Transcript - Ep 261 - “The Paper” Pilot

TRANSCRIPT

Office Ladies | Episode 261 - “The Paper” Pilot

Jenna [00:00:04] I'm Jenna Fischer,

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

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

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

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

Angela [00:00:14] 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.

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Jenna [00:00:27] Hello there, everyone.

Angela [00:00:29] Holy moly, do we have a big episode today.

Jenna [00:00:31] We are going back to The Office universe.

Angela [00:00:34] We sure are.

Jenna [00:00:35] With The Paper.

Angela [00:00:37] The Paper!

Jenna [00:00:38] You guys, the first four episodes are out now on Peacock. Check them out. Today, we're gonna talk about the pilot.

Angela [00:00:44] We got some behind the scenes scoop for ya.

Jenna [00:00:47] Behind the scenes, lady.

Angela [00:00:49] Lady.

Jenna [00:00:49] We had exclusive access to the set. We got to talk to the actors.

Angela [00:00:55] We got talk to the crew, the writers, the producers.

Jenna [00:00:59] For those of you who have been following along with us these past four Fridays, we have been releasing some of those interviews with the cast members, some of the people we were able to talk to during our visit. So definitely check those out if you missed them.

Angela [00:01:13] Mm-hmm. Well, we've got a lot to discuss. I think we just got to get into it.

Jenna [00:01:17] Let's get into it. Today, we are talking about The Paper. This episode is titled "Pilot," and it was written by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman. Michael Koman is Ellie Kemper's husband.

Angela [00:01:30] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:01:30] This was directed by Greg Daniels, and this episode is 33 minutes and 18 seconds.

Angela [00:01:37] Well, here's the thing. Right away, something new from The Office is that they get to have more time.

Jenna [00:01:42] I know.

Angela [00:01:43] And how much fun is that?

Jenna [00:01:44] I mean, as I was watching the episode, I was so wishing we could have had this extra 10 minutes per episode because, oh my gosh, you see what that gives you.

Angela [00:01:55] Mm-hmm, and I guess thankfully now Dave Rogers is giving us all of that in the super fan episodes.

Jenna [00:02:02] True. Well, here is your summary, folks: the documentary crew that filmed The Office is now looking for a new subject. They find it in a historic, struggling Midwestern newspaper called "The Truth Teller" in Toledo, Ohio. The show focuses on the paper's newly hired publisher, Ned, whose goal is to revive the paper using volunteer reporters.

Angela [00:02:26] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:02:27] All right, we're gonna do fast facts and Angela, you're gonna kick us off.

Angela [00:02:31] All right, fast fact number one. So like we said, we got to interview some of the cast, and we also got to talk to Greg Daniels and Michael Koman. We asked them if they could share with us about the premise of The Paper. Here's what Greg had to say. I do want to preface this with, if you guys haven't listened to the interviews, Jenna and I showed up with only one microphone... So.

Jenna [00:02:51] And our batteries died on the microphone when it was finally time to talk to Greg and Michael. So we had to plug it in. Then the only way to be close to them is if you and I sat on a conference room table. We have a picture of this; of you and I sitting on a conference room table.

Angela [00:03:08] Leaning towards them with this one microphone. So if you hear a little clunkiness, it's because we're on a table.

Greg [00:03:16] Well, the premise of the show is that there is a company that bought Dunder Mifflin. They basically own anything that produces or uses paper. So they have Dunder Mifflin, which is office supplies. But their biggest product is toilet tissues and toilet seat protectors. Then they also have a few newspapers because they also use paper, but the newspapers are the least money makers and they're the low man on the totem pole. So the documentary crew is just trying to follow up what happened to Dunder Mifflin and finds that it's part of this conglomerate and they sort of stumble on an interesting story, in the fact that this old newspaper is trying to be revived by an idealistic young publisher. And they think, "Oh, that'd be a good documentary," and they start following that.

Jenna [00:04:17] Well, I actually think that sounded pretty good for two ladies on a table with one microphone.

Angela [00:04:21] I know, and Greg, of course, always speaks so well.

Jenna [00:04:24] Yes.

Angela [00:04:25] OK, well, Michael also shared with us, and the sound quality wasn't great on this, so Michael, I'm just going to read it. I'm sorry. The table microphone setup slowly fell apart on us. Anyway, so, Michael shared with us why they thought this story is timely to what is happening right now in a lot of industries. He said that larger companies are acquiring newspapers, and often the newspapers will just function as a ghost paper. They're just used for their name and people recognize them as a source of news, but they mostly carry stories from the wire that you get on the Associated Press or any other big site. Then they just milk them for ads until they disappear. Basically they keep the newspapers around because they think it's good for the community, but they're not really servicing any new stories.

Jenna [00:05:12] Mm-hmm.

Angela [00:05:13] And that just fit in perfectly with the premise of The Paper.

Jenna [00:05:16] Well, Greg also shared about the comedy hook of this premise, which is that this dying newspaper only has one reporter. But the new publisher that we're gonna meet, in this first episode, has a lot of ideas about wanting to do original local coverage, but he doesn't have the money to hire reporters.

Angela [00:05:34] Yeah, so we find out that he gets volunteers from the people who already work there. Truck drivers, salesmen, accountants, those are the people that become his news team. And of course, they're total amateurs and hilarity ensues.

Jenna [00:05:48] Yes, spoiler alert, there's a later episode where they invite a bunch of kids in the journalism department of the local college to shadow the newspaper. You realize that these journalism students know way more -

Angela [00:06:04] Way more.

Jenna [00:06:06] - than this ragtag group of local reporters. And really, that was really funny to me.

Angela [00:06:11] I know. I love that when you see it, that one character says, "Can we come and shadow you guys at school? Like, in your class, because I'm learning a lot."

Jenna [00:06:21] Amazing. Well, fast fact number two, Greg shared with us that he really did try to recreate the magic that we had on The Office. Some of that was in hiring a lot of the same crew members. So when we visited, we saw a lot familiar faces.

Angela [00:06:39] We sure did.

Jenna [00:06:40] And another thing that The Office was famous for, was having writers who also appeared in recurring roles on the show. We asked Greg if that was the same thing for The Paper. He said that pretty much everything that seemed like good luck from back then, they tried to recreate. So, we have four writer/performers. When we get into the show and we're doing our breakdown, I'll tell you who they are as we meet their characters. I love that Greg brought back so much of the philosophy of The Office, and I think you see it on screen. We'll get to it, we're gonna talk about it. But The Paper, it feels like The Office. It's in the universe. It's in the world.

Angela [00:07:23] Absolutely.

Jenna [00:07:24] Yeah, you feel it on screen.

Angela [00:07:27] Yeah. Well Jenna, you've got fast fact 3 and two words: Oscar Nunez.

Jenna [00:07:32] Yes, Oscar's character is the head accountant for Enervate.

Angela [00:07:36] Head accountant, excuse me?

Jenna [00:07:39] Yeah, there's three accountants again, but this time Oscar is the head accountant.

Angela [00:07:44] Looky looky at Oscar.

Jenna [00:07:46] The accountants cover all of the accounting for Enervate, which is the company that owns both the toilet paper side and the newspaper side. Last time we saw Oscar, he was running for state senator. And Greg said that didn't pan out. So now the fact that Oscar is working at this newspaper is sort of his way of serving the community. And you're going to see that.

Angela [00:08:10] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:08:11] In his character. Again, I don't want to give too many spoilers.

Angela [00:08:13] You don't want to give too much away, but I would say Oscar's new journey has a little bit of Finer Things Club and a little bit of his heart for service.

Jenna [00:08:24] Well said.

Angela [00:08:24] Well, we saw Oscar that day on the set, and it was so fun to see him in character again.

Jenna [00:08:30] Yeah, we should say we were there for the taping of episode 8, but we were on set while Oscar was doing a scene.

Angela [00:08:39] We got to sit back in Video Village with Greg and watch Oscar in a scene, and Dave Rogers was directing. It was so magical. It felt like a little travel back in time. But we reached out to Oscar for this episode, and we asked him a few questions. First one was, how did you get your job on The Paper?

Oscar [00:09:01] I have lunch once in a while with Greg Daniels, our showrunner from The Office, and months ago we went out and he said something like, "Oscar, I'm thinking of an idea of something, I don't know, a startup with a newspaper or something like that, a paper, in the world of journalism. Like, an old newspaper or something. How would you feel if your character somehow bled over into that world or was part of that?" And I said, "Yeah, that's fine." It was very, just very shallow, you know, an idea that he had. Then time went by, weeks, and maybe we had another lunch and it was a little bit more fleshed out.

Oscar (continued) [00:09:44] This happened a couple times until finally he's like, "Why don't you come by?" And they had an office down on Robertson. I went by and there was the writing team. That's when I knew, "Oh, this thing is kind of happening." Then Greg Daniels started to talk about possible people that he had in mind and fleshing out the idea more, and that's how I found out about it in increments. I was sworn to secrecy from the beginning, of course.

Angela [00:10:15] So then, of course, we had to ask him about keeping that secret. That's a big secret. Here's what he said.

Oscar [00:10:23] Angela, as you know (Jenna might know, but Angela might not), I'm not good at keeping secrets, and it was very difficult. When we shot the pilot, Chris Haston was there, which is Kate Flannery's boyfriend and a photographer. He's a professional photographer, and he was there. And he's like, "Oscar, oh my God." And Greg Daniels told him, "You have to keep it a secret." And he was like, "Oh, I've been doing this for a long time." He found it very easy to keep the secret from Kate because he's been doing photography for 40 years, with all kinds of celebrities and whatnot, but it was fun to see him there and and we had that secret together. But I did it. I think I did it and then, you know, the cat got let out of the bag before they were ready to announce it, Some reporter got wind of it and so, here we are.

