Second Drink: Office Olympics with Paul Feig

Summary

Office Ladies Episode Summary

Episode Title: Second Drink: Office Olympics with Paul Feig
Release Date: January 6, 2025
Hosts: Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey

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Introduction to Office Olympics

In the "Second Drink: Office Olympics with Paul Feig" episode of Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey delve deep into one of their favorite episodes from The Office. This episode features the beloved Office Olympics, where Jim Halpert (played by John Krasinski) organizes a series of games to keep the office entertained while Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) are away handling Michael's new condo purchase. The hosts provide an engaging mix of behind-the-scenes anecdotes, fan questions, and an exclusive interview with director Paul Feig.

Behind the Scenes Insights

Guest Star: John Harrington Bland as Bill

Jenna and Angela highlight the comedic brilliance of John Harrington Bland, who portrays Bill, the head of the condo association. They commend his performance, noting his prior work on Spin City, Boardwalk Empire, and The Loudest Voice. Jenna shares a memorable moment from the scene:

[03:13] Jenna Fischer: "Michael, this is Bill. He's the head of the condo association."

Deleted Scene with Greg Daniels

A fascinating tidbit involves a deleted scene featuring Greg Daniels himself masquerading as one of Michael’s new neighbors. This scene adds an extra layer of humor and showcases the playful dynamics on set:

[05:14] Jenna Fischer: "Hello. How are you? I'm just about to close on 126 over there. And I guess we're gonna be neighbors."

Hidden Camera Operator Appearance

Angela points out a clever Easter egg in the episode where viewers can spot the camera operator, Chris Workman, in a scene:

[03:13] Jenna Fischer: "In that scene, you can see our camera operator, Chris Workman, over Oscar's shoulder."

Interview with Paul Feig

Jenna and Angela sit down with Paul Feig, the director of the Office Olympics episode, to uncover the episode's inspiration and production nuances.

Inspiration from King of the Hill

Paul reveals that the Office Olympics were inspired by a real Office Olympics event at King of the Hill, orchestrated by Tim Croston, Greg Daniels' assistant. This event included elaborate opening ceremonies, including a torch and team shirts, and various quirky games like Guess the Elevator and Twinkie eating contests. Paul shares:

[12:09] Angela Kinsey: "Tim said that we wasted a full day and a half on this, and I won the award for wasting the most office time."

Production Details and Challenges

Paul discusses the creative process behind directing The Office, emphasizing the show's collaborative environment that allowed for improvisation and spontaneity. He highlights how Steve Carell's sincere portrayal of Michael Scott in emotional scenes, such as his moment of vulnerability during the Office Olympics, influenced the episode's direction:

[28:12] John Krasinski: "As soon as I saw Diversity Day, I was just like, completely in. I just thought it was so great."

Paul Feig’s Directing Philosophy

Paul elaborates on his directing style, focusing on authenticity and allowing actors to explore their characters deeply. He recounts how Michael’s emotional breakdown during the Office Olympics was directed to enhance the character's depth:

[34:58] John Krasinski: "We really wanted him to feel lost in this, in this thing because, you know, it's so much about him being overwhelmed."

Detailed Episode Breakdown

Opening Scenes and Character Interactions

The episode begins with Michael's talking head, where he excitedly announces his move to a new condo. This sets the stage for Dwight accompanying him, leaving Jim in charge. Jenna notes subtle foreshadowing in the office setup:

[47:18] Angela Kinsey: "Jim's screensaver is a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. I think that's a little foreshadowing to the fire, which is coming next."

Office Games and Personalities

Jim introduces various games, showcasing the unique personalities within the office. Notably, Phil (played by Paul Lieberstein) secures second place in a Twinkie eating contest, adding humor to the competitive spirit:

[13:31] Jenna Fischer: "Paul was working on King of the Hill at the time as well. But he said they really got into it. They went all out."

Key Moments and Emotional Highs

One of the episode's pivotal moments is Steve Carell’s heartfelt performance as Michael, who expresses genuine appreciation for his office family. This scene became a turning point for Michael’s character, shifting from awkward humor to a more sympathetic portrayal:

[29:26] Jenna Fischer: "Steve, that's so great. Like, keep going with that."

The closing ceremonies scene is equally emotional, with Michael tearing up as he reflects on the support from his colleagues:

[69:16] Angela Kinsey: "It was so moving. Just sort of his honest portrayal of this person and Steve is just amazing."

Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Angela Kinsey at [58:38]: "It's just so great. And I want to give a guest star shout out to John Harrington Bland as Bill, head of the condo association."
• Jenna Fischer at [08:35]: "So after the break, we're gonna talk to Paul Feig."
• Paul Feig at [26:30]: "It was my great agent at the time, Renee Kurtz, who was steering me towards it."

Personal Reflections and Fun Facts

Jenna and Angela share personal anecdotes and memorabilia from the episode, such as Angela’s favorite Post-it note drawing depicting herself as a dominatrix, showcasing the playful behind-the-scenes relationships:

[50:27] Angela Kinsey: "This post it note is a drawing he did is one of my personal favorites. It is Angela as a dominatrix. She is getting a shoulder ride from Kevin."

They also discuss the challenges of filming, like the difficulty of sitting with an upside-down braid and the humorous mishaps, such as the broken convertible window blamed on the camera crew:

[53:40] Angela Kinsey: "But Randall has been blamed for this on the Internet. Really?" [53:45] Jenna Fischer: "Yes. The Internet says that Randall broke the window and it had to be replaced."

Memorabilia and Future Plans

Towards the end of the episode, Jenna and Angela express their desire to compile their memorabilia into a scrapbook, reflecting their deep affection for the show and the cherished memories they’ve accumulated:

[68:38] Angela Kinsey: "I think we should, because I want to do it before I lose the stuff."

Conclusion and Teasers for Next Episode

The hosts wrap up the episode by expressing their emotional connection to the Office Olympics segment and teasing the next episode focusing on the fire incident, promising more behind-the-scenes fun and personal stories:

[71:11] Angela Kinsey: "And I might have hit John Krasinski."

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Final Thoughts

"Second Drink: Office Olympics with Paul Feig" offers fans an intimate look into one of The Office’s most memorable episodes. Through detailed breakdowns, heartfelt interviews, and personal stories, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey deliver a comprehensive and engaging summary that both honors the original series and provides fresh insights for longtime fans and newcomers alike.

Transcript

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

Free.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. But it was silk. It's amazing. And it was a really reasonable price.

[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]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Jenna Fischer]

Hello everyone and welcome to our second drink of Office Olympics. I really love this episode so much. But my favorite stuff is the stuff in the condo with Michael and Dwight. I ended up re watching this whole episode and I think that I love that stuff because we weren't there. And so when I watch them, I think I'm really seeing them as an audience member. And those two are so funny.

[Angela Kinsey]

There's just something so fun about seeing Michael and Dwight out of the office. To me, just the way they interact with each other when they're out in the world is hilarious.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. I mean, it starts with them driving to the condo and. And Dwight is, like, messing with Michael's car. And when we did our breakdown of this episode, people were quick to point out that I said, this is the first time we see Michael's car, but we actually saw it in Hot Girl.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, and you got mail about it.

[Jenna Fischer]

I did.

[Angela Kinsey]

And, Jenna, you know what I love is when we get to the condo, well, there's a scene. We didn't talk about it much the first time. Let's hear it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Michael, this is Bill. He's the head of the condo association.

[Paul Feig]

Oh, hey, how are you? Nice to meet you. Bill.

[John Krasinski]

Bill.

[Paul Feig]

Mr. Bill. Oh, no.

[Jenna Fischer]

M.

[Paul Feig]

SNL. When they pull them apart, you would always get rolled over by something.

[Jenna Fischer]

Nice to meet you.

[Paul Feig]

Nice to meet you, too. This is smaller than your old place. Yes. While I'm buying it and I'm not renting it, so it's still an upgrade. He doesn't know anything about property ownership. Kind of an idiot.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's just so great. It's just so great. And I want to give a guest star shout out to John Harrington Bland as Bill, head of the condo association. He is so funny. The look on his face. John had a recurring role as a reporter on Spin City, which is probably why he was on Allison Jones radar since she also cast that show. But he's a really talented actor. He's been on so much, including recurring roles on Boardwalk Empire and the Loudest Voice. And now I've got a really fun catch from this episode that I can't believe we missed the first time around. Angela.

[Angela Kinsey]

What?

[Jenna Fischer]

At 8 minutes and 35 seconds in the scene where Pam is hanging up her homemade banner in the kitchen and Jim is lighting the candle, and we talked about safety meeting. Lit candle.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay. In that scene, you can see our camera operator, Chris Workman, over Oscar's shoulder.

[Angela Kinsey]

Get out.

[Jenna Fischer]

You can see him standing on an apple box getting the shot.

[Angela Kinsey]

No way. Oh, I have to go back and see that. I love Chris. I know he made it in the show. Well, something I wish I'd brought up the first time was a deleted scene that we would have played at the end of the episode. It features Michael and Dwight having a conversation with one of Michael's new neighbors. And lady. It's so funny because it is Greg Daniels.

[Jenna Fischer]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Let's hear it. Hello.

[Paul Feig]

Hello. How are you? I'm just about to close on 126 over there. And I guess we're gonna be neighbors. Very cool. Very cool. So what's the vibe? What's the vibe of this place?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know. It's pretty quiet.

[Paul Feig]

Oh, that's gonna change.

[Angela Kinsey]

Why?

[Paul Feig]

Because I loves to party. And I'm gonna be partying my butt off of this place.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay. But there's an 11 o'clock noise curfew.

[Paul Feig]

I am Dwight Schrute, Mr. Scott's associate.

[Angela Kinsey]

Who's Mr. Scott?

[Paul Feig]

Him. I have a question about the property line. These two trees are pretty close together, but it looks to me like this one's more on your side. This one might be more on his.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Paul Feig]

What are you doing home in the middle of the day?

[Angela Kinsey]

I just came back for lunch.

[Paul Feig]

What are you having?

[Angela Kinsey]

I've got a Hot Pocket.

[Paul Feig]

What line of business are you in?

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm a salesman.

[John Krasinski]

Really?

[Paul Feig]

So am I. What?

[Angela Kinsey]

I sell yarn.

[Paul Feig]

You're a yarn salesman?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Paul Feig]

I have a couple questions about the neighborhood. Have you had any problems with prostitution, crack dealing, gang violence, et cetera? No. Here's a question for you. I have a convertible. Is it safe to park that in my driveway? All right, See you soon. Good guy.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, so the thing I love about it is that we have teased Greg for so long because a big portion of that was improvisation. When they say, what do you do for a living? He says, I'm a salesman. They say, what do you sell?

[Angela Kinsey]

He says, yarn.

[Jenna Fischer]

We have teased him about being a yarn salesman. And I think you can hear it in Steve's voice when Steve says, oh, you sell yarn.

[Angela Kinsey]

Also, I love that he said he was eating a Hot Pocket.

[Jenna Fischer]

A Hot Pocket.

[Angela Kinsey]

And the other thing, too is if you go and watch this, we both rewatched it when Dwight's like, I want to discuss a property line. Here they are zero lot condos. So there's no yard. Do you know what I mean? It's like your door is to the left and the other person's door is to the right. And Greg's reactions were really funny.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, everyone, that was your second drink of Office Olympics. Join us this Wednesday for Is Toby the Scranton Strangler?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yep. And Jen and I will discuss fan theories and debate if Toby really is the Scranton Strangler. And Paul Lieberstein is going to join us to talk all about it.

[Jenna Fischer]

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 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. Hello everybody.

[Angela Kinsey]

Hi everyone.

[Jenna Fischer]

Welcome to season two, Episode three, Office Olympics.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yoo hoo.

[Jenna Fischer]

Guys, if I sound grouchy today, it's because I'm in hour four of a cleanse. I've never done one before. I think they're stupid. I don't know why I'm doing it. Angela, what are your thoughts on my cleanse?

[Angela Kinsey]

It's a bad idea.

[Jenna Fischer]

Why am I doing it?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know. I don't know. Whatever. I don't want a bunch of people writing in like to us being like, you guys. Cleanses are good for you. But you know what? I just think they sound like a big pain in the ass.

[Jenna Fischer]

Here's the thing. I was running out of the house this morning. I was late. I didn't have time to make my usual breakfast of scrambled eggs and sliced strawberries. I eat that every morning.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh man, I love it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Didn't have time. But I remembered that about eight months ago I ordered this five day cleanse at the advice of one of my friends who's like healthy or something super healthy. Looks amazing. Skin is amazing. And I thought, well, maybe today's the day. Maybe this is a sign. So I just grabbed day one of the cleanse. It's like a little prepackaged, you know, I had a nut bar for breakfast.

[Angela Kinsey]

She looks like she's going into outer space, you guys.

[Jenna Fischer]

She has a little box.

[Angela Kinsey]

You've got like, it looks like compressed food.

[Jenna Fischer]

Everything's freeze dried.

[Angela Kinsey]

Compressed food in this little foil packets.

[Jenna Fischer]

I've already, I guess, cheated. I hate that. I hate that I'm shaming myself over this thing already. But I'm having coffee. You're not supposed to have coffee on the cleanse. You're supposed to have tea. It's not even caffeinated tea. What am I supposed to do?

[Angela Kinsey]

What is wrong with these people?

[Jenna Fischer]

That's what I'm saying. And I already decided. I think I'm gonna eat a full meal for dinner. I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I won't tell you what I brought for lunch.

[Jenna Fischer]

What? Pasta.

[Angela Kinsey]

I brought pasta.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh my gosh. I have like freeze dried soup to eat.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know, I know. You're going into outer space. You're eating your packets.

[Jenna Fischer]

Why am I even saying I'm doing a cleanse when I've already planned to eat dinner tonight? I'm not doing. I'm kind of doing a cleanse.

[Angela Kinsey]

I Hate to break it down.

[Jenna Fischer]

What are you doing?

[Angela Kinsey]

You're not doing a cleanse. You were rushing and you grabbed your NASA packets because you bought them and you feel bad that you bought them and they've been sitting there.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

And also what I'm learning about you, Jenna, like, I already knew this about you, but, boy, am I learning it now. Being your business partner is that if your routine gets thrown, you love routine. It sends you into this, like, spiral where all of a sudden you're like. If you're like, oh, I didn't get my scrambled eggs and my strawberries, do you know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna move to Arizona.

[Jenna Fischer]

What is so true? I'm so thrown that I start to make really wackadoo decisions.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, you make some big swings. Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, well, let's see how it goes today.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

On that note, this episode, as I said, is Office Olympics, written by Mike Schur and directed by Paul Feig. Yay. Let me give a summary. In this episode, Michael has to leave the office for the day to sign papers on his new condo. He's becoming a homeowner, everyone. Dwight goes with him, leaving Jim in charge, who decides to use the day to stage Office Olympics with the employees. Fast. Fact number one, Office Olympics was inspired by the King of the Hill Office Olympics.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

The writers on Greg's show King of the Hill created a real Office Olympics and that is what inspired our episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Actually, Jenna, it wasn't the writers that invented the Office Olympics for King of the Hill. It was Tim Croston, Greg's assistant. Oh, Tim Croston was Greg Daniels assistant. Tim was also a longtime friend of mine. I've known him for years. And Tim and two other assistants are. Who set up the whole Office Olympics at King of the Hill. The writers, yes, participated, Jenna. Okay, they participated, but it was. Tim was the mastermind. He was the self appointed commissioner. Oh, yes, and I.

[Jenna Fischer]

He was the gym.

[Angela Kinsey]

He was the gym. And I talked to him last night. We traded text messages and Tim, sorry if I woke you up at 11 o'clock at night in North Carolina, but thank you for responding. They had a whole opening ceremonies. They had a torch. They had shirts for different teams.

[Jenna Fischer]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, they marched through the hallways. They had like a banner. Each team carried full opening ceremonies. And you know the doves that you see at the end for our closing ceremonies? Yes, they had that. They had doves that went across. They had several games that they had to play. It took a day and a half, this Office Olympics what were they not.

[Jenna Fischer]

Doing during this day and a half?

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. Well, Tim said that we wasted a full day and a half on this, and I won the award for wasting the most office time. So he said. So overall, I'm very proud of my time on King of the Hill. He said some of the games they had were mini golf through the office Plunk, which was like this game, I guess, where they had, like, sticks, like, in, like, a tube, and you drop marbles down, and then you had to twist it, I don't know. And then it went kerplunk. Tim's favorite game that they had, though, was Guess the Elevator. And that made it into our episode.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

So someone went down to the lobby and then came up, and you had to guess which elevator they came out. So he said that was his personal favorite. They also had a Twinkie eating contest, and Paul Lieberstein came in second.

[Jenna Fischer]

Go, Paul.

[Angela Kinsey]

Because Paul was working on King of the Hill at the time as well. But he said they really got into it. They went all out. And he said one of the things that blew him away was Chuck Mangoni. He is a famous musician, composer. Jenna. He actually played a recurring character on King of the Hill as himself. As the celebrity spokesperson for the MegaloMart.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

And he flew himself out on his own dimension to play. He plays the flugelhorn and the trumpet to play at the opening ceremonies. Because he, in fact, actually played at the Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.

[Jenna Fischer]

This is crazy. How many years did they do this? Do we know? This was an annual thing, right?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know that. I don't know that. I think. I mean, from what Tim texted me, they definitely went full out one year. I don't know if they could sustain this because I think they did waste a lot of time not working. And here's a random piece of trivia for you. I did a voice on King of the Hill. I had, like, a one line in the Mega Lomart where I said, we don't sell Super Squirters no more on account of their dangerous. So there's my connection there. Can you believe that they really went all out on King of the Hill for their Office Olympics. And that was the inspiration for Office Olympics on the Office.

[Jenna Fischer]

I love all of that information. That was amazing. Also, this episode ended up inspiring offices around the country to do their own Office Olympics. I mean, this got even bigger than just our TV show.

[Angela Kinsey]

Tim, you really started something. Thank you for that legacy and thank you for letting me text you till almost midnight. Last night, your time.

[Jenna Fischer]

Fast fact number two. Writer Mike Schur makes a cameo appearance in this episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Appearing in a photograph as Dwight's Amish cousin, Mose.

[Angela Kinsey]

Mose was actually based on a character in the UPN show Amish in the City. It came out July 2004. Jenna. I went down the rabbit hole last night and I watched the pilot episode of Amish in the City because I wanted to see what the character Mos. There is a guy named Mo's. First of all, the premise for the show is crazy. They take five Amish teens who are on their Rumspringa, you know, they can go and live in the world for.

[Jenna Fischer]

A year in the non Amish world, right?

[Angela Kinsey]

And then they decide if they want to actually take the Amish way of life, right? So they take five Amish teens and they put them in a house in Los Angeles, like right off Ventura Boulevard overlooking the city, and they put five mainstream American, like teenagers. And now I think just taking five Amish kids to Los Angeles is enough. You gotta throw in there's a guy from Boston who's like, all I want to do is like, get laid in pack. Woohoo. And you're gonna put him with Moe's Mose, who, like, brought his wooden puzzles that he made himself. I mean, there's a whole scene where he's like, do you like puzzles? And the Boston guy's like, nah, I don't like them. And he's like, oh, that's pretty much all I brought.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, my gosh. This.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, sorry.

[Jenna Fischer]

Your explanation of Amish and the City is making me want to watch Amish in the City.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm very invested in Mo's. I feel like I'm gonna have to go back because I'm like, what happened to Mose and his puzzles? How's he doing?

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I guess the writers were obsessed with Amish in the City as well. And the entire first season of the Office, they would all talk about it. And so finally, when we got a season two, they. That was their way of honoring their love of Amish in the City. Was this character of Mo's that Mike Schur. I think he thought he was just appearing in a photograph. Little did he know he would go on to play this character for nine years.

[Angela Kinsey]

For nine years. And then probably would have been in the spin off the Farm had it happened.

[Jenna Fischer]

True.

[Angela Kinsey]

He would still be playing Mose.

[Jenna Fischer]

Of course, we also introduce another recurring character in this episode. It is the realtor.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Carol Stills.

[Jenna Fischer]

Carol Stills, played by Nancy Carell. Steve Carell's wife, who is hilarious. Nancy is hilarious. And we will talk more about her scenes with Steve as we get into this episode. Fast fact number three. This was our first time working with director Paul Feig. Yay. Who is undoubtedly one of our favorite directors.

[Angela Kinsey]

Paul is so brilliant. And what I love is he's kind. He's just a delightful person to be around.

[Jenna Fischer]

We've talked a little bit about how he and his wife Laurie would host our viewing parties, but this was our first time working with him. And I'll never forget when he walked on set. Cause he was wearing a full suit and tie.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, he is so dapper.

[Jenna Fischer]

Which he wore every day.

[Angela Kinsey]

Every day. Every day he wore a suit.

[Jenna Fischer]

A lot of them were like vintage suits. So they were also super cool. They weren't stuffy. I mean, they were like.

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Jenna Fischer]

Super hip.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, he and his wife Lori are like. They're like a smart looking couple.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, they look like people who read the New Yorker, don't they? Like, they're super smart. They can read the long articles. Cause those articles are super long.

[Angela Kinsey]

There's really smart. And their house, I remember, was, like, decorated, like, so lovely. Like they had art.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

But they're not stuffy people. You know what I mean? They're incredibly approachable.

[Jenna Fischer]

Not flashy.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, not flashy. They're just really nice people. And Paul was one of my absolute favorite directors we ever had.

[Jenna Fischer]

You are in love with his Instagram.

[Angela Kinsey]

I am his Instagram.

[Jenna Fischer]

She is obsessed with his Instagram.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love his Instagram. It makes me want to travel and dress nice and have a cocktail.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. Yes. This is true. Paul Feig, before this, had worked on Freaks and Geeks, which I was a huge fan of. And actually Freaks and Geeks is the very first television show I ever auditioned for.

[Angela Kinsey]

I wondered if you auditioned for that. That seemed like right in your wheelhouse.

[Jenna Fischer]

I did not audition for one of the regular characters. The show had already happened. But I went in for a guest appearance, I think just three lines. And this was because Allison Jones, who cast the Office, also cast Freaks and Geeks. This started my relationship with Allison Jones. I went in, I auditioned for Freaks and Geeks. I did not get the role.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's all right, lady. That's all right. It happens sometimes.

[Jenna Fischer]

She called me back later for a TV show called Undeclared that was produced by Judd Apatow. And I did get that part. Just one line. And then, you know, five years later, she called me to audition for the Office.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wow.

[Jenna Fischer]

That was all Alison Jones. But I almost worked with Paul Feig on Freaks and Geeks, but it didn't happen. But it was meant to be. Our paths would cross. Little did I know. And they did. But, you know, Paul also directed Bridesmaids, one of my all time favorite movies.

[Angela Kinsey]

So, so funny. I remember going to that premiere. Cause, you know, we were so excited to support Paul and to support Ellie, and the whole cast was just phenomenal. And I was so happy for him. And you know, Paul is the type of guy, the minute he sees you, this huge smile comes across his face and he gives you a big hug. And he's just such a giving person of his self, you know? And I was so happy to support him and so happy that it ended up being such a huge hit.

[Jenna Fischer]

I want to call your attention to Paul Feig's many books that are amazing. Okay. He wrote Kick Me, which is, I guess it's like his autobiography for the.

[Angela Kinsey]

First chapter of his life.

[Jenna Fischer]

Cause I'm about his adolescence.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, I really feel like he could write a whole bunch more.

[Jenna Fischer]

But he's so funny. The book is amazing. And then he also wrote this book called Superstud, or How I became a 24 year old virgin. It's also amazing. So you guys really, if you. If you want to dive deep on Paul Feig, I recommend these books. Guess what we did. We called Paul Feig for this episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Who is singing.

[Jenna Fischer]

What has this cleanse done to me? It's turned me into you.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's turning you into me. And you're about to make some crazy life choices. Should we go to a bar right now? No.

[Jenna Fischer]

God, no. We should not. You're horrible. It's 11:00am Also, probably defeats the purpose of your cleanse. Guys, we called Paul Feig and we interviewed him about Office Olympics. We even included some of your questions. So after the break, we're gonna talk to Paul Feig.

[Angela Kinsey]

We're gonna ask him some questions. He's gonna tell us about Office Olympics. I can't wait.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, stay tuned.

[Angela Kinsey]

This show is sponsored by Better Help.

[Jenna Fischer]

Every January is a time when I feel like we all reflect. You know, you can really do it any time of the year. But I think, you know, you do feel that reset.

[Angela Kinsey]

You do. It's like you have 365 blank pages ahead of you just waiting to be filled in. You can decide how to do that.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, so poetic, Angela. Oh, really?

[Angela Kinsey]

Thanks.

[Jenna Fischer]

365 blank pages.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I might have had some help.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, well, I'm going with your book metaphor.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

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[Jenna Fischer]

Am 50 years old and do you know what I don't want to do on my vacations anymore?

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, probably a few things.

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't want to cram my family into the same one bedroom room and bathroom. I don't want to.

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't want us all on top of each other. I want my own bedroom separate from the children. Which is why I prefer Airbnb. Because we can all have our space and then it's like, makes the whole vacation more relaxing. We can go to bed at different times. You know, I can stay up and read. Or more likely these days I go to bed before everybody else.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know what I love about Airbnb?

[Jenna Fischer]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

Snacks. You have a fridge, you have a kitchen. So I'm not calling up room service constantly and having to pay that fee. I'm just like, hey, we packed snacks. They're in the fridge. Go get them.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, everyone, consider Airbnb for your next adventure. You won't regret making the switch from a traditional hotel.

[Angela Kinsey]

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[Angela Kinsey]

All right, we are back, and we are going to be talking to Paul Feig. Sam, dial him up.

[John Krasinski]

Hello.

[Angela Kinsey]

Hi, Paul.

[Jenna Fischer]

Hey, Paul. How are you?

[John Krasinski]

I'm good. How are you?

[Angela Kinsey]

Are you somewhere fancy, Paul?

[John Krasinski]

No, I'm in New York, actually.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, but are you somewhere fancy?

[John Krasinski]

Well, my apartment's very fancy because I'm very busy.

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you so much for doing this, Paul. It really means a lot.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, my God, I'm so excited. I'm so happy that you guys are doing this, and I wish I could be in the studio with you. It would be so much even more fun.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, you're always welcome to come back. We've got 200 episodes to talk about, and you directed a great deal of them.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, good. I'll talk on all of mine.

[Angela Kinsey]

We'll hit you up for that. We actually reached out to some fans to talk to you today, and there were people who had so many questions.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. So we're going to include some of their questions with our questions.

[John Krasinski]

Very good. I'm excited.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, to get started, Paul, how did you get involved with the Office?

[John Krasinski]

It was my great agent at the time, Renee Kurtz, who was steering me towards it. Honestly, I was offered several years before the chance to develop the Office, you know, the British Office, into a series. And I was like, oh, forget it. There's no way you can do it. It's too scary, you know, because it's such a great series. So, you know, I just didn't even take the bait. But then when Greg did it, you know, I was really, you know, amazed by that. And actually, the funny thing is, I was making a pilot at the same time that Greg did the pilot for the Office. And I remember we were. We were both working at, like, some studio, and he was editing there. And I remember him coming over to us to Rodney Rothman and I, whose pilot it was, and he's like, hey, come in here, come in here. I got to play you a couple of different options for the opening theme song for this show that I just directed. And so he played us a couple of different versions, including the, you know, the one that. The now infamous piano one. So I was definitely there right at the very beginning, you know, when the show got picked up, my agent called me Renee, and she was just like, you know, they'd like you to direct an episode. And so I watched the first six that you guys had done and thought they were so hilarious. You know, as soon as I saw Diversity Day, I was just like, completely in. I just thought it was so great. Yeah, I came to that first table read. I don't know if you remember, they did kind of a bunch of episodes all at once. And I remember you guys were reading the Dundees and all that. And then we read Office Olympics, and so I was in.

[Jenna Fischer]

Did you get to pick Office Olympics from that table read or was it assigned to you?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, that was the one that was assigned to me because I remember having a moment going like, oh, I want to do the Dundees. That seems really fun. But then I just saw the potential of the Office Olympics was just. Was just going to be such a. Such a blast. I mean, it was just such a fun thing to kind of put together. You know, I remember just what an interesting. I don't know what an interesting feeling it was on the set for that. Because, I mean, if you remember, that was sort of, you know, aside from the Olympics part of it, that was the episode that kind of started to turn everything, because that's where, you know, Steve's character started to become slightly more sympathetic. And I don't know if you remember or not, we really. That kind of got found on the set because, remember, we were doing the whole thing where we were presenting. You guys were presenting Michael with the. You know, with the medal. And Steve just made this decision to kind of start crying, you know, getting all choked up. And I remember just going like, oh, my God, Steve, that's so great. Like, keep going with that. And that was. I think that was kind of the turning point where his character took that left turn from Ricky Gervais's character and became more sort of the lovable, you know, misfit who's trying too hard for everybody to like him.

[Jenna Fischer]

But also Paul, I remember in that filming of that scene that you directed all of us to be genuine, and you can see it on our faces that we are genuinely clapping for Michael. We're not mocking him. It was this collective moment with everyone in the office enjoying supporting one another. It was really sweet. It makes me tear up every time I watch it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I cried when Steve did that. Yeah.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, no, it really gets me, too. Cause I think. You know what it was. It was just Steve's performance was so sincere that it felt if we were kind of being snarky or, you know, laughing at him, that it made us such. It made you guys such villains to do that. But it wasn't anybody's really instinct to do that. And so I just just kind of encourage you to. To go along with what you were already doing, which is we were all really being affected by Steve.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it still gets me. Well, we have a fan question for you. Reed wrote in and said, I know. Ooh. Reed says, when filming a mockumentary, do you storyboard or do you have a shot plan?

[John Krasinski]

Neither. What you do is you basically kind of go through the script, and I would walk around with Kelly, our AD the day before, or whatever, and we just basically kind of go, okay, what's the bet? Where would we put the cameras for this scene so that we would be cross shooting it and the cameras could avoid seeing each other, but where the documentary crew would actually be? And so you were always just kind of going, okay. You know, for me, it's like, I always wanted to have depth behind us, so I never wanted to shoot into walls whenever I could avoid it. And so just kind of go, okay. They would be, you know, one would be over here by this desk, and then on the opposite side, something, you know, Matt would be over there and Randall would be on the other side. And really, that was. That was kind of it. Then you'd also go like, okay, is this going to be a spy shot where you guys don't know you're on camera? Well, we'll be shooting through, you know, the blinds or through a crack in the door. And then that was kind of it. And then. Then we would just get there and just play out the scenes. For me, this. It's the greatest way to do TV comedy, because every time we shot the scene, we had the full scene. And so it just allowed us to just play and go like, okay, this time, try this, you know, and, you know, just the fact that Greg and everybody let us play around so much with these great scripts that we already had, and then we had the confidence to keep that stuff in because I'd worked on other shows where the cast was really brilliant at kind of improving or tagging something or just kind of taking a little left turn in the middle of the scene, but the showrunners just wouldn't put it in because they were so in love with their scripts that they just wouldn't use it. But, you know, just. I mean, the shining example of that was when we did the Next episode, the Halloween episode where we had that thing where we found where Rain was doing, you know, playing the emperor and talking to Michael and kind of goading him. And we just found that funny angle that looked like the emperor from Star wars where you just kind of see his face. And we just, you know, him just taunting. And that went on and on. But Greg, I think, jettisoned some other kind of storyline just so we could keep that scene long because it was just so funny. And, you know, that. That. That takes. That takes a lot of confidence and sort of, you know, well, self confidence, really, on the part of the showrunner to let those moments play out like that.

[Jenna Fischer]

I love that.

[Angela Kinsey]

Me, too.

[Jenna Fischer]

I love hearing everything that went into the. How it ended up on screen. We were just acting. You did all this planning.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fischer]

You put all this thought into it.

[John Krasinski]

Without you, we are nothing. Without you, we are nothing.

[Jenna Fischer]

I'm wondering if you can talk a little bit about picking the condo location in this episode, because it's almost like another character it features so prominently. What was the criteria for picking the condo?

[John Krasinski]

You wanted something that had enough flow to it and openness that you weren't going to be stuck in little rooms, you know, with just basically walls is your background. And so what I really liked about it is it had that kitchen that went through to the back patio. So, you know, we were in the kitchen shooting Michael kind of having his breakdown, which is still possibly, I think, the hardest I think I've ever laughed on a set.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[John Krasinski]

When Steven was having that thing where he's having the breakdown, and he kind of puts his hand on the stove and picks up the thing and then goes outside.

[Jenna Fischer]

Is this supposed to come off?

[Angela Kinsey]

And he walks out with it.

[John Krasinski]

Oh, God. I mean, that. That is like, just. That's the genius of Steve. I. I literally thought I was gonna die when he was doing it. And every time we do a take, he would do something different.

[Jenna Fischer]

Did we use that same condo in Dinