TRANSCRIPT
Office Ladies | Episode 297 - The Office Trailers
Jenna [00:00:04] I'm Jenna Fisher,
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 lover's 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.
audio cue [00:00:22] [musical sting]
Angela [00:00:25] Hey, lady!
Jenna [00:00:27] We're not in the studio together. We're doing a virtual record.
Angela [00:00:33] We're doin' this thing in technology where you Zoom and your face pops up in a little box. Oh, I wanted to tell you something.
Jenna [00:00:40] What?
Angela [00:00:41] I was so excited by this and I cannot believe I did not share it with you immediately. Lady, we were in the San Francisco airport a while back, and there's a freaking whole old tech museum. I mean, I'm sure it's just an exhibit. It was all old telephones, lady. It's called "Give Me a Ring: a telephone retrospective." I mean, I almost was late for the flight. Josh was like, "Where'd you go? I thought you were just going to the bathroom." I'm like, "There's a telephone retrospective." Look, I can put these in stories. Can you see this?
Jenna [00:01:13] That's crazy. I mean, I had so many of those telephones in my own house, in my own lifetime.
Angela [00:01:19] Hats off to the SFO airport.
Jenna [00:01:21] I always love it when an airport gives me something to do while I'm waiting. I appreciate it. You know in the St. Louis airport, in the American terminal, they have this whole play space for kids.
Angela [00:01:33] Oh, those are great.
Jenna [00:01:34] And my dad helped build it.
Angela [00:01:36] No!
Jenna [00:01:37] Yes, because it's courtesy of The Magic House in St. Louis, which is a children's museum and he used to work there and help build exhibits. So he also built this exhibit that they gifted to the airport. There's a little tower, and you can pretend like you're an air traffic controller and there's little baggage thingy and you can get on a plane. It's all a play space. When I walked by it, I was like, "God, I love that."
Angela [00:02:07] And how cool is it that every time you walk past it, you can think of your dad?
Jenna [00:02:10] I know, I took a picture of it. I'll give it to you for stories. Old telephones and an airport play space in stories.
Angela [00:02:18] Lady, I'm here for it. "When an airport surprises you..."
Jenna [00:02:22] Well, should we tell everybody what we're doing today? Because if you are a super fan of The Office, we think you're gonna really like today's episode.
Angela [00:02:30] Oh my goodness, you are going to love it. It was inspired by a fan question about our life on set, specifically our trailers. So we're gonna dig into some behind the scenes of our day-to-day on The Office. It made me so happy. I went back in time on this one, lady. I have a folder on my laptop called "Our Trailers." Did you know that?
Jenna [00:02:50] Yes. Because when we were putting together pictures for our book, we have a whole chapter in our book that kind of gives you the behind the scenes of the hair and makeup trailer and sort of life off the set. But I think we're gonna dig in even deeper on today's episode.
Angela [00:03:04] We are. I think one of the things I was so tickled by is that I have a folder of all the stuff for our book. It's called "The Office BFFs." Somehow this one for the trailer just made its way out. It has just been hanging on my desktop for years. And I've never put it back where it belongs.
Jenna [00:03:23] You know why? Because it wanted to inspire this episode today. It's been waiting.
Angela [00:03:27] I guess so.
Jenna [00:03:28] Well, let's kick things off with a chit chat sent in from Harrison in Boston.
Harrison in Boston [00:03:35] Hi, Office Ladies. My name is Harrison from Boston, Massachusetts. I love the podcast. Thank you guys so much for everything that you do. My chit chat question is about teachers. You both have talked about teachers before in the podcast and Jenna, I know that your sister is a teacher. Could you guys share or talk about a teacher that you had who changed your life or who made a lifelong impact on you? You know, for me, it was my English teacher, Mrs. Roney. She fostered such a love of reading and writing and whose lessons still come back to me all these years later. So I was hoping that you guys could share about teachers that you have had in your lives that really left an impact on you or changed you for the better. I think teachers are so overlooked and so important and I'd love to hear about the ones that really made you who you are. Thank you so much.
Jenna [00:04:21] Thanks for your question, Harrison. I love this question. Yes, my sister is currently a teacher and my mom was a teacher. She's retired.
Angela [00:04:29] Harrison, I mean, my sister Janet is a teacher. Oh my gosh, I'm gonna get the number wrong, but she's been teaching pre-K for, like, 27 years. And she listens to the podcast. So if I got that wrong, she's gonna let me know about it. But we love our teachers so much. You're so right, they forever shape your life. Having that one teacher, and we all have that one, that literally made you see the world in a different way or made you feel safe or made feel seen. I knew right away, two teachers popped into my mind immediately. Jenna, what about you?
Jenna [00:05:03] Same. I have a teacher from high school and a teacher from college.
Angela [00:05:05] Okay, you go first.
Jenna [00:05:07] Alright, well, I'll start in high school. My teacher, Mrs. Marge Mineus.
Angela [00:05:11] What a name.
Jenna [00:05:14] Yeah, Mrs Mineus, she taught religion at my high school, I went to a Catholic girls high school in St. Louis, Missouri, called Nerox Hall. During my time there, I did really grapple with my feelings about the Catholic faith. I was really troubled by certain aspects of the institution, you know? I don't need to get into it here, but she was my religion teacher. When I went to her, the way that she just took me so seriously and took my thoughts and concerns so seriously, she really counseled me. She spent a lot of time asking me questions. Then, when I had to write papers in class... She let me wrestle with these topics and I got A's. She gave me A's and she didn't need me to just spit back what I was being taught. Do you know what I mean? Like, I didn't have to be fake. I didn't have to pretend.
Angela [00:06:18] Yeah, she encouraged you to have your critical thinking and to really be able to explore all of your feelings on the subject. It didn't matter what it aligned with or not.
