EP. 120 — Sabre

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.

Angela [00:00:24] Hello, everyone. Welcome to Sahbray.

Jenna [00:00:30] Yes, it is season six, episode 15 written by Jennifer Celotta, known to us as Jen Celotta and directed by… John Krasinski!

Angela [00:00:43] Yes, known to us as JK. Oh my gosh.

Jenna [00:00:47] John.

Angela [00:00:49] Great job.

Jenna [00:00:50] I loved this episode.

Angela [00:00:52] I did, too. It was one of those sleeper ones that I hadn’t watched in years.

Jenna [00:00:55] That I had forgotten about.

Angela [00:00:57] Yeah, and I was cracking up.

Jenna [00:00:59] Oh my gosh, so many memories flooded back for me. All those daycare scenes.

Angela [00:01:04] Oh, they were so good.

Jenna [00:01:06] Oh my gosh. I can’t wait to talk about them.

Angela [00:01:08] I can’t wait to talk about them. And there’s even more in the shooting draft that didn’t make it in. So we’re going to we’re going to share it all with you.

Jenna [00:01:15] Here’s a summary. Dunder Mifflin has officially been bought by a new company, Sabre. Gabe Lewis, the new director of sales, arrives in Scranton and brings with him a list of changes and new company policies that do not sit well with Michael. Michael seeks advice from a very unemployed David Wallace. Meanwhile, Pam and Jim tour a daycare center, and Erin and Andy wait for the other to make a move. It is the most awkward courtship of two people.

Angela [00:01:48] I was yelling at the TV screen. I was like, one of you just ask the other one out. You’re making me crazy.

Jenna [00:01:57] We have so much stuff to share in this episode. I mean, I hope we can get through it all.

Angela [00:02:03] We better get to it. But before we do, folks, I want you to know Jenna is wearing a poofy flower on her lapel today.

Jenna [00:02:10] OK, I’m trying this.

Angela [00:02:13] This is your book look. Oh, and our book is coming out in two weeks!

Jenna [00:02:16] In two weeks, our book is launching into the world and we need a bunch of outfits, Angela. You know I’ve been spending weeks and weeks curating outfits because I am not naturally gifted in that area.

Angela [00:02:33] I never want you to stop trying to put together outfits because now every day, and I’m talking, I mean, almost every day I get a picture of you in front of your closet and you’re like, What about this?

Jenna [00:02:45] I know. And so here’s the problem I’m having. I declared that I was going to wear fakey flowers.

Angela [00:02:51] You sure did. You made a big declaration.

Jenna [00:02:54] And it’s not working. I’m wearing one today because I wanted you to see. Hear me out. I’m going to stand up. Well, I want you to see what I think is happening here. And it’s- I know it’s the striped shirt, but I think it’s the fakey flower too. Are you ready?

Angela [00:03:09] Yeah.

Jenna [00:03:09] What does this remind you of?

Angela [00:03:14] Oh, yeah. You look like a French mime.

Jenna [00:03:16] I look like a Parisian mime.

Angela [00:03:18] You do. Wait, I need a picture of you doing that. Oh, my gosh. All right, well, we’re very excited our book is coming out in two weeks. We can’t believe it.

Jenna [00:03:29] I can’t promise I’m going to wear a fakey flower, everyone. I’m sorry to disappoint. I’m still trying.

Angela [00:03:34] You got to have one, Jenna. Just one.

Jenna [00:03:36] I’ll work on it. All right. Let’s get into fast facts. Fast fact number one: John Krasinski directed this episode!

Angela [00:03:47] My gosh!

Jenna [00:03:47] We had a fan question from Alice R in Italy. How was it seeing John Krasinski on the other side of the camera as director? He did an amazing job.

Angela [00:03:59] He sure did. He was just like a natural.

Jenna [00:04:02] He really was. It was a total pleasure. It was always tricky what was it going to be like when one of our cast mates stepped into directing, particularly because they had to be on both sides of the camera. Like logistically, how does that work?

Angela [00:04:17] Right. And John was your major scene partner.

Jenna [00:04:19] He was. It was so crazy how we could do scenes together and he would be completely in character as Jim, I felt like I was talking to Jim… But then we would cut and he would have simultaneously observed things and would have notes. I don’t know how he did. I don’t know how your brain does that.

Angela [00:04:36] My brain doesn’t do that. Some people have that brain, though. They just compartmentalize it and then they know how to like- I’m sort of a one trick pony.

Jenna [00:04:43] I know. I like to be doing the one thing, artistically.

Angela [00:04:45] The one thing. I’m real good at the one thing at one time.

Jenna [00:04:48] Well, we reached out to John, and he’s off right now filming season three of Jack Ryan, but he sent in some audio clips. And we’re so excited to share them with you. First off, he talked about what it was like to direct the show.

John Krasinski [00:05:03] Hey, guys. Wait a minute. How are you on Sabre already? That means that it is season six? You’re into season six? No. Slow down. We need more of this podcast. The world needs more of this podcast, for the love of Pete. That’s all I have to say about that. What was it like directing Sabre? It was a dream. It was absolutely everything you would wish directing a show like this would be. I personally was terrified because I had to direct all of you. I remember being really, really nervous about that, that you were my coworkers, but you were my closest friends. You were my family. And here I was thinking I had the audacity to tell you what to do. Which incidentally, I don’t think I did once. I’m not sure I gave one acting note to any of you because I was just in awe watching, sitting back and watching, which really was one of the most special parts about directing the show was getting to see through a totally unique lens of being behind these monitors, the magic that every single one of you brought to each and every moment, whether it was a joke or whether it was an emotional beat. Everyone was just so good at what they did. And of course, as an actor, I always used to love watching everybody play in these scenes, but there were so many scenes that I wasn’t a part of. So, you know, getting to- in Sabre- getting to be a part of the hot tub scene with Michael and David Wallace. At the end of the day, I think that directing that episode was a much bigger deal than I even understood or imagined then in that moment, because the truth is, directing is terrifying. As I told you, I was very nervous to do it on this show. And honestly, if it hadn’t been for this episode being such an amazing experience, surrounded by such hugely supportive crew members, cast members, producers, everyone, I don’t know that I ever would have done it again. Truly. I mean, I think it was something that I was really excited to experiment with on our show, but never thought that I’d go much further than that in trying to direct anything else.

Jenna [00:07:17] Can you imagine?

Angela [00:07:19] Oh, man.

Jenna [00:07:20] Could you imagine if he didn’t keep directing? He’s so good.

Angela [00:07:23] I know. I just love that John got to have this experience on our show for the first time because you and I know how loving and supportive everyone was.

Jenna [00:07:32] This was true for other people as well. I mean, our editor, Claire Scanlan, has a very successful directing career in television that started with The Office. That was because Greg was very encouraging of having different department heads step into that role of director, to step out of what they were doing and try this new thing in a really supportive environment. I feel like it launched the directing careers of many people.

Angela [00:07:56] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:07:57] Randall Einhorn, our cinematographer.

Angela [00:07:59] Matt Sohn.

Jenna [00:08:00] Yes!

Angela [00:08:00] So many.

Jenna [00:08:01] And, by the way, the writer of this episode, Jenna Celotta.

Angela [00:08:04] Yeah.

Jenna [00:08:05] I was just watching television, the other day I was watching Abbott Elementary, and she directed the episode. I was like, Oh my gosh, Jen!

Angela [00:08:12] Yeah. So many people.

Jenna [00:08:13] Well, listen. Speaking of Jenna Celotta, there is a great interview with her and John over on OfficeTally.com for this episode. I’ll share some of what they talked about as we go along, but one of the things that had included were interviews with cast members about John’s directing.

Angela [00:08:32] Oh, really?

Jenna [00:08:32] Yes. So I’m going to tell you what people said. All right, Ellie said “John made me feel confident yet calm and also made me laugh throughout the entire week. If it isn’t too weird a thing to say, I feel like he took very good care of us.” Brian said, “He was bold, which I thought was cool. He wanted characters to try new things.” Kate said, “John was a very thoughtful director who created a great tone on set. He really did his homework on all levels. He took his job very seriously, but not himself.” Like, he didn’t take himself too seriously.

Angela [00:09:07] That’s John.

Jenna [00:09:07] And then Creed said, “Which one’s John?”

Angela [00:09:10] Oh my gosh. Creed.

Jenna [00:09:12] Creed with the button.

Angela [00:09:12] So perfect. So perfect.

Jenna [00:09:15] All right. Fast fact number two, I’ll have you know, this was not John’s directorial debut.

Angela [00:09:22] What was?

Jenna [00:09:23] So this might have been the thing that inspired him to keep directing, but it was not his debut. He had written, produced and directed the film Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, based on the short story collection by David Foster Wallace. I remember this from the time we did the pilot. John loved this book, and I guess he purchased the rights to the book with his first paycheck from The Office. He had always wanted to adapt it.

Angela [00:09:50] He’s so smart like that.

Jenna [00:09:52] I know.

Angela [00:09:52] He’s such a forward thinker.

Jenna [00:09:54] He is. Originally, he was just going to write and produce the film. Did you know John majored in screenwriting at Brown University? I didn’t know that.

Angela [00:10:02] No.

Jenna [00:10:03] Yeah. So he majored in screenwriting, not acting. Writing was really his first love. So anyway, he had the rights, but he couldn’t find a director. And I guess it was Rainn Wilson who said to him on set one day, why don’t you just direct it yourself?

Angela [00:10:20] That sounds like Rainn too. Rainn is very much the person that’s like, Why don’t you just do it? And you’re like, oh okay.

Jenna [00:10:26] Yeah. So I guess Rainn Wilson kind of kickstarted John’s directing career. The next thing he directed was this episode of The Office. Then he directed two more episodes of The Office, so three total. Then, when The Office was over, he directed a movie called The Hollars and of course, A Quiet Place.

Angela [00:10:46] Which I watched on the plane.

Jenna [00:10:48] Oh, lady.

Angela [00:10:49] Was I crazy?

Jenna [00:10:50] Oh, lady. Did you yell out?

Angela [00:10:52] Yes. I was like, Ahhh, like, I’m sure people thought I was crazy.

Jenna [00:10:56] Oh my gosh. Well, you know, his next directorial project is a film called If. And he’s reuniting with Steve Carell. Steve’s going to be in it.

Angela [00:11:06] Oh my gosh, we have to go see that together.

Jenna [00:11:08] Let’s do it. So one more thing I want to point out before we move on to fast fact number three because fast fact number three is all Angela.

Angela [00:11:15] Oh no.

Jenna [00:11:16] So I’m squeezing a little extra information into my fast fact two.

Angela [00:11:20] Squeeze it.

Jenna [00:11:21] Which is that we need to point out what a very big deal it was for John to direct this particular episode because he had to establish two new major characters in the show. Kathy Bates as Jo Bennett and Zach Woods as Gabe Lewis. And he directed Christian Slater. So this was not just a regular episode of The Office.

Angela [00:11:43] That’s right! He had to do the whole Sabre video Oh my gosh, I’d even think about that.

Jenna [00:11:47] He had to start a whole new company. He had to like establish Sabre.

Angela [00:11:50] It was a big episode to make your directorial debut. My lord.

Jenna [00:11:55] Well, John talked a little bit about it. Here we go.

John Krasinski [00:11:58] Introducing Kathy Bates, which was so mind blowing, the Kathy Bates was not only on our show, but I was her first experience as a director, and for that, I will always be apologetic to her. But I remember introducing that character and knowing that, I don’t know, feeling a big responsibility, that that character was going to be a big part of the show. And bringing along with her was Zach Woods, who I remember from the moment we shot his first stuff, the whole water bottle storyline, he was just so unbelievably funny. He was so reserved and this brand new instrument that we had to play with on the show. A totally different character than anybody else. And yet, when ever he spoke, you couldn’t take your eyes off of him. He was always so, so funny. And I just remember with the big story changes that were happening in the show, I was so nervous to be the one to introduce those two characters. And then in the end, I don’t know, feel somewhat honored to have been to have been a part of it.

Jenna [00:12:58] I think those guys were lucky to have John as a director. He’s so personable. He puts you so at ease. I mean, listen, all of our directors have a place in my heart. They’re all great.

Angela [00:13:09] But John really does have a gif at like walking into a room and just putting everyone like out of their heads. Do you know what I mean?

Jenna [00:13:17] He’s a good connector. Is good at connecting instantly. All right, Angela, it’s you. It’s fast fact three. What do you got for me?

Angela [00:13:26] OK, here you go. That’s fact number three is courtesy of Joya Balfour. Who, as you guys know, worked for NBC Digital. She shared with us that NBC did an entire website for Sabre. The site featured a bio on CEO Jo Bennett, the full Christian Slater video, a section with a company overview. Plus, it featured all of Sah-bray’s- sorry, oh my god, I’m doing it. Plus, it featured all of Sabre’s printer products, a Q&A with Kelly Kapoor in an article titled Print in All Colors, and my favorite section was an employee blog by Scranton accountant Oscar Martinez. And the blog was titled There’s No Accounting for Taste.

Jenna [00:14:13] What?

Angela [00:14:13] Yeah, and here were a few of his blogs he posted. One was titled Winter Woe. The next one was titled Music Makes the People Come Together and Annoys Me at the Office.

Jenna [00:14:26] Oh my gosh.

Angela [00:14:27] Lastly, he wrote a blog called A Different Voice. Joya found an archive of the website. The video’s not on it, but some of the different elements are. I’ll share in stories. It is hilarious.

Jenna [00:14:38] Oh my gosh.

Angela [00:14:39] I know.

Jenna [00:14:40] I didn’t know any of that stuff.

Angela [00:14:42] I feel like NBC.com, like we’ve talked about it, they were just sort of ahead of the curve.

Jenna [00:14:46] Yeah.

Angela [00:14:47] Another thing happening online at this time was a lot of people were very sad to see David Wallace go. And a save Wallace campaign started online. There was even a contest on OfficeTally.com where you could make a save a Wallace icon and a bunch of the icons are still up there. I’ll put a few in stories.

Jenna [00:15:07] No way. Wow.

Angela [00:15:09] But yeah, this was a huge episode. We’re finally, seeing Sabre, so NBC really went all out. They were clearly excited about their Thursday night lineup this week because, you know, our favorite announcer guy? He came back and they did a trailer. Here’s the trailer that ran the week Sabre aired.

NBC commercial [00:15:27] Thursday, we’re putting the word out. Comedy’s new on NBC. Check your e-mail. I’ll mark you as spam. Who the hell is Pam? With new Community and Parks and Rec. Look how happy everybody is. While The Office has been taken over by Kathy Bates and Christian Slater. Have you ever tasted a rainbow? You’re probably wondering what’s going on. Well, you’re not alone. And here’s what to expect when Jan Hooks is on 30 Rock. The show will have laughter, tears infections caused by jacuzzi water. The comedy’s new this Thursday on NBC.

Angela [00:15:58] Yep, the comedy is new. I want John to do an impression of that guy.

Jenna [00:16:02] Yeah, right. Me too. Oh well, that was wonderful, Angela.

Angela [00:16:07] Oh, you’re welcome.

Jenna [00:16:08] You know, I’ve said before, I think you could always do fast fact three if you wanna.

Angela [00:16:15] Okayyy.

Jenna [00:16:17] Happy to give it away.

Angela [00:16:19] Happy to give away something you created for yourself.

Jenna [00:16:23] Something I didn’t think about on episode one was that there would be, let’s see, 600 fast facts, that I’d have to come up with.

Angela [00:16:33] But by episode 115…

Jenna [00:16:36] It’s not as easy as it used to be.

Angela [00:16:39] I am here for you any time you need a fast fact assist.

Jenna [00:16:43] Thank you, lady.

Angela [00:16:44] You’re welcome.

Jenna [00:16:44] Let’s take a break and then we’ll be back to break down Sabre.

Angela [00:16:48] Let’s see how Michael opens a box, you guys. All right. This episode starts with Michael, who is so excited because they have received a huge large box from Sabray.

Jenna [00:17:04] Their new owners.

Angela [00:17:06] And he asked Erin to scissor him.

Jenna [00:17:08] Right, which means to, I guess, toss him scissors from across the room.

Angela [00:17:13] Throw scissors at him. Pam is the only one that clocks this as disturbing.

Jenna [00:17:19] Yes. We had two fan questions that I loved. The first is from Cessia Z in London, Ontario, Canada, who said when Michael says that the box is from Sabray to Sabray US, Michael says the us as if he’s referring to everyone in the office, but in reality, the us probably means United States? I think that’s the funniest thing ever. I loved that. It didn’t occur to me until I read this letter that that’s what he was doing. Our other bit of mail came from Hailey H in Beaumont, Alberta, Canada, and also many others, by the way, wrote in to say, How did you guys do the bit when Erin throws the scissors to Michael? Are they fakey scissors?

Angela [00:18:07] I hope so.

Jenna [00:18:08] Yes, they were fakey scissors. They were made by Phil Shea via the hand prop room. Randy Cordray confirmed that they were rubber, but they looked very real. I remember this about them. They did not open and close. They were permanently in the open position.

Angela [00:18:27] Because they were rubber.

Jenna [00:18:28] Because they were rubber. Randy said that they added a special effects sound in post to make them sound like real scissors. So amazing. I kind of want to go to the hand prop room. What are they making over there? Can we do a factory tour of the hand prop room?

Angela [00:18:46] I would love nothing more.

Jenna [00:18:47] How does that work?

Angela [00:18:48] I don’t know.

Jenna [00:18:49] Call up and say, I need fakey scissors in the open position. Where do you do it? How does this happen? I bet that’s where Phil Shea had the teeny, tiny, real tennis racket made for my son’s Halloween costume when he was a baby.

Angela [00:19:03] We just have a lot of factory tours, and I can’t wait for each one.

Jenna [00:19:06] Hand prop room, we’re coming for you.

Angela [00:19:09] Well Michael is going to tear into this box with those rubber scissors, and there is a running joke in my family, lady, that I do it wrong when it comes to opening packages.

Jenna [00:19:20] Do you open it like Michael?

Angela [00:19:21] I just get it open. I get it open.

Jenna [00:19:24] So that’s a yes.

Angela [00:19:25] So, you know how like some packages come with like a little built-in Ziploc thing?

Jenna [00:19:29] Yeah.

Angela [00:19:30] And if you open it correctly, the Ziploc will work.

Jenna [00:19:32] Yeah.

Angela [00:19:33] I never get it right. Like, it’s that’s not going to happen. Or there’ll be a big thing that says Peel here. I miss that every time. That’s not going to happen. So if something’s really like a disaster in the pantry, chances are I opened it.

Jenna [00:19:48] That’s very funny. I think you know how I open a box.

Angela [00:19:52] I mean, probably meticulously along the little perforated line.

Jenna [00:19:56] Well, yeah, because number one, what if I need to reuse it? You know, what if I don’t like what’s inside and I have to return it? I’m going to need that packaging.

Angela [00:20:03] Oh, yeah.

Jenna [00:20:04] Or what if I do like what’s inside? I’m going to want to break that down and put it in the recycling.  You know what I mean?

Angela [00:20:10] I’ll break it down. I mean, it’s already broken down by the time I open it. Anyway, when I saw that scene, I was like, Josh, is that me? And he was like, Uh yeah. Uh yeah.

Jenna [00:20:19] That’s amazing. Well, Michael’s going to have a great talking head now, where he explains that Dunder Mifflin was acquired by an electronics company, that Sabray stepped in and saved their butts at the eleventh hour. I want to point out that during this talking head at twenty nine seconds, Chris Workman, who was our first assistant camera operator, is the person who is putting up the Sabre sign underneath the Dunder Mifflin sign in the lobby.

Angela [00:20:47] That’s Chris?

Jenna [00:20:48] That’s Chris.

Angela [00:20:49] Oh, I love that. Well, there was a candy bag talking head alternate. And it was a must shoot. So we shot this, but it wasn’t used. And I just loved it so much. Here was the alt talking head for Michael. “Dunder Mifflin was recently bought out by an electronics company named Sabray. Great things come from the south, like chili and Wyoming. Well, now you can add another distinguished name to that list. Michael Rodeo Cowboy Garth Brooks Scott.”

Jenna [00:21:22] Where is Wyoming?

Angela [00:21:24] I don’t know. He thinks it’s the south, it’s not the South. But that’s just so funny to me that he’s like, great things come from the south, like me and a rodeo and a cowboy and.

Jenna [00:21:34] Garth Brooks.

Angela [00:21:35] Garth Brooks.

Jenna [00:21:36] Just shouting things out.

Angela [00:21:36] Chili. Wyoming! At 42 seconds, you see Michael taking everything out of the box. There is the Sabre graphics on each product that was, of course, created by our graphics designer Henry Saine. Phil Shea once again used the hand prop room to fabricate the individual product boxes that everything came in.

Jenna [00:21:56] I’m going to stalk this place. I’m going to the hand prop room.

Angela [00:22:00] I know, I know.

Jenna [00:22:01] You know what, Ange? I recently had to do props for my son’s fourth grade play.

Angela [00:22:06] Jenna. You were so excited about it. You left me several messages. You were giddy.

Jenna [00:22:11] Because it was a play that was set during the gold rush. It’s so cool. The class writes the play themselves based on a topic they’re learning in class. They were learning about hydraulic mining and government regulations during the gold rush, so that’s what they wrote their play about. And I was on the props team and they needed an old timey camera and an old timey typewriter and an old timey cash register. Guess who I called?

Angela [00:22:39] Phil Shea.

Jenna [00:22:39] Phil Shea! Phil was like, I know where to send you. You need to go to this place called History For Hire, and they have all old timey stuff, like an old timey telephone and old timey like box of cereal. Whatever you need, it’s there.

Angela [00:22:53] And you and you like kind of rent it like a library, like how you used to check out a book.

Jenna [00:22:57] Yes. So I go into this place, it’s a huge warehouse. It’s actually very close to where we shot our show over on Saticoy. I was like, Oh my God, this is the greatest museum. I spent, like a half hour there just like walking around. It was amazing. Am I going to go into, like, props?

Angela [00:23:14] Maybe.

Jenna [00:23:15] I maybe. I don’t know. Does Phil need an assistant? An intern? Something?

Angela [00:23:20] Oh my gosh.

Jenna [00:23:21] A protege?

Angela [00:23:22] You know what I would love? I would love to show up to a set and you walk out with a tray of different types of like mallard ducks for me to use in my scene. I’m like Jenna? I’m working with Phil today.

Jenna [00:23:33] I’m working with Phil.

Angela [00:23:33] We’ve got a lot of props.

Jenna [00:23:35] And I’m going to use a silver tray because that’s what-.

Angela [00:23:37] That’s how you do it.

Jenna [00:23:37] Yeah. How Phil taught me.

Angela [00:23:40] Well, this box contains a new printer for accounting, a fax machine for sales, and the thing Michael’s most excited about; a scanner.

Jenna [00:23:50] Yes, he immediately starts scanning weird things like a child would.

Angela [00:23:54] You know, Jenna? I just got so tickled when I saw Michael like playing with the scanner because in my grandmother’s early 90s, that’s what she wanted for Christmas one year. And we got her a scanner and she was so delighted by it. She had all of these like newspaper clippings and anything that any of her grandkids ever accomplished or were written up about, she had saved them all. And she just started scanning them.

Jenna [00:24:22] She was just archiving.

Angela [00:24:24] She was archiving in her 90s.

Jenna [00:24:27] Bless her heart.

Angela [00:24:28] I know. I know.

Jenna [00:24:30] Well, Michael is scanning his little hamster toy.

Angela [00:24:34] Yeah.

Jenna [00:24:35] Not the same.

Angela [00:24:36] Not the same. And that’s when Erin’s like, Yeah, this box was for a Gabe? It said, Set aside for Gabe.

Jenna [00:24:42] Yeah. So now they have to get all of the things and they have to put it all back into the box and seal it up. I loved this scene.

Angela [00:24:50] I loved this scene so much. You and I were recently asked in an interview what we are loving about this rewatch, and I am loving these big ensemble scenes where we all have to do one ridiculous task together.

Jenna [00:25:03] Oh my gosh. Pam and Oscar are trying to put the stuff in the box with everybody weighing in. Amazing.

Angela [00:25:10] Amazing.

Jenna [00:25:11] By the way, I want to say at two minutes 14 seconds, in the background, on the wall, the watercolor is back.

Angela [00:25:21] Finally.

Jenna [00:25:22] Finally, nine episodes later.

Angela [00:25:26] Wow.

Jenna [00:25:27] It’s back and it will be there.

Angela [00:25:30] Yay. Hope in a frame.

Jenna [00:25:33] On the wall.

Angela [00:25:33] On the wall.

Jenna [00:25:35] So now we have the opening credits of this show, and I don’t know if you noticed, but we’ve got a Mr. Ed Helms in there now.

Angela [00:25:41] Yes.

Jenna [00:25:42] He’s at his desk, we get a quick shot of him. Ryan is no longer holding up his bag of basketball stuff. Instead, we’ve got Ed Helms at the top. His movie was a very, very big success.

Angela [00:25:53] Yes.

Jenna [00:25:53] He moved right into those opening credits.

Angela [00:25:55] He sure did. Well, everyone is very excited. They’re waiting for Gabe’s arrival. And Pam’s like, Michael, what do you want us to do? And he’s like, Do I have to explain everything?

Jenna [00:26:06] And she’s like, Yes, because usually we’re not on the same page.

Angela [00:26:09] And then they just all start applauding.

Jenna [00:26:11] And she’s like- I’m saying she, it was me.

Angela [00:26:15] I know.

Jenna [00:26:15] Pam is like, I guess this is what we’re doing. We’re applauding. OK, well, guys, new character alert. Zach Woods played Gabe Lewis. Zach Woods was born in Trenton, New Jersey, and is a graduate of NYU.

Angela [00:26:31] Is this is your bio voice?

Jenna [00:26:32] It is.

Angela [00:26:33] I will now read a bio.

Jenna [00:26:34] I have a new bio voice,

Angela [00:26:36] Oh, okay.

Jenna [00:26:36] At age 16, he began performing improv at Upright Citizens Brigade. Doesn’t it sound like you could be watching like a montage of his life over this narration?

Angela [00:26:46] Sort of.

Jenna [00:26:46] OK. Close your eyes. Visualize it.

Angela [00:26:48] OK, I’m gonna close my eyes.

Jenna [00:26:50] He has even taught improv at UCB, Columbia, and Duke University’s, as well as at Lincoln Center. In addition to his role on The Office, Zach is well known for his roles on such shows as Veep, The Good Wife and Silicon Valley. Fan question from Kyle T in Houston, Texas. Do y’all have a favorite story about working with Zach Woods? Kyle, every story about working with Zach Woods is my favorite. He is one of my favorite people. Professionally, personally, he is a gem of a human being.

Angela [00:27:24] Kyle,I’m a tell you right now, he is straight up good people. He is good people. And he’s so flippin funny.

Jenna [00:27:30] So funny.

Angela [00:27:31] He’s so funny. And I love improv. You know, that’s my background. And I would lose myself in a scene because I would watch him go off script at the right moment. It was never selfish. It was like exactly if we needed something. He was just perfection. I was like, beyond impressed with him.

Jenna [00:27:49] He has a command of language in improv that is like, otherworldly. There are some great bloopers of him just talking, and he doesn’t stop talking, but he’s not even saying jokes. He’s just like, it’s so funny and people are dying. We couldn’t get through scenes.

Angela [00:28:08] Well he never went for the joke. That’s what I mean, that he was patient, not selfish. He was never about the joke. Anyway, we could go on and on. He was wonderful.

Jenna [00:28:16] Kyle, we loved him.

Angela [00:28:17] We loved him. You know, there’s a lot in the shooting draft that didn’t make it in the script, and there is a scene that starts an accounting runner right here that I wanted to share with you guys because it’s going to reveal a little bit of Oscar’s backstory.

Jenna [00:28:32] Really?

Angela [00:28:32] Yes, OK. Here’s a hint. It involves Vance refrigeration.

Jenna [00:28:37] What?

Angela [00:28:38] I know, right? Got you guessing now. In the script, Gabe is on his way up, right?

Jenna [00:28:44] Yup.

Angela [00:28:44] And in accounting, Angela quickly swipes a big stack from Kevin’s desk into the trash. Kevin says, Hey, what are you doing? Angela says, This is accounting. It’s not your home, your car or your stomach. Kevin says, Joke’s on you because that was work stuff in there. Angela says, It was fake work. I gave all the real work to Oscar today, to which Kevin goes, Hey, and Oscar goes, Again?

Jenna [00:29:12] Lady, I remember reading this at the table read and it was so funny this idea that Angela gives Kevin fakey work.

Angela [00:29:19] Yes, well, this runner continues throughout the episode. There’s two more beats to it. I’ll share it when it happens.

Jenna [00:29:25] Oh my gosh, I totally remember that. Well, listen, once Gabe does come into the office, he is presented with a platter of Scranton hot dogs.

Angela [00:29:36] My favorite part of this beat was watching Rainn as Dwight try to figure out where to set the hot dogs down. And there was no place to set them down.

Jenna [00:29:45] We got a fan question from Sofia in Maryland about that. Sofia wanted to know, When Dwight awkwardly places the tray of hot dogs on the floor in front of Gabe, was this scripted or improvised? Sofia, that was scripted. You were watching just Rainn Wilson do some brilliant execution of a scripted moment. I became curious about this pride that Dwight had over the fact that these were Scranton hot dogs. I wondered, is there something that I don’t know about Pennsylvania and hot dogs?

Angela [00:30:19] Yeah. Is there a Scranton dog?

Jenna [00:30:22] Well, according to Pennsylvania Eats, they have an article called the Pennsylvania Hot Dog Bucket List. You can just travel through Pennsylvania eating hot dogs. And here is what it said, “For an old school hot dog experience in Scranton, look no further than Coney Island Lunch, where it’s all about Texas wieners, which are a bit different than your standard hot dog. Using a 93 year old recipe, Coney Island Lunch makes its hot dogs with a Burke’s all beef wiener on a National Bakery roll topped with Duesseldorf mustard, fresh diced onions and its famous chili sauce, which is also available for sale by the pint or quart. Though not quite traditional, you can also top yours with cheddar cheese sauce, sweet relish, and sauerkraut. Beloved in the region, this lunch counter’s Texas wiener was named third best in the USA.

Angela [00:31:23] Wow.

Jenna [00:31:23] By Fox News, and it was also ranked on the Daily Meal’s list of the 35 best hot dogs in America. So I guess Scranton is making the dogs.

Angela [00:31:35] So this was true.

Jenna [00:31:37] True!

Angela [00:31:38] As everyone’s applauding for Gabe, Gabe applauds right back and says, And to you.

Jenna [00:31:43] Amazing.

Angela [00:31:43] Amazing moment. And Michael says, you know, we’re so excited to meet you. We’ve even prepared a song for you.

Jenna [00:31:50] Yes. To which Gabe says, Oh, I’m going to record it and put it on the Sabre website.

Angela [00:31:55] And immediately, Michael looks at everyone and goes, Sabre.

Jenna [00:31:59] Sabre. And everyone’s like, Oh, Sabre. Sabre. Well, it’s not going to be enough time for Andy and Erin to adjust their song that they’ve planned. It is amazing this song. It is a song parody to the tune of Party in the U.S.A. by Miley Cyrus. I thought we should listen to it.

Erin & Andy [00:32:27] Hopped off the train in Scranton P.A., another cloudy gray afternoon. Jumped in the cab for the first time. Look to the right, and you see the electric city sign. This is going to be a good day for Dunder Mifflin and Sah-bray.

Michael [00:32:42] Sabre.

Andy [00:32:46] Sabre… Dunder Mifflin and Sabre. So yeahhh.

Erin & Andy [00:32:51] Dunder Mifflin is a part of Sah-bray. Yeahhhh Dunder Mifflin is a part of Sab- Sabre…

Jenna [00:33:02] Oh my god. It makes me laugh so hard. They’re really good too.

Angela [00:33:07] I know. They are.

Jenna [00:33:08] We had a fan question from Rachel S. in Benton, Arkansas, Who wrote the Sabre song to the tune Party in the USA? Rachel, it was scripted by our writers Warren Lieberstein and Halstead Sullivan. Remember, those are the guys who wrote Koi Pond. Now, Jen Celotta shared that they also had to write lyrics to two other songs because they didn’t know what song was eventually going to get cleared. So I guess they wrote lyrics to I Got a Feelin by Black Eyed Peas and Surfing in the USA by the Beach Boys. But they did eventually get the rights to Party in the USA. It’s something called song parody rights, and it costs twenty three thousand dollars.

Angela [00:33:52] Well, I texted Warren about this and I was like, How did you guys get assigned to writing this? And he said, Halstead and I both sang a cappella in college, and we were a little nerdy about it. This was before Pitch Perfect made a cappella nerdy cool. So the writers kind of knew us as that. We always jumped at the chance to write lyrics for anything. It was just fun for us.

Jenna [00:34:15] Lady, both your ex-husband and your current husband sang a cappella in college.

Angela [00:34:21] I know.

Jenna [00:34:22] There is a thread to follow there.

Angela [00:34:24] Although when I was in college, I didn’t know anyone that did a cappella. Aca what? Aca what?

Jenna [00:34:30] Well, lady, thanks to our writer’s assistant Rob Burnett, I was able to get a hold of the Surfin’ in the USA version of the Sa-bray song, and Cassi had her friend, Yaki Margulies, who is an actor, musician and Big Beach Boys fan record it for us. Here it is.

Yaki Margulies [00:34:52] We’d like to welcome our new boss from Tallahassee way. Thanks for making the long trip to Dunder Mifflin PA. Have a coffee and donut. Take off your coat and stay. Over there that’s Phyllis, she’s working for Sah-bray. And back there in the annex, Kelly and Ryan play. Kevin, Oscar, and Angela add numbers all day. Then everyone on the sales team, Creed, Meredith, and Toby are happy to be working, working for Sah-bray. We’re happy to be working, working for Sah-bray. Happy to be working, working for Sah-bray. Happy to be working, working for Sah-bray. Happy to be working…

Jenna [00:36:00] I mean, that is an amazing Brian Wilson impression.

Angela [00:36:04] It’s so good. It’s so stinking good.

Jenna [00:36:05] So so good. And Warren and Halstead had to write all those lyrics for that.

Angela [00:36:11] I know. And talk about small world, I know Yaki.

Jenna [00:36:14] I know. So he officiates bar and bat mitzvahs, and he officiated a bat mitzvah that you were at in Ojai like very recently.

Angela [00:36:23] Three weeks ago.

Jenna [00:36:24] That’s crazy.

Angela [00:36:25] He is wonderful. That was so great. Yaki, thank you. Well, Jim is being just adorable new dad. He’s MapQuested directions, even though it’s just a few minutes away, to their appointment to look at a day care. Pam and Jim are going to tour daycares.

Jenna [00:36:40] Can I say something?

Angela [00:36:41] What?

Jenna [00:36:41] In this scene, yes, Jim is being adorable, but at five minutes, nine seconds, that fuzzy eyes half closed, frizzy haired photo of Pam is very clearly on Jim’s desk. What is that? What is that?

Angela [00:36:59] I don’t know.

Jenna [00:37:00] It is so bizarre to me that this is a photo that has made its way into a frame ever, and is so prominently on Jim’s desk.

Angela [00:37:10] Maybe that’s the young gal he fell in love with, that frizzy haired.

Jenna [00:37:13] She can’t open her eyes all the way?

Angela [00:37:15] No.

Jenna [00:37:15] She’s constantly mid blink.

Angela [00:37:17] My sister Billie rarely has her eyes open in any photo.

Jenna [00:37:21] I don’t know. I’ll let it go, but it’s there. Pam and Jim have a talking head where they explain that they have found a very highly rated local daycare. It’s very hard to get into. So they have to go in for an interview.

Angela [00:37:36] Yeah. And I think Jim has his first dad pun where he says, if not, there’s always the army, the infantry.

Jenna [00:37:43] He’s so ready to be a dad.

Angela [00:37:45] Dad pun!

Jenna [00:37:46] Way to go.

Angela [00:37:47] Well, there was an alt Jim/ Pam talking head that was in the shooting draft. It was a must shoot. I have to read it to you. It made me laugh. OK, Pam says. We found a great local daycare, but it’s really hard to get into. Jim says, Ideally, we would have called the moment we conceived. Pam says, But usually you fall right asleep.

Jenna [00:38:08] Whoa. OK. Some TMI there. About Jim and Pam.

Angela [00:38:15] I know. That was a must shoot. So you shot that. It exists somewhere.

Jenna [00:38:20] Wow, that is so much more than we need to know about their private life I think.

Angela [00:38:25] I have noticed in the shooting draft whenever we get to the alts that sometimes they do peel back a layer to Jim and Pam and they always back away from it. They always end up not picking it.

Jenna [00:38:35] Well, now we’re going to go into the conference room and Gabe is going to play an introduction video. It is a video about the new company that has acquired them, Sabre. And it is starring Christian Slater as Christian Slater.

Angela [00:38:52] I know. Michael has never been more impressed.

Jenna [00:38:54] Oh, he I mean, now he’s so excited about this company.

Angela [00:38:58] Oh yeah.

Jenna [00:38:58] I thought we needed to hear it.

Christian Slater [00:39:03] So you’ve just been bought by Sabre. Probably got a lot of questions. Hi, I’m Christian Slater. What’s it like to work for Sabre? Let’s find out together. Working at Sabre means taking on the challenge of the road that rises to meet you. Sabre, respecting the past… But opening the window to the future. Have you ever tasted a rainbow? At Sabre you will.

Jo Bennett [00:39:35] You’ll find it easy to embrace the Sabre spirit. Welcome. We’re very excited to go on this journey with you.

Jenna [00:39:45] OK, can I say something? This video opens with the line, so you’ve just been bought by Sabre?

Angela [00:39:51] How many companies have they bought?

Jenna [00:39:53] That’s what I want to know. Like, is this something they made just for this acquisition or is this like a thing they have?

Angela [00:39:59] No. They’ve bought so many companies and had odd transitions, they had to make the video. That’s my theory.

Jenna [00:40:06] Well, we got a lot of mail, a fan mail flurry, asking, How did we get Christian Slater to star in this crazy video?

Angela [00:40:15] Well, I found an interview that Christian Slater did for Entertainment Weekly about his experience on our show. Here’s what he had to say. “John Krasinski directed the episode, and he and I sort of know each other from different types of events, and he’s a really nice dude. He called my agent and was wondering if I’d be available to do this fantastic PSA on Sabre, the company that bought Dunder Mifflin. And somehow it worked out with the schedule. It was kind of incredible.”

Jenna [00:40:41] Wow. So John did it.

Angela [00:40:43] John made it happen.

Jenna [00:40:44] Way to go.

Angela [00:40:46] Well, John sent in an audio clip about what it was like to work with Christian Slater. Here it is.

John Krasinski [00:40:51] One of the greatest memories for me in directing this episode was directing that industrial video for Sabre. I mean, just being on set with Christian Slater was a pretty big highlight of my career. Not only was he one of my favorite actors growing up, but he was the nicest, nicest human being and was such a big fan of the show and you could tell. He actually just exuded this excitement to be on set, totally understood the joke and knew what he was doing, and it was just so much fun.

Angela [00:41:23] Well, Randy Cordray also shared with us that Christian Slater was a dream to work with. A total professional, cordial, friendly and engaging with everyone on set. And Randy said when we wrapped his work, I witnessed Christian giving up his seat in a courtesy shuttle van so that the entire hair and makeup team could travel together.

Jenna [00:41:42] Well, that’s a Steve Carell move right there.

Angela [00:41:45] I know. So classy.

Jenna [00:41:47] Mmhmm. We did not get to meet Christian Slater.

Angela [00:41:49] We didn’t get to work with him. We were so bummed.

Jenna [00:41:52] We were majorly bummed.

Angela [00:41:53] Because everyone was talking about what a nice guy he was.

Jenna [00:41:56] Well, we got a fan question from Natasha in Wales. Where was the Christian Slater sequence shot? Was it close by? I got a location breakdown from Randy Cordray.

Angela [00:42:07] Do it.

Jenna [00:42:08] The interior shots, including the cafeteria, which, by the way, I asked Randy, Was that the IKEA cafeteria? It really looks like my IKEA cafeteria.

Angela [00:42:17] It really does. We go to the same one. I was like, Where are the meatballs? That looks like the cafeteria.

Jenna [00:42:22] He said no. They were filmed at the Lake View Corporate Center in Westlake Village, California. Randy said that they were mostly unoccupied at the time, so we were able to dress them to look like whatever we needed. We made that cafeteria. The exterior shots were shot at the Baxter building. Randy complimented our locations manager Kyle Alexander because he was able to find these two spots right next to one another. It made it really easy to shoot those sequences in one day. And John shared that when they got to the location, that exterior location, there was a pond in front of the building and it had a bunch of ducks in it. Like 30 ducks. And John was super excited. He absolutely loved this detail, so he put Christian Slater’s opening shot right in front of the pond with the ducks. But right before they were about to shoot, one of the location, guys got into the pond because they were trying to get the ducks to come just a little bit closer.

Angela [00:43:24] To camera?

Jenna [00:43:25] Yes, but guess what? All the ducks flew away.

Angela [00:43:29] They were like, Get out of our pond, mister.

Jenna [00:43:32] John was so bummed. And then our writer, Jen Celotta, shared that Greg Daniels pitched that line, Have you ever tasted a rainbow?

Angela [00:43:41] Oh my gosh, so brilliant.

Jenna [00:43:43] That was from Greg. It was even used in the promo that you played. They did have some alts like, Have you ever tasted a smile? But ultimately they kept the rainbow line. They also experimented with different things that Christian Slater could be doing on that line. Like at one point, I guess they had him carrying around a giant basket of fruit. But they loved him picking up the sandwich. I mean, they must have had so much fun shooting. They were just doing these weird, absurd things, and Christian was playing it so straight the whole time. It’s amazing.

Angela [00:44:18] Well, in the Entertainment Weekly article he did, the interviewer asked him if he ad libbed anything, commenting that the thumbs up at the end was classic. Here was Christian’s response. The thumbs up was a spontaneous moment. I just kind of thought, what would be the cheesiest thing to do? John wanted it to really look like Kathy Bates paid for this actor to come in and directed him on what to do behind the scenes. So I just kept thinking, what would Kathy Bates tell me to do?

Jenna [00:44:47] I love that motivation.

Angela [00:44:50] Of course, Kathy Bates as Jo Bennett.

Jenna [00:44:51] As Jo Bennett. Yes.

Angela [00:44:52] Exactly.

Jenna [00:44:53] Well, we had a fan question from Fiona L. in Melbourne, Australia. Our fan questions are very international today. Well, actually, Fiona has something to tell us, which is that Christian Slater does ads very similar to the Sabre introduction video. They are for HP Wolf Security. They seem very tongue in cheek, especially because he’s done this Sabre video.

Angela [00:45:19] I have never seen this commercial.

Jenna [00:45:21] I want to say thank you, Fiona, for sending me down the rabbit hole that is the Wolf HP web series. It was a web series that they launched in 2017, starring Christian Slater. They’re called The Wolf, and I think Christian Slater is the wolf because he howls in it.

Angela [00:45:41] What?

Jenna [00:45:41] He howls. He walks through companies, kind of like he does in the Sabre vidoe. You know, like he walks through the conference room while a meeting is happening, and all the while he is highlighting how easily it would be for him to hack in to this company’s printer or their computer. He sort of narrates as he’s walking through. I pulled a clip.

Christian Slater [00:46:04] Sheep never realize there’s a wolf around until it’s too late. And they do exactly what the wolf expects them to do. They run into each other or fall down. They become dinner. Time to eat. They’ve got no idea I used my phone to hack the OS in that printer over there. And why would they? Not one printer in this place has built in malware protection. Now they’re all busy watching a little something I threw up in the control panel. Just look at your screen. I can intercept all their print jobs until I find the info I’m looking for. Ooh. Today’s somebody’s birthday. Perfect. The really good stuff is upstairs. The kind of stuff that could destroy any future this grand financial institution can hope to have. (HOWLS)

Jenna [00:47:05] Do you hear all the sheep noises?

Angela [00:47:06] I can’t talk.

Jenna [00:47:07] They’re- because all those people, the workers, they’re just sheep, they’re just, bahhh, bahhh, bahh.

Angela [00:47:11] Oh my gosh.

Jenna [00:47:14] And he’s wolfing, you know? And then he howls!

Angela [00:47:20] That is the most dramatic over the top corporate commercial I think I’ve ever heard. Like, we only could hear it. Sam and I are dying laughing, like, we don’t have a visual, like just like you guys listening. Ho, my gosh.

Jenna [00:47:33] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you guys, each one is like a few minutes long. It was a whole series.

Angela [00:47:38] Oh my gosh. And I love like really dramatically when he’s like, They have no idea I just hacked in to their phone.

Jenna [00:47:45] Well, listen, I didn’t know that you could hack into a printer until I watched this video. That’s what he’s doing in this clip. He’s hacking their printer.

Angela [00:47:52] Anything can be hacked. Anything can be hacked, guys.

Jenna [00:47:55] I learned something, and I guess they just re-upped this campaign. So look for it.

Angela [00:48:02] Well remember years ago when we found out that you could hack someone’s camera in their computer. And so then we started putting Post-it Notes over our cameras.

Jenna [00:48:11] Over our camera. I know everyone, you should do that. You should put a post-it note over the little camera in your computer.

Angela [00:48:18] Right. Or a piece of tape or what have you.

Jenna [00:48:20] Yes, because we read that article where you can hack into it and then people just watch you in your house. How creepy.

Angela [00:48:29] It’s creepskies.

Jenna [00:48:30] Super creeper. All right, so back to the conference room. Gabe has shown the video. People are digesting it. Jim has a sarcastic talking head about it.

Angela [00:48:41] What a great impression by John Krasinski.

Jenna [00:48:44] Very good. Well, you know, he’s good at the impressions. Well, now Gabe is going to explain that Sabre primarily sells printers, so he wants everybody to consider themselves printer salesmen who also sell paper.

Angela [00:48:59] Michael doesn’t like this.

Jenna [00:49:01] He doesn’t care for it.

Angela [00:49:02] It’s about to get worse for Michael, though. Gabe then starts going over all the new company policies. At six minutes, 58 seconds, Meredith yells, Talk about vacation days! Such a like odd heckle from Meredith. This was a much longer scene where everyone shares about their vacation days. And Jenna, it just cracked me up. I want to share a little bit with you. Meredith says, I saved up days from last year. I want to go to Jamaica. And then she stands up, rolls her hips and says, How Meredith got her groove back.

Jenna [00:49:34] OK.

Angela [00:49:35] Stanley has a talking head where he says, I need those vacation days. I have two women, one likes to ski and one likes the tropics. It’s very difficult. But I am not complaining or asking to be judged. I just need some time off.

Jenna [00:49:49] OK.

Angela [00:49:50] And then Michael says, What if you’ve been saving up for days like a big trip in the future, like a 40 day family safari?

Jenna [00:49:59] Oh Michael.

Angela [00:50:00] Gabe says, I’m sorry, but maybe you could look into a two week safari for your family. And Michael says, You can’t take 12 kids on a safari in only two weeks. And Stanley says, You can if they’re imaginary.

Jenna [00:50:14] Oh my gosh.

Angela [00:50:15] And then, Kelly explains, she actually owes the company days because she tried out for American Idol and took time off. She went to Atlanta, Boston, and Cincinnati, and she did not advance.

Jenna [00:50:28] These are amazing.

Angela [00:50:29] I know. But here is my favorite part. This scene would have ended with a line from Creed, and I am so bummed it got cut. While they’re talking about their vacation time and whether it will roll over or not for Sabre, Meredith sees the I.T. guy, right?

Jenna [00:50:44] Yes.

Angela [00:50:45] And she says, Hey, who the Hell’s going through our stuff? And Creed says, Oh, that’s just Sam. He’s with me.

Jenna [00:50:53] What?

Angela [00:50:55] And then Gabe goes, Actually, that’s Nick. Your new I.T. guy. And then the scene progresses as aired. But I just love that Creed thought he knew this guy. He’s like, Oh, that’s Sam, he’s with me.

Jenna [00:51:05] Well, here is something that a lot of people flagged. When we cut over to Nick the new I.T. guy, many people notice that it is the same person who was giving graphic design career advice to Pam at the job fair.

Angela [00:51:22] Yeah.

Jenna [00:51:23] I asked Randy about this, and he said, Well, now Job Fair was not on his watch, but he did remember that a lot of the writers really, really loved this actor who, by the way, Nelson Franklin, who previously appeared in Job Fair, and they just decided, we don’t care. We’re going to bring him back because this is now an arc. He’s going to appear in four episodes as Nick. He’s really an amazing comedic actor. You’ve probably seen him on Black-ish, Veep, Arrested Development. And Angela, you know him because you guys were both on Black AF together.

Angela [00:51:57] We were. There was just the craziest little Office reunion. Ken Kwapis directed our episode. Nelson and I played writers in a writer’s room.

Jenna [00:52:06] It’s so funny.

Angela [00:52:07] So funny.

Angela [00:52:07] And then Rashida plays Kenya’s wife. And we all were there on the same day. Well, we had a blast. Nelson’s great. I was excited he got to come back.

Jenna [00:52:16] Me too. I really liked him. His character is going through our computers and he’s going to put up like blockers so that we can’t waste time on certain websites.

Angela [00:52:29] I mean, when he says YouTube, it looked like Michael pooped himself a little.

Jenna [00:52:33] Very upset. But wait, there’s more. It doesn’t stop there. Gabe has even more new policies. But before we do that, I think we should take a break. I need to use the restroom.

Angela [00:52:45] OK.

Jenna [00:52:47] You’re not going to argue with me. I appreciate it.

Angela [00:52:49] I will never argue with you for having to pee. You know this about me.

Jenna [00:52:52] It’s one of our company policies.

Angela [00:52:55] Pee whenever you need to.

Jenna [00:52:56] Go to the bathroom, you go to the bathroom.

Angela [00:52:58] That’s right.

Jenna [00:53:03] We are back. My bladder is empty.

Angela [00:53:06] Your bladder is empty, and I ate half a donut!

Jenna [00:53:09] So on brand for you, lady.

Angela [00:53:11] Someone brought donuts today and it was my happiest moment of my day so far.

Jenna [00:53:15] But only half of it. You only ever eat half of anything.

Angela [00:53:18] That’s right.

Jenna [00:53:19] Well, listen, Gabe is in the conference room and his next new announcement is that he is going to give each employee an aluminum Sabre water bottle. This is going to eliminate the need for plastic. It’s going to be really good for the environment.

Angela [00:53:35] Mm-Hmm.

Jenna [00:53:36] But Michael is like, upset.

Angela [00:53:40] He’s like, What about my little cups? Like my little cups I drink the water out of. He drinks 20 a day.

Jenna [00:53:46] Now here’s the thing that I think is kind of brilliant. Because Gabe says, I bet you can fit those twenty little cups into your water bottle. And Michael says, But what about the twenty little trips that I take to the water cooler each day where he scans the office? Or his twenty little conversations with Stanley?

Angela [00:54:06] Poor Stanley.

Jenna [00:54:06] Stanley’s like, I can let go.

Angela [00:54:08] All this time. Stanley, like, unbeknownst to us, he’s having 20 conversations a day with Michael because he sits by the water cooler.

Jenna [00:54:18] I’m surprised he hasn’t moved the water cooler, personally, that Stanley didn’t move it like back into the annex.

Angela [00:54:23] Or I’m surprised Stanley hasn’t requested to trade seats with Creed.

Jenna [00:54:28] Truly. Well, he likes his relationship with Phyllis. We know that. That’s his work wife. I just want to say I think it’s actually a little genius. The trip to the water cooler as a managerial technique. I was like, Oh, smart.

Angela [00:54:43] If Michael really wanted to manage people. He just gets bored.

Jenna [00:54:47] That’s true. That’s probably driven from another place.

Angela [00:54:50] Well, at seven minutes, 28 seconds, if you look at the Sabre water bottle, that was made by Klean Kanteen, little tidbit from Randy Cordray. And they also applied the logo that was designed by Henry Saine. I guess there were many, many variations of the Sabre logo that Greg and Paul had to choose from, and that’s the one they picked. But Jenna?

Jenna [00:55:15] Yeah.

Angela [00:55:15] The whole time I was watching the scene, all I could remember was we did this. We did this!

Jenna [00:55:21] Yes, yes. Paul Lieberstein made us all drink out of these canteens.

Angela [00:55:27] Yes! And I was like, wait, I know I have something in my digital clutter about this, some email-.

Jenna [00:55:33] No!

Angela [00:55:34] Saying that we were getting rid of plastic water bottles. I knew I had something in my digital clutter about this. Sam?

Robot voice [00:55:42] Angela’s digital clutter.

Jenna [00:55:46] Oh my God.

Angela [00:55:47] So Jenna. We all got an email during this time that there wouldn’t be plastic water bottles on set, that we were all getting a stainless steel water bottle that said Dunder-Mifflin on it. And we were going to refill them throughout the day. So Jenna, you remembered so quickly it was Paul. I couldn’t remember if it was Paul or Brent, because I remember Brent was very much about being healthy and eco friendly.

Jenna [00:56:10] Yes.

Angela [00:56:10] I texted Brent, Brent, was this you? He was like, No, I’m pretty sure it was Paul. So then I emailed Paul and I said, Paul, I know we did this, right? I found in my digital clutter. Was this your idea? And was it also part of the inspiration for Gabe and his Sabre water bottles? And this is what Paul had to say. Paul said, Yes, I tried to get us to be plastic free. It worked for a little while.

Jenna [00:56:34] I remember that too. It was very short lived.

Angela [00:56:37] I know. He said, as far as it being an intended storyline for Gabe, he doesn’t have a clear memory that that was specifically a Gabe storyline, but in general, so much of what was happening around us was inspiration for the show.

Jenna [00:56:50] All right.

Angela [00:56:51] It was probably connected, but I was like, Oh my gosh, we did this. Do you know what I remembered, was standing in line to refill it? There literally was a line.

Jenna [00:57:02] Yes!

Angela [00:57:03] Well, you know, Paul told me that this was sort of a craze that was happening during this time. Companies were really trying to limit plastic use. And so he wanted us to be a part of that, you know?

Jenna [00:57:14] Yes.

Angela [00:57:15] I do think it’s a great idea, but I think you need more than one refill jug area.

Jenna [00:57:22] That probably would have helped.

Angela [00:57:24] That would have helped.

Jenna [00:57:26] Well, Michael has a talking head about all this where he says, OK, there’s a small part of him that’s excited about the new company, but 70 percent of him is water. And at the end of this talking head, he says that he thinks these changes suck ba-. Because you know what he was going to say? Sucks balls.

Angela [00:57:46] It was so funny.

Jenna [00:57:47] I guess cutting off the end of Michael saying balls was an idea that John had. He came up with it in editing with Dave Rogers. And I love their take on this. So what they were saying was that obviously Michael completed his sentence, but they imagined that when the documentary aired that the documentarians would have left in all of the footage. But the network running the documentary would have to cut it off.

Angela [00:58:14] Right.

Jenna [00:58:15] Because of, you know, standards and practices. And he said they based that on the amount of times that we had to cut things or change things because of standards and practices.

Angela [00:58:26] Every episode, probably.

Jenna [00:58:27] Very realistic. Well, listen, Angela, you mentioned the line to fill their water bottles, and while Michael is in line, Toby is getting water and it runs out.

Angela [00:58:37] Toby says, We kicked it, which cracked me up.

Jenna [00:58:40] Me too. I wrote it down at eight minutes, forty five seconds! That’s what you say when a keg runs out, right?

Angela [00:58:46] I know.

Jenna [00:58:48] Well, what does that tell us about Toby?

Angela [00:58:50] Well, I think what does it tell us about Paul? Because I have bought a pony keg with Paul and we’ve kicked it.

Jenna [00:58:57] See, I would never use that language because I’ve never purchased a keg and I’ve never had a beer out of a keg.

Angela [00:59:03] Oh man.

Jenna [00:59:04] I’m not a beer person.

Angela [00:59:05] Listen-.

Jenna [00:59:06] Now I’ll do a flavored ale.

Angela [00:59:08] Mm-Hmm.

Jenna [00:59:09] Or a cider beer.

Angela [00:59:11] A really, really cold keg and like getting a beer out of a super cold keg. It’s great, especially like on a hot day. Maybe you put one, you know, at second base because you’re playing softball with friends. And if you make it to second base, you get a beer. And you get a little tooted while you’re waiting to run into home plate. That jcold beer out of a keg. It’s amazing.

Jenna [00:59:34] I mean, that sounds miserable to me. You drink some beer and then you have to run on your sloshy beer stomach?

Angela [00:59:40] Have you seen like coed softball, like with a group of friends? This is not like we have real athleticism.

Jenna [00:59:47] You have lived part of life I haven’t lived. You’ve had all these experiences. And to me, it’s like you lived in a foreign land.

Angela [00:59:55] A foreign land of softball and beer?

Jenna [00:59:58] Yeah, I have no frame of reference for that. I know, you and Lee bond over this stuff all the time. Is this the Texas thing?

Angela [01:00:06] No!

Jenna [01:00:06] I mean, I’m sure they’re doing it in Missouri. Where was I? What was I doing during this time?

Angela [01:00:10] This was just like a hip young person out in the world.

Jenna [01:00:14] I’ve never been a hip young person.

Angela [01:00:15] Well, that’s true.

Jenna [01:00:16] I’ve been a 65 year old woman since the day I was born.

Angela [01:00:19] It’s true, and I love you for it.

Jenna [01:00:21] Thank you, lady.

Angela [01:00:22] As I stare at your big fake flower that’s on your lapel.

Jenna [01:00:25] I know it’s not working. I know it’s not working. I wore it in today because I wanted to prove to you that this cannot happen on our book launch tour. It can’t. Look at me. It’s ridiculous. Is water coming out of this flower? Squirt, squirt. It’s borderline clownish. It can’t happen.

Angela [01:00:44] You never had to prove it to me. I’ve known it from the beginning.

Jenna [01:00:48] Well, I needed to prove it to myself.

Angela [01:00:51] All right.

Jenna [01:00:52] Where are we?

Angela [01:00:53] Well. Toby has just kicked the water cooler.

Jenna [01:00:57] Oh, yes, that’s right. Well, now Michael’s going to confront Gabe. He’s going to say, Listen, I don’t mean to seem ungrateful, but I am really struggling to embrace some of these changes, such as all of them. Gabe says it’s kind of above his pay grade. He can’t really change any of the policies, but he’ll see what he can do. And now Pam and Jim are going to enter the day care center.

Angela [01:01:24] All of these scenes were absolutely delicious. I loved watching them.

Jenna [01:01:30] We had a fan question from Alice R in Italy, Where did you shoot the daycare scenes? Was it a real daycare? Did you make any changes? Lady, did you recognize it?

Angela [01:01:42] No.

Jenna [01:01:43] OK, well, it’s called Sandbox Daycare. We made that up. That’s not even a real daycare in Scranton. We shot this at Peekaboo Playland in Eagle Rock, California. Did you not take Isabel to Peekaboo Playland? Was that after she was a toddler? This was all the rage when my kids were little.

Angela [01:02:02] Eagle Rock’s far from me.

Jenna [01:02:03] I guess that’s true.

Angela [01:02:05] We had tons and tons of play land type places right by me, so I never needed to venture this far.

Jenna [01:02:11] Well, you know, when I did this episode, I didn’t have kids. But then when I was rewatching it, I was like, It’s Peekaboo! It’s Peekaboo Playland. I’ve spent so many days in this space.

Angela [01:02:22] See, the one by me is The Coop. I spent tons of time at The Coop.

Jenna [01:02:25] I’ve been to The Coop.

Both [01:02:27] Yeah.

Jenna [01:02:27] All right. So there’s a big twirly slide in the middle. There’s like a treehouse around the curly slide. It’s the cutest dang thing. When we get there, Jim and Pam are totally charmed, except Jim accidentally walks in on the daycare director who is using the little kiddy toilet.

Angela [01:02:48] Those toilets are so low to the ground.

Jenna [01:02:50] Well, they need to be because the little the little children.

Angela [01:02:53] I know. But seeing a grown man on it really did, really did- I was like, Oh my god. John sent us in an audio clip of what it was like to shoot in the daycare. Here’s what he had to say.

John Krasinski [01:03:06] My other favorite memory from that episode was the interview with the daycare center. Jenna, as we’ve talked about many times, and I will embarrass you on your own show. I apologize, but not really. Truly some of my favorite favorite memories in all of my career were getting to do scenes with you, period. But especially those scenes where the two of us were sort of stuck in it together, that we were both in something that we had to get out of together. I remember very specifically your line reading when I came out from seeing Jerry in the bathroom and I said, I just saw someone in the bathroom, and you very earnestly ask, Who was it? Who was it? And then you quickly digress as your brain realizes, Oh, it was definitely the guy that we’re about to interview. And your line reading of, Who was it? Who was it? Was it the guy who’s going to interview us? It was so funny, and I don’t know that I had a good enough take of my reaction to you. In fact, do I physically bail out after you say that to me? Man, that really made me laugh. I seem to remember going through, I don’t know, 10, 12 takes of just not being able to keep it together. That was a total giggle fest day for me. You were always more professional, but I was in full giggle fest mode. And shout out to my friend Joey Slotnick, who played Jerry. I was so excited to get him on the show and he absolutely crushed it. That gesture he does in the bathroom where he silently raises his hand. But there is no- there is nothing said between the two people, just utter shame and embarrassment and guilt. He was so great on that show, and I just remember yet again just getting to watch those scenes and not have to give any notes.

Jenna [01:04:52] All right. So I just have to say I totally remember that. Yes, John, you do physically bail out of the scene, but also, you know what? I really appreciate him saying that he liked shooting these scenes with me because I think there’s often a lot written about our romantic chemistry on screen. But we had a really special comedic chemistry together, and I feel like this storyline really highlights that. We were great partners all around.

Angela [01:05:21] I agree, and I loved what John said about when you guys were both in a sticky situation together.

Jenna [01:05:27] Yes.

Angela [01:05:28] I loved it.

Jenna [01:05:29] And you know, John mentioned Jerry, the daycare director, was played by Joey Slotnick. He was a really good friend of John’s. He had also been in John’s movie, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men. But Joey had actually auditioned for this part through Allison Jones. I guess he’d auditioned for other roles on the show and when this role came up, she thought of him. And she knew he was John’s friend. But you might recognize Joey from the TV shows Alias, Boston Public, The Single Guy, or Nip Tuck. He was also in the movies Twister and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, which, by the way, is one of my favorite movies, directed by Ben Stiller.

Angela [01:06:08] Well, I met Joey years ago when I first came to Los Angeles. My friend got me a job just for one season, being a stand-in on The Single Guy.

Jenna [01:06:16] I didn’t know you were a stand-in.

Angela [01:06:18] Yeah, just for one season.

Jenna [01:06:20] Still.

Angela [01:06:20] It was so cool. What a great way to learn the ins and out of a four camera show.

Jenna [01:06:25] Yes, you know, I did background work for years when I first came out.

Angela [01:06:29] Same.

Jenna [01:06:30] A great way to just sit on a set and observe how it works. So by the time I finally booked a role and I had a line, I was like, oh, I know the flow. Like, I know some of the language. I know this world.

Angela [01:06:42] And in four camera, stand ins walk through the role while they’re lighting. They say the lines, they go to the mark. It was such a great education and Joey was so nice to everyone. That’s my memory of him.

Jenna [01:06:53] Well, we got some mail asking, Why aren’t there any kids at this daycare?

Angela [01:06:59] Right.

Jenna [01:06:59] Well, there actually were. The kids were staged doing a little story time, but they were over to the side. So when Pam and Jim arrive, there was like a mini scene of the kids doing story time, and Pam and Jim have a little aww, moment. And then John actually directed me, when he was going to walk to the bathroom, to go up to the little tea set and just be like pretending like I was a kid doing tea and I was like, so charmed. And Jen shared that they really liked just following me and John rather than cutting away and showing the kids, so they actually edited out that storytime bit for time because they just liked staying with our enthusiasm over the daycare center.

Angela [01:07:44] Oh yeah, I agree. You guys are just so delighted to be new parents, and I loved the line when Jim says, Oh cubbies, I forgot about cubbies. Because that’s really how it is. When you have kids, all of these memories come back to you.

Jenna [01:07:58] It’s true.

Angela [01:08:00] Well, right after this Jim and Pam scene at the daycare would have been the second part of this accounting runner.

Jenna [01:08:07] The one where Angela is giving fake work to Kevin?

Angela [01:08:09] Yes.

Jenna [01:08:10] I love it.

Angela [01:08:11] All right. So it reads Interior Vance refrigeration. Kevin approaches a desk where an older man is sitting. Kevin: Excuse me. Are you Todd? The old man says, Yes. Kevin says, I’m Kevin. I’m an accountant at Dunder Mifflin. Todd says, Oh, you must know Phyllis. She’s great. Kevin says, Phyllis is, but I didn’t come all the way over here to talk about Phyllis. Kevin closes the door on the cameras.

Jenna [01:08:42] What’s happening?

Angela [01:08:43] What’s happening?

Jenna [01:08:44] Dun dun dun.

Angela [01:08:44] Dun dun dun.

Jenna [01:08:46] Wow.

Angela [01:08:47] I know part three is coming up.

Jenna [01:08:49] Well, this is the part of the show where we’re going to see Andy and Erin flirting in the kitchen.

Angela [01:08:55] So awkward.

Jenna [01:08:56] So awkward. I wanted to point out that I really loved how during the scene, Andy pulls a pizza out of the fridge and it’s in an Alfredo’s Pizza Cafe pizza box.

Angela [01:09:09] You know Phil Shea was all over that.

Jenna [01:09:11] It’s the details.

Angela [01:09:12] I know.

Jenna [01:09:13] It’s in the details. The prop protege in me…

Angela [01:09:17] Hmm. Noticed these things.

Jenna [01:09:18] Saw that. I’m learning. I’m always learning.

Angela [01:09:21] You’re always learning. The next scene between Gabe and Jo Bennett on the computer is so good and we meet Jo Bennett!

Jenna [01:09:31] Yes! Randy told me that we shot this in real time.

Angela [01:09:37] No way.

Jenna [01:09:38] Yes, they set up a little Jo’s office set right outside our main office stage. It’s where our lunch tables would normally be. We shot it using Skype. Remember Skype?

Angela [01:09:50] Yeah.

Jenna [01:09:51] It was like the first Zoom. I remember this because Pam did some of these skypes when she was at art school and the internet at our studio could be really troublesome. And Randy told me they had to create an entirely new network just to make this Skype work with Kathy Bates. And everyone in the cast and crew had to turn off their computers and put their phones on airplane mode.

Angela [01:10:17] Just to get the signal strong enough.

Jenna [01:10:18] Yes. Otherwise, it would break up. I totally remember that. Well, during this scene, Michael is lurking behind the laptop, and eventually Gabe is going to turn the computer around and Jo Bennett is going to be like, What’s up?

Angela [01:10:35] Yeah. Hey, fella. She kind of tries to whistle.

Jenna [01:10:38] It’s a weak whistle.

Angela [01:10:38] It’s not a full- not a full whistle.

Jenna [01:10:39] It’s okay, though.

Angela [01:10:39] It’s ok.

Jenna [01:10:41] Michael says that he doesn’t want to do these changes. But Jo says she hasn’t seen a company this poorly managed since her grandson’s snowball company.

Angela [01:10:51] Michael says, You know what? Maybe I could speak to Christian Slater. I bet he would know what to do. Michael! Come on,

Jenna [01:10:59] Michael, do you think Christian Slater is there? He’s not there, Michael.

Angela [01:11:03] He thinks he now works with Christian Slater.

Jenna [01:11:05] He does. He’s imagining the Christmas party. Jo says, Why don’t you take till the end of the day to decide if you can apply these changes? And Michael’s like, I don’t need to think about it. I know I can’t. And then she says, I think you should take till the end of the day. And then it becomes very clear that if the answer isn’t yes then you’re out.

Angela [01:11:29] He’ll be fired. Yeah.

Jenna [01:11:31] God, it’s some great managing. I mean, I just…

Angela [01:11:34] I know. Jo Bennett is your kindred spirit.

Jenna [01:11:37] It’s true.

Angela [01:11:38] Michael’s going to drive out of the parking lot, but not before he tosses his aluminum Sabray water bottle out the window.

Jenna [01:11:46] Yes, and it hits Stanley’s windshield.

Angela [01:11:49] Of course,

Jenna [01:11:50] I asked Randy Cordray, How did we do this broken window gag? And he said that the windshield was pre broken. I don’t know if you noticed, but you don’t ever see the water bottle hit the windshield. You hear it. And then he drives by and you see it’s broken. They did that because it was just too hard for Steve to, like, throw a water bottle with such force that it would actually crack a windshield.

Angela [01:12:15] And accuracy. If we learned anything about that watermelon on the trampoline.

Jenna [01:12:19] Oh my gosh, so many takes of watermelons. Randy said they just added a sound effect in post-production, and it really works.

Angela [01:12:28] Back at the daycare, Jerry, the daycare director, is going to introduce himself. Oh my gosh, Jenna. John’s performance is so good in this scene. Of course, he gives Pam a look like, Yeah, that’s the guy. Yes, that’s the one I walked in on. And he can’t. He cannot pull it together. He keeps putting his foot in his mouth. Jerry goes to take a call and Pam’s like, Listen, you need to get it together.

Jenna [01:12:53] So John said that he doesn’t remember giving any pieces of direction, but he did give me a piece of direction in this scene, and I was so delighted to get it. He said that I should try saying that line, “and THAT’S the most awkward solution to the problem” like a game show host might say it. Isn’t that a fun thing to play with?

Angela [01:13:14] It is, and it was very not sort of what Pam normally sounds like.

Jenna [01:13:19] I loved it.

Angela [01:13:20] I did too.

Jenna [01:13:20] I thought it was so funny. So let’s continue on here. And Pam and Jim are going to be sitting in Jerry’s office and they’re having their interview. Oh my God, this scene is so good. It’s so funny.

Angela [01:13:35] It’s so funny. Everyone plays every moment perfectly. Jim is going to ask about switching some holiday time.

Jenna [01:13:42] Yeah. What’s their flexibility when it comes to, you know, vacation time? And Jerry says, You know what, if you get in, we can discuss that.

Angela [01:13:54] And Pam is like, Is this because he walked in on you in the bathroom?

Jenna [01:13:58] She just calls it out.

Angela [01:13:59] She just she does exactly what Jim was going to do, and she was like, No, no, no, don’t do that. That’d be awkward.

Jenna [01:14:04] But clearly, it needs to be said, I’m with Pam here.

Angela [01:14:08] And Jerry’s, like you told her? Like Jim and Jerry don’t even know each other, but Jim broke some guy code.

Jenna [01:14:14] I know. I love it because Pam is like, I mean, it seems like this isn’t going well, but it should be going well because we’re really nice people. And Jerry says, You know what? Have you ever considered that you’re not as charming as you think you are?

Angela [01:14:28] Ouch.

Jenna [01:14:29] Whoa!

Angela [01:14:30] Ouch.

Jenna [01:14:31] And Pam’s like, no. Pam’s like, I think we are as charming as we think we are.

Angela [01:14:36] And Jim’s like, Why didn’t you just lock the door?

Jenna [01:14:39] Yeah. And he’s like, There’s no lock because of the kids. Well, I’ll have, you know, I’ve been in that bathroom at that daycare center. There is a lock. It’s up real high.

Angela [01:14:49] Right.

Jenna [01:14:49] That’s what you do.

Angela [01:14:51] Right.

Jenna [01:14:51] You put it up real high.

Angela [01:14:52] That they can’t reach it. My all time daycare favorite moment might be at the end of the scene when Jim says, Anyone could have walked in there. And Jerry just goes, Story time. Story time is when Jerry poops every day.

Jenna [01:15:08] Yeah.

Angela [01:15:09] No one’s around. It’s story time.

Jenna [01:15:10] No one’s coming in during story time. Well I’ll have you know at 15 minutes, 25 seconds you can see kids out the door over John’s shoulder, so they are there. Just proof of child.

Angela [01:15:23] Proof of child.

Jenna [01:15:24] Also, this whole storyline of Jim walking in on the guy in the bathroom was based on a real life moment.

Angela [01:15:33] This is so good, Jenna, you have to tell it.

Jenna [01:15:35] From our writer Halstea, Sullivan.

Angela [01:15:39] Halsted and Warren both brought so much of their personal stuff.

Jenna [01:15:42] I know. Halstead said he was on a college tour with his father and they were visiting Williams College in Massachusetts. And the admissions office was a small house that had been converted into offices. And while Halstead was waiting for his interview, he decided maybe he should run to the bathroom really quickly. So he went to the bathroom, which he described as just a typical bathroom that you would find in any house. He opened the door and he said, quote he was suddenly face to face with a man sitting on the toilet who said, hello. Halstead said, I am so sorry. Closed the door. Went back to wait for his interview. A few minutes later when he was escorted to his interview, the man from the toilet was his interviewer.

Angela [01:16:31] No. No, no. No. No.

Jenna [01:16:33] Yes.

Angela [01:16:35] Oh my lord.

Jenna [01:16:36] Halstead said he was only 17 at the time and he, like, couldn’t get out of his head during the interview. It’s all he could think about was that this was the man from the toilet. He said he assumed that he flubbed the interview, so he didn’t even end up applying to the school.

Angela [01:16:53] Aw, he didn’t even apply?

Jenna [01:16:54] No. He just scratched it off his list. He said years later, he pitched it as a storyline on The Office, to which I said, I just love how you guys brought these real life moments from your life, how they make their way onto the show. And he said, You know what? You make all kinds of confessions when it’s midnight and you’re just trying to think of a story so you can go home. And I thought, what fun would it be to be in the writers room at like, midnight, one a.m.

Angela [01:17:23] 11:45 it goes down.

Jenna [01:17:25] What is being told? What is being said?

Angela [01:17:28] So much. Well, Michael has decided to go to the one man he thinks has all the answers. David Wallace. And he says he doesn’t like him stopping by unannounced. But who does?

Jenna [01:17:41] Except today, David Wallace is like, thrilled to see Michael.

Angela [01:17:46] So happy.

Jenna [01:17:47] He answers the door. He’s unshaven. His son is playing drums in the background. And David’s like, come on in!

Angela [01:17:55] David’s like, let’s have lunch!

Jenna [01:17:58] Amazing.

Angela [01:17:59] At 13 minutes, 43 seconds, when you see that establishing shot of David Wallace’s house, you’ll recognize it. We’ve been there before in the show. Per Randy Cordray, we rented this house for the day and it was in Encino, California.

Jenna [01:18:13] Lady, did you just give us a location alert?

Angela [01:18:16] Oh, I guess I did.

Jenna [01:18:18] Wow. Well done.

Angela [01:18:20] Look at me. Fast factin’ and location alerting.

Jenna [01:18:23] What is happening?

Angela [01:18:24] I don’t know.

Jenna [01:18:25] Should I look through my digital clutter?

Angela [01:18:27] Yes, please.

Jenna [01:18:29] All right, I will.

Angela [01:18:30] OK, I’ll be excited.

Jenna [01:18:31] Next week. Watch out. Jenna’s digital clutter. So they’re going to go into the kitchen and David’s going to start making some lunch.

Angela [01:18:42] 14 minutes, 21 seconds. Jenna, did you see what he’s using to make a sandwich with?

Jenna [01:18:49] Is it whipped marshmello?

Angela [01:18:52] It’s marshmallow cream. Like marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. Have you ever had this? It’s called a fluffernutter. What? It is. It’s called a fluffernutter.

Jenna [01:19:03] I’m sure that it is called that.

Angela [01:19:05] It is called a fluffernutter.

Jenna [01:19:07] I’m just saying, you know what a fluffer is, right? A Fluffernutter?

Angela [01:19:11] Get your mind out of the gutter, lady.

Jenna [01:19:15] You said Fluffernutter! I’m it sprang to mind. That’s what she said.

Angela [01:19:18] I’m sorry, earlier, you said the best wiener in Scranton and I didn’t say a word. I wanted to and I said, No, keep it professional, Kinsey.

Jenna [01:19:29] I’m sorry. Go on.

Angela [01:19:31] OK.

Jenna [01:19:32] I have. I’ve clearly not heard this term.

Angela [01:19:35] OK, well, the first time I ever had a fluffernutter was in Connecticut.

Jenna [01:19:42] (UNCONTROLLABLE LAUGHTER)

Angela [01:19:46] I didn’t laugh a single time you said wiener.

Jenna [01:19:51] (MORE LAUGHTER)

Angela [01:19:54] Alright, we have to pause while my friend gets it together.

Jenna [01:19:57] Okay, go ahead. You had a Fluffernutter letter in Cleveland? Where were you? Connecticut.

Angela [01:20:02] Connecticut!

Jenna [01:20:03] Connecticut.

Angela [01:20:04] My first fluffernutter was in Connecticut. I was visiting family with the Liebersteins.

Jenna [01:20:14] (LAUGHTER) Sorry. I’m sorry. Am I the only one? Sam, please. Help me.

Angela [01:20:17] Oh my gosh, Cassi is fine.

Jenna [01:20:20] You go ahead, you had a Fluffernutter in Connecticut with your whole family.

Angela [01:20:23] In Connecticut. With Warren and Paul Lieberstein.

Jenna [01:20:26] Oh my God OK.

Angela [01:20:28] I had to know more about the sandwich. It’s delicious. It’s marshmallow cream and peanut butter. I was like, I’ve never heard of this. Is that an East Coast thing? And guess what? It is.

Jenna [01:20:39] Really.

Angela [01:20:40] According to the internet, it’s marshmallow cream and peanut butter. But Marshmallow Cream, one of the main ingredients of a fluffernutter, was invented in the early 20th century. Archibald Query invented a cream he called Marshmallow Cream in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1917. And during World War One, Emma Curtis published a recipe for what she called the Liberty Sandwich, which was peanut butter and her snowflake marshmallow cream on oat or barley bread. The recipe was published in a promotional booklet and sent to customers and may be the origin of the Fluffernutter sandwich.

Jenna [01:21:20] I have used this marshmallow cream like when you make rice crispy treats.

Angela [01:21:25] Of course.

Jenna [01:21:26] It’s like a hack.

Angela [01:21:27] It is.

Jenna [01:21:28] You don’t have to melt a bag of marshmallows.

Angela [01:21:31] The sandwich, made with peanut butter and marshmallow cream, continued to be eaten, but was not called a fluffernutter until 1960, when an advertising firm that was working with this company, Durkee Mower, that owns Marshmallow Cream, thought it might be a more effective way to market the sandwich. The sandwich has close ties to New England and Massachusetts, particularly Somerville. In fact, Somerville holds an annual festival called What the Fluff.

Jenna [01:22:00] Oh OK.

Angela [01:22:01] Got anything nasty you want to say about their festival, Jenna?

Jenna [01:22:05] No.

Angela [01:22:05] Sam was giggling. The festival incorporates music, visual arts, games and a cooking contest based around fluff and fluffernutters. And October eighth is National Fluffernutter Day.

Jenna [01:22:20] Wow.

Angela [01:22:21] There you go.

Jenna [01:22:22] Here’s what I’m wondering. When did the term fluffer come around? Does it predate or postdate the advertising agency’s naming of the sandwich?

Angela [01:22:37] Well, it was named in the 60s. I’ll let you go down that rabbit hole. I’ll let you Google Fluffer origin.

Jenna [01:22:43] I’m curious. I mean, you know. I feel like flowers were around in the 70s.

Angela [01:22:51] Well, so maybe Fluffernutter predates it.

Jenna [01:22:55] So it’s just it’s an unfortunate thing for the sandwich that there’s another maybe meaning.

Sam [01:23:02] And for the record, I’m giggling. You were familiar with the Fluffernutter, right? This is something you knew.

Angela [01:23:06] The sandwich?

Sam [01:23:07] Yeah, but you were not familiar with a bagel.

Angela [01:23:11] I was by this time.

Sam [01:23:13] For the record, that’s why I’m giggling.

Angela [01:23:14] No, no, no, no. For the record, I didn’t know what a fluffernutter or a bagel was at all. They were all East Coast things, and I didn’t know about them. I found out about a fluffernutter after I knew what a bagel was.

Sam [01:23:27] Got it. Got it, got it. Got it.

Jenna [01:23:29] I would love a segment where you just reveal foods that you came to know later in life.

Angela [01:23:38] Well, clearly you’re coming to know a fluffernutter later in life.

Jenna [01:23:42] I am. I didn’t know about this sandwich.

Angela [01:23:45] I knew about Fluffernutter before you did. Just put it on record.

Jenna [01:23:50] It sounds maybe gross? But does it taste good?

Angela [01:23:54] It’s so good.

Jenna [01:23:55] I want to put a sliced banana on it. Have you tried that?

Angela [01:23:58] Yeah. Why not? No, but I’m sure you’d love it.

Jenna [01:24:01] I bet at that festival they deep fry them too.

Angela [01:24:05] At What the Fluff?

Jenna [01:24:06] Yeah, a deep fried fluffernutter. I bet it’s good.

Angela [01:24:11] Back to the episode. One of my favorite exchanges of dialog happens in this kitchen. Rachel, David Wallace’s wife, walks in-.

Jenna [01:24:20] Oh, yes, yes.

Angela [01:24:21] This says so much about their relationship and what’s going on in their marriage right now. She goes, Hey, honey, how’s your day going? Did you do anything cool? He’s like, No, sweetie. Just sort of hung out. And she says-

Jenna [01:24:34] This is the line. This is it. I wrote it down as well.

Angela [01:24:36] Oh, because I saw you had shoes on, so I didn’t know if you did anything.

Jenna [01:24:42] Amazing.

Angela [01:24:42] Amazing.

Jenna [01:24:44] Rachel Wallace was played by Jean Villepique. She was a member of Second City Improv Group. She’s done a ton of comedy. You may have seen her on Veep, Key and Peele, Modern Family, BoJack Horseman. She’s also a regular on A.P. Bio. I loved how she clocked the camera as she walked into her kitchen. She’s walking. She’s like, Oh, oh hi, honey.

Angela [01:25:10] She’s also so happy to see Michael.

Jenna [01:25:13] Oh my gosh.

Angela [01:25:14] What a switch.

Jenna [01:25:15] I know, right?

Angela [01:25:16] At 14 minutes, 10 seconds, we see Teddy, David Wallace’s son playing the drums. He was played by Owen Daniels. And you guys remember him, he was in the Cocktails episode in season three.

Jenna [01:25:28] Well, I remember talking to Susanne Daniels about Owen’s drumming. And she was just, you know, having some mom pride about what a good drummer he was. And then here it got to be on the show.

Angela [01:25:39] I know. So cool.

Jenna [01:25:41] Well, Michael and David are going to sit in the hot tub.

Angela [01:25:45] It’s just so awkward. I mean, he says to his wife, We might go outside.

Jenna [01:25:49] Yeah. At 16 minutes, 55 seconds, Michael is wearing a t shirt in the hot tub, and Jen Celotta said this was because Steve was in such good shape that they had to hide his physique because it would have been distracting.

Angela [01:26:04] Oh my gosh.

Jenna [01:26:05] Yeah, that like you’d think, how is Michael in such good shape?

Angela [01:26:09] Michael has like a 12 pack.

Jenna [01:26:11] Yeah. She also said it felt like this really great way to highlight how different David Wallace was being. That, like David Wallace is just shirtless and relaxed.

Angela [01:26:22] Drinking a beer in the middle of the day.

Jenna [01:26:25] And Michael would be made like it would be more awkward for Michael to be in a t shirt. We got a fan catch from Megan B in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. In the hot tub scene, David Wallace is drinking a Yuengling lager and Michael is drinking a Yuengling black and tan. Fast fact from Megan B. Yuengling is America’s oldest brewery and began right where I am from in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. I looked it up. It was founded in 1829. They are still brewing today. Megan would like to give a big shout out to the props department for yet again paying such close attention to detail by including a local beer that is most definitely found in many refrigerators in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Angela [01:27:15] Nicely done, Phil Shea.

Jenna [01:27:17] I know. Megan would also like us to know, Angela, that if we ever come to Scranton, the Yuengling brewery tour is just about an hour away and it’s really great.

Angela [01:27:28] Maybe we can time that out and we’ll hit the What the Fluff festival and then go for a factory tour.

Jenna [01:27:34] I like it. Will I get through the What the Fluff festival?

Angela [01:27:37] I don’t think you will. I think you’re going to offend someone. Per Randy Cordray, the hot tub scene at sixteen minutes, 46 seconds was already there. We did not have to provide that.

Jenna [01:27:48] Hey.

Angela [01:27:49] Hey, there.

Jenna [01:27:50] We just used those people’s hot tub?

Angela [01:27:52] They did.

Jenna [01:27:52] OK. Well, in this hot tub scene, Michael is trying to get David to, like, give him ideas on how to deal with Sabre, but David is thinking about something else. He’s thinking about a new company that he wants to start. It is a shop vac that will suck up kids toys. Does it make that noise? Michael wants to know.

Angela [01:28:19] Did the kids make that noise? Who makes that noise?

Jenna [01:28:22] Where’s the noise coming from? And he tells Michael it’s called Suck it. Writer Jen Celotta told us that it was her mom that came up with the idea for Suck it!

Angela [01:28:34] Come on.

Jenna [01:28:35] Yes, Jen Celotta’s mom had this idea. She thought it would be a very fun way to teach kids how to pick up their toys.

Angela [01:28:42] That is adorable.

Jenna [01:28:43] So when she needed an invention for David Wallace, she thought of her mom’s idea. And she said she thought it was perfect because since he’s been home with his kids more often, he was probably frustrated with seeing their toys everywhere. It felt very organic. But how adorable is that?

Angela [01:29:01] So cute. Well, lady, I decided to Google how do you suck up toys?

Jenna [01:29:06] OK?

Angela [01:29:07] I found an article by Newsweek in March of 2022. It talked about a guy who built a real life Suck It for Lego pieces.

Jenna [01:29:17] Whoa.

Angela [01:29:17] How cool is that? His name is Matty Benedetto, and he posted the video. It shows him using a custom vacuum to collect pieces of Lego on the floor. Here’s the ad.

Lego Suck It commercial [01:29:31] I invented the Lego Suck It, the world’s first vacuum powered Lego clean up device that automatically sorts each brick by its individual size. This vibrant cleaning accessory features a multi-stage chamber that magnetically separates for quick organization of your favorite toy bricks. The high suction vacuum will ensure every brick is sucked up from your floors and swiftly deposited into the clear tube as each Lego piece cascades down and get sorted into their different sizes. So when things get messy, just Suck It.

Angela [01:30:00] How about that?

Jenna [01:30:01] Wow.

Angela [01:30:02] How many Legos have you stepped on? It’s so painful.

Jenna [01:30:05] But how are you not sucking up everything on the floor? Like, how is there not also a goldfish in there maybe?

Angela [01:30:12] Or a cheerio?

Jenna [01:30:13] Exactly.

Angela [01:30:14] Right. I don’t know. You have to have a clean Lego space.

Jenna [01:30:17] This is the thing. This is kind of the problem with David’s invention, which is that, you know, yes, you’re going to suck up the toys, but how do you avoid sucking up everything else?

Angela [01:30:29] You just suck it.

Jenna [01:30:30] You just suck it.

Angela [01:30:31] Just suck it. Well, Michael is going to leave David Wallace’s. He’s so defeated. He says very few things would make him say no to working with David Wallace, but Suck It is one of them.

Jenna [01:30:43] And then I love this shot of Michael slowly pulling away. And David Wallace is sort of like lumbering down the driveway toward the car like, kind of like a zombie. It reminded me of a zombie movie. Jen Celotta said this shot was John’s idea, and I think it is some foreshadowing for A Quiet Place.

Angela [01:31:07] Oh, really?

Jenna [01:31:07] I really do. It felt very horror movie to me.

Angela [01:31:10] Right after this creepy goodbye with David Wallace would have come the final accounting scene in the runner that got deleted. Here’s how it wraps up. Accounting area interior office. Angela’s looking over Kevin’s work. Angela: who did this? Oscar shakes his head. Kevin: it’s possible I did it on my own. Angela: No. It’s not. That is the one thing that is not possible. How did this happen? Kevin: I did it. Angela sighs, confused and walks away, just missing Todd, who approaches with Kevin’s adding machine. Kevin looks nervous. Todd: you left this on my desk. Kevin: thanks. Todd and Oscar ad lib hellos and Todd leaves. Kevin: Don’t tell Angela. Oscar: I won’t. Kevin: I didn’t just let him do the work. I learned stuff. Please don’t tell her. Oscar: I said, I won’t. Kevin looks nervous. Oscar looks up at him. Oscar: He trained me when I started here. Kevin: really? Oscar nods. And Kevin smiles.

Jenna [01:32:20] What a sweet ending to that story.

Angela [01:32:23] I know. And who is Todd at Vance refrigeration?

Jenna [01:32:26] I mean, it kind of sounded like maybe Todd used to work at Dunder Mifflin?

Angela [01:32:31] I don’t know. I feel like Todd is training people.

Jenna [01:32:33] Yeah.

Angela [01:32:35] Anyway, I thought that was sort of sweet.

Jenna [01:32:37] Well, speaking of sweet, something we haven’t talked about is that cutie pie scene at reception with Andy and Erin, where they’re both not asking each other out on a date. It’s a totally adorable scene. But if I’m being honest, I was very distracted by the fact that Pam’s watercolor is back on the wall. It’s all I could see. It’s all I could see. I was just so delighted.

Angela [01:32:59] Michael’s going to return and he’s going to make a toast. He’s brought a lot of orange juice.

Jenna [01:33:04] I guess, in honor of Tallahassee.

Angela [01:33:06] Florida. Oranges. He makes his toast. It’s not really a toast, but everyone takes a big swig and they’re like eww.

Jenna [01:33:15] Yeah, I mean, have you ever had orange juice sout of like an aluminum container?

Angela [01:33:20] Little tangy.

Jenna [01:33:22] Yeah. I mean, it goes right into your teeth just like they talk about. But you know what? I don’t think that a lot of people are putting their orange juice into metal containers. You know, it’s really meant to be a water vessel.

Angela [01:33:34] I like that you said vessel.

Jenna [01:33:36] Thank you.

Angela [01:33:36] It’s a water vessel.

Jenna [01:33:38] It is.

Angela [01:33:39] Well, I guess this toast means that Michael is going to stay. He’s going to stick it out at Sabre.

Jenna [01:33:44] He is. He’s going to, I guess, have to abide by all these new rules that he hates.

Angela [01:33:48] No YouTube for Michael at work?

Jenna [01:33:51] I don’t know how that’s going to go.

Angela [01:33:52] The episode ends with David Wallace and his son jamming out to a song that he’s written called Suck It.

Jenna [01:33:58] Let’s listen to it.

David Wallace and son [01:34:04] Well it’s mess what a mess. What you gonna do? You’re gonna take out your suck it and you’ll suck it. Suck it. Take out your suck it and you’ll suck it./ Suck it/ Yeah!/ Suck it/ Yeah! Take out the suck it and you’ll suck it! Yeah!!

Jenna [01:34:36] Owen Daniel’s on the drums!

Angela [01:34:38] I know, man.

Jenna [01:34:39] We got a fan question from Donna in Newport New Virginia. Please tell us everything about the Suck It song at the end of the episode. How much was improvised? I will tell you, Donna. The lyrics to Suck It were written by Warren and Halstead. These guys really were our go-to guys for song lyrics. And then I reached out to Andy Buckley, who plays David Wallace. He said that Warren and Halstead faxed him the lyrics the night before. Old tech alert, Angela, fax.

Angela [01:35:13] Yeah.

Jenna [01:35:13] They faxed them. He went over them that night. He went over them at lunch the next day. That’s when he was able to kind of fiddle around on a keyboard. Andy said he only knew about three chords on a keyboard. But he did his best. They did not shoot this until the very end of the day. They only had three minutes before they went into overtime.

Angela [01:35:34] Three minutes?

Jenna [01:35:36] Yes.

Angela [01:35:37] No messing up!

Jenna [01:35:38] Yes, he said it all came together when Owen started playing the drums. It was kind of a magic moment. They got it in three takes. He said that the whole shoot day was a total blast. He loved John as a director. He said John just had tons of positive energy and that John and Jen Celotta work so well together. He sort of remembered that someone would do a take and then you’d see them kind of huddle and giggle, and then they would come over with some great idea.

Angela [01:36:05] That’s my memory too.

Jenna [01:36:07] Same. Andy said that inevitably, if he is walking through an airport or some public place, there is always someone who yells out, Suck it! He also said that he and Zach Woods are now on an HBO comedy called Avenue Five and it films in London.

Angela [01:36:29] Amazing.

Jenna [01:36:30] He said they were in London for four months before the pandemic in the summer of 2019, and they just went back this past fall in 2021. He said that the difference between people stopping the two of them before the pandemic and after the pandemic is striking. He said clearly a lot of people binged The Office during the pandemic. He’s getting away more “suck its” lately.

Angela [01:36:57] Well, I hope that’s a good thing.

Jenna [01:36:59] I think so.

Angela [01:37:00] Well, that is the Sabre episode.

Jenna [01:37:02] Well, before we go, I thought we could end this episode with a few final thoughts from John about what directing this episode meant to him.

John Krasinski [01:37:11] This show was my film school. I mean, I was a waiter before I got the show. I had zero experience in this business in anything, acting, writing, directing, producing, any of that stuff. And there it was, right in front of me. I was somehow lucky enough to drop right into the most immense pool of talent that I could ever ask for. From that insane group of people that we had as our writers, a group of people that hadn’t been assembled like that in a long, long time, I guess, and you know, in a lot of ways, probably hasn’t been assembled since. So from writing, I got to understand what it meant to not only write well, but to have fun with it and to have this drive to do something great. I remember going up to the writers rooms every now and again if I had a break between scenes or something and, you know, watch them all come up with an idea. And the idea was almost like you could visualize a balloon in the air and 12 to 14 people were making sure it didn’t touch the ground before they had investigated every single possibility of how to make it work and how to make a joke work or an idea work. And even if it didn’t end up working, they still put it on a different board that was like, well, it’s not working today, but maybe it’ll work again on another day. And if it did work, they all worked together to try to figure out how it would best be used in this show. So writing wise, there I was front row seats in the greatest room I could be. Visually, I had no idea what even a camera was. I didn’t know what the difference between lenses were. I didn’t know what type of cameras did what. But I remember there again, The Office was shot single camera. It was one of the first shows to be done like that in a long time. And so we were shooting the show like a movie. So I got to pick the brain of Randall and Matt and all these hugely talented people who would explain to me everything from lenses to the esthetic and lighting and all these different things that I had absolutely no idea about. After directing Sabre, I used to hang out with Dave Rogers and watch him cut all these different episodes. I’d pop in and see how he was making all these scenes work, how he was rearranging story, how he was taking air out of a moment to make it work so much stronger. So really, at the end of the day, I certainly would not be writing and directing at all if it wasn’t for this show. I just I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do it. So I guess what I’m trying to say is I owe absolutely everything to this show. Directing this episode was so very special, and I will truly never forget it. Thank you for having me on the show. I was so excited to come back, and have me back again. But again, like I said, slow down. We need more of this podcast, please.

Jenna [01:40:11] John Krasinski We love ya.

Angela [01:40:13] We love you so much John. That was so generous of you. You shared so much with us and I just loved hearing your voice.

Jenna [01:40:21] Same. Also want to give a big thank you to Yaki Margulies for that amazing Beach Boys parody. You can find him on Twitter and Instagram at Yaki Margulies, and you can listen to his music online anywhere that you get your music, like Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, etc.

Angela [01:40:41] I also want to say thank you to Joya Balfour for sharing with us what NBC Digital was up to. And to Randy Cordray and Warren Lieberstein and Halstead Sullivan.

Jenna [01:40:50] Thank you, everyone. We will see you next week.

Angela [01:40:55] I hope you enjoy a fluffernutter this week.

Jenna [01:40:56] I’m going to have one.

Angela [01:40:59] Please do.

Jenna [01:41:00] I will.

Angela [01:41:01] OK.

Jenna [01:41:01] Oh, on gluten free bread.

Angela [01:41:03] Yay.

Jenna [01:41:09] 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 [01:41:25] 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.