EP. 93 — Lecture Circuit, Pt 2

OFFICE-093 – Lecture Circuit, Pt 2

[00:00:04] Jenna I’m Jenna Fischer.

[00:00:05] Angela And I’m Angela Kinsey.

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

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

[00:00:09] Jenna And now we’re doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.

[00:00:12] Angela 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.

[00:00:20] Jenna We’re the Office Ladies. Hello, everybody.

[00:00:25] Angela Good morning.

[00:00:26] Jenna Or afternoon.

[00:00:26] Angela Well it’s morning for us.  Or good evening.

[00:00:28] Jenna We don’t know when you listen.

[00:00:30] Angela We don’t, although I’m always fascinated. I love it when people share where they listen and when and what they’re doing. I just love it.

[00:00:37] Jenna A lot of people listen while they do chores. I think that’s a good time to listen.

[00:00:42] Angela I do too. I had one gal say she sneaks and listens at work.

[00:00:45] Jenna Oh. What does she do?

[00:00:48] Angela I don’t know. I should always do the follow up question. I don’t know what you do at work, but thanks for listening to us. I hope everything else in your office is safely going about its business.

[00:00:59] Jenna Yes, I hope you’re having a good day at work. Today is Lecture Circuit Part Two. It is Season five, Episode seventeen, written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Ken Kwapis. Here’s a summary. Pam and Michael are still on their speaking tour because remember, Michael was asked by David Wallace to tell all the other branches how to be as successful as Scranton. Well, they’ve decided to take a detour. They’re going to add Nashua to the lecture circuit so that Michael can see Holly and get some closure.

[00:01:33] Angela And Pam is all about it.

[00:01:35] Jenna Pam’s up for it. But guess what?

[00:01:37] Angela What?

[00:01:38] Jenna Holly’s not there.

[00:01:39] Angela Oh no.

[00:01:40] Jenna You know who is there?

[00:01:41] Angela A.J.?

[00:01:42] Jenna Holly’s new boyfriend.

[00:01:44] Angela New boyfriend.

[00:01:46] Jenna Back in Scranton. Jim and Dwight are still trying to do right by Kelly’s missed birthday. And Angela has a very new expensive cat that she bought with the money from selling her engagement ring from Andy. And she has to keep tabs on it with a whole video system.

[00:02:04] Angela Not even just keep tabs. She’s delighted to just watch her cats while she’s at work. That’s what she’s doing while she’s at work.

[00:02:11] Jenna Yeah, exactly. Well, fast fact number one, if you listened to last week, then you’ll remember that we explained how Lecture Circuit was originally meant to be a single episode. But when they got to the editing room, it was just so good they decided to turn it into two.

[00:02:30] Angela Yeah, Jenna weren’t you so surprised when you started watching this one? Even though I knew that information because we talked about that last week, on the screen it said previously on The Office.

[00:02:39] Jenna Yes.

[00:02:40] Angela And then there was a whole recap.

[00:02:42] Jenna Never seen that before.

[00:02:43] Angela Never.

[00:02:44] Jenna Not very documentary is it?

[00:02:45] Angela Not very documentary.

[00:02:48] Jenna Well, they had to add extra stories in order to make it two episodes. Remember last week they had the story of Andy trying to date Stanley’s client. Well, this week, the extra storyline is all about Angela and her cats.

[00:03:03] Angela Oh, yeah.

[00:03:04] Jenna Angela, I texted with Mindy about this.

[00:03:07] Angela You did?

[00:03:07] Jenna I did.

[00:03:08] Angela What did she say?

[00:03:09] Jenna She said she thought that on paper that that cat storyline was a little broad and a little silly. But here was the thing that the writers knew about you, Angela.

[00:03:22] Angela What?

[00:03:22] Jenna And this is something that Jen Celotta said, remember, back in The Duel, that you do such a great job of grounding comedy and making it work. And so they could just throw these broader storylines at you and you made them sing. She said, what a gift.

[00:03:40] Angela Let me tell you something. I am on cloud nine right now. I am absolutely giddy. Mindy and Jen Celotta’s opinion of my acting and comedic skills mean more to me than any award. You heard me. I will take this Mindy and Jen award to my heart.

[00:03:56] Jenna I’m going to make you a little mini Jen and a little mini Mindy statue and give them to you.

[00:04:02] Angela Is that weird? If I have a miniature set. OK, Mindy and Jen, if you hear this, it’s because I so highly regard your opinion.

[00:04:09] Jenna You just won a Mindy today.

[00:04:11] Angela Oh!

[00:04:12] Jenna And on The Duel you won a Jen.

[00:04:13] Angela Thank you.

[00:04:14] Jenna Yeah!

[00:04:14] Angela I’d like to thank the Academy of Badass Women for believing in me.

[00:04:19] Jenna Fast fact number two is a location breakdown. Let’s discuss the Nashua branch.

[00:04:26] Angela I was really hoping you would.

[00:04:28] Jenna Everyone’s curious because we did not go to Nashua. We filmed the exterior and interior scenes at different places. Mm hmm. The exterior of the Nashua branch was actually T&R drywall in Van Nuys.

[00:04:46] Angela Huh.

[00:04:48] Jenna Yep. Then we relocated to- get this-.

[00:04:53] Angela Where?

[00:04:54] Jenna For the interior scenes.

[00:04:55] Angela Where?

[00:04:56] Jenna M&M Paper Company, a real paper company.

[00:05:00] Angela That’s amazing.

[00:05:01] Angela Right? Yeah.

[00:05:03] Jenna We shot all of the scenes for Nashua at the very end of the week. It was on a Friday and the very last thing we shot was Steve cutting the sleeve off Holly’s sweater. That was the last thing. But here’s something else that we shot that day that I found fascinating. Here’s a little bit of like, I don’t know, is this movie magic? Something-

[00:05:27] Angela Well you tell me and I’ll tell you.

[00:05:28] Jenna Insidery Hollywood.

[00:05:30] Angela Yeah tell me.

[00:05:31] Jenna We shot a background plate.

[00:05:33] Angela Oh, that’s very insidery Hollywoody movie magicy.

[00:05:36] Jenna Yes. Thank you. OK, good. So a background plate is a shot that they could put behind a future talking head that might take place in Nashua. So it’s just like an empty background and they could superimpose a person there with a green screen. So if AJ or Holly or anyone from the Nashua branch had a talking head in a future episode, we wouldn’t have to rent this whole building again. They could just shoot it on a green screen and add our background plate.

[00:06:04] Angela It is really cool. I’ve only worked with a background plate one time. It’s for a TV show I shot this year. I don’t know if I can see yet, but we had to be driving through Los Angeles and we were in a car Jenna on a rig and it would move, but we were inside a studio and then all around us was this sort of like curved screen of like the streets of Los Angeles. And I got dizzy. Mm hmm. This thing you don’t think about in acting school, which is you’re going to do a fakey car scene with fakey street going by, and it might make you a little dizzy if you’re prone to that.

[00:06:40] Jenna Now, could you see the fake street on the screen?

[00:06:43] Angela Yes. No, it was surrounding us.

[00:06:46] Jenna Wow.

[00:06:47] Angela Like, you know, one of those fancy movie theaters where the screen goes around you. I don’t know. They have those, don’t they?

[00:06:51] Jenna Yeah, I think so.

[00:06:52] Angela Somewhere.

[00:06:53] Jenna Something like that.

[00:06:54] Angela Yeah. Like went around us. So we would look out the car window and there’d be the street driving by.

[00:06:59] Jenna Wow.

[00:07:00] Angela Not the street driving by. You know what I mean.

[00:07:02] Jenna I knew what you meant. I did a fakey driving scene like that in a studio as well, except it was just a green screen and they inserted the images later. But I was on a little thing where they make the car move.

[00:07:14] Angela Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:07:15] Jenna It’s Yeah. Fans blowing in through the windows for motion.

[00:07:20] Angela Yes! Yes!

[00:07:20] Jenna Yeah movie magic.

[00:07:20] Angela Movie magic.

[00:07:21] Jenna I love doing that stuff because that’s some of the stuff as a kid that was fascinating to me. The fakey movie magic.

[00:07:28] Angela It’s also like so fascinating- sorry guys to go off on a total tangent here, but to see that many different departments working to pull off one moment, I always think that’s so cool.

[00:07:39] Jenna Yeah. All right, Angela, this next location breakdown is all you. Will you please tell us where was Angela’s apartment such that we could see all your cats on camera?

[00:07:51] Angela Oh, will I. I have a whole cat camera location breakdown and then later, Jenna, I have a cat guest star break down.

[00:07:58] Jenna Oh, I can’t wait for that.

[00:08:00] Angela You will not want to miss it. All right. So you guys, Angela’s living room was built on stage two. That was inside our warehouse set. Remember the warehouse where we go?

[00:08:09] Jenna Yes, of course.

[00:08:10] Angela OK.

[00:08:11] Jenna We would build a lot of those.

[00:08:12] Both Swing sets.

[00:08:14] Angela Little term for you. They shot the scenes individually and then later they took the one scene with all the cats and they burned that into the computer screen. They also burned into the computer screen at my desk the one of me with the cats. Does that make sense?

[00:08:28] Jenna A  little bit. So you filmed it far prior to when you did the scenes at your desk, because then what is burning it onto your computer screen mean?

[00:08:39] Angela I think that’s the term Randy used. I think it just means uploading it right in post-production. They were able to, like, take the clips and put them on my computer so that Kevin and Oscar really watch those.

[00:08:49] Jenna Oh, so they didn’t have to imagine what they were seeing.

[00:08:51] Angela No, they really got to watch that. How delicious was that? Also, when we all gathered around to watch the cats on the screen, you know, when it’s Meredith and the whole gang, we’re really watching the cats.

[00:09:02] Jenna Oh, okay, that’s amazing. So you were really just over in our warehouse set? Close by.

[00:09:06] Angela That’s right. I worked all day in the warehouse. Many times when you went to Angela’s apartment, even years later when you went to Oscar’s apartment, that was all in the warehouse.

[00:09:14] Jenna Wow.

[00:09:15] Angela The interior shots, I should say.

[00:09:17] Jenna Yes. Fast fact number three, we have a big guest star alert.

[00:09:21] Angela We do.

[00:09:22] Jenna It’s AJ, Holly’s boyfriend, played by Rob Huebel.

[00:09:26] Angela Yeah.

[00:09:27] Jenna Now, Rob is a very successful improviser, actor, writer, Emmy nominated producer.

[00:09:33] Angela He’s like a quadruple threat.

[00:09:36] Jenna That is four. A double double threat?

[00:09:39] Angela Yeah, he’s a double double threat.

[00:09:40] Jenna He’s been in over one hundred and forty films and television shows.

[00:09:44] Angela Good Lord.

[00:09:45] Jenna He was very recently in Transparent with Melora Hardin. Little Office reunion there. And actually, you know Rob.

[00:09:52] Angela I do know Rob. I mean, I met him a long time ago through our mutual friend Rachel Harris, who later plays Angela Martin’s sister. It’s that little like L.A. comedy club circle, you know, between the Groundlings and improv and stuff. Rob is very funny. He’s also just delightful to talk to because he’s just one of these people, to me, kind of like Will Ferrell, who’s just walks into the room funny.

[00:10:14] Jenna He’s friendly.

[00:10:14] Angela And he’s friendly. Yeah. So I knew this episode was coming up and I was like, we got to reach out to Rob. We need to hear his story about how he came to be on The Office. And he’s going to answer a few questions for us throughout this episode.

[00:10:26] Jenna Well, here is how he got his job on The Office.

[00:10:30] Speaker 3 Hey, guys, it’s Rob Huebel. It’s early in the morning, so my voice is a little crackly. Well, these ladies will tell you that sometimes in Hollywood you get offered parts, but it’s kind of few and far between. And I think the great Allison Jones cast this show and I had done some movies that Allison had cast. So that may have helped me maybe get offered the part. I also might have been offered the part because I knew Steve Carell from The Daily Show. I worked at The Daily Show before I got into comedy. I worked as a producer on a lot of shows and I worked at The Daily Show when Steve Carell and Stephen Colbert were there. In fact, I shared an office with Nancy Walls, who is married to Steve Carell, The Great Nancy Walls. And so that all may have helped me get just offered the part. Otherwise, if that wasn’t the case, I probably had a great audition because I’m great at auditioning. But I was very lucky and nervous because the show is so big and everybody had become these rock stars by that time. So I didn’t want to screw it up.

[00:11:43] Jenna He did not screw it up.

[00:11:45] Angela No, he did not.

[00:11:46] Jenna Well, Angela, we got a fan question from Joe S, did Rob Huebel know he would have a recurring role on the show as Holly’s boyfriend, or did he think that it was just one episode?

[00:11:59] Angela And he sent in an audio clip about that, too.

[00:12:02] Rob Huebel I think I knew that it was a recurring part, but I didn’t know what the plot was and you know, what the story arc was. But I did know that it was going to be the new boyfriend. And I knew that Steve Carell would be giving me a hard time, you know, in those scenes. And I knew that it was with Amy Ryan, who I was such a fan of, because I had just finished watching The Wire and she was on The Wire, I think season two, which is another great show, someone should do a podcast about The Wire. But Amy Ryan is just such a great actor also. So, again, didn’t want to screw that one up.

[00:12:40] Jenna So like Angela said, Rob answered more questions, we’ll sprinkle them in later.

[00:13:16] Angela Sprinkle.

[00:13:16] Jenna Sprinkle. But you should also know that he has a weekly twitch show with Paul Scheer, which is Twitch TV Slash Friend Zone, and it’s live every Thursday at 5:00 Pacific.

[00:13:30] Angela One more plug for Rob because I think he’s so hilarious and he does the show with my friend Erin Hayes that I did a show called Hot Wives of Orlando with, their show is called Medical Police Guys. It’s really funny. It’s on Netflix. It’s a spinoff of Childrens Hospital. Funny, funny folks.

[00:13:47] Jenna I think we should take a break and then go to Nashua and a birthday party and lick some cats.

[00:13:54] Angela I mean, did you think you’d ever say that in a sentence?

[00:13:57] Jenna No. Today is unique.

[00:14:00] Angela Well, you know what I didn’t think I would do?

[00:14:02] Jenna What?

[00:14:03] Angela Google how to lick your cat.

[00:14:05] Jenna I can’t wait for this.

[00:14:06] Angela OK.

[00:14:10] Jenna We begin this episode in the kitchen. Kevin’s eating two ice cream treats.

[00:14:15] Angela He has a popsicle. You know, the double stick popsicle. And then, like, the ice cream cone with like the chocolate with the peanut topping thing.

[00:14:25] Jenna Yeah. What’s that called again?

[00:14:26] Angela Some kind of drumstick.

[00:14:28] Jenna That’s it! That’s it!

[00:14:28] Angela Oh, it is a drumstick.

[00:14:32] Jenna Drumstick. Yeah.

[00:14:32] Angela Anyway, he’s got both of those going.

[00:14:35] Jenna But you know what, it’s because he didn’t eat his lunch. I mean all his lunch. It doesn’t matter. Angela enters smiling. It’s strange.

[00:14:45] Angela Beaming.

[00:14:46] Jenna So happy.

[00:14:47] Angela Giddy. She’s so happy that she looks at Kevin and, you know, normal Angela would just look at him eating that double stick popsicle and the drumstick and just go off on him.

[00:14:58] Jenna But she says nothing.

[00:14:59] Angela No, actually, she says, Oh, hello, everyone. Oh, ice cream. Nice, Kevin. Looks good. Nice. Kevin? What is happening?

[00:15:09] Jenna Well, I’ll tell you what’s happening. She is going to announce a new addition to her family. It’s a cat, a rare special cat, a seven thousand dollar cat.

[00:15:19] Angela She’s hypoallergenic. She doesn’t struggle when you tried to dress her. She’s a third generation show cat. Her father was in Meet the Parents.

[00:15:28] Jenna Wait, so the cat that he’s on the toilet in Meet the Parents is somehow related to Angela’s new cat?

[00:15:34] Angela It’s Princess Lady’s dad.

[00:15:36] Jenna Wow.

[00:15:36] Angela I know. Well, the gang wants to see this cat. Like a seven thousand dollar cat. I got to see it. And Angela’s like I can do better than a picture.

[00:15:44] Jenna Oh, she can.

[00:15:45] Angela She has a kitty cam set up at home.

[00:15:48] Jenna So she takes the whole gang over to her computer and they are watching these cats frolic in her living room. How many are there? I didn’t count. I mean, there’s lots.

[00:15:58] Angela There’s lots. There’s probably twelve.

[00:16:00] Jenna I mean, there were at least seven or eight at least in the picture. Who knows if someone was sitting in the window, we don’t know. Angela, we got a lot of mail about this scene because your character mentions that she’s annoyed that she can’t take any time off. She doesn’t have any sick days left.

[00:16:17] Angela And they don’t recognize cat maternity.

[00:16:19] Jenna Yeah. And it’s not fair that she can’t take off a year like those people who have human babies. And Meredith agrees, right? Meredith says, yeah, I had my second kid just for the vacation time. Flurry of mail. I mean, it was a snowstorm of letters. Lots of people are like, how many children does Meredith have? In Alliance Dwight says she has two kids. In The Injury, Michael says she has one kid, no husband. In Take Your Daughter To Work Day she brings one child in, but then here says she has a second kid. What does the show Bible say? I’ll tell you guys. The show Bible just says whatever the show says. So the show Bible is as all over the place as these episodes. I think we don’t really know.

[00:17:07] Angela I think maybe we didn’t do a good job keeping track of the children. I mean, what happens to the senator’s son?

[00:17:12] Jenna Oh, yeah. We’ll get there. Children disappear and reappear all the time on our show. I think what happens is they write the episode and they don’t check the show Bible first. And then the person who keeps the show Bible is like, dang it, I’ve got to write something in the show Bible now that contradicts what was already in the show Bible. But, you know, their job is just to record what happens.

[00:17:38] Angela I’ve gotten questions quite a bit about Princess Lady. People want to know why would she sell Andy’s engagement ring? Everyone sort of really judged Angela for this on the comment boards back when the episode aired. There was a deleted talking head where she sort of explained it. And I think we should hear it.

[00:17:56] Angela Martin As you may know, I am no longer in a relationships. It’s been really stressful here. So I decided to treat myself to one of God’s most perfect creations, a beautiful new cat. It’s tacky to talk about money, but she cost seven thousand dollars.

[00:18:19] Angela OK, you guys, judge Angela if you will, but she’s had a tough time because she’s no longer in a relationships. Both of her relationships have ended and she has to work with both of them and see them every day. She’s sort of been shunned, kicked off the party planning committee, and she went and made an impulse buy to make herself feel better.

[00:18:39] Jenna Here’s what I’ll say. She should have given the ring back.

[00:18:42] Angela I know that. I know that.

[00:18:44] Jenna Because she was unfaithful.

[00:18:46] Angela Yes.

[00:18:48] Jenna You know, the ring is a symbol of your promise of your contract to be married. And I think that if the person who has the ring breaks that contract, they should return it. But I believe that etiquette says that if the person who gave the ring breaks the contract, you get to keep the ring.

[00:19:08] Angela Well, Angela Martin is going to use hers to buy a cat.

[00:19:11] Jenna Mm hmm. She broke with the etiquette.

[00:19:14] Angela Yes.

[00:19:15] Jenna OK, I mean, that’s what your character would do. Do you think Pam gave Roy the ring back?

[00:19:21] Angela I do. Right? Now listen, you might throw some shade at Angela Martin, her affair was very out there, but I think Pam had an emotional affair.

[00:19:31] Jenna You think? Of course she did.

[00:19:33] Angela So I’m just saying.

[00:19:34] Jenna That’s why I think Pam gave the ring back.

[00:19:37] Angela Well, Princess Lady is here, folks.

[00:19:40] Jenna Yes. Well, speaking of people who are excited today, Jim is thrilled to have purchased Kelly an ice cream cake. He’s putting it in the freezer. He’s so proud of himself.

[00:19:51] Angela He did it.

[00:19:52] Jenna But then he hears Dwight yelling, screaming at Kelly.

[00:19:56] Angela Right in her face. Dwight does this. Remember when he got right in Phyllis’ face?

[00:20:00] Jenna Yes. Did they laugh a lot during the scene? I don’t know how Mindy kept it together.

[00:20:04] Angela I’m sure.

[00:20:05] Jenna All right. Well, the reason Dwight is interrogating Kelly is because last week he looked in her files trying to figure out when her exact birthday was and he finds out that she was in juvie when she was 14 and now he wants to know why.

[00:20:22] Angela I have one thing I have to bring up. I don’t know why this bugged me so much, but it totally bugged me. I did that thing where I paused the TV and I talked to the TV.

[00:20:32] Jenna What?

[00:20:32] Angela By myself.

[00:20:34] Jenna What?

[00:20:34] Angela I paused it and I said, wouldn’t the correct spelling of her name been on her juvenile detention record?

[00:20:40] Jenna I thought the same thing. Guys, later in the episode, Jim is going to misspell her name on the cake. And I thought, my goodness.

[00:20:49] Angela Yeah, he has a whole talking head, still don’t know how to spell her name. Maybe look on the form in Dwight’s hand? I don’t know, guys.

[00:20:55] Jenna Listen. Jim and Dwight are not good communicators. They’re not sharing information. Clearly.

[00:21:02] Angela They’re not.

[00:21:03] Jenna Well, Jim is going to try to cheer Kelly up by showing her this birthday cake he’s so proud of.

[00:21:09] Angela Who’s lurking in the corner watching the whole thing?

[00:21:12] Jenna Phyllis.

[00:21:12] Angela Phyllis.

[00:21:13] Jenna The cake is blank. There’s nothing on it.

[00:21:16] Angela There’s no theme.

[00:21:17] Jenna She hates it. I don’t know why, but I became inspired to learn the history of the ice cream cake.

[00:21:25] Angela Are you kidding?

[00:21:26] Jenna No, is this a good place for it?

[00:21:30] Angela Is there ever been a better place for it?

[00:21:33] Jenna Well, here you go. Food historians. That’s a job. Food historian.

[00:21:38] Angela Oh, fascinating.

[00:21:40] Jenna What do they do?

[00:21:41] Angela They just study food?

[00:21:43] Jenna I guess. I kind of want to be one.

[00:21:45] Angela I want to meet one.

[00:21:47] Jenna Well, food historians believe that ice cream cakes were invented at the end of the sixteen hundreds.

[00:21:54] Angela Who invented it?

[00:21:55] Jenna It’s unclear. The recipes date back to the eighteen seventies and ice cream cakes were originally made from biscuits and cream. In the Victorian era the desserts were called bommes and they consisted of ice cream and fruit in a fancy mold. So it went through many permutations. In its early days, it was considered quite a luxury item and it was only enjoyed by the wealthy because they were the only people who could keep it cold.

[00:22:27] Angela Right. You’d have to get a block of ice.

[00:22:29] Jenna Yes. Now the ice cream cakes cousin would be a baked Alaska. That is frozen cream surrounded by meringue. But then it’s served hot and there’s no cake in it. A true ice cream cake has three layers. It has ice cream, cake or biscuits, and then icing or whipped cream. The leader in America for making the ice cream cake accessible and popular is-.

[00:22:56] Angela Ohh can I guess? Can I guess? Wait, wait, wait, can I guess? Baskin-Robbins.

[00:22:56] Jenna Carvel! Fudgie The Whale. Fudgie the Whale lady.

[00:23:06] Angela Oh, why didn’t I see that coming? Listen, I was just at Baskin Robbins with the kids because they wanted like after school snack. There’s so many flavors.

[00:23:14] Jenna Oh yeah. I love a Baskin Robbins ice cream cake.

[00:23:17] Angela But it started with Carvel soft serve.

[00:23:20] Jenna Yes, that’s it. It was a small history of ice cream cake, but there you have it.

[00:23:25] Angela Well, you know what came out of that?

[00:23:26] Jenna What?

[00:23:26] Angela My need to meet a food historian.

[00:23:29] Jenna I mean, really.

[00:23:30] Angela Put it on my list. I have to say, while we were talking about the history of the ice cream cake, I don’t know if you noticed this, but we got really, like, kind of like, oh, wow. Like, it was very like precious information.

[00:23:45] Jenna It felt like it was.

[00:23:47] Angela It is tickling me. I am tickled.

[00:23:50] Jenna When we’re really into something, we get real quiet.

[00:23:53] Angela I know. The importance of it. Speaking of importance, Pam and Michael have arrived at the Nashua branch.

[00:24:00] Jenna Well, the first thing we’re going to do is take a picture.

[00:24:02] Angela Got to take a picture.

[00:24:04] Jenna We’re documenting this. Michael’s very nervous as they enter.

[00:24:08] Angela They’re greeted by a really nice receptionist who tells them that Holly is not there.

[00:24:13] Jenna No, she’s on an H.R. retreat for three days.

[00:24:17] Angela But if you really need to get in touch with her, you can just talk to her boyfriend over there. E.J. Salesman. Jenna, I again paused the TV and had to talk to it because I thought, Holly, you just got transferred by corporate because you were dating a coworker.

[00:24:34] Jenna Yeah.

[00:24:35] Angela And now you go to this new branch of your company and immediately start dating another coworker? Holly.

[00:24:42] Jenna I didn’t put that together. I didn’t even think of that.

[00:24:45] Angela It’s the whole reason they moved her to Nashua.

[00:24:48] Jenna Yeah, you’re right, and she works in H.R. I mean, if anyone should be on top of this, it’s her.

[00:24:55] Angela Holly.

[00:24:57] Jenna Oh, well, Ange you mentioned that the receptionist was really nice to Michael and Pam, and we got mail about that. Berenice C said the receptionist at Nashua branch is really friendly and happily expecting Michael’s arrival. She said maybe they really don’t get very many visitors like Pam said. I think they don’t.

[00:25:20] Angela I think they’re the forgotten about branch.

[00:25:22] Jenna That’s what Pam said earlier. Well, the receptionist was played by actress Catherine Flynn. Just wanted to give her a shout out for her friendly greeting.

[00:25:31] Angela Michael has to get outside for some air. He is not doing well.

[00:25:35] Jenna No.

[00:25:36] Angela He is about to fall apart.

[00:25:38] Jenna Yeah. In this scene, I wanted to make two observations.

[00:25:42] Angela OK.

[00:25:43] Jenna One is it was really hard for me to sit on that curb in a pencil skirt and heels. And I think I did a good job.

[00:25:53] Angela It really is hard to sit on a curb like in any kind of skirt like that because your legs don’t really have anywhere to go. You can’t bunch under.

[00:26:02] Jenna No. And I had to, like, tuck my hands under to keep the skirt up.

[00:26:06] Angela From flapping down.

[00:26:07] Jenna Yeah. Second, I have a windshield wiper hair going back and forth on my forehead during this entire exchange. A little hair that just goes pshhh pshhh pshhh. Yeah. The whole scene. And on a normal television show they would have cut and they would have had someone come in and just shellac your head. Spray it down. We don’t want any flyways.

[00:26:34] Angela And they would have been like, holding for hair.

[00:26:37] Jenna They would have actually said, flying in for a fly away. But we didn’t do that on our show. We just let stuff happen. I thought maybe this is one time since it was such an emotional scene, maybe, maybe we should have shellacked it.

[00:26:53] Angela Were you distracted by your windshield wiper hair?

[00:26:55] Jenna A little. You didn’t notice it?

[00:26:58] Angela I did not notice it. But now it will be all I can see when I re watch it.

[00:27:03] Jenna Yeah, enjoy that, everyone. Well, lady, I think we should take a break because we’re going to get into the thick of Angela’s cats and Michael’s presentation soon. And I need to center myself before both those things happen.

[00:27:17] Angela I think you do, because I might have stories about how I created this. (hissing sound).

[00:27:22] Jenna It was very good.

[00:27:23] Angela Thank you. We are back in Scranton and Kevin hears (cat sound). What is happening on Angela’s computer screen?

[00:27:34] Jenna A lot’s happening.

[00:27:36] Angela Mr. Ash is humping Princess Lady. Angela’s like these are decent cats, don’t, you know, make an assumption about them. And Mr. Ash is fixed. And Meredith’s like, I know fixed and that ain’t fixed. Meredith, Meredith and her like super gulp from 7-Eleven with her sidebar comments.

[00:27:57] Jenna Angela is so upset she has to leave.

[00:28:00] Angela She has to go check on her cat. Make sure Princess Lady is OK. And now Jenna for the cat guest star break down.

[00:28:07] Jenna Let’s hear it.

[00:28:08] Angela Here we go. Once again, we reached out to Bob Dunn’s Animal Rentals in Sylmar, California. They are going to help us create this whole cat humping scene. But first, let me tell you who played Princess Lady.

[00:28:20] Jenna Who?

[00:28:20] Angela Princess Lady was a Persian cat named Potato. You might have seen her if you watched the deleted scenes in The Duel. She was in them, but not featured. Also, Mr. Ash, the other cat in this relationship, was played by Roswell.

[00:28:38] Jenna Roswell!

[00:28:39] Angela Yes.

[00:28:40] Jenna The orange cat that looks like Sonny.

[00:28:42] Angela That’s right.

[00:28:43] Jenna I remember him from your cat headshots for The Duel.

[00:28:46] Angela That’s right.

[00:28:47] Jenna Now, I guess it’s good that we deleted that scene because we could bring Potato back now for this lead role.

[00:28:55] Angela Right.

[00:28:56] Jenna Yes.

[00:28:57] Angela Potato went from a background player to the lead of the scene.

[00:29:00] Jenna Wow.

[00:29:01] Angela Princess Lady.

[00:29:02] Jenna I mean, that’s what happens in Hollywood.

[00:29:03] Angela That’s right. You go out for one role. You’re like, oh, I didn’t get it. And then you get Princess Lady. Well, Randy said he loved how Bob Dunn’s company listed the cats in the proposed budget. We had seven milling about cats and two sex cats.

[00:29:20] Jenna So seven background performers and then two leads.

[00:29:25] Angela Hmm. Roswell and Potato. Our head animal trainer was Denise Sanders. She had been with us on Stress Relief. She said she required several days of training to get Roswell to pull off a believable kitty humping scene.

[00:29:41] Jenna How did she do that?

[00:29:43] Angela I don’t know. The overall cost of the advanced training plus the cats for the shoot days and then the trainer fees was just shy of nine thousand dollars.

[00:29:54] Jenna Wow.

[00:29:55] Angela To get Mr. Ash to hunt Princess Lady. Nine grand.

[00:29:59] Jenna That was a lot. I mean, I feel like I want to call that woman. What was her name? The trainers name?

[00:30:04] Angela Denise.

[00:30:04] Jenna Denise. And I want to be like, how did you do it? Was it a series of treats like every time Roswell stepped on Potato, you got a treat?

[00:30:14] Angela And then how do you get Potato to stay put?

[00:30:17] Jenna I don’t know.

[00:30:17] Angela I don’t know.

[00:30:18] Jenna These are questions for Denise. Do we need Denise on a revisited?

[00:30:23] Angela I want Denise. I want Denise on and then I want an episode where we talked to a food historian.

[00:30:27] Jenna Odd Jobs with Jenna and Angela.

[00:30:29] Angela Yes.

[00:30:30] Jenna Another spinoff podcast.

[00:30:32] Angela We have so many.

[00:30:33] Jenna We have so many podcasts to do.

[00:30:35] Angela Oh, my goodness.

[00:30:35] Jenna We have so many factories to tour and podcasts to do. Well, listen, lady, I think we should stick with the cats here because I’m liking it.

[00:30:43] Angela OK.

[00:30:44] Jenna I’m liking the cat info.

[00:30:45] Angela You want to see the whole story.

[00:30:47] Jenna I do.

[00:30:48] Angela OK.

[00:30:49] Jenna Because back in Scranton, Kevin and Oscar are working in accounting and they’re going to hear Angela’s voice. She’s gotten home and she is scolding Mr. Ash for his behavior. They have to watch.

[00:30:59] Angela She didn’t turn her computer off. She forgot to turn the kitty cam off.

[00:31:03] Jenna She did. They are watching her. She’s hissing. She is communicating with the cats with meows. And then she grooms Princess Lady with her own tongue.

[00:31:17] Angela There are so many things to unpack in this moment for you. First of all, I just love that she’s like, excuse me, Petals. I’m looking for Mr. Ash.

[00:31:27] Jenna Well, there you go. We know another cat’s name is Petals, but I don’t think that’s the question on everyone’s minds, Ange, I know that because we got a lot of mail about it. My favorite one was from Katie D, who said, I don’t even know where to start. So Angela, the cat cam scene, please explain.

[00:31:47] Angela Well, Katie, let me tell you, Ken said to me, I want you to know you don’t have to lick a cat today.

[00:31:54] Jenna Oh.

[00:31:55] Angela Yeah. He said camera’s going to be far away. I said, Ken are you sure? He goes, Yeah, yeah. No, you’re not going to have to lick a cat today. No. I was like, oh, OK. He goes, you can fake it, will be able to sell it. I said, OK, so we do a few takes and he comes up to me kind of meekishly and I said, Kennn and he goes we’re just kind of moving a little bit closer with the camera. I said, I knew it, I knew it. I knew it. So in one take, I actually lick the cat’s face. I did it and I felt bad for the cat because the cat’s eyes were like eww, you know.

[00:32:36] Jenna Did you get hair in your mouth?

[00:32:37] Angela Yes, of course I did. This was a very hairy cat. Randy-.

[00:32:41] Jenna Did it taste weird?

[00:32:42] Angela I don’t remember it tasting anyway. Just being fuzzy.

[00:32:46] Jenna Mm hmm.

[00:32:47] Angela Randy told me that just in case I might like the cat- listen, these guys knew they were going to ask me all along. They knew it.

[00:32:55] Jenna You think so?

[00:32:55] Angela Oh, yeah, I think so. I think they were going to try to get one shot. You think?

[00:33:00] Jenna Yeah.

[00:33:00] Angela Randy said so in case you were going to have to maybe lick the cat, Denise Sanders, the trainer gave Potato a special bath and blow dry before she came to set that day. Potato got a blowout. Fresh shower.

[00:33:13] Jenna Well, that’s nice.

[00:33:15] Angela So, yes, I did lick the cat, but only once. The rest of them were fakey licks. I guess as the camera pans in, I don’t know which one’s the real one.

[00:33:23] Jenna So you don’t know if they used the real lick or the fake lick?

[00:33:25] Angela I don’t know.

[00:33:26] Jenna Oh, now why would the camera be able to pan in if it was a like a nanny cam? You’d think it would just be one locked off shot.

[00:33:35] Angela Yes.

[00:33:36] Jenna You know.

[00:33:36] Angela These are things I should have brought up in the moment. I shoulda had you with me. We did a lot of rehearsals. They were pitching different things to me that Angela would do to try to bond with her cats, crawl on the ground, roll over, pretend to groom myself. And then they were like, does Angela talk to her cats? How does she talk to her cats? And then they pitched the sort of hiss thing. And then I had to practice different hisses guys.

[00:34:04] Jenna They were very good. I thought your cat sounds were great.

[00:34:07] Angela Thank you. I mean, I feel like Ken and I really bonded this day because I was like, Ken, tell me what do you like? Do you like this one (hiss) or do you like (hiss) or do you like (hiss). And then you’d be like, oh I like the second (hiss). And I’m like, OK, (hiss).

[00:34:22] Jenna I like it that you scolded your cats in their own language.

[00:34:25] Angela Thank you.

[00:34:26] Jenna I thought it showed your bond with them.

[00:34:28] Angela Jenna this brought me down a rabbit hole of Googling, do people really lick their cats? Apparently if you foster kittens, some people share online that they have licked a kitten’s face if it’s separated from its mom. What do you know about this? You foster kittens.

[00:34:42] Jenna I’ve done it.

[00:34:43] Angela You’ve licked a cat’s face?

[00:34:44] Jenna I have.

[00:34:45] Angela I knew it. I was like, I bet Jenna has licked a cat’s face.

[00:34:48] Jenna Yeah. So I worked in cat fostering for three years and I fostered many kittens who had been separated from their moms at a very, very young age. And, you know, I’m trying to socialize them and I would just lick them between their eyes on their little forehead, give them a few little licks.

[00:35:08] Angela That’s what I read.

[00:35:09] Jenna Yes.

[00:35:10] Angela Not with adult cats, but with little kittens.

[00:35:12] Jenna With kittens.

[00:35:13] Angela That are very young and separated from their mom.

[00:35:15] Jenna Yes. And it brings some great comfort and they purr.

[00:35:18] Angela That’s what I read. I knew you would know.

[00:35:21] Jenna And I will say I have also licked an adult cat, my cat Andy. He had been sick and he was an adult and I licked between his eyes to give him some comfort. So, yeah, I don’t know. I mean, people let their dogs lick their faces and I don’t know, when you have a pet, they become like a member of the family. I think it’s kind of like, listen, I’m not going to go to over to anyone’s house and start licking their animals. And I don’t love when someone else’s dog licks my face, but I don’t care when my own dog does it. Right. Just like how your own kids’ poop and vomit doesn’t bother you but I don’t want some other kid to poop on me.

[00:36:03] Angela Well, no.

[00:36:03] Jenna I don’t know what that is. I don’t know why. It’s like when it’s your family, you don’t care.

[00:36:08] Angela Well, I want you to know, when I looked this up online, there’s a big debate about when and where and how to bond by licking your cat. And also, guys, apparently there’s a whole industry of fake tongues that humans can purchase. To lick their cats.

[00:36:28] Jenna Yes. OK, so, yes, there’s also a little thing that you can put on your finger that’s like sort of meant to simulate an adult cat’s tongue. And if you foster kittens, you can get that and then you can, like, rub that between their eyes. That’s a thing you can get too. Cassi’s in the booth. Cassi, you just fostered a bunch of kittens. Did you like any of them?

[00:36:48] Cassi I didn’t. I didn’t know this was a thing, but maybe next round I’ll try it.

[00:36:52] Jenna Or you can just get the little finger brush thing. That came out while I was like mid fostering and I did move to the finger brush eventually.

[00:37:01] Cassi Yeah, well, I’ll get that.

[00:37:02] Angela There was one that haunted me. It’s it’s a thing that you can well, I won’t be able to see it. It’s a fake tongue that you can put in your mouth like a pacifier.

[00:37:12] Jenna Why?

[00:37:12] Angela And then you can lick your cat.

[00:37:14] Jenna It can just be on your finger. That’s what she said.

[00:37:18] Angela I’m showing I’m showing Jenna.

[00:37:19] Jenna Oh my God. Oh my god.

[00:37:20] Commercial voiceover Introducing Licky Brush. (UNCLEAR) is a form of social bonding. As a human, you’re left out of this intimate ritual. With Licky Brush-

[00:37:34] Jenna It’s also- it’s also they have like a, like a, like a big, muscly man with a licky brush in his mouth.

[00:37:42] Angela A pacifier.

[00:37:43] Jenna It’s a pacifier that has a tongue on it. And he’s he’s cradling his cat like a baby and then like licking at and it’s just that they picked someone I would not expect. I mean-

[00:38:00] Angela I want you to know I saw that and I have been waiting to show you. I was like, I’m not even going to tell her. I want her to see it. I want to watch her react to it because I was like, what was happening? What did I just click on?

[00:38:15] Jenna Oh, wow.

[00:38:17] Angela OK, well, I guess it can take the idea of bonding with your cat to a whole new level.

[00:38:23] Jenna They make them for your fingers is what I want to say. To finish out this cat storyline, Angela returns to the office and she sees her computer is on and she’s like, oh, my gosh, has that been on the whole time? And Kevin and Oscar are like, What? I don’t- we were just- we don’t- have no idea what you’re talking about. Oscar has a talking head where he says he needs to erase that image from his head. But then Angela coughs up a hairball. Let’s hear about that.

[00:39:00] Angela Well- I cough up a tiny hair, guys, right? It’s like a little hair.

[00:39:04] Jenna But you know what? You’ve had your cat, like, cough up a hairball, right? It’s so violent. It’s like, (cat barfing sound). It’s so incredibly like the first time you get a cat and they do it, you’re like, oh, my God, I don’t know what’s happening. It’s so intense.

[00:39:25] Angela So once again, Ken and I and Mindy, were talking about how big do you go here? Right. How big do I really? Because you have two choices. Either Angela Martin has to do that, like (barfind sound) or it’s like way more subtle. And so I practiced a few different ways. And this is the one they liked where basically I’m just pulling one hair off my tongue and it’s like, what is it? Was it the cat? Is it something else?

[00:39:49] Jenna It was the cat.

[00:39:50] Angela It was the cat. It was the cat.

[00:39:52] Jenna It was.

[00:39:52] Angela But I had to do it enough to sell it to Oscar and not so much that it was like a total cartoon. That was my work day, guys. That was my day that day. Hey, you’re going to crawl around on the ground, pretend to be a cat, hiss at cats, lick a cat and then cough up a hairball. Mom, what’d you do at work today?

[00:40:09] Jenna Welcome to Hollywood. Should we go to Nashua?

[00:40:14] Angela We do, because Pam has talked Michael into giving his presentation because then maybe they’ll all talk about how great Michael was and Holly will hear about it. Right. That’s the way you show AJ, right?

[00:40:26] Jenna Yes.

[00:40:27] Angela And you know what? At the beginning, it’s going great.

[00:40:31] Jenna It is.

[00:40:32] Angela He’s doing a fantastic job. Just listen to all of his movie references.

[00:40:36] Michael Scott Good morning Vietnashua. Sales. Sales is what brings us together today. How do we deal with clients who say, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn about paper and get them to show us the money? Well, we are going to find out today.

[00:41:07] Jenna I had written this down. It’s so interesting that you played that clip because I wondered, do you our younger viewers get all of the references in Michael’s opening remarks? Do they know these movies?

[00:41:19] Angela Good morning, Vietnam, Princess Bride, Gone With the Wind, and Jerry Maguire.

[00:41:25] Jenna I guess this is Michael’s taste in movies. But do people know all those today?

[00:41:31] Angela I mean, you’ve got to know Princess Bride, right?

[00:41:34] Jenna I think.

[00:41:35] Angela I don’t know.

[00:41:37] Jenna I don’t know.

[00:41:39] Angela But he’s got them. They’re laughing. They love his like voices he’s doing.

[00:41:44] Jenna Nashua likes Michael. From the receptionist to his opening remarks, they’re eating out of the palm of his hand. If only he could get over this Holly thing, he would finally have a day where he was the king of comedy like he’s always wanted.

[00:41:58] Angela Those 30 seconds you just heard are the best that it is because that’s how quickly it falls apart.

[00:42:05] Jenna Because Michael zeroes in on A.J.

[00:42:08] Angela He can’t help it.

[00:42:09] Jenna Salesmen, sales people. He’s going to pick a random salesperson. You there, sir? You.

[00:42:18] Angela What’s it like to be you? Oh, here we go.

[00:42:21] Jenna Yeah. And then Michael has a full on panic attack. He winds up on the ground and he crawls out of the room.

[00:42:28] Angela Leaving Pam.

[00:42:31] Jenna Yeah, well, before we get to what Pam is going to do, I wanted to shout out a few crew cameos. So sitting next to A.J., the woman who asked the question about discounts from distributors, that was Mary Wall. And she was a member of our production staff. And she is delightful and wonderful. She has gone on to become a producer and a director. She currently is working on a documentary called The Fan Connection. You can actually check it out at Fan Connection movie dot com. You can see a trailer. It’s all about the hockey fans in Buffalo.

[00:43:10] Angela Oh, I would love that.

[00:43:11] Jenna And their commitment to their hockey team. And, you know, I love hockey. So anyway, check out the trailer guys.

[00:43:16] Angela I love sports documentaries. I love them.

[00:43:19] Jenna And then sitting in the row in front of AJ with the red hair was Claire Scanlon, our editor, and Pam’s going to call her freckles.

[00:43:30] Angela Claire is a full on badass, amazing editor and now prolific director.

[00:43:34] Jenna Yes. And then I have another guest star I want to mention, Michael McCartney. He played the other Nashua employee who says, what is this have to do with sales? When Michael is disintegrating. He has a very extensive resume. He is the producer and director of the series The Millionaires on Amazon Prime. But here’s what I want to tell you. This is the first time I’ve seen this in all of my Googling of all of our guest stars.

[00:44:02] Angela Well now I don’t know what to expect.

[00:44:04] Jenna Michael McCartney has been on Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, and Law and Order. Criminal Intent. The trifecta.

[00:44:16] Angela Holy cow.

[00:44:17] Jenna All three.

[00:44:19] Angela Not on Monk.

[00:44:20] Jenna Not on Monk. There’s still room. Future guest star. If you could be on all three law and orders and Monk, I’m going to drive to your house and give you a cake.

[00:44:30] Angela So when I was trading emails with Rob, I was like, Rob, you’ve got to share what it was like in that room when Steve as Michael is falling apart. And singling you out. I mean, I don’t know. How did you do that? How did you get through it? And here’s what he had to say.

[00:44:46] Rob Huebel My memories of shooting that scene in the conference room with Steve are mostly about just trying not to laugh, because sometimes I just start laughing when people are funny, because really, I feel like a lot of times on comedy shows you’re trying to make the other person laugh in a way. You’re kind of trying to (BLEEP) with them a little bit. So anyway, I was just trying to keep a straight face because Steve is so funny and Jenna is so funny and everybody on the show is so funny. And I also get very nervous. I get nervous going into a new show. And, you know, there’s this whole other culture there already established. When you’re a guest actor on a show, it’s different because you don’t know what you’re walking into. So I was a little bit nervous. And Steve is just, you know, iconic. Steve is just so funny. And when he’s kind of coming at me like that, he’s, you know, putting me down and ignoring me and calling me names in a very funny way. But it’s all so funny. So mostly trying not to laugh.

[00:46:01] Jenna I loved his description of what it’s like to be a guest actor on a show. Walking into the world, and it’s a comedy and it’s supposed to be funny, but then you’re not supposed to laugh. I just I related to all of that so much.

[00:46:15] Angela I did, too.

[00:46:16] Jenna Well, we also asked him, does he still get recognized as A.J.?

[00:46:22] Angela He’s been on- what did you say? One hundred and forty?

[00:46:25] Jenna One hundred and forty movies and TV shows.

[00:46:29] Angela Does it get recognized as A.J.?

[00:46:31] Jenna Let’s find out.

[00:46:32] Rob Huebel Do I get recognized as AJ from The Office? Are you kidding me? Yes, yes, a lot. And I’m so thankful for it. It is very fun to be recognized. No matter what people tell you, it is fun because it’s you know, it’s people love it. They love the show. And that’s fun. You know, like everyone had an opinion about Michael and Holly’s relationship and I was just standing in the way so I would get threatened by strangers. You know, it was crazy. In fact, people used to come up to me out of the blue. I remember people would sometimes whisper in my ear, like, come up behind me and say, You stay away from Holly, you stay away from Holly. And what’s crazy is that my wife in real life, her name is Holly. So I would have to decide in about two seconds, OK, is this someone that used to date my wife in real life that I should murder, or is this just a fan of The Office acting like a creeper?

[00:47:40] Jenna I love that his wife’s name is Holly.

[00:47:43] Angela I know.

[00:47:44] Jenna That’s insane.

[00:47:45] Angela That is crazy, though, that people go up to him and are like, leave Holly alone and he’s like what?

[00:47:49] Jenna Get away from Holly.

[00:47:50] Angela Wait, that’s my wife. Oh, you’re. Oh, OK. Oh, I know what you are.

[00:47:54] Jenna Amazing. Well, thank you, Rob, for sending in your audio clips. It was so nice of you. I love listening to your voice. I think he has a soothing, pleasant voice.

[00:48:05] Angela Rob, she’s not kidding. While we were recording this episode and you sent in your audio clips, Jenna was like, I just love the sound of his voice.

[00:48:13] Jenna I know. I hope you get tons of voiceover work because I would buy anything you’re selling.

[00:48:18] Angela Hey, how about them apples? So Jenna, Michael has left. Pam is in charge. She goes right into Forrest Gump.

[00:48:29] Jenna Lady, this was one of my favorite shooting days ever, having to take over the presentation.

[00:48:35] Angela It was so fun to watch you. It was hilarious. I loved watching Pam try to do Michael’s movie bits.

[00:48:42] Jenna Angela, you know I’m not great with accents.

[00:48:45] Angela I know this.

[00:48:46] Jenna Or impressions. I cannot tell you how hard I worked on that Forrest Gump voice.

[00:48:53] Angela Oh, my gosh. Lady. Lady.

[00:48:55] Jenna So hard.

[00:48:55] Angela Lady. I thought you were doing a bit to be bad, right?

[00:48:59] Jenna Yes. And that is what Mindy and Ken Kwapis thought on set. They were crying laughing when I did it. Mindy said it was genius that I was doing it so bad. And I was texting with her because I was like, Mindy, do you remember this episode? And she said, Yes, I thought you were so funny that day. Your Forrest Gump. It was such a funny choice, you know, to be bad. And I was like, Mindy, that was my literal best effort. My acting limitations made me genius. Like, that’s one of those things where, like, if I’d tried to be bad, it wouldn’t have been as good as me giving it my best effort. I can’t do it better than that.

[00:49:44] Angela I need to hear it. I need to hear it. I got to hear it. I got to hear it. I’m getting my lapatop. I got to hear it. I got- with that information in my brain, I’ve got to hear it because I thought, like Mindy, that you were doing a bit.

[00:49:59] Jenna No.

[00:49:59] Angela Like I’m going to read it my Forrest Gump kind of crappy. But no, it was your best effort, honey.

[00:50:05] Jenna I listened to his voice in my head over and over and over and over again, and I tried to mimic it perfectly.

[00:50:12] Angela I have never loved you more knowing now that that Forrest Gump was your earnest best effort.

[00:50:18] Jenna It was.

[00:50:20] Pam Sales is like a box of chocolates, you never know which vendor you’re going to get. Forrest Gump.

[00:50:31] Angela Lady, that’s the cutest thing ever. That is the cutest thing. Oh, my gosh, look at Devon and Cassi. They’re cracking up. You guys, was that adorable? Come on.

[00:50:44] Cassi So cute. We love it.

[00:50:47] Jenna Thank you, guys. Thank you. I loved doing that scene. I loved the chainsaw. It was one of my most you know, this was one of the few times when I was called upon to do like, what would you call it? Like.

[00:51:03] Angela Lead the group?

[00:51:04] Jenna To be the comedy protagonist? I was usually the receiver of comedy. My job on the show was to amplify a comedic moment with my deadpan reaction. But in this case I got to pitch the comedy ball and it felt really good.

[00:51:20] Angela Other people reacted off of you.

[00:51:22] Jenna Yes. And it was fun.

[00:51:24] Angela Well, one of my favorite things to watch play out in any movie or TV show is when a character decides to step up to the plate and then bails. So at the end, when Pam got out the chainsaw was like (chainsaw noise) cutting down the competition. The bail is my favorite.

[00:51:45] Jenna She’s like, I’m out. Well, during all this, Michael has gone over to Holly’s desk. He’s stroking her yellow cardigan.

[00:51:53] Angela He cuts half of the sleeve off. That made me laugh so hard, Jenna.

[00:51:59] Jenna And then he pushes the chair in and this screensaver pops up of Martin Short, which is so perfect.

[00:52:09] Angela As Ed Grimley.

[00:52:10] Jenna Yes. You know what Randy Cordray told me?

[00:52:13] Angela What?

[00:52:14] Jenna That little moment like that was a whole thing. He said, we have this graphic artist on staff. His name was Michael Marcus, and he had to build that on screen computer graphic where there were these documents on the home page, that picture of Martin Short, they had to get permission to license that photo from Getty Images. I mean, that little moment, that was someone’s day creating that. I’m just- I love watching the show and thinking of those details.

