these details, Angela. He said you all came in on a hiatus week.
Angela [00:05:51] Yeah.
Jenna [00:05:52] It was in March. It took two days to film all ten webisodes, and they were filmed on March 2nd and March 3rd.
Angela [00:06:01] Yes. And those were our days off so when we came to set that day, there was no one there. It was it was kind of wild. It was like when you go like to school, like after school extracurriculars and there's like no one in the building.
Jenna [00:06:15] Oh yeah. I saw, like, the crew call sheet. Very small crew. In fact, not only was Randall Einhorn, the director of this episode, but he was also the cinematographer and the camera operator. And there was only one camera. Is that true?
Angela [00:06:32] That's true. Randall did all of that. And then we had one sound person. It was Ben Patrick.
Jenna [00:06:37] I saw that, too.
Angela [00:06:39] Yeah. And they were on stage with us, but that was pretty much it.
Jenna [00:06:43] Well, here are the actors who were there both days. It was you. Oscar, Brian, Kate, Phyllis and Leslie. And I really notice when I was rewatching these how Randall had to get very creative in how he shot things to avoid showing how empty the desks were in the bullpen because the whole cast was not there.
Angela [00:07:05] Yes, you're going to see a point of view from the camera that you do not see on the show that airs every week. And I loved seeing it. I love seeing this different perspective of the office.
Jenna [00:07:15] I felt like there were so many angles that we did not normally see on the office.
Angela [00:07:21] Yeah.
Jenna [00:07:21] I got very interested in tracking how Randall was able to shoot things without seeing through certain windows or into the bullpen. And also, I was tracking how exactly he used Leslie, Kate and Phyllis in the background of things.
Angela [00:07:39] Strategically.
Jenna [00:07:39] Yes.
Angela [00:07:41] Well, I texted Randall this morning and I said, Randall, I don't know if I ever thanked you for what a wonderful gift it was getting to do these webisodes because it was such a big deal to us. And he made it so fun and it looks fantastic. And I really think they hold up.
Jenna [00:07:59] Well, we got this fan question for you, Angela, and it's kind of about the process of filming. It's from Ryan T in Aston, Pennsylvania, who said, Angela, what was your favorite part of filming this series and how is it different from filming the actual show? I guess maybe besides the very small crew, was there anything else?
Angela [00:08:19] I just loved getting to have a whole day with Oscar and Brian. We had so many silly bits that we had made up already those few seasons together, like our little accounting dynamics that we would play out that rarely made it to the light of day, but we were doing them in the background, you know. And just to have a day where we showed up and we got to just play all day together, it was it was the best. And and I feel like when I rewatched it, I was remembering so many things I'm excited to share with you guys.
Jenna [00:08:53] All right. Are you ready for fast fact number three?
Angela [00:08:56] I am.
Jenna [00:08:57] Fast fact number three is called Very Successful.
Angela [00:09:03] It was?
Jenna [00:09:05] These webisodes received millions of views on NBC.com. They broke the mold they invented in many ways, this idea of supplemental content for streaming or for websites.
Angela [00:09:22] Yes. You know, I had been emailing Joya Balfour who helped us so much. She worked for NBC Digital and she said the accountants was really when NBC saw that digital content for the office had a ton of potential.
Jenna [00:09:36] It's not just NBC that realized it. Kent said that after the success of the webisodes. He was contacted by almost every production executive from every studio asking how we did it.
Angela [00:09:49] Wow.
Jenna [00:09:50] But not only that, the webisodes won two awards. They want a Webby Award for video comedy, short form and an Emmy for outstanding broadband program comedy. Angela, what was that experience like? You won an Emmy! I know.
Angela [00:10:09] Well, I thought to really have that experience, we should have the Emmy here with us today.
Jenna [00:10:15] What? You brought it? My gosh I see this in your house all the time, and I--oh my gosh. I love it, lady. It's very large. Wow. That is so awesome.
Angela [00:10:33] There you go.
Jenna [00:10:34] Can I see it? I want to hold it.
Angela [00:10:36] Yeah.
Angela [00:10:36] Watch out, though. The wings are really pointy. They're very pointy.
Jenna [00:10:41] Well, the only time I got to hold an Emmy was when our show won an Emmy in season two. I did not get to keep it. I got to hold it for the pictures and then give it back. And it has your name on it. That is rad.
Angela [00:11:02] Well, I thought I would read to you what it says on my Emmy. Yes. It says 2006 to 2007. Daytime Entertainment, Emmy Awards, outstanding broadband program, comedy The Office, Accountants NBC, Angela Kinsey, performer.
Jenna [00:11:21] So freakin cool.
Angela [00:11:23] It's heavy.
Jenna [00:11:24] So who all was at the ceremony? Who do you get to celebrate with? Was Randall there? What was that night like?
Angela [00:11:30] Well, first of all, we couldn't believe we had been nominated for an Emmy for the webisodes. We didn't even know there was a category for that. I mean, we really were so just surprised and excited just because they were nominated. And I remember we went a big group of us went with the NBC digital team, and none of us were prepared to give a speech. None of us wrote anything. We didn't think we would win. We just were so excited to go. And lady, I do have a journal entry I wrote in my journal about my outfit for the night. Would you like to hear it?
Jenna [00:12:07] Yes!
Angela [00:12:08] I wrote in my journal. Sam, you're going to love this. Ready? Okay. I found a dress for the Daytime Emmys. Exclamation point. Woo hoo! Exclamation point. And it doesn't need to be altered. Double Woo hoo! I got it at Arden B in the mall. It's a black and white beaded mini dress. I don't have shoes yet. Wish me luck with that.
Sam [00:12:34] Who's that to?
Jenna [00:12:37] Is this a letter home or It's just your journal?
Angela [00:12:40] It's just my journal about it. And then I had a bunch. I have a bunch of pictures, so I have a bunch of stuff. Okay. And then I said also, I wore a black and white dress to the other Emmys last year. What's up with me and black and white dresses?
Sam [00:12:54] You're doing bits?
Angela [00:12:55] Double, double question mark. Double question mark. We'll fill you in after. And then I never wrote again after.
Jenna [00:13:07] You never let yourself know how it went.
Angela [00:13:08] Now we'll fill you in.
Jenna [00:13:10] Did you get shoes?
Angela [00:13:11] I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if I got shoes, but my dress was from Arden B in the mall. So when we won, we really were--it was like that moment. It sounds like a cliche where you're like, Wow. I cannot believe it.
Angela [00:13:26] And the three of us went up, Brian, Oscar and me. And I think we sort of stumbled through an acceptance speech and then we went to this party afterwards. So it was like a rooftop patio. And we took a bunch of press pictures. Jenna, in all of the pictures, even with the big group, with the big team of NBC Digital, I'm holding the Emmy. I'm always the one holding the Emmy. I'm like, did I not let anyone else hold it? And at one, I lift it high over my head. And I thought, no, please don't take anyone out like I did with Phyllis and Steve's Golden Globes.
Jenna [00:13:57] That's your favorite thing.
Angela [00:13:58] I guess. It's not knocking someone like with the trophy. It was such such a fun night. And I just remember it just being such a highlight of my time on The Office.
