Favorite Cold Opens with the Office Ladies

Summary

Podcast Summary: How We Made Your Mother – "Favorite Cold Opens with the Office Ladies"

Podcast: How We Made Your Mother
Episode: Favorite Cold Opens with the Office Ladies
Date: May 11, 2026
Hosts: Josh Radnor, Craig Thomas
Guests: Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey
Network: Audacy & The Office Ladies (OLN)

---

Episode Overview

This special crossover episode brings together How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM) alums Josh Radnor (Ted Mosby) and co-creator Craig Thomas with Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey of The Office and the Office Ladies podcast. The four discuss the art, strategy, and sheer fun of sitcom cold opens, sharing and dissecting their favorite examples from both HIMYM and The Office. They explore the creative process behind these mini-scenes, their function in sitcom storytelling, and their enduring place in TV comedy culture.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is a Cold Open? (11:00–13:34)

• Definition and Styles
  • Craig Thomas explains that a cold open is "a little funny thing at the start of the show... a really short version. The Office was amazing at doing ones that were these little self-contained movies, these little mini short films that stood alone sometimes." (11:33)
  • The Office’s cold opens were often entirely separable from the episode’s main plot – "movable" or even discardable – while HIMYM’s tended to set up or plant the episode’s story or mystery.
• Jenna Fischer adds, "They were movable because they were their own little story… sometimes they just got rid of them completely because they needed the time to tell the story of the episode." (13:15)

2. Show Structure & Use of Theme Songs (13:34–14:16)

• Both shows have iconic theme songs.
• Cold opens provide a sharp, satisfying cut into the familiar theme, creating a sense of “buttoning” the mini-story with a musical cue.
  • Josh Radnor: "If you do the first season, people get to know the theme song. By the second season, it's actually really thrilling to do a cold open and then cut... to the theme song." (13:58)

3. Favorite Cold Opens – The Office (15:19–18:17)

Angela’s Pick: The Fire Drill – "Stress Relief" (S5)

• A legendary ensemble-driven cold open. Angela describes it as "that famous fire drill cold open, where Dwight is going to teach everyone how to survive an office place fire... by locking the doors and setting a fire. Absolute instant mayhem." (15:19)
• Clip Discussion:
  • The cast reflects on the technical and comedic challenges of shooting it — a full day with extensive rehearsals.
  • Angela: "I came in a day early and I had to work with this cat and the cat wrangler. We had a fake cat, we had a real cat, and I had a body double." (17:00)
  • Josh Radnor compliments the layered joke payoff: "The first throw of the cat is hilarious and unexpected, but so soon after is that second falling cat… the actual enormous laugh of that moment." (17:19)
  • Josh cites Adam McKay: "There's nothing funnier than people being confidently wrong. And so much of Dwight is confident wrongness." (17:44)
  • Angela Kinsey: "Well, that's definitely Michael Scott. He's like the most confident idiot ever." (18:07)

Jenna’s Pick: Pam’s Chore Wheel (S9) (24:42–29:15)

• Jenna Fischer chooses the only cold open she ever led: “Pam’s Chore Wheel”, which she says would be the prop she wishes she’d taken home.
• Jenna: "The building's custodian is on vacation... so instead, we're living in filth. But not for long, because I have created the chore wheel." (26:08)
• Ensemble dynamic: The cast bands against Pam for her non-spinning wheel, demonstrating the ensemble’s knack for “hive mind” comedy.
• Jenna: "Even Jim doesn't have my back this time!" (28:22)
• Angela: "I loved, as part of the ensemble, whenever we would all collectively, like, react to one character – I loved it so much." (28:43)

4. Favorite Cold Opens – How I Met Your Mother

Josh’s Pick: "Right Place, Right Time" (S4 Ep 22) (18:26–23:56)

• A thematically core cold open that sets up HIMYM’s ‘butterfly effect’ motif.
• Josh Radnor: "He’s just going outside to get a bagel, but he grabs this yellow umbrella and then it’s, oh my god, now this is very, very significant... The universe has a plan, kids, and that plan is always in motion." (20:01)
• The open delivers both a mystery (who is behind the umbrella?) and the show’s core philosophy: life’s seeming randomness contains meaning.
• Craig Thomas: “This is kind of the whole series in miniature... We liked teasing a mystery.” (21:47)
• Josh: "It's a meaningful universe... an antidote to cynicism." (23:08)
• Angela Kinsey: "I so agree. It's like comfort… when I watch your show, it makes me feel like everything's okay in some way." (23:56)
• Jenna shares a story of a fan recreating the umbrella scene – underscoring the cold open’s iconic status. (23:56)

Craig’s Pick: "Swarley" (S2 Ep 7) (29:38–35:47)

• Craig reflects on this classic, notable for its “coffee shop vs. bar” setup and the running “Swarley” gag (33:01).
• Craig Thomas: "When we launched HIMYM, we really wanted to separate ourselves from Friends... Our home base set is a bar... written by a Friends writer, Greg Maylands." (31:35)
• Revelations from the rewatch podcast:
  • Greg Maylands never intended the coffee shop vs. bar joke as a Friends dig, despite everyone else assuming so (32:48).
  • Greg also admits to reusing a joke from his earlier work on Friends, unintentionally undermining the ‘differentiation’ (34:01).
• Jenna Fischer: "Can I raise my hand on that one? When I watched it, I was like, oh, that's such a fun tongue in cheek wink to we're not friends in a coffee shop." (32:48)
• Craig: "There’s one guy on planet Earth who thinks it’s not a Friends reference, and it’s Greg Maylands." (33:08)
• The story is a window into the fluid, sometimes accidental, legacy of sitcom writing—and the meta-storytelling of podcasting itself.

5. Other Insights, Writing Process, and Podcasting Reflection

• Josh Radnor on rewatching HIMYM: "Hearing from fans and also learning about myself now versus then... kind of forgiving myself for how hard I was on myself then... The whole thing has been, like, quite a blessing." (36:57)
• The group celebrates how both The Office and HIMYM have become comfort food for fans, giving touchstones of hope, meaning, and community in an uncertain world.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Confident Wrongness in Sitcoms:
  “There’s nothing funnier than people being confidently wrong. And so much of Dwight is confident wrongness. And so much of, like, the humor on The Office is confident, absolute wrongness.”
  — Josh Radnor (17:44)

• On The Comfort of HIMYM:
  "It's a meaningful universe... an antidote to cynicism. That... is part of the warmth [people] feel when they watch the show and why they keep coming back to it."
  — Josh Radnor (23:08)

• Jenna Fischer Relates to Pam’s Chore Wheel:
  "I'm a Pisces. I'm a very organized Pisces... The tiny wheel feels very you. I feel like you would definitely do the tiny wheel part."
  — Jenna Fischer, with Craig Thomas (27:53)

• On Rewatching and Rediscovery:
  "The way I felt about this cold open [Swarley] at the time was I really liked it... Then we got up to this episode just a couple months ago... and he dropped a couple of bombs on me that made me completely change how I see this cold open now."
  — Craig Thomas (29:38)

• On the HIMYM Narrator:
  "He [Bob Saget] was such a secret weapon of the show... He was wonderful. It makes me miss him. He was just a great guy and he loved playing that part."
  — Craig Thomas (21:47)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 11:00 – What is a cold open? Writing and structural differences between The Office and HIMYM.
• 15:19 – The Office: Angela’s pick, “Fire Drill" from “Stress Relief”; technical/cast stories behind the iconic scene.
• 18:26 – HIMYM: Josh’s pick, “Right Place, Right Time" (yellow umbrella, meaning of random choices, narration clip).
• 23:56 – Angela and Jenna share a story about the impact of HIMYM’s yellow umbrella scene on fans.
• 24:42 – The Office: Jenna’s pick, “Pam’s Chore Wheel” and ensemble dynamics.
• 29:38 – HIMYM: Craig’s pick, “Swarley”; meta discussion from the rewatch podcast, revelations about the Friends connection.
• 36:57 – Podcasting reflection: Josh discusses personal growth and sharing the rewatch experience with his wife.

---

Tone & Language

The conversation is warm, nostalgic, and full of in-jokes—inviting fans of both shows into a behind-the-scenes master class in sitcom craft and memory. There’s a shared sense of humility, lingering affection for their work, and delight at having found enduring resonance with audiences.

---

Closing

The episode ends with gratitude, mutual admiration, and a promise to collaborate again:

• Angela Kinsey: "Josh, Craig, thank you so much for coming on to talk about cold opens with us. Y'all are such a delight. We enjoy you so much. You gotta come back, please." (36:57)

• Josh Radnor: "Yeah, we'd love to have you back on our show. We love hanging with you." (37:05)

---

This episode is a must-listen for any fan of either sitcom, or for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts—and the lasting heart—of TV comedy.

Transcript

[Craig Thomas]

Greg.

[Josh Radnor]

Josh, you know I have a sweet spot for style. Can I describe it to you, please? Here's what it is. I want to look great.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

But I don't want to look like I put any effort into it at all.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, yes.

[Josh Radnor]

Do you know what I'm saying?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. That's the dream.

[Josh Radnor]

That's what you want.

[Craig Thomas]

That's what you want.

[Josh Radnor]

I just want people. Oh, this. I just rolled out a bit. I don't know. It doesn't even. Oh, I just grabbed it off the. You know.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I do know. I do know. I never. I almost never look that way because it looks either like I tried zero or I tried really, really way too hard.

[Josh Radnor]

I would say comedy writers, out of all of showbiz, probably need the most fashion help. Would you say?

[Craig Thomas]

A, how dare you? And B, yes.

[Josh Radnor]

And also, forget about A, how have you been getting help lately?

[Craig Thomas]

So here's what's been really, really helpful. Quince. Quince has come into our lives because of this podcast and it's a thing of beauty. We have gotten a couple batches of really, really nice things from quints. One in the winter, and now it's springtime. And what I. The problem I tried to solve with the stuff I chose for quints, they let us choose a few items. I just feel like I have nothing that looks what you just described. I have nothing in my spring and summer wardrobe that looks kind of like I didn't try too hard, but it looks nice. It's just like I just have crappy T shirts or like really uncomfortable, like button downs that are for like a fancy event that I don't look that good in. This hits exactly the sweet spot you're talking about, Josh. Very comfortable. Like just like a black polo shirt. Like a navy blue button up like staple. Like classic things that go with everything. They can look a little.

[Josh Radnor]

Go with everything. Swap them out with everything.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, it goes with everything. And I got like several things like that that I'm just gonna be wearing all spring and all summer, so. Thank you, Quince.

[Josh Radnor]

Thank you, Quince. Refresh your everyday with luxury. You'll actually use head to quince.com your motherpod for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns now available in Canada too. We love Canada on this podcast, don't we? We sure do. That's Q U I n c e.com your motherpod for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com your mother podcast. Craig. I was recently looking at one of my credit card statements do you ever do this? Look at your credit card statements?

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, like, once every few years.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, sometimes I'm a little like Lily. I kind of bury my head in the sand. I'm like, I don't want to see it. I don't want to see it. But today I really, I looked it over, and I saw that there was a charge from a very big bookstore chain that apparently I. I've been a member of for years with some sort of, like, yearly subscription, maybe even monthly. I don't. I hope it's a. But I, I, I was just like, why? I haven't set foot in one of these stores in years. So I've got this charge that I. And I. Then I started. My mind started spinning. I was like, how many of these do I have?

[Craig Thomas]

Right? What. What is the grand total that you've been paying since, like, happy Y2K or whatever?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, yeah, it's.

[Craig Thomas]

It's ridiculous.

[Josh Radnor]

I don't want to crunch those numbers because now that I have a, a, a, a kid, I'm starting to think about college.

[Craig Thomas]

Ye. That would have been really useful. Can I make a suggestion?

[Josh Radnor]

Yes, please.

[Craig Thomas]

Since we're just two dudes here chatting on microphones, I'm gonna just spontaneously suggest something. Rocket Money. Josh.

[Josh Radnor]

Wait, what?

[Craig Thomas]

Rocket Money, I say.

[Josh Radnor]

You heard me, Rocket Money.

[Craig Thomas]

You heard me.

[Josh Radnor]

Tell me. Tell me more about it.

[Craig Thomas]

I will. I will. So, Rocket Money. This app automatically categorizes transactions, tracks subscriptions, and even lets you cancel unwanted ones. Case in point, in just a few taps, you can end up cutting all kinds of subscriptions. Just like what you just described. Things you did not. You don't even remember, to this day, signing up for.

[Josh Radnor]

I don't remember signing up for this.

[Craig Thomas]

Save so much money. I don't even want to guess how much money you wasted, because you don't even know what year that started in. And it just makes you feel better. You're not wasting money, and you're just, like, less stressed out about money and that Rocket Money can do all of that for you.

[Josh Radnor]

Look, I just need to free up more space in my psyche to do this podcast. I can't be worried about hemorrhaging money on subscriptions that I did in 2002. Rocket Money is a perfect personal finance app that helps find and cancel unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. [e-mail] mother that's RocketMoney.com mother RocketMoney.com mother. So for our second season of how we made your mother, we united forces with the Office Ladies who are just the best. Jenna the best and Angela over at oln, the Office Ladies Network. And they loved our show and they said come on over. Come under the umbrella that we have so lovingly created. And so we just huddled up next to them and we've been working with them for a while now and they're just unbelievable. Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey and all the folks over there. So every once in a while we'll drop into their podcast and they'll come onto ours and we've done that before and we, we just did a really fun one. Craig, tell us, tell the audience what we did.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I love. They had this really focused idea of let's all talk about our favorite cold opens. Cold opens are, are in a TV show are the the funny little mini vignette, the mini little story that kind of opens and kind of smash cuts into the main titles, launches the episode. And so the two of them chose their all time two favorite Office cold Opens and we chose our two favorite How I Met yout Mother Cold Opens. And we had this great discussion about them. We play all the clips from them, we talk about them, we dissect them and we talked about how the cold opens of those two shows were often quite different and what was brilliant about them. And it was an awesome chat. So we're really excited to share it here.

[Josh Radnor]

So enjoy our chat with Jenna and Angela about Cold Opens on the Office and How I Met yout Mother.

[Craig Thomas]

This is a cold Open about Cold Open.

[Josh Radnor]

Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. Grief can feel so lonely, but talking about it and listening to others share their experiences helps. It's probably the only thing that's really helped me on my podcast. All There Is. We explore grief and loss in all its complexities. You'll hear deeply moving and honest discussions with people who have faced and are living with life altering losses. Talking grief, building community. That's what the podcast is all about. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.

[Craig Thomas]

Hey, I'm Arne Nee Camp from the fully improvised comedy podcast hello from the Magic Tavern. I'm here with my co hosts, John the Talking Badger, Bing Bong and Usanor the Wizard. I greet thee Listeners, look. I'm trapped in the magical land of Foon. So I started a podcast interviewing elves, unicorns and other weirdos. We have great guests like Felicia Day, Jason Mantzoukas, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Amy Mann and so many more. Oh, and I think one time we interviewed a sentient shoe. I hope it was sentient. Not to mention the evil people we've had to interview.

[Josh Radnor]

How I hate evil. Join us as we bar crawl across

[Craig Thomas]

the magical land of Foon, looking for adventure, getting caught up in escapades. Hello from the Magic Tavern is available right now on your favorite podcast app and ad free and with lots of bonus content on Patreon. Subscribe to hello from the Magic Tavern. Today.

[Josh Radnor]

When thinning starts, it's not just your hair that takes a hit. It can change how you feel day in and day out. And there's so much noise out there, gimmicky products, conflicting advice, expensive clinic visits. It's hard to know what actually works. That's why HIMS makes it simple to take control of hair regrowth with personalized care that fits your life all online.

[Craig Thomas]

And this is one of those things that we. We're old guys, right? We're looking back on our misspent use making a TV show. But if, you know, if we could do it all over again and go back in a time machine. Alec, we know you. You don't have a. I wouldn't say you have a huge amount of hair. You have a good look, you keep it tight, it works for you.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

But when you were losing your hair in your 20s, 30s, you didn't have hims. You didn't have something great like hims that could have given you that choice. And then now it's available to people who aren't old like us, Correct?

[Josh Radnor]

Absolutely. I would say that in my 20s, what did exist was very complicated.

[Craig Thomas]

Right.

[Josh Radnor]

It felt like this. All these products I had to do. And I was going to say it wasn't available online. I don't think there was online.

[Craig Thomas]

It was a lot of, like. It was a lot of, like, tonics that were sold by, like, traveling salesmen who also had a circus.

[Josh Radnor]

Yes, yes. It was that Paul McCartney video. They were always bursting into song.

[Craig Thomas]

Right.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah. Yes. I definitely. If it were as simple as this. Yeah. I mean, of course I would have done this. But you've committed. You've been with this Telly Savalas look for a long, long time.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

So I don't know, but if you ever decided you wanted to sprout more hair, I think podcast listeners would be confused if I started all of a sudden to have a full head of hair. But I'll.

[Craig Thomas]

Listeners, though, like, listeners, they can hear your hair. I'm confused by this.

[Josh Radnor]

I would love it if just week to week you just had more and more hair out and we didn't comment on it.

[Craig Thomas]

I know. Well, so if you're too young to know who Telly Savalas is with our hip Kojak reference, we just made, you have a choice to use Hims that that we owe that us old guys didn't have. And that is a cool choice to have.

[Josh Radnor]

HIMS offers access to a range of prescription hair loss treatments with doctor trusted ingredients that can stop further hair loss and regrow hair in as little as three to six months. Everything's 100% online with personalized treatment plans, flexible subscriptions, and 24. 7 provider support so you can get started without putting your life on hold.

[Craig Thomas]

So for simple online access to personalized and affordable care for hair loss, ED, weight loss, and more, visit himss.com your mother. That's hims.com your mother. For your free online visit hims.com your mother. Featured Products include compounded drug products which the FDA does not approve or verify for safety, effectiveness or quality. Prescription required. See website for full details, restrictions and important safety information. Individual results may vary based on studies of topical and oral minoxidil and finasteride.

[Jenna Fischer]

Hello there, fine gentlemen.

[Craig Thomas]

Why, hello.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, is that us? We're the fine.

[Craig Thomas]

That's us.

[Josh Radnor]

We're the fine gentleman. I was so excited.

[Craig Thomas]

You are the fine gentleman.

[Jenna Fischer]

My goodness. Of course. It's so great to be chatting with you again.

[Josh Radnor]

We love chatting with you guys. Thanks for having us back.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, Fine gentlemen, it's lovely to see you. Top of the morning to you.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, we're really excited to chat Cold Opens with you. And Craig, it's really cool to have you on the podcast today because you're gonna give us a little bit of, I hope a writer showrunner's perspective on the cold open. Could you tell our audience what is a cold open?

[Angela Kinsey]

No pressure, by the way. No pressure.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, I know. I have to define the entire genre of cold open.

[Josh Radnor]

And this will be canon. Whatever you say.

[Craig Thomas]

So this will come in the dictionary. It's a little funny thing at the start of the show. That's the really short version. I think the Office was amazing at doing ones that were these little self contained movies, these little mini short films that stood alone sometimes. They didn't always kick off the story. Am I right, you guys? It feels like that was often true for you guys. That's so hard to do that. We almost never did it on How I Met yout Mother. We were too lazy. We're like, it's too hard to make a Little gem. So we often. We usually started the story off somehow. When our cold opens. You can either kick off the plot in the cold open or it's just a funny little thing. And those are sort of the two ways to go. We sometimes did the funny little thing version on How Much yout Mother, but usually we try to get the story started in some way. I would argue that doing the funny standalone way is probably harder because when you're starting the story, it at least has some momentum. But you guys did it ingeniously on the Office.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, you know, we all today picked one of our favorite cold opens from each of our shows. We're going to share those. We'll set them up and we'll talk about them.

[Craig Thomas]

And.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I know the one I picked. I'm not gonna say it yet, but I almost picked the episode the Injury. And that was a time we had a cold open on the Office that did kick off the episode. That's when Michael has a George Foreman grill by his bed. Cause he loves the fresh bacon in the morning. And he steps on the grill. But so that cold open where he calls Pam in a panic is one that then leads into the whole episode. So we did that every once in a while. But you're right, mostly ours were these standalone little movies.

[Josh Radnor]

Did you guys tell us in one of the episodes we did together that often they would write it for one and it would end up on another episode. Like they would mix and match them. They were always the ones that you thought they were going to be paired with.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jenna Fischer]

Because they were movable because they were their own little story. But also sometimes they just got rid of them completely because they needed the time to tell the story of the episode.

[Craig Thomas]

Right. And if it is self contained and modular like that, it's easier to take out. Whereas if you start the story, you're kind of stuck with it.

[Josh Radnor]

Right.

[Craig Thomas]

Did you guys always do a cold open? Cause we didn't do it every episode. We did sort of longer, like full act ones. We started the show with titles for the entire first season and then kind of mixed and matched. Although we realized like in season two that we had a great theme song to smash cut to.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

Do you know what I mean with that? Like hard cut to the dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. It's perfect for that. How are we not. We were like, why aren't we doing this?

[Josh Radnor]

I was gonna say, though, both our shows have really iconic grab you by the lapels kind of theme songs. And there's something Especially about if you do the first season, people get to know the theme song. By the second season, it's actually really thrilling to do a cold open and then cut. You know, do the needle drop to the theme song.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. I feel like our theme songs were almost the button at the end of the scene sometimes. Right? Yeah. You know, Craig, we did usually have a cold open every once in a while. We wouldn't for time, but for the most part, we did. And I think about our writers room and how much fun they had coming up with these standalone cold open ideas. I mean, Kevin's chili. My Lord. Yeah, that one. That was Aaron Schur. And I just. People quote that to Brian. I think for the rest of his life he's gonna hear that.

[Jenna Fischer]

I think also it's a great way. If you have a card on the wall, that's a funny idea. But you just can't make it a whole episode. But you could make it a really funny two minutes. I think a lot of our cold opens were things also that might be feeling a little too absurd for our little documentary show that we were putting on. But we could be a little more broad in our cold opens as well. Which brings us to. Speaking of a little bit of a broader cold open. Angela, your pick. It's one of our classics.

[Angela Kinsey]

So I wanted to pick a cold open that was a real all ensemble moment. Cause sometimes the cold opens were mostly, you know, Michael or Dwight and those kind of storylines. But this had everybody. It included a huge rehearsal with our camera operators, our boom operators. It was like a real dance, if you will. It's something I get yelled at the airport. Okay, so basically this is from stress relief, the episode Stress Relief. It is that famous fire drill cold open, where Dwight is going to teach everyone how to survive an office place fire.

[Jenna Fischer]

And by setting a fire.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, by locking the doors and setting a fire. Absolute instant mayhem. We pulled a clip from the middle where Dwight is trying to get everyone to do all the steps in the chaos. Here it is.

[Craig Thomas]

Have you ever seen a burn victim?

[Josh Radnor]

Okay, procedure, procedure.

[Craig Thomas]

Excellent options.

[Josh Radnor]

Where do we go, folks?

[Craig Thomas]

Use a what to cover the mouth.

[Josh Radnor]

A what?

[Craig Thomas]

A rag. A damp rag, perhaps. Let's remember those procedures. What are they? That's the wrong way. We've already tried that.

[Josh Radnor]

Remember your exit points.

[Craig Thomas]

Exit points, people. What's next?

[Jenna Fischer]

Stay alive.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm getting help.

[Angela Kinsey]

Pull me up.

[Josh Radnor]

You're too heavy.

[Angela Kinsey]

I only weigh 82 pounds.

[Jenna Fischer]

Say, Bandit.

[Craig Thomas]

How about 91 1?

[Josh Radnor]

Anyone?

[Craig Thomas]

91 1. Oh, my God. I mean, it's so ridiculous. It's so good. It's so great. Can I ask a question? How long did that take to shoot that? That looks like an entire movie.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, it was a full day to shoot it, but it was also a bunch of rehearsal.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, I came in a day early and I had to work with this cat and the cat wrangler. And we had a fake cat. We had a real cat and a fake cat, and I had a body double. Like that stunt. Just that moment of throwing the cat in the ceiling and it coming out the other side was a huge stunt.

[Josh Radnor]

I just love, like, the unexpected. Like, the first throw of the cat is hilarious and unexpected, but so soon after is that second falling cat, which you're not quite expecting, which is like the actual enormous laugh of that moment.

[Angela Kinsey]

And the cat was totally. Okay, everyone listening. Our line producer had put a whole bunch of, like, ferny pad things. So he did hit something squishy and soft.

[Josh Radnor]

I love also, though, Rain's unflappable kind of commitment to, like, safety. And everyone is absolutely panicking around him. I heard Adam McKay say this thing that there's nothing funnier than people being confidently wrong. And so much of Dwight is confident wrongness. And so much of, like, the humor on the Office is confident, absolute wrongness.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, that's definitely Michael Scott. He's like the most confident idiot ever.

[Josh Radnor]

There's something about us. We love it. We love that confident wrongness. Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

All right, so we asked you guys to pull your favorite cold opens. And I know there's. It's always so hard to pick one, but, Josh, which one did you pick?

[Josh Radnor]

So I picked an episode from season four. It's called Right Place, Right Time. I think it was episode 22 from season four. It kind of starts off in a little bit of a minor key in terms of, you know, Robin and Ted and this morning scene. And he's running out. He's going to go get a bagel. Like a very kind of low key New York morning. And then he goes out the front door and he's about to turn one way, but he stops and he turns another way. He goes another direction. And then the narrator comes in and starts talking about, you know, almost the butterfly effect, essentially. Like our seemingly innocuous choices are all kind of adding up together in this magical way to deliver us where we need to be. And, oh, and also right when he leaves, he grabs the yellow umbrella, which at that point we had established as an iconic prop.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. We told the audience that is involved in how Ted is going to meet the mother. Eventually, that's like this magical, like little flash forward. We saw a yellow umbrella as part of that meeting.

[Josh Radnor]

Right. So he's like, he's just going outside to get a bagel, but he grabs this yellow umbrella and then it's, oh, my God, like, now this is very, very significant. And then it starts to rain. And he opens the umbrella and then he gets a tap on his shoulder and he turns and we don't know who he's seeing. But the fake out, of course, is this must be the mother.

[Craig Thomas]

Right? And that's when you cut to main titles and you don't see the face. You have to watch the whole episode to see who's behind that umbrella.

[Jenna Fischer]

I loved this cold Open. And I also love the voiceover, which is by Bob Saget.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

So I would love to hear that because it's poetic and wonderful and I love it.

[Josh Radnor]

Kids, I've been telling you the story of how I met your mother. And while there's many things to learn from this story, this may be the biggest. The great moments of your life won't necessarily be the things you do. They'll also be the things that happen to you. Now, I'm not saying you can't take action to affect the outcome of your life. You have to take action, and you will. But never forget that on any day, you can step out the front door and your whole life can change forever. You see, the universe has a plan, kids, and that plan is always in motion. A butterfly flaps its wings and it starts to rain. It's a scary thought, but it's also kind of wonderful. All these little parts of the machine constantly working, making sure that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be, exactly when you're supposed to be there. The right place at the right time.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, there it is.

[Craig Thomas]

So beautiful.

[Josh Radnor]

Craig, I think that's some of the most like, kind of lyrical narrating writing that you and the gang did. And I also. It really strikes me that the entire DNA, like blueprint of the entire series is in that cold open. Yeah, right. Like, yeah, yeah, it is. The whole show is spelled out thematically and illustrated in that. And then as the episode goes on again, we talk about a lot about How I met yout mother. 1. It's a big mystery. It's a nine season mystery. But also a lot of episodes start off with something very strange and disorienting and what is going on. And then the episode solves the mystery. So it's like mysteries inside mysteries inside mysteries.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And this is like, this is a great mystery episode. But it's also. It just lays out all the themes so beautifully at the beginning. And Bob, man, I love hearing Bob's Bob.

[Craig Thomas]

I get such a chill hearing Bob do that one. He was such a secret weapon of the show. He was so good at being future Ted, telling his kids that story. And I think it's an underrated, kind of like, track in the overall song of our show. You know, that's like a really crucial instrument in the orchestra there. And he was wonderful. It makes me miss him. He was just a great guy and he loved playing that part. He took a lot of pride in being future Ted. He and Josh developed a real bond. Cause he's like, I'm future you. I'm the voice of future you. And you guys really became close over that. And you hear it. He would watch the episode, he'd tap into where Ted was emotionally and he'd perform that. And I love that about him. And yeah, this is kind of the whole series in miniature. Since this whole episode that you're having us on is a symposium on cold opens. This is another way we used cold opens, which is we liked teasing a mystery. We liked really getting right up to a mystery moment, hard cutting the credits. And you have to stay tuned for the next 20 minutes to find out in this case who's behind that umbrella. It turns out to be Meryl Streep playing herself. But you need to watch the rest of the episode. And that's what I mean by we usually. The cold open on How I Met yout Mother was like a load bearing support of the architecture. Because we really start the story there. We plant a mystery or we kick something off in some way. We didn't do as many freestanders as you guys did, which again, are really hard to do.

[Josh Radnor]

One other thing I want to say about that cold open again, when Craig and I have been doing How We Made youe Mother, part of it is like the mystery of why people love the show so much and why do people still want to talk about them and play them for their kids and all this stuff. And one of the things that I think people find so much solace in is that it's a meaningful universe. How I Met yout Mother says the universe, both in this show and presumably the one that you're existing in also is meaningful. And every little encounter has meaning. And it's kind of an antidote to cynicism. It's an antidote to nihilism, you know, or chaos. That There's a plan, and there's benevolence and there's a guiding hand. And I think that even if people don't articulate it that way, that's part of the warmth they feel when they watch the show and why they keep coming back to it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I so agree. It's like comfort. You know, when I watch your show, it makes me feel like everything's okay in some way. And I want you guys to know, just yesterday, I met a woman who told me she loves your podcast. She's an office Ladies listener. She's so excited it's on our network. And then she told me that her and her husband recreated the moment with the umbrella with the trench coat where you only see the legs, you know, and she pulled out her phone and showed it to me. And then I was like, I'm actually seeing them tomorrow, and we're watching this cold open. So I just think that your show is really meaningful to people, and that's a special thing. We need those touchstones. I think we're two for two. We're hitting them out of the park, and so. Okay, who's up next? Jenna, it's you.

[Jenna Fischer]

Sure. Well, I felt a little shy about picking this one because I am the star of it, but I only ever got to star in one cold open, and it is one of my favorites. It was in season nine, and it also features the whole ensemble because those were also my favorite cold opens. You know, a lot of our cold opens were a great opportunity for Jim to play a prank on Dwight. Those are some of our most famous ones. You know, bears beats Battlestar Galactica when he puts his desk in the bathroom. Or it features Michael doing something crazy like parkour or needing to put his face in cement. So this one was really fun for me. It's Pam's chore wheel, and it's near and dear to my heart. If there was one prop that I wish I had from the show, it would have been any of these chore wheels. I wish I had that hanging in my office. But basically, what happens in this is the office is really dirty. It's messy. I mean, you even see, like, a little rat crawl across the floor. And Pam's the office administrator, and she has to try to come up with some sort of cleaning schedule where people divide up all of the chores. So she tries making a chore wheel. We have a little clip from the top of this one. We can take a listen. The building's custodian is on vacation for the month, and Dwight is Too cheap to hire a replacement. So instead, we're living in filth. But not for long, because I have created the chore wheel.

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

Can I spin first?

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, it doesn't spin. We'll just move the wheel one notch each morning, and you see what chore you get that day.

[Craig Thomas]

A wheel is supposed to spin?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, you know, like, G, G, G, G, G, G, G, G, G, G, G, G, G. No, I'm familiar with spinning. It's just that wouldn't work with a chore wheel because people might get the same chore.

[Josh Radnor]

Bah.

[Craig Thomas]

Boring. All she talks about is chores. A wheel wants to spin, Pa. Okay, okay. That's what I'm talking about. Big money. Big money.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

So she makes a spinning wheel, and then they get mad because the only thing that you can win is a chore. So then she has to make another wheel where you win. Fun stuff. But there's one thing on the wheel that's called tiny wheel, and if you hit tiny wheel, you have to spin a ton. Chore wheel. That's really cute, and that has actual chores on it. But Pam says no one cares because the tiny wheel is so cute,

[Angela Kinsey]

and

[Jenna Fischer]

it was just funny and, you know, silly, and. I don't know. I would love a chore wheel in real life.

[Craig Thomas]

I was gonna say, Jenna, I don't know you that well yet, but this seems to me like entirely door to door, something you would do. Am I right about that?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Bingo. That's. I think it's another reason why she loves it is because in real life, Jenna, you do make a chore choreless.

[Jenna Fischer]

I'm a Pisces. I'm a very organized Pisces.

[Craig Thomas]

The tiny wheel feels very you. I feel like you would definitely do the tiny wheel part. We're gonna make this fun. We got a tiny wheel. Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's super tiny. And I think it just also. It's like having kids and trying to get them excited about chores. Like, there's all these adults in the room, but they're just acting like children, and she's having to, like, manipulate them into keeping their own space clean. It's like, don't you want it to be clean, guys?

[Josh Radnor]

It's also fun to play as an actor when it's, like, you against everyone else. How everyone unites as, like, a single hive mind, where they're like, no, it should spin like a circle should spin. A wheel should spin.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Even Jim doesn't have.

[Josh Radnor]

Even John.

[Craig Thomas]

Even Jim turns on you.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's a little, like, I Always, like, Simpsons crowd scenes are so funny when everyone, like, picks up, like, pitchforks and lanterns and just, like, storms city

[Jenna Fischer]

hall or whatever so quickly over the. Over anything.

[Josh Radnor]

And kind of shows, like, our ability to fall into, like, mass psychosis as a society.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know, I loved, as part of the ensemble, whenever we would all collectively, like, react to one character, I loved it so much. I mean, Pam rarely had to hold everyone's attention in the conference room. That was normally Michael. Right. All the time. But it was so fun to just be, like, be in the crowd and be like, we don't get it. I don't get it. Do you get it? I don't get it. It was super fun.

[Jenna Fischer]

I remember it was very intimidating to stand in front of you all too. I was standing there and I was like, oh, my gosh, Steve did this for seven years. How did he do this?

[Josh Radnor]

But don't you feel like that's how Pam would feel? Like that feels very usable. Like, the actor thing and character thing are probably close.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. Like, she has, like, this really great idea that she feels really confident about, but also, as soon as anybody pushes back against her, she's like, oh, no, Craig, I think it's your turn. You're the person who hasn't shared yet.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm very nervous now. The funny thing is, this is by far the simplest one of any of the ones that we talked about today. I chose it mainly because I'm looking at it through the lens of doing our podcast, of doing a rewatch podcast, where you go back and you investigate what the hell you did, if you can remember it. And the way I felt about this cold open at the time was I really liked it, and I'll tell you why. And then we got up to this episode just a couple months ago, and we had the writer of this episode, Greg Maylands, who worked on Friends and How I Met yout Mother. And he came on and he dropped a couple of bombs on me that made me completely change how I see this cold open now. So I chose mine to be podcast relevant. I'll set it up really quick because I think we're gonna play a clip, and then we're gonna surprise you with a couple of subsequent clips of the podcast. Okay, so it's early season two. Marshall has had his heart broken. Lily and Marshall broke up at the end of season one. Marshall has died tepidly trying to tiptoe into being single. He's flirting with a woman at the coffee shop. They're actually hanging out at a coffee shop because he likes this woman who works there. And there's a debate about coffee shops versus bars, so I guess that decides it.

[Josh Radnor]

Yep.

[Craig Thomas]

Hanging out at a coffee place. Not nearly as much fun as hanging out at a bar. Okay, so it goes on from there. You see a flashback of Marshall flirting all week with this woman who works at the coffee shop, telling really stupid dad jokes, basically. But she's into it. And you kind of catch up to reality to ask her out. And they discover along the way that she drew a heart on his cup, but didn't do anything on Ted's cup. Well, what if the heart doesn't mean anything? What if she writes it on all the cups?

[Josh Radnor]

Mine says Ted, no heart. Mine says Swarly.

[Craig Thomas]

I think it's Swirly from Barney. It's not even a name. Who would ever be called Swarley? Oh, please don't start calling me Swirly. This would never happen at a bar,

[Josh Radnor]

man. What's up with Swarley?

[Craig Thomas]

I know. You almost never see old Swarls get that upset. Shh. Here's why I love that. When we did this in 2006, I guess that Aaron. When we launched How I Met yout Mother, we really wanted to separate ourselves from Friends. We wanted to be able to say we are not one of the 75 other shows that has tried to recapture what Friends did. But of course, we look like Friends. If you put it on a poster, it's like young people dating in New York. It looks similar. We wanted to differentiate ourselves. I thought this was a very clever way to do that, because it seemed that opening joke about the coffee shop versus the bar. Our home base set is a bar. It seemed obvious. And it was written by a Friends writer, Greg Maylands, the only writer who wrote for Friends and How I Met yout Mother. And I thought that was such a great way to differentiate the two shows. Well, Greg came on our show recently on the podcast cut to 19 years later, and he revealed to me two big things that really undercut my feeling that had differentiated us from Friends. One was his assertion, and he swears to God about this, that he did not mean it as a Friends versus How I Met yout Mother joke. And literally every single person working on How I Met yout Mother and the millions of people who've seen that episode, every single person thinks it's a Friends differentiated from How I Met yout Mother joke. Except the guy who wrote it. He's like, no, I just thought it was, like, a funny line.

[Jenna Fischer]

Can I raise my hand on that one? When I watched it, I was like, oh, that's such a fun tongue in cheek wink to we're not friends in a coffee shop.

[Josh Radnor]

Right?

[Craig Thomas]

Right. There was a way to answer filming it.

[Josh Radnor]

We all thought this is a fun joke. Dig it. Friends. Like, 100%. Everyone thought it.

[Craig Thomas]

There's one guy on planet Earth who thinks it's not a Friends reference, and it's Greg Maylands.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is so crazy. Cause also there's the cute. Wait, barista. Kind of like Rachel. Like, wow, that's crazy, Greg. Oh, my Lord.

[Craig Thomas]

And the second thing that came out of that was even more disturbing. Greg made another confession about that last joke right before you cut to titles. That again, I was so proud that we were differentiating our show from the long shadow cast by friends. Well, 19 years later, a couple months ago, Greg Maylands said this to me. Here's the truth, and I've never told anybody this. This is a revelation. And it's not something that. That, A, I'm proud of and B, makes me feel good and C, makes me look good. Because none of the above are true. The end of the cold open of this episode. I wrote that joke already on Friends.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my gosh.

[Craig Thomas]

And while we're at it, can we play the clip of the joke on Friends, which again, I never knew until 2026. Okay, for now, temporarily, you can call me

[Josh Radnor]

Clint. No way are you cool enough to pull off Clint.

[Craig Thomas]

Okay, so what name am I cool

[Jenna Fischer]

enough to pull off? Um, Gene.

[Craig Thomas]

It's Clint. It's Clint. See you later, Gene. It's Clint Clinton.

[Josh Radnor]

What's up with Gene?

[Craig Thomas]

So you can see how this slightly undercuts my feeling that this was differentiating us from Friends.

[Josh Radnor]

You're allowed to steal from yourself.

[Angela Kinsey]

I did a series with Greg after the Office called you'd Family or Mine on tbs. And now I want to rewatch it to see if there's any Friends like sliding in your family or mine.

[Josh Radnor]

She just keeps using them.

[Craig Thomas]

Maybe he puts some How I Met yout Mother jokes on that. He always takes the show previous and puts it on. But he was. I thought he was so noble and like, there was something very brave about confessing to that 19 years later. That episode is a beloved, wonderful episode. Tamian fans go to coffee shops in 2026 and say the name Swirly. And they send us pictures of them doing the. Having had Swirly read like, that's an iconic episode written by Greg. He's a great writer. He did a great job in that episode. He slugged that one joke in figuring that we would beat it, and we never did. It got a huge laugh at the table read. And you thought, oh, shit, this friends joke's gonna wind up staying.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's gonna stay.

[Craig Thomas]

And the whole time I'm blabbering about, I love that it differentiates us from friends, and 20 years later, it did not differentiate us from friends in any way.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's great. Awesome. And look at all the things you're discovering through the podcast, through the rewatch. You know? How fun is that?

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Love it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. Are you guys loving it? Are you loving the experience, Josh, of having to watch it? And is your wife still watching with you?

[Josh Radnor]

She is, yes. Although I think I might have mentioned this to you.

[Angela Kinsey]

She.

[Josh Radnor]

She's dying because she. She wants to just keep going. Like, she just wants to binge, and we have to dole it out, and I have to watch them in order, and she can't run out ahead of me, so she's having to wait on you. So she doesn't like that. But other than that, she's having a great time, and it's so nice to watch it with her and to let her see this huge part of my life before I met her having a different perspective on it all these years later, which is what the show is kind of framed as, as a man looking back on his life when he was younger. And so it's just been a blast. And, you know, like we talked about before, but hearing from fans and also learning about myself now versus then and where I was then and kind of forgiving myself for how hard I was on myself then, and it's just. I don't know, the whole thing has been, like, quite a blessing, so we're really thrilled.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my goodness. Josh, Craig, thank you so much for coming on to talk about Cold opens with us. Y' all are such a delight. We enjoy you so much. You gotta come back, please.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, we'd love to have you back on our show. We love hanging with you.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah. Thank you guys so much. Thanks for taking us under your wing and showing us how to do a podcast. We're thrilled to be paired with you guys. Thanks for having us.

[Jenna Fischer]

Next time, tags.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, man, bring on the tag.

[Jenna Fischer]

Next time we discuss tags to find

[Craig Thomas]

what tags are, we'll have a whole philosophical discussion.

[Jenna Fischer]

Good times. Love you guys.

[Craig Thomas]

Thanks for having us. You guys.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you so much.

[Craig Thomas]

Bye.

[Angela Kinsey]

Bye,

[Josh Radnor]

Greg. You know what I like best about our jobs?

[Craig Thomas]

Working with me?

[Josh Radnor]

No, no, that's like seventh or eighth. I'd say one or two is that we've talked about this on the podcast. We don't have to wear a suit and tie to work. Oh, never, never, never. Working in tv, working in theater, working in podcasting. I mean, you barely wear pants.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm not even sure I'm even wearing pants now. And I'm writing books and stuff. I'm, I don't have to. I see nobody.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, you've given up. You've fully given up. But no, it's true. We don't, we, we can wear the comfiest clothes that we can, we can grab. And I know that some of our favorites are viori.

[Craig Thomas]

Here's the thing, because you, you also want to look good. You want to be comfortable, but you want to look good because you can't actually give up. That's the thing.

[Josh Radnor]

Don't give up comfortable, but look good. That's the sweet spot.

[Craig Thomas]

That's the dream.

[Josh Radnor]

VUORI is an inventory investment in your happiness for our listeners. They are offering 20% off your first purchase. Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the [e-mail] mother that's v u o r-I.com mother exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20 off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on US orders over $75 and free returns. Go to biore.commother and discover the versatility of Viori. Clothing exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I love those guys.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, they're smart, they're funny, they're insightful. I mean, come on.

[Jenna Fischer]

And kind and warm.

[Angela Kinsey]

And kind. I know. Lovely, lovely. Love them. Go check out their podcast How We Made youe Mother. And now, folks, it's time for around the Town. Our first around the Town is from Jesse P. In Chesterland, Ohio. Jesse says, my family is in our third year of making our own maple syrup from the red maple trees on our property. My husband spends every Saturday in March boiling down SAP in his homemade evaporator. We make enough for our family for the whole year and a little extra for friends. Our kids no longer like store bought maple syrup and won't even touch quote, pancake syrup anymore. Laffy face, that is so cool.

[Jenna Fischer]

This tells you how much I know about maple syrup. I didn't realize that Ohio had red maple trees. I mean, of course, right? I mean, we have maple trees in Missouri. I guess I didn't think you could get syrup from them.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, I don't even know how you get the syrup.

[Jenna Fischer]

Do you this is a crazy question. Do you put, like, a spigot in the tree?

[Angela Kinsey]

In the tree? I mean, I don't know.

[Jenna Fischer]

I think you spick at the tree. Is that crazy? Did I see that in a movie? Was that a cartoon? Was that like a Bugs Bunny cartoon I saw in my youth?

[Angela Kinsey]

No, because I feel like I saw a spigot in a tree, too, but I don't know why. Maybe. Was it in a movie or something?

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, yes. Well, according to the Internet, a spigot or a spile is used to tap maple trees for SAP, usually from February to March.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, there you go. For whatever reason, I just thought all the syrup was coming from Canada. I never allowed syrup to come from anywhere else. I'm sorry. Ohio. This is wonderful.

[Angela Kinsey]

I wish we were neighbors with you, Jesse, so we could trade. I would, like give you some lemons for some of your syrup.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, our next around the town is from Heidi J. Who said, my friend's pet, Dotson, Walter Pickles, won first place this last weekend at The Canterbury Park 2026 Winter Dog Race for Wiener Dogs. His description on the lineup sheet said, Walter Pickles is a very social friendly mini Datsun. He loves chasing bunnies and squirrels and taking long sniff walks. His favorite human food treat is popcorn.

[Craig Thomas]

Aw.

[Jenna Fischer]

Congratulations, Walter Pickles.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is adorable. I want to see the winter dog race for wiener dogs. That's got to be the cutest thing. All right, next up and. Oh, my goodness, did this one make my heart happy. It's from Kate W. In Chattanooga who wrote in and said she was so inspired by the office lady's breakdown of the paper and our shout out to my grandmother, Lena May in her newspaper column that she started a local newspaper of her own called the Chatty Noogans. Get it. To highlight the everyday lives of the people in their town. The first issue just went live at the beginning of March and featured work from local artists, a growing tie collection, an escape room crawl, and a goth themed train ride. You can check out the first issue. It's on their Instagram. Thechadyneougans. And she also went on to say a big thank you to us for being part of the inspiration behind this passion project.

[Jenna Fischer]

This fills my heart with so much joy. I love this. I love this for your grandma. I love this for the Chatty Nugans. It makes me happy.

[Angela Kinsey]

It made me so happy. I just thought of my grandmother, you know, if she would have never even imagined that something like this is possible, that her little around the Town column would just be touching other people's lives like this. Oh, my goodness. Kate, thank you for sharing that.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's legacy, right? This has now become part of your grandmother's legacy. It continues to grow. She continues to reach people. That's really cool.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's so cool. All right. And we always now end these episodes with our Office question of the week. This one comes from Kathryn R. From Mississippi. Kathryn says, which episode of the Office was your favorite to film? And why is it your favorite? Oh, Katherine, this is so difficult.

[Jenna Fischer]

I loved this question because I feel like we're always asking our guests this question, but I wondered, have we answered this question? I've been asked this question before in interviews, and I have a few answers, because there's sort of the episode that was my favorite to film because of maybe stuff that happened on set behind the scenes that are just special to me. But then there were episodes that were just so incredibly funny or creative or interesting that those were really fun to shoot, too. But, Angela, do you have an answer?

[Angela Kinsey]

This is really. I mean, Katherine, I feel like this changes for me every couple of months because, you know, Jen and I rewatch the whole show, and then every once in a while, I'll catch an episode with the kids or something, or it will pop up, you know, like you're traveling, you're in a hotel room. You're like, oh, the Office is on Comedy Central. I'll watch one. And this might surprise you, Jenna, but I was feeling very nostalgic recently for beach games.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, that doesn't surprise me. I mean, that was a hard shoot. Is that why you think it would surprise me? Because it was a little grueling?

[Angela Kinsey]

It was grueling. We were outside in the heat. It was, like, dusty and sandy and, like, we got sunburnt. It was long days, but then at

[Jenna Fischer]

night, it was freezing. But we had to be in our same clothes that we had. That was the thing about beach games. You established this warm weather clothing for the day, and then at night, you were stuck with that same outfit. And you were freezing.

[Angela Kinsey]

And you were freezing. Yeah. So it was physically a difficult shoot. But, you know, I was going through some old pictures, and it was so. Just special in so many ways. Okay, one, I loved my storyline with letting Andy just float away. And I love that line where I say, did you say sandwich? And Dwight says, sabotage. I remember Jen Salata laughing her butt off and almost ruining a take because she cracked up every single time I said, did you say sandwich? But then I also just remember us hanging out in between scenes by our trailers. We had, like, a little camp they set up, and someone brought a football, and we were throwing the football, and Harold Ramis came over in the morning, and we would all have coffee together and sit outside one of the trailers having our coffee, talking in the morning. It's just. It's amazing to me that I got to be a part of all of that. And I would say not to be totally sappy, but I am a bit of a SAP. One of the things that was really special to me about it was watching you as my best friend have this absolutely amazing monologue that had so much. It was so long. I remember when we got the script, it was like, half a page, and you nailed it in front of all of us, and it had all this emotion, and I was so proud of you. Anyway, I don't know, I've just been very nostalgic for that episode. What a wonderful memory. I really hold it close to my heart.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's so funny that you picked that one, Angela, and for the reasons that you picked it, because there were two episodes that popped into my mind, and they're one right after the other in season two. And the first one is Boo's Cruise.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

And again, you'd be like, why are you picking the episode where we were up till the crack of dawn and we were all nauseous and you got lost at sea? But, you know, it's that thing where those memories are now part of the lore and the joy of the show. They're part of the adventure of it. And we all really bonded. And that was the episode, Angela, where you guys found out you were gonna be series regulars.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

And so there was that extra added celebration and joy to that episode. But then it was also just really funny. It was fun being stuck together. It was like a summer camp at sea, you know, and we all got to stay in a hotel, even though we never saw each other except on the boat because we were all so tired. And then, you know, the next episode after that was the injury. And I remember this was when we were finally not worried we were going to be canceled every single week. And I think we could exhale a little bit. You guys were series regulars. And then Mindy wrote this script that was just so bonkers and weird and so funny. And I laughed so hard shooting that episode with Steve and the butter and all of his antics with the bubble wrap.

[Angela Kinsey]

The bubble wrap, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

So that section right there, those are some of my fondest memories.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. I mean, obviously, I have Favorite ones. Because I loved us all in the conference room. And we would get so punchy. So I look back on episodes where at the time I was like, I cannot believe we're spending five days in this one room together. This one tiny conference room. But those are the ones, though, that feel so special because we were all sort of in it together, you know?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes, yes. I feel like if someone said, okay, I'm gonna send you back in time and you get to reshoot one episode, you get to re experience shooting one, I think I would choose the injury because it's in the bullpen. You know, I would want to go back in time and be in the bullpen.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

And I just remember laughing so hard and it was so absurd. And we were all, like, still very young and fresh, and we were experimenting and we were finding ourselves. And that's just such an exciting time creatively.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's such a great question. If I could go back and relive one. I mean, that's really hard to pick. Cause I loved Dinner Party, but I would wanna redo one with everybody.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. In the office. Right in the office.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I was thinking, gosh, selfishly, I would also love Women's Appreciation. Those scenes of us in that van, in Meredith's van with all the trash and junk in it. And, you know, we got to spend a whole day with Steve. We got to have Steve to ourselves. And that was so fun. And of course, you know, we had scenes in the office too, so we would get to be with everyone. But I would do that day again for sure.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Aw.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, thanks, Katherine. Thanks for letting us answer that question that we've asked so many people ourselves. It's fun to think about.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And thank you guys so much for writing in. We're really just loving doing these segments with you all. So go to officeladies.com you can click on Submit a question. We have lots of fun folders where you can write in.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. We've gotten really organized, everybody. We did it. We're very grateful to Iliana, who helps us with our website. We have a special folder for second drinks where we want you to go in there and tell us your favorite moments from Episodes. And then we also have a folder for around the Town for chit chat questions. And now officially, a folder for the Office question of the week.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. So go check it out. And we hope you guys have the best week. We appreciate you all so much.

[Jenna Fischer]

And a big thank you to Craig Thomas and Josh Radner for joining us today. We'll See you next week, everyone.

[Angela Kinsey]

See you then.

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

[Angela Kinsey]

Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.

[Jenna Fischer]

Our senior producer is Matt Beagle and our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

[Angela Kinsey]

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese. Dennis.

[Jenna Fischer]

Office Ladies was mixed and matched by Bill Schultz.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

[Josh Radnor]

Craig, I've been struggling and I gotta talk to you about it.

[Craig Thomas]

Please. I'm here.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah, I've just been, I've been carrying around these bulky drinks.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Josh Radnor]

And I've been cleaning melted candy out of my pockets for far too long. But I have a solution.

[Craig Thomas]

What's the solution? I need to know.

[Josh Radnor]

I, I, I've, I've discovered Fruity Rainbow five Hour Energy Shots.

[Craig Thomas]

Oh, my God. By the way, I did notice the melted candy in your pockets. I didn't say anything, but I'm glad you finally kind of owned it. Yeah. Well, check this out.

[Jenna Fischer]

You.

[Craig Thomas]

You chose correctly because these little bottles are wild, fruity rainbows. Five Hour Energy Shots treat your taste buds to an explosion of fruity flavor with that signature tasty caffeine kick. If you're a fan of sweet fruity candy, who isn't? But without the sugar crash. Because, yep, these puppies have zero sugar. You gotta try this.

[Josh Radnor]

Five Hour Energy is giving caffeine a serious flavor upgrade. Five Hour Energy shots now come in 17 flavors, so there's something for every mood. But this fruity reindeer one, it's definitely having a moment.

[Craig Thomas]

It is. Plus, it's big flavor in a tiny bottle. Just 2 ounces. Super portable, easy to toss in your bag or pocket. No sticky wrappers, no bulky drinks. Just grab and go.

[Josh Radnor]

Get candy. Flavored Chaos with fruity rainbow 5 hour energy shots. Available online at Fiveourenergy.com or Amazon.

[Jenna Fischer]

Your next chapter in healthcare starts at Carrington College's School of Nursing in Portland. Join us for our open house on Tuesday, January 13th from 4 to 7pm you'll tour our campus, see live demos, meet instructors and learn about our associate Degree in nursing program that prepares you to become a registered nurse. Take the first step toward your nursing career. Save your spot now at Carrington Edu Events. For information on program outcomes, visit Carrington. Edu Sci.