Jenna [00:11:08] Well, I remember when we saw that article, Angela, but that was not news to us because, a while back we ran into someone...

Angela [00:11:17] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:11:18] Who we won't say.

Angela [00:11:19] We can't say, we'll never say.

Jenna [00:11:22] They accidentally let it slip about Oscar to us. And we said, "We won't say anything, we promise."

Angela [00:11:27] We promised and we locked it down.

Jenna [00:11:29] We did.

Angela [00:11:30] No one knows, until right now, that we knew.

Jenna [00:11:33] That's right.

Angela [00:11:35] Like, no one.

Jenna [00:11:36] Yeah, lady, and I would see Oscar at all of these things that our daughters were doing together. And I pretended like I didn't know he was on The Paper.

Angela [00:11:45] He had no idea you knew. Me and Brian and him talked about doing a fan convention together. He had no idea. Brian didn't know. Nobody knew. You know why? Cause we lock it down.

Jenna [00:11:55] We locked it down.

Angela [00:11:57] I'm so curious to ask Kate. Like, "Kate, your long time partner knew about this and was taking pictures on the set. When did you find out?" I need a follow up question with Kate now.

Jenna [00:12:13] Well, yeah, because-

Angela [00:12:14] Because we didn't know. I didn't tell anyone.

Jenna [00:12:17] I didn't tell anyone.

Angela [00:12:19] Kate, certainly. Oscar, no one.

Jenna [00:12:21] Ellie! Ellie didn't tell anyone.

Angela [00:12:23] We had dinner with Ellie. We're like, "How's it going?" She's like, "Oh, you know." What? She didn't say a word.

Jenna [00:12:31] That's how tight this community is. Well, I guess, except for the one person who told us about Oscar.

Angela [00:12:38] I know. Well, everyone who knew was very protective of it. Then, ultimately, a reporter found out. I am not surprised, though, because it's such a huge secret to keep for so long. And then they're filming at Universal Studios. We'll get to it. But there's tour busses of people that go through there.

Jenna [00:13:01] I mean, there's so many people who could have seen Oscar at Universal Studios.

Angela [00:13:06] It's a huge place.

Jenna [00:13:09] Well, listen, why don't we take a break and then when we come back, we are gonna talk all about The Paper.

Angela [00:13:13] Yep.

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Jenna [00:13:24] All right, we're back. The Paper opens with words on a screen.

Angela [00:13:29] Yeah, it's a title card, and there's a message.

Jenna [00:13:32] The message says, "In 2005, a documentary crew started filming at a paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. They followed the workers in an average office, dealing with new rules of workplace behavior and the ups and downs of their personal lives." And then it says, "20 years later, they returned."

Angela [00:13:56] And the first thing, the documentary crew, who's been gone for 20 years, shows us is the Scranton Business Park.

Jenna [00:14:02] The exterior of our building.

Angela [00:14:04] That's right. It's the parking lot. There are four business signs listed, a little bit of a foreshadowing here. The businesses listed are Vance Refrigeration, One and Done Laser Eye Surgery and Tattoo Removal, Ruben's, and Kavala. Now the camera crew starts to push into those doors that we know, those glass doors. One background catch here, as we scan the parking lot, everything looks the same except there are now electric car chargers.

Jenna [00:14:36] I didn't even notice that!

Angela [00:14:37] Yeah!

Jenna [00:14:38] Oh, I love that detail. We are going to go inside, and guess where we start. This was such a surprise, and I loved it so much.

Angela [00:14:51] I know.

Jenna [00:14:52] We're at Vance Refrigeration, and we are warmly greeted by Bob Vance. Bobby Ray Shafer.

Angela [00:14:57] Mm-hmm. Bobby Ray does such a great job. Bob Vance is going to have a talking head. He says, "Hey, Dunder Mifflin's been gone for a while." Phyllis and Stanley keep in touch. They've both got the same kind of dog, a schnoodle.

Jenna [00:15:12] And he says, "The one and done guys are less drama," and you're kind of like, 'Who are the one-and-done guys?"

Angela [00:15:20] Well, we go down the hall to where the Dunder Mifflin offices were.

Jenna [00:15:24] Yeah, we go past the elevator and we open that door.

Angela [00:15:28] And first of all, there's no carpeting. It's now hardwood floors.

Jenna [00:15:31] Oh, I didn't notice that!

Angela [00:15:34] The reception desk is completely different. It's, like, metal and shiny.

Jenna [00:15:38] Yeah, it has LED lights on it. Yeah, It's very modern.

Angela [00:15:43] Very modern, very slick looking. Yeah, it's a laser eye company and laser tattoo removal.

Jenna [00:15:51] Yes. So the documentary crew clocks this, and then they go back to talk to Bob. He's going to get on his computer, and he's going explain that Dunder Mifflin was purchased in 2019 by a company called "Enervate" in Ohio. They asked if Phyllis wanted to leave and move to Toledo, go with the company. Phyllis was like, "Yeah, right, forget it."

Angela [00:16:15] She's like, "Leave, Scranton?"

Jenna [00:16:15] Yeah, no.

Angela [00:16:18] I have two background catches, for my folks that love a background catch. Bob Vance has a post-it note on his computer. It's on the top left corner, it's orange. And it says, in handwriting, "10% discount only on fridges, not labor." So you're not going to get a discount on labor. Also, the Chamber of Commerce website is on the screen. If you go to it, because I did, it is not an active website. They didn't set up a fakie website.

Jenna [00:16:48] Got it. Here's something I thought of: if Dunder Mifflin was sold in 2019, that means it was sold before the pandemic. So Dwight never had to deal with COVID rules.

Angela [00:17:02] Here's my question. Does Dwight still own the Scranton Park, though?

Jenna [00:17:07] Oh, does he still own the building?

Angela [00:17:10] Yeah, because he bought the whole building.

Jenna [00:17:12] You're right. We don't know the answer to that right now.

Angela [00:17:17] I secretly hope he does.

Jenna [00:17:21] Well, I just love that the show opens with a familiar face. I love hearing that Stanley and Phyllis both have schnoodles. You know, I was just sort of on the edge of my seat when I saw Bobby. We did not know he was part of the show!

Angela [00:17:36] We did not.

Jenna [00:17:37] We knew about Oscar, but I did not know about Bobby.

Angela [00:17:40] Also, did you have to Google schnoodles? Because I did.

Jenna [00:17:43] No, I just assumed they were a schnauzer and a poodle.

Angela [00:17:46] [laughing] That's exactly what they are!

Jenna [00:17:47] I mean, a labradoodle is a Labrador and a Poodle.

Angela [00:17:51] I guess it didn't click for me, what a schnoodle was.

Jenna [00:17:54] I didn't know you could mix a schnauzer and a poodle.

Angela [00:17:57] I didn't either.

Jenna [00:17:58] How does that work?

Angela [00:17:59] I don't know, and I don't want to think about it. But back to Bobby Ray for a second. So you guys, we did an AT&T commercial. It's out in the world now. You will have seen some of it.

Jenna [00:18:08] It's so good. It's so funny, lady.

Angela [00:18:10] They're so fun. You did them as well. They've really gotten almost the entire cast.

Jenna [00:18:14] Yeah.

Angela [00:18:15] Well, we were on set one day, and we were just chatting. I was asking him how his life is. He has a very peaceful existence on this nice, big property in West Virginia. We exchanged phone numbers and when I watched this, I was like, "Oh my gosh. Bobby Ray was in it and didn't even tell me!"

Jenna [00:18:32] There you go.

Angela [00:18:34] There you go. So I texted him and I was, like, "Can you please share with us what was like to be on The Paper?" And he sent us in this lovely audio clip. Let's hear it.

Bobby Ray [00:18:43] Hello to the Office Ladies, Angela and Jenna , and your loyal listeners. This is Bobby Ray Shafer, AKA Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration. I'm pleased to join you today to talk about my experience filming the new TV show, The Paper. There I was in my house on the hill, in the woods in West Virginia, minding my own business. I was working on my autobiography (which I'm sure the listeners will delight in the title, of which is), "What Line of Work Are You in, Bob?" Of course, it's about all the jobs that I had in my career, including the most famous and loved of them all, The Office. Thanks to the greatest fans ever. So I receive an email in my inbox one morning and I open it up and it's from Hollywood. Would I be interested and available for a new Greg Daniels project?

Bobby Ray (continued) [00:20:02] Well, there's only one answer to that and it is of course, yes. So I send back my availability. Then I had to wait for a while. You know how that goes, ladies. At the time I had thought, when I left LA after 40 years of grinding, that I would never go back. But of course, as I told the producer who contacted me, I've never said no to Greg Daniels and I'm not gonna start now. So after about a month of, "is it going to happen? Is it not going to happen," I found myself right back in the old mindset of "it is, it isn't, it is, it isn't" and that's torture for an actor. But after not having to go through it for a while, it was kind of fun to be back in it, to tell you the truth.

Bobby Ray (continued) [00:20:59] And the deal was closed, the arrangements were made and I found myself on a big old jet plane to the coast. I went to the set the next morning and I'd say that was the biggest difference, between The Office and The Paper, is being on the Universal lot. When I would walk out of my trailer, the tour carts would come rolling by and all the people were waving and staring and yelling and that was a new dimension to filming. But anyway, it was fantastic to be back in the Vance Refrigeration Office. As you know, details are key on The Office and they are too on The Paper. Cause it was a perfect replica, right down to a secretary and the whole office. You know, I really knew then what deja vu felt like. I felt like I'd been there before.

Bobby Ray (continued) [00:21:57] But it was delightful to see all the familiar faces; there were many of the crew members and the key guy, of course, other than Mr. Daniels was Sergio (our caterer) and he was there and it was a delight to see him and Veda, the script supervisor, and Dave Rogers, the editor. It was like old home week and it was really just a wonderful feeling to be back involved with those great people, so talented. Greg was directing the pilot, and so I got to spend some quality time with him. He'd written a very smart, funny open. I hope you'll all enjoy it. The main reason I did it, of course (other than, you know, it was Greg), is the historical link with The Office.

Bobby Ray (continued) [00:22:46] As many of you know, I've been doing a lot of fan shows and I'll say it again, we do have the greatest fans in television show history. I wanna thank you all very much for making us feel so treasured and cherished. It's really, truly a great honor. It's been a blessing to be able to, uh, make people happy with just a photo and a signature. And you gave me that. So, Office Ladies, you're kicking butt, taking names, keep it up. Love you very much and I'll see you. Bye bye.

Angela [00:23:25] Oh, isn't that great?

Jenna [00:23:27] So great.

Angela [00:23:28] I just loved all of that. And I texted him, "Thank you so much, from the two of us." And he said, "Well, Ange, thank you, and know that I forgive you for spitting on me." And I said, "Wait, what are you talking about? When did I spit on you? I'm so sorry. I guess I'm a hot mess." I thought maybe I spit on him on the AT&T commercial.

Jenna [00:23:51] Okay.

Angela [00:23:51] And he wrote back and he said, "Ha ha, fun run. I made a remark about the dead cat. It was a deleted scene."

Jenna [00:23:58] Oh my God!

Angela [00:23:59] That I was just teasing. So now I want to go back to Fun Run deleted scenes and be like, "I totally forgot that scene."

Jenna [00:24:07] Well, Greg told me that they went back to our old lot and they restored the Scranton Business Sign Park for that opening, establishing shot. He said that on that day, some fans were there, and they came and took photos. He was like, "They got really lucky, because that sign is not usually there on the building."

Angela [00:24:30] Right.

Jenna [00:24:30] He said that it was just kind of cool to see it there again. But like Bobby said, The Vance Refrigeration and the Eye Center and the elevator, all of that, they completely rebuilt on a soundstage at the Universal Lot, because that's where they shot The Paper, was on a soundstage at the Universal lot.

Angela [00:24:49] That's right, and we went and visited there. When we were walking to our cars at the end of the day, Greg was so sweet. He walked us out after our visit. We're standing by the cars and one of those busses went by.

Jenna [00:25:02] Yeah, that Bobby talked about.

Angela [00:25:04] Yeah, it's like an open air bus with a bunch of visitors who are coming to Universal Studios. You pay for this pass. You get the tour of the whole back lot. And there we were standing there and Greg literally was like, "Get down," at us, "dive behind a dumpster!"

Jenna [00:25:18] We literally dove behind a dumpster because we did not want people to see us there. We were afraid.

Angela [00:25:24] With Greg!

Jenna [00:25:25] Yes, because there were the rumors that The Paper was happening.

Angela [00:25:33] But I have to say, hearing now that people took pictures of that Scranton Park sign at our old set. Guys, zoom in. I bet you have "Laser One and Done."

Jenna [00:25:46] [laughing] You probably do! Well now that our documentary crew has figured out that Dunder Mifflin was bought by Enervate, we're gonna go to Enervate.

Angela [00:25:56] To Toledo.

Jenna [00:25:57] Yes to the Truth Teller Tower, and we go upstairs and we're going to see a bunch of workers in these glass walled cubicles

Angela [00:26:08] And one of them is shaving. He's got an electric shaver and he's reclining and shaving.

Jenna [00:26:15] He's getting the side eye from the person in the cubicle next to him.

Angela [00:26:18] Shout out to Stephen Saux, who played the man shaving his face. You might recognize that name, because we have talked about him and his wife (Lori) for years. They were the stand-in team on The Office. They both had cameos on The Office, and I was so tickled to see them on The Paper.

Jenna [00:26:34] Yes, lady! When we visited, we saw both Stephen and Lori, and it was so cool, but I had no idea that he had a cameo!

Angela [00:26:42] Neither did I! Because everybody locked it up. So when we watched this, I texted him about working on The Paper. I asked him how him and Lori came to work on The Paper, what it was like working on this show, what it like to do this cameo. And he sent us the most lovely message, just like Bobby Ray. Everyone has just been so wonderful. You gotta hear it.

Stephen [00:27:05] Lori and I both got to work on The Paper, and the pilot episode was really a thrill. I mean, somehow we were both able to work on The Office for all those years and we made so many memories. As soon as we found out about there even being a true Office spinoff, we reached out to Greg Daniels who is just so kind and just absolutely brilliant and somehow... We got to work on this brand new show. Well, one day I had a break from filming and I walked over to one of the other stages we were using and I saw the outside of a set that had just been built. From the outside, a set just looks like wood and nails and a door here and there. It's not until you open the door and step inside, that the set is revealed.

Stephen (continued) [00:27:59] There was no one else, not a single person on stage, so I was all alone. And I was curious about what we might shoot the next few days. It could have been a restaurant or an apartment or whatever. So I opened one of the doors and it was the office's elevator lobby. I had entered that door that was a stairwell door, next to Bob Vance's glass door, and I was instantly taken back to the old Chandler Valley studios in Van Nuys. It was shocking and emotional, actually. I walked up to the elevator and so many memories flood in my brain, and I thought of one of the most vivid memories on the show.

Stephen (continued) [00:28:49] It was Steve Carell's last day, and specifically Steve's last scene. The scene was when Michael says goodbye to the office and he walks to the elevator and exits the building. The day before, Greg had asked me to wear a suit and so he put me in the scene. Me and a mail courier walk out of the elevator as Michael walks in. On Steve's last take I watched the character Michael Scott entered the elevator and the doors closed and then after the scene ended, the doors opened and the actor Steve Carell stepped out. It really was just him and I in the lobby at that point and I couldn't help myself and I just gave him a big hug. Well here I was, back in that space, and I had goosebumps. I saw Bob Vance's office and then I walked toward the Dunder Mifflin office and it was a laser hair removal place. So Dunder Mifflin was gone.

Stephen (continued) [00:29:55] What I felt at that moment was just closure. Life moves on and art shows us, in amazing ways, that life has changed. I got to stand there in that moment, full of gratitude for all that The Office meant to me. Then in that same breath, I got pivot to this brand new show. Then the next day, they asked me if I could come in and work with the talented Tim Key in one of the opening scenes of the pilot. Just an incredible experience that I will never forget.

Angela [00:30:38] That is so powerful.

Jenna [00:30:40] Well, I cried the first time I listened to that, because he's right about what art can show us, and I just can't imagine what it was like. Like, it feels like time travel.

Angela [00:30:52] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:30:52] If I could open a door and be standing in that elevator bay again.

Angela [00:30:57] And I didn't know that story, that he had that moment with Steve and then now he is there again all these years later in that same elevator bay. I thought Stephen said it all so well. I felt everything that he shared. You're a little teary.

Jenna [00:31:21] Yeah, it makes me so excited for this group of people. I just hope that this show gets to give them what The Office gave us.

Angela [00:31:34] Yeah.

Jenna [00:31:34] Now we are going to cut to a talking head of Ken. Ken is played by Tim Key. He is British. He is the head of strategy for the corporate offices at Enervate, and he's going to explain to us what Enervate does. Let's listen.

Tim [00:31:53] Enervate sells products made out of paper, so that might be office supplies, that might be janitorial paper (which is things like toilet tissue, toilet seat protectors), and local newspapers and that is in order of quality.

Angela [00:32:11] I loved at the very end when he says, "in order of quality," he thinks he's being funny and he has this little smirk look to camera and it just cracked me up.

Jenna [00:32:20] Now he's gonna take us on the tour of the offices. He explains that the corporate offices are on the eighth floor, he's going to take us up to the ninth floor. This reminded me of our pilot, where Michael Scott is taking you on a tour of Dunder Mifflin, because he starts introducing everybody. We find out that the ninth-floor is home to Softee's toilet paper, and when he opens the door, by the way, this is when we get our first glimpse of the set. And it is huge!

Angela [00:32:50] It's so... Vast.

Jenna [00:32:52] Yes, it is this big open space, but there are very few people in it.

Angela [00:32:55] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:32:56] Michael Koman told me that this scene was the very first scene they shot, of The Paper.

Angela [00:33:01] Oh, really?

Jenna [00:33:02] Yes

Angela [00:33:02] [fondly] Awww. As Ken walks through, he's greeting his Toilet Kings and one Queen, who I think has a little bit of an Angela Martin vibe. She's got that ponytail pulled back tight and I love the throw away snarky comment Ken said as he walked past her. He says, "Scrunchie, no harm in it." Because she had her hair in a scrunchie. It was just a really funny throw away line.

Jenna [00:33:27] Well, Scrunchie Gal, aka Toilet Queen, is our first writer-performer. She is a character that we're going to see at Softees, named Kimberly, and she is played by Mo Welch.

Angela [00:33:38] Ken continues now to show us the rest of the Softees side of the office. There's a lot of old artwork and logos. Then he takes us to a gong that they hit whenever a sale is made. I have to imagine that's going to drive everyone crazy if you work there.

Jenna [00:33:56] Yes, for sure.

Angela [00:33:56] This is when he introduces us to what's on the other side of the office, which is the local newspaper, "The Toledo Truth Teller."

Jenna [00:34:05] We find out that this entire building,

Angela [00:34:07] Which is a big building!

Jenna [00:34:09] used to house the newspaper with a staff of, like, a thousand and now they're just half of this floor and there's seven of them.

Angela [00:34:19] Mm-hmm. Then we flash back to 1971.

Jenna [00:34:23] Yeah, we're going to watch a little black and white documentary.