Jenna [00:14:11] Well, you mentioned that we've been talking with Brian Baumgartner because he's going to be a guest on an upcoming episode. But we ended up also chatting with him about the webisodes and he sent in an audio clip of his memories of doing the webisodes and of that Emmy night. Let's listen.
Brian Audio [00:14:28] I remember that first webisode series, the accountants being so much fun. Angela and Oscar, of course, and I getting to really play for the first times and almost being stars of our own show there for a few days with the rest of the gang mostly, mostly gone. I remember having such a great time and when we eventually won the Emmy for that series, I remember that being one of the most fun nights celebrating. The rest of the cast and didn't come and join us. But Angela, you and Oscar and I having a party that night when we when we won the Emmy. Well, it's one of my favorite and most fondest memories of of our outside life while we were filming the show.
Angela [00:15:25] Aw same. I have so many fun pictures from that night too, that I can share. That's when I got bangs.
Jenna [00:15:34] Really?
Angela [00:15:34] Yeah. I'm sure that's a journal entry. That was a big swing for me. I got bangs.
Jenna [00:15:41] Ang, did you guys also go to a ceremony when you won the Webby?
Angela [00:15:45] Well, actually, I'm not sure why, but Bryan and Oscar weren't able to go. I can't remember why, but I did. I went there with Joya from NBC Digital, and I accepted on behalf of the accountants, a Webby.
Jenna [00:15:58] Did you wear your same dress?
Angela [00:16:00] I did. I wore a different dress. I don't know. I don't have any journal entry about this dress. It's just a little black dress. And you know how at the Webbys you can only say five words for your acceptance speech?
Jenna [00:16:11] Yes.
Angela [00:16:12] You remember this because we won a Webby in 2022. The office ladies is a Webby people's voice winner in podcast, television and film. Do you remember what our acceptance speech was?
Jenna [00:16:25] I believe it ended with that's what she said.
Angela [00:16:29] Yes it did. And I found it.
Jenna [00:16:33] What was the first word?
Angela [00:16:34] Here we are.
CLIP FROM WEBBYS [00:16:36] Speechless. That's what she said. There it is.
Angela [00:16:41] Well, I was curious. I was like, what did I say? What were my five words? I couldn't remember. And I. I knew it was like something about accounting. And I reached out to Joya and she said, Angela, I remember I have it here, and she sent it to me. Our acceptance speech was, Accounting is such a riot. And I said it just like that with my snarky Angela Martin face.
Jenna [00:17:03] Amazing.
Angela [00:17:05] So there you go.
Jenna [00:17:06] Well, something I think we should share is that you all filmed these for free. Mike and Paul wrote these for free. And yes, you won two awards, but you have never received any compensation for these webisodes. And NBC continues to monetize them on YouTube and Peacock. You do not receive residuals on them. And that is because this was what we were saying before. This was all new territory. It was originally seen as marketing and publicity for the show.
Angela [00:17:41] Yeah.
Jenna [00:17:42] But after their success, you know, our unions, SAG and WGA started to rethink how actors should be compensated for creating original content outside of the normal network broadcast. I mean, the success of the webisodes really brought into focus all the ways that talent could become exploited if we didn't get some guardrails on this new medium.
Angela [00:18:11] That's right. That's right.
Jenna [00:18:12] I think that's kind of a cool thing that our show did.
Angela [00:18:16] Yeah, I do, too.
Jenna [00:18:18] And, you know, Ang, we know people think that we sit around collecting like millions of dollars a year on residuals from The Office and we don't.
Angela [00:18:29] No.
Jenna [00:18:29] We do not receive residuals on Peacock or Netflix or any of the streamers. We never have. And that is because all of our contracts predated streaming. It literally did not exist. There was no language in our unions or in our contracts for how we would be compensated for it.
Angela [00:18:47] Digital content was so new when we started the show. I mean, clearly it was brand new.
Jenna [00:18:53] Yes. Anyway, I would like to thank the webisodes for kicking off that conversation for artists everywhere.
Angela [00:19:01] I love that. Well, Jenna, just to wrap this up really quickly before we get into the breakdown, if you'll notice, I just brought in my Emmy. I didn't bring in the Webby. Yeah, because the Webby, I think, went to NBC Digital. Like, I didn't leave New York with a webby.
Angela [00:19:17] Okay but when we won this daytime Emmy, they handed us this one Emmy to hold as we did our photo op.
Jenna [00:19:25] The photo op Emmy.
Angela [00:19:26] And I just said, I'm going to take it home. And they were like, What? And I was like, yeah, I'm gonna take it home. And then you should send Brian and Oscar one, too. And there was this look, there was this moment where they were like, That's not really your.---And I was like, Thank you, bye!
Jenna [00:19:40] Lady, I love that. I love that you did that. You are like, I am not going to walk up on an Emmys stage again.
Angela [00:19:48] Because we didn't get one when we won the show.
Jenna [00:19:51] No, none of the performers got it. It went to The Producers.
Angela [00:19:54] Yeah. So I went home with the trophy. It had no writing on it. And a few weeks later in the mail, I got the plaque that went around it. I don't think I was meant to get this to take home. I think it's supposed to be on a shelf somewhere at NBC.
Jenna [00:20:09] Well, it's not. It's on our podcasting table right now.
Angela [00:20:12] And Brian and Oscar got one, too.
Jenna [00:20:13] Well done. Well, those are our fast facts. Why don't we take a break and we will get into our breakdown with episode number one. The books don't balance. They all have titles. I love them all.
Angela [00:20:25] I know, me too.
Jenna [00:20:36] Here we go. Episode one. The books don't balance. We open on Jan, Oscar, Angela and Brian in the conference room. Angela delivers the news that they've discovered about $3,000 missing.
Angela [00:20:53] Jan suggests this might be an accounting error. And Angela's like it is not an accounting error.
Jenna [00:20:59] It's not her accounting error list.
Angela [00:21:02] Don't bring that B.S. my way, Jan.
Jenna [00:21:05] She gives a little glare to Kevin and we cut to his talking head where he says this is the first time hearing about it. He's not heard of the accounting error. He says nobody ever tells them anything, and he likes it that way.
Angela [00:21:16] He likes it that way. Although later we find out he's so excited to be a part of this.
Jenna [00:21:23] And angry that he's never allowed to write memos.
Angela [00:21:25] Exactly. Jan says they need to find the missing money ASAP. You know, they want to they want to ensure there's been no criminal activity. I have an improv moment for you.
Jenna [00:21:36] I bet I know what it is.
Angela [00:21:38] When Angela says Michael said to stop by on your way out.
Jenna [00:21:42] I knew it.
Angela [00:21:43] You know, my sort of improv voice now so well. Again, I strategically put it at the very end, hoping it would make it.
Jenna [00:21:51] Well, Angela, you just made someone very happy. We got a fan letter from Maria in Brazil who wanted to know if there were any jokes or scenes that were improvised or if it was all scripted. And Maria also said, I really love The Office. Angela is my favorite character.
