Second Drink: Casino Night with John Krasinski

Summary

Office Ladies Podcast Summary
Episode: Second Drink: Casino Night with John Krasinski
Release Date: May 12, 2025

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Introduction

In the Second Drink episode of the Office Ladies podcast, hosts Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey dive deep into the iconic "Casino Night" episode of The Office. This episode is particularly special as it features an exclusive interview with John Krasinski, offering fans unprecedented behind-the-scenes insights and anecdotes from the set. Jenna and Angela meticulously dissect key moments, address fan questions, and reminisce about their experiences filming one of the show's most beloved episodes.

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Episode Overview

"Casino Night," the season two finale, serves as a pivotal moment in The Office storyline, focusing on the blossoming romance between Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer). The episode blends humor, heartfelt moments, and dramatic tension, culminating in a memorable kiss that left fans eagerly anticipating the future of Jim and Pam's relationship.

Notable Quotes:

• "This is such a great episode." – John Krasinski [02:20]
• "We really flushed this one out." – Jenna Fischer [02:36]

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Key Scenes Analysis

The Jim-Pam Kiss

One of the most discussed scenes in "Casino Night" is the public kiss between Jim and Pam. Jenna and Angela explore the emotions and logistics behind this pivotal moment.

Notable Quotes:

• "She is super proud. They didn't know Dwight was going to pick the coat rack. Pam didn't know that Jim was going to set that up." – Jenna Fischer [25:43]
• "I wrote that I was really nervous to slap Rain at first. My slap was kind of timid... it took us about 13 takes to get it right." – John Krasinski [48:25]

Dwight and Angela's Flirtation

The flirtatious interactions between Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) add another layer of complexity to the episode. The hosts delve into how these moments were crafted and their impact on the show's dynamic.

Notable Quotes:

• "Angela was just so happy about that, she had to slap him for being inappropriate at work." – Angela Kinsey [47:09]
• "That's just so good. It was cool blooded." – Darryl Philbin [89:14]

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Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Writing and Production

Director Ken Kwapis shares the journey of writing "Casino Night," highlighting the collaborative efforts with Steve Carell and how fan petitions influenced the episode's length.

Notable Quotes:

• "Steve had cold feet and tried to back out, but Greg managed to convince him to write it." – Ken Kwapis [13:16]
• "Fans wanted a supersized episode, and despite the challenges before social media, their persistence paid off." – Ken Kwapis [15:08]

Set Transformation

Turning the Dunder Mifflin warehouse into a vibrant casino setting was no small feat. The team hired specialized companies to create an authentic casino atmosphere, complete with professional dealers and equipment.

Notable Quotes:

• "I hired a company that specializes in creating casinos for special events like Christmas parties or college fundraisers." – Ken Kwapis [16:19]
• "The budget was crazy, and it was definitely a loss for us, but the end result was worth it." – Ken Kwapis [17:40]

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Fan Questions and Responses

Jenna and Angela address numerous fan-submitted questions, shedding light on nuanced aspects of the episode:

1. Angela's Smile in Deleted Scenes ([03:30]):

   • "It was a Florida flirty smile, not breaking smile. Anytime Angela smiles, we have to wonder." – Angela Kinsey [03:52]

2. Character Wardrobe Choices ([40:29]):

   • "Pam reuses an old bridesmaid's dress to stay true to her character's practical nature." – Ken Kwapis [41:19]
   • "I have this watch that Pam always wears, hidden under her sleeve. It's a subtle character detail." – Ken Kwapis [41:19]

3. Improvised Lines and Moments ([47:15], [50:15]):

   • "The line 'Don’t' at the end of the slap scene was improvised, capturing Angela’s complex emotions." – John Krasinski [50:15]
   • "The insightful camera catch of Angela smiling was not scripted but emerged naturally during filming." – Angela Kinsey [50:56]

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Guest Interview: John Krasinski

John Krasinski joins the podcast to provide firsthand accounts of filming "Casino Night." He shares his nervousness during the significant kiss scene, the challenges of balancing humor with emotion, and the camaraderie among the cast.

Notable Quotes:

• "I felt the lines were so vulnerable. Uttering 'I'm in love with you' was intense." – John Krasinski [73:39]
• "It took about three takes to nail the kiss scene, but each was rewarding." – John Krasinski [99:10]
• "Seeing Jenna portray Pam's emotions so genuinely was incredible. It made the scene real." – John Krasinski [101:03]

Memories of Auditioning and Casting

John recounts his audition process, initially being considered for Dwight before landing the role of Jim, and how his partnership with Jenna Fischer was pivotal for the show's success.

Notable Quotes:

• "When Greg told me to audition with Jenna, I knew we had something special." – John Krasinski [69:00]
• "Passing up the chance to audition for Jim was a mistake, but fate had other plans." – Darryl Philbin [71:15]

Filming the Kiss Scene

The kiss between Jim and Pam was a breakthrough moment, meticulously planned to capture authentic emotions without the actors knowing each other's lines.

Notable Quotes:

• "We only did three takes of the kiss scene, and Greg chose the last take as his favorite." – Ken Kwapis [99:27]
• "Pam's silent reaction was meant to leave her emotions open to interpretation, adding depth to the moment." – Ken Kwapis [100:03]

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Additional Insights and Reflections

The hosts and guest reflect on the lasting impact of "Casino Night" on both the characters and the audience. They discuss the episode's role in shaping future storylines, the evolution of Jim and Pam's relationship, and the production's commitment to authenticity.

Notable Quotes:

• "This episode set the foundation for Jim and Pam's relationship, making every future interaction meaningful." – Jenna Fischer [90:10]
• "Filming 'Casino Night' was emotionally taxing but incredibly rewarding, knowing its significance to fans." – Darryl Philbin [91:08]

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Conclusion

The Second Drink: Casino Night with John Krasinski episode of Office Ladies offers an exhaustive exploration of one of The Office's most cherished episodes. Through candid conversations, expert behind-the-scenes knowledge, and heartfelt reflections, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, alongside John Krasinski, deliver a comprehensive and engaging summary that both honors the original material and enriches fans' appreciation of its creation.

Key Takeaways:

• "Casino Night" is a cornerstone episode that deepened character relationships and set the stage for future developments.
• The collaborative effort in writing and production, influenced by passionate fan support, resulted in a memorable and impactful episode.
• The genuine chemistry among the cast members, particularly between Jim and Pam, is evident in the authentic performances and emotional scenes.

Notable Closing Quote:

• "We're the Office ladies." – Angela Kinsey [09:15]

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This summary encapsulates the essence of the Office Ladies podcast episode, providing an insightful and detailed recount for both dedicated fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

Listen, you had me at cooling.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay? Like, I don't even care what color it is. Although I did get a beautiful rust colored duvet cover.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

That's 20% off when you use Code Officeladies at Buffy Co. Buffy Code Officeladies.

[Angela Kinsey]

If someone was lurking around where you live and acting suspicious, would you want live, professional monitoring agents to monitor your property and detect suspicious activity and even contact the police? All before the Lurky people were able to get inside your house? Would you want that?

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, if there's a Lurky Lurky right outside my window. Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, you might want to get Simplisafe.

[Jenna Fischer]

Too late.

[John Krasinski]

I already have it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fischer]

So here's the great thing about Simplisafe. There are no long term contracts or cancellation fees. You can get a monitoring plan that's super affordable at around a dollar a day. They give you a 60 day satisfaction guarantee or your money back there. Their customer service is fantastic. You can design your security system around your home. Visit simplisafe.com officeladies to claim 50% off a new system with a professional monitoring plan and get your first month free.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's simplisafe.com officeladies. There's no safe like Simplisafe. Hello and welcome to your second drink of Casino Night.

[John Krasinski]

This is such a great episode.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, John Krasinski was with us.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

This was the first time John was on Office Ladies and it was so fun. We got to reminisce about shooting those scenes in the parking lot. And of course, the behind the scenes of the Jim Pam kiss.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, it wasn't the first Jim and Pam kiss.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, it was not. I conceded that it was not their first kiss, you know. We also revisited Casino Night with director Ken Kwapas, who shared even more fun insights into this episode. And, I mean, between these two podcasts, I really couldn't find anything we hadn't covered already.

[Jenna Fischer]

We really flushed this one out.

[Angela Kinsey]

I did find a few questions in our general mailbag that I thought we could address. Okay, so the first one is for you, Ange, and it is from Rachel M. In Genoa, Illinois, who said, I'm watching all the Superfan episodes. So it shows the deleted scenes, which I love. But during the deleted scene for casino night, at 1 minute and 41 seconds, you. You see Angela smile about, quote, irritating Cylons for the Mad Libs. Angela, were you breaking character in that moment?

[John Krasinski]

Well, Rachel, you know what?

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you for writing in. I was really curious.

[John Krasinski]

I didn't remember that exact moment, so.

[Jenna Fischer]

I went back and rewatched it, and I'm actually not breaking.

[John Krasinski]

I actually made the choice that Angela's.

[Jenna Fischer]

Being a little flirty and is delighted to be sitting next to Dwight, and she's very charmed by him.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, so this was Florida flirty smile, not breaking smile.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's right.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, listen, anytime Angela smiles, we have to wonder.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[John Krasinski]

And I never was given permission, really, to, like, laugh or smile. So when I did, I got very excited.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, next question is from Amelia G. In Australia. Amelia says, I have a question for you both. It's more of a what do you think happened?

[Ken Kwapas]

Question.

[Jenna Fischer]

So after Pam and Jim's kiss on what we assume was a Friday night, how long do you think it was before he moved to Stamford? Jenna, did you have in your Pam file what that Monday morning was like for both of them, as we never see or hear about it?

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, Amelia, I did think a lot about this after this episode because I knew that this was our season finale and that there was gonna be a time jump for the next season and Jim was gonna be somewhere else. And I wondered, when did he make that move? And I always imagine that he took Jan up on her offer.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, he has that talking head. He's like, I might as well take her up on it. I mean, I have no future here.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, I imagine that he did that, like, Saturday.

[Ken Kwapas]

Like, he was like, I'm gonna take you up on it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know if he ever came back to the office. I'm sure he did get his things. So I'm sure there was, like, an awkward few days, but I think he was out of there pretty quickly. That's my feeling.

[Jenna Fischer]

That tracks for me, too.

[Angela Kinsey]

I think the other question that I really wondered about was, like, when in that timeline did Pam call off the Wedding?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Was it after Jim left and how long after? And.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

But that was a pretty big summer.

[Jenna Fischer]

For both of them.

[Angela Kinsey]

It sure was. Well, our last question is from Fiona L. In Melbourne, who said, hi, office ladies. In the commentary for Casino Night, Jenna talks about how when she and John were standing out near the car and Jim first tells Pam that he's in love with her, Jenna was very excited and distracted at what good acting John was doing, and she couldn't wait for him to see it. So I'm wondering, Jenna and Angela, can you tell us about any times on the show when, Jenna, you've been blown away by Angela's performance or Angela, that you've been blown away by Jenna's performance? What comes to mind?

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, well, there's so many for you, Jenna. I mean, you have so many great moments as Pam. I always think about that talking head when Jim pops in and asks you out to dinner. And everything that played across Pam's face in such a brief moment, like, what.

[John Krasinski]

You were able to do, the journey.

[Jenna Fischer]

You took us on of all these years and hoping for this moment, and right there on your face. And it's not even like you had a scene partner, really.

[John Krasinski]

You had to sort of just have.

[Jenna Fischer]

That moment come over you. So I always am blown away by that.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, for me, it's your moment with Oscar in season nine, when you take him up on his offer to stay with him after you've left the senator. I just love that scene, and I love your work in that scene. But I feel like Fiona is wondering if we've ever been in a scene. And while we're in the scene, were.

[John Krasinski]

We distracted by each other?

[Ken Kwapas]

By each other.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, I see. I see.

[Angela Kinsey]

And the one that popped into my mind was the duel, because I remember you having to sort of, like, hold all of us in the bullpen with your speech.

[John Krasinski]

Right.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I remember watching that and, like, being distracted by the fact that, like, you were being, like, the Steve Carell.

[Ken Kwapas]

Of that day, you know, and just being like, oh, my gosh, I can't wait for my friend to see herself in this moment.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, I love that. Honestly, like, when we were in the big bullpen and there were the scenes where Pam would take on Ryan, whatever stupid thing he was saying, and I was in the scene with you, so I'm not supposed to be looking at you with, like, awe.

[John Krasinski]

Like, you go, pam, you get him. Like.

[Jenna Fischer]

But I would have to check myself.

[John Krasinski]

Cause I'd be like, oh, that's so good. I'm like, Totally lost in the moment.

[Jenna Fischer]

But, yeah, I loved it when Pam, when you, as Pam, like, went up against someone, whether it was Michael or Ryan or Dwight. And it was always a big group scene, whether it was the conference room or bullpen, and you just held your own and did your thing and it was always so fun to watch.

[John Krasinski]

Aw.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, hey, thanks, Fiona, for letting us reminisce.