Angela [00:34:26] That's the year I was born. Guys, we did have color TV in 1971. I am not that old. I am 54.

Jenna [00:34:37] You're so right.

Angela [00:34:39] It made me laugh.

Jenna [00:34:43] I think we just needed to differentiate between our current day story and this documentary. But you're so right.

Angela [00:34:53] Anyway, I'm sure that's exactly why they did it, but it did crack me up.

Jenna [00:34:57] Yes, so we're watching this old documentary, and it's being hosted by John Stack, the publisher of the Toledo Truth Teller, and we're seeing our same set, but now it is just filled with wall-to-wall people.

Angela [00:35:13] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:35:14] John Stack is played by Tracy Letts, Lady.

Angela [00:35:18] Oh, your theater nerd heart went into overdrive. You were like [intensely] "Angela. ANGELA."

Jenna [00:35:25] Tracy Letts, multiple Tony Award winner. He wrote "August: Osage County." He won a Tony for playing George in the revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" I saw it. I saw all of it. I went to Chicago to see his play "Superior Donuts" at Steppenwolf and, lady, afterwards I got to go out and have drinks with him.

Angela [00:35:49] Wow. Did you keep your cool? Did you say anything ridiculous or were you...

Jenna [00:35:53] I barely spoke.

Angela [00:35:53] Okay, that's smart.

Jenna [00:35:54] Because I was so in awe.

Angela [00:35:58] And nervous?

Jenna [00:35:58] Yes, yes. So I asked Michael Koman, I was like, "How did you get Tracy Letts on the show?" Michael Koman was as big of a nerd about him as I was. He said he was the first choice. So they just reached out and he said yes, and Michael was like, "I was genuinely thrilled."

Angela [00:36:20] This scene that's going to come at the end makes perfect sense to me. We'll get to that.

Jenna [00:36:24] We'll get to it.

Angela [00:36:25] Because of Michael's love of him.

Jenna [00:36:26] Well, he absolutely adores him. He said they actually shot a ton of stuff with him and he really hopes that they're gonna be able to keep weaving this old "documentary."

Angela [00:36:37] From 1971, this whole black and white documentary.

Jenna [00:36:42] Exactly. But this was all just to give us a visual of what this used to be and what it is now.

Angela [00:36:49] Yes, just the juxtaposition of this lively hustle and bustle-thriving newspaper, and now it's in the same office space as a toilet paper and toilet seat cover company. And it's not even the major earner.

Jenna [00:37:06] So we cut back to present day. We're gonna meet our first character from the Truth Teller and it's Mare. She's a young woman. She's sitting at her desk.

Angela [00:37:15] Ding ding ding. We have our first adorable coffee mug sighting.

Jenna [00:37:21] Oh, what is it?

Angela [00:37:22] Everyone else has a paper coffee cup and Mare's coffee mug is adorable. It's banana themed It's a bunch of little bananas, and they're all wearing little black-rimmed glasses.

Jenna [00:37:31] What? I missed it!

Angela [00:37:31] I just loved it, and you guys I'm gonna give you a little sprinkle of what's on everyone's desk as we go through. Mare's desk is very simple. There is an article that she has had framed, probably that she wrote, we're guessing. And a personal photo and some hand sanitizer.

Jenna [00:37:47] Well, we are going to learn that her job is compositor. Here's what she does: she just goes to the AP, she pulls stories that are in their subscription price point. Clearly, they haven't sprung for the best stories.

Angela [00:38:01] No.

Jenna [00:38:02] And she just drags the articles into this, like, what would you call it?

Angela [00:38:08] A formatting thing. Plops them in there, and then it formats them, and then voila.

Jenna [00:38:12] Mare is played by actress Chelsea Frei. We got to meet her, we interviewed her. If you didn't hear her interview, go back and listen to it, because it's amazing. I was absolutely blown away by her performance.

Angela [00:38:23] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [00:38:24] I'm a little obsessed. She's so good.

Angela [00:38:26] She makes so many great choices and you don't see her making them. Do you know what I mean?

Jenna [00:38:32] Yes.

Angela [00:38:32] It feels so effortless.

Jenna [00:38:34] Yes, I told Greg I'm obsessed with her.

Angela [00:38:36] She's so good. Well now coming up, you guys, we have the opening credits.

Jenna [00:38:41] Yes!

Angela [00:38:42] I just loved them.

Jenna [00:38:43] I love the opening credits. We've seen the first four episodes, and I've watched the opening credits every time. I'm not skipping the opening credits.

Angela [00:38:49] They're great. What they are, you guys, is sort of a montage of vintage scenes of people using newspaper for anything other than reading it.

Jenna [00:39:00] Then you do see some people reading it.

Angela [00:39:02] But we end on a shot of the newspaper and it has been used to line a bird cage. It's the character Nicole's bird cage and I guess the bird has peed and pooped on it, because it's the liner of her bird cage and she's scraping it into the trash.

Jenna [00:39:18] Well, I love all of the images from this, but I also absolutely loved the theme song. It's very reminiscent of one we've grown to love. I think we should hear it.

audio cue [00:39:58] [theme song from The Paper plays]

Jenna [00:39:59] Lady, I hope that one day this cast is walking across the stage, getting an award to that song.

Angela [00:40:08] I know.

Jenna [00:40:09] I really do. I just hope they get it all.

Angela [00:40:11] Can you please tell us about this song, because it's just so special. It gave me the chills, like when I hear The Office one, and then of course I love the little callback to the very end piano keys.

Jenna [00:40:23] Well, Greg said that he did the same thing he'd done for The Office and Parks and Rec, in that he took submissions from a variety of composers. He asked a number of people, "Write me a song." Ultimately, he loved this one. It's by Nick Thorburn and Patrick Ford, but get this lady. After he picked the composition, he went to Bob Field and the Scrantones to record it live. They were the band from "Booze Cruise" and they were also the musicians who played our theme song.

Angela [00:40:53] That is so amazing. That is full circle and I feel like that's why it has a similar feel. Love that. OK, so the episode is going to start with a talking head from Mare. She's going to tell us about their one resident reporter, the real deal reporter. His name is Barry. When they need accurate local sports coverage, that's who they go to. They cut over to Barry, he is asleep. He's an older gentleman who's been there a long time.

Jenna [00:41:23] He is played by Duane Shepard Senior and he's our one reporter.

Angela [00:41:28] That's it.

Jenna [00:41:29] Well now we are going to meet - Oh my gosh, she's my fave.

Angela [00:41:34] Talk about owning a scene.

Jenna [00:41:37] We're going to meet Esmeralda, played by Sabrina Impacciatore. You might remember her from season two of "White Lotus." She plays the woman at the front desk who's running the hotel.

Angela [00:41:48] The concierge.

Jenna [00:41:48] Yes, she is incredible and just literally everything she says, I love her.

Angela [00:41:54] I know.

Jenna [00:41:55] I have this whole thing where I go between Chelsea and Sabrina, and I'm obsessed with these two women on this show.

Angela [00:42:02] Also, the moment we first met her, I felt like I was in a movie meeting someone.

Jenna [00:42:08] You mean when we met her in real life?

Angela [00:42:09] In real life.

Jenna [00:42:11] Yes.

Angela [00:42:11] Because she came in in this beautiful outfit, but she had just come from hair and makeup and so she had all these curlers in her hair.

Jenna [00:42:19] She did, which is so funny because when she does her talking head in the episode, she's got clips in her hair. So she's gonna explain that she is in charge of TTT online.

Angela [00:42:31] When I first heard this, I thought she said "titty online."

Jenna [00:42:36] [laughing] Well, she does say that it's much more important, much more fun, and much sexier than the printed version of the newspaper. Because the print version is for people who just want to frame it if they're mentioned. But the online version, they can go on and on and there's no space issues. So she's going to show us one of her recent articles. It's called, "You Won't Believe How Much Ben Affleck Tipped His Limo Driver." Her description of it is so funny, I think we need to hear it.

Angela [00:43:06] There's so many pop-up ads.

Jenna [00:43:08] Yeah.

audio clip - Esmeralda [00:43:10] At TTT Online, we have no space or length limitations. This is classic long form journalism. Here is one of my articles I'm particularly proud of. I don't know if you can see it. So you start reading it, yes, and you get very curious. I'm scrolling. Oops. I hit an ad, and I click here and I'm scrolling. And I'm learning a lot about the history of tipping. Like, the first tip, what was that? Maybe a piece of cheese. Then you keep learning about colors of cars, there are so many colors. But it's not a waste of time, because when you get to the end and you find out that the tips was $300, wow, I mean that's a lot!

Jenna [00:44:07] Lady, her article a little bit reminds me of me and you breaking something down. Right? Because we're gonna take you on a deep dive of the history of tipping and the types of limos that existed in the world, just to eventually tell you that Ben Affleck tipped $300.

Angela [00:44:27] We've watched this a few times now, and every time she gets to the part where she's like, "What was the first tip? Maybe a piece of cheese?" Makes me laugh every time.

Jenna [00:44:34] Every time.

Angela [00:44:36] While this talking head is going on, we get a real glimpse into Sabrina's office. It might be one of the most amazingly chaotic, crazy, vivid offices. Definitely on the set of The Paper. There are so many great details. I'm gonna list a few things I saw. First of all, there is a giant conch shell. Then a leopard printed swivel desk chair, is what she sits on. There are gold little stars, like, cut out construction paper-looking gold stars.

Jenna [00:45:08] She's covered so many things in her office with gold stars.

Angela [00:45:11] Multiple frames of just her, covered with these little stars. Her laptop has stars on them. But lady, I thought of you.

Jenna [00:45:20] What?

Angela [00:45:21] Did you clock how many lamps she has?

Jenna [00:45:24] [laughing] No.