Angela [00:22:07] Maria, thank you. Big hugs to Brazil. I'm loving it. Well, Maria, here's the thing. These were written really well, but we did have little moments and I'll share those with you as we go. But the thing I also love is that when I improvised that line, Melora, as Jan's reaction was so perfect, I knew I was setting her up for a great reaction. And that's always fun to do.
Jenna [00:22:29] I thought the other brilliant thing about it, Ang, was that you were also setting up the world beyond the conference room. I mean, you knew it was empty out there but you were filling it in. It was nice to imagine that Michael was in his office.
Angela [00:22:44] Yeah. Thank you.
Jenna [00:22:46] Well, Oscar's going to have a talking head where he said it's probably Michael. Because every time money has gone missing, it's been Michael's fault.
Angela [00:22:53] I love that he says he goes out with, like, clients for lunch, and then it's a $50 receipt to J.Crew.
Jenna [00:23:00] I'm surprised to find out that Michael shops at J. Crew.
Angela [00:23:04] That is true. Oscar and Angela both say, you know, listen, we've gone over our books so many times. There's not an accounting error. And then Kevin says, Well, I wonder if anyone bought anything really nice recently. And then Angela's so snarky, she looks at Oscar and goes, Nice watch Oscar. Where that come from? And he's like, You know what? From my grandfather. He gave it to me when he died. And she said, Well, I haven't seen it before. He must have died recently. I know, it's so mean.
Jenna [00:23:33] He's like he did three weeks ago.
Angela [00:23:35] Angela... Okay, I have another improv moment for you.
Jenna [00:23:38] Okay.
Angela [00:23:39] When Kevin sympathetically reaches across the table to hold Oscar's hand. That was not scripted. Brian improvised that.
Jenna [00:23:47] It was a nice touch.
Jenna [00:23:47] Wasn't it? I love that these little webisodes each have a button on the end.
Jenna [00:23:52] All right. Webisode number two. This one is titled 'Phyllis' In their search for the missing $3,000, the accountants are going to meet with Phyllis. Angela has the talking head where she says Michael is the obvious suspect. But since he's the boss, they have to at least pretend to look at other people first. This begins the recap nature of the webisodes. You will notice. Even though they all flow together, they also still had to stand alone, which meant every episode, someone had to recap the plot.
Angela [00:24:28] Someone had to tell us 3,000 dollars is missing.
Jenna [00:24:32] And everyone is a suspect. In this one, it was your job, Ang.
Angela [00:24:37] Well, Oscar's going to ask Phyllis if she bought anything with company money and she looks down guilty. Angela's like I knew it. Phyllis explains that she broke the heel on her shoe while at a corporate sales call. I just loved that back story. I just loved it. And she used the company card. She apologizes. It was $14. And then what happens next to me? It's only 20 seconds, but it perfectly sums up the accounting dynamic. I think we need to hear it.
Phyllis in CLIP [00:25:08] From my boyfriend, Bob Vance from Vance. Refrigeration gave the advance refrigeration credit card only for emergencies.
Kevin in CLIP [00:25:14] An emergency like you have an ice cream cake and you're in the sun and it's melting?
Angela in CLIP [00:25:20] You don't use it to buy refrigerators, Kevin.
Kevin in CLIP [00:25:23] Don't yell at me.
Angela in CLIP [00:25:24] Okay.
Angela [00:25:27] 20 seconds and I thought it summed up the accounting department so well.
Jenna [00:25:30] They did write to your dynamic very well in that moment. Well, we got this fan question from Christine Dee in Los Angeles, who said, Was it scripted for Phyllis to scoot away in her chair after being questioned? Because it really made me laugh out loud.
Angela [00:25:47] No, no, it was not.
Jenna [00:25:50] In the script It just said she leaves.
Angela [00:25:53] Yeah, that is something we completely found on the day Phyllis started to scooch away in her chair. We thought it was hilarious, and it just, it became part of the scene.
Jenna [00:26:02] Well, if you think about how far she has to go, I mean, it's not like she's scoot. She has to scoot on that chair, like around another desk to get back to her spot.
Angela [00:26:14] So far. But again, by doing this little joke meant that Randall didn't have to see the bullpen. She doesn't walk away. The camera doesn't follow her. Instead, she's scooting in her chair.
Jenna [00:26:26] It's perfect.
Angela [00:26:27] Next up is episode three. It's titled Meredith. The accountants are now questioning Meredith in the kitchen regarding the missing money.
Jenna [00:26:36] In the kitchen. And you notice the camera is shooting toward the annex.
Angela [00:26:43] We got a fan question from Tiffany L. In Wisconsin. Tiffany says at three minutes and 34 seconds, when Angela says, Idiot. Now we don't have the element of surprise. That sounded very much like something Dwight would say. Was that a nod to Dwight? Tiffany, I thought the same thing. I actually thought this whole speech was very Dwight. Here's how it would have gone on in the script. It's impossible to trap her, and we won't be able to register the look on her face when we ask her if she stole $3,000. Angela whips her head over to Meredith, hoping to notice something. Meredith says, You think I stole $3,000? Angela says, we know you did or someone else did.
Jenna [00:27:23] This does sound like dialogue Dwight could say.
Angela [00:27:26] Right.
Jenna [00:27:26] It does.
Angela [00:27:27] He would try to say something shocking and then read your reaction. Very, Dwight.
Jenna [00:27:32] Well, now, thanks to the webisodes, we are finally going to learn some information about Meredith. Lauren K. from Columbus, Ohio, noticed and said we finally know about Meredith's second child. Her name is Wendy. And Meredith's ex-husband took her.
Angela [00:27:50] Yeah. Meredith says he got the good one.
Jenna [00:27:53] Meredith.
Jenna [00:27:54] Meredith.
Jenna [00:27:56] Meredith is going to swear she would never steal any company money. She would not jeopardize her kid. She just wants to know if anyone wants to grab a beer, basically.
Angela [00:28:05] Yeah, a red stripe.
Jenna [00:28:07] It's like 11 in the morning.
Angela [00:28:09] I loved Kate's delivery when, as Meredith, she says so that's too early?
Jenna [00:28:14] I have never felt so shamed as the time that we had some people over to swim at our house and we were going to do, like, a noon barbecue. And I offered this other mom a glass of wine.
Angela [00:28:27] It's a barbecue.
Jenna [00:28:28] I thought that was okay. And she said it's not even noon. And I was like, Well, the food's going to come out soon. And I. I really still to this day feel so embarrassed. I'm like, was that? What does she think of me? She was like someone we didn't know well.
Angela [00:28:46] Who cares? Who cares what she thinks?
Jenna [00:28:51] Well, I was Meredith in that moment.
Angela [00:28:55] You're no Meredith.
Jenna [00:28:56] I barely drink.
Angela [00:28:58] I know. Let me tell you, that lady couldn't hang with my tennis gals.
Jenna [00:29:02] I didn't think it was so weird. I was like, What's the difference between having a glass of wine with your barbecue that's coming out?
Angela [00:29:13] On the weekend, by the pool. Well, there are circumstances here at play.
