August 3, 2021
EP. 86 — The Surplus
This week we’re breaking down The Surplus! When Michael announces to the Scranton Branch that they have a surplus, the office fights over whether to use the leftover money to buy new chairs or a new copier. Meanwhile Dwight “helps” Angela and Andy plan their wedding. Angela tells us about shooting on Disney Ranch which was once known as Golden Oak Ranch, Jenna does a deep dive on Iowa State Farm’s butter sculptures, and the ladies gush over one of the best Hank scenes in the entire run of The Office. But most importantly, it’s Angela’s work birthday! Will she actually get a cake at work this year?
Transcript
OFFICE-086-The Surplus
[00:00:03] Jenna I’m Jenna Fischer.
[00:00:04] Angela And I’m Angela Kinsey.
[00:00:06] Jenna We were on The Office together.
[00:00:07] Angela And we’re best friends.
[00:00:08] Jenna And now we’re doing the ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.
[00:00:12] Angela Each week we will break down an episode of the office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.
[00:00:19] Jenna We’re the Office Ladies.
[00:00:24] Jenna Hello, everyone.
[00:00:26] Angela Hello, you guys.
[00:00:27] Jenna Today is a very special day.
[00:00:30] Angela Yes.
[00:00:31] Jenna It is the last day that Angela will be in her 40s.
[00:00:36] Angela It is you guys. I am forty nine staring at 50. By the time you guys hear this, I’ll be 50.
[00:00:43] Jenna Yeah.
[00:00:43] Angela That’s crazy.
[00:00:44] Jenna You’ll be a hot 50 lady.
[00:00:46] Angela Ooh, hot 50.
[00:00:48] Jenna I was asking you the other day, what does it feel like? Like what does 50 feel like as you’re approaching this milestone birthday?
[00:00:56] Angela I think I’ve been in denial because I’ve just been busy with life and kids and whatnot. But I I’m realizing now it feels big, you know what I mean? Like, I realize I’m in a different survey group. Like, it’s like they’re like Americans 18 to 35 surveyed, Americans 35 to 45 surveyed. I’m like, oh, my God, I’m not in the survey anymore? I’m in the like senior citizens surveyed, 50 to 75.
[00:01:22] Jenna You’re going to get surveyed about all like aches and pains and things now. Right?
[00:01:27] Angela You know what? My grandmother lived to a hundred, and I’ll never forget when she was ninety six, her and I were hanging out. She was the best. Her name was Lena Mae. And I said, Grandmother, you’re about to turn 97. How does it feel? And she said, Well, you know, when I’m sitting down I feel like I’m twenty three. It’s when I stand up that I feel ninety seven.
[00:01:48] Jenna Oh that’s amazing.
[00:01:50] Angela Isn’t that amazing. And then she said, nothing’s broken but none of it really works. So you guys, I’m very excited today because here I am at work the week of my birthday and that means I’m getting a birthday cake right? For the first time ever? At work. Sam, do you have it. Is it hiding? I saw your Arby’s bag. Is it behind it?
[00:02:15] Sam Nope.
[00:02:18] Angela What?
[00:02:18] Jenna Angela.
[00:02:18] Angela Jenna, you said you had something in your car. Is this a ruse?
[00:02:21] Jenna No. What was in my car is my son’s electric guitar that I accidentally brought today.
[00:02:27] Angela I thought it was code for cake. I thought you were going to get cake this whole time.
[00:02:32] Jenna No, I mean, I can bring you down to the car and you’re going to see a red electric guitar in my trunk. When I got here, Lee texted me and I realize I picked him up from guitar last time. I never took it out of the trunk.
[00:02:42] Angela Oh, my God. You guys.
[00:02:44] Jenna Do you want a red electric guitar? We could strum happy birthday on it.
[00:02:49] Angela No, I think this is perfect. I think I need to finish my 40s, never getting cake on my birthday, but next year I want a (BLEEP) cake. OK? I’m going to be fifty. It’s about (BLEEP) time someone gives me a (BLEEP) cake when I’m at work for my (BLEEP) birthday. So fifty one. Do you hear me? Do you hear me? I want a cake.
[00:03:09] Sam Why are you looking directly at me?
[00:03:11] Angela And now I’m looking at you.
[00:03:12] Jenna Oh boy.
[00:03:12] Angela And Cassi, I know you’re in there somewhere in the Zoom. I’m fifty. This is what happens when you’re fifty. You’re like, I’m (BLEEP) fifty. Give me what I want.
[00:03:24] Jenna OK, I think we all feel really bad.
[00:03:30] Angela I would never want you to feel bad ever. Are you messing with me?
[00:03:34] Jenna Lady, I swear it’s an electric guitar. I feel like now.
[00:03:37] Angela I mean, you guys it was really funny she was, like I have to run to my car.
[00:03:41] Jenna I know,.
[00:03:41] Angela Sam, it’s about the guitar. And I’m like, this is code for cake. They’re messing with me.
[00:03:46] Jenna Angela, we officially apologize that there is no cake here. I am going to see you tomorrow on your actual birthday to celebrate your actual birthday where you will be getting a cake.
[00:03:57] Angela Yes.
[00:03:57] Jenna Because I’ll be dropping by-
[00:03:58] Angela Are you bringing a cake?
[00:04:00] Jenna Gelson’s tomorrow tonight to get it. Because by God you’re getting a cake. Okay?
[00:04:04] Angela OK.
[00:04:05] Jenna Ok.
[00:04:05] Angela All right. Done.
[00:04:08] Jenna This week we are talking about The Surplus. It is Season five, Episode ten written by Gene Stunitsky and Lee Eisenberg and directed by Paul Feig.
[00:04:19] Angela Do you want to hear a fun little tidbit about the title?
[00:04:22] Jenna Yes.
[00:04:22] Angela As you guys know, I am a digital hoarder and every once in a while it brings me a real nugget. I found an email from Randy Cordray saying that we were tentatively going to be shooting this episode in October of 2008, end of October. And the title, the working title was Spend the Surplus.
[00:04:41] Jenna Oh.
[00:04:41] Angela Spend the Surplus.
[00:04:43] Jenna And then we just dropped the spend. M’kay.
[00:04:46] Angela So as you watch this, know that we’re filming end of October 2008, I went on a website that tells you weather years past. You guys the high was eighty eight degrees.
[00:04:56] Jenna In October.
[00:04:57] Angela And if you watch us shivering outside, know that that’s a fakey shiver.
[00:05:02] Jenna Oh I have some things to say about that when we get there.
[00:05:05] Angela OK.
[00:05:06] Jenna I’m going to hit you with a summary.
[00:05:08] Angela Do it.
[00:05:08] Jenna Oscar informs Michael there is a forty three hundred dollar budget surplus that must be spent today or it gets returned and taken out of next year’s budget. The office is then divided on what to spend it on; new chairs or a new copier. This creates tension between Jim and Pam, who are on opposing sides. Pam is team chairs, Jim is team copier. Andy and Angela visit Schrute Farms to discuss their wedding with Dwight. Michael then learns of a third option for the surplus: he can return it in exchange for a 15 percent bonus for himself. What will he choose?
[00:05:47] Angela Well, he doesn’t like to make anyone mad, but he also wants the money.
[00:05:51] Jenna Yeah. Fast fact number one: the character of Ryan does not appear in this episode.
[00:05:59] Angela Good catch.
[00:06:00] Jenna Yeah. Remember last week he told Kelly he was going to go to Thailand? Well this marks his first episode on his vacation and he will be gone for 11 weeks because he was filming Inglourious Basterds, the Quentin Tarantino film.
[00:06:16] Angela This was such a big deal for B.J. We were so excited.
[00:06:19] Jenna He was working with Brad Pitt.
[00:06:21] Angela I know. We really hit him up for Brad Pitt stories and he had nothing. He just said he was a nice guy. We’re like, come on, give us something.
[00:06:28] Jenna I know. And then he would drop and do like a one armed push up.
[00:06:31] Angela BJ, we get it. You have to get in good shape. We get it.
[00:06:35] Jenna Fast fact number two: our cinematographer for this episode was Matt Sohn.
[00:06:40] Angela Yeah.
[00:06:42] Jenna So this actually happened back on Business Trip because remember Randall Einhorn, our usual cinematographer, directed Business Trip. So while he was directing, Matt Sohn, who was normally our B camera operator, stepped in as cinematographer. But this started a stretch where Matt served as our a camera operator and cinematographer for three weeks while Randall was doing post-production on his episode of Business Trip. And so these last three episodes, that’s Matt Sohn, y’all.
[00:07:14] Angela I love that. Matt Sohn was the best. He is such a hiker. Do you know that?
[00:07:19] Jenna Yeah. Didn’t he and David Denman used to hike a bunch?
[00:07:22] Angela They hike a bunch. I saw him on a hike one time and I was like sucking air so hard and he like strode past me with his kid in one of those backpack things.
[00:07:32] Jenna Oh yeah.
[00:07:33] Angela And I was like, shoot. He was really in good shape.
[00:07:35] Jenna He and Randall both were in good shape.
[00:07:37] Angela I know.
[00:07:38] Jenna But I mean, they need to be because they’re lugging those cameras on their shoulders. Although now Matt directs.
[00:07:44] Angela Yes. Now he just hikes for pleasure.
[00:07:46] Jenna Yeah. Fast fact number three, a very big portion of this episode takes place at Schrute Farms. And Angela, I know you will have a lot to share about that, but to kick things off, you have a location breakdown from Randy Cordray.
[00:08:03] Angela I sure do. You guys, Randy Cordray is the best. Jenna has shared with you emails that he has sent to us. I reached out to him because I had questions about Schrute Farms. We have shared over the years that there were a few different locations for Schrute Farms. And I just wanted to ask Randy which location it was. And I had a question about the barn. He responded to my email, Jenna, with so many details. It was so wonderful. And photos! I’m going to share. Here we go. Are you ready for Randy Cordray’s location breakdown of Schrute Farms?
[00:08:33] Jenna Yes.
[00:08:34] Angela These scenes were shot in Newhall at the Disney Ranch. It was originally known as the Golden Oak Ranch. And Jenna, Randy gives us a deep dive on the origin of the Golden Oak Ranch.
[00:08:48] Jenna Lay it on me.
[00:08:49] Angela He did a deep dive. And this is what he said. It was land owned by the famous singing cowboy movie star Gene Autry. Gene Autry also owned the California Angels baseball team and the Los Angeles news station KTLA Channel five, which was the first TV station on the West Coast. Randy also shared that the Walt Disney Company purchased the property in 1959 and established a movie location on a still working horse and cattle ranch. There’s more. He shared that just beyond the boundary of the property to the south in Placerita Canyon State Park is the site of the very first gold discovery in California. In 1842, a cow hand named Francisco Lopez was sitting under an oak tree and pulled up some wild onions. He found gold nuggets clinging to the roots. His discovery led to a mini gold rush six years before the more famous discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill.
[00:09:52] Jenna Wait. He pulled onions out of the ground and there was gold clinging to like the onion or the root of the onion?
[00:09:59] Angela Yeah, gold nuggets clinging to the root of this onion. And it happened right there. And that is why it’s called the Golden Oak Ranch.
[00:10:10] Jenna It should be called the Golden Onion Ranch.
[00:10:12] Angela He was sitting under an oak tree. It should be called a Golden Oak-
[00:10:15] Jenna Oak Onion Ranch.
[00:10:17] Angela Onion Ranch. Golden Oak Onion Ranch.
[00:10:19] Both Rolls off the tongue.
[00:10:22] Angela So there’s the background on the origin of the Golden Oak Ranch, which then became the Disney ranch, so we spent a lot of time at this Disney ranch filming this episode. There’s tons more scenes that didn’t make it in. We were there the whole week. This was weird for me, Jenna, because I was the one not in the office. And you were there, right?
[00:10:40] Jenna Yes. Yes.
[00:10:41] Angela When we shot there, the facilities were just limited to a few buildings, a farmhouse, some barns and stables. Right? Randy shared with us that in the corner of the ranch there was a very run down western street that was really in disrepair. And it was. It looked like a set that had been forgotten about because no one was making those spaghetti Westerns anymore. It probably had its heyday, but it was really falling apart. But Randy shared that since then, Disney has invested a ton of money and has completely modernized the grounds. He said I wouldn’t even recognize it. There are six state of the art soundstages. There’s also a fake residential street and a business district, and there’s a full feature backlot movie location now. None of that was there when we were there. It was like a rundown old, like Western set when we were there.
[00:11:29] Jenna I’ve been there because I was there for the bed and breakfast. When Jim and Pam go to stay at Schrute Farms. And there was nothing. It was really just these rickety farmhouses and barns that were basically falling apart.
[00:11:43] Angela Right. And there was only a handful of them. And then just sort of fields. Well, now it’s a full studio.
[00:11:49] Jenna Wow.
[00:11:49] Angela I know. I asked him a little bit about the barn we filmed in and he said the very first scene you see of us walking into the barn, that stable was called the Rag Wing Barn, and Randy negotiated a rate to include the horses and mules and the horse that you see in the stalls. And then the other barn, which was like the fancy barn where Dwight made it to look like a wedding ceremony, that barn was known as Pee Wee’s because it was the former location used in Paul Reubens’, Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
[00:12:20] Jenna Oh, wow.
[00:12:21] Angela So they all had names. And the actual Schrute Farmhouse was an old farmhouse on the property known as Olivia’s.
[00:12:28] Jenna That’s really cool.
[00:12:29] Angela I know. And he sent me pictures of the mules that he took that day. And he sent me like the map of the location, which it doesn’t look anything like that anymore. It’s so wild. It’s completely different.
[00:12:40] Jenna That’s so cool. Thank you. Randy Cordray.
[00:12:42] Angela I know. He’s the best.
[00:12:44] Jenna He really came through.
[00:12:45] Angela I know.
[00:12:46] Jenna Well, listen, should we take a break while I run to the store and buy you a cake and you go to the bathroom and we’ll be back to break down this episode?
[00:12:54] Angela Are you going to go get me a guitar?
[00:12:56] Jenna Yeah, I’m going to go get the guitar out of my car now.
[00:12:59] Angela All right. Awesome.
[00:12:59] Jenna I’m going to need about twenty minutes.
[00:13:01] Angela OK.
[00:13:01] Jenna Ok. All right, we are back and Oscar is presenting Michael with the overall budget for the fiscal year and he is trying to explain that they have a surplus of forty three hundred dollars. Michael’s not quite getting it. He says, explain it to me like I’m eight years old.
[00:13:24] Angela Then he says, explain it to me like I’m five.
[00:13:26] Jenna I know. So Oscar does this great lemonade stand analogy. Michael seems like he’s getting it. Ultimately in the end, we’re not sure he totally got it.
[00:13:39] Angela No.
[00:13:39] Jenna But Oscar says you need to spend this money today and you should really spend it on a new copier because we need it. We desperately need it. We had a fan question from Lauren K., When Oscar is explaining the surplus to Michael and Michael says, explain it to me like I’m five, there’s this great line when Oscar says, then next summer, and Michael says,.
[00:14:04] Both I’ll be six!
[00:14:06] Angela That make me laugh so hard.
[00:14:07] Jenna So hard. Lauren wanted to know, was that scripted or was it improvised? It was scripted, that beat. Steve threw it away so perfectly.
[00:14:19] Angela It was so cute. It was so innocent.
[00:14:22] Jenna I know.
[00:14:24] Angela Oh, Michael. Well he’s very excited. He knows it’s something good, right? He grasped at least that. And he’s going to announce to the whole bullpen.
[00:14:32] Jenna Yes.
[00:14:32] Angela They’ve got a surplus and he thinks maybe we’ll get a new copier. And Pam’s like, no, no, no, wait, wait, hold up. We need new chairs.
[00:14:42] Jenna Toby feels like they really need a good air quality inspection for some of the silent killers. Here’s Toby again. He’s worried about the radon gas. He’s worried about the asbestos.
[00:14:53] Angela This is the runner that the writers loved for Toby.
[00:14:58] Jenna And this is the scene where we realize that Jim is not team chairs. He wants a copier.
[00:15:06] Angela It really made me laugh hard when Creed goes, the balls on you man. Creed’s delivery was so good. And Jenna, there was a Pam talking head that would have gone here and it’s about her chair and you delivered it from reception. It’s a talking head from reception.
[00:15:22] Jenna In my chair!
[00:15:23] Angela Standing next to your chair. Oh, what is it?
[00:15:27] Angela Sam, play it.
[00:15:29] Pam This is the chair that was here when I was hired. It was crappy then and it’s even worse now. To give myself a break, sometimes I go outside and sit on the ground.
[00:15:39] Jenna Oh, yeah, I remember that now.
[00:15:41] Angela That’s how bad that chair is. I thought Pam made a really strong argument. She made me want to be team chair because she was like, I make the copies. I’m the one that has to deal with the copier. That should tell you how bad these chairs are.
[00:15:56] Jenna Well, and also everyone would get a new chair. Right. So it really is something for everyone. But the other thing I thought was just what about the copier in the annex? There’s another copier.
[00:16:11] Angela No one wants to walk to the annex. It’s icky back there.
[00:16:14] Jenna Well, then they should swap them.
[00:16:17] Angela I know.
[00:16:17] Jenna Maybe Kelly needs to make a lot of copies.
[00:16:20] Angela It feels like there’s a simple solution
[00:16:22] Jenna to the copier problem that no one’s realizing. Well, Michael’s going to digest all of their ideas and see what comes out the other end.
[00:16:30] Angela Coming up at three minutes fifty six seconds is a scene, Jenna, that I didn’t think I was going to get through. I didn’t think we would have any usable takes. Last week you talked about that clown painting on the wall in Jim’s parents’ house that you guys could not get through it. You were laughing.
[00:16:46] Jenna Yes.
[00:16:47] Angela This scene with Dwight giving directions to Andy and Angela. That was it for me. Ed and I. We could not get through it, like, truly, we could not stop laughing. It’s in the bloopers and I think we got to hear it.
[00:17:02] Jenna You know, lady, last week I looked at the bloopers to see if I could find any clown painting outtakes.
[00:17:08] Angela Yeah.
[00:17:08] Jenna I couldn’t find them, but I did see this. It is so good.
[00:17:13] Andy Just I feel like some of these directions to Schrute Farms are a little weird. I mean, like 156 paces from the light red mailbox, make a left. Walk until you hear the beehive and make a right. If you are attacked by territorial crows. Oh, I have. This is it really is. If you smell bear pee, turn the other way. I… If you smell bear pee at any point, abort, wait in your car for further instructions.
[00:17:53] Dwight What’s the problem exactly?
[00:17:59] Jenna The other thing that’s so great about this blooper is that you’re hearing all those candy bag alt directions.
[00:18:04] Angela Yes. Because in the script, the only directions were one hundred and fifty six paces from the light red mailbox and then the one about the bear. All the rest are candy bag alts.
[00:18:14] Jenna So were they just because in the clip you can see that Ed is reading. Were they just handing him pieces of paper with, like, funny directions?
[00:18:22] Angela They literally did. They handed him a whole paper that were extra directions. And that’s why he was like, I almost had it. And if you guys watch the bloopers, you’ll see that I’m sniffling. I am sniffling because it was so cold on set that day that my nose was running, and I had a tissue in my hand that I was hiding under the table. It was that cold.
[00:18:45] Jenna That used to happen to me all the time. My nose would run on set.
[00:18:48] Angela I know.
[00:18:49] Jenna I had my sneezing from the allergies and the runny nose from the cold.
[00:18:53] Angela Well, I watched the scene and all I could see is me sniffling and trying not to laugh.
[00:18:59] Jenna Well, you laughed a lot.
[00:19:00] Angela I did. Well, Jenna we had a fan question about this scene, Allie Jo H. wrote in and said, when Angela and Andy are talking to Dwight, Andy says something about a three way and it looks like Dwight mouths something to Angela. Do you remember what he said? I can tell you in the script, Rainn had this stage direction. It says, Dwight rolls his eyes to Angela like, ugh check out the dummy and Angela doesn’t give him anything. So I think Rainn was sort of mocking Andy in that moment, like looking at me like, oh, this guy.
[00:19:33] Jenna Coming up, we have a scene that was really, really fun for me. It’s the scene in the kitchen between Pam and Jim, where Pam is kind of low key threatening Jim to be on her side with the chairs.
[00:19:46] Angela Yeah. Not lowkey. Full key. Is that an expression?
[00:19:47] Jenna We had a fan question from Jessica K. She would very much like us to discuss Pam’s, You’re on Dangerous Ground moment saying, quote, I was like, damn, Jenna. Well, Jessica, we came up with this little moment while we rehearsed the scene. So this idea of Pam going over to Jim and going in for a kiss, but then pulling back, that was something that we did in rehearsal. It was not in the script. And we just were so tickled. You know those moments when you’re rehearsing a scene or you’re doing a scene and you come up with this idea that just opens it up in this new way.
[00:20:27] Angela It’s so fun and it’s so fun to see everyone else realize it, too, because I have to imagine that when Paul Feig saw it, he was like, oh, yes, you have to do that.
[00:20:36] Jenna Yeah, it was really, really cool. And then we knew we shot this scene first. We were going to mirror it in the tag at the end with Jim.
[00:20:44] Angela Oh, it’s so good. And I love Jim’s talking head after where he was like, ah spooky. You guys, we’re about to head out to Schrute Farms. There was a deleted driving scene. It was so good. There’s actually two. I’ll get to the other one.
[00:20:58] Jenna Wait, there is a scene of you and Andy and Dwight driving in a car together?
[00:21:03] Angela Two.
[00:21:04] Jenna Oh!
[00:21:05] Angela They are bookends, one going there and then one when we leave.
[00:21:09] Jenna Stop it.
[00:21:10] Angela Yes, the one on the way there, Dwight and Angela get into a fight. Also, Angela is driving.
[00:21:15] Jenna That tracks for me.
[00:21:16] Angela Angela is driving and her car is filthy. It’s like covered in mud. It’s so funny.
[00:21:21] Jenna Oh.
[00:21:22] Angela I know.
[00:21:23] Jenna Is that because maybe she’s been out to Schrute Farms recently?
[00:21:24] Angela Yeah. So she’s driving, Dwight’s in the front and Andy’s in the back poking his head through.
[00:21:32] Jenna That’s amazing.
[00:21:32] Angela For both scenes. These scenes were so much fun to film. On the way there, Angela Dwight are arguing about centerpieces at the reception. Angela wants a fish bowl with a fish in it. Dwight’s like, let’s put a piranha in it and that will kill the fish and there’ll be blood. And she’s like, I don’t want blood on my wedding day. And then he’s like, well, I guess I have to reorder the cake.
[00:21:52] Jenna Oh no, that’s horrible.
[00:21:54] Angela I know, what is this cake? And Andy’s like, you two! That is on the DVD. The other one isn’t on the DVD. But I’m going to share it later because it’s when they’re leaving Schrute Farms.
[00:22:04] Jenna When Dwight is giving Andy and Angela a tour of Schrute Farms, they get into another discussion about, I guess, on theme with blood. They’re talking about the slaughter. Do they really have to slaughter the entrees on the day of the wedding? I mean, yeah.
[00:22:21] Angela I know. And Andy he gets Dwight to not do it the day the wedding. And then Andy’s like, what’s that smell? Oh my gosh, I’m so southern. Did you hear that?
[00:22:30] Jenna Smail.
[00:22:30] Angela What’s that smell. It’s a vowel before an L. I can’t do it. And Angela goes, manure. Get rid of it.
[00:22:38] Jenna We had a lot of fan questions about the manure.
[00:22:41] Angela Oh yeah.
[00:22:41] Jenna Like a lot. Everybody wanted to know, was it real manure. No, it was not. It was made by Phil Shea. That was Phil Shea’s job that day. Make fakey manure.
[00:22:52] Angela How did he do it?
[00:22:53] Jenna He mixed mostly oatmeal, little bit of sand and some food coloring.
[00:22:58] Angela Well, it looks like manure.
[00:23:00] Jenna It does.
[00:23:01] Angela Good job, Phil Shea.
[00:23:03] Jenna Lee Eisenberg shared with me that his most vivid memory of shooting this episode was how hot it was at Schrute Farms and that you guys had to walk around in coats pretending it was cold.
[00:23:16] Angela I noticed my forehead was glistening. I’m not one to sweat, guys. I’m not a big sweater because I’m always cold. So if it tells you anything about how hot it was, I was sweating. Also real random side note. Sorry if this is an overshare. When we were filming this, I had a five month old and I would have to go and pump.
[00:23:37] Jenna You were pumping at Schrute Farms?
[00:23:39] Angela I pumped at Schrute Farms.
[00:23:40] Jenna Where?
[00:23:41] Angela They had like first of all, our trailers were a little bit of a car ride away. And they just helped me get there because I would have to go pump.
[00:23:50] Jenna You pumped at Schrute Farms.
[00:23:51] Angela I pumped at Schrute Farms in the heat.
[00:23:54] Jenna Wow.
[00:23:55] Angela Things you do for your baby.
[00:23:56] Jenna Back at Dunder Mifflin, Pam is trying to get Michael on her side with the chairs, but she gets interrupted by Oscar who suddenly wants to go to lunch with Michael.
[00:24:05] Angela Oh, Oscar knows exactly what he’s doing. All Michael ever wants is lunch with the guys. And Jim’s in on it.
[00:24:13] Jenna Yeah!
[00:24:13] Angela Oh, this is a bold move.
[00:24:15] Jenna Oh, yeah.
[00:24:16] Angela This is Michael’s happiest day.
[00:24:18] Jenna Pam says, it is on. It is so on. And then she puts on lipstick and she tausles her hair. What?
[00:24:27] Angela What is the outcome of this? Just to like flirt with Michael and make him feel good?
[00:24:33] Jenna I don’t know what she is planning, except maybe just to look at Michael with some happy eyes to pay attention to him, laugh at his jokes. But Jim, Michael, and Oscar get back from lunch and they are hysterically laughing.
[00:24:51] Angela I mean, they’ve had the best time.
[00:24:53] Jenna Yeah. I mean, how is Pam going to compete with this? She tries. She goes into his office, she compliments his pants. She compliments his tie.
[00:25:04] Angela Hot tie guy.
[00:25:05] Jenna Hot tie guy.
[00:25:07] Angela Hot tie guy. And I love how excited Michael is to share that he got his tie for four dollars and his pants for nine dollars at TJ Max.
[00:25:15] Jenna Oh my gosh. That reminds me of my mom.
[00:25:18] Angela Does it?
[00:25:19] Jenna Yes. So my mom and my sister, they love to go to the outlets at Lake Ozark, Missouri, all growing up. We would go to this cabin and lake the Ozarks in the summer and they would head out to the outlets. I’m not a shopper person. I’m like, I’m going to stay back. I’m going to sit on the dock and read a book.
[00:25:35] Angela Oh, I would be hitting those outlets with them.
[00:25:37] Jenna I know you would.
[00:25:38] Angela Especially if there was like one of those pretzel shops and I could get a pretzel while we shopped.
[00:25:45] Jenna Of course, there’s a pretzel shop.
[00:25:45] Angela Come on.
[00:25:46] Jenna Of course.
[00:25:46] Angela Give me that cinnamon pretzel.
[00:25:48] Jenna Yes. So you know how nowadays they have those haul videos where on YouTube where people go shopping and they just take things out of their bag and they show you their haul.
[00:26:00] Angela Oh! H-A-U-L.
[00:26:00] Jenna Yeah.
[00:26:00] Angela I thought you said, you know, those hall videos. I’m like, why do they film themselves walking down a hall? That’s what I thought. I thought, who does that? Are they walking through the hall of the store?
[00:26:11] Jenna No, like haul, like here is my haul.
[00:26:14] Angela Here’s what I got.
[00:26:15] Jenna Yes, they would come home and they would get their stuff out of their bags.
[00:26:19] Angela Yeah.
[00:26:20] Jenna And it was sort of like the haul videos because they would show every item. But part of the showing of the item would have to include-
[00:26:27] Angela The price!
[00:26:28] Jenna How much money they saved.
[00:26:30] Angela Yeah.
[00:26:30] Jenna So the retail I got this purse that retails for forty five dollars. I got it for twelve.
[00:26:37] Angela Yeah.
[00:26:37] Jenna This shirt, this was 70 percent off at Ralph Lauren. I got it for twelve bucks.
[00:26:43] Angela Yeah.
[00:26:43] Jenna So the whole like description was always saying the price with the savings. I think it was a big show for my dad, you know, so that he would feel better about any-.
[00:26:57] Angela Well your dad loves a deal.
[00:26:58] Jenna He loves a deal.
[00:26:59] Angela This is what I know about him.
[00:27:00] Jenna Oh, yeah. He wouldn’t want my mom to buy a twelve dollar shirt unless she could get it for seven.
[00:27:05] Angela That’s right.
[00:27:06] Jenna You know, so we would always have to make a big show of all the money that was saved.
[00:27:11] Angela Michael’s right there with your family.
[00:27:13] Jenna He sure is. He could get in on it with my mom and my sister.
[00:27:17] Angela Pam really did lay it on thick. There is a Michael talking head in the script right after all of this. Right? He’s been taken a lunch. Pam has just complimented him and it didn’t make it in. And Jenna, I loved it. Here it is. Michael’s talking head in the script. “When people kiss up to you, it’s very easy to get an inflated ego. You can start to believe the hype that people are saying about you. I’m not at that point yet, but I’m going to get there”.
[00:27:45] Jenna “But I’m going to get there”. That’s pretty amazing.
[00:27:49] Angela I know.
[00:27:49] Jenna Back at Schrute Farms, they are inside the farmhouse and Angela and Dwight are arguing over what kind of butter sculpture she should have at the wedding.
[00:28:00] Angela Lady, this scene was so much longer. It actually started with Andy signing a ton of paperwork because he was actually signing as a witness to the wedding, but he didn’t know.
[00:28:09] Jenna Oh.
[00:28:10] Angela Dwight said it was all these insurance forms so that they could get married at Schrute Farms. And during this scene, Mose enters and there’s a really awkward moment with Moes where Angela hisses at him. And then Dwight goes, why do you have to do that? It’s not necessary. He loves you. And then Andy’s like, how does he love her? How does he know her? And then it’s like, Oh, Mose loves everybody. He’s a people person. And it’s so much longer. And then it ends with us arguing about the butter sculptures. And once again, we could not get through it. We were laughing so hard. It’s in the deleted scenes on the DVD. I’m going to put it in Stories Jenna because I had to cover my face. I pull a Mindy, you can see me laughing with my hands over my face. But yes, then they get into this ridiculous argument about the sculpture and that’s what made it in the actual episode.
[00:29:03] Jenna We got a fan question from Gabriela T, who said, Angela tells Dwight she wants a cat sculpture made out of cow butter for her wedding. I am from Iowa. And every year at the Iowa State Fair, there is a cow butter sculpture on display. The very first cow butter was sculpted in 1911, and it has grown to be a famous tradition at the Iowa State Fair.
[00:29:27] Angela Love it.
[00:29:28] Jenna I did a deep dove on cow butter sculptures.
[00:29:31] Angela I want to hear it.
[00:29:32] Jenna All right. So at the Iowa State Fair, every year they make a life sized cow out of butter.
[00:29:38] Angela A whole cow.
[00:29:39] Jenna Yeah.
[00:29:40] Angela That’s huge.
[00:29:41] Jenna Yeah. It starts with a frame of wood, metal, wire and steel mesh.
[00:29:47] Angela OK.
[00:29:47] Jenna And then they add six hundred pounds of low moisture, pure cream, Iowa butter. It sits in a 40 degree cooler and then layers of butter are applied until it is full sized. It measures five and a half feet high and eight feet long.
[00:30:07] Angela What?
[00:30:08] Jenna Yeah, I saw pictures. It’s a cow but it’s butter.
[00:30:12] Angela I need to see the picture.
[00:30:14] Jenna I’ll send it to you. So a real dairy cow weighs like a thousand pounds.
[00:30:19] Angela OK.
[00:30:19] Jenna The butter version weighs about six hundred pounds.
[00:30:24] Angela Wow.
[00:30:25] Jenna This butter cow could butter about nineteen thousand two hundred pieces of toast. And this part I’m unsure about. But every year most of the butter from the butter cow is recycled and it can be used for up to ten years.
[00:30:42] Angela I hope so. That’s a lot of butter.
[00:30:45] Jenna It is.
[00:30:46] Angela Would you not use the recycled cow sculpture butter?
[00:30:50] Jenna Well, I mean-.
[00:30:52] Angela Well.
[00:30:52] Jenna I don’t know,
[00:30:54] Angela Five second rule. Kind of. Not really.
[00:30:56] Jenna They also do a companion butter sculpture every year
[00:31:00] Angela To the cow? The cow has a buddy?
[00:31:02] Jenna Yes.
[00:31:03] Angela That stands next to it.
[00:31:04] Jenna Correct.
[00:31:04] Angela What is it?
[00:31:05] Jenna Well, one year it was Elvis Presley.
[00:31:07] Angela What?
[00:31:08] Jenna A butter Elvis.
[00:31:09] Angela Elvis
[00:31:11] Jenna Made out of butter.
[00:31:12] Angela Oh, my gosh.
[00:31:13] Jenna Another year it was Harry Potter.
[00:31:15] Angela Oh, get out.
[00:31:16] Jenna Another year. They did Star Trek. And in 2018, they did a celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of John Deere
[00:31:27] Angela Was there a tractor?
[00:31:28] Jenna Yes.
[00:31:29] Angela My dad would have loved that.
[00:31:30] Jenna They did a replica of the Waterloo boy tractor. I took a picture and it’s a tractor! Out of butter next to the cow.
[00:31:38] Angela Wow. I wonder if you could climb up in it. Probably not.
[00:31:43] Jenna Well, I’m not eating that recycled butter.
[00:31:46] Sam I’m sorry to interrupt you guys. I got a, I caught one thing from the start of the podcast. Hold on real quick.
[00:31:50] Angela Oh no.
[00:31:51] Jenna OK.
[00:31:51] Sam Just got to fix it.
[00:31:51] Jenna OK.
[00:31:51] Sam No, it’s fine. Just give me one second. I can repair it. Hold on.
[00:32:02] Jenna OK.
[00:32:02] Angela I knew you guys were going to do something!
[00:32:13] Jenna Happy Birthday, Angela! Ok, Angela, how do you feel? This is your first work birthday,
[00:32:19] Angela You guys so got me, you so got me. I was so surprised. I really thought when I got here that the guitar was code for cake. And then when it wasn’t, I was like, oh, well, maybe they’ve just all been busy and oh OK. Then I feel bad, I went off on that rant.
[00:32:34] Jenna Well what happened, Angela, was that we were going to surprise you at the top of the podcast with a Cookie Puss cake.
[00:32:42] Angela A Carvel Cookie Puss cake?
[00:32:43] Jenna Yes, but there was a problem that happened. The cake got lost in transit. Poor Cassi has been hiding out here like 9:30 this morning waiting for this cake delivery.
[00:32:57] Angela Poor Cassi. By the way, this is the first time we’ve all been in person. And it’s amazing to see you, Cassi, say hi to everyone.
[00:33:03] Cassi Hey, everybody. Yay!
[00:33:06] Angela Yay!
[00:33:07] Jenna Yay!
[00:33:07] Angela Well, I saw a few times you had to check your phone and text, but I thought it was all about the guitar.
[00:33:12] Jenna No, it was a panic thread about your cake.
[00:33:15] Angela Oh, no.
[00:33:15] Jenna And then you’ve called us out and we were like, no, but we had a cake and it just. And also, Cassi put together this amazing board for you. It is all of these cards that people sent in because they heard that you did not get your birthday celebrated properly. And so people from the Office Ladies Facebook page sent you cards.
[00:33:38] Angela That is so sweet. That is so sweet. They know because I was real chatty that I never had a cake at work or at school. You guys, that is so lovely.
[00:33:46] Jenna Well, we could not let you start your fifties without a proper work birthday.
[00:33:51] Angela Thank you guys so much. I love every single second. I was truly surprised and I cannot wait to read all of these cards that you guys sent in. It’s so lovely. I’m going to sit down and read every single one. And thank you for my cake! A cake at work. It finally happened.
[00:34:07] Jenna It happened.
[00:34:10] Angela It happened. Oh, my gosh.
[00:34:11] Jenna Well, before we did your birthday, we were talking about butter sculptures.
[00:34:16] Angela I know, it’s really hard, you guys. Now, I’m like, OK, we got to work. We still have work to do.
[00:34:20] Jenna I know.
[00:34:20] Angela We were talking about cat butter sculptures, and y’all I Googled cat butter sculptures. And let me tell you, it does not disappoint. Google image cat butter sculptures. Can I tell you the very first one that came up?
[00:34:35] Jenna Yeah.
[00:34:36] Angela I’m going to show it to you. I’m going to put it in stories. How do I describe this to you guys? This is the first one that came up for me. There’s more than one. It is a cat made out of butter pooping butter poop next to a block of butter.
[00:34:52] Jenna Oh. Oh, my gosh.
[00:34:55] Angela Yeah, I guess it’s a thing there was more than one by different people.
[00:34:58] Jenna What’s that about?
[00:34:59] Angela I don’t know. I have to think this is not the cat butter sculpture Angela Martin would want. There’s also some majestic cats out there made of butter. It was amazing. People do really weird things with butter.
[00:35:11] Jenna They do weird things with cats. There’s the whole like litter box birthday cake. Have you seen those?
[00:35:16] Angela Yes.
[00:35:17] Jenna Where it’s a cake and it looks like litter and then you make like Tootsie Rolls into poops.
[00:35:22] Angela Poop. Yeah.
[00:35:22] Jenna For the cat lover in your life.
[00:35:24] Angela Put that next to the butter cat pooping butter.
[00:35:27] Jenna Butter. Yeah.
[00:35:28] Angela Happy birthday.
[00:35:31] Jenna Next year.
[00:35:32] Angela Next year. That’s it. That’s my cake. Next year I want the cat litter box cake. All right. There was also a deleted Andy talking head after the scene because this would have been, if you’re keeping manure count the second pile of manure he steps in.
[00:35:46] Jenna Yes.
[00:35:47] Angela It’s really funny, you guys, he’s outside by the barn hosing off his shoes and he’s sobbing and he says this just isn’t how I imagined it. There’s just so much [beep]. It was really funny. That is on the DVD.
[00:36:04] Jenna Oh, back at the office, Jim is watching Pam struggle with the copier. Everyone’s really laying it on thick with Michael. They’re making him hot chocolate. They’re opening doors for him.
[00:36:18] Angela It’s the best day of his life.
[00:36:20] Jenna It really is. We had a fan question from Stephanie M. At ten minutes, twenty five seconds, Michael walked into his office and off camera, we hear him say, I almost choked. Was that a line that was scripted or did Steve Carell actually almost choke on his drink? It was neither. It was an improvisation. He’s doing that as Michael. He was not choking. He’s going to choke later on some tiramisu powder.
[00:36:47] Angela It’s the funniest choking scene I’ve ever seen.
[00:36:49] Jenna Ever seen. I want to study!
[00:36:50] Angela I want to study it. I so believed it, at first I thought, was that scripted? I had to go look.
[00:36:56] Jenna I had to look too.
[00:36:57] Angela It was so brilliant. And then he did that thing. And we’re jumping ahead, you guys. But after two bites that were failed attempts because he’s choking, he goes for a third and then with his hands, he’s like, no, no.
[00:37:07] Jenna Yeah, he has to stop himself.
[00:37:09] Angela Stop himself. So good.
[00:37:12] Jenna Dwight is going to take Angela to a new barn.
[00:37:14] Angela Mm hmm. It’s beautiful.
[00:37:16] Jenna It’s gorgeous. He’s decorated it like how it will be on her wedding day with chairs and sparkly lights.
[00:37:23] Angela Yeah. And Andy’s like hey-o! Because he’s happy, too.
[00:37:28] Jenna Yeah, there’s a priest
[00:37:30] Angela And no manure.
[00:37:32] Jenna It’s perfect.
[00:37:33] Angela Dwight is going to suggest that they sort of roleplayed the ceremony. He wants Andy to get a bird’s eye view. So he says, you know, you walk her down as if you’re her father and she’ll marry me. But, you know, so you can see what it looks like.
[00:37:45] Jenna Yes.
[00:37:45] Angela And, you know, the priest doesn’t speak any English. He only speaks German. So they don’t know what he’s saying in the script says Angela Martin is moved to tears by this moment.
[00:37:56] Jenna Mm hmm. I think because it is really playing out what’s in her true heart, which would be what it would be like to marry Dwight.
[00:38:04] Angela Yeah.
[00:38:04] Jenna We had a fan question from Ellie B. In the scene where Dwight and Angela are getting married at Schrute Farms, is the minister actually speaking German? Yes.
[00:38:14] Angela Mmhmm.
[00:38:15] Jenna All of the German in the scene is accurate. The actor who played the priest was Potsch Boyd, and he was cast because he was fluent in German.
[00:38:24] Angela Mm hmm.
[00:38:24] Jenna And also because he was comfortable riding horses.
[00:38:27] Angela Yes, because he rides a horse at the end.
[00:38:31] Jenna Randy said that the actor arrived early to set that day so that he could select one of the horses and practice on it. Randy also said that they had to submit a translated version of the Priest script to the NBC Legal Department of Standards and Practices because we had to prove that we weren’t trying to sneak in any dialog that would be considered unacceptable to the censors.
[00:38:54] Angela Mmmm.
[00:38:54] Jenna It feels like they don’t trust us.
[00:38:56] Angela I wonder why.
[00:38:58] Jenna Well, here is the translation. The priest is saying, Groom and bride, you come here voluntarily with hearts prepared to receive each other in marriage. Will you love each other, respect and be loyal to one another until death separates you? Are you ready to fulfill your obligation to raise your children as Christian parents should? So that is what Dwight and Angela are agreeing to in their marriage vows.
[00:39:26] Angela I guess Dwight is going to forgo standing in his own grave to marry her just so he can make it happen.
[00:39:32] Jenna Yes, because that is truly the Schrute tradition.
[00:39:36] Angela And would tip off Andy.
[00:39:38] Jenna This whole thing is going to lead in to Angela getting pretty sentimental.
[00:39:42] Angela Yeah. And she realizes, I made a mistake with Andy.
[00:39:47] Jenna She says she made a mistake.
[00:39:48] Angela I know. She tells Dwight, I picked the wrong guy. Dwight, man, he just messed it up.
[00:39:55] Jenna He does because he gets real arrogant.
[00:39:58] Angela He’s like, I know. And I took care of it. I fixed it. And he sneakily had them married without her consent. And she does not like that and does not appreciate it.
[00:40:08] Jenna No, he almost had her back.
[00:40:12] Angela Yeah.
[00:40:12] Jenna In that moment.
[00:40:13] Angela Yeah.
[00:40:14] Jenna But no.
[00:40:15] Angela No, she’s furious with him that he would do such a huge life moment in the sneaky way.
[00:40:20] Jenna We got a fan question from Rebecca M. Does Dwight’s secret marriage actually count in the state of Pennsylvania or did the writers make this up?
[00:40:29] Angela Good question.
[00:40:30] Jenna Well, Pennsylvania is actually one of the only states where you can do something called Self Unite. So Colorado also allows this. According to the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the tradition of self uniting in marriage dates back to 1681. It has its roots in the states Quaker population, and because the religious sect does not have any ministers, members of the Quaker faith traditionally self unite in marriage. So these are often referred to as Quaker licenses, but self uniting licenses do not require the applicants to practice any specific religion or any religion at all. So under Pennsylvania marriage law, couples wishing to marry without an officiant can obtain a self uniting license. They can perform their own ceremony. The only rule is there have to be at least two witnesses who are required to sign the document!
[00:41:34] Angela Which Angela and Andy signed this insurance document. And I guess the priest would have signed something.
[00:41:40] Jenna Yes. In this scenario, the priest and Andy were the witnesses. So this marriage was legal.
[00:41:48] Angela How about that? This would have led to a delicious deleted car ride home scene. Lady. It’s a rough one. It’s right up there with a Jan and Michael car ride home.
[00:42:01] Jenna Oh.
[00:42:01] Angela All right. This was in the shooting script. It’s not on the DVD. It’s out there somewhere in the world. You guys, it was so amazing. Angela is driving home furious. Dwight’s in the front passenger seat. Andy is in the back leaning between the two of them. And they start out the car ride, and Andy’s like, we did it! He’s so happy. And he starts singing at the top of his lungs, this song.
[00:42:27] Song Song “What’s Up?” By 4 Non Blondes plays.
[00:42:40] Jenna That’s what he’s singing in the back seat?
[00:42:41] Angela That exact part of the song is in the script, what you just heard, it’s 4 Non Blondes, and Angela is so annoyed that Andy is singing. So she turns off the radio and Andy keeps singing and comes in with this part.
[00:43:06] Song Song “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes continues to play.
[00:43:07] Jenna That sounds like Andy to me.
[00:43:09] Angela Right?
[00:43:10] Jenna Yeah.
[00:43:10] Angela In the script, it says Angela looks like she might drive the car into a tree. Dwight is stealing glances at Angela. Andy oblivious is singing 4 Non Blondes.
[00:43:21] Jenna Wow. How did you get through that with Ed singing in the backseat, though? How did you keep a straight face?
[00:43:26] Angela I’m telling you, we laughed through this whole episode. Every single thing was funny to me.
[00:43:31] Jenna This next scene is the one that I could not get through.
[00:43:34] Angela I don’t know how you did. It’s one of my favorite scenes of the whole episode.
[00:43:37] Jenna It’s one of my favorite scenes of the whole series.
[00:43:39] Angela Yes, it’s my favorite Hank scene.
[00:43:42] Jenna Oh, yeah. So Michael, who can’t make a decision, has decided to call Hank from security.
[00:43:47] Angela Yeah.
[00:43:48] Jenna Who, as he explains, hustled up the stairs because he thought it was an actual emergency.
[00:43:54] Angela Well, you know, Michael, text people 911 one to get their attention.
[00:43:59] Jenna Yes. So Hank arrives. And I just want to say this was one of those scenes that was set at the reception desk and I’m in the shot, and I wanted to edge myself out of the shot because I was ruining it, because I was laughing.
[00:44:12] Angela From the minute Hugh walks in, the minute he takes a few of the candies and starts eating them. I was like, I wouldn’t make it.
[00:44:21] Jenna That was an improvisation. And the first time he did it, I laughed.
[00:44:25] Angela Oh.
[00:44:26] Jenna Because it was so brilliant.
[00:44:26] Angela It’s so brilliant.
[00:44:29] Jenna So Michael is going to ask Hank, what do we do? He makes a big announcement. He’s like, listen, Hank is going to decide.
[00:44:36] Angela Yeah.
[00:44:37] Jenna Copier or chairs.
[00:44:38] Angela And Hank’s like, can I see the copier?
[00:44:41] Jenna Yeah.
[00:44:41] Angela Opens up doors and stuff, looks at it. And he’s like, now let me see the chair. And the room is riveted. They’re hanging on his every word.
[00:44:49] Jenna But the scene ends amazing. My favorite is the ending of the scene.
[00:44:54] Angela My favorite, well first of all, he’s sort of like explains his theory why the office would need both. There’s new copiers, they’re amazing.
[00:45:02] Jenna Yeah.
[00:45:02] Angela Although those chairs he could not sit in.
[00:45:04] Jenna Yes.
[00:45:04] Angela And Michael’s like, so, and everyone’s waiting. And he goes, let me look at the copier again.
[00:45:09] Jenna Michael’s like, get out.
[00:45:10] Angela Get out.
[00:45:11] Jenna Get out.
[00:45:12] Angela It’s so funny.
[00:45:14] Jenna Angela, this was the first time for Office Ladies that I have watched the show with my kids.
[00:45:21] Angela Oh, really?
[00:45:22] Jenna Yes.
[00:45:22] Angela Oh, I watch them all the time with my kids.
[00:45:24] Jenna I know.
[00:45:25] Angela I know. But my kids are older. I know. I know.
[00:45:27] Jenna It was a pinch. And I said, guys, I have to watch this. I have to watch it. You can watch it with me or you can go outside and scooter or something. So I turned it on. First of all, my son was just giggling through the whole thing. He’s a little older, so I think he got more of the humor.
[00:45:42] Angela Humor. Yeah.
[00:45:43] Jenna But this moment when he says, let me see the copier again and Michael said, get out. They were dying. And then they started doing it as a bit.
[00:45:55] Angela That is so good.
[00:45:55] Jenna It was so fun. Gosh, I’m so excited as my kids get older for them-
[00:45:59] Angela for them to discover it.
[00:46:00] Jenna Yeah, yeah.
[00:46:01] Angela I know. Well, my kids love the office. And, you know, every once in a while we’ll watch a episode and Isabel will go, Mom, because Angela Martin is so mean. And you know, Jack, my stepson loves Office Ladies.
[00:46:16] Jenna I know. Whenever I see him, he’ll tell me some fun thing he heard on Office Ladies, which I love.
[00:46:21] Angela I know, he was like, I’m so excited that you guys are going to talk to Stephen Merchant. I love that they watched it with you.
[00:46:29] Jenna So we kind of already talked about this scene where Michael is eating tiramisu while talking to David Wallace. But what we did not mention is that David gives him some new information.
[00:46:38] Angela Yeah, he’s like any boss that comes in under budget, gets 15 percent of that surplus.
[00:46:45] Jenna Michael whips out his calculator and he discovers that means he could get six hundred and forty five dollars.
[00:46:52] Angela Do you know how far that can go at Burlington Coat Factory?
[00:46:55] Jenna You’re literally a king, if you walk in there with six hundred and forty five dollars.
[00:46:59] Angela Well, Michael’s got dollar signs now on the brain.
[00:47:02] Jenna Michael walks out of his office and he announces that he doesn’t think they need a new copier or new chairs. He demonstrates that the copier works perfectly and then he’s going to demonstrate how great Pam’s chair really is.
[00:47:16] Angela Two things. First of all, in the bloopers, Jenna, when Steve tries to use the copier, that copier actually was really crappy.
[00:47:25] Jenna It was awful.
[00:47:26] Angela It was really old and crappy. And half the time would not work in real life.
[00:47:30] Jenna When we needed it to.
[00:47:31] Angela When we needed it to. And it would eat paper. It would like make noises. And he says this copier works fine and he hits the button. And in real life it went ahhhhhhhhh. And you guys all started laughing.
[00:47:45] Jenna It was so funny. Paul Feig sent us an audio clip because this was one of his favorite memories from shooting this episode. Here’s what he had to say.
[00:47:56] Paul Feig There was so many fun things in season five, but weirdly, one of my favorite episodes that we did was The Surplus. And it’s an episode the people don’t talk about as much. And I just think it’s got some of the funniest stuff in it. I think I laughed harder during that. My favorite gag, one of my favorite gags that I ever got to do on The Office was when Michael’s trying to convince everybody that they don’t need a new copier and all the chairs are good. And we have that gag, Jenna, where he comes behind the desk and just tries to prove that your chair is not broken. And I had them rig up this things because the whole joke is supposed to be he sits on your chair and it just sinks down below, below the desk. And so I worked really hard to have them rigged this chair up that sunk so slowly that Steve just got in it and is just talking like, see, there’s nothing wrong with this. And you just, it takes you a few seconds to realize that he’s just very slowly sinking down behind the desk. And then just Steve just destroyed me. Not only is he down low, but he won’t admit it. And then the way he has to stand up. It’s like, oh, like it takes such effort for him to get out of the very low chair. So that was a real favorite gag of mine.
[00:49:02] Jenna Well, every time he would get out of the chair, he would make some other different grunting noise and it would do me in. If you watch my face in the scene, I have this really like over-exaggerated furrowed brow. I was having to make a very strong acting choice because I couldn’t do blank. I couldn’t do it. I had to do something with my face.
[00:49:26] Angela Right. I had completely forgotten about this scene. And when I rewatched it, because it has been a long time since I’ve seen this episode. And when I rewatched it this week, I was like watching it and I was like, wait, is his chair sinking? Oh my God, his chair is sinking. And it was so funny. It was so funny and it’s so subtle. It’s such a small moment.
[00:49:47] Jenna And in order to make it work, I could not be sitting on the chair at the beginning of the scene. So it looks like I’m sitting. And then he comes over and he takes my seat-.
[00:49:56] Angela Did you have to squat?
[00:49:57] Jenna I had to squat.
[00:49:58] Angela Ah, thigh workout.
[00:49:59] Jenna And hold my butt and hover. And you can tell a little bit because in order to do it, I kind of had to like, you know, really, like, spread my legs to get like a good solid squat on the chair.
[00:50:13] Angela Yeah.
[00:50:13] Jenna Above the chair.
[00:50:13] Angela Yeah. It’s like going to the bathroom in a porta potty.
[00:50:16] Jenna Yes!
[00:50:17] Angela Halfway through your pee like your legs start shaking your like, Oh crap. I need to workout more.
[00:50:22] Jenna This was a workout day for me.
[00:50:23] Angela Oh my gosh.
[00:50:24] Jenna That’s how we pulled off that gag. Also in this moment, everyone starts to realize that Michael knows about the bonus.
[00:50:32] Angela Oscar calls him out. He’s like, I think you know. And he’s like, what’s fifteen percent of forty three hundred? That’s the surplus. And Michael immediately goes, six hundred and forty five dollars.
[00:50:43] Jenna And he’s like, why did you say dollars? And he’s like, that’s just how my brain works.
[00:50:47] Angela Yeah.
[00:50:48] Jenna And Kevin goes, he’s a genius! But then Oscar says, OK, Michael, what’s 15 percent of two hundred and then Michael-.
[00:50:58] Angela Stumped.
[00:50:58] Jenna Doesn’t know.
[00:50:59] Angela Yeah.
[00:50:59] Jenna That little bit of Kevin thinking that Michael is a math genius at that moment. Paul thinks at him and his wife, Laurie, love that little bit and that they do the bit that like if someone says something like he’s a genius.
[00:51:14] Angela Oh, they do Kevin.
[00:51:15] Jenna That’s their little bit. All of this leads to a very big smooch.
[00:51:21] Angela Andy and Dwight and Angela have returned to the office.
[00:51:25] Jenna Yeah.
[00:51:26] Angela And once you piss Angela off, she’s going to dig in her heels.
[00:51:30] Jenna Mmhmm.
[00:51:30] Angela And she’s going to make a very public show to Dwight that she has chosen once again, Andy, over him.
[00:51:36] Jenna Yeah. So Andy is eating a tuna sandwich that he’s real proud of. He wants Jim to know, Tuna, I’m eating tuna. And Angela marches across the bullpen and kisses him.
[00:51:49] Angela Mm hmm.
[00:51:50] Jenna He’s leaning back in his chair.
[00:51:52] Angela She lays on his lap and grabs his face.
[00:51:56] Jenna Do you know what the stage direction was for this kiss?
[00:51:58] Angela Read it.
[00:51:59] Jenna Angela kisses Andy with a passion we haven’t seen since Jim and Pam in Casino Night.
[00:52:06] Angela I know, I read that.
[00:52:09] Jenna We had a lot of questions about this scene, though, Angela.
[00:52:12] Angela Well, I bet I have some stories for you.
[00:52:14] Jenna Dory C and Amanda C. both want to know, did Ed actually have to tuna it in his mouth when you kissed him?
[00:52:20] Angela Yes.
[00:52:22] Jenna Ah!
[00:52:23] Angela That was part of the joke. Lee and Gene, who wrote this episode, they thought it would be very funny if Andy was eating something gross when I had to go kiss him. And that’s why he has that line. Look, Tuna, tuna fish sandwich just like you! Because they really wanted to make sure the audience knew he was eating this smelly tuna fish sandwich. And I was supposed to go over and we’re supposed to have this huge kiss while he has tuna fish in his mouth. And then you see me get up and I wipe my mouth.
[00:52:50] Jenna Yeah.
[00:52:51] Angela Ed was so sweet. He said, Angela, I am going to hold my lips together. I’m going to take a deep breath. I’m going to take a bite of the tuna fish sandwich, and then I am going to purse my lips together and not open them at all because I don’t want you to get any of this tuna fish. I was like, oh Ed, that is so sweet. And so we literally did, you know, what we call like grandparent kissing. Where you, just like mmmmm. He did not open his lips for a second. And they really wanted me to sort of have this long kiss, right?
[00:53:24] Jenna Yeah.
[00:53:24] Angela And I was in control. I was the one that grabbed him and then I was the one that released him. And I remember one time they’re like, can you sell it a little bit more? Can you make it a little bit bigger of a moment? And Poor Ed, the minute we broke apart, he went, uhhhh.
[00:53:37] Jenna Oh, ’cause he hadn’t been breathing?
[00:53:39] Angela He was holding his breath with a big bite of tuna fish sandwich in his mouth.
[00:53:43] Jenna Here’s my question. Couldn’t Phil have made fakey tuna fish?
[00:53:48] Angela I don’t know. Would that have been better?
[00:53:50] Jenna I don’t know. I mean, what could it have been?
[00:53:53] Angela I don’t know.
[00:53:54] Jenna You could have maybe, I mean, whatever it is-.
[00:53:56] Angela What looks like-?
[00:53:56] Jenna It’s going to be Mayo based, but it could have been chopped up chicken. I would’ve bought it.
[00:54:01] Angela That’s still gross.
[00:54:01] Jenna But it’s not as stinky.
[00:54:03] Angela It’s true. But Ed was a true gentleman. He kept his mouth closed. I didn’t get any tuna fish on my person. And you guys, when my character stands up and says, And now I have a legal issue to attend to. I actually had a big speech that got deleted.
[00:54:20] Jenna Really?
[00:54:20] Angela Yes. And I was so nervous to do it because it was one of those moments where I had a speech in the bullpen with everyone looking at me. This is how the script described everyone reacting to the kiss and my speech after.
[00:54:32] Jenna OK.
[00:54:33] Angela Everyone watches with disgust. Dwight’s eyes go wide, Angela pulls away, Andy he continues to chew and then swallows the bite. Angela wipes her mouth. And here’s the speech. I would marry you during an earthquake in the middle of a tornado. I would marry you in the front row of an Elton John concert. I don’t care how terrible a place it is. I just want to be with you. Now I have a legal matter to clear up.
[00:55:02] Jenna Mmm. Not an Elton John fan. Clearing.
[00:55:05] Angela Clearly not. But yeah, so I had that speech I had to do and they gave me a few alts, you know, and I was really nervous. But all that made it and was, Now I have a legal matter to clear up. And I actually think that was a good edit because the kiss was enough.
[00:55:21] Jenna Yeah.
[00:55:21] Angela Right? That was enough of like shoving it in Dwight’s face. I don’t need to make the speech. But yes. No tuna. Thank you, Ed.
[00:55:30] Jenna Very different from a kiss with Rainn who would-.
[00:55:33] Angela Actually was eating tuna in real life.
[00:55:35] Jenna Backstage for no reason at all, before a kissing scene.
[00:55:40] Angela Yes. That or drinking coffee while eating like an everything bagel that had onions on it.
[00:55:46] Jenna Yeah. Different-.
[00:55:47] Angela Very different.
[00:55:48] Jenna Approaches. This whole copier, chair thing is going to wrap up the employees, they’re going to confront Michael in his office and he basically tells them, you know what, you decide, you all have to agree or else I’m taking the bonus. Because he kind of thinks like there’s no way that’s going to happen. Right?
[00:56:10] Angela Of course, he thinks there’s no way he thinks he got them.
[00:56:13] Jenna They very quickly decide to get the chairs.
[00:56:16] Angela He was like son of a!
[00:56:18] Jenna He actually says Mother
[00:56:21] Angela Yeah, he does.
[00:56:22] Jenna F.
[00:56:22] Angela Was he putting sugar in his Diet Coke?
[00:56:24] Jenna He was. Yeah, he wanted to sweeten it.
[00:56:26] Angela Oh my lord.
[00:56:29] Jenna The whole thing kind of ends with Michael. He has a talking head. He wants you to know what he learned.
[00:56:35] Angela What did he learn?
[00:56:36] Jenna He learned that his team is faster making a decision than he thought. He also learned you should never buy a fur coat with a credit card until you actually have the money to pay for it.
[00:56:46] Angela Michael, why in the world are you buying a fur coat? You’re never going to wear it.
[00:56:49] Jenna It’s ridiculous looking.
[00:56:51] Angela Yes. He’s just like a kid that gets money and doesn’t know what to do with it.
[00:56:55] Jenna In his mind, that’s, I don’t know, a fancy luxury or something.
[00:57:00] Angela A symbol. Yeah. Fancy people have those or something.
[00:57:01] Jenna I guess so. The third thing you learned is that people think it’s cool to throw fake blood on you as you leave Burlington Coat Factory. So he has a ruined fur coat that he bought on credit.
[00:57:14] Angela That he can’t afford.
[00:57:15] Jenna Yeah, that’s how his day ended.
[00:57:17] Angela Yeah.
[00:57:19] Jenna Jim and Pam’s day is going to end with a truce, but oh, can you make me three copies of this? I’m just kidding. I need four.
[00:57:26] Angela Is this Jim sass?
[00:57:28] Jenna Oh, that’s some Jim sass.
[00:57:30] Angela I have one final question for you.
[00:57:32] Jenna Yes.
[00:57:33] Angela Would you be team copier or team chair?
[00:57:36] Jenna Team chair. What would you be?
[00:57:39] Angela Team chair.
[00:57:40] Jenna Yeah, team copier doesn’t even make any sense to me, frankly.
[00:57:43] Angela I mean, I would just suffer through a crappy machine. How many times have you worked in an office where either the fax machine, I know I’m a dinosaur, or the copier didn’t work great. But a chair. That’s like your tailbone. That’s your spine. That’s your butt.
[00:57:57] Jenna Is any one team copier? Can we put a poll in Office Ladies pod today?
[00:58:01] Angela Yes.
[00:58:02] Jenna I’m so curious.
[00:58:03] Angela I’ll put a poll and we’ll see.
[00:58:05] Jenna Alright. We want to see.
[00:58:06] Angela Well, you guys, that was Spend the Surplus.
[00:58:09] Jenna And also Angela’s birthday!
[00:58:15] Angela Hey!
[00:58:16] Jenna Woot woot.
[00:58:17] Angela Woo hoo!
[00:58:17] Jenna Yay, Angela.
[00:58:18] Angela Yay! Next time I talk to you guys, I’ll be Americans surveyed 50 to 75. That’ll be me.
[00:58:25] Jenna See you next week.
[00:58:26] Angela Bye.
[00:58:30] Jenna Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Codi Fischer. Our producer is Cassi Jerkins, our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Bubbico.
[00:58:45] Angela Our theme song is “Rubber Tree” by Creed Bratton.
[00:58:48] Jenna For ad free versions of Office Ladies go to StitcherPemium.com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code “office”.
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