[Ken Kwapas]

That's all I got, folks.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, we really covered it. Please enjoy this second drink of Casino Night. And if you want to follow up with Casino Night revisited with director Ken Kwapas, we're not going to be playing it in our second drinks, but you can find it on officeladies.com episode number 36.

[Jenna Fischer]

And here is Casino Night.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm Jenna Fisher.

[John Krasinski]

And I'm Angela Kinsey.

[Angela Kinsey]

We were on the Office together and we're best friends.

[Creed Bratton]

And now we're doing the ultimate Office.

[Ken Kwapas]

Rewatch podcast just for you.

[John Krasinski]

Each week we will break down an episode of the Office and give exclusive.

[Jenna Fischer]

Behind the scenes stories that only two.

[John Krasinski]

People who were there can tell you.

[Angela Kinsey]

We're the Office ladies.

[Ken Kwapas]

Lady Luck, roll those dice. It's Casino Night, everyone.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, baby. Yes, it is. I'm so excited for this episode.

[Ken Kwapas]

I had not watched this since it aired until we prepped for this episode. And Angela. Oh, my gosh. It is so good.

[John Krasinski]

It is so good. Really quickly, before we get started, you guys. You know we're recording from home right now. Yep. And it's been pouring rain. So if you hear some rain, that is why.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah, I had to move into my daughter's closet because the rain outside of my closet, it kind of sounded like I was tinkling the whole time. I didn't want it to sound, like, inappropriate. I mean, I know there's rain, but then you know how sometimes the rain happens to come off of a gutter in a sort of waterfall esque way? Apparently, that's what happens outside of my closet.

[Meredith Palmer]

So.

[Creed Bratton]

So I'm in my.

[Ken Kwapas]

My daughter's closet.

[John Krasinski]

Well, I'm in my. That's what she shed. Because all three kids are inside and they're loud. They're so loud. And I'm just like, what? I can't tell them to, like, not make any noise ever.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Okay, so here we go. Casino Night. I'm so excited.

[Ken Kwapas]

Season 2 Episode 22 written by Steve Carell. Steve Carell. All right.

[John Krasinski]

Written by Steve Carell. Directed by Ken Kwapus. This is already off to a good start, Jenna.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, yeah. This is a good team.

[John Krasinski]

All right, hit me with A summary.

[Ken Kwapas]

Here we go. Michael decides to hold a casino night down in the warehouse to benefit charity. However, Michael is going to have to juggle two dates.

[John Krasinski]

Bum, bum, bum.

[Ken Kwapas]

Also, Jim is dealing with his possible transfer to the Stanford branch. And that's going to lead him to ponder his relationship with Pam.

[Creed Bratton]

It's a good one.

[Ken Kwapas]

Should we get into some Sam?

[Darryl Philbin]

Fast fact.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah, Fast facts. Fast fact number one, written by Steve Carell. So here's something that maybe a lot.

[Creed Bratton]

Of people don't know.

[Ken Kwapas]

Steve also co wrote 40 year old virgin. This is not the first thing that Steve has written, so he got to write this episode. You know, he also wrote another episode of the Office, Season 4, Episode 7, Survivorman. So we'll get to that one.

[Creed Bratton]

But I found an old article from.

[Ken Kwapas]

The LA Times where Steve did an interview all about how he came to be the writer of this season two finale.

[John Krasinski]

Lady, that is some good detective work. I love it.

[Ken Kwapas]

I was very proud of myself. All right, so here's how it went down. So Steve had the idea as a general episode that Michael should throw a casino night down in the warehouse. And he pitched that idea to Greg. And Greg said, oh, that would make a great setting for the finale episode. And then I guess, remember when Steve had to fly to New York to do the Valentine's Day episode?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

On the airplane, Steve and Greg were together. And on the way there and on the way back, they sat down, they sort of plotted out together what the finale would be with this Casino Night idea. And they're incredible.

[John Krasinski]

And they're outlining this episode. I love that.

[Ken Kwapas]

And Greg said to Steve, why don't you write it? You should write it. And Steve was like, okay, yeah, I mean, I think that's great. But then this is a really fun tidbit. Steve got cold feet.

[John Krasinski]

Oh.

[Ken Kwapas]

And he tried to get out of it. So I guess this was during the time when he was still doing Evan.

[Creed Bratton]

Almighty on the weekends.

[Ken Kwapas]

You know, he would shoot on our show sometimes like four days a week.

[Creed Bratton]

We would shoot him out in four.

[Ken Kwapas]

Days and then he would fly and on the weekends he would be doing Evan Almighty. And so he flew home and he had one weekend to write this finale script. And his parents were in town visiting.

[Creed Bratton]

Him at his house.

[Ken Kwapas]

And so he went into Greg's office and he said, there's. I just don't think I can do it justice. There's no way I can do it. I should get out of it. But Steve had this great quote where he said, I don't know, Greg Managed to talk him into doing it anyway. Like, Greg has a way where by the time he was leaving Greg's office, he was like, I'm writing this episode again.

[Creed Bratton]

How did that happen?

[Ken Kwapas]

I should not get out of it.

[John Krasinski]

So that makes me smile because it's very. Greg. Greg. You know, we've sort of all said that he was kind of like our dad.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Although he's not old enough to be our dad, obviously. But he had sort of that father mentor thing of like, you'll figure it out. You're gonna do it. It's gonna be okay. And then you're like, wait, wait.

[Ken Kwapas]

It's gonna be great. Wait, I can totally see that.

[John Krasinski]

I came in here to tell you.

[Creed Bratton]

I'm not doing it, and wait, now I'm writing it.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

But he did say he was really pumped. Like, that was. The other part of it was that Greg really infused him with this enthusiasm. So he was really excited. So what he did was he went home and he would write the script after his parents went to bed.

[John Krasinski]

Aww.

[Ken Kwapas]

So he would stay up at night and write the script, and he turned it in and he said, then the writing staff did a bunch of punch ups and like they usually do.

[John Krasinski]

Right.

[Creed Bratton]

And that's how we got the script.

[John Krasinski]

Wow. Way to go, Steve. Way to go.

[Ken Kwapas]

Isn't that crazy?

[John Krasinski]

Man, I love that story.

[Ken Kwapas]

All right, that was a good one. Moving on to fast fact number two. This is a super sized episode.

[John Krasinski]

Greg said that he was doing an interview for the Chicago Tribune, and he had mentioned in the interview kind of casually, that he wished that the finale for season two could be supersized. Well, this started a whole online petition by Office fans. They started writing in like crazy to NBC. Give me my remote Northern attack. And Office Tally started these online petitions, and it was the fans that got us the super sized episode.

[Ken Kwapas]

That's great. And you know what? This was before Twitter and Instagram. It was not easy to start an online petition back then. Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

No, you didn't have the same outreach. And they really just, like, kept at it. And NBC was like, okay. And Greg was thrilled. Thank you so much to the Office fans for making that happen. Because I could not imagine this episode being 22 minutes. There's so much we would have missed.

[Ken Kwapas]

I wish this episode was an hour I could have watched even more.

[John Krasinski]

I know. But I kind of feel like that about almost all the episodes, but this one in particular, I'm so happy it was longer. That's what she said.

[Ken Kwapas]

That's what she said. Well, speaking of longer. This podcast is probably also going to be supersized today because, well, we're going to have a special guest join us later.

[John Krasinski]

Jenna and I got to talk to someone about this episode, and this person was such a delight. Jenna. We talked for, like almost an hour.

[Creed Bratton]

We did.

[Ken Kwapas]

And we just want you guys to hear it all. So buckle in.

[John Krasinski]

It's going to be a super sized episode.

[Ken Kwapas]

It is.

[Creed Bratton]

It's going to be jam packed.

[John Krasinski]

Bum, bum, bum, wink, wink, fast.

[Ken Kwapas]

Fact number three, we got a lot of questions from fans about what it was like to transform the warehouse into a casino.

[John Krasinski]

I mean, seriously, can we talk about this for a second? Can we talk about Dunder Mifflin's budget for parties? I mean, as head of the party planning committee, I usually had some streamers and a cake that, I mean, and one plastic tablecloth.

[Ken Kwapas]

Like, it's true. But then Michael takes us on a booze cruise. He throws us this casino night. Where is he getting the money for this?

[John Krasinski]

At eight seconds, Jenna, you see them converting the warehouse, and there's all these extra employees. There's giant neon signs, there's dealers. I mean, where is this budget coming from?

[Ken Kwapas]

That I don't know. That I don't know. But I did reach out to Kentopedia to find out how we transformed the warehouse into a casino. And this is what he said. He said that he hired a company that specialized in creating casinos for special events like Christmas parties or college fundraisers. I've been to those things.

[Creed Bratton]

Have you?

[Ken Kwapas]

I've been to fundraisers that are casino nights.

[John Krasinski]

Yes.

[Ken Kwapas]

So there are these companies and they send dealers. They send all the equipment. And so he just said he hired one of those companies and then he used all the employees from the company as extras in the episode.

[John Krasinski]

What was this budget? I'm sorry, I can't stop talking about the budget. But it was. It was crazy.

[Ken Kwapas]

Do you think we raised more money than the party cost?

[John Krasinski]

No, no, it was definitely a loss. It was a loss for sure.

[Ken Kwapas]

Speaking of the whole casino setup, fan question from Exploring Lauren. She asked in between scenes, did you all play any poker games? Did you? Ange, did you play any of the games?

[John Krasinski]

No, I didn't. Did you?

[Creed Bratton]

Oh, yeah.

[John Krasinski]

You did.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, yeah. There were any time that I was sitting.

[John Krasinski]

I love poker.

[Ken Kwapas]

I love poker. And it was professional dealers. So my character was stationed at the poker tables too. So whenever I was in the background of any scenes, I was sitting at a poker table and we played poker. It was like the greatest time.

[Creed Bratton]

I had the best time Time.

[John Krasinski]

I mean, I have a memory of, like, sitting and watching you guys play cards because I really didn't know how to play poker. I only just learned I'm not great. I mean, I always think I can win with a pair of threes. I'm. That I'm basically Phyllis.

[Ken Kwapas]

You can.

[John Krasinski]

I know, but I'm basically, you know, Phyllis. Like, oh, look, the one with the flower one.

[Ken Kwapas]

Clovers.

[John Krasinski]

The clovers. But a lot of you guys were poker players. I mean, Rain had a poker tournament, didn't he, in his garage or something. You guys all went.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah, it was. The people who played the most together outside of work were me, Rain, David Denman, Chris Workman, and Ed Nielsen Jr. Those guys were on the crew. And I'm trying to think who else. But there was. There was a little group of us.

[Creed Bratton]

Like six or eight of us, and.

[Ken Kwapas]

We would go to Rain's garage and.

[Creed Bratton]

Play poker on the weekends.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah. So I love that you guys were doing that in between scenes. I'm sure I just was sitting there being chatty.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, listen, I think we should take a break and get into this episode because like we said, it is. It's a long one. So we'll be right back.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, I love a photo book. You know this about me. You love a photo book. We both do yearly photo books.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. I like to get the pictures off my phone, off my computer, and into a physical thing that we can put on a shelf and hold.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. Shutterfly books are built to last with premium papers and best in class printing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, the books are great. I love personally the lay flat option. Do you ever get that? I think it's like you add it on and you can get it so that when you open it up, it just lays flat.

[John Krasinski]

It doesn't lay flat.

[Jenna Fischer]

I like that you can get different size options because the one Josh and I make for our family is a pretty big book. But sometimes I make a little small one just for a special occasion.

[Angela Kinsey]

I did that for grandparents. We did a grandparents book. Yes. Well, listen, we have an exclusive offer for our listeners. New customers get a free 8x8 photo book with promo code [e-mail].

[John Krasinski]

Well, like Jenna just said, we have.

[Jenna Fischer]

An exclusive offer for our listeners. New customers get a free 8 by 8 photo book with promo code officeladiesutterfly.com.

[Angela Kinsey]

Enter code at checkout. See promotion details page for more info. Make something that means something with Shutterfly.

[Phyllis Vance]

I'm Emma Greed, and I've spent the last 20 years building, running, and investing in Some incredible businesses. The more success I've had, the more people started coming to me with questions. How do you start a business? How do you raise money? How do I bounce back from failure? On my new podcast, Aspire with Emma Greed, I'll be answering these questions and more through weekly conversations with the smartest minds out there. Listen to and follow Aspire with em. Agreed. An Odyssey podcast available now. Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Angela Kinsey]

If you live in California and you're looking to buy a home, let's face it, buying a home in California can.

[Ken Kwapas]

Feel like a lot.

[Angela Kinsey]

It is overwhelming. But with a Realtor, it doesn't have to be.

[Jenna Fischer]

Everything's easier with a trusted advisor by your side, Someone who knows California real estate inside and out. I'm talking about your realtor.

[Angela Kinsey]

We love our Realtor.

[Jenna Fischer]

We love our realtors.

[Angela Kinsey]

Like, love, love. Still in touch with him.

[Jenna Fischer]

One of my best friends has become one of my best friends.