Jenna [00:29:16] Having like a Bloody Mary or a mimosa with breakfast. I mean I've never done that because that feels early to me. I don't understand that. I can't. Hair of the dog, whatever that is. I can't. I can't have that at like 10 a.m. or whatever.
Angela [00:29:33] Right. I get that. This is the same way I feel about a, you know, a pastry in the morning. How is, let's say, a little piece of coffee cake any different than a muffin?
Jenna [00:29:47] Well, it's not. And it's why you'll have a full on piece of pie with breakfast.
Angela [00:29:51] Yes, I will. I can't wait.
Jenna [00:29:54] I know. It's almost time, ladies. There's going to be all this extra pie in your house so soon.
Angela [00:30:02] The only thing I ever asked for for my birthday and for Christmas is a chocolate meringue pie. My husband makes the best f*cking chocolate meringue pie. Look, I have to curse because it's that good.
Jenna [00:30:13] Have a piece for breakfast.
Angela [00:30:14] I do. Or I just get out the pie pan and stand in the pantry with a fork and eat it. I'm sorry I got a little excited there. Where are we?
Jenna [00:30:27] Well, bottom line is, Meredith didn't do it.
Angela [00:30:29] Meredith did not do it.
Jenna [00:30:31] We're on to episode number four called Stanley.
Angela [00:30:34] Yes, we're back in the conference room. The accountants are questioning Stanley regarding the missing money. He is delighted by this.
Jenna [00:30:42] Kevin is going to have our recap talking head where he explains what's going on. And then Oscar tells Stanley, Listen, I know it's not you, but I have to ask anyway. And Stanley says he hopes whoever did it gets away with it.
Angela [00:30:57] I know. Stanley says, in fact, if he finds out who it is, he's going to shake their hand, pat them on the back and give them 72 hours to flee the country before telling us who it is. That made me laugh I'm like, What? I love that he has a whole exit strategy for this person. I really notice the tight angles on this particular scene. Randall was working very hard to avoid shooting through the window to the bullpen. When Leslie, as Stanley gets up to leave, you do see Kate sitting at her desk in the background. And it's fast because the whole rest of the bullpen is just empty. As Stanley leaves the room, Kevin says. I don't think it was him. And Angela says, Really, genius? This leads to a Kevin talking head that I loved, and I think we need to hear it.
Kevin in CLIP [00:31:47] Angela thinks it's an insult when she calls me a genius. All sarcastic and whatnot. But technically, guess what? I am a genius. When I was a kid I took an IQ test and I scored over a hundred. So joke is on you, Angela.
Angela [00:32:12] We're finding out all these things about the background characters on the show, and that's one of the things I love about the webisodes.
Jenna [00:32:17] Yes.
Angela [00:32:19] And you know what? When we were texting with Brian, he shared with us a story about shooting this talking head. It's really fun. I want you to hear it.
Brian Audio [00:32:28] So here's my favorite story from the accountant's webisode series. By the way, Angela, Jenna, audience Listening. I just arrived, no joke, back in to Scranton, Pennsylvania. I am at the Rad, the Radisson Hotel. I've arrived here. I'm very, very excited to be back. And now to be talking to you guys about the accountants. Here's my story. We're filming. No one else is on set. Me, you, Angela and Oscar. We are recording and I'm recording a talking head, a direct address to the camera, and we're in the annex. Back. My back was to like the room with the snacks and by Toby's desk, and I'm recording a talking head and I'm talking to the camera. And just behind the camera, I see as we're recording Greg Daniels walk by and I see my old friend from high school, Ed Helms, walked by the camera. Now, in that moment, I'm not thinking, there's Ed Helms, star of The Daily Show, comedian and actor. I my brain didn't go there. My brain went back to high school in Atlanta, Georgia. I was like, Ed Helms, why is my old buddy Ed Helms on the office set? Come to find out he was there meeting with Greg. He had a deal with NBC and he was meeting with Greg about joining the office in season three. This was his introductory meeting with Greg Daniels. So I saw him, gave him a hug. And I remember saying so specifically, why are you here? Which in retrospect it was very embarrassing.
Jenna [00:34:21] That is so crazy.
Angela [00:34:22] Isn't that so wild? And I totally hear that. You know, when you see someone completely out of contact.
[00:34:28] Yes.
Angela [00:34:28] And you can't connect the dots.
Jenna [00:34:30] Yes.
Angela [00:34:31] I just thought that was so wild to see your old high school friend all of a sudden at your place of work, you're like, what? What's happening?
Jenna [00:34:37] Well, we also got several fan questions about Kevin's talking head, where he's talking about his IQ score. One is from Amelia S. in Akron, Ohio, who said, please do a break down deep dive on IQ's or IQ tests. And Ivy from Canada said. Kevin says he scored over 100 on an IQ test. The average IQ in the world in the 1970s estimating when he may have taken it was 90. Average IQ has dropped over the years. It was 87 in 2024. But nonetheless, does this mean that Kevin had an above average IQ as a child? Well, you know, I've never been so excited to deep dive.
Angela [00:35:18] I was going to say, I mean, this call to action from Amelia, you must have been like hooo
Jenna [00:35:24] I was very excited. I was also very intrigued when Ivy said that IQ scores had been dropping. I had to know everything.
Angela [00:35:31] Yes.
Jenna [00:35:32] All right. Here's what I found out. There are so many different IQ tests and they all have different ways that they score. But in general, almost all of them say that 100 is like their median score. And so in general, a score of 85 to 114 signifies average intelligence.
Angela [00:35:58] Okay.
Jenna [00:35:59] So what we've learned is that Kevin is of average intelligence, according to his reporting of his IQ score.
Angela [00:36:06] Although Kevin thinks he is a genius.
Jenna [00:36:09] I guess so. If you have an IQ score of 115 to 129, you are above average or bright. If your score is 130 to 144, you are moderately gifted. 145 to 159 is highly gifted and it is estimated that Einstein's IQ was around 160.
Angela [00:36:34] Dang, I love that that's my response to someone who's really smart like that. Dang, that's impressive stuff.
Jenna [00:36:44] You go, Einstein.
Angela [00:36:46] I'm so proud of you.
Jenna [00:36:48] Well, about 98% of people have a score 130 or below. Only 2% of the population score above that. So only 2% of people are considered moderately to highly gifted.
Angela [00:37:04] Okay.
Jenna [00:37:05] According to 2019's The Intelligence of the Nations report the average IQ in the United States was 97.43.
Angela [00:37:18] Where is this leading? Where do we rank?
Jenna [00:37:20] We're doing well globally.
Angela [00:37:22] Okay.
Jenna [00:37:22] There was a 2010 study. It took the scores of 108 nations and found that the average IQ across that global sample was 89.
Angela [00:37:32] Okay.
Jenna [00:37:33] Now, it's very important to know that these kinds of tests can be misinterpreted. They can be culturally biased. Different countries have different ideas of what intelligence is and how to measure it. In fact, IQ testing is sometimes considered controversial because intelligence measurements, they can be misinterpreted. They can be misused to stigmatize marginalized groups. Also, most IQ tests do not evaluate other important aspects of human functioning, like emotional intelligence. No offense to Kevin. I'm not sure he's going to score very highly in that category either.