Angela [00:45:25] She has a little tiny lamp with tripod legs with a little white square top. She has two big gold-based lamps with white rounded tops. Then she's got another ye olde lamp with the pink shade with the tassels.

Jenna [00:45:41] God, I love a lamp.

Angela [00:45:42] She's like you.

Jenna [00:45:43] I love a lamp.

Angela [00:45:44] You, Sabrina, and Steve Carell's character on "Anchorman." She also has a makeup mirror with a little makeup caddy. I clocked some half-burnt sage. She's been sage-ing in there. Stacks of papers, cups holding pins and scissors, a hairbrush, an open glass bottle of some type of soda, and some very sad-looking plants.

Jenna [00:46:07] Oh my gosh, she is me. Sad plants and lots of lamps. That could be my autobiography.

Angela [00:46:12] There it is.

Jenna [00:46:13] Done.

Angela [00:46:14] I'm buying that book.

Jenna [00:46:15] It writes itself. Well, obviously, this is the pilot episode, so we're learning about all these people. We've learned about Esmeralda, and now we're gonna learn a little more about Mare, who says that before she worked here, she was in the army. And she did write for the military newspaper, "Stars and Stripes."

Angela [00:46:38] We got that paper when I lived overseas.

Jenna [00:46:40] Oh, yeah?

Angela [00:46:41] Yeah, that's the paper I remember my dad reading when I was growing up.

Jenna [00:46:44] Well, Esmeralda's gonna walk around the office and introduce us to people. She's gonna start with Nicole.

Angela [00:46:52] Yeah. Poor Nicole does not want to be on camera and Esmeralda is going to make sure of it. She kind of squeezes her face and then it cuts to Nicole. We have a new talking head location.

Jenna [00:47:02] It's a storage room.

Angela [00:47:04] Yes, I loved it. I loved the visual of it. Behind her are all these old card catalog cabinets. You know, the tall ones that are made of wood and have the tiny little drawers? And then on either side of her are just shelves of files.

Jenna [00:47:19] Yes, and this is where we're gonna get our talking head confessionals. You know what I thought? I thought of Leslie David Baker. And I thought, of all the talking heads he sat in the background of.

Angela [00:47:31] They made sure no one had to do that.

Jenna [00:47:32] That nobody had to do it this time. We're gonna put you in, like, a closet for these talking heads. No one in the background.

Angela [00:47:41] Poor Leslie and Creed, Leslie the most, but those two were in so many. The only talking heads we don't see in this card catalog file closet are the ones in some people's offices that have actual offices.

Jenna [00:47:56] Correct. Well, Nicole is going to explain that she's in circulation. So she keeps track of subscribers. She also just talks about how "maybe" they generate revenue by "maybe" collecting and selling information on people who accept all the cookies on their website. She has a very funny line where she says, "You could say we get more information from the readers than they get from us."

Angela [00:48:25] Mm-hmm. Mm-hm.

Jenna [00:48:27] Nicole is played by Ramona Young and we got to interview her when we visited it got cut short because they needed her back on set. But you can listen to that interview.

Angela [00:48:36] Her and I found out we were both on "The Real O'Neils" together.

Jenna [00:48:40] You were on multiple things together, but you never really met.

Angela [00:48:44] Never worked together.

Jenna [00:48:46] That's like me and Rob Lowe. We were on three projects together, and we never were in a scene together.

Angela [00:48:53] Hold up. Is there going to be a show where me and you and Rob Lowe and Ramona are all in one scene?

Jenna [00:48:59] Well, I think we need to make it.

Angela [00:48:59] On "Mom Detectives," case number one!

Jenna [00:49:03] Exactly. All right, now we are going to meet Detrick, played by Melvin Gregg.

Angela [00:49:10] I'm so bummed we didn't get to interview Melvin.

Jenna [00:49:13] I know, we got to meet him, but we didn't get to interview him.

Angela [00:49:15] We got to chat with him on set, then they started rolling we had to whisk away and then he was in scenes.

Jenna [00:49:21] Yes. He explains that he sells ads for the paper. We also learn that he likes to cheer people up, specifically Nicole. He's gonna have a little crush on Nicole. Angela, we have seen Nicole's desk and Detrick's desk. Do you have a desk breakdown for us?

Angela [00:49:41] I do. So Nicole's desk, you're going to see this a little bit more later in the episode. Right now, we've only seen a quick glimpse of it. She has a framed picture of her dog, some type of Stanley water bottle, some little twinkly lights that looks like she's strung around her partition. The thing I'm most curious about is the birdcage. It's got the little cloth covering it, because the bird is clearly inside.

Jenna [00:50:10] It's sleeping.

Angela [00:50:11] It's sleepin'. But yeah, she gets to bring her bird to work. And this made me think of a gal I worked with at 1-800-Dentist who would bring her parakeet, Dash, to work

Jenna [00:50:22] In a cage, obviously, right? Not on her shoulder. I don't know why I said in a cage.

Angela [00:50:28] Actually, she had this little travel... I don't even know if I'd call it a cage. A container, it looked like a caboodle. Remember the makeup caboodles?

Jenna [00:50:35] Yeah.

Angela [00:50:36] It was plastic, but the top was kind of open and graded and she could pop the lid open and they let Dash out. It was okay.

Jenna [00:50:44] At 1-800-Dentist.

Angela [00:50:45] And he had a ball that he loved so much. It had a little bell inside it. If you called 1-800-Dentist back in those days, you might have heard this in the background [makes jingly bell noise] and that was Dash kicking his ball.

Jenna [00:51:01] I had two parakeets growing up. "Pretty" was the name of the first parakeet, and "Mango" was the second parakeet. Mango used to fly around our house and would sit on my shoulder when I played piano.

Angela [00:51:15] Dash would hang out with Paula (was the lady's name) in her little desk cubicle, or he would kick his ball down. All of our desks were connected, so you might have Dash just traveling down.

Jenna [00:51:29] Wow.

Angela [00:51:29] I want more bird, is all I'm saying. Okay, I'm now intrigued. We've seen it in the opening credits. Now I see the cage on her desk.

Jenna [00:51:37] When will we meet this bird?

Angela [00:51:38] When will we meet this bird?

Jenna [00:51:40] OK.

Angela [00:51:40] Melvin's desk, I will say, is a little bit more of a typical desk. You know, papers, Post-it notes, things like that.

Jenna [00:51:46] Not too personalized.

Angela [00:51:48] Not super personalized, but oh my goodness. Melvin, we need to discuss your computer screen. He had so many tabs open. Seriously, he has 10 tabs open, so he's got some digital clutter, lady. There is one other desk that I think really rivals Esmeralda's, for the amount of things, and we'll get to it.

Jenna [00:52:13] Well, speaking of Esmeralda, she's kind of flirting with the camera.

Angela [00:52:19] I loved this so much, lady. This is my favorite moment of the episode. Her acting is so brilliant. Cassi and I were talking about it when I got here because this is her favorite moment.

Jenna [00:52:29] Oh my gosh.

Angela [00:52:30] We've got to hear it.

Jenna [00:52:30] Let's hear it!

audio clip - Esmeralda [00:52:32] You are going to get tired, chasing my busy little body around with that camera. Also, I'm a single mom, so there's lots going on in my life. Anyway, here are two accountants and a head accountant. Boring, boring, and head boring.

audio clip - Oscar [00:52:57] Not again. I'm not agreeing to any of this. Don't you guys have enough after nine years? Nobody wants this. You know what, you can't use my voice, my likeness, my face, nothing.

Jenna [00:53:10] Oh my gosh, this was so fun! This is the reveal of Oscar!

Angela [00:53:14] Yes, but the turn that she takes leading there where she's, like, flirty, flirty. And then she's, like, "I'm a single mom. I got a lot going on." Then, she kicks it over to accounting and then yes, we discover Oscar.

Jenna [00:53:28] Yeah, he runs away. You heard it. He's like, "You cannot use my likeness. Nothing, I'm not doing this again," and he runs in the bathroom and he slams the door.

Angela [00:53:36] And then the next thing we see is a title card with a message on it that says, "Yes we can. There's no end date to the release Oscar signed in 2005."

Jenna [00:53:47] Yes, he's now a reluctant participant in this ongoing documentary.

Angela [00:53:52] He's gotta be so pissed off.

Jenna [00:53:54] Well, we're gonna see this play out. Like we said, we got to see the first four episodes of the show and without giving too much away, it's kind of a soft launch because he's going to be avoiding the cameras. He's gonna get drawn in, but I really loved that. I loved that we got see this familiar face, but he's not in the main storylines at first.

Angela [00:54:18] Mhm.

Jenna [00:54:19] He's gonna get slowly pulled in. I feel like we should mention the other members of this three-person boring accounting team because they're played by two more of The Paper's writer/performers, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Alex Edelman. And they play Adelola and Adam, the other two accountants.

Angela [00:54:40] We're gonna see Barry now. Barry's desk area is sort of that classic desk of someone who has worked at the same company for a long, long time. It has clutter, but it is clutter that has earned its place. For example, his desk is situated by a big column that's part of the building, and he has covered that column with a whole bunch of little tiny newspaper clippings.

Jenna [00:55:03] Yes, probably articles he wrote over the years, I would think.

Angela [00:55:06] We would hope.

Jenna [00:55:07] Well, Mare is at her desk, and she's doing her business of pulling articles off the wire. And she just says, "You know what, I need some air." We're going to, now, go outside, and we're gonna see someone approaching the building. But I think we should take a break. When we come back, we'll tell you who it is.

Angela [00:55:25] Yes, we're going to meet a young man with purpose.

audio cue [00:55:28] musical sting

Jenna [00:55:39] All right, we are back and we are gonna meet Ned Sampson. He's this nice looking young man. He's got a backpack on. He's played by Domhnal Gleeson, double crossover connection. He was in the mini series, "The Patient" with Steve Carell and the movie "Fountain of Youth" with John Krasinski.