[00:52:44] Angela Well, to finish out the Nashua Branch storyline, Pam and Michael, they pack up. I love when Pam was like, don’t look up, don’t look up, don’t look up when they’re packing up the car, and they go to a diner. And Michael confesses that, A, he cut off part of her sweater and that he saw a Dear Michael folder on her desktop and he copied it. He’s he’s got it.

[00:53:07] Jenna And Pam says, you can’t read that… But I can read it.

[00:53:12] Angela Right.

[00:53:12] Jenna Pam can read it.

[00:53:13] Angela And I won’t tell you what the specifics are. But I can tell you if she still likes you.

[00:53:18] Jenna We had a lot of fan mail about that. Emma S, Eric M, and Zachary C all wanted to know, was there a letter or was I just pretending to read something? There was a letter.

[00:53:30] Angela I wondered that too.

[00:53:31] Jenna Phil Shea wrote a letter and I was very grateful because as I read it, it helped me get in a head space because there were all these things I read but then I knew I was going to tell Michael the scripted lines of like, it’s not over. And it was great, it was so helpful as an actor to have not just a blank screen there. So thank you, Phil Shea, for writing me a letter.

[00:53:56] Angela I wonder if Phil had to consult the writing staff and say, guys, I’m going to write this letter. Do you have any- or he just did that on his own?

[00:54:02] Jenna I think that was stuff he just did on his own. He was a very detail oriented.

[00:54:07] Angela Prop master.

[00:54:08] Jenna Yes. And he would often do that if we had a fakey piece of paper.

[00:54:11] Angela A memo.

[00:54:13] Jenna It was very detailed.

[00:54:15] Angela I have a question for you, because when I watch this, I am always like relating it back to, like, things happening. Would you have read it if you saw, like, something on your ex’s computer? Would you have read it?

[00:54:27] Jenna Yeah.

[00:54:27] Angela Me too.

[00:54:29] Jenna Of course.

[00:54:29] Angela 100 percent.

[00:54:31] Jenna Yeah.

[00:54:31] Angela I would have just sat down right then and there and read it.

[00:54:33] Jenna Correct.

[00:54:34] Angela OK, I feel better now.

[00:54:36] Jenna Yeah. Well, listen, Michael is thrilled to find out that it’s not over with Holly and we’re not sure yet what he’s going to do with that information, but he’s happy to know it.

[00:54:49] Angela He feels like he has closure.

[00:54:50] Jenna Yeah, he does. We haven’t talked about the rest of this birthday storyline.

[00:54:57] Angela Well, listen, they’re not doing very well. Jim and Dwight are still trying to brainstorm the perfect party for Kelly. They’re in the conference room. Jim says, OK, so far, our ideal party consists of beer, fights to the death, cupcakes, blood pudding, blood, touch football, mating, charades, and yes, horse hunting. And Dwight’s like, you’re right. Forget horse hunting. It’s stupid. Just only lose that one. All the rest are viable.

[00:55:28] Jenna Yeah. All the rest sound great.

[00:55:30] Angela But ultimately they actually find a theme. Everyone gathers in the conference room. Kelly comes in, there is a cake. Her name is spelled wrong and there’s a Chicklet. You know what a Chicklet is?

[00:55:42] Jenna I do. It’s a piece of gum and it’s a square.

[00:55:46] Angela It’s a little square piece of gum.

[00:55:46] Jenna I love a Chicklet.

[00:55:46] Angela I love a Chicklet too.

[00:55:50] Jenna I like that it has like a candy coating before I chew the gum.

[00:55:53] Angela I like the crunch.

[00:55:54] Jenna Me too.

[00:55:55] Angela Kelly wants to know what’s up with the Chicklet. Jim says that’s the best part. The Chicklet represents a pillow. It’s a pillow or a television. That’s our theme. A pillow or a television is their theme. She gets to decide one hour of TV or an hour of napping.

[00:56:13] Jenna What would you pick?

[00:56:13] Angela I would oh, I don’t know if I could sleep at work.

[00:56:17] Jenna I can’t nap in general. I have to be sick in order to take a nap. Even if I’ve gotten three hours of sleep the night before, I can’t nap. I get like wired tired. So I would one hundred percent pick an hour of TV. There is so much TV I haven’t been able to watch lately because we’ve been working really hard on the book. So I mean, oh, I’m in the middle of the White Lotus, I’m in the middle of Hacks. I only just finished Mare of Easttown. Do you hear how behind I am?

[00:56:50] Angela Yeah.

[00:56:51] Jenna So hour of TV. Yes, please.

[00:56:54] Angela That sounds decadent to me. Also yeah. I can’t sleep during the day. Something has to be wrong with me if I fall asleep during the day. Just like my body just won’t do it. I do think this is a little bit of an old tech alert.

[00:57:07] Jenna What’s the old tech?

[00:57:08] Angela They say that the Chicklet represents a pillow or a television. And I think at work now we would just watch an hour on our phone or our computer.

[00:57:19] Jenna That’s true. And also, doesn’t Stanley say there’s nothing good on right now?

[00:57:24] Angela Well, Creed says Bonnie Hunt’s on.

[00:57:26] Jenna But it’s that they’re going to watch like live television.

[00:57:29] Angela That’s right.

[00:57:31] Jenna Not streaming anything.

[00:57:32] Angela Right. Appointment television. No streaming. So I would say their theme was a little bit of an old tech alert.

[00:57:37] Jenna I agree. Well, Kelly chooses nap and she takes a little nap under the conference table. And while she does, Jim and Dwight sit on that little couch by reception and they eat their cake and they’re very proud of themselves. And I want to point out this scene to everyone, because John is doing a classic fakey eatey acting technique with this cake.

[00:58:03] Angela He’s shoving the food around the plate.

[00:58:05] Jenna He would take a big scoop of cake, but then he smooshes it back down, and so by the time he puts it in his mouth, it just has a little frosting on it. Watch it. He goes for the cake three times and never actually eats a piece. At the beginning he eats like half a piece. You have to do this because otherwise you’re going to get sick. However, sitting next to him is Rainn Wilson, who eats the cake because Rainn always ate in scenes. It didn’t matter. Remember, he ate so many bananas he got sick.

[00:58:39] Angela Yeah. When Rainn as Dwight does anything, he goes all out. And I feel like Rainn eats scenes the way Brad Pitt eats and movies. Watch in Ocean’s Twelve. The guy is always eating. I wanted to know, like is this a choice? You’re constantly eating something.

[00:58:55] Jenna Watch Goodfellas. Do you see how much steak and pasta those guys eat? They dig in.

[00:59:00] Angela Goodfellas makes me hungry.

[00:59:02] Jenna Yeah.

[00:59:02] Angela When I watch it, I get hungry.

[00:59:04] Jenna For sure. Guys, guess what?

[00:59:07] Angela That was Lecture Circuit Part Two with a little bit of movie-

[00:59:11] Jenna Extra stuff.

[00:59:13] Angela Extra stuff.

[00:59:14] Jenna We had, I felt like, a lot of interesting movie magic facts, a lot of cat grooming facts…

[00:59:23] Angela And a Forrest Gump impression.

[00:59:26] Jenna Not a bad day.

[00:59:27] Angela Not too shabby. And next week is Blood Drive.

[00:59:31] Jenna Oh, yeah. I’ve got some good facts about the bloodmobile.

[00:59:35] Angela It was actually on the set. It was in the parking lot. A real one.

[00:59:38] Jenna Yep, I’ll tell you all about it next week.

[00:59:40] Angela See you next week.

[00:59:47] Jenna 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.

[01:00:03] Angela Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For Ad free versions of Office Ladies, go to Stitcher premium dotcom. For a free one month trial of Stitcher premium, use code: office.