Angela [00:38:19] I'm thinking not.
Jenna [00:38:20] Okay. All of that said, it is true that IQ test scores have been dropping since the turn of the millennium, and many experts believe that it is because we have upped our reliance on technology that we simply do not use our brains as much.
Angela [00:38:37] Well, that tracks, I think.
Jenna [00:38:39] Yeah.
Angela [00:38:39] Like we all want to find the shortcut, right?
Jenna [00:38:42] I feel like I've gotten dumber since my smartphone. I do. Remember I used to add things without a calculator? I can't even do that anymore. Have you ever taken an IQ test?
Angela [00:38:53] No.
Angela [00:38:54] Cassi, Sam, Have y'all?
Sam [00:38:56] No, I haven't.
Cassi [00:38:58] Yeah not officially.
Angela [00:38:59] Not officially?
Cassi [00:38:59] I mean, there's, like, online ones, but.
Angela [00:39:02] Yeah.
Jenna [00:39:03] I was tested as a child.
Angela [00:39:05] Cause you were so smart? They pulled you aside?
Jenna [00:39:08] I did quite well.
Angela [00:39:09] You did a real flex there with your face. You did a little bit like back it up, back it up. I made this bitch feel so smarty.
Jenna [00:39:19] I mean. I know that they're unreliable and blah, blah, blah but I did well, I skipped a grade as a result of my IQ test.
Angela [00:39:29] What grade did you skip? How have I never--I've never heard this information about you.
Sam [00:39:33] So did you ask us ours, just so you could say yours?
Angela [00:39:36] Yes. Yes, she did.
Jenna [00:39:38] No. I skipped kindergarten. They moved me ahead to first grade. When I was in high school, and I was looking at colleges I knew that I wanted to be an actor, but I wasn't ready to sort of, I guess, admit it. Maybe like, I was trying to be practical. So I enrolled as a pre-law history major in college, and I thought that if I was going to become a lawyer, it might help me on my resume if I was a member of Mensa.
Angela [00:40:07] Okay.
Jenna [00:40:08] So Mensa is a club for people with very high IQ's.
Sam [00:40:14] We know what mensa is.
Jenna [00:40:15] Yeah, we did. Well, I want to. Do I get to go?
Angela [00:40:19] I'm sorry we didn't skip kindergarten. We didn't skip crayons and coloring and playing with Play-Doh but we know Mensa.
Jenna [00:40:27] All right, well, anyway, I didn't qualify is the end of that story.
Cassi [00:40:34] Both of my cousins are in Mensa.
Jenna [00:40:36] They're in mensa?
Cassi [00:40:37] They were tested as children, and both are in Mensa. And they're sisters.
Angela [00:40:43] That's a smart family, wicked smart family.
Cassi [00:40:46] Which is fun because they just love Pokémon and Five Nights at Freddy's. I'm like, How are you in Mensa?
Jenna [00:40:54] Well, my dad qualified. He never joined, but my score--I didn't make the cut. But you know, it's all right.
Angela [00:41:04] I think you're doing okay.
Jenna [00:41:06] I'm doing all right.
Angela [00:41:07] You're doing just fine.
Jenna [00:41:08] I'm going to be fine. There you have it. I also found the ranking of average IQ scores that goes state by state through the U.S.. But I don't want to make anyone angry, but I'd like to say congratulations, Massachusetts. You're number one. It is home to MIT and Harvard so.
Angela [00:41:28] A lot of universities are in Massachusetts. So many.
Jenna [00:41:32] Their average state score was 104.3.
Angela [00:41:35] That's very good.
Jenna [00:41:36] Yes. Well done. California's was very low. 3rd from the bottom.
Angela [00:41:43] Man okay.
Jenna [00:41:45] 95.5 here in California.
Angela [00:41:48] Got some work to do there. Kevin would be crushing it in California.
Jenna [00:41:53] I should have looked up Pennsylvania since that's where all of our Scranton folks are from. That's where Kevin is from.
Angela [00:41:59] Yes.
Jenna [00:41:59] Didn't do it.
Angela [00:42:00] Didn't do it.
Jenna [00:42:01] If I'd been in Mensa, I might have thought of it.
Angela [00:42:03] Maybe.
Jenna [00:42:04] Well, there you have it.
Angela [00:42:05] There you have it. You did skip kindergarten, and no one can ever take that away from you.
Jenna [00:42:09] That's right. I really wanted to go to kindergarten, too.
Angela [00:42:14] This took a turn.
Jenna [00:42:17] I remember starting at school and walking past the kindergarten room, and it looked so fun.
Angela [00:42:22] It is fun.
Jenna [00:42:23] Well, I wouldn't know.
Angela [00:42:26] Womp womp.
Jenna [00:42:27] I had to go straight to a desk and learn math.
Angela [00:42:33] We should do another craft night. Would that make you feel good? If we did a little crafting again. Remember how we painted those cats on a fence?
Jenna [00:42:41] It might be why I like that stuff so much.
Angela [00:42:43] Because you didn't get to do it.
Jenna [00:42:44] I didn't.
Angela [00:42:45] Well, this webisode ends with the accountants brainstorming who to interrogate next. They're kind of stumped. They're sort of looking at their, you know, notepads, like, thumping their pens.
Jenna [00:42:56] By the way, Oscar's notepad has no words on it.
Angela [00:42:59] None.
Jenna [00:43:00] It's like half of a tic tac toe board or something. I don't know what is on there.
Angela [00:43:05] I know. And then Oscar shares you know, my mom visits at the worst time.
Jenna [00:43:10] All of a sudden it's just a personal life share.
Angela [00:43:13] I loved it. This is what life is like at work. You're, like, working. You're working. Then you're like, by the way..... So he explains that his mom is visiting at the same time his friends are visiting, and they normally get together to, ironically, watch Prince of Tides. It's like their Rocky Horror Picture show.
Jenna [00:43:31] They make fun of it, but now he can't go because his mom is here.
Angela [00:43:34] And Kevin's like, I haven't seen it. And then Angela says, you know what? Can we just focus? And there's this pause, and I love it so much. I thought the timing was so great. Then Kevin says, I've never seen it. Oscar goes, it's so bad. And you can tell they're about to drive her crazy.
Jenna [00:43:51] And in the script you had a line, Ang, that got cut.
Angela [00:43:54] I know.
Jenna [00:43:55] You under your breath you were supposed to say 'I loved it.'.
Angela [00:43:59] Yeah.
Jenna [00:44:02] All right, well, listen, why don't we take a break and then when we come back, Roy is in accounting. Angela can't believe it.
Angela [00:44:10] Well, you know, there are some theories about this. We are back with episode number five. It's titled Someone in the Warehouse.
Jenna [00:44:29] Yeah.
Angela [00:44:30] This webisode is going to start with Oscar, Angela and Kevin. They're all over by Kevin's desk in the accounting nook. We had never filmed a scene like this with Oscar, and I just wedged deep in that corner. If you go to 14 seconds, you can see how the scene is framed. And, you know, Randall was brainstorming again how can we be in a scene where we don't see the bullpen? And I have to say, this is a new accounting stack. Normally, we're at the copier.
