Second Drink: Employee Transfer

Summary

Podcast Summary: Office Ladies “Second Drink: Employee Transfer”

Date: April 20, 2026
Hosted by: Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey

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Overview

In this “Second Drink” episode, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey revisit The Office Season 5’s “Employee Transfer.” The focus is a detailed, heartfelt, and hilarious behind-the-scenes exploration of the episode in which Michael drives Holly to her new position in Nashua, Pam endures a costume mishap at corporate, and Dwight plays mind games with Andy by applying to Cornell. The ladies discuss production anecdotes, insider trivia, deleted scenes, and memorable cast and crew contributions, all delivered with trademark warmth, rapid-fire banter, and affection for fans and colleagues.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Episode and Production Background

[02:01] Jenna Fischer:

• “Hello and welcome to your second drink of Employee Transfer. This is the episode where Michael and Darryl and Holly drive to Nashua, and Pam goes out to lunch with Jim and his brothers...”
• Guest insights from episode writer Anthony Farrell and actor Tug Coker (who played Pete Halpert).

[07:04] Jenna Fischer:

• Written by Anthony Farrell, directed by Dave Rogers (editor-turned-director who had major nerves before shooting).

2. Halloween Cold Open and Costume Chaos

[21:01] Angela Kinsey; [22:09] Anthony Farrell:

• The original script planned for everyone to wear costumes throughout, but it was revised to avoid distraction from main storylines.
• The “three Jokers” moment was inspired by the real-world 2008 popularity of Heath Ledger’s Joker.

Costume Details

• Creed: Best "Heath Ledger Joker"; Kevin: Lame version; Dwight: Nods to Jack Nicholson’s Joker ([25:47]).
• Andy’s cat costume was hand-painted as a nod to Cats (musical) [27:22].
• Pam: Charlie Chaplin, tragically the only one in costume at corporate.

Easter Eggs:

• At 00:44, Kevin bumps Angela, knocking her cat ear forward—a cast in-joke.

Quote:

“Brian and I would have that. If Kevin bumped into Angela, she’d go flying. It was like our own personal bit that cracked us up.”
—Angela Kinsey [29:16]

3. Driving Scenes: Michael, Holly & Darryl Road Trip

[31:27] Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey:

• Script logistics gags, including Michael’s childish packing and the “cat’s cradle” deleted scenes.
• Filming presented massive technical and heat challenges: Over two days, on 104° highways, with camera crew stuffed in a black tent.

Classic Line:

“Paul Feig started removing layers of his suit... They were really jealous because Randall Einhorn wore the cooling vest.”
—Jenna Fischer [40:56]

"Life Is a Highway" and Michael’s Mixtape:

• Darryl, Michael, and Holly repeatedly sing, driving Darryl crazy.
• “Rock107” on the truck’s license plate is a real Scranton radio station ([43:51]).

Darryl’s Motivation:

• In a deleted talking head, he confirms: “I’m driving them up for five times what I would have made at work...” ([35:17])

4. Michael and Holly’s Bittersweet Goodbye

Deep dive into this relationship's “breakup” over a supposed seven-hour distance—not actually accurate (real drive is 4–5 hours; [39:01]).

• The emotional arc was amplified by Amy Ryan’s performance and Steve’s improvisation (“Last 10 years” line, [44:42]).
• Final, unplanned, wordless hug as the real send-off ([71:17]):

“Amy and Steve just did this really big, long, lingering hug. And Dave was like, that. That’s it. They don’t need to have the dialogue. That hug tells you everything.”
—Angela Kinsey

5. Pam’s Lunch from Hell: Jim’s Brothers Prank

Guest Star Highlights:

• Pete Halpert: Tug Coker; Tom Halpert: Blake Robbins.
• Both are very tall, mirroring John Krasinski’s real family ([58:50]).

Scene Insights:

• Pam tries to win over Jim’s brothers with a prank, which instead turns into a roast of her career aspirations.
• The pivotal look-to-camera shots mimic Jim’s signature move and signify shared family mannerisms ([65:07]).
• Jenna improvises the line: “So not the ring thing, then.”
• “If you watch closely, one leaf misses [John’s] mouth and falls into his lap,” recounted by Tug Coker, who ordered steak to avoid salad mishaps ([63:13]).

6. Dwight’s Cornell Antics & Andy’s Meltdown

• Dwight overloads on Cornell merch (last-minute coffee mug prop – made in 2 hours! [50:24]).
• Cornell fight song was nearly Dwight’s ringtone; the Cornell bobblehead (from the Cornell bookstore) wins out ([53:26]).
• Rainn improvises with a cappella group names in the men’s room scene ([54:45]).
• In the conference room interview, the physical power struggle with the table was improvised when Rainn pulled the table to the wall ([56:33]).

Quote:

“That whole blues moment at the end when Michael Scott just doesn’t get it, but still has the cathartic moment he needs... I got to write the episode, and then I got to watch it happen... I just remember feeling like I have the best job in the world.”
—Anthony Farrell [72:58]

7. Production Trivia & Deleted Scenes

Writer Anthony Farrell:

• Brought authentic office experience to the show after struggling in the mortgage industry.
• Unique perspective informed details—the only main writer to have real “office work” experience ([11:02]).

Dave Rogers (Director/Editor):

• Faced anxiety on his directorial debut but was praised for efficiency and knowledge of what footage gets used ([11:30], [12:46]).
• As an editor, nearly the whole director’s cut aired.

Bloopers and DVD Commentary:

• This episode’s bloopers are described as some of the all-time best, particularly the deleted in-car laptop scene ([34:12]).

Fan Questions & Continuity Catches

• Viewers questioned logic of Holly’s move from corporate and the length of the Scranton-Nashua drive ([32:01], [34:43]).

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

On the Halloween Cold Open:

“There’s that classic blooper that plays too, where the process car driver that the truck was hitched to starts to drive away before they’re ready and they all start laughing.” —Jenna Fischer [02:59]

On Costume Creation:

“She bought a unitard and hand painted it. She used to do textile painting. That’s amazing.” —Jenna Fischer, on Andy’s cat suit [27:22]

On Giving the Editors Their Emmy:

“Remember we read off the people we co presented yes. Yes. And then we got to give the Emmy to our own editors. And then we partied all night with them.” —Angela Kinsey [17:44]

On the Emotional Goodbye in Nashua:

“In the moment, Amy and Steve just did this really big, long, lingering hug. And Dave was like, that’s it. They don’t need to have the dialogue. That hug tells you everything.” —Angela Kinsey [71:17]

On the Classic Tag Scene (Andy vs. Dwight in “farmer” costumes):

“[Did Rain actually take a bite out of a beet?] Yes, he did. And that was improvised.” —Jenna Fischer [75:51]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:01] — Episode intro & summary; scene-setting for “Employee Transfer”
• [21:01] — Halloween cold open and costume breakdown
• [31:27] — Kicking off the Michael/Holly/Darryl road trip
• [40:56] — Challenges of filming the driving scenes
• [44:42] — Improvised lines and emotional beats in the van
• [58:11] — Jim & Pam: meeting the Halpert brothers (guest stars)
• [65:07/65:28] — Brothers and Pam’s awkward “prank” scene; signature looks to camera
• [70:01] — Final moments in Nashua (Michael & Holly’s goodbye)
• [75:41] — Conference room/Andy’s “farmer” revenge; tag and beat-biting improv

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Podcast’s Tone and Style

• Warm, bantering, and inclusive: Angela and Jenna’s best-friend dynamic makes for lively, affectionate conversation.
• Detail-rich, yet playful: Deep dives into production details are leavened with humor, self-deprecation, and asides about real-life friendships and office culture.
• Interactive: Regular shoutouts and responses to fan questions, Reddit threads, and mailed-in observations.

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Final Thoughts & Recommendations

This episode is both a loving tribute to one of the show’s more emotionally nuanced entries and a goldmine for Office super-fans, offering rare production stories, deleted scene rundowns, and insight into the unique personalities—both in front of and behind the camera—that made The Office a classic. Notable for its blend of trivia, crew and cast shoutouts, and affection for fans, it’s a must-listen for anyone who wants to know how the show was made, why “Employee Transfer” sticks with viewers, and what it was really like to be in the (often literal) driver’s seat at Dunder Mifflin.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to everyone who contributed to this recap: James Carey, Dave Rogers, Alicia Raycraft, Phil Shea, Anthony Farrell, Tug Coker, and the many insightful Office fans whose questions and observations fueled the conversation.

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Transcript

[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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[Angela Kinsey]

Start designing [e-mail]

[Jenna Fischer]

hello and welcome to your second drink of employee transfer. This is the episode where Michael and Darryl and Holly drive to Nashua and Pam goes out to lunch with Jim and his brothers. We got some really great insider tidbits from the writer of this episode, Anthony Farrell, and from actor Tug Coker. And Angela, you do a very excellent breakdown of Halloween costumes from the cold open, because we had our little Halloween cold open in this one.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, I love them. All the work that went into that moment. And you guys wrote in and told us your favorite employee transfer moments. And almost everyone mentioned the same scene. Briana E. From Illinois, Tanish from India, and Kelly from Sterling said, my favorite scene in this episode, and honestly, one of my all time favorite scenes is when Hollywood, Michael and Darryl are in the car and Holly starts crying and Michael asks Darryl if he touched her. It gets me every time. Darryl's reaction is the best.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, all of the scenes of them driving are so great. And there's that classic blooper that plays too, where the process car driver that the truck was hitched to starts to drive away before they're ready and they all start laughing. I know the three of them had the best time in that car. And it's such good stuff.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's such good stuff. And, you know, I look back on our show and there's so many people who I thought deserved an Emmy and Craig Robinson is one of them. All of his reactions when Michael and Holly are having really personal conversations and he's stuck right there in a three seat truck.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, brilliant acting.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then we also got a note from Tais C. From Brazil and Nicole S. From Hagerstown, Maryland, who said that. But they love an extended scene from the Peacock superfan version where Daryl talks to Michael about cow surfing. It's pretty amazing. Let me set it up for you. Holly, Michael and Darryl, they're on the road. Holly has like one of those cat's cradles. You know how you do the string in your fingers and your fingers and

[Angela Kinsey]

you make the pattern.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. And her and Michael, they're kind of laughing about it. They're kind of being in their own world. And Daryl's like, am I on a road trip alone or are we all three on a road trip? But here's what he tells Michael about cows. Let's hear it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Am I grabbing this one?

[Jenna Fischer]

No, that's not what you're grabbing. Okay. Hey, y' all not gonna be playing these little private games, are we? Sorry, Darrell just ain't Driving Miss Daisy, you know?

[Angela Kinsey]

All right.

[Jenna Fischer]

Gotta include me in the conversation. Fair enough. You don't mind? Okay. Okay. What kind of car games did you play in the hood? I got a game.

[Anthony Farrell]

Cow surfing.

[Jenna Fischer]

Cow surfing. You spot a cow, last person to say, J has to get on his back and ride it. Really? There. Even cows where you grew up, huh? Everybody got a government cow. Cow surfing. Okay, here we go. There's a cow. Jackson frown.

[Angela Kinsey]

Shoot.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, all right, all right. Pull it over. Here we go. Here we go. Go get it, Mike. I'm gonna do it. Michael, it's not a real game. Then why don't you say Jackson FOB the man is Point Daryl. All right, I made it up. What?

[Angela Kinsey]

Why?

[Jenna Fischer]

Cause I wanted you to like me.

[Angela Kinsey]

I do.

[Jenna Fischer]

Hey, come on. Okay. Taxi 5. So I just love this whole dynamic. It just brings out some of my favorite, like, little character nuance relationships of all these people, of just how, like, Holly is willing to be just as silly with Michael, but also she's not as gullible, you know, and so she has to be like Michael.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, she's like Michael. No, honey.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then Michael is always asking Darryl about life in the hood. And then Daryl makes stuff up and Michael believes it. Right. I just love all of it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I would have watched more of them in a car together, the three of them.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

I'd watch a whole 30 minutes of that.

[Angela Kinsey]

Me too.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, well, everybody, thanks again for writing in your favorite moments. We love hearing them. You can submit [e-mail] over at our second drinks folder. But now it's time for our second drink of Employee Transfer. I'm Jenna Fisher.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I'm Angela Kinsey.

[Jenna Fischer]

We were on the Office together and we're best friends. And now we're doing the ultimate Office Rewatch podcast just for you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Each week we will break down an episode of the Art Office and give exclusive behind the scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

[Jenna Fischer]

We're the Office ladies.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, Michael.

[Jenna Fischer]

Michael.

[Angela Kinsey]

Bless his heart, you guys. Today it's Employee Transfer.

[Jenna Fischer]

It is season five, episode six, written by Anthony Farrell and directed by Dave Rogers. We have lots to say.

[Angela Kinsey]

There was a really good DVD commentary.

[Jenna Fischer]

I didn't do any deep dives, though. What? I'm sorry in advance for anyone who likes them. And you're welcome. The people who hate them.

[Angela Kinsey]

I might need a minute. No deep dives.

[Jenna Fischer]

I have a summary.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know you have a summary and fast facts, but we also reached out to a ton of people, so we have lots of good trivia.

[Jenna Fischer]

We did. That is very true. I will give you my summary.

[Angela Kinsey]

Do it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Pam is embarrassed when no one else at corporate wears a costume on Halloween.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is the worst.

[Jenna Fischer]

So funny. It was so funny to do. And it gets me every time. Holly and Michael deal with Holly's transfer to the Nashua branch. Remember when David Wallace last week saw them kissing after the auction?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

He was like, I'm not having another Jan and Michael on my hands.

[Jenna Fischer]

No. No depositions.

[Angela Kinsey]

Not on my watch.

[Jenna Fischer]

No. Also, Dwight tries to get under Andy's skin by applying to Cornell.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love that storyline.

[Jenna Fischer]

Same. And finally, Pam is going to team up with Jim's brothers to play a prank on Jim.

[Angela Kinsey]

Telling you, those halperts and the pranks.

[Jenna Fischer]

You know how I feel about pranks.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know how you feel about them in real life.

[Jenna Fischer]

The same as how I feel about tickling.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know, but Pam is like, sign me up. Let's prank away.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know Pam loves a prank. That's why Pam married Jim.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's right.

[Jenna Fischer]

Jenna would not marry Jim.

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Jenna Fischer]

Because there'd be too much pranking. All right, fast fact number one. New writer alert. Anthony Farrell.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Anthony was with us for season five. He is a writer and a comedian. This was the first episode that he wrote for the show, but I didn't know this till I looked it up. The first thing he wrote was actually the Kevin's Loan webisodes. That's right.

[Angela Kinsey]

He wrote a series of webisodes. And some of our writers got to break off and do that. I would have loved to done that. I would have loved to have written a webisode.

[Jenna Fischer]

I feel like you had a lot of freedom on the webisodes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, you did.

[Jenna Fischer]

They were pretty fun. Which reminds me, we should break down the webisodes sometime.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, you don't even have to make it into a question. We definitely should. The accountants. The webisodes won an Emmy.

[Jenna Fischer]

An Emmy. I'm so jealous that you have an actual Emmy.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fischer]

Lady in your house. I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's very pointy.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, those wings are pointy.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's pointy.

[Jenna Fischer]

Angela, do you want to share that we got in touch with Anthony?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. We were emailing with Anthony. We had the wrong email. Aaron. Sure. To the rescue.

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you, Aaron.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you. Aaron got us in touch. It was so great to reconnect with him. He and his family are back in Toronto, where he's from, and they're doing awesome. He shared with me that he is the showrunner for a show called the Parker Andersons, and it's actually two shows about the same characters from two different perspectives. I love that.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's so cool.

[Angela Kinsey]

He shared a lot of stuff with us. We're going to sprinkle it through the episode, but one of the things he said was before he got the Office, he was a comedian, but he still needed that day job, and he was working at Countrywide Home Loans. And he was so excited when he got the job as writer on the Office because it meant he could quit Countrywide home Loans.

[Jenna Fischer]

He quit, like, the day before he started in the writers room. Right. He was working Crazy.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. He was working at Countrywide home Loans. And then literally, like, the next day was like, I'm gonna go right now on a TV show. But all of that experience paid off because he was often called on in the writer's room to pitch, like, those very minutiae office space storylines. And he sent us in audio clips. We'll share those and some other trivia he gave us.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's interesting because actually not a lot of our writers had real office work experience. So he was find. This was awesome.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

To have him in there.

[Angela Kinsey]

Great perspective.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, fast fact number two. New director alert.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Our very own Dave Rogers, our editor. Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

If you guys haven't listened to his extended interview in our revisited episode, you should check it out, because he is an amazing person and knows so much about the show.

[Angela Kinsey]

I dare say I don't know if anyone else knows the show as well as him.

[Jenna Fischer]

You should dare to say that.

[Angela Kinsey]

I dare say it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Then say it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I dare say it.

[Jenna Fischer]

She said it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I said it.

[Jenna Fischer]

We were also able to get in touch with Dave. He shared with me that he was so nervous to direct. Very excited, but he had a ton of anxiety. He said he had a panic attack the night before filming, but he just pushed through. I was really curious, like, what the most challenging thing was coming from editing and then directing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, that's a good question.

[Jenna Fischer]

He said the toughest thing about this episode was that there were so many locations. There were these multiple storylines. Michael had this huge emotional journey to go on.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And a physical journey.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. He said that the most challenging thing for him was just the pace of shooting. And he said it's like, there's one thing if you have a ton of scenes in the bullpen and you have to make your day, but it's a whole other thing if after you finish a scene, you have to pick up the entire crew and all the gear and move to another place and reset up, because that eats up so much of your on camera shoot time. Yeah. But he did feel that coming from editing gave him an advantage because he just knew inherently the kind of stuff that got used on the show. He had watched so many directors do shots that were just never gonna make it in.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

So he said he was able to be really, really efficient, and he got to edit this episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, that's great. Cause how hard would it be as an editor to then direct and then give it away?

[Jenna Fischer]

I know Right.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, I would think.

[Jenna Fischer]

He said that Dean Holland assembled a few scenes, and then Dave took over, and he did a full assembly. He did, like, a director's cut, and he said not much changed.

[Angela Kinsey]

I doubt it.

[Jenna Fischer]

And he was really, really proud that basically it was his director's cut that went to air.

[Angela Kinsey]

Nice.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I have more stuff from Dave, too, so you can share that. My fast fact number three is fun facts about Nashua. Let's hear that. I mean, Holly has to go live in Nashua. Don't we want to know more about it?

[Angela Kinsey]

I do.

[Jenna Fischer]

Good. I'm going to tell you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

Holly is lucky because Nashua was named the best place to live in America two times in an annual survey by Money magazine, and it is the only city to ever win that ranking twice.

[Angela Kinsey]

Holy crap. Nashua.

[Jenna Fischer]

It was in 1987 and 1998.

[Angela Kinsey]

Going strong at the end of the 90s.

[Jenna Fischer]

Really?

[Angela Kinsey]

What else you got?

[Jenna Fischer]

Russian dressing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Originated in Nashua.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, the salad dressing. Russian dressing. No.

[Angela Kinsey]

What? You said you didn't have any deep dives. You were fooling. This is a mini deep dive on Nashua.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, you're right. It kind of is. And also on Russian dressing, it was created by a grocer named James Colburn. He started mixing it up, it looks like, around 1910.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

And he started selling it at his grocery store under the name Colburn's Mayonnaise Salad Dressing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, that's not a catchy title, so I can see why they had to zhuzh it up.

[Jenna Fischer]

Soon he started manufacturing it on a bigger scale and shipping it around to other places. And he got so rich that he was able to retire.

[Angela Kinsey]

Whoa.

[Jenna Fischer]

In 1924. Wow. So just 14 years of selling this salad dressing, and he was like, peace out.

[Angela Kinsey]

Should we make a salad dressing? What's our salad dressing?

[Jenna Fischer]

What would be in it? What do you like in a salad dressing?

[Angela Kinsey]

Lady, you had me at mayonnaise.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, so we'll do some kind of mayo based salad dressing.

[Angela Kinsey]

I also like lemon. Do those mix? I don't know.

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know. Cause I was gonna say maybe like a spicy mustard.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh.

[Jenna Fischer]

Because I know they do a honey mustard salad dressing, but has anyone paired a spicy mustard with a mayo yet?

[Angela Kinsey]

Probably.

[Jenna Fischer]

We need to cut this out. We need to cut this out because we're onto something and we'll never do it and someone else will, and then we'll be mad for the rest of our lives.

[Angela Kinsey]

Office ladies. But we need to give it a really long, clunky name. Office ladies. Creamy mayonnaise spicy mustard delight.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

And then later it's gotta go on the end. I don't care what it is.

[Jenna Fischer]

Later we'll call it like Dutch dressing. We'll just pick a country. Denmark dressing.

[Angela Kinsey]

We'll just pick a random country.

[Jenna Fischer]

Pick a country.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

This is the formula.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then we'll retire in 14.

[Angela Kinsey]

14 years. Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right. My final fun fact about Nashua is also about Amy Ryan. Her character in Gone Baby Gone.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

She is being interrogated.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

About a possible drug deal.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

And she admits that she did in fact make a drug run to Nashua.

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Jenna Fischer]

And she made $150,000 on this drug run.

[Angela Kinsey]

Amy, what is it? All your roles lead back to Nashua.

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Love it. I now need to Google Nashua.

[Jenna Fischer]

Why? I already told you everything you need to know. There's only three things to know about Nashua and I've told you what they are.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I need to Google image Nashua.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's really cute.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm a big fan of the Google image button, guys. The button, like I say it like it's an actual button on my computer. I would love it if it was a button on my computer. Less clicking.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay. Before we get into.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's our next intention.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Like computers for old people. Before we get into employee transfer, I want to share that there is another great DVD commentary for this episode from our crew and I want to let them introduce themselves because I'm going to be bringing up some of the trivia they share. And here is the DVD crew commentary for this episode.

[Jenna Fischer]

Am I gonna cry again? By the way, I'm Dave Rogers. I'm an Emmy award winning editor on the show and this was my directorial debut. And to my left, here is. I'm Kyle Alexander, location manager for the show.

[Anthony Farrell]

I'm Anthony Ferrell, writer of this fantastic episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm Veda Samarn, script supervisor, Been on

[Jenna Fischer]

the show for 99 episodes now.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I'm Philip Shea, the property master. And I have also been on the

[Jenna Fischer]

show since first season. I am Chuck Canzoneri and this was my first full year as a production

[Angela Kinsey]

assistant on the funniest show on tv.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love it.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love hearing their voices. So whenever there's a crew commentary, I just want to let them introduce themselves because it just brings back so many feelings just hearing their voices.

[Jenna Fischer]

When Dave introduced himself as the Emmy winning editor, it reminded me, Angela, that we were at that awards show. Remember we read off the people we co presented yes. Yes. And then we got to give the Emmy to our own editors. And then we partied all night with them.

[Angela Kinsey]

That was so much fun. That was one of the most fun award shows.

[Jenna Fischer]

Absolutely.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Without a doubt.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. So that is who does the DVD commentary for this episode. I'll sprinkle in tidbits they share. And then also, you guys, the bloopers for this episode are some of my most favorite of all bloopers, and you can't find them online. You know, they're not all there. So. So the bonus for this episode on the DVD box set is so great. I wish all of the driving scenes had been left in because they are all gold.

[Jenna Fischer]

I am bummed because I have every DVD set for every season except this one.

[Angela Kinsey]

What?

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know where my season five DVD went.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, lady.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know. Well, while we take a break, maybe I'll order that dvd. Ange.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

So I can watch these bloopers.

[Angela Kinsey]

These bloopers are my favorite. Some of my absolute favorite.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, I'll do it. We'll be right back. Foreign.

[Angela Kinsey]

This episode is sponsored by Better Help May is mental health awareness month. And if you've been thinking about trying therapy, now's a great time to get started.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

H E L P.com OfficeLadies Average copay

[Angela Kinsey]

is based on eligible members. Actual cost and coverage may vary by plan.

[Jenna Fischer]

Brought to you by Apple Card.

[Angela Kinsey]

Apple card users get 2% daily cash back on purchases made in store and online, whether it's for big ticket items or everyday purchases. When they use their Apple Card with

[Jenna Fischer]

Apple pay now, that's a benefit that's just too good to pass up. You could be earning 2% daily cash back when you use your Apple card with Apple Pay to buy turmeric for your signature curry, 2% back on flights to visit the family in Tucson, and even 2% back on your kid's new Tuba. You might even be able to get 2% back on a tuba Tutor not

[Angela Kinsey]

an Apple card customer. You can apply in the wallet app on iPhone. Subject to credit approval. Apple card issued by Goldman Sachs bank usa, Salt Lake City branch terms and more at Apple Co benefits. All right, we are back. And you guys, it is Halloween at Dunder Mifflin.

[Jenna Fischer]

It sure is. This is our Halloween cold open.

[Angela Kinsey]

Not through the rest of the episode, just in the cold open.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, we found out why.

[Angela Kinsey]

Let's play Anthony's first clip. He talks all about it.

[Anthony Farrell]

The show was initially. The entire episode was supposed to be Halloween. So everyone was in their costumes for the entire episode. So Andy was a kitten initially. I think in the whole B story with Dwight being in the Cornell sweater, that was his costume. An accidental costume initially. And that's where that story came from. So costume wise, we had a thing where once we decided we were going to just put the Halloween stuff in the cold open, we rewrote the cold open, and that was mostly led by Lee and Jean. And that's where the idea for the three jokers came from. That was obviously a situation that year with that costume being super popular. And they just totally made the most of that situation. It was amazing. The Charlie Chaplin thing, that was actually a full, like, runner for you. Jenna, we had initially in the first draft where you were gonna be. It was Halloween all day, so it was just gonna be you running around the New York office as the only person dressed for Halloween trying not to look like Hitler. And it was a fun little runner for you. But I think the story we got eventually with Jim's brothers and that beautiful thing with, you know, you taking the heat like that around them and having that nice little moment, I think that that, to me felt more right. And I love that we ended up going there with the story.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, it was gonna be a whole Halloween episode. And then they changed it up.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Anthony shared in the DVD that all those Halloween costumes would actually be distracting from all the other storylines. So they just made it the cold open. And I have a costume breakdown.

[Jenna Fischer]

Ooh, good. Cause I have some good details about some of the costumes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

What's everyone wearing? Ang?

[Angela Kinsey]

So we have the scripts. Thanks to jamesapedia. So, per the script, here are some details. Stanley, in the script, it says is wearing a creature from the Black Lagoon rubber mask with his regular suit.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

Creed, per the script, is an amazing joker from Batman, whereas Kevin is a, quote, lame joker. And in the script, it says Dwight is also a joker. Kelly is Carrie Bradshaw. From Sex and the City. Ryan is Gordon Gekko from Wall Street. Very fitting for Ryan. Oscar is Uncle Sam. Meredith, a cheerleader. Phyllis is Raggedy Ann.

[Jenna Fischer]

Andy.

[Angela Kinsey]

Per the script, it says he's dressed as a cat with whiskers on his face. Angela has brought back her cat costume, always a classic. And Jim is just wearing a name tag that says Dave. And of course, Pam, the solo Halloween costume wearer at corporate, is dressed as Charlie Chaplin.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. I reached out to our wardrobe designer, Alicia Raycraft. Oh, great. So starting this season, Alicia took over for Carrie Bennett. Alicia was amazing, particularly, I think, at building wardrobe from scratch. My memories of her when I would visit her in the wardrobe trailer were that she always had, like, one of those fabric mannequins with, like, swatches on it, pinned on it, or on her wall.

[Angela Kinsey]

I am telling you, she was always pinning something to something. Yes. And then standing back and looking at it and then moving a swatch here up and down.

[Jenna Fischer]

She said that with this episode, she had to really ride the line of designing wardrobe, but also making sure that the costumes look like things that we could have put together ourselves.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. The idea is that if Kevin is going to dress like the Joker, it'd be Kevin's effort. It'd be like something Kevin had to put together.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. Like you said, the script said that Creed's Joker was supposed to be the best version of the Joker. Kevin's was supposed to be lame.

[Angela Kinsey]

And they're the Dark Knight Joker.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. That's what Alicia said. They were supposed to be based on the Heath Ledger Joker. And so she had a picture and she made a shopping list, and she still had her shopping list.

[Angela Kinsey]

Stop it. I love her.

[Jenna Fischer]

This is what it said. They had to go shop for a vest with a high neck, center front, green for Creed, not for Kevin, because

[Angela Kinsey]

Creed got it right and Kevin didn't.

[Jenna Fischer]

Correct. They needed a gray or dark lilac patterned shirt, green or olive tie with a pattern. Pinstripe navy pants pleated for Kevin, but flat front for Creed. Argyle socks, black oxford shoes for Creed, but Kevin is to wear his regular character shoes. She said the overall direction in shopping for Kevin was that all of the clothes they purchased should look like they came from his closet. And the direction for Creed was that Creed went out and picked it out specifically for Halloween.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

But for Dwight, she said they went with a nod to the Jack Nicholson version of the Joker.

[Angela Kinsey]

I thought something was different when I rewatched it because the way they drew the smile.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Did not look like the Heath Ledger

[Jenna Fischer]

Joker that's how they were like, how do we do three jokers? But it's not all the same costume or the same look. But she also shared with me that she brought in a rack of clothes and that Rain really put together his costume from everything she had bought, which tracks with when we talked to Carrie. And Carrie Bennett said that Rain was always really invested in what his character wore.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's awesome.

[Jenna Fischer]

So let's see what's next. We got a lot of questions about Andy. So kitten costume. A lot of people wrote in to say they thought it looked a little bit like my favorite was. Katie L. Said it looks like an off brand rum Tum Tugger costume from the musical Cats. She said, in my mind, I like to think Andy was in a school production of Cats and he still had his costume. Katie L. You would be right on there. Dave told me that Greg was very involved in Ed's costume.

[Angela Kinsey]

Really?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. That he wanted it to look like it was from the musical Cats and he went over the top to please Angela. Right. He was not just gonna draw whiskers on his face. Guys. Alicia said she showed Greg a bunch of photos from the Broadway musical of Cats and Greg picked his favorites. But she did not base this cat on any one character. It was a meld. She built that whole costume from scratch. She bought a unitard and hand painted it. She used to do textile painting. Wow, that's amazing. And then she found another email that she shared with me. It was an email to her crew detailing how to build the little, like, fur diaper thing that he's wearing. What is it? Right.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. I don't know. It looks like fur underwear. And there's also, like, a rope belt and a tail. And. Oh, my goodness.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. She said, please make a loincloth using a thong or small brief underwear as a base. And then swatch, Phelps, wool crepe, and heavy knits on top. And please get faux fur for some gloves. So amazing. So that is how she put together all of those costumes, which were really amazing. And I remember my costume. We did like, Pam went to a store and rented a tux, basically.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I took a lot of photos this day. I have some great ones of you and Rayn. You guys were hanging out by your trailer. I was walking by you guys in my cat costume, and I see Rain as the Joker talking to Jenna as Charlie Chaplin just casually hanging out. And so I took pictures. They're some of my favorite.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I think he put that one in his book.

[Angela Kinsey]

I gave it to him.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, that's from me. I loved this episode, Angela, because I had been away for a very long time at Pratt, but, you know, the corporate offices were over on the warehouse set.

[Angela Kinsey]

We never got to see you.

[Jenna Fischer]

But you did on this day.

[Angela Kinsey]

Exactly.

[Jenna Fischer]

And I got to participate in the Halloween, which was always one of my favorite things on our show. And I would have been really bummed if I didn't get to see everybody in their costumes, but I got to be in hair makeup, and we were

[Angela Kinsey]

in there a long time. Me, not so long. But, oh, my gosh, Ed had to come in really early.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

And so did Phyllis. Like, there was a lot of makeup there.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, my hair was not easy to wash out, I'll tell you that.

[Angela Kinsey]

Are your eyebrows. I felt bad for your poor eyebrows.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, it was a real grease paint.

[Angela Kinsey]

They shellacked you.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

I have a few little background catches for this cold open. I want you guys to know that at 44 seconds, when Kevin is annoyed that Creed is such a good joker, he brushes past me and knocks me over. This was like a little running bit. Brian and I would have that. If Kevin bumped into Angela, she'd go flying. It was like our own personal bit that cracked us up to no end. When he did it, one of my cat ears fell forward and didn't come back up. And I could feel it laying on top of my head. And I was trying not to laugh. And if you go to 44 seconds, you'll see that Angela's ear flops forward.

[Jenna Fischer]

I want you to know that three people that I reached out to on this episode pointed out that moment to me.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know, I know. They talked about it in the commentary, too.

[Jenna Fischer]

I think it's gone down in the lore of this episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. And then the other thing was, you guys, they really let Ed as that cat play around and mess with John. And in one take, Ed is Andy came up to Jim and rubbed on his leg, like, kind of rubbed on him like a cat. And the two of them lost it. It's in the bloopers, but they had a lot of fun with that. One of my favorite moments is when Andy. It says in the script, Andy walks back to his desk smugly. And Ed's like, sashay in that cat costume cracked me up. You guys know we love this fake elevator in our lobby. The Dunder Mifflin lobby. Yeah, we've talked about it. Two wooden doors and a guy pulling a rope on the side.

[Jenna Fischer]

And they add all the sound effects. Later.

[Angela Kinsey]

They add it all in. Well, in the script, when Rain, as Dwight arrives in the joker outfit. He just was supposed to hop in the elevator and he was supposed to a la the joker, say, and here we go. And the doors would shut, but it was just kind of falling flat. So they came up with this alt about the magic trick of the pencil disappearing.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

And it wasn't really working still. And so Anthony pitched, what if the doors closed as he's saying the line? And then he opens them back up to finish the sentence. And they said they played around with this for a bit with the doors opening and closing, which you and I know means that there was someone pulling around, pulling that pulley really hard. And that's how they found this moment. And I thought that was really fun.

[Jenna Fischer]

That is awesome.

[Angela Kinsey]

Those things that happened on the fly like that in the moment I love to hear about.

[Jenna Fischer]

Now it's time to get into the episode. We're down in the warehouse. They are loading up a big truck so that they can take Holly to Nashua.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

We got a fan question.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

That is very funny to me. Two people.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

Ian O. And Mary S. Wrote in to say, did Holly live in the warehouse? Isn't it odd that this road trip started from the office rather than from her home?

[Angela Kinsey]

This is such a good catch. It's true.

[Jenna Fischer]

Where is this stuff coming from?

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my gosh. I guess we have to justify it that, like, they went to her apartment, packed it up, but then why did they drive to the warehouse? Why not just leave this?

[Jenna Fischer]

Piggybacks very nicely on a question that I had along with Aaron S. And Amanda E. What is Holly wearing on the day she is moving? She is dressed in her work clothes, same as Pam driving to Pratt.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fischer]

What is that, Michael? Casual.

[Angela Kinsey]

He's got his little casual, little, like, jacket. Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Also, they pointed out, I don't think it looks like she had any intention of helping move any of her own belongings. She is not dressed for a move.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, she's not. Why couldn't she be casual? What's happening?

[Jenna Fischer]

I thought these were good catches. You know, I talked to Dave about this, and he said that during the prep for this episode, they brought him a bunch of trucks to look at. And they were all giant 18 wheeler moving trucks. And he was like, how am I gonna film with that?

[Angela Kinsey]

How do I tow it?

[Jenna Fischer]

What am I doing? But he said he loves this truck that they found it looked really realistic. He also just loved that the back was open, because then when you got shots that, you know, the farther shots of them going down the road, it Just like you really felt the move. Yeah, because you could see her bed. You could see the stuff, right?

[Angela Kinsey]

They said that they wanted the table hanging off the front, like in the bubble wrap.

[Jenna Fischer]

I love it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I loved it, too. Phil Props. You know, we love Phil Props. He shared that Anthony and Dave really wanted Michael to have packed all kinds of crazy things for the road trip. Like him and Holly are little kids. Like the finger puppets and the cats in the cradle and the movies to watch, you guys, A lot of those are in the deleted scenes. Aww.

[Jenna Fischer]

Of them doing it in the van.

[Angela Kinsey]

And my absolute favorite is the two of them. The windows are down and they're watching a movie and they are pissing themselves laughing. They are laughing so hard. And Daryl looks miserable. And Daryl takes a hard turn on purpose. And the laptop that's playing the movie goes flying out the window.

[Jenna Fischer]

I remember that.

[Angela Kinsey]

It is so funny. I am so bummed it didn't make it in. Dave said they spent three hours on that gag and finally had to just let it go. They said every time Craig turned, the computer would slide and never go out the window. It only went out the window one time.

[Jenna Fischer]

I. Oh, my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

But it's in the bloopers on the dvd, and it's so funny.

[Jenna Fischer]

We had a fan catch from a couple of people from Erica S. And Mary S. And I have to say, they're making a good point.

[Angela Kinsey]

What?

[Jenna Fischer]

So it said repeatedly in Goodbye Toby that, you know, she's coming in to train for this new position and that they only allowed one day for training. And when she's on the Ferris wheel with Michael, she talks about how she was unable to be promoted at her former company. Former company.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right, right.

[Jenna Fischer]

But then in this episode, it says she's being transferred back to Nashua, as if she's been a Dunder Mifflin employee all along.

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know, guys.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, I think they caught a continuity error there.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah. Here's one of the things I was curious about. Why would Darryl agree to drive Michael and Holly be in a car with Michael and Holly for seven hours? Well, there was a talking head in the script that didn't make it in that explained this. Darryl said, I'm driving them up for five times what I would have made at work. I thought I made a good deal. Then I realized I'm going to be trapped in a truck with Michael all day. But he did earn a lot of money.

[Jenna Fischer]

So Michael paid him is why they paid him.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, that does make more sense. Well, Michael is not the only person who's leaving for the day. Jim comes walking out of the building, he's saying goodbye to them. Right. And we find out that Jim is going to go to New York and he's going to have lunch with Pam and his two brothers. So we set up that storyline. And I'm bringing this up because at 3 minutes, 24 seconds, Jim is holding the keychain that he got in the Yankee swap Christmas party from Oscar back in season two.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh my gosh. What a great tiny detail.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, I love that. Phil Shea.

[Angela Kinsey]

Phil Shea, man. Well, as Jim and Michael are having this little scene in the parking lot, Holly would have said goodbye to everyone in the bullpen. It was a deleted scene, Jenna. I laughed so hard in this scene. I was really glad. I'm way deep behind the partition. It's a series of people saying goodbye to her. But my absolute favorite was Oscar. Oscar Nunez is so good at, like being the character that rains on your parade. But he's just being reasonable, right?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

So he's like, you know, well, good luck. And she's like, well, I won't be that far. And then he goes on to say all of this and he just slowly, slowly rains on her parade. Can you play it?

[Anthony Farrell]

We'll miss you.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, well, I'll be around. It's a seven hour drive. Well, it's not that bad. But if I'm really joking to see you guys, I can always fly.

[Anthony Farrell]

I don't know if it'll be shorter to fly.

[Jenna Fischer]

You have to drive to Boston. Right. That's an hour and a half. Get to an hour before the flight.

[Anthony Farrell]

Now you're up two and a half hours.

[Jenna Fischer]

The flight to Philadelphia is an hour 15. It's another two and a half hour

[Anthony Farrell]

drive to Scranton, assuming there's no traffic.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I just want to say goodbye. Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

It made me laugh.

[Jenna Fischer]

I just wanted to say goodbye.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right, right. But like she's trying to make like it's not going to be that bad. And he's like, well, I don't know about that. Like that person. Oscar was so good at being that person.

[Jenna Fischer]

So it keeps coming up in this episode that it is seven hours from Scranton to Nashua.

[Angela Kinsey]

Did you Google it?

[Jenna Fischer]

It's not true.

[Angela Kinsey]

How far is it?

[Jenna Fischer]

Less than 5.

[Angela Kinsey]

What?

[Jenna Fischer]

It's such a big difference.

[Angela Kinsey]

Why didn't anyone look that up?

[Jenna Fischer]

No, but it's only like 4 hours and 5. 45 minutes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Are you kidding me?

[Jenna Fischer]

I'm not kidding you.

[Angela Kinsey]

What were they taking? Are there new freeways?

[Jenna Fischer]

There were Some, like, fan theories that it took them seven hours in that big truck. But that's not how we present it in this episode. We present it like, how are they ever gonna see each other? Like Holly says, even if you leave right after work, Michael, you won't even get here till after midnight.

[Angela Kinsey]

And then we'll just have one day

[Jenna Fischer]

together and you'll have to go back. But it's not true. They really scared themselves.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, at four hours, they're in the middle of nowhere. That's how we sell it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Exactly.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, wow.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know. So, anyway, I just wanted to say that I also did check the train schedule for a reason I can't explain. It takes over 12 hours on the train.

[Angela Kinsey]

Maybe our writers checked the train schedule.

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know. Lot of stops, though, I guess.

[Angela Kinsey]

My gosh.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, I know. Are you checking my work? You got your phone out. She is checking my work.

[Angela Kinsey]

I am not.

[Jenna Fischer]

What do you think? I don't know how to Google Scranton to Nashua.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, I'm very curious.

[Jenna Fischer]

After all of my great information I've

[Angela Kinsey]

given you about rabies, can I tell you something right now?

[Jenna Fischer]

What? I'm doing it, too. We're both Googling. Scranton, Nashua. There it is. Five hours. It's 311 miles. Done.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know what's amazing is that a lot of people have written about this.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know. There's a whole Reddit thread.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. I'm looking at the Reddit thread.

[Jenna Fischer]

See?

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, well, this shouldn't have broken them up.

[Jenna Fischer]

It really shouldn't have.

[Angela Kinsey]

They should have picked a further branch. Okay, well, all right.

[Jenna Fischer]

Speaking of all of these driving scenes, should we get into it a little bit? We'll come back. Stuff is happening back at the office with Dwight and Andy, but we'll get back to it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Should we do the driving? Let's do it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Let's get to the driving. Stay,

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know, something. All night long.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

Tom Cochran.

[Jenna Fischer]

According to jamesapedia, they had two days and a little more like two days and a half to shoot the driving scenes. They shot mostly on the 118 freeway, a little bit on Burbank Boulevard. That's how we made it look like the East Coast. Some tidbits from Dave Rogers. They filmed this using lipstick cameras in the car and for the most part used a tow car. So they had a big old truck that pulled the truck. Craig was not actually driving. So Dave told me that it was over 100 degrees the days they were shooting.

[Angela Kinsey]

104 is what they said in the commentary.

[Jenna Fischer]

And he, Randall Einhorn, our dp, Paul Feig and Veda had to sit in the back of the tow car under a tent. Yes. Like a black box tent where they could see monitors showing them what was happening inside the car. They had little walkie talkies so that they could talk to Amy and Steve and Craig. He said Paul Feig started removing layers of his suit because, you know, Paul used to wear like a three piece suit every day. He said they were really jealous because Randall Einhorn wore the cooling vest. Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

The cooling vest that Steve Carell had worn.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Veda said inside the tent with five monitors, all the heat was trapped in there. She said it felt like it was 200 degrees in there.

[Jenna Fischer]

Dave sent me some pictures.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, no. Were they like all melting?

[Jenna Fischer]

They were. They look so hot. It was crazy. Yeah. So they are driving. They are singing the song over and over again.

[Angela Kinsey]

Over and over. And then of course, in the deleted scenes, you guys, they're pulling things out of that bag Michael packed and doing things. And then one of the things they do is they just start doing, like, kissing push ups. Oh, my gosh. Darrell's face. They put their lips to each other and they're going 1 and 2 and 3, 4, like that. It's so good. And that didn't make it in, but they're driving Daryl crazy.

[Jenna Fischer]

But then they start to realize this is far. It's starting to hit them. Michael wants to save the day. He's like, stop right now. We're halfway. There's gotta be an amazing bed and breakfast right here.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, it's where we'll meet. It's gonna be so cute.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, meet in the middle. So they pull off the road, there's nothing.

[Angela Kinsey]

They're in the woods. Kyle, our location manager, shared this. He said when they went tech scouting, they found this location kind of like off the side of the road. They were like, oh, this will be perfect. But then they found out another production was filming just a little ways down the way in the same area.

[Jenna Fischer]

Who was it?

[Angela Kinsey]

He didn't say who it was, but he said normally this wouldn't concern us because we would film in our little nook. They would film in their nook and we'd be fine. He said, but then we found out they were filming a live band all day. And he said we couldn't have a live band, so we had to find a whole new location. And this spot was actually in Griffith Park.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, wow.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's so funny when you said another show was Filming there? I assumed it was like a murder show or 24 or something.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

Cause who else needs just like to be out in the weird woods?

[Angela Kinsey]

Maybe a teen rom com.

[Jenna Fischer]

I guess so. With a live band.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. Here's another little thing. I caught Jenna at 9 minutes, 53 seconds while Michael and Holly are having this heart to heart in the car. Darryl's getting gas, right?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Did you see what the front license plate said?

[Jenna Fischer]

No.

[Angela Kinsey]

It just says Rock107.

[Jenna Fischer]

The license plate on the truck?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, on the front of the truck says Rock 107. A radio station.

[Jenna Fischer]

Is there a Rock 107 in Scranton?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

It plays classic rock.

[Jenna Fischer]

Of course it does, Sam. Life is a highway I wanna ride it all night. Rock 107.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, baby.

[Jenna Fischer]

Although I suppose actually these are all coming off of Michael's mix CD that he made for the trip. Life is a highway. Now, we all know I made your Scranton mix cd, Sounds of Scranton. I would have put this on there. Cause it was just a mix of classic rock. You know who would have appreciated my cd?

[Angela Kinsey]

Michael Scott.

[Jenna Fischer]

Michael Scott.

[Angela Kinsey]

Jenna Fisher and Michael Scott.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Hanging out. So while Daryl is getting gas, you know, Michael says that he's dated four women in the last 10 years, and Holly surpasses them all. Well, Veda, our scripty shared that the last 10 years was an improv from Steve.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, it made it so much better, I have to say. I know. I know everything about that. When she thinks he means four people in the last year and he says in the last 10 years? Kind of at the same time.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

I was like, oh, Michael, I know. I love you so much, Michael.

[Angela Kinsey]

And they were ad libbing right there.

[Jenna Fischer]

Aw. All of it really breaks my heart, Ange. Because as they're getting closer, you can really see Holly shutting down.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, she starts crying while the song is playing. And Amy Ryan crushed that.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

That was so, so good. Well, Dave talked about this. He said, you know, he really wanted a three shot. He wanted to see Michael and Holly having this moment. Michael begging Holly, no, don't do this. We don't need to break up. And Darryl just making a random phone call. Like, does he need to talk to anyone?

[Jenna Fischer]

Someone?

[Angela Kinsey]

And he wanted to see all of that at the same time. I mean, it's not an easy shot. But Dave was like, no, no, no, I want to see all three of them.

[Jenna Fischer]

You had to see all three of them?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

It only works that way because he

[Angela Kinsey]

said it's like two scenes happening at the same time.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, Maybe we should take a break from the car because we need to cover what's happening back at the office.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah, Dwight is applying for Cornell, you guys.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, yeah, and also Pam's about to have lunch with Jim's brothers. There's a lot to talk about. We'll be right back.

[Angela Kinsey]

If you've been listening for a while, you'll know how much goes into making this show run smoothly. And if I had to hire someone tomorrow, I'd want someone who understands our workflow, knows the tools we use, and can jump in without missing a beat.

[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]

Indeed.com podcast terms and conditions apply.

[Angela Kinsey]

Need the right hire fast? Then this is a job for Indeed. Sponsored Jobs. Here's the thing. It feels like everything is costing more right now. So when we find something that actually works and it feels like it's worth the money, we get really excited.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes, that thing is Catalyst Pet. It is a cat litter, yes, but it lasts a lot longer than I expected. Like, one bag lasts a very long

[Angela Kinsey]

time, which means fewer refills, fewer emergency runs to the store because you're out of cat litter. Fewer moments of also looking at your bank account, like, what am I spending here?

[Jenna Fischer]

It also absorbs really well. You're not dumping out the whole box constantly. You really do just scoop and then add a little sprinkle from time to time.

[Angela Kinsey]

Also, my cat loves it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. And lady, our houses don't smell. That's what we call value.

[Angela Kinsey]

So if you're cutting costs but still want something that actually works, Catalyst Pet is the upgrade you didn't know you needed. Give Catalyst a try. You can pick up a bag at walmart [e-mail] lady have you ever invested in something that seemed really amazing at first but then did not live up

[Jenna Fischer]

to the hype I once got this kind of fancy jacket that looked amazing in the store. But then I wore it out once and I realized it was not comfortable. And now it just lives in my closet, collecting dust.

[Angela Kinsey]

LinkedIn has a word for that. Bull spend.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

Terms and conditions apply. Dwight arrives to work. Work.

[Angela Kinsey]

Mm.

[Jenna Fischer]

He is wearing a Cornell sweatshirt over his mustard shirt. Yeah, you wanna know why he's wearing that sweatshirt?

[Angela Kinsey]

Cause he's applying to Cornell.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's right. Mm, yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, did he know how to go after Andy or what? What, does Andy covet that Cornell diploma?

[Jenna Fischer]

My favorite thing is when you see Andy fuming in the back of Dwight's

[Angela Kinsey]

talking head when he's bobbing his chair back and forth.

[Jenna Fischer]

So good.

[Angela Kinsey]

So good. I have a little Phil props tidbit about this talking head. Dwight is holding up a coffee mug that also says Cornell.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yep.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, this was sort of a last minute pitch from Dave. He really wanted to pump up the Cornell merch.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

So he was like, what if he's holding something? They made that mug in two hours. What, our props department?

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. So that he could have it in this talking head.

[Jenna Fischer]

You know, I've seen that happen on set sometimes where there'll be an actor and they're supposed to carry a briefcase, for example, and the props team will come up during the rehearsal of the scene. On the day we're lighting, we're getting ready to shoot, and they show the actor three briefcase options. And then the actor says, oh, no, no. I imagined it would be like a distressed leather. Maybe it was my father's that he passed down. And the props person, you just see them just having a heart attack, basically.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I feel like the actor and directors, producers, the writer of the episode, they might all have a thought last

[Jenna Fischer]

minute like that on what this prop should look like. And the props person is like, always. Without fail. They're always like, oh, yeah, yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, no problem.

[Jenna Fischer]

We'll get that. And then I know that they take, like, a van to some warehouse, and they go through a giant shelf of all these briefcases to try to find the thing that the actor talked about.

[Angela Kinsey]

Or they run across the parking lot.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

And, like, try to get something printed in the moment. I have such a memory of Phil running across the parking lot.

[Jenna Fischer]

My only memories of Phil are that

[Angela Kinsey]

he is running, running are, like, fast walking and talking. Hey, Phil. Hey. How's it going?

[Jenna Fischer]

No, I'm just. I gotta make a coffee mug. I'm print out a thing, and we're gonna get that. We're gonna get that made.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yep.

[Jenna Fischer]

Can't wait. Yeah. Props are amazing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Props department kicking butt.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, throughout all of this, Dwight is just winding Andy up. They've got that scene in the kitchen. Dwight has clearly done his research.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah. After that scene in the kitchen, there's a deleted scene of Andy in the parking lot going off to his dad. Like, I died, dad. I'm gonna get him. Like, he's, like, so mad.

[Jenna Fischer]

One of my favorite scenes is the one with Dwight at his desk where he's got all this merch. There's, like, a pennant hanging from the ceiling. And then he reaches into his drawer and he gets out a Cornell bobblehead. Yeah. And Andy loses it.

[Angela Kinsey]

He's like, that's big red bear.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I asked Phil Shay if that was a real Cornell bobblehead or if we had to make it, and he said it was real. Throughout all these years of the show, because Andy had gone to school at Cornell, he made contacts at the school, particularly the Cornell bookstore, and that is where he got the bobblehead. He said, Claudia, Sandra, Peggy, and Patricia are the ladies at Cornell that would always help him out. Whenever we had a storyline that required some Cornell merch, there's going to be a really good one coming up, and I can't wait to share it in a future episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you, ladies. I love that Phil had all his people. He had all his people everywhere. Oh, yeah. Well, I have a little thing to share about that Cornell bobblehead as well. So it was not the first choice.

[Jenna Fischer]

What was the first choice?

[Angela Kinsey]

So to ratchet Andy up, Dwight was gonna have his cell phone ringtone be the Cornell fight song.

[Jenna Fischer]

Ooh, that's a good idea.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. But then when they heard it, it just didn't quite work in the moment. It was just, like, too much setup. And so they felt like the bobblehead was just, like, this quick. Like, boom. I now have the Cornell merch on my desk.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I like the personal connection to Angela and the Bobbleheads as well.

[Angela Kinsey]

Side by side.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. So I like that choice for that reason.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, it almost was Give My regards to Davie, which is the Cornell fight song playing on Dwight's cell phone.

[Jenna Fischer]

You know the scene where Andy confronts Dwight outside of the bathroom, and Dwight starts asking Andy what a capella group he should join at Cornell.

[Angela Kinsey]

The Harmoniacs are the Do Re Migos.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. I looked it up. According to the Cornell A Cappella Advisory Council. There is a Cornell A Cappella Advisory Council.

[Angela Kinsey]

Amazing.

[Jenna Fischer]

There are not any current a cappella groups with those names. But I'm not sure about when we

[Angela Kinsey]

filmed, AKA what Acca. Let me tell you. Veda said that Rain was improvising quite a bit in this moment. Oh, some was scripted. And then he just started going off.

[Jenna Fischer]

I see.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. And also Anthony shared that he pitched that Stanley should be the first person to come out of the bathroom to kind of throw Andy off, because Andy's so ready. And then Stanley comes out and he's like.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then he has to get his

[Angela Kinsey]

energy back up for Dwight. I love that little moment.

[Jenna Fischer]

Great detail. All of this is going to lead to a delicious scene in the conference room because Andy informs Dwight, guess who is conducting your interview?

[Angela Kinsey]

He's contacted Cornell and he's going to do the interview.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. And Dwight's like, bring it on. I love this conference room scene so much.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love it so much. Dave shared that this conference room scene between Dwight and Andy was his first day of filming. What? Yes. And he loved that because it was so contained, right?

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, my gosh. Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. And he said it was about a 10 to 11 page scene. That's a huge scene.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. A lot of people asked, was this scripted or improvised? It was almost all scripted.

[Angela Kinsey]

It was almost all scripted. But Veda said that they did let Rainn and Ed really play around, especially with the role model name pitches. And these guys kept laughing. They were breaking so hard in the scene.

[Jenna Fischer]

In the end, White says his role models are Dane Cook, Jack Bauer, and Eli Whitney. But in the script, they're different. And there's many takes of these names being different, but there was one big part of this scene that was improvised. And Anthony talks about it.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's so good.

[Anthony Farrell]

That scene that we had in the conference room where they were, the double interview, as it were, that was always, like. Had always been in there as a fun scene for the two of them to square off at the end of that episode. I do remember there Was a moment where it was either Rain or Ed started pulling the table. And I was just like, ugh, we've got to do that more. So I talked to Dave, Dave Rogers, who was directing his first episode of the Office, and he's directed a thousand things since because he's freaking amazing. I remember talking to Dave, I was like, they've got to just let him play with that tactic. Let him pull it back and forth. Like, let him struggle with that and see what happens. And I think we got. That was the only take I think we did of that, where Rain just pulls it all the way to the wall and thanks him for coming. It's just that whole, you know, those characters are all about. All about conflict, all about power shifts, and that whole dynamic just felt. It felt like the right place to end up with those characters. And so that was a nice little bit of improv that we got to enhance on the day.

[Jenna Fischer]

I feel like Dave must have been so excited after this first shoot day.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

To get that table tugging moment. To get this whole scene. These guys are so good in it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

He had to have been fired up.

[Angela Kinsey]

You would think so. I mean, the biggest stuff was ahead of him, but at least he had that first day in the conference room.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, you know, it's interesting. Dave shared with me the last thing we shot for this episode was the Halloween cold open. That was the last day of shooting. Oh, wow. Yeah. He said we needed time to get all those costumes and everything organized.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Should we talk about what's going on with Jim and Pam during all of this now?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

So we know that they're gonna have lunch with Jim's brothers. But what we find out is that Pam gets to the restaurant early.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

She wants to do a prank.

[Angela Kinsey]

Cause she wants them to like her. Yeah, she's like, gonna be the fun sister in law. Jenna, do you have a guest star breakdown?

[Jenna Fischer]

You know I do. Pete Halpert was played by Tug Coker and Tom Halpert was played by Blake Robbins.

[Angela Kinsey]

They were super tall.

[Jenna Fischer]

Very tall. There's the reason for that. John Krasinski has two very tall brothers in real life, and they thought this would be a fun nod to his family.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

I was able to get in touch with Tug, by the way, and oh, my gosh, I could not love this guy more. I mean, we had such a fun time shooting together. And I had so much fun reminiscing with him about this. He told me that the audition notice for this episode, it said it was looking for actors who were 6 foot 1 or taller, preferably with brown hair. But it did not reveal that you would be playing Jim Halpert's brother.

[Angela Kinsey]

Huh.

[Jenna Fischer]

And when he got to the audition, he said, first of all, he's six foot five. And when he got to the audition, Allison Jones said, you look like you could play John Krasinski's brother. That's what she said. And he was like, oh, I'm gonna be playing a helper.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

That was his first clue. He read with Alison's associate, Ben Harris, and the next day, he got a call that he'd gotten the part.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I definitely felt like these guys look like they could be John's brothers. And, you know, John's brothers in real life are super tall. They're like six, eight or something. They're like the tallest family.

[Jenna Fischer]

Isn't John the short one?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

And John is 6:3.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And he's the shorty.

[Jenna Fischer]

That is so crazy. Well, Tug said, here's a thing that happens when you're a really tall actor. You usually have to bring your own clothes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Listen, Tug, that's what happens when you're a really short actor too.

[Jenna Fischer]

Angela can relate. He said, that is his own suit, and those are his own shoes.

[Angela Kinsey]

I believe it.

[Jenna Fischer]

He's pretty sure that Blake wore his own clothes in the scene as well. So, you know this first scene at the restaurant, Angela, where Pam has met them early, and she's pitching her idea for what the prank could be. She says, her ring. She put it in her little apron. She left it. She's gonna throw another girl under the bus. This whole drama. She lost her engagement ring, and they're like, oh, we have a better idea. Their idea is that they're gonna dog Pam about her career choice as an artist.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And they said, let's do the same thing we did to Jim's girlfriend in high school. What the heck, Guys, what is your pattern here? Oh, our bit is we make the girls that Jim's dating feel crappy about themselves. I know.

[Jenna Fischer]

What the heck?

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. They said in the DVD commentary that they wanted Jim's brothers to be bad at pranking. Like, they're like, the less sophisticated prankers of the family. Jim is better at pranking. They're kind of lame at it.

[Jenna Fischer]

So most of this stuff was scripted in the restaurant. We did not have a lot of time, actually, to play around, but. But Tug reminded me that we did improvise the very end of this scene. He said, jenna, I'm pretty sure you improvised that line. So not the ring. Thing then. And then the two of them are like, no, no, no, this is better. This is better. And I checked the script, and he's right. The scene had actually been meant to end sooner.

[Angela Kinsey]

That sounds like you in real life, by the way. That sounds like something you would say, maybe. So I feel like we've ordered lunch together, and I've gone back and forth about an appetizer, and you've said, so not the dip, then. We're not doing the dip.

[Jenna Fischer]

Just to clarify.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, Dave shared that you guys filmed this restaurant scene the day after Labor Day. Oh, Tuesday in September. I thought that was a fun little detail to know. And Kyle, the locations manager, said that this restaurant was called E3rd, and it was on the east side of downtown LA. They were really trying to get this area to double as Brooklyn, where Pam was attending. Pratt.

[Jenna Fischer]

I think they did a good job.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, the restaurant was a steakhouse. And in the next scene, where you see that we're eating after Jim has arrived, we got to just pick off the menu.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, so you're really eating the restaurant food?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, that's so lucky.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, that's cool.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, Tug said he remembers it very clearly because it was the very first time he had to eat in a scene. And when they gave him the menu, he thought his character would order steak at a steakhouse. And that John Krasinski said, oh, dude, you're gonna regret that choice. You're gonna be eating cold steak for several hours. And Tug was like, what do you mean, I'm gonna eat steak? And that's what my character would eat. And he said, john ordered a salad and, like, a little protein on the side, and that's what I ordered as well. Well, Tug said that his concern about ordering a salad was that he didn't want any food to fall on him during the scene. He was like, this is the first time I'm eating and acting. I think steak, I can get it on the fork. I can get it in my mouth.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, steak is definitely easier to eat than salad.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, Tug pointed out to me, and I didn't notice it the first time I watched it, but he said it's burned in his brain because this is the scene that was on his acting reel for years and years. So at 12 minutes, 25 seconds, John is struggling with this bite of salad. You can see it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I saw that too.

[Jenna Fischer]

He's having a very hard time getting this piece of lettuce in his mouth. And then if you watch closely, one leaf misses his mouth and falls into his lap. Which was exactly Tug's fear that if Tug had been eating salad, he would have missed his mouth. He was then glad he had ordered that steak and had to eat it for hours.

[Angela Kinsey]

John, as I rewatched that, I thought, that's a really big, aggressive bite of lettuce. Like, he really went.

[Jenna Fischer]

He did. You know, sometimes when you're eating salad in a scene, you don't realize what you've got on the fork, and then you just have to commit to it.

[Angela Kinsey]

And that was on Tug's reel. So he watched it over and over.

[Jenna Fischer]

Over and over again. He watched that piece of lettuce fall.

[Angela Kinsey]

So, you know, their dinner starts out pretty sweet, right? Jim is holding up a photo of his niece, right?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

So you feel like this is gonna be nice.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's pre prank. The prank hasn't started yet.

[Angela Kinsey]

Prank hasn't started yet. The photo that John is holding up is our set medic, Patrice King's daughter.

[Jenna Fischer]

Aw.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Phil shared that. Phil would do that.

[Jenna Fischer]

You guys, this scene also has the moment where all of us at the end of the scene give a look to camera. And it's such a cool moment. Tug said he remembers Dave, Roger giving him the direction to check in with the camera throughout the scene. And this was, like, so crazy to him because, you know, he'd never been in a project where you were allowed to look down the lens like that. But I love this moment. I love the look that he gives the camera, and you just go around the table, and we all give this little look to camera about this prank. That is not going well.

[Angela Kinsey]

Not going well. Dave talked about it a little bit. He said he wanted the brothers to look to camera, to just give that subtle hint that their mannerisms were similar to Jim, that they would check in like that. At 8 minutes, 33 seconds, Pete gives a solo look to camera.

[Jenna Fischer]

Mm.

[Angela Kinsey]

And at 12 minutes, 31 seconds, Tom gives a gym kind of shrug to camera.

[Jenna Fischer]

I loved that one. I thought that was so good. Well, as this prank continues, it is really getting under Pam's skin. Like, she is getting very flustered, I think, particularly when he suggests that she pay the bill by drawing on the napkin.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, Jenna, if you need a boost, listen to the DVD commentary, because Veda said she was so impressed with your performance.

[Jenna Fischer]

Aw.

[Angela Kinsey]

She said, you know, the way this was scripted is tough because Pam has to want to be on board to be pranked. But then also start clocking, like, hey, that's kind of a dig. Okay. You're kind of going too far. And she said, Jenna did such an amazing job. It was really sweet. Veda was showing you some love.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's really sweet. Well, it was kind of a fine line because everything that Veda said part of the storyline was also meant to further Pam's insecurity about the idea of being an artist.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh.

[Jenna Fischer]

And, you know, because this is something that she wants. But Pam is not a person with a lot of certainty all the time. And this was supposed to play on that. It was a lot for Pam to go to art school. It really was.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

And so this is meant to kind of discourage her momentum.

[Angela Kinsey]

Aw, that makes me sad.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, I know. I know. I have to say, it was so nice reconnecting with Tug about these scenes. You know, he said he's still in touch with Blake. He still gets recognized for having been on the show. Something he told me that I thought was really special was that the day this episode aired, Dave Rogers called him, personally complimented his performance, and told him, hey, I wanted you to know that the bulk of the brothers scenes made it into the episode. And so when you see it tonight, it's there.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is so nice. No one does that. That was so nice of Dave.

[Jenna Fischer]

No one does that. And Tug said, you know, I'd done a ton of guest roles, and sometimes you tell your whole family to watch it, and they watch it, and your whole part has been reduced to one line all the time, he said. So he was so excited. He called his friends and family, and he was like, yes, yes, watch the show. I'm really on it. And the show was a big deal at the time. This was a big deal to him and his friends and family that he had been on it. So, Dave Rogers, you are a gem. Tug, thank you so much. I want you guys to know that you can catch him on a show called Now We're Talking. It is a scripted comedy series, and he co created it, produced it, and stars in it, and it was nominated for a WGA award. It's produced by LeBron James and Maverick Carter's company, Spring Hill. But Office fans, if you check it out, you might see some Office alums on there. They've got Malcolm Barrett and Andy Buckley pop up on the show.

[Angela Kinsey]

Nice.

[Jenna Fischer]

So definitely check it out, because this guy is amazing. Tug, thank you so much.

[Angela Kinsey]

So we finish out this Jim and Pam storyline. They're leaving the restaurant. The two of them are walking down the street, and Pam's like, that's not exactly how I had that going. Like, I had a whole different prank. And she tells it to him. And then Jenna Veda shared that you

[Jenna Fischer]

ad libbed the end the line about him being bald.

[Angela Kinsey]

You ad libbed. How about we prank him on Thanksgiving about him being bald. That was all you.

[Jenna Fischer]

I was really proud of that line. I thought that was funny.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, it was really funny. So you, you had some improvs in this one, lady.

[Jenna Fischer]

I did. I really did. Now I think we should wrap up this Michael and Holly storyline because they've arrived at Holly's charming little house in Nashua.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know Anthony said in the script he wanted it to be a basement apartment.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh.

[Angela Kinsey]

But he was like, but we don't really have basement apartments here. So they found this little house in Angelino Heights. Oh, isn't it so cute? I thought it was so cute.

[Jenna Fischer]

It brought up a lot of questions for me though. Okay. If Holly was in Nashua and she had to move her whole life and all her stuff and get rid of her house slash apartment that she had been living in and move to Scranton. She was only in Scranton for, I think, like less than two months. And now she has to move all the way back. And it was kind of breaking my heart. I was glad they picked a cute location because I was thinking, oh my gosh, she just left this city. But then I thought, it tracks that she would know where to get a cute place if she was from there.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. Maybe it's even her old place.

[Jenna Fischer]

Maybe it is. It's super cute.

[Angela Kinsey]

Super cute. Also, per Dave, they were really stressed about losing light and they were going to be losing some of the crew because they were going to leave to go film the Jim and Pam proposal with Ken Kwapas.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. So we would do this sometimes. We filmed the Jim Pam proposal during this episode's week of filming.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. Cause they had to build the whole thing. Sometimes the schedule just got wonky like that. So Dave was really on a time crunch here to get this filmed.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, Michael decides he's not gonna stay. He had planned to stay for the weekend, I guess, to help her unpack. It seems pretty clear that they're gonna break up because of the seven hour drive. That's really only four hours, four and a half.

[Angela Kinsey]

They could have totally done it.

[Jenna Fischer]

They could have done it. I wanted to go into the TV

[Angela Kinsey]

and tell them, but Anthony said that he wrote dialogue here for them, saying goodbye and how, well, maybe I'll see you or maybe we'll go and this and that. And then in the moment, Amy and Steve just did this really big, long, lingering hug. And Dave was like, that. That's it?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

They don't need to have the dialogue. That hug tells you everything.

[Jenna Fischer]

We had a lot of mail.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

From Chris W. Chelsea C. Hanlon H. And many others. Just asking a couple of questions. Number one, how was Michael planning to get back to Scranton if he and Holly hadn't broken up?

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. Neither of them have a car.

[Jenna Fischer]

That was the other thing. Did Holly not bring a car to Nashua? What'd she do with her car? Did she leave it in Scranton?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know.

[Jenna Fischer]

They didn't tow it. I noticed. I looked for it. Poor Holly has just gotten dropped off with all her stuff. A mattress in, like, you know, plastic wrap. No one is helping her unpack. And she has no car and she's dressed for work.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's how we leave Holly in Nashua.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fischer]

This whole storyline ends with such an amazing scene of Michael and Daryl in the car. Driving back. Dave was really stressed because, like you said, they were losing light.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. He said Randall, our camera operator, was going, come on, we gotta get this now. We gotta get it now. The sun was setting, but didn't it make for such a beautiful backdrop?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yep. It just meant that they didn't get a lot of takes. They had to nail it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Anthony said he loved that it was getting dark. Cause you really got the sense that they spent the whole day together.

[Jenna Fischer]

I liked that, too. Dave told me this is his favorite scene from the episode. Anthony said the same thing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Anthony was very excited. Cause this was his pitch and his idea. He talks about it right here.

[Anthony Farrell]

Yeah. This is my first ever episode of Television that was written and got onto tv. So it holds a very near and dear place in my heart. This one. All the stuff with the breakup and. Oh, the thing with. Oh, my God. Of course. The scene at the end where Michael's singing the blues. That's a special moment for me in particular, because I do remember pitching that in the room. And it's one of those things. As a writer, so many things you pitch, they might end up in other people's scripts, but they might end up in your script. And you're just trying to tell the story the best way you can. And every once in a while, you get a situation where something you pitch is in your script and it ends up being on the show. And you feel, oh, that's amazing. That whole blues moment at the end when Michael Scott just doesn't get it, but still has the cathartic moment he needs at the end of that. I thought. I remember pitching that in the room and thinking, oh, that'll be fun to get to do. And then I got to write the episode, and then I got to watch it happen. And it was getting dark, and it was just the perfect little moment for us. And I just remember feeling like I have the best job in the world.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know those scenes well.

[Angela Kinsey]

I just love that there is something so special about seeing your idea fully realized. And I just love that he shared that. Well, lady, we have one last scene.

[Jenna Fischer]

We do. You know, we don't really ever find out exactly how this Cornell interview application thing wraps up. I assume he doesn't get in, but that was never really the point. The point of this storyline was really Angela. Angela was the point. This was Dwight was performing for her. Right. And he's winding Andy up because he is jealous.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's right. Well, there was a whole runner. There were scenes between Angela and Andy where Andy's all worked up and Angela's trying to calm him down. And then Angela goes to Dwight and is like, what the heck? Here's one of those deleted scenes. Why are you doing this to Andy?

[Jenna Fischer]

You once told me that Andy and I had different strengths. Well, he can't do what I can do. I can get into Cornell, but he doesn't know how to make food and shelter from a golden retriever.

[Angela Kinsey]

Even if you do somehow get in, that's not gonna make me leave Andy.

[Jenna Fischer]

No, but it'll make you respect him less.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, that's true. Oh, I like.

[Jenna Fischer]

So I said it stayed in. I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Because Dwight. Dwight does get what he wants, right? Yeah. I think Andy unravels in front of Angela, and whether Dwight gets into Cornell or not. She didn't care for it.

[Jenna Fischer]

No, not at all.

[Angela Kinsey]

And now we have this tag where Andy's gonna pay back Dwight. But of course, it's just so embarrassing. In fact, at 20 minutes, 51 seconds is one of my most popular memes.

[Jenna Fischer]

What? When you're rolling your eyes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Andy walks in dressed as a farmer with no shirt on. And B, and my character rolls her eyes and then puts her head into her hand. Oh.

[Jenna Fischer]

We had a fan question. People wanted to know, did Rain actually take a bite out of a beat at the end of the episode? Yes, he did. And that was improvised.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. And Veda said he did it in the last take. Very smart. Rain, if you're going to do it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. It was scripted that Andy tries to bite the beat. And that line about, oh, you're supposed to cook it first, that was in the script. But the button of Dwight being able to bite a beat. That was all Rainn. All Rainn Wilson.

[Angela Kinsey]

You guys, that was employee transfer.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. And we wanna give a huge thanks to all the people who helped gather information on this episode. It was a bunch of people.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you.

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you to James Carey, Dave Rogers, Alicia Raycraft, Phil Shea, Anthony Farrell, and Tug Corker for sharing your memories. One final shout out for Tug. He and his wife own a wine bar.

[Angela Kinsey]

What?

[Jenna Fischer]

Santa Monica, Angela. It's called Esther's. He's invited us to come down, have some wine and cheese with them.

[Angela Kinsey]

Tug, we are there, right?

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, he and his wife also do a podcast together called the Long Finish. You can find them on Instagram helong Finish. Here's what they do. They open a bottle of wine and they discuss their life as they work together and raise three kids. He has a three week old baby, Tug, Right? Bless your heart, right?

[Angela Kinsey]

You're in the weeds.

[Jenna Fischer]

They are in the weeds. But they still do this podcast about their life together. And Tug, we're coming to have wine with you guys.

[Angela Kinsey]

We sure are. And you guys, if you haven't watched the bloopers for this one, they're a must watch. Go to the DVD box set. There's so good.

[Jenna Fischer]

I'm so jealous I don't have this one.

[Angela Kinsey]

We gotta get it for you.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, you guys, sometimes life is a

[Jenna Fischer]

highway and you gotta ride it all night long.

[Angela Kinsey]

We'll see you next week.

[Jenna Fischer]

See you next week. And this song will be in your head forever.

[Angela Kinsey]

Now you know it if you're going my way

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

[Jenna Fischer]

Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer producer is Matt Beagle.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our second drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent.

[Jenna Fischer]

Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer.

[Angela Kinsey]

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese.

[Jenna Fischer]

Dennis Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. Having the right people in your corner,

[Jenna Fischer]

it just makes all the difference, lady. Having you in my corner.

[Angela Kinsey]

Aw. Well, right back at you. Well, we are working with State Farm and one of the things I like about State Farm is knowing that you have that support because like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Whether you need coverage for your car or your home, you can choose the right amount of coverage for you.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

from to help best fit your needs. Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with their personal price plan.

[Jenna Fischer]

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[Angela Kinsey]

Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state. Coverage options are selected by the customer. Availability, amount of discounts and savings and eligibility vary by state. So if you've got a few people to shop for this Mother's Day, I do. I have three sisters and my mom and my niece and you want a great gift, but you also need to have a budget. Let me just tell you guys, Macy's has everything you need.

[Jenna Fischer]

They have got a whole lineup of gifts that are $50 and under. So whether you're shopping for a friend, your mom, your mother in law, anyone else else you want to celebrate, you can mix and match meaningful gifts without watching your total skyrocket.

[Angela Kinsey]

And right now Macy's Bouquet of Deals is happening with new deals dropping every day on really great giftable items from brands like KitchenAid, Lancome, Lego, Prada Hotel Collection and more. It's so worth checking out lady.

[Jenna Fischer]

I love to check the website for the bouquet of deals but also do not skip Macy's backstage. It has all of these fun extra gifts that are all under $25. So whether you're shopping for one person or a whole list, Macy's makes it easy to keep it thoughtful and budget friendly. Shop now@macy's.com or in store.