[John Krasinski]

Walked my sisters down the aisle at my wedding.

[Angela Kinsey]

A great Realtor knows your neighborhood because they're your neighbors.

[Jenna Fischer]

If you're worried about how to make an offer, how much to put down contingencies, let your Realtor do the worrying first for you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Let your Realtor focus on all that paperwork, all the hassle and the headaches. You can just focus on making your new home the place of your dreams.

[Jenna Fischer]

Whether you're deep in the search or just daydreaming of your forever home, you don't have to go at it alone. Learn what your realtor can do for [e-mail].

[John Krasinski]

Okay, we are back, and let's get into this episode. Jenna, we've got a lot of ground to cover. And at 36 seconds, Dwight's in a tuxedo. Game on. It's starting.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, yeah. He explains that it's a family heirloom. His grandfather was buried in it.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, so that's special. And now you have a Jim Pam prank, right? Can we talk for one quick second about the fact that Pam winks at Jim with Roy right there.

[Ken Kwapas]

I have that down. I have that down. So, yes, Roy and Pam, they're talking about Casino Night. This starts a whole conversation about who can win roulette, right? Jim says he can win by using mind control.

[John Krasinski]

Right?

[Ken Kwapas]

And Dwight says, oh, really?

[Creed Bratton]

You can do mind control?

[Ken Kwapas]

Why don't you try moving the coat rack? So he stares at it and it moves to everyone's surprise. And then Pam winks at Jim. And I wrote down, discuss. How do we feel about this?

[John Krasinski]

It's a big wink. It's not like. And Roy is right there.

[Ken Kwapas]

Is he? Yeah. Does he not have eyes? Is he not looking at his fiance?

[John Krasinski]

What the hell? Why are you winking at Jim? So the flirt is starting early on. This is early for sure. Early in the evening. It's not even the evening. It's the day the flirt is starting.

[Ken Kwapas]

I had a fan question from Batya who said, was the wink Pam gave Jim scripted?

[Creed Bratton]

Yes, it was.

[John Krasinski]

I was going to say. Absolutely it was.

[Ken Kwapas]

It was in the script. I actually. I have the script from this episode.

[John Krasinski]

Angela, I love that you have the script. What did. What. So you could go to it.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah, I looked it up and it's right there. It says, pam winks at Jim. I had another fan question, too, from Brittany in the cold open. Jenna, did you actually move the coat rack with an umbrella? No.

[John Krasinski]

No, no. And Jenna, what? In a time capsule called the DVD commentary, you talk about it.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, I went into it.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, you went into it. You said that there was a crew member that had a string.

[Ken Kwapas]

It was like a clear, like, fishing line. We tried to have me do it. We tried to have me use the little. Even like, tried to have me use that string thing. And you just saw my arm moving too much. I was too far away. I like the.

[Creed Bratton]

The umbrella with the hook on the end.

[Ken Kwapas]

It couldn't.

[Creed Bratton]

It.

[Ken Kwapas]

I couldn't even reach the coat rack with it.

[John Krasinski]

I was gonna say the coat rack is actually further away from you than people realize.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah, it's.

[John Krasinski]

It's actually quite far from you.

[Ken Kwapas]

But the optical illusion makes it kind of seem like I could have. But no, I. I wasn't really doing it.

[John Krasinski]

And then Pam is very proud of herself because she has a silent talking head where she's showing off the umbrella. And Jenna, you're like, as Pam. You are beaming. You are so proud of that moment. I know.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, I think it's meant, you know, that wasn't set up, that whole idea of mind control. I think the idea of that was that in the moment, Pam figured out how to have Jim's back.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

And so I think she's like, that's where the wink comes from. And that's why she's so proud.

[John Krasinski]

Exactly. She's super proud. They didn't know Dwight was going to pick the coat rack. Pam didn't know that Jim was going to set that up.

[Ken Kwapas]

No.

[John Krasinski]

So, yeah, she's like, look what I did. Oh, my God.

[Ken Kwapas]

I know. I had another fan question. Angela, this is from Chelsea Glover. Were there any deleted scenes that you're Sad didn't make the final cut. And actually there is an original cold open to this episode. This little prank bit with the coat rack. This was actually originally meant to go after the credit sequence. And there's a hole cold open that was cut out, but that you can see on the DVD extras. Did you watch it, Angela? It's where Michael brings us into the conference room and makes us do a Dunder Mifflin themed Mad Lib.

[John Krasinski]

Mad Libs. Yeah. Yes. It's great.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah. So I thought that was kind of cool, but we didn't have time, so we had to cut it out.

[John Krasinski]

Well, listen, I have a pretty big thing to point out. I'm pretty sure a lot of you guys were thinking about it. You're going to be talking about it. It's kind of a Showstopper moment.

[Ken Kwapas]

What is it?

[John Krasinski]

At 3 minutes, 1 second. There's a new plant at reception. A new potted plant. There is a yellow flowering plant at reception. This is a big deal, guys.

[Ken Kwapas]

We got so much mail about this.

[John Krasinski]

We got no mail about it. But I always crack up whenever Pam. I feel like it's. Pam brings in a plant and then it doesn't live very long. But she tries. That's my backstory. She tries to. It's like Casino Night. I'll buy a plant at the. You know, at the pharmacy. They have those plants by the checkout. I'll buy one.

[Ken Kwapas]

She's doing her best.

[John Krasinski]

She's trying to bring her best, some.

[Ken Kwapas]

Cheer to the reception desk. Well, we have the scene where Michael is on the phone with Jan. She's trying to explain her concerns about what's going on with the branch. But he just invites her to Casino Night. And she's like, Michael.

[John Krasinski]

She's concerned for the branch, and he wants to have this elaborate party that costs so, so much money.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

And she's just like, Michael, I'm not. I'm not coming to that. But maybe later, something else. Okay, so next up, at 4 minutes, 11 seconds, Michael's in the bullpen. He's sitting on Pam's desk. He's explaining that we're having Casino Night, that the beneficiary is Boy Scouts of America, and that the big winner of the night is going to get $500 to donate to the charity of their choice. And a mini fridge complements advanced refrigeration.

[John Krasinski]

Yes. To which Phyllis is so proud. Oh, my gosh.

[Ken Kwapas]

So proud.

[John Krasinski]

If you freeze at 4 minutes, 34 seconds, Phyllis's face, she actually sticks her tongue out as it floats she's so happy that Vance Refrigeration is donating the prize. But before we get there, I have to point out a great screen grab at 4 minutes, 14 seconds.

[Creed Bratton]

For.

[John Krasinski]

For those of you guys that have been tuning in, I talk about what I call the accountant stack. It's how they stack the accounting department to get them in the bullpen. Right. Because we're tucked around the corner.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

So you wouldn't see us. So they would pull us out in this formation. And it's the best screen grab of it I have seen yet. It is me at the copier with Oscar just, like, two feet behind me, and then Brian, like three feet behind Oscar. It is like, literally, we look like a row of dominoes. And it's. So we could be in the scene and react.

[Ken Kwapas]

That is perfect. I remember that they would do that. And sometimes it would make no sense that everyone else was able to sit at their desks and listen to Michael, but you guys would have to get up and walk over a little bit and stand the whole time.

[John Krasinski]

Yes. I would be so envious of people that got to sit through really long scenes. Cause we'd just be standing by the copier.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, that's a good thing when you're rewatching these episodes for people to just note how often the accountants are standing up.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah. While everyone else is sitting.

[Ken Kwapas]

So then we lead into this series of talking heads where everyone explains where they would donate the money should they be the big winner for the night. And you know, Creed has a talking head where he says he's going to give the money to a soup kitchen.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

That has a really delicious pea soup on Thursdays.

[John Krasinski]

Creed.

[Angela Kinsey]

Creed.

[John Krasinski]

Kevin says to animals or people, once again reminding us that he is maybe not the smartest.

[Ken Kwapas]

Angela, you have a great talking head.

[John Krasinski]

So much sass. I am not wanting to participate in this casino night. I say that we're just going to be giving money that's from gambling. Why don't we just steal drugs or prostitute ourselves?

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah. Just give that money to charity.

[John Krasinski]

I know she is. I'm sure she's A, not happy because she's not getting to plan this party. B is gambling, and there's alcohol. But Jenna, she shows up.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, she's gonna show up later to this casino night.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, she does.

[Ken Kwapas]

So this leads into one of my favorite scenes with some of my favorite lines of all time ever from the series ever.

[John Krasinski]

I know what you're saying. I know what. I know what you're gonna talk about.

[Ken Kwapas]

Michael announces that at the end of the night. They're gonna present a giant check to some boy scouts. He's so excited. That's so him, right? He's so delighted that they're gonna have a giant check. And Toby's like, oh, actually, Michael, that's not true. And then he lists the many reasons why it would be inappropriate to have kids come to a casino night. He's like, gambling, alcohol. It's in a dangerous warehouse. It's a school night. Hooters is catering. Do I need to say more?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah. Do I need to go on?

[Ken Kwapas]

So this leads to the classic Michael line. Why are you the way that you are, Michael Sass.

[John Krasinski]

I wrote Michael Sass. Michael Sass.

[Ken Kwapas]

This next line is my most absolute favorite.

[Creed Bratton]

Angela. Mm.

[Ken Kwapas]

I hate so much about the things that you choose to be. I could not get through that. So that whole thing that Michael says like that, why are you the way that you are? All of that was scripted. It's in the script, word for word.

[John Krasinski]

So good.

[Ken Kwapas]

Then Michael announces that he is gonna donate to Afghanistanis with aids. Well, we got a fan question from Augusta. She said, one of my absolute favorite scenes of all time is the Afghan Afghanistani scene. Was any of that improvised or was that all scripted? All right, I went to the script. It's mostly all scripted with the exception of one line, which is John Krasinski. He improvised Afghanistanis. He was supposed to just say afghanistan's.

[John Krasinski]

Way to go, John. Way to go. Way to put a button on it.

[Ken Kwapas]

Way to put a button on it.

[John Krasinski]

Jenna, I need to talk to you about what happens at 7 minutes, 31 seconds. Oh, yeah, because Jim offers to watch crappy wedding bands with Pam, and she's so happy.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, my gosh, she's so happy.

[John Krasinski]

Well, I.

[Ken Kwapas]

She should be doing this with Roy. I mean, she says, roy was going to pick the band, but now he's too busy planning his bachelor party.

[John Krasinski]

I mean, how many red flags does someone need? She's planning her wedding with the guy she's in love with that's not her fiance.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

And then Jim has the line that breaks your heart at eight minutes. He says, I mean, I talked to Jan about a transfer because I have no future here. Yeah, he has no future there.

[Ken Kwapas]

I know, I know.

[John Krasinski]

So now they go, you know, we're jumping around a little, but let's see this Jim Pam moment through. Okay, lady. All right, they're in the conference room. They're watching these band videos. By the way, we got a ton of questions about Brian's drumming. So many people wrote In?

[Creed Bratton]

Yes.

[Ken Kwapas]

So they put in a tape and they realized, oh my gosh, that's Kevin.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

Kevin is in a band.

[John Krasinski]

Guess who came up with the band name Scrantonicity.

[Ken Kwapas]

Who?

[John Krasinski]

Mindy. Really? Yes.

[Ken Kwapas]

That was Mindy.

[John Krasinski]

That was Mindy. That was her idea, that name.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, check this out. When I looked up this scene in the script, the name of the band is not Scrantonicity.

[John Krasinski]

Oh yeah? What was it?

[Ken Kwapas]

Jokers and Tokers. So I texted Brian because we got a lot of questions about is he really drumming? Is he really singing?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Creed Bratton]

And I also had to get to.

[Ken Kwapas]

The bottom of this Jokers and Tokers business. Brian told me that he is actually playing and singing a Steve Miller song in the video. And I mean, he says he's playing, but he's really kind of faking it because he didn't really learn to drum until later when his band had to play. Was it at Phyllis's wedding?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah. He had to be on stage, right?

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah. So he's, he's kind of faking his way through the song. So after they shot this whole scene of him and his band, they could not get permission from Steve Miller to use the song. So in post they turned it into a police tribute band. And that's when they changed the name to Scrantonicity. And Brian had to dub his voice singing Don't Stand so Close to Me. And that's what they ended up playing. So if you watch that video, the lyrics do not match his mouth. I didn't notice it until after Brian told me all this stuff though.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, that's good.

[Ken Kwapas]

And I, I caught a couple of other little tidbits based on this knowledge. Notice that at 9 minutes 43 seconds, there's a close up of John's hand putting the tape into the tape player.

[John Krasinski]

And it says Scrantonicity.

[Ken Kwapas]

I remember shooting that later. I remember having to do a pickup of John's hand putting in Scrantonicity.

[John Krasinski]

Okay.

[Ken Kwapas]

And then later in the warehouse, you know, Roy is going to come up to Kevin and he's going to say, hey, I heard about your band Scrantonicity. Right. This happens at 22 minutes and five seconds.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

The band name is said off camera. It's Roy's voice, but on camera is Kevin. And they had to dub that too.

[John Krasinski]

That was some good behind the scenes tidbits for Scrantonicity lady.

[Ken Kwapas]

I know. Thank you, Brian Baumgartner.

[John Krasinski]

Okay, so we're jumping around a bit, but back at 8 minutes, 16 seconds, we have Darryl in Michael's office. He's like, look I'm not having fire eaters in a paper warehouse.

[Ken Kwapas]

So why does he want fire eaters at a casino night anyway?

[John Krasinski]

Let me tell you, he would have a full circus in there if he could. He wants it bigger, louder, crazier. And then Dwight enters for, quote, protection. And then there's this very funny exchange where we learn that Daryl has taught phrases to Michael to help him with his interracial conversations. We learn about Dinkin Flickr.

[Ken Kwapas]

Dinkin Flickr.

[John Krasinski]

This handshake. And Daryl has a great talking head. And Jenna, I'm pretty sure that this is Craig Robinson's very first talking head. I think in this episode.

[Ken Kwapas]

I think it is. Well, Angela, I looked up Dink and Flicka on Urban Dictionary.

[John Krasinski]

You did? Does it reference the Office?

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes. It says, made popular in a recent episode of the Office, Dinkin Flicka roughly translates to. To that's life or c' est la vie.

[John Krasinski]

I sort of remember that us talking about that Dink and Flicka and that Steve had just made it up. I. I don't know if I'm remembering that wrong, but I think that is just out of Steve Carell's mind.

[Ken Kwapas]

Also fleece it out. That was another one that's also in the Urban Dictionary. I kind of love that these two made up phrases are now in the Urban Dictionary as sort of fictional phrases.

[John Krasinski]

Way to go, Steve Carell.

[Ken Kwapas]

Way to go, Steve Carell.

[John Krasinski]

Well, there is some delicious Pam sass coming up.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, yes. Okay.

[John Krasinski]

All right. I love this bit so much. I. This is one of the things our show did that I love, where we find out information that. That something a character has been doing for years, but we didn't know it. And this is one of those moments. So at 10 minutes, 58 seconds, Carol stills calls and Pam's like, michael, Carol's on the phone and she does this thing where she doesn't let it through right away. She's like, still. Still me. Still me.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes, because she has to.

[John Krasinski]

She says, Michael is better at the second attempt. He's better at his second pass with.

[Ken Kwapas]

People because the first time he says some ridiculous thing. What, did you have it written down? What does he say to Carol the first time?

[John Krasinski]

He says, hey, Carol, how's the real estate biz? Is it real good?

[Ken Kwapas]

And Pam's like, still me.

[John Krasinski]

And then the second time, he's totally normal.

[Ken Kwapas]

He. Yeah, he's like, hey, Carol, what's up? It's so good. And then the same thing happens. This is a great scene. So Michael's on the phone with Carol and She just needs one last signature for his mortgage insurance. That's why she's calling. But he tells Carol, you should come to Casino Night. And she's like, yeah, to. For the. To get the signature. Or she's. It's a little bit. It's a little confusing what he's asking, right.

[John Krasinski]

And Nancy did such a great job with that of just being like, wait to. To your party. That's where I get the signature.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes. We should remind people, guys, Carol Stills, played by Nancy Carell, Steve's wife in real life. So then the other line. Pam's putting through another call. It's Jan. And, oh, Jan is calling to tell Michael. Michael, I would love to come to Casino Night.

[John Krasinski]

I feel like you can watch Steve as Michael, like, literally break into a sweat. He's like, holy crap. When in a million years did I think that I'd have two women on the line who'd both just said yes to me within seconds of each other?

[Ken Kwapas]

Two queens on Casino Night gonna have.

[John Krasinski]

To drop a deuce.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, boy. So that's. That's a big cliffhanger. We go into, like, what would normally be a commercial break right there. Should we go into a break?

[John Krasinski]

Let's go into a break. Because now we're going to get into the casino game, and a lot. A lot is going to happen. All right, we are back, and we are at the casino.

[Ken Kwapas]

The casino is open. Gambling is happening.

[John Krasinski]

It's open for business. At 13 minutes, 22 seconds, it is happening. Jenna, you are wearing quite the dress.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, everyone got very dressed up for this.

[John Krasinski]

We got a ton of mail about your dress. Matt Mabe said, how many different dresses did you try on before you settled on the blue one that you wore? Danny Thorogood said, my wife has a theory that the dress Pam wears was an old bridesmaid's dress that Pam had in her closet. Danny, I wrote on a note card, pam in a bridesmaid's dress, question mark. It really looks like a bridesmaid's dress. It really does.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes.

[John Krasinski]

And then original Gus girl said, whose decision was it for Pam to wear her watch with her gown? It was a subtle but great costuming and character choice.

[Ken Kwapas]

I love all of these questions. You guys are so observant. All right, let me start by saying Angela and Danny's wife. You guys are correct.

[John Krasinski]

Was it a bridesmaid's dress?

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, it was. That was the inspiration. When I met with Carrie, our wardrobe designer, about this outfit that Pam would wear, we said, you know what? We want her to Be dressed up in, like, a cocktail dress, but on Pam's salary. And just thinking about Pam's life, When would she ever buy a cocktail dress? And she's certainly not going to buy one just for casino night. So we had a whole conversation where we were like, you know what? I think she rewears an old bridesmaid's dress. That's the fanciest thing she has in her closet, and that's what she wears. I'll have you know that was the first dress I tried on. Oh, we loved it. She had a whole rack of dresses and I tried them all on. That was our favorite. And we sent that picture to Greg and he approved it immediately. It was like a winner from the start.

[John Krasinski]

Well, that is so great and perfect and really answers my burning question. Because I was like that. I feel like I wore a bridesmaids dress that looks similar to that.

[Creed Bratton]

Yes.

[John Krasinski]

To a wedding in the 90s, by the way.

[Ken Kwapas]

I love that watch question, Angela, because that was a discussion. It was a discussion that Pam wears that watch every day. Most of the time you can't see it, but every day Phil shea would come up to me and he had a little tray and it had my watch, and it had my Pam wedding ring on it or my Pam engagement ring on it. And you pick it up, you put it on first thing in the morning, take it off at the end of the night. And so I've always been wearing that watch, but you cannot normally see it because it's underneath my sleeve. Right. So we had a whole discussion, does Pam wear her watch with her fancy dress or not? And we thought, listen, guys, this is back before iPhones. You didn't have the time in your back pocket the way you do now. And we discussed that Pam does not have a fancy watch. So she's got one watch and she wore it. And I can't believe someone noticed that detail. Thanks for noticing.

[John Krasinski]

Pam would wear her watch. That made such sense to me. I love it. I feel like she also probably has a pair of keds on standby that she can change into. I love that.

[Ken Kwapas]

Angela, what about your dress? You're wearing a black dress, which is in your color scheme, but I mean, it's a little bit. It's a bit what? Sultry? It's somewhat tight.

[John Krasinski]

It's an lbd for sure. It is a little black dress. I mean, I have a little bit of cleavage. Yeah, a little bit.

[Ken Kwapas]

A little bit.

[John Krasinski]

It is a tight little black dress. I feel like she probably wore it to a funeral. And Maybe it had some lace attachment over her decolletage, but maybe she's feeling a little. A little saucy. So she was like, I'm not gonna wear this sweater that goes with it. I do have a sweater that comes in and out of scenes. I don't know if you notice at. Right at the top, I'm holding it. And then later on, you see me wearing it. But, yeah, I know I'm wearing a little black dress. I have to point out it's jumping around. But I have a great catch of someone breaking character. Oh, and that someone is me. At 13 minutes, 24 seconds, there's a shot of Angela Martin talking to Meredith. And you see, at the very beginning of the moment, maybe I'm aware that camera's panning over. And so I have a solemn look. And then clearly, I think camera has gone off of us. And then I just go. I just, like, start gesturing. And I think I can make out the words I have to pee or something.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, my gosh. What else is going on? Are you in the background of another scene?

[John Krasinski]

I'm in the background of an establishing shot of you and Roy gambling. And then it pans over to the rest of us. Jim's at another table. I'm talking to Meredith. I'm holding my sweater. And at the very beginning of it, I have a solemn face. And then within seconds, I think the camera's gone. I just start being chatty. It's 100% me just talking.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, my gosh.

[John Krasinski]

All right, should we get into it now? Let's get into it. Creed is stealing poker chips. Carol has arrived. Dwight is Michael's wingman, I guess. And Toby just beat Michael at cards.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes, and I have a few fan questions about that stuff.

[Creed Bratton]

The first one comes from Jessica Merckner.

[Ken Kwapas]

She says Dwight is a terrible wingman. His inability to warn Michael that Jan is coming is great. Was any of that improvised? All right, so I looked at the script, and, you know when Carol first arrives and Dwight comes up and says, Code ReMax is here, but no sign of lan Jevonson. Yeah, so good. That second part was improvised. So I'm not sure.

[Creed Bratton]

I know.

[Ken Kwapas]

I'm not sure if Rain did it or if it was, like, one of the writer pitches on set, because we would have writers on set that would pitch us jokes. But the original line was supposed to be no sign of date number two, which is also very funny because it is in no way coded. And also, out loud, he says, michael has a second date.

[John Krasinski]

All right, so Jenna at 18 minutes, 26 seconds. I have a card called Kiss Slap Smirk.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, this is a classic. This is a classic Dwight Angela moment. It's when Dwight is playing craps, and Angela walks up in her little black dress, and she's like, what are you doing?

[John Krasinski]

And they're very formal with one another, you know?

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes, very formal.

[John Krasinski]

And he's like, angela, I need to roll an eight. And everyone wins. And she says, so roll an eight.

[Ken Kwapas]

And then he does.

[John Krasinski]

Yes.

[Ken Kwapas]

And he is so excited that he grabs you and he kisses you on the cheek.

[John Krasinski]

I know. And listen, even though maybe she's happy about that, she has to slap him for being inappropriate at work.

[Creed Bratton]

Yes. Well, Angela, we got a fan question from Heather Lindo. Sam, will you play it?

[Meredith Palmer]

Hi, Jenna. Hi, Angela. Casino Night is one of my very favorite episodes for a lot of reasons, and one of them being the scene at the craps table when Dwight kisses Angela for good luck and then she slaps him. But when she turns around, her face is just perfection. She cycles through, like, 10 emotions in a matter of, like, three seconds. She is horrified and thrilled and embarrassed and obviously, deep down very happy all at the same time. And I just love it. And, Angela, my question is, did you nail that on the first take, or did you have to do it many, many times? Thank you so much for letting me ask my question. I know everyone says this, but my sister Kim and I really are the office number one fans. We just love you so much. So thank you.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, my God, Heather, that was so sweet. I love that question so much. Okay, so I was very excited about this question because I actually wrote in my journal about this scene.

[Creed Bratton]

Oh, my gosh.

[Ken Kwapas]

Of course you did.

[John Krasinski]

Of course we did. I wrote about it the week we filmed it. To answer your question, Heather. No, I did not get it right the first time. Okay, so I wrote that I was really nervous to slap Rain at first. You know, my slap was kind of.

[Ken Kwapas]

Timid, which makes sense because you were probably very. You were worried about hurting him.

[John Krasinski]

Exactly. I don't want to hurt him.

[Ken Kwapas]

And it wasn't a fake slap. They told you to really slap him. That was. They were never did a phony slap.

[John Krasinski]

No. They wanted a real slap. And, well, I guess my timid little slap wasn't working. So Rain said, listen, Ang, just go for it. I can take it. So I started really slapping him.

[Creed Bratton]

Oh, no.

[John Krasinski]

And I wrote that it took us about 13 takes to get.

[Creed Bratton]

Oh, no.

[John Krasinski]

Yes. So that is. That's 13 slaps. All right, here's the one thing I Need you guys to remember I am 5 1. Rain is like 6 3. So it wasn't really easy for me to reach his cheek. And one time my aim was really off and I missed his cheek and I slapped his ear so hard, he was like. It actually hurt him. He said there was like a ringing in his ear. And then the other time, I missed and I. I slapped and I hit his glasses and I knocked them sideways on his face. I know, Angela. I know.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, I want to go back to something that Heather said, too, about that look on your face as you're walking away, because it is. It is amazing. And I have the script, and I looked it up, and all it says is that you slapped Dwight and that you smile as you walk away from the table. I think there's so much more going on in your face. So your character's angry that Dwight would kiss you so publicly and all of that. But what I love is that you have this little look to the camera at the very end. It's like 18 minutes, 48 seconds.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

Where you sort of catch the camera catching you smiling. That camera catch was not in the script. Was that improvised?

[John Krasinski]

Yes, it was. Okay, so that just happened on the day, that little moment where I'm busted at the end. So in one of the early takes, I was walking out of frame and I just looked at camera and I quickly looked away, like I was embarrassed that they caught me smiling. And our director of photography, Randall Einhorn, said, ange, Ang, I caught it. I caught it right at the end as you're leaving frame. And he really helped me find that moment. Then he showed it to our director. Our director loved it. And so Randall was like, ang, you don't have a lot of time to cycle through all that. But I'm going to catch it every time if you glance the camera and quickly look away embarrassed. So I have to thank Randall for that because he really helped me make that moment happen.

[Ken Kwapas]

I love that.

[John Krasinski]

Yes. All right, folks out there that love background catches. I have one more moment for you in this little scene. At 18 minutes, 51 seconds, you can really see how red the side of Rain's face is. And it's because I have slapped him 13 times.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, there you have it. Heather, thank you for such a great question.

[John Krasinski]

Thank you, Heather. I love that question.

[Ken Kwapas]

Okay, so Angela, you just described the big kind of Dwight, Angela, flirt moment that happens in front of everybody at the. At the casino night. So now we head over to the poker table where it is heads up between Jim and Pam And I feel like this is the big Jim, Pam, flirt moment. That's public.

[John Krasinski]

There is so much flirting happening. Pam is basically doing the giggle hair toss move from about last night. I mean, there it is on. It is on.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, we had a fan question from Live Love California. The scene at the poker table, when you and John are making those faces back and forth, was that improvised or scripted? This is what was scripted. Those little looks between us, there was a scene description. And so what you're seeing is John and I's interpretation. This is what it says right after Jim's line, you're bluffing. Pam makes a playful gesture, like, who knows? Jim stares at her intensely. She smiles her best enigmatic smile. Jim enjoys this woman so much, he finally has to break eye contact and shake it off. Aw. So that was what John and I, we had to take that note in the script, and that's what made that scene.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, that's so good. I love that. Yeah, I love that. Well, I have a question that's not related to you guys flirting, but at 19 minutes, 26 seconds. What the heck? So Kevin wears glasses when he plays poker, but he doesn't wear glasses to be an accountant.

[Ken Kwapas]

Angela, we literally got a fan question that said the same thing. What's up? My theory about that is that he doesn't care about being an accountant. I know, but as he tells us, he has won one of the satellite games in the World Series of Poker. He's an avid poker player, this guy. He's a different person when he's playing poker.

[John Krasinski]

He's a smart person when he's playing poker.

[Ken Kwapas]

But also when he's playing in his band, he wears a hat.

[John Krasinski]

I know.

[Ken Kwapas]

Like, when he comes to the barbecue, he's got a hat. He's got a whole Persona outside of the office that is very different than what we see on a daily basis.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, for sure. For sure.

[Ken Kwapas]

I want to follow this guy around, I feel. Is he. Is he putting us all on so that he doesn't really have to do work? What's happening, Kevin?

[John Krasinski]

Okay, we have to talk about 20 minutes, 3 seconds. Carol and Jan are now side by side at the bar.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Okay. So I took a screen grab of them standing side by side. You know, I'm friends with Nancy, Steve's wife. I just adore her so much. I texted her the photo, and I'm like, nancy, this is how I'm starting my morning. And she was like, oh, my God. She said, first of all, wtf with my hair. I said, nancy, what do you remember about shooting these scenes? And she said, oh, my gosh. Well, our kids were 6 and 3, so I had very few functioning brain cells at that point. And I said, well, Nancy, what was it like working with Steve? And she said, ange, I was so intimidated because he's so good. I mean, he was really nice to me, of course, but I've sort of, you know, I had retired and having our kids, that's what I was doing. I was being a mom, so I felt a little rusty, but it was so much fun.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, she is so great. And Steve's face would just light up every time she came to set. Either if she was in a scene or if she was just coming by with the kids for a visit. I mean, his adoration of her was just. Would go all across his face. Oh, they just were the cutest of cutie cutes as a couple.

[John Krasinski]

They are an adorable couple. They are so sweet with one another. I just loved them so much. I would get so excited too when Nancy got to be in scenes because we were often in hair and makeup at the same time. And we would just gab and gab and gab. I just adore that lady.

[Ken Kwapas]

So now Michael is at the craps table and he has both Carol and Jam blowing the dice for luck.

[John Krasinski]

So weird. So weird, so weird.

[Ken Kwapas]

And then this is where Dwight starts peppering Jan with questions about where are you staying tonight? He's naming all the motels. And then Dwight has this line where he's like, oh, were you planning to stay with Michael? Well, that was not in the script.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, it wasn't?

[Creed Bratton]

No, no.

[Ken Kwapas]

I feel like that when I heard that, I went to the script to look because I'm like, that sounds like a rain improv to me.

[John Krasinski]

That's brilliant. Rain.

[Ken Kwapas]

So good, so good. So I'm giving that to Rain. Yes, so good. I think she was legitimately surprised that he said it.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, I texted Melora. I told her. She's so fantastic. In this episode, you just really feel Jan's desperation and then you feel her self loathing. It's. Oh, it's so layered.

[Ken Kwapas]

So now we go over to the poker table with Kevin and Phyllis.

[John Krasinski]

Phyllis the flapper. Phyllis the flapper.

[Ken Kwapas]

Phyllis the flapper. He goes all in against Phyllis and she wins with a flush. But she thought she only had ace high. But no, she had a flush to the ace. And she's like, I have all the clovers.

[John Krasinski]

I texted Phyllis and I said, phyllis, what do you remember about that poker game? And she wrote me and said, oh, I loved the poker game. Brian's face as Kevin was priceless when I won. And then she wrote, I also loved watching Pam and Jim flirt as they played because it looked real because they're such good actors.

[Ken Kwapas]

Aw.

[Meredith Palmer]

I know.

[Ken Kwapas]

She's the sweetest.

[John Krasinski]

She's the sweetest. She said it was a priceless episode. My love to you and Jenna.

[Ken Kwapas]

Aw.

[John Krasinski]

Well, listen, you know what? Jan is gonna walk outside at 22 minutes, 37 seconds because she's just over it and she's outside smoking and Jim walks out. And lady, I don't know if you remember this, but at the time when this aired, so many people thought that Jim and Jan were maybe gonna hook up in this moment. And they were freaking out on all the message boards.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh my gosh.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, I remember.

[Ken Kwapas]

They were like, oh no.

[John Krasinski]

Oh no. Are they gonna hook up? But no, they're just having a heart to heart. And then you find out the stuff stakes for Jim. Right? That he. Yeah, she's like, have you told anyone? Because he's going to transfer. But people thought they might hook up and they were all like, no.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

So now we go back inside. Bob Vance is making an announcement. He is going to announce who the big winner of the night is. He said it's Creed Bratton.

[John Krasinski]

Okay.

[Ken Kwapas]

And he wins a refrigerator. And Creed says, I've never owned a refrigerator.

[John Krasinski]

Oh my gosh.

[Ken Kwapas]

This is his first one.

[John Krasinski]

The mini fridge. This is first refrigerator. So here we go guys. We are to the jamtastic part of this episode. There is going to be a big moment in the parking lot. There's going to be a big moment in the office. So we thought we better call John Krasinski.

[Ken Kwapas]

That's right. We didn't feel like we could talk about these scenes without him. So we did. We called him and he joined us. So guys, this is like we chitty chatted with John for a good 45 minutes. We're going to let it play out here for you. Enjoy.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[John Krasinski]

That's what we were.

[Ken Kwapas]

That's right.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Creed Bratton]

And.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Darryl Philbin]

Guys. I watched an Office episode for the first time in so long for this. Yeah, I haven't watched one for a little while now. And that one in particular, that's. That's some heavy machinery of content. Yeah, yeah, that was some heavy machinery.

[John Krasinski]

We just threw you in the deep end, John. We were like, here, watch this one.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, seriously. And I was like, first of all, I went through a time portal. I was like, who is that child? And I was talking about Jenna. And then I saw some furry, you know, wood nymph come in looking like me. Man, we were young once, weren't we? Wasn't that nice?

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Well, man, that was nice way back then.

[Ken Kwapas]

This is the first time I've watched.

[Creed Bratton]

Casino Dino Night since it aired.

[John Krasinski]

Same. Yeah.

[Darryl Philbin]

Did we watch it at Greg's?

[Ken Kwapas]

I think we did.

[John Krasinski]

We did. We did. I. I wrote in my journal that he had a viewing party and we all went over.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, my God, you have a journal. What have I been doing with my life?

[Ken Kwapas]

Does she have a journal?

[John Krasinski]

Let me show you what my mic sits on so I. I can reach it because I'm shorty.

[Creed Bratton]

Like, seven journals, like, with Holly Hobby on the front.

[John Krasinski]

John, this is. That's who I was. I mean, come on. My God, it's.

[Darryl Philbin]

Wait, who you were? That seems like a current journal that is being written about right now.

[John Krasinski]

I'm writing right now, by the way.

[Darryl Philbin]

Speaking of Polly Pocket or whatever hobby. Holly Hobby, either one of those E's. It made me think of that kid sister thing. Before I signed on, I was like. I had all these, like, sputtering memories that were like, remember this? And I blacked out for about 20 minutes.

[John Krasinski]

Okay. So I told on the podcast that we would do bits between scenes, kind of keep us going. That you really kept us all going. You really did. And then I said we would do this kid sister big brother bit, and Jenna was like, wait, what? Where did that come from? What was that about?

[Darryl Philbin]

Like, 1983 is where it came from.

[John Krasinski]

I know, John, wasn't it? Because there was like, a doll that was about my height.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, no. You were the identical replica of kid sister. And they had. It was Kit. Was it big brother?

[John Krasinski]

No, no.

[Darryl Philbin]

Something.

[John Krasinski]

I would go. You. I would yell around the corner.

[Darryl Philbin]

No, there was a boy one, and then they came out with a girl one that looked exactly like you.

[John Krasinski]

And I was at a store one day and saw it on a toy store like, shelf, and I took a photo of myself standing next to it and I sent it to you. You were like, oh, my God.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, I remember that. Yes. But also, you're the exact size of it compared to me especially. You're, like, perfect. And I remember one day, didn't you do, like, the. The stiff arms and stuff, and I, like, picked you up and you were like, yeah. Oh, it was great.

[John Krasinski]

It was good times. Someone a fan wrote in and said, if you ever came on, could you. And I do the bit. And I was like, well, I. It's pretty good. Sister big brother.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, there it is.

[Darryl Philbin]

There it is. Jenna, what jokes did we have? We didn't get along. Well. What. What was it for us that we. Oh, boy.

[Ken Kwapas]

What were our bits? What were our bits?

[Darryl Philbin]

Did we have so many bits. You know what I remember? Bits wise was many different inside jokes of, like, writing on post it notes and like, all my memos that I had to hand to you for corporate always had something written on them.

[Creed Bratton]

And John, you played one prank on me in the whole nine years of the office. Like one, like, really fully formed, good thought out prank. It was at Schrute Farms, and you and I had this scene where we had to drive up to the farmhouse several times. And we're doing it, and I am getting increasingly more hot. I'm, like, warm. I'm sweating.

[John Krasinski]

I'm like, it was a hot day.

[Ken Kwapas]

I'm like, it is so hot.

[Creed Bratton]

And we had to turn off the AC for sound. And you were like, yeah, I don't know. I'm okay, but you're hot, huh? And I'm like, I'm so hot. This went on for, like, 15 minutes, and then all of a sudden, you start snickering, and you had turned on my seat warmer all the way to the hottest setting.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, my God. That was late in the run, wasn't it?

[Ken Kwapas]

That was late in the run.

[Creed Bratton]

But I was so excited because whenever we would go on talk shows, they.

[Ken Kwapas]

Would always ask us if we played.

[Creed Bratton]

Pranks on each other. And I would always say, no.

[Ken Kwapas]

I mean, not really.

[Creed Bratton]

I mean, besides just, like, little jokes on post it notes or something. Not really.

[Darryl Philbin]

I'm terrible.

[Creed Bratton]

No, we weren't pranky, you know? But then finally, after you did that in the.

[Ken Kwapas]

I was like, oh, my gosh, this is great. I can finally have a prank to talk about.

[Darryl Philbin]

And you know what's sad about that prank?

[Creed Bratton]

What's sad about that prank?

[Darryl Philbin]

I realized that I'm such a bad prankster that I stole that prank from Clooney when we were doing leatherheads. He did that to me. So that's how unoriginal I am. I was like, I'm gonna take George Clooney's bet and do it to Jenna. And I thought that would make me cool.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Darryl Philbin]

So basically, you're. That prank you got. You got Clooney is what you got.

[Ken Kwapas]

I did one degree of separation.

[John Krasinski]

I think that prank just keeps getting cooler like that. Yeah, that's pretty fancy.

[Darryl Philbin]

I think so too.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah, that's a good prank. Let's get into the meat of your interview here, John.

[Darryl Philbin]

I thought we were doing pretty good.

[Creed Bratton]

We were, but we should intro you a little. John, thank you so much for coming on the show.

[Ken Kwapas]

We always like to ask our guests a little bit about how they came.

[Creed Bratton]

To be on the Office. And I know you've told this story like a million times, but is it true that you were originally asked to audition for Dwight?

[Darryl Philbin]

Yes, I was. And that reminds me that about six seasons into the show, someone was like, I love how you say Dwight. And I was like, how do you say it? And they were like, dwight. And I was like, I know. Dwight. And they were like, nope. Dwight. And I was like, no, no, I. I'm saying it right. It's Dwight. And they were like, nope, it's not. So, yes, I auditioned or no, I was offered to come in and audition for the role of Dwight. And I was so excited. I had met Allison Jones randomly out in LA on a general meeting when I had $0 to my name, and she said, something's coming. On our first meeting, our only meeting, she said, something's coming. Call the office. You'd be great for it. I said, great. So when I got back to New York and they said, there's this show called the Office. And I was like, oh, my God, Allison Jones, the greatest human ever told me about this. And they said, you're going in for the role of Dwight. And I had been a huge fan of the British show. And I was like, I don't know, man. That's. That's not. I don't know if I'm right for that role. And so I weirdly have no idea what I was thinking. I said, you know what? I read the pilot and I said, you know what? I'm going to put my best foot forward. Let me know when they're casting Jims. And I remember the response from the MDC casting director to my manager at the time was, no, but honestly, who does he think he is, like, passing up an audition, an opportunity to audition. And lo and behold, I thought it was over. And I think it was like five, six weeks later that they called and they were like, all right, they're looking for gyms now and they'll have you back.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, my gosh. And that's so crazy.

[Creed Bratton]

And then when we finally did our screen test, you. You were living in New York and.

[Ken Kwapas]

You had to fly to LA for.

[Creed Bratton]

That screen test with all these New.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yorkers that were auditioning, which was so much fun. I remember I took the plane with Jim Gaffigan.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, my.

[Darryl Philbin]

Who was auditioning for a role, and it was like laughing. I mean, just was surrounded by heroes on the plane, and then got to. Got to the callback or the test or whatever they called it. And because I'm so, so experienced now, I have no idea what I'm talking about, but I remember getting in this big room, and it was the waiting room of where we actually shot our pilot. I'm sure you guys have covered that, but, like, where we shot our pilot is what they measured down to the quarter inch or centimeter to make our set. This building that existed. We Took an existing building and I remember sitting basically where, like Ryan's desk. No, like where Mindy's desk was like Toby and Mindy's desk was. I was sitting against that wall and I saw all these other people coming in. I'd been there for like an hour or two hours and all the other people were the LA people. And they. I realized they had separated us and so they were asking the New York people to leave after they were done. And then I was the last New York person and I saw all these LA people in and I started to get super self conscious. I am, I am not a confident person. And I was like, oh my God, this is so embarrassing. I'm the only New Yorker here. Because everybody was like, hey, Johnny, Tim, like, greeting each other. And I was sitting on a floor like. So I went on to the set because all the producers were hiding in the background. And I said, I'm so sorry, I think someone forgot to tell me to go home. And from behind a, like, fake wall, I remember hearing like a lot of chair moving and stuff and like banging against the wall. And it was Greg trying to get out of his chair and find the entrance to get back on set. And he was like, no, hold on, hold on one second, please hold on one second. And I heard Terry Weinberg being like, no, no, no, no, no, don't, don't go. And then I went back out to the waiting room, super freaked out. And I saw Jenna walk in the door and she was like, as soon as I saw you walk in, Jen, I know I've told the story a billion times, so people are like, we get it. We've seen behind the scenes. I genuinely had like a metaphysical event where I was like, oh, that's who's in the show. That person will be in the show. And so they held me back. He went in with a bunch of people and I remember thinking, if I don't go in with her, I'm screwed. And that's when I went on the thing and said, you should let me go. And they said, no, no, no, there's one more person we want you to audition with. And it was you. And I thought, oh my God, you're saying there's a chance because if I'm in with you, I knew I had a shot.

[Creed Bratton]

Oh my God, John, I can go back to that moment that I saw you at the audition and I had that exact same reaction.

[Ken Kwapas]

I. It was. I've tried to describe it to people.

[Creed Bratton]

Like, what it was like to audition with you and the best. Like, the best explanation I could come up with was like, what if you walked into a room and music started playing and you and another person just started dancing in unison even though you'd never met? That's what it was like auditioning with you.

[Darryl Philbin]

Wow, that's really way more beautiful than what I would say, which is, like, I felt like I could see the future. I was like. It actually gave me anxiety because I was like, she's so on the show. That's so weird that I'm, like, watching a piece get in. And I remember. I'm sure you remember, too. But after our audition, and I loved auditioning with you, we were walking through the kitchen, and I said, because that's. That was the way out. And I said, I just got to let you know, I think that you're going to get this part. You're perfect for this. And you. You seem to remember you said the same thing to me. I don't. Because I blacked out. I was trying to not look you in the eye.

[Creed Bratton]

I was so excited that you said.

[Ken Kwapas]

That because I felt like I had.

[Creed Bratton]

Wanted to say that to you, but I didn't have the courage because I didn't know you. You were, like, essentially a stranger to me. The only time we had really spoken or interacted was during our audition. So we were kind of silently walking back to the kitchen, and I was thinking in my head, should I tell him I think he's the best Jim? Is that appropriate? Should I say, you're the best Jim. You're gonna be Jim, or is that bad form? I don't know. What's the etiquette? And so when you said, I think you're gonna get the role of Pam, my memory is that I was like, oh, my God, I think you're gonna be Jim.

[John Krasinski]

You're the best Jim.

[Creed Bratton]

You're my favorite Jim. Like, then I just, like, blurted out, like, that's just.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, I was having a nosebleed at that time. Don't remember much. But I do remember this, though, that, you know, I always say this, and people are like, yeah, whatever, but it's true. I have a lottery ticket life. Ever since I was given the news that I was on that show, everything changed in my life for every single way. Not to get into a heady version, but, like, not only. Every opportunity that I've ever had is from the show. I met my wife because she knew who I was in a restaurant for a show. We never would have been in the same city or restaurant or anything. It Was. It's just so crazy how deep and crazy it goes. But I remember at the epicenter of it all, when I was told that I had the part, I actually jumped on a couch. And then, like. Like, again, this metaphysical thing came over me where I went, wait, wait one second. Did Jenna Fisher get the part of Pam? And they were like, we don't know. We just told you. Your life changed. Are you happy enough with that? And I was like, no, you need to call them back and ask if Jenna got the part. Because I thought if you were on it, then I was going to be on one of the best things that I'll ever do in my life. And if they were like, no, you know, Rhonda something, whatever, got it, and I'd be like, no, not Rhonda.

[Creed Bratton]

Well, when they called and told me that I got the part, I had a very similar reaction. And the first question I asked was, did John Krasinski get the role of Jim? Because I just felt like, I don't know if I can do Pam without you as Jim. So I was like, I need to know, did my partner in crime get this part? And they were like, yes, he did. And what's weird is that that's the first question he asked after he was told.

[Ken Kwapas]

He asked.

[Darryl Philbin]

And by the way, we never saw each other after the kitchen. I left.

[Creed Bratton]

No, we didn't have each other's phone numbers. We couldn't text each other or email.

[Ken Kwapas]

So it was like.

[Creed Bratton]

Then I just waited until the pilot table read when we were all reunited. Same with Rain. I only met Rain at the audition, and when I heard he got the.

[Ken Kwapas]

Role, I was like, well, that tracks.

[Creed Bratton]

Because he was definitely the weirdest dude.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, my God. I remember thinking. I remember doing this audition with Rain where Greg asked me to ask him to cover my phones. And of course, he said to Rain, under no circumstances will you cover his phones. And I remember being like, hey, Dwight, will you just cover my phone? I just got to go to the bathroom. And he was like, sorry. And then pretended to close barn doors. And then I asked him again, and he did like. Like, shipping container doors. And I kept doing it. And by the end of it, not to Dwight, to the actor Rain, I was like, you are infuriating. You're an infuriating human. And I was like, he's gonna get it.

[John Krasinski]

Well, man.

[Creed Bratton]

Oh, my gosh, it is so good to talk to you.

[John Krasinski]

All of that just makes my heart happy, you guys, hearing all that. I don't know that I've, you know, I've heard snippets of those stories, but I've never heard all of it. And watched you guys tell it is actually really beautiful.

[Creed Bratton]

Just gonna say no.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's what I was gonna say. I've actually never told those stories with you in. I was gonna say in person or not in digital form.

[Creed Bratton]

Same.

[Ken Kwapas]

I feel like we've told those stories.

[Creed Bratton]

Separately on talk shows or interviews, but actually never told one another.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, it's like, there's always these things where you're like, is that what happened? It's so interesting, so amazing. I have so many stories that I'm like, I wonder if people know that. It's like, some of my favorite stuff is, like, sort of. I guess it's a secret, but I don't know. Oh, like, one of my favorite stories. Did I ever tell you this story was when we wrapped. By the way, how dare Greg Daniels do that rap? Remember that? When he was like, yeah, I just got to get you guys leaving the office a couple times for. I gotta cut it into the earlier part of the show. And we were all just totally goofing off and laughing, heading to, like, poor Richardson. And then when we came back, he was standing there all weird. Remember that?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Creed Bratton]

And it was like, when was that?

[Darryl Philbin]

That was the last take of anything. And he was like, ladies and gentlemen, I just want to tell you that the show has concluded or the office is over.

[John Krasinski]

That's a wrap.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's a wrap. And I was like. And I definitely threw up on my shoes.

[John Krasinski]

Someone took a picture of that moment. I don't know who it was, but.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, give me that picture.

[John Krasinski]

We're disintegrating. We're like, all of us.

[Darryl Philbin]

But he did. It was like some weird, incredibly smart move to, like, just because we all knew it was coming. And then he did the smartest thing by being like, oh, shoot, I got to do this one more thing. Like, just get out of the office. Walk a couple of times. I just need you to exit. And I remember Randall being weird, so he must have been in on it.

[John Krasinski]

And then when Greg came out, I remember we looked and all the crew, everyone that had been in Video Village had come out on the stage, and they were all sort of looped around.

[Darryl Philbin]

And I was just like, what's happening?

[John Krasinski]

We all ended, like, together.

[Darryl Philbin]

It was so intense. It was like, I'm your dad and I'm leaving you. And you were like, what? But the funny thing was, that day, everybody was really emotional, and we had the wrap party, and so everybody was trying to get themselves together. And I think of myself as a somewhat moral person. And I had the weirdest idea. When I got back to the trailer. I was crying like crazy, and I went, oh, my God. There's one thing I want if, like. Like, what's the one thing you would want from the show? And I ran back and stole the Dunder Mifflin sign that we all did talking heads to John.

[Creed Bratton]

I remember that.

[John Krasinski]

I remember that.

[Darryl Philbin]

And then I think. I think I did tell you, Jenna. Cause I was, like, so Catholic. I was like, must tell someone. And then we got to the party, and I'll never forgive myself. I don't even know if he knows this. We're at the party, and I saw Greg, and I was like, greg, thank you for my whole life. And, like, whatever. And he was like, yeah, yeah, no problem. And I was like, how you doing? He goes, ah, good. You know, I'm a little bummed. The one thing I wanted was the Dunder Mifflin sign. He goes, but someone took it, and literally, my brain exploded. And I went, that sucks, man. Whoever did that, that sucks. I remember saying to him, I lied to my dad. I lied to my TV creator. Oh, my God, I lied to his face.

[John Krasinski]

I remember you loading out your trailer, and I walked out, and I have a visual of you putting it in your car.

[Ken Kwapas]

It was very large.

[Darryl Philbin]

Because I only had, like, a bath towel, and that didn't even begin to cover it. It was just like. It was the worst heist of all time. And I also remember people being like, why is John leaving so fast? And I was like, don't look at me. Like, as I drove out of the parking lot, it was so weird.

[John Krasinski]

Do you remember the big sign that. Well, it was like a fake painting of me looking angry that hung in the senator's house. Oh, yeah, the art department gave that to me.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's amazing.

[John Krasinski]

It's enormous. It's the size of a small love seat sofa.

[Ken Kwapas]

If we're sharing secrets, I'll say that.

[Creed Bratton]

I asked if I could have Pam's watercolor of Dunder Mifflin, and I was told officially from production, that I could not have it because it was gonna be cataloged as part of, like, the set decoration, and it would be stored at NBC. And no, I couldn't have it. I was really heartbroken. Cause besides a couple of trinkets on my desk and, like, a few pieces of wardrobe, I really hadn't saved anything else. That was really the one thing I wanted. And, oh, my gosh, I'm gonna cry a little bit. As I was leaving, Phil Shea ran up to me, and he said, here, you should have this. I made a color photo of it. They'll never know.

[Darryl Philbin]

No way.

[Creed Bratton]

I have the original in my house.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, my God. That's amazing, dude. Phil Shea is the reason I have anything. He sent me a box, like, years. Like, three or four years later of my bag, my nameplate. Yeah. My satchel, my nameplate, and the teapot, bro.

[Ken Kwapas]

You have the teapot?

[Darryl Philbin]

You.

[John Krasinski]

We have been wondering who has the teapot?

[Darryl Philbin]

Teapot, son.

[John Krasinski]

Son of a gun. Wow.

[Ken Kwapas]

You.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, man. I thought you knew that. I thought I didn't know. It was a great caper.

[John Krasinski]

She has said. I have always wondered who got. Who got that teapot.

[Ken Kwapas]

I've always.

[Darryl Philbin]

You know what's so funny is I had the greatest idea because I heard your amazing podcast about the teapot episode, and I was going to take a picture of it in my room and totally forgot. I wanted to, like, post it right after I had heard your episode.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, my gosh.

[Creed Bratton]

That would have blown my mind.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, I'm sure there's a couple, because in case anyone broke, you could probably get one. I'm sure.

[Creed Bratton]

I know, but you have the teapot.

[John Krasinski]

That's huge.

[Creed Bratton]

So there you go. So, John, we are currently on the scene outside in the parking lot where Roy just took off in his truck.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah. Told me to keep an eye on you. I remember that.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah. Jenna.

[John Krasinski]

Bridesmaid Jenna.

[Ken Kwapas]

Looks like.

[Darryl Philbin]

I remember talking to Jenna about this a couple times about, like, how Jenna's take on it was like. Or for Pam's take, whatever. She was, like, little saucy of Jim to be like, you got it. Like, little devious right from the beginning. Like, this nice guy was like, oh, you bet.

[John Krasinski]

I'll take care of her.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, I'll take it. Well, I'll take care of her. No, I remember that. That. That moment in particular was insane for so many reasons, because I remember how, again, I'm gonna keep talking about this, like, metaphysical thing, but I remember that, like, the cells of my body were really buzzing because I saw the crew, like, running around and deciding where to hide the cameras and. And Ken Kwapas was our director and was phenomenal and making it feel like it's no big deal. We're just doing a scene of a show that'll never be seen, and then you're like, I think that's gonna be more than that. And he was like, who cares? Just do it. Like, he was trying to, like, keep it so low. And I remember you and I were in like a stairwell or something, waiting.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[Darryl Philbin]

And everybody was deciding, do you do the cameras? Can they see the cameras? Can they not see the cameras? Meaning Jim and Pam? Can they see the cameras? Whatever. Are they aware of the documentary crew? And I remember. I think it was Ken, Right. Who just said, I think I'm gonna make the decision that they don't. And I remember Matt. I think. I think I remember this. Again, I'm elderly, but I feel like Ken placed the cameras and didn't tell us exactly where they were going to be.

[John Krasinski]

That sounds like Ken.

[Creed Bratton]

Well, there was this big argument that went back to even when the script came out, which was, should we film this scene with video or with audio only? Like, this idea. And I think the reason we were in a stairwell for a very long time, John, was because they were deciding if we should have walked inside and gone onto the stairwell. And we said the lines. And right when we got to the end of the scene, the camera would find us and we would be looking at each other in silence.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yes. The idea was that Randall would be running to try to get it on film.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes.

[Creed Bratton]

And that was kind of like, Greg wanted that genius. And the writers wanted that. Yeah.

[Darryl Philbin]

Imagine how good the show could have been if that was the case.

[Creed Bratton]

I know we could have succeeded. But then and on. By the way, on Wikipedia, it claims that we shot that footage and it has never been seen scene. But that's not true. We never shot that. We only rehearsed it. I don't remember ever shooting a version, do you?

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, I thought we rehearsed it. And then I thought. What I do remember, maybe vaguely, is that Ken was like, and if we do that version, we'll have the audio, so don't worry about it. Remember, like, I remember Ken, I think, was saying to Greg, like, listen, Greg, the good news is if we do end up going that route, we will already have the audio. Let's just shoot it out here first.

[Ken Kwapas]

First.

[Darryl Philbin]

And it was like a Jedi mind trick to get Greg to go with it.

[Creed Bratton]

Right. But I do remember that they did. Another reason we were in the stairwell was so that they were going to set the cameras outside. And when we came out, we wouldn't know where the cameras were.

[Darryl Philbin]

And.

[Creed Bratton]

And I remember feeling very alone in the parking lot.

[Darryl Philbin]

Well, again, because all the crew is, like, kind of buzzy about it and like, hello. And like, like all our great friends that I would, like, be. I remember I was at the craft service table. Not for this Scene, but the next scene, and it's like, I remember going like, you know, hey, Chris, who? You were like, in fantasy football, one of my favorite people. Chris. Chris Workman. And I was like, hey, Chris. And he was like, hello, John. And then, like, moved, and I was like, whoa. I don't think he's ever used the full word hello ever. That was the weirdest thing I've ever heard.

[Phyllis Vance]

Good time.

[Darryl Philbin]

Like, everybody was so buzzed up about that. I don't remember this. Jenna, do you have any semblance of an idea of how many takes of that we did? Because I remember genuinely being extremely nervous, which I was like, this will be great for the scene. Because I think it was probably. Or at least I had probably interpreted it as the biggest scene I had done on the show or something. That level of. That level of intensity was, like, super terrifying to me. And I remember in my head being like, hey, bro, remember when you thought you were an actor? Tonight ruins that whole mirage.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, hardly.

[Darryl Philbin]

And I was so. I was so nervous to do that scene. But actually watching it again today, it was really amazing because we were, like, kind of standing close to each other, and it was like. It was all very awkward and perfect. It was so good.

[John Krasinski]

I wrote in my journal, oh, my God, John Krasinski. And that tear. Oh, my God, I have it. I'm gonna screen grab it, send it to you, John, please. Oh, my God. You wrecked us. You wrecked me. Oh, you were so good. Both you guys, I was so good.

[Darryl Philbin]

I think I also remember Ken being such a good director was like, you know, so in this scene, how you feeling? And, you know, how you feeling? And. And I was like, yeah, good. I said, you know, I'm gonna be really honest with you, Ken. This is. This is a layup for me, bro, because I lived it. And he was like, what do you mean? And I was like, dude, in my high school yearbook, I have every single girl in the school being like, thank you so much. You were the shoulder to cry on. You were such a good friend. When I was in love with Adam, like, all this stuff, I was like, no problem. So then when he was like, hey, do a scene about the love of your life having another guy instead of you. And I was like, bro, it's called my default setting.

[Creed Bratton]

Well, I remember shivering because I was freezing.

[Ken Kwapas]

It was really cold out.

[Creed Bratton]

And I was in that little dress.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, that desert night. That desert night will get you.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, it was chilly.

[Creed Bratton]

And I also. So here was something that I traded some messages with Ken Kwapas.

[Ken Kwapas]

About this scene.

[Creed Bratton]

And he reminded me that we had actually filmed the kiss the night before that. Yeah, we filmed the kiss the day before. And that this was the very final thing we shot for Casino Night. It took longer than any other scene. We spent more time on it than any other scene. And we played around with the dialogue.

[Ken Kwapas]

So I have the script too.

[Creed Bratton]

And what's in the script is a little different. And the thing is, is that that's my memory. I remember when I think back, the.

[Ken Kwapas]

Scene we were most nervous about was this scene. And people always ask about the kiss, but this was the scene we worked hardest on.

[Creed Bratton]

And it makes sense to me. Saying I'm in love with you is such a vulnerable thing. And you do it so honestly, John. And I also remember that those lines where I was saying like, oh, do you want me to take your money now? Or I could take it later, or when do you. That was all banter that we came up with on the spot that you were gonna then like, shock me out of. And then I remember.

[Ken Kwapas]

That stuff, that.

[Creed Bratton]

Line where you said when I'm like, I'm really sorry if you misinterpreted our friendship. And you're like, don't. When you said don't.

[John Krasinski]

Come on.

[Creed Bratton]

That was an improv. And I like, my stomach, like, my heart dropped into my stomach. I was like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's what I love is like, you're this as Pam and as Jenny. You're like, so sorry, bro. That was really rude. That was rude.

[Ken Kwapas]

I was like, everything. Like, I was having to be Pam.

[Creed Bratton]

But on the inside I was like, I was so sorry. Because you were, you know, and you, you cried in a couple of the takes, I remember. But the one that they used, I think was the first time, like.

[Ken Kwapas]

Cause it was so.

[Creed Bratton]

It wrecked me. It wrecked me. And I was like, my job is to just stand here and stare at him. And after they yelled cut, I feel like I was like, I'm so sorry.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh my God, I'm terrible.

[Darryl Philbin]

There you are saying, telling us now that you were there being like, oh, my God, I'm so sorry. And watching it back today, I was like, Jesus, cold as ice.

[Ken Kwapas]

Like, that was cold hearted.

[Darryl Philbin]

That was. It was cold blood. That was so.

[John Krasinski]

It was cold. But I. I also think Pam was just like. And listen, John, I always defend Jim, like throughout our podcast when anything happens, I'm like, pam is horrible. Poor Jim.

[Ken Kwapas]

She does.

[John Krasinski]

But in this moment, I really saw her as just. She completely was deer in headlights. Like, Totally. Everything was so real now. And once it's out there, it is out there, you know? And all of a sudden, she's gonna have to be accountable.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yes. I felt the same way watching it back. I was like. Because I remember it differently. I remember, like, there were, like, three more moments in Casino Night of us flirting. And then when. When my man turns around and is like, I just want to tell you something. You're like, that's so fast. Like, I Even me was like, hey, man, that is bad game. Stop. You know what it though? The scene that I loved was. And I realized it didn't come out of the blue is because of Jan. And when she goes, did you tell anybody? And I was like, right, he has to tell her now because he can never do it again. It's. That was. That was awesome. Such good writing. Who are those people?

[John Krasinski]

Also, just, like, so kind. Like, I feel like our, like, Greg and Ken, they were so gracious to let us have room to find those moments, you know? Like, they really let us write the.

[Darryl Philbin]

Goods right from the beginning. Like, we didn't need a lot of room after that. It was just so. But for those moments, they were so respectful. So. Which again leads to the second part, which is. Sorry, I'm jumping on your.

[John Krasinski]

No, no, don't.

[Creed Bratton]

No, no.

[Ken Kwapas]

I'll move us along. But I wanted to say one more thing, which was when I was watching it back, I.

[Creed Bratton]

What does Pam think? Roy is secretly taping her or something? Like, she seemed like a spy who was like, I am very sorry, but I am loyal to Roy Anderson. I can't do this. You are a wonderful friend to me. But obviously it was impacting her because we're going to move into the bullpen, and she goes up and calls her.

[Darryl Philbin]

Mom to compliment your acting, though, that. I mean, that has got to be my favorite thing on any performance, is when it's exactly what you imagine it would be, right? Because in the movies and tv, you're like, we've been programmed as kids to say that when someone says, I love you, when you're sort of with someone else, you go, excuse me. How dare you in this whole dramatic thing. But instead, your brain's just like, run the program. Shut him down. Like, there's no emotion.

[John Krasinski]

Mayday. Mayday. Escape.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yes, exactly. Pull the cord. Pull the card.

[Ken Kwapas]

Should we talk about the big old kiss? It's not even a big kiss.

[Creed Bratton]

It's a little kiss, but it's the perfect kiss.

[John Krasinski]

It was substantial.

[Darryl Philbin]

It's also my first kiss. First kiss. I Ever had acting. That was my first acting kiss ever.

[John Krasinski]

Mine was with Dwight.

[Creed Bratton]

It was my second.

[Darryl Philbin]

Now that I say that, I'm wondering when else I would have had the opportunity. But like, no, no college play kissing, no nothing. That was nothing.

[Creed Bratton]

Wow, that was your first on screen kiss. That wasn't my first fake kiss, it was my second. I had done a movie called Born Champion and I had a kiss scene in that. It was a sag, low budget, I think maybe a non union film. So I was one kiss more experienced than John. I was, which is a lot.

[Ken Kwapas]

I was so nervous.

[Creed Bratton]

And here's something that Ken Kwapas reminded me. John, he said, let me find it.

[Ken Kwapas]

It was so sweet.

[Creed Bratton]

Ken said, I remember the day we did the kissing scene. You and John were off the charts nervous. And he said he felt like it was his job to be really casual about the scene, to kind of undercut how momentous it was. And I remember that he was being.

[Ken Kwapas]

Super casual about it.

[Creed Bratton]

But he said, but what didn't help was that on the shooting schedule, the scene description read, Jim kisses Pam in all caps, italics and three exclamation points.

[Darryl Philbin]

This is what we train for, people. You're like, okay, jeez, calm down. That's when I went.

[Creed Bratton]

Such a fun detail.

[Darryl Philbin]

And I think probably the crew was given the notice of like, guys, keep it cool, right? Let's not mess this up. Because that's when Chris Workman was like holding a, you know, a plate of like peanut butter pretzels or something and was like, hello, John. And then like walked away and I was like, Chris, what the hell was that? But I also remember you were in your trailer for a while and I thought you were upset because I was on. I was on stage all the time because I was usually around crafty and, and I had heard that you were in your trailer. And I was like, is everything okay? And I didn't know what was happening. And then I remember again, similarly, they told me that they were ready and when we, when I got on set, I was first on set at how I remember. At least I was first on set and was looking for Randall and, and Matt because I used to goof around with those guys. And weirdly, my default setting is like make jokes when you're nervous. So I was looking for them and I was genuinely crestfallen when I couldn't find them because then I was really nervous because I was like, oh my God, if, if my, if my bit machine isn't gonna work, then what do we do? And then they Were like, john, so you're gonna go to the front door? And I was like, front door? What's happening? And I got so. Then I got so weirded out. And then someone came. I don't know if was it Jasmine was on yet, but I don't know. I think it was. Jazz came up and was like. And John, go. And I was like. I just remember, like, a person being like. And go. And it was like I was in slow motion. I was like, do what? And I just went on, and it was so weird.

[Creed Bratton]

Well, I remember rehearsing. I'm gonna put that in quotes. I remember discussing the scene in the days prior. I had a bunch of meetings with Greg and you and Ken where we all talked about it.

[Ken Kwapas]

Like, how big should the kiss be?

[Creed Bratton]

I remember asking, how much does Pam kiss him back? We discussed that she would definitely allow.

[Ken Kwapas]

Herself to be kissed.

[Creed Bratton]

And then. But did she really, like, kiss him back? How long should it go on? Like, just sort of general chitty chatness about how it would play out. And then I remember on the day, doing a very rough blocking of it, but alone. Like, when you were like, what is she doing in her trailer? They had brought me to set to rehearse by myself. This is where you're gonna stand at Jim's desk. There was a big discussion, why am I not standing at reception?

[Ken Kwapas]

It was because it would be too.

[Creed Bratton]

Hard for you to get to me. They wanted to put the camera in the kitchen so that we couldn't see it. They would shoot it through the blinds. It would be super secret spy shot. And that was the best position. We worked out exactly how I would stand with the phone. And then they said, now we want.

[Ken Kwapas]

You to go back to your trailer.

[Creed Bratton]

And not leave until you're called.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oh, wow.

[Creed Bratton]

And don't speak to John and just be alone.

[Ken Kwapas]

And so it was super secret.

[John Krasinski]

Yes. They. They talk about this in the DVD commentary, guys. I wasn't there, but I listened to the DVD commentary, and they wanted to keep you guys apart. That's. Yeah, that's something that they.

[Darryl Philbin]

My favorite thing is, like, I'm reminiscing about it now with you. And I remember one time talking to Brian about it years later, and I was like, oh, man. Like, I remember that was the. The last thing we shot that day. And he goes, no, it was not. And I was like, what are you talking about? And he goes, we were all in our trailers. Like, oh, God, let's go.

[John Krasinski]

We were in our trailers for, like, three hours. Like, I took a nap Someone was like, what is happening?

[Darryl Philbin]

I know.

[Meredith Palmer]

My memory is that that was the.

[Ken Kwapas]

Last thing we did that day.

[Darryl Philbin]

Me too.

[Creed Bratton]

And Brian was like, as much time as we wanted.

[Darryl Philbin]

Not all of us were in our trailers being like, you've gotta be kidding me with these two.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, no.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, no.

[Creed Bratton]

I thought it was the end of.

[Ken Kwapas]

The day and all the time in the world.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's what I said to Brian.

[John Krasinski]

He's right. But I don't know, you guys. It was such an important scene. They had to find it. And in the commentary, they talk about how they wanted. The first time that John, as Jim saw Pam was in that moment on action.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah. So we never rehearsed it on the stage together.

[Creed Bratton]

And then I remember they brought me to set and all the lights were dim. There was no one around. It was super creepy.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, that was creepy. Yeah, that was. That's what I needed. So there was no.

[Creed Bratton]

That's when they were like, nothing. And they were like, john, please move to the entrance.

[Darryl Philbin]

I was like, who is that?

[John Krasinski]

Is that the devil in your mind, John? It's like, slow down.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah, but it was super, like, scary. Like, weird.

[Creed Bratton]

And then Ken, I think, and Greg were hiding, maybe in the conference room in the very back corner with a little thing, like, a little.

[Ken Kwapas]

I don't know, what is that?

[Creed Bratton]

Like a handheld video monitor that they could see. See what the camera is shooting. We only used one camera. It was only the camera in the kitchen. So it was a one shot. There was no way to cut. We had to get it all in one shot. And I remember I'm doing the bit with my mom on the phone. And then you walked in and we shot the kiss. And then we're staring at each other, and Ken said, cut. And do you remember Greg. Do you remember Greg running out of the conference room, like, clapping his hands and being like.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yes.

[Ken Kwapas]

He was like.

[Darryl Philbin]

He was giddy.

[Ken Kwapas]

He was like, yes.

[Darryl Philbin]

And he was like, it was so good. It was so good.

[Ken Kwapas]

It was so good.

[Darryl Philbin]

How many takes of that did we do?

[Ken Kwapas]

Three.

[Darryl Philbin]

Wow.

[Ken Kwapas]

We only did.

[John Krasinski]

Greg, in the DVD commentary, said that he. I'm sorry, I wrote it down. Greg said he picked up the last take. The last take was his favorite.

[Creed Bratton]

Oh, interesting. Ken Kwapis and Kent Zavornak both confirm we only did three takes of this scene. And Ken said that Greg wanted to keep doing it over and over and over again. And Ken had to convince him that we had it.

[Darryl Philbin]

Wow.

[Ken Kwapas]

But Greg was like, it's just so good.

[Creed Bratton]

It's just so good. And he Wanted to keep doing it. And Ken was like, no, we're gonna wear em out. We're gonna wear em out.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's obviously where the voice was coming from. I imagine Greg just being like, darren's for me. And you're like, what? You can't say that.

[Creed Bratton]

Awkward.

[John Krasinski]

Awkward.

[Darryl Philbin]

That's so weird.

[John Krasinski]

There's one other thing in the DVD commentary, you guys, I thought was really cool is that Randall Einhorn said that he really wanted it to end so that you couldn't see Pam's face, so you never knew what her reaction was after that. So that was really thought out. That Jenna, you never looked around like you were facing this one way, and Cameron never saw your face after the kiss.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah. That was part of what he argued.

[Creed Bratton]

For only using one camera, that there was some discussion that another camera would come around by the front door and capture Pam's side of everything and sneak in. But he was like, no, I think we only managed to get one shot.

[John Krasinski]

Of this, so you don't know.

[Darryl Philbin]

It was amazing.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

Crazy.

[John Krasinski]

It was beautiful. You guys. You guys crushed it.

[Darryl Philbin]

Guys, this was the most fun ever to talk about this.

[Creed Bratton]

Aww. I mean, it was fun to reminisce.

[Darryl Philbin]

You guys. Guys, congratulations on this podcast. It is so much fun, and I don't think two other people could have done it. I mean, you guys do such a good job.

[Ken Kwapas]

You're so nice.

[John Krasinski]

Thank you. Thanks so much.

[Ken Kwapas]

Well, I don't know if there's two.

[Creed Bratton]

People from our show who like talking as much as us. Do you remember talk constantly right now?

[Darryl Philbin]

Brian's at home going, like, we know. That's true. You're like, brian, geez, Settle down.

[John Krasinski]

Do you remember how rain would make fun of us? He would say, there they go. Like, we'd be like, yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

Rain would be like, what more could.

[Creed Bratton]

You possibly have to say to one another?

[Darryl Philbin]

I know.

[John Krasinski]

God.

[Darryl Philbin]

Yeah.

[Creed Bratton]

Our curmudgeon.

[John Krasinski]

Our curmudgeon.

[Darryl Philbin]

I love you both so much. Thank you so much for doing. Thanks for having me.

[Creed Bratton]

We love you, John. Thanks for coming on.

[John Krasinski]

That was so great. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Thank you, John.

[Ken Kwapas]

John Krasinski, you're the best.

[John Krasinski]

He is the best.

[Ken Kwapas]

He is.

[John Krasinski]

He is the best. But, Jenna, before we say goodbye, there are one or two moments that fans wrote in about. We have to talk about the phone call between Pam and her mom. Yes. We have to talk about this moment.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes. We got so much mail about this. Aaron, Louise, Matt, Loveless, Mrs. Prince, Brianna, and EJ, they all wanted to Know if there was another side to this phone call. Well, I'll tell you this, guys. There was no one on the other line.

[John Krasinski]

Jenna.

[Ken Kwapas]

I was just pretending.

[John Krasinski]

And the Emmy goes to. Jenna Fisher. Wow.

[Ken Kwapas]

Thank you.

[John Krasinski]

That's some good phone talk, lady.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

No one was there.

[Ken Kwapas]

No one was there. I invented in my head what the dialogue was.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

And I had written it down in my script for what I thought my mom was saying to me so that I would have good reactions. And I was going through it in my head as I was doing the scene.

[John Krasinski]

That's me applauding my bff.

[Ken Kwapas]

Oh, my gosh. Thank you. So there was one line in particular that everyone honed in on, which is when Pam says, yeah, I think I am.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

What was she responding to?

[John Krasinski]

I mean, I know what I thought. I think I know what all the fans think.

[Ken Kwapas]

What do you think?

[John Krasinski]

I think I am in love with him.

[Ken Kwapas]

That is what I had written in my script that my mom asked me, well, sweetie, are you in love with him?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

And that I answered, yeah, mom, I think I am.

[Darryl Philbin]

Oof.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, Pam.

[Ken Kwapas]

And then we got a fan question. A lot of people actually asked this question. Alyssa Dunn, Carrie Harvey and more wanted to know if we knew what the next season would bring to the Jim Pam storyline when we shot those scenes in the parking lot and in the. In the office.

[John Krasinski]

Right.

[Ken Kwapas]

No, we did not. We were not told what would happen to them. It was a cliffhanger to the cast as well.

[John Krasinski]

I have to think that Greg probably had a few ideas and didn't want to tell us anything until it become more concrete for him what the plan was, you know?

[Ken Kwapas]

Mm.

[Jenna Fischer]

I would think.

[Ken Kwapas]

I think he had an idea that they were gonna have Jim go to Stanford.

[John Krasinski]

Well, yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

But a few weeks before we went back into production for the season three, I did get called in to do a bunch of chemistry read auditions with possible Karens. And that was my first insight into what was gonna happen in season three.

[John Krasinski]

Mm. Oh, that's juicy. That would have been. That's like, good intel back then. Cause we were all clueless. We didn't know what was gonna happen. I think another cliffhanger is, you know, obviously the Dwight Angela was happening with them. But then also, what is going to happen with Jan and Michael? Because you see that Jan actually did.

[Jenna Fischer]

Pack an overnight bag in her car.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes. Yes.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah.

[Ken Kwapas]

As she's leaving, the camera finds this overnight bag. She was 100% planning to hook up with Michael.

[John Krasinski]

Yeah. And just sleep over at his place, which is a big Deal. Well, I did hear in the DVD commentary that it was this episode of that Melora Hardin and David Denman became series regulars. So we knew that they were going to be coming back, but we didn't know how.

[Ken Kwapas]

Wow. There we go. Wow.

[John Krasinski]

There we go, guys. That was a big, big episode. We hope you enjoyed it. We certainly enjoyed getting to watch it again and talk to John and all the cast members. We texted and Kentopedia, thank you so much for giving us such great behind the scenes moment.

[Ken Kwapas]

Yes.

[Creed Bratton]

And guys, after we did that interview with John, Angela and I were a.

[Ken Kwapas]

Part of his show.

[Creed Bratton]

Some Good News.

[John Krasinski]

It was so much fun. First of all, my family and I are such huge fans of Some Good News. We've watched every episode and what John is doing, the goodness he's putting out there is so wonderful. And Jenna, wasn't it a blast?

[Creed Bratton]

It was so much fun. If you guys haven't seen it, you have to check it out.

[Ken Kwapas]

There's this couple.

[Creed Bratton]

Their names are John and Susan Lush. They're from Maryland. And when they got engaged, they reenacted Jim and Pam's engagement at the gas station. But then because of the pandemic, their May wedding was canceled. So John surprised them.

[John Krasinski]

We might have recreated the dance down the aisle from Jim and Pam's wedding and it was just so much fun and such a wonderful thing to be a part of.

[Creed Bratton]

Yeah, the thing that John is doing.

[Ken Kwapas]

With that, it's just, it's great. He's great.

[Creed Bratton]

Bring some light and love to the world. And John, we love you.

[John Krasinski]

We love you and you guys, we will see you next week with can you believe it?

[Creed Bratton]

The first episode of season three, Gay Witch Hunt.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you for listening to Office Lady's second drink.

[Jenna Fischer]

This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[John Krasinski]

Our executive producer is Cassie Jurkins and.

[Jenna Fischer]

Our audio engineer and associate producer is Daniela Silva.

[Angela Kinsey]

Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Wise Berman and Leah Reese Dennis.

[John Krasinski]

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basel.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

[Jenna Fischer]

What does a confident smile say to you?

[Angela Kinsey]

And maybe more importantly, what does it say about you?

[Jenna Fischer]

With Smile Generation, it says you're taking care of more than just your teeth.

[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

Visit smilegeneration.com officeladies for full terms and to book now.