Jenna [00:44:56] Stacked in a corner this time. Yeah you know, Oscar says I don't think it's someone in the office. And Angela says it has to be.
Angela [00:45:06] I have an improv moment here.
Jenna [00:45:08] Okay.
Angela [00:45:09] So when we went to do our talking heads, you know, Randall would ask us questions. That's what we would always do to kind of get us into the moment, get our character talking. And the talking head they picked for me was one that I improvised in answer to Randall. It wasn't the scripted one they wrote for me. And I thought you could hear a little bit of my Southern accent in it. Let's hear it.
Angela in CLIP [00:45:30] Yeah I do think it's someone in this office, which really breaks my heart, to tell you the truth, because I thought we were all good people here.
Jenna [00:45:39] Yeah, I heard it when you said breaks my heart.
Angela [00:45:41] Breaks my heart because I thought we're all good people here. So that wasn't scripted. But I love that we got to play around like that in these talking head moments.
Jenna [00:45:49] Well, their next strategy is to focus on the warehouse. Could it be Roy? I mean, he's getting married soon, but Angela does not think Roy would do it. He just has too much character.
Angela [00:46:01] That's right. And Kevin goes, Hold up. Wait a second. You like Roy? She's like No I don't that's improbable. I mean, inappropriate.
Jenna [00:46:12] We got a fan question from Lydia in Sweden. Who said Angela having a crush on Roy? Is this supposed to have happened before or after Roy chose Angela in the episode The fire. This was after. This would have been after.
Angela [00:46:27] Yes. Yeah you know, we've been asked this before during the rewatch, and I do think Angela was a little smitten with Roy.
Jenna [00:46:36] Yeah.
Angela [00:46:36] And Kevin being like Angela's idiot brother is so tickled by this, he is really going to tease her.
Jenna [00:46:42] Yes, he has a talking head where he's just doing that song, Roy and Angela sitting in a tree. But then Angela walks behind him and yells at him to cut it out.
Angela [00:46:53] Cut it out, Kevin.
Jenna [00:46:55] I noticed that Stanley was in the background. And we also got a fan question from Faria D in Spain, who said, when Angela is passing by the other side of the windows and yells at Kevin to shut up. Does this mean that all along people have been able to hear talking heads in the office? It got me thinking about how many gossips people could have heard.
Angela [00:47:21] That's a really good question. I mean, you have to think in this instance, Kevin is singing, so maybe it's like a little louder. But my character has a few times where she is in the background of a talking head, and she's ticked off.
Jenna [00:47:34] Yeah. They did do that with you alot, didn't they?
Angela [00:47:37] Yeah.
Jenna [00:47:38] Well, now Roy is in accounting and he's being questioned. And I noticed something really creative that Randall did here with his camerawork. The scene opens with one of the few wider shots he placed Kate in the foreground at her desk. But he very quickly then punches in. But he gives you a sense for one moment of that wider office view.
Angela [00:48:04] And Roy is going to say, you know what? I wouldn't do that. I don't steal. And even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how to. And Kevin lays it all out for him. Kevin's like, Well, you'd have to take it from petty cash. Roy's like, I don't even know where you keep it. Kevin says in Oscar's drawer. Roy says, Well, isn't it locked? Kevin goes, Well, he keeps the key behind the counter. And Oscar's like, Kevin, why are you telling him how to steal? And Roy is like, No, I wouldn't do that. It's wrong. And Angela's like, Well, I'm satisfied. Thank you for your time. And then Kevin says, Roy, one more question. What do you think of Angela? And I have an improv moment.
Jenna [00:48:38] What was it?
Angela [00:48:39] When Oscar says 'You don't have to answer that.' And Kevin says, 'But you can if you want to.'
Jenna [00:48:44] That was improv?
Angela [00:48:45] Yes.
Jenna [00:48:45] I like that a lot. All right episode number six is titled The Memo. At this point, the accountants have ruled out Phyllis Stanley, Jim, Meredith and themselves. Although Angela isn't so sure about that. Kevin has the talking head where he says he didn't steal it. And Angela says she is positive it's not Dwight. He has the most integrity of anyone in the office.
Angela [00:49:12] Yes. And then they stare at her, oddly.
Jenna [00:49:14] So just a reminder, this was released between season two and season three. So the audience knows that Dwight and Angela are a couple, but the people in the office will not find out until season five.
Angela [00:49:26] Yeah.
Jenna [00:49:26] When Phyllis spills the beans in Moroccan Christmas.
Angela [00:49:29] Yeah.
Jenna [00:49:29] So I loved that we sprinkled this in the webisode.
Angela [00:49:34] Well, up next is one of my favorite lines of the accountant's webisode series.
Jenna [00:49:38] What is it?
Angela [00:49:39] Angela says to Oscar: did you talk to Kelly? Oscar says yes. She told me she didn't do it. And then 45 minutes later, the conversation ended.
Jenna [00:49:47] Yes, that's right.
Angela [00:49:49] And then Kevin says he talked to Creed and he didn't do it either, although he did offer to sell me some dietary supplements.
Jenna [00:49:55] Well, they decide that they're going to write a memo. But first they're going to argue over who gets to write it.
Angela [00:50:01] That's right. Angela says I'll write it, and then Kevin says, No, I want to write it. And Kevin's like, Come on, you never let me write accounting memos. And Angela says, Fine, but I'll supervise.
Jenna [00:50:11] I want to point out that Kate, Leslie and Phyllis are all in the background of this. This is the most filled out this rest of this bullpen world has been in any of the webisodes. So I don't know what happened with everyone's schedule, but everyone was there at the same time for this scene and Randall took advantage of it.
Angela [00:50:32] Well, I have an improv moment. As we're leaving the conference room I improvise, shutting the door behind me, knowing that Kevin is right behind me and he'd almost walk into it. I got so tickled rewatching this, because if you go to that moment, you can hear Brian as Kevin say, God, because he is so annoyed and it makes me laugh every time because Brian and I would do stuff like this to each other.
Jenna [00:50:55] You would.
Angela [00:50:56] When we were in scenes together, we like to, like, mess around with each other. And he's really like the brother I never had. And this was me just messing with him.
Jenna [00:51:05] Well, now Kevin is typing the memo, but Angela is micromanaging him over his shoulder. He clearly does not know what it means to make the date right justified.
Angela [00:51:15] Nope.
Jenna [00:51:16] I mean, this is what we were just talking about before. Now, like our computers write our memos for us. We don't have to learn proper memo or letter writing.
Angela [00:51:27] Yeah, for sure. There's templates, like if you want to write a resume, there's a template, you just fill it in.
Jenna [00:51:32] I think we're getting dumber as a result. I really do. This is my complaint. This is my soapbox about A.I.. I don't think it's good. I don't think it's good that it's writing our essays for us. And I don't know.
Angela [00:51:46] You know how I feel about getting a new TV remote.
Jenna [00:51:49] Just because it does more stuff doesn't mean it's better. We're not less busy than we were before. It's not saving us any time. We're not spending more time on leisure activities and I think we should. Well, it's because we have, you know, productivity culture in this country. We value productivity. I suffer from this same illness. I don't often feel self-esteem unless I'm being productive. It's a problem, but it's affecting our health. It is. You know, Kendra writes about it in her book, The Plan. And it really spoke to me that section.
Angela [00:52:27] Yeah. Always having a deadline. Always pushing, pushing, pushing.
Jenna [00:52:31] Yes. And all of it is supposedly, quote unquote, saving us time. But we're all busier than we were. All right, soapbox over. Whatever. I'm sure everyone agrees anyway. I'm not saying any new thoughts here.
Angela [00:52:44] I love it when you end a soapbox with just like you're just so whatever, soapbox over.
Jenna [00:52:53] I mean, I get fired up, but then I'm also like, well, I don't know. I'm also tired.
Angela [00:53:01] You're also tired. Well, Kevin is going to finish his own memo. He wrote, Angela Stinks. He says he's not going to hand it out. It's just for him. In fact, forget actually, I said anything about it. God, What have I done?
Jenna [00:53:16] My gosh. It's so funny. He totally spirals. He's so tickled with himself and then he's like, Wait, hold on. Don't show her that. All right episode number seven. Things are getting tense. This is my personal favorite.
Angela [00:53:33] Well as the search for the missing money continues, the accountants start to turn on one another. We start this over in accounting again. Everyone is seated at their desk. They're working on something. I have a SAS catch for you.
Jenna [00:53:47] What is it?
Angela [00:53:47] At 13 seconds you can see my SAS shoes as I sit at my desk. These were the early days of the office. And those are my classic season one SAS shoes. And I'd also like to point out Southern accent catch.
Jenna [00:54:01] What is it?
Angela [00:54:02] Angela's talking head when she says we are missing $3,000. Things are getting tense. Things are getting tense.
Jenna [00:54:09] Your recap talking head? You had to do a lot of those, like, different versions of recapping the plot for us.
Angela [00:54:17] I did. But things weren't tense. They were tense.
Jenna [00:54:21] They were tense. I just loved this one. This is my favorite, number seven. I just thought it was such great accounting chemistry. I love that we found out that Kevin once gambled with petty cash.
Angela [00:54:35] Yeah. $2,800.
Jenna [00:54:37] Yes. I love that Angela is wearing a new necklace and everyone notices. And clearly it's from Dwight. Well, she won't say.
Angela [00:54:45] She won't say, Although she's very much self-consciously fidgeting with it. I wanted to tell you guys in the script, it said that Angela's friend's name was Diane Chester Burg. And in one take, I changed the last name. I said, Diane Chester *gibberish*. And I liked that because it was clearly Angela lying. She was clearly trying to cover up Dwight Kurt Schrute with Diane Chester *gibberish*.
Jenna [00:55:11] One of my all time favorite comedy things is when someone says a fake name to try to lie their way out of something and they can't. I think it's because I am not good at improv on the spot. And whenever I was in improv classes and I had to like say my character name, it was always stupid like that. It was it was never clever. It was always just mangled.
Angela [00:55:37] Can we all go around and do one? Can we all say a fake character name?
Jenna [00:55:42] Sure. Mine's going to be awful.
Angela [00:55:45] All right. Who goes first? Make up a fake character name. Sam. Go.
Sam [00:55:49] Smithers Crampton.
Angela [00:55:51] You did that so quickly. Thank you. You're Smithers Crampton?
Jenna [00:55:55] That's good. I like that character. I have an idea of him in my head.
Jenna [00:55:58] Okay.
Cassi [00:55:58] Yeah. Smithers is friends with Ted Bungus.
Angela [00:56:01] Ted Bungus.
Jenna [00:56:02] Okay. I am Betsy Belly-Welly.
Angela [00:56:08] See?
Jenna [00:56:11] But I say it like I started off so strong. That was not even me doing a bit. That was me really panicking in the middle of saying a name.
Angela [00:56:19] Well that's exactly what Angela Martin did. That's exactly the acting lesson.
Jenna [00:56:28] Angela, what's yours? Go.
Angela [00:56:31] Tilda Nills.
Jenna [00:56:31] Okay.
Angela [00:56:38] All right.
Jenna [00:56:38] I'd love to read a script, a short of those four characters.
Angela [00:56:44] That would be great, actually. Okay well, as the accountants just go back and forth at one another, Kevin's like, We have to stop this. We can't start turning on one another. That's what the guy who sold the money would want us to do. The only thing left to do is to investigate Michael. And then the camera pans over and we see someone at Michael's desk. Who is it? It's not Steve.
Jenna [00:57:08] It's not Steve. And we're going to see a lot of this person in the next episode Number eight titled You're Mean. And we got a lot of fan questions about it.
Angela [00:57:16] So who is it?
Jenna [00:57:18] Well, Amelia S. from Akron, Ohio, said, I noticed all the shots of Michael are from across the bullpen, far away. And Becky K. from Katy, Texas, said, Who was the actor who played Michael? I assume it was not Steve Carell. Well, everyone, it was a photo double played by Paul Bunnell. And Angela, of course, you knew it wasn't Steve Carell because you were there.
Angela [00:57:41] That's right. I loved that it sold that moment, though.
Jenna [00:57:45] It really helped. Although Becky did say I thought it was weird that Michael didn't have a big goodbye when he leaves the office because the top of this next webisode is going to begin with Michael leaving.
Angela [00:58:01] Right.
Jenna [00:58:02] And this makes it possible for the accountants to go into his office and start poking around. But before they go into Michael's office, they're kind of on a stakeout. They're just waiting for Michael to leave. Kevin says, What time is it? Like why hasn't he gone? What time is it?
Angela [00:58:18] And Angela says, Why don't you check the clock for yourself? And he's like, Why don't you just tell me what time it is? And she's like, I think people should be self-sufficient.
Jenna [00:58:27] Well, Kevin thinks she's mean.
Angela [00:58:29] This really ruffles her feathers. In the script, it says Angela makes busy work. And then Kevin and Oscar sort of have this conversation. Oscar's going to the mall because he needs a new wok. And then Angela just blurts out, You know, I'm not mean.
Jenna [00:58:45] Lady, I have an audio clip, because for whatever reason, Angela is going to apologize. She's going to say sorry twice, not once, but twice. And I thought we had to hear it because I'm fairly certain these are the only times the words I'm sorry come out of Angela Martin's mouth ever.
Angela in CLIP [00:59:08] I'm sorry if I was mean.
Kevin in CLIP [00:59:13] It's okay.
Angela in CLIP [00:59:15] Thank you.
Kevin in CLIP [00:59:20] That was uncomfortable.
Angela in CLIP [00:59:28] Okay, let's go.
Kevin in CLIP [00:59:28] This is so much fun.
Angela in CLIP [00:59:30] It's not supposed to be fun. Again. Sorry.
Jenna [00:59:37] Two sorries.
Angela [00:59:38] I know.
Jenna [00:59:40] Wow.
Angela [00:59:40] I know. I guess she clearly cares about Kevin thinking if she's mean or not.
Jenna [00:59:45] In the webisodes she does.
