EP. 169 — Doomsday

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. Hi, lady. 

Angela [00:00:25] Good morning, good morning. 

Jenna [00:00:28] Wow, you’re in a chipper mood today. 

Angela [00:00:30] I’m very chipper. I mean, I have been up since 8 a.m. with a plumber, but that didn’t stop me from being excited and happy to be here. 

Jenna [00:00:39] I love it. Unfortunately, Sam has the hiccups. 

Angela [00:00:43] He does. 

Jenna [00:00:44] Do you have a hiccups cure? Because I have one. 

Angela [00:00:47] Hold your breath?

Jenna [00:00:49] No, no. You take ten teeny, tiny sips of water. 

Sam [00:00:55] Okay. 

Jenna [00:00:57] And then stop. And then do it a second time. But you take the teeniest sip and you swallow it completely, and then you take another teeny sip. 

Sam [00:01:06] All right, I’m going, I’m doing it now. 

Jenna [00:01:08] Okay, let us know. All right. Well, while Sam is sipping his tiny sips of water, I’m going to tell you- there it is- we just heard the hiccup. We’re talking about season eight, episode six, written by Daniel Chun and directed by Troy Miller. Here is your summary: Dwight sends a ripple of panic through the Scranton branch when he introduces an accountability tracking device to the office software meant to reduce the number of mistakes being made. If they make five mistakes, an email will go out to Robert California, revealing what the employees really think of him. Meanwhile, Gabe and Darryl compete for the affection of new warehouse manager, Val. Sam, how’s it going? He’s sipping. 

Sam [00:01:54] It’s still going. 

Jenna [00:01:55] Okay. 

Angela [00:01:55] All right. Listen, my only other thing I know about hiccups is that if someone scares me, then they go away. But I don’t recommend it. It’s unpleasant. 

Jenna [00:02:06] All right, Here is fast fact number one. I got to speak with writer Danny Chun about this episode. He is so lovely. He told me that the core emotion that they were exploring with this episode was Dwight feeling underappreciated. 

Angela [00:02:21] Oh. 

Jenna [00:02:22] Danny said that he really loved episodes that explored Dwight’s sensitivity and how his feelings manifest in a kind of twisted and weird way because he’s, quote, incapable of normal expression. Danny also said that the writers were very aware that Pam is the person who really understands Dwight. And they they made sure to have that come out in this episode as well. 

Angela [00:02:45] Yeah, I enjoyed all of those scenes. I always do. 

Jenna [00:02:49] Danny also mentioned that in terms of this season, they were really toggling a lot between who was the subject of the A story. With Steve Carell, it was always Michael Scott. He was pretty much exclusively our A story. 

Angela [00:03:03] Right. 

Jenna [00:03:03] But with this season, they wanted to lean on different characters. Danny said one of the benefits of our shooting schedule this season was that the writers were able to figure things out and get kind of feedback in real time. Like we weren’t that far ahead in terms of shooting an episode, having it air, feeling the feedback. And the writers liked the fact that they could kind of adjust things in future episodes… 

Angela [00:03:27] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:03:28] Based on that feedback. And that was a lot of what they were doing this season. And he said, You’re going to feel it. You’re going to feel them like trying things and then being like, Oh, maybe that didn’t work, or trying things and being like, Oh, yes, we found something here. So I thought that was a really interesting thing to think about, just in terms of season eight as a whole. 

Angela [00:03:48] Absolutely. I’m going to have that in mind now as we rewatch. 

Jenna [00:03:52] Fast fact number two is all about the song that plays in our cold open this week, Closing Time by Semisonic. You know, we’ll break down the cold open when we get to it, but this song is a big part of it. You know, Andy’s going to walk around singing the song. He’s closing up the office. We got a lot of mail about the song and it was super interesting and it’s all stuff I did not know. 

Angela [00:04:15] Let’s hear it. 

Jenna [00:04:16] First of all, Colby S from Colfax, Wisconsin, said, Dan Wilson, the main songwriter and frontman for the band Semisonic wrote the song when his wife was pregnant with their first child. He said people often think that the song is about being bounced from a bar, but it’s actually about being bounced from the womb. 

Angela [00:04:36] What?! 

Jenna [00:04:38] Yeah. And Jennifer T from Milwaukee, Wisconsin said, I was listening to the podcast Song Exploder, episode 176 from January 2020. If you aren’t familiar, Song Exploder features musicians breaking down a song and telling the story of how a song came to be. The episode about Closing Time did not disappoint. My perspective of the song has completely changed since I’ve learned the background and was surprised how sweet and touching it is. Jennifer goes on to say, basically, lead singer Dan Wilson had a very premature daughter that had to spend almost a year in the hospital. The song was written during that time when the doctors encouraged him to take a break from being at the hospital and keep living his life. And the day they got to take their daughter home, coincidentally, was the day the song was released. 

Angela [00:05:28] Oh, my goodness. 

Jenna [00:05:30] So I have a couple of audio clips because I thought it would be fun to listen to the song and hear the lyrics with this new information. 

Angela [00:05:38] It just warms my heart. Closing Time was like, we’re out of this hospital. 

Jenna [00:05:42] Yeah. All right, so here is clip number one. 

Semisonic [00:05:52] (SINGS) Closing Time. Open all the doors and let you out into the world. Closing Time turn all of the lights on over every boy and every girl. 

Jenna [00:06:12] Do you kind of hear it? 

Angela [00:06:13] (SINGS) I know who I want to take me home. The baby’s going home with her mom and dad! 

Jenna [00:06:19] Yes! Yes. Okay. Listen to this next clip. 

Semisonic [00:06:26] (SINGS) Time for you to go out to the places you will be from. Closing Time, this room won’t be open til your brothers or your sisters come. 

Jenna [00:06:52] See? The womb won’t be available until your brothers and sisters come. 

Angela [00:06:53] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:06:52] Because you’re leaving. You’re going out. 

Angela [00:06:55] (SINGS) Closing time… My vagina’s shut down. 

Jenna [00:06:58] Yes. 

Angela [00:06:59] For a bit. 

Jenna [00:07:00] Your uterus. 

Angela [00:07:01] Uterus. 

Jenna [00:07:05] Yeah. 

Angela [00:07:06] Oh. I mean, I think they both are shut down after childbirth. Let’s face it. 

Jenna [00:07:11] For a while. 

Angela [00:07:12] For a while. 

Jenna [00:07:13] Yeah. It’s a good idea. 

Angela [00:07:15] Oh, so sweet. That’s so sweet. 

Jenna [00:07:18] So sweet. I watched a whole clip of him telling this story during a live concert. But then I also watched their music video for this song. And in the music video, they are shutting down what looks like a restaurant or a bar. So you see why people associate it with being at a bar. 

Angela [00:07:39] Yeah, but, you know, I imagine that was some creative person that worked for the music video company and they were like, Listen, we know this is about closing the doors to a hospital and also a uterus slash vagina, but maybe that is difficult to portray in a music video. 

Jenna [00:07:58] Right. 

Angela [00:07:59] Maybe we switch gears here. Hear me out and make it about a bar. 

Jenna [00:08:03] Well, Dan Wilson did say that, you know, whenever you’re in a band and then, like the lead singer has a baby, they have to write a song about their baby and the whole band has to go along with it because you can’t tell them you can’t write a song about your new baby. And he was like, So I wanted to write a song about it, but I tried to be really clever. Unfortunately, I was so clever no one knows the song is about my baby. 

Angela [00:08:25] Aww. 

Jenna [00:08:27] So now we know. 

Angela [00:08:27] Well now we do. And we think it’s so sweet. 

Jenna [00:08:30] Yes. Okay, so now moving to fast fact number three. This one is all about the Doomsday Clock. This episode is called Doomsday. I had vaguely heard about the Doomsday Clock. Do you know about it, Angela? 

Angela [00:08:44] Yes. Yes, of course. Of course. There’s always some announcement where we’re at with the Doomsday Clock, and it’s always really depressing. 

Jenna [00:08:52] That’s what Lee said. 

Angela [00:08:53] Like, we’re were the closest to doomsday ever right now. 

Jenna [00:08:57] We are. We are at 90 seconds to doomsday. 

Angela [00:09:00] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:09:01] The clock is set at 90 seconds to midnight. All right. So for anyone who doesn’t know about the Doomsday Clock, a.k.a. me yesterday, the Doomsday Clock was designed to warn the public about how close we are to destroying our world with dangerous technologies. 

Angela [00:09:17] Yes. Global extinction. 

Jenna [00:09:20] Yeah. It was created all the way back in 1947. They thought that the greatest danger to humanity came from nuclear weapons. This was because the United States and Soviet Union were in their nuclear arms race. 

Angela [00:09:33] Hmm. 

Jenna [00:09:34] In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, the clock was set at 17 minutes to midnight, and that is the farthest we have ever been from global extinction, was in 1991, I guess. 

Angela [00:09:47] Hmm. 

Jenna [00:09:47] The decision as to where to start the clock. It’s set by a nonprofit called The Bulletin, which was founded by scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project. You know, the scientists who built the first atomic bombs. And they realized that they could not remain aloof to the consequences of their work. So they formed this group called The Bulletin. They have reset the Doomsday Clock 25 times, most recently in 2023, when we moved it from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight. 

Angela [00:10:19] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:10:20] The Doomsday Clock has been featured in a lot of music, television, movies, clearly not things I listen to or watch because I was pretty ignorant to the Doomsday Clock. But there is an Iron Maiden song called 2 Minutes to Midnight. That is about the Doomsday Clock. It was a recurring theme in the Watchmen graphic novels. 

Angela [00:10:40] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:10:41] And if you want, you can download an entire Doomsday Clock playlist on Spotify, and they’re all songs about the clock and our impending doom. 

Angela [00:10:52] Yay! Road trip!

Jenna [00:10:55] Well, you know what? You can road trip to see the Doomsday Clock. It is located in The Bulletin offices at the University of Chicago. It’s in the lobby. So fire up your playlist and go take a picture with the Doomsday Clock before it’s all over, everybody. And that’s what I got. 

Angela [00:11:13] I have a little something on a lighter note from my digital clutter. The week we were filming this episode, Steve Burgess sent out an email to the cast and crew titled, It’s Softball Time Again. Hi, everyone. For those who didn’t play with us last year, the Office softball team participates in the Primetime Softball League. Games take place in Burbank starting September 10th. Let us know if you’d like to play. Playoffs will be at the end of the season. This league is open to everyone who works on the show and their family members. Just email or text me. 

Jenna [00:11:51] Angela, I remember the softball league. 

Angela [00:11:53] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:11:54] Did you play? 

Angela [00:11:55] I played one year and then I was pregnant. And then I had a baby. And then it was very hard to get to softball games. But I just love love a company softball team. It is like one of my favorite things. And I used to play coed softball in my twenties with my improv group. We had a softball team. Guess what? If you get a bunch of improvisers and they have a softball team, there’s lots of bits. So many bits. So many bits in the dugout. 

Jenna [00:12:24] I’m sure. I just remember that we had shirts. 

Angela [00:12:26] Yeah, we had shirts. That’s like half the fun is like going, doing bits. You got your shirts and you all go grab a beer after. Come on. It’s the best.

Jenna [00:12:35] It’s a softball is like fourth on the list of things that are great about the softball league. 

Angela [00:12:40] Yeah, exactly. 

Jenna [00:12:43] All right, well, I guess we should take a break, and then we will be back. Sam, do you have a hiccups update for us before the break? 

Sam [00:12:50] I, unfortunately, still have the hiccups. 

Angela [00:12:52] Oh, my gosh, Sam! 

Sam [00:12:52] I know. 

Angela [00:12:55] Cassi, do you have any ideas for hiccups? 

Cassi [00:12:58] I always just hold my breath for 30 seconds to a minute and that does it for me. 

Angela [00:13:03] Yeah, that’s where I start. I start with holding my breath. 

Jenna [00:13:06] Have you done that yet, Sam? 

Sam [00:13:07] No. I’ll hold it right now. I’ll hold it through the break. 

Angela [00:13:10] Oh my gosh. 

Jenna [00:13:10] All right. We’ll be back in just a second. 

Angela [00:13:24] We’re back. Sam, how did holding your breath work out? 

Sam [00:13:27] Not good. 

Angela [00:13:29] Oh, my gosh. Sam has the most stubborn hiccups ever. 

Sam [00:13:34] I know. 

Angela [00:13:35] All right, well, we’ll check in with you in a bit. Here we go. It’s the start of the episode. Andy is flickering the lights like an old bartender. To me, this was very reminiscent of his character in Threat Level Midnight. Threw the towel over his shoulder. Kind of had the same voice. 

Jenna [00:13:53] Mm hmm. Yeah. Danny said that they liked to lean into Andy’s love of singing and performing because that really differentiated him from Michael Scott. 

Angela [00:14:01] Yeah. I mean, they both love to perform, but very differently. I did call this scene Excuse Me, What? 

Jenna [00:14:07] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:14:10] Yeah. Here’s my. Excuse Me, What? First of all, after Andy turns on the boom box, Erin is so excited. She’s like, woop! Woop! Woop! I’m like, What? What happened to last week? Last week in Spooked, she was wrecked at even being around him. And look, I know they hugged at the end. I know. But come on. Is she already to woop woop status? 

Jenna [00:14:32] I have an answer for you. 

Angela [00:14:34] Oh, I want to hear it. 

Jenna [00:14:35] This episode was the third episode we shot this year. We shot it before Spooked. 

Angela [00:14:42] Ohhh. 

Jenna [00:14:42] We played it out of order. So there’s a few storyline things that might not work exactly as you would expect. The Andy/ Erin, for example. 

Angela [00:14:51] Yes, exactly. Well, thank you for that. 

Jenna [00:14:54] This is also why my belly is smaller this week again. 

Angela [00:14:57] Oh, right. Well, my other Excuse Me, What? from this scene is at 13 seconds, Erin is faxing from a fax machine by the water cooler. 

Jenna [00:15:08] Yeah. 

Angela [00:15:09] Excuse me. What.

Jenna [00:15:10] I guess the other one was being used? 

Angela [00:15:14] How many faxes do we have going on here? 

Jenna [00:15:17] I don’t know. 

Angela [00:15:18] Andy is going to have a talking head where he says, Every office needs an end of the day tradition. Something to tell you the day is over. Otherwise, you go home and the night just feels like more day. It’s weird. 

Jenna [00:15:30] Well, we got a lot of fan mail about this cold open, Angela. And this one got me thinking. This is from Julie H in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who says, Why isn’t everyone eager to leave? Why aren’t they packing up for the day? Don’t they want to go home? It seems odd for this bunch. 

Angela [00:15:49] That’s a great observation. 

Jenna [00:15:51] Yeah, I mean, it’s 5 to 5. I feel like… Listen, I know that we had to be annoyed by Andy singing, but I don’t know. I feel like this would trigger me to be happy because I would be, like, goodbye. 

Angela [00:16:05] Yeah. I mean, your boss singing to you every day would get old. It would. If you sang to me every day when we finished the podcast, if you were like, (SINGS) Put the microphone away! Pack up your laptop! I’d be like, Oh, my gosh. Okay, we get it. 

Jenna [00:16:26] Well, here’s something I remember from shooting this, which is that I had Closing Time stuck in my head for the rest of the week. 

Angela [00:16:33] Oh, for sure. 

Jenna [00:16:34] And after we rewatched this episode, it has been in my head all this week as well. So, yes, I think it is maddening. I get why Dwight puts on a set of headphones to try to block it out. It makes sense to me in that way. 

Angela [00:16:50] Pam really cracked me up in the scene because it felt like she was speaking to me. I can hear a song over and over and over. I’ll, like, retain four words. Like, I’m, I’m horrible. I drive my husband crazy because he knows every word to every song. So when she was like, (SINGS) And home and home and home…

Jenna [00:17:08] Yeah, exactly. We had another fan question from Michele W in Manhattan, Kansas, who said, I always find it so interesting to see how much certain songs can cost in an episode. How much did Closing Time cost? 

Angela [00:17:23] Hmm. 

Jenna [00:17:24] Well, Michelle, you know, this scene really doesn’t work without Closing Time. And this was in our table draft. It was an every draft of the script. And we paid $25,000 to get this song. Steve Burgess said nowadays getting song rights is not as expensive as it was back then. We were kind of at the peak of the industry in terms of paying for rights. But I started thinking about this. You know, it’s been very shocking sometimes the amount of money we’ve paid to have a little bit of a song in an episode. But when you think about the fact that that song has been replayed now for over, what? How many years? On how many streaming devices? On how many like little snippets on Instagram this scene or these songs has appeared. It’s like a bargain. It’s like pennies per play. It’s probably fractions of pennies per play, really, in terms of compensating the artist for their music and for their contribution to the episode. 

Angela [00:18:24] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:18:25] I think we got off cheap, frankly. 

Angela [00:18:28] Well, like you said, when you think about how many times it’s just played over and over and over and over. 

Jenna [00:18:35] Yeah. Finally, this is a catch from Mackenzie in Utah. When Andy is flipping the lights on and off, he steps away from the light switch and one of them turns back on magically. Well, McKenzie, that’s because those switches don’t control the lights. It was actually someone off camera working a light board. Good catch. 

Angela [00:18:54] Well, there is one saving moment for Andy in this cold open, which is that Stanley joins him in singing the song. And Leslie David Baker has a great voice. I loved seeing this side of Stanley. I love seeing him sing. I mean, of course, Stanley doesn’t care at all about this tradition. He just is happy that he gets to go home. But I thought that was such a nice, fun button for the end of the cold open. 

Jenna [00:19:18] And makes sense character wise as well. 

Angela [00:19:20] Mm hmm. The episode is going to start in the conference room. Andy and Robert California, oh, it’s so good. Robert California. Please don’t stop talking. I just I love every single word you say. And Andy is trying to make small talk. He’s chatting with him about the Iron Chef. Dwight comes in wanting to assert himself into this meeting. And Robert California is like, Did you need something? Basically, he’s like, Why are you here? 

Jenna [00:19:45] Yeah. 

Angela [00:19:46] And like what you said, that was a goal of Danny and the writers, immediately you see Dwight just desperately wanting validation and it’s going to play out throughout the whole episode. 

Jenna [00:20:00] Robert California is going to explain to Andy that they have this ticketing software that is able to kind of track mistakes that are made and that there have been quite a lot of mistakes lately. Danny said that the writers had to educate themselves on ticketing software, which at the time was very new, and it seemed kind of weird that you could track things that people were doing on their computer. He said it’s very commonplace now. He said he’s pretty sure Justin Spitzer had a family member who had used ticketing software in their job, and so they kept hitting them up for details. 

Angela [00:20:34] Awesome. 

Jenna [00:20:35] Danny said that was often the case because most of the writers had very little knowledge about the actual workings of a normal office. So they’d always have to ask someone’s friend or sister or family member or whatever. And that’s so true. I mean, that’s how Greg were always coming to you and I, Angela, because as cast members, we had worked extensively in corporate America. 

Angela [00:20:55] Yeah, well, Robert points out a few accounting errors and Andy says, Well, that’s Tweedledee and Tweedledum, which are both Kevin. 

Jenna [00:21:02] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:21:04] Yeah. And then Robert has a little speech here that’s one of my favorites in the whole entire episode. I have to read it. He basically says to Andy, End the mistakes. And then he says, When I come back next week and this print out shows me no mistakes, then we can talk about names all day. Our favorite names, silly made up names, or normal names said in a silly voice. Wouldn’t that be nice? 

Jenna [00:21:29] I love that too. 

Angela [00:21:30] I want to see that conversation. I want to see him come back next week and really just let Andy go with the names and the nicknames. 

Jenna [00:21:39] Mm hmm. Well, Jim is going to bounce into Darryl’s office and invite him and Justine to go on a double date with him and Pam to the roller derby. 

Angela [00:21:50] I know. Roller derby. I was so curious. I was like, Okay. 

Jenna [00:21:54] Well, that’s because of the NBA lockout. They’re looking to do some new stuff, I guess. 

Angela [00:21:58] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:21:59] We got a fan question from Sarah S in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Hi, Sarah. Sarah says, I have been waiting for this episode to come up because of this scene when Jim talks to Darryl about going to see roller derby. Well, they absolutely can see some roller derby near Scranton. I am part of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Roller Derby League. And at the time that this episode aired, our team would have existed and been skating in Wilkes-Barre. Now we practice and play in Moosic right down the road from Terry’s Diner, and you’re more than welcome to drop in whenever you come for your Scranton tour. Signed, Sarah and then her roller derby name is Alexander Slamilton.

Angela [00:22:40] Slamilton! Sarah, I would love to come and I’d love to bring my skates. Can I just go one lap around? Like I don’t, I don’t. 

Jenna [00:22:48] With no bumps? All right, listen, in this scene, I have a catch. 

Angela [00:22:54] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:22:54] It’s Darryl’s mug. I don’t know if you noticed it, but it says C&C, Condren and Company. 

Angela [00:23:02] No, what does that stand for? 

Jenna [00:23:04] Listen to what this mug represents. It represents a company. They are a full service advertising and public relations firm. And what they do is they produce and place advertising on TV, radio, billboards, print, internet and viral media. They literally placed their own mug for their own company on our TV show, which I just need to give a slow clap. Ballsy. 

Angela [00:23:33] Sassy. 

Jenna [00:23:33] Real good job, guys. 

Angela [00:23:35] Sassy and ballsy. 

Jenna [00:23:36] Well done. 

Angela [00:23:37] Well played. So in the next scene, Dwight has gone into Andy’s office to tell him he has a possible solution to their mistakes problem. A system that holds everyone responsible for each other’s work. And then, lady, Dwight has this huge accordion like folder with a string like lock. I had to know if this string business was scripted because, you know, Rainn loves a prop. He loves a prop. 

Jenna [00:24:06] Oh yeah. 

Angela [00:24:06] So it was like I was like, What was Rainn and Phil Shea and what was in the script? This is what it says: Dwight stands in front of Andy’s desk holding an accordion file closed with a string. He is very excited. And then when Andy seems receptive to his idea, here’s what the shooting draft said: Dwight, extremely excited, tries to quickly undo the string ties on his envelope. It’s not going fast enough. 

Jenna [00:24:32] Oh, my gosh. That was scripted? 

Angela [00:24:34] Yes. 

Jenna [00:24:35] The weird string work is scripted. 

Angela [00:24:38] It’s one of my favorite details of this whole episode. I was like, What a great little detail. 

Jenna [00:24:43] Yeah, that’s pretty great. 

Angela [00:24:45] I also needed to know, Jenna, if Andy’s line of, You’re the deuce I never want to drop. 

Jenna [00:24:51] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:24:52] Was scripted or if Ed was improvising in this moment. Not only was it scripted, but it had a follow up line that didn’t make it in the episode, which was, Dude, don’t even. You’re the deuce I never want to drop. I’ll scream that from the mountaintops if I have to. This cracked me up. I so enjoy reading our shooting drafts every week. I laugh out loud reading them. They’re so good. Our writers were just the absolute (BLEEP) quite frankly. 

Jenna [00:25:24] Well, now Gabe is going to approach Toby because he would like to start some paperwork with H.R. about his new relationship with Val, who he is not technically dating, but feels an attraction for. 

Angela [00:25:40] He doesn’t even know her last name. 

Jenna [00:25:42] He doesn’t, but she’ll be screaming it tonight. To which Toby says, She’s going to be screaming her own name? Which is a very funny line. 

Angela [00:25:50] And Gabe’s like, Hey, watch it. 

Jenna [00:25:51] Yeah. 

Angela [00:25:52] Up next, there’s going to be a conference room meeting. And I have a lot of Mindy breaking to report on. 

Jenna [00:26:00] I have a Rainn break. 

Angela [00:26:02] Oh, all right. Let’s take a break and will be back with everyone who was cracking up in this scene. 

Jenna [00:26:19] All right, we’re back. Before we go to this conference room meeting, Sam, how are we doing? 

Sam [00:26:23] I still have the hiccups. 

Jenna [00:26:25] You’re kidding me right now. 

Sam [00:26:26] No, I’m serious. I still have them, and they’re bad. 

Jenna [00:26:29] Have you ever had them this bad before? Is this common for you?

Sam [00:26:33] Yes. Yes, it is. 

Jenna [00:26:35] What do you do? 

Sam [00:26:36] I just ride it out. I just ride it out. 

Angela [00:26:39] I mean, Sam, we’ve been talking to you since 9:30 this morning. So you’ve had them now an hour? 

Sam [00:26:45] Yup. 

Angela [00:26:45] For- that we know of. Like, how long have you had them before? Like, has it been all morning? 

Sam [00:26:50] Yeah, since I got up this morning. 

Angela [00:26:52] Wow, Sam, that’s epic hiccup. 

Sam [00:26:55] I know. 

Jenna [00:26:57] Do you think that exerting yourself physically would help you get rid of the hiccups, like if you went to the gym and did weight lifting? 

Angela [00:27:05] I’ll find out. I’ll find out after this episode. 

Jenna [00:27:08] Okay. 

Angela [00:27:11] Aw, buddy. 

Jenna [00:27:11] If they aren’t over by the end of this episode, I’m going to need you to text me when they are gone. Okay?

Sam [00:27:16] I will. 

Jenna [00:27:17] I’m going to need that closure for you. 

Sam [00:27:19] I will. 

Jenna [00:27:19] And for me.

Sam [00:27:20] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:27:21] All right, Angela. Let’s get into this conference room meeting. What do we got? 

Angela [00:27:25] Well, Andy’s going to start off by complimenting everyone. He’s like, Hey, you’re doing amazing, but you’re also being really sloppy. And he’s going to let Dwight introduce the accountability booster. But I want everyone to go to 7 minutes because Mindy is breaking at 7 minutes. 

Jenna [00:27:44] We had a fan catch from Ruchona in Tampa, Florida, who said, At 7 minutes and 8 seconds, Kelly is the only one to respond “hi” back to Andy after he says, “hi, guys”, and you can see Rainn as Dwight look right at the camera, and he’s kind of smiling like he’s going to break. Did you guys notice it, too? Because I’ve played it five times and it’s so funny to me. Yes. Once you pointed it out, I did. I did not notice this at first. But Angela, like you said, the minute Mindy sits down, she’s already laughing. I looked at the script, her saying, “Hi” back to Andy is an improvization that clearly made Rainn laugh. And he I think he’s looking at camera like, are we going to keep going? Because Mindy is clearly breaking and what’s going on? That’s what I think is happening. 

Angela [00:28:34] I wanted to see like the extended footage if Dave Rogers had it because something happened at the top of that scene, like you said, and it was carrying into the actual scene when it started. I clocked Rainn looking right to camera right away, and then immediately it cuts to Mindy and B.J. and Brian, and they all look like they’re about to lose it. Mindy is just the most obvious. And then you see the side of my face, and I’ve got a weird kind of half smile. So something was happening between scenes. 

Jenna [00:29:06] I think we were probably doing a bit and there wasn’t enough downtime before we had to start work and we had like residual laughing going on. That’s my guess. 

Angela [00:29:16] Yeah. Dwight is going to share with everyone that the accountability booster is going to register every time someone makes a mistake and you have basically five mistakes. Five strikes equals a home run. One home run means you’re out. 

Jenna [00:29:31] Yes. And what happens is this program, I guess, is going to automatically send Robert California all of the snarky emails that people have written about him calling him names and then everyone will be fired. This is their you know, it’s blowing up the office basically, metaphorically. 

Angela [00:29:49] Not only the snarky emails, but it’s going to send them the consultant report from last year where it was recommended that this branch be shut down. 

Jenna [00:29:59] Oh, yeah, that’s right. I forgot that part. 

Angela [00:30:01] How Robert California never saw that, I don’t know. But they’ve been hiding it from him. I want you guys all to know when Dwight is listing everyone’s snarky emails and he says, He eats yogurt like he’s punishing it for disappointing him, Kelly. And Mindy, as Kelly says, that’s not that bad, actually. Then Dwight says, P.S., We should kill him. Mindy totally loses it. She covers her face and doubles over. That’s it at 8 minutes. 

Jenna [00:30:27] Mm hmm. She totally does. 

Angela [00:30:30] And then Jim is actually going to call Dwight out and say, This is a doomsday device. And Jim is the first person to call it a doomsday device. And Dwight is going to say, no, it’s an accountability booster. But forget it. Everyone has locked in to doomsday, and this is now what everyone’s calling it. Andy is starting to get skeptical. He’s like, I don’t know, is this a good idea? And Dwight assures him that this is going to make everyone improve. It’s going to be a good thing. Stanley is going to say this doomsday device sounds like a scare tactic. Lady, there was so much more to the Stanley moment. It’s so funny. I want you to hear it. 

Andy [00:31:08] Or at least no more than four. 

Stanley [00:31:09] This doomsday device sounds like a scare tactic to me. Y2K all over again. Oh, I was all about the Y2K bug. Paid some guy to update my PCs, threw out my microwave, canceled my plane ticket, sold all my stops, spent New Year’s Eve in my basement with a gas mask on my face. I was even wearing a diaper. Someone said Y2K would get the toilets. 

Jenna [00:31:33] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That’s bringing back so many memories. Angela, I remember the anxiety about Y2K, and then nothing happened. 

Angela [00:31:42] And then nothing happened. We’re all here, guys. We’re okay. But Stanley really bought into it. And now there’s a doomsday device, and he is not having it. 

Jenna [00:31:50] Well, Oscar is skeptical. He’s going to need to test it. He is going to purposely make a mistake to see what happens. And guess what? It worked. Now they have their first mistake. There’s only four left. 

Angela [00:32:02] Yeah, there would have been a Pam and Jim runner here where Pam is like, You know what? This device might be real. And they have a whole squabble about it. And I want you to hear it. It’s very funny. 

Pam [00:32:15] This could be real. Dwight’s pretty handy with computers. He fixed my laptop once. 

Jim [00:32:20] Okay, he didn’t fix it. The brightness level was all the way down. 

Pam [00:32:22] You couldn’t fix it. 

Jim [00:32:24] I wasn’t here that day. 

Pam [00:32:26] Yes, you were. 

Jim [00:32:27] No. Okay, well, we’ll talk about it later. Strasbourg. I had a meeting in Stroudsburg and I dropped you off beforehand. I was wearing a tan shirt with stripes. 

Pam [00:32:36] I don’t think so, babe.  

Jim [00:32:37] Okay. This is crazy.  

Jenna [00:32:42] That’s so real. That is so real couples stuff. 

Angela [00:32:46] I know. I know. 

Jenna [00:32:48] We had a fan catch from Christina B in South Carolina who said, First off, I would have to start by saying this is my favorite episode of The Office. Then Christina said, Continuity catch: when everyone is questioning the doomsday device, Oscar says he will test it by sending an order down to shipping before payment has been received. However, on Dwight’s computer screen, it says the mistake is, quote, late delivery. But that’s not the mistake that Oscar made. There’s actually a mistake in the doomsday device. And Christa was asking if we know why Oscar’s mistake was categorized this way. Christa, I looked in the script. There was nothing scripted for Dwight’s screen to say. So I don’t know why it was there, but it is true. It’s not a late delivery. And now that I’ve seen it, I can’t unsee it. And it bothers me too. 

Angela [00:33:41] Such a good catch. I am telling you, Office fans are on it. They are on it. 

Jenna [00:33:47] Listen, I think it’s because people have watched it so many times. You’re not going to get away with tiny details that are wrong anymore. Maybe in the first viewing, but not upon multiple viewings. 

Angela [00:33:58] Nope. Another storyline that’s been playing out is the fact that Gabe, as we’ve talked about, is smitten with Val. Val had come upstairs to tell Darryl, You’ve got to come to the safety meeting. Gabe, of course, has an awkward tries to flirt moment with her. And now Gabe has gone down to the warehouse to attend the safety meeting. 

Jenna [00:34:18] But really, he’s just making jokes that Darryl’s expense, because he thinks that Val likes a good put down. That’s all he knows about her. So he’s going to milk it. 

Angela [00:34:29] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:34:30] Yeah. 

Angela [00:34:31] Has anyone from corporate ever attended a warehouse safety meeting? 

Jenna [00:34:36] I don’t know. 

Angela [00:34:37] I don’t think so. 

Jenna [00:34:39] Back up in the bullpen, it’s three strikes. 

Angela [00:34:42] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:34:43] Erin is keeping track by putting, like, big pieces of red tape on the front of the reception desk. 

Angela [00:34:48] Good job, Erin. 

Jenna [00:34:49] Mm hmm. This is when we’re going to find out that they’re not letting Kevin do any real work. They’ve told him that a really big client needs to know the story of how paper gets made. That’s how they’re keeping him occupied. The rest of the folks in the office are trying to figure out what Dwight’s password might be so that they can cancel the doomsday device. 

Angela [00:35:09] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:35:09] We had a fan catch from Charlotte D in the UK. She said, All of the men in this scene are wearing shades of blue, and the women are all wearing purple. It’s true. And then Dwight appears in his usual sort of muted mustard yellow, and she wondered if this was on purpose to help Dwight stand out from the others and show how he is separate from the group. 

Angela [00:35:34] It certainly did. 

Jenna [00:35:36] She said it looked like a conscious choice to make the office seem united against Dwight, like they were united in their color palette. 

Angela [00:35:44] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:35:45] Charlotte, I love the idea that this was on purpose. I’m guessing it was probably an accident, but it works. It’s a great tableau. 

Angela [00:35:54] Well, Gabe is going to try to flex in front of Val by asking Darryl to go get everyone coffee with a crisp $100 bill. But Darryl flips it because he invites Val to go with him. So now Gabe is just at the warehouse with the fellas. 

Jenna [00:36:08] Yes. And then Angela is checking in on Oscar. She’s like, Did you take care of our client, Reinhart and Wolfe? That’s your line, Angela. 

Angela [00:36:18] I say, You sent the late notice to Reinhart and Wolfe, right? 

Jenna [00:36:21] Danny Chun said that those names were a nod to his friends Brooke Reinhart and Steve Wolf, and he sneaked them in the episode. 

Angela [00:36:29] Aw. 

Jenna [00:36:29] But things aren’t good for Reinhart and Wolfe because Oscar messed up. 

Angela [00:36:34] Yes. Angela begged him use a calculator. But no, Oscar doesn’t trust a calculator. In stressful situations, he relies on his noggin and he made a mistake. 

Jenna [00:36:44] So it’s five strikes, it’s a home run. You’re out. 

Angela [00:36:48] And everyone’s in total panic. Doomsday device has been activated. They find out at 5:00 it’s going to send out all the emails and the consultant report, everything… Unless Dwight enters in his password. And so everyone’s like, Well, then enter in your password. Nope. He says they don’t deserve it. 

Jenna [00:37:08] And he leaves. He’s like, Goodbye. 

Angela [00:37:11] I did have another Mindy breaking catch. 

Jenna [00:37:14] Which part? During the screaming or otherwise? Because she’s smiling a little bit at the end of this. 

Angela [00:37:19] That’s a good point. If you go to 14 minutes, 14 seconds, right after Kevin says, The man tree puts its penis… It cuts to an over shoulder shot and you see her shoulders shaking. 

Jenna [00:37:30] We all thought that line was really funny. I remember doing that one. 

Angela [00:37:35] So Dwight has left. He’s bailed, and now they’re trying to figure out how do we coax this code out of him? How do we get him to stop this? 

Jenna [00:37:44] It’s going to involve Andy, Pam, Erin, and Kevin going to Schrute Farms. They come upon him and he is digging a giant hole. It turns out it’s a grave for a horse. 

Angela [00:37:55] How did you get through that? I would have laughed so hard the minute he says, And if you hit something, it’s probably another horse. 

Jenna [00:38:03] If you hit another horse, you’ve dug too far. 

Angela [00:38:05] Yeah, exactly. 

Jenna [00:38:06] Well, lady, we did not get through this scene. It was so funny. I had instant memories of it when I watched it again, because there were also alts. In addition to getting what you saw on the screen, we also had to shoot this. Pam says, Oh, no, your horse died? And Dwight said, No. If you wait for the horse to die, the corpse is sitting out for days for the other animals to see. Once the animals know about death, it’s all over. We couldn’t get through that. And another one was when Pam said, Oh, no, your horse died? Dwight said, No, I’m trying to trap some horse grave robbers. So he was digging a fake horse grave as a trap. Oh, my goodness. Well, I’ll tell you guys, we shot this out at Disney Ranch and we actually shot this the Friday before we shot Garden Party. And Steve Burgess says the reason the camera never really pans very far to the left of Dwight’s farmhouse is because they had already started setting up the tent for Garden Party and we had to keep it out of frame. We had a very limited like shooting area because we were already in prep. 

Angela [00:39:17] Well, while you guys are all at Schrute Farms trying to talk Dwight into giving you the passcode, Jim has been sent on assignment to keep Robert California busy and not looking at his phone so he doesn’t notice if he gets emails, right? At 5:00. And the task is go play squash with Robert California. Erin is like, he’s somewhere either eating squash or playing squash. So Jim is on the case. There was actually a deleted Jim talking head where he shares how much he knows about squash. And I want you to hear it. 

Jim [00:39:48] I have never played squash, but I’ve seen it in countless eighties movies, and it seems like the most common mistake is that you serve too hard and hit yourself right in squash balls. So as long as I don’t do that, I think I’ll be all right. 

Jenna [00:40:00] That’s a very funny talking head. 

Angela [00:40:01] That’s all he knows about squash. And when he arrives, he’s actually ripping the tag off his racket. He’s really never played, although he tells Robert California, like, Hey, I play all the time. It starts a very funny runner between the two of them. And lady, I have a little digital clutter to share here. 

Jenna [00:40:19] Oh, yeah? 

Angela [00:40:20] Yeah. You and I did not work on the squash shoot days. 

Jenna [00:40:25] Okay. 

Angela [00:40:26] Guess what we were doing?

Jenna [00:40:27] I have no idea. 

Angela [00:40:29] Okay. You emailed me. Hey, lady, if I’m not totally wrecked by shooting at Schrute Farms, I’ll come over tomorrow on our day off and grab the bassinet from you. I can’t wait to see you. And maybe I can even see Isabel. 

Jenna [00:40:42] Yeah, that’s right. You let me borrow this beautiful white wicker bassinet. 

Angela [00:40:50] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:40:51] Oh, I remember that. 

Angela [00:40:53] I was so happy that someone else could use it because it was such a beautiful gift that I got when Isabel was born. Our family members went in together and bought us this beautiful white wicker bassinet, the kind that, you know, you can- it has handles and you can take it off or you can put it on the base and kind of roll it through the house. 

Jenna [00:41:09] I remember that. We kept it up in our kitchen. 

Angela [00:41:12] I know. It made me so happy. 

Jenna [00:41:14] So back at Schrute Farms, everyone has helped Dwight dig his horse grave and they’re tired. And Pam asks if they can come inside for a little water. She’s going to talk about how, oh, I forgot how pretty it was in here. It’s so lovely. And they’re going to sit down. He’s going to serve them some cabbage pie. And they’re having this pie and making small talk. And I don’t know if you noticed, but over Dwight’s shoulder, there’s a bit where Kevin comes out of the kitchen and he’s holding a frying pan. 

Angela [00:41:47] How can you not notice that Kevin is going to pretend to maybe whack Dwight with a frying pan? 

Jenna [00:41:55] Danny said that the first frying pan they gave to Kevin was the largest frying pan anyone had ever seen. He said it was like two feet in diameter and that he and Troy were like, No, no, no, just a normal frying pan. And they had to switch it out. 

Angela [00:42:12] I have two things to share about this. First of all, I wanted to see what it said in the shooting draft. It said this: Kevin creeps in from off screen. He’s got a big cast iron skillet in his hands. He lifts it over Dwight’s head to smash him. Pam shakes her head no. Kevin sets the skillet down and rejoins the table. Well, this got me very curious about why Kevin would do this. Why is he acting so odd? And I found more nuggets in the shooting draft. You might have noticed that Kevin doesn’t say a single word while he’s at Schrute Farms. In fact, you’ll notice he doesn’t say anything until after they have left and they’re leaving. The whole entire time he’s at Schrute Farms, he doesn’t say a single word. There was a reason. It’s in deleted scenes. I want you to hear it. 

Kevin [00:43:01] Hey, guys, I think I’m going to be bad cop and good cop. I’m going to. I’m going to. I’m going to be like crazy cop. Dwight Schrute! Come out here with your hands up! I’m so nervous. I feel like I’m going to say (BLEEP). 

Jim [00:43:16] Kev, I’m not going to spin this. I don’t think you should say anything. 

Kevin [00:43:20] Yes. Mysterious silent guy. 

Pam [00:43:24] Yes. Starting now. 

Jenna [00:43:29] I don’t remember shooting that. 

Angela [00:43:30] This is dialogue as you guys are walking up to Schrute Farms. Kevin is having a meltdown. He doesn’t know how to like coax Dwight or what to say. And you guys are just like, don’t say a word. Okay?

Jenna [00:43:41] That’s pretty great. 

Angela [00:43:42] But that’s why when he’s like, I don’t know, nothing’s working, I’ll get a skillet. 

Jenna [00:43:50] Well, also during this scene, Pam has her very famous line that gets quoted back to me all the time, which is, Pobody’s nerfect. 

Angela [00:43:56] So cute. 

Jenna [00:43:58] I had not heard this when we were shooting. I thought Danny made it up. This phrase, pobody’s nerfect.  

Angela [00:44:04] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:44:05] And I remember Danny was like, No, I had this on a doormat when I was growing up. That’s what made him think of it. He’s like. 

Angela [00:44:13] Did he really? 

Jenna [00:44:13] Yeah. He’s like, This is, like, been around forever. We did not invent this phrase. But people tell me this all the time. 

Angela [00:44:20] It’s like that phrase, I’m not as think as you drunk I am or whatever. 

Jenna [00:44:23] Yes, no, exactly. Exactly. But I really like this scene because Pam is so laid back. Andy wants to bring up the email. She’s like, No, you guys. Trust me. Dwight will cancel it on his own. I know it. But as they’re leaving, they don’t know. Dwight walks them out to their car. Pam thanks him for everything. Dwight and Pam share a sweet little moment. And that’s it. 

Angela [00:44:50] Yeah. Dwight says, Sive drafely. 

Jenna [00:44:53] Yes. Exactly. 

Angela [00:44:55] While all of that was happening, Darryl and Val are going to return back to the warehouse. They have copies for everyone, and Gabe sees his moment. He’s going to make his move. He’s going to say, So tonight I was thinking, I’m going to go to the cemetery. I’m going to drink a little wine. And I thought maybe you’d like to come with me. Val’s like, Are you asking me on a date? Gabe says, Yes, I am. And then she very practically says, Hey, I don’t date coworkers. It’s not personal. It’s a matter of policy. Darryl, of course, overhears all of this, sort of planting the seed for a later storyline. But Jenna, I just got so hung up on the fact that Gabe thinks a fun first date is going to a cemetery and drinking wine. 

Jenna [00:45:40] Lady, that line triggered a memory for me of one of my worst dates I ever went on. I was out of college. I was living back in Saint Louis. I was trying to date and I met a guy in the food court at the mall. He was very cute. And I was there shopping by myself, and we were a little flirty, and he asked me if I would like to go to dinner with him. And I said, yes, I’d love to. Here’s my phone number. So he calls me and I’m thinking, he’s taking me to dinner. So guess what I didn’t do before our date? Eat food, right? Because I’m going to dinner. 

Angela [00:46:23] Where did he take you? Did he take you to a cemetery? 

Jenna [00:46:26] He took me to his place. 

Angela [00:46:28] Red flag. Red flag. 

Jenna [00:46:29] His place being the basement of his parents home. And I said, Where’s dinner? And he said, Oh, I thought we could order some pizzas later. But first let’s walk up to the train tracks and get stoned with some of my friends. 

Angela [00:46:48] Oh, my gosh. Oh, my Lord. 

Jenna [00:46:51] And I said, How about you just take me home because I am starving and I don’t want to get stoned with you and your friends at the train tracks and maybe eat pizza later. I don’t know. I mean, I tried. I was trying to date. 

Angela [00:47:08] You were trying. You were trying. Listen, I got very curious about what people are doing for first dates these days, and people are really going for it. They’re thinking outside the box. I just want to read you a few date ideas if you want something to do, that’s not your normal first date. This was on list 25 dot com. Are you ready? Here are a few. 

Jenna [00:47:31] Okay. 

Angela [00:47:32] A Nerf war. 

Jenna [00:47:35] Oh my God. 

Angela [00:47:35] Mm hmm. Both you and your partner grab your favorite Nerf gun. And it might sound silly, but acting like a kid can be a real bonding experience. 

Jenna [00:47:45] This is a horrible idea. 

Angela [00:47:46] I know. Wait for this one. This one to me sounds like a math problem I don’t feel like doing. A shopping challenge. Grab $20 each and hit your local grocery store. Your job is to buy creative menu items or something you think your partner would enjoy. And then set a time limit and meet back up together at the grocery store. 

Jenna [00:48:08] These literally sound like things I do with my kids on the weekends. Like we’ve done these things. 

Angela [00:48:14] The next one, visit a fortune teller. 

Jenna [00:48:18] Oh, my God. At this point, I just want to go to the train tracks. Or maybe a cemetery and drink wine. 

Angela [00:48:24] The next one is worse. Ready? You’re going to hate this one. You’re going to hate it. Get lost on purpose. 

Jenna [00:48:32] Oh, my God. 

Angela [00:48:34] Turn the GPS off and hit the road. Take a highway you’ve never been on before and go left when you normally go right. You might discover new things. Make sure you have a full tank of gas. 

Jenna [00:48:45] All right. I will say this about the last one. I do think that after you’ve been dating someone for a while, it’s a really good idea to try to travel with them, take a road trip. Whatever it is. Because the stresses of travel and being lost, they really bring out a whole other side in a person. And I think that’s a really important thing to know when you’re discerning whether or not this is going to be a long term partner. 

Angela [00:49:11] I agree. I agree. 

Jenna [00:49:12] So not a bad date for maybe date, I don’t know, like in a couple of months in. 

Angela [00:49:17] Okay, I have a few more, but I’m going to do them rapid fire. Ready? 

Jenna [00:49:20] Okay, go ahead. Where else am I going on these amazing dates? 

Angela [00:49:25] Wrestle in jello. 

Jenna [00:49:26] I mean, what? 

Angela [00:49:28] Go kart racing. 

Jenna [00:49:29] Okay. Yes. 

Angela [00:49:30] Go berry picking. Take a Segway tour. Volunteer together. And last but not least, this one I think we can get behind, do a wine and canvas night. 

Jenna [00:49:44] Sure. 

Angela [00:49:45] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:49:46] Yes. 

Angela [00:49:47] But yeah. Wrestle in jello, shopping challenge. I don’t know.

Jenna [00:49:52] How much jello are you making? What are you putting it in? 

Angela [00:49:56] I would go berry picking. 

Jenna [00:49:58] Yeah. All right. Should we get back to the squash court, Angela? 

Angela [00:50:02] Yes. 

Jenna [00:50:03] Jim and Robert are going to play squash. And Jim clearly doesn’t know how to play. We had a fan question from Melissa A in Brooklyn, New York. Did John Krasinski and James Spader have to do any special training to play squash? 

Angela [00:50:17] Please tell me they did not. 

Jenna [00:50:20] Uh no. They did not. Steve Burgess said we shot this at a real squash club called 360 Health in Reseda. They did absolutely no prep, and in fact, the ball was added in post. 

Angela [00:50:34] What?! 

Jenna [00:50:35] Jim and Robert are faking. He said they added the ball later to match their movements and he said, If you notice that when they stop playing to get the phone, there is no ball rolling around the floor. It just disappears. 

Angela [00:50:48] Oh, my gosh. 

Jenna [00:50:50] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:50:51] That’s so crazy that there was no ball. Well, Jim is going to hit his squash balls, unfortunately. 

Jenna [00:51:00] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:51:01] And there was no ball in that stunt, so John really sold it. 

Jenna [00:51:05] Way to go, John. But, you know, Robert is going to get a little ding on his phone, and Jim’s going to have to go over and grab it. He clearly tries to break it by throwing it to Robert, but it turns out that it was just an email from JetBlue advertising some specials. It was not the doomsday device. Dwight canceled it. And then he has a really sweet talking head where he explains why. He says, You know, these aren’t his favorite people. He wouldn’t even call them friends. But, you know, to come over and help a guy dig a grave and eat his pie, you know, they clearly got to him. He’s going to work with them forever, isn’t he? 

Angela [00:51:43] Yeah. Well, Pam also had a talking head. 

Jenna [00:51:46] I remember. 

Angela [00:51:48] It’s really great. It’s so sweet. It’s in deleted scenes. I want you guys all to hear it. 

Pam [00:51:54] Sometimes you just have to let people know they’re being heard and valued. I don’t get how everyone doesn’t see that. 

Angela [00:52:03] I mean, I feel like the writers saw you do that talking head and loved it. And it’s part of the reason why Pam’s character has the final talking head of the series. 

Jenna [00:52:13] Oh my gosh, that’s so sweet, Angela. 

Angela [00:52:15] It it’s true. When I watched it, I had that same feeling of just, ugh, you know, my heart just was so warmed by the fact that these people are- they’re coworkers, but they’ve become this misfit family, you know? 

Jenna [00:52:28] Well, during these talking heads, there’s a whole thing going on in the background, which is that Dwight is getting a hat out of the ground. This is a hat that the group gave him when they arrived. 

Angela [00:52:41] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:52:41] It’s a Sunoco hat. And we got a really cool piece of fan mail about this hat. It comes from Dan R in Westchester, Pennsylvania, who said, When the Doomsday episode first aired in November 2011, I was working at the Sunoco Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the day before the episode aired, the company communications director emailed all the employees, telling us to be sure to tune in to The Office because Sunoco made a special appearance. Everyone was excited to tune in, but after the episode ended, we were in shock. The storyline for the episode with potential firing of employees and threatening a shutdown of the branch, it really hit home because we were having some internal issues that were similar at the time. And I have been wondering all of this time for 11 years plus, did someone write this episode knowing about our company’s situation or was it a coincidence? 

Angela [00:53:38] Oh, my gosh. 

Jenna [00:53:40] Dan, this is a coincidence. This is just I think every company all the time, right? Deals with these things. That’s why we could do a whole episode about tracking mistakes or about potential branch closures. This is kind of corporate stuff. For anyone who doesn’t know, Sunoco is like has gas stations in Pennsylvania. And the idea was simply that they wanted to pick something up as a gift for Dwight on their way, and they went to a gas station and they grabbed this hat. That’s it. 

Angela [00:54:10] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:54:12] That was the motivation. Steve Burgess said we had to get permission to use the hat, and Sunoco corporate gave their permission to see the logo. And Rainn Wilson even signed a couple of hats that they sent back for people to have. And all the feedback was just that they loved seeing Dwight wear one of their hats. It was as simple as that. 

Angela [00:54:31] Yeah, well, all’s well that ends well. The doomsday device is deactivated. Stanley, however, is now going to have to get a new brandy for his last day of work, because- 

Jenna [00:54:42] He drank it all. 

Angela [00:54:43] He spends the rest of the episode drinking it. It was on the shooting draft that he actually starts pouring some for Phyllis, and the two of them are just sort of giddy in the corner. 

Jenna [00:54:51] Perfect. 

Angela [00:54:52] Well, thank you guys so much for listening and sending in your questions and comments. Thank you to Steve Burgess once again for giving us behind the scenes details. 

Jenna [00:55:00] And thank you, Danny Chun, for emailing with me as well. 

Angela [00:55:03] Yes. We hope you guys have a great rest of the week and we’ll be back next week to chat with you. 

Jenna [00:55:09] Sam, hiccups? 

Sam [00:55:11] Unfortunately, going strong. 

Angela [00:55:13] Oh, no, Sam. 

Sam [00:55:15] I know. 

Jenna [00:55:17] Alright. 

Angela [00:55:17] Alright. Well, if you guys have any remedies for hiccups, DM us and we’ll see you here next- oh, no, Sam. 

Jenna [00:55:24] I mean, I really hope that Sam doesn’t still have the hiccups by the time this episode comes out. 

Angela [00:55:29] Oh, my gosh. I hope not too. All right. Well, you guys have a great rest of the week. We’ll see you next week. 

Jenna [00:55:34] See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer, and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Cassi Jerkins. Our in-studio engineer is Sam Kieffer. Our Editing and Mixing Engineer is Jordan Duffy, and our Associate Producer is Aynsley Bubbico.

Angela [00:55:56] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad free versions of Office Ladies, go to Stitcher Premium dot com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code “office”.