EP. 191 — Roy’s Wedding with Tim Meadows

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. Hello!

Angela [00:00:25] Hi there!

Jenna [00:00:26] Dun dun dun dun. 

Angela [00:00:28] Dun dun dun dun. 

Jenna [00:00:31] It is Roy’s Wedding. 

Angela [00:00:34] I mean, it’s a beautiful wedding. 

Jenna [00:00:37] So beautiful! Roy and Laura are getting married. 

Angela [00:00:41] In a beautiful backyard garden. 

Jenna [00:00:43] I know. 

Angela [00:00:43] There’s piano playing. We’ll get to it. 

Jenna [00:00:45] Champagne.

Angela [00:00:46] Champagne. 

Jenna [00:00:47] It is season nine, episode two, Roy’s Wedding, written by Allison Silverman and directed by Matt Sohn. Here’s your summary: Pam and Jim attend Roy’s wedding. 

Angela [00:00:59] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:01:00] And there are so many surprises. 

Angela [00:01:02] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:01:03] So many things they didn’t know about Roy and his growth. And it gets them to wonder, hmm, do we know everything about one another? Or is maybe Jim keeping a giant secret from Pam? 

Angela [00:01:17] Uh oh. 

Jenna [00:01:17] Meanwhile, in this episode, Clark schemes to get Erin alone in his apartment. 

Angela [00:01:23] Clark’s going to be a creeper, y’all. 

Jenna [00:01:24] He sure is. And Nellie is going to use an unusual tactic to get Dwight to cooperate in her charity special project. But before we get to all of that, we have a very special treat today. 

Angela [00:01:39] Yeah, Jenna is super excited because it means no fast facts. 

Jenna [00:01:43] Yes, Angela, you know me very well. That’s right. Today there are no fast facts. Today, our top of show is an interview with Tim Meadows!

Angela [00:01:54] Yay! We were so excited to have Tim. Our regular Office Ladies listeners, you might remember a while back, Tim shared some tidbits with us when we broke down the episode, The Client. But we were thrilled to have him on the podcast in person. We did a zoom. He talked about his time on the show and we get to catch up with him. 

Jenna [00:02:12] Yes, Tim and I are also both in the new Mean Girls movie, which comes out this Friday, January 12th. We talk all about it. We talk about his time on The Office and lots of other stuff. We had so much fun. 

Angela [00:02:25] We did. We got so tickled. We laughed so hard. We were all crying. 

Jenna [00:02:29] I think there might be some pauses in this interview where you just hear three people silent laughing. Get ready for it. 

Angela [00:02:36] Here it is. Oh, my gosh. Look who’s here. It’s Tim! Hi! 

Jenna [00:02:43] Hi!

Tim Meadows [00:02:44] Hello, everyone. 

Angela [00:02:46] Hello!  We are so excited to have you here with us. And you’re going to talk a little bit about your time on The Office and your new movie with Jenna, Mean Girls. 

Jenna [00:02:56] Let’s start with The Office. Tim, we always ask people how they got their job on The Office. And you originally you were offered the role and you turned it down, right? 

Tim Meadows [00:03:07] Yes, that is true. I wouldn’t say turned it down. I didn’t turn it down to, to, Greg and Michael Schur. I turned it down to my manager. Like he called and said, like, Oh, we got this offer for this episode. And I was like, No, I don’t know. I don’t know if I should do it or not, because I actually was you know, honestly, I was hoping to get paid more. And then uh… 

Jenna [00:03:30] We had no money. It was in the very beginning. 

Tim Meadows [00:03:33] The second season, I think? Early in the second season. And NBC was not, you know, they were like not into paying me more money. And so I passed and I just told my agent, right. And then my manager’s assistant called me back on his personal phone and said, I really think you should do this. And I don’t make these kind of calls all the time. But I think that this is like one of those comedies that everybody in the industry watches, and I think you should do it. And I knew Steven and I knew some of the other people involved in the show, too. So I was just like, okay, yeah, I’ll do it, you know? But it would have been nice if they came back and begged me, like, you know, to have Michael Schur come back and go, Hey, Tim, come on, please do the show. But that never happened. 

Jenna [00:04:21] Well, you know, Tim, you were our very first, quote unquote, stunt casting. You were our first name actor to come on the show. It was a big thing. 

Angela [00:04:30] It was a big buzz. 

Tim Meadows [00:04:32] Was it really? 

Both [00:04:32] Mm hmm. Yes. 

Tim Meadows [00:04:34] Yeah, I do remember I was very flattered, actually, because I’d say almost everybody in the cast came by. Because we weren’t on the regular Office set. We were at the Chili’s set. And I think I kind of remember a lot of people coming by to say hello because I was there, and I was pretty impressed by that. God, I wish I would have taken pictures and stuff like we do now. You know? 

Jenna [00:04:56] Right?

Angela [00:04:57] I know, I know. 

Tim Meadows [00:04:58] I didn’t do any of that. 

Angela [00:04:59] There’s fantastic bloopers from that day, too, for folks that get the DVDs. I mean, when you come in and sing it’s- I know you’re scripted to come in at the end of the line, you know? But when you start singing that, I want my baby back, baby back- and then Steve comes in, Chilis- it is so great. And we we had Melora on the podcast and there she is seated between the two of you. And she said it was like one of the hardest things she’s ever had to do is not laugh. 

Tim Meadows [00:05:27] Yeah. In the very beginning I remember we were trying to do it and Steven was going like he would start going, I want my baby back, baby back. And then I would join in with him and then he would start singing it, but I would lose the beat and he would go, No, no, no. Do do it again. Do it again. And I was like, I don’t- it’s a commercial. I can’t- I don’t know how to sing a commercial, you know? It was really fun because we started laughing at the absurdity of two grown men singing that song at the Chili’s. Like, I was laughing at that alone. I thought it was so funny. And these two guys are somewhat like each other, you know, like you expected Christian to be this kind of, like, you know, city worker dude. But then, you know, he had all of these, like, private issues that came out during lunch, you know, like his mother being ill and stuff like that. 

Angela [00:06:19] Yeah, he overshared just the way Michael overshares. 

Tim Meadows [00:06:24] Yes, yes, yes, yes. 

Jenna [00:06:27] Was it just one day of work? Did you guys get it all in one day? 

Tim Meadows [00:06:31] I think it was actually. 

Jenna [00:06:33] What an epic day. 

Tim Meadows [00:06:35] Yeah, we worked all day. We ended up shooting that night thing where we’re getting in the car saying goodbye. So we were there all day. I remember at the end, Carell improvised- I don’t think they used it on the show, but he went, Thanks a lot, Christian, and tell your mother good luck with her leg or something like that. Because I said my mother like during one of the improv things I said my mother lost her leg from diabetes or something like that, but I managed to push on through. And so during one of the improvs when he was leaving, he goes, Tell your mother good luck with her leg. 

Angela [00:07:13] You know what? We should remind folks that you and Steve had done Second City together, right, in Chicago. And so you had definitely a shorthand with one another when it came to improv. And it was so fun to watch. 

Tim Meadows [00:07:27] Yeah, he’s really fun to improvise with. And I had known him for a long time, but like our improv paths, we all started at the same time there, but then I sort of like jumped ahead of people a little bit because I got hired for the main stage cast at Second City. And then he came in after I got hired. He was hired on Main stage after I went on to Saturday Night Live. But Nancy, his wife, also was hired at SNL. So we all still sort of kept in touch during those years. But the most fun, though, I don’t know if he’s mentioned this, but we did this gig in D.C. a long time ago with Second City. And it was Carell, his wife, Nancy, myself, John Glaser, Theresa Rosenthal. 

Angela [00:08:14] Oh, yeah. 

Tim Meadows [00:08:16] And Adam McKay, David Koechner. We did a Second City show that those guys had written in Chicago, but then we did this improv set and it was at the Kennedy Center during the summer for like six weeks. 

Jenna [00:08:29] Wow. 

Tim Meadows [00:08:29] And we did this thing where we had an improv set after every show. And I tell everybody, they ask who was best improv group of people? It was that group of people. We were the best improv group that I had worked with, like, you know, doing long form improv and stuff. And the audience, they had not seen it before, so their minds were blown. They couldn’t believe they were like, You made that up? You just made that up? We were like, fuck yeah. We’ve been doing this for a long time. 

Angela [00:08:58] Yeah, yeah, yeah. That’s right. 

Tim Meadows [00:09:03] Yeah, It was cool. Those guys are great. It was really great. 

Angela [00:09:06] Oh, man, I wish I could go back and watch that. I would- I’m such a geek for improv. 

Jenna [00:09:11] This kind of leads me into my next question, which was that we were kind of part of the same NBC family at the same time. The cast of The Office, the cast of SNL. We would hang out a lot together. We would have to do these NBC press events. Our lives are all completely different now. We’re not on TV every week anymore. And I was just going to say, if there was a moment that you could go back and relive, what would it be? Would it be the Kennedy Center improv show? 

Tim Meadows [00:09:40] Wow. Moment to go back- I think the moment that I love- there’s a bunch. 

Angela [00:09:48] Yeah, that’s a tough question, Jenna. 

Tim Meadows [00:09:50] It’s a tough one. But I got to say, maybe it would when Lorne flew me out to New York and I was just a guest. And I- Tom Hanks was the host, and they did the Five Timers Club for the first time. And I was in the office with Lorne during my meeting, and then he asked me to read one of the parts in the five timers sketch in his office with Paul Simon, Conan O’Brien, Jon Lovitz, Ralph Nader, and I was I was this nerd from Chicago who would, you know, I didn’t- It was insane to me, you know? And Steve Martin was there, too, you know, and I was a huge- and still am a huge Steve Martin fan. And I think in hindsight, I think Lorne was sort of testing me to see if I could handle being around famous people and stuff. 

Jenna [00:10:42] Mm hmm. 

Tim Meadows [00:10:42] But I just remember that whole week that I was there is just being, like, this magical thing where I was still in my old life, but my new life was taking me into this new place, you know? 

Angela [00:10:59] Oh, I love that. 

Tim Meadows [00:11:01] It was really great. It was that that moment of just like, Holy cow. And I used to always think, I don’t know about you guys, but, like, when I was on the show, there would be weeks in the first three or four weeks that I was there, I thought somebody from security was going to come up during the rewrite meetings and say, that dude shouldn’t be here. He was a manager of a record store about two years ago. He shouldn’t be at the writing table at SNL. Arrest him. 

Angela [00:11:27] Yeah. You know, me and Brian and Oscar over there in the accounting department. We had a running joke for years. We were like, any one of us could go at any time. Like, they don’t need three accountants. It’s even a joke in the show. We could be replaced. But I loved- 

Tim Meadows [00:11:46] That is a big accounting department. 

Angela [00:11:47] Yeah, it is. I love so much just what you said about when the moment where your old life and new life are kind of intersecting. It’s, it’s so true. It’s kind of a surreal moment where you feel this passage of like, Oh, my God. But then you go back to your job. 

Tim Meadows [00:12:04] Yeah. Well, it was funny because I was like, in the process of making the most money I’d ever made in my life up to that point. And I was also broke and in debt. 

Jenna [00:12:16] Yeah. 

Tim Meadows [00:12:17] You know what I mean? Like, within a week, I would have cleared out my debt. I would have been out of, you know what I mean? My first check from SNL would have made everything cool, and then the next check would have put me over, you know what I’m saying? But yeah, I was broke and had money at the same time. 

Angela [00:12:34] Well, I would love to talk to you guys a little bit about your new movie, Mean Girls, and I got to see the long extended trailer. It looks so fun. 

Jenna [00:12:44] Yeah. Tim, you are reprising your role of Principal Duvall. I play Cady’s mom, Ms Heron. By the way, does Principal Duvall have a first name? 

Tim Meadows [00:12:55] Ooh, that’s a good question. I don’t think he does. I don’t know.  

Jenna [00:13:02] Okay. I noticed. And Busy Philipps is in the movie as well, and I was talking to her about it. All of the adults are just like Ms or Mister and then a last name. They did not bother to give the adults first names. So in my dorky actor prep I did name Ms Heron Laura. 

Tim Meadows [00:13:23] Laura Heron. 

Jenna [00:13:23] So it’s just my own personal backstory. I didn’t know- 

Angela [00:13:26] Does Tina Fey know that You named your character Laura? 

Jenna [00:13:30] Yes, I told her on set. Yeah. So I didn’t know if Principal Duvall had a first name or if you if you had considered one for him. 

Tim Meadows [00:13:41] I had not considered one. But you know what? I should look at maybe the old movie or the commercial, because I know that there was like there were diplomas on my wall behind me. 

Angela [00:13:51] Oh, yeah. 

Tim Meadows [00:13:53] So I could probably see. My guest is, it was probably Anthony because there was a play on Anferny in the first movie. I hated my nephew’s name. 

Angela [00:14:02] Yes, I remember. 

Tim Meadows [00:14:05] Yeah, he hated that his name was Anferny. 

Angela [00:14:07] Oh, that’s a good background catch, though. We’ll have to go look and see if we can zoom in on your diploma. 

Tim Meadows [00:14:13] Yeah. And I will say, too, this is my um maybe fourth time playing a teacher or educator with the same type of costuming, tie and sweater vest. Goldbergs. I did it for ten years. Mean Girls the first movie. The new Mean Girls. And in School, the spin off from Goldbergs, I play the principal. And now I’m in the new movie called Dream Scenario with Nicolas Cage, and I play a dean of the college. 

Angela [00:14:45] You were meant to be in education. 

Tim Meadows [00:14:49] Creator- creative people only see me as you know as there a teacher or something. It’s crazy. 

Angela [00:14:56] Do you remember your character’s occupation in the pilot we did, The Gabriel’s? Were you a teacher? 

Tim Meadows [00:15:03] He may have been a teacher. 

Angela [00:15:05] I think you were. As you were saying that I was like, Wait. Wait, I think he was a teacher.

Tim Meadows [00:15:10] I think he was a teacher. 

Angela [00:15:12] Oh, my gosh. 

Tim Meadows [00:15:12] And I even told my agent and manager at one point, I was like, I can’t do any more teach- because I kept getting other requests for roles, even just in episodic things, you know, where it’s like, Yeah, he’s the principal of the you know, there’s a meeting with him in the PTA. I’m like, I can’t keep doing this because people are going to think it’s some kind of like connection between the things that I- other shows that I’ve done. 

Angela [00:15:35] Mm hmm. 

Tim Meadows [00:15:35] Or that I’m not very versatile, you know? So either way, no more (BLEEP) principals after Dream Scenario. 

Jenna [00:15:44] It ends here, this is it. 

Tim Meadows [00:15:46] 2024 is the end of the principal roles. 

Jenna [00:15:50] Don’t call Tim Meadows. 

Angela [00:15:52] You heard it here. 

Jenna [00:15:53] Any more for teacher roles. 

Tim Meadows [00:15:55] I don’t play tutors. I don’t play teachers. I don’t play instructors. Nothing where I’m giving information to people. 

Jenna [00:16:05] So we should share with people that this version of Mean Girls has some musical numbers. Do you sing or dance in the movie? Cause I don’t. 

Tim Meadows [00:16:13] Oh, I was hoping you did, because I would love to see that. 

Angela [00:16:18] She would have loved to dance. She tap dances. I can’t believe you don’t tap dance in this movie, Jenna. 

Jenna [00:16:24] I tried. When I was on set, I pulled the choreographer aside. 

Angela [00:16:28] Did you really? 

Jenna [00:16:28] We did some tap dancing. I thought maybe I could- I don’t know, maybe Ms. Heron has a tap number. It didn’t happen. 

Tim Meadows [00:16:36] The sound guy hated that moment, too. He’s like, What’s all that noise over there? 

Angela [00:16:43] Jenna Fischer tap dancing by craft services. 

Tim Meadows [00:16:46] Again. Here she goes, Actually, I do sing. 

Jenna [00:16:50] You do? 

Tim Meadows [00:16:52] I do. Yes.

Jenna [00:16:53] Oh, that’s so exciting! You know, we only had one day where we overlapped filming on this movie. 

Tim Meadows [00:16:59] Yes. 

Jenna [00:16:59] And I didn’t see you sing that day, but oh, I’m very excited to see this now. 

Tim Meadows [00:17:05] Yeah, I actually they have me come in and redo it recently because obviously when I did it live, I was flat or something. I don’t know what they called it, flat or sharp I was one of those things. So I came in and they were like doing that thing of like, (SINGS) hit it with this note here. Here is your note.

Angela [00:17:25] (SINGS) I’m up here. You’re down here. 

Tim Meadows [00:17:28] Yes. You’re down here. 

Jenna [00:17:29] Well, Tim, you know, we were in Walk Hard together, too, as well. 

Tim Meadows [00:17:33] Yes. My favorite. Let me tell you something. That is the most quoted movie to me. 

Jenna [00:17:39] It’s an amazing movie. It is one of my maybe my favorite movie I’ve ever been in. I haven’t seen Mean Girls yet, so, but I absolutely loved making Walk Hard. And I love the movie. 

Tim Meadows [00:17:52] We had so much fun. 

Jenna [00:17:53] We had so much fun. 

Angela [00:17:55] What’s the quote you get from that movie? 

Tim Meadows [00:17:57] For me it’s, You don’t want no part of this. 

Jenna [00:18:01] The drugs. 

Tim Meadows [00:18:01] You don’t want no part of this. And then weed, whole weed run of- all the drug runs. People will say to me, you know, It’s not habit forming. I think I want to try it. You don’t want no part of this, Dewey. It takes all of your bad feelings and make them good. No, I do really want to try. You don’t want no part of this, Dewey. I get that a lot. People love it. The thing is that musicians also are big fans of that movie. 

Jenna [00:18:29] I’ve had numerous musicians tell me that they just keep it on a loop on their tour buses and they quote it. 

Tim Meadows [00:18:35] That movie I always tell people was the most fun of all the things I’ve done. That movie was 30 days or whatever of just like we had fun. 

Jenna [00:18:45] Laughed so hard. 

Tim Meadows [00:18:47] Chris Parnell and Matt Besser and those guys, too. 

Angela [00:18:48] Oh my gosh, Chris Parnell. 

Tim Meadows [00:18:51] And I had known Matt Besser forever and had never really hung out with him that much. And then we became really good friends. Even now, we’re like, way closer than we’ve ever been. And Chris Parnell, we’re less friends. 

Jenna [00:19:05] Screw that guy. 

Tim Meadows [00:19:06] We’re less friends than we were. 

Angela [00:19:07] Chris, reach out to Tim. 

Tim Meadows [00:19:10] I don’t know- our birthday’s on the same day, so every year we text each other. We call each other Mr. like Mr. Parnell. 

Angela [00:19:17] Busy Philipps and I have the same birthday. 

Tim Meadows [00:19:19] Oh wow. 

Angela [00:19:19] We do a similar thing. We always text each other on our birthdays. 

Jenna [00:19:22] Bryan Cranston and I have the same birthday. 

Angela [00:19:25] Do you text each other? 

Jenna [00:19:26] No, we don’t communicate. 

Tim Meadows [00:19:28] Come on, Bryan. Step up. 

Angela [00:19:30] Bryan. This is the year. No more educational roles for Tim. And this year you’re texting Bryan, Jenna. 

Jenna [00:19:36] Okay, that sounds good. 

Angela [00:19:37] Yeah. Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:19:38] Well, you know, Tim, on Walk Hard, they had me take singing lessons, and they had me record my voice. And then the director, Jake Kasdan, came up to me a few weeks later, and he was like, You know what, Jenna? You’re a fantastic actress… 

Angela [00:19:53] Uh oh. 

Jenna [00:19:53] And you’re so funny in the film, but we’re going to go ahead and just replace your voice with the woman who did the practice track. But great, great effort. 

Tim Meadows [00:20:09] We’re still going to use your face. 

Jenna [00:20:11] Yeah. 

Tim Meadows [00:20:11] Don’t get me wrong now. 

Jenna [00:20:12] Your lip synching is really strong, but so maybe the Mean Girls people heard. And that’s why Ms. Heron doesn’t sing. I don’t know. It was the most awkward conversation. 

Tim Meadows [00:20:29] Oh, that’s so funny. Jake was sleeping in his bed one day and it was like, Hello? Hi, it’s the Mean Girls people. Why didn’t you tell us? 

Jenna [00:20:40] She’s terrible. 

Tim Meadows [00:20:42] She’s horrible!

Jenna [00:20:43] I am in a couple of musical numbers in Mean Girls, which was. 

Tim Meadows [00:20:46] In the real one? 

Jenna [00:20:47] Yeah, I’m very excited about it because, you know, they’re all dancing or singing around me, so I got to observe it. 

Tim Meadows [00:20:56] They’re like, Stay out of this. 

Jenna [00:20:57] They’re like, Just stand there, okay? 

Angela [00:21:01] Please just, just stand on your mark, please. 

Tim Meadows [00:21:03] Will you please stand there and watch us be talented? 

Jenna [00:21:06] Yes. 

Angela [00:21:08] Oh. I mean- 

Jenna [00:21:10] Amazing. 

Angela [00:21:12] Here’s my moment. I had to sing Little Drummer Boy in front of the whole bullpen of The Office. 

Tim Meadows [00:21:17] I remember that. 

Angela [00:21:18] And Harold Ramis was directing and I kept losing the tune. He came up and he was like, It’s Little Drummer Boy. You know what I mean? Like. He didn’t say it. He was so kind, but he implied, like, How can you lose the beat on Little Drummer Boy?  

Tim Meadows [00:21:39] Pa-rum-pa-pum-pum. What else you looking for? 

Angela [00:21:41] That’s it. But I told him. I was like, Harold, I can’t. I can’t do this. I can’t sing. And he’s like, But you will. 

Tim Meadows [00:21:48] The syncopation is in the lyrics. Okay? You understand? The syncopation is in the lyrics. 

Angela [00:21:55] I know. It was, like, so embarrassing. 

Jenna [00:21:58] You guys, should the three of us do a musical? 

Angela [00:21:59] A musical?

Tim Meadows [00:22:02] The three of us?

Jenna [00:22:04] Like Tim, you will shine. 

Angela [00:22:06] You will shine. 

Jenna [00:22:07] In our three person musical. You will be the star.  

Tim Meadows [00:22:09] I would stand out. 

Jenna [00:22:10] You will. 

Tim Meadows [00:22:11] I would stand out. Finally. 

Angela [00:22:12] It will be (BLEEP) tastic. 

Jenna [00:22:13] Unfortunately, though, I started kind of pitching on it, and you will need to play a teacher. 

Tim Meadows [00:22:22] A teacher? 

Jenna [00:22:23] It’s an eighth grade teacher. 

Tim Meadows [00:22:26] Well, if I could sing and play a teacher, forget it. I’ll do it.

Angela [00:22:29] I’m in. Okay. Did we mention there’s not a lot of money, but um…

Tim Meadows [00:22:34] It doesn’t matter. 

Angela [00:22:35] Doesn’t matter. For the art.

Tim Meadows [00:22:36] Doesn’t matter. Yeah. For the art. 

Angela [00:22:39] Oh, Tim this was so fun. Thank you so much. 

Jenna [00:22:43] Thanks for coming on Office Ladies. 

Angela [00:22:45] Yeah. 

Tim Meadows [00:22:46] Oh, it’s my pleasure. Well, you know, I listen to the show, obviously. But when you were on the set, you told me to listen, because Steven had said something nice about me. 

Jenna [00:22:56] Mm hmm. 

Tim Meadows [00:22:57] And it was very nice. I played it for my kids just to prove how cool I am.  

Angela [00:23:00] Did you really? Aw.

Tim Meadows [00:23:02] Yeah. He said I was a great improviser. And it was- it’s like one of the things I’m very proud of being good at. So it was nice. 

Jenna [00:23:11] Oh, I love that. 

Angela [00:23:12] That makes us so happy. 

Tim Meadows [00:23:14] I would also say about him that he is also… Quite average at improving. Quite average. 

Jenna [00:23:23] Can he play that for his kids? 

Angela [00:23:25] Yeah. 

Tim Meadows [00:23:25] Can you play- yeah, play that for his kids. 

Jenna [00:23:30] Steve, Tim was on Office Ladies, and we have a clip you might want your kids… 

Angela [00:23:35] He says you’re “eh”. 

Tim Meadows [00:23:38] You’re quite average. 

Angela [00:23:40] You’re quite average. Keep at it, buddy. 

Tim Meadows [00:23:43] He’s great. He’s great.

Jenna [00:23:44] Tim, before we let you go, what are you up to now? 

Tim Meadows [00:23:47] Well, actually, I am about to head out to London and Barcelona to do some long form improv with some friends of mine, Matt Walsh from Upright Citizens Brigade. 

Angela [00:23:57] Love Matt. 

Tim Meadows [00:23:58] He and I and Joe Canaly and Brad Morris, two friends of ours from Chicago, we got invited to come to London. We’ve got a couple of more European invitations, so we’re going to do this other trip again. But yeah, January we’re going to be out there and it’s going to be great. 

Jenna [00:24:12] Oh, that’s great. 

Angela [00:24:14] Give us all the details. We’ll put it in our Office Ladies pod stories so folks can come find y’all. 

Tim Meadows [00:24:19] Okay, I will. 

Jenna [00:24:20] Oh, well everybody, please go watch our movie Mean Girls. It comes out this Friday, January 12th. It’s your last chance to see Tim Meadows in an educator role, so take advantage of that. And it’s a chance to see me standing while others sing and dance around me. 

Angela [00:24:40] See Jenna stand in one spot. Oh. Oh, I can’t wait. I can’t wait.

Tim Meadows [00:24:49] You got me crying- I’m crying over here. Thank you for having me. 

Angela [00:24:55] Yes, absolutely. 

Jenna [00:25:07] We are back. My heart is full. 

Angela [00:25:10] Tim is so wonderful. 

Jenna [00:25:11] I love him. 

Angela [00:25:12] What a treat! All right, before we get into this episode, I feel like we need a little call sheet tidbit. 

Jenna [00:25:19] Already? 

Angela [00:25:19] Already. From Steve Burgess. I got all the call sheets. And I have to share this just right away. Y’all. It was the week of August sixth when we shot this episode. Monday, the first day of filming was the coolest day of the week. It was 98 degrees. 

Jenna [00:25:36] Wow. 

Angela [00:25:37] We get into triple digits real fast. 

Jenna [00:25:39] Yeah. This was a hot week and this is going to come up later when I discuss some location challenges based on this heat. 

Angela [00:25:48] Well, let’s get into this cold open. 

Jenna [00:25:51] It’s a personal favorite of mine. It’s the chore wheel. 

Angela [00:25:54] Jenna, have you made a chore wheel in your real life? 

Jenna [00:25:57] No. You would think I had. 

Angela [00:25:59] Chore chart? Chore anything. Chore lists. I bet there’s chore lists. 

Jenna [00:26:03] Yeah. We have a whiteboard. 

Angela [00:26:05] Okay. 

Jenna [00:26:06] Right? That counts. 

Angela [00:26:07] That’s a chore board? 

Jenna [00:26:08] Chore board. 

Angela [00:26:09] Okay. 

Jenna [00:26:10] I really regret not keeping the chore wheel. Any of the chore wheels. I wanted the mini wheel. I wanted the bigger wheels. I begged Phil Shea for them. But there were not multiples of these chore wheels. There was one of each, and he had to put them in storage in case we ever used them again on the show. You know, there’s a possibility that chore wheel could come back. 

Angela [00:26:34] That could have been a thing. 

Jenna [00:26:35] Yeah. So I couldn’t take it. And I just wish I would have remembered when the show was over. That’s what I’m kicking myself about. 

Angela [00:26:41] Yeah, The mini chair wheel, like sitting on a bookshelf would be amazing. 

Jenna [00:26:44] Right? 

Angela [00:26:45] I did see online this young gal at college made herself a miniature wheel. 

Jenna [00:26:50] Aww. 

Angela [00:26:51] Like Pam’s, for her dorm room. People are so crafty. 

Jenna [00:26:54] Well, I guess we should describe what happened. 

Angela [00:26:56] Yes. 

Jenna [00:26:57] Pam gets to work, and there’s, like, trash everywhere. 

Angela [00:27:00] Oh, it’s disgusting. 

Jenna [00:27:01] I guess the janitor of the building is on vacation, and Dwight isn’t going to hire a temporary replacement. So everybody has to do their own cleaning up. 

Angela [00:27:11] And no one is doing it. 

Jenna [00:27:12] So Pam makes her chore wheel. 

Angela [00:27:14] Yes. 

Jenna [00:27:15] But bobody likes it because it doesn’t spin. 

Angela [00:27:18] I would like to point out that Pam has fancy nail polish again. 

Jenna [00:27:21] Yes. 

Angela [00:27:22] This time it’s a burgundy color. 

Jenna [00:27:24] Mm hmm. Also, at 16 seconds, I really enjoyed the detail that Dwight is sitting at his desk and not participating in the conference room meeting. 

Angela [00:27:31] Yes, he’s watching from afar. Would you like a breakdown of Pam’s original chore wheel? 

Jenna [00:27:37] Sure! 

Angela [00:27:38] Here are the chores: clean restrooms, water plants, replace lights, wash windows, mug duty, vacuum, clean kitchenette, sweep entrance, empty trash, dust off machines, and clean break room. The second chore wheel has the exact same categories, but it just spins. 

Jenna [00:28:00] Yes. 

Angela [00:28:00] No one was impressed. And the final chore wheel spins and has all new categories, which are: bankrupt. Go home now! Manager for an hour. Candy bar. Punch in the gut. Ten bucks. Creed’s choice. Warehouse vacation. No internet. Tiny wheel. Stanley gets your lunch. And spin again. 

Jenna [00:28:25] Well, that is certainly a much more fun wheel. There’s ups and downs on that one. 

Angela [00:28:30] Yeah. Ten bucks?! I want to get that one. 

Jenna [00:28:32] But the original one is all chores. And when Kevin spins and gets mug duty, everyone’s like, This thing sucks. 

Angela [00:28:40] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:28:41] We got a fan question from Maddie R in Dallas, Texas, who said, In the cold open, when Kevin’s spin lands on mug duty, Pam explains that this means he has to clean all the mugs in the sink. I have never worked in an office, so maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t it weird that people don’t clean their own mugs? Is this something that the custodial staff would do? Why can’t everyone just wash their own mug for the time being? Well, lady, this took me down a rabbit hole. I Googled mug cleaning culture in offices. 

Angela [00:29:11] You did? 

Jenna [00:29:12] I did. 

Angela [00:29:13] I Googled, What are the top ten chores people hate doing the most? 

Jenna [00:29:17] In offices or in life? 

Angela [00:29:19] In life. Why don’t we start with your mug cleaning and then I’ll tell you the top ten most hated chores, according to the Internet. 

Jenna [00:29:26] Great. All right, well, I thought about this because when we worked at the Earwolf offices. 

Angela [00:29:32] Yes. 

Jenna [00:29:32] I would always have the instinct to clean my own mug. But I noticed that it was the culture of the office to just leave your mugs and glasses in the sink. And it was part of the front desk. The person who worked the front desk would always clean all the mugs. We just had community mugs. I don’t know if people brought their own in, but I just always used the community mug, which never really bothered me until I was digging deeper into this basic office coffee mug etiquette. And I found out a really disturbing fact that I can’t unthink now. 

Angela [00:30:06] About coffee mugs? 

Jenna [00:30:08] Uh huh. 

Angela [00:30:08] At work? 

Jenna [00:30:09] Uh huh. I found a study that was done by Total Jobs that found that one in five communal office mugs contain fecal matter. 

Angela [00:30:20] What?! 

Jenna [00:30:20] Because 25% of people don’t wash their hands after they go to the bathroom. 

Angela [00:30:24] Ugh! 

Jenna [00:30:25] Yeah. 

Angela [00:30:26] Oh, my God. We have to bring our own mugs everywhere. 

Jenna [00:30:28] That’s what it said. It said, you really need to bring your own mug and wash your own mug. 

Angela [00:30:33] And then take it home and bring it back. 

Jenna [00:30:36] Or hide it in your desk. 

Angela [00:30:36] Put it in your drawer. 

Jenna [00:30:37] Yeah. 

Angela [00:30:39] That’s disgusting. 

Jenna [00:30:40] I know. And this feels like a time when I have to remind everybody that I always wash my hands after number two. And I always wash my hands in a public space. 

Angela [00:30:48] Oh, because of that one time? 

Jenna [00:30:50] I just sometimes don’t wash my hands every time I tinkle in my own house. Okay? That’s all. But I’m not putting any fecal matter on any mugs. I just want to get that out there and clear that up for anybody who’s gonna come for me in the comments. This study also found that the average office desk has 400 times more bacteria than a toilet seat. So if you’re going to eat lunch at work, you’re going to want to wipe that space down before you eat. And you should also wash your reusable water bottle every single day. So like, don’t leave it on your desk overnight and then come into work and just start drinking out of it again because it’s not sanitary and the water will breed bacteria and you could get sick. 

Angela [00:31:33] Oh, I do that all the time. 

Jenna [00:31:35] I know. 

Angela [00:31:35] I just leave a water bottle on my desk and I just pick right back up with it. 

Jenna [00:31:39] I know. You’re drinking some bacteria. 

Angela [00:31:42] Okay. 

Jenna [00:31:42] But you’re not drinking fecal matter. 

Angela [00:31:44] I am not. 

Jenna [00:31:45] You are not. 

Angela [00:31:46] Wow. Okay. Going to look at the communal coffee mugs differently anywhere I go now. 

Jenna [00:31:52] Yep. I’m using one right now. 

Angela [00:31:54] Well, before we get to my top ten chores people hate, I want to share Pam’s talking head and the chore that Meredith gets. Pam says she’s been through several stages of development of the chore wheel with her team. Who’s her team? There’s no team. 

Jenna [00:32:10] I think it’s herself. 

Angela [00:32:10] I’m like, Pam, there’s no team. You’re trying to sound fancy. And she’s added incentives. We’ve talked about it. $10, candy bar. And then Meredith gets tiny wheel and everyone starts cheering. Pam spins it and it lands on toilets. And they’re like, Woohoo! And Meredith is like, yay, toilets! She seems so happy to clean toilets. But let me tell you, according to the Internet, cleaning the bathroom slash toilets is number one on the chores people hate. 

Jenna [00:32:38] It’s one of my favorite chores. 

Angela [00:32:39] Really? 

Jenna [00:32:40] I love all water based cleaning. Bathrooms, kitchen sink, dishes. 

Angela [00:32:46] I like that you’ve given it a category. 

Jenna [00:32:48] Yeah. 

Angela [00:32:48] Water based cleaning. 

Jenna [00:32:50] If I’m using like water. 

Angela [00:32:51] You like it. 

Jenna [00:32:52] I like it. 

Angela [00:32:53] Number two is washing the dishes. You probably like it. It’s water based. 

Jenna [00:32:56] I don’t mind it. 

Angela [00:32:57] Number three, cleaning the stovetop and oven. 

Jenna [00:33:00] Okay. I don’t care for that. 

Angela [00:33:01] Yeah. It’s very greasy business. 

Jenna [00:33:04] And also, it’s like a lot of little corners. 

Angela [00:33:07] Lotta little nooks. Yeah. Number four, doing laundry and ironing. Oh, that’s a big sigh. You don’t like doing laundry? 

Jenna [00:33:14] It depends on the day. 

Angela [00:33:15] Okay. Dusting? 

Jenna [00:33:18] Hate. 

Angela [00:33:18] Hate dusting. 

Jenna [00:33:19] Move it up to number one for me. 

Angela [00:33:21] Number six, sweeping and vacuuming. 

Jenna [00:33:23] Number two. 

Angela [00:33:24] I don’t mind it at all. I love to vacuum. 

Jenna [00:33:26] Really? 

Angela [00:33:27] It’s kind of like, yeah, I like to see the grooves in the carpet. I don’t know. It’s satisfying. 

Jenna [00:33:32] I hate dry cleaning. Dusting, vacuuming. Don’t care for it. 

Angela [00:33:35] Okay. This is your category. Water based or dry cleaning. Next up is mopping. 

Jenna [00:33:40] It’s the one wet activity I don’t like. 

Angela [00:33:42] Okay. You’ve got one. Oh, Next one, grocery shopping and cooking. Yeah. These are things people don’t like doing, guys. Number nine, cleaning the windows. I love cleaning windows. 

Jenna [00:33:53] I don’t mind it. 

Angela [00:33:54] You know why? It’s like an immediate result. I think that’s what I like. And lastly, cleaning the gutters. I don’t want to clean the gutters. Josh cleans the gutters. I don’t want to clean the gutters. I also can’t reach even on our tallest ladder. 

Jenna [00:34:07] Sure. It’s so interesting that that one was included. You know what they didn’t include on that list? Maybe this just falls under laundry, but this would be real high on my list of things I hate doing. Sheets. 

Angela [00:34:19] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:34:19] Putting sheets on a bed. Making a bed from scratch. I don’t mind making a bed that already has covers on it. 

Angela [00:34:25] Yeah, I don’t mind that. I don’t mind. Like the fitted sheet, doesn’t bother me. 

Jenna [00:34:31] I’m very lucky because I feel like Lee and I, we balance each other. Like the things I hate, he doesn’t mind. If we’re going to clean up the house, he does all the vacuuming. He just, like, gets on it. And I’m happy to do the bathrooms. It’s interesting. We never talked about it. It just sort of happened. 

Angela [00:34:49] Same with Josh and I. We just sort of found our strengths or something. Just leaned into them. 

Jenna [00:34:54] Exactly. Well, this cold open is going to end with Meredith trotting away, very excited to clean some toilets. Then we’re going to zoom in on a little rat that’s walking around Dwight and Jim’s desk. This rat was, of course, from Bob Dunn’s. Where do they keep all these animals? They have dogs, cats, porcupines, rats, squirrels. Where are they? Do they live together?

Angela [00:35:15] I like to think Bob Dunn has a farm. That’s what I like to think. 

Jenna [00:35:19] I don’t know. It’s so interesting to me. Anyway, Steve Burgess said he thinks that the rat cost about $200 a day. We had to hire it for two days. It needed its training day and a shooting day. And we also had to pay for the trainer plus transportation. So in the end it was about 1500 dollars to get that shot of the rat in the trash. 

Angela [00:35:40] The rat shot. Well, you know, there was part of me when we saw that little rat that really wanted Erin or Darryl to have a name for it, because we know they’ve been feeding mice for years. Maybe they know this dude. 

Jenna [00:35:50] Yes, maybe Darryl has a little top hat for it. 

Angela [00:35:53] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:35:53] Oh, that would have been cute. 

Angela [00:35:55] Well, the show is going to open. We’re at Jim and Pam’s house. They’re loading up the car. Cece’s playing in the front yard. It looks like she has her little, like, snuggle blanket on her head. 

Jenna [00:36:03] She has the same little lovey that my kids used. 

Angela [00:36:06] Oh, yeah? So cute. 

Jenna [00:36:08] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:36:09] Well, per the call sheet, this day the high was 101 degrees. It was Tuesday. We also had a table read this day for Andy’s Ancestry, and I thought you might like to have a little get to know your cast and crew moment. 

Jenna [00:36:23] Oh! All right. Sounds good. 

Angela [00:36:25] I have two for this episode. First one up was Edward Nielson III, from our camera and electrical department. Here are things you didn’t know about Ed Nielsen. It says, Oh, where to begin? Dot, dot, dot, dot. Four dots. Ed speaks Orkish. Misses having no responsibility in his childhood and looks forward to doing nothing on the weekends. When asked about time travel, he said It is B.S. and for Trekkies. And of course, my folks that love Lord of the Rings, you know, Orkish is the primary language of the orcs. 

Jenna [00:37:01] Oh, I didn’t know that. 

Angela [00:37:02] It is the main language of the Horde. 

Jenna [00:37:04] So it’s made up. 

Angela [00:37:05] It’s a made up language. 

Jenna [00:37:07] Oh, I didn’t know it when you said it. 

Angela [00:37:11] Okay. You had a blank look on your face. 

Jenna [00:37:14] I was like, Oh, this must be some sort of Nordic language. I didn’t know what it was. I was like, so impressive. I didn’t know he spoke that. I would have read that and then gone up to him and be like, Oh my God, you speak this. Where is that from? 

Angela [00:37:27] What is Orkish? 

Jenna [00:37:28] Yes, I’ll have you know, Angela, we shot this scene first up in the day. It was very, very early to avoid the heat. We’re going to see Jim in a talking head. He’s all dressed up. So is Pam. He explains they are going to Roy’s wedding. At 8 a.m.. 

Angela [00:37:44] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:37:45] We got a fan mail flurry about this, Ange. 

Angela [00:37:47] Oh, yeah? 

Jenna [00:37:49] People want to know, why would Pam and Jim go to Roy’s wedding? Why would they even be invited? 

Angela [00:37:55] Okay, well, there was a deleted storyline in last week’s episode, New Guys, right? And it sets up this Roy’s Wedding storyline. I really debated about sharing it last week, but then I thought, I don’t want to give away any spoilers, so I’m going to share it this week. 

Jenna [00:38:10] Okay. 

Angela [00:38:11] Jim and Pam have a scene where they discuss what they’re buying Roy for his upcoming wedding. 

Jenna [00:38:16] Oh? 

Angela [00:38:16] Yeah, and they’re at their desk. They’re looking at the wedding registry website. And then there was a Pam talking head about it. Let’s hear it. 

Pam [00:38:25] Roy Anderson, my former fiance, is getting married. Unless his bride pulls what I’m sure they call a Pam. Or a that bitch Pam. 

Angela [00:38:40] And wait. There was a candy bag alt that was a must shoot. So you did say this to the camera. Here was an alt talking head. Pam would have said, Roy Anderson, my former fiancee, is getting married. What do you get for a man whose butt you’ve seen thousands of times? 

Jenna [00:38:57] Okay. 

Angela [00:38:59] And I zoomed in on the wedding registry website. They decide to get Roy a ladle. Right? Like a fancy ladle. And Pam’s like, that doesn’t seem like a lot. Jim’s like, I don’t know. Get him the spoon, too. I looked. The ladle cost $174. 

Jenna [00:39:18] Whoa! 

Angela [00:39:18] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:39:19] Well, my question is, how big is this ladle? Because that gift that they’re carrying out of Jim and Pam’s house, that box is very large. 

Angela [00:39:27] I know. I thought that, too. I’m like, what is that? The ladle, the spoon, a platter? 

Jenna [00:39:30] Clearly, they want another way. Well, we got another fan question from Kyle C in Stockton, California, who said, A wedding on a morning of a workday at 8 a.m.. Huh. 

Angela [00:39:42] Huh. Well, Kyle, I want you to know that Jenna and I have a mutual friend who got married very early on a Saturday morning and did a breakfast reception. And I went up to our friend at the reception, and I was like, This is so pretty. I’ve never been to a wedding this early. And our friend leaned in to me and said, Eggs are cheap. 

Jenna [00:40:09] I remember. 

Angela [00:40:09] I won’t give any names. But you know what? It can be a very cost effective wedding. 

Jenna [00:40:13] Which we’re going to find out soon that Roy didn’t need a cost effective wedding. So it does beg the question, why is Roy’s wedding. 

Both [00:40:21] At 8 a.m.. 

Jenna [00:40:22] On a weekday? 

Angela [00:40:23] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:40:24] We never get an answer. But on her way to the car, Pam has grabbed a banana because she’s pretty sure that Roy is not going to have a great food. He’s probably going to serve hot dogs. 

Angela [00:40:35] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:40:35] They’re being, like, snarky about the wedding. Like, what is this thing going to be? It’s Roy. 

Angela [00:40:40] I know, but Pam’s like, I planned a wedding with Roy. He wanted hot dogs. Jim’s look to camera is like, again, how weird is this? I’m going to my wife’s ex-fiance’s wedding? 

Jenna [00:40:50] Yeah. 

Angela [00:40:51] Pam planned a whole wedding with this person. 

Jenna [00:40:53] Now we’re going to head over to Dunder-Mifflin, and Pete and Clark have arrived to the office. They tend to do things in unison all the time. Have you noticed? They arrive at exactly the same time. They take a break at the same time. 

Angela [00:41:07] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:41:07] These guys are joined at the hip. It’s interesting. 

Angela [00:41:10] But it doesn’t seem like by choice. Like it doesn’t seem like Pete wants to be joined at the hip with Clark. 

Jenna [00:41:16] No. Erin has one piece of mail for the customer service department, and she’s going to give it to Pete this time. She’s dividing it up. 

Angela [00:41:25] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:41:26] There’s a little banter between Pete and Erin, and, gosh, the way he looks at her, he’s so charmed by the fact that sometimes she writes nice letters to customer service departments. He’s like, That’s the sweetest thing. 

Angela [00:41:37] I know. It’s cute. It’s a meet cute. It’s a little bit of a meet cute. 

Jenna [00:41:41] It’s a little bit of a meet cute. And I’m just going to say right now, I like how Pete looks at her. I do. 

Angela [00:41:48] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:41:49] I think they want me to root for this romance, and I already am. 

Angela [00:41:52] I’m already onboard. We just don’t want Erin and Andy to end up together. We could bring anyone in. We’re like, Okay. Well, you guys will remember that Nellie says her real specialty is special projects. 

Jenna [00:42:05] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:42:06] And she’s got a new special project. Her new special project is the launch of Operation Giveback. She’s passing out fliers to everyone. It’s her new charity initiative. Andy has rejected all of her special project proposals, but this one is for charity, so she’d like to see him piss on this one. 

Jenna [00:42:23] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:42:24] She’s going to address the bullpen and say there’s $4,000 to give to charity, and they get to pick the charities. So she wants everyone to sort of make suggestions. 

Jenna [00:42:34] Yeah. Stanley is going to suggest the American Diabetes Foundation. Angela finds this to be a selfish choice. 

Angela [00:42:41] Yes, he has diabetes. 

Jenna [00:42:43] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:42:44] Creed wants to help Jimmy Carter build gnomes. Does that just get tossed out there and no one reacts to it? 

Jenna [00:42:49] No one reacted. Toby has an idea, but he gets interrupted. And finally Dwight announces he’s not going to participate due to the lack of evidence that charity works. Hmm.

Angela [00:43:00] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:43:01] Nellie tells Dwight the participation is mandatory, so he says, Fine. I pick the Global Relief Foundation. By the way, it was recently discovered to be a front for the Taliban. 

Angela [00:43:12] And everyone’s like, Aw, Dwight. 

Jenna [00:43:14] I know. I’d like to point out that Nellie has a beautiful bouquet of roses on her desk. I don’t know why. 

Angela [00:43:21] Oh. Do they compliment her fancy chair? 

Jenna [00:43:23] She doesn’t have her fancy chair anymore. 

Angela [00:43:24] Oh, no. 

Jenna [00:43:25] I guess she had to take it home because Andy doesn’t have it either. 

Angela [00:43:28] Oh. 

Jenna [00:43:29] I know. 

Angela [00:43:30] Well, now we are going to go to Roy’s wedding. It looks lovely. It’s like a garden wedding outside. 

Jenna [00:43:36] Yes, I guess it’s in his backyard. Bob Vance and Phyllis are there. Darryl and Val are there. 

Angela [00:43:42] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:43:42] Roy’s going to greet Darryl. He’s happy. He looks great. 

Angela [00:43:45] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:43:46] Super handsome David Denman. 

Angela [00:43:48] Yeah. There’s a tray of mimosas going by, and Jim and Pam are going to arrive. Pam’s still eating her banana. They’re walking up the driveway and they’re greeted by a waiter. He’s got mimosas on a silver tray. This waiter has maybe my favorite line of the entire episode. It’s some real good, like, side eye snark. He says, Would you like me to take your peel? 

Jenna [00:44:12] Hmm. 

Angela [00:44:13] I just thought it was really funny. 

Jenna [00:44:16] We got a lot of mail about this opening scene. Fan question from Alison W in Winnipeg, who said, Do Jim and Pam live really close to Roy? Why was Pam still eating her banana when they arrived to his house? Or maybe Pam just savors eating a banana?

Angela [00:44:32] Oh, this is like some deep, deep leaning into banana time. Like, what is your banana clock? 

Jenna [00:44:38] Well, Alison, I’ll tell you, in real life, Pam and Jim’s house is an entire day away from Roy’s house. We shot these on different days.And also, you know, when Pam is leaving her house, she hasn’t started eating her banana yet. That was a choice I made because I knew I was going to have to still be eating it when I arrived. So I think we were thinking that she just waited to eat it in the car. By the way, that’s also why I gave myself the business of, like, futzing with my earring as I walked out of the house. I wanted you to believe, like, maybe I got in the car was still futzing with myself. 

Angela [00:45:12] Sure. I believe it. You sold it. 

Jenna [00:45:14] Thank you. 

Angela [00:45:15] I ate a banana on my drive in this morning. 

Jenna [00:45:18] Yeah? 

Angela [00:45:18] I have about a half hour drive, and I only ate half my banana. 

Jenna [00:45:22] But you always only eat half your food. 

Angela [00:45:24] That’s true. 

Jenna [00:45:25] Yeah. You fill up fast. 

Angela [00:45:26] I can’t. 

Jenna [00:45:27] You have a tiny stomach. 

Angela [00:45:28] I can’t really be part of this banana time conversation. 

Jenna [00:45:32] Well, speaking of locations, Roy’s house was filmed at a house on Ventura Canyon in Sherman Oaks. And Steve Burgess reminded me that we ran into a number of logistical problems at this location, many based on the extreme heat. Angela, do you have a temperature for me? 

Angela [00:45:49] I do. Per the call sheet, the day you filmed these scenes was Thursday, August 9th, and the high was 103 degrees. 

Jenna [00:45:56] Yeah, it was hot and it was sunny. So we had to bring in a condor. Not the bird. 

Angela [00:46:03] Oh, the crane. 

Jenna [00:46:04] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:46:05] To try to shade it? 

Jenna [00:46:06] Yeah. We had to put up this huge- it’s called a fly swatter in the biz. Little biz lingo for you. And it’s just like a huge piece of sheery silk material. They hang it really high over the location so that it lets in light and it’s not, like, too low on us, I guess. But every time the sun would move, we would have to move the fly swatter. 

Angela [00:46:31] So it would have to be like, Oh my gosh, it’s like a big thing to move. It’s an enormous crane. 

Jenna [00:46:36] Yeah. We also had to move it from the front of the house to the back of the house, and it was really time consuming. And Steve Burgess sent me pictures of it. So you can put them in our Instagram stories. 

Angela [00:46:46] Oh, I will. 

Jenna [00:46:47] We also got a fan question from Marissa D in San Jose, California, who said, Jenna, how many times did you have to eat that banana? I hope only once. Marissa, it wasn’t only once. 

Angela [00:46:58] How many times? 

Jenna [00:46:58] It was a lot of times. That’s all I remember. When I watched the scene I was like, I ate so much banana, but I was really committed to it. But I also had a spit bucket. So any banana that was left when the scene was over, I got to spit it out, you know? 

Angela [00:47:12] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:47:12] So I probably half as much banana as it seems like I ate. 

Angela [00:47:16] You’re always thankful for a spit bucket when you’re doing scenes like this. 

Jenna [00:47:19] I mean, remember how sick Rainn got when he had to eat all the bananas? Because he didn’t spit them out? 

Angela [00:47:24] I know. 

Jenna [00:47:24] You know, bananas are a binding food. They constipate you.  

Angela [00:47:29] Will mess you up if you go too hard. 

Jenna [00:47:31] Yeah. You shouldn’t eat that much banana, you know, in one sitting. All right, next up, fan question from Caden M in Warrenville, Illinois. Jenna, was it scripted that you put the other half of the banana on the plate or was that an adlib? It’s one of the funniest moments in the whole show. 

Angela [00:47:49] I agree! I agree! When the waiter says, Can I take your peel? And she flops it on the tray and grabbed a mimosa, I was like, Oh, I like this Pam, This Pam is ready to, like, take on this wedding. 

Jenna [00:48:02] Well, this was a scripted moment. And here’s what it said. It was scripted that Pam, quote, Awkwardly stuffs the rest of the banana in her mouth and gives the peel to the caterer. The caterer, by the way, was played by David Britz, and we had a good time. 

Angela [00:48:18] He was great. 

Jenna [00:48:19] Mm hmm. 

Angela [00:48:19] Well, during this banana business, Jim is going to get a phone call. He’s been getting lots of phone calls. He’s been shady about them, too. He jokes to Pam that it’s his ex-fiancee, and then he has a talking head where he shares that he has started a new business with his college friend and Pam doesn’t know. Well, actually, he told Pam, but then they decided no. But then he decided yes anyway, so he thinks there’s going to be another conversation coming. Oh, big sigh. So he’s now just shared with the camera crew of this documentary- Pam’s going to have to watch this someday- that he has gone behind her back and is keeping this secret. And now a lot of people know but Pam. 

Jenna [00:49:07] Yeah. Well, now we’re going to see a scene where Jim approaches Roy. I’m calling the scene snark alert. 

Angela [00:49:14] Well, it’s good that you did, lady, because I thought there was some snark. And I went to the shooting draft, and it says, as Jim approaches Roy- in parentheses, a little snarky- 

Jenna [00:49:25] Oh! 

Angela [00:49:26] Uh huh! Look! Snarky. In the shooting draft. When Jim says, Is it almost time to cut the pancake or what? 

Jenna [00:49:34] What a dick. 

Angela [00:49:35] What a snarky thing to say. Who is Jim season nine? Who is this guy? 

Jenna [00:49:40] Ugh, Roy couldn’t be lovelier. 

Angela [00:49:43] He’s so gracious. He said, You know what? We appreciate everyone coming out so early. It’s just been so nice. 

Jenna [00:49:48] Mm hmm. And also, listen, he wouldn’t have met Laura if it hadn’t been for Jim. Right? 

Angela [00:49:53] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:49:54] And then Roy does get a dig in. He says, Really dodged a bullet on that one. Am I right? 

Angela [00:49:58] Ha ha. 

Jenna [00:49:59] Ha ha. 

Angela [00:49:59] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:50:00] But then all of a sudden, we’re going to find out that Roy has a $50,000 car. 

Angela [00:50:07] Well, wait. He started a gravel company, and it just took off. And then Roy’s brother, Kenny, walks up and says to Roy, Hey, bro, stop wasting time with this haircut. And points to Jim. And that’s when he shares that he has a $50,000 sports car. 

Jenna [00:50:23] I know. 

Angela [00:50:24] Want you to know, Kenny’s scripted line was, Stop wasting time with this limp dick. 

Jenna [00:50:31] That’s making me laugh. That’s really funny. We had a fan question, Angela, from Shelby A in Huntsville, Alabama, who said, We see Roy and Jim interact at Roy’s wedding. Was there anything scripted between Pam and Roy? I’m so curious what they would have said to each other after all those years. 

Angela [00:50:48] Well, Shelby, I was really curious about this, too. I went to the shooting draft. There are no scenes with Roy and Pam, but there might be a reason why she never makes it to Roy because she gets some serious shade from his parents. So in the shooting draft, it said Pam stands awkwardly with two drinks. She is clearly heading back to Jim when Roy’s parents stop her. And I think you got to hear it. It’s in deleted scenes. She gets some serious shade. 

Roy’s Dad [00:51:15] We just love Laura. I couldn’t imagine a better daughter in law. 

Pam [00:51:20] It’s great to see Roy so happy. 

Roy’s Mom [00:51:22] Oh, he’s the happiest he’s ever been. 

Pam [00:51:24] How wonderful. 

Roy’s Mom [00:51:25] Laura’s really easy to get along with. And she’s loyal, which is what I think Roy needs. Nice to see you again, Pam. 

Roy’s Dad [00:51:34] Be well. 

Angela [00:51:38] So Pam is just left there standing awkwardly with two drinks and she never makes it over to Jim and Roy. So maybe that’s why there’s no scene between Pam and Roy. 

Jenna [00:51:49] Oh, I remember shooting that scene. That was so fun. 

Angela [00:51:53] I love the dad as he walks away, he just goes, Be well. 

Jenna [00:51:56] Yeah. So now you thought the biggest creeper Dunder-Mifflin had left? 

Angela [00:52:03] Yeah, well, no. 

Jenna [00:52:04] When we said goodbye to Robert, California, we thought all of the perversion left with him, but we were wrong. And oh, were we wrong.

Angela [00:52:12] Clark is just as bad as Robert California. 

Jenna [00:52:16] Yeah. I mean, dare I say he’s worse? 

Angela [00:52:19] Yeah. 

Jenna [00:52:20] He’s in the break room. He and Pete are side by side, per usual, and they’re having a snack. Erin is seated at a different table. Clark is going to take a phone call. Clearly, the person on the other line is asking if he knows anyone who could be a newscaster. Because, you know, that’s how you become a newscaster, everybody. 

Angela [00:52:41] Yeah, that’s how it happens. In the break room at the paper company. 

Jenna [00:52:44] It doesn’t require a journalism degree. 

Angela [00:52:46] No, no, no. Just requires a creep making a fake phone call to try to get a girl back to his house. What a creep. 

Jenna [00:52:52] Yeah. Pete doesn’t like this. 

Angela [00:52:55] No. 

Jenna [00:52:55] He has a frown. He’s also drinking out of a Herrs Potato Chip mug. 

Angela [00:53:00] Oh. Little shout out to Herrs. Yeah. Clark convinces Erin to make this audition tape, right? 

Jenna [00:53:06] Yeah. Come to his house. 

Angela [00:53:08] Yeah, maybe have a few different wardrobe looks, some lipstick, some wine to loosen up. 

Jenna [00:53:14] Yeah. 

Angela [00:53:14] Pete has a talking head where he says, You know what? I’m not friends with Clark. He’s just the douche sitting next to me at the office. 

Jenna [00:53:21] Yeah. Erin says she never thought about being more than a receptionist; that’s just the ad that she answered. What if she had answered an ad for another job? 

Angela [00:53:29] Like a CEO. 

Jenna [00:53:30] Or a brain surgeon? 

Angela [00:53:32] Yeah, she could have been either of those. 

Jenna [00:53:34] Yeah. Well, listen, this might be a good place to tell anybody who is an aspiring actor or on air personality that you should never go to an audition in someone’s home. It doesn’t happen that way. And you know what? It seems obvious, but actually, when I first came to L.A., there were a lot of what looked like legitimate auditions in, like the L.A. Weekly that happened to take place at people’s houses. And I had to have someone tell me not to do that. 

Angela [00:54:04] Yeah. Oh, for sure. I remember there was, like, a flier, like, I’m making an independent movie holding auditions, like but they were like, at his garage, at his house, you know? And you’re like, Oh, well, it’s independent. Maybe they’re on a budget. Maybe they’re working out of their home for this project. No, don’t go. I mean, go to anyone’s house. 

Jenna [00:54:22] Listen, we already told the story of what happened when I showed up for the International Spice Girls commercial and the guy’s condo, right? 

Angela [00:54:30] Yes, Jenna. 

Jenna [00:54:31] Okay. So unfortunately, Erin doesn’t have anyone cluing her in. 

Angela [00:54:34] Well, we’ll get to it. Pete’s going to try. I have something from deleted scenes, but I’m gonna share it later when it happens. 

Jenna [00:54:40] Why don’t we take a break and I’ll look forward to hearing that. 

Angela [00:54:42] Okay. We are back and Roy is going to toast his bride. They’re so happy. 

Jenna [00:55:00] Yes. His wife, Laura, was played by Sarah Chase. And guess what? He has a surprise for her. 

Angela [00:55:07] He does. You know, Laura thought he was taking boxing lessons, but guess what he was doing the whole time? Taking piano lessons so he could serenade her on their wedding day. 

Jenna [00:55:19] Yes. He starts to sing She’s Got a Way by Billy Joel. Pam and Jim do not know what to make of this. Phyllis and Bob make out. 

Angela [00:55:27] They make out hard core. It did say in the shooting draft that Darryl wipes a tear from his eye. He’s so happy for his buddy. Per the call sheets, the piano scene was filmed on Friday, August 10th, and the high this day was also 103. 

Jenna [00:55:43] Well, we got a fan question from Veronica L in Illinois, who said, Did David Denman play the piano in the wedding reception scene? No, Veronica, he’s faking. 

Angela [00:55:51] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [00:55:52] He played the first couple of notes when we’re close up on his hands, and we pull back. But then you’ll notice the camera never shows his hands again. He was pretending. And an actual piano player by the name of Matthew Angst was playing another piano off camera so that David could sing along. And they met for a little piano rehearsal that morning at seven in the morning. And that’s when they taught David how to play those opening notes. And I was there for that. And it was very, very charming. You know, I was just so excited to have David back. He was one of my best friends from the early days of shooting, and we’d lost touch a little bit after we weren’t seeing each other all the time. So I spent most of this wedding, ironically- 

Angela [00:56:32] with Roy. 

Jenna [00:56:33] With Roy. As Pam. 

Angela [00:56:34] Catching up your friend David. 

Jenna [00:56:37] Yes. Completely. We also had a really fun fan theory from Nikkita C in Sydney, Australia, who said, Did Darryl teach Roy the piano? Because as Ray sits down to play, Darryl is the one to call out and encourage him. What do you ladies think? 

Angela [00:56:52] Well, I love that idea. 

Jenna [00:56:53] Me too. 

Angela [00:56:55] I do. And also in the shooting draft, it had how proud Darryl was and he’s tearing up. 

Jenna [00:57:01] Yeah. I like to believe that he was sneaking off to learn piano from Darryl. 

Angela [00:57:06] Well, I think it’s time for another get to know our cast and crew moment from the call sheet. This is about our department head makeup artist LaVerne Caracuzzi-Milazzo. Things you didn’t know about LaVerne: LaVerne speaks Italian. The prettiest place she has ever been is The Maldives. When she was in school, she wanted to be an archeologist. And her first encounter with the film and TV world was on a nonunion Prince video. Her favorite thing to do on the weekend is not set an alarm. 

Jenna [00:57:36] Ah. I love these tid bits! 

Angela [00:57:39] I do, too! 

Jenna [00:57:40] I hope they’re interesting to other people who don’t know these people, but I’m like, Huh, I love knowing LaVerne a little better. 

Angela [00:57:46] I also love that there’s a pattern to the questions. It’s how many languages do you speak? What’s a place that you’ve been to that you love? And then also, when did you first come to the film and TV industry? And then what do you like to do on the weekend? I like this range of questions. 

Jenna [00:58:03] It’s a really good set of questions. Maybe we should be incorporating these into our interviews with people. 

Angela [00:58:07] Yes. Oh, noted. I think we do it. 

Jenna [00:58:12] Jim and Pam are shook up by the wedding. 

Angela [00:58:15] I mean, talk about mouth agape. When Roy starts playing the piano and singing, Pam is like, Wha? 

Jenna [00:58:22] The whole point of this storyline- and it’s interesting because talk about digital clutter, I put Roy’s Wedding into my email because I was looking for tidbits from Steve Burgess, and I found these old emails between me, Greg, Alison Silverman and John Krasinski, where we were pitching different ideas. And this idea that somehow Jim and Pam would run into Roy and he would have bettered himself, like that he had grown in his time away from Pam, this was really important because it was supposed to, of course, further highlight how the same Jim and Pam are, how like growth seems to have eluded them. 

Angela [00:59:00] Not only that, but how they’re disconnected. Roy and Laura seem very connected. 

Jenna [00:59:06] Yes. I do want to point out one thing in the car, which I find curious, at 9 minutes and 24 seconds, you can see Cece’s car seat in the car. Makes sense. These things live in a car. But also Phillip’s pumpkin seat. Usually you leave the pumpkin seed at home, right? It just clicks into the base. That’s how we did it. We had a base in each car but the pumpkin seat goes inside. 

Angela [00:59:27] Yeah, you have the carrier- the carrier seat stays with the child because there’s probably a base in Pam’s mom’s car. 

Jenna [00:59:35] Exactly. 

Angela [00:59:36] Yeah. That’s a good catch. 

Jenna [00:59:37] I’ll tell you what, Phillip’s not going anywhere today because his pumpkin seat is in Jim and Pam’s car.

Angela [00:59:42] That’s right. Well, you know, this car scene, Pam was going to ask Jim to tell her something she doesn’t know about him. There was more to this moment. It’s in deleted scenes. And I want you to hear how this conversation ended. 

Jim [00:59:55] For the record, I like knowing everything about you. It’s nice. 

Pam [00:59:59] Totally agree. We know each other inside and out. No surprises. 

Angela [01:00:12] Yeah, she says no surprises. And then his phone starts to buzz and he doesn’t answer it. He clicks, you know how you can kind of, like, make it stop buzzing? And then they just write in silence. The moment was heavy. It was thick. 

Jenna [01:00:29] I’ve been rewatching Breaking Bad. 

Angela [01:00:32] You have? 

Jenna [01:00:33] From the beginning. 

Angela [01:00:34] Okay. 

Jenna [01:00:35] I have this theory that Breaking Bad is the best pilot ever made. 

Angela [01:00:39] Mm hmm. 

Jenna [01:00:40] And, you know, I got sick a couple of weeks ago. I was laid up for, like, two weeks, and I was like, What am I going to watch? I spent two days watching Law Order reruns, and I was like, I think I need something with, like, more of an arc. 

Angela [01:00:53] You needed a break from gung-gung.

Jenna [01:00:56] Yeah. So I was like, I’m going to see, is Breaking Bad the best pilot ever made? It is. It’s incredible. Then I got hooked. Now I’m all the way almost at the end of season three. But, you know, a big plot line is Walter White and his burner phone. 

Angela [01:01:11] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:01:12] And it’s always buzzing. 

Angela [01:01:13] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:01:14] In those early seasons. And his wife is like… 

Angela [01:01:17] What’s going on? 

Jenna [01:01:18] What’s up with the second cell phone? The second cell phone or the calls you’re not taking in your partner’s presence says it all.  

Angela [01:01:27] That says it all. If the phone is ringing and they purposely don’t answer it, who’s on the other end of that call? 

Jenna [01:01:34] That’s right. You’re either having an affair or you’re making meth or you’ve started a business with your friend and you’re not telling your wife. 

Angela [01:01:42] Those are the three things. Back at Dunder-Mifflin, in the kitchen Jim and Pam are still continuing this. Like, tell me something I don’t know about you. And then Jim’s like, Oh, remember the story about how my brothers tricked me into thinking they won the lottery? But Pam already knew that one. And then Angela brags that the senator is always surprising her. I thought Oscar did such a great job. 

Jenna [01:02:07] I had to mimic it. Because I was like, That was so good. 

Angela [01:02:11] I thought it was so good how he just kept choking down his coffee. 

Jenna [01:02:14] It was. It was such good acting. I loved it. Have you ever played this game with Josh where you say, like, tell me something I don’t know about you? Have you ever played this game? 

Angela [01:02:26] No, because Josh doesn’t want to know. 

Jenna [01:02:28] He doesn’t want to know things he doesn’t already know about you? 

Angela [01:02:32] Yes. 

Jenna [01:02:32] This is this very funny. 

Angela [01:02:34] Yeah. He’s just like, I don’t need to know anything about past relationships. I just need to live in the here and now with you. 

Jenna [01:02:42] Lee and I like to play this game sometimes. If we have a date night, we’ll be like, Okay, we’re not allowed to talk about the kids. We’re not allowed to talk about school emails. 

Angela [01:02:50] Right, right. 

Jenna [01:02:50] Or any house improvements or any chores. No scheduling. 

Angela [01:02:54] Let’s be adults. Let’s be adults together. 

Jenna [01:02:55] Yes. So I’ll say, tell me a story I’ve never heard before. 

Angela [01:02:58] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:02:59] And it it often ends up being something rather interesting. I have to say. It’s a fun little game. It’s not working for Jim and Pam, though. 

Angela [01:03:09] Well, Nellie is going to approach Dwight now. Nellie says, Look, if you support the Taliban abroad, you have to be willing to live by the rules here. And she wants that in writing. And she hands him a contract which he signs willingly. Dwight then has a talking head where he says he feared Nellie had a plan, but the ridiculous font tells him otherwise. Then it cuts to Nellie’s talking head and she says, When you use a ridiculous font, no one thinks you have a plan. Well, this made me curious about fonts. I went online and according to 99designs.com, here’s what makes a good font. 

Jenna [01:03:47] Oh, okay. 

Angela [01:03:48] Even kerning. 

Jenna [01:03:50] What’s a kern? 

Angela [01:03:51] Exactly. What is kerning? Kerning is the space between two characters. Too little space and the font is unreadable because the letters are smushed together. Too much space, and it’s hard to tell whether the space is meant to separate letters or words. 

Jenna [01:04:06] Oh, that’s the kern. 

Angela [01:04:07] Even kerning. 

Jenna [01:04:09] The kern is the space between letters. 

Angela [01:04:12] The space. Mm hmm. 

Jenna [01:04:12] Oh, I want to use that. I want to, like, look at someone’s handwriting and say, Oh, you have beautiful kerning. 

Angela [01:04:19] Yes. The next one is consistency. For example, Futura and Helvetica are two examples of fonts that are easy to read because of their kerning and the consistency of the letters. 

Jenna [01:04:33] Okay. 

Angela [01:04:33] And if you’re wondering what consistency means, it means like, if you have a font for the letter A and that has serifs, you expect the letter B to have serifs too, and so on from there. If you’re wondering what a serif is- 

Jenna [01:04:47] What’s a serif? 

Angela [01:04:47] A serif is the marker line that can sometimes appear at the end of a character’s stroke. 

Jenna [01:04:53] Ah, I think I’m, I’m picturing a serif. 

Angela [01:04:56] Okay, then you want balance. You want a blend of thick and thin, heavy and light. That’s another component of a good font. And lastly, it must be legible. 

Jenna [01:05:08] I have a question for you. 

Angela [01:05:09] Yes. 

Jenna [01:05:10] Do you have a favorite font? 

Angela [01:05:12] I like the sans serif typefaces. You know? I think the one I use the most is maybe verdana. 

Jenna [01:05:19] Mmmm. 

Angela [01:05:21] What about you? 

Jenna [01:05:22] Well, for a very long time, I was a times New Roman. 

Angela [01:05:26] That is on the list of worst fonts. 

Jenna [01:05:28] I have moved to calibri. 

Angela [01:05:30] Calibri is good. 

Jenna [01:05:32] And that’s what my document is printed in right now. It’s printed in calibri 18. 

Angela [01:05:37] I also like calibri too. That is also a sans serif font. 

Jenna [01:05:41] It is? 

Angela [01:05:42] Yes. 

Jenna [01:05:42] Oh. What is- sans means without in French. 

Angela [01:05:47] That’s right. 

Jenna [01:05:47] So what is serif? What is it without. 

Angela [01:05:49] A theme with sans serif typefaces are there very clean and minimal. They look a little bit more modern. If a font has a serif, it has like the finishing of a stroke. You know what’s a font that uses serifs is Times New Roman. 

Jenna [01:06:03] Oh. 

Angela [01:06:04] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:06:04] Okay. 

Angela [01:06:05] Also, this website said Garamond is a good one. 

Jenna [01:06:09] Oh, I’ve used it before, but… 

Angela [01:06:11] And according to several websites, I mean, this one made the list on many websites. One of the most horrible fonts is Jokerman. 

Jenna [01:06:22] I have to look at it. I’m so sorry. 

Angela [01:06:24] I can put it in stories too. 

Jenna [01:06:26] I need to see it. Oh! Ugh! 

Angela [01:06:31] It’s horrible. 

Jenna [01:06:33] It looks like… Ugh. This looks like what Nellie used. It’s awful. It looks like the letters have a disease. Doesn’t it?

Angela [01:06:44] It’s so busy. It’s so busy. 

Jenna [01:06:47] Yeah, it looks like a plant, the Venus flytrap. If you took a Venus flytrap and turned it into letters. That’s what this looks like to me. 

Angela [01:06:58] Yes, yes. 

Jenna [01:06:59] Right? 

Angela [01:06:59] Well, Jokerman is not popular. 

Jenna [01:07:01] I’m so sorry to the person who invented the jokerman font. 

Angela [01:07:06] Mhmm. Sorry. 

Jenna [01:07:07] You tried hard, but I think you wanted to edit. 

Angela [01:07:10] You did too much. 

Jenna [01:07:11] Yeah. 

Angela [01:07:12] Take one thing away. Or three.

Jenna [01:07:14] Three things away. Angela, that was all very interesting. 

Angela [01:07:17] You know, I found it so interesting. Just the science behind how we relate to the written characters. 

Jenna [01:07:25] Mm hmm. The door that’s opening for me now is who invents fonts and how do you get them like, widely used? Who’s doing it? 

Angela [01:07:34] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:07:34] What is the font industry? How do you get paid for that? 

Angela [01:07:38] Who comes up with this list about even kerning? 

Jenna [01:07:41] Yeah, that’s going to keep me up at night now. 

Angela [01:07:44] Sorry. 

Jenna [01:07:44] That’s all right. Let’s see. Next up, Andy is going to get word of this newscaster audition, and he has some strong feelings about it. He is going to storm into the annex and confront Clark. He’s going to say, What is this that I hear about you wanting to film Erin in various outfits in your apartment? My big question is, what specific outfits does she need? 

Angela [01:08:09] Oh, Andy, he buys into it, too. 

Jenna [01:08:12] What an idiot. Also at 13 minutes and 23 seconds, this has probably been there the whole episode, but it’s when I finally noticed that Andy has a grappling hook on his pants. You know the thing that like if you’re climbing a mountain and you have to put the thing, he’s got that hanging off his pants. And also he started wearing these puffy vest coats. This is all from his Outward Bound experience, I guess. 

Angela [01:08:36] Yes, yes. 

Jenna [01:08:38] He’s ready to climb if needed. 

Angela [01:08:40] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:08:41] I also wanted to point out in the scene at 13 minutes and 32 seconds, Pete is eating a container of baby carrots just like Jim always does. Maybe he is Jim Jr. 

Angela [01:08:51] Well, in the kitchen, a few folks have gathered around. Jim and Pam are basically playing the newlywed game. Kevin wants a lot of personal questions and Angela is like, No. Toby knows all of Pam’s answers. Pam’s first celebrity crush, John Stamos. And then it moved quickly to Johnny Depp which Toby also new. And then he says, Sorry, I was having a separate conversation with Kevin. And then Kevin at the end says, What’s the craziest place you ever made whoopee? He brings this question back. 

Jenna [01:09:20] This is his question. 

Angela [01:09:22] Yeah. And Angela says, Kevin, stop it with that question. That was improvised, that last couplet. Kevin isn’t supposed to bring it back. Angela isn’t supposed to say anything. But we just kept going. They let the cameras roll. We just kept going. 

Jenna [01:09:36] When I was watching this scene, it made me remember that when I was younger, before I ever moved to L.A., growing up I had two really big celebrity crushes. Like posters on my wall, buying the teen beat magazines. Huge. 

Angela [01:09:51] Huge. I never had a celebrity poster on my wall. 

Jenna [01:09:56] Really? 

Angela [01:09:56] Never. 

Jenna [01:09:57] Okay, I did. And when I got to L.A., early in my acting career, I got cast in movies with both of my celebrity crushes. 

Angela [01:10:07] Can you share who they are? 

Jenna [01:10:08] I will not share who they are. 

Angela [01:10:11] What?! You can’t put that out there and then not tell us! 

Jenna [01:10:13] Because when I met them in real life- 

Angela [01:10:17] You were disappointed? 

Jenna [01:10:17] I was- I was not disappointed, but I was in no way attracted to them at all. Like, I couldn’t believe it. I was like, How is this possible? Like, nothing. Like dead inside. Didn’t find them hot. Didn’t get any butterflies. Couldn’t have been less interested. I found it so fascinating. And happened twice! 

Angela [01:10:42] Wow. 

Jenna [01:10:43] Twice. It wasn’t that they were any less good looking or whatever, but it was just nothing. 

Angela [01:10:50] Huh. I mean, I guess my only real true celebrity crush has been Keanu Reeves. He’s never been on a poster in my room, but he is on a coffee mug I have. 

Jenna [01:11:02] But you’ve never met him in real life? 

Angela [01:11:04] No. But remember, I had that moment where my friend Wyatt said that Keanu was on a motorcycle and checked out my, my ass. 

Jenna [01:11:10] Yeah, that’s right. 

Angela [01:11:11] And I and I’m going to hold on to that forever, whether it was really Keanu or not. 

Jenna [01:11:16] Someone on a motorcycle checked out your tush. 

Angela [01:11:20] Oh, and that was 20 years ago. But I’m going to hold on to it. 

Jenna [01:11:23] Hold on to it! Even if was just a stranger on a motorcycle, you hold that dear. 

Angela [01:11:29] Somebody took a double take. 

Jenna [01:11:32] Well, during this scene, Jim is going to get another phone call and he’s going to excuse himself. Wow. And then he has a talking head where he says, You know what? I’m not going to tell her until it’s real. And Pam has a talking head where she says, Maybe there is something I don’t know about Jim. I think this is a good time to talk about our friend Myles McNutt, because he had a lot of thoughts on this storyline. 

Angela [01:12:01] Oh, we haven’t heard from Myles in a bit. I can’t wait. I live for our Myles McNutt reviews. 

Jenna [01:12:06] Well, Myles actually stopped writing reviews for The Office at the end of season eight, but the new reviewer was out this week. The week of Roy’s Wedding. So Myles wrote this review. This was his final review of the office. He gave this episode a B, and he reviewed this episode, but he also kind of gave some thoughts about the new direction of season nine, which he was liking very much. For example, he loves jerk Andy. 

Angela [01:12:33] Okay. 

Jenna [01:12:34] He liked that change. He likes the addition of Clark and Pete, and he loved the Jim Pam storyline. Here’s what he said. Quote, It’s the couple’s strongest storyline in a long time, and it’s also giving the show the kind of arc structure that it lacked last season. Heck, it’s even retroactively giving last season meaning, with Jim and Pam’s boring storylines now becoming a period within their larger arc, which was underserved and often outright ignored in season eight. Which I actually thought was such a good point. We barely checked in on Jim and Pam’s relationship in season eight, and now this idea that their relationship was too boring to check in on is becoming a major story point! 

Angela [01:13:20] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:13:20] So genius of Greg to think of this. He went on to say, No matter how cynical I might be about other parts of the show, I am too invested in Jim and Pam as characters to not respond to this new characterization, one that asks big questions the show seemed too chicken to ask over the past few years. And as a reviewer who has always been more invested in the dramatic side of the show than others, Jim’s decision to keep his new job a secret and the introspective and retrospective qualities of the storyline are resulting in the strongest emotional connection I’ve felt with the show since Steve Carell’s departure. 

Angela [01:13:57] Wow. 

Jenna [01:13:59] I think that I had to read that because I’m really, really proud because John and I got to be a part of crafting this. And Greg really listened to us and we wanted all the things that he just said to land on the audience. So I was so happy. 

Angela [01:14:13] Also, Myles is such a good writer. Can we just say that? Like everything he wrote there, I was like, Yes! 

Jenna [01:14:20] I know. 

Angela [01:14:20] Kinda opened up to how I’m looking at the season now. 

Jenna [01:14:23] I felt so seen when I read it. And then also Myles signed off in this way. He said, An earnest thank you to everyone who has read or commented on my review of the show over the past two years. It’s been incredibly rewarding and enjoyable to go head to head about a show that people connect with so personally and have strong opinions about. And I’ll admit that I’ll likely be dropping in and out of the comments as the season goes on. However, I do so not as a critic but as a viewer. So do feel free to insult my person as you would any other commenter with whom you strongly disagree. It’s only fair. Aw, Myles, we’re going to miss your reviews. 

Angela [01:15:05] Yes, Myles, you have made this rewatch so enjoyable. I’ve loved your insight and your thoughts. I’m sad that we won’t have any of your reviews for Dwight and Angela’s- 

Jenna [01:15:17] I know! 

Angela [01:15:18] Rekindling and and I would have loved to have seen your reviews on the senator and Oscar. 

Jenna [01:15:23] Yes, Angela. That storyline is not in this episode, and he didn’t comment on it, but I have to believe that he loved it as much as we do. 

Angela [01:15:32] Or would have had some very interesting thoughts. I welcome either. 

Jenna [01:15:37] Maybe I’ll have to check the comments as we go along. 

Angela [01:15:39] Oh, yes. Myles, we might look for you in the comments. See if Myles is there and Steve B.

Jenna [01:15:46] Yeah, that’s right. Steve B, a.k.a. Steve Burgess. 

Angela [01:15:49] Or so we think. 

Jenna [01:15:51] Defending the show. 

Angela [01:15:53] Well, now Darryl and Andy are going to call a voluntary meeting in the conference room to discuss Erin’s confidence, but also, like her body. 

Jenna [01:16:03] Basically her outward appearance. Because once again, I guess in order to be a newscaster, you just- it’s all about your looks. Doesn’t matter about your journalism degree or not. 

Angela [01:16:14] Not for this news job. 

Jenna [01:16:17] That’s right. 

Angela [01:16:17] We also are going to learn in a Darryl talking head that he is become Andy’s consiglieri or also known as the assistant regional manager. 

Jenna [01:16:26] Yeah. 

Angela [01:16:27] So I want you guys to know Darryl is going to be part of several scenes with Andy and Erin as they figure out how she’s going to be a news anchor. There’s a bunch of deleted scenes to all share them when they come up. 

Jenna [01:16:39] Well, when this conference room begins, there’s an interesting moment. We got a fan question about it from Kayley F in Hawaii. I hope I’m pronouncing your name correctly. Who said, Angela, what are you saying to Oscar in the conference room when Andy reveals Erin’s pursuit of an anchorperson audition? It seems a little out of character that you’re just chatting with your friend. 

Angela [01:16:58] This is such a great catch. So in the shooting draft, Angela and Oscar had a lot of back and forth comments about Erin being a news anchor, and they seemed to really bond over being judgey about it. Some of it made deleted scenes. Let’s hear it. 

Oscar [01:17:14] Does Erin have any experience? Has she taken any journalism classes maybe, or? 

Angela Martin [01:17:18] Has she done the pageant circuit? 

Erin [01:17:20] I watched the news. 

Andy [01:17:21] She’s going to be amazing. Look at her. She’s going to light up the screen. 

Phyllis [01:17:24] Does she even want to do it? 

Angela Martin [01:17:26] Of course she wants to do it. She answers phones. 

Oscar [01:17:29] That’s not fair, Angela. Some people don’t aspire for anything higher, and that’s just fine for her. 

Erin [01:17:33] Hey. Hey. Over here. 

Angela [01:17:36] So what happens is, when they were trimming the scene, some of this back and forth got trimmed. But the end of it is there where Oscar and I are kind of leaning over and he’s like, Angel, that’s not fair. And I’m like, okay, fine. Well, if you say so. And we’re having our little hubbub, hubbub, hubbub. 

Jenna [01:17:52] Okay. 

Angela [01:17:52] And then Erin is meant to interrupt us and say, Hey, over here, I want to do this. So you’re catching us, having this little hubbub. But Oscar and I were such longtime friends. You know, we had met years before The Office. I’ve shared this. We had performed in sketch comedy together. We were so giddy about having any kind of storyline together. And and and this season in particular, we get to have a lot. So a lot of that I do think you see the friendship that’s there that maybe Angela and Oscar didn’t have to the extent that we had in real life. Andy is now going to ask everyone to name something they like about Erin’s body so that she can feel more confident about her audition. Darryl says he likes her hair. Andy says that attractive people appear more trustworthy. And Oscar is going to object and kind of bring up Walter Cronkite’s reign as the most trusted man in America. And then Meredith is going to say she thought Walter Cronkite was hot and would take that mustache ride. Go to 15 minutes and 56 seconds. 

Jenna [01:18:55] What will I see? 

Angela [01:18:57] You will see Angela Martin making a face, Jim making a face, and Creed looking inquisitive slash making a face. I took a screen grab of it and I’ll put it in stories. 

Jenna [01:19:08] I love it. Erin is going to do a mock reading for Darryl and Andy. She has written her news copy and it doesn’t make any sense. But the thing that they are going to give her a note about is how long she pauses between saying for, Channel 11 News… I’m Erin Hannon. 

Angela [01:19:31] No. Longer pause. Even longer. It’s going to build suspense. Don’t be shy. There were more scenes of Andy working with Erin while Darryl- poor Darryl has to sit there and watch this. Here’s one I need you to hear. 

Erin [01:19:48] But I’m really bad at public speaking. 

Andy [01:19:50] Don’t think of it as public speaking. Think of it as music. The news is music. You sing it. (NONSENSE VOCALIZATIONS)

Erin [01:20:05] (NONSENSE VOCALIZATIONS)

Andy [01:20:06] Good. Good. Okay. Now pause and bring it home. Big finish. 

Erin [01:20:10] (NONSENSE VOCALIZATIONS) 

Andy [01:20:13] Wow. Thank you for that news. That was some very important information you just told me. 

Erin [01:20:21] (NONSENSE VOCALIZATIONS) You’re welcome. 

Jenna [01:20:24] I have to say, there is a melody to the way newscasters speak. 

Angela [01:20:28] Yes. 

Jenna [01:20:29] And this is reminding me of something I saw on Instagram. It’s this husband and he goes up to his newscaster wife and he’s like, Babe, how do you say I told you so in news speak? And then she thinks for a second, and then she does it. It’s so fun. Will you give me a second to find it? 

Angela [01:20:45] Yeah. 

Husband [01:20:48] Hey babe?

Wife [01:20:49] Yeah. 

Husband [01:20:49] How do you say I told you so in the anchor voice? 

Wife [01:20:54] Good evening. Your time now is 5:52. I’m Jeanette Reyes. This just into our newsroom. It did not take experts to predict that this would be the outcome. In fact, this gentleman’s wife told him on multiple occasions. Well, it happened again. You betcha. 

Angela [01:21:08] That’s great. 

Jenna [01:21:10] Isn’t that funny? There’s a whole bunch. 

Angela [01:21:12] But I do hear the (NONSENSE VOCALIZATIONS). 

Jenna [01:21:16] (NONSENSE VOCALIZATIONS) Yeah. 

Angela [01:21:17] In this deleted scene too, the other part of it that you can’t see on the podcast, is the whole time Andy and Erin are like, muh muh muh muh… Darryl is just sitting there, like with this pained expression. 

Jenna [01:21:31] Well, meanwhile, I think we should mention that after signing this Taliban contract in the silly font, Nellie has stolen Dwight’s pen, the consequences for which are cutting off her hand. If Dwight believes in Taliban rule and she stole from him, then he’s going to need to cut off her hand. So they go to the break room and they’re kind of having a standoff. Is he going to chop off her hand or is he not? 

Angela [01:22:01] Yeah. I guess Darryl, as the new consiglieri/ assistant regional manager, he’s going to come and problem solved this moment. 

Jenna [01:22:09] Yeah. 

Angela [01:22:10] Darryl brings his laptop in the break room. He says, You know what? I want you guys to watch this movie for inspiration. It’s called 127 Hours. And Dwight and Nellie reluctantly watch it. 

Jenna [01:22:20] Do you know what this movie’s about? I couldn’t remember. 

Angela [01:22:23] Yes, I do. 

Jenna [01:22:24] Yeah, I could not remember what it was. And then I looked it up and I was like, Oh, yeah. 

Angela [01:22:28] Based on a true story. 

Jenna [01:22:30] Yes. It came out in 2010. It’s a survivalist drama. I mean, that’s right up my alley, right? 

Angela [01:22:37] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:22:37] It was co-written and directed by Danny Boyle, and it’s based on the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston, who got trapped under a boulder for 127 hours. 

Angela [01:22:49] Yes. Where he was trapped was his arm. 

Jenna [01:22:52] Yes. I mean, spoiler alert, in order to get out, he had to amputate his own arm using like the dull blade from a pocket knife. 

Angela [01:23:03] I mean. 

Jenna [01:23:04] And then after that, he still had to crawl out and get to, like, safety. 

Angela [01:23:09] Yeah, but it came down to I’m going to die here because no one’s going to find me. 

Jenna [01:23:13] Yeah, his phone didn’t work. He’s like, underground sort of. 

Angela [01:23:16] Like a crevasse. Is that what you call it? 

Jenna [01:23:18] Yes, exactly. 

Angela [01:23:19] And so he had to, like, face this, my God, survival moral dilemma of, like, if I chop off my own arm and climb out of here, I have a chance of living. But if I don’t, I die here. 

Jenna [01:23:32] Did you ever read that Stephen King short story, it’s in his book of short stories, about the guy who gets trapped on an island and he starts slowly eating himself? 

Angela [01:23:40] Oh, no. 

Jenna [01:23:42] Yeah. In order to stay alive, he’s like, I’ll just cut off my pinky finger and I’ll eat it. And that’s like how he is staying alive. And he’s like, slowly amputating parts of himself for food. 

Angela [01:23:55] Oh, god. 

Jenna [01:23:55] Mm hmm. 

Angela [01:23:56] Does he survive? 

Jenna [01:23:57] I don’t think he does. 

Angela [01:23:59] Oh, God. 

Jenna [01:24:00] Also, what happens is, at a certain point, like. 

Angela [01:24:02] You get infections. 

Jenna [01:24:04] No, he just, like, he can’t use his limbs anymore to cut because he’s eaten them. I believe it’s what happens. 

Angela [01:24:12] Oh, lord. 

Jenna [01:24:12] But, I mean, I’m sure he also got infections. The story doesn’t go there. 

Angela [01:24:18] Okay, well, where are we? 

Jenna [01:24:20] Well, they end up watching the whole movie. They seem to have enjoyed it. 

Angela [01:24:25] Mm hmm. And their storyline ends with them accusing each other of being stupid. 

Jenna [01:24:30] Yeah. And no hand chopping occurs. 

Angela [01:24:32] No. 

Jenna [01:24:33] So I guess Darryl’s distraction worked because they end up getting in an argument about the movie instead. Good job, Darryl. 

Angela [01:24:39] Way to go, Daryl. 

Jenna [01:24:41] Meanwhile, Pam is still trying to find out what’s up with Jim. She tries to tell him the story about running into an old friend who flirted with her, and she’s sorry she didn’t tell him sooner. Hint, hint. She’s sorry she kept it from him. Hint, hint. 

Angela [01:24:56] And he says, No. No, you didn’t. You would have told me. And she’s like, Yeah, I would have told you. 

Jenna [01:25:02] I would have told you. 

Angela [01:25:04] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:25:04] Unlike something you’re not telling me. But he still doesn’t effing tell her. 

Angela [01:25:10] Jim. She knows. You’ve got to know she knows at this point. 

Jenna [01:25:15] So uncomfortable. 

Angela [01:25:17] Well, now back to this Andy and Erin news anchor audition storyline. Remember how earlier I told you Pete is going to try to tell Erin this is a bad idea? This isn’t going to work out. But it got deleted. It’s in the deleted scenes. I want to play it for you. The way it’s set up is Erin is running some errands and she’s waiting for the elevator, you know, in the lobby. 

Jenna [01:25:39] Sure. 

Angela [01:25:40] And Pete walks up there alone while she waits for the elevator, and he’s going to say hey and share with her what he thinks about all this. Let’s hear it. 

Pete [01:25:49] Hey. 

Erin [01:25:50] Hey. I’m buying newspapers. 

Pete [01:25:54] Erin, this is a bad idea. 

Erin [01:25:58] I usually take the stairs. I just thought I would give myself a treat. 

Pete [01:26:02] I meant your audition. I just feel like the chances of this working out are slim to none, you know? Or… Or none to none. Like, they start at none, and then they just stay there. 

Erin [01:26:20] That is not nice. I’m going to take the stairs. 

Jenna [01:26:33] I have a lot to say about this deleted scene. 

Angela [01:26:35] Okay. 

Jenna [01:26:36] And here it is. It bothered me in this episode that Pete didn’t just say the truth. 

Angela [01:26:43] Yeah. So in the shooting draft, when he approaches her at the elevator and he kind of fumbles through this. He says this is never going to happen, right? We just listen to it. Then he would have changed tactics. He would have been like, okay, that didn’t work. But Pete in the shooting draft is determined to prevent her from going alone to Clark’s apartment, and he comes up with this kind of ruse. Instead of calling out Clark is being a creeper, he just makes sure that Erin is not alone. 

Jenna [01:27:12] Well, that’s all fine and good to Angela, but I wish she would have just said the truth. 

Angela [01:27:16] Yeah. 

Jenna [01:27:16] We don’t need to protect the creepers I guess is my point. 

Angela [01:27:19] Oh, absolutely. But I did want to show that he was trying throughout this to deter her. Ultimately, what happens is Andy, Pete and Erin show up to Clark’s apartment. 

Jenna [01:27:32] Yes. Andy is now the co-anchor. 

Angela [01:27:34] Yes. 

Jenna [01:27:35] And he’s taking his job very seriously. 

Angela [01:27:38] I love it when Clark’s like, I think you guys got it. And Andy’s like, No, I didn’t. I don’t got it. 

Jenna [01:27:43] She did great. 

Angela [01:27:44] She did great. I need a closeup. I need you to go in tighter. 

Jenna [01:27:47] Yeah. 

Angela [01:27:48] Erin, why don’t you go have dinner with Pete? All of this backfires for Clark, and it also shows how Andy doesn’t see Erin. He just sees himself always. 

Jenna [01:27:58] Yeah, I did appreciate the reveals of this storyline. Well, I’ll have you know, Clark’s apartment was located on Kester Avenue in Sherman Oaks. We shot these scenes after all of the stuff at Roy’s house. It was a really big day for our crew. They had to do what is called a company move, where they pack up everything from one location and move to a second location. It’s a big deal. So this was a long day for them. 

Angela [01:28:24] It was a long day. And it was triple digits outside. 

Jenna [01:28:27] Yeah. And then the diner that we shot at, we did actually shoot this on a different day. This was The Hungry Fox on Sherman Way in Van Nuys. It is right by our studio. It was Greg’s favorite place. He would go there in the mornings before work and eat breakfast and go over his notes and do his thinking. And then he would come in to work. We also shot some Roy/ Pam scenes there. It’s really good food. 

Angela [01:28:51] I have to tell you, one morning I was driving in to work and I went early. I was very pregnant and I just was like, I want a big, big breakfast before I even walk onto set. 

Jenna [01:29:03] Mm hmm. 

Angela [01:29:03] So I got up really early. I wasn’t sleeping great anyway. Towards the end of your pregnancy, you know, you don’t really sleep great. 

Jenna [01:29:09] Sure. 

Angela [01:29:09] And I went to The Hungry Fox so early, and I ordered myself this huge breakfast. And in walked Greg. And he was like, Ange, what are you doing here? I was like, I was just really hungry. And so we had breakfast together. 

Jenna [01:29:24] Well, everyone that was Roy’s Wedding. A big thank you to Tim Meadows! 

Angela [01:29:29] Yes!

Jenna [01:29:29] For joining us. Everybody, please go see our Mean Girls movie. It opens this Friday. We had so much fun making it and oh, my gosh, I’m excited to see it on the big screen. 

Angela [01:29:40] I’m so excited. My daughter so excited. A bunch of her friends are going to see it. Jenna, this is so fun!

Jenna [01:29:46] It’s my big moment. 

Angela [01:29:47] It’s a big moment. And also, of course, thank you to Steve Burgess and to all of you for writing in with your questions and your great observations. 

Angela [01:29:55] Yes. And I would say thank you to Myles McNutt for two years of awesome reviews that were always interesting, if not hilarious. 

Jenna [01:30:04] We’ll be looking for you in the comments. 

Angela [01:30:06] That’s right. We’ll see you guys next week! 

Jenna [01:30:08] See you then! Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. 

Angela [01:30:18] Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey. 

Jenna [01:30:22] 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 [01:30:31] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.