EP. 146 — The Seminar

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 [00:00:23] Hi there.

Jenna [00:00:25] Angela, can I interest you in a seminar? It’s a podcasting seminar.

Angela [00:00:31] Oh, are we going to a seminar?

Jenna [00:00:33] Yeah. What do you think? I put up some fliers.

Angela [00:00:36] Is it just going to be us and Sam and Cassi?

Jenna [00:00:39] Yes, at lunch, actually. But never mind.

Angela [00:00:42] There will be sandwiches. There will be sandwiches.

Jenna [00:00:43] There will. This is season seven, episode 14. It’s called The Seminar. It was directed by B.J. Novak and written by Steve Healey. Steve Healey was a new writer for us in season seven. He had previously written for The Late Show with David Letterman and 30 Rock. He was a co-executive producer on Veep. I did a little diving on him, and I found out- was reminded actually that he wrote this book with Vali Chandrasekaran. Remember, he played Hot Doctor on Diwali?

Angela [00:01:13] Yes.

Jenna [00:01:14] They wrote a book together called The Ridiculous Race. I remembered this. They decided to race around the world.

Angela [00:01:22] The two of them?

Jenna [00:01:22] Just the two of them. They started in L.A. They each had to go in different directions. And there was one rule, which was that they couldn’t use any planes. And they had to see who got back to L.A. first.

Angela [00:01:34] And they went around the world?

Jenna [00:01:35] Around the world. At one point, the way Steve got out of L.A. was that he arranged for himself to ride on a container ship from Long Beach to Shanghai.

Angela [00:01:46] What?!

Jenna [00:01:47] Yeah. They wrote all about it in their book.

Angela [00:01:51] I want to read this book.

Jenna [00:01:52] It’s insane, right?

Angela [00:01:53] I mean, a container ship. Anything can happen out there.

Jenna [00:01:58] I know!

Angela [00:01:58] They’re out in the wide open ocean.

Jenna [00:02:00] I mean, how do you do that? How do you convince someone to let you ride on a container ship?

Angela [00:02:07] I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to read the book.

Jenna [00:02:10] Steve also wrote a book called The Wonder Trail, where he traveled through Central and South America. And he also wrote a novel called How I Became a Famous Novelist, which won the 2010 Thurber Prize for American Humor.

Angela [00:02:24] That’s so cool.

Jenna [00:02:25] Yeah. So he’s been writing a lot of books since we saw him. But he also wrote this episode. Would you like a summary?

Angela [00:02:33] Yes.

Jenna [00:02:33] As a ploy to get new clients, Andy hosts a business seminar in the conference room and enlists the help of his fellow employees. Jim mysteriously skips out after recognizing one of the attendees. Michael and Holly start to reconnect by pretending to be a Greek couple. Oscar and Pam help Erin play Gabe in an online game of Scrabble.

Angela [00:02:56] Well, Jenna, fantastic summary. I know you have some hot fast facts for us. And after that, I have a little digital clutter.

Jenna [00:03:03] Well, buckle in, everyone. Let’s get started. Fast fact number one: this episode aired on January 27th, 2011, and it won its timeslot for the night. Again.

Angela [00:03:16] Woo!

Jenna [00:03:16] Way to go, Office! Before this episode aired, they had just announced to the press that Will Ferrell would be joining us for a four episode arc at the end of this season. And there was a lot of buzz. Do you remember the buzz?

Angela [00:03:31] We were so excited.

Jenna [00:03:32] Oh, my gosh.

Angela [00:03:33] I mean, we were like sad/ excited. We were like, oh, no, Steve. Oh, Will Ferrell!

Jenna [00:03:37] Yeah. So they released this news on purpose. They wanted the buzz. It was a bit of a red herring.

Angela [00:03:45] Ooh, intrigue.

Jenna [00:03:47] They were trying to distract from something else.

Angela [00:03:50] And what was the other thing? I know you’re going to tell us.

Jenna [00:03:53] They were trying to distract everyone from the big cameo guest star that kicks off this episode. Ricky Gervais is as David Brent has come to Scranton.

Angela [00:04:05] David Brent and Michael Scott meet. I mean, for any Office fan, this is a huge moment!

Jenna [00:04:12] Huge. And that is fast fact number two. We’re going to break down this cold open and tell you all about Ricky coming to The Office.

Angela [00:04:20] Kick it off.

Jenna [00:04:21] Well, it all starts at some elevator bays.

Angela [00:04:24] Yeah. Michael runs into a very nice English fella who’s getting off the elevator who says his name is David Brent. Michael immediately does a British accent. Or his attempt to. And then David Brent shares that he also does accents and characters.

Jenna [00:04:40] And then they go back and forth with their various characters that they do. They are delighting one another. Oh, my gosh.

Angela [00:04:47] Kindred spirits. David then says, Comedy is a place where the mind goes to tickle itself. That’s what she said.

Jenna [00:04:55] Michael can’t believe it.

Angela [00:04:56] This is his soul mate.

Jenna [00:04:58] Yes!

Angela [00:04:58] You thought Holly was his soul mate. Here it is.

Jenna [00:05:02] Yeah. Michael hugs him goodbye.

Angela [00:05:05] Yes. And then David says, Are you guys hiring? He said, No.

Jenna [00:05:09] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:05:10] And then he said, Well, think of me if something comes up. And he leaves, and Michael’s like, What a nice guy.

Jenna [00:05:15] I’m sure you can imagine, we got a lot of mail about this.

Angela [00:05:17] Oh, yeah.

Jenna [00:05:18] I’ll kick it off. First up is Karen C from Delaware, as well as many others, who would like to know, Where was the cold open supposed to be? Because it doesn’t look like the industrial park where Dunder Mifflin is located.

Angela [00:05:31] Karen, I feel seen. I wrote in my notes, Where the heck is this elevator?

Jenna [00:05:36] Well, while we were shooting the episode The Sting, you remember that one where they meet Danny Cordray? Well, Ricky Gervais happened to be in town for, I don’t know, a celebrity appearance or something, and he just volunteered to come in and do a scene for us. He said, I want to do a scene with Steve.

Angela [00:05:53] Awesome.

Jenna [00:05:53] Yeah. So they were like, Well, we’re at this location. Why don’t you come on down? So we shot it there at that same place, at that those same elevators, you know, the one where Michael wonders if the buttons even work.

Angela [00:06:05] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:06:06] Randy said he had to create a stealth call sheet. He did not put Ricky’s name down. They did not want this cameo to get out. They lied to NBC about it!

Angela [00:06:15] They have a habit of doing that.

Jenna [00:06:17] Yes, they didn’t want any promos. That’s why they did the whole Will Ferrell press release. All of it. But guess what?

Angela [00:06:24] What?

Jenna [00:06:25] The week before the episode aired, it got out. Hollywood Reporter ran a story that Ricky was going to be on. Paul Lieberstein was even quoted for the episode, but he was very careful. He wouldn’t say how or why Ricky was going to be on the show. So it did leak a little bit. But we tried.

Angela [00:06:42] We tried not to leak.

Jenna [00:06:44] We made it all the way to the week before. Next up, we have a fan question from Amanda C in Indiana who says, I just have to know how much of the cold open was scripted. It almost seems like Ricky is genuinely breaking and reacting to Steve’s version of Michael. His laugh just seems so genuine. I want to know everything about their interaction while filming. Well, Amanda, there was a script for this cold open between the two of them. Our writers got together and wrote 11 versions of this scene. In the scripted version, they were on the elevator together, like one of them would be on and the other would enter and this would start the conversation. But when they got there on the day, they kind of realized, you know what, these two guys are really funny. We’re just going to let them talk outside this elevator bay. And that’s what they did.

Angela [00:07:34] I reached out to our editor, Dave Rogers, and I was like, Dave, were there any alts for the scene? I mean, come on. And he said, you know, Ange, we put the best stuff in the bloopers. It was mostly Steve cracking Ricky up that day.

Jenna [00:07:48] That’s what I remember hearing.

Angela [00:07:50] Dave went on to say that he wasn’t there the day they filmed this, but he really remembers editing the bloopers so clearly because Ricky’s laugh is so loud.

Jenna [00:07:59] Uh huh.

Angela [00:07:59] He said at one point, Ricky even said, I’m not even a real actor. I just love how much fun they were having. I thought we should hear the bloopers.

Steve Carell [00:08:09] I’m working on an English character, his name is Reginald Poofta.

Ricky Gervais [00:08:16] Come on, come on!

Steve Carell [00:08:21] Sorry mate. I forgot me snotted cream.

Ricky Gervais [00:08:28] I’m so sorry. Alright. Ok. This is no good. I’m not even a real actor, let me out.

Jenna [00:08:40] All right. We have one more fan question for this cold open. It’s from Mel W in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Angela [00:08:46] Mel, what’s you got?

Jenna [00:08:48] When Michael Scott meets David Brent waiting for an elevator, one thing that always seemed off, considering the fact that David Brent himself had once been in a documentary in the U.K., is why didn’t he acknowledge or comment on the fact that there was a camera crew standing there filming Michael? It seems like a major opportunity for David to talk about his own documentary or to say something idiotic to the camera like he used to. Mel. This is so smart.

Angela [00:09:13] Yeah, I didn’t even think of it when I was watching it.

Jenna [00:09:16] Me either.

Angela [00:09:16] But of course, David Brent would be very savvy to the camera crew. Unless we don’t know when in time this happened.

Jenna [00:09:25] What do you mean?

Angela [00:09:26] What if this scene happened in the canon of the show before David Brent got a camera crew?! Maybe this inspired David Brent to be like, Will you come film me at my job in Slough?

Jenna [00:09:38] Oh, my gosh. My mind is bending right now because you’re suggesting that maybe Dunder-Mifflin happened before Wernham Hogg happened.

Angela [00:09:48] Yeah. And that Dunder Mifflin and Michael Scott and his camera crew are what inspired David Brent to want to do the same thing?

Jenna [00:09:56] Yeah, I feel that. I feel him going back and being like, I met a guy in America.

Angela [00:10:01] They follow him around.

Jenna [00:10:02] With a camera.

Angela [00:10:02] Want to follow me around?

Jenna [00:10:02] I mean, come on.

Angela [00:10:04] Hey, BBC One, I have an idea for you.

Jenna [00:10:07] Wow. Good one, Ange.

Angela [00:10:09] You’re welcome. You guys, there is no spoon. There is no spoon.

Jenna [00:10:15] We love you, Keanu.

Angela [00:10:16] We love you.

Jenna [00:10:17] All right. Fast fact number three. Are you ready? It’s a deep dive. And it’s a deep dive on Scrabble.

Angela [00:10:23] The game?

Jenna [00:10:23] The game. Because that’s-.

Angela [00:10:25] That’s what Gabe and Erin are playing. Okay.

Jenna [00:10:27] Yeah!

Angela [00:10:28] I love Scrabble. We just played it last weekend as our family game night.

Jenna [00:10:32] Well, every once in a while, I’ll Google something that appears in an episode. And if it’s interesting, I want to share. So I googled Time magazine, britannia.com, Wikipedia, and The New York Times, and here’s what they told me. Scrabble was originally invented by an American architect named Alfred Mosher Butts in 1938, and he called it Criss Cross Words. Not Scrabble.

Angela [00:10:58] What else did Mr. Mosher Butts say?

Jenna [00:11:01] After he manufactured a few sets on his own, he was not able to sell it anywhere. No one wanted it. No one wanted Criss Cross Words.

Angela [00:11:09] Oh, Albert, you were so on to something. People didn’t know.

Jenna [00:11:13] In 1948, a man named James Brunot, or Bruno, who was a resident of Newtown, Connecticut, he bought a Chris crosswords. He was like, I’m going to buy this game. And he loved it! In fact, he asked if he could buy the rights to manufacture the game in exchange for giving Butts a royalty on every unit sold. So he left most of the game unchanged, but he did do a couple of things. He rearranged the premium squares on the board.

Angela [00:11:43] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:11:44] He simplified the rules a little bit. And he’s the one who renamed the game Scrabble.

Angela [00:11:49] Sometimes it’s all in a name.

Jenna [00:11:51] Did you know that Scrabble is a real word?

Angela [00:11:54] No.

Jenna [00:11:55] It means to scratch franatically.

Angela [00:11:58] Oh?

Jenna [00:11:58] Which is odd that you named this game about having to scratch a lot. Scrabble.

Angela [00:12:06] Scrabble.

Jenna [00:12:07] Yeah, I was up all last night scrabbling. Means you were scratching yourself.

Angela [00:12:12] So interesting.

Jenna [00:12:13] I need to scrabble. I have poison ivy. I need to scrabble.

Angela [00:12:17] I don’t get it. I don’t get it. I mean, I always thought scrabble meant when things were jumbled.

Jenna [00:12:21] Right?

Angela [00:12:22] Yeah.

Jenna [00:12:22] I don’t know. All right. So Brunot and his family converted a former schoolhouse into their production facility, and they started making a whole bunch of these games. Guess what?

Angela [00:12:35] What?

Jenna [00:12:35] No one wanted them.

Angela [00:12:37] Oh, no. Did he go bankrupt?

Jenna [00:12:38] No. Because in 1952, Jack Straus, who was the president of Macy’s, played the game on vacation. They had given some out to, like, hotels and stuff I guess.

Angela [00:12:50] Game changer.

Jenna [00:12:51] Yeah, he loved it. He couldn’t believe that no one was selling this game. He said, I’m going to sell it at Macy’s. Everyone has to have one. Guess what? Within a year, it had gone, I guess-.

Angela [00:13:03] Number one game.

Jenna [00:13:04] Viral. Yeah.

Angela [00:13:05] Yeah. Back in ye olde version of viral.

Jenna [00:13:07] Yes. Since then, it has been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame and the game is sold in 121 countries. It is available in more than 30 languages. The original inventor, Mr. Butts, said that he earned about $0.03 per game in royalties. Here’s what he said: One third went to taxes. One third went to charity. And the last third enabled him to have an enjoyable life.

Angela [00:13:34] Hey…

Jenna [00:13:35] He also said that his wife was the best player of the game. She once scored 234 points for the word quixotic.

Angela [00:13:44] Wow.

Jenna [00:13:45] Q U I X O T I C.

Angela [00:13:48] Which means?

Jenna [00:13:49] Don’t know.

Angela [00:13:52] I want to know what it means!

Jenna [00:13:53] I’ll look it up.

Angela [00:13:54] Googling music, please? (SINGS) Be da do do do do do do do do…

Jenna [00:14:00] Okay. Ready? Quixotic means exceedingly idealistic, unrealistic and impractical.

Angela [00:14:12] Can you use it in a sentence, please?

Jenna [00:14:14] One might say creating a new board game is a quixotic project.

Angela [00:14:21] Way to bring it full circle, Fischer.

Jenna [00:14:22] Mmhmm. That’s all I got, Ange.

Angela [00:14:26] Well, I have a Kinsey tidbit, and I have a digital clutter moment for you.

Jenna [00:14:32] Wow.

Angela [00:14:33] Kinsey tidbit is: The alt name for this episode was called The Closer.

Jenna [00:14:39] Hmm.

Angela [00:14:39] And not The Seminar.

Jenna [00:14:41] Okay.

Angela [00:14:41] So when you go back to shooting drafts, you’ll see it being called The Closer. I don’t know. I always find that interesting.

Jenna [00:14:48] I do as well.

Angela [00:14:50] And before we go to break, I just wanted to tell you guys that as I was reading the shooting draft for this episode, I noticed the shooting draft was dated October 21st, 2010. We shot this before we went on our holiday break.

Jenna [00:15:05] Yeah. What happened?

Angela [00:15:08] What happened? So I was like, what were we doing that week in October? I was curious. Here’s what my digital clutter revealed. You and I were in the press that week! What?!

Jenna [00:15:20] Why, Angela?!

Angela [00:15:23] I was nominated for an award, and you were my plus one.

Jenna [00:15:28] What was the award and where did we go?

Angela [00:15:31] Here is what the press statement said. The sixth annual La Femme Film Festival Awards will be honoring Angela Bassett with the Pioneer Award, Virginia Madsen with the Visionary Award, Angela Kinsey with the New Establishment Award, Loretta Devine with the Thespian Award, and Maggie Wheeler with the Comedic Actress in Television Award at the festival’s awards ceremony October 17th, 2010.

Jenna [00:15:58] Hmm.

Angela [00:15:59] I found a video from the red carpet.

Jenna [00:16:01] No!

Angela [00:16:02] Yes, but I’m really bummed because I couldn’t find any pictures of us. And I know there are some out there. I looked everywhere. I found an email exchange between you and I, and we were debating about my dress and we decided on this sort of deep purple strapless number with an up do.

Jenna [00:16:19] Okay. I love how we would always consult one another on these choices, as if either of us are an expert in fashion or style.

Angela [00:16:28] I am telling you.

Jenna [00:16:29] Why did we not get other opinions? We are the worst people to ask.

Angela [00:16:34] I know. You and I are like right now in sweatpants and, like, baggy, like hoodies.

Jenna [00:16:40] Ridiculous.

Angela [00:16:41] We are no fashion plates. And, you know, it’s a real struggle for us. But yet you helped me craft many a red carpet look.

Jenna [00:16:48] Same.

Angela [00:16:49] All right. Here it is.

Interviewer [00:16:51] And who are we talking to?

Angela [00:16:52] Hi, I’m Angela Kinsey from NBC’s The Office.

Interviewer [00:16:55] And you’ve got to be excited to be here tonight. It didn’t rain and it got quite a few people turning out. Tell me about the La Femme Film Fest. Is this your first time?

Angela [00:17:04] This is my first time. And I’m being honored with the New Establishment Award. I’m really excited about it. I love that this festival brings attention to women in the industry, whether they’re film makers or they’re in front of the camera or behind the camera. And on our show, we have a lot of women in pivotal positions. We have a camera operator. We have writers, producers, directors. Our first and second A.D. are women. So I was really passionate about being part of this.

Jenna [00:17:30] Angela!

Angela [00:17:31] I know. How about that?

Jenna [00:17:34] The tiny feminist in me is so proud of you for that sound bite. Way to raise up the ladies on our show.

Angela [00:17:40] Yeah, and my award is really beautiful. I still have it. It’s like on my shelf. It’s like this big crystal looking award. So that is what we were doing.

Jenna [00:17:49] Wow.

Angela [00:17:51] With that, let’s go to break because when we get back, you guys, someone here at Office Ladies got their very own microphone.

Jenna [00:17:59] I can’t wait.

Angela [00:18:01] We are back and Sam pointed out something. Sam, I can’t believe we didn’t think of this. Sam, you said it’s been 100 and what?

Sam [00:18:08] It’s 146 episodes. I was editing the last episode, and every time you talk to me and Cassi, it’s me clearly on the mic, and then Cassi very faintly yelling. So, Cassi, you have a mic now.

Angela [00:18:19] Yay, Cassi! Say hi to everybody!

Cassi [00:18:21] Hello, everyone.

Angela [00:18:23] Yay!

Jenna [00:18:23] Listen to that!

Sam [00:18:24] So it took me146 episodes to occur to me that this studio is full of microphones.

Angela [00:18:29] And we could totally put one where you sit.

Jenna [00:18:31] Thank you.

Angela [00:18:31] Yay.

Cassi [00:18:32] Thank you, Sam.

Jenna [00:18:33] Well, how’s this episode start, Angela?

Angela [00:18:35] It’s going to start with Andy coming in and Erin very excitedly telling him that his first student has arrived.

Jenna [00:18:42] Yes. And he has a talking head where he explains that he attended a seminar last year called The Ten Secrets of Real Estate, which ended up being a scam to get him to buy a timeshare in Idaho. But what he realized is that he could throw his own scam seminar to get clients.

Angela [00:19:00] Yeah. I was curious what the ten secrets of real estate were. So I had to find out. According to the internet, this is what Andy would have heard. Number one, know your market. Number two, be responsive. Number three, listen to your clients. Number four, manage their expectations. Number five, list like a pro.

Jenna [00:19:24] Hmm.

Angela [00:19:25] Number six, build a contact list. Number seven.

Jenna [00:19:28] Number six is build a contact list?!

Angela [00:19:30] That’s a little late.

Jenna [00:19:31] I mean, I don’t want to tell the real estate people their business, but I feel like you might want to lead with that.

Angela [00:19:37] You might want to bump that up. Number seven, never stop marketing. Number eight, negotiate everything. Number nine, carve out a niche. Number ten, ask for reviews. These are some of the secrets to being a top notch real estate agent. I have to bring up my favorite Instagram account that list houses called Zillow Gone Wild on Instagram. Come on, guys. It’s so good. Have you seen this, Jenna? Zillow Gone Wild?

Jenna [00:20:08] No.

Angela [00:20:09] Okay. It’s an Instagram account of houses that are for sale.

Jenna [00:20:12] Okay.

Angela [00:20:13] And a lot of them look really normal from the outside. But then when you do the carousel of pictures, there’s always something wacky. There’s, like, a basement that looks like a dungeon. Or there was one the whole house looked like Tron, the movie.

Jenna [00:20:26] Oh, my gosh.

Angela [00:20:28] It’s like, you know, the website Zillow. But if Zillow-.

Jenna [00:20:30] It’s gone wild!

Angela [00:20:31] It’s gone wild.

Jenna [00:20:32] Zillow Gone Wild.

Angela [00:20:33] You have to check it out. More students are going to arrive, including Mykokos.

Jenna [00:20:39] Yes, Mykonos. He is a Greek man. Oh, wait, it’s Michael Scott pretending to be a Greek man.

Angela [00:20:47] But Erin’s not sure.

Jenna [00:20:48] Michael gives a talking head where he explains he’s the plant. Every great seminar has one. And I had a little observation here, Angela. I think that Mykonos bears a strong resemblance to Michael Scott season one, with the hair slicked back.

Angela [00:21:01] And the V-neck.

Jenna [00:21:02] Yeah. I was like, Oh my gosh, it’s season one all over again.

Angela [00:21:07] I don’t know about you, but I feel like I heard a little bit of Gru in Mykonos.

Jenna [00:21:11] A tiny bit of Gru.

Angela [00:21:13] Tiny bit of Gru from Minions.

Jenna [00:21:14] I’m with you.

Angela [00:21:15] Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:21:16] Andy has recruited a bunch of people to help with his seminar. One of them is Jim Halpert. But Jim notices someone come in to the office, and he has a big reaction, and he bails. He says, I’m not going to be your intro guy anymore, Andy.

Angela [00:21:31] Yeah. Tuna Turner bailing.

Jenna [00:21:34] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:21:35] Andy is devastated. How could Jim bail on him? By the way, the flier that Andy made, you know, he made official fliers. He put them out, I guess, around the city. I looked at it because I wanted to see who had what role in the seminar. Here’s what it said: Dunder Mifflin and Sabre present a free seminar: How to Grow Your Small Business, Hosted by Andy Bernard. Introduction by Jim Halpert. Jim kicked the whole thing off.

Jenna [00:22:00] Yeah.

Angela [00:22:01] Small business expert Phyllis Smith and special guest speaker Dwight Schrute, the small business experts. And then there was a little asterisk and it said, Improve sales, increase customer retention, harness the power of the Internet, search engine revolution to take your small business global, use local radio to reach new customers.

Jenna [00:22:22] Wow.

Angela [00:22:23] That’s everything on the flier.

Jenna [00:22:24] They’re going to cover so much in this seminar.

Angela [00:22:26] They’re going to take you global. This flier, of course, was made by Henry Saine.

Jenna [00:22:31] Andy has the talking head where he says this cannot go badly. He’s a terrible salesman. He hasn’t been making sales. He’s counting on this.

Angela [00:22:39] Right. I went to the candy bag also for this talking head. No surprise, the character Andy has the most candy bag alts for this episode.

Jenna [00:22:49] Of course.

Angela [00:22:49] Of course. Here were two that were kind of funny. One, we reveal a whole new part of Andy’s past. I love it when we learn a little something new.

Jenna [00:22:58] What now?

Angela [00:22:59] Andy says, Losing Jim is a big blow. If I don’t find any new clients today, my future at Sabre is uncertain. And then what do I do? I majored in math with a minor in physics. Not exactly skills the paper sales industry is looking for.

Jenna [00:23:13] A minor in physics?

Angela [00:23:15] He majored in math.

Jenna [00:23:17] All I hear is that he could tell us all about the clacky balls. Math and physics. Right there.

Angela [00:23:23] Right there. His other candy bag alt. He throws a little shade at Pam.

Jenna [00:23:28] What?

Angela [00:23:29] Andy says, I liked when Pam was the worst salesman in the office and I was just second worst. Second worst here is still fifth best, which sounds really good on paper.

Jenna [00:23:39] Fifth best does sound good. Well, Jim is going to cut out. He quickly tells Pam, just tell me when the seminar’s over, and he rushes out the door. Pam is confused. Meanwhile, Dwight, Phyllis and Stanley have gone into the conference room where some of the students have assembled, and they’re kind of learning that maybe they are worms instead of whales.

Angela [00:24:03] Yes, Dwight is asking them about their businesses. There was a line in the shooting draft by the older woman in the purple hat.

Jenna [00:24:12] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:24:13] It was so funny. When they asked her what her business was, this is what she said. “I don’t know exactly, but I know the name: Pastabilities. Doesn’t that just sound like something?” That made me laugh.

Jenna [00:24:28] Angela, I feel like that’s something you would say.

Angela [00:24:30] Pastabilities!

Jenna [00:24:31] I have an idea. I’m not sure where it’s going yet.

Angela [00:24:34] There’s a lot of pasta involved.

Jenna [00:24:37] Well, I’ve got a few guest star alerts here. Mine shaft guy was played by Charles C Stevenson, Jr. He’s had recurring roles on Will and Grace and Gilmore Girls. And the guy I’m calling Two Cents Credit Card Guy, remember, he’s going to make $0.02.

Angela [00:24:51] Yeah.

Jenna [00:24:52] $0.02. I loved it. That was Christopher Nichols Smith. Chris attended the NYU Tisch School of the Arts and trained at the Atlantic Theater Company. He is the founder, head writer and principal performer of the sketch comedy troupe Harvard Sailing Team. He has appeared on The Mindy Project, How I Met Your Mother, The Newsroom, and Friends from College. And we got a fan catch about Chris from Kanako in Australia who said, This is a fast fact. Chris Smith happens to be the co-host of another fun podcast that I listen to, The Alarmist Podcast. It’s a podcast about different events in history and who’s to blame.

Angela [00:25:36] I would love this podcast.

Jenna [00:25:38] Okay. Ever since I read this fan catch, I have been listening to the alarmist podcast.

Angela [00:25:43] Is it so good?

Jenna [00:25:44] I am obsessed.

Angela [00:25:45] No way.

Jenna [00:25:46] It’s hosted by Rebecca Delgado Smith. And they take a major event in history. For example, like the Battle of Little Bighorn. First they give you background history, which is awesome. Cuz I love learning stuff.

Angela [00:25:59] Me too.

Jenna [00:26:00] Then they go one by one about who they can blame for this incident in history, and they debate it. And they’re so smart. You know, I’ve always regretted that I didn’t pay attention more in college. You know?

Angela [00:26:13] Don’t let your parents hear that.

Jenna [00:26:15] Well.

Angela [00:26:16] Sorry mom and dad.

Jenna [00:26:17] It was four years where all I supposed to do was go and just learn. Don’t you wish you had time to learn stuff today?

Angela [00:26:24] I do. I remember I had an English class and there was an older woman in the class. She was like, quote unquote, a nontraditional student, like going back to get her degree. And she had the happiest look on her face every day for class, taking notes, taking notes. And I would think in my brain like, oh, look at that little old lady. She’s so happy.

Jenna [00:26:44] I mean, that would be me.

Angela [00:26:46] I would be me. I would be so excited now.

Jenna [00:26:47] That’s how I feel when I listen to The Alarmist. I feel like I’m listening to a room full of just smart people saying smart things, educating me on history. I love it.

Angela [00:26:59] Well, I can’t wait to listen.

Jenna [00:27:00] Shout out to The Alarmist. Chris Smith, he is their fact checker. He breaks in from time to time. I actually reached out to him on DMS and I asked him if he had any memories from being on the show.

Angela [00:27:13] What did he say?

Jenna [00:27:14] He said he remembered Craig Robinson telling him to knock ’em dead before they started. He said that filled him with the confidence of ten men.

Angela [00:27:24] Awe.

Jenna [00:27:24] And then he also said- and I did not remember this, Angela- we shot these scenes on Halloween day. And that one of the crew members was dressed up as Dwight.

Angela [00:27:36] It was Ed.

Jenna [00:27:37] It was. It was our cameras assistant, Ed Nielson III. He said, I think they were a member of the camera department, but this person totally embodied the character and gave an amazing performance all day.

Angela [00:27:50] We have a picture of Ed standing next to Rainn with them both dressed as Dwight.

Jenna [00:27:54] This was the year that the entire crew dressed as our characters from The Office, and we put a bunch of these pictures in The Office BFFs.

Angela [00:28:01] Yes.

Jenna [00:28:03] Thank you, Chris.

Angela [00:28:04] Yes.

Jenna [00:28:04] And I loved your two cents guy. It made me laugh so hard.

Angela [00:28:08] Yeah, that delivery was perfect. Like, even the way he made eye contact was just spot on for who I think that guy is.

Jenna [00:28:16] Well, now we’re going to go to the break room, and Dwight, Stanley and Phyllis are going to tell Andy they’re backing out of his seminar.

Angela [00:28:22] Bailing in the break room.

Jenna [00:28:23] Yeah.

Angela [00:28:24] So uncool. There was a deleted Stanley talking head where he’s basically, like, Sales is not that hard. Here’s my technique… And I wanted you to hear Stanley’s technique.

Jenna [00:28:35] Oh, please.

Stanley [00:28:37] Sales is not hard. Here’s what I do. I make my pitch. Then I stare… Want me to stop? Buy something.

Angela [00:28:49] And he gives the most intense stare. I would buy something. I’d be like, Oh, my God.

Jenna [00:28:54] Wow. That’s a sales technique. Go Stanley.

Angela [00:28:57] Stare ’em down.

Jenna [00:28:58] In our next scene, I have a background catch from Brittany Y in Temecula, California.

Angela [00:29:03] Brittany, I live for a background catch. What is it?

Jenna [00:29:04] You’re going to like it.

Angela [00:29:06] What?

Jenna [00:29:07] We’re over by Holly’s desk. Michael has come over. He wants her to be part of a Greek couple with him.

Angela [00:29:12] Yeah, but she’s still bummed about her breakup with AJ.

Jenna [00:29:15] Well, guess what’s sitting there on her desk at 4 minutes and 35 seconds?

Angela [00:29:19] The picture of her and A.J. in the frame.

Jenna [00:29:22] No. A goldfish. She has an entire goldfish bowl on her desk. And it is placed in a really weird way, like I feel like one elbow bump and that goldfish is on the floor. It’s very bizarre.

Angela [00:29:35] Oh, yes, the goldfish! Okay, I know about the goldfish, Jenna. It was in the shooting draft. It’s a gift from A.J..

Jenna [00:29:42] What?

Angela [00:29:43] Yes! There was a whole scene about it. And I have the clip from deleted scenes so you can hear it.

Michael [00:29:49] Hey, who’s this?

Holly [00:29:51] Oh, I had to get the rest of my stuff out of A.J.’s apartment. That’s fluffy.

Michael [00:29:55] Fluffy. I like that. Hi, Fluffy. Hi, Fluffy.

Holly [00:29:58] A.J. named her. I never liked it.

Michael [00:30:00] Oh, well, the good thing about goldfish, they forget everything they know in 2 seconds. So you could just rename him. He’d never know.

Holly [00:30:09] Goldfinger.

Michael [00:30:10] Hmm. Goldschlager.

Holly [00:30:13] Golda Meir.

Angela [00:30:18] Fluffy.

Jenna [00:30:19] Hmm. Hates the name. I had one other background catch for Holly’s desk. There is an unlit scented candle.

Angela [00:30:27] Is it in a coffee cup?

Jenna [00:30:29] No.

Angela [00:30:29] Oh. She brought her own candle.

Jenna [00:30:31] I guess the people who work in H.R., sometimes they need to light a candle to relax.

Angela [00:30:36] They need a mental health moment. At reception, we’re going to start a new storyline. Pam is trying to get Erin’s attention. But Erin is, like, obsessed with something on her phone. She’s playing Scrabble with Gabe, and she never wins. In the shooting draft, there was a Pam talking head here that explained her motivation for wanting to help Erin.

Jenna [00:30:57] Please share.

Angela [00:30:58] Pam says, I’m not letting Gabe do this. Jim and I used to play Boggle against each other. Whenever he won, he was so cocky about it. It ruined Boggle for me. It ruined words for me. Then this would have cut to Jim and he would have said, Yeah. I’m pretty good at Boggle. And it says, Super cocky.

Jenna [00:31:17] Oh, my gosh. Oh, I love that background. Well, Pam isn’t the only person who’s going to help Erin. Oscar is going to get involved as well. And I absolutely love filming scenes with Oscar.

Angela [00:31:32] I love Pam and Oscar together. Whenever I see those two characters, I just want more of them. I love their dynamic.

Jenna [00:31:40] Same. I mean, we go all the way back to the Finer Things Club.

Angela [00:31:44] Yes.

Jenna [00:31:44] We have a similar thing, you know?

Angela [00:31:47] Yeah.

Jenna [00:31:48] Well, this whole storyline was based on a very real life thing that was happening on the set of The Office, which was that we were obsessed with Words with Friends.

Angela [00:31:56] Yes.

Jenna [00:31:57] It was the cast and the crew. We would sit in hair and makeup in the morning and we would do Words with Friends. We would play each other. We would play strangers. Do you remember this Ange?

Angela [00:32:07] I so remember it. And I remember like Rainn would trash talk quite a bit.

Jenna [00:32:11] Oh, yes, I would play Rainn.

Angela [00:32:13] Well, you know, a few years ago, Rainn and I played each other in Scrabble Go, and I beat him.

Jenna [00:32:19] I remember. I was so proud of you.

Angela [00:32:21] He was so stunned. I was like, Take that Rainn.

Jenna [00:32:25] Well, I notice we’re not playing Words with Friends on the show. We’re playing Scrabble. And I became curious, what is the difference between these two games? Is there a difference? Well, Words with Friends was an online app that then became a board game version that you can buy. It came out in 2009 and there’s only a few differences. It’s basically the layout of the bonus squares in Scrabble. They go in an X. And then in words with friends, they’re.

Angela [00:32:53] Sort of scattered.

Jenna [00:32:54] Scattered around. Yeah. And also the point value of certain letters. Like in Scrabble, the letter B is worth three points, but in Words with Friends, it’s worth four points. I thought it was so interesting that you could just knock off a game and give it another name and then…

Angela [00:33:10] Well, you know, my game that I love.

Jenna [00:33:13] What?

Angela [00:33:14] Shmonopoly.

Jenna [00:33:18] I remember when you invented it, I was like, Where did you think of this?

Angela [00:33:22] I know. And I was like, I don’t know. I just kind of came to me.

Jenna [00:33:27] It’s amazing. You buy all these properties.

Angela [00:33:29] Yeah.

Jenna [00:33:30] Oh, the best you got to get Fordwalk.

Angela [00:33:33] Fordwalk is you get a little car on Fordwalk.

Jenna [00:33:36] Yeah. Mm hmm. Amazing.

Angela [00:33:39] And then there’s a whole side that’s like a bunch of wineries you can buy. You get little glasses of wine.

Angela [00:33:45] Shmonopoly.

Jenna [00:33:46] I love it. Well, Andy is scrambling. He needs to find people for his seminar now.

Angela [00:33:51] Yeah, he’s got people in the conference room waiting.

Jenna [00:33:54] He’s going to ask Kevin to be his intro guy.

Angela [00:33:58] Oof. Did you notice at 6 minutes and 41 seconds that you can see the top of my head as I sit at my desk?

Jenna [00:34:07] Yes, I did, Angela. I also noticed that’s about all we see of you in this episode.

Angela [00:34:12] Yeah, top of my head. I was having, I think, a pretty good part day. Like you couldn’t see my cowlick. That’s what I caught.

Jenna [00:34:17] Well, that’s good.

Angela [00:34:19] You might also ask yourself, Jenna, where was Meredith?

Jenna [00:34:22] Oh.

[00:34:23] Yes. Neither of the characters Angela and Meredith were on camera in this episode, but we did have lines in earlier drafts. Here were the scenes you did not see. Meredith had one scene. She’s going to find Dwight as he’s trying to pump himself up for his speech at the top of the episode. You know, this is when he was still going to be the guest speaker.

Jenna [00:34:42] Okay?

Angela [00:34:43] This is how it was in the script. Exterior, Dunder Mifflin parking lot. Meredith walks past Dwight’s car where she sees Dwight screaming a speech into his rearview mirror. Dwight says, Ride the wind! Jump the mountain! Boil the ocean! Hunt an angel! Fly! Meredith yells at him, No one can hear you, idiot. That was Meredith’s scene. Here was my scene. When Pam and Oscar are helping Erin, Angela pops over.

Jenna [00:35:15] Oh.

Angela [00:35:16] Mmhmm. It read like this: Interior office reception area. Pam, Oscar, and now Angela look over the desk at Erin’s phone. Angela says, It’s not very polite for an unmarried woman to beat a man at a game.

Jenna [00:35:30] Oh.

Angela [00:35:31] She just pops in to throw some shade, and then she leaves. That’s where Angela and Meredith would have been in the episode.

Jenna [00:35:39] I have a little bit of fan mail here that I’d like to call, Welcome to the Party, Ashley C from Perth in Australia. And I mean that genuinely, Ashley, because like me, it took you until this episode to notice that Angela has a pelican on top of her divider. And Ashley, thank you. Thank you for being with me on this journey of not noticing that until season seven, late in the game. Ashley said, I love pelicans and I was wondering if there was a story behind it or just completely random?

Angela [00:36:16] It’s completely random, but since I’m throwing out a few, “there is no spoons,” let me throw this atcha, Ashley and Jenna. What if the pelican is Kevin’s?

Jenna [00:36:27] Oh, wow. But he faced it toward you?

Angela [00:36:29] Yes. To antagonize me. I don’t know. So it stares at her all day.

Jenna [00:36:35] Oh, Ashley, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your fan catch in this episode.

Angela [00:36:42] Yes, Ashley. Welcome to the Pelican Party.

Jenna [00:36:44] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:36:45] Andy is still scrambling. He’s going to now go to Ryan. Ryan has a business degree. Maybe Ryan could say something at the seminar.

Jenna [00:36:53] Listen, he’ll do it. He doesn’t like to commit to things, but he’ll do it.

Angela [00:36:57] But he also doesn’t not like committing to things. Both are a form of commitment.

Jenna [00:37:02] Here’s the thing. If he flakes, he flakes.

Angela [00:37:04] Yeah.

Jenna [00:37:04] At 7 minutes, 22 seconds over Kelly’s shoulder, because she’s also in the scene, you can see her Print In All Colors, certificate of completion.

Angela [00:37:13] Hey!

Jenna [00:37:14] It’s right there on the wall.

Angela [00:37:16] Next stop, let’s call this pep talk in the break room.

Jenna [00:37:19] Okay.

Angela [00:37:20] Because Andy really needs to get this group, like, on fire. They need to sell stuff. He’s got Kevin, he’s got Ryan, he’s got Creed. There was more to the scene in the shooting draft where they talk out who is going to do what.

Jenna [00:37:32] Okay.

Angela [00:37:33] There’s a candy bag alt when Creed pitches himself to Andy. Jenna, this made me laugh so hard.

Jenna [00:37:40] You’re laughing.

Angela [00:37:40] I know.

Jenna [00:37:41] You can’t even read it.

Angela [00:37:42] Creed says, Way I see it, you’re trapped in a room of your own making. But there’s a door. And the name on that door is Creed. I’ll be your guest speaker. I might not be as good as Dwight, but I guarantee it will be the most thought provoking, hilarious, moving 6 hours of their lives.

Jenna [00:38:01] 6 hours? I have a big question.

Angela [00:38:08] Yes.

Jenna [00:38:09] Here’s my question. What is happening in the conference room while Andy is making all of these plans with people? Why are these people sitting in our conference room for all of this dead space? What is it?

Angela [00:38:25] I mean.

Jenna [00:38:25] It was a big logic loophole for me.

Angela [00:38:28] That they wouldn’t just leave?

Jenna [00:38:30] Yes. That clearly, clearly this is not going to be a great seminar. I can see it. Can’t you see it? Why are these people- also, it hasn’t started on time, clearly. So anything where you’re going to give me a bunch of advice, if you can’t start on time, I’m immediately suspicious. You know what I’m saying?

Angela [00:38:52] I hear you. I want to throw this at ya. Free lunch. I think some of them are just there for the free lunch. And the lady on the front row is there to pitch Pastabilities, you know what I’m saying?

Jenna [00:39:04] Okay.

Angela [00:39:05] Free lunch. They’re sticking around for the free lunch.

Jenna [00:39:07] All right. I’ll take it. Speaking of free lunch, I could use a snack. Why don’t we take a break and when we get back, the seminar starts.

Angela [00:39:15] And my favorite line of the entire episode is going to happen.

Jenna [00:39:19] Oh, I can’t wait to hear what it is. I have some guesses.

Angela [00:39:22] Okay.

Jenna [00:39:24] All right, we are back. Andy is finally going to kick off this seminar. Angela, what is your favorite line?

Angela [00:39:31] Okay. I loved it so much. I had to go to the shooting draft to see if it was worded this way. It was. And we just have to hear it. I just love it. I love this line. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I love it.

Lou Peachum [00:39:44] Hi, nard dog. I’m Lou Peachum.

Jenna [00:39:47] Is that it?

Angela [00:39:48] Yes.

Jenna [00:39:48] Hi, Nard Dog, I’m Lou Peachum?

Angela [00:39:50] Yes!

Jenna [00:39:51] Angela. We got so much mail about that!

Angela [00:39:53] This is my favorite line. She’s so happy. She immediately says her name. In the shooting draft it was written, Hi, Nard Dog, I’m Lou Peachum- Exclamation point.

Jenna [00:40:02] Okay, first of all, Celina F from Chandler, Arizona, said, I have to know more about the woman who plays Lou Peachum. Her delivery of her single line is hilarious. I laugh every time it comes up. And Molly A from the United Kingdom said, That line is my most quoted Office line. Please tell me if there is a back story to this iconic queen.

Angela [00:40:24] I mean, after hearing her say, Hi Nard Dog, I’m Lou Peachum, I really need to hear her say, How about Pastabilities?

Jenna [00:40:32] I agree with you, Angela. I love Lou Peachum. I have a guest star break down. Lou Peachum was played by Janet Hoskins. She has also appeared in New Girl, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The Comeback and Mindy Kaling’s show that she created with Justin Noble, The Sex Lives of College Girls, which, by the way, the new season is out right now on HBO Max. I am living for it. I love this show.

Angela [00:40:57] I love the show. And I mean, we’ve said how talented Justin is and Mindy, and the two of them coming together, I was like, this is going to be really good.

Jenna [00:41:05] I wish the show was around when I was a college girl. It is, oh, my gosh. I really do. That’s all I can say.

Angela [00:41:13] Yeah. I looked at the shooting draft, the table draft, every draft I could find to see if there was more for Lou Peachum, and that’s all it said. There were no candy bag alts, but her delivery of, Hi Nard Dog, I’m Lou Peachum is the best.

Jenna [00:41:25] Yeah. Next up, 8 minutes, 26 seconds, Kevin is going to hit play on a boombox and we hear a very long musical introduction. It is Ozzy Osborne’s Crazy Train.

Angela [00:41:40] I loved it.

Jenna [00:41:41] Randy told me that we licensed that song for $50,000.

Angela [00:41:46] Whoa!

Jenna [00:41:46] Yeah. I guess it was originally scripted to be Van Halen’s Right Now, but the Van Halen people got back to us and said it would be $100,000 to use their song.

Angela [00:41:58] Oh lord.

Jenna [00:41:59] So Randy went back to Steve Healy, the writer, and asked if we could get some maybe alternatives. And here was his list ranked in order of preference. Number one, Wanted Man by Ratt. Crazy Train, Ozzy Osborne. Baba O’Riley, The Who. Down Boys by Warrant, and Nothing But A Good Time by Poison.

Angela [00:42:20] Oh I loved some Poison back in the day.

Jenna [00:42:23] Randy said we were given permission for Wanted Man. That would have been $50,000 as well. But in the end, they really liked the idea of Crazy Train by Ozzy Osborne. And that’s how we got that song.

Angela [00:42:35] I thought it was perfect. I could see Kevin thinking that that was the right song to pump everyone up.

Jenna [00:42:41] Yeah, I agree. All of those songs are great and funny for like an introduction in this scenario, but if you add the piece that Kevin had to think of it, I think Crazy Train is the choice.

Angela [00:42:52] I thought Brian just crushed this scene.

Jenna [00:42:55] This was my favorite part of the episode. Was Brian.

Angela [00:42:56] I mean. Yes. Kevin and Lou Peachum.

Jenna [00:42:59] Yes. This scene.

Angela [00:43:01] And also maybe Creed.

Jenna [00:43:02] Oh, yes, Creed’s- we’ll get to it.

Angela [00:43:05] We’ll get to it. At 9 minutes and 30 seconds, I was really curious about Kevin’s speech. He’s talking about dreaming big. And he has a line after he sits on the floor where he says, Okay, from here now. And he continues his speech. It really made me laugh, and it felt like an improv to me. So I went to the shooting draft and that line is not in there.

Jenna [00:43:28] Wow.

Angela [00:43:28] Brian improvised that line in the script. It just said, Andy says, you okay? And Kevin says, I’m fine. Still sitting. Continues speech.

Jenna [00:43:37] Wow.

Angela [00:43:38] So yeah the, Okay from here now. To me it sounded so resigned but he was going to keep speaking.

Jenna [00:43:44] Next up is going to be Ryan.

Angela [00:43:46] How do you follow the guy that just puked?

Jenna [00:43:49] I don’t know.

Angela [00:43:49] And ran around the room and ate a sandwich and then ran out the door?

Jenna [00:43:53] Ryan’s not going to have to worry about it because Kelly bursts in, because she’s the business bitch.

Angela [00:43:58] That’s right. She has a talking head where she says, It’s important to brand yourself. So I have a couple of things in the works. The Business Bitch, The Diet Bitch, The Shopping Bitch, The Etiquette Bitch. I had to know if there was more to this talking head.

Jenna [00:44:14] Was there?

Angela [00:44:15] There were no candy bag alts for it, but it was a longer talking head in the shooting draft. It would have read like this. I’m trying to brand myself. I’ve got a couple of ideas. The Business Bitch, The Shopping Bitch, The Advice Bitch, The Diet Bitch, The Etiquette Bitch. I’m also writing a memoir. I’m a Bitch. Deal With It, Bitch. Which is a separate enterprise.

Jenna [00:44:38] I googled The Business Bitch. I was curious if anyone had taken this brand and taken off with it. I couldn’t find anything. I was very surprised. But I did find a bumper sticker that says, I’m not The Business Bitch; I’m The Business, Bitch. Yeah. A little spin on it. Kelly’s going to say that she could tell them the ten secrets of business, and they would learn a lot. But instead, she’s going to call Professor Scott Powell, Yale University adjunct professor in management. They can hear it straight from Scott Powell.

Angela [00:45:15] Professor Powell really comes through. He starts talking and everyone is very impressed, starts jotting down his notes.

Jenna [00:45:22] This is officially the only moment in this whole seminar that might be useful.

Angela [00:45:28] Andy has a talking head afterwards where he’s very impressed and he says, That brilliant little bitch. There was a candy bag alt.

Jenna [00:45:35] Really?

Angela [00:45:36] Andy would have said this, Again, very impressed. I always kind of thought of myself as the business bitch. But after today, Kelly can have it.

Jenna [00:45:45] I like that one.

Angela [00:45:46] Back at front reception, Oscar, Erin, and Pam are still trying to beat Gabe in Scrabble. This scene has maybe my favorite Pam and Oscar couplet of dialogue.

Jenna [00:45:57] Oh, yeah?

Angela [00:45:57] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:45:58] When Pam says, You could have just told us what you were thinking. And Oscar says, Yeah, but there’s no theater in that. And Pam says, There’s no yelling in that either.

Jenna [00:46:06] Oh, yeah, I did like that line. We had a fan question from Emma L in Toronto, Ontario, who said, While watching this episode, I absolutely loved the Scrabble storyline with Erin, Oscar and Pam. I think this was the episode that made me realize how similar I am to Oscar.

Angela [00:46:22] Oh yeah?

Jenna [00:46:23] If I was in this situation, I would definitely be the Oscar. That’s the one that’s way too into the game, starts getting impatient and is definitely capable of winning. My question to you is, who would you be in this group? Would you be the Erin who kind of sucks at the game, the Pam who just wants to help and is there to have fun, or the Oscar, the one that needs to win?

Angela [00:46:46] Oh, I’m a Pam Oscar combo.

Jenna [00:46:49] Yeah, I vacillate between Pam and Oscar. I’m very competitive in games, and sometimes it’s hard for me with my kids.

Angela [00:46:57] To tone it down?

Jenna [00:46:58] A little bit. Because I don’t want to model bad behavior.

Angela [00:47:01] Right.

Jenna [00:47:02] But when my sister and I were young and we would play games with each other, the winner got to sing a song to the loser.

Angela [00:47:11] Oh, yeah?

Jenna [00:47:12] Yeah.

Angela [00:47:12] This is an interesting family tradition.

Jenna [00:47:15] It went like this. (SINGS/RAPS) I’m the winnah! I’m the winnah! You’re the losah! You’re the losah! I’m the winnah! Winnah! Winnah! Winnah! Looooooosah! Losah!

Angela [00:47:26] Oh, my gosh.

Sam [00:47:27] It’s so hostile.

Angela [00:47:29] It’s so- you know, as you did it, you, like, went back in time.

Jenna [00:47:33] I did. I have so many memories of us being- we mostly play games at Lake of the Ozarks. We would go down every summer. My parents had a cabin there. And we would spend a lot of time together playing games. I have memories of sitting in our little kitchen at Lake of the Ozarks and singing that song. Or having the song sung to me.

Angela [00:47:50] Right.

Jenna [00:47:51] My parents did not like it.

Angela [00:47:53] Here’s maybe one of the places where I got such a competitive streak. Other than my mom. I was playing tennis in high school and my coach was Coach Lunn, and he would say to me after a game, because he had multiple games he would have to be watching, you know? So he’d make his rounds. And if he wasn’t able to see the end of my game, he would just come up to me and say, Kinsey. Victory or death. If I had lost, I’d be like, Death, coach.

Jenna [00:48:17] Oh, my gosh. Victory or death?

Angela [00:48:20] Yeah.

Jenna [00:48:21] Wow. I learned as an adult that you’re supposed to be more, I don’t know. What would you call it?

Angela [00:48:29] Gracious?

Jenna [00:48:30] Yes. Exactly. When playing games with people, if you win. It was a learned skill. I guess I started as an Oscar and I tried to move more toward a Pam.

Angela [00:48:42] I’m realizing you and I have never played a game one on one. We’ve done group games like at the Super Bowl. We do bingo. But we haven’t really done a game where we might have to sing Loser to each other.

Jenna [00:48:53] I mean, I want to be your friend, so I’ve maybe actively avoided playing a game with you.

Angela [00:48:59] Avoided this moment? Mm hmm.

Jenna [00:49:01] All right. Where are we? Oh, Holly and Mykonos are hanging out with Hank in the lobby.

Angela [00:49:07] Yeah, at Caffeine Corner. And guess what? Holly decides to participate.

Jenna [00:49:13] Yeah.

Angela [00:49:14] She’s going to be a character with Michael.

Jenna [00:49:16] It’s very sweet.

Angela [00:49:17] She’s going to have a talking head where she looks at camera and says, I don’t know. And she’s smiling. He’s getting through! Andy is now going to introduce Creed, his special guest speaker.

Jenna [00:49:29] Mm hmm.

Angela [00:49:29] Creed walks up to the front of the conference room and says, Two eyes, two ears. A chin, a mouth. Ten fingers. Two nipples. A butt. Two kneecaps. A penis. I have just described to you the Loch Ness Monster. And the reward for his capture? All the riches in Scotland. So I have one question: why are you here?

Jenna [00:49:55] Angela, we had a fan catch from Walker D in Evanston, Illinois, who says this: This is the only thing I had to write about in the whole series.

Angela [00:50:04] Oh, my goodness. What?

Jenna [00:50:05] In Gossip, Creed says, If I can’t scuba, then what’s this all been about? What am I working toward? And then he has the speech in the seminar. I think we’re finally learning why scuba is so important to him. Because he wants to hunt down the Loch Ness Monster for a reward. It’s art at its finest.

Angela [00:50:28] I like that.

Jenna [00:50:29] I love that Walker made that connection between scuba and this speech about the Loch Ness Monster.

Angela [00:50:36] Well, Walker, get ready for this. There was a candy bag all alt. It actually was filmed. It’s in deleted scenes. Here’s another version of what Creed says to the room of people.

Creed [00:50:48] A number of years ago, I was telling a friend an idea I had for a restaurant where kids could play games and watch shows. Sounds a lot like Chuck E Cheese, right? Well, the guy who invented Chuck E Cheese was sitting at the next table. I have evidence, affidavits and documents that they locked me out of the deal, and some day, his day will come. The craziest thing about all this, the restaurant where it took place? Chuck E Cheese.

Man [00:51:19] Was your idea also called Chuck E Cheese?

Creed [00:51:22] Nope. It’s called Woodstock’s Freak Out Zone.

Jenna [00:51:26] What was that?!

Angela [00:51:28] Exactly. Exactly. The camera pans over to Andy and Andy just looks like he wants to disappear into the floor.

Jenna [00:51:38] Have we discussed my idea for a business called Date Night?

Angela [00:51:43] No, we haven’t. You sure you want to give it up?

Jenna [00:51:46] Well, hear me out.

Angela [00:51:48] Okay.

Jenna [00:51:48] So it’s a business, and what you get is just a room with a couch. A really cozy couch.

Angela [00:51:57] Okay.

Jenna [00:51:58] And like a room service menu. There’s a TV and it has a cable box thing, and you can sign in to anything you want. Netflix, HBO Max. You have to sign in on your account. This keeps it legal.

Angela [00:52:14] Okay.

Jenna [00:52:14] But basically, if you’re a parent, the idea is that you can go there for date night. They’ll bring you food, and you can just binge your favorite show with your partner. And it’s called Date Night.

Angela [00:52:26] So instead of a hotel room.

Jenna [00:52:26] Right.

Angela [00:52:28] You rent like you it’s just a it’s like a building full of living rooms.

Jenna [00:52:30] A room with a couch. Yes. Yes!

Angela [00:52:33] And you get to pick the living room you want. Maybe you want a sectional. Maybe you want two side by side recliners.

Jenna [00:52:37] Yes. There’s options. Yeah. It’s cheaper than a hotel room, you know? Because it’s just a bunch of living rooms. And you don’t stay there overnight. You get it for like 4 hours. You just binge and eat.

Angela [00:52:49] I think those are called motels.

Jenna [00:52:52] No! No. Because you can’t go to a motel and log in to HBO Max.

Angela [00:52:56] It’s true.

Jenna [00:52:58] You know what I’m saying?

Angela [00:52:59] There are places you can rent by the hour. They’re not maybe a living room.

Jenna [00:53:04] This is not about sex. This is about food and entertainment. Okay? This is about eating and watching your show uninterrupted.

Angela [00:53:13] Right. You’re not getting snacks for anybody.

Jenna [00:53:16] No. You’re doing no dishes.

Angela [00:53:17] No dishes. You’re putting your feet up and you’re watching a show.

Jenna [00:53:20] Yes.

Angela [00:53:20] With your special person.

[00:53:21] Whatever the thing is that you haven’t been able to finish at home, you get to finish it at Date Night.

Angela [00:53:27] It’s called Date Night. You make a reservation, you pick out your living room. They take AARP.

Jenna [00:53:34] What’s AARP?

Angela [00:53:36] AARP. Isn’t that like what, what um, like old people, official old people card. Where you get discounts at movies.

Sam [00:53:42 Official old people card. That’s how you you know you’re old. When you get that in the mail, it hurts your feelings.

Angela [00:53:46] Yeah. My dad loved his AARP card. You could get a discount at movies and things.

Jenna [00:53:52] I’m just saying, I think it’s brilliant. I would go to Date Night. Right?

Angela [00:53:56] Yeah.

Jenna [00:53:58] You know, but there’s a rule. You’re not supposed to get sexy in there. It’s for, you know, we don’t have time to, like, turn over the room.

Angela [00:54:04] There’s rules.

Jenna [00:54:07] Yeah. It’s not about that.

Angela [00:54:09] It’s not about that.

Jenna [00:54:10] It’s about just.

Angela [00:54:12] Watching a program.

Jenna [00:54:14] Yeah.

Angela [00:54:15] With your special person. And maybe having, like, some French fries.

Jenna [00:54:18] Yeah, exactly. There’d be good food.

Angela [00:54:22] There are so many possibilities for this.

Jenna [00:54:24] I think this business could really take off.

Angela [00:54:26] You know what, Jenna? I am here for you. When you get it up and running, I’m going to rent a living room.

Jenna [00:54:30] Thank you.

Angela [00:54:31] Okay, let me know.

Jenna [00:54:32] I’ll give you a discount.

Angela [00:54:33] I’ll bring my AARP card. I think I’m eligible.

Jenna [00:54:36] But don’t get sexy in there.

Angela [00:54:39] Oh.

Jenna [00:54:39] Okay?

Angela [00:54:40] Okay.

Jenna [00:54:41] You have to do that at home before you get there or after.

Angela [00:54:44] Okay.

Jenna [00:54:46] And we serve liquor.

Angela [00:54:47] What are you? What are you going to get two people alone who never get to be alone, you’re going to give them liquor and then say, don’t mess around? Exactly what they’re going to do is mess around. Sorry.

Jenna [00:54:57] Maybe I need to rethink it.

Angela [00:54:58] People are going to have a little action on your sofa. Sorry.

Jenna [00:55:01] Well, we’re not going to put a bed in there, so you’re going to have to figure it out.

Angela [00:55:05] All right. Where are we in this episode?

Jenna [00:55:07] Gabe has selected his next movie.

Angela [00:55:12] His next scary movie. Erin doesn’t like scary movies, and he keeps picking these creepy movies.

Jenna [00:55:17] His next movie is Suspiria.

Angela [00:55:19] She wanted Wall-E.

Jenna [00:55:21] First of all, did you see Pam eavesdropping in the background on this conversation? That was scripted. Pam’s supposed to be overhearing how this is going. It’s probably part of her Boggle storyline that we missed. I looked up Suspiria. It’s a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film. It was remade recently. But here’s the description that was on my TV for the original. I’ve not seen it. And I was intrigued. Widely considered to be the most shocking and hallucinatory horror movie in history.

Angela [00:55:56] No, thank you.

Jenna [00:55:57] It was described by the director as, quote, An escalating experimental nightmare.

Angela [00:56:03] No, thank you.

Jenna [00:56:04] Ange, it’s part of a trilogy. You love a trilogy.

Angela [00:56:07] Not this kind of trilogy.

Jenna [00:56:10] The trilogy includes Inferno and The Mother of Tears.

Angela [00:56:14] Why would I say, oh, you know what I want to do tonight? I want to watch Mother of Tears.

Jenna [00:56:18] I don’t know. But when the film was released in America, they had to cut out 8 minutes of it so that it could get an R rating.

Angela [00:56:27] What do you mean?

Jenna [00:56:27] Otherwise it would have been like an X rating or an NR rating.

Angela [00:56:31] No, thank you.

Jenna [00:56:32] It has a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and it is ranked number 61 on their list of top 100 horror films. Guess what’s number one?

Angela [00:56:42] I have no idea.

Jenna [00:56:43] Psycho.

Angela [00:56:44] Okay.

Jenna [00:56:45] I tried to watch it. Can’t find it anywhere. Because they did the remake. So that’s all over streaming. You know what?

Angela [00:56:52] What?

Jenna [00:56:53] If I get Date Night up and running, I’m going to figure out how to play Suspiria.

Angela [00:56:57] Well, that sounds like a wonderful date night.

Jenna [00:56:59] Oh, no.

Angela [00:57:00] You should take Gabe. Dwight is going to start chatting up Tuba. Tuba’s back!

Jenna [00:57:08] Yes. Remember our script supervisor, Veda? Her husband appeared in an episode previously. He is back. He is golf guy, and he has sat down at Jim’s desk and is just using Jim’s computer. What?

Angela [00:57:22] I mean, golf guy’s very comfortable. He’s also been there for hours with nothing happening.

Jenna [00:57:28] I mean, don’t get me started on that.

Angela [00:57:30] Dwight’s going to realize that some of these people are for real. He’s going to get Phyllis and Stanley in the kitchen. They’re going to go up to Andy. And Dwight, who thinks he’s so smooth, goes, Hey, friend, how’s it going? Oh, you know what? Let me steep that for you.

Jenna [00:57:47] Angela, is there any possibility that you were able to zoom in on the cup that Andy is making his tea in and you figured out what it said and you can tell me?
You say no, as if I would never do that. But I’m sorry, did we not have a major breakdown about the hot dog people?

Angela [00:58:08] Coney Island Lunch.

Jenna [00:58:09] Yeah.

Angela [00:58:10] Here’s the thing. She’s talking about Dwight’s coffee mug that he holds with his feet. I probably would have done that, Jenna, if I wasn’t so thrown by this line, Let me steep that for you. I became obsessed with it. I kind of feel like it’s one of those lines that would happen in, like a Game of Thrones. And if someone says it to you, (BLEEP) is about to go down. If they’re like, Let me steep that for you, and then you get a dagger like in your neck.

Jenna [00:58:36] Well, first of all, you don’t steep tea by dunking the bag. You steep tea by covering the cup. That’s how you steep. So I was annoyed by the incorrect steeping.

Angela [00:58:46] Cuz Dwight did it wrong.

Jenna [00:58:47] But I did try to zoom in on that cup and I couldn’t make it out. And I was so frustrated and I just hoped maybe, maybe our brains were in the same place and you were able to read it. I couldn’t read it. It doesn’t matter. I can let it go.

Angela [00:59:03] Well, now I need to see it.

Jenna [00:59:05] Well, I don’t know. Anyone out there, please, will you write us? You can put it in the general mailbox. You go to Office Ladies dot com. We have a place where you can submit questions and there’s a folder called General Questions.

Angela [00:59:17] If you figured out what’s on that coffee mug, please let Jenna know.

Jenna [00:59:21] I would appreciate it. By the way, you can also just go there and submit questions for different episodes.

Angela [00:59:26] After the steeping business, Darryl is going to go, ahem, ahem, And Andy very earnestly says, Hey, do you need a lozenge? And Darryl’s like, They’re a bunch of jackals. They left you in the lurch. And if they want to jump in, it means you’re almost there. You did this. Bring it home. This gives Andy some confidence. And he’s like, You know what? I don’t need your help.

Jenna [00:59:48] Mm hmm. It’s true. Andy is going to welcome everyone back from lunch, including Mykonos and his girlfriend.

Angela [00:59:56] His lady friend. Yeah.

Jenna [00:59:57] And for some reason, everyone has stayed after lunch. And Andy’s going to let everyone go. He’s just going to say goodbye, basically. So they took a whole hour for lunch. Now he’s just going to say goodbye.

Angela [01:00:12] But Michael’s not going to let that happen. Michael’s like, Come on, you got this. You can do it. And Andy bursts back in the conference room, and he pitches this package.

Jenna [01:00:20] The small business package.

Angela [01:00:22] That’s right.

Jenna [01:00:23] You need one of these. After all this great business advice I’ve given you, you’re going to want this package to get started. No takers until Mykonos says he wants one.

Angela [01:00:34] Mm hmm.

Jenna [01:00:35] And that kicks it off!

Angela [01:00:36] Yeah.

Jenna [01:00:37] Andy makes three sales! Here is my question. Was this whole day worth it to sell three small business packages?

Angela [01:00:46] No. But for Andy, yes.

Jenna [01:00:53] Andy does get a win I guess in a sense. Maybe his sales are so bad, these three little packages are going to be a big deal.

Angela [01:01:00] Mm hmm.

Jenna [01:01:01] Meanwhile, Erin is about to win the Scrabble game.

Angela [01:01:04] Oscar is trying to hint at her to play the word apoplexy.

Jenna [01:01:08] Mm hmm.

Angela [01:01:09] Erin plays ape, and she loses.

Jenna [01:01:12] Yeah, I did look up the definition of apoplexy because Oscar says that he will have apoplexy if she loses. Apoplexy is the incapacity or speechlessness caused by extreme anger. He has some apoplexy.

Angela [01:01:29] We are finally going to see Jim.

Jenna [01:01:31] Yes.

Angela [01:01:32] Where has Jim been? Has John been on a movie? Where was he?

Jenna [01:01:35] I think that this did spill over. That is why we took him out of the office again and gave him a very truncated storyline that basically consisted of him kicking a rock in the parking lot and sitting in his car.

Angela [01:01:47] Well, we’re going to find out because Pam’s like, what’s going on? The guy in the conference room is one of his childhood friends, Tom. When they were in the third grade, Jim was placed in the top reading group, which was the blue group.

Jenna [01:01:59] Mm hmm.

Angela [01:02:00] Actually, it was the second from the top. I like how Pam like tells the story a little off. And Tom was in the green group, and Jim’s mom suggested that Jim spend time hanging out with the kids in his reading group. She thought that would be a good influence for him. But guess how Jim worded that to Tom?

Jenna [01:02:18] Yeah, not very delicately.

Angela [01:02:19] My mom thinks you’re too dumb to hang out with.

Jenna [01:02:22] Yeah.

Angela [01:02:23] But also. What the heck, Jim’s mom?

Jenna [01:02:25] I know.

Angela [01:02:27] Let him have his pal that’s not as good of a reader.

Jenna [01:02:29] No kidding. Well, Jim is going to finally come up into the office. I guess he thinks the seminar is over, but Tom is going to walk into the kitchen while Jim is there.

Angela [01:02:40] Oof.

Jenna [01:02:40] And wow.

Angela [01:02:41] Wow. Talk about some snark in the kitchen.

Jenna [01:02:46] Yeah. Guess what Tom remembers?

Angela [01:02:50] Everything. He’s like, So you work here, huh? Jim’s like, Sales. And Tom goes, Must be a front for some kind of famous laboratory because you’re so smart. And then he goes on at the end, he calls him like a salesman genius and goes, You know what? Great catching up. Where’s your jetpack, Zuckerberg?

Jenna [01:03:07] We had a fan question from Andrew E in Brandon, Mississippi, and many others who said, Wouldn’t Jim’s old elementary school friend Tom know that Jim was going to be there based on the original flier that Andy posted with Jim’s picture? And if so, do we think that it was Tom’s intention the whole time to confront Jim?

Angela [01:03:26] 100%.

Jenna [01:03:28] You think Tom sat in that conference room all day just so that he could get his moment?

Angela [01:03:34] I mean, he got a sandwich, and he finally got to, like, give it to Jim Halpert.

Jenna [01:03:38] Guest star alert. Tom was played by Greg Tuculescu. I hope I’m pronouncing that right, Greg, who has regularly appeared on Drunk History, College Humor Originals, and UCB comedy originals. Greg also lends his voice to Adam Ruins Everything, and he played Ellie Kemper’s husband in Bridesmaids.

Angela [01:03:57] Well, Greg, you were hilarious.

Jenna [01:03:59] You know, Angela, also in this scene, we see a photo of Jim Halpert in third grade.

Angela [01:04:03] Young Jim Halpert.

Jenna [01:04:04] Mm hmm. We had some fan questions about that. Natalie M from New York said, Is that really a photo of John in third grade? He looks like he’s in at least middle school. Also, is that the name of the elementary school he went to? And Neil S from Pennsylvania says, Jim’s school photo says Hillside Elementary, but there is no Hillside Elementary in Scranton. But there is one in Needham, Massachusetts. Randy Cordray helped me out on this one.

Angela [01:04:30] Mm hmm.

Jenna [01:04:31] That is a real photo of John Krasinski. I mean, I’m sure you can tell. It looks like a tiny John Krasinski.

Angela [01:04:37] I remember this episode when it came out and that John brought in his real picture and we’re all like, Oh my god, look at you!

Jenna [01:04:44] Because when we did the episode with our baby pictures, John and I did not have to bring in baby pictures. I don’t know what grade he’s in in this real photo, but Randy said we added and cleared the name Hillside Elementary, which was not his actual school. It was a fictional one that we put on the photo. By the way, that was also a real photo of Greg, who played Tom.

Angela [01:05:06] This episode is going to end with Gabe going up to Erin’s desk. He’s won, but he’s going to compromise on the movie. Old tech alert. DVD boxes.

Jenna [01:05:16] Yeah.

Angela [01:05:16] Look at all my DVDs. He’s picked the movie Hardware. It’s a real movie, by the way.

Jenna [01:05:22] Oh, yeah.

Angela [01:05:23] He says it tells the story of a killer combat robot just like Wall-E. And the government used it to destroy humans. So it’s a little something for both of them.

Jenna [01:05:32] Andy’s going to walk up and give Erin a gift. It’s the Shrek 2 DVD.

Angela [01:05:36] She’s so excited.

Jenna [01:05:38] So happy. Randy Cordray told me that both of those DVD covers were the real thing and they were cleared by legal.

Angela [01:05:45] Have you seen Hardware?

Jenna [01:05:46] I have not seen that movie either.

Angela [01:05:48] I’ve seen Shrek 2.

Jenna [01:05:49] Same.

Angela [01:05:50] Love it.

Jenna [01:05:51] It’s so cute. The Shrek movies are great.

Angela [01:05:54] Well, you guys, that was The Seminar. Thank you so much, Randy Cordray, for behind the scenes details. And Dave Rogers for sharing with us about those funny bloopers.

Jenna [01:06:05] Thank you to everyone for writing in. Please don’t forget to check out our awesome holiday merch. You can still get it in time for the holidays. Go to Office Ladies dot com.

Angela [01:06:14] Super cute stuff. We hope you have a great week. We love ya.

Jenna [01:06:17] See you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer, and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Codi Fischer. Our producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer. And our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.

Angela [01:06:41] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For Ad free versions of Office Ladies, go to Stitcher Premium dot come. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code: Office