Angela [00:55:57] How about that? Well, we're gonna learn, you know, he's super excited to be there. It's his first day working at the Truth Teller. He shares growing up, he didn't idolize Superman. He worshiped Clark Kent, who was saving the world by working at a newspaper.

Jenna [00:56:14] Yes, he's very idealistic and as he's talking, he kind of runs into Mare,

Angela [00:56:23] Kind of runs in?

[00:56:24] Yeah, he knocks her whole salad to the ground.

Angela [00:56:26] She's carrying this big salad and he backs into her, unknowingly, with his enormous backpack, knocking her salad out of her hands, dumping it all over the ground. He never even sees her. All I could think about was Hugh Grant in this moment.

Jenna [00:56:40] Why?

Angela [00:56:41] He hates backpacks.

Jenna [00:56:43] He does?

Angela [00:56:44] Oh my gosh, have you not heard him go off?

Jenna [00:56:47] No, okay, wait. This is so funny because I know what you're talking about. Yes, both him and also Kate Blanchett. Have you seen these compilations of them going on and on about the things that they hate? She hates leaf blowers.

Angela [00:57:04] She does.

Jenna [00:57:05] Like, so much, she hates them.

Angela [00:57:07] I think you need to hear his hatred of backpacks, though.

Jenna [00:57:10] Please.

Angela [00:57:10] Here's a clip of him talking about it on "Late Night with Seth Meyers."

audio clip - Seth Meyers [00:57:13] You are a man who, you said I believe, you are a walking pet peeve, in that you have a lot of pet peeves about human behavior.

audio clip - Hugh Grant [00:57:21] Yeah, I'm an angry little man.

audio clip - Seth Meyers [00:57:23] Can I read off some of your pet peeves and have you tee off? You don't like people walking slowly?

audio clip - Hugh Grant [00:57:28] Unbearable!

audio clip - Seth Meyers [00:57:32] Backpacks. You don't care for backpacks, why not?

audio clip - Hugh Grant [00:57:34] What's all that? Why has everyone got a backpack? Take it off.

audio clip - Seth Meyers [00:57:37] But what if they have their stuff in it?

audio clip - Hugh Grant [00:57:40] I don't care. Carry it here.

audio clip - Seth Meyers [00:57:43] So the bag's not an issue. It's that it's on your back?

audio clip - Hugh Grant [00:57:45] . Well, I use the subway, the tube, in London quite a lot because you can't get around any other way. There's always someone's huge backpack in my face with their stupid water bottle.

audio clip - Seth Meyers [00:57:58] So you also don't care for water bottles.

audio clip - Hugh Grant [00:57:58] Why does everyone need a water bottle?

Angela [00:58:02] So, basically, I think Hugh Grant would really hate Ned's backpack.

Jenna [00:58:06] Oh, for sure!

Angela [00:58:08] It took out a whole salad!

Jenna [00:58:10] And he doesn't even notice.

Angela [00:58:11] I know.

Jenna [00:58:12] All right, well he's gonna go upstairs to these offices and he walks in, and no one is expecting him. He's just a guy with a backpack who's walked in. He goes into the copy room. He's kind of wandering around.

Angela [00:58:27] He's filming and taking pictures. He so excited.

Jenna [00:58:30] He looks like a tourist.

Angela [00:58:32] He looks out of place, for sure.

Jenna [00:58:34] So Nicole clocks him, and she goes over, and she locks him inside of this copy room, which is a glass room. Now employees start wandering over. Then Ned is going to discover that he's been locked in the room. This whole exchange, it made me laugh very hard. I think we need to hear it.

audio clip - Employee A [00:58:53] We do not have door money!

audio clip - Ned [00:58:54] This is just a misunderstanding, okay? I just- I start work at the paper-

audio clip - EmployeeB [00:58:58] Which paper? News or toilet?

audio clip - Ned [00:59:00] News! Why would I say the paper about toilet paper?

audio clip - Employee A [00:59:04] We don't know you sir. How should we know why you say the things you say?

audio clip - Ned [00:59:06] I've got a meeting at two o'clock. I'm just early. That's all this is.

audio clip - Employee C [00:59:10] Okay, who's the meeting with?

audio clip - Ned [00:59:13] Just briefly, I'm forgetting the name. No, no, wait, wait. It's something unique. Is there a Fantine that works here?

audio clip - EmployeeB [00:59:23] [laughing derisively] You'll find her in Le Mis.

Angela [00:59:27] I really love Detrick in that scene.

Jenna [00:59:31] Yes. "We don't know why you say the things you say, sir." Well, Ned finally remembers Esmeralda's name at the same time that Mare finally returns and says, "Oh my gosh, I saw this guy downstairs."

Angela [00:59:44] He was talking to the camera crew. He's legit. They let him out. I want to point out at 14 minutes and 49 seconds, we see behind Ned, in the copy room on the side of a filing cabinet, the same yellow froggy 101 radio sticker that was on the set of The Office.

Jenna [01:00:02] Oh my gosh!

Angela [01:00:05] Yes, little Easter egg.

Jenna [01:00:07] Well, I spotted an Easter egg on Oscar's desk that we're gonna talk about later.

Angela [01:00:11] Yes, and I have a clip.

Jenna [01:00:13] Oh, well, it's making me wonder if there are more of these. Like, if I watch it again, will I see more of them in the background?

Angela [01:00:19] I think so. I think they're hidden all over.

Jenna [01:00:22] You think there's a Simpsons thing somewhere?

Angela [01:00:25] I would think so. I looked for it. If I missed it, let me know.

Jenna [01:00:29] Or a ducky. I don't know.

Angela [01:00:31] I did see a stuffed animal in a filing cabinet. I couldn't really make out what it was.

Jenna [01:00:37] Okay, for future viewings.

Angela [01:00:38] Mm-hmm.

Jenna [01:00:40] So when they let Ned out of the conference room, everyone's going to come up and introduce him. But my favorite is when Travis, the Softee toilet paper guy, shakes his hand and then turns it into, like, a pat down. Just to make sure.

Angela [01:00:57] I love the character of Travis. We have watched a few upcoming episodes. There are a few scenes that he's in that crack me up. Eric, you are hilarious.

Jenna [01:01:08] Yes, he's played by Eric Rahill, and he is our final writer/performer.

Angela [01:01:13] Oh, he is so funny.

Jenna [01:01:15] So Ned explains he's a new employee. Mare is immediately worried that she's fired because she knows we don't have room for new employees. They get to chatting and he's like, "I'm a little shaken up. I could use a bite to eat before my meeting. I owe you a salad. You wanna get something to eat?" She says "sure."

Angela [01:01:33] They now go down to a little cafe. It looks like it's maybe somewhere in the building, right? Like, on the mezzanine level of the building? It's called Eat-Hous. Get it?

Jenna [01:01:44] Eat-house.

Angela [01:01:46] And this is where the two of them start to get to know each other. It's such a lovely scene.

Jenna [01:01:51] I love Chelsea in this scene. I love her. I have to imagine that when Greg was watching her in this seen, he was dazzled because she's incredible.

Angela [01:02:02] She's so great, Ned. I did have questions. This is when I wish we had the script because Ned does this thing where he's picking out all of the tomatoes out of his salad.

Jenna [01:02:11] Yes, he's talking about his backstory, where he came from. But all the while, he's picking at his salad.

Angela [01:02:17] Like, separating things out of it and she becomes very fixated on that. She's like, "What are you doing?" And I was like, "That had to have been in the script," he didn't just do that, right?

Jenna [01:02:28] I don't think so, because he has a very funny line where he says, "Oh, this is the pile of things I don t want to eat from the salad. This the pile of eat alones, and then this is the salad."

Angela [01:02:39] That's right, that's right. I just love that writing.

Jenna [01:02:43] But what I do wonder is, is there someone in the writer's room who does that to their salad?

Angela [01:02:48] I'm sure, you know all these things make their way in.

Jenna [01:02:51] That's right. So we find out that Ned started by working at his father's cardboard company. Then through a connection that his dad had at Enervate, he ends up working at Softees in Chicago. And now, per his request, he's been moved to Toledo to work at the newspaper.

Angela [01:03:07] We also learned that he's a very good salesman.

Jenna [01:03:10] Yes, and we learn a little bit about his vision for what he wants to do here.

Angela [01:03:16] We are now gonna cut back to the offices where some people are talking. There's a hilarious conversation between Oscar and Travis where Travis is sort of telling him how to behave if you ever hit a deer with your car. What to do with your card, to avoid hitting the deer.

Jenna [01:03:31] This scene was so funny, and this is a scene that I think might have gotten cut if you only had 21 minutes. Because there's no purpose for this, other than to just be very, very funny. To just watch two funny people in a funny scene.

Angela [01:03:45] It does have a moment, though, that furthers the storyline that Oscar doesn't want to be in it, because when Oscar sees the camera, he kind of scooches behind his computer monitor.

Jenna [01:03:53] Yes, that's true.

Angela [01:03:55] So that does serve that purpose. But I couldn't help but think that Travis and Dwight would get along really well.

Jenna [01:04:01] Oh definitely, based on this speech.

Angela [01:04:04] And the pat down.

Jenna [01:04:06] And the pat down, you're right!

Angela [01:04:08] I do want to give a quick shout out to Scott McGinnis, who is the prop master for The Paper. We chatted with him when we visited the set and we exchanged emails. He shared with us that he knew Phil Shea well and he did a lot of the same things for the paper (like reaching out to local businesses for menus, magnets, etc) that Phil did for the office with the local Scranton businesses. I asked Scott what it was like to work on The Paper and he said, "Is it possible to work with Greg Daniels without a story? He's wonderful." And I did ask him if we ever get to see that bird, and he said yes.

