EP. 64 — Revisited with Randall Einhorn

OFFICE-064-20200114-Revisted_Einhorn-SKv05.mp3

Jenna [00:00:03] I’m Jenna Fischer.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Angela [00:00:24] Hello, everyone.

Jenna [00:00:26] Hello.

Angela [00:00:27] Lady, we have a great day today. We have another revisit, a deep dive episode of Office Ladies.

Jenna [00:00:34] Yes. Today we are going to go back over the second half of season three. We’re going to get to your questions, your comments about all the things we missed. We’re doing everything from Back From Vacation to The Job.

Angela [00:00:47] Yeah, we are. And I want you to know I’m holding what looks like a small phone book in my hand because we went through so many questions and comments and Jenna and I both jotted a ton down. And we’re excited to talk to you guys today.

Jenna [00:01:00] Yeah, it’s like nineteen, twenty pages I think?

Angela [00:01:04] It is. It is. But first we have some exciting news. We are going to start this off with a deep dive with our awesome cinematographer and director, Randall Einhorn. Randall was the cinematographer for sixty four episodes and he directed The Accountant’s webisodes as well as fifteen episodes of The Office. This man knows this show inside and out. We are so excited to talk to him.

Jenna [00:01:27] Guys, Randall was one of our original visionaries for the show. He really helped shape the world, the mockumentary style. He has also been amazing. I’ve been reaching out to him. You’ve been reaching out to him, Angela. You might remember he gave us all of the amazing details about Michael’s car going into the lake. So we are really excited to get this deep dive interview with him for the pod.

Angela [00:01:51] So you guys, when we all got on the Zoom with Randall, we were so excited to see each other. It was the first time, the three of us- I mean, Jenna, I don’t even know the last time the three of us were together. So we got super excited. We did all of our hellos and forgot to hit record.

Jenna [00:02:06] Yes.

Angela [00:02:07] Sam was like, guys, are you recording? And I was like, oh, crap.

Jenna [00:02:11] Yeah. So when you hear this interview, we’re going to jump right in…

Angela [00:02:16] ‘Cause we talked for twenty minutes without hitting record.

Jenna [00:02:19] Yeah.

Angela [00:02:20] Oh, Sam, Sam, Sam. Every week you’re like, Ange, did you hit record? Every week.

Jenna [00:02:25] Sam, can you play that interview? Randall, we always start by asking people basically the same question, which is how did you come to be The Office?

Randall [00:02:38] I was doing a reality TV show, kind of an extreme sports thing, where I had to ski with Shaun White and some other legendary skier. And I had to keep up with these guys skiing and film these extreme skiers in Jackson Hole. It was kind of an extreme sports thing for Ben Silverman. And Ben at that time apparently decided that’s the guy.

Angela [00:03:00] Wait, when he- when he decided this, were you flying down a mountain holding a camera?

Randall [00:03:04] Yeah.

Angela [00:03:04] I would say that’s the guy too.

Randall [00:03:07] Yeah, but I mean-.

Jenna [00:03:08] I would say that’s the guy for anything.

Angela [00:03:10] Yeah.

Jenna [00:03:10] But I- it is a curious jump to go from guy filming on skis to filming a quiet, contained office cubicle.

Randall [00:03:20] Yes. I went from outdoor adventure guy to The Office guy. Ben convinced Greg that that’s the guy. I remember Greg and I met this- at a Starbucks and Greg said, just meet me at the Starbucks on Santa Monica. I was new to Los Angeles and I went to one of the 50 Starbucks in Los Angeles and I finally got in touch with Greg and I showed up like an hour late. And Greg is still sitting there just waiting for me. And we had a fantastic meeting and it was wonderful. And that’s where Greg and I really hit it off.

Jenna [00:03:54] Did you bring Matt Sone into the picture? He was the B camera operator.

Randall [00:03:59] Yes.

Jenna [00:04:00] Had you worked together before?

Angela [00:04:01] Yeah. You guys knew each other, right?

Randall [00:04:03] Matt and I knew each other from the Outdoor Adventure World and also from Survivor and Eco Challenge. And we we filmed scenes together. And when you’re filming a scene together in kind of this verité style documentary style, you really ascertain really quickly who’s looking out for you and who’s doing the complement of what you’re doing. And that verité dense Matt and I did really, really well. I remember just a couple of times that we’ve shot together and he’s like, oh, he gets what I’m doing and I get what he’s doing. And we can look at each other out of know, out of the eye that’s not behind the camera and and communicate. And I just felt Matt was the best person for me to do that dance with.

Jenna [00:04:44] Randall, were you so bored to be inside of this cubicle warehouse office space with these fluorescent lights after all you guys had shot?

Randall [00:04:57] No, I mean, we had shot we had always shot things that we just reacted to. That’s what cinema verité is. You just you’re just reacting. You’re just gleaning what’s happening around you. And it was really cool to to kind of reverse engineer that and actually have to make it look like you were just getting it. I never really worked in narrative stuff before. I’d always done, you know, reality and documentaries. And it was really cool to make scripted stuff look like a documentary because it took another layer of finesse. You know, normally you’re just sitting there and you’re filming what happens and you’re just sitting there on a tr- had we had we been sitting there on dollies or on a tripod. And I’m just know what everybody’s going to say and I’m just doing pans,  yeah, I would have been bored. But to be able to react and, you know, and play a character, that-that is-

Angela [00:05:48] You were a character. You were.

Randall [00:05:51] Thank you.

Angela [00:05:51] Yeah. You know what though, I did always think of you guys, I mean, Jenna and I have talked about this, because we knew, like some of the adventures you and Matt had had, you had shared with us on set. We always sort of chuckled when we would have a situation like a lit candle on stage and Kelly Cantlay, our A.D. would be like, safety meeting. We’re going to light a candle, and like Jenna and I knowing that you had a camera strapped to you, like going down like some like boat in a river in Borneo and we’re like Randall’s like ok, lit candle, got it.

Randall [00:06:25] Yeah. Yeah. The safety meetings over a candle are quite, quite- they’re really something. It still gets me to this day. But I think it’s all done in the- under the name of safety because safety never takes a holiday. So.

Jenna [00:06:39] That’s right.

Angela [00:06:40] Yeah. Well Randall, what were some of the early conversations you had with Greg about the look of the show or preserving the documentary style? Did you guys have sort of a game plan how you were going to shoot and what it was going to look like?

Randall [00:06:52] Very much so. I saw the original Office, you know, the British version. And when Greg and I met, I pitched him this idea. I said it’s kind of like a tofu hot dog. So it’s it’s it’s like good food that’s wrapped like bad food. And it’s kind of you’re putting this fake veneer on it so that people kind of lean in. And the one thing that we always did on shows like Survivor and all reality that I ever did and documentaries is when a conversation is is intimate, you back away from it. You don’t go to it like normal TV, you back away and you back away and you back away, because that makes the viewer think that they’re privy to something that they shouldn’t necessarily be privy to. So they feel in on the joke. They feel in on the moment. And I think it adds a level of intimacy that is really nice.

Jenna [00:07:48] As an actor, Randall, I loved how you would back that camera off for those intimate moments, because one of the hard things as an actor is blocking out the camera that is inches away from you. And it was very freeing. It was one of my favorite experiences, really, is how private those moments really felt, because you guys were further away.

Angela [00:08:12] Yeah. Yes. Yes. I’ve been on shows now since The Office. I did this scene and the camera was so close that when the other actor paused in talking, I could just hear (makes noise) because the camera was that close. And you’re trying to like, say, OK, I’m not hearing that mechanical noise. I’m in the moment with this other person.

Randall [00:08:34] Yeah, I think there’s something always to be said for just giving the set to actors. It’s something I, as a director now, I always try to back away and just let it be- it’s, it shouldn’t be my my environment. It should be the actor’s environment. That’s something I absolutely learned on The Office from some of the great directors.

Jenna [00:08:53] Well, as an actor, I love it.

Angela [00:08:55] Yeah, me too.

Jenna [00:08:57] Randall, can you tell us a little bit about how you would prep a scene with a director when you were in the role of cinematographer? Like a standard scene in the bullpen, and you’re having to cover a bunch of reactions. How would you prep that?

Randall [00:09:10] For The Office we would basically just tend to rehearse a scene and the actors would do what the actors would do. And Matt and I would just stand there like this and this is our camera. And Matt and I would be looking at each other like, OK, I got this. I got Jenna. Great. You’ve got Jim. Great. I’m going to do a swing to Jim after Jenna’s line, so I’m going to connect them like that. And Matt would duck and I would get that. And then I’d come back up and we and we would we would just kind of both stand there. And if you look at shows like like Survivor, let’s say, where you have two people talking and you have the what we call dirty overs, you don’t have the person necessarily clean. You try to connect them. And that was something that we always tried to do, is to show that human connection by placing both characters in both of our frames. So Matt and I would have to just frame each other out. And sometimes that means you need to back up and get a little bit longer on the lens so you see- you don’t see Matt’s shoulder or Matt’s knee or whatever. So, yeah, we would just sit there and we would react to it. And Matt and I would just do this, do this dance where we would figure out what what our coverage was. And I remember Harold Ramis directing and it was the coolest moment is Harold came in. I mean, he prepped like an extra week because he was so excited about doing the show, which I just everybody I remember Steve was giddy. We were in, in Steve’s office and doing a scene he goes, that’s Harold Ramis right there. Harold Ramis!

Angela [00:10:46] Yeah.

Randall [00:10:47] But I mean, Harold really, really prepped. And he had all those plans, like I had just meticulously drawn out. And I remember we rehearsed the first scene and Matt and I just kind of stood there and did this and that and talked it through. And I looked at him and he looked at me and we figured out who was going to get what. And Harold came over, he says, I should just get rid of this, right? I’m like, no, Harold, it’s really it’s such an honor to be working with you and, yeah, yeah, don’t shit me, kid. I should get rid of this plan, right? Cuz what you did was way better. I’m like, well, that’s a- it’s a great road map, Harold. And and then you know we did one more scene and I remember watching him, looking at him and he got my attention. He goes- just chucked his plans in Pam’s trash bin. I remember exactly where we were. Yeah.

Angela [00:11:37] Harold Ramis threw his shot plans into Pam’s trash bin because he thought you nailed it. That that’s great, Randall. That is that for me, I’d be like someone go get those out of the trash. I’m saving those.

Randall [00:11:52] Yeah. Yeah.

Jenna [00:11:54] Well, I have to say, I was really curious what your answer was going to be to that question, because my memory is that for the most part, it was you and Matt figuring out the shots during our rehearsal. And the directors were more focused on just actor performance, giving us notes, making sure we landed the jokes, making sure that the writers got their alternate jokes in. And really there was this huge trust that you guys knew how to shoot the show. The directors didn’t, for the most part, like micromanage you in any way.

Randall [00:12:31] I don’t recall anybody ever telling me, get to him on this line or miss this line. It was always- and you know, when I went and it’s something I still do when I’m talking to cameras, I talk to a camera operator like I’m talking to an actor. I will say, you think this, but you also suspect that she might do that. And that kind of gives the camera a little bit of a point of view, which for The Office is paramount. For other shows, I think is also interesting because you’re trusting the intuition of the camera operator and you’re giving them the basis to add some finesse to to a scene, which I think is always really interesting.

Jenna [00:13:11] That’s beautiful. I love that. Well, you know, Randall, one of the things you guys were also so great at was catching these moments that weren’t scripted.

Randall [00:13:21] I think that the way we filmed it added a level of authenticity, as did the improvisational moments. And whether we use improvisational moments or not, it still put everybody in that space of this is happening. This is a real thing. There’s an immediacy to this. It’s not a rehearsed thing. It’s something that is happening in front of us and around us. And for you all to be part of that was awesome. It was amazing to see characters never drop character. They just kept- Kevin kept being Kevin and Angela kept being Angela. And adding those moments in, to me, made it feel like a living thing and made it feel real and organic in a- in a really meaningful and, and significant way that affected the overall outcome.

Angela [00:14:09] That is so poetic. That is the best answer I have ever heard about improv on a set.

Jenna [00:14:15] Well, Randall, I know that we kept you in that office under the fluorescent lights most of the time, but occasionally we did cram you into the back seat of a car or we put you on a boat. Um what was it like? What were those shoot days for you like?

Randall [00:14:32] Well I’ve shot in a lot of awkward places. Um Einstein said, in the midst of um difficulty lies opportunity. And the harder it got, the better it got. Like I just rewatched that scene in the car where we drive into the lake. And and the whole time I’m just reacting to it. And I remember the- in the midst of everything happening, as difficult as it was with the water coming in and me cramped in the back seat, when the GPS spoke, I panned to the GPS because it was a character in the scene. So those opportunities, I think, add another element in a really, really interesting way. But like Michael’s Sebring, which he was so proud of, the- it was a coupe. It was a two door. So the back seat, although it’s a four seater car or five seater car, it wasn’t- it wasn’t a two seater plus a cameraman very comfortably, because I remember the camera came up higher than the back window because it was such a cool car, Michael, um that the back window had such a slope to it, that my camera would always hit the back of the of the window. And there was a hump there where the transmission went through. And there’s really kind of no place for your legs to go. So you just kind of tie your self in a knot and hopefully find some opportunity by that discomfort. You know, I get, I get car sick. I get really carsick and the on-

Jenna [00:15:59] What?!

Randall [00:15:59] Yeah, I- I- every time I got out of that car-

Jenna [00:16:02] How in the world do you do your job.

Randall [00:16:04] Yeah.

Jenna [00:16:05] Oh my God. You get really carsick? Go on.

Angela [00:16:07] Randall, I had no idea because when- so many times when we filmed in cars, we just looped, we did a circle, and I would get nauseous just doing the circle.

Randall [00:16:17] Yeah.

Angela [00:16:18] Let alone only with one eye.

Randall [00:16:20] Yeah, no, I get really carsick. And I remember every time Chris, Chris and Ed were helping me get, get the heavy camera out and helping me come out. They’re like, how are you doing? You alright? You okay? I’m like, yeah, real good. And I would- it would, you know, last a couple hours, but-.

Angela [00:16:36] We had we had so many- we had so many driving scenes, Randall. I never knew this.

Randall [00:16:42] Yeah.

Jenna [00:16:42] Oh my gosh.

Randall [00:16:44] Yeah, I was getting a little green at times back there. I was just kind of sweating a lot.

Jenna [00:16:46] Well, thank you. Because it really did produce some amazing, amazing things.

Randall [00:16:56] It was fun.

Angela [00:16:56] I know we’re sort of talking about, like, difficult camera positions and stuff, but Randall, you have to share with everybody, you introduced us to the pooty scooty.

Randall [00:17:09] The pooty scooty.

Angela [00:17:11] But did you invent that? Was that something Dale made for you?

Randall [00:17:15] Dale made it for us. We were like, I would love to be able to scoot around the office at actor level and move, you know, not like on a dolly. And we just wanted to be quick and nimble. And also so that I can react to it as opposed to communicating to a grip that I need to move back a foot because I’m going to pan to the left. We never would have gotten there. So Dale built those. And it was great. Those- that thing worked really, really well. It was so fun.

Angela [00:17:42] It was like a rolling box. And then they eventually got you a little cushion on top of it. Right?

Randall [00:17:48] Cushion. Those were the days, yeah. Had a cushion.

Angela [00:17:50] And you could spin around. It was like kind of like a stool, but a little better than a stool for you, because I think it was like square.

Randall [00:17:58] Yeah.

Angela [00:18:00] Did you take the pooty scooty with you when you left The Office?

Randall [00:18:03] I didn’t. I didn’t. I didn’t it.

Angela [00:18:07] You didn’t?

Randall [00:18:07] No, and since- and since then I’ve had other pooty cities built for me and they just weren’t the same.

Angela [00:18:14] Ugh!

Jenna [00:18:14] Awe.

Randall [00:18:14] Oh yeah.

Jenna [00:18:16] Well I feel like something I want to tell our audience is how incredibly rare it is for a cinematographer to also operate the camera. And it sounds like, Randall, you fought so hard to always keep that camera in your hands. You did not want to put it on sticks. You did not want to put it on a dolly. You were the operator. And in other projects I’ve done, it really is usually a cinematographer directing a camera operator. And they don’t put their hands on the camera so much, it was like this really cool thing.

Randall [00:18:50] Yeah, I think there’s always an element of disconnect because on traditional shows, there’s like eight to 10 people just who are looking after two cameras. And on our show, our camera department was four. It was me and Matt and Chris and Ed. And Matt and I pulled our own focus and we pulled our own iris. I would set the look for the cameras. I would program the cameras, what we wanted them to look like and how we wanted them to match. And then the rest of the stuff we just worked out in post. But Matt and I thought it was really important to pull our own focus and pull our own iris. I also think there’s, again, a level of intimacy when the operator is part of the scene and is also listening to the scene. And that’s something that doesn’t happen on a lot of shows, is quite often a lot of shows the DP doesn’t listen to the words. And I wonder, how do you know what to do?

Angela [00:19:47] Yeah.

Randall [00:19:48] Because coming up in documentaries, I didn’t know what to shoot until my soundmen put the boom up and said, this is a relevant conversation. You should be shooting this, idiot. Don’t shoot that. So I still, when I operate, I wear an earpiece so I’m hearing what’s going on so that I can finesse what I’m doing.

Angela [00:20:08] Now Randall, sometimes on our set, things got a little physical. Who ran into you? Who did you collide with the most?

Randall [00:20:15] You know, I think I sent- I sent myself to the floor in the fire one. I remember that I was backing up through through the kitchen and I fell and I think I hit the ground, but I’m not real sure. But I’m a two hundred pound human being and the camera’s thirty eight pounds. And I remember Chris Workman, who’s a very strong person, I think he picked me up with one hand and I just kept rolling. He just- he just picked me up with one hand, I’m like, oh, did I fall? And I just kept going with the scene because I’m like, I think I fell.

Jenna [00:20:48] And Randall, that’s the footage that stayed in.

Randall [00:20:51] Yeah.

Angela [00:20:52] Yes!

Jenna [00:20:52] We use the take of you falling and getting back up. It was incredible. I remember being there and seeing it out of the corner of my eye and thinking, should we- are we still going because Randall is on the floor. Oh, no. Randall’s up. Randall’s up. Alright. We’re going to continue.

Randall [00:21:08] Yeah, that was Chris Workman just lifting me up like a little rag doll and not letting me go. I was just back on my feet. Anyway. One thing I remember is in Benihana I fell on the pooty scooty. I remember the last thing I saw was Steve just going nooooo. And it was always that. It was always Steve like, noooo, I got you.

Jenna [00:21:32] I want to ask this question. In addition to saving your life in that scene, Chris Workman also used to bring you this drink on set. And Angela and I need to know more about it. It looked like it was like fruit and water. What was this drink? Was this your special camera operator fuel?

Randall [00:21:52] You see, that’s the difference between being out in the hot sun in Thailand and shooting people on a beach and being in The Office. I would not get the same type of beverages out there. You know, that was one of the perks, one of the perks. You know, season three, I would have- I would have them- I like bubbly water.

Angela [00:22:12] Yes. I was going to say I remember it was fizzy.

Randall [00:22:15] Yeah. I sound like such a fancy man. I like bubbly water. And I would have- Chris brews the fruit and put it in the- in my water for me. And so I would have real fruit flavored bubbly water. Now if that’s not living,that’s not a sign of success, I don’t know what is.

Angela [00:22:34] I love it. Chris made me one one time because I was like Chris, bring- what do you keep bringing Randall? I want one. And then he just sort of slyly, like, slid one on my desk. I was like, it was so refreshing. I stand by it, Randall. I think it’s a great move. And, you know, you’re not you’re not too fancy on your pooty scooty with your bubbly water.

Randall [00:22:55] Yeah.

Angela [00:22:56] OK, Randall, we do ask our guests this. Did you take anything from the set when the show wrapped, when you were done? We all took a little something. Did you take something?

Randall [00:23:05] I didn’t. I didn’t take anything.

Jenna [00:23:07] What?

Angela [00:23:08] Randall!

Randall [00:23:08] I was always hoping for a season ten, so I just didn’t want to preserve that and make sure that I didn’t screw it up. And if I took a pencil holder that we we wouldn’t come back. I didn’t I didn’t take anything. I swear. No.

Jenna [00:23:20] In hindsight now, if you could have taken something, what would you have taken?

Randall [00:23:25] Yeah, I suppose my plaque with my name on it. I think that was pretty cool. I don’t know what I would take. Toaster oven from the fire.

Jenna [00:23:31] Yeah. There you go.

Angela [00:23:33] Nice. Well, we should share with our listeners and I think, you know, a lot of Office Ladies fans will know this, that Randall, you went on and now are a prolific director. And you’re directing all kinds of amazing shows. And I got to work with you post office on Wilfred, that was a really fun.

Randall [00:23:54] That’s a weird little show.

Angela [00:23:54] A weird little show, but such a fun group of people. I was just there one day, but I loved the vibe on that set. But you are- you are just out there crushing it, as the kids say. Randall, do you have any upcoming projects or anything we can share with everyone to check out?

Randall [00:24:13] I don’t direct as much as I used to. I have an overall development deal, so I’m developing for ABC.

Angela [00:24:20] Development is very cool. I love development. So we will be looking for your projects coming out. And I can’t wait. Randall, your sparkly blue eye is a delight to see. Both of them. We normally saw one of them, but both of them were wonderful to see.

Jenna [00:24:35] Yes, Randall, thank you so much for taking this time to deep dive with us. I’ve been so looking forward to this. And thank you, too, for letting us email you and for when you’ve hopped on the phone with me to tell me tidbits behind the scenes. You’ve helped make this podcast even better. So thank you.

Randall [00:24:55] Thank you. It’s been- it was a really special time and to get to relive it, I’ll do that any chance I get, so keep calling.

Angela [00:25:02] Oh we will. I was about to say um Jenna, we’re not done calling him. It’s nice that you’re thanking him, but we have a lot more to ask you over these next I don’t know how many episodes. Two more years?

Randall [00:25:13] There’s one thing I’d love to say if I could?

Angela [00:25:14] Yes.

Randall [00:25:15] I remember when I first started getting into directing. Greg Daniels is actually how I got into directing. Greg came to me when we were shooting The Office. He says, you’re telling jokes with the camera. I said, thank you, yes, I am. I’m trying to. He says, you should direct some. I’m like, that sounds cool. Yeah, I’d love to. And Greg gave me the opportunity to start directing, and I remember that the cast was- everybody was so supportive. Everybody wanted to see me succeed. And that meant a lot. That meant a lot to feel so supported and have everybody ensuring that I succeeded and were in collaborating with me, and that was very, very special. And then I remember when I wanted to start to do more directing elsewhere, I think the first thing I did was It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and I remember, wow, I’m going to I’m going to ask Greg if I can go direct another show. And I remember Greg’s response was, absolutely! Yeah, that’s fantastic. You should totally go do that. You should definitely go direct some other shows. And when you come back, we’ll be here. We’ll be here. We’ll- open arms. Just go direct other shows and and come back to us when you can. And who does that? Nobody does that in Hollywood, nobody does that in Hollywood. That was Greg.

Jenna [00:26:38] Yeah, Greg was always very, very, very excited for us to broaden our horizons. And he was so encouraging of us all as artists to meet that next new milestone. And you’re right, like you don’t- you don’t find that a lot.

Angela [00:26:59] You don’t. He’s also so generous. And, you know, even still, when Jenna and I were going to do this podcast, you know, we were like, gosh, you know, we’re not the experts on The Office. We’re not. We’re just two gals who became best friends doing this fantastic, amazing show. And he was like, I love it. Like, he was so supportive.

Randall [00:27:18] Yeah.

Jenna [00:27:19] Yeah. He was like, ask me any questions. You want me to send you pictures? I’ve got pictures from the pilot.

Angela [00:27:25] Yeah.

Jenna [00:27:26] We were like, yeah.

Angela [00:27:26] He’s so caring and supportive of our Office family. Whatever it is we’re doing, he’s going to watch it. He’ll tell you his thoughts on it. He’ll answer questions for you. And it is special. It is really special.

Randall [00:27:40] We all made it special but Greg was absolutely he was setting a very, very fine example by his inclusive attitude. Anybody’s idea was worth hearing for Greg.

Angela [00:27:48] Yes.

Randall [00:27:48] He’s a good guy.

Angela [00:27:51] You’re a good guy, buddy. You are.

Jenna [00:27:56] And Randall, we definitely will have you back. We want you to come break down one of the episodes that you directed.

Randall [00:28:02] I’d love to. That sounds fun.

Jenna [00:28:03] Oh, good.

Angela [00:28:04] All right, Randall, take care.

Randall [00:28:06] Nice to hang out with y’all.

Jenna [00:28:07] Thank you.

Randall [00:28:08] All right. Bye bye.

Jenna [00:28:13] Oh, my gosh, Angela, so great getting to see Randall over Zoom. And guys we’ll post a picture of that on Office Ladies Pod so you can see the blue eyes we spoke so much about.

Angela [00:28:24] Yes. And just like the cool vibe Randall always has.

Jenna [00:28:29] Oh, yeah.

Angela [00:28:29] Randall, thank you. That was fantastic.

Jenna [00:28:32] All right. Well, lady, let’s get started breaking down the second half of season three, starting with Back From Vacation. We’ve got some Spam news.

Angela [00:28:41] Yes, we do.

Jenna [00:28:43] You guys might remember that spam featured very heavily in this episode. Michael throws a party in the warehouse and he tells the party planning committee he wants a pig, but all they can find is Spam. And we had a lot of questions about Spam as we were breaking down this episode. And thankfully, we got a lot of mail.

Angela [00:29:01] Yeah.

Jenna [00:29:02] Angela.

Angela [00:29:02] Yes.

Jenna [00:29:03] Did you know that Spam is a popular food in Hawaii? According to Kristen Ordoty and Viola Lee.

Angela [00:29:10] I did know that, but yes, ladies.

Jenna [00:29:12] Andrea Richardson wrote in to say that Spam was introduced to Hawaii, Guam and the other Pacific islands during World War Two because soldiers received it to eat in place of fresh meat. And it has been a staple of the Hawaiian diet ever since. She said that at one point there was even a widespread hoarding of Spam and toilet paper for fear that shipments would stop when the war ended. Toilet paper hoarding. That sounds familiar.

Angela [00:29:43] Trigger warning.

Jenna [00:29:44] Yes. And this is maybe the biggest news, Angela, Peggy S. and Emily Childs said there is a Spam museum in Austin Hastings, Minnesota.

Angela [00:29:56] I know that. You want to know how I know?

Jenna [00:29:59] You know there’s a Spam museum in Minnesota? Yes. How do you know?

Angela [00:30:04] OK, this is awesome. Listen to this. We got the loveliest letter from two sisters who are from Austin, Minnesota. I want to give a shout out to Laura and Amanda Instad, who said that Austin is the birthplace of Spam. And in fact, the town is nickname Spam Town, USA. They wrote this and I quote, ‘In the spirit of the podcast, let’s start with a couple of fast facts.’ How cute are these girls? I love it. They’re going to give us some fast facts. I’m going to read them off. Ready?

Jenna [00:30:36] Yes.

Angela [00:30:36] Fast fact number one. On the days when Spam is being processed, everyone in town wakes up to the smell of bacon wafting over from the factory.

Jenna [00:30:46] Oh, my gosh. Michael would love that. Michael would have never burnt his foot on a George Foreman grill if he just lived in Austin, Minnesota.

Angela [00:30:53] I know. Michael should have moved there instead of Colorado. Fast fact number two: apart from the lingering scent of bacon, Spam plays a role in our lives in other ways, like our yearly Spam Jam Festival and the creative ways local restaurants incorporate Spam into their menus.

Jenna [00:31:11] I am going to Spam Jam Festival.

Angela [00:31:13] You are going? We are going. We are adding the Spam museum to our list.

Jenna [00:31:19] Yes, but we have to go to the festival.

Angela [00:31:22] Well, yeah, we got to go for Spam Jam and then go tour the museum.

Jenna [00:31:24] I love it.

Angela [00:31:26] Fast fact number three: ninety percent of Spam in 1941 went to the war effort. Our dad always tells anyone who will listen that, “we wouldn’t have made it through the war without Spam.”

Jenna [00:31:38] Those are amazing Spam fast facts. Laura, Amanda, thank you. Applause.

Angela [00:31:44] Applause, applause. And I want you guys to know Laura and Amanda sent me Spam socks. OK, they have like a little Spam. I love them. I’ve already warned them. They sent you a Spam hat, so I got to bring it over to ya. And they sent us a photo at the Spam Museum. We’re going to put it in Office Ladies pod insta stories.

Jenna [00:32:03] All right. Here’s our list. Are you ready?

Angela [00:32:06] OK.

Jenna [00:32:06] Sass Shoe Factory tour.

Angela [00:32:09] Got it.

Jenna [00:32:10] Herr’s chip factory tour. That watermark paper factory in Italy.

Angela [00:32:16] Yes.

Jenna [00:32:17] Spam Museum.

Angela [00:32:19] Oh, and yacht factory.

Jenna [00:32:21] And should we go fishing with a bassmaster?

Angela [00:32:24] A hundred percent. Get me a Zara Puppy on the line. Let’s do it.

Jenna [00:32:28] All right.

Angela [00:32:28] I don’t even know what that is. I just remember that guy I dated in college had a Zara Puppy or something when he went fishing. I think.

Jenna [00:32:34] What’s a Zara Puppy?

Angela [00:32:34] I don’t know. I think it was a hook that looked like a little fish that flopped around.

Jenna [00:32:39] Here’s what I hear when you say that. I hear zero puppy.

Angela [00:32:43] Zero puppy.

Jenna [00:32:44] Give me a zero puppy.

Angela [00:32:45] I don’t know. I have no idea.

Jenna [00:32:47] Well, I don’t know who’s in charge of these kinds of things, but somewhere out there, someone would want to, like, finance our factory tour.

Angela [00:32:57] Nat Geo!

Jenna [00:32:58] Nat Geo.

Angela [00:32:59] Nat Geo, call us. Jenna, we could do a whole ‘factories around the world with Jenna and Angela’.

Jenna [00:33:05] Call us We’re in.

Angela [00:33:07] We’d do it.

Jenna [00:33:08] Somebody must know someone there. Tell them.

Angela [00:33:10] I would watch that show.

Jenna [00:33:12] Ok, lady, I think now you have some background catches for this episode.

Angela [00:33:16] I do. I’m going to hit you up with them. All right. Christine Byrd said at 12 minutes, 11 seconds, is Michael sitting in his office holding a bottle of chocolate sauce? Yes. Great catch. I went back to this episode. I went right to that time code. It looks like a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate sauce, like he’s got it turned around so you don’t see the label. He’s holding that in one hand. But then if you look, there is the cap of it on his desk. Was he going to take a big swig out of it? But then Dwight interrupted him? Like…

Jenna [00:33:46] Oh, that’s good.

Angela [00:33:47] I screen grabbed it. I’ll put it in stories.

Jenna [00:33:49] Well, Rebecca Lee has a palm tree sighting at five minutes, four seconds when the group is all out in the parking lot. And Samantha Tucker saw a palm tree at seven minutes, twenty one seconds, Melissa C. wrote in to say that she is obsessed with looking for palm trees now, because you guys, remember, we did not shoot this show in Scranton. We shot it in Southern California.

Angela [00:34:11] Yeah.

Jenna [00:34:12] And we tried to remove all our palm trees using CGI in post, but we did not always get them. So Melissa C would like to propose a new element to our rewatch called Palm Tree Spotter.

Angela [00:34:24] Oh, Melissa, I like it. I want to give a shout out to the_photographer. They shared some great details with us about the steel drum that Michael is playing when he sings, Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot. They said it’s actually called a steel pan and is the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. Steel pan musicians are called Panis, and it’s widely regarded as the only major musical instrument to be invented in the 20th century.

Jenna [00:34:52] Wow.

Angela [00:34:53] Good fast fact there.

Jenna [00:34:54] I like that. All right. Well, moving on to Traveling Salesman. Lady, we got a lot of mail about laundry and betrayal.

Angela [00:35:02] Yes, we did.

Jenna [00:35:03] We went on quite a tangent in this episode.

Angela [00:35:05] Yeah.

Jenna [00:35:05] Shauna Z. said, I have never laughed so hard at a podcast as I did last night driving home when you guys were talking about funeral poses. I spit tea all over my steering wheel and windshield. F you, Larry. I’m so sorry we made you spit out your tea, but I’m glad you enjoyed it. And Angela C. said, please make laundry and betrayal into something real.

Angela [00:35:34] I mean, it would be kind of fun if we wrote a limited laundry and betrayal series and did it as a podcast.

Jenna [00:35:40] Amazing.

Angela [00:35:41] We could get all of our friends to, like, hop on and play roles. It would be so great. Well, for those of you who haven’t heard what we’re talking about, the whole Larry and Marjorie bit, you can go to this episode, Traveling Salesman, go to one hour, two minutes and 20 seconds and you will hear the whole thing.

Jenna [00:35:58] All right. Well, let’s move on to The Return, which featured an interview with Ed Helms. So wonderful.

Angela [00:36:04] So wonderful.

Jenna [00:36:06] A lot of people were curious why we didn’t ask Ed how he came to be on The Office when we did our interview with him, because we usually lead with that.

Angela [00:36:15] Yes.

Jenna [00:36:16] Well, that is because we covered Ed’s origin story in The Merger. So if any of you missed that and you’re wondering, I had interviewed Ed off air for The Merger, and Angela, you talked with Rashida, because those were episodes where their characters first appeared, and I told his whole audition story in that episode, The Merger. So you can go back and check it out.

Angela [00:36:40] Here’s a fan favorite moment we failed to mention. Several people wrote in about the scene with Ryan and the lemonade. Brianna said, If you ladies revisited season three, I wanted to say the moment in the episode at 16 minutes, 57 seconds, where Ryan draws a tilde and an accent on the lemonade, and then his face after was probably my favorite joke of the whole show. Do you remember this, Jenna? OK, so in The Return, Oscar is back from his paid vacation that he was given because of Michael’s offensive behavior, and Michael is going overboard with Oscar being back. He really wants him to feel welcome. So he decides, of course, we have to throw him a party. Michael says he wants it to be, and I’m quoting, a celebration of Oscar, an Oscar night, that he wants it to be Oscar specific and that he wants to celebrate Oscar’s Mexicanity. So at 16 Minutes, 56 seconds, you see the party planning committee. They’re trying to decorate the conference room using Michael’s ridiculous instructions. They don’t know what to do. Ryan is using a Sharpie and he puts a tilde over the in and an accent over the E on the big like bottle of lemonade. The soda bottle.

Jenna [00:37:48] Yes.

Angela [00:37:49] And he looks to camera and he’s like, I don’t know. And he sets it down next to a sign that says Mexican lemonade.

Jenna [00:37:55] I had completely forgotten about that moment. So, Brianna, thank you for bringing it up to the top. A lot of people also wrote in to say that they wished we had discussed this Phyllis talking head from this episode.

Angela [00:38:09] Yes.

Jenna [00:38:10] Which I love and I’m bummed we didn’t. This is the episode where Phyllis famously says, “Dwight has a big personality and I have a big personality, and sometimes when two people like that get together, it can be explosive.” So good. Our writers were so good at writing our characters.

Angela [00:38:31] So good. But I’m telling you, I actually texted Phyllis yesterday and just told her everything that comes out of her mouth is just gold. She is my favorite in this rewatch so far. She’s who I gravitate towards. I just love her.

Jenna [00:38:45] We recently watched Inside Out as a family and Phyllis is the little sad character in the girl’s brain. She is so good in that, too.

Angela [00:38:55] She’s the heart of that.

Jenna [00:38:57] Yeah.

Angela [00:38:57] She made me cry in that.

Jenna [00:38:59] Yeah.

Angela [00:38:59] That’s like a family favorite of ours.

Jenna [00:39:01] All right. Well, in this episode, Dwight goes to work at Staples and we had a fan catch from Elvira Lin 84, that I loved at nine minutes, twenty three seconds, the woman in Staples that’s talking with Dwight was played by Charlotte Stewart, who played Miss Beedle on Little House on the Prairie. We also heard from Jesse M. who said she noticed this as well. It might be a fun fact that only an older generation can appreciate. Guys, during this pandemic, my family did a rewatch of Little House on the Prairie.

Angela [00:39:38] You know, I watched it growing up and my memories of Little House on the Prairie are like the baby got a fever on Christmas Eve and Pa had to go out in the rain storm and Nellie was always being mean and- did it hold up?

Jenna [00:39:50] It does hold up, Ange. And it’s a really weird thing to watch during current times because like this family, they’re just on their own in their little farmhouse and the kids have to be friends with each other. And it’s just the family unit.

Angela [00:40:07] Kind of all stuck together inside?

Jenna [00:40:09] Yes. And every once in a while, Pa will venture off to town and he’ll bring back some special treat. And it’s all very exciting. I felt (UNCLEAR) very relatable.

Angela [00:40:21] And I have to point out something. Jesse, who wrote in, her profile, says she is, quote, fueled by chocolate. And that really made me laugh. Jesse, I feel you. I, I feel you.

Jenna [00:40:31] I saw that, too. Jesse, we’re with you.

Angela [00:40:35] We also got a lot of mail about the Jim and Pam prank on Andy. Now, this scene starts at thirteen minutes, twenty four seconds, if you want to check it out. Jenna, if you remember, we kind of made fun, you and I, of Jim and Pam’s lame spy skills, right?

Jenna [00:40:51] Yes.

Angela [00:40:51] We had said that we thought it was silly that Jim went to all the effort to sneakily steal Andy’s cell phone to then just hand it off to Pam, who then moments later, you know, gets up, and then her and Jim walk through the bullpen and she hands it back to him.

Jenna [00:41:06] Right.

Angela [00:41:07] Why? Well, many people disagreed with us and they had some theories of their own.

Jenna [00:41:12] Well, Anna White said she thinks Jim gives the phone to Pam so that Pam can get Andy’s cell phone number off the phone in the first place. Because how else would Jim know? She thinks Pam probably emails Jim the number so that he can start calling it after he puts it in the ceiling.

Angela [00:41:30] Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Well, my one thought is Andy’s the type of guy that gave every single person his cell phone number the first day.

Jenna [00:41:39] But that doesn’t mean they saved it.

Angela [00:41:41] That’s true. That’s true. But I just have this feeling that Andy has texted Jim, like, what up, my dog? Big Tuna, want to meet me for a beer? Big Tuna, you gonna answer? Big Tuna, look at this crazy thing I saw on the Internet. Big Tuna.

Jenna [00:41:55] Well, I like these theories, but I think I’m going to stand by my assessment that this was a lot of effort for a prank that could have been simpler.

Angela [00:42:04] It’s never about the prank. They just wanted to spend time together.

Jenna [00:42:08] You’re right.

Angela [00:42:08] Right? OK, let’s move on to Ben Franklin.

Jenna [00:42:11] You guys, Big Ben Franklin news. We found Jackie Debatin, Elizabeth the stripper. However, her last name is actually pronounced Debatin. Jackie Debatin. But you might remember she is in this episode. She is also in Fun Run. And then she’s going to pop up again in the finale. Spoiler alert.

Angela [00:42:33] Yes. Jackie reached out to me on D.M. I got her cell phone and we’ve been texting. She’s so sweet. And she sent in some audio clips about what it was like working on the show. Sam, can you play the clip?

Jackie [00:42:45] Hi Office Fans, it’s Jackie Debatin, a.k.a. Elizabeth the stripper from The Office. Angela, Jenna, thank you so much for having me on your amazing podcast. I feel so honored to be here and talk about my memories from this iconic TV show. One thing I remember so clearly is just how warm and welcoming this entire cast was. You know, as a guest star actress, you sometimes you come on and you feel like you’re busting into somebody’s family dinner. But these guys from the second I got there made me feel like part of the family and so creative and collaborative and nice to me. It was really such a great memory in that perspective.

Jenna [00:43:29] That is so sweet.

Angela [00:43:30] I know.

Jenna [00:43:31] Well, in this next clip, she talks about what it was like working with Steve Carell and also a little bit about what it was like shooting those dance scenes in the warehouse. Sam, can you play that clip?

Jackie [00:43:41] He was so sweet and so polite. I would say the day that I had to do the lap dance in the warehouse, I was not that nervous. But I’ve also played a lot of strippers in my TV career. I ironically, I don’t know why, because I’m actually an accountant in real life, but that’s probably a different story. We had this amazing costume designer put together this business suit that had so much Velcro on it. It was a challenge to get the ripped off at the right time. We had a couple of wardrobe malfunctions, but we did finally pull it off.

Jenna [00:44:16] Um, hold up. Jackie is an accountant in real life?

Angela [00:44:19] Yes, Jackie is an accountant. She’s a working actress and an accountant. Well, I also asked her if she still gets recognized. And here’s what she had to say.

Jackie [00:44:29] I do. I live in New York City now, have for the last eight years. And, you know, as New York City is, there’s always a ton of people and the stores on the street. And I’ll just have someone randomly in the middle of the day or just or in the restaurant, just come up and go, oh, my God, you’re the stripper from The Office, which makes me laugh. And um but then, of course, I look around and you can see all these other people looking at me, just random strangers. And I feel like they might think that I’m like a stripper from, like the office, like their office or their office building. Sometimes I feel like I have to explain to them that I’m, no, it’s the stripper from the TV show The Office. But yeah, these fans in these Office fans are the most amazing fans. They’re so sweet. And they always are asking me tons of questions about what it was like to be on the show and you know, what it’s like to work with all you amazing famous people. And I’m just I’m always so, you know, complimentary of telling them how nice everybody was to me and that I’ll always, always remember this one. Yeah, I guess that’s it, ladies. I hopefully I get to see you all again. Wink, wink. You know, maybe do that reunion show. Elizabeth could come back and maybe this time she gets her CPA or something. All right. Love you, Office fans! Bye.

Jenna [00:45:58] Oh, thank you, Jackie. She was so sweet to send in those clips.

Angela [00:46:01] Yes, Jackie, thank you. And Jackie texted me and she said, my niece is going to be so excited since she is the one to tell me to please check your DM’s. So I just love that, that her niece is bugging her. So thank you to Jackie’s niece for telling her to check her. DM’s so we finally got to connect.

Jenna [00:46:21] And Jackie said you can find her in a fun indie movie called Crappy Mother’s Day and she’s the lead. She doesn’t know when or where it’ll end up. They just finished it. But be on the lookout for Crappy Mother’s Day.

Angela [00:46:35] Up next is Phyllis’ Wedding. Chris DeLuca had a very interesting theory about who broke wind in Phyllis’ dressing room. Chris says, Phyllis gives a super quick glance right directly at the camera. Was she trying to blame the camera operator and trying to get them to take the blame?

Jenna [00:46:55] This is very interesting.

Angela [00:46:57] I like this theory.

Jenna [00:46:58] I do, too. We forgot that there were more people in the room besides just Michael and Phyllis.

Angela [00:47:04] Yes.

Jenna [00:47:04] Maybe a member of the documentary crew is the one who tooted.

Angela [00:47:09] I think so. I love this idea.

Jenna [00:47:11] Chris. Love it. Angela, we spoke a little bit in this episode about that fur handpiece. Lauren Ramirez wrote in to say, it is called a muff. K.K. P. L. Watson went on to say they originally had a small zippered pouch inside where ladies could keep a handkerchief, lipstick, et cetera, in place of carrying a purse.

Angela [00:47:35] Oh, I would like that.

Jenna [00:47:36] Well, dare I say, we also needed this because we had no pockets! Perhaps we had to invent a muff.

Angela [00:47:44] Oh, man.

Jenna [00:47:45] Just give us some pockets and all of our problems will be solved.

Angela [00:47:49] Give us some dang pockets. All right. Jenna, I think we should take a break, but before we do, I have to correct something I got wrong in revisited. OK, this is a revisit of a revisited. So, during our revisited with Dave Rodgers, I mentioned I was in a Clay Walker music video, and Nicole, Erica, Brandi, Hannah, April and many more let me know I got the lyrics wrong to Clay Walker’s song. Now, if you know me, you must know I can never get a song right. I know like three words of a song and then I’m going to botch it. It’s sort of my my superpower. Like I will drive you crazy on a road trip because I just always get the lyrics wrong. So here it is. Clay Walker’s song, If I Could Make a Living Out Of Loving You, not I could make a million out of loving you. Sam, can you play the clip?

Clay Walker [00:48:40] (SINGING) I’d be a millionaire in a week or two. I’d be doing what I love and loving what I do. If I could make a living out of loving you.

Jenna [00:48:52] To be fair, Angela, if he made a million out of loving you, he would also make a living out of loving you, so-.

Angela [00:49:00] Right, maybe he could flip it.

Jenna [00:49:01] You know, he says if he could make a living, he’d make a million.

Angela [00:49:06] It’s true.

Jenna [00:49:06] That’s how much money he could make loving you.

Angela [00:49:09] Well, I went back and watched the music video for this, and I found the moment, the blurry moment where I’m in the video and I’m going to put it in our stories.

Jenna [00:49:18] Oh, my gosh, I love these early acting jobs because this is reminding me of when I was a background extra for the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios.

Angela [00:49:29] Ah! What a gig. Amazing.

Jenna [00:49:31] It was a gig. It really was. I got paid 100 dollars to ride the Jurassic Park water ride- by the way, it’s a water ride- at Universal Studios for 12 hours.

Angela [00:49:44] No, Jenna.

Jenna [00:49:44] 12 hours and-.

Angela [00:49:46] No.

Jenna [00:49:47] Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Angela [00:49:48] Oh, you guys wait. I have to put some context in this. I have done this ride. It has got such a huge drop.

Jenna [00:49:55] Yep.

Angela [00:49:55] I’ve done it with the kids. We have we bought the photo, you know, the photo when you do the drop, and the kids’ faces, it’s like horror. The drop is so much bigger than you can prepare for. And I got completely soaked. I had to go to the gift shop and I had to buy a pair of sweatpants to wear around the rest of the day because I was drenched.

Jenna [00:50:14] Yeah, this was my first acting job when I arrived in Los Angeles. My friend and I both signed up.

Angela [00:50:19] Oh, my God.

Jenna [00:50:20] We were so excited when we got to Universal Studios. As we’re walking in, we passed by Arnold Schwarzenegger shooting baskets outside of a soundstage. We were like, we have arrived! This is going to be the best day ever!

Angela [00:50:34] Woo hoo!

Jenna [00:50:35] Twelve hours later.

Angela [00:50:36] Did you cry as you left?

Jenna [00:50:39] The difference of us walking to the gig and walking from the gig at the end of the day, we were so beaten down. I want to say at a certain point they felt like they weren’t getting on camera enough water splashing on us to indicate that it was a water ride-.

Angela [00:50:55] No.

Jenna [00:50:56] So the first thing they did was they had guys with buckets of water that they would just throw on us as we scooted by in the little boat.

Angela [00:51:04] Oh, no.

Jenna [00:51:05] But at one point, not even that was enough. They got out what’s called a water cannon.

Angela [00:51:11] No.

Jackie [00:51:12] Yep.

Angela [00:51:12] Oh, my gosh.

Jenna [00:51:13] They shoot cannon balls of water at you.

Angela [00:51:16] Oh my god. Jenna.

Jenna [00:51:17] I can’t believe I didn’t just drive back to Missouri after that. It’s like, this is being an actor. Yeah.

Angela [00:51:25] Twelve hours. I, I rode that ride one time and I was like, I’m never doing it again.

Jenna [00:51:31] Well, if you see the commercial, there is a spot where you can pause and for one second half of me is on screen. So lady, while you were dancing to this Clay Walker music video, I was getting hit by a water cannon. That’s showbiz, folks.

Angela [00:51:48] Oh, man.

Jenna [00:51:50] Well, let’s take a break and we will come back and we’ll start with Business School. All right. We are back. We’re going to start with Business School. This is the episode with Pam’s art show. And we got mail, lady, from so many artists after this episode because they really connected with Pam.

Angela [00:52:09] This is also the episode with the bat in the office and several people shared with us about having bats in their offices.

Jenna [00:52:18] What? Bats in their offices?

Angela [00:52:21] Yes. Listen to this one. Kelly Rarden said, re watching this episode gave me flashbacks of the time I was working alone in my office late at night during a thunderstorm and a bat started swooping at my head. I was on a tight deadline, so I had to dodge the bat for an hour while I tried to continue working.

Jenna [00:52:42] Kelly, did you get a rabies shot? I hope Kelly got a rabies shot. Remember? You can’t always feel it when they bite you.

Angela [00:52:48] I know. They’re sneaky. And speaking of bats, Kendra Zane said, I can’t believe you guys didn’t touch on the rabies foreshadowing with Meredith. Kendra, we totally should have. Great catch.

Jenna [00:53:01] All right, Angela, remember Cocktails?

Angela [00:53:03] Yes, I do.

Jenna [00:53:04] Michael goes to the party at David Wallace’s house. Do you remember that creepy ghost lady in the background of Michael’s talking head?

Angela [00:53:11] How could I forget.

Jenna [00:53:12] So creepy. A lot of people wrote in to say they think it was someone from the catering staff.

Angela [00:53:17] Oh.

Jenna [00:53:18] They noted that the woman is wearing the same burgundy top as the other caterers and they think she’s chopping something or maybe washing dishes because her shoulders and arms are kind of moving a little bit.

Angela [00:53:31] You guys really, really gave this a once over. I mean, if you’re clocking her shoulder movements, I’m impressed.

Jenna [00:53:38] Well, Mando said, the ghost from the talking head is also in the kitchen at six minutes, thirty three seconds as David’s wife puts down Michael’s potato salad. And Leslie Heath said, you can see her walk behind Michael and Jan at 14 minutes, three seconds.

Angela [00:53:54] This is so much more than I ever thought we would know about this ghost woman.

Jenna [00:53:57] I know it’s so true. So not a ghost. Member of catering staff.

Angela [00:54:03] OK, I’ve got a few more sketches for you. Charlie said, I’d like to point out that when Jan presents Michael with their love contract, Michael says, I’m going to frame mine. In the later episode, The Deposition, when Jan is attempting to sue Dunder Mifflin, Michael presents the contract as evidence and it’s in a black frame.

Jenna [00:54:24] Nice.

Angela [00:54:24] It’s so good, isn’t it? And Chris G says you didn’t mention the fact that Jan drove her own car to the party, but then rode home with Michael. What happened to her car?

Jenna [00:54:36] I had wondered about that. I have to say, I wondered, did they have to drive back to David Wallace’s house and pick up her car? You know what I think she did? I think she sent Michael in a cab the next day to get her car.

Angela [00:54:48] I think she drank too much wine and-.

Jenna [00:54:51] Oh, well, that’s for sure why Michael drove her. But-.

Angela [00:54:53] Yeah.

Jenna [00:54:54] How she retrieved her car, I bet she made Michael go get it.

Angela [00:54:57] And then I bet Michael made Dwight go get it.

Jenna [00:55:00] Exactly. Exactly. Well, moving on to The Negotiation. My pocket soapbox got a lot of mail in support of my position. One of my favorites came from Melanie Vergara, who said, ladies, I feel so strongly about the symbology of pockets that I refused to even consider buying a wedding dress without pockets. And I found the wedding dress of my dreams. It has pockets. She’s going to wear it this year.

Angela [00:55:29] I mean, a wedding dress with pockets is pretty phenomenal.

Jenna [00:55:32] Yeah.

Angela [00:55:32] Well, Kinney, who is a historian, wrote in and had a correction for us. Kinney says, women had pockets throughout history until the eighteen hundreds when, for various complicated and mostly sexist reasons, women lost their pockets. So yes, the lack of pockets is a sexist thing, but the four hundred years ago thing is wrong. It’s more like two hundred. Secondly, she says, corsets were not bad for you. In fact, they gave you great back support. The reason corsets hurt people today is because they either haven’t broken them in the same way you have to break in a stiff material shoe before they’re comfortable, or because they are not fitted properly, because people today don’t realize the absolute importance of a well fitted corset and that she would personally take a corset over a bra any day.

Jenna [00:56:24] Wow.

Angela [00:56:25] That’s a lot of information there.

Jenna [00:56:26] Kinney, I could not love this letter more. Thank you very much. Although I do have to say, having worn many corsets for acting projects over the year, perhaps they were ill fitted, I’m going to go ahead and take a bra.

Angela [00:56:38] You’re going to take a bra over a corset?

Jenna [00:56:40] I’m going to take a sports bra if I’m being honest. I don’t even want any of the underwire if I can avoid it.

Angela [00:56:47] You’re going to go uniboob and be fine with it.

Jenna [00:56:50] Here’s the thing. When I get dressed in the mornings, I like to get dressed as if I might have to break into a full sprint at some point in the day. okay?

Angela [00:56:59] Your panic button is ready. If you need to run. If you need to haul ass.

Jenna [00:57:04] Yeah, I’m dressed for it. If there’s an apocalyptic event, I’m ready. Men are naturally dressed this way. Truly, a man could pretty much break into a sprint pretty easily. Right? Well, I want to survive end of times. A possible mugging. I don’t know. So no corsets, no Spanx, no high heels for me. I need to run to my bag of expired medication, my book bag with my protein bars, my backpack with the solar panel so I can charge my phone. It’s full. You know what I have in my emergency backpack, Angela? We live in Southern California, but I have four of those foil blankets that you wrap around yourself, like for extreme cold temperature, because you don’t know. You don’t know the weather shift that’s going to happen if a meteor hits the earth.

Angela [00:57:57] This is like that Jake Gyllenhaal movie The Day After Tomorrow, where, you know, all of a sudden this like crazy Arctic storm freezes all of New York City.

Jenna [00:58:06] Right. I would have a foil blanket for that and I would have comfortable clothing with giant pockets. I would be as ready as possible. You see what I’m saying? I can’t wear a corset.

Angela [00:58:15] I do. No, you can’t. You can’t wear a corset. Jenna, you know, my theory on all of this is like what they say about a bear attack. You only have to run faster than one other person.

Jenna [00:58:26] Oh, my god.

Angela [00:58:28] I only have to be faster than one other person in the pack and I’ll be OK.

Jenna [00:58:34] It’s so interesting they didn’t use that quote in the edge. They went with what one man has done another can do. But yours is also very inspiring.

Angela [00:58:44] OK, well, Jenna, it was also during The Negotiation that we discussed our love of Keanu Reeves movies. And last week we found out that you have not been watching John Wick.

Jenna [00:58:56] I’m so sorry.

Angela [00:58:58] Well, I guess there are a few Keanu Reeves/ The Office crossover connections.

Jenna [00:59:05] What?

Angela [00:59:05] Jenna, we are like six degrees separation of Keanu Reeves. We almost know him.

Jenna [00:59:10] What?

Angela [00:59:11] Ready?

Jenna [00:59:12] Wait, I could blow your mind right now.

Angela [00:59:14] What? Have you met him? Jenna Fischer. Have you met Keanu Reeves?

Jenna [00:59:19] No, but I was at a birthday party with him for a mutual friend. But I never got up the courage to cross the room and introduce myself. And this happened like recently, like before coronavirus.

Angela [00:59:31] I have no words.

Jenna [00:59:32] Did I forget to tell you that?

Angela [00:59:34] What is wrong with you? How could you forget to tell me this? We have talked for six months about Keanu Reeves.

Jenna [00:59:42] I know. And, you know, it’s really weird because when you told me I had a Keanu Reeves Office connection, I got really excited because I think I’d forgotten that I had actually been in the same room with him once.

Angela [00:59:52] Well, I have one Keanu Reeves story. I guess I haven’t shared it with you. I don’t know why we don’t share with each other about our Keanu Reeves stories.

Jenna [01:00:01] What’s happened to us?

Angela [01:00:02] What ha- we used to be best friends. What’s going on? In my early 20s, I was performing improv at iO West in Hollywood and I was at a red light crossing the street to go to the theater with Wyatt Cenac. Some of you guys might know Wyatt. He is very funny, talented comedian, performer, and we were standing on the street corner and like an SUV pulled up. And in the passenger seat was Keanu Reeves. And I was prime Kinsey 20s. Tank top, little shorts.

Jenna [01:00:29] Uh huh.

Angela [01:00:29] Right? And Wyatt Cenac goes, Oh, my God, it’s Keanu Reeves. And I was like, huh? And he goes, He just checked you out. Kinsey, he just checked you out. I was like, no, Wyatt, if you’re making this up, you better not be messing with me. And then the car pulled away. But he was like, no, Ange, Keanu Reeves looked you up and down. I was like, no! I don’t know if this is true. I never saw it.

Jenna [01:00:56] No, you make that true. That’s true.

Angela [01:00:56] It’s now part of my personal history.

Jenna [01:00:56] It’s your personal history, and you can hold that forever.

Angela [01:01:03] Wyatt, thank you.

Jenna [01:01:04] All right. Well, what are the Keanu Reeves Office connections? Cuz I want to know.

Angela [01:01:07] Oh yes. Here are our crossover connections. Ali Lincoln said, I have a correction. Speed is fantastic. But Peak Keanu Reeves hotness includes David Denman in The Replacements. If you don’t get the chills when David as Brian scores a touchdown, you’re broken.

Jenna [01:01:27] Wait, so David Denman knows Keanu Reeves.

Angela [01:01:30] Why didn’t we talk to David about Keanu Reeves?

Jenna [01:01:33] Why haven’t we been exploiting this relationship?

Angela [01:01:35] Exactly. OK, and a great catch by Drew Knox. They say the movie Speed features the amazing Beth Grant, who later appears in a couple of episodes with you all, most notably in the dinner party as Dwight’s date slash ex babysitter, Melvina.

Jenna [01:01:53] Yes, yes.

Angela [01:01:56] Applause That is fantastic.

Jenna [01:01:57] She is the woman who is very, very nervous about getting off the bus and walking across the little plank.

Angela [01:02:04] Yes.

Jenna [01:02:04] To the other speeding vehicle with the police.

Angela [01:02:07] Oh, my gosh, I- god- that is just really good Keanu Office crossover.

Jenna [01:02:12] I’m moving us along to Safety Training. Angela, you told the story about how your mom gets people’s names wrong.

Angela [01:02:19] Yes.

Jenna [01:02:20] You gave an example of how your mom would call your friend Bart, Mart. She called him Mart. We asked who would ever name their kid mart.

Angela [01:02:29] I think you asked that.

Jenna [01:02:30] I did. I did ask that.

Angela [01:02:33] Me just throwing you under the bus.

Jenna [01:02:35] Well, it’s fine, because after we recorded that day, I was curious and I Googled it. And apparently a lot of people in Estonia named their children Mart, and two of Estonia’s prime ministers have been named Mart. Mart Sillerman and Mart Laar.

Angela [01:02:54] Mart Laar.

Jenna [01:02:55] Mart Laar, he is a prime minister, former prime minister of Estonia.

Angela [01:03:01] There you go.

Jenna [01:03:02] We also wondered, and Angela, we both wondered, why Andy brought his lunch to work on a plate covered in foil.

Angela [01:03:09] Yes.

Jenna [01:03:09] Many people, including Lee Miller, Shyley Taylor, Hannah Erme and Megan Bennett, said it was the plate of cookies that Andy brought to share with everyone. It was a deleted scene.

Angela [01:03:22] Yes, it was. You’re so right. I should have caught that. Prison Mike added, the people who brought their lunch to work on a plate covered in foil were Roy and Pam. Remember when they were eating their way through all of their unused reception meals?

Angela [01:03:35] Oh, that is right. Yes, I remember that story line now. All right. We have more to cover. And next up is Women’s Appreciation. Oh, gosh, we had some interesting mail on this one.

Jenna [01:03:47] Yes, you might remember that in Women’s Appreciation Phyllis gets flashed in the parking lot, and this leads Dwight to setting up a hotline to find the predator, and he holds up a flier in the episode and it has a phone number very clearly printed on it. And when the episode aired, we shared that if you call that number, you heard a voicemail from Dwight. Well, apparently the phone number on that flier is now, wait for it, a sex hotline.

Angela [01:04:17] Yes. So I am filing this under- I don’t know what should I find it under- OMG. Sarah wrote in and said, I called the hotline number from this week’s episode. It is a sex call line. Oh, the irony. Guess it’s no longer to report flashing now. Jenna.

Jenna [01:04:35] What?

Angela [01:04:35] I called the number too.

Jenna [01:04:37] You did not.

Angela [01:04:38] I did. I had to know. I had to know. OK, it’s the 800 number on the flier that’s on the prop, right?

Jenna [01:04:45] Yes.

Angela [01:04:46] So Sam, I want you to call this number.

Sex Hotline [01:04:51] Welcome to America’s hottest talk line. Guys, hot ladies are waiting to talk to you, press one now. Ladies to talk to interesting and-.

Angela [01:05:02] Ok, hang up!

Jenna [01:05:02] Wow.

Angela [01:05:02] Guys, welcome to the hottest sex line.

Jenna [01:05:06] Let me ask you a question.

Angela [01:05:08] Yeah.

Jenna [01:05:08] That voice is often used when women are being flirtatious and coy. Men, do you like that voice? Does that voice turn you on? Hi, what is up right now? What is up right now is what I want to know. Are you up right now? I mean, is that is that getting you there? That voice gets you there? Sorry lady on sex hotline, but I feel like she’s putting on, like, sexy voice.

Angela [01:05:33] Uh uh. I think that’s how she talks in real life. I think when she goes to the grocery store, she’s like, what is your price on avocados this week?

Jenna [01:05:41] Well, I hope she’s not talking to the grocery store workers about that because they’re all going to get so turned on. OK, Ange, a lot of people wished we had discussed a certain scene in the food court where Pam and Karen have very different opinions on Michael’s relationship with Jan, Sarah Gray, Em C. Michelle G. Nicole Klem, Armanda, Yesenia P, Emily Lucille, and Alexis Leary and many more all said when Karen says, “sometimes you just have to push through rough patches” and Pam says, “maybe it sounds like you two are just wrong for each other” and then they share an awkward look, I really wanted to hear you guys break that down. All right, this is a missed opportunity because I do have thoughts.

Angela [01:06:30] Well, I’m sure you probably did.

Jenna [01:06:32] Here’s what I find interesting. I think it’s really interesting that their advice to Michael seems to be kind of the opposite of how we’ve seen them in their own relationships. I feel like Pam was always pushing through rough patches, you know, and Karen always felt to me like the example of a more kind of assertive, empowered woman who would say, listen, maybe this just isn’t a match. So I found it interesting that their advice to Michael was a little different than how maybe they live their own lives.

Angela [01:07:04] Yeah, I mean, they’re both just speaking where they’re at. That’s what I thought.

Jenna [01:07:09] Well, it’s true. I think Karen has been in a giant rough patch with Jim from the beginning that she keeps trying to convince herself that this is a great relationship for her. So I think there’s some truth in that.

Angela [01:07:22] Yeah. And Pam is finally done doing that.

Jenna [01:07:24] You’re right.

Angela [01:07:25] She’s living a more authentic life. She can be more honest with herself and so she’s more honest with others.

Jenna [01:07:30] Yeah, I hear that too.

Angela [01:07:32] In the same episode, Karina and Maggie wrote in and said they were sad that we did not discuss Angela’s large colonial dolls talking head. I was too, Jenna. I was bummed. After the fact I was like, oh my gosh, that’s like one of my favorite talking heads and I can’t believe I didn’t talk about it.

Jenna [01:07:49] I think we just had so much to cover in this episode that we didn’t get to everything.

Angela [01:07:53] I agree, but this is for Karina and Maggie. “Sometimes the clothes at Gap Kids are just too flashy, so I’m forced to go to the American Girl store in order clothes for large colonial dolls.”.

Jenna [01:08:05] I’ll have you know, there is no way you could fit into that doll clothing. I mean, you are tiny. Yes. But I feel like I could put that clothing on my cat. It’s very tiny.

Angela [01:08:18] I know. It’s so ridiculous. Oh. Oh, and I have to point out one thing on a personal note. This is one of the only episodes that I actually wore pantyhose in. I knew I would be cold at this mall. Jenna, this was our mall. We know this mall. I always freeze.

Jenna [01:08:34] It’s cold.

Angela [01:08:34] And I decided to wear pantyhose. You can see them when I’m seated talking to Michael in Victoria’s Secrets.

Jenna [01:08:41] Yes. Meanwhile, I’ve had panty hose on for three years because I didn’t know that you could just refuse to wear them. All right. Moving into Beach Games, this was a very big episode and we really did try to cover everything. Again, we missed a few things. We got some mail about the scene where the group arrives at Lake Scranton. So the bus has just parked. Everyone’s filing off the bus. Fan question from Alyssa Jessell, Joel M. and Jen Seely, As Michael gets off the bus, he says, watch out for snakes and he kind of mugs for the camera. Well, this line actually comes from the movie Eegah. Let me spell that for you. It’s E E G A H. This movie was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and that line has become a running joke. So these guys want to know, was the line written or improvised? Do we think that Michael liked the movie Eegah or do we think maybe Michael is a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000? Guys, we asked Jen Celotta, writer of this episode, and she said this was one hundred percent a coincidence. It was not intentional. When Michael says, watch out for snakes getting off the bus, that line was written because she just thought it would be really funny if the first thing Michael says to us as we arrive at the beach is something that would make the beach completely not fun, which would be snakes.

Angela [01:10:05] Right.

Jenna [01:10:06] She also said that I guess there was a real warning to watch out for snakes, the cast and crew.

Angela [01:10:13] Yes. I wanted to take a second and mention one of my favorite deleted Phyllis talking heads from this episode. They’re all talking about if Jim would be a good boss or not, right?

Jenna [01:10:25] Yes, because he’s up for this job at corporate, right?

Angela [01:10:28] That’s right. He’s up for the job. And Phyllis says in a talking head to camera, I think Jim would be a good boss. Plus, he’s eye candy. It’s OK. Bob Vance knows he’s on my list. George Clooney, Leo DiCaprio, Jim, and that British guy who got in trouble with the prostitute.

Jenna [01:10:45] I guess that would be Hugh Grant. Wow. And Bob knows.

Angela [01:10:49] Bob knows this and he’s OK with it.

Jenna [01:10:52] OK, so Meredith hits on Jim to sign her cast. Phyllis has Jim on her list.

Angela [01:11:01] Yeah.

Jenna [01:11:01] Wow. Phyllis.

Angela [01:11:03] The ladies are going after your fella.

Jenna [01:11:05] More fan mail lady from Krista K. She says, I believe it was Jenna that equated walking over lava stones to walking on Lego bricks. I wanted you guys to know that doing a Lego walk, which is walking endlessly on Lego bricks, is actually a thing that happens during Lego fan conventions. Krista said she tried it once and failed miserably, but her husband did alright one year, and during last year’s Philly Brick Fest, the Guinness World Record was set at two thousand seven hundred and thirty seven feet. But listen to this. That record was shattered on November 20th, 2020 by someone named L.A. Beast, who took a video of themselves walking twelve thousand seven hundred and fifty feet over a bunch of Lego. And there’s a video on YouTube. But she said it’s like an hour long.

Angela [01:11:58] That is crazy.

Jenna [01:11:59] Someone walked on Legos for an hour.

Angela [01:12:02] All I could think of as a parent was, oh, my God, who had to pick up all those stinking Legos when it was done?

Jenna [01:12:08] Yeah.

Angela [01:12:08] That’s a lot of Lego pickup.

Jenna [01:12:10] It really is. Moving us along now to The Job, fan catch from Erica Jane, my thought was that maybe this episode is called The Job, not because of all the people who are vying for the corporate job, but because of Jan’s boob job.

Angela [01:12:29] I saw a few people sort of had this idea and it cracked me up.

Jenna [01:12:32] I know. It is a bit of a double entendre.

Angela [01:12:35] Double entendre.

Jenna [01:12:35] Yeah. This episode also featured a really great interview with Paul Lieberstein. We got a bunch of mail from people saying how much they loved hearing from him. And lady, we also had people write in and say that they love our tangents, our soapboxes, our deep dives. Because you apologized because I think you felt a little self-conscious when you were sharing about the Limelight, the club inside of the Gothic Cathedral.

Angela [01:13:02] Yes, I went on for a long time and then I realized like, oh, my gosh, am I am I talking too much about this?

Jenna [01:13:07] Well, this feeling of being self-conscious and trying not to apologize for things you don’t need to apologize for really resonated with people. And I am very happy to see that we are all going to work on this together.

Angela [01:13:19] Yes, we are.

Jenna [01:13:21] Well, guys, that pretty much wraps it up. But before we go, we did get a question for our sound engineer, Sam. Sarah Vicari would like to know, where are you from in Wisconsin?

Sam [01:13:32] Oh, I am from Watertown, Wisconsin. It’s halfway between Madison and Milwaukee. And our mascot was a Gosling. It was a very intimidating baby goose in a sweater.

Jenna [01:13:41] Oh.

Angela [01:13:41] Go, baby goose in your little sweater.

Jenna [01:13:44] Angela’s doing some candlesticks as she cheers that cheer for your tiny goose.

Angela [01:13:49] Jazz hands. And speaking of local treasures, I wanted to give a shout out to Christy Adventures. She sent us a walking tour guide of Scranton. It’s like a whole map. It’s amazing. And I’ve already looked at it a few times.

Jenna [01:14:02] You gave me one and I literally love it.

Angela [01:14:06] Yeah.

Jenna [01:14:06] We will use that when we go. Well, there you have it, guys. We have revisited the second half of season three. Thank you to Randall Einhorn for talking with us. And thank you to Jackie Debatin for sending in those audio clips.

Angela [01:14:22] Yes. And thank you to you all for sending in your questions and comments. There were a lot. We tried to get to as many as we could. I know we miss some, guys. I know we did. But, you know, we’ll just keep chipping away at them.

Jenna [01:14:33] If you want to send us a question or comments, head over to the Office Ladies pod Instagram. We check all our comments there. And if you go to our website, OfficeLadies.com, you can find little folders that correspond to each episode. That’s where we pull the questions for our regular episodes and for our revisiteds.

Angela [01:14:50] Yes. And on Office Ladies Pod, if you could put your question or comment to the episode it pertains to, that way it has a better chance of making it in.

Jenna [01:15:00] Wait, wait, guys. That sounded like something I would say. Angela, am I rubbing off on you? You just directed people to an organizational technique. I’ve never been so excited.

Angela [01:15:17] Well, gosh, I didn’t know that would do it for you like that, I’ll throw out some more of my home organization tips, OK?

Jenna [01:15:23] Please. All right, guys, we will be back next week with a regular episode. Love you.

Angela [01:15:28] Love you guys. Take care.

Jenna [01:15:32] 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 [01:15:47] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

Jenna [01:15:50] For Ad free versions of Office Ladies go to Stitcherpremium.com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code “Office”.