Angela [00:59:46] At least in this world. But it's not going to stop her from being mean. Well, as they walk over to Michael's office, Kevin does this very funny sort of dance move towards Michael's office. In the script, it says, Kevin, does the Jim Belushi slash Animal House entering the dean's office stealth maneuver.
Jenna [01:00:08] Yes, it's was lost on me. It's also lost on Angela and Oscar.
Angela [01:00:12] Yes. In the script, it didn't give any stage direction for our reaction. But Oscar and I both just chose to be not impressed. And Brian improvised 'You guys are breaking my spirit.'
Jenna [01:00:25] All right episode number nine titled Michael's Office. They are in there. They're looking through his stuff.
Angela [01:00:32] This is my favorite one.
Jenna [01:00:33] This is your favorite?
Angela [01:00:34] Yes, because we just we're sort of just doing all of these silly bits and and, you know, Kevin has the first line in the webisode, but it wasn't scripted for him to say it into Michael's toy megaphone.
Jenna [01:00:46] I thought that was so funny.
Angela [01:00:48] Brian just did that. I loved it. He also added the 'attention.'
Jenna [01:00:52] Yes. Now the part where he picks up the train whistle and blows it, That was scripted.
Angela [01:00:57] That was yes, I love that Oscar points out the Seiko Time piece like certificate. I just loved that.
Jenna [01:01:05] Yes. And then something odd happens.
Jenna [01:01:09] They unlock a drawer in Michael's office and they find nine Dunder-Mifflin snow globes. It's so interesting.
Angela [01:01:20] Why?
Jenna [01:01:21] Like, why? What are those for?
Angela [01:01:24] I don't know. And Kevin says if he had a snow globe drawer, he'd keep it locked, too.
Jenna [01:01:29] Yeah.
Jenna [01:01:31] Well, Oscar tells Angela to go online. Look at Michael's Quicken.
Angela [01:01:35] I have a little thing to share about this. The scene was actually longer when Angela logged on to the computer. It started like this. Angela says, okay, I'm in. Gross. Oscar and Kevin, look. Kevin says, my God. Oscar says, Yikes. Kevin says that guy must be, like, 100 years old. Oscar says, What's he holding? Kevin says, I think it's a shovel. And then officer says, okay, okay. Go check his Quicken files.
Jenna [01:02:04] What in the world had come up on the computer?
Angela [01:02:07] What was he googling?
Jenna [01:02:08] I don't know. The last eight charges were from Jack's joke and magic shop.
Angela [01:02:15] He loves that place.
Jenna [01:02:17] Angela is going to go ahead and pay his electric bill real quickly.
Angela [01:02:20] This was my favorite thing that I did. It was so funny to me. And when Kevin's like, What are you doing? I'm like, I'm paying is electric it's about to be shut off.
Jenna [01:02:29] Well all of this snooping leads nowhere. They don't find anything.
Angela [01:02:34] But Angela does pay some of Michael's bills.
Jenna [01:02:36] Yes.
Angela [01:02:37] Well, we've made it now to the last one. It's episode ten titled The Best Day of My Life. It's going to start with Angela and Dwight. They're whispering in the kitchen. I really feel like these scenes help the writers see Rainn and I's chemistry.
Jenna [01:02:53] Yes.
Angela [01:02:54] I wanted to play the clip from the scene. Rainn improvised a moment at the end. Let's see if you can guess.
Dwight CLIP [01:03:01] You're saying Michael stole money from his own company?
Angela in CLIP [01:03:05] Well, we've asked everyone else.
Dwight CLIP [01:03:06] No. No. That's insane. It has to be somebody else. Like Meredith said or Creed. No, Meredith, definitely.
Angela in CLIP [01:03:17] We asked her. She said she didn't do it.
Dwight CLIP [01:03:19] Which is exactly what you'd say if you did do it. Man. I should have been handling this investigation from the beginning.
Angela in CLIP [01:03:26] I believe she didn't do it. Are you doubting me?
Dwight CLIP [01:03:31] No. There has to be a better explanation.
Angela in CLIP [01:03:41] How did he afford that new waterbed he's always bragging about?
Dwight CLIP [01:03:43] He charged it. Discover made a little cash back on the deal. Smart. If you were a general and you accused him without proof, you would be court martialed in front of a firing squad.
Angela in CLIP [01:03:57] That's not true.
Dwight CLIP [01:03:59] Okay. Watch a Few Good Men and tell me that that's not true. I own it on DVD, if you want to come by later. You can't handle the truth. Just kidding, you can.
Jenna [01:04:09] I mean, I'm assuming it's the little bit about A Few Good Men.
Angela [01:04:15] It's just the very end when he says you can't handle the truth. Just kidding. Yes, you can. I love early Dwight and Angela. It just is so fun to rewatch that.
Jenna [01:04:29] Well, now, guess what? Mysteries about to be solved. Guess who it was? Guess who it was?
Angela [01:04:38] From the very beginning, Jan said I'm sure it's an accounting error. And Angela says it is not an accounting error. At least not mine.
Jenna [01:04:46] Turns out it was.
Angela [01:04:47] Turns out it was.
Jenna [01:04:49] She accidentally logged something twice.
Angela [01:04:52] Yep.
Angela [01:04:53] Yeah. Case closed.
Angela [01:04:56] Yeah. Angela's like, well, there you go. She is not going to even for one moment, admit that she really screwed up. She's back to business as usual. But Kevin is really having a moment here. He says this is the best day of my life.
Jenna [01:05:11] Yes Angela was wrong. Yeah, Angela did it.
Angela [01:05:14] His face as Angela realizes it, the smile that comes over his face. And Oscar, too. They're going to live off this moment for a long time.
Jenna [01:05:23] They sure are. All right. Well, there you have it, folks. The award winning webisodes, the accountants. So fun, So fun.
Angela [01:05:33] I would love to say thank you to Brian Baumgartner, Scott Kramer, Carol Angelo and Joya Balfour.
Jenna [01:05:40] And I would like to throw out a thank you to Kentapedia Kent Suborn. It was so fun to be back in touch with him again.
Angela [01:05:47] Yes. And I loved reconnecting with the NBC digital team. You know, everyone has moved on to different things, but they said they do have lots of fun stuff to share about future webisodes.
Jenna [01:05:57] I hope we'll break down subtle sexuality. That one is pretty fun.
Angela [01:06:02] It's so good. Mindy needs to come in. That would be so fun.
Jenna [01:06:05] She does.
Angela [01:06:06] And thank you guys for sending in your questions and comments about the webisodes. I just love hearing everyone's perspective as they rewatch everything.
Jenna [01:06:14] Me too. Well, listen, join us next week for our second drink of Health Care, and then we're off next Wednesday for Thanksgiving. But we'll see you again the next week.
Angela [01:06:24] Have a good one.
Jenna [01:06:25] See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Angela [01:06:36] Office Ladies is a presentation of Audacy and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [01:06:41] Our executive producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kieffer and our associate producer is Ainsley Babaeko.
Angela [01:06:49] Audacy's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Reis-Dennis.
Jenna [01:06:52] Office Ladies was Mixed and Mastered by Chris Basil.
Angela [01:06:56] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.