EP. 30 — The Convention

OFFICE 030 – The Convention

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:04] I’m Jenna Fischer.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:05] I’m Angela Kinsey.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:06] We were on “The Office” together.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:07] And were best frienda.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:08] And now we’re doing the ultimate “Office” rewatchh podcast just for you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:12] Each week we will break down an episode of “The Office” and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:19] We’re the Office Ladies.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:24] Howdy, everybody. Angela Kinsey here.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:26] It’s Jenna. And today we’re talking about “The Convention”. It’s Season 3 Episode 2.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:32] Written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:37] And directed by Ken Whittingham.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:39] Jenna, this was a really fun episode for me. I got to travel. I got to go on the road.

JENNA FISCHER [00:00:45] I know. Remember last week we were talking all about how we got that big Season 3 bump so we could leave the office and do things. Hello. We created an entire paper convention in episode 2.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:00:58] We are going for it this season.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:00] All right. Well, let’s get into this episode. I have a summary for you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:04] I’m so excited.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:06] Here we go.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:07] Do it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:07] Thanks. Thanks. Thanks, babe.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:10] Babe, read me your summary. Babe.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:12] Sweetie. Here we go.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:14] Dollface, read the summary, dollface.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:17] Hey, toots, I got a summary for you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:22] Sweet cheeks, read your summary, sweet cheeks.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:25] You know what? I might have just watched the Broadway HD “42nd Street”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:01:31] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:01:31] By the way, we watched that. Lee and I, we really miss live theater. We really miss it. It’s one of our loves. And they have this great catalog of Broadway shows on Broadway HD. And so we watched “42nd Street”. It’s so good. The, the woman who plays the lead, her, her name is Clara and oh my God, she is mind blowing. The tap dancing this woman does is just insane. So anyway. But that show has a lot of like toots, darling, babe, honey, because, you know it’s all set back in the time. I don’t what time that was. What was that? The Roaring Twenties. When is the time?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:07] Roaring Twenties. Probably.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:08] Yeah. All right. Anyway, summary.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:14] Summary. Listen, you watch your Broadway shows on the telly. I’m gonna watch my hummingbirds.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:19] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:19] We’re gonna-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:19] This is what we’re doing. This is what we’re doing.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:21] Maybe I’ll put on the Weather Channel. I don’t know. Anything could happen. OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:27] OK. Michael and Dwight traveled to Philadelphia to meet Jan, Jim and Josh for the North Eastern Mid-Market Office Supply Convention. Meanwhile, back at Dunder Mifflin, Kelly sets up Pam on a date with her neighbor, Alan. He’s a cartoonist. They’re gonna have so much in common. Right?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:50] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:50] But Angela sneaks off to surprise Dwight.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:02:54] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:02:55] All right. Fast Fact Number One: we’ve got a big guest star, Robert Bagnell, who played Alan, the cartoonist. Now, you might recognize him because he also played Tom Peterman on HBO’s “The Comeback”, starring Lisa Kudrow. Did you watch that show?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:09] I did. I thought she was so funny. Well, the whole cast was phenomenal.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:14] I was obsessed with that show. Like obsessed.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:18] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:18] It is such an amazing satire of the entertainment industry and of an actress.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:24] Yes, yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:25] Like there’s a scene where she opens up a refrigerator and there’s nothing in there except for like seltzer water and these prepackaged diet meals. And it made me laugh so hard. She’s so self obsessed and narcissistic and she plays it perfectly. Check it out, guys. It’s amazing. And Robert Bagnell is on there. So I was so excited to get to work with him, but I knew him.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:03:47] How?

JENNA FISCHER [00:03:47] We used to do this thing called Instant Films Together, where they take these writers, directors, actors and crew and you get 48 hours to make a short film. You’re randomly matched. You start at like 7:00 a.m. on Saturday with a little script that’s been written for you. It’s usually like four pages long. And on Sunday night, everyone gets together and there’s a little film festival and it’s so fun.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:12] Yeah. I had friends that did this and I, I don’t know why didn’t participate, but I have friends that did this and loved it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:04:19] Well, it’s funny, Ang, because you’re always kind of talking about how you did the Groundlings or you did these sketch shows and Improv Olympic.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:25] Improv festivals. Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:04:27] Yeah. I didn’t do any of that stuff, but I did do these-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:31] Like short films.

JENNA FISCHER [00:04:32] Short film festivals. And then they do one four plays as well. They do like a 24 hour play, where you have to stage a mini play in 24 hours. So I would do like that kind of stuff. But I knew him from that. That’s how I knew Robert. He was in the Instant Film world with me.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:47] Oh, well, that’s so cool.

JENNA FISCHER [00:04:49] So I reached out to him and we had the best conversation about his time on the show. And then he sent me like two pages of memories.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:04:59] Stop it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:00] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:00] That’s so fantastic.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:02] So kind. So generous. So he told me that the way he got the role on the show was through Mike Schur.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:07] How?

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:09] That Mike Schur had been a writer on season one of “The Comeback”. And he had actually left “The Comeback” to go work on “The Office”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:18] I never knew that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:20] Me either.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:21] Oh, my God. I would totally have talked to him about that. That is so cool.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:25] I know. How did I not know to pepper Mike Schur about “Combacke” questions.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:30] Yes. Lisa Kudrow tidbits please.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:32] But here is the craziest thing about him. Do you want to hear this crazy personal connection?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:37] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:38] All right.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:39] Were you and him dating in college? No, I’m kidding. Go.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:41] No, no. But around the same time that he was guest starring on “The Office”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:49] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:50] He also had a role in a movie written by my now husband, Lee Kirk. But we didn’t know.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:05:56] Stop it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:05:58] Yes. He was in this movie called “Pants on Fire” that was directed by Colin Campbell, written by my husband, Lee. And so it was like he was doing this scene with me on “The Office”. And then he was shooting this role in Lee’s movie. And Lee and I weren’t in love.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:06:16] We’re not even a thing or knew each other or on each other’s radars. That is crazy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:06:20] No. I know. Such a small world.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:06:22] That is so crazy that-. Yeah, that those are the little mind melt moments for me where your lives are criss crossing and you don’t even know it. So you and Lee had this existence criss crossing and that’s so wild. I love that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:06:38] Well, the crazy thing is, is that movie “Pants on Fire”, that script was sent to me as a writing sample of Lee’s. I was going to produce a movie and I needed a writer and I got “Pants on Fire” as the writing sample. And I fell in love with it. And I took a meeting with Lee and then he ended up writing a film for me called the “Giant Mechanical Man”. And that is how Lee and I fell in love.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:06] That’s so crazy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:06] Is that we working together on “Giant Mechanical Man”, which Lee then directed.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:11] Wow. And Robert was in that movie.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:13] Robert, was in “Pants on Fire”. Isn’t that crazy?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:16] Wow, that is so crazy. I love that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:18] All right. So anyway, I have a ton of fun information from Robert, and I will sprinkle that in as we get to those scenes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:26] OK, so what’s up? What’s up? What’s next lady? With your Fast Facts.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:31] Next, Fast Fact Number Two: Sam, could I get a fan question?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:36] What?

STING [00:07:39] Fan Question.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:39] It’s a fan question, Angela. Fast Fact Two is a fan question.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:42] I have got to get my kids recording some stuff and then I’ve got to send it over to Sam and I’m gonna sprinkle one in next week.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:51] That was my daughter. That was my daughter.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:54] So cute. So cute.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:54] Well, you know, because my son got to do the deep dive last week, so-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:07:57] Oh, that’s good. That’s good.

JENNA FISCHER [00:07:59] She gave me a fan question sting because Fast Fact Number Two is all fan questions, starting with Ryan Apgar. “Where was “The Convention” filmed”? Jennifer Berman, “Was it an actual hotel? Did they have to completely rent out entire floors or the entire hotel”? And Sarah Holtze wants to know, “Were the vendors at “The Convention” real or fake”? So many questions about this convention, Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:24] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:26] So, you know, I went to Kent-apedia.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:29] Kent-apedia. I know one or two of these, but Kent will have the full lowdown, so let’s hear it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:36] All right. So Kent told me that we filmed this at the Burbank Hilton Hotel, which is now a different hotel. It’s not called the Burbank Hilton anymore.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:46] Right. But it’s near, if memory serves is kind of over by the Burbank Airport.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:50] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:08:51] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:08:53] He said they did not book the entire hotel, but they did book the largest convention room that the hotel had, and they had to book that room for the entire week because it took two full days just to set it up to look like a convention. So he said they started on Monday, filling it with all the booths and all the stuff.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:14] When I got there, it looked like a full on convention. It really did.