Jenna [01:04:45] [excited] Oh! We've got some inside scoop. Well, now we're going to have a talking head by the character Adelola, and she's telling us about her desk mate, Adam. He has four kids, his wife makes him the same lunch every day, he basically eats whatever the kids don't want to eat, and I guess you could say I'm not sure she thinks very highly of him.

Angela [01:05:10] While she's saying all of this, it's so hilarious to me because they cut to Adam. He is drinking out of a dinosaur sippy cup. He's literally eating a kid's lunch. It's really funny. We see a little bit of both of their desks in this montage, and I thought I'd share with you. First of all, Adalola's desk, she's got a lot on her desk. She's got lot of papers, lot of things. It's a little messy. But I think she's where people go to get little treats, because on the front of her desk, she has glass canisters of candy. Kind of reminded me of Pam's desk a little bit.

Jenna [01:05:47] Oh! Okay. Okay.

Angela [01:05:49] Adam's desk is the one I was talking about, like Esmeralda's. Holy moly, how many more things could you fit on this desk? It is wall to wall things. When we visited the set, we actually talked to Alex while he was at his desk and he described it a little bit for us.

audio clip - Alex [01:06:08] I have various books that you can only see the spines of. This is a book by Ken Kuapas, who directed the second episode. And it's facing in so you can't see the spine, but it says, "But What I Really Want to Do is Direct," which is why Ken gave me the book. This is the book about one of my mentors in my job before comedy. A guy named Larry Lucchino, he used to run the Red Sox. The book's called "Masters of the Game." So yeah, and because my character's a dad, he's got a bunch of like... He can't play at home, so I've got a bunch of toys, like these Velcro ball catchers, Rubik's cubes, this fart gun. [presses button and fart noises play] Yeah, it does different farts.

audio clip - Angela [01:06:50] I have a question about this container of toothpick cleaners, floss picks. Is that props or is that you?

audio clip - Alex [01:06:57] Oh, that's props. The stuff that's made, I love all of the props. This is a mini Bop-It. I'm a really good at mini bopping, but once in an early episode at a 6 a.m. call time, I was doing the Bop-It, like, in a bit of a trance state. I looked up and everyone was watching me. It was the wrong kind of attention.

audio clip - Jenna [01:07:20] I have a question about this Boston snow globe. Does your character have a Boston backstory?

audio clip - Alex [01:07:26] My character, like me, does have a Boston backstory. I'm a proud Brookline, Massachusettsan. Not a Newtonian, like Novak and Krasinski, but it's a bit of a tribute to all of the Bostonians who have come through the show. And yeah, my character is from Boston originally, although it's never come up.

audio clip - Jenna [01:07:51] I see that you also have the Magic 8-Ball on your desk, which was in Michael Scott's office, and a Magic 8 Ball seems to find its way onto a desk in every iteration of The Office.

audio clip - Alex [01:08:05] So you know, that wasn't my choice but when I noticed it, I kept hoping that no one would call me on it. Because I really wanted to keep it because I was such a big fan of the original show. So I thought, "Oh man, Oscar has his little nod to Michael Scott." I love that I get to have a little tiny nod to Michael's Scott too, but there are so many. Yes, I have a bevy of chapsticks. I have lots of chapsticks and this is a ball signed by a bunch of the crew, which is a really nice nice thing to have. Yeah, there are lots of little nods to the crew around the office; a lot of the employees of the month, a lot of the plaques and it's a really fun set.

Angela [01:08:49] Isn't that great? He also went on to show us all the pictures that are "all of his many kids." They're just all of his friend's kids, people that he holds dear to his heart. But his desk had so many toys. It had a marble racer, it had all these things. But I loved hearing how there was a little bit of things from his life, plus things that are props, plus nods to The Office. And I also just love how they continued the tradition like we had on The Office of having crew featured in all these little places on plaques and things.

Jenna [01:09:21] I love that too. Well, now we're going back to lunch and now it's Mare's turn to open up. They're gonna kind of agree together that this paper sucks, but maybe they can make it better. Maybe it can be a real paper. But in order to do that, Ned is gonna have to meet Esmeralda and he's gonna have to tell her-

Angela [01:09:43] That he is taking her job.

Jenna [01:09:45] Yeah, he's editor in chief now. She can still run the online part.

Angela [01:09:49] But he's going to, basically, replace her.

Jenna [01:09:53] Yeah, he's in charge of the print paper now.

Angela [01:09:55] And he makes this apology to her. He's like, "I'm sorry, I hope me coming in here and changing things up won't be too disruptive." And she says, "Oh, don't be so self-defecating." She just clearly has him in her bullseye and now she is gonna just start taking jabs at him in all the tiniest and big ways.

Jenna [01:10:16] Yeah, there's going to be some future storylines that play out that are just her really undermining him. But she pretends like she's in his corner. "Oh, it's just lost in translation maybe." There is one coming up actually.

Angela [01:10:33] Yes.

Jenna [01:10:33] Well, I also want to say I just love that she's holding her cell phone in the scene. It's just so true to character. This is totally a person who walks around with their cell phone and their hand all the time and she does, and I love it.

Angela [01:10:43] We are now going to have our first conference room scene.

Jenna [01:10:46] Yes, it's just between Ned and Ken (who is the guy we met at the beginning who works for Enervate), and Esmeralda.

Angela [01:10:55] Basically Ned is saying, "Listen, I'm gonna need a few things to make the kind of newspaper I wanna make. I'm going to need a full staff, dedicated reporters on multiple beats." And Ken is like, "Whoopsies, I'ma call 911 because our budget is having a coronary."

Jenna [01:11:12] And he says, "You know what else? I am gonna cancel the wire service. We are only going to print original articles from this point on."

Angela [01:11:21] Esmeralda looks right at the camera like, "Who the F is this a-hole?"

Jenna [01:11:27] I know. Now, meanwhile, during this conference room scene, we see everyone out in the bullpen getting an email on their computers. It's from Esmerelda.

Angela [01:11:35] Well, she's been clicking away as soon as he started telling her the wire was going away and how he was going to change things. She is busy on her phone during this meeting.

Jenna [01:11:43] And what she's been doing is writing a letter to the staff titled, "Welcome Ned Sampson" and we're gonna see people reading it. And one by one, people kind of start coming over and looking in the room.

Angela [01:11:57] Yeah, one guy comes over to the conference room and is like, "Hey, I'm here for you, guy. You know, same thing happened to me. Here to show you my support." He leaves and everyone's kind of like, "What was that about?" And Ken goes, "I didn't even think that guy worked here anymore." Everyone else starts to walk up to the conference room and there are these glass windows and they're looking through it pretty harshly at Ned. They are not happy. Ken is oblivious, but you can tell Esmeralda is delighted.

Jenna [01:12:25] Well, Ned is going to excuse himself, and Mare is going show him something on her phone. It is the email. And here's what it is. Esmeralda has sent an email to everyone explaining that Ned has not been "me too'd."

Angela [01:12:44] That's not why he came here, why he had to get a new job. It was not because he was "me-too'd."

Jenna [01:12:48] Yes, so he has this conversation with Esmeralda where he's like, "Why would you send an email telling people that I was not something, that I wasn't me too'd?" Her explanation is so funny. She's being so manipulative. It's amazing. I think we should hear it.

audio clip - Ned [01:13:07] Hey, can we talk? Did you send an email to everyone here saying that I was not me too'd?

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:13:19] Yes, because I didn't want you to start off on the wrong foot.

audio clip - Ned [01:13:25] But I wasn't.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:13:28] Yes, in fact, that's why I said he was not me too'd, I don't think.

audio clip - Ned [01:13:33] I was not, I've never been me too'd. I've also never embezzled or slapped a waitress.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:13:39] Oh well, should I tell them?

audio clip - Ned [01:13:43] That's what I'm saying. You don't have to not a thing that isn't.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:13:48] You are preaching to the choir. These are simple people. To them, a man leaves his job, moves to a new town, they think, "I wonder what was his evil crime. Did he do it to a person? An animal? I hope he doesn't do it me." That's why I wrote a mass email to everyone so instead they would think, "Wait a minute, hold on. Maybe I should wait and see what if my gut instinct against him is not completely completely completely right."

audio clip - Ned [01:14:20] Okay, this is bad. Esmeralda.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:14:23] You know what? I'm going to tell everyone that everything that I wrote in that email was completely incorrect. Okay?

audio clip - Ned [01:14:30] Thank you.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:14:30] Okay, you're welcome.

audio clip - Ned [01:14:33] No, wait, wait. Wait. I think that's worse.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:14:37] What? What?

audio clip - Ned [01:14:39] I think it's better if it comes from me.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:14:41] I agree. Great idea. Everybody's going to appreciate your remarks.

audio clip - Ned [01:14:45] Cool. No, not now. Not now.

audio clip - Esmeralda [01:14:48] Everyone! Everyone! EVERYONE!

Angela [01:14:56] The way that scene is brilliant. She is just a master class in acting. Then her way she yells at everyone to listen up.

Jenna [01:15:07] It's so incredible.

Angela [01:15:08] So good. Poor Ned is just deer in headlights.

Jenna [01:15:12] Well, he is, in fact, going to take the floor. He's going to stand up on one of the desks in the middle of the bullpen. You know, this is the photo we've all been seeing. They released a photo of this moment when they were promoting the show. So this scene gives us this really great wide shot of the offices. You can see Ned standing on top of the desk. You can the Softee toilet paper side. You can to see the Truth Teller side. And I have to give a shout out to the production designer, Susie Mancini, who also worked with Greg on "Space Force," and Adrian Garcia, who was the set decorator. Greg and Michael shared with us that in the same way that Greg visited a small paper company when he was developing The Office, he and Michael visited several small newspaper offices in Ohio when they were developing the paper. He said that something they noticed was that these old offices, they have a lot of style. This was the big Google-type company of their era. And the set of The Paper is modeled after some of the things that they observed touring these historic newspaper offices. They wanted to create a place that felt like it had history. I think you can see that. You can see that with the big columns in the room and-

Angela [01:16:27] Those windows, to me, really sell it. The windows are sort of this half moon. They sort of arch up high and come around.

Jenna [01:16:34] Yes, and there's these other big windows that are trimmed in hardwood. There's also this divider that has a dark wood trim around it and all this iron work. It looks like it's from the 1920's, but they did an amazing job with this set.

Angela [01:16:50] They really did.

Jenna [01:16:51] This is, I think, the first time you get to really see the scope of it.

Angela [01:16:56] Mm-hmm. Well, we have a few background catches during this great big wide shot. Lady, you texted me and said, "Ange, what is that at 24 minutes and 4 seconds? Is it what I think it is?"

Jenna [01:17:09] Yes, it's something on Oscar's desk. Alex mentioned it.

Angela [01:17:14] Yes, he referred to it. Yes. Here's what it is, you guys. Check it out. Oscar has on his desk ,that scarecrow doll made out of burlap and twine that Michael Scott gave him in the "Goodbye Michael" episode. Do you remember the moment? Here, let's hear it.

audio clip - Michael [01:17:35] Oscar, Oscar, Oscar. You are very smart, and you have a gigantic education, and I think of you as my scarecrow, because you gave me a brain. So that's why I made you this.

audio clip - Oscar [01:17:54] Thank you, Michael. It's beautiful.

audio clip - Michael [01:18:01] [laughing] It looks like... It looks like it was made by a two-year-old monkey on a farm. He just accepted that I put all this work into it? Oh, man. He has the lowest opinion of me, of anybody! Oh!

Angela [01:18:28] No one fake laughs better than Steve Carell, by the way.

Jenna [01:18:31] Well, this is true.

Angela [01:18:31] I mean, I am laughing because that laugh sounds so real, but that's all performance.

Jenna [01:18:37] Yeah.

Angela [01:18:38] That's what Oscar has on his desk.

Jenna [01:18:40] Oscar brought that all the way from Scranton and then he put it on his desk. Maybe he liked Michael after all. Well, lady, I know you have another catch because I caught it too.

Angela [01:18:52] This is just what we're going to call "fantastic shoe catch," and Adalola has on some sparkly, bedazzled, shimmering boots. They're a hot pink. They're amazing.

Jenna [01:19:05] Yeah, her legs are up on her desk. I spotted them as well. Now Ned is going to continue his pitch for what he wants to do at the paper and here's what he says. He says, "If you have ever wanted to be the first person to know what's going on in the place where you live, or if you want to make sure the people who are running your city are telling the truth and doing the things that they said they would do, or if you just root for the underdog. And you want to give it to the Loudmouths, you are more than welcome, all of you, to volunteer your time at this newspaper." Because he says, "I can't hire you," and he spots Marv across the room. And he says, "Marv, is that OK? Can people spend a little bit of their time?"

Angela [01:19:55] Yeah, top boss Marv has come in.

Jenna [01:19:58] And Marv says "okay."

Angela [01:20:00] And you can kind of see, in the room, some people are feeling inspired.

Jenna [01:20:05] And then he ends his speech, he wants to address the "me too" thing.

Angela [01:20:09] The not "me too" email.

Jenna [01:20:10] Correct. He says, "By the way me didn't. Me wouldn't. Me believe in respect in workplace. Me haven't."

Angela [01:20:20] And Mare's shaking them off. She's like, "You're good. You're good."

Jenna [01:20:25] Esmeralda is not happy.

Angela [01:20:27] She is ticked off. She throws a fit. Then we have this last parting shot of her. It's downstairs in the main, huge lobby of the big building by the elevator banks. She's in her coat leaving for the day. And she says, "In America, there is a saying about accepting things you cannot change. Well, we do not have that saying in Italy."

Jenna [01:20:50] I loved that quote so much. Well, you know, one of the reasons she's pissed is because Ned kicks her out of her office.

Angela [01:20:57] Oh yeah!

Jenna [01:20:58] Was that necessary, Ned? You couldn't have just...

Angela [01:21:01] This is such a big open space. You can't find another area?

Jenna [01:21:05] Another nook to call your own? You're gonna kick her out? Of the big office?

Angela [01:21:09] She has so much stuff in there. It's gonna take her a long time to move.

Jenna [01:21:12] Well, we're gonna see in the next episode. She's trying to move her stuff into a smaller space and it's not going well.

Angela [01:21:17] It's not fitting.

Jenna [01:21:18] Well, Ned is sitting, he's on his laptop, and he is watching this black and white documentary from the old times.

Angela [01:21:26] Back in ye olden 1971.

Jenna [01:21:30] And this is when we have our cameo alert. We're talking to the Newspaper Man played by Tracy Letts again. He's giving a tour of the printing press and we see Michael Koman, who is playing sort of a newspaper printer man.

Angela [01:21:47] Yeah, and they're clearly having this great conversation, I was happy for Michael.

Jenna [01:21:51] Me too.

Angela [01:21:51] Made me so happy.

Jenna [01:21:52] I mean, listen, I would definitely want to write myself into a scene with Tracy Letts. Are you kidding me?

Angela [01:21:58] Uh, yeah! Mare is going to now knock on the door. She's heading home for the night. She sees what he's watching, and she's like, "You know what, I have something to show you that's pretty cool." They head down to the basement, way in the bottom of the building, and Ned's trying to guess where they're going, and then she opens the door, and in front of them (and it's so huge) is an old printing press.

Jenna [01:22:23] Yeah, she says, "This is the original printing press, the thing you're seeing in this documentary." So Greg told me they filmed this scene at the Santa Anita racetrack. They have a printing room at the Santa Anita race track. And he said that the bigger working machines, that you see in the black and white documentary, were actually filmed at a place called Southwest Offset Printing in Gardena, California. But this whole thing was inspired by Greg and Michael touring the small newspaper offices. He said they went into the basement of one of the buildings and saw these newspaper presses that were left over from when you actually printed newspapers that way.

Jenna (continued) [01:23:06] Michael said that they learned that back in Ye Olden days, when they built these buildings and these presses, that you actually had to embed the press into the foundation of the building and then build the building around it. He said this was because when they were operational, they caused so much friction that they would have shook everything in the building. So that's why they had to be  literally embedded in the ground.

Angela [01:23:36] They are so big. I wanted to do a deep dive, but it would have been a whole episode on the origins of the printing press. The Library of Congress website has really some great information, but they have old pictures and drawings and schematics of these printing presses. Some of them, themselves, were multiple stories.

Jenna [01:23:55] Oh, Greg says that the one they saw was three stories deep. He said it was like he'd gone into like the bowels of a Navy ship and there's all these metal ladders that were going to the different levels. He said they loved it so much they had to incorporate it into the show.

Angela [01:24:12] I was so glad they did, and I love when Ned says, "What happens if I press this button?" It's a big red button. And Mare's like, "I wouldn't do that" and he presses it and nothing happens, because this printing press is old and no longer works. Then we cut to the documentary footage and the character John Stack is talking about what that red button does and I think we should hear it.

audio clip - John [01:24:37] So that button down at the end of the machine, that's... Well, it's a magic button. We push that button and the machine starts to rumble the life and all of those people, the 900 people in this building; all of the information they've gathered, the stories they've found, all of that gets fed into the machine along with the paper and this process happens. It is a kind of alchemy and what comes out this end is the truth. It's a truth teller. That's what we do. And I don't mean to be blasphemous, but I worship at the altar of this machine.

Jenna [01:25:26] And that's how this episode ends. It's really touching.

Angela [01:25:28] It really is. We go to credits, and at the end there is a tag.

Jenna [01:25:34] Well, we love our tags.

Angela [01:25:35] We love our tags. Oscar is standing at the copy machine. The camera crew finds him, and he's not having it. He's like, "You know what? I'm going to make this footage unusable."

Jenna [01:25:45] Mm-hmm.

Angela [01:25:46] And he just begins to say the most off-colored things. And they're having to bleep him like crazy.

Jenna [01:25:53] They're not doing a good job of bleeping him. You understand everything he's saying, by the way.

Angela [01:25:58] Exactly. They did not have the same standards and practices we had.

Jenna [01:26:01] No. And that is ultimately how the pilot ends. I have to say a big thank you to Greg and Michael and the cast and crew of The Paper and the folks at Peacock for letting us visit and for talking to us about this great new show in the universe of The Office.

Angela [01:26:18] Yes, we just loved it so much. I am in. I can't wait to see what happens. Well done. Yay. Applause to everyone. And also a big thank you to Bobby Ray Schafer, Oscar Nunez, and Stephen Saux for sending us those awesome audio clips. Oh, and we want to give a shout out to Stephen and Lori's podcast "If We Knew Then," which is the number one Down Syndrome advocacy podcast.

Jenna [01:26:43] Yes, it's great. They have created a beautiful community for parents of children with Down Syndrome. We'll share a link to it in our stories.

Angela [01:26:54] Thanks so much for listening and we hope you have a good one.

Jenna [01:27:00] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Angela [01:27:02] Office Ladies is a presentation of Audacy and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.

Jenna [01:27:06] Our executive producer is Cassi Jerkins, our audio engineer is Sam Kieffer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbaco.

Angela [01:27:15] Audacy's executive producer is Leah Reis-Dennis.

Jenna [01:27:19] Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

Angela [01:27:21] Our theme song is "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton.