EP. 123 — The Delivery, Pt 1

Jenna [00:00:03] I’m Jenna Fischer.

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

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

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

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

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

Jenna [00:00:19] We’re the Office Ladies. Hello.

Angela [00:00:25] Hi.

Jenna [00:00:26] I’m really tired today.

Angela [00:00:29] We are. You guys, we still have young kids. I had one that just could not fall asleep last night.

Jenna [00:00:35] I just had insomnia last night.

Angela [00:00:37] Oh, that’s rough.

Jenna [00:00:38] So we’re two very unrested people. And yet, I’m very excited about today’s episode, The Delivery Part One.

Angela [00:00:46] This is huge. That’s what she said. Before we get into this, can I just say congratulations to Sam, Cassi, Jenna, and m’self? Because we won a Webby!

Jenna [00:00:56] We did!

Sam [00:00:57] Yes.

Angela [00:00:58] Yes! Congratulations, you guys. And thank you so much for voting for us. We love you guys. We love doing this. And I- we just wanted to start off with a thank you.

Jenna [00:01:06] Well, I think that’s a great way to start. Angela has also started her day, even though you’re tired, wearing your Bass Master merch. You’re all dressed to exercise. And I’m so impressed because, I mean, I don’t exercise on days when I don’t sleep well.

Angela [00:01:22] I thought if I wore, like, sporty stuff, there might be a chance I’d be sporty. And I love rocking my Bass Masters hoodie, guys.

Jenna [00:01:30] It’s really cute.

Angela [00:01:32] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:01:33] Bass Master is doing some good merch. Shout out to the Bass Master merch.

Angela [00:01:38] Shout ’em out.

Jenna [00:01:38] All right. Today is season six, episode 17, written by Daniel Chun and directed by Seth Gordon. I’m going to give you a summary.

Angela [00:01:50] Do it.

Jenna [00:01:51] Pam has gone into labor at work.

Angela [00:01:54] I’m sorry. I need a lamp. I’m sorry to interrupt you. I don’t have a lamp and I can’t really see. So I’m going to drag one over. One second.

Jenna [00:02:00] Okay. No problem. Tired eyes need a lamp. You know what? I stumbled on the summary, so I’m going to give it another shot.

Angela [00:02:09] Maybe. Maybe give it another shot. Now I can see.

Jenna [00:02:13] Well, now I’m jealous of all your light.

Angela [00:02:14] You want me to drag a lamp over for you?

Sam [00:02:17] Jenna, you can have a lamp.

Angela [00:02:18] You know what? Everybody gets a lamp. Cassi, you want a lamp/

Sam [00:02:21] I can only hear that in the Oprah voice, when she’s like, You get a lamp!

Angela [00:02:24] You get a lamp and you get a lamp!

Jenna [00:02:27] All right. I just want to say, you made fun of me when we were writing our book. You made fun of me when when I was cleaning out my garage and I had all those old lamps saved. Who wants a lamp now?

Angela [00:02:38] Who wants a working lamp?

Jenna [00:02:40] With a little rewiring, all those lamps are good lamps.

Angela [00:02:44] Here’s my question. You asked me when I’m going to use all the baskets I hoard. But when are you going to rewire a lamp, lady? When’s that happening?

Jenna [00:02:53] I think you should know that in my retirement I’m going to become a lamp rewiring expert.

Angela [00:03:00] I can’t wait for our garage sales when we’re old ladies with our rewired lamps and our baskets.

Jenna [00:03:08] All right, let’s take another stab at the summary, shall we?

Angela [00:03:10] Let’s do it.

Jenna [00:03:11] All right. Pam has gone into labor at work and she doesn’t want to check into the hospital until after midnight because their health insurance only covers a two night stay. Meanwhile, Dwight hatches a plan to have his own baby so he can be a more competitive salesperson. That’s what’s happening.

Angela [00:03:33] It’s a lot happening.

Jenna [00:03:34] That’s fact number one. This episode originally aired on March 4th, 2010. And, you know, this episode is two parts. There’s a part one and a part two. They were both aired together as a one hour special. It was later separated into two episodes, which was done for syndication because syndication only takes half hour episodes. Each of these parts were actually written and directed by completely different teams. So part one was written by Danny Chun and directed by Seth Gordon. That’s what we’re talking about today. And part two was written by Charlie Grandy and directed by Harold Ramis. And while they were separate episodes, they did all kind of consult on the whole thing.

Angela [00:04:20] Yeah. You know, there is a DVD commentary for this episode and on it are you, Greg Daniels, the writers of part one and two, Danny Chun and Charlie Grandy, and the director of the first Delivery, Seth Gordon. And Jenna, right out of the gate on the DVD commentary, the very first thing said was Greg asking you what it was like to wear the fake pregnancy belly and if you were happy to be rid of it.

Jenna [00:04:46] Oh! What did I say?

Angela [00:04:49] You had a lot to say. A lot that you’ve shared here about how uncomfortable it was and how long it took you to go pee and change clothes. But it just cracked me up that the first thing talked about on The Delivery was your fake belly.

Jenna [00:05:02] Well, in this episode, I have on the largest of all the bellies because this is her birthing day. And it was the most uncomfortable. But I have to say, I don’t know if I mentioned this on the commentary, I continued to wear a belly for several episodes after this, because in real life, a woman’s belly doesn’t just, like, shrink back to normal after they have a baby. So after Pam has her baby, I continued to wear, like, belly B for a while.

Angela [00:05:32] You know, Angela Martin did not.

Jenna [00:05:34] I know.

Angela [00:05:35] We’ll get there. We’ll get there. There’s also some great deleted scenes that didn’t make it in and some scenes that are in the shooting draft. I’m going to sprinkle those throughout the episode.

Jenna [00:05:43] Oh, great.

Angela [00:05:44] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:05:46] Fast fact number two is a fan question from Dana in Clarksville, Tennessee. Why on earth does Pam choose to have all her major life events in the office? She came to work before her wedding. She came to work before art school. And now she is choosing to fully labor at work instead of in the comfort of her own home. Is the Dunder Mifflin paid time off policy that bad?

Angela [00:06:11] This is a hilarious question. I love it. I love that she’s like, Pam, what is up?

Jenna [00:06:17] Dana, I hear you. We talked about why did Holly come to work before she moved to Nashua?

Angela [00:06:23] I know.

Jenna [00:06:23] She Came to work for 30 minutes in her work clothes and then got into a giant truck and drove to Nashua. Why? Well, writer Danny Chun addresses this question in an interview that he did for OfficeTally.com shortly after this episode aired. OfficeTally.com has great interviews with cast and crew members, like immediately with cast and crew members that are just terrific. You al should check them out. Danny said that the biggest challenges in making this episode were, number one, making a baby episode that didn’t feel like a retread of every other sitcom baby episode. And number two, making a baby episode for a workplace comedy. Because that’s what we are.

Angela [00:07:10] Oh, that’s so true.

Jenna [00:07:12] Yeah. He said ultimately problem number two helped with problem number one. Because one thing you haven’t seen a lot of is people laboring in their workplace.

Angela [00:07:23] It’s true.

Jenna [00:07:23] So.

Angela [00:07:25] Yeah. You know, I’m sitting here trying to think of shows that we watched growing up and did anyone go into labor and spend their day of labor at work? And I can’t think of one. So this does feel really unique.

Jenna [00:07:36] I think they figured it out.

Angela [00:07:37] Yeah.

Jenna [00:07:39] Well, fast fact number three is a question from Evelyn in Michigan, who wanted to know, Jenna, had you ever been pregnant before this episode filmed? And if not, how did you prepare for the part? She also wants to know, do I ever look back at the scenes now that I do have kids and think about maybe parts of my performance that I would have added or taken away now that I know what real labor is like, and do I think the acting would have been easier if I had been through it? All right. I’m going to unpack this, Evelyn. So, first of all, no, I did not have kids in real life. I had not been pregnant before when I filmed this episode. So after I got the script and I realized I would be doing a lot of laboring, I wanted to know what does that look like? So I watched a ton of YouTube videos. This is just, I have to say, an actor’s dream.

Angela [00:08:30] So actual videos of people like going into labor? Like maybe their spouse filmed them or something? On YouTube?

Jenna [00:08:36] Yeah. And they have like baby stories of, you know, documentaries of the labor process from contraction to having a baby.

Angela [00:08:45] Wow.

Jenna [00:08:46] So I just watched a lot of stuff about what happens to you when you’re in labor and what it really looks like. You know?

Angela [00:08:54] That’s really cool.

Jenna [00:08:55] Yeah. But I have to say, I was really confused by Pam’s choice to not go to the hospital. I understood the logic behind why she wasn’t going, but I did go to the writers and say, I just am not understanding why a woman would put off going to the hospital for so long.

Angela [00:09:19] Especially with her first pregnancy.

Jenna [00:09:21] Yes. And one of the writers told me that their friend actually did this. That she put off going to the hospital. It was not because of like an HMO issue, but because she was afraid to give birth. So she was like in denial. Her family was like, you are going to give birth. Like, it is happening. And she was like, no, I think I’m good. I think I’m fine. And they had to like, really, like, talk her into the reality of her situation. Ultimately, we find out that’s why Pam’s not going, you know, we’ll get there. But that gave me something to hold on to, that this wasn’t just- in Pam’s mind this wasn’t just about an HMO thing. This was a little bit of, like, denial.

Angela [00:10:08] Right. And she was sort of cloaking it with the HMO.

Jenna [00:10:11] Yes.

Angela [00:10:11] Well, Greg shared on the commentary that he was a big champion of this HMO storyline. He said that he and Danny double checked if it’s true that if you wait until after midnight and you check into a hospital, that you get more time covered by your insurance. That is true. Greg also said it was a consideration he and his wife were making with their first child.

Jenna [00:10:32] Oh.

Angela [00:10:32] It’s a real thing. I mean, I don’t know if folks are listening here that live outside of the United States, but you always are thinking, okay, what does my insurance cover? Right?

Jenna [00:10:42] Yeah, Ange, we actually got a lot of mail from people outside of the United States who were slightly confused by this storyline. You know, a lot of our listeners in the U.K., they don’t have this consideration. People wrote in and said, in my country, you go to the hospital or the doctor when you need it and it’s free. And we’re a little confused by this storyline. And I have to say, I did live in London for like almost a year, and I worked there and I experienced their health care system. Wow. It’s a real big relief. I remember we went to the emergency room with our daughter.

Angela [00:11:19] Oh, no. Immediately. My first thought is emergency rooms are so expensive.

Jenna [00:11:23] But, you know, I was there on a work visa, so I was paying taxes and I had registered to be part of the health care system, but we had only just arrived and I hadn’t gotten a doctor yet. So we went to the emergency room and they fixed her up and they gave us a prescription. As we were leaving, I said, What do I owe you? And they said, Nothing. And I said, Oh, are you going to bill me? And they said, What are you talking about? And I said, What are you talking about? And they said, No, you just leave now. I asked them like five times. I was like, I am confused. I just leave? With the medicine? How much is the medicine? The medicine is free. And I was like, Do you need me to fill something out? They’re like, No, just go.

Angela [00:12:05] Oh, my gosh.

Jenna [00:12:06] And be well was what they said. And that happened every time I went to the doctor there.

Angela [00:12:12] Wow.

Jenna [00:12:13] It was $0 and zero stress. And any time anything went wrong, the only thing we had to worry about was getting well.

Angela [00:12:21] Wow.

Jenna [00:12:22] So, yes, I see why the mail from other places, you know, that their tension in this episode is like an unrelatable concept.

Angela [00:12:31] Yeah. Wow. Well, that’s amazing.

Jenna [00:12:34] I know, right?

Angela [00:12:36] Danny also shared that his dad in real life is a pediatrician. And he said it was really cool because he got to ask his dad a lot of questions and get his advice in writing this episode.

Jenna [00:12:46] Oh, well, I remember that. I remember that his dad was a pediatrician.

Angela [00:12:50] That’s so fun, I think. For him, you know? Like because how many times do those worlds cross?

Jenna [00:12:55] Yes.

Angela [00:12:56] And then Jena, on the commentary, like everyone that had had kids sort of shared a little like Charlie shared that he has three kids. And Seth shared that he and his wife were expecting a baby, and their due date was the week after we filmed this episode.

Jenna [00:13:10] Oh, my gosh!

Angela [00:13:11] Yeah. So he had his phone on the whole time. I mean, just in case.

Jenna [00:13:15] So he was filming a woman faking labor and his wife might go into labor at any time.

Angela [00:13:20] Yes.

Jenna [00:13:21] Oh, my goodness. Well, I remember all that, Angela. I remember all of the people on set who had kids began sharing all their stories. All of their birthing stories.

Angela [00:13:33] We did.

Jenna [00:13:35] It was amazing. John and I were eating it up. We were just going around and being like, Tell us everything. Because neither one of us had kids yet. Well, lady, that’s all I got for fast facts.

Angela [00:13:44] Before we take a break and get into this episode, I just have to point out something, which is how amazing you and John are in this episode. You guys are amazing. I hadn’t seen this episode for years and I was watching it as a fan of Jim and Pam, but at the same time thinking, Holy crap, my best friend is crushing it!

Jenna [00:14:08] Lady, thank you so much.

Angela [00:14:10] Yeah. Just really phenomenal performances by the two of you. Just amazing.

Jenna [00:14:15] Well, let me say this. When I was watching this episode, I got very excited because Dwangela is back! Oh, my gosh, I almost, like, leapt out of my seat. I was so excited. I can’t wait to talk about it.

Angela [00:14:32] All right. Well, we’ll take a break. And when we come back, we have some awkward love and some sweet love to discuss.

Jenna [00:14:41] This episode opens up with Pam making some sales calls. She wants to kind of like tie up loose ends before she takes her maternity leave. And as a result, she is explaining this to her clients and they’re putting in orders.

Angela [00:14:56] Yeah.

Jenna [00:14:57] They’re so happy for her that she’s having a baby.

Angela [00:14:59] Dwight is furious. He thinks she’s using her baby to get sales.

Jenna [00:15:04] Yeah. Dwight decides, well, he’s going to use his personal life to increase his sales. But it doesn’t go well.

Angela [00:15:09] No.

Jenna [00:15:10] Because he’s talking about, like-.

Angela [00:15:12] Mose has, like, an infection.

Jenna [00:15:15] Yeah. No one is ordering extra paper.

Angela [00:15:18] No.

Jenna [00:15:20] So he has a talking head where he says he needs a baby. Or else he’ll never outperform Pam and Jim.

Angela [00:15:29] And he also says he has a gaping hole in his life, and he sometimes wakes up cradling like a large gourd.

Jenna [00:15:36] I think Dwight wants a baby.

Angela [00:15:37] Why are there guards just hanging around his bedroom?

Jenna [00:15:41] Good question.

Angela [00:15:42] Well, guess what? This was not the cold open in the shooting draft. The shooting draft had an elaborate Jim prank on Dwight.

Jenna [00:15:52] Really?

Angela [00:15:52] Yeah. It’s sort of like a Wile E. Coyote kind of prank.

Jenna [00:15:56] Ok.

Angela [00:15:56] Listen to what it said in the shooting draft: Dwight enters for the day and stops cold. A box of donuts sits on the reception desk. Below it is a crude wooden trapdoor on the floor, and a large lever sits next to Jim’s desk. Dwight says, Oh, Jim, this is sad. I thought you had moved on as a human. He says, You know, obviously I’m not dumb enough to fall for a fake trap door. Jim’s like, It’s not fake. Dwight goes over and jumps on the trap door and nothing happens. And he sort of scoffs at Jim like, Ha! See? He walks over to his desk and there’s a piece of floss tied to the lever going up to the ceiling above the trap door. And then Dwight’s like, Oh, what am I supposed to do? Pull on the string, and then something’s going to fall on my head? And as he’s saying this, Jim has a pie ready to throw in Dwight’s face, but he’s like, so slow doing it, Dwight’s like, What are you doing? None of this pays off for Jim. All of his hard work, making the fake trap door, doing the string and the lever, all because he wanted to surprise him with the pie. But Dwight is like, Jim, you’re holding a pie. And then Jim has a talking head that’s like, well, I have to admit, I’m a little rusty. I should have practiced with Pam. But, you know, I got a kid coming. Obviously, there’s no excuses. Ah, this used to come so easy.

Jenna [00:17:20] Aw.

Angela [00:17:20] Oh, I know, but this prank is so elaborate. Like, so much went into it. And it didn’t work, which I thought was sort of interesting because Jim’s pranks always work.

Jenna [00:17:31] Yeah. Well, I feel like I remember shooting this.

Angela [00:17:34] We did. It’s in the deleted scenes on the DVD.

Jenna [00:17:36] Oh, so people can see it.

Angela [00:17:37] They can see it.

Jenna [00:17:38] You’ve got to go see this trap door. Well, this episode is going to open with Kevin and Pam in the kitchen.

Angela [00:17:47] I loved this storyline. I feel like this was on a card on the wall. Like Kevin and Pam dine together. We find out that Kevin knows a lot about food. He’s cooked his way through the Julia Child’s cookbook, and now he’s halfway through the Twilight cookbook. Like, Twilight the movie.

Jenna [00:18:05] Yeah, and it’s a real thing.

Angela [00:18:07] No, it is not.

Jenna [00:18:08] Is a real cookbook called Love at First Bite, The Unofficial Twilight Cookbook by Gina Meyers.

Angela [00:18:15] Wait a second. Vampires don’t eat. How can they have a cookbook?

Jenna [00:18:19] Well, here’s what it says: Beautiful Bella Swan will be serving up some scrumptious delights to satisfy even the pickiest Puritan vegetarian vampires. Intertwined in the pages of Love At First Bite, you will find Belle’s lasagna, Harry’s famous fish fry, blushing Bella punch, and I dare you to eat pizza Edward, just to name a few.

Angela [00:18:45] I mean, all I can think about is vampires eating people.

Jenna [00:18:49] Well, I hear you. I think your beet vodka should be in the vampire cookbook because it looks like blood.

Angela [00:18:57] You did keep saying that.

Jenna [00:18:58] I know. Well, the cookbook author, Gina Meyers, has done several unique themed cookbooks.

Angela [00:19:06] Like, has she done another movie franchise? Like, is it like the Fast and The Furious cookbook?

Jenna [00:19:11] She did one for the television show Bewitched.

Angela [00:19:14] Oh, cute.

Jenna [00:19:15] Yeah. The Magic of Bewitched Trivia and The Magic of Bewitched Cookbook. She’s also, by the way, the proud winner of the prestigious Gourmand International Cookbook Award in 2012 for her fundraising cookbook, Hope for Haiti.

Angela [00:19:33] Love that.

Jenna [00:19:35] I will tell you, Brian and I delighted in doing these scenes. They were so fun. We love second breakfast lunch, second lunch and first dinner. We love ultra feast. We love all of it. By the way, speaking of cookbooks, you know, Brian Baumgartner has a cookbook coming out in September called Seriously Good Chili Cookbook.

Angela [00:19:57] As he should.

Jenna [00:19:58] Right?

Angela [00:19:58] Right. If anyone’s going to have a chili cookbook, it best be Brian.

Jenna [00:20:02] So look for that.

Angela [00:20:04] I have a background catch.

Jenna [00:20:06] Oh.

Angela [00:20:06] At one minute, 38 seconds, did you notice that behind Kevin, someone opens the refrigerator door and then closes it, but you never see who was there?

Jenna [00:20:17] I didn’t notice.

Angela [00:20:19] I thought that was odd. I thought, why would they frame up Jenna and Brian in a two shot when the scene’s just about them, and then let someone open the refrigerator door into Brian’s back?

Jenna [00:20:31] Who did it?

Angela [00:20:32] Well, I went to the shooting draft, but it’s also in the deleted scenes. It was Meredith. Meredith interrupts them and says, Hey, Pam, do you remember if you’re having a boy or a girl? Pam says, with some sass, I kind of recall choosing not to find out. Meredith says, Aren’t you special? Which really made me laugh because when I was pregnant, I had that moment where I was like, Maybe I won’t find out the sex. I’ll let it be a surprise. And I remember saying to my mom, Mom, we’re thinking about having it be a surprise. And she goes, Well, why? Life is full of surprises. You don’t need this one. She was so annoyed because she wanted to buy baby outfits. She was making a quilt. She needed to know.

Jenna [00:21:15] Yeah.

Angela [00:21:16] But it did crack me up. Meredith goes on to say, Well, if it is a boy, I met a guy at paintball who is a circumcision artist.

Jenna [00:21:26] Oh.

Angela [00:21:26] Yeah. And Meredith says, if you say my name, I get 25 bucks and I’ll give you five.

Jenna [00:21:32] Oh?

Angela [00:21:32] To which Pam says, Thanks, but we already have a paintball circumcision guy. But that’s why the fridge opens and shuts behind Kevin’s back in this scene.

Jenna [00:21:42] Good detective work. I like it. Well, listen, you know, Michael is very excited about Pam’s contraptions.

Angela [00:21:50] Oh, her contraptions are really making his day. Well, I have another background catch.

Jenna [00:21:55] Oh.

Angela [00:21:56] I know. Two back to back. Lady. I’m on a roll. Did you notice at 2 minutes, 47 seconds that Stanley is not at his desk?

Jenna [00:22:05] No, I didn’t.

Angela [00:22:06] Pam is having contraptions. Michael wants her to go to the hospital. Everyone’s weighing in. Where’s Stanley?

Jenna [00:22:11] Where is Stanley?

Angela [00:22:12] I will tell you. I went to the shooting draft. And also in deleted scenes, this was a much bigger scene. And there was a lot of Stanley and Meredith Sass. Jim says, Guys, it’s not baby time. Stanley says, It is, however, Baby Ruth time. And then he mutters under his breath, Pregnant coworker. Let’s all drop everything.

Jenna [00:22:35] Geez, Stanley.

Angela [00:22:37] I know. And he gets up and he goes to the break room to get his Baby Ruth. And that’s why Stanley isn’t here the whole time. And this also starts a Meredith runner that got cut. She is wearing brand new high top sneakers.

Jenna [00:22:51] Oh, this was her storyline for this episode was her new high tops?

Angela [00:22:54] And she says, All I know is I haven’t gotten one comment about my new high tops.

Jenna [00:23:00] Meredith, I mean, you wore them on the day that Pam is having contraptions at the office, you know?

Angela [00:23:06] I know. Meredith and Stanley are like, I’m out, I’m out.

Jenna [00:23:08] They’re very annoyed. Everyone seems a little annoyed by all of the attention that is going Pam’s way.

Angela [00:23:15] Except Kelly, who seems just worried.

Jenna [00:23:17] Well, Kelly is looking at pictures on her computer about, I guess, labor and delivery. That was a fakey website that she’s looking at. Our graphics designer, Henry Saine, made that website. She says, During labor, they take your insides out and sometimes epidurals don’t work and sometimes you poop yourself.

Angela [00:23:36] Oh, my gosh.

Jenna [00:23:37] She’s learning a lot. So Kelly is, like, halfway right here. According to BabyCenter, in most C-sections, the bladder and intestines are moved aside so that your OB-GYN can get them out of the way and then they kind of lift the uterus out a little bit. But the organs are never like completely removed from your body, as Kelly kind of suggests. But she is right that a lot of times, during vaginal labor especially, you poop yourself. You poop. You poop while you’re pushin. And that happens. And that’s life. And that’s bringing life into the world. And it’s okay.

Angela [00:24:16] It is okay. Just another reason I couldn’t be an OB-GYN is because I’d be afraid I’d move an organ the wrong way.

Jenna [00:24:24] But you wouldn’t because you’ve gone to school.

Angela [00:24:26] Oh, that’s true.

Jenna [00:24:27] You studied.

Angela [00:24:28] Right.

Jenna [00:24:28] You right now with your current knowledge of intestines could not be an OBGYN.

Angela [00:24:35] Could not do it. But if I had gone to school.

Jenna [00:24:37] You could do it!

Angela [00:24:38] I could do it.

Jenna [00:24:39] Yes.

Angela [00:24:39] Okay.

Jenna [00:24:40] Of course.

Angela [00:24:40] Well, there were more talking heads during this big group scene that got deleted. They’re on the DVD. First one starts a great Creed runner, Jenna. Some of it is in deleted scenes. Some of it is in the shooting draft. I’ve got to share it. Creed is going to tell you how Pam’s birth is affecting him. Let’s hear it.

Creed [00:25:00] Pam may be about to give birth. And if I understand anything about the cycle of life, and I do, that means somebody dies… And I think we all know whose number’s up… Time to get my affairs in order. So wish me luck, my friends, as I go gently into that good night.

Jenna [00:25:18] Oh, my gosh. Creed thinks it’s like a literal 1 to 1.

Angela [00:25:21] He does. And he he’s going to spend the rest of the episode getting his affairs in order. I’m going to share a few of those moments. And Michael shares what his role is in Pam’s birth.

Jenna [00:25:34] I’m scared.

Michael [00:25:36] My role in the birth of this child is that of the boss. Within that, there is none of the pain that’s associated with the mother’s role. There is none of the responsibility which is associated with the father’s role. But in many cultures, the boss really plays no role at all in childbirth.

Angela [00:26:08] So his role is the boss, but as he starts to talk it out, that role really plays no role. It just sort of made me laugh.

Jenna [00:26:18] You know, I suppose his role could be to let Pam go home and have a paid day off. That could be his role.

Angela [00:26:25] That could be. He’d have to check with Jo Bennett.

Jenna [00:26:28] But then I guess also then he couldn’t be there for it, which is ultimately more important to him.

Angela [00:26:33] Yeah.

Jenna [00:26:33] Yeah. Well, now we have the moment I did not know I needed so much. Dwight and Angela in the break room. Once again, not speaking face to face, not looking at one another. Dwight has a proposal.

Angela [00:26:50] He does. He starts out right out of the gate with bear my child.

Jenna [00:26:55] Yeah.

Angela [00:26:55] And Angela is like, Excuse me?

Jenna [00:26:57] She says, Excuse me, but she’s immediately like-

Angela [00:27:01] Delighted.

Jenna [00:27:03] Oh excuse me?

Angela [00:27:03] Oh, excuse me? In the shooting draft, there were two lines that preceded Dwight sayin bear my child that got cut, but I wanted to read them to you. Dwight is looking at the vending machine. He says, Hmm. There’s a new flavor of Herrs chips. Barbecue. Angela says, Ugh, I must have missed the memo where Scranton is now Kansas City. And then there’s a long pause. And Dwight says, Bear my child.

Jenna [00:27:31] Amazing.

Angela [00:27:32] At 4 minutes, 6 seconds, I don’t know if you noticed, but I am holding my yogurt in my mouth.

Jenna [00:27:38] What?

Angela [00:27:39] Yeah. So I’m eating yogurt in the scene.

Jenna [00:27:41] Yeah.

Angela [00:27:42] And when Dwight says, If you agree, say nothing. If you disagree, say anything… I just sort of made the choice to hold what I was eating in my mouth.

Jenna [00:27:50] Oh.

Angela [00:27:51] I know it’s really dorky. These are things you remember, though. And when I watched it, I was like, I like that I did that.

Jenna [00:27:58] It’s funny you mention that, because the detail that I noticed was that for the beginning of the scene, I couldn’t see that you had a yogurt cup. I just saw that you had a bowl of grapes and a spoon in your hand. And I wrote down, Is she eating grapes with a spoon? And then at the end of the scene, I see you scoop the yogurt and I was like, Oh, it’s yogurt.

Angela [00:28:18] Yeah. Angela is eating a lot in this episode. She eats later down in the warehouse. I don’t know. I guess we just thought Angela should be eating all day today.

Jenna [00:28:27] Maybe you were just hungry this week.

Angela [00:28:29] Maybe in real life I was like, can I have a snack?

Jenna [00:28:31] Can I eat during this scene?

Angela [00:28:32] Yeah.

Jenna [00:28:33] Well, you know, Pam’s contractions, they’re getting closer together. And Jim would really like to go to the hospital now. But Pam says, I’m good. We’re going to go when they’re 5 minutes apart. That’s what the doctor said. And Jim said it was 5 to 7 minutes. 5 to 7. We said seven.

Angela [00:28:52] Jim’s freaking out. He’s starting to freak out. It’s going to get worse for him, as Pam also freaks out in her own way. This is sort of a fun thing they talked about on the commentary about how Jim and Pam are normally the rational thinking people in the office while everyone else is spiraling out. But in this episode, it’s the reverse. Literally everyone is like, you guys, go to the hospital. And Pam’s like, nope. And it’s really funny to see that flip.

Jenna [00:29:19] I love John in this episode and I love him in the next part too, as well. He’s so funny. I mean, this is John at his romantic comedy best.

Angela [00:29:30] He’s so funny. But then he also completely made me tear up.

Jenna [00:29:34] Yeah, I know. That’s how he gets ya.

Angela [00:29:37] Yeah.

Jenna [00:29:37] That’s the Krasinski special right there. Andy wants to offer this advice to the new parents: to not get hung up on baby names. You know, he says he did not have the name Andy until the age of six, that before that he was Walter Junior. But then when his brother was born, they felt his brother better exemplified the name Walter Junior. So they renamed him Andrew.

Angela [00:30:01] He was Walter until he was six years old?

Jenna [00:30:04] Yeah. And then they renamed him Andrew.

Angela [00:30:06] That’s bonkers.

Jenna [00:30:07] And his younger brother is Walter Junior now.

Angela [00:30:10] They did share on the commentary that they delight in just giving Andy so much back story. Like we constantly learn new things about Andy.

Jenna [00:30:20] Well, we had multiple people write in with this fan catch, which is that during the Goodbye, Toby episode, before he proposes to Angela, he actually calls his father Andrew Bernard.

Angela [00:30:37] So he’d be Andrew Junior.

Jenna [00:30:39] Yeah. But here his dad’s name was Walter, and his brother is Walter Jr. So their delight in creating backstory for Andy also included sort of ignoring the show Bible from time to time.

Angela [00:30:54] Well, Andy’s conversation about baby names, Pam says was actually a nice distraction.

Jenna [00:30:59] She welcomes it.

Angela [00:31:00] Yeah.

Jenna [00:31:01] Yeah. It’s helping her not think about her labor.

Angela [00:31:04] Well, that’s all Michael needs to hear.

Jenna [00:31:05] Oh, yeah.

Angela [00:31:06] He’s like, Conference room! And Jenna, this is an act break. Once again, a call to the conference room, like what Mindy talked about.

Jenna [00:31:15] I think we should take an act break.

Angela [00:31:17] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:31:17] And we will be back to discuss what happens in that conference room.

Angela [00:31:21] So much happens.

Jenna [00:31:26] We’re back. Everyone’s in the conference room. And I’m going to kick this off with a fan question from Kelsey C in Panama City Beach, Florida, and Julie A from Hudson, Wisconsin. They would like to know, Is there a reason that almost everyone is wearing blue in this episode?

Angela [00:31:42] Huh?

Jenna [00:31:43] No. But Kelsey and Julie, I want you to know that this is something that was noticed by fans even when this episode aired. There was a whole forum on OfficeTally.com all about it. Writer Danny Chun said he has no idea why this happened. But when I saw us all gathered in the conference room, I noticed the same thing. It’s the blue episode.

Angela [00:32:08] Sometimes that happens. We had the purple episode.

Jenna [00:32:11] Mm hmm. Good catch.

Angela [00:32:12] Michael is going to open up the floor to ideas on how to keep Pam distracted. Do you notice who leaves really quickly?

Jenna [00:32:21] Stanley?

Angela [00:32:21] Then Oscar and Angela.

Jenna [00:32:25] Well, Phyllis offers to apply lipstick a la Molly Ringwald in Breakfast Club.

Angela [00:32:31] Like when you tuck it in your bra?

Jenna [00:32:33] Yeah. Do new viewers get that reference when they watch this?

Angela [00:32:38] Oh, man. What a classic. I would have loved to have seen Phyllis do that. But no one takes her up on it.

Jenna [00:32:45] No.

Angela [00:32:45] So Andy volunteers to do the Evolution of Dance in complete silence. He has to have complete silence.

Jenna [00:32:53] Yeah. So the Evolution of Dance is a real thing. It was a YouTube video created by Judson Laipply. It is a six minute video. And in the video, Judson does a few seconds of dance moves from throughout the 20th century. It starts with the twist. He gets the worm in there. He does the cabbage patch. It’s like little dance crazes through the years.

Angela [00:33:22] It’s the evolution of dance.

Jenna [00:33:24] It is. So this video was a huge sensation. It was actually the first YouTube video to reach 100 million views.

Angela [00:33:33] Wow.

Jenna [00:33:34] It held the Guinness World Record for most liked video for three years. It currently has 310 million views. I watched it in preparation for this episode. I had a smile on my face the whole time. It’s so freakin charming.

Angela [00:33:54] I haven’t seen it.

Jenna [00:33:55] Oh, you got to watch it. I was so tickled. I get why it’s so popular. Judson is a professional keynote speaker, and he performs the Evolution of Dance at the end of every one of his speaking events still to this day.

Angela [00:34:11] He’s still doing it.

Jenna [00:34:12] Still. So in the video, it’s obviously all set to music and the music changes for each dance move. It’s this amazing, like medley of music. But Andy does it in silence. Randy Cordray said he was glad that Andy did it in silence because we would have had to license all those song clips and it would have cost a fortune. And Danny Chun said that Ed watched the evolution of Dance YouTube video a bunch of times before we shot the scene and he’s really doing the moves from this video. When he goes through the eighties, I was, like, laughing so hard. Our dances were ridiculous. They made no sense. They were so weird.

Angela [00:34:57] That would be such a fun workout. Like if he broke that down and, like, taught it, I would want to learn it.

Jenna [00:35:03] Oh, my gosh. Should we try to learn it?

Angela [00:35:05] Oh, no.

Jenna [00:35:06] There are some moves we can’t do. I mean, I can do the worm on the floor. It’s not happening.

Angela [00:35:08] No, no. There’s. My body doesn’t bend in a few different directions. Jenna, do you remember how much we laughed during that? How we could not get through it?

Jenna [00:35:18] Yes. And it was for a very specific reason.

Angela [00:35:21] So specific.

Jenna [00:35:22] The sound of the pants.

Angela [00:35:25] Ed’s pants, these khaki pants he had on, when he started moving. And also we were completely silent.

Jenna [00:35:32] Yes. And here’s the thing. We did not know that the pants were going to do that. That was not planned. In fact, we got a fan question from Jaden in Bellingham, Washington, who said, The rustling of Andy’s pants makes the scene ten times funnier. It really adds to the awkwardness. Did you add these as a sound effect?

Angela [00:35:53] No.

Jenna [00:35:55] No!

Angela [00:35:55] That was the sound his pants were making. I actually have it as an audio clip because I thought it was so funny.

Jenna [00:36:01] Oh my gosh.

Angela [00:36:01] Can you play that? … (SOUND CLIP) But imagine being only two feet away from that happening.

Jenna [00:36:20] I remember us all laughing and be like, This is so absurd and he’s being so serious about it. He has to start over because Pam starts like clapping along and making some music.

Angela [00:36:32] Yeah, yeah. It throws him off. A few other people offer their distractions for Pam. Scarfy. Ryan is back.

Jenna [00:36:40] Oh yeah.

Angela [00:36:41] With his glasses and his orange swatch watch.

Jenna [00:36:44] He’s going to read her a poem.

Angela [00:36:46] He is. But, Jenna, the scene was much longer. It’s in deleted scenes.

Jenna [00:36:50] Oh, I remember.

Angela [00:36:51] Oh, my gosh. It’s so funny. And the character Ryan calls out the documentary crew in a way I don’t think we’ve heard. You have to hear it.

Ryan [00:37:01] I could read a poem I wrote.

Michael [00:37:03] Hell yeah. Everybody shut up.

Ryan [00:37:07] Any similarities to real persons or events are very intentional. Plastic Love. You let me in your bed. But now I sleep alone. Trapped with the forgotten in my detritus home. I hope you’re happy now. I hope it every day. In case you didn’t figure it out yet. I’m the doll you threw away.

Pam [00:37:36] Oh my gosh. I’m sorry. That is so awful. It’s awesome.

Ryan [00:37:43] I know, right? It’s- I just found it. I thought it was so funny, so awesome. So.

Andy [00:37:48] Yeah. Well, you just said you wrote it.

Ryan [00:37:50] I never said I wrote it, Andy.

Andy [00:37:52] Yeah, you did.

Kelly [00:37:52] You did say that you wrote it.

Ryan [00:37:53] I never said- why would I have said I wrote it? I- check the tape. I never said I wrote it. I never said that.

Angela [00:38:01] Check the tape! That’s the first time any employee at Dunder Mifflin has asked them to play back footage.

Jenna [00:38:09] Hmm. I wish they would have.

Angela [00:38:10] Check the tape. After this scene, Jenna, the Creed runner would have come back. This is what happens. Angela is applying a little bit of chapstick. She’s spraying herself with perfume. Creed interrupts her, and hands her a necklace that says Angela in block letters. Creed says to her, I want you to have this. And Angela goes, This is mine. And she said, I’ll have you arrested. And Creed says, You can’t arrest a ghost.

Jenna [00:38:42] I am so glad that you told me about this, because in the next scene, when Angela meets Dwight in the warehouse and they start banging out their contract, I put down at 8 minutes, 43 seconds, is Angela’s eyeshadow bumped up?

Angela [00:39:00] Yes. She was zhuzhing herself.

Jenna [00:39:03] Yes. And I even went back to the scene in the break room and compared your makeup. And yes, you have applied a little lip, a little extra bump on your eye. Ooh, I am so proud of myself!

Angela [00:39:17] Nice catch. Well, the note they gave to me was, like, over in the accounting nook, I’m making myself ready to go meet Dwight. And they said, Spray perfume. And I remember doing this thing, and when I watched deleted scenes, it made me chuckle because I sprayed the perfume in the air around me and then walked under it.

Jenna [00:39:34] That was a thing they taught us to do in the eighties!

Angela [00:39:36] I know!

Jenna [00:39:38] At that Bath and Body Works store when that Bath and Body Works came out they had this like, do you remember that scent? It was called, like-.

Angela [00:39:46] Vanilla?

Jenna [00:39:47] No, it was like white something. And it supposedly had pheromones in it that would make you more attractive. In the store, they taught you how to put it on, was to spray it and walk through it.

Angela [00:39:58] I so remember doing that.

Jenna [00:39:59] I feel like I’m having all these memories flooding back to me about perfumes and scents. Are they still a thing today, we’re just not connected to it? Because remember at the store, it was a whole thing. They had people who just, like, sprayed you with perfume as you walked by.

Angela [00:40:14] Oh, no. It’s still happening.

Jenna [00:40:15] It does?

Angela [00:40:16] It’s still happening. Yeah. I went to Macy’s, and as I walked through, like, three different people wanted to spray me with perfume.

Jenna [00:40:21] But now they, like, spray a card and hand it to you. But back then, they just sprayed right into your face.

Angela [00:40:28] They did.

Jenna [00:40:28] They really, really did. Wow. Well, perfume was a thing.

Angela [00:40:33] It was a whole thing. We’re going to learn a few things about this Dwight Angela warehouse rendezvous. First of all, they have a parenting contract to agree on. A pre-nate if you will. Here are some of the terms that Angela agrees to right away: Dwight wants the child breastfed by the mother for exactly six months and then weaned onto a nutrient rich winter vegetable mush provided by the father, Dwight Schrute, referred to from here on out as Morpheus.

Jenna [00:40:59] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:41:00] Angela says, agreed. Agreed. She’s going to call him Morpheus?

Jenna [00:41:04] But there’s one thing they don’t agree on. Baby names.

Angela [00:41:08] Dwight says Ebenezer. Angela says Jedidiah. Dwight says Jonas. Angela says Jebidiah.

Jenna [00:41:15] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:41:16] Dwight says Worf. And that’s it for Angela. No Star Trek names.

Jenna [00:41:20] Yeah. Dwight also wants her to agree that the baby will be a boy.

Angela [00:41:25] Angela, like, I can’t control that.

Jenna [00:41:27] He says you can. In fact, he says, quote, It’s a simple matter of keeping the womb warm for two days after sex and then extremely cold for five months. And there was some additional dialogue in the script about this gender issue. Dwight said, I cannot leave Schrute Farms to a girl. I’ll never be able to look another chicken in the eye. And Angela says, And I cannot teach a boy how to French braid. Not again. Not after what happened to my brother. I don’t know what is going on. The chickens, the French braiding.

Angela [00:42:01] Also, this is the first I’ve ever heard of Angela having a brother. She’s talked about her sister.

Jenna [00:42:06] Yeah. Well, Danny Chun said that the idea of Dwight wanting a baby contract was Charlie Grandy’s idea, and everybody loved it. They felt like it totally fit in Dwight’s character to approach baby making as a formal agreement. Danny said he completely made up the rules for making a boy. And I do want to say, scientifically speaking…

Angela [00:42:32] Did you look this up?

Jenna [00:42:33] I kind of knew it, but I did look it up to confirm it.

Angela [00:42:37] Is there any truth to Dwight’s theory?

Jenna [00:42:39] No.

Angela [00:42:39] Oh, thank God.

Jenna [00:42:41] Not to Dwight’s theory.

Angela [00:42:41] I’m like, what?

Jenna [00:42:42] That’s completely made up.

Angela [00:42:44] Okay.

Jenna [00:42:44] But boy sperm supposedly moves much faster, but also dies faster than girl sperm. So if there is an egg waiting, ready to go, boy sperm will most likely get to it first. But if the egg isn’t there yet, a girl sperm can hang out. They live a little longer. They’ll wait for it. The article that I read also said that girl sperm is very fit.

Angela [00:43:14] It’s hearty. It’s got to hang out for a bit.

Jenna [00:43:16] That’s right. So this is often why you get a boy or a girl. It’s, you know, was the egg sort of ready and waiting? Or did it take a minute? And so then the girl sperm outlasted the boy sperm.

Angela [00:43:32] Wish someone could have explained that to Henry the Eighth.

Jenna [00:43:35] Yeah, no kidding! Well, back in the conference room, Pam’s contractions are more frequent. And Michael has an idea. He says, Let’s get a list of things that make you go into labor, and we’ll do the opposite to slow it down. So, for example, something that can help move your labor along is to stimulate the nipple. So Michael says, Nobody touch Pam’s nipples.

Angela [00:44:04] Yes. He says, Think of Pam’s nipples as Toby’s grundle. I didn’t know what that was, so I Googled grundle.

Jenna [00:44:11] What is it?

Angela [00:44:13] A grundle, guys… Do you guys know what a grundle is?

Sam [00:44:16] I’m so happy to report for once in my life, no. I got nothing for ya.

Angela [00:44:20] According to the Internet, it’s the area between your balls and your butthole.

Sam [00:44:25] You’re describing the taint, my friend.

Jenna [00:44:26] That’s a taint.

Angela [00:44:27] Well, that’s what the grandle is as well. Listen, I’m going to read it to you. Grundle. U.S. slang. The perineum, the area between the anus and the genitals. Grundle. There you go.

Jenna [00:44:42] Will you look up taint real quick? I mean.

Angela [00:44:45] I will look up taint. Love my search engine. Taint (LAUGHS) When I Googled taint, the first thing that came up said taint versus grundle.

Jenna [00:44:55] Oh! And?

Sam [00:44:57] Yeah, who won?

Angela [00:44:58] I’m clicking on it. Oh, my goodness. This is in Wikipedia’s slang section. The taint, grundle, gooch and durf are all the same thing, describing the same part of your body, depending on where you are from.

Jenna [00:45:12] Oh. I guess, Sam, the Midwesterners are going with taint.

Sam [00:45:17] Yeah, that’s the taint.

Jenna [00:45:18] Is grundle a east coast thing then?

Angela [00:45:20] I only know taint and I certainly have never heard of durf.

Sam [00:45:25] I believe that’s a golf video.

Angela [00:45:26] I thought that was a golf character. Well, this conversation continues where Meredith says, you know what, I have a shirt she should wear because it’s got like the boob area cut out. Michael’s like, well, then go get it.

Jenna [00:45:38] Yeah.

Angela [00:45:39] And then Kevin throws out spicy foods.

Jenna [00:45:41] Yeah. Because one of the things that can induce labor is eating spicy foods. So Kevin says, Shove spicy food up her butt!

Angela [00:45:50] Oh, my gosh.

Jenna [00:45:51] We got a fan question for Stephanie E in Indianapolis, Indiana, who wanted to know, Was that line an improvization? Because in the bloopers for this episode, Kevin says, Make spicy food come out of her, and we all can’t stop laughing. She said, This line made my brother and I laugh so hard the first time we saw it, it took us by complete surprise. It is Stephanie’s favorite Kevin line of all time. So Stephanie, the line “shove spicy food up her butt” was the scripted line, but on the day there was the pitch that Kevin say “make spicy food come out of her” and that so tickled us that we couldn’t get through it. Here is a clip.

Erin [00:46:38] Eat spicy foods.

Michael [00:46:40] What is the opposite of that?

Kevin [00:46:41] Make spicy foods come out of her.

Jim [00:46:43] Okay? Nope.

Michael [00:46:43] (LAUGHTER) Eat spicy foods. Okay. Okay. What is the opposite of that?

Kevin [00:46:52] Make spicy foods come out of her.

Jim [00:46:53] No. Okay. Nope, nope. We’re not doing that, Pam?

Michael [00:46:59] Okay, so what is it?

Erin [00:47:01] Eat spicy foods.

Michael [00:47:02] And the opposite of that?

Kevin [00:47:03] Ohh, makes spicy foo- (LAUGHTER)

Jenna [00:47:09] By that point, we were just all anticipating it. But the other thing I love about that clip Ange is it shows you we just quickly would reset ourselves. Like if we were laughing, we’d be like, okay, okay, okay, go again. And just like how quickly everybody snaps right back into character and gives the same cue again, which we tried.

Angela [00:47:28] We did that daily. Daily. We would just be like, Okay, guys, come on, let’s go. We got it. We got it.

Jenna [00:47:32] Yeah.

Angela [00:47:33] Jim has had enough. He is losing it. He has this great talking head where he says, I know Pam better than anyone in this office, and obviously she’s gone crazy. But everybody wants to say that I’m crazy, but I’m not crazy. She’s crazy. I’m not crazy. She’s crazy. And then he starts flipping through all the pregnancy books. 5 to 7 minutes, 5 to 7 minutes, 6 minutes. Different, but not really. 5 to 7 minutes. This talking had really delighted me. They talked about it on the DVD. Danny and Greg said it was a reshoot. It wasn’t in the shooting draft. And they did it because they wanted to show Jim’s character’s perspective and that he wasn’t being completely rational either.

Jenna [00:48:12] So Ange, I remember watching this episode the first time it aired originally, and because this talking head had been a reshoot, I had no knowledge of it. Like I didn’t remember reading it in the script. I didn’t remember shooting it. It took me by surprise, and I found Jon’s performance so delightful that I called him on the phone and I was like, John, that talking head was amazing. Like, I remember calling him and complimenting him in real time. I love this talking head, and when it came up again, I was like, Yes, there it is.

Angela [00:48:51] Yeah, it’s so good. Well, as you see Jim starting to build in his spiral, you’re starting to see Pam spiral, too. And it’s going to take us to the parking lot. Jim is in the car. He’s ready to go. Pam knocks on the window and very calmly says, You know, I’m not going to get in because then you’re just going to drive me to the hospital. And then guess what happens?

Jenna [00:49:13] Yeah. She slips up and says that they’re having a baby girl. And Jim’s like, What?

Angela [00:49:20] Oh, man. And John just crushed it. This moment made me tear up. When Jim realizes he’s going to be a father to a little girl. It is the sweetest thing. I loved it. Side note, did you notice how beautiful the lighting was?

Jenna [00:49:33] Very pretty.

Angela [00:49:34] Once again, Jim and Pam outside at golden hour.

Jenna [00:49:37] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:49:38] They even talked about that on the commentary. How great the scene looked. Seth was like, Yeah, we just lucked out. It was that sort of magical golden hour.

Jenna [00:49:45] Mm hmm. Well, writer Danny Chun said that they went back and forth in the writers room over whether Jim and Pam should have a boy or a girl. He said toward the end of writing the script, they came up with this idea of Pam kind of spilling the beans. And for whatever reason, they just felt like this moment would work better as a baby girl. He also added that Brent Forrester, who has a daughter, was like relentlessly pushing for it to be a girl. So he was kind of the loudest in favor of girl.

Angela [00:50:20] Well, I thought it worked. I thought just seeing Jim as that girl dad, you know, and having that realization come across him was so sweet.

Jenna [00:50:28] Well, Jim’s also going to notice something. Pam, did you change clothes? She did. Because her water broke. And then she walks away.

Angela [00:50:39] Just when he was sort of being like, okay, we’re okay. We’re okay.

Jenna [00:50:43] Yeah, well, my water broke with my daughter. It was a Saturday, and we were going to have people over for barbecue that day. So I went upstairs, I was about to step into the shower and it was kind of like a lot of water was there, but I wasn’t in the shower yet. I was real confused. And then it just like kept happening and I was like, I don’t think I’m peeing right now, but I wasn’t having any contractions. Like no signs of labor. So my water broke first, which was confusing because I didn’t know that could happen. I didn’t know that that can be the first thing. So guess what? We did not have a barbecue that day.

Angela [00:51:27] I was going to say, I bet your plans changed.

Jenna [00:51:29] They changed real fast.

Angela [00:51:31] Well, you would think Pam would sort of get motivated when her water broke, but she does not.

Jenna [00:51:36] No.

Angela [00:51:36] She’s still staying at work. She’s not going anywhere.

Jenna [00:51:39] She has a talking head where she says she’s fine. There’s no rush. She’ll get to the hospital. Or maybe she won’t. Well, big fan catch from Katie P in London. Pam’s talking head at 13 minutes, 21 seconds is in the wrong clothes. Her water broke, she changed clothes, but now she’s back in her old clothes. Yeah, we moved it around. That was a talking head that we had in the script for earlier but they put it here and, well, we were hoping you wouldn’t notice. But you noticed.

Angela [00:52:10] They said on the commentary that they loved your take so much in that talking head, they didn’t care you were in the wrong wardrobe.

Jenna [00:52:16] They were like, Oh, well.

Angela [00:52:17] Yeah. I absolutely love this next scene in the break room. Pam is determined to have her ultra feast with Kevin, and Jim is like, No, it’s time to go to the hospital. Michael’s like, It’s time to go to the hospital. And Pam just loses it and is like, I’m not going! I’m not going. And then she finally admits she’s scared to go. And then all the men in the room put their hands on her belly and give her a pep talk.

Jenna [00:52:45] This was one of my favorite scenes to shoot of all time on The Office. I think my favorite thing is that Kevin is there.

Angela [00:52:53] Yes.

Jenna [00:52:55] It made it even funnier. He is the straight man in the scene.

Angela [00:53:00] I know! How crazy is that? Jenna, as I watched it, I loved her performance so much. I also don’t know how you kept a straight face. Because when they all put their hands on Pam’s pregger belly and they were like, you got this, they were being so sincere, but they were all touching her belly.

Jenna [00:53:17] Believe it or not, that is not the moment that made us break. We were able to get through that, even though I do want to read the script note for that moment.

Angela [00:53:28] Oh, please.

Jenna [00:53:29] The script note for the scene is, Michael gets down on one knee. He speaks very quietly and weirdly breathy. So that bit of them all touching my belly, that was an idea we came up with in the moment. It was originally going to be just one of those Pam to Michael moments.

Angela [00:53:48] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:53:49] But the moment we couldn’t get through is when Jim is freaking out and Michael kind of pins him up against the door and says, Hold it together! Every time Steve did that line a little bit more like, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Like he did a weird take on it.

Angela [00:54:08] Like Michael’s saying, hold it together, but he’s clearly losing it.

Jenna [00:54:12] Yes. I actually have an audio clip.

Jim [00:54:15] What happened to four and three, Michael?

Michael [00:54:16] It’s okay. We’re fine. We’re fine.

Jim [00:54:17] 2 minutes is too soon. 5 minutes and 2 minutes is a very big difference.

Michael [00:54:21] Jim, you gotta hold it together right now! (LAUGHTER).

Jim [00:54:21] I told you to warn me in five minutes. But what happened to four and three? Because 2 minutes doesn’t do us any good.

Michael [00:54:31] Jim, come here.

Jim [00:54:32] No. What?

Michael [00:54:32] You gotta hold it together, okay, man? (LAUGHTER)

Jenna [00:54:39] Do you hear it?

Angela [00:54:41] Yeah. It’s so funny.

Jenna [00:54:46] (UNINTELLIGIBLE IMITATING MICHAEL) It was so funny.

Angela [00:54:46] I love the chaos in the moment, too. Oh, man.

Jenna [00:54:50] Oh, that- we had so much fun doing that scene. I don’t even think we wanted it to end. They probably have so much footage from it because we were so milking it.

Angela [00:54:59] Well, one thing they decide is that Pam is having the baby. I mean, contractions are 2 minutes apart. They’ve waited too long. It’s time to go. Then this chaotic energy from the break room now spills into the bullpen. Michael’s like, Is my go bag ready? It’s not ready. He’s getting advice from everyone. Dwight’s going to measure Pam’s cervix, like what is happening? My favorite line in this chaos is when Michael says, Should I take a dictionary? And Oscar looks to camera. And the way Oscar looked at camera and said, The hospital provides dictionaries. Bring a thesaurus.

Jenna [00:55:33] Yes. I loved that, too.

Angela [00:55:35] Oh, my gosh. I also have a background sketch in this scene.

Jenna [00:55:39] What is it?

Angela [00:55:40] As everyone’s rushing out, did you notice Pam’s coat is a big oversized plaid coat? It’s not Pam’s regular coat?

Jenna [00:55:51] Oh, yeah.

Angela [00:55:52] That is because there was a deleted scene that is part of this Creed runner, where Creed runs up to Pam as they’re leaving and he gives her his coat and he says, Here, let me help you with this. And she says, Thanks. Wait, whose coat is this? And Creed says softly, Pam, I’m begging you, don’t do this. And Pam goes, What? And then Jim goes, Let’s go, let’s go! And rushes everyone out. So Pam actually is wearing Creed’s coat to the hospital.

Jenna [00:56:21] Aww.

Angela [00:56:21] And if you go to the episode at 16 minutes, if you freeze it, you can see Creed running in with it.

Jenna [00:56:27] Really?

Angela [00:56:28] Right there. But it’s so brief. And then the scene was cut and they just usher you out.

Jenna [00:56:34] Well, Dwight is going to lead this motorcade to the hospital, but first, oh, my gosh, Michael! Michael! That’s where I saw the deer last week. Everyone, stop.

Angela [00:56:45] I loved that so much.

Jenna [00:56:47] It was right over there.

Angela [00:56:48] I loved it.

Jenna [00:56:51] Well, we’ve got Michael driving one car with Pam and Jim in the back seat, and Dwight is escorting them. He loves to escort people.

Angela [00:56:59] He put his light on top of the roof of the car.

Jenna [00:57:02] Yeah. That’s not going to go so well because the police are going to pull Dwight over.

Angela [00:57:08] In the script it said, Dwight slows down and pulls over. As he does, he discreetly throws nunchucks, a sword, and a battle ax out the passenger window.

Jenna [00:57:19] Mm hmm. Well, I’ll have you know that Steve was not actually driving in these scenes. The car was hooked up to a tow rig. It was being pulled. We filmed these using lipstick cameras, and there was a live feed from the cameras to the tow rig vehicle, which the director was riding in and could watch what we were doing on little monitors and give us notes on walkie talkies. Just walkie talkies.

Angela [00:57:45] Old school, old tech.

Jenna [00:57:47] For the exterior of Dwight’s car, Rainn was driving. His footage was done car to car, meaning that there was a camera operator in one car shooting his car. But for inside of Dwight’s car, we used the tow rig and the lipstick camera again. So, like, when he’s throwing the stuff out of the window, that was, you know, a tow rig. But when he’s peeling out of the parking lot and you see his whole car, that’s Rainn.

Angela [00:58:18] Yeah. I love the moment when Pam realizes that she left her iPod at home.

Jenna [00:58:24] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:58:24] Jenna, I made a whole playlist for the hospital. I had my music.

Jenna [00:58:29] I remember.

Angela [00:58:30] Yeah.

Jenna [00:58:30] When I came to visit you after you gave birth, you wanted me to play it even after she was born.

Angela [00:58:36] Yes. And so when I saw this, I felt like I would be like, my playlist! I would be the same way.

Jenna [00:58:43] Well, Danny shared what Pam’s birth song was.

Angela [00:58:46] What was it?

Jenna [00:58:47] Dreams Come True, Girl by Cass McCombs. And there was a whole scene where Pam plays it in Delivery Part Two. But it was cut for time. So she really did have a song, and Michael has an idea for how she can get it. He’s going to call Dwight on the phone, say, Go to Pam and Jim’s house, get her iPod, bring it to the hospital. This is going to set up a big ol storyline for part two.

Angela [00:59:13] Pam is trying to tell Dwight where the key is, and he’s like, la la, la, la, la, la. Don’t tell me. What is that?

Jenna [00:59:22] I don’t know. Well, they do make it to the hospital.

Angela [00:59:25] Mm hmm. They do. Jim is going to take Pam in because he is the father. And Michael’s like, What can I do? Jim’s like, Go park the car. Michael just sort of pulls the car to the side. The ambulance guy goes, You can’t park here. And he chucks the keys into the grass and goes, I think I just did.

Jenna [00:59:44] Yeah.

Angela [00:59:45] On the DVD, Danny said that Steve actually threw them in what was like, kind of like a a gutter trench thing they had to go out of by accident.

Jenna [00:59:53] Oh no!

Angela [00:59:54] Yeah. But, yeah, Michael just tosses the keys.

Jenna [00:59:56] Well, we got a fan question from Alana in Pennsylvania. Was the hospital you filmed at real or a set? This was the exterior of a real hospital. We were at Saint Joseph’s in Burbank, California.

Angela [01:00:09] I know right where that is.

Jenna [01:00:11] Yup. So that is how this episode ends. But this episode originally ended with Pam and Jim checking into the hospital. In fact, a moment from this deleted scene was in the promos for this episode, and then it never aired. And fans went crazy. It didn’t end up in part two either. What you see is Jim wheeling Pam into the hospital. He kisses her forehead and says, I love you. And that was in all the promos leading up to this episode. And then everyone was like, Where’s the moment where Jim says, I love you in the hospital? Also in this deleted scene, Michael comes in from parking the car. He’s sitting in the waiting room. He takes out a custom shirt that says Halpert Beesley Birth ’09 to ‘010.

Angela [01:01:03] He made shirts.

Jenna [01:01:05] He made a shirt. But Danny shared that since part two opens with Michael entering the hospital with balloons, it just seemed like too much of a time jump for when the episodes aired back to back. So that is why they cut the scene of Pam and Jim checking in.

Angela [01:01:25] Well, next week, we’re going to be talking about Delivery Part Two. There are a lot of deleted scenes between Jim and Pam. They’re on the DVD. And now I can’t wait to share them with you because I think that kiss on the forehead was like one of their last civil moments for a few- for a few hours.

Jenna [01:01:43] Also next week, we’re going to have a special guest, my husband. Lee Kirk is going to be in the studio with us talking all about playing Clark, the lactation consultant.

Angela [01:01:54] I cannot wait.

Jenna [01:01:56] It’s gonna be so fun.

Angela [01:01:57] You guys have a great week. Thanks so much for listening to us and rewatching with us. We love ya.

Jenna [01:02:03] See you then! 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 [01:02:25] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For Ad free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.Com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code: office.