Jenna [00:06:27] Yes, and the thing that I really credit her with is that I think, especially at that time in my life, it was a critical point. To have someone take me so seriously, it meant that I didn't abandon faith completely. I am not a practicing Catholic today, and I still have my connection to God and to prayer. I really credit her with that because she helped me find a way to keep that peace alive in me. I didn't have to throw everything out the door just because I didn't believe in the particular religion that I was being asked to practice.
Angela [00:07:01] Yeah, that is very powerful. That is a real gift.
Jenna [00:07:05] And she was like that with all of us. She really cared. She didn't treat us like silly teenagers. She treated us like fully formed interesting people. So I love her for that. What about you, Ange?
Angela [00:07:18] The first teacher that came to mind for me was my theater teacher in elementary school. So this was at Jakarta International School and I had this teacher named Dr. Allen. He was an amazing theater director and we would do these fantastic musicals and plays. In his class, it was the first time anyone ever taught me improv. I was in, like, fourth grade. He taught us some just very short form improv games. It was like every single part of my body came alive. I was like, "What is this? This is the coolest. I love it so much. I wanna do this forever." It was just electric, you know? Cause I had seen plays and done school plays and there was a script and you stuck to the script. But this idea of "yes and-ing," and free association, and having to really listen and form a scene with someone else in a partnership was life-changing for me. He also took us seriously and was invested and didn't think we were goofballs, but really wanted us to find our own comedic voice. I was like, "Wow," I look back in hindsight and I'm like, "how amazing to have a teacher like that in elementary."
Jenna [00:08:43] That's amazing. Well, when I was in college, I was a theater major. I never got the lead roles in anything; in the musicals, in the plays. I really had a lot of opportunities in the student-led productions. We had this lab theater where students would kind of decide. I got to choreograph "Cabaret."
Angela [00:09:05] Lab theater was some of my favorite.
Jenna [00:09:07] It was great. We had one student who made a musical out of 'Schoolhouse Rock" cartoons, and I got to be in that. So I was always getting cast and being involved in the student lab productions, which honestly is really good practice for an actual professional acting career because so much of your professional acting career is you getting together with your buddies and making stuff. But in terms of the mainstream productions, it was harder for me. But the tech teacher, Ron Rybkowski, was the person where we had to take classes to learn how to do lights and construction and set design. He also got to direct one play a year in the summer. So if you took the summer session, he was the director of the play. He gave me a lead role in my last summer session.
Angela [00:09:58] What was it?
Jenna [00:09:59] It was "Crimes of the Heart." It's a play about three sisters. He cast me as the wild, chain-smoking, bad girl sister. It was totally against type. But it was so fun and it was the confidence boost that I needed because I was going to graduate then after that summer session and I wanted to be a professional actress and move to Los Angeles. I had gone through my whole four years as a theater major, never having a lead role in a production. He finally gave me one and it really was a boost of confidence. But beyond that, he was just always there. He was always in his back office if we needed anything. And I remember... This is such a long story, but when I went to jail and I needed someone to bail me out, I called him. It's a very long story, but I had rolled through a stop sign and I got a ticket.
Angela [00:10:57] Why'd they take you to jail?
Jenna [00:10:59] Because I failed to appear in court for my ticket. I forgot. It was finals week. I just forgot!
Angela [00:11:07] I think that happens all the time.
Jenna [00:11:08] You know what happens? They put a warrant out for your arrest. So two police officers came and knocked on my apartment door and they arrested me because I had failed to appear in court for my moving violation.
Angela [00:11:21] That you forgot about.
Jenna [00:11:23] That I forgot about, and I was like, "Oh my God, thank you for reminding me, I'm so sorry." And they're like, "Yeah, we're not the reminder police, we're the actual police. We're gonna have to take you in." So anyway, I was there and I just so embarrassed and I didn't know who to call, I needed a hundred bucks to get bailed out. So I called Ron, I called my teacher, Ron Rubkowski. He came and he bailed me out of jail. And I said, "I'm not gonna tell my parents." And he said, "I think you should. It would break my heart if my daughter didn't share that with me. I think you can share it with your parents." And I'm so glad he told me that because then I did. Do you know what I mean? He was just a great man.
Angela [00:12:07] Yeah. He's just a solid, solid person to have in your life. Great advice, there for you.
Jenna [00:12:13] Yes. He also took my first headshot for free. So that when I went off to Los Angeles, I had a headshot. He did that for every graduating senior.
Angela [00:12:22] Wow. Amazing.
Jenna [00:12:23] So that was a little bit of a meandering story, but just to say, Harrison, a big thank you to my college professor, Ron Rubkowski.
Angela [00:12:31] Alright, well, my second teacher was my high school English teacher. Harrison, I totally related to you saying that for you it was also your English teacher. Carol Campbell taught honors English, and she just made stories come to life. I would have a lot of questions, and I loved digging into books and seeing if I could make connections or symbolism. She was so up for the discussion. Do you know what I mean? She thought the way my brain worked was really interesting and she encouraged that writer in me. My kids, for their high school English class, are reading "The Great Gatsby." I read The Great Gatsby in Mrs. Campbell's English class.
Jenna [00:13:18] Oh, are you so excited for them to read it?
Angela [00:13:21] I'm so excited, and they're loving it, and it's been really special because I just remember all the conversations I had with Mrs. Campbell about The Great Gatsby. So yeah, big love to our teachers who are just amazing and there for our kids in so many ways. Harrison, we loved your question.
Jenna [00:13:40] Yeah, thank you. Well, listen, lady, should we take a break? And then when we come back, we're going to talk all about trailers.
Angela [00:13:46] Trailers on The Office, you guys, and Steve Burgess, our amazing producer, shares some fun details with us.
audio cue [00:14:03] [musical sting]
Angela [00:14:03] Well, we are back. Today's episode was inspired by Emily L. from San Diego, who wrote in with the following question. "Hi, Office Ladies. I'd love to learn more about your Office trailers over the years as it's a behind the scenes location we know little about. Did you have to pack up your trailer at the end of the season? Were you able to pick your neighbors? Were there any particularly special personal items you kept in yours over the year? Here's hoping you hitch this question to a future episode. All the best, Emily." Well, Emily, not only did we hitch this question to a future episode, we made a whole episode out of it. So here we go.
Jenna [00:14:41] Emily, this really got us excited. We were deep diving old photos. Angela, you found some videos that you took in our trailers. I thought we should kick things off by describing the different kinds of trailers.
Angela [00:14:54] Oh, that's so smart.
Jenna [00:14:56] Because there are categories of trailers. So the first category of trailer is called a honey wagon. This is a large trailer that is divided into tiny dressing rooms, not much bigger than what you might find at the mall. If you're lucky, there's a tiny bench that you can sit on. Then there's a little teeny rack to hang clothes and maybe a sink, and maybe a toilet. Maybe.
Angela [00:15:24] Maybe, yeah. Maybe, but sometimes not. Sometimes it's just the bench and a little clothing rack.
Jenna [00:15:29] Yes. This is what you are likely going to be put in for your first acting role. If you've got a couple of lines, if you're there for one day, you get the honey wagon. Or if you are doing a very low budget project.
Angela [00:15:44] Exactly.
Jenna [00:15:44] When we did Lee's movie, that was an indie film. We were in a honey wagon to change clothes.
Angela [00:15:52] Mm-hmm. Everybody. We all had a honey wagon. There was no like, "Oh, so-and-so has a bigger space." No, we were all in a honey wagon.
Jenna [00:16:00] Everybody got honey wagons.
Angela [00:16:01] You know, Kate Flannery and I were in a honey wagon in season one of The Office.
Jenna [00:16:06] But you guys had toilets.
Angela [00:16:08] Okay, here is the weirdest thing. We were in honey wagons. I think I've talked about this before, but the only thing that separated her bench and her toilet from my bench and my toilet was an accordion door.
Jenna [00:16:20] Which is so wild to me.
Angela [00:16:23] And the accordion door was made out of flimsy plastic and it had a magnet that never attached. So we just decided on day one, "Okay, here are the rules. We are gonna keep the accordion door open cause what's the point? Like, I can hear everything you're doing." And we made a vow to never use either toilet.
Jenna [00:16:44] I mean, these are important boundaries that you set, that were very smart.
Angela [00:16:50] So we just kept the lids closed and I put a plant on mine. I have a picture that you know I cherish. It's in our book and we have a lot of fun pictures in our books from this time on set and the behind the scenes. So, you know, little shout out for The Office BFFs, but I do have that picture of me and Kate in our honey wagon.
Jenna [00:17:10] Well, after you graduate from the honey wagon, then you get into what is called either a triple banger, a double banger or a single. I don't know why that's what they're called, but they are what they sound like, which is that you can have a trailer and it's divided into three different dressing rooms. Or a double banger is divided into two different dressing rooms, and then a single is just like, you get the whole thing.
Angela [00:17:35] Now, I will say even with the triple banger, it's a huge upgrade because that's what Kate and I and everyone else in the supporting cast got for season two. I mean, it was like Shangri-La. We had a bench, we had a little mini fridge, we have a little vanity and a bathroom and a tiny TV that never worked. The microwave, one time I used it and I thought I was going to burn everything because it started smoking. I didn't use my appliances, but it was a lot more space.
Jenna [00:18:03] From the time I started on The Office until almost the end, I was in a double banger. So I was in a trailer divided into two different big dressing rooms and I had a lot of space. I had really nice sort of a couch, right?
Angela [00:18:20] That's why we would eat lunch in your trailer because you had a table.
Jenna [00:18:23] I had table. I also had a TV that did not work.
Angela [00:18:27] And wait, you know what, lady? Before your table, we had TV trays. Then I remember we came back one season, it was after the holidays, and all of a sudden they'd put a table in and we were so excited.
Jenna [00:18:39] I remember that. Then you had a bathroom that had a shower and it had a toilet.
Angela [00:18:45] Did you ever use the shower?
Jenna [00:18:47] I had to use it once and I can't remember what the episode was, but I was messy. I don't know why I needed to use that, but I did. But the thing is that it's like... It's not warm.
Angela [00:19:02] Yeah, it's a campsite shower. In an RV park, kind of shower.
Jenna [00:19:08] Exactly. If you've ever seen an RV bathroom, they were very similar.
Angela [00:19:11] And you have to flush the toilet. You have to push a pedal on the ground. The first time I finally had a trailer that I could go to the bathroom in, I could not find how to flush it, lady. I looked everywhere for a handle. No one told me to look on the floor. I remember I had to go ask someone. I had to be like, "Hey, you know the toilet? How do you flush it?"
Jenna [00:19:36] Yes, well something people should know is that your trailer is part of your contract. So when your agent calls you and says that you got the job, they'll say "Here's your salary. Here's the number of days you'll be working. Here are the dates, you're gonna be in a triple banger."
Angela [00:19:54] I never knew that. So basically, like, f*ck my agent for putting me in a honey wagon on season one of The Office.
Jenna [00:20:03] I mean, it's a negotiating technique, you know? They'll be like, "Well, we can't get you any more money, but we can get you a double banger instead."
Angela [00:20:13] I did not know that. Oh my gosh, that's ridiculous.
Jenna [00:20:17] I know. Well, let me tell you a story. So I was used to our trailers on The Office. And listen, we didn't have the biggest budget in the early years on The Office. So even though I was in a double banger trailer, it was old. There was a television, but it wasn't hooked up to anything. The microwave was iffy, like you said.
Angela [00:20:38] Oh no. It was dangerous.
Jenna [00:20:39] But while I was doing The Office, I got the job on "Blades of Glory."
Angela [00:20:44] Which is such a big budget movie.
Jenna [00:20:46] Huge budget movie, and they walked me to my trailer and I didn't know what had happened to me.
Angela [00:20:54] Did you just start laughing? Like, "What the hell is this?"
Jenna [00:20:57] It was like I had gone from a middle seat on Southwest to a private jet. That was the difference. I was like, "Holy crap." I had a full kitchen with an oven. I remember calling my family and being like, "Should I bake something? What do I need this for?" It had a huge flat screen TV hooked up to satellite television. It had a fireplace! It had a full bedroom. It was huge. I didn't know what to do with myself.
Angela [00:21:31] Lady, that would have blown my mind. I mean, the nicest trailer I've ever had was this past year when we did AT&T. I was like, "This trailer is bananas." But I sort of love that our show was just not the big Hollywood hullabaloo, you know? Because we were all really close because of it. We weren't spread apart. We spent all day on set together in one giant room, basically. And then our trailers were all right in this little nook in the parking lot and you had neighbors. You had people right next to you.
Jenna [00:22:05] It was like a little community out there. I have to say, because my trailer was so nice on Blades of Glory, I spent a lot of time in it. I watched that TV when I wasn't needed on set. I was like, "This place is amazing. This is better than my house. I love it." Like, I loved so much. I think though, because our trailers were not fancy schmancy, we didn't just hang out in them. We would come out in the parking lot and we would play basketball together or we would chit chat and make jokes.
Angela [00:22:41] Sit on the steps and play music.
Jenna [00:22:43] We were more social because we didn't have such great digs.
Angela [00:22:47] I do have a really funny story about when we were doing The Office, my niece and nephews, they all at different times graduated high school, because we did the show for nine years, you know? And so one of the things I would do, is I would fly them out and they would come to set and they get a tour of the set and they'd have lunch with me on set. So my one nephew, he's so sweet. My nephew James, when he came out to visit, I was showing him my trailer. Here's the thing, we'd said our trailers were older, right? There was a decorating theme, there was a motif, and it was Southwest. So depending on what trailer you had, there would be kind of a fakey painting in a wooden frame that was almost like Jim's clown painting in his parents' house. It was bolted to the wall. So there's no moving this picture. Whatever trailer you got, there would a picture and it would be there no matter what.
Jenna [00:23:43] It was a wolf howling at the sunset.
Angela [00:23:46] Seriously, or cowboys driving home a cattle range of cows. Mine was a big sort of clay terracotta pot with etchings on it. Like you might see in a cave, of bison or something.
Jenna [00:24:02] Yes, I remember.
Angela [00:24:04] My nephew saw it and was like, "Oh, that's a cool painting. That's pretty cool. You brought that and put that there." I was like, "Oh honey, it's just here."
Jenna [00:24:17] But we did decorate.
Angela [00:24:18] We did decorate.
Jenna [00:24:19] The girls decorated, the boys didn't really decorate.
Angela [00:24:22] The boys did nothing, but yeah, we decorated a ton. I mean, I had a lamp from home because I love low light. I'm not a huge fan of overhead fluorescent lights. I would have a plant and a little desk area. Lady, I remember you had made your own little home office nook.
Jenna [00:24:40] Yeah, I also would bring in a pillow and a nice, cozy throw blanket. I wanted homey touches. I wanted it to feel cozy. But in answer to your question, Emily, at the end of every season, you had to pack everything up. These trailers were rented from somewhere and at the end of each season, they get returned, and then we would get a new set.
Angela [00:25:06] Yeah, it felt like a college dorm that we had to load in and load out. That's when the guys would just kind of look at us because on the last day, they would just get in their cars and leave.
Jenna [00:25:15] Yeah, and we would have boxes of things.
Angela [00:25:17] We'd have boxes that we were packing up and we would label things. So it would be like "trailer bedding," "trailer desk stuff."
Jenna [00:25:25] Yeah, and Angela you mentioned that our trailers were located in our parking lot and they were kind of in a big configuration. It was a pretty easy walk to get to the stage. But sometimes when you're on a show, or a movie, or on a location, your trailers are actually really far away from the set and you have to ride in a van or a golf cart or something to get the set. But for us, you could walk to the stages.
Angela [00:25:55] You could, but I do want to share something. And I love this. Lady, I reached out to Steve Burgess and he sent me some great details I'm going to share in a minute. But he also sent me a ton of pictures of our trailers, just all in a row. Here's the thing I have to share. So, you know, when you're cast on a show, on the call sheet, you're numbered. So Steve was number one. So his trailer was closest to the stage door.
Jenna [00:26:20] Steve had a full-sized trailer. He was the only one of us who had a full trailer all to himself.
Angela [00:26:26] Yeah, but he was the closest to the door.
Jenna [00:26:28] Very close to the door.
Angela [00:26:30] So now, I was number eight. So I had a little further walk.
Jenna [00:26:35] You were down a row.
Angela [00:26:36] I was down the row, and the supporting cast would kind of joke about that. Like, where we were at in the row.
Jenna [00:26:42] Well, that was a crazy thing about our show, which was that our trailers were outside. Like, a lot of times, if you're in the fancy studios, you actually don't have trailers. You have dressing rooms and they're attached to your stage. So you're indoors the whole time. But our hair and makeup, where we got ready for hair and make up, was a giant trailer out in the parking lot. So on those rainy days, I remember how frustrated hair and makeup would be, particularly hair. Because they'd be like, "Well, I'm going to get you all ready. And now you're just going to walk in the rain to your trailer and get dressed. And then you're going to walk in rain again to get to the stages by the time you get there I'm just going have to start all over again."
Angela [00:27:18] Yes. Well, now I want to share with you this email I got from Steve Burgess. You know, we trade emails, Jenna and I and Steve, and he sends us pictures from his life in Tennessee and we send him pictures back. He's just the most wonderful person. So I was emailing him about Isabel turning 18, and so we had started this back and forth and I said, "Hey, while we're chatting, do you have any memories of our base camp and our trailers? Because we got this really fun fan question and we're going to talk about it." And I also asked him how many trailers, at any given time, did we have in that parking lot? So here's some of the stuff he wrote back. Are you ready?
Jenna [00:27:56] I am.
Angela [00:27:56] First of all, he said about our trailers, "They weren't a four-star hotel, but they were okay to survive in while not on set. By the time I joined The Office, it was season six and everyone was pretty settled in their trailers." Then I asked him about what happened when we would go on location. He said,"For the most part, it was manageable. But other times our base camp looked like a small city. We tried to keep things small when we were just going out for a day or two with only a few cast members. But when the whole cast was on location, we had to bring everyone's trailer, plus trailers for guest stars. We also had to have a cast trailer for the director, usually one for the writer as well. Then in addition to the cast trailers, we had have costume, props, grip, electric, hair, makeup, ADs, catering, and transportation." So here is an example. "On the christening episode, we shot at a church in Pasadena with the whole entire cast. This is what was set up at our base camp: four single trailers, three double banger trailers, four triple banger trailer, one honey wagon, a camera truck, a grip truck, a lighting truck, a set dressing truck, a wardrobe trailer, a hair and makeup trailer, a catering truck, six vans, seven stake bed trucks, two people movers (which are 30 person busses), one drivable generator, one tractor with a generator, because the tractor pulled the wardrobe trailer (which was a 40 foot semi when they were connected), one church bus and Jim's car."
Jenna [00:29:23] Wow.
Angela [00:29:25] That was for the christening episode. Isn't that unreal? It's amazing.
Jenna [00:29:31] That's amazing. That's something I didn't know if people knew, which is that the point of the trailers is that if we ever went on location, they would just hitch them up and move them. So my dressing room with all its decor and everything that I liked to keep in it would be over at that church that morning.
Angela [00:29:46] Yeah, exactly. And he sent pictures from when we did the finale and our base camp does look like a small city and it rained and he sent me a picture. It was a mud hole that we had to wade through to get to the food.
Jenna [00:30:01] Oh my gosh. You know, another question that I think people wonder about a lot, at least people have asked me, is how much time we spent in our trailers and how private they are.
Angela [00:30:10] Oh, well, they're not private. If you share a wall, it's not private, just so you know.
Jenna [00:30:16] But even if you do have a trailer to yourself, it's still not totally a private space. There is always someone knocking on your door, entering your trailer. They are constantly delivering new clothes or script pages or memos. If you do share a wall, the walls are thin. In the first season of The Office, I shared a wall with BJ. I had a double banger and he was my trailer mate. John and Rainn were paired together and then BJ and I were paired together and BJ would listen to music. When we moved, I said I didn't want to share a wall with BJ anymore. I kicked him out. I was like, "I don't want to listen to your music. It's so loud."
Angela [00:31:05] It's so loud. Here's the other thing I remember about BJ being your neighbor, was that I would come in and hang out with you and we could hear him lift the toilet seat to go pee because he would fling it open and it would whack the wall. The first time I was in there, when it happened, it startled me. I was like, "What was that noise?" And you said, "I think it's when he goes pee, like, he flings the lid open."
Jenna [00:31:34] Yes, he was loud. And so...
Angela [00:31:36] We love you, BJ. We love you BJ.
Jenna [00:31:39] But you were really loud over there. You spent as much time in your trailer as you needed to change your clothes. Or if you weren't in a scene, that's where you might go hang out.
Angela [00:31:51] Yeah, and Emily asked us if we were able to pick our neighbors and the answer to that is no.
Jenna [00:31:56] I didn't get to pick who I wanted as my neighbor, but I was able to pick who I didn't want, I guess.
Angela [00:32:01] I guess that's true.
Jenna [00:32:03] I did say, "Please, no more."
Angela [00:32:06] Well, as you all know, Kate Flannery was my first neighbor. Then my second neighbor was Phyllis. She was amazing, because she's so quiet. So if you have to pick someone on The Office cast to be your neighbor, I highly recommend Phyllis. Also, the trailer next to me (so my windows faced their windows) was Ed Helms. He would play the banjo and I would open my window so I could hear him playing the banjo and I loved it.
Jenna [00:32:34] So lady, Ed's trailer was in between mine and yours. Cause he was also my kind of neighbor. I didn't share a wall with him, but yes. And I could hear his banjo as well and I loved it.
Angela [00:32:47] I loved it so much that sometimes if I had a little bit more downtime and maybe I would take a little cat nap, I would sort of wake to Ed's banjo playing, and I made it my alarm on my cell phone. It's very nostalgic for me. Like, if you're going to wake me up, play the banjo. Then I don't wake up so grumpy.
Jenna [00:33:08] John's trailer was loud.
Angela [00:33:09] Oh my gosh. John's trailer was so loud. I don't know what they did in there. I think they would just yell at the TV or yell at each other, when the Madden football was going nutso.
Jenna [00:33:19] Yeah.
Angela [00:33:20] It would shake. You would walk by John's trailer and it would be moving and it'd be because Brian Baumgartner was jumping up and down, or something.
Jenna [00:33:26] Yes, they would. They would jump up and down and sometimes we would go in there and we would just sit and hang out and watch them. If we were really bored.
Angela [00:33:38] If we were really bored, we'd say, "Let's go see what the boys are doing."
Jenna [00:33:41] Exactly.
Angela [00:33:41] And they were just yelling at each other and the TV. You could hear them walking through the parking lot, like, "What the hell? Come on!"
Jenna [00:33:49] Yes. But lady, we have to share that when we had kids, we graduated to a very special trailer configuration. This was a time when you really led the way. They were so wonderful for you when you brought Isabel back, after our hiatus.
Angela [00:34:06] So I had Isabel right after "Goodbye Toby," because I was super pregnant. They couldn't even hide my belly anymore. If you watch that episode when Andy proposes to Angela, you can just see my belly.
Jenna [00:34:17] They gave up.
Angela [00:34:18] Because they gave up. I had her, like, what? Lady, eight days later?
Jenna [00:34:22] Yeah.
Angela [00:34:22] Crazy. So when I came back to set for season five, I had this newborn. At first, I would just have her in the trailer with me. But like you said, so many people knock throughout the day that I would just kind of be putting her down for a nap and I'd have a break at lunch and I was gonna have that cozy time with her and someone would knock on the door, and she'd wake up. So I remember having this conversation with Randy Cordray. He was so sweet. He was our producer and he was like, "Angela, is there anything you need for the baby? How's it going being back at work with her? What would be helpful?" And I said, "Well, when people knock on my door, it wakes her up. Or it distracts her if I'm trying to feed and things like that." And he was like, "How about I get you a double banger?" Normally a double-banger, you have a wall between the two rooms. He said, "But we can have one where you have a walkway that connects both sides, but you can shut the door like a pocket door." And that was amazing. They did that and it was a game changer. So Isabel had her side and everyone on set knew that was the nursery side. She had her little name on the door, "Isabel's Nursery." Then on my side, they could come and go and come and and go. That was great. I was able to put a crib there and then I eventually had a high chair. As she grew, that little space grew with her. Then we had crayons and Play-Doh, and Oscar would come and hang out with her and read her a book. It was so precious how everyone just really helped make her feel at home there, and I think paved the way for you, Jenna. Because then they were like, "Oh, we're gonna get her the double banger."
Jenna [00:36:03] Yeah, they gave me the same trailer. It was made to be two different trailers, but it had an interior door that was a pocket door. So I had my getting ready side, the deliver me side, the knock on my door side. And then I had the quiet nursery side. It was so funny because they did this for both of us. They had these laminated signs. I think Kelly Cantley made them. They were laminated in big letters, "Do not knock. Baby sleeping." So funny. And then they also put on the door, there was a little place where you could velcro up a sign that said, "Do not disturb pumping and progress," and I could put that on and off the door.
Angela [00:36:52] That was an upgrade for you. I didn't have that one. But I was telling Kelly, this was the sweetest thing. Kelly Cantley came to me when Jenna was gonna go have her baby. She was like, "Angela, what worked and what didn't work about your little nursery in your trailer from a production standpoint?" And I just sort of sat there and had a conversation with her and she made adjustments for you. She really wanted to make sure you were taken care of.
Jenna [00:37:18] Yeah, no. She was great. That whole nursery setup was really great because it meant that I could have a very young child. I mean, I went back five weeks after my C-section. We've talked about that. I was able to have a nanny sit in that nursery with my baby. Then every time I wasn't being used on set, I could go be with my baby. That really meant the world to me as a working parent.
Angela [00:37:45] Same. Well, one of the things I found in digging about our trailers was an Adventures with Angela. Remember that digital series I would do for NBC.com?
Jenna [00:37:56] I do.
Angela [00:37:56] Where I gave a tour of my nursery side of my trailer and it's pretty hilarious, lady, because I just show everything. I'm like, "Maybe I didn't have to show all of that stuff." Here, let's play it.
clip from Adventures with Angela - Angela [00:38:11] Hello, NBC.com. Hello Dunder Mifflin fans. Angela Kinsey here, getting ready for a new season, season five. I'm on my lunch, in my trailer. Don't you love my brown velour couch? I'm going to give you a little tour of my trailer because I know you're dying to see it. Really. Really. That's really what's on everyone's mind. It used to be really neat. Now with the baby? A little more cluttered. Isabel's picture. That's her laughing. Breast pump? Check. Breast-pump attachments? Check. Breast pump tube? Check! I've been teased this season that I talk about my boobs a lot, but you know what? When you're pumping as much as I do, come on, ladies, you know who I'm talking about. Fellas, not so much. I need to get some new experiences because I think I'm really making everyone crazy with my breast pump stories. This is Isabel's side. They made this special for me. Basically they took two trailers and they just opened a little door so I can go straight into Isabelle side. Oh, my friend Michael gave me this. It's for my lady business personal Items. Tampons, you know. Anyway, why do I have to say that? My brain is mush. [singing along to a musical child's toy] I've lost it.
Jenna [00:39:19] Oh lady.
Angela [00:39:20] That's what I remember about those early weeks of having a little baby on set, where you were feeding through the night and then you had an early call time. Then on your breaks, where other people maybe take 15 minutes to lay down or get a snack, you're just pumping or feeding and you are tired, man.
Jenna [00:39:39] Oh yeah.
Angela [00:39:40] It's the best kind of tired, but yeah, you're tired.
Jenna [00:39:43] But I love that video, Angela, you have to post that.
Angela [00:39:46] Well, we have one in your trailer too. So I guess I was filming something for an upcoming episode and you see your trailer. So I'll post those as well. Because you're on your little couch, with your brown paneling. I'm so thankful we have those. Such a nice little... I don't know, piece of our history there.
Jenna [00:40:04] Well, Emily, I really appreciate you asking this question. This was really fun to think about. We hope we gave you guys some insight into this aspect of the entertainment industry. When you're an actor and you get that role and you see your name on the outside of even just your honey wagon, it's a big milestone.
Angela [00:40:25] It's never lost on me. Every job I've ever had, I take a picture standing next to my trailer door pointing at my character's name and I get tickled every single time.
Jenna [00:40:36] I do too.
Angela [00:40:37] And in fact, we both just did this on Lee's movie. We didn't even work the same week, lady. I took a picture and you took a picture in front of the honey wagon. I'll share that in stories because we were both so tickled and we're so excited for Lee's movie.
Jenna [00:40:52] Well, lady, speaking of trailers and Lee's movie, the trailer for his movie is out.
Angela [00:41:01] [squeals of excitement]
Jenna [00:41:01] It is out. And first of all, the name of the movie has changed. When we shot the movie, it was called "New Year's Rev," but it is being released under the name "Nimrods," which is perfect and based on Green Day's album. It is going to be released globally in theaters August 14th. Globally, like, lots of places.
Angela [00:41:21] Globally means a lot of places!
Jenna [00:41:24] Yes, and I'm just so excited for people to see it. It's the story of three teenagers in a punk rock band who get pranked into believing that they're opening for Green Day. The movie is packed with Green Day music. The band is in the movie. It stars Mason Thames, Kylr Coffman, and Ryan Foust, and us, lady!
Angela [00:41:45] We have fun little cameos in it.
Jenna [00:41:47] We do, and we both made it into the trailer.
Angela [00:41:51] Did we really?!
Jenna [00:41:52] We did, lady.
Angela [00:41:54] I can't wait to see it!
Jenna [00:41:55] I know. I realized I don't know how many movie trailers I've ever made it into. Maybe Blades of Glory. Maybe "Walk Hard."
Angela [00:42:05] Well, this is super exciting.
Jenna [00:42:08] That's right. Trailers. If you get a trailer or if you're in a trailer, it's very exciting when you're an actor.
Angela [00:42:14] All the trailers. Well, listen, why don't we take a break and then we'll be back with Around the Town and The Office Question of the Week.
audio cue [00:42:21] [musical sting]
Jenna [00:42:31] Alright, we are back, and our first Around the Town comes from Jennifer G. in China Grove, North Carolina, who says, "Last month was our annual Cheerwine Festival. It honors a cherry-flavored soda that is so delicious that was made in the town next to mine in Salisbury, North Carolina. It's a fun-filled day with live music, activities for the kids, and of course, all the Cheerwine you can eat and drink." I guess they also make a Cheerwine pound cake.
Angela [00:42:59] I am very curious about this Cheerwine.
Jenna [00:43:04] I've never heard of this.
Angela [00:43:04] I have never heard of it, I'm going to have to ask my family if they've ever heard of Cheerwine.
Jenna [00:43:10] Can I take you on a short tangent about cherry flavored soda though?
Angela [00:43:14] Yeah, what in the world?
Jenna [00:43:16] Okay, I was home in St. Louis and I was talking to my mom. Her father was a pharmacist and he owned a pharmacy. This was back in the day when a pharmacy was also a soda shop. She was telling me a story about how on Sundays, when the pharmacy was closed, her dad would sometimes have to go do paperwork. So he would bring the kids to the pharmacy and he would make them a cherry Coke or a vanilla Coke at the soda counter. My mom said that cherry flavored Coca-Cola, which you had to mix yourself, were more popular than just a regular Coca-cola. So popular in fact, that my grandfather wrote a letter to the Coca-Cola company telling them, "I'm just one person, I'm one pharmacist with a soda fountain, but I think that you should have a product called Cherry Coke."
Angela [00:44:12] Get out.
Jenna [00:44:13] Yes, he said, "Because it is my most requested item at my soda counter." And he wrote this whole letter saying, "I really think you need a product called Cherry Coke. And I don't think you should call it Cherry Coca-Cola, you should it Cherry Coke." This was his big idea. He got a letter back. "Dear Sir, thank you so much. Unfortunately, we can't really review things like this because we have so many people coming up with things all the time. We're always trying to come up with new products, but thank you for writing us." My mom said that two years later, they came out with Cherry Coke, and her dad has always believed that he was the inventor of Cherry Coke.
Angela [00:45:00] I love that's part of your family lore, your grandfather had the idea.
Jenna [00:45:03] Yes, that I just learned this past visit.
Angela [00:45:06] That is so wonderful. Well, our next Around the Town comes from Kevin S. in Florence, Kentucky. But he says he's 10 minutes south of downtown Cincinnati. He wrote, "It is passed for this year, but the Cincinnati Reds opening day is a major holiday around here. People miss work, school, et cetera, and the parade is gigantic." He says the Findlay Market opening day parade began in 1920. And he wrote, "You ladies should come next year, perhaps in a float together. There is a massive street fair near our ballpark on the banks of the mighty Ohio River."
Jenna [00:45:44] I mean, Cheerwine Festival, Opening Day Parade.
Angela [00:45:49] I do have a bucket list item of being on a float with you.
Jenna [00:45:53] Oh lady, I think it's not gonna happen.
Angela [00:45:57] Cause you'll get motion sick?
Jenna [00:45:59] I just don't think I wanna be on a float. Do I want to be on a float?
Angela [00:46:04] I don't know. I've never been on a float. I'm curious about it and if I was going to do it with anyone, it'd be you.
Jenna [00:46:11] Well, that's for sure.
Angela [00:46:14] I don't want to on a floating the cold... My bucket list has parameters.
Jenna [00:46:22] A warm, slow-moving float.
Angela [00:46:25] I would also just be on a slow moving boat with you.
Jenna [00:46:29] Well, where are we going on our slow boat?
Angela [00:46:32] Maybe Amsterdam?
Jenna [00:46:33] Oh, sure, just like in the canals? I mean, I can make the boat thing happen anytime. Come on down to Lake of the Ozarks, we can be on a boat together.
Angela [00:46:42] That's it. Maybe in my bucket list dream, float and boat were interchangeable.
Jenna [00:46:48] But we went from being, like, part of a parade to just two ladies on a slow moving boat.
Angela [00:46:56] Yeah, a pontoon boat. I would love to be on that with you.
Jenna [00:47:02] What is happening? These are such different things. They couldn't be more different. One has water, one doesn't. One has crowds of people, one does it.
Angela [00:47:08] You know, when you laugh and you get a stitch in your side? I have a stitch.
Jenna [00:47:13] Next you're going to be like, "You know what, actually? What I mean is I just want to sit in our backyard together."
Angela [00:47:20] Actually, I would just be fine to float in a floaty with you in a swimming pool.
Jenna [00:47:25] There we go, we found it.
Angela [00:47:26] There it is, we did it!
Jenna [00:47:28] Next is Lexi S. from Woodstock, Ontario, Canada, who says, "About once a day, I quote, or at least think about something you once said on the podcast, and I laugh to myself."
Angela [00:47:40] Oh my goodness, Lexi.
Jenna [00:47:41] Thank you. Lexi goes on to say, "I am writing to share two license plates I saw around my town this week. The first day I saw one that read 'hot2trot.'" Lexi said, "Not Office related, but Angela related."
Angela [00:47:59] For me, Lexi, that would mean whoever's driving that car is coming in quick. Stay out of their way.
Jenna [00:48:06] Lexi goes on to say, "The second day I saw one that said 'biznuz,' which I can only assume was inspired by Creed. I thought you ladies would get a kick out of this."
Angela [00:48:16] I love it.
Jenna [00:48:17] Thank you, Lexi.
Angela [00:48:18] Well, now it is time for our Office question of the week. It is from Layla C. in France.
Jenna [00:48:25] Bonjour.
Angela [00:48:26] I know! Bonjour, Layla. Layla says, "Comedy actors always talk about how difficult it is to stay serious in scenes, but is it ever difficult to act happy or crack jokes when you aren't feeling like it in your personal life? Or does it actually cheer you up? Is there ever a time when your character had to be happy when you weren't?"
Jenna [00:48:47] This is such a good question. We spent nine years on The Office and a lot of life happens to you in nine years.
Angela [00:48:54] Sure does.
Jenna [00:48:55] And it's true, not every day is a day that you're in a great mood or in a mood to laugh. There are down days. I mean, I can think of a few examples when I had to go to work, or I had to go on set, and I had to film a comedy television show and I wasn't in a good mood. My grandmother passed away while we were shooting the show. I got that news while I was at work. That was hard. It was hard to just go sit in laughter, after that, for the rest of that day.
Angela [00:49:26] I remember being very thankful, in particular, for our cast and how much we were there for each other. Because we all had times, you know, like that. I think on some sets, you might not have that kind of support in the way that we had. But in the early season of The Office, early in season two, my mom was very sick and she was in the hospital and things were touch and go. She ended up pulling through, but it was very scary. I just remember you and Kate just rallying around me. You have to just kind of dig deep inside yourself and do your job, you know? Those are the days where it is just kind of a job. But also, Leila, the part of your question where you said, "Does it sometimes actually cheer you up?" There have been mornings where nothing in particular bad, or anything scary was happening, but maybe you just had a frazzled morning getting out the door. You're just in that kind of mood where you walk onto set and you're like, "Okay, now what?" And then we would have a scene, and Steve Carell as Michael would do that laugh that he does when he acts. His acting laugh, and it's so damn funny. I would find myself laughing, or trying not to laugh because my character could never really bust out laughing. But there were so many times when Steve pretending to laugh cheered me up.
Jenna [00:50:51] Oh yeah, I mean, I think overall, it was such a beneficial place to work. To go into a place where your job was being around comedy and making comedy. It did affect my mood. I remember I would think, "Gosh, I often leave work in a happier mood than when I got there, just by virtue of having laughed all day." And I thought, "What's it like to play a character on a drama, where you're dealing with intense subject matter all day? Or you have to cry all day or you have to have an intense scene?" Because that gets into the fiber of you. It's pretend, but you are accessing things in order to bring it forward.
Angela [00:51:35] Or exposing yourself to things, if it's subject matter that's really troubling, you know?
Jenna [00:51:40] Yes. It's funny, when we did our re-watch, you know that episode where Pam and Jim go to buy stuff to cheer up Kevin? It was Michael's birthday.
Angela [00:51:51] But everyone's worried about Kevin.
Jenna [00:51:53] Everyone's worried Kevin. And Pam has her little thing where she's like, "Luke, I am your father." She does the whole thing. So that day that we filmed in that store, I won't share why, but I was pretty down that day. I wasn't in a good mood. I remembered worrying that you might see it in my performance. And when we did the rewatch, I thought, "No, I think if I didn't know, I wouldn't know." But for whatever reason, that was a tough one, that day, to go in and because I had to be funny. Like, I had to be peppy and up and flirty and funny and I was not feeling it. But I think I covered.
Angela [00:52:35] I think you did. I think, you did fantastic. I think the hardest thing for me, Layla, was the reverse, which is playing a grump around a lot of really funny people. Because I wanted to laugh and I was laughing and I trying to suppress laughter all the time. I will say, Jenna, talk about a job where sometimes you come to work and you've just got a lot going on, but then you leave at the end of your workday happier. That is true for me with you and our podcast. So many times when we're done recording, especially when we were in studio, the minute we're done, we walk to our cars together. We talk the whole entire way. We have a whole chat session, like, standing next to one of our cars. Then we get in our cars and we drive home. We either leave each other a message or call each other on the drive home.
Jenna [00:53:29] I mean, it's just like being back on the set.
Angela [00:53:31] I know, I know. So I love it. I love doing this podcast with you, lady.
Jenna [00:53:36] Thanks. Me too.
Angela [00:53:39] Well, you guys, thank you so much. This was a fun trip down memory lane for us. We have lots of great behind the scenes pictures that I'll put in stories of our time on the Set. Emily, thank for that suggestion.
Jenna [00:54:04] Alright. That's it for this week. We'll see you next week.
Angela [00:54:05] See you then!
audio cue [00:54:06] [outro music plays]
Jenna [00:54:10] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Angela [00:54:12] Office Ladies is a presentation of Audacy and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:54:17] Our senior producer is Matt Beagle, and our audio engineer is Sam Kieffer.
Angela [00:54:22] Audacy's executive producer is Leah Reis-Dennis.
Jenna [00:54:25] Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.
Angela [00:54:28] Our theme song is "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton.