EP. 101 — Broke

Office Ladies – 101 – Broke

Jenna [00:00:03] I’m Jenna Fischer.

Angela [00:00:04] And I’m Angela Kinsey.

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

Angela [00:00:07] And we’re best friends.

Jenna [00:00:08] And now we’re doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.

Angela [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 [00:00:19] We’re the Office Ladies. Hello, everybody.

Angela [00:00:25] Good morning, everyone. I always say good morning.

Jenna [00:00:28] It’s cuz we’re here in the morning.

Angela [00:00:28] Cuz we’re here in the morning. Every time I do it, Jenna gives me this look like, Angela, it might be morning for everyone else.

Jenna [00:00:37] Don’t stop.

Angela [00:00:38] Don’t stop saying good morning.

Jenna [00:00:40] Should we talk about the episode we’re going to be breaking down today?

Angela [00:00:43] I would love nothing more. I found this episode hilarious.

Jenna [00:00:48] This snuck up on me.

Angela [00:00:49] Yes, it was a sneaker upper.

Jenna [00:00:51] I absolutely loved it. You know, you look back and you think about The Office and all the like sort of obvious ones come to mind.

Angela [00:00:59] Right.

Jenna [00:00:59] But this is so incredibly good. It should be on all the lists.

Angela [00:01:04] It should, and there was more to it that didn’t make it in that is so delicious and I can’t wait to share that.

Jenna [00:01:11] What we’re talking about is Broke. Season five, episode 25, written by Charlie Grandy and directed by our very own Steve Carell.

Angela [00:01:21] How fun was that?

Jenna [00:01:23] That was amazing. That is my fast fact number one.

Angela [00:01:26] Ooh, do it.

Jenna [00:01:27] But we should start with a summary.

Angela [00:01:29] Oh we should.

Jenna [00:01:29] I need my order.

Angela [00:01:30] Go in order.

Jenna [00:01:30] OK.

Angela [00:01:31] I need to say good morning. You need to go in order.

Jenna [00:01:33] It’s who we are.

Angela [00:01:35] It’s who we are!

Jenna [00:01:35] All right. The summary is: exhausted from making their own deliveries, the Michael Scott Paper Company is steadily gaining clients due to their very low prices, but it turns out they’re going broke in the process.

Angela [00:01:50] Yeah.

Jenna [00:01:51] Meanwhile, Dunder Mifflin is desperate to negotiate a buyout because they have lost several important clients to Michael Scott Paper Company. But Michael has other ideas.

Angela [00:02:02] I was so impressed and also scared by all of Michael’s tactics.

Jenna [00:02:07] When he gets out of the elevator and he’s like doubled over and he’s like, I’m really afraid I’m going to say we’re broke.

Angela [00:02:14] I’m going to be able to do it.

Jenna [00:02:15] It’s so funny. All right. Fast fact number one, Steve Carell directed this episode. It was his first time directing the show and his first time directing in general.

Angela [00:02:27] He was so prepared.

Jenna [00:02:28] Oh my gosh, yes.

Angela [00:02:30] I was so impressed with him.

Jenna [00:02:32] We talked to Randy Cordray about that, and he said Steve’s work ethic was incredible, that he was totally prepared. He had great ideas, great energy. He said he was so respectful of every crew position. He wanted everyone’s input to make the scenes better. He said Steve totally immersed himself in the prep of this episode.

Angela [00:02:57] I loved him as a director. I have one little moment I’ll share when we get there of a note he gave me that I was like, totally changed the scene for me.

Jenna [00:03:07] Well I traded some messages with Steve about this episode. I just wanted to know, Steve, what was that like for you to direct all of us? Because he was, I believe, the first cast member to step into a directing role.

Angela [00:03:20] Oh, I think you’re right.

Jenna [00:03:22] And here’s what Steve said. This is a quote. “It was like being the conductor of a world class orchestra. Everyone was so good, it was pretty easy.”.

Angela [00:03:31] Aww.

Jenna [00:03:32] Well, we got a fan question from Bridget R. who said, what was it like having a main cast member direct and did it present any challenges? Well, a little bit because, you know, Steve couldn’t watch the scene when he was performing in the scene.

Angela [00:03:52] Right, right.

Jenna [00:03:53] And the week before you direct an episode, the director normally preps the episode, and that sort of involves meeting with each of the different department heads to make decisions about the locations, about the props, the wardrobe, camera setups. And this was a little tricky for Steve because Steve spent the prior week acting in an episode.

Angela [00:04:16] I remember he had to sort of squeeze things in. Like he’d be in a scene and then he would have to, like, hop into like a van to go location scout or.

Jenna [00:04:25] Yes.

Angela [00:04:25] Yeah.

Jenna [00:04:26] Randy said luckily, the Michael Scott Paper Company storyline was such that Steve generally had a couple of days off each week for when we would shoot up at Dunder Mifflin. And so he immersed himself in prep for those two days. But it’s true. I would notice there would be this van waiting outside at lunch and they would go scout a location for a half hour.

Angela [00:04:49] Yeah, and then he’d come back and jump into scenes.

Jenna [00:04:52] Well, I also spoke with Randall Einhorn, our cinematographer, who said he remembers Steve was very focused on characters and actor performance as a director. So I guess this will come up in the note that he gave you Angela. But he said he was just so respectful. He was so devoid of any ego. And that’s how I remember working with Steve. He just made you better naturally.

Angela [00:05:20] He’s just someone that makes everything better.

Jenna [00:05:23] Yeah.

Angela [00:05:24] You know, you know, those people, you’re like, gosh, I feel so great whenever I’m around them.

Jenna [00:05:29] I took this leadership seminar once and they said that a great leader is a person where, like, you leave your interaction with that person and you feel more confident and better and you notice yourself more. That that is your goal if you’re ever in a leadership position, not for you to show off how interesting and powerful you are, but to try to empower other people.

Angela [00:05:59] Well, that’s definitely Steve.

Jenna [00:06:01] That’s definitely Steve. Guys, yeah, I’m that person who went to leadership seminars on the weekends, okay?

Angela [00:06:07] I wasn’t going to say anything.

Jenna [00:06:08] I’m that gal. Sign me up.

Angela [00:06:09] I wasn’t gonna say anything, but as you said it, I thought, Oh, I would have just loved to have known Jenna then. I saw this thing someone post on Instagram, Jenna. It made me laugh so hard. I’m going to paraphrase it but it said something like, everyone in life deserves the person they cannot sit next to in a serious situation. And I just think about if I had taken that leadership class with you, we wouldn’t have been able to sit next to each other.

Jenna [00:06:37] Listen, that leadership class was great because I had a really hard time finishing things. I would start projects all the time. Scripts, a one woman show, I don’t even know what, even a home project. I was very good at having ideas and doing the first three steps, but I wasn’t a finisher. And this leadership seminar was a little bit focused on finishing what you start. I tell you what, I finish what I start now.

Angela [00:07:06] That’s so good.

Jenna [00:07:07] I’m all about it. I’m like, There’s got to be experts out there who can teach me skills. How was I supposed to be born knowing how to do everything? I’ll go to therapy. I’ll go to your leadership seminar. Sign me up. All right. Fast fact number two is called Awards, because our writer, Charlie Grandy, was nominated for a Writers Guild Award for Best Screenplay of an Episodic Comedy for this script and Steve Carell used this episode as his submission for the Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Angela [00:07:44] Well, I know Steve didn’t win, which remember I was so mad about. I think I said a profanity and there was a camera on us.

Jenna [00:07:51] Steve never won an Emmy for his portrayal of Michael Scott. How is that sentence a thing I can say?

Angela [00:07:56] I don’t know. Wait, did Charlie win?

Jenna [00:07:58] Charlie didn’t win either.

Angela [00:07:59] Well, son of a-.

Jenna [00:08:00] I know. You know, it’s crazy. That got me thinking about how you have to submit yourself for awards. I feel like that’s something not a lot of people know.

Angela [00:08:08] We did.

Jenna [00:08:10] Yeah, and it costs money. Sometimes the network will pay for it.

Angela [00:08:15] Right.

Jenna [00:08:16] But I think as an actor, you pick one or two episodes that you think best represent your performance. You also pick your category. You can decide if you want to be submitted for lead or supporting.

Angela [00:08:30] I know. I was very excited because season four of The Office there was an article that said I was a dark horse for a nomination for Supporting Actress in a comedy because I had that whole great arc with Sprinkles and all of that.

Jenna [00:08:45] Yes.

Angela [00:08:46] And I was so excited. That was enough for me. I mean, I realized that like some people were able to have sort of a big machine behind them campaigning. But just the fact that this one person saw my performance, I cut out the magazine. I saved it.

Jenna [00:09:01] I totally get that, Ange. I was only nominated the one year for season two. And occasionally, though, my name would come up on those lists.

Angela [00:09:11] Yes, it’s so exciting.

Jenna [00:09:13] Yeah.

