TRANSCRIPT
Office Ladies | Episode 317 - Cold Open Hidden Gems
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 [00:00:13] 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.
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Jenna [00:00:00] Hello, hello!
Angela [00:00:01] Howdy, howdy, howdy.
Jenna [00:00:03] Sam, do you have an update on your stolen laundry situation by any chance? Because it's been on my mind.
Angela [00:00:11] It's been on my mind, too. Also, people have left comments about it, they're concerned.
Sam [00:00:14] No, it's the most tragic thing that's happened to me in the last year. But no, I never got those clothes back or figured out who did it. I have had to purchase all new clothes.
Jenna [00:00:24] And how do you feel now about doing your laundry in your building?
Sam [00:00:29] I am filled with fear every time I leave the room.
Angela [00:00:34] Oh, Sam.
Sam [00:00:34] Yeah, it's terrible. It's awful.
Angela [00:00:34] That is terrible.
Jenna [00:00:36] Did you contact your landlord about it at all? Or the building manager?
Sam [00:00:38] No, I didn't. You know, our landlords are so comically bad slum lords, they wouldn't care.
Jenna [00:00:46] I see.
Angela [00:00:47] Sam, can we have an Office Ladies date where me and Jenna take you shopping?
Jenna [00:00:51] Oh, a shopping date?! A fashion show! Fashion show!
Jenna [00:00:55] [chanting in unison with Angela] Fashion show! Fashion show! Fashion show and lunch!
Sam [00:00:55] Absolutely, you can.
Angela [00:00:57] Alright.
Jenna [00:00:57] Oh my god.
Angela [00:00:59] We're gonna buy Sam some fall looks.
Jenna [00:00:59] Where do we go to buy Sam fall looks? Where are we shopping?
Sam [00:01:04] There's this... What's this store called? Uniqlo, am I saying that right?
Jenna [00:01:08] Oh Uniqlo! (pronounced Uniqlow)
Angela [00:01:08] Oh, I love Uniqlo. I say Uniqlo (pronounced Uneeqlow). I don't know.
Sam [00:01:11] Yeah, there's a Uniqlo I like downtown.
Angela [00:01:13] Sam, let me throw this out there. Still one of my favorite puffer jackets I've ever gotten was Uniqlo, and I bought it in a vending machine at the Burbank airport.
Jenna [00:01:22] That's what that vending machine was?
Sam [00:01:24] Don't I have a sleeveless puffer jacket from that line?
Angela [00:01:26] No, no, no.
Jenna [00:01:27] That's Martha Stewart.
Sam [00:01:28] That's right.
Angela [00:01:29] No, this is my favorite puffer jacket, because it just rolls up so small. I mean, I bought it in a vending machine. I called it "vending-machine jacket."
Sam [00:01:36] Great.
Angela [00:01:37] It's, like, this burgundy color. I love it so much.
Jenna [00:01:38] Yeah, it's a burgundy/plum color. It's really beautiful on your skin, as well.
Angela [00:01:43] Oh! Well, look at that.
Jenna [00:01:43] Yeah, that's a good color for you.
Angela [00:01:45] Didn't know I was gonna get a compliment, but I'll take it.
Jenna [00:01:47] Alright, let's go. Let's go there. I wonder if there's a movie that happens as well?
Angela [00:01:53] Like, Uniqlo and movie?
Sam [00:01:54] Uniqlo is directly next door to the Alamo Drafthouse downtown.
Jenna [00:01:58] What's the Alamo Draft House?
Sam [00:02:00] Alamo Drafthouse is a theater, a movie chain theater, that came here from Austin, Texas. Everything's in recliners and they bring you a little menu of food.
Jenna [00:02:09] You had me at recliner.
Angela [00:02:10] Hello. I might take a nap.
Sam [00:02:12] Please do, yeah.
Angela [00:02:14] It gets dark and I'm in a recliner...
Jenna [00:02:15] Is there a John Wick movie coming up?
Sam [00:02:18] I think so, I assume so.
Jenna [00:02:20] There must be something.
Angela [00:02:21] Alright, well, we have a date in the making here.
Jenna [00:02:24] We do.
Angela [00:02:24] I'm excited.
Jenna [00:02:25] What are we doing today?
Angela [00:02:27] We are doing such a fun episode. Prepping for this episode felt like a mini vacation, for me.
Jenna [00:02:34] I really enjoyed it as well.
Angela [00:02:35] Let's tell them.
Jenna [00:02:36] All right, well, a while back, we did this really fun episode with the fellas from "How We Made Your Mother Podcast," where we talked about our favorite The Office cold opens and favorite "How I Met Your Mother" cold opens. It was episode 288 of Office Ladies, but we only got a chance to share about a couple of The Office cold opens in that episode. There are so many that are so amazing, it kind of left us wanting more.
Angela [00:03:02] Yes, so we really dug into the early seasons. Watching cold opens, we have lots to share about it. They're so stinkin' good. But first, let's start with our chit chat for the day. It is from Simone in Irvine, California. Simone says, "Hi, Jen and Angela. I'm writing to you from my office. I'm not on my break, so technically I'm not supposed to be writing a personal email. What can I say? I'm a rebel. My co-workers and I were trading stories about places we either quit or got fired from. So I'm curious if you have ever been fired or do you have any funny stories about quitting a job? Love you ladies and the podcast and love The Office."
Jenna [00:03:42] Oh my goodness. Well Simone, I hope you don't get fired for writing this email.
Angela [00:03:47] Well, hopefully they don't track her computer. This is such a good one.
Jenna [00:03:52] I have to think for a second.
Angela [00:03:53] Me too.
Jenna [00:03:54] Sam, Angela, do you guys have one?
Sam [00:03:56] Yes, I do. I remember once during a fire alarm at the old Earwolf days, we were in our old studio that when you guys started at. There was a woman who left the building because of the fire alarm and never came back to work.
Angela [00:04:08] What?
Sam [00:04:08] That's how we found out she quit. She never came back. It took weeks to figure it out. It was really, really smart on her part. She left with her laptop and everything.
Angela [00:04:17] So fire alarm and she just packs it up and adios?
Sam [00:04:22] Yep. And then it was a good week and a half before somebody was like, "You know, who never came back in from outside? Sam."
Angela [00:04:30] Genius. "Irish Exit," as they call it.
Sam [00:04:34] It was really smart.
Jenna [00:04:34] Yeah, no kidding.
Angela [00:04:36] There was this legendary quitting of a job at 1-800-Dentist. I don't know if it's true or not. I think I might've shared this on the podcast, but it's still the one that lives rent-free in my mind. 1-800-Dentist was full of a lot of artists. That's who worked the phones; actors and musicians. There was a guy, this was right before I started there, but this was the story everyone passed down. That he got a role in "Speed 2." Okay? And he was like, "I'm gonna be in a motherf**king movie!!" And he literally just said (according to this story I was told, I don't know if this is true), "I quit" and did the double salute. The two middle fingers, you know? The double bird salute. "I quit. I'm out of here, a**holes." Then everyone went to see Speed 2 and he'd been cut out except for just his sleeve. But I don't think he had any regrets about quitting. I hope it opened the doors to new things.
Jenna [00:05:42] I mean, he did get to go be in Speed 2 and he got paid for it.
Angela [00:05:46] Yeah, he apparently stood behind Tommy Lee Jones in multiple scenes as one of the bad guys on the boat, but was cut out. Anyway, this was the story. I don't know if it's true, but I always thought, "What a way to go out." You get this really cool dream job, right? Then the job that is kind of the slog, you just get to shoot the bird and be like, "'Peace out!"
Jenna [00:06:05] That's pretty amazing.
Angela [00:06:07] I know. I don't know if its true, but I think it's pretty amazing.
Jenna [00:06:10] Well, my family likes to joke that I have been fired from every job on Manchester Road back in St. Louis, Missouri.
Angela [00:06:19] What's on Manchester Road?
Jenna [00:06:21] Manchester Road, in the St. Louis suburb that I lived in, is just a very popular road for restaurants and other establishments.
Angela [00:06:30] So you were fired from a bunch of restaurants?
Jenna [00:06:32] Yeah, I got fired from this kennel. That was my first job, I got fired from my first job. I worked at a kennel, it wasn't on Manchester Road, it was on Weidman Road. It was because I was letting the dogs stay out longer than they were supposed to, because I felt bad for them. I was taking too long, and I got reprimanded for it a couple of times. My shift would take three hours instead of two. So I started clocking out after two hours and staying an hour on my own dime. They didn't like that either. They said that was a liability issue.
Angela [00:07:08] Look at you, a little animal rights activist back in the early days.
Jenna [00:07:12] I was. So they fired me, they let me go. Then I worked at Long John Silver's and I guess I got fired from there. I don't remember why. Then I worked at this ice creamery, got fired from there.
Angela [00:07:24] Why?
Jenna [00:07:25] Because, now come on, to be fair: two things. One, I had been late a lot and I used to give out more ice cream than I was supposed to. I'd really pile it on. I felt like they could afford it. I got reprimanded for that and then one day I didn't show up for my shift because my music teacher at my school passed away and we all wanted to go to the service. And it happened to be on this day I had to work, so I called in last minute. I guess they felt that was one too many things. I don't think they believed me, but it was the truth. Then they fired me. Then I ended up working at this car wash on Manchester Road for three years.
Sam [00:08:07] Wow.
Jenna [00:08:07] I know, I really fit in there.
Angela [00:08:09] What'd you do at the car wash?
Jenna [00:08:11] What did I do? I did what you do it car washes.
Sam [00:08:14] I don't know what that is.
Jenna [00:08:15] I did what you do at car washes!
Angela [00:08:17] I know! You don't have to be so incredulous.
Sam [00:08:18] Yeah, I don't know one thing a person does in a car wash.
Angela [00:08:21] I feel like I've been to car washes and sometimes there's someone that works the register.
Jenna [00:08:26] Oh, sure.
Angela [00:08:26] Or sometimes there's a gift shop inside, where you can buy little air freshener thingies or get a water.
Jenna [00:08:33] I dried off the cars and detailed the cars and stuff. It's really actually cool. I can dry off a car so freaking fast. You get two shammies in each hand and each person takes one side. So it's two people per car.
Angela [00:08:46] Mm-hmm.
Jenna [00:08:47] And the car comes out and you dry your side. Shammy, shammy your side. They want that car dried fast. I loved it. I worked outside. It was awesome. But then a lot of times-
Angela [00:08:59] You got great arm muscles.
Jenna [00:09:00] I did. They made me do the windows, which sucks. The windows suck. And they made me to it because I was a girl and I was smaller and I could get into the back more easily. So then I'd have to take Windex and do all the interior car windows. Wipe off the dash and everything. I didn't like doing that. I really loved trying to dry off one half of a car in 30 seconds or less. That was my happy place.
Angela [00:09:25] You like a clock and a goal.
Jenna [00:09:28] Yeah. You could have also worked the vacuum section, but they never put me on vacuum. The rumor was that they were running drugs through the vacuum section.
Angela [00:09:38] What?
Jenna [00:09:39] Yeah, that deliveries of cocaine would come in the cars and then they had this like -
Sam [00:09:45] You buried the lead here.
Jenna [00:09:46] They said that they had this group of guys that only worked the vacuums and you couldn't permeate the vacuums. So all the high school kids worked the front and then there were these kind of sketchy guys that worked the vacuumes.
Angela [00:10:01] This is like an episode of "Breaking Bad."
Jenna [00:10:03] Yes! Look guys, I'm not even kidding. When I saw the car wash on Breaking Bad. I was like, "That's how you do it. That's exactly right." We think there was some money laundering and some drug running through the vacuum part.
Angela [00:10:17] Holy crap, I'm never gonna look at a car wash the same way again, especially the vacuum section.
Jenna [00:10:21] I lived it, y'all. I lived it.
Angela [00:10:24] Well, my goodness, Matt, are you there? Can you top that?
Matt [00:10:27] Jenna, I can't believe you've been fired from so many places.
Jenna [00:10:29] What can I say? But not the drug-running car wash. Money laundering, they loved me.
Angela [00:10:36] They loved your innocent face. You were like the front man.
Matt [00:10:40] I've never been fired from anywhere, but I'll say that my first day on Office Ladies was maybe my most stressful, worst first day of any job. I don't know if you remember, but when I came down to LA to meet you all for the first time.
Angela [00:10:52] Yeah, I remember.
Matt [00:10:54] I was coming down to meet Jen and Angela and Sam, and wanted to show them that they made the right choice, that I was professional. On the plane, my water bottle inside my backpack had opened and leaked and completely flooded my laptop and it had fried and was just completely submerged in water. I was supposed to help with the recording session, I had no laptop and was running through the streets to find a computer repair shop for them to take it apart and dry it. So that was definitely my worst first day of a job anywhere. But look, it all worked out.
Jenna [00:11:24] And we were hard on you. We had no sympathy for you. We were like, "I can't believe this."
Sam [00:11:30] And didn't I spill a giant oh this thing of water in your lap during the meal too?
Matt [00:11:36] You did.
Jenna [00:11:37] Oh yeah, that's right, we went out for a meal,
Angela [00:11:41] and Sam spilled his water in Matt's lap.
Matt [00:11:42] But I actually felt so comforted because I was so embarrassed. I felt so bad. I was like, "This is so unprofessional." I told everyone. Everyone was couldn't have been more understanding, couldn't been nicer. Then Sam goes, "Dude, don't even worry about it. I've ruined three different laptops with Diet Coke on three different occasions."
Sam [00:11:58] It's true.
Matt [00:11:58] Anyways, thanks for not firing me on my first day.
Angela [00:12:02] Okay, well, Simone, we never could have anticipated the journey this question took us on. So many twists and turns. That was super fun. Why don't we take a break, and when we come back, we're going to talk about cold opens from The Office, the early seasons.
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Jenna [00:12:19] Hello everyone, we are back. So, we decided to take a deeper look at the cold opens for The Office, seasons two through five. We wanted to highlight a few that we considered hidden gems. Hidden gems. So our criteria was that we needed to find a standalone cold open, so nothing that was on the main storyline of the episode.
Angela [00:12:43] Yeah, which is a little tricky because some of the cold opens are a little early teaser of what the actual episode is going to be about.
Jenna [00:12:51] Right. So we're looking for stand-alone cold opens. Of course, a very famous one, the chili cold open.
Angela [00:12:56] Exactly.
Jenna [00:12:57] Spilling the chili.
Angela [00:12:58] Except that is not a hidden gem.
Jenna [00:13:01] Not a hidden gem!
Angela [00:13:02] That's our other criteria. What are the cold opens that don't get talked about as much? So we went season by season and, Jenna, you're going to kick us off with cold open hidden gems from season two.
Jenna [00:13:16] That is right. I can't start with season one because, as you all know, we did not start doing cold opens until season two. Of the 22 episodes from season two, we only had eight standalone cold opens. I watched them all. By the way, I'm saying eight. That's only if you count the Christmas episode where Michael and Dwight bring in the Christmas tree. I think that could be up for debate.
Angela [00:13:41] Yes, I had a few of those too.
Jenna [00:13:44] There are a few classics from season two that really stood out, right off the bat. You know? In "The Fight," when Jim puts Dwight's desk in the bathroom.
Angela [00:13:53] Oh, yeah.
Jenna [00:13:54] "Performance Review," we have the Fitness Orb.
Angela [00:13:58] Classic.
Jenna [00:13:58] In "Booze Cruise," Jim puts Dwight's stuff in a vending machine and in "The Secret" we have what's up dog.
Angela [00:14:03] Oh yeah.
Jenna [00:14:04] But I'm giving the prize for cold open season two, hidden gem two, "Michael's Birthday." This is when Michael falls for a pyramid scheme. Let's listen.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:14:16] So, Phil recruited me to sell these cards, and now I am recruiting you.
clip from The Office - Oscar [00:14:21] Who is this guy again?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:14:22] Don't worry about Phil. He drives a Corvette, he is doing just fine. Okay, calling cards are the wave of the future. These things sell themselves.
clip from The Office - Ryan [00:14:30] Who uses calling cards anyway?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:14:32] You know what? That's a nice attitude, Ryan. I'm just helping you invest in your future, my friend.
clip from The Office - Oscar [00:14:36] It sounds like a "get-rich-quick" scheme.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:14:38] Yes, thank you. You will get rich quick, we all will.
clip from The Office - Toby [00:14:41] Didn't you lose a lot of money on that other investment, the one from the email?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:14:45] You know what, Toby? When the son of the deposed king of Nigeria emails you directly asking for help, you help. His father ran the freaking country, OK? Alright, so raise your hand if you want to get rich.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:15:00] No. How is this not a pyramid scheme?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:15:03] Alright, let me explain it again. Phil has recruited me and another guy. Now, we are getting three people each. The more people that get involved, the more people who are investing, the more money we're all gonna make. It's not a pyramid scheme. It's not even a scheme.
Jenna [00:15:23] This is when Jim draws a pyramid around Michaels marks on the page and it's clearly a pyramid.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:15:31] I have to go make a call.
Jenna [00:15:40] [laughing] Oh my goodness! So yeah, in this scene Michael is standing in front of this easel. We did not discuss this the first time we broke down this episode. I really want to discuss what was written on the page that he flips over.
Angela [00:15:55] Okay.
Jenna [00:15:56] Because this is his pitch to these guys. These are his steps for why this is gonna be a great deal.
Angela [00:16:02] Okay.
Jenna [00:16:02] So first of all, he has written $3,700 equals $1,250,000.
Angela [00:16:09] Mm-hmm.
Jenna [00:16:10] So the buy-in for his pyramid scheme is $3,700, which is somehow gonna turn into 1.25 million.
Angela [00:16:19] My gosh.
Jenna [00:16:20] So then it says "Ask," but then he has crossed that out and it says, "Tell your friends." "Under two hours per week," "Be your own boss," and "X equals Y not?" It's really interesting because all the script said was, "Michael is standing next to an easel. On the easel are numbers and simple equations. Beside it is a crude display of calling cards." So that means at some point, this is how that script note was interpreted.
Angela [00:16:50] "X equals Y not?" Is hilarious.
Jenna [00:16:52] I know.
Angela [00:16:53] And you can just picture Michael getting this pitch from Phil, the guy that drove the Corvette.
Jenna [00:16:58] I know, so I love it. Oh, by the way, the script also revealed a line from Creed that would have been a button at the end of the scene. I went to the Superfan episode to see if it had been added and it has not. I really wish they had added it. At the very end of this scene, the script was gonna say, "[To the guys, conspiratorially after Michael leaves] CREED: You know what I think? We can do this without him."
Angela [00:17:27] [laughing] That's such a great line.
Jenna [00:17:28] I know, it's such good button. It's also a good button for Michael to be like, "I need to make a call." But I love this cold open. This is then gonna become a runner, where Michael is susceptible to these things. Incidentally, I want you to know, when I was researching cold opens for season two, Lady, I found a document called "Cold Opens" in my digital clutter. It is a document from season two, where the writers had sat down and just pitched cold open ideas for 16 pages.
Angela [00:17:59] Oh my god, 16 pages!
Jenna [00:18:02] Just one-liners. They must have gone back to reference it from time to time because one of the ideas on this season two cold open pitch document said "Chore Wheel."
Angela [00:18:15] Which didn't come till much later.
Jenna [00:18:17] Till season nine.
Angela [00:18:18] Oh wow.
Jenna [00:18:19] So in this pitch document, it was "Michael makes a chore wheel." But in season nine became "Pam makes a chore wheel."
Angela [00:18:26] Oh, that's so fun.
Jenna [00:18:27] I thought that was kind of crazy.
Angela [00:18:28] Can I just say something? [singing] Sometimes it pays to have digital clutter.
Jenna [00:18:34] It really did.
Angela [00:18:35] Look at that nugget you found.
Jenna [00:18:37] I know.
Angela [00:18:38] This makes my heart very happy.
Jenna [00:18:39] I thought it might. Alright, Ange, what do you have for season three?
Angela [00:18:44] Oh my goodness. Season three is a juggernaut for Cold Opens. I literally wrote the word juggernaut.
Jenna [00:18:54] [laughing] In your notes?
Angela [00:18:54] Yes. I had the best time re-watching them all. I got myself a cup of tea and I sat in my little cozy nook at home and I just got to just absorb the world of season three Cold Opens. It was such a treat. So we had 25 episodes in season three. By my count, there are 15 stand-alone cold opens. That is, if you include Dwight bringing in the dead goose in "Benihana Christmas, Part One." Because we don't ever see the goose again, you know?
Jenna [00:19:22] Yeah.
Angela [00:19:22] And then Michael (this one was really funny) pretending to be the voice of Hannah's baby in "The Convict" could also be seen as a stand-alone.
Jenna [00:19:33] I think so.
Angela [00:19:34] Yeah, it's so cringy, you know? But before I share my hidden gems, lady, I really wanted to shout out some of the fan favorite cold opens for the season. It really gives you the idea of just how many classic cold opens are in season three. Here's a little list: Michael's movie Mondays from "The Coup,"
Jenna [00:19:57] Oh, yeah.
Angela [00:19:58] Michael's pencil in the warehouse bit. Remember where he stacks the paper boxes and is like, "I'm going to get a pencil from the warehouse." And then he slowly scooches behind the boxes.
Jenna [00:20:08] Oh, yes.
Angela [00:20:09] OK, the faxes from future Dwight.
Jenna [00:20:12] Mm-hmm.
Angela [00:20:13] Harvey the Talking Computer, Michael's video message to his future son and Ben Franklin. That's when he wants to show his son how to undo a bra, and he makes Dwight wear a bra. Jim's Pavlovian experiment prank on Dwight. That one's amazing. Michael's attempt at getting out of a straight jacket.
Jenna [00:20:32] Oh yes.
Angela [00:20:33] And lastly, a huge fan favorite, is Jim dressing and acting like Dwight in "Product Recall." "Identity theft is not a joke, Jim."
Jenna [00:20:43] That might be the most famous.
Angela [00:20:45] From season three?
Jenna [00:20:46] Yeah.
Angela [00:20:46] I agree. Okay, so look at all of those, right? You might be asking, "What else was there?" But lady, there were several hidden gems in the season and I know I'm only supposed to pick one. But I'd like to pick three.
Jenna [00:20:58] Three?!
Angela [00:20:59] Is that too many?
Jenna [00:21:00] No, do it, it's your podcast.
Angela [00:21:02] I'm like Simone in Irvine, California. I'm being a rebel.
Jenna [00:21:06] You really are. That's what this episode is about.
Angela [00:21:08] It's about being a rebel. Alright, so the first one is from "The Convention." Michael wants a baby, lady.
Jenna [00:21:15] Oh, yeah.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:21:19] Pam?
clip from The Office - Pam [00:21:20] Yeah?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:21:21] Did you see Oprah yesterday?
clip from The Office - Pam [00:21:22] No, I didn't.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:21:25] I, uh, I'm going to be a father.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:21:30] What was Oprah about?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:21:31] Angelina Jolie was on, and she adopted a baby from Asia. She said that it changed her life, and that really inspired me. So I want you to look in to see how much a little Chinese baby would cost.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:21:47] That's a really big decision.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:21:49] I know.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:21:50] Maybe you should wait before you adopt, or not adopt.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:21:54] Just do it. Okay?
clip from The Office - Pam [00:21:56] Roy's sister looked into it and the application alone cost $1,000.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:22:03] Well, find out if there's a cheaper, less expensive baby out there.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:22:09] Okay, you know she also said the waiting list is, like, eight months
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:22:13] Eight months? I don't even know if I'd want a baby in eight months.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:22:16] Probably won't.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:22:20] You know what, Pam? If in 10 years, I haven't had a baby and you haven't had a baby...
clip from The Office - Pam [00:22:27] No, Michael.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:22:29] 20 years.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:22:30] No, Micheal.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:22:32] 30.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:22:36] Sure.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:22:37] It's a deal.
Angela [00:22:39] I mean, just amazing. I have to say too, I have this observation in rewatching cold opens from season three and five. So many standalones happen at front reception.
Jenna [00:22:53] Really?
Angela [00:22:54] Yeah, Lady, you are in a lot of classic cold open moments. That's just gonna be so fun for you, years from now, when you're just like check in. You're in the cold opens so much.
Jenna [00:23:05] Oh my gosh, that's so fun. It's funny because I think of the cold opens as either being big events that we were all in, or Jim/Dwight pranks. I don't remember these ones as much, but of course I remember this moment.
Angela [00:23:21] Yeah, they're usually kind of by Jim/Dwight and front reception, in that little area. So even if you're not someone speaking, Pam is present for a lot of them.
Jenna [00:23:30] Mm-hmm.
Angela [00:23:30] Okay, hidden gem number two is from "The Initiation." I want you to know, I actually just ended up watching this. I went back and watched it like four times. I don't know why, it just really cracked me up. It's so good. BJ is hilarious. I'm calling it "Dwight's Brain Teasers."
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:23:51] Brain teaser: I have two coins totaling 15 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are they?
clip from The Office - Ryan [00:23:56] A dime and a nickel.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:23:59] No, I said one of them is not nickel.
clip from The Office - Ryan [00:24:01] But the other one is. I've heard that before.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:24:03] Okay. A man and his son get into a car accident. They are rushed to the hospital. The doctor says, "There's no way I can operate on this boy because" -
clip from The Office - Ryan [00:24:11] Because he's my son. The doctor is the boy's mother.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:24:14] A man is found hanging from the ceiling,
clip from The Office - Ryan [00:24:16] He stepped on a block of ice, hung himself, and the ice melted.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:24:20] Hunter,
clip from The Office - Ryan [00:24:21] It's a polar bear because you're at the North Pole.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:24:23] [grunts in frustration]
Jenna [00:24:24] It's so funny because I knew all those, too. Those are all super famous ones.
Angela [00:24:30] I didn't know some of them. But just the way when you see, that obviously Ryan the temp is now sitting at Jim's desk, so Dwight's messing with him. He is so unfazed by Dwight. He barely is even looking up and it's making Dwight crazy.
Jenna [00:24:44] It's amazing.
Angela [00:24:45] So good, but that's one I forgot about. Hidden Gem. Okay. Lastly, I had completely forgotten about this one. I don't know about you, Jenna. Hidden Gem number three from season three, it's from "Back from Vacation" and Dwight decides to bring a tape recorder into Jim's conference room meeting. Things really go off the rails.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:07] Alright, let's get started. Oh, first off, we're supposed to be pushing card stock this week. So let's push card stock this week. Also... What is this?
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:25:19] Tape recorder.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:21] For what?
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:25:23] For recording. Michael is on vacation, and he's asked me to record all meetings and to type up the transcripts.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:31] Okay. Uh, Karen, any news from that law firm?
clip from The Office - Karen [00:25:32] Yeah, the deal closed yesterday. It's a six-month commitment.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:35] Oh my god, Dwight, what are you doing?
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:25:36] What?
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:37] You're not allowed to take off your pants in the middle of the office.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:25:41] I'm not.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:41] Dwight, you know what? Just back off, okay? That's making me uncomfortable. This is sexual harassment, by the way. Oh, my God. He's got a knife!
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:25:48] I do not have a knife.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:49] No, let the record show that Dwight K. Schrute is now completely nude and is holding a plastic knife to Stanley's neck.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:25:56] Let the record that Jim Halpert is a liar!
clip from The Office - Jim [00:25:59] Dwight Schrute Is now wearing a baby's bonnet.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:26:00] I am not.
clip from The Office - Phyllis [00:26:01] Oh, Jim Carrey just walked in. Dwight, get his autograph for Michael, quickly!
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:26:04] Jim Carrey did not just walk in, okay?
clip from The Office - Karen [00:26:06] Dwight, what is that on your stomach? Is that a Muppet Babies tattoo?
clip from The Office - Jim [00:26:09] Oh my god, Karen, you're right, that is Animal from the Muppet Babies.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:26:12] You can't see my stomach.
clip from The Office - Andy [00:26:13] I am now chopping off Phyllis's head with a chainsaw! [makes chainsaw noise]
Jenna [00:26:22] [laughing] It doesn't even make any sense.
Angela [00:26:24] As you watch it, Andy is getting so hyped. First, he doesn't get what's happening. Then he's like, "Oh, Jim is making Dwight sound like an idiot in this proposed transcript he's going to have to type up." Then Phyllis gets in on it. Phyllis, out of this room of people. Then Andy's like, "I got to get in there! And he's crazy. So that's season three, you guys. Let me tell you, if you have an afternoon, or maybe you just need a break from everything. Maybe your life is feeling stressful, or you're feeling like you just need to take a vacation but you can't go anywhere. Grab a cup of tea and just watch the season three cold opens.
Jenna [00:27:00] I tell you what, I really enjoyed sitting down and just watching the first minute and a half of every episode.
Angela [00:27:08] I know, and you know what? It made me focus on it so differently. Sometimes you start something and it takes you a few minutes and then you get in it. No, I was focused from the minute the show started. What about season four, Jenna?
Jenna [00:27:21] Well, I didn't have a lot to go on for season four. This was a much shorter season. We only had 19 episodes, remember?
Angela [00:27:28] Because of the strike?
Jenna [00:27:29] Yes, and of those 19, we only had six standalone cold opens.
Angela [00:27:35] Oh, this is not a lot in our criteria.
Jenna [00:27:38] No, and we had some famous cold opens. Among those six, the most famous probably being the DVD Square from "Launch Party Part One."
Angela [00:27:46] Oh yeah, very famous one.
Jenna [00:27:48] We also had one that was cut, and there's no cold open for "Job Fair." The cold open for Job Fair that's currently in the episode is on story, but I would argue that the cold open that was cut that was added back to the super fan episode is maybe one of the greatest cold opens we ever shot. It is where Michael's stuff all falls in the toilet.
Angela [00:28:14] Oh God, I love that one.
Jenna [00:28:16] I love it as much as I love any of the other classics. But you know what? It's not even there.
Angela [00:28:25] But at least it made its way back in. Thank you, Dave Rogers, over at the super fan.
Jenna [00:28:30] Yes. So given my choices here, I am gonna give the award for best cold open hidden gem, season four, to "Night Out." This is when Michael gets gum stuck in his hair. I really just love the quick dialog on this one. So let's listen.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:28:48] What's wrong, Michael?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:28:49] I got gum in my hair...
clip from The Office - Pam [00:28:51] You do.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:28:51] This just stinks. Don't touch it. Please don't touch it!
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:28:56] You've got a ton of dandruff.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:28:57] Okay, let me be.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:28:58] How'd you get gum in your hair?
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:28:59] I was walking in and I noticed something shiny under Stanley's car and I got under to see what it was and I messed up my hair. All for a stupid piece of tin foil.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:29:08] Bud, best case scenario, you thought it was a quarter.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:29:12] Kill me. right now.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:29:12] We have peanut butter in the kitchen.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:29:15] I don't feel like peanut butter. Get me an ice cream sandwich.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:29:18] Not for you, it's for your hair, and it is 9 a.m.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:29:22] No Dwight, not the good peanut butter, people are gonna get mad.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:29:24] Hey, hey, hey! This is my hair we're talking about... It smells good.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:29:32] Tastes good too.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:29:33] Oh, that's disgusting.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:29:36] Wow, a lot of calories.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:29:37] Well, just don't leave it on too long. Keep massaging, please. Oh, yeah, that's nice.
Angela [00:29:46] Wait, I have to ask this. Did Rain improvise the dandruff line?
Jenna [00:29:51] All of the dialog was scripted just as you heard it. I went to the script.
Angela [00:29:56] You're kidding! It sounds like there's some improv in there.
Jenna [00:29:58] I know.
Angela [00:29:58] That's amazing.
Jenna [00:29:59] It's really impressive.
Angela [00:30:00] Yeah!
Jenna [00:30:01] It's funny that you asked that question because I had that same question and I checked the script. Here's something that this cold open brings up for me though. Because Pam says, "Don't use the good peanut butter. People are going to get mad." Is there a budget for "always live there" items in this kitchen? I'm thinking coffee creamer, or milk, (or clearly) this peanut butter, tea bags. Who is stocking the kitchen? Is that Pam's job?
Angela [00:30:27] 100%.
Jenna [00:30:28] Whose job is it? It's probably Pam's job.
Angela [00:30:29] 100%. I think it's Pam, for sure. I think she has a little petty cash budget for things that have to stay in the kitchen. That would be like sugar packets and creamer and I guess the good peanut butter. But maybe she also buys crappy peanut butter and she hides the good peanut butter. I don't know.
Jenna [00:30:48] Have you ever worked at a place where you had a communal kitchen with communal items and stuff? Then people would bring stuff in.
Angela [00:30:57] Oh yeah.
Jenna [00:30:58] Maybe donuts and all that stuff. You guys, the kitchen was always my favorite part of all my office jobs. I loved going in there and making a cup of coffee and seeing if anybody brought anything in.
Angela [00:31:09] I think I've told you guys that when I worked at 1-800-Dentist, Jenny was kind of the office administrator. She ran a tight ship in the kitchen. She had a sign on the fridge that said, "If you had food in there past a certain number of days, "I forget what it was, "I will toss it. And she wanted everyone to write their name and the date if they put the food in the fridge.
Jenna [00:31:37] No way, the date?
Angela [00:31:38] Yes, so I show up, it's Monday, January, whatever, fourth. I'd put that. But no one did it.
Jenna [00:31:45] Did anyone get their lunch tossed?
Angela [00:31:46] She would say, "If you don't have your name, at least your name, I'm tossing it."
Jenna [00:31:51] Wow.
Angela [00:31:52] And she tossed food left and right.
Jenna [00:31:54] Wow.
Angela [00:31:54] People got pissed.
Jenna [00:31:56] I've never been in charge of the kitchen. I've only just experienced a kitchen. I've ever had anyone like that run my kitchen.
Angela [00:32:04] Worked for Jenny because I also worked in the mail room and she ran the mail room. Sometimes she would send me in the kitchen to go in the fridge and toss things.
Jenna [00:32:10] Oh my gosh, Angela!
Angela [00:32:12] Yeah. I only tossed if I opened it up and it was rank. If it was rank, then it went in the trash.
Jenna [00:32:20] Alright, fair enough.
Angela [00:32:22] Yeah. Anyway.
Jenna [00:32:22] Alright, well before we leave season four, I would also like to give an honorable mention to "The Deposition." That is the cold open where Michael wants Pam to interrupt him during meetings with sticky notes so that he can refuse to take the calls. I call it the "Hiya Buddy" cold open.
Angela [00:32:40] Yeah.
Jenna [00:32:40] But I'm not sure if that's a gem, or a hidden gem. I've had a lot of people show me "Hiya, Buddy" tattoos. So I feel like that's taking it out of the hidden gems category, which is why I did not select it.
Angela [00:32:51] I see your reasoning on that. I think we can make a rule now, moving forward, when we do a second parter for this. If the stand-alone cold open produces a popular tattoo...
Jenna [00:33:06] It is not a hidden gem.
Angela [00:33:07] It is not a hidden gem.
Jenna [00:33:08] Okay.
Angela [00:33:08] Okay. New criteria.
Jenna [00:33:10] Well, I'll tell you what, it's interesting that you mention doing a two-parter. I had so much fun watching these cold opens that I actually kept going and I watched all the cold opens from season six and eight. In season eight, "Pam's Replacement," the Hiya Buddy cold open kind of gets called back.
Angela [00:33:27] No way!
Jenna [00:33:28] Yes, because in that episode, Andy asks Erin to interrupt him during a meeting with a fake phone call that he wants to refuse. I was like, "Oh, Andy's trying to do this thing that Michael did." But of course, Erin doesn't understand it the way Pam did. So I thought that was interesting.
Angela [00:33:51] Yeah, it's a total callback.
Jenna [00:33:52] Total callback.
Angela [00:33:54] Love it.
Jenna [00:33:56] Alright Lady, what you got for season five-ers?
Angela [00:34:00] So season five-er's is a real doozy of a season.
Jenna [00:34:02] Wait, so you got season three, which was a juggernaut, and season five that was a doozy.
Angela [00:34:07] I got a juggernaut and a doozy.
Jenna [00:34:08] You really did.
Angela [00:34:11] OK, first of all, there are 28 episodes for season five.
Jenna [00:34:15] Oh, that is a doozy.
Angela [00:34:17] That is 28 cold opens that your little lady here happily watched, though. Happily. It was just a pleasure. So by my count, I think there are 12 standalone cold opens. Now, that is if you count Jim's Christmas prank of wrapping Dwight's desk area in wrapping paper.
Jenna [00:34:36] I count that, even though it was in a Christmas episode, I still count that as a standalone.
Angela [00:34:40] I do too because it's not revisited at all once the episode starts. We also have three two-parters, but interestingly enough, we only have two "previously on The Office" recap cold opens. One in "Weight Loss: Part Two," the other in "Lecture Circuit: Part Two." But "Stress Relief: Part Two" has its own new cold open. It's really funny. It's where Michael and Dwight are having little... It looks like little mini alcohol bottles, right? Michael's kind of bummed because he's like, "What is it to be a boss? Why is everyone just so intimidated by me?" And he has this hilarious talking head about his shoulder pads and his boss suits. Anyway.
Jenna [00:35:20] I do not remember this.
Angela [00:35:21] I know! But it sets up the roast that's going to happen. So that's why I didn't include it. But, it's a delight. But lady, this season has some of the most talked about cold opens in the canon of the entire show. According to Mashable, it has one that is widely considered the best cold open in the entire series. Which, you might have guessed, is in "Stress Relief: Part 1," where Dwight stages a fake office fire to test the employees on their emergency preparedness.
Jenna [00:35:53] I agree with that, I agree with that prize. I mean, also I was there and I know what it took to make that cold open. I think it is a feat of television comedy.
Angela [00:36:03] I agree. There were so many moving parts, it's like we all had to learn a choreographed dance with our crew. But there were other fan favorite moments from season five that make all of the best of compilations. Here they are: when Michael realizes Toby is back from Costa Rica and screams, "Noooooo!" Right?
Jenna [00:36:25] Okay.
Angela [00:36:25] And then of course, Kevin's famous chili. People really love (I don't know why I was surprised by this) in "Company Picnic" when the whole office comes together to trick Michael because he's eaten an entire chicken pot pie for lunch. They change all the clocks to say five o'clock and then they wake him up and everyone gets to go home early.
Jenna [00:36:46] I would call that a hidden gem. Little did I know, it's not hidden at all.
Angela [00:36:50] A fan favorite. I would have put it on my hidden gem, but it's a fan favorite.
Jenna [00:36:56] Okay.
Angela [00:36:57] Then I have three, after watching this, that are on my personal favorite list that also make the fan list.
Jenna [00:37:04] Okay.
Angela [00:37:05] There are a lot of fan favorites for this one, but I love these, and they don't always make the top of the fan favorite list. They're still not hidden gems, lady, because they still get talked about so much. In "Business Ethics," when Pam is mad that no one congratulated them on their engagement, So then Jim puts her on speaker phone and everyone's either snarky or dumb, but then Michael tackles Jim out of excitement.
Jenna [00:37:27] Okay.
Angela [00:37:29] Then the Michael Scott Paper Company cheese puff toss.
Jenna [00:37:32] Great.
Angela [00:37:33] Great, right? Also for me, and this one was a joy to re-watch, was in "Golden Ticket." When Michael is telling knock-knock jokes and then Dwight slaps him and says, "KGB will ask the questions," and then Jim slaps Dwight and says. "KGB waits for no one." That just makes me laugh so hard. So once again, just an absolute amazing season of cold opens.
Jenna [00:37:56] Would you give the prize for cold opens to season five if you had to award a season? Now, I know you haven't watched ahead, necessarily, but I'm feeling like it gets the prize.
Angela [00:38:09] It might get the prize because of Stress Relief, Kevin's Famous Chili... It's just got some of the most memorable ones that people talk about. But unbelievably, there are still some awesome hidden gems that aren't as talked about.
Jenna [00:38:24] Okay.
Angela [00:38:25] I did pick two. I'm sorry.
Jenna [00:38:28] [laughing] Oh my gosh!
Angela [00:38:29] But look at the seasons I got. Season three and season five.
Jenna [00:38:33] It's fair.
Angela [00:38:33] Okay. These are not talked about that much, and I just think they're fantastic. One really features you, and of course I want to feature my BFF on our own podcast. It's from "Blood Drive," and it's when the TechStar sales rep comes to pitch his new phone system to Michael Scott.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:38:51] Hi, good morning. Can I help you?
clip from The Office - TechStar Rep [00:38:53] Yes, I'm from Techstar, about a new phone system for you. I was wondering if I could talk to Michael Scott.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:39:01] I'm sorry, he's not in right now.
clip from The Office - TechStar Rep [00:39:03] Really? He's never around when I come by.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:39:07] [Talking Head] They have new phone systems now that can ring directly to a salesman, or someone presses star and they go to accounting. Basically, 95% of my job. But I'd like to see a machine that puts out candy for everyone. [quietly, to herself] Vending machine.
clip from The Office - TechStar Rep [00:39:24] How about I make an appointment to come back? That way, I know he'll be here.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:39:29] That is a great idea.
clip from The Office - TechStar Rep [00:39:31] Great.
clip from The Office - Pam [00:39:34] Um... Oh, boy. He's really...
clip from The Office - Jim [00:39:40] Michael Scott, manager. Hi, how are you?
clip from The Office - TechStar Rep [00:39:42] Oh, hi. Nice to meet you. Great. Hey, look at that. Whew.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:39:46] I can assure you we don't need a new system, though. Happy with ours.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:39:49] Hello, may I help you?
clip from The Office - Jim [00:39:50] [offers fist bump to Michael] Jimbo.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:39:53] Sure.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:39:57] Ayyyyyyyy!
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:40:02] Ayyyyyyyy!
clip from The Office - TechStar Rep [00:40:15] I'm, uh, going to be going.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:40:16] ["Aayyyying" back and forth with Jim, getting louder]
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:40:21] [laughing] What was that?
clip from The Office - Pam [00:40:22] That was funny.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:40:23] That was funny.
clip from The Office - Michael Scott [00:40:24] Let's go do it to somebody else. [runs off yelling "Ayyyy"]
Angela [00:40:28] That's all they had to do to distract Michael from the sales rep.
Jenna [00:40:34] Just do a bit.
Angela [00:40:35] Just do a bit. He was so delighted that Jim and Pam wanted to do a bit with him.
Jenna [00:40:39] That's really good writing.
Angela [00:40:40] I know and great performance in that one by all of you guys. Then lastly, this hidden gem I want to feature because I think it might be the shortest cold open. Definitely in season five, but maybe in the entire show.
Jenna [00:40:55] Huh.
Angela [00:40:56] Right? I did not remember it. It's from "Cafe Disco," Dwight pranks Pam.
Jenna [00:41:03] Okay.
clip from The Office - Erin [00:41:05] Oh my god! I can't believe it! I just won an art contest! [squeals with delight]
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:41:09] [laughing quietly]
clip from The Office - Erin [00:41:19] [whispering to Jim] I still don't understand why you wanted me to say that.
clip from The Office - Dwight [00:41:21] Shut up. [laughing] I got her. [grunts in delight]
clip from The Office - Pam [00:41:27] Not cool, Dwight.
clip from The Office - Jim [00:41:30] Not cool.
Jenna [00:41:41] Oh my gosh, the diabolical laugh at the end.
Angela [00:41:44] I know!
Jenna [00:41:45] Can you believe I did not remember that?
Angela [00:41:48] I mean, it's very quick, but I didn't remember it either.
Jenna [00:41:52] Even when you said "Dwight pranks Pam," I'm like, what? Dwight never pranked Pam.
Angela [00:41:57] Oh yeah, he had Erin yell, "I just won an art contest" and then he laughs for, like, 45 seconds.
Jenna [00:42:05] Yeah, very interesting
Angela [00:42:07] Mm-hmm and Rainn's performance is really hilarious. Also, a little bit I thought, "I wonder if he got a headache after." Because he has to laugh so hard.
Jenna [00:42:17] It's so mean though.
Angela [00:42:19] It's super mean.
Jenna [00:42:20] Why is he being so mean to Pam?
Angela [00:42:23] He's like, "I got her!"
Jenna [00:42:25] Is he one of those people who don't know how to do a fun prank?
Angela [00:42:31] Absolutely. I mean, look at the snowball and the snowman thing. I mean that was like... He doesn't know how to prank.
Jenna [00:42:41] No. It's always too harsh, where it's sort of dangerous.
Angela [00:42:44] Yeah, he goes to far.
Jenna [00:42:45] Or mean.
Angela [00:42:45] Or mean even when he and Michael have a thing where they pretend to hit each other and Dwight goes too hard.
Jenna [00:42:52] No, it's true.
Angela [00:42:53] He doesn't get it. But anyway, I think that might be the shortest cold open ever. I haven't watched the next batch, but yeah. There you go. That was season five. I absolutely loved watching these cold opens.
Jenna [00:43:07] Well, I think we should watch the next batch and do this again.
Angela [00:43:12] I agree.
Jenna [00:43:13] But why don't we take a break? And when we come back, we'll do a little Around the Town. There's a couple real hidden gems in our Around the Towns as well.
Angela [00:43:22] Look at you, you've got digital clutter, great segues. Anything can happen for you today, lady.
Jenna [00:43:28] It really can.
Angela [00:43:28] You're not getting fired today.
Jenna [00:43:30] I'm not?
Angela [00:43:31] Nope.
Jenna [00:43:32] Yay!
audio cue [00:43:32] [musical sting]
Jenna [00:43:38] Alright, we're back and let's do a little
audio cue [00:43:42] [Around the Town sting plays]
Jenna [00:43:45] Our first one is coming from Annika M. in the UK. Annika says, "More of a shout out for my little girl. During the school summer holidays, my eight-year-old daughter, Elodie, undertook a running challenge. She decided to run every day in August to raise money for charity. She ended up running over 50 miles and raising over 900 pounds for the dog's trust.
Angela [00:44:10] That is wonderful.
Jenna [00:44:13] So wonderful.
Angela [00:44:14] Annika, you must be so proud. I love that. Well, here's one from Abby F. in Kansas City, Missouri. Abby says, "I am a labor and delivery nurse and we give a silly award called the 'Star Stork' every month to the nurse who delivered the most babies that month. I was the Star Stork of August with seven babies I helped deliver that month, my all time high is 12 babies in a month."
Jenna [00:44:39] I love the Star Stork.
Angela [00:44:41] Way to go, Abby!
Jenna [00:44:41] Congratulations. Alright, next up from Charlotte L. in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. I really think Gabe would like this one.
Angela [00:44:52] Okay.
Jenna [00:44:52] Charlotte said, "I go to college in Gettysburg and this fall the town is recreating the Gettysburg Address as part of America 250. There is an actor playing Lincoln and he will ride into town on a steam locomotive. Yes, the town is actually getting a real steam locomotive. And then the next day, he will travel to the battlefield to give the speech and all the bells in town will ring for two minutes and 50 seconds straight. There are hired actors playing the roles of basically every person Lincoln interacted with, and even some he didn't, over the two days. And this small town is expecting over 50,000 people to come. I'm honestly excited to see how it all plays out." Well, I looked this up and this is coming up. It's happening November 16th through 18th. So if you are nearby, you can check it out and you can find the whole schedule and more info at Lincoln@Gettysburg.org.
Angela [00:45:50] I would love to see a real steam locomotive.
Jenna [00:45:53] Right?
Angela [00:45:53] That would be so cool. I mean, there's so many cool things about it, but I do love a train.
Jenna [00:45:57] You love a train, Jim loves a train. I know. I feel like I'm gonna see... Is November too late to see some nice fall foliage? Is it too late by mid-November?
Angela [00:46:09] That, I don't know. Someone write in and tell us. I have never seen the leaves turn and I've always wanted to do that. I've wanted to go to the East Coast.
Jenna [00:46:16] Yes, go up to the northeast,
Angela [00:46:18] Yes.
Jenna [00:46:19] And see all of that. I've never seen that either, lady.
Angela [00:46:22] And it's bucket list for me.
Jenna [00:46:23] Same!
Angela [00:46:23] I want to road trip and see fall foliage.
Jenna [00:46:25] I do too, lady. You know that I've become a super nerd for this travel competition show called "Jet Lag the Game." I watch it with my son. We bought tickets to the finale that was in a movie theater. This is very niche of us. We love it. I have a hat, I have the home game, all of it. This whole channel is just about travel and it's making me very antsy.
Angela [00:46:50] To travel?
Jenna [00:46:50] To travel. They do stuff... The one we went to see in the theater were these four guys, and they are in a race to go from the bottommost part of Japan all the way to the topmost part of Japan, and they can only travel by train. So you're just watching all of Japan through this race, through these trains.
Angela [00:47:13] And then do they film it themselves?
Jenna [00:47:15] Yes, they film it themselves.
Angela [00:47:17] Oh wow. They film it all themselves. It's so lovely and wholesome in the sense that there's no drama.
Jenna [00:47:24] Right.
Angela [00:47:24] It's not like Amazing Race where there's this big money prize. It's literally just for bragging rights. It really reminds me of the way that "Great British Baking Show" is just a drama-free competition where everyone is happy for one another.
Angela [00:47:39] And they're there for the love of cooking and food. So for this travel show, I imagine they're therefore the love of exploring new places.
Jenna [00:47:47] Yes, exactly.
Angela [00:47:50] Yeah, that sounds really cool.
Jenna [00:47:51] And also transportation. Lady, it's all trains. You'd freakin' love it!
Angela [00:47:57] Every episode is trains?
Jenna [00:47:58] Some things, like when they do these series where they play tag across Europe, you can like take a bus. And sometimes they take planes and they did do this one where they drove all the way across New Zealand which was pretty cool, but it's almost exclusively train travel. So that's the other thing that's really cool. You see all of the public transit systems in different places. They're always going different places.
Angela [00:48:17] That's so cool! I just took the Amtrak Pacific Coast Liner by myself. I got on at the Burbank stop and I took it up the coast, all the way to San Luis Obispo. It goes along the ocean. It's gorgeous.
Jenna [00:48:31] Our son wants to do that.
Angela [00:48:32] It's so beautiful. I should share the pictures from this trip. I sent my mom a selfie I took by the window and I said, "Look, mom, I'm on a train." She said, "Are you sure it's not a boat?" Because the ocean-
Jenna [00:48:45] Because you were so close to the ocean.
Angela [00:48:46] Yes, and I saw dolphins, on the ocean. Then we went through a meadow and I saw a deer and I took it on the afternoon. So then I saw the sunset. It was gorgeous.
Jenna [00:48:56] I am getting fed a lot of stuff on Instagram right now about traveling by train through different countries.
Angela [00:49:04] Yeah, it's got your algorithm.
Jenna [00:49:06] I guess there's this one where you leave from England and you travel overnight into Scotland.
Angela [00:49:13] I've taken the train from London to Scotland.
Jenna [00:49:16] Did you sleep on it?
Angela [00:49:17] No, I took it during the day and it was like four hours.
Jenna [00:49:20] Oh, this one, for some reason, felt longer.
Angela [00:49:24] Oh, there's so many, though. I mean, there are so many. Maybe the one I took was just more just from A to B, just getting me there. There's one that I really want to do. There's so many trains to ride, lady!
Jenna [00:49:35] Well, you know what my parents are doing now? They're traveling by river, by river cruise. They are determined to travel from the beginning of the Mississippi River, all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. Because there's all these Mississippi River cruises, and they love them. They did a river cruise up in the Northeast, where they did some rivers up there, and they saw all these historic places. You can travel by train and river.
Angela [00:50:03] Well count me in
Jenna [00:50:05] Yeah, I think so. How did we get off on that tangent?
Angela [00:50:09] I don't know!
Jenna [00:50:09] I just said I wanted to see some fall foliage.
Angela [00:50:11] I don't know, but anyway we have places to go and things to do. And you know what? You don't stop being curious, even though you're in your 50's.
Jenna [00:50:20] I like that, and it's true. I'm probably more curious.
Angela [00:50:24] Exactly.
Jenna [00:50:25] Before we go, we have two more things to share. It's a special shout out to some Office alumni and their new movies.
Angela [00:50:33] Yes. First off, Melora Hardin and Charles Esten both star in a new movie coming out this Friday, November 6th. It's called "Drummer Boy," and it's a musical drama and they both sing in it.
Jenna [00:50:46] They both sing it?
Angela [00:50:47] Yeah, we asked Melora how it came about and she said that Charles Esten was actually the one who reached out to her. He was in a full costume, like a period piece, and he made a video and sent it to her on a Friday. By Monday, she was on a plane to Ireland where the film shot. So it was all because of Charles that she ended up in the movie.
Jenna [00:51:08] Oh my gosh. She went on to say that they were already two weeks into production when the director said they were having such a hard time casting the part that Melora was going to play and that Charles thought of her. They said, "Listen, we need someone who's a great actress and can really sing," and Melora sings three songs in the movie.
Angela [00:51:27] So fun. And lastly, we want to shout out my favorite neighbor, Creed Bratton. He's in a new movie called "Primetime" with Robert Pattinson, and it's now available on video on demand. So go Office family go.
Jenna [00:51:41] Seeing you at the movies. I love it.
Angela [00:51:43] Yeah.
Jenna [00:51:44] Alright, well everyone, thank you for going on this journey with us for this episode of Cold Open Hidden Gems. We're gonna do this again.
Angela [00:51:52] Yeah, we'll finish off the seasons.
Jenna [00:51:54] And everyone have a good week.
Angela [00:51:56] Have a great day, bye!
Jenna [00:51:57] Bye!
Jenna [00:00:17] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Angela [00:00:19] Office Ladies is a presentation of Audacy and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:00:24] Our senior producer is Matt Beagle. Our audio engineer is Sam Kieffer.
Angela [00:00:32] Audacy's executive producer is Leah Reis-Dennis.
Jenna [00:00:35] Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.
Angela [00:00:37] Our theme song is "Rubber Tree" by Creed Bratton.