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:18] So Kent told me that he really leaned on his production staff. And when he wrote me, he said, will you please give these guys a shout out because they were instrumental in making this happen. Angela, I’m gonna hit you with some names.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:31] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:33] Do you remember Angie Hamilton and James Kerry?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:36] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:37] Who worked with Kent?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:09:39] Yes, of course. Of course, I remember them.

JENNA FISCHER [00:09:42] Angie was our co-producer. James Kerry was the office manager. He said they were tipped off a few weeks before this episode was set to film that they were going to have to pull off a convention. So the two of them reached out to literally hundreds of corporations and businesses and asked if they wanted to be in the episode. And here was the deal. The deal was they had to bring their own convention materials. They had to set up their own booths, provide their own staff and wardrobe to sort of populate them during the episode. And they were told that they could not promise that they would get screen time. But they could try. You know, they’re like, we’ll try to get everyone on camera. He said they got tons of people who wanted to participate. The show was now so popular, people were like delighted to participate. So all those people, he said in the end there were 176 total, quote unquote, extras, background performers, and 140 of them were actual employees of actual companies.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:10:48] That’s why it looks so real, because I thought that. I thought when I looked through it, I was like, these look like real companies and their shirts matched and things like that, like details that I feel like would have been so hard for us to pull off. But it’s because they were actual companies.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:02] I feel like this is the only way you could have done that. There’s no way that Carey Bennett, our wardrobe designer, could have painstakingly designed matching wardrobes for 50 booths.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:11] For multiple companies. Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:14] Yeah. In two weeks time. I mean, this is the kind of stuff that movies have months of preparation for.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:19] Right.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:20] You know. And in TV, you have to pull it off in just a matter of weeks. So that’s how they did it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:11:24] That’s amazing. You know, James was so sweet. I have such fond memories of him because I don’t know. I feel like there was always something that wasn’t quite working at my house. Like I was like, oh, James, I was supposed to print this out. My printer was out of ink and we were on set all day. So it’s not like we could just run and buy printer ink or run and, you know, whatever it was we needed to do. And I would go in there so many times and he’d be like, all right, Angela, what what do you need? And I’m like, can you print this for me? I told my mom I’d mail it to her and my printer won’t-. He was just always there to help. And just they were amazing.

JENNA FISCHER [00:11:59] Angela, I found a bunch of old photos of our crew and I cried looking through them. I just, you know, it’s, there’s the thing that everybody sees when they’re watching the show, which are the actors. But what we saw on the set were all these other faces looking back at us and to see these pictures of our sound folks and our gaffers and our, our lighters and and our P.A. and to see all their faces again, it was just oh, my gosh, Angela. It was amazing.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:35] All right. All right. Where are we at, lady?

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:37] Fast Fact Number Three: this episode almost featured a cameo by Mackenzie Crook. Who played the original, kind of Dwight.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:48] Dwight version.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:49] In the British “Office”. Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:12:49] On the BBC version. Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:12:51] Yeah. So this was a little nugget that I found on I believe it was Dunderpedia. But I remember this. So I believe if memory serves, Mackenzie was in town doing a big press tour for a movie. I think it might have been one of the-. Oh my God. Angela, what’s the name of that movie that Johnny Depp is in where he plays the pirate. Oh, “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:18] What’s that Johnny Depp movie where he plays a pirate? I don’t know. He kind of slurs speech.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:22] It’s set in the Caribbean.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:23] Yeah. And he’s like-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:24] Remember that one?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:13:25] He’s like, you’re savvy, you’re savvy. My stepson, Jack, was so obsessed with those movies that one year for Halloween he wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow. We got him the full costume. And then on Christmas Day, we were like, guys, you want to dress up for Christmas? We bought them all like Christmas onesies. And Jack said, Can I just dress as Captain Jack Sparrow? So we have this hilarious photo in front of the Christmas tree and Isabelle and Kate are in Christmas onesies, they look like an elf. You know? Then Jack is full Jack Sparrow.

JENNA FISCHER [00:13:59] Well, you know, Mackenzie Crook was in those movies.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:02] I know, yes. Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:14:02] Yeah. So I believe he was in town doing this press junket tour. He wanted to have him just appear at “The Convention” in one of the booths and have a little chat with our Dwight. So the two kind of Dwights would meet.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:17] That would have been so great.

JENNA FISCHER [00:14:17] I know. Wouldn’t have been amazing? But then the scheduling did not work out. He couldn’t come. You know what that’s like when you’re doing a press junket, especially, I mean, well, I don’t know what it’s like to do a press junket for a movie that size or a series that size. But he couldn’t come. He wanted to. He couldn’t come. He’s the nicest guy. I’ve met him. He’s awesome. But I know almost.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:39] Almost.

JENNA FISCHER [00:14:39] A meeting of the Dwights almost happened, but did not.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:14:42] Jenna, I am so bummed he didn’t come because I’m such a fan and I love that Greg was always trying to incorporate the BBC cast and we got to meet them several times. But that would have been really cool. Jenna, thank you so much for three fantastic Fast Facts. Maybe we should take a break and then we’ll come back and get into this episode.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:02] I like it, lady. I like it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:10] All right. And we are back. Pam is at her desk and Michael enters and says, Hey, did you see Oprah? Because I want to be a father. And you’re like, wait, wait. What was on, what was on Oprah?

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:23] Michael’s big takeaway from watching Oprah is that he learns that Angelina Jolie has adopted a baby. So now he wants to adopt a baby.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:32] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:32] And he wants Pam to get on it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:34] Pam, get on it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:35] And Pam’s like, I think you should wait because Roy’s sister looked into it and like the application alone costs a thousand dollars. And Michael’s like, can’t you find me a cheaper baby? And then she’s like, well, also, it takes a long time, like.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:51] Eight months.

JENNA FISCHER [00:15:52] The waiting period. It’s like eight months. And he’s like, oh, my God, I don’t even know if I’m gonna want a baby in eight months.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:15:58] Steve’s play on that was really funny. And your reaction was so good. Your reaction to when you say, what was on Oprah? Like your, it’s so good.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:09] Like I’m scared. ‘Cause I’m like, where’s this going? Where is this going? Well, in the end, Pam agrees that she will have Michael’s baby if neither one of them have a baby in 30 years because she sees like I can’t, I’m not going to get out of this.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:26] Yeah. Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:27] But I know that’s gonna come back to haunt her.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:30] So in 30 years, when you’re 50, you’ll have this baby.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:33] I’ll have his baby.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:35] Oh my gosh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:35] Exactly. When I’m like 56.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:37] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:38] Basically.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:38] Well there you go.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:40] But you know, Michael’s gonna go around and tell people that he and Pam have agreed to have a baby.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:45] You guys are-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:45] He’s going to leave out that in 30 years part.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:47] Yeah. No.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:48] This is this conversation is going to haunt her now. Yeah, for sure.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:50] For sure. He’s going to tell people you guys are each other’s backup plan.

JENNA FISCHER [00:16:54] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:16:55] So now we’re in the actual episode. And Michael, you know, is packing first trip. He has Ryan helping him. Here’s his his packing list. Right? For this convention. Three pairs of pants, three pairs of socks, three packs of condoms.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:08] Three packs.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:09] Fun jeans. Three packs. Jenna. I shouldn’t have, but I did a deep dive on how many condoms come in a pack.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:15] How many? Like a dozen.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:18] I mean, I feel like there’s sort of a range, but normally it’s like 36, I thinkg.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:23] What? 36 in a pack.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:25] That’s what I saw on a website, that maybe that’s not true. I don’t know. I don’t know. Do we go to Sam on this? Sam, do you want to contribute to how many packs are in?

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:36] How many condoms are in a pack?

SAM [00:17:38] While I do appreciate you guys always throwing to me for drugs or sexual deviant things, I don’t actually know this one.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:45] Good answer, Sam. Good answer. OK. Also, switching gears, Michael points out that he also wants to take his fun jeans. Just so you guys know, fun jeans apparently are white.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:58] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:17:58] Michael’s jeans are white.

JENNA FISCHER [00:17:59] I’d like to point out he is still dry cleaning his jeans.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:03] Yes. There in a bag.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:04] We set that up in an earlier episode. And I love that that got called back.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:08] So Angela comes in and she needs Michael to sign for his per diem. I have two things I want to point out. Number one, Jenna, did you see how sassy my ponytail is?

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:17] Yes, I pointed it out later. I noticed it when you are in the break room. I actually wrote it down.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:24] Do you want to know why it looks like that?

