EP. 176 — Jury Duty

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 [00:00:08] 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 there! 

Angela [00:00:25] Hey there! 

Jenna [00:00:26] How are ya? 

Angela [00:00:27] I’m good. How are you? 

Jenna [00:00:29] I’m sluggish. 

Angela [00:00:30] You are? 

Jenna [00:00:30] I think it’s the heat. 

Angela [00:00:31] Well, it’s very hot. 

Jenna [00:00:33] It’s very hot. 

Angela [00:00:34] I’m wearing one of those dresses that doesn’t touch you anywhere cuz it’s too hot. 

Jenna [00:00:38] Yeah. It’s so hot. I’m wearing flip flops. I never do that when we record. 

Angela [00:00:44] Oh, I wear them all the time. 

Jenna [00:00:46] When we record? 

Angela [00:00:47] Yeah. Look at my feet right now. 

Jenna [00:00:49] Oh, yeah. There you go. 

Angela [00:00:53] Well, now that you know what we’re wearing. Jenna, what are you wearing? 

Jenna [00:00:56] I am wearing these, like, black- what would you call them? They’re like… 

Angela [00:01:02] The big leg pants. 

Jenna [00:01:03] Well, these are like my find of the year. A mom friend of mine, she’s French, has the cutest pants all the time. 

Angela [00:01:13] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:01:14] Of course. She’s French. 

Angela [00:01:16] She’s chic. 

Jenna [00:01:16] She’s got the style. She told me about them, and they’re very cool. They’re very billowy. And then I have on a cool, billowy black top to go with it. I’m billowy. 

Angela [00:01:26] You’re billowy. And I’m in a big, flowy dress from Target. 

Jenna [00:01:30] Okay. Tarjay. It’s also French. 

Angela [00:01:36] Now that we’ve got that out of the way. 

Jenna [00:01:38] What are we talking about today? 

Angela [00:01:39] I loved this episode!

Jenna [00:01:41] I loved it so much. 

Angela [00:01:42] Oh, my gosh. I was so excited for these storylines. 

Jenna [00:01:46] Is it any surprise that we loved this episode now that our characters finally have stories again? Could that be part of it? 

Angela [00:01:54] That could. 

Jenna [00:01:54] Maybe it’s because our characters make it better. 

Angela [00:01:57] (GASP). Well, we have it on very good authority from the writers room. 

Jenna [00:02:01] That’s right. Yes. Steve Haley said episodes are better- 

Angela [00:02:04] More Pam and Angela. 

Jenna [00:02:05] Pam and Angela. It’s official. And this episode proves it. We’re talking about Jury Duty. 

Angela [00:02:10] We finally got there. 

Jenna [00:02:12] It’s season eight, episode 13, written by Aaron Shure, who we love. 

Angela [00:02:16] Love 

Jenna [00:02:17] And directed by Eric Appel. Here is your summary: Jim is back from Jury Duty. Or is he? Turns out, he was actually home helping Pam with the kids. Dwight figures this out and is determined to get Jim fired as a result. Also, Angela gives birth to a big, healthy preemie, which causes some speculation about timelines and paternity. 

Angela [00:02:41] Oh, man. 

Jenna [00:02:42] And Pam brings Cece and Phillip into the office to visit. Fast fact number one: new director alert! Eric Appel. Eric has directed a ton of television. His background is in animation and sketch comedy, and he did improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade. 

Angela [00:02:57] Eric was fantastic. 

Jenna [00:02:59] Fantastic. 

Angela [00:03:00] I’m gonna get there. There’s a scene between Dwight and Angela where he just let us go. 

Jenna [00:03:06] I think I know which one. 

Angela [00:03:07] I think you do. 

Jenna [00:03:07] Cuz I loved it. Eric has been nominated for and won several awards for his work. According to his IMDB page, under the trivia section… 

Angela [00:03:16] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:03:17] Eric can tri-fold his tongue. 

Angela [00:03:20] What?! 

Jenna [00:03:21] This is also sometimes referred to as a clover leaf tongue. 

Angela [00:03:25] What is a tri-fold tongue? 

Jenna [00:03:27] I had to google it. 

Angela [00:03:29] I don’t understand. Is that where you make it look like a flower kind of thing? 

Jenna [00:03:33] Well, you tell me. I think it looks like a w. Like you’re making a W with your tongue. While googling what it was, I found out that Daniel Radcliffe can also do this. And here- Daniel Radcliffe did it once on a red carpet. There’s Daniel Radcliffe’s trifold tongue. 

Angela [00:03:51] Oh my god. Wow. 

Jenna [00:03:51] Yeah. 

Angela [00:03:52] That’s impressive. 

Jenna [00:03:54] I know. Okay. According to an article on Colgate.com, 14.7% of the population can trifle their tongue. 

Angela [00:04:06] Can anyone here? Sam, Cassi? 

Jenna [00:04:08] Anyone trifold your tongue? 

Sam [00:04:09] I cannot. Cassi?

Angela [00:04:09] Jenna clearly can’t. She had to Google it. 

Sam [00:04:12] Cassi’s looking it up to see if she can. 

Jenna [00:04:14] It looks like a W. Can you make a W out of your tongue? 

Angela [00:04:18] I can do the canoe thing with my tongue. 

Jenna [00:04:21] I can do the canoe fold, and I can also fold my tongue in half like this. 

Angela [00:04:27] Oh, my God. That makes the grossest sound. 

Sam [00:04:29] Oh, no. 

Jenna [00:04:31] Well, it keeps popping up. It was really gross. So sorry, everyone. 

Angela [00:04:39] I had no idea we were going here this morning. You never know!

Jenna [00:04:42] Well, it’s where my research took us.

Angela [00:04:46] I love it. 

Jenna [00:04:47] Would you like fast fact number two? 

Angela [00:04:49] I can’t wait. 

Jenna [00:04:50] Fast fact number two is a fan question from Tracy W in Norway. Jenna and Angela, I’m curious if you have ever had any interesting real life personal experiences being summoned for jury duty? 

Angela [00:05:02] Tracy I almost always get selected to be on a jury. I mean, every time I go in there, they’re like, little blonde lady, get up here. I don’t know why. But yes, I have many stories of jury duty. I think I’ve already shared one. 

Jenna [00:05:19] Yeah. Back when Toby had jury duty. 

Angela [00:05:21] Right. That was when I was a juror on a bait car case. But guess what I found in my digital clutter, and I didn’t even know you had this question. 

Jenna [00:05:30] What? 

Angela [00:05:31] I wrote you an email from one of the many times I was waiting to be, you know, picked for a jury, and I found it. Ready? 

Jenna [00:05:40] Okay! I love this. 

Angela [00:05:42] This is from October 2018. 

Jenna [00:05:44] All right. 

Angela [00:05:45] Okay? I wrote this. And I sent you a picture too. I took a selfie there. 

Angela [00:05:51] In the waiting room, guys. I wasn’t in the courthouse, okay? 

Jenna [00:05:54] That’s right. You’re not allowed to do that in the courthouse. 

Angela [00:05:55] But in that holding room, you can. Okay, here’s what I emailed you. Hey, lady. Day two. I’m waiting to see if I get picked for a jury. I’m sitting in a big room with a bunch of people, and we all have those chairs from high school that have a mini desk attached to them. I feel like I’m in a study hall at a school for random adults. I brought townhouse crackers and some cheese, and the guy next to me looks up every time I bite into a cracker. I also brought my laptop and have wifi, so email away! Or leave me a message. I have headphones! You wrote back. You look amazing. Why do you have such pretty hair for jury duty? 

Jenna [00:06:41] Oh my god. Angela, you brought cheese to jury duty. 

Angela [00:06:43] And townhouse crackers.  

Jenna [00:06:46] It’s so you. 

Angela [00:06:46] And I took a selfie. And you see me holding, like a Ziploc of crackers. 

Jenna [00:06:53] Oh, that’s incredible. That is incredible. All right, I have a crazy story. 

Angela [00:07:00] Okay. 

Jenna [00:07:01] I was on jury duty the week we were prepping this episode to record. I was on jury duty! 

Angela [00:07:08] That is crazy. 

Jenna [00:07:09] But it was a mistake. 

Angela [00:07:11] What do you mean? How? What?

Jenna [00:07:14] Okay, so I was supposed to do jury duty. And I broke my shoulder. And I couldn’t drive. I couldn’t go. So I postponed it. 

Angela [00:07:22] Sure. 

Jenna [00:07:23] But I forgot to when I postponed it. And suddenly it popped up on my calendar. I got a reminder on the Sunday night before. My husband was out of town the whole week. Lee was gone. He had to go to Chicago. And I was the only parent. And I thought, Oh, my gosh, I can’t- I’m the only one home! I can’t do it. What if I get picked for a jury? So I can’t do jury duty. 

Angela [00:07:48] No. 

Jenna [00:07:48] So I go on the computer. They have a portal. 

Angela [00:07:50] You log in with your juror ID number. 

Jenna [00:07:52] Yes. And so I go to the portal and it says, You can’t postpone anymore. You had to do that by the Friday before. 

Angela [00:07:58] Yeah? 

Jenna [00:07:59] But it also said you don’t have to report tomorrow, Monday. Check in again Monday evening to see if you have to report Tuesday. 

Angela [00:08:08] So you just rolled the dice. You had to. 

Jenna [00:08:11] I did. I rolled the dice. Every night at 7pm, I would log into my jury portal and every night it said, you don’t have to report. And then on Thursday night, it said you’ve completed your jury duty. 

Angela [00:08:23] Oh, my gosh. Amazing.

Jenna [00:08:24] I completed it! By mistake! How lucky was I? 

Angela [00:08:28] Very lucky. I mean, considering everything, you were like single parenting. 

Jenna [00:08:32] Yes. 

Angela [00:08:33] I will say, anyone that knows our Mom Detective hearts knows that we would actually be thrilled to get picked. Under different circumstances. 

Jenna [00:08:43] Yeah, I’ve reported many times, and I’ve never been selected. 

Angela [00:08:46] Oh, I always get selected and I get very excited. 

Jenna [00:08:50] That tracks. 

Angela [00:08:52] And I bring a notepad and a pen so people know I’m serious. 

Jenna [00:08:57] Maybe that’s why you’re getting picked. I don’t know. Well, those are our jury duty stories. Moving us now to fast fact three, I titled it, Pam is back! 

Angela [00:09:07] Yes! Pam is back. 

Jenna [00:09:09] Pam is back. Everyone, I did this episode five weeks after having a C-section. I did that because actors do not get paid maternity leave. 

Angela [00:09:17] That is true. 

Jenna [00:09:18] We go on unpaid disability, which means your employer can’t fire you, but they do not have to pay you. 

Angela [00:09:24] Yep. 

Jenna [00:09:25] So every time I missed an episode, I missed a paycheck. 

Angela [00:09:28] That’s right. 

Jenna [00:09:29] I wrote about it in our book. We got a lot of mail about this. People who had read our book and were surprised to learn about this. We got a fan question from Kathleen M in North Carolina who said, In your book, The Office BFFs, Jenna shared about how hard it was for her to return and film this episode after having her baby and how supportive everyone was. I’d love to hear more about what it was like to film an episode of TV right after having your baby and what was going through your head when filming these scenes. Well, Kathleen, it was very, very hard. I could not walk without pain. I was uncomfortable. I was still bleeding. As you bleed a lot after you have a baby, it doesn’t matter if it’s C-section or vaginal. Yeah. I was still working with a lactation consultant trying to get my son to nurse well. I was very worried about messing up his feeding schedule. At the same time, coming back to work meant that I got to see all of these people who just loved me so much, the cast and the crew. And I’d been very isolated at home. Parents know this. When you have a new baby, we get letters from people who tell us we’re keeping them company at home in those early months. 

Angela [00:10:39] I remember loving having friends that had a big time difference who were already awake. You know, my friends on the East Coast. Because I would be up at like 4 a.m.. 

Jenna [00:10:48] Yeah. 

Angela [00:10:49] And I knew I could call and just kind of talk to them while I breastfed. 

Jenna [00:10:53] Well, the part of getting to see people, I loved that. That was good for my soul, because I’d been very, like, in a cocoon, you know? And then when we started filming, my adrenaline really kicked in. It was almost dreamlike. I don’t have any real memories. When I watched that scene, I feel like I dreamed it. It was like I guess I was there. So we also got another letter from Alexis K in California who said, Jenna, after listening to your experience in your book about coming back to work just five weeks after having your baby, I’m floored. I also had a C-section, and I can’t imagine going back to work that quickly. I am so in awe and just wanted to say that you looked amazing. You looked peaceful, glowing and at ease, although I’m sure you were so overwhelmed with many emotions. You mentioned in the book that Angela and the rest of the cast and crew were really supportive. What else helped you in those first weeks of going back to work? Well, my husband, Lee was amazing. We eventually had to hire a nanny, but we had not done that yet. It was five weeks! We were like, still figuring out how to swaddle. 

Angela [00:11:59] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:12:00] So for this episode, he came to work with me. He had our son in my trailer with him so that I could nurse him. Because like I said, I was still trying to get that down. So that was really helpful. And I would have to shout out our first A.D., Kelly Cantley, because she was instrumental in making that happen. Here’s what she told me. She got me aside and she said, Jenna, I am legally required to let you leave set to pump milk. I am not legally required to let you nurse your baby. So you just say, Kelly, I need to pump. And then you get to go to your trailer. And if you put that milk into a pump or right into your baby who’s waiting for you, that’s none of my business. You just say I need to pump. Got it? And I broke down crying. 

Angela [00:12:46] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:12:47] Because I was like, Got it. I got what she was saying to me, you know? 

Angela [00:12:51] Yeah. Yeah. 

Jenna [00:12:52] And I would like to say, Alexis, thank you for saying I looked amazing. I think every postpartum mom out there knows what that was like for me. I was very I felt very vulnerable. When I got to work that day, Alicia, our costume designer, showed me some clothes. I put something on. She said, We’re done. I’m not going to make you change over and over again. 

Angela [00:13:13] Right. 

Jenna [00:13:14] The hair and makeup folks were amazing. Kim Ferry put my hair in a ponytail. She was like, This is easy. I believe this. We’re done. 

Angela [00:13:24] You know what I’ve never shared? 

Jenna [00:13:26] What? 

Angela [00:13:27] So I went back to work… I was almost seven weeks. I did not plan this, but I had my baby a week before we went on summer hiatus. I- it was not planned. It just worked out like that. So I had a little extra time there. But I went back, and my first week back, we had a whole cast photo shoot. 

Jenna [00:13:51] Oh, wow. 

Angela [00:13:52] Yes. 

Jenna [00:13:52] Where we take all the publicity photos? 

Angela [00:13:54] Yes. Yes. And I often, you know, when we go to things, sometimes people have stuff for us to sign? People will bring that photo. And every time I sign it, I think… I had just pumped! 

Jenna [00:14:06] Oh my gosh.

Angela [00:14:07] Like I had just like that was, you know- 

Jenna [00:14:11] And now this photo is going to live forever. 

Angela [00:14:12] Forever. And I was like, anyway, it’s just kind of a crazy thing to do when you go back to work after giving birth. 

Jenna [00:14:20] So listen, we got a lot of mail on this subject and a lot of people just asking me, how did you do this? I did it because the women on the set showed up for me. They made it possible for me to come and get my paychecks. And that’s what women do for one another all the time. 

Angela [00:14:34] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:14:34] We fill in the gaps. 

Angela [00:14:35] We sure do. 

Jenna [00:14:36] You know, they could have made a hiatus here. We’d done it in the past. suits. 

Angela [00:14:40] The suits could have made it happen. 

Jenna [00:14:41] The suits could have made a hiatus for my maternity leave. We’d made hiatuses for people to do movies before. 

Angela [00:14:49] They had. 

Jenna [00:14:50] But they didn’t. And so, you know, I went on unpaid disability, but the women in our cast and crew, they filled in that gap. And that’s why I was able to come back to work and get paid. And I will be forever grateful. We do that all the time for one another. I know every woman out there has a story about… 

Angela [00:15:07] A woman that stood in for her. 

Jenna [00:15:08] Yeah. 

Angela [00:15:08] Lifted her up. Supported her. 

Jenna [00:15:10] Yeah. 

Angela [00:15:10] Got her through. Yep. 

Jenna [00:15:12] So thank you to Kelly and the hair and makeup women and Alicia in wardrobe. And just you, Angela. You guys were great. And listen, the other cast and crew were amazing as well. 

Angela [00:15:25] But did they guard your door when you went in to pump? 

Jenna [00:15:28] No. It was only you, Lady. 

Angela [00:15:29] That’s right! All right. Well, let’s take a quick break, because when we come back, somebody’s got to cut loose. Footloose. 

Jenna [00:15:39] I loved this. 

Angela [00:15:40] And I have a back story about why the scene happened. 

Jenna [00:15:44] Oh, my gosh! I can’t wait. We are back. And this episode starts with Andy bursting into the warehouse door at the top of the stairs, and he tells Val he needs the space. Clear out. 

Angela [00:16:09] Yeah. That’s right. 

Jenna [00:16:09] And Val is like, okay, but just promise to clean up. And he’s like, I will. She’s like, You have to promise to clean up. So clearly Andy’s about to do something he’s done before, and that makes quite a big mess. 

Angela [00:16:19] Yeah. Well, I want you guys to know there was a deleted scene that would have started this episode totally differently and given the backstory why Andy comes barreling through that warehouse door. 

Jenna [00:16:31] Okay. 

Angela [00:16:31] It was a montage of Andy’s morning. He pulls into the parking lot and he spills coffee on his pants leg as he gets out of his car. 

Jenna [00:16:39] Okay. 

Angela [00:16:39] He’s like, Dang it! Then he goes into the kitchen in the office and he gets a cup of coffee and he grabs some milk out of the fridge to add to his coffee. And as he pours it, big clumps come out of the milk carton. Right? It’s gone bad. 

Jenna [00:16:54] Can I say something? 

Angela [00:16:55] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:16:55] This is why you put your milk into the coffee cup before the coffee. 

Angela [00:16:59] Oh, so it doesn’t ruin- 

Jenna [00:16:59] So you can see the milk and also, you don’t need a spoon. It mixes while you put the coffee in. 

Angela [00:17:05] Oh, my gosh. 

Jenna [00:17:05] I do this every morning. 

Angela [00:17:07] This is a coffee drinkers hack I didn’t know about. 

Jenna [00:17:10] Yeah! I put the milk in first. You’ll get the level. You’ll know. 

Angela [00:17:13] Okay. 

Jenna [00:17:13] All right. Go ahead. 

Angela [00:17:14] Well, Andy didn’t do that. 

Jenna [00:17:15] No. Now he’s ruined his coffee. 

Angela [00:17:17] Now he’s super bummed because his first cup of coffee, he spilled on his pants leg. The second cup is now full of this chunky milk. 

Jenna [00:17:24] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:17:24] Then he goes to get another cup of coffee. He goes over to the coffee pot. It’s out. He’s like, Ughhh. So then he goes into the freezer to grab the coffee grinds to make new coffee, and he takes the bag out of the freezer and it’s empty. 

Jenna [00:17:39] No. Oh, I thought it spilled. 

Angela [00:17:41] Empty. 

Jenna [00:17:42] Either are bad. 

Angela [00:17:43] Who puts things back in the freezer empty. I’ll tell you who; my teenagers. 

Jenna [00:17:47] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:17:47] You want a Popsicle? Don’t even bother going for that box. It’s empty. Then he leaves the kitchen in a huff with no coffee. He’s walking back towards his office, and Erin stops him and says, Hey, you are getting a huge fax from corporate. It’s like 200 pages of forms you’re going to need to fill out. That’s it. He can’t take it anymore. He’s like, Arghh! And he goes to the warehouse. 

Jenna [00:18:11] After a morning like that, I would need to blow off steam with a mega dance as well. 

Angela [00:18:15] You might need to mega dance. Yeah, you might need a dance on some of those little bubble pop-it thingies. 

Jenna [00:18:21] Well, Andy is going to put Footloose on the boom box, and he is going to do an epic dance montage. Did you know that the original song in the script was not Footloose? 

Angela [00:18:32] What was it? 

Jenna [00:18:32] It was the Last Resort by Papa Roach. 

Angela [00:18:36] Wow? 

Jenna [00:18:36] I don’t know. We ended up using Footloose. It costs $45,000. 

Angela [00:18:42] Woo. 

Jenna [00:18:42] I know. 

Angela [00:18:43] Wow. 

Jenna [00:18:43] That’s a dance. 

Angela [00:18:44] Well, you know, Andy, dancing to Footloose made me think of that game six degrees of Kevin Bacon. 

Jenna [00:18:50] Oh, yeah. 

Angela [00:18:51] Okay, you guys know this, right? The theory is that anyone can be linked through their film or TV roles back to Kevin Bacon within six steps. 

Jenna [00:19:00] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:19:00] Okay, lady. Guess what? 

Jenna [00:19:02] What? 

Angela [00:19:03] You and I are two degrees from Kevin Bacon! 

Jenna [00:19:06] We are? 

Angela [00:19:06] Yes! Yes, Because Steve Carell and Kevin Bacon were both in Crazy, Stupid Love. 

Jenna [00:19:11] Wow. Two degrees and then us. Wouldn’t that be one degree? 

Angela [00:19:15] One degree! Wait, you don’t count Kevin Bacon. I just realized. 

Jenna [00:19:21] Yeah, he’s what we’re a degree from. 

Angela [00:19:23] We’re one degree. 

Jenna [00:19:25] We basically know him. 

Angela [00:19:26] We basically know him. I’ve never met him. 

Jenna [00:19:28] I have not met him?

Angela [00:19:30] I don’t think I- no. I would remember meeting Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon. One degree! 

Jenna [00:19:36] I feel like we could invite him over because we’re one degree. 

Angela [00:19:41] Like to our house? 

Jenna [00:19:41] I don’t know. 

Angela [00:19:43] Like to barbecue? 

Jenna [00:19:44] Yeah. I feel like we could. 

Angela [00:19:47] Can we just say, Hey. You worked with someone we know? Oh, my gosh. 

Jenna [00:19:52] We got a fan question about this cold open from Haley B in Oklahoma who said, Did Ed get to just have fun and do his own thing or was this all scripted? Well, Steve Burgess said he does not have any choreographer on the schedule for this week, so he thinks that means the dancing was all Ed’s creation. I did look in the script and there are very detailed stage directions for the dancing. 

Angela [00:20:16] About the bubble wrap? 

Jenna [00:20:17] Yes, it included the tap dancing on large bubble wrap. Also Andy skateboards on the pushcart, and Andy takes a large bag of shredded paper and makes it snow while laughing giddily. That was what was in the script. Along with other things. There was a big list. So yeah, combo scripted Ed having fun, I think.  

Angela [00:20:40] When I watched it, I really wished that I could run on that bubble wrap. That looked like fun to me. 

Jenna [00:20:45] I really wanted to dance on the paper confetti. I was super jealous when I watched this. I was like, I really wish this had been my cold open. 

Angela [00:20:54] That’s a fun day. 

Jenna [00:20:54] It seemed amazing. Well, this episode opens with Jim returning back to the office from jury duty. Everybody’s very happy to see him. They kind of want to know, like, how’d it go? What was your case? He says it was a hit and run. They found him not guilty. 

Angela [00:21:09] I was so intrigued by this. Why would Jim pick hit and run? 

Jenna [00:21:14] I don’t know. Because that feels like something that might have lasted a week? Feels like a five day trial? 

Angela [00:21:20] Yeah? Yeah. I mean, I guess you either did it or you didn’t. 

Jenna [00:21:24] Yeah, but you got to present all the evidence. 

Angela [00:21:26] Yeah, well, I was curious about is this maybe something the writers knew about, like, hit and run cases? And this is what I found: In Pennsylvania, particularly in Philadelphia, hit and run accidents happen at an alarming rate. 

Jenna [00:21:41] Really? 

Angela [00:21:42] Yes. According to the triple-A Foundation for Traffic Safety, hit and run accidents are a problem throughout the United States. Approximately 4.6 out of every 10,000 motorists have at least one prior hit and run violation and more than one hit and run crash occurs every 60 seconds. 

Jenna [00:22:00] I was in a hit and run. I was the hit and somebody ran. I was in like a line of cars, and someone hit me and then I hit the person in front of me because, you know, they propelled me into them. And we got out of our cars for a second and then we we signaled that we were all going to turn the corner to get off the main road. So me and the person in front of me, we turned the corner to get off the main road and then the hitter just took off. 

Angela [00:22:25] Wow. 

Jenna [00:22:26] Just drove away! 

Angela [00:22:27] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:22:28] Yeah. 

Angela [00:22:28] It’s very common. So maybe that’s why the writers were like, Oh, this is an easy fit. 

Jenna [00:22:33] Yeah. Common. 

Angela [00:22:35] What? 

Jenna [00:22:36] It’s common. 

Angela [00:22:38] You just took a pause and then you went, Common. 

Jenna [00:22:42] It’s common 

Angela [00:22:43] Like a robot. 

Jenna [00:22:46] I was confirming. 

Angela [00:22:47] You’re confirming. Did you know that you can get up to a year in prison or a fine up to $2,500, depending on the damage caused to the property in a hit and run? 

Jenna [00:22:59] I do now. 

Angela [00:23:00] There you go. It gets worse if the hit and run was worse. You know, the penalties. 

Jenna [00:23:04] Yes, the severity increases. 

Angela [00:23:06] That’s right. 

Jenna [00:23:07] With the severity. 

Angela [00:23:09] Severity. 

Jenna [00:23:10] Common. 

Angela [00:23:11] Common. Oh, lord. We might need to take a coffee break for ourselves. 

Jenna [00:23:18] Well, Jim has a talking head where he says that he was called into jury duty, but they released him around noon. He didn’t see any point in going back to work for just a half day. So he, you know, stayed home that day, helped Pam. Then he took the next day off to help Pam. And then three other days happened. I loved that. 

Angela [00:23:38] I did, too 

Jenna [00:23:39] I love that talking head.

Angela [00:23:39] I also thought John did such a great job. His look at the end. So good. 

Jenna [00:23:44] Yeah. So Ange, you looked up the statistics of hit and runs. I looked up the statistics for how likely it is that you’ll get picked for a jury. 

Angela [00:23:53] How likely? Because I seem to get picked every time. 

Jenna [00:23:56] I know. So, according to the National Center for State Courts, it estimates that in any given year, 32 million people get summoned for jury duty. But only 8 million of them actually report. 

Angela [00:24:10] I report! 

Jenna [00:24:11] You report. Now, it’s said- 

Angela [00:24:14] How do they not report? 

Jenna [00:24:15] Well, they said there’s, like, millions of jury summons that get returned because the person isn’t at that address anymore. There’s a bunch of people that, you know, get out for certain reasons. So of the 32 million that they send out, 8 million report for jury duty, and of that 8 million, 1.5 people get selected to serve. I did the math. That means you have a roughly 19% chance of getting selected for a jury. Every time you report. If 1.5 of 8 million people. 

Angela [00:24:50] How do I continue to fall into the 19%? 

Jenna [00:24:53] I don’t know. But I mean, that’s pretty high. One in five basically chance of getting on a jury if you report. 

Angela [00:25:00] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:25:01] So, yeah, we’re handing out a lot of stats today. 

Angela [00:25:05] I know. We’re stat heavy.

Jenna [00:25:05]  Do I have any more stats coming up? 

Angela [00:25:09] Papers. Papers. 

Jenna [00:25:10] Let’s see. 

Angela [00:25:11] Papers. I don’t have any more stats. 

Jenna [00:25:14] I don’t have any more stats. The stats are over. 

Angela [00:25:16] I have lots of scripty stuff. 

Jenna [00:25:18] Okay. 

Angela [00:25:19] Okay. 

Jenna [00:25:19] No more stats. Moving on. 

Angela [00:25:21] No more stats. But, the other thing that’s going to happen in this scene is that Erin is going to get like an email ding. And she’s like, oh, Angela had her baby! 

Jenna [00:25:29] Yes! Everyone’s so excited. 

Angela [00:25:31] Yeah, everyone’s so excited. In the shooting draft, the scene was longer. And Oscar also gets the email like a bunch of people, the email’s popping up around the office. And Oscar reads what the email said out loud. 

Jenna [00:25:44] Oh? 

Angela [00:25:44] Yeah. Here’s what he says to the group. It says that at 6:14 a.m., Angela Martin Lipton gave birth to Philip Halstead Lipton, a 5 pound, three ounce baby boy. Mother and baby are healthy and happy. 

Jenna [00:25:58] Hmm. 

Angela [00:26:00] Five pounds, three ounces. 

Jenna [00:26:01] I feel like they should have left this in because that really sets up the scene later. 

Angela [00:26:06] Right. The preemie. 

Jenna [00:26:08] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:26:09] Well, the accounting department’s going to go see Angela. I mean, they’re kind of like a little family. 

Jenna [00:26:13] They are. Oscar’s the dad. Kevin is Oscar’s dad, and Angela is Kevin’s mom. That’s how Kevin breaks it down.

Angela [00:26:21] Yeah. Gabe says he wants to go, too. Apparently, he loves maternity wards?

Jenna [00:26:25] Yes. He says they’re the perfect blend of love and horror. 

Angela [00:26:28] Great. 

Jenna [00:26:29] We did have a fan catch from Afron R in San Antonio, who said, We know Gabe has weird fears, like his fear of cockroaches and getting squeamish around babies. But I guess he got over his fear of babies because here he says, he loves going to maternity wards. Is this a continuity error or did he get over this fear? Well, Afron, I don’t think he got over his fear. I think he’s doing that thing where he’s like walking into the spooky funhouse. He’s going to be creeped out when he sees the babies, but there’s something about him that’s drawn to it. That’s what I got. 

Angela [00:27:04] Well, I think he’s drawn to the process of the babies coming into the world. Labor. I think he’s drawn to labor. 

Jenna [00:27:14] Really? 

Angela [00:27:14] Yeah, that’s my theory. It’s odd. Any way you look at it. 

Jenna [00:27:18] It sure is. 

Angela [00:27:19] Gabe is an odd bird. Well, a bunch of people start having excuses why they’re not going to go. Right? Jim says, Oh, I’ve missed too much work. And Phyllis has this thing where she kind of trails off. She’s like, I would, but um uh… right? And she trails off. Well, there was a line that was scripted for Phyllis, and I really wish it had made it in. I want to read it to you, because to me, it just shows how well Phyllis knows Angela. 

Jenna [00:27:42] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:27:43] Phyllis would have said, I don’t know. Angela is a private person who doesn’t do well with kindness. 

Jenna [00:27:50] Oh, that’s such a good line. 

Angela [00:27:52] Isn’t that perfect? 

Jenna [00:27:53] That’s so well-written. Next up, we’re in the break room, and Andy is asking Jim for more deets on his case. Everybody wants to hear more deets. 

Angela [00:28:02] Everyone’s so excited. 

Jenna [00:28:04] Entertain us. 

Angela [00:28:04] New information. Thing to talk about. 

Jenna [00:28:07] Everyone says, listen, you kind of owe us. Like we covered you all week. People start explaining things that happened. 

Angela [00:28:14] Phyllis got her car smashed visiting one of Jim’s clients. 

Jenna [00:28:17] Yeah. The least he can do is tell them the story of the case. So Jim starts laying it out. He’s using napkins and salt and pepper shakers. Then Toby says, Ugh, you know what my favorite part of jury duty was? I loved the empanadas from Ernesto. 

Angela [00:28:35] And Jim’s like, Yeah, I love that restaurant, too. And Toby goes, Don’t you mean food truck? Oh, Dwight. Dwight, this is it. 

Jenna [00:28:44] Dwight’s ears go up. 

Angela [00:28:45] To prove that Jim is lying. 

Jenna [00:28:47] Dwight would make a very good Mom Detective. This whole episode is just Dwight being a Mom Detective, honestly. Right? 

Angela [00:28:53] Mm hmm. And he doesn’t really solve the crime that no one cared about. 

Jenna [00:28:57] It’s perfect! He did it! 

Angela [00:29:02] Well, I think Oscar is so brilliant in this episode. I actually just saw him. We had lunch, and I was like, Oscar, when you gather everyone around before you walk into the hospital room and you’re like, Listen, I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a preemie baby. It can be very shocking. Do not comment on it. 

Jenna [00:29:19] I loved him in this scene. 

Angela [00:29:21] He’s so good. And then they go in and see the biggest baby ever. 

Jenna [00:29:26] I’ll have you know that this hospital was not a real hospital, Angela, as you know, you were there. This was a set that we built over on our warehouse stages. 

Angela [00:29:34] Yep 

Jenna [00:29:35] That’s my location report on the hospital, everybody. 

Angela [00:29:38] Yeah. It was great because we could walk back to our trailers. I loved it. Well right away, Angela doesn’t look happy to see any of her coworkers. I think Phyllis was right. 

Jenna [00:29:47] Kevin immediately remarks on how fat the baby is. And Oscar’s like, What are you doing? And he’s like, What? You said, Don’t talk about it if it’s small. You didn’t say anything about it being giant. 

Angela [00:29:59] A big, giant, fat baby. The senator calls Philip substantial and Erin says, He’s more than that. He’s a monster. I’m sorry, this baby is adorable! 

Jenna [00:30:08] So cute. In fact, I know who played little Phillip Halstead Lipton. He was played by twins, Ali and Suzanne Hartman. So you’re actually holding a little baby girls right there. 

Angela [00:30:19] Yeah, they were very sweet babies. They were so good. 

Jenna [00:30:24] Well, just in case, there was also a backup baby. Haley Escalante. You know, that’s how they do it. They cast the twins, the twin babies. But there’s always a backup baby. Remember that episode when Pam brings her baby to Gabe’s apartment? You know, and Dwight has to, like, soothe the baby, and everybody’s like, Why does this baby look completely different? We had to use a backup baby. 

Angela [00:30:46] Backup. 

Jenna [00:30:47] Yeah, because the other babies were, like, very awake. They wouldn’t sleep. We needed a baby that- a sleeper. 

Angela [00:30:53] These babies were just the cutest. And I remember the mom was just standing right off camera there. 

Jenna [00:30:59] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:31:00] And I remember talking to her and just how sweet she was. And she was a fan of the show. And it was just, you know, it gave me baby fever. By this time, I had a toddler. I was like, No, no. Stay focused, Ange!

Jenna [00:31:14] Well, you were very real in these scenes. Like, this is something I notice. You’re always adjusting your bra. 

Angela [00:31:21] My nursing bra? 

Jenna [00:31:22] Yeah. Like all of your movements, all of the ways you regarded the baby. It was so clear that you were a mom. I mean, if you go back and you look at when Pam had her first baby in the hospital, I watch those scenes, and I’m like, I’ve clearly never had a baby before. But you it was so real. It took me back to being in your hospital room. When you had had Isabel. I was like, There she is. It was just like that. 

Angela [00:31:46] Except I did not have a fully blown out hairdo that had been flat ironed and makeup. If you did a side by side of what I looked like in the hospital room and what Angela Martin looked like, that did crack me up. Because I remember you saying they put such thought into how Pam would look after having a baby and her hair sort of in this tousled kind of ponytail. And I look fully made up. 

Jenna [00:32:08] But that tracks for me, for Angela Martin. 

Angela [00:32:11] Me too! 

Jenna [00:32:11] I don’t know. I believe she brought her a little makeup bag and a flat iron to the hospital. 

Angela [00:32:16] I do, too. I think she was like to the senator, I’m going to do my hair. And he was probably like, great. 

Jenna [00:32:21] Yeah. 

Angela [00:32:22] Well, let’s take a break because when we get back, we’re going to learn what our Dwight’s rights are. 

Jenna [00:32:27] Yes, I like it. We are back. And before we launch back into this episode, there is something that I need to do. It’s something I need to do for our best friendship. I want to put something on the record. It’s a good thing. 

Angela [00:32:50] What?! 

Jenna [00:32:50] It’s an amazing thing. 

Angela [00:32:52] Where is this coming from? 

Jenna [00:32:53] I want to document it on our podcast. Today is the day that Angela’s shade on her back porch that she has hated for how many years? 

Angela [00:33:06] Oh, ten years. 

Angela [00:33:08] Ten?! 

Jenna [00:33:08] It’s an old ripped awning. Part of it has mildewed. It’s it’s so old and gross. 

Jenna [00:33:15] It’s coming down today, everybody. It is coming down. At 7:30 this morning, I received a video from Angela of the guys who are taking this down. Finally. You all need to understand how many messages over the last ten years I have gotten from Angela where she is venting about this shade. And you might be wondering why has she not taken it down earlier? It’s because it created, like. 

Angela [00:33:42] A domino effect. 

Jenna [00:33:43] Yes. You’re like, if I take it down, what am I putting up? I want to expand the back porch. I don’t want to get a new shade that’s too short. That’d be dumb. 

Angela [00:33:51] Yeah, it was a whole thing. I couldn’t take it down till, you know, I knew what I was going to do and saved some money and got some ideas. 

Jenna [00:33:59] Cuz it was a whole thing. You can’t take down the shade. 

Angela [00:34:02] No, because I. I have, like, a you know how you just have, like, about three feet off your back door and then it’s the yard? 

Jenna [00:34:10] Yes. 

Angela [00:34:10] So I knew when I took the shade down, I wanted to do a proper porch. 

Jenna [00:34:14] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:34:15] I’m very excited. 

Jenna [00:34:16] It’s finally happening. 

Angela [00:34:18] It’s finally happening! 

Jenna [00:34:18] I mean, I almost cried when you sent me the video. I was like, I can’t believe it. She’s never going to leave me another message about the shade. It’s gone. 

Angela [00:34:25] Oh, my gosh. I know. 

Jenna [00:34:27] I needed it to be part of this podcast so that we could record for all time. 

Angela [00:34:33] That the awning is finally coming off. Listen, while I’ve been here, I’ve been getting updates from my husband. Look at this one I’m going to show you. 

Jenna [00:34:42] Oh, my gosh. It is. It’s half down. 

Angela [00:34:47] It’s half down. Oh. I don’t know what I’m going home to! 

Jenna [00:34:53] Well, not that awning. 

Angela [00:34:54] Not that awning! 

Jenna [00:34:55] It’s a wonderful, beautiful day. 

Angela [00:34:57] Oh, man. 

Jenna [00:34:58] What will take its place? I wonder. 

Angela [00:35:00] What- that I gripe to you about? 

Jenna [00:35:02] Yeah. Well, what is gripe number two? There isn’t even anything that comes to mind. 

Angela [00:35:07] What do I do with all that extra time I’m going to get? 

Jenna [00:35:09] I don’t know. 

Angela [00:35:09] I’ll have to leave you positive affirmations. 

Jenna [00:35:13] Okay. Well, back to the episode. Dwight is asking Jim to go over the details of the case again. He’s like, I don’t understand how it worked. So he repeats back to Jim. He’s like, So there was a guy and he’s on his bicycle. 

Angela [00:35:27] And Jim’s like, Yeah. 

Jenna [00:35:29] And Dwight’s like, Aha! You never said there was a bicycle. 

Angela [00:35:33] And he’s like, I knew it! 

Jenna [00:35:34] I gotcha! 

Angela [00:35:36] This is going to open up a whole can of worms because now Dwight has decided to make a citizen’s arrest of Jim. Instead of reading him his Miranda rights, Dwight is going to say, You have the right to remain silent. You have the right to beg for mercy. You have the right to request judgment by combat. Dwight’s rights. 

Jenna [00:35:55] I love judgment by combat. 

Angela [00:35:55] I did too. Andy tells Dwight to take a chill pill. And literally, like he’s a first grade teacher, he hands Dwight a make believe glass of water and a make believe pill. 

Jenna [00:36:08] We have a fan catch from Brandon in Illinois who said, I have always loved the added detail of how Dwight crumples up the fake cup when he’s swallowing the chill pill. 

Angela [00:36:16] And tosses it. 

Jenna [00:36:17] Yeah, that was the moment for me when I saw that I was like, that is something we all learned to do in acting class. You had to. 

Angela [00:36:26] Personalize the moment. 

Jenna [00:36:27] Yes, exactly. 

Angela [00:36:29] Ground it. Yeah. 

Jenna [00:36:30] His acting classes just paid off in that moment. He made it very specific. Well, Dwight takes the chill pill. He’s very chill now. 

Angela [00:36:38] He’s very chill, but he does very calmly say, Andy, if Jim lied, will you fire him? And Andy says yes. 

Jenna [00:36:46] Mhm. 

Angela [00:36:47] Oh, no. 

Jenna [00:36:48] Well Jim is going to come clean to Andy. They go into the stairwell. So many confessions have happened in this stairwell. 

Angela [00:36:54] It’s where everyone goes for their heart to hearts. 

Jenna [00:36:56] I know. It’s very cute. 

Angela [00:36:59] I had a few heart to hearts in the stairwell. 

Jenna [00:37:01] I had a big heart to heart in that stairwell. Like for reals. 

Angela [00:37:04] For real. I’m saying for real. It kind of was funny that in episodes that were written, the characters had heart to hearts there. But actually, in real life, we did, too. 

Jenna [00:37:14] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:37:15] Jim is going to tell Andy. Look, I’m sorry. I stayed home to help Pam with the kids, and I’m sorry I lied to you. I think we should just come clean. 

Jenna [00:37:24] Yeah, Jim says, I should tell everybody, and Andy’s like, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. This will be just between us. 

Angela [00:37:31] Yeah, because he doesn’t want to, like, have to fire him. 

Jenna [00:37:34] Yeah, he’s like, I got your back. 

Angela [00:37:36] He’s like, Have you ever heard of a Connecticut cover up? Jim says, No. Andy says, Do you want to know why you never heard of it? Jim says, No. Covered it up 

Jenna [00:37:44] That was a very funny couplet. I looked up Connecticut cover up. 

Angela [00:37:48] I did too. 

Jenna [00:37:48] It’s in the Urban dictionary attributed to The Office. 

Angela [00:37:51] Right? Yeah. I actually texted Warren about it because he’s from Connecticut and I was like, Warren, was this you in the writers room? He said, I can’t take credit for it, but it feels like something I might have pitched.

Jenna [00:38:04] Well, Dwight has done something. He has hired Ernesto’s food truck to come to the office. 

Angela [00:38:10] Yeah, empanadas for everybody. 

Jenna [00:38:12] Mm hmm. I asked Steve Burgess about that food truck. He said that was a rental from Studio Picture Vehicles. It really didn’t make any food. 

Angela [00:38:19] We didn’t get any empanadas? 

Jenna [00:38:21] No. I wondered. 

Angela [00:38:23] Well, immediately Ernesto sees Toby. He’s like, Toby! 

Jenna [00:38:26] Yes. 

Angela [00:38:28] And then Jim walks out, and Dwight’s like, Jim, who’s that? And Ernesto had no idea who he was. 

Jenna [00:38:33] And Jim had no idea. 

Angela [00:38:35] Yeah, clearly, until Toby’s like, That’s Ernesto! And Dwight’s like, dammit! But he has a line that cracks me up. He’s like, Okay. He remembers Toby, the most forgettable man in the known world. 

Jenna [00:38:48] I know. Guest star alert. Ernesto is played by Eduardo Antonio Garcia. You might recognize him from No Country for Old Men, for which he won a SAG Award, or Law and Order: LA. He is also one of the most prolific voice actors in the business. He has voiced over 1500 commercials since 1998. 

Angela [00:39:07] That’s amazing. 

Jenna [00:39:08] Yeah. 

Angela [00:39:09] This scene has another one of my favorite lines in the episode. 

Jenna [00:39:12] Okay? 

Angela [00:39:13] Creed says, Usually I’m a burrito guy, but if you won’t tell, I won’t. Wink, wink. Like what? I just picture our writer’s room just coming up with these non-sequitur like, one liners for Creed constantly. 

Jenna [00:39:27] See, this is why I’m not a writer, because I would just write the plot. There would be no of these little like, awesome pops of flavor from different characters. All my characters would sound the same. It would just be information, information, information, because that’s what I do best. I lay track and I get you there. But I don’t know how to do all that other stuff. It’s so cool. 

Angela [00:39:51] This is why we were such a good team writing our book, because I would write something you’d be like, Ange, this is really funny. This is a great memory. Where does it go? I’m like, I don’t know. And then you’d be like, Okay, here’s some structure. And then you would write something. I’d be like, Jenna, this is great. I would give it. I’m gonna give a little bit of zhuzh. 

Jenna [00:40:10] Yeah, You’re like, We need some jokes in here. I am in awe of writers. It’s no wonder that’s who I would always fall in love with. I always fall in love with the writers. My whole life. Going back to college, going back to high school. 

Angela [00:40:25] We fall in love with the things that we feel missing in ourselves. 

Jenna [00:40:29] I think you’re right, Ange. Things are falling apart for Andy and Jim. It’s becoming very clear. How is Andy going to keep this going? We got a fan question from Greg S in Maryland who said, This episode has one of the best work related quotes ever. I am a video editor and I cannot tell you how many times I’m asked to edit something, review the footage I am given, and I say to myself under my breath, I am not Rumpelstiltskin, Jim. I can’t keep spinning gold out of your (BLEEP). It’s such a good line. 

Angela [00:41:00] They’re such a horrible lying duo. The two of them are so bad. Now it’s escalated to this story where Andy, who lives by the courthouse, would drive every morning and get Jim and bring him back to the courthouse and watch his cute tushy walk into those steps. It’s become like a nightmare for them. There was a Dwight talking head here that didn’t make it into the episode, but I want to read it to you. 

Jenna [00:41:22] Okay. 

Angela [00:41:25] Oh, my gosh. Dwight says, I have a recurring nightmare that I’ve been wrongly accused of a crime, and 12 of these idiots are on the jury. Stanley is fast asleep. Kevin eats the evidence. Phyllis’ name is Alison, but it really is Phyllis. Jim is foreman of the jury and pronounces me guilty. The cop takes me away and tells me that I’ve been a bad boy, and we have sex in the hall. She leaves the handcuffs on. They take me away to prison. The guards are all women. And then he goes, (SIGH). 

Jenna [00:41:58] That went places I wasn’t expecting. 

Angela [00:42:01] I know. And I had to wonder, too, if somewhere embedded in there was a little shout out to the fact that Alison and Phyllis worked together. 

Jenna [00:42:09] Oh, yes. Alison Jones? 

Angela [00:42:12] Yep. 

Jenna [00:42:12] Hmm. Well, should we go back to the hospital? 

Angela [00:42:16] Yeah, because Erin is holding baby Phillip, and she says, You know, I think Phillip might be more than 5 pounds because that’s the weight that I squat with. And the senator just says, Oh, he’s 9 pounds. 

Jenna [00:42:28] Yes. And Angela is like, Oh, I don’t know. I don’t remember. 

Angela [00:42:32] Well, Angela makes up an excuse for remembering it wrong. You know, she was on so many drugs. 

Jenna [00:42:37] Yeah. She might as well have been at a James Taylor concert. Well, now Oscar and Kevin are going to give Angela some gifts that they brought for baby Phillip. We got a fan question from Kelly T in Indiana who says, When Oscar gives Angela the present at the hospital, it is in the classic movie present box, a wrapped box and a wrapped lid that lifts off. I have never seen a gift like this in real life. Do they do this because of the sound of ripping wrapping paper? Why not a gift bag? Kelly, I will tell you, it is for many reasons. One, it’s the ripped wrapping paper. Yes. 

Angela [00:43:13] Yeah. The sound. 

Jenna [00:43:13] Remember the fakey bag? That’s why we never can carry a real shopping bag. You have to carry the fakey bag. But also, this way, they could just put the gift in and put the top back on. And they didn’t have to, like, have a bunch of pre wrapped gifts with a onesie inside of it. 

Angela [00:43:29] Also… 

Jenna [00:43:30] You could do multiple takes. 

Angela [00:43:31] Exactly. And also, if it was wrapped, every time Oscar unwrapped it, he would have to unwrap it exactly the same so the continuity would match and you’re never going to be able to unwrap it exactly the same. 

Jenna [00:43:44] No. Exactly. And a gift bag with tissue paper, I mean, no, that’s bad for sound. So Oscar gives Angela this gift and it’s a teeny tiny preemie onesie. It’s clearly not going to fit that baby. 

Angela [00:43:58] No. And Kevin gives Angela’s baby Call of Duty. 

Jenna [00:44:01] Mm hmm. Well, I went on OfficeTally.com and I found a link for this episode called Angela is miffed by the gifts. And it is a series of photos with snarky captions written by Angela Martin. Here is what it says: While I’m not surprised my coworkers gave me gifts for the arrival of my baby- I asked them to- I am simply shocked and appalled by some of them. So the first photo is of a tiny yellow knitted sweater and it says, Phyllis decided it would be a good idea to make the baby and I matching wool sweaters. I’m sorry, are we Irish hippies? Hardly. Think. And then there’s more. I guess Erin gave you generic baby bottles. Meredith dropped off a $12 gift certificate to Arby’s and some beer. Andy gave Angela a very nice silver rattle. Angela liked this. She said that Philip would hold it in their first family portrait. So you were quite surprised. Creed gave Angela Martin a swearing parrot. 

Angela [00:45:06] A real life parrot? 

Jenna [00:45:08] Yeah. A real life swearing parrot. 

Angela [00:45:10] You know, the screaming parrot thing is pretty amazing. I remember when they were doing those. 

Jenna [00:45:15] Yeah. 

Angela [00:45:16] This is what kind of cracks me up because, you know, if you go to what Pam’s blog was and then what Angela’s like, how they document their babies and stuff, it’s very different. 

Jenna [00:45:27] Yes. Angela’s blog was basically like, shame. 

Angela [00:45:31] Gripes! Yeah. 

Jenna [00:45:31] Shame her coworkers 

Angela [00:45:32] Shame list. 

Jenna [00:45:33] But this did get me thinking, how could they have done better? So I was a lady who googled and I found a list of gifts you can give a coworker who’s having a baby. This list was on Love to Know dot com, and it suggested that if you’re in an office, you can pool your money and then buy one of the following gifts- and lady, I have to say, I thought these were all brilliant. I’m going to keep these in the back of my mind for anyone who has a baby in the future. 

Angela [00:46:01] Okay, let’s hear them. 

Jenna [00:46:02] Number one, a baby bathtub filled with health and toiletry items like washcloths and baby soap and baby first aid supplies. 

Angela [00:46:09] Love it. 

Jenna [00:46:10] So cute. Number two, a big ticket item like a stroller or a highchair or breast pump. Number three, diapers. Just load them up with a bunch of size one, size two diapers and wipes. Number four, a baby basket of board books. 

Angela [00:46:31] Oh, cute! 

Jenna [00:46:31] Like, kind of going up through the ages. And finally, a gift certificate for a photo shoot with an infant photographer. What a good idea is that? 

Angela [00:46:40] Yeah! 

Jenna [00:46:41] Right?

Angela [00:46:42] I love it. 

Jenna [00:46:43] I loved all of them. 

Angela [00:46:44] I will add one thing to it that I received, which was a mommy spa day. 

Jenna [00:46:49] Ooh. That’s a good one. 

Angela [00:46:51] Yeah. A little something for mom, too. 

Jenna [00:46:53] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:46:54] Oscar’s going to have a very funny talking head where he says, This baby is clearly not premature. They’re lying about the date it was conceived. It’s very interesting. And her husband’s gay. I don’t even know which thread to follow. 

Jenna [00:47:08] You mentioned how good Oscar is in this episode. This talking head. Again. So good. 

Angela [00:47:13] So good. 

Jenna [00:47:13] I love how giddy he is that he’s discovered this. 

Angela [00:47:16] I know. 

Jenna [00:47:17] Back at the office, without telling Andy first, Jim calls everyone’s attention and apologizes for the burden of last week. And then he tells them that he wasn’t really on jury duty; he was home with Pam. 

Angela [00:47:32] I mean, Dwight’s delighted. He’s like, bye bye. Starts packing up his stuff. 

Jenna [00:47:36] Yes, but he’s putting work stuff in a box. Did you notice? He takes a box and he starts immediately packing up what looks like work. It’s not even Jim’s personal items. It doesn’t make any sense. 

Angela [00:47:49] People are mad at Jim. They’re giving him the stink eye. Well, there was a deleted Jim and Pam scene that sets up why they ultimately bring the kids to work. 

Jenna [00:47:59] Oh, tell me. I have no memory of this. I was in a fog. 

Angela [00:48:02] While you were on the phone, so maybe. 

Jenna [00:48:04] Okay. 

Angela [00:48:05] This was a call in scene for you, lady. So there was a deleted Jim storyline where he tries to win everyone over and it starts with his talking head. Here’s what he says: I would love for everyone to just forgive me, but if that’s not happening, I’m not averse to just buying them off. 

Jenna [00:48:21] Okay. 

Angela [00:48:22] And then you see him going into the break room and buying all the red licorice in the vending machine, and he makes a big announcement to the bullpen. He says, All right, you guys, you know how we all like the red licorice, but it’s always buried behind a ton of the black licorice? Well, guess what? I bought it all. Now it’s like Red City in there. So enjoy! And he has all the licorice, right, for them. Phyllis is like, Mm hmm. Moneybags. Must be nice. 

Jenna [00:48:50] Oh, boy. 

Angela [00:48:51] Andy said, So you effectively spent, what, $4 on the entire office? And Jim’s like, I can’t get a handle on it. Am I cheap or rich? I can’t. And then Andy’s like, You’re nothing. When I think about all the gas money I spent on you, washing my car to make sure- he, like Andy, is just so determined to keep his lie going. 

Jenna [00:49:09] Yes. 

Angela [00:49:09] Jim interrupts him and says, Enjoy the licorice, everyone. Everyone continues giving Jim a lot of grief about this red licorice stunt. Right? They’re all turning on him. Creed, Stanley, Darryl. In the next scene, Jim has gone down to Dwight’s Gym for Muscles. 

Jenna [00:49:25] Oh, wow. 

Angela [00:49:26] He’s riding the bicycle and eating red licorice by himself. He calls Pam and says, They hate me, Pam. Pam says, They don’t hate you. Jim goes, No, it’s bad. Darryl canceled go-karting. Pam goes, When were you going go-karting with Darryl? Jim says, It’s a lunch thing. Pam says, All right, just don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. Jim says, I feel like a stranger in my own country. Pam says, Okay, drama. And then Jim goes, Hey, you’re not here. You don’t know. Okay? It’s intense. They made me eat black licorice. 

Jenna [00:50:00] Wow. 

Angela [00:50:02] And then I guess Pam’s plan is, let’s bring the kids. 

Jenna [00:50:05] Oh, my gosh. 

Angela [00:50:07] But I thought it was really funny when you go, Okay, drama. 

Jenna [00:50:12] Well, back at the hospital, Angela is going to come clean, so Jim has come clean in the office. Now, Angela is going to come clean. She’s going to tell everybody, Listen, this baby was conceived nine months ago. Despite our intention to wait. But you’d just seen Thor and there was too much wine in her chicken piccata. 

Angela [00:50:32] Chicken marsala. 

Jenna [00:50:34] Okay. Fan catch from Alex P and Katie G and many others… When Angela finally admits that she and the senator conceived Phillip out of wedlock, she says there was too much wine in her chicken. But isn’t Angela a vegetarian? Hey-oh!

Angela [00:50:50] Great catch. Great catch. 

Jenna [00:50:53] Mhmm. 

Angela [00:50:54] This scene does have one of my favorite lines in the entire episode, which is when Oscar says, The only premature baby in this room is the baby this baby ate. 

Jenna [00:51:03] Well, guess who’s going to come meet this baby now? Dwight. He’s come to the hospital looking for Gabe. He’s not even interested in seeing the baby until Oscar tells him… I promised I wouldn’t say anything. 

Angela [00:51:16] And then he goes, So don’t. 

Jenna [00:51:17] I know. I loved that. 

Angela [00:51:19] And then Oscar tells him. And then Oscar goes, I didn’t tell you! And Dwight goes, Yes, you did! 

Jenna [00:51:26] That made me laugh so hard. Well, Dwight barges into Angela’s hospital room, demands to see the baby. I spotted a little something on the white board as Dwight was entering the room. There’s a little hospital white board, you know. And it says that Angela’s nurse’s name is Ruth Shure. So I asked Erin Shure, our writer about it. And he said that was his wife at the time. She was becoming a nurse at the age of 50 and that she has now gone on to become a family nurse practitioner. And he was just very proud. So he put her name up on the board as Angela’s nurse. 

Angela [00:52:02] I love it. So now Dwight is looking at little baby Philip Halstead Lipton. Halstead, which was one of our writers. 

Jenna [00:52:11] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:52:12] I said to Halstead, Did you pitch to have your name in this episode? He goes, No! Quite the opposite. I was like, No, you guys. But like, the writers room insisted. When Dwight sees the baby, I thought the baby looked like Dwight. 

Jenna [00:52:27] They did a great job casting these babies. 

Angela [00:52:30] Right? 

Jenna [00:52:30] It’s true. Although in a later scene, Angela is going to say your face looks like a baby, Dwight. 

Angela [00:52:35] That was one of my favorite lines to say. 

Jenna [00:52:38] So maybe any baby looks like Rainn Wilson but they did a good job. I think there’s three categories of babies. 

Angela [00:52:46] Oh, yeah? 

Jenna [00:52:46] Yes, there are chubber babies. Old man Babies. And baby babies. These are the three categories of babies. You get like a baby that just looks like a baby. Just a baby. Just baby, baby. And then there’s like, old man baby, where it’s a baby that looks like an old man shrunken down. So cute. And then there’s chubber baby, where it’s just, like, rolls and rolls of chub on the baby. I can’t get enough of all these babies. I love all the babies. 

Angela [00:53:17] I know. They’re so cute. Well, it’s going to be time to breastfeed the baby, which is, you know, the senator’s cue to leave. He’s like, Blech. I’m out. Dwight wraps the curtain around them. And I have to tell you, this scene that I got to do with Rainn was one of my most fun scenes from being on the show, because we knew our characters so well and they had scripted the top half of the scene, and then our director, Eric, just let us go and interrupt each other and play around until it just felt like a true argument where you’re kind of stepping on each other. And it didn’t feel scripted at all to me, even though I knew the first part of it was, because they let us play around so much with it and kept some of our improv in. I just thought the scene turned out so great. 

Jenna [00:54:02] It is a great example of your chemistry together. Like it just sings. Sometimes a scene just sings and this one did. It was so good!

Angela [00:54:13] Thanks, lady. I loved doing it. You want to guess where the scripted part stopped and we started improvising? 

Jenna [00:54:21] Did you improvise the line, Your face looks like a baby? 

Angela [00:54:24] No. That was that was written and it was such a great line. So after Dwight says, And then I kissed you with the force of a thousand waterfalls. And Angela says, That didn’t happen. Everything after that was improvised. 

Jenna [00:54:39] Oh, amazing! 

Angela [00:54:40] When Dwight said, And then I inserted my penis and I said, No, stop it! Like, I had no idea that that was going to be said. And then Dwight continues, Into your- and I’m like, Dwight! And he goes, Vagina. And I’m like, Even if it did, it’s a coincidence! 

Jenna [00:54:57] That was such a great line. 

Angela [00:54:58] He’s like, there is a chance! I was like- he’s like, Admit it! I’m like, I will not! All of that was us playing around. 

Jenna [00:55:03] Oh, so good. 

Angela [00:55:05] We basically got to play until they sent the senator back in. But you know, we could do that because these characters were so well-written and we knew who they were. We knew what they would say to each other no matter what. 

Jenna [00:55:18] Yeah, that was the magic of the show, right? They could write us so well, and we knew ourselves so well. Well, Dwight is going to just burst out of the doors. He tells the nurse, Cancel the circumcision! I just might be that baby’s dad. The nurse is like, I don’t know what that means. By the way, the nurse was played by Carrie Clifford. She is a very funny actor as well as a producer and writer. She was absolutely brilliant in this exchange. 

Angela [00:55:45] Carrie’s hilarious. She’s one of those people that is funny just reading the phone book. She’s just got a very funny delivery. 

Jenna [00:55:53] She’s so very naturally funny. 

Angela [00:55:54] I know. 

Jenna [00:55:55] Right? 

Angela [00:55:56] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:55:56] Should we go back to the office and check in on what’s happening there? 

Angela [00:56:00] Yes! Oh, please. Because I have something really fun to share. So there is a deleted scene that happens back at the office, because Andy is determined to keep his lie going. Like, he is not going to admit that he lied to help Jim. He goes to such great depths. Are you ready for this? 

Jenna [00:56:19] Yes. 

Angela [00:56:20] A police officer walks into the office. Andy introduces him as Officer Foley from the Scranton PD. He said, Officer Foley works down at the courthouse and he has something he’d like to say. 

Jenna [00:56:32] What is going on? 

Angela [00:56:33] Officer Foley says, I understand that some of you don’t believe that Mr. Bernard drove his friend to the courthouse for jury duty last week. Darryl says, Correction, we don’t care. Erin says, Wait, aren’t you an actor? Andy like, No. Erin goes, Yeah. Weren’t you in Sweeney Todd last year with Andy? And Officer Foley is like, Uh no. And Darryl goes, You hired your actor friend to come here as a cop? And Andy says, That is so offensive and ridiculous. Darryl says, So if I started singing, Down by the Old Mill Stream, you couldn’t join me in a three part harmony? And Andy and Officer Foley are like, No. And then Darryl starts singing, and immediately Andy, Darryl and Officer Foley have the most beautiful harmony, and they sing sort of like a barbershop quartet. And at the end, Andy goes, Ah shoot! Well, I really think we need to hear Officer Foley, Andy and Darryl sing. And when I traded emails with Aaron Shure about this episode, this was a scene we spoke about. 

Andy, Darryl, Officer Foley [00:57:38] Down by the… Down by the… Down by the old mill stream. When I first met you. Down by the old mill stream… 

Jenna [00:58:11] Oh, my gosh! I love that. 

Angela [00:58:14] Isn’t it great? And Andy has such this pure joy reaction. He’s like, Yeah! And then he goes, Oh, shoot. Busted. 

Jenna [00:58:22] I know who played Officer Foley. 

Angela [00:58:24] So do I. 

Jenna [00:58:26] It was our script supervisor’s husband. 

Angela [00:58:28] Yes, it was Veda’s husband, Michael Tuba Hetherington. I mean, Tuba was one of our recurring characters. 

Jenna [00:58:34] Yes. They sounded so good together. 

Angela [00:58:36] I know. 

Jenna [00:58:37] You know they had fun doing that. 

Angela [00:58:38] Oh, my gosh. I bet they rehearsed and just were having the best time. 

Jenna [00:58:42] Well, down in the parking lot, Pam has arrived with the two children. And Jim is helping her unload the kids from the car. But then Jim’s going to go back up into the office and pretend like he has no idea that Pam is there. As if she’s surprised him- Surprise, everybody! So I remember something about this moment, Angela, because Pam walks in pushing a stroller with baby Phillip. And at the table read for this, it was scripted that she was carrying him in in his car seat. I was on speaker phone for this. And I guess afterwards, Angela, you went up to Phil Shea and you said, Jenna can’t carry a car seat. 

Angela [00:59:26] No. 

Jenna [00:59:26] She’s not allowed. She can’t carry that. That’s too heavy. You were like on it. You talk about like how the women cared for me and this episode you’re like, No, no, no. You told everybody she can’t do that. She has to- 

Angela [00:59:38] Have a stroller. 

Jenna [00:59:38] Yes. Because Phil Shea called me and he said, Jenna, is it true that you can’t carry a car seat? I said, That’s right. I’m still in that phase of postpartum. 

Angela [00:59:46] You had stitches! 

Jenna [00:59:48] I had stitches still. They hadn’t been removed. And you can’t carry more than like a bag of flour, right? That’s what they day. You can carry your baby and that’s about it. So he said, Can you push a stroller? I said, I can push a stroller. But I’ll tell you what, I’m pushing that stroller with one arm because I was holding on to the hand of little Cece, and that was not easy actually, at that point, to do the one-hand push and then the- yeah. 

Angela [01:00:16] Yeah, I went up to Phil Shea and I was like, Eh. And I didn’t feel like I needed to announce it to the room because I knew Phil would just make it happen. 

Jenna [01:00:23] He would just take care of me. He did. 

Angela [01:00:25] Well, guess what? Cece made everyone a picture. 

Jenna [01:00:28] This made me laugh so hard. 

Angela [01:00:30] I cracked up when Ryan is like, Why am I smaller than the desk? 

Jenna [01:00:36] And then the look between Jim and Pam. 

Angela [01:00:39] I know. 

Jenna [01:00:39] Because clearly Pam has made these drawings. 

Angela [01:00:42] Yes. 

Jenna [01:00:43] Yeah. And they’re handing them out. And I love I love when Kelly is like, Did you make this drawing? And Cece’s like, No. And Pam’s like, She says no to everything. She loves to say no. Well, it’s very clear that Cece did not make these drawings, and then everything sort of erupts into chaos. 

Angela [01:01:06] Yeah. Cece starts crying, and then the baby starts crying. And then I thought Darryl had the best talking head when he was like, Look, I’m a dad. Those five days at home for Jim, that was no vacation. 

Jenna [01:01:19] Yeah. 

Angela [01:01:19] Everyone just gets it. 

Jenna [01:01:21] We got a fan question from Jessie W in Alabama and many others who wanted to know how we filmed the scene with Cece being upset and crying. How does that work in show business? Well, basically what happened was her mom had been on set with us while we were filming, and her mom stepped away for a second and she started to cry and we captured it. And then her mom came on very quickly. There’s a lot of movie magic involved. Like, you might notice, like when she’s running around in the conference room, you only see the back of her head. She was not upset. She was actually having fun, and we added the crying to the background. Same with Phillip. Like Phillip’s pacifier fell out of his mouth for a second, and he started fussing and I basically put it right back in, and then they just put crying noises on it. But Cece was upset for a second, and you can see me on the scene, reach down- because I’m her mom, you know, fictionally- and I normally would have picked her up. 

Angela [01:02:19] Yeah, but you couldn’t. Because you had stitches.

Jenna [01:02:20] I couldn’t pick her up. Because those little girls, I’ve said before, they were played by Bailey and Sienna Stroll, we spent a lot of time with them, John and I. 

Angela [01:02:29] Yeah. That’s what you do when you’re working with a baby or toddler. You go early, you get to know the parents, you spend time with them, so that when the cameras are rolling, you’ve had a little time to get to know each other. 

Jenna [01:02:39] They were very familiar with us. And if I could have, I would have just swooped down and picked her up. And they loved us. We had a really good relationship with them. 

Angela [01:02:47] I know. They were so sweet. So Jim is going to walk Pam and the kids out and everyone’s like, You know what? Just go home, buddy. Just go home.

Jenna [01:02:54] Yeah. Everyone kind of forgives him in this moment when they see what he was really home with all week. 

Angela [01:03:01] Yeah. I have something kind of juicy to share. 

Jenna [01:03:04] What? 

Angela [01:03:06] Well, in the shooting draft, there was a must shoot talking head with Cathy and a must shoot alt. I’m going to read them both to you. 

Jenna [01:03:16] That would have gone right here? 

Angela [01:03:18] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:03:18] Okay. 

Angela [01:03:19] Ready? 

Jenna [01:03:20] Yes. 

Angela [01:03:21] Oh, the message boards would have gone crazy! So there would have been a little spy shot here of Cathy talking on her cell phone to one of her friends. 

Jenna [01:03:32] Really? 

Angela [01:03:33] Uh huh? Guess what she says? 

Jenna [01:03:35] What? 

Angela [01:03:36] I’m out of a job as soon as Pam gets tired of those brats. Hey, maybe I should be her nanny. My friend’s a nanny. We can hang out at the park together. Oh, my God. I went to college. 

Jenna [01:03:48] Hmm. 

Angela [01:03:49] And are you ready for the alt? 

Jenna [01:03:51] What’s the alt? 

Angela [01:03:52] Must shoot alt. There’s footage of this somewhere. Cathy would have said on the phone, I hadn’t seen it before, but Jim kind of has that sexy dad thing going on. If, like, you’re into sexy dads. 

Jenna [01:04:08] Oh, I have to say something. 

Angela [01:04:10] What? 

Jenna [01:04:12] I feel like they did not know what to do with this character of Cathy. 

Angela [01:04:15] No! They didn’t. 

Jenna [01:04:16] Because for the Trivia episode, they had written a whole thing where Pam invited Cathy over to meet the new baby. 

Angela [01:04:25] To her house!

Jenna [01:04:26] Yes. And now you have this thing going on. I feel like there’s this really big gap in the story of Cathy, this character. And I’m really interested to get into it with Lindsay because that episode of Pam’s Replacement is great. It’s a great idea. She kills it. It’s so fun. And then basically, she’s just in the background until Tallahassee, when she throws herself at Jim. It’s very it makes her seem cray cray. But the truth is, is that there were all these little things like, what is she? Is she friends with Jim and Pam? Is she hot for Jim? Like, they were throwing a lot at this character, and I feel, like, never really found her purpose.

Angela [01:05:12] Right. I’m excited to talk to Lindsay about it, too, because her being a foil to Pam, I get. You know, I get that idea. But then they never set her up to do that correctly as a character. 

Jenna [01:05:25] Yeah. Like, they wrote things for her, but they were never aired. So the Tallahassee thing really comes out of the blue. But what people should know is that it was there, it was being written, but it wasn’t making it into the episode. Well, this episode ends with Dwight bursting into the office smoking a cigar, and he has a talking head. He forgives Jim. He does. You know why? He was doing it for his kids. And us dads, you know, he says us dads. 

Angela [01:05:57] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:05:58] He’s a dad. 

Angela [01:05:59] He’s a dad. Or so he thinks. Or is he? No spoilers! What if this is someone’s first time watching the show? No spoilers. 

Jenna [01:06:09] All right. I won’t say anything, but we’ll get there. 

Angela [01:06:13] Yeah, we will. Well, that was Jury Duty. I loved watching this episode. I’m so excited Pam’s back. 

Jenna [01:06:20] I want to give a big thank you to Steve Burgess and Aaron Shure. We both reached out. 

Angela [01:06:25] Yes. And Halstead for answering my question about his name. 

Jenna [01:06:29] And to all of you for writing in with your great catches and questions. 

Angela [01:06:32] You guys have a great week. We’ll see you next week! 

Jenna [01:06:34] See you then! Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. 

Angela [01:06:41] Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. 

Jenna [01:06:45] 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 [01:06:55] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.