Angela [00:09:13] What’s your fast fact number three?

Jenna [00:09:15] Fast fact number three is called time to make the donuts.

Angela [00:09:19] Do I get a donut? Did you make donuts?

Jenna [00:09:21] No, I wish I had, though. I know you love a donut.

Angela [00:09:24] I do.

Jenna [00:09:25] I should have known. I can’t say donut and not provide you with donuts.

Angela [00:09:29] You literally said it’s time to make the donuts.

Jenna [00:09:33] Oh no. This is not a scotch and Splenda.

Angela [00:09:35] I know. You got me thinking this a scotch and Splenda moment.

Jenna [00:09:39] No, this is a little mini deep dove that I found incredibly charming based on the fact that Michael says it’s time to make the donuts.

Angela [00:09:48] Oh, the expression.

Jenna [00:09:49] Yes. Do you remember that commercial? It was from the 80s. It actually ran from 1981 all the way to 1997, and it was for Dunkin Donuts. Do you remember it?

Angela [00:10:02] Well, I was overseas until 84.

Jenna [00:10:05] OK?

Angela [00:10:06] This, by the way, is the thing my husband loves to tease me about, he said Ange, you can’t say you were in Indonesia for everything, OK?

Jenna [00:10:15] But there’s some pop culture that’s lost on you.

Angela [00:10:17] Yes. I grew up without television, is that crazy? Until I was a teenager.

Jenna [00:10:22] Wow.

Angela [00:10:24] I know.

Jenna [00:10:25] And then you wound up on television.

Angela [00:10:27] And then I was obsessed with television.

Jenna [00:10:29] I bet.

Angela [00:10:30] It’s like the kid that, like their parents don’t let them have any sweets. And then they come to your house and they raid your pantry.

Jenna [00:10:36] Yeah.

Angela [00:10:36] I became like, obsessed with television.

Jenna [00:10:39] Well, let me bring you up to speed.

Angela [00:10:40] OK.

Jenna [00:10:41] Fred the baker was a character played by actor Michael Vale in these Dunkin Donuts commercials, and he was known for his catchphrase “Time to make the donuts.” So it would just be him, like all day coming in and out of his door, saying time to make the donuts. I actually have an audio clip of it.

Angela [00:11:02] Oh, I need to hear it.

Fred the Baker [00:11:04] Time to make the donuts.

Commercial Announcer [00:11:05] Dunkin Donuts are always fresh.

Fred the Baker [00:11:08] I made the donuts.

Commercial Announcer [00:11:10] We make them at least twice every day.

Fred the Baker [00:11:12] Time to make the donuts.

Commercial Announcer [00:11:12] Not a few kinds like supermarkets.

Fred the Baker [00:11:12] Time to make the donuts.

Commercial Announcer [00:11:12] But up to 52 varieties.

Fred the Baker [00:11:24] Time to make the donuts. I made the donuts.

Commercial Announcer [00:11:29] Dunkin Donuts. Up to 52 varieties fresh day and night. No supermarket can say that.

Jenna [00:11:33] So Fred the baker had to make all those donuts, lady.

Angela [00:11:35] I have so many questions because I could only hear it and not see it. It sounds like he’s getting really tired.

Jenna [00:11:40] He’s tired, he’s making donuts in the rain.

Angela [00:11:43] Time to make the donuts.

Jenna [00:11:45] Because he’s always making the donuts. Well, this commercial was named one of the five best commercials of the 80s by the Television Bureau of Advertising. Fred the baker was so popular that when Dunkin Donuts decided to finally retire this character, they surveyed customers to see how they might react. Well, customers said they would let Fred retire, but only if, like, Fred, the character, was treated like an honored friend and employee. So Dunkin Donuts created an official retirement celebration for them, which included a parade in Boston and a free donut day. They served over six million customers. It was September 22nd, 1997.

Angela [00:12:34] Wow.

Jenna [00:12:35] But listen to this. After the actor who played Fred, the baker, after Michael Vale died in December of 2005, Dunkin Donuts ran a commercial celebrating him that included like an in memory of. And today, the catchphrase Time to make the donuts is printed on the side of all Dunkin Donut boxes in memory of Michael and his character of Fred the baker.

Angela [00:13:03] Awe.

Jenna [00:13:03] So if you get a box of Dunkin Donuts and you see that on the side, that’s why.

Angela [00:13:07] That’s so sweet. You know, I think Dunkin Donuts was more of an East Coast chain for a long time because I know whenever I flew to New York, I got very excited because there was a Dunkin Donuts by baggage claim and I would always go get a donut while I waited for my suitcase.

Jenna [00:13:24] Yeah, we had Dunkin Donuts in St. Louis growing up and my dad would go every Sunday and I always wanted the strawberry iced.

Angela [00:13:32] I love that one.

Jenna [00:13:32] That was my favorite.

Angela [00:13:33] I love that one, too.

Jenna [00:13:35] Mm-hmm. Now, during The Office, there was no Dunkin Donuts on the West Coast, and John Krasinski had this idea that he wanted to open up the first Dunkin Donuts in L.A..

Angela [00:13:49] Did he really?

Jenna [00:13:50] Yes. He was really into this for a while, and he tried to get Conan O’Brien to go in on it with him.

Angela [00:13:56] Oh my God.

Jenna [00:13:56] This was a whole thing.

Angela [00:13:58] Could you Imagine of Conan and John owned a Dunkin Donuts?

Jenna [00:14:00] That was the plan. And I don’t know why it fell apart or if this was just like a daydream, but he talked about it all the time. He wanted to open a Dunkin Donuts franchise in L.A. And you know what? Now they’re here. And whenever I pass by them, I wonder, is John like super pissed? Because he had that idea. That was John Krasinski’s idea.

Angela [00:14:23] To bring it to the West Coast.

Jenna [00:14:24] Yes. Well, that’s all I got for fast facts, lady.

Angela [00:14:28] Well, I found them delightful. And now I want a donut.

Jenna [00:14:31] Sorry, I really should have brought some Dunkin Donuts in. Clearly. What was I thinking?

Angela [00:14:36] I think we should go to break and we’ll come back and get into this episode.

Jenna [00:14:39] I love it. All right, we’re back. This episode opens with Pam, Michael and Ryan making paper deliveries. And incidentally, I found out the working title for this episode was Delivery Day.

Angela [00:14:57] Yes, thank you, Randy with those nuggets. Well, you know what? Michael starts the day at 4:30 in the morning with a prank. He pulls up to get Ryan, and then as Ryan gets in he pulls up forward, he pulls forward and Ryan’s just like ugh. Jenna, that would drive me crazy.

Jenna [00:15:15] Yeah.

Angela [00:15:15] I don’t need people that peppy that early.

Jenna [00:15:17] No.

Angela [00:15:18] It’s too peppy.

Jenna [00:15:19] We got a fan question from Tyler B, who said this. My friend and I have watched the opening scene with Michael inching the delivery van forward while Ryan tries to get in over and over. At forty 46 seconds, we cannot figure out if Michael says “I lied” or “denied” to Ryan.

Angela [00:15:38] It’s denied.

Jenna [00:15:40] He says the captions say denied, but I’m not convinced because it almost sounds like de lied. Do you know?

Angela [00:15:49] Well, we have the script. What does it say?

Jenna [00:15:51] It was not a scripted moment.

Angela [00:15:53] Oh, of course not. Of course, they were playing around a little bit.

Jenna [00:15:57] I hear I lied. But I hear Steve’s- Steve has this funny delivery he does sometimes where he like laughs at the beginning of a line

Angela [00:16:06] and he’ll hold out a vowel.

Jenna [00:16:08] So I hear d’ I lied. Meaning like the duh is like part of his laugh.

Angela [00:16:13] Well, gosh, I just think I need to hear it. I need to hear it. And then I’m going to decide what I hear. I think we should put a poll in our Office Ladies Pod stories.

Jenna [00:16:21] I agree.

Michael Scott [00:16:24] I lied.

Jenna [00:16:28] It’s I lied. He’s like, I lied.

Angela [00:16:32] I gotta hear it again. I got to hear it again.

Michael Scott [00:16:37] I lied.

Angela [00:16:39] Oh my gosh, it’s definitely I lied because he’s saying I won’t do it again.

Jenna [00:16:44] Yes.

Angela [00:16:44] And he’s laughing. It’s I lied. It’s not denied. The subtitles are wrong.

Jenna [00:16:48] Completely. It’s definitely not denied. But it is like d’ I lied.

Angela [00:16:53] Yeah. Yeah.

Jenna [00:16:54] It’s a little laugh. It’s a catch at the top.

Angela [00:16:57] It’s a little bit of a d’lied.

Jenna [00:16:59] Tyler. I hope that that has helped you guys. We took that on and we-

Angela [00:17:04] We took it very seriously.

Jenna [00:17:04] We did. We did.

Angela [00:17:07] Well, then Michael’s got to go get Pam. He pulls outside and lays on the horn. Did you ever have a friend like that? I carpooled with a friend in high school who would lay on the horn, and my dad was like, All right, you got to tell her.

Jenna [00:17:19] Yes.

Angela [00:17:19] None of that. It’s early.

Jenna [00:17:22] Yes, that was our carpool. You would go in the person’s driveway and you want to just give it like a boop boop.

Angela [00:17:28] Yeah. Not a bahh bahhh.

Jenna [00:17:31] Exactly. We got a lot of fan mail about these pick up scenes. One person said, When Michael beeps the horn of the van, you can see the top right corner of the neighbor’s light turning on. They really like that detail. People also wanted to know, were these scenes really recorded at 4:30 and 5:00 in the morning? No, we shot these at night. What we would do is we would shoot all day at the studio and then we would pack up and drive out to these locations to do, like the early morning shots. So it was actually just evening. I checked in with Randy to refresh my memory. He said we had to do this over two days because we never wanted to shoot too late into the evening because then we’d have to start later the next morning because you have to give the crew and the cast their turn around.

Angela [00:18:19] And then you guys, that becomes a domino effect. Then every day starts later and later, and then you get into one of those what we call a frighter day situation.

Jenna [00:18:28] Fraturday.

Angela [00:18:29] Frighterday.

Jenna [00:18:29] Frat.

Angela [00:18:29] Frighter?

Jenna [00:18:29] Frat.

Angela [00:18:29] Frat?

Jenna [00:18:29] Like sat-turday but fr- from Friday. So Fraturday.

Angela [00:18:38] Well, I’ve always called it Frighterday because you go F-R-I-D and then you go into Saturday.

Jenna [00:18:44] You- I believe would be the only one who’s saying Fridurday.

Angela [00:18:49] Everyone else is saying Fraturday?

Jenna [00:18:52] Mm-hmm. In the biz.

Angela [00:18:53] Well, guys, is it any surprise that I’ve been saying it wrong?

Jenna [00:18:59] I guess I could stand corrected, but I feel pretty confident.

Angela [00:19:04] I will be texting a few of our friends when we wrap. All right. Why don’t you tell us more about how you shot this scenes? You obviously did one day was the Ryan pick up, and then the next day was like the Pam pick up.

Jenna [00:19:16] No.

Angela [00:19:16] What?

Jenna [00:19:17] One day was at Michael’s condo.

Angela [00:19:19] OK.

Jenna [00:19:20] You know, at the opening shot.

Angela [00:19:21] The beginning, right?

Jenna [00:19:22] The other night we did both Ryan’s house and Jim and Pam’s house because the location for Ryan’s house was just a few houses down the block from Jim and Pam’s house on Calvert Street in Van Nuys. And the people who lived next to the house that we used for Jim and Pam’s house let us put a PA up in their bedroom to-

Angela [00:19:43] To flip on the lightswitch.

Jenna [00:19:44] To flip on the light. They were very good sports, Randy said. And that’s not all, Angela. I also got a ton of fan questions about the van because Pam has that talking head where she says they got it at a used car lot and they think that it says Alleluia Church of Scranton in Korean on the side of the van. People wanted to know what did it really say? It said Alleluia Church of Scranton in Korean. Our graphics artist, Michael Marcus, designed the logo and they had it made into a large like stick on decal that they put on the side of the van. So it really did say that.

Angela [00:20:19] I love that because I love our show’s attention to detail. I have a question for you, Jenna.

Jenna [00:20:24] Yes.

Angela [00:20:25] In the next beat of this cold open, you’re like, Gosh, I could really use some coffee and Michael’s like milk and sugar? And you’re like, Yes, thank you. And you take a big ol swig and it’s actually milk and sugar. And Michael says he drinks it every morning.

Jenna [00:20:40] Yeah.

Angela [00:20:40] What’d you really drink? Was it just water? Please say it was just water.

Jenna [00:20:43] It was water.

Angela [00:20:44] Oh, thank goodness.

Jenna [00:20:45] But I really sold it.

Angela [00:20:46] You did.

Jenna [00:20:47] When I was rewatching this episode, I watched that moment and I was like, That’s good acting. I did a good job. I should put that on my Emmy submission.

Angela [00:20:54] You should, because when I watched it, I thought, I wonder if Jenna was like, You can put milk and sugar so I react honestly or something. If you got kind of method, but you did what I did about running.

Jenna [00:21:05] Yeah, I was like.

Angela [00:21:05] You just faked it.

Jenna [00:21:06] I’ll just fake it.

Angela [00:21:08] Fake it.

Jenna [00:21:08] I’m an actor. I can do it.

Angela [00:21:09] You can do it.

Jenna [00:21:10] And I did.

Angela [00:21:10] And you sold it.

Jenna [00:21:12] So now Pam and Ryan are going to be unloading the paper, and I want to say a few things. Did you notice that I’m wearing a pencil skirt?

Angela [00:21:24] I did.

Jenna [00:21:25] Did you see what the boys are wearing?

Angela [00:21:27] I did.

Jenna [00:21:28] Pam is wearing a hoodie and sneakers, but a pencil skirt.

Angela [00:21:34] And I think with pantyhose at 4:30 in the morning.

Jenna [00:21:37] Yes.

Angela [00:21:39] To unload paper out of a van.

Jenna [00:21:41] Yes.

Angela [00:21:41] Pam.

Jenna [00:21:42] Hmm.

Angela [00:21:43] Our NBC executives.

Jenna [00:21:45] Correct. I guess that note about Pam being in a pencil skirt. Wow, that really carries. Oh, I want to tell you, also in this scene, a woman tries to get on the van. And the woman who gets on the bus was played by Clara Sooyoung and the person who played the warehouse supervisor who was with Michael was played by Isabelle Hubman. And I remember both of them were super awesome because we actually shot this really early in the morning.

Angela [00:22:15] This one you did do early.

Jenna [00:22:17] We did. We got there, oh my gosh, we were shooting by 6:45.

Angela [00:22:22] Wow.

Jenna [00:22:23] And so I remember, like, we were all legitimately tired, but we also got finished really quickly. So it was fun.

Angela [00:22:32] Well, you know, Jenna, this was not the original cold open for the episode?

Jenna [00:22:36] Really?

Angela [00:22:37] Truly.

Jenna [00:22:38] Tell me more.

Angela [00:22:39] I will. Here was the original cold open. This is how the cold open was in the shooting draft. It is the Dunder Mifflin office parking lot. Early morning, we hear a screech in the parking lot. The camera pushes in to find Michael with wet hair, frantically parking and sort of running in, and he says, I’m late, I’m late, I’m late. Barges into the Dunder Mifflin bullpen. Goes right into his office and he’s like, Sorry, sorry, sorry everyone, I’m overslept. Totally unexcusable. And he goes in his office and shuts the door. Erin and the rest of the office are very confused. Jim looks to camera, and he says, This is a surprise. Michael’s almost never late, and he hasn’t worked here in four weeks. And then there’s this brief scene between Jim and Michael where Jim says, Hey, what are you doing here? And Michael’s like, Oh, I owe everyone a huge apology. Did anyone notice I was late? And Jim says, I think they’re just surprised you came at all. And then this plays out with Charles coming in and Erin going, that’s him, like he’s some intruder.

Jenna [00:23:45] Right.

Angela [00:23:46] And then Michael realizes he’s really embarrassed and he leaves and Erin’s like, was I supposed to stop him? He seemed so confident. And then there’s this last little moment where Michael goes downstairs to the Michael Scott paper company and he’s like, I’m sorry, I’m late. But only Pam is there. But Ryan is late.

Jenna [00:24:06] It’s so funny. Randy told us that there were a ton of deleted scenes from this episode, and I bet what they did was they cut this cold open and they made what would have been the top of this episode a cold open.

Angela [00:24:22] Yes.

Jenna [00:24:22] Because this is not a standalone cold open. This relates to the rest of the episode. It’s, you know, deliveries and Michael Scott Paper Company. And so that’s really interesting. They must have had to do that for time to squeeze more stuff in.

Angela [00:24:36] There was a lot in the shooting draft that did not make it in.

Jenna [00:24:40] Wow. So as this episode opens, Charles Miner is going to walk into the Dunder Mifflin bullpen and announce that they have now lost 10 clients to Michael Scott Paper Company.

Angela [00:24:52] Yeah, that’s a huge dent in their business.

Jenna [00:24:54] It really is. Charles is going to have a talking head where he says he does not know what to do to inspire people. And the camera’s going to pull back. You’re going to see Dwight hovering over his shoulder. I just want to point out that Dwight is still wearing his long sleeve white shirts with the sleeves that are too short because you can see his full watch. It is exposed on his wrist. His sleeves are too short. It’s official.

Angela [00:25:20] Jenna. We agree with you. Jenna, we agree. His sleeves are too short.

Jenna [00:25:24] OK, thank you. But before this talking head ends, Angela is going to enter the room to talk about these expense reports.

Angela [00:25:32] Yes, and all right. This is the scene I was talking about earlier where Steve gave me a note that changed how I delivered this line, and it was so fun for me to rewatch and remember. Angela comes in and she goes, Charles, I got your memo about the expense reports. Thank you. And Steve was like, What if almost in Angela’s mind, this was like a personal memo to her. Like he sees her, right?

Jenna [00:25:57] Yeah.

Angela [00:25:57] He understands how much these expense reports have meant to her over the years and how Michael just never cared about them.

Jenna [00:26:04] Great note.

Angela [00:26:05] Great note. He was like, Angela, what if this is like personal? So that’s why I walked in. I was like, Charles, I got your memo about the expense reports. Thank you. And I sort of touched my chest. Like thank you for seeing me. This starts an amazing runner, Jenna, about the expense reports. The whole entire thing got deleted for time, and I’m going to share about it. Before I play the first one, I want you to know when Angela leaves the room and Dwight says to Charles, Been there, done that. That was not in the script.

Jenna [00:26:35] Oh, Rainn improvised that?

Angela [00:26:37] Rainn improvised that. And then immediately after the scene would have started this expense reports runner. Angela is delighted to be policing people. Here is clip number one.

Angela Martin [00:26:50] Stanley… Andrew.

Andy [00:26:54] Rejected?

Stanley [00:26:57] You never had a problem with me expensing cigars before.

Angela Martin [00:27:00] Yes, I did. I just didn’t have the power to enforce it. Phyllis, this client you take out to Alfredo’s every Saturday night wouldn’t happen to be a refrigeration company, would it?

Phyllis [00:27:09] Michael never cared. He said it was a perk of the job.

Angela Martin [00:27:12] Hmm. I’m sorry. I get no joy from this.

Angela [00:27:17] All right. So on that line, on that line, I get no joy from this, I turn around and I walk away beaming with the biggest smile. And so I took a screengrab of it. It’s hilarious. I’m going to put it in stories. And then right after this, there would have been back to back Phyllis and Angela talking heads. And this is what Angela said in her talking head. She holds up a rejected stamp and says, I bought it for myself for my birthday. I’ve been waiting for a chance to use it. It came with an approved stamp, which I can’t seem to find.

Jenna [00:27:49] Amazing.

Angela [00:27:50] And then Phyllis would have had a talking head immediately after that said, That little bitch. Get with the program. A free dinner here. A bottle of wine there. Everybody’s happy. You take away my perks? See you later, alligator.

Jenna [00:28:04] Ooh, Phyllis sass.

Angela [00:28:06] What is that? What’s see you later, alligator?

Jenna [00:28:09] I’m not sure. I don’t. I don’t know if you want to find out.

Angela [00:28:11] I know. So there was all this hullabaloo with Angela rejecting everyone’s expense reports, and it keeps playing out. I’ll share more later.

Jenna [00:28:19] Well, next up, we’re going to go down to the Michael Scott paper company where everyone is so tired.

Angela [00:28:25] Well, they’ve been getting up at 4:30 in the morning every day.

Jenna [00:28:28] Ryan thinks they should get a delivery guy. Michael thinks they should just maybe build a loft for Pam in particular.

Angela [00:28:34] Yeah, just bunk up there, Pam.

Jenna [00:28:36] Michael’s like, yeah, dorm rooms have lofts and Ryan’s like, No, they don’t, Michael. But did you have a loft in your dorm? Because I did.

Angela [00:28:45] No, I had two twin beds in my dorm room.

Jenna [00:28:47] My dad built me a loft and I put my bed up high and I put my desk underneath it. Just like Michael said,.

Angela [00:28:54] Well, I had friends that had that in their bedrooms growing up, but at my college you had a roommate. Did you not have a roommate?

Jenna [00:29:00] I did have a roommate. And though.

Angela [00:29:02] Your dad built a loft on your side of the- I had a one room dorm room with two twin beds and a little sink in the corner.

Jenna [00:29:11] Us too. Yeah. So we had like a Jack and Jill bathroom situation, so.

Angela [00:29:15] Oh I had to go down the hall. I had a little shower caddy.

Jenna [00:29:17] Ohh.

Angela [00:29:18] And I had a walk to a like community shower. I mean, it was a girls dorm, but you know.

Jenna [00:29:23] I’m not going to lie. I kind of picked my college because-

Angela [00:29:27] Of the bathrooms?

Jenna [00:29:28] Because of the dorm room situation, like slightly. I loved my school. I went to Truman State in rural Missouri. It was amazing. I loved it there. But the dorms at the time, this was a little rare, you had like two bedrooms separated by a bathroom, so it would be four girls sharing one bathroom. But guess what?

Angela [00:29:50] What?

Jenna [00:29:51] The dorm room on the other side of our bathroom had an issue. It was like really smelly. Like maybe it smelled like maybe an animal died in the wall.

Angela [00:30:04] Ew, gross.

Jenna [00:30:04] It was so gross. So they didn’t put anyone in there. So we were just two girls with one bathroom. So it was only two of us. You know, me and my roommate shared. And at first, my roommate and I were like, What if we open the window and air it out? We could just make that like a living room. We were all excited. OK we tried. We could not get rid of that smell.

Angela [00:30:25] Did you report it?

Jenna [00:30:27] Yeah, and they could never get rid of the smell. It just stayed empty. Luckily, if you kept the bathroom door shut to that room, it didn’t come our way. I don’t know what happened in there, but as a result, we got a pretty private bathroom.

Angela [00:30:44] That’s amazing.

Jenna [00:30:45] Yeah.

Angela [00:30:46] I went to Baylor University. I loved my dorm room, Collins, my Collins girls out there. But I shared one room. We had the shower down the hall and my roommate’s name was also Angela.

Jenna [00:30:57] Oh!

Angela [00:30:57] So everyone in college called me Kinsey. And I still, to this day, know anyone who knew me in college because all my messages like on voicemail, like my husband can always tell because they’re like, Kinsey, what’s up? No one knew my name was Angela. I think a lot of people just thought my name was Kinsey.

Jenna [00:31:15] My roommate. I loved her. Her name was T.J. And she came from such a small town in Iowa that you could just write her name and then the city and state and zip code. You did not have to write her house number or her street.

Angela [00:31:30] That’s my hometown, Jenna.

Jenna [00:31:31] And she would get mail. I found that so cool that I would write her letters on break and then we’d come back and I’d be like, Did you get it? She’d be like, Oh yeah. And I went home with her once to like, you know, visit. And it was amazing. Like, she was the coolest.

Angela [00:31:46] That was my hometown. I mean, we didn’t have to dial a full phone number, just four digits and you could get anyone in town.

Jenna [00:31:53] Wow.

Angela [00:31:53] I know.

Jenna [00:31:54] Crazy times. But I guess to wrap that up, I’ll just say I had a loft.

Angela [00:31:58] You had a loft. So Michael had a point.

Jenna [00:32:00] He did. I want to point out in this scene, at three minutes, 55 seconds, you can see the latest fish in the fish bowl. It’s an all black goldfish. This is going to be the last fish of Michael Scott Paper Company.

Angela [00:32:15] Why didn’t Michael bring the fish to his office?

Jenna [00:32:17] I don’t know. That’s a really good point, Angela. What happened to it?

Angela [00:32:21] Yeah.

Jenna [00:32:22] Well, Randy told us in real life, this fish went to his assistant Jackie, and it lived on her desk for two years. He said the fish kept getting bigger and bigger, and they had to get bigger fish bowls to accommodate it. But she took very, very good care of it.

Angela [00:32:38] Well, I have appreciated your documentation of the fish every week. I feel like it was your plant.

Jenna [00:32:45] Thank you. It was my plant at reception. It was. Well, it’s over. That’s your last fish breakdown.

Angela [00:32:50] OK. Back upstairs in Dunder-Mifflin, special guests coming in, David Wallace, to check in on things because they keep losing clients. And Charles seems very enamored with David Wallace. Wants to impress him.

Jenna [00:33:04] Yeah, we had a fan catch in this, which delighted me.

Angela [00:33:09] OK?

Jenna [00:33:10] Many people wrote in to say, Does Idris Elba break character at five minutes, 25 seconds when Kevin says hi to David Wallace?

Angela [00:33:20] I totally saw that, too. And he does.

Jenna [00:33:23] He does!

Angela [00:33:24] He does.

Jenna [00:33:24] Totally. I wondered if that was like an addition, because everyone, you know, David is trying to get things going, but people keep interrupting just to say Hi.

Angela [00:33:34] Yeah.

Jenna [00:33:35] And Kevin has this late breaking hello. Very funny. Idris totally broke character.

Angela [00:33:40] 100 percent.

Jenna [00:33:41] If you want to see just a glimmer of the charming man that Idris Elba is, you can see it at five minutes, 24 seconds because he gets a little smiley twinkle in his eye.

Angela [00:33:51] After Charles greets David Wallace, Jim just watches this whole thing play out. And then there is a cutaway to him in the break room, and he’s just doing kissing noises. Right? Well, that was not in the script. That must have happened on the day. In the script it’s a talking head, and this was Jim’s scripted line. So, O-M-G. Turns out Charles Miner is a huge kiss ass.

Jenna [00:34:20] Mmm.

Angela [00:34:21] But I kind of liked that it was just the kissing noise.

Jenna [00:34:23] I did too.

Angela [00:34:24] Right? He just is like, we know what’s happening here.

Jenna [00:34:27] Well, David is telling everyone that although Michael Scott Paper Company has stolen some clients, he believes it’s just a temporary setback. But this brings on some real Phyllis sass.

Angela [00:34:40] Yeah.

Jenna [00:34:41] She’s like, perhaps if you had returned Michael’s phone calls, this would have never happened.

Angela [00:34:47] What you need to know about Phyllis is that she’s already pissed off because of the expense reports. So she is not mincing her words.

Jenna [00:34:56] And then David is going to invite Jim to join him and Charles in the conference room.

Angela [00:35:03] And Charles is like, Hold up. Dwight’s been my guy. Jim, not living up to his potential. And David’s like, I am surprised by that.

Jenna [00:35:11] Oh my gosh, it’s so amazing.

Angela [00:35:13] So good.

Jenna [00:35:14] And it plays out so well because David says, let’s invite them both.

Angela [00:35:19] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:35:20] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:35:21] I think we should take a break because when we come back, I mean, there’s some serious accounting issues over at Michael Scott Paper Company.

Jenna [00:35:28] Oh my gosh, it made me laugh out loud. All right, we will take a break.

Angela [00:35:33] We’ll be back. Well, we are back and the Michael Scott Paper Company has decided to go speak to an accountant to see if they can hire a delivery guy.

Jenna [00:35:45] But they can’t. Not only can they not afford a delivery guy, they are bleeding money. Their prices are putting them out of business. It’s not looking good for Michael Scott Paper Company.

Angela [00:35:56] It’s not. It’s also not looking great for Ryan because he had calculated all this.

Jenna [00:36:00] Yes, but he used a fixed cost formula. And he should have used a variable cost formula. He seems a little confused by those terms.

Angela [00:36:11] Yeah.

Jenna [00:36:11] I looked it up. I wrote up a whole thing about it, and I still don’t understand it.  So.

Angela [00:36:17] Oh my gosh.

Jenna [00:36:19] I mean, I think if I think really, really hard, I can get there.

Angela [00:36:23] OK? Are we going to have to think hard right now?

Jenna [00:36:25] I don’t know. I mean, I can just skip it. Do we want to think hard or no?

Angela [00:36:29] Well, let’s give it a try.

Jenna [00:36:30] All right.

Angela [00:36:31] All right, everybody. Ready?

Jenna [00:36:32] Variable and fixed costs are the two main types of costs that a company incurs.

Angela [00:36:39] OK.

Jenna [00:36:40] Variable costs are volume related. They vary with the amount of products you’re making. While fixed costs are time related, they stay consistent. It doesn’t matter how much stuff you make. Just to keep the lights on, these are fixed costs. So, for example, your rent on your office space. That isn’t going to change month to month. If you make five widgets or 500 widgets, your rent is the same.

Angela [00:37:11] Right. But what if you have an employee that gets injured and now you have to file workman’s comp and you’re paying all this extra stuff?

Jenna [00:37:19] Well, that would go under your variable costs.

Angela [00:37:22] I’m with you.

Jenna [00:37:23] Oh my gosh, our brains are working! We’re doing it. So the more fixed costs you have, the more revenue your company needs in order to break even. So.

Angela [00:37:34] So that makes sense. The more overhead you have, the more you have to make. I mean, Ryan went to business school. He was the vice president of the Northeast region or whatever.

Jenna [00:37:45] I know. Now if you produce 500 widgets, that’s going to really offset your fixed cost. Right? But if you produce your 500 widgets for not enough money, you’re never going to cover your fixed costs.

Angela [00:38:03] Got it.

Jenna [00:38:03] And then your variable costs are going to put you out of business as well.

Angela [00:38:09] I don’t know. I think we got it.

Jenna [00:38:10] Kind of. The point is, they cannot afford a delivery driver.

Angela [00:38:16] The point is, Ryan’s accounting was horrible and they are going out of business because their prices are too low.

Jenna [00:38:21] Yes. And all of this information was delivered by a delightful guest star playing the accountant Ty Platt. And that person is Kurt Scholler. He is a seasoned improvizational performer. He’s done a ton of television. Angela, I believe you knew him from your improv days.

Angela [00:38:39] I did. Kurt and I were both at IO West. He is so smart and quick and funny. Really talented guy. Again, we were so lucky to get such great guest stars on our show.

Jenna [00:38:50] Well, you know, on his computer, when Michael is, like, crunch those numbers again?

Angela [00:38:55] Yeah.

Jenna [00:38:56] And he hits a number.

Angela [00:38:56] Just one button.

Jenna [00:38:58] And nothing changes. Well, nothing could ever change because that was a fakey spreadsheet. On the computer. It was made by our graphics designer, Michael Marcus. You know, I said earlier that Michael also made the decals for the side of the van. And it just got me thinking, if you are a graphics designer, you can work for a TV show. TV shows have a graphics designer on their team.

Angela [00:39:25] Yeah.

Jenna [00:39:26] That’s so cool.

Angela [00:39:27] I know.

Jenna [00:39:28] He would make logos and all kinds of things for us when we needed fakey signs and props and things.

Angela [00:39:34] We needed things like that almost weekly.

Jenna [00:39:36] Yes. So he would work with Phil Shea to design these things. And with Michael Gallenberg, our production designer.

Angela [00:39:43] I have to share with you guys, after this scene, Ryan was going to have a complete meltdown. It’s in the deleted scenes. It is so crazy. But it’s like Ryan is faced with the fact that A) this new business that he was I guess optimistic about is going out of business, but also the fact that he crunched the numbers and he was wrong and he is actually not very good at being a businessman. And he loses it, Jenna. It’s in the deleted scenes on the DVD. He throws those cheese balls, he opens it up and he just starts throwing them everywhere. I am talking everywhere. He dumps the entire container and is yelling, and Michael’s just watching it all happen.

Jenna [00:40:24] Is Pam there?

Angela [00:40:25] Pam leaves. When he starts throwing things, she leaves.

Jenna [00:40:28] I don’t remember this.

Angela [00:40:29] Yeah, isn’t that crazy?

Jenna [00:40:31] Yes.

Angela [00:40:32] I totally get why this one didn’t make it in because it was kind of over the top. Like Ryan trashes their office. Well, what actually made it in the episode is that they just returned, they’re very just down in the dumps, and Michael starts calling clients and saying, You know what, actually, we need you to give us more money.

Jenna [00:40:47] Could you imagine?

Angela [00:40:49] No.

Jenna [00:40:49] Could you imagine if you bought something from a company and then they called you later in the day and said, Will you pay me more for that because I’m actually going out of business?

Angela [00:40:58] Yeah.

Jenna [00:40:58] That is such a weird phone call.

Angela [00:41:00] I know. And Pam has that great talking head.

Jenna [00:41:03] She does, she says, When a child gets behind the wheel of a car and crashes into a tree, you don’t blame the kid. You blame the 30 year old woman in the passenger seat who trusted the kid and said, Go ahead, drive, kid. Or something like that, I’m paraphrasing.

Angela [00:41:21] Yeah, she like, you got this. You got this, kid.

Jenna [00:41:24] Yeah. Lady, should we go back up to the conference room for a scene that I couldn’t get enough of?

Angela [00:41:29] I enjoyed this scene so much. You guys know that Jenna and I watch these episodes two to four times before we record. This was a highlight every single time. One of my absolute favorite moments in the entire episode is when Dwight suggests, you know, getting all of his bees and putting the bees in the office. Watch Idris as Charles turn and just look at Dwight as he’s giving his bee speech. Everything going across Idris’ face of like, holy crap.

Jenna [00:42:00] Yes.

Angela [00:42:01] Who have I attached myself to in front of David Wallace?

Jenna [00:42:05] I also love the attention to detail in this scene visually. I don’t know if you noticed, but Jim and David Wallace are both wearing blue shirts with kind of blue ties. And on the other side of the table, Dwight and Charles both have on kind of like a white or a light yellow canary yellow. Brilliant. So cool. It’s almost like teams. They have on their team colors.

Angela [00:42:34] Yes.

Jenna [00:42:35] Also, I noticed in this scene at eight minutes, 56 seconds, a Fiji water bottle.

Angela [00:42:42] I saw that too, and I thought-.

Jenna [00:42:44] Once again with the label turned away from camera.

Angela [00:42:47] I was like-.

Jenna [00:42:48] What is this?

Angela [00:42:48] What is that?

Jenna [00:42:50] Because it showed up back in Wallace’s office, he had a water bottle. Remember my son did the whole water bottle breakdown?

Angela [00:42:56] Yeah, yeah. Fancy water bottle for David Wallace.

Jenna [00:43:00] I’m gonna ask Randy about it. What? Why the Fiji water showing up in scenes all the time?

Angela [00:43:05] Were they giving us money?

Jenna [00:43:06] No, the label is not facing camera.

Angela [00:43:08] I know, but everybody knows it’s Fiji because they’re the square bottle.

Jenna [00:43:12] I’m going to get to the bottom of it.

Angela [00:43:13] Get to the bottom of it. We haven’t seen a lot of Jim and Pam together in this episode.

Jenna [00:43:18] Or in any of these episodes.

Angela [00:43:20] I know.

Jenna [00:43:21] Yeah.

Angela [00:43:22] Well, they’re working at rival paper companies.

Jenna [00:43:24] I guess so.

Angela [00:43:25] They do have this great scene in the hallway where Pam tells Jim that they have about a month before they’re going to go out of business. And he tells her not to worry, but then his phone starts ringing.

Jenna [00:43:35] Yes, I have an audio clip of it.

Dwight [00:43:38] Idiot, idiot, idiot.

Angela [00:43:41] That’s Jim’s ringtone.

Jenna [00:43:44] Yes. Now, to create the ringtone, they recorded Rainn saying idiot, and then our post-production supervisor, Jake Goss, put it on a loop and then our sound engineer actually put a speaker on the set next to us. It was not actually coming from the phone. In post-production, they put a filter on the sound to make it sound like it was coming from the phone, but that was like a whole fakey ringtone thing we had to set up. So nowadays, obviously, you can get customized ringtones for your phones and you can actually get this ringtone over on officetally.com.

Angela [00:44:27] No way.

Jenna [00:44:27] Yeah.

Angela [00:44:28] I love that. Well, when I watched this moment, I started laughing so hard because I remembered years later into the show Kenneth Paul, who did my makeup, who also did Rainn Wilson’s makeup, had Rainn do like a voice memo, and he made that his ringtone. So Kenneth Paul’s ringtone was Rainn Wilson doing this: (MAKES PHONE RING NOISE). It was so annoying, and whenever KP’s phone would ring, I’d be like, Oh my god, Kenneth Paul!

Jenna [00:45:03] Have you ever had a personalized ringtone?

Angela [00:45:05] I haven’t.

Jenna [00:45:06] Me either.

Angela [00:45:07] Maybe we should.

Jenna [00:45:08] Should we make it the Office Ladies theme as our ringtone? Or is that too narcissistic?

Angela [00:45:13] Maybe. I was going to just have Keanu Reeves maybe be my ringtone. Like, You know what? What if-.

Jenna [00:45:20] I’m fainting with excitement over this idea.

Angela [00:45:23] What if my ringtone is just, surf’s up, brah? Or or my ringtone could be, I know kung fu.

Jenna [00:45:31] All I know for certain is that when we’re finished recording today I will be looking up Keanu ringtones. This I know for sure.

Angela [00:45:41] Yes! OK, where are we?

Jenna [00:45:42] We are back down in Michael Scott Paper Company, and Michael is on the floor.

Angela [00:45:47] They are so mopey.

Jenna [00:45:49] They’re so mopey. Michael says he always thought that the day Steve Martin died would be the worst day of his life, but he was wrong because it’s this.

Angela [00:46:01] Pam’s like, you know, Steve Martin’s not dead.

Jenna [00:46:03] And he’s like, I know. I have to say something.

Angela [00:46:07] Yeah?

Jenna [00:46:07] Have you watched Steve Martin’s new show on Hulu, Only Murders in the Building?

Angela [00:46:12] I haven’t, and so many people are telling me to watch it. I know you love it.

Jenna [00:46:15] OK. Absolutely loved it. Amy Ryan is on it. She even talked about it on our podcast. She’s so good. You know, the premise of the show is that this guy in their building named Tim Cono, has been murdered, and these three residents come together to try to solve the crime while doing a podcast about it. In episode two of Only Murders in the building, this show that Steve Martin is in that he created, I want you to hear what they say.

Angela [00:46:43] OK?

Selena Gomez [00:46:44] What if Tim was a dick?

Martin Short [00:46:47] It’s a definite angle. I mean, I wouldn’t want him to be dickier than Steve Carell in The Office. I’d still care if Steve Carell in The Office got murdered. Or would I? Thinking, thinking, visualizing this.

Steve Martin [00:46:59] We need to find someone who knew him.

Jenna [00:47:01] How about that for full circle?

Angela [00:47:03] Yeah.

Jenna [00:47:04] Pretty amazing.

Angela [00:47:05] So Steve Carell references Steve Martin and then on Steve Martin’s show, they reference Steve Carell.

Jenna [00:47:10] Yes.

Angela [00:47:11] Oh my gah. I think there’s we need to discuss there some big revelations that happen in this scene.

Jenna [00:47:15] I was going to say. Pam says that she’s applied for a job at Target, Old Navy and Wal-Mart, and none of them even called her in for an interview.

Angela [00:47:26] Ryan confesses that he didn’t even go to Thailand.

Jenna [00:47:30] No, just Fort Lauderdale.

Angela [00:47:31] That is so perfect. I thought that was so brilliant. Of course Ryan lied about going to Thailand, of course.

Jenna [00:47:39] And this is when Michael pretends that he loves Pad Thai because Ryan said there was a great Pad Thai place in Fort Lauderdale. But then Ryan’s like, you’ve never had Pad Thai.

Angela [00:47:50] Michael’s like, I haven’t done a lot of things.

Jenna [00:47:52] This was a fan catch by Ella W and Abby W. The W’s.

Angela [00:47:55] What did you catch? What did you catch?

Jenna [00:47:58] They said in Diversity Day, Michael wishes aloud that he had some Pad Thai because he loves Pad Thai.

Angela [00:48:05] Oh my gosh. Great catch.

Jenna [00:48:09] So they wondered, has Michael been telling people that he loves Pad Thai for years and he’s still never tried it? It’s possible.

Angela [00:48:16] That’s also- it’s also believable that he thinks that maybe it makes him seem well-traveled or something. Right? Jenna. After this scene, the expense report deleted runner would have continued. Andy is determined to get an extension on his expense reports and goes to talk to Angela.

Andy [00:48:36] These expenses are legitimate.

Angela Martin [00:48:38] Which I denied.

Andy [00:48:40] Right. Would you please respectfully reconsider these?

Angela Martin [00:48:45] Why would I do that?

Andy [00:48:46] Because of our history, both romantic and thrice sexual?

Angela Martin [00:48:52] Twice. Resubmit with proof of business. Names of who you were with, what you talked about, phone numbers I can call to verify. You get a two hour extension based on our history.

Andy [00:49:06] Right-o.

Angela Martin [00:49:07] Then we’re even.

Andy [00:49:08] Yeah.

Jenna [00:49:10] Oh, wow.

Angela [00:49:12] I know. Scandalous, scandalous exchange. So, yes, Angela is going to give Andy a two hour extension.

Jenna [00:49:23] What is he going to do with that?

Angela [00:49:24] You’ll see. I have the clip.

Jenna [00:49:29] Oh I’m so glad. I’m glad that pays off. Oh, I’m very sad this runner was deleted.

Angela [00:49:34] I know it was really fun.

Jenna [00:49:35] Now we’re going to find out that Dunder Mifflin is going to offer Michael Scott Paper Company a buyout.

Angela [00:49:42] Yes.

Jenna [00:49:43] So Jim is going to go into Michael Scott Paper Company and give them this news. And Michael is like, what? Why would they want to do that? We’re totally broke.

Angela [00:49:54] And Jim’s like, don’t- once I hear it, I can’t unhear it. So don’t say it.

Jenna [00:49:59] And so Michael gets it. Steve has another one of those amazing moments where he comes to a realization very slowly. The three of them are going to go upstairs now to meet, and Ryan and Pam are like, Michael, you cannot say that we are broke. You cannot do it.

Angela [00:50:17] Are we clear? We are not going to mention that we are broke. And he’s like, I got it. I got it. They get in the elevator, the doors open on the next floor and he’s like, I don’t got it. I, I’m not. I can’t do it.

Jenna [00:50:28] I loved it so much. It made me laugh out loud. That’s a whole fakey elevator, as everyone knows. We got in the elevator. The guy with the pulleys pulled the rope, pulled the doors, and then we relocated to a completely different building, to the Dunder Mifflin elevator. And we got out, and it is seamless. It looks so good. Oh, that was funny. And then we walk in and Michael has his line that I have seen quoted so many times where he says, Well, well, well, how the turntables…

Angela [00:51:06] OK, I had to know how that was scripted. So I went to the shooting draft and that line is not in the script.

Jenna [00:51:13] Oh my gosh, we got a fan question about that.

Angela [00:51:16] Yeah, I don’t know if it was pitched on the fly. You know how sometimes writers would have some pitches? Or have Steve improvised it? I don’t know. But in the script, this is what it said. Well, well, well. Oh, how the meteor’s fallen.

Jenna [00:51:31] Hmm.

Angela [00:51:32] And I love the turntables so much better.

Jenna [00:51:36] Turntables is so funny.

Angela [00:51:38] I know because Michael gets all of his phrases slightly off. And Michael, you know what? I can relate to that. And you still sell-.

Jenna [00:51:46] Frighterday.

Angela [00:51:46] Frighterday. For years I’ve been saying Frighterday. I’ve been saying lots of things.

Jenna [00:51:52] I love that when they get into the conference room, Michael immediately rejects their first offer, and he says, Just give me your second offer.

Angela [00:52:01] Yeah.

Jenna [00:52:02] And their second offer is a buyout of $12000.

Angela [00:52:06] Kelly and Angela are trying to eavesdrop. And Kelly has her ear to the door with like a coffee mug. Mindy and I kept laughing.

Jenna [00:52:14] That was so funny.

Angela [00:52:15] It was so ridiculous. We’re so invested in what Charles is doing. We have to be eavesdropping. And you know, I remember Mindy tried a few different things. In the script I asked Kelly, What do you hear? And she actually responds and says, the ocean. But in the episode, we have this. Wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah wah.

Jenna [00:52:37] She was so good at it.

Angela [00:52:39] She was doing Charlie Brown’s teacher, right?

Jenna [00:52:41] It was so funny.

Angela [00:52:42] We were tickled.

Jenna [00:52:43] Well, Michael is going to reject this offer of $12000. And this is when he is a brilliant negotiator.

Angela [00:52:51] I could not believe it.

Jenna [00:52:54] Do you see the look on Pam’s face?

Angela [00:52:55] I do. Pam is all of us in this moment.

Jenna [00:52:58] Exactly. So he gets David to give them an offer of $60000.

Angela [00:53:05] Yes. He’s like, Listen, here’s how I see it. You’re up for approval by the board. And they’re probably not going to be too happy that you are losing customers to Michael Scott Paper Company. So you actually need me.

Jenna [00:53:18] Yes. So they say, we’ll give you a moment to discuss it. And now we’re going to have a scene out at Dwight and Jim’s desks. But did you notice behind them? No one is in the conference room and the door is open. It’s a total continuity catch. Ryan, Michael and Pam should have been in the background there, and they’re not.

Angela [00:53:38] Oh, good catch.

Jenna [00:53:40] Yeah. But Dwight gets this phone call from a client saying that Michael Scott Paper Company called them and asked them for more money and they’d like to come back to Dunder Mifflin, and Dwight is going to run into the kitchen and tattle. He’s going to tell Charles Michael Scott Paper Company is going broke.

Angela [00:53:57] And normally Charles would take that information from Dwight and go right into action. But Dwight’s been acting so strange to Charles all day, and then Jim capitalizes on that.

Jenna [00:54:08] Yeah, he kind of baits Dwight into bringing out his full weirdo by sort of heckling him about his ability to solve cases.

Angela [00:54:19] And Charles is like, You’re both morons. Don’t go anywhere near the conference room.

Jenna [00:54:23] Here’s what I need to bring up about this scene on a practical level. Did you notice where Charles is standing in this scene?

Angela [00:54:30] By the counter?

Jenna [00:54:31] Yes, but very close to the fridge. And through the entire scene, he’s got his Saticoy Steel coffee mug and he’s got a full coffee pot. Each hand is holding one of these items. Why did he walk so far away from the coffee maker to put his coffee in his mug? Because the coffee maker is over by the door that leads to the office. So this man is saddled with these two coffee items, and I’m just like, Why did he drift? In my mind as an actor I’m having to make up a reason why this happened, so I’m imagining he got the coffee pot and he’s starting to pour and he notices something on the fridge. He wants to get a closer look. And then Dwight comes in and he’s now stuck with his two coffees. I don’t know. It was an odd staging for me and I became distracted.

Angela [00:55:23] I love it. I love that like this moment pulled you out for a minute. Like as an actor process, you’re like, That makes no sense.

Jenna [00:55:29] I’m like, I need a reason. I need a motivation.

Angela [00:55:32] Back in the conference room, Michael says no to this very lucrative offer.

Jenna [00:55:38] Yeah. And Pam is like, Can we have another minute? And this is when Michael again makes perfect sense and he says, what we need are jobs. We don’t need a buyout. That money’s not going to last forever. We need employment. And everyone agrees.

Angela [00:55:53] Yes, this is his teach a man to fish moment.

Jenna [00:55:56] Yes.

Angela [00:55:56] Right?

Jenna [00:55:57] So when they come back in, that’s what Michael is going to say. You have to hire all of us back. And also, in addition to jobs, Michael wants to Sebring again.

Angela [00:56:06] And his old parking space.

Jenna [00:56:08] But Charles says they don’t make Sebrings anymore. Is that true?

Angela [00:56:14] Lady, you know I had to know.

Jenna [00:56:16] Oh, I’m so glad you looked this up because I didn’t look it up and it has been bothering me.

Angela [00:56:20] All right. Charles is wrong. They are still making the Sebring. This episode aired April of 2009, according to the internet they made the Chrysler Sebring from 1995 to 2010. And in looking up this fact, I ended up watching several Sebring commercials over the years.

Jenna [00:56:41] Oh, you really were invested.

Angela [00:56:44] I think I watched half an hour worth of commercials. Oh my gosh, they made some really interesting choices in their commercials. But there was one I really needed you to hear. It is from 1995. It’s the year the car debuted. Can we please play that Sebring commercial?

Sebring Commercial [00:57:04] The new Chrysler Sebring was built upon something called the Goldilocks principle. It occurred to us that while most luxury cars were too big, most sport coupes were too small. We wanted the Sebring to be, well, just right. It not only has a sporty 24 valve engine and a race inspired suspension, but it also gives you the luxury of an actual back seat, which means there’s enough room for Goldilocks and three or four of her friends.

Jenna [00:57:35] OK, I have to say, ok, so Sam is not with us this week. He’s on vacation. Jordan is filling in and is like laughing. I can see her laughing at that commercial.

Angela [00:57:46] Thank you, guys. When watching my half an hour of Chrysler commercials for the Sebring, I’d had a glass of wine. And when we got to this one, I literally did a spit take. I was like, What? And the whole time the car is driving through the woods.

Jenna [00:58:01] OK? Oh, because of Goldilocks.

Angela [00:58:03] And the three bears. But when they were like, to fit a few of her friends, I was just like who are these people?

Jenna [00:58:10] That’s when Jordan doubled over.

Angela [00:58:11] Oh my gosh, I had to share that. So yes, they still had the Sebring. They could have given Michael a Sebring in April of 2009.

Jenna [00:58:19] By the way, I want to say, you know, my friend Stacy, who I invented the tan baster with?

Angela [00:58:25] Yes.

Jenna [00:58:25] She drove a Sebring.

Angela [00:58:27] Oh.

Jenna [00:58:27] And it was a lovely car. I have to say it was kind of like, they’re, right. It was a really nice combination of a sporty coupe, but also roomy.

Angela [00:58:38] But with a comfortable back seat.

Jenna [00:58:39] I don’t know. I never sat in the back seat.

Angela [00:58:41] Well, Goldilocks would have been happy with it.

Jenna [00:58:43] She could have sat back there. Also, since we brought up Jordan, Jordan did our song parody Total Eclipse of the Fart.

Angela [00:58:51] Yes, that was Jordan who sang that.

Jenna [00:58:53] We’re very happy to have you. Thank you for filling in for Sam today.

Angela [00:58:56] Yes, Sam, I brought cake today. So you missed out on that. I also got it on my sweater as I walked in.

Jenna [00:59:02] Yeah, I noticed it right away when you walked in and I thought, I don’t know, it’s ketchup or something.

Angela [00:59:08] You thought I had a messy breakfast.

Jenna [00:59:10] I guess I did.

Angela [00:59:10] I guess I did. I guess I did.

Jenna [00:59:12] I thought it was leftover, maybe from the last time you wore it.

Angela [00:59:15] Jenna!

Jenna [00:59:15] What?

Angela [00:59:16] I wouldn’t leave food on my hoodie and hang it back up.

Jenna [00:59:21] If you didn’t notice, you might. Have you never not noticed?

Angela [00:59:26] It’s a pretty big mark right on my boob. I love that my husband, though, didn’t say a word as I walked out. Josh, come on. All right. So back to this episode, would you like to hear how the expense report finished?

Jenna [00:59:39] Yes, please.

Angela [00:59:39] Because in the script, this is where it would have wrapped up. Angela and Andy, their final scene about the expense report.

Andy [00:59:48] And now, with no further riddit-dit-ado, my revised expense report-.

Angela Martin [00:59:54] The deadline’s past.

Andy [00:59:55] What? When?

Angela Martin [00:59:56] When you were saying riddit-dit-do.

Andy [00:59:59] It’s riddit-dit-ado.

Angela Martin [01:00:01] I know. I’ve always been such a fan of it.

Jenna [01:00:06] Oh, wow!

Angela [01:00:07] Isn’t that so delicious?

Jenna [01:00:11] I’m really sad that got cut.

Angela [01:00:13] Me too. Oh, and as soon as he was like, ugh, I just turn around and I don’t look at him anymore and he has to walk away.

Jenna [01:00:21] Well, I have some news for Angela. This power that she’s had is going to go away because Michael, Pam and Ryan get their jobs back.

Angela [01:00:32] Yep.

Jenna [01:00:32] That’s the buyout. The buyout is that they are all now reemployed by Dunder Mifflin. And I guess, is Charles fired? That was never clear to me.

Angela [01:00:43] No, I don’t think he was fired.

Jenna [01:00:44] He’s going to show up in company picnic again.

Angela [01:00:47] Yeah, no. My understanding and I reread the script so sort of what I inferred is that he’s just getting reassigned.

Jenna [01:00:54] Well, he’s going to be out of Scranton, obviously. But originally, Michael says, I want him fired and David’s like, I’m not going to do that, Michael.

Angela [01:01:02] Yeah, no, he’s a good employee. He’s maybe not a good fit right here in the Scranton branch, but he’s going to still have his other branches.

Jenna [01:01:09] To manage. To oversee.

Angela [01:01:10] To manage. That’s right. That’s how I saw it.

Jenna [01:01:12] OK. Because the whole thing kind of ends with Charles trying to say goodbye. But Michael says, No, no, you’re done. And that’s the same line that Charles said to Michael in Two Weeks. So this is some good Michael sass.

Angela [01:01:28] Yeah. Michael held on to that.

Jenna [01:01:30] He really did. And then there’s this talking head by Michael that kind of ends the episode where he’s just sort of wrapping up this whole storyline of having had this paper company. And Randy shared with us that this was added later. It was not in the original script. They even shot it about two weeks after we shot the rest of this episode.

Angela [01:01:48] Do you want to know what was in the original shooting draft?

Jenna [01:01:51] Yes, please.

Angela [01:01:52] Well, there were two final goodbyes to Charles that got cut. Any guesses who would want to make sure they said goodbye to Charles, Jenna?

Jenna [01:02:00] I’m imagining it was the ladies who had their ear to the door.

Angela [01:02:04] Who fought over a scarf in the rain? Yes, Angela and Kelly. So in the script, there was this tag. As Charles is leaving, Angela approaches him and she says, it was an honor. And Charles says, OK then. And he leaves. Dwight looks out the window as Kelly waits for Charles, sitting on the hood of his car sexily.

Jenna [01:02:26] Oh my gosh.

Angela [01:02:28] As Charles approaches, we see Kelly is sitting on the wrong car. She runs over to Charles but doesn’t get there in time. She bangs on the window as he drives off. Charles talking head. Never sleep with coworkers, man.

Jenna [01:02:42] What? Wait, what?

Angela [01:02:44] That’s what it ended with.

Jenna [01:02:46] Wait. Coworkers?

Angela [01:02:49] That’s what it said. Never sleep with coworkers, man.

Jenna [01:02:53] OK.

Angela [01:02:54] What the heck? That was the ending to this episode. Angela walks up to him, says it was an honor. Kelly tries to sit on his car before he leaves. I don’t know.

Jenna [01:03:07] Wow.

Angela [01:03:08] I know. I was like, I have to share that.

Jenna [01:03:12] OK, well, listen, I’ll have you know that in a very early draft, like one of the earliest outlines for this episode, there was another tag. Now, this one didn’t even make it into the shooting draft.

Angela [01:03:23] OK, because I don’t know about this one.

Jenna [01:03:24] Listen to this.

Angela [01:03:25] Milady. Where did you find this?

Jenna [01:03:27] Randy Cordray,

Angela [01:03:29] Oh, Randy.

Jenna [01:03:29] Here’s what it would have been. And I am so bummed that we did not get to do this. You were going to see Pam, Michael and Ryan packing up Michael Scott Paper Company. And before they go, Michael is going to give them each a Scotty, which is the Michael Scott Paper Company version of a Dundee.

Angela [01:03:49] Oh, with a little Scottie dog?

Jenna [01:03:52] No, no. Because Michael Scott.

Angela [01:03:54] Oh. I thought I thought instead of the man with the briefcase who was a little Scottie dog.

Jenna [01:04:05] No.

Angela [01:04:05] I got really excited.

Jenna [01:04:07] It didn’t get far enough to know what the statue would be, but they were going to be called Scottie’s.

Angela [01:04:12] Instead of Dundee’s.

Jenna [01:04:12] Instead of Dundee’s. And Ryan was going to win one that said great style. And Pam’s said boobs.

Angela [01:04:21] Oh Michael.

Jenna [01:04:24] So good.

Angela [01:04:25] Pam got a Scotty.

Jenna [01:04:27] Man, I have my Dundee’s both, my whitest sneakers and my longest engagement. And I so wish I had a Scotty that said boobs.

Angela [01:04:35] Me too! I have my Dundee’s right next to my Emmy and my SAG Awards.

Jenna [01:04:38] I’m so jealous. You have a real Emmy.

Angela [01:04:40] I know.

Jenna [01:04:41] Angela won an Emmy for the webisodes.

Angela [01:04:44] The accountants. Me and Brian and Oscar won an Emmy, you guys. It was really amazing. But what sits right next to my Emmy that more people want to point out when they come to my house are my two Dundee’s. Tightest ass and she’s kind of a bitch.

Jenna [01:04:59] I’ve said this before. I am really bummed that I did not win an Emmy for Pam for Pam. I wanted our gal Pam to win that award. I’ll tell you what award Jenna wants to win.

Angela [01:05:11] What?

Jenna [01:05:12] A Tony Award. So my plan after my kids are grown I am going to retire in New York City, and I am going to work hard to get myself in a great Broadway show. I’m going to give the performance of my life.

Angela [01:05:28] I will vote for you even though I’m not a registered Tony voter.

Jenna [01:05:33] Thank you! And I want to win a Tony. That’s the award I want on myself more than any other award.

Angela [01:05:39] I want that for you so desperately.

Jenna [01:05:41] I hope it can happen.

Angela [01:05:42] I want a Grammy.

Jenna [01:05:44] Ooh, you aren’t a singer?

Angela [01:05:46] I know.

Jenna [01:05:47] Oh, I know.

Angela [01:05:48] I want a Grammy because guys, Jenna and I recently found out that with our book, we’ll be doing an audio book. We’re very excited about doing the audio book, and we found out if you really, really crush it, you can get nominated for a Grammy for your audiobook.

Jenna [01:06:06] Amy Poehler got nominated for a Grammy for her audiobook Yes Please.

Angela [01:06:09] That’s right. Yes, that’s right. I want a Grammy.

Jenna [01:06:13] All right. Let’s get that effin Grammy.

Angela [01:06:15] Let’s get the Grammy and then get you your Tony.

Jenna [01:06:17] We’re going to get those awards this year.

Angela [01:06:19] You get an award and you guys get an award because you’re bad asses and you get an award and you get an award.

Jenna [01:06:24] Awards all around.

Angela [01:06:26] Awards everywhere.

Jenna [01:06:27] This was a great episode.

Angela [01:06:29] I’m going to make you a Scotty.

Jenna [01:06:30] Oh, Will you? Is it going to be a Scotty dog? What’s it going to be?

Angela [01:06:33] It will be my interpretation of what a Scotty would be, and I’m going to make it myself. So get ready for a second grade skillset of art and crafting coming your way.

Jenna [01:06:44] I will treasure it.

Angela [01:06:45] I’m going to get out my glue gun. I’m not kidding. I’m going to make this myself.

Jenna [01:06:49] If we gave out awards for our business of Office Ladies, which is actually-.

Angela [01:06:55] I know it would be called!

Jenna [01:06:56] Rambly’s?

Angela [01:06:57] Oh, I was gonna say-.

Jenna [01:06:59] For our company, Ramble?

Angela [01:06:59] A lady.

Jenna [01:07:00] Oh, you get a lady.

Angela [01:07:01] You get a lady.

Jenna [01:07:02] Should we give out ladies?

Angela [01:07:04] We could give out ladies.

Jenna [01:07:05] OK. Cassi and Jordan are nodding yes. We’ll give out some ladies.

Angela [01:07:09] Oh, let’s do it!

Jenna [01:07:10] All right.

Angela [01:07:11] All right, you guys. Thank you so much for listening. We just love you all, and thank you for sending in your comments and your questions and being here every week with us. We hope you have a great day.

Jenna [01:07:22] We’ll see you next week. 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 [01:07:45] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For Ad free versions of Office Ladies go to Stitcher Premium dot com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code: Office.