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:26] Why?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:27] Well, this was around the beginning of the whole Emmy season, award show season, and we were going to parties and things and I had had a fancy hair blowout. And when I came to work on Monday, I still had great day to hair. So Kim Ferry, who did hair, put it up in this ponytail and it had all this wave and texture to it. And she was like, let’s just go with it. Angela has a sassy ponytail. And so then she had to match that each day after. But that’s why I have a festive pony.

JENNA FISCHER [00:18:56] I totally 100 percent noticed it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:18:59] So now Michael has a very funny talking head. But Jenna, I have a question for you. These are these scenes that we never see that were never written that I wish had happened because at 2 minutes, 36 seconds, Michael refers to Josh as the poor man’s Michael Scott, or at least that’s how he’s known around my condo. Jenna is he talking about Josh Porter to his neighbors in his condo unit? Like is he like, well, you know, poor man Michael Scott.Like, how much is he just jabbering away at his neighbors about Josh Porter?

JENNA FISCHER [00:19:31] It’s funny. I did not even hear it like that. I heard it as maybe something Michael has muttered out loud to himself within the walls of his own condo.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:19:42] Oh, that’s even sadder.

JENNA FISCHER [00:19:43] Yeah. That’s how he’s known around Michael’s condo.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:19:46] I in my mind, I saw him like, you know, at the little wall where all the mailboxes are and he’s opening his mailbox and someone walks up and he’s like, poor man’s Michael Scott. I guess friends with Jim now. And the person’s like, yeah, yeah. Okay, bye, Michael. All right. Sorry. That just tickled me.

JENNA FISCHER [00:20:03] OK, so now we’re going to move into the break room. Angelina and Dwight, they’re standing on opposite ends of the room. They’re not looking at each other. Angela is upset that Dwight is going on this trip because she just really wants to spend time with him. But Dwight is so excited to go on this trip, it’s a big deal for him to be included. Assistant regional manager. This is like a big part of his job. Angela, it’s so tickles me how you guys are standing. How you guys aren’t looking at each other. You, your characters would do this all the time, as if people would not be confused by this if they walked in the room.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:20:39] No, this is sort of a classic Dwight Angela moment within the office that I love so much. Here’s a little interesting tidbit about this. And this is on the Internet, so you can read about it. But there was a different scene at the table read, I believe is at the table read, it didn’t make it into the shooting draft where I was upset with Dwight that he was going. So that was the same. And Dwight and I have this exchange in the kitchen where I’m upset with him. And then at the very end I say “I’m late” and it’s like this cliffhanger. I’m late.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:11] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:11] It’s like, what, is she pregnant?

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:13] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:14] OK. That did not end up getting shot. That did not happen because I think Jenna as soon as we read it out loud, everyone was like, ooooh. And I think Greg was like, wait, this is, OK. Maybe this is too soon. This is too soon. Right?

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:28] That would have been crazy. That would’ve been crazy if in this episode, Dwight and Angela are already having a baby.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:36] I know. And, you know, it would have been a weird sort of callback to that time when he asked her sort of in code if she was had any prescriptions, right?

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:43] Oh, yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:44] So anyway, needless to say, they decided to change their minds. Angela was not late. She was just upset because she wanted to spend some time with him, which I actually think is really sweet.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:53] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:53] You sort of get to see the softer side to her.

JENNA FISCHER [00:21:57] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:21:57] And then I have to bring this up here because. So it’ll makes sense. You guys, there are other scenes that we shot that explains how Angela ultimately ends up in the hotel. But there in the deleted scenes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:10] Yes, there is a whole sort of extra plotline here where Dwight secretly gives you a ticket on the train to meet him.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:21] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:21] I know.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:22] He gives her that before he leaves. But in the break room, I have to just share with you guys this, this setup of us back to back and me at the WaterCooler and him at the vending machines. We tried a few different positions and this is the one we settled on, but we got so tickled. We laughed so hard in the scene, just at how absurd it was. And then also, Ken Whittingham, really let us play with how long our pause was until I said, are you still there?

JENNA FISCHER [00:22:49] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:22:49] And so there were times where we left a ton of space and we the longer we didn’t say anything to each other but stood back to back, the more tickled we got. And then at the very end, Jenna, I’m curious because I know you have the script, but at the very end I say, don’t monkey me. You can’t wait to get out of here. A.R.M. And I, I just like walk out all mad. Now I remember I improvised that.

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:16] Oh yeah. That’s not in the script.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:18] Well when I rewatched it I really felt like I heard my accent when I said “A.R.M.”.

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:24] I think when you improvise, your accent comes out more.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:27] A little bit more. Yeah. So there you have it. That’s our little secret break room scene. And Angela was almost gonna have Dwight’s baby here.

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:35] Yeah. In an alternate universe.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:38] Mmhmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:39] OK. So now we go to your talking head, Angela. OK, and this has one of my favorite lines, Angela. You say, “In the Martin family, we like to say, looks like someone took the slow train from Philly”. And you explain that that’s code for check out the slut.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:23:54] Yeah, I am. And then I say, why are there flies in here?

JENNA FISCHER [00:23:55] Yes, we have a fan question from Cody Gold about your talking head. IN Angela’s talking head, she swats at a fly. Was that scripted or did another bug harass Angela like in the episode, The Fire? First of all, Cody, we love that you called back the bug from The Fire episode. Angela, what is the deal?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:17] I don’t know. I don’t know what the deal is with me and flying bugs.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:20] Seriously. But I was, because I was wondering about this too. I have the shooting draft. I didn’t see anything about a fly.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:28] All right, so Jenna, do you remember when we were filming this episode, it was insanely hot. There was this crazy heat wave. It was in August. And as a result, there were all of these like flies. I don’t know if you remember this.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:41] Oh yeah. It was like a fly infestation. I think they were coming in to get out of the heat.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:46] I think they were too. I think we’d open the doors-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:24:48] The flies were like, It’s super hot out.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:24:50] Yeah, the flies were like, Oh, air conditioning, I’m getting in there. So this talking, had we filmed it right after lunch that day, and, you know, whenever we would have lunch Jenna, they would leave the doors open longer.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:01] Yeah. To kind of air it out.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:03] And there were like five or six of these dudes buzzing around my head the whole time I was doing this talking head. So one time I just swatted at one while staying in character. And Gene, our writer, was in the room with me and it cracked him up. He loved it. And he was like, Ange, will you, will you swat at flies again? And I was like, OK. So I did it again. But this time I ad libbed the line, Why are there flies in here? And then we did another take and I swatted more, and I ad lib that, You know what? This is all Kevin’s fault. He had smelly take out, and I did this whole really mean riff on Kevin’s food that attracted the flies. That did not make it in. But my other improv line did.

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:43] Oh my God, that is amazing. But here’s the thing, Angela, I’ll have you know, none of your talking head that is in the script is the same as the episode. I looked it up.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:25:53] What? So the slow train from Philly isn’t in the script?

JENNA FISCHER [00:25:55] Slow train from Philly is not in the script, either. Fly is not in the script. Slow train from Philly, not in the script. Here is what you’re talking head was supposed to be.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:03] Oh my gosh. Yeah, here, I want to hear it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:26:05] Here it is. Yes, Michael and Dwight Schrute are going to a convention in Philadelphia. Personally, I find even the idea of a convention repulsive. All those people from different places gathered together, breathing hot breath all over each other. It’s disgusting. Did you like my attempt to read it as Angela Martin?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:25] I loved it. I loved it. I remember when we were doing this, talking head, Gene and Lee handed me a page of alts, Jenna. I had a huge alt list. We call it the candy bag, you remember?

JENNA FISCHER [00:26:35] Oh yeah, yeah, no. When we would do our talking heads, we would have the one that was in the script. But then as soon as we sat down in the chair, they would hand us pages of alternate talking heads and sometimes the alternates made it in the show, and sometimes it was the scripted version.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:26:51] Exactly. And this is the perfect example of that. Lee and Gene are writers from this episode gave me a page of alts, clearly slow train from Philly won. Everyone loved that. I improvised the line about the flies because flies were literally buzzing my head the whole time. And that’s how we got this talking head.

JENNA FISCHER [00:27:09] Cody, we loved your question. So now Kelly comes up to Pam’s desk, guys, she’s full Mindy. She’s very excited because she has set up Pam with her neighbor, Alan.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:22] Yes, I was going to play in my sting, which sounds like this, Full Mindy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:27:27] Yeah, you’ve got to get your stings in, Angela. I’ve got a few.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:30] I know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:27:30] I got a few for this episode. You got to get yours in.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:32] When I say, play my sting, it’s just me doing it. There’s no button. I’m not hitting a button.

JENNA FISCHER [00:27:39] Well, Pam has this talking head where she explains that Alan is a cartoonist for the local paper. He likes to draw. She’s kind of nervous because she has not been on a first date in nine years. Nine years.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:27:51] And then she says, probably shouldn’t broadcast that, and I don’t know why, Jenna, it just tickled me that Pam would say broadcast like-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:00] Really?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:01] I don’t know why it just seemed like. So it’s like an old lady term. Don’t broadcast it. I don’t know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:08] Well, of course, Michael is leaving now for Philadelphia, and he overhears that Pam is going on this date. And Kelly tells Pam not to sleep with Alan on the first date. But Michael tells Pam that she should unbutton her blouse a little bit.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:26] Let those guys breathe. Doesn’t he say something like that?

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:29] Let them breathe.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:29] He’s always wanting them to breathe or set them free. He’s very concerned about your tatas being confined. So people wrote in and wanted to know if the “Um” sort of like song and dance of Michael and Dwight as they’re leaving the office. If that was scripted or if those guys just made that up. They totally made that up.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:47] They totally made that up. There is a stage direction after they give her grief for saying, Um, then it just says they both laugh and walk out the door.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:28:57] Yes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:28:57] So that whole, that whole out the door business, that was them having fun, for sure.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:29:03] Well, one of the things I really remember about this episode, once I got to the hotel where we were filming is those guys were like, they were like kids in the Candy Jar. They were having so much fun, just all riffing off each other, and I think they really did when they would get together, especially John, Rainn and Steve, they would just get giddy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:29:22] There is so much improvization that happens at the convention. We will get there. But yeah. You’re right, you’re right. All right, so now, Angela, we have this scene in the kitchen, Creed comes up to you and he asks you how he can get a little of that per diem money.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:29:38] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:29:40] Right. So then Meredith makes a comment that the whole town of Philadelphia just smells like cheese sticks. And for whatever reason, Angela, you are very offended by this.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:29:50] Yes, I say that town is full of history and I get up and I storm out and I leave my food, Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:29:58] Sam, can I get my sting?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:00] Oh good God.

STING [00:30:01] Where’s the beef?

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:02] Where’s the beef? Where’s the beef? I’ll tell you where the beef is, Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:08] You have beef with me?

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:09] I have a beef, and I’m not the only one.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:12] Oh my lord.

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:14] Megan Keller wrote in to say, Not a question, but in the Hot Girl podcast, Angela laughed when Pam got up and left her lunch. When Roy’s says if he wasn’t dating Pam, he would ask Katie out. But at four minutes, 55 seconds, Angela walks away from her cereal. She just stormed away from her food. Sarah Donaldson says, Jenna, can you please give Angela some what’s for after the hard times she gave Pam for storming off and leaving her plate of food when Angela does the same thing at four minutes, 55 seconds.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:51] All right.

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:51] Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:52] All right.

JENNA FISCHER [00:30:52] I have a beef.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:30:54] Fine, fine, OK, fine. I get it. I get it, apparently on this show. If you get ticked off enough, it’s someone you just get up and you leave your food. Fine. OK, fine. I’m sorry, everybody. I am sorry. My character does it too. I apologize. I apologize.

JENNA FISCHER [00:31:13] But let me just say in the moment when you were taping that scene, did you stop and say, Guys, I’m so sorry, this isn’t realistic. I would never just storm away and leave my cereal here, but you actually had to leave your cereal there because Creed’s going to start eating it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:31:28] Creed is going to start eating it, which is hilarious, and then he has one of his all time favorite lines. He has told me this is one of his favorite lines from the whole series. That’s Andrea. The office bitch, you’ll get used to her.

JENNA FISCHER [00:31:40] And then introduces himself to Meredith.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:31:42] Exactly, exactly. And then I have to point out my character. She’s sort of being a hypocrite because earlier she’s like, Well, you know, code for slut is like someone who looks like they took the slow train to Philly. So Philly is like, not a good place. But then here she’s like, It’s full of history. Marrr. All right now, it’s five minutes, 10 seconds, and Dwight and Michael are on the train. They are headed to Philadelphia.

JENNA FISCHER [00:32:08] That’s right. Michael has his headphones on. He has Dwight’s neck pillow, which he pretends he can’t hear Dwight asking for. I have some fun facts about this. On Dunderpedia, it says that there is no passenger rail service between Scranton and Philadelphia, and maybe that was true back in the day when we shot this. But today I looked it up. Amtrak does offer two trains per day, takes about three hours to get to Philadelphia from Scranton by train, and tickets start at 41 dollars.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:32:39] Well, I would think that there would be a train that makes sense. You know?

JENNA FISCHER [00:32:44] It does. So, yeah, so now there is a train. I went to Kentapedia because I was fascinated by the fact that we shot on an actual Amtrak train because we did. That was not like some fancy weird green screen thing happening. That was a train. So here’s what Kent told me, Ange.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:33:01] What? I want to hear it.

JENNA FISCHER [00:33:03] They let us shoot on the train for free.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:33:07] For free.

JENNA FISCHER [00:33:08] Yes. But we had to agree that we would not disrupt their schedule in any way. So on day two of filming, while the set dressers and the production designers were setting up the hotel room at the convention, Steven, Rainn and a very small crew with about five extras they loaded into vans and they drove to the Simi Valley train station. They boarded the caboose car at 10:30 a.m. They were given the caboose car all to themselves. They got settled. The train started moving. Kent said they got their first shot off at 11:03. Then, when the train arrived at the Burbank Airport station at 11:27, they got off the train and there were vans waiting to pick them up and take them back to our main set. And that’s how we got that train stuff. Isn’t that insane?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:33:56] I love that. What like specific details that Kent like we gave you. It’s amazing. Kentapedia, you are amazing.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:04] One of the reasons why Kent and I are friends is because I so fully appreciate the detail that he has kept in a way that I’m not sure many other people would.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:13] I know you do.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:14] I’m like.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:15] You do.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:16] Kent and I are of a similar mind with our spreadsheets and order. We love it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:20] Well, you guys, there are some other deleted scenes from the train that are really funny. So you, go to the DVD set, if you have them, they’re funny.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:28] All right. Well, then they’re going to arrive in Philly. They’re going to greet Josh and Jim. They’re reunited.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:35] They’re reunited.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:35] Dwight and Michael and Josh and Jim.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:38] I have a little bit of a background catch.

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:41] Oh, give it.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:42] All right. At five minutes, 34 seconds. Dwight is wearing his nametag, you know, they have these lanyards around their neck, right?

JENNA FISCHER [00:34:49] Yeah, yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:34:49] Dwight is wearing his. And then at five minutes, 59 seconds, he’s putting it on and it’s got all this writing on it. Like, he’s got all of his phone numbers in Sharpie. He’s got his cell phone, his home, his pager. He’s got his room number, 556, on there and he has written in a little assistant. He wrote in a little arrow, so it’s like assistant to the regional manager. He, like, changed his like title.

JENNA FISCHER [00:35:18] Oh my gosh, that is amazing. So they’re all reunited now at the convention, and this was calculated. They knew that they needed to keep Jim and Pam apart by sending Jim to Stamford, but they did not want to keep Jim from interacting with Dwight and Michael. So that was kind of the reason for this whole episode was to get Jim back in the world with these other characters, but still separate him from Pam, who is back at the office dealing with her own stuff.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:35:45] All right. I have two things, Jenna, that I think will be kind of fun, that we clocked, we like to track things, guys. At six minutes, 15 seconds. Oh, there’s a good, good example of Jim saying, D-wight.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:01] Ooh, there’s a D-wight.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:03] Yes, Jim has a talking head and John says D-wight. It’s like, it’s huge. So there you go. I love to track it when he says D-wight. And then back in the office, at six minutes, 31 seconds. Well, some big information is revealed to Toby about Pam.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:23] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:24] Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:25] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:26] You are now, Pam is like the the hot new meet in the office.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:31] Yeah, she’s back on the market. Kevin, Kevin says that if he wasn’t engaged, he would quote so hit that. Kevin. Gross.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:40] Guess what I wrote down?

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:42] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:42] Trackin’ the perv. Trackin’ the Kevin perv.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:45] You’re tracking the Kevin perv.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:47] This is Kevin perv. Six minutes.

JENNA FISCHER [00:36:49] It’s so true.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:36:50] 31 seconds, Kevin perv. But the look that Paul Lieberstein does as Toby. That look is gold. Oh my gosh, Toby has it so bad for Pam.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:03] I know, I know. And then Pam is in the kitchen and she’s reading some of Alan’s cartoons. Her, her blind date. Alan.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:37:13] I’m sorry. Is Pam prepping for her date? Jenna. Is this a little bit of Jenna and Pam like, Oh, I have a date with this person. I’m going to deep dive.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:22] Is Pam doing a deep dive. I don’t know if reading his cartoons.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:37:26] I know, I know, but it cracks me up.

JENNA FISCHER [00:37:27] She’s taking an interest. She hasn’t been on a date in nine years. She’s trying to. She’s doing her due diligence and Kelly enters and she gushes about how smart his cartoons are that she doesn’t even understand them sometimes. And then Toby walks in the kitchen and he kind of tries to get Pam’s attention. But no, she’s not clocking Toby.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:37:53] It just, when I watched him try to, he tries to wave. She doesn’t notice, and then he goes in the bathroom. The track that I could hear was bedebedeboodoodoo.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:04] Totally.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:05] It’s like-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:06] Totally

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:07] Like the sad scene from like Peanuts.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:10] All right. Well, then we go back to the convention and Michael and Dwight are setting up their hotel room. They’ve got a mini dartboard. They’ve got some booze. And Michael has strategically asked for and chosen a room close to the elevator because he thinks that he’ll get more foot traffic that way.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:28] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:28] He thought about it in. He, he knows.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:31] Hopefully, it wasn’t by the service elevator.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:34] Yeah, this is true.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:36] Who wants the room by the elevator, Michael? But he’s ready for, you know, he’s ready to party, Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:42] Because there ain’t no party like a Scranton party because Scranton Party don’t stop, Ange.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:46] What what?

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:48] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:38:48] Ain’t no party like a  Scranton party because Scranton Party don’t stop! What what?

JENNA FISCHER [00:38:50] What what? You know it. Jim and Josh come by and they think that they should get to their meeting with Jan.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:01] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:02] Right?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:02] I mean they are here to work.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:04] They’re here to work. But Michael is like, Come on, you’ve got time for shots. And then Jim and Josh have an inside joke.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:11] A shot of Midori, Jim and Josh have this inside joke and they start cracking up. And then Michael and Dwight so desperately want to be a part of this. They start laughing really hard. Like, too hard.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:22] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:22] They have no idea what they’re laughing at, and it’s so embarrassing when Jim’s like, no actually, it’s inside joke.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:29] Yeah. You would not actually laugh at that.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:32] You don’t know what we’re talking about.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:35] And then Michael has that sad, sad line that he loves inside jokes. And he’s always wanted to be a part of one.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:42] Yeah, I wish, I wish I was, I love inside jokes. I’d love to be a part of one someday.

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:49] Now I want to point something out here.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:39:51] What?

JENNA FISCHER [00:39:52] Michael and Dwight are wearing matching gray Dunder-Mifflin shirts. And then Jim and Josh are wearing kind of matching light colored shirts.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:40:03] They’re wearing white button downs.

JENNA FISCHER [00:40:05] Well, one of them has like a slight pink hue to it, and I feel like John’s has a slight yellow hue to it. Maybe that’s just my computer monitor. Cuz I watch this on my computer.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:40:16] I didn’t see the pink.

JENNA FISCHER [00:40:18] They were not exactly matching to me, which actually I felt like made it even cooler because they’re like, You know what? Just any light colored button down will do. Just make it a light color. Cream, off-white, white, light pink, light yellow, anything. They’re, they are, strategically unbuttoned at the exact same place. Maybe that’s just where all men unbuttoned their shirts, but I found it a little odd. I don’t know. Check it out. But I want to say something about those gray Dunder Mifflin shirts that Dwight and Michael are wearing.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:40:50] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:40:51] After this episode, I went to Carrie Bennett and I asked if she had any extras and she gave me one and I sent it to my dad.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:01] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:02] Now this was before you could buy them. This was before Dunder Mifflin merchandise was out there and he used to wear it around. He was an engineer, a plastics engineer, and he went on the road a lot. And he would have to visit factories to help them with troubleshooting issues with their production line. OK? So he traveled a lot and he would wear it when he traveled to these factories and people would say, Oh, Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, what? What is that? And he would just, he would smile and he would just say, Oh, that’s, that’s the company my, where my daughter works.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:41:41] Oh, look at your dad being coy but so proud. That’s so cute.

JENNA FISCHER [00:41:47] But then some people would put it together, and then he would be so excited and he would be like, Oh, well, my daughter gave it to me. Oh, your daughter gave it to you? Where did she get it? Oh, she has an in. She, she’s the receptionist there, and they would be like, Wait, what? Yeah, he was so proud. My dad.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:42:07] That is so cute. My dad was the same way. He would, any photo from anything I was in. I mean, anything he would either screengrab it or find a way to print it or get a copy of it, but he would always make the photo so big. It’d be hanging on the wall and I would go home and there’d be a photo, like Jenna of you and I at some, you know, event, it’d be just like some little thing you and I were doing. There were photos with you. I don’t know that I’ve ever shared this with you, but there are photos of you in my parents home that my dad printed up. Jenna, you’re like 8 by, 8 by 12, 11 by 14. They’re humongous photos of us on the wall.

JENNA FISCHER [00:42:55] Oh my god, I love that. But you get it right? Could you imagine if one of your kids was on a TV show? I feel like I would do the same thing.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:06] Oh yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:06] I would collect everything. I would save everything. Parents are the best. Call your parents.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:12] OK, so nine minutes, 13 seconds. Michael and Dwight are at the convention. There are some really great shots now of all the vendors, and you really get a sense of how big this room was. Michael is going around to all the booths and guys, he is really into swag. He’s really into the freebies.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:31] He’s got like a foam finger. He’s, I don’t know, some shirts, a lanyard or two, some sunglasses. He’s got all kinds of stuff.

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:38] I want to say this talking head is not in the script.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:43:41] Also, Jenna, at nine minutes, 12 seconds, we get to see a really fun cameo. It’s Jerome Bettis. Yes, the bus!

JENNA FISCHER [00:43:49] The bus! This was huge. Guys, to give you some context on Jerome Bettis. In case you don’t know, Jerome Bettis is a former NFL halfback who played for the Rams when they were both in St. Louis and in Los Angeles. And he also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:09] Mm-Hmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:44:11] We shot this episode in August 2006. That February, the Pittsburgh Steelers won the Super Bowl. Jerome Bettis retired after that game, like literally at the game, they won the Super Bowl. He gave an interview and was like, And now I’m retiring. So here’s how this went down. I asked Kentapedia. Jerome Bettis had just been hired by NBC Sports as a commentator. And Angela, do you remember our NBC rep. Vernon Sanders?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:44:41] Of course, I love Vernon.

JENNA FISCHER [00:44:43] Love Vernon. Vernon called Greg and Kent and said, What do you think about a little crossover thing here where Jerome Bettis does a cameo at the convention? Greg loved the idea. And got together, they wrote a scene like on the fly. And then they shot it on day four of the shoot.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:05] It’s so perfect, too. It’s so perfect that Michael would invited to his party and then want him to commit to coming. Can I tell people you’re coming?

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:11] Yeah. Can I tell people you’re coming?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:13] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:13] It’s so good.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:15] All right. So Jenna, I have a question for you since you have the script as Dwight and Michael are walking away from Jerome. Dwight says, Why do they call him the bus? And I swear I heard Michael say, because he doesn’t like to fly.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:27] Yeah, that was scripted.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:29] That was scripted.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:30] That exchange was scripted. Yeah. His nickname was the bus.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:34] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:35] And the reason his nickname was the bus was because he had this ability to keep running down the field while carrying other players on his back.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:44] Through people, basically, like if you grabbed onto him, he could keep on going.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:48] He just kept going. Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:45:51] But Michael, Michael thinks it’s because he doesn’t like to fly.

JENNA FISCHER [00:45:55] Yes, exactly. Well, I just want to round this out by telling you guys a few things when I was deep diving on Jerome Bettis. He seems like a super great guy. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015, and he has the Jerome Bettis Bus Stop Here Foundation, which is dedicated to improving the overall quality of life for troubled and underprivileged inner city youth. And he has delivered over 1000 pairs of cleats to children in the Detroit school system. So he’s a good guy.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:26] Jerome, just so, you know, if you ever hear this, we try to figure out how to contact you, but we couldn’t figure it out. We wanted-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:32] I did.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:33] You know, to give you a little love and ask you a few questions, but, but we couldn’t figure it out. So if Jenna slid into your DMs, no red flags, she was just wanting to talk to you about this episode.

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:45] Oh, the number of DMs I’ve slid into for this show, Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:48] Oh, well.

JENNA FISCHER [00:46:50] It’s a lot.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:46:51] So now you’re going to just see some wide shots of the convention and Michael walking around and he goes up to a BlackBerry phone mascot, right?

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:00] Yeah. He does.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:01] Someone in a BlackBerry costume, and he’s just starts messing with them and he even invites them to the party?

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:07] Yeah. Well, we had a fan question from Rebecca Spector and Lauren Wood. They both want to know who was in the cell phone mascot costume.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:16] I want to know that too.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:18] Yeah. So there is some lore, there are some office lore.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:22] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:23] But it was Phil Shea.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:24] Well, that’s what I thought.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:25] Yeah, I reached out to Phil. He said he was not in the BlackBerry costume. He said he had a contact at RAM Technology, which are the people who make BlackBerry. And he got them to send over someone from their company with the BlackBerry costume. And that’s who it was.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:46] Oh, well, it was an official, an official Blackberry mascot.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:50] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:51] It wasn’t us pretending to be the mascot person.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:54] No, we got the official mascot.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:55] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:56] That’s right. Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:47:58] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:47:59] There you go. So should we go back to Dunder Mifflin and see Pam and Toby again? Should we visit Pam and Toby? Toby’s awkward attempt to ask Pam out?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:11] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:48:11] Oh, it’s so sad. He walks up to her desk and she gets a phone call. And he waits and waits-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:22] And he loses his nerve, he can’t do it. Now while he’s losing his nerve, did you notice that Paul drums his fingers on the reception desk? And remember when I told you guys that Paul would do this? He was a drummer.

JENNA FISCHER [00:48:37] Oh yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:48:38] So here he does it. He drums at reception while he’s waiting for Pam. It’s just something that Paul does naturally. So I don’t even know that he really realized he was doing it. I know he was showing that Toby was nervous and anxious, but that movement that you see his hands do. He used to do all the time.

JENNA FISCHER [00:48:55] Well, we had a couple of fans write in with a catch at 10 minutes, 35 seconds.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:01] What?

JENNA FISCHER [00:49:02] Bailey Aspenson said, Why are there the times the names of TV shows on a post-it note at reception?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:49:10] Oh!

JENNA FISCHER [00:49:11] Yeah. And Claudia Cano said there are two Post-it notes on Pam’s desk. One says seven to eight p.m. Big Brother CBS, eight to nine p.m. Animal Planet Jane Goodall Returns. A&E First 48 Hours. And then there’s the second Post-it Note, which reads Fax Jan, David and Connie. So she wrote, My two questions are, are those a list of TV shows that Pam watches? And my second question is, who is Connie? So I looked at these. These are both in my handwriting. I don’t know. I don’t know who Connie is. I clearly just threw that in there as a little bit of, I don’t know, spice. And guys, that was the list of the shows I was planning to watch that night. That’s just a note to myself. Apparently, I remember being very much into Big Brother, and I guess I really wanted to make sure I didn’t forget to watch this Animal Planet special on Jane Goodall. And then if I had time, I was going to watch some 48 Hours.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:16] But you guys just to know Jenna. She, of course, would write that down and write down the time and everything. It wouldn’t just be like, Oh, I think I want to check this out tonight. I will make a schedule of my evening. Here will be my viewing schedule for tonight.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:30] Well, I think this just tells you everything you need to know about me. I want a little trash TV.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:34] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:35] I love animals, and then I do like a good mystery.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:38] Yeah, it really does say everything you need to know about you.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:43] I think that’s a great night of TV personally.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:45] All right, lady. Well, why don’t we take a break here? And when we come back, let’s join Michael and Jim at the buffet.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:51] Oh, let’s join them at the buffet.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:53] You know, I love a buffet.

JENNA FISCHER [00:50:55] We need a sting for that.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:50:59] All right. We are back. Jenna, I have a question for you.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:03] OK.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:04] Who left the ham out?

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:06] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:07] And why would you want a sandwich when you went to bed? Huh? Elle MacPherson? Huh?

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:13] What are you talking about right now?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:15] I’m going to keep going. I’m going to wait to see when you get it. Oh, leaving the ham out for the bear was a joke. Oh, it’s his birthday. Surprise. What a bunch of assholes. Are you with me yet?

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:26] No. Elle MacPherson left a ham out.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:30] Elle MacPherson is in bed and says, You know, I’d really like a sandwich. And then.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:37] Oh my! Wait. No, you did not.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:38] I watched The Edge.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:40] You didn’t. Oh, I could cry. What did you think?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:44] I watched The Edge. These were my comments right out of the gate.

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:46] OK.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:47] Right away as they start watching the movie, I’m not getting on that plane. Who’s getting on that plane?

JENNA FISCHER [00:51:52] What do you mean? Getting-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:51:54] That did not look safe already. Already, I’m anxious, Jenna. They’re on this plane and now they’re going to the middle of nowhere and then they don’t leave a ham, don’t leave food out. Then he’s got to get up and make her sandwich. And she left a, someone left a ham out and there’s a bear. And then they’re like, surprise. And I’m like, they scared the crap out of me. And then I said, What a bunch of dicks. Those, that, those aren’t good friends. I know the quote you love is what one man can do-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:52:22] What one man has done, another can do.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:52:24] Do you know the one I love from this movie?

JENNA FISCHER [00:52:26] What is it?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:52:27] There goes a guy with a plane.

JENNA FISCHER [00:52:28] I have to say, I don’t remember that. Come on. You did not-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:52:32] Robert says that a lot. And then what did Elle MacPherson? What did her character have like etched on his watch? For all the nights.

JENNA FISCHER [00:52:41] OK, listen, you didn’t love the mental fortitude and gymnastics that it took for these two people who are kind of at odds to have to work together to survive the wilderness and a bear that was actively hunting them.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:00] Tracking them. I, OK. I like the part when when Anthony Hopkins, his character Charles, as you know, because Alec Baldwin, who plays Robert, will say Charles 300 times.

JENNA FISCHER [00:53:11] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:11] When Charles is like, Repeat after me, this bear is not going to kill us. The bear is not going to kill us.

JENNA FISCHER [00:53:20] Yes, it’s so good. It’s so good, Angela, this is written by David Mamet, one of the all time great American playwrights.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:28] I got that, Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:53:30] It’s a masterful work.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:32] I got it. I got it. I think it would be maybe better on the stage, is what I’m going to say.

JENNA FISCHER [00:53:37] How do you do this on this stage?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:40] I don’t know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:53:40] You have a person in a bear costume?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:42] I don’t know, it’s just the way his cadence is. Charles. Charles. Charles. Anyway, I about pooped myself when, several times in this movie, it was so stressful.

JENNA FISCHER [00:53:56] But you loved it. You loved the movie, though, right?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:53:58] I didn’t love it. I didn’t love it. But I watch-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:54:01] What?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:54:01] I watched it for you. I don’t ever need to watch it again. Also-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:54:05] You’re not going to watch it annually?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:54:07] They did so many stupid things like like they would finally, you know, get a gun, they could shoot the bear with, and then one of them would like throw it in the pit or get the bullets out of it. Or they would. They were just like-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:54:16] None of those, none of these things that you’re saying happened.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:54:19] Yes, at the end, at the end. I don’t want to ruin it if anyone hasn’t seen it. And I know we’re going off on a long tangent now.

JENNA FISCHER [00:54:25] The bear is already dead at that point, Angela.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:54:27] Yeah, but now there’s a man pointing a gun at you. And then when he falls in the pit, you like, or like, I don’t need the gun. And he’s just going to keep trying to kill you, buddy. OK. So. Anyway. OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:54:43] I don’t, I don’t know what to say.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:54:44] Anyway. Anyway, listen, here’s the thing. I watched it for you because you’re my BFF. I now get it. I get it. I’m fascinated that this is a movie that you choose to watch every year. It makes me really fascinated by you. Like, I’ve always thought you were an interesting person. You’re even more complex to me now. I might have to rewatch it one more time with you so I can trash talk it. And if you want to do the same with me, if you want to pick a Game of Thrones episode and trash talk it with me, that’s fine.

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:19] You know, I wouldn’t do that to you.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:20] Yes, you would. Yes, you would.

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:21] I wouldn’t do that to you because you love it. And I wouldn’t do, I wouldn’t trash talk something that you love.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:27] You would maybe-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:28] I just don’t think I would.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:29] I think you would make some grunting noises and eye rolls. There’d be something.

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:33] No, I would just, I would just mock you to others behind your back.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:36] Oh!

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:39] I’m kidding.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:39] Vicious. Anyway.

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:41] I’m kidding. You know, Angela, sweetheart, you know, I would mock you to your face.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:45] Sweetheart?

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:45] That’s the kind of friendship we have.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:46] Sweetheart. I was trying to figure out how to bring up the edge to you in that I had watched it. I watched it three weeks ago, and I’ve been trying to figure out where to bring it up and then-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:55:57] Oh my God.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:55:58] And then when all of a sudden Michael was at the buffet. I was like, Buffet, ham! Here’s my in. I’m going to say, who left the ham out, she’ll get it right away. But it’s so random. I get it. It’s so random. Anyway, lady, I watched The Edge for you. I think we’re even for a bit.

JENNA FISCHER [00:56:17] Thank you. You watched one 90 minute movie. I watched three seasons of a television show.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:56:21] Maybe. OK, fine. OK, I’m going to start Fleabag. OK? OK.

JENNA FISCHER [00:56:25] Yes. OK. Watch Fleabag.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:56:27] OK, anyway, so-.

JENNA FISCHER [00:56:29] And we’ll discuss, alright back to the episode.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:56:32] Jim. He is desperately wanting to ask Michael about Pam.

JENNA FISCHER [00:56:37] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:56:38] But he just can’t even bring himself to ask about her.

JENNA FISCHER [00:56:42] No, he askes about Toby.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:56:44] Yeah. And Michael’s, like Toby, is everything that’s wrong with the paper business. Is that why you left? And all of a sudden, Jenna, it all becomes clear to you that this whole time Michael really took it personally that Jim left, and he’s been trying to figure out why. He thought it was because of him and he, he needs to know why Jim left his friend. Why would he leave me?

JENNA FISCHER [00:57:04] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:57:05] And then there’s, there’s one. There’s a whole couple of lines here that made me laugh so hard. Jim. They’re talking about Ryan and Jim says, Tell him I said, hi. And Michael, with all seriousness, says, I will call him later with that message. And I just picture that Michael just keeps calling Ryan.

JENNA FISCHER [00:57:24] Yes, yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:57:25] And then they all start to sit down to eat lunch. And Michael, he just wants to impress everyone. He whips out that $100 bill per diem, is like, Here’s the tip.

JENNA FISCHER [00:57:36] Yes, and the busboy is so excited. The busboy is like, That’s amazing.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:57:41] Right?

JENNA FISCHER [00:57:42] Yes. And Jan is not impressed, though, because she’s just sort of like, you know, Michael, we’re here for work. We’re going to be in and out of meetings all day. You seem to think this is a party, so there’s a little bit of tension here. I have a fun fact. I just wanted to point out that 100 dollar bill.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:01] Mm hmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:02] That Michael pays with. Today. I looked it up. That would be worth $126.03.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:10] Oh, Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:11] I just wanted to know the value of a hundred dollar bill then and now.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:14] Oh, Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:16] I just wanted to know.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:18] I’m going to have-.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:18] And I could have let it go. I could have kept it to myself.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:21] You could have, but you couldn’t.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:22] But I couldn’t.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:23] You couldn’t.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:23] So there it is.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:24] There it is. Well, then Jan says, I can’t stay on top of you 24/7. And Michael has a small nosebleed looking camera. He so desperately wants to say, That’s what she said.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:37] But then Angela, scandal.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:40] Who’s in the big sunglasses? Walking up.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:46] What is with your character having all of these like weird incognito disguise hats and glasses in her closet?

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:52] I don’t know.

JENNA FISCHER [00:58:52] You’re hilarious. You draw more attention to yourself than not.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:58:56] She’s got a closet of hats and wigs and glasses. She’s like on The Americans.

JENNA FISCHER [00:59:00] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:59:01] She’s got her rendezvous. She’s like, and why did they use Jane Doe? That’s so creepy.

JENNA FISCHER [00:59:08] I know.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:59:09] To have a key for Jane Doe.

JENNA FISCHER [00:59:10] She narrowly avoids Michael.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:59:13] Mm hmm.

JENNA FISCHER [00:59:14] But she gets her key. She’s checking in.

ANGELA KINSEY [00:59:16] Oh, Jenna, we have to talk about, this is the one moment and the whole episode that Jim and Pam hear each other. Jim and Pam. It’s as close as they’ll get to being together. And it’s when Pam calls Michael and Jim overhears and he’s like, Hey, I’m with Jim and Dwight and Josh say hi, and Pam’s like, Hi. And that’s it. That’s their only moment. But not only that, this is a layered moment because in this moment, not only did they hear each other’s voices, but in this moment, Jim knows that now that Pam, a single and Pam now knows that Jim knows because Michael wishes her good luck on your first date.

JENNA FISCHER [00:59:59] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:00] So Pam, Pam knows. Jim knows I’m single. You know she was hoping he would find out somehow.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:06] Yeah. Now he knows, he doesn’t call though, does he?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:10] He does not call.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:12] She doesn’t call him either. Why aren’t they calling each other?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:15] I don’t know.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:17] Call each other.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:18] It’s like the Age of Innocence.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:19] I guess so.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:20] That book made me crazy. I’m like, just be together already. All right.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:25] Well, then Michael has a talking head where he’s kind of going off on Jim. He says, Jim and I, we have different definitions of friendship. Apparently, Jim thinks friendship is moving to Stamford, so he’s not going to talk to Jim anymore. He’s had enough.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:41] He’s like jilted lover.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:42] He is.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:00:43] He’s like so heartbroken.

JENNA FISCHER [01:00:44] He is. Angela, we had a really great fan catch. You’ll like it. It’s from Claudia Cano. She said, There is a rubber ducky in two shots. There’s one at 14 minutes, 56 seconds, which is in the background of this talking head and then again at 19 minutes, 47 seconds. Did Michael travel with the Rubber Ducky or get it at the convention? Oh, that was a convention giveaway, for sure.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:08] That’s swag, baby.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:09] That’s the swag. There it is.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:11] Probably, underneath, like on the duck’s belly. You can’t see it. It probably says a paper company name.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:16] For sure.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:17] We’re not quacking around! We’re number one in colored paper.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:24] Exactly.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:25] The duck stops here.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:27] Angela. You are really good at these. Give me more, if you think of more, shout them out.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:34] No, I won’t. OK.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:36] Well, my favorite part of this talking head, Angela, is that we widen to reveal that Michael is actually having a drink with the Hammer Mill rep.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:46] I know. It’s just that-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:48] This talking head has been delivered with another person in the room.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:50] I know.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:51] I have a fun fact about the Hammer Mill rep.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:01:54] OK.

JENNA FISCHER [01:01:55] That was played by actor Matt Price. Angela, Matt Price screen tested for the role of Dwight.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:03] What? No.

JENNA FISCHER [01:02:05] I screen tested with him. He was one of the people that I was paired with at the final audition.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:13] Oh my god.

JENNA FISCHER [01:02:13] They loved him, and Greg wanted a way to bring him back. And by the way, as we go through the series, a lot of the people who had final screen tests for main roles are brought back as guest stars throughout the show because Greg just loved them so much.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:30] I love that about Greg.

JENNA FISCHER [01:02:31] I know. He doesn’t forget people.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:33] He doesn’t.

JENNA FISCHER [01:02:34] If you impress him, he’ll find a place for you.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:36] All right. So at 15 minutes, 42 seconds, Jim is now going to prank Dwight. It’s like old times, right? He got a key to his room and he is going to go in there and do something. All right. I have some stories about this day, guys.

JENNA FISCHER [01:02:51] Yes, because what happens when he opens the door? Angela, what does Jim find? A lady on the bed.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:02:58] He finds someone who he thinks is a hooker, but it’s actually Angela. All right.

JENNA FISCHER [01:03:03] Well, Angela, fan question from Iva Earl. Angela, is that really your leg that we see in Dwight’s hotel room?

ANGELA KINSEY [01:03:11] Yes, it’s really my leg. And of course, they had a whole outfit picked out for me. I had to have a wardrobe fitting for it, even though you don’t really see much. It was conservative. Sorry to disappoint, but it was a pink pajama top long sleeve. And then I have these black polka dot pants like pajama pants, but they were kind of satiny.

JENNA FISCHER [01:03:32] Mmhmm. Oh, that’s, that’s the sexy part.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:03:35] Yes. And so you could see my, you could see my calf when I raised my leg and I had painted my toenails red. So there’s that. But I had talked about this scene in an interview because I don’t ever get any scenes with Jim. Jim and Angela rarely interact if you watch the whole show.

JENNA FISCHER [01:03:58] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:03:58] So John and I, as friends in real life, we were giddy. We were so excited to finally be in a scene together. And what you guys didn’t see was when he opens the door, there’s a mirror on the wall and he sees my legs and he freaks out. But I could see his whole expression in the mirror. I could see everything and his face when he saw my legs. Every time John did the scene, he would do this range of reaction of like horror and just like shock. And it was so funny. We were laughing so hard, trying not to ruin the takes. And then, of course, my character’s like, D? And they, they were debating on how much of me they were going to see.

JENNA FISCHER [01:04:42] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:42] Just my legs, to really sell it. Like, how much did Jim see of, of me, right? So we sort of played around with that a little bit. And then Jenna, I think this is the first time my character calls Dwight D and we establish that nickname.

JENNA FISCHER [01:04:56] I think it is.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:57] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:04:58] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:04:59] I don’t know. We’ll track it, guys. We’ll track it. But I think this is the first time I call him D.

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:03] Angela, I think we need to go on a double date now with Ryan, Kelly, Pam and Alan.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:05:11] So cringy, Jenna.

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:14] So awful.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:05:15] This scene was so awkward to watch.

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:17] Yes, Kelly is forced feeding Ryan some french fries with ketchup. She insists that he loves it, he loves ketchup.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:05:25] He loves it. And then Alan, I mean, Alan is just kind of cheesy, Jenna. He’s just-.

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:31] Oh my gosh.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:05:32] Oh.

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:33] Yes. Well, Robert told me that his favorite Alan line is, People always say, Don’t be edgy, but I don’t know any other way. He was like, It was so pretentious. He said it was such great comic writing. He also told me that he still gets recognized as the Freedom Fries Guy. And he is very grateful.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:05:57] Do people call him the Freedom Fries Guy?

JENNA FISCHER [01:05:59] Yeah, Freedom Fries Guy. Hey, you’re the Freedom Fries Guy from The Office. And he also told me this really sweet story. He said after we were done shooting, Mindy walked him out and just went on and on about how grateful she was to him for being on the show. And then she told him that while Alison was putting people on tape because that’s what she would do, Alison would hold auditions for parts and put people on tape. They had this idea that they might want to cast an SNL cast member in this role, and I’m not going to say who, but Mindy said we watched the tapes that Alison sent over and you were so funny that we ended up giving you the role instead of offering it to this SNL cast member and Robert said it is still to this day, he wears that as like a badge of honor.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:06:47] A badge of honor.

JENNA FISCHER [01:06:48] Yeah, he was like, I can brag that I beat out an SNL cast member for a part on The Office. So he just, he was so sweet and so humble and so grateful and so excited to talk about this. Such a nice guy. He’s great.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:07:04] All right. Well, speaking of our lives criss crossing with these guest stars at 16 minutes, 37 seconds, Jenna, Michael gets the first guest to his party who doesn’t stick around because no one’s there and he’s like, Awkward. But it’s played by Steve Little.

JENNA FISCHER [01:07:19] I noticed.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:07:22] I love Steve Little. You guys know he played Uncle Jim in the show I did on Netflix called Haters Back Off. It’s based off, Miranda Sings, based off that character with Colleen Ballinger and Eric Stockland and Francesca Reale. And Steve Little and I have maybe one of the most awkward romances even more awkward than Dwight and Angela, you guys, I mean, we have a date in a bathtub.

JENNA FISCHER [01:07:48] No, it’s, you think that a romance can’t get weirder than Dwight and Angela until you watch Haters Back Off and see you and Steve Little, for sure. One hundred percent.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:07:58] That man could read the phone book and I’d be cracking up. I’d be laughing so hard. He can. He is so funny. Just everything that comes out of his mouth made me laugh, and we got to improvise a lot together and really create this creepy relationship. And I just, I just love him.

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:14] I am a huge, huge Steve Little fan.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:08:17] Well, I worked with them on Haters Back Off, but a lot of people knew him from Eastbound and Ddown, as well as many other things. He’s just a really great comedic actor. Well, so you know, Pam’s date did not go great, she says, Alan was a bit of a dud, right?

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:31] Yeah, it was not a love connection, she says. She says she’ll know it when she likes someone again.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:08:39] Because she already likes that person.

JENNA FISCHER [01:08:41] She does. Then Jim gets off the elevator and discovers Michael is alone in his room with a strobe light. And some dance music.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:08:53] And really loud music. Like loud, I couldn’t believe no one called and complained on him. The music was so loud. I know I’m a hundred, but I was like, That’s very loud.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:03] Well, Michael is really grouchy. We don’t see Michael like this a lot. He’s being super passive aggressive. It’s Michael Sass.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:09:14] It’s Michael Sass. But I have a little bit of back story, guys. If you watch the deleted scenes, remember how we said there’s some of the Dwight Angela stuff that plays out that got cut?

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:23] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:09:24] So you actually see Dwight is checking his watch. He’s got to get to Angela in the room and he makes up a lame excuse, and he leaves Michael alone in his hotel room. And Michael’s grumpy about that. He’s grumpy because he feels like Jim has ditched him for Josh Porter. So there’s a lot happening here. Michael feels kind of like his friends have abandoned him.

JENNA FISCHER [01:09:44] This is also where Jim finally tells Michael, I did not leave because of you, Michael, you were a great boss. I left because of Pam. And Michael is kind of like, You did? That’s crazy because Pam single now you, you can come back.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:10:04] Well, I also think, I think he wants Jim to know that, but he’s also instantly relieved that it wasn’t because of him and that his friend is still his friend.

JENNA FISCHER [01:10:13] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:10:14] And Jim, Jim once again is sharing something incredibly personal with Michael.

JENNA FISCHER [01:10:20] I know because Jim says, Listen, man, I put it on the line for Pam twice and I got rejected twice. I’m just, I’m not going to. I’m not going to call her. I don’t know, like. And I think he has a good point. Like, he made his feelings clear. He smooched her in the office. She knows how he feels.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:10:39] He said, I love you.

JENNA FISCHER [01:10:40] Yes.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:10:42] He said, I love you. The ball is in her court.

JENNA FISCHER [01:10:46] One hundred percent. I totally get how he’s like if she called off the wedding and she didn’t phone me, what am I supposed to do with that? I’m going to go be like, Hey, did you call off the wedding? Now can I have a chance? No. Jim’s, Jim’s saying this right, in my opinion.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:00] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:01] So then at the end, the Hammer Mill reps show up for the party. This is so exciting. They have two guests, and Michael tells them that he and Jim are best friends.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:15] Best friends. So it ends up being a win for Michael because he gets his friend back. He makes a huge like sale with Hammer Mill, right?

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:24] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:24] Jan ultimately is impressed with Michael as a salesman.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:27] Yeah.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:28] She’s not number two behind Josh Porter.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:31] No.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:32] Michael has a nice ending here.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:34] He does. He goes through a lot at this convention, but in the end, he wins. And we’ve got a very funny tag at the end of this episode. Michael and Dwight are in the hotel room. They turn off the lights because they’re going to turn on a black light.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:49] Because it’s a party.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:49] I guess for their party.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:11:51] Yeah.

JENNA FISCHER [01:11:51] Yes. And there are just these splatters all over the room. And Dwight says, well, it’s either blood, urine or semen. And I love Michael’s line. He says, God, I hope it’s urine.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:12:07] I hope it’s urine.

JENNA FISCHER [01:12:08] When do you ever hope it’s urine? I think in that situation.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:12:12] This was a really fun episode. I had such a great time doing it. It was so fun to rewatch it again. I just remember laughing a lot, and that was a real joy for me this week. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

JENNA FISCHER [01:12:24] I want to give a big shout out and a big thanks to Kent Zabornak for his Kentapedia facts and also to Robert Bignell for all his fun stories. You guys, you can follow Robert Bignellnow on his Instagram at Bobby_Bagstagram. It’s like Instagram, but it’s Bagtagram. Or you can find them on YouTube. He’s got this amazing travel show called Travel Bags. He spent like the last five years traveling mostly through Southeast Asia, and he’s been documenting his travels. He’s turned them into these very watchable, fun, very addictive videos. I highly recommend. Anyway, big thanks to those guys, and we’ll see you next week for The Coup. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Codi Fischer. Our producer is Cassi Jerkins, our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.

ANGELA KINSEY [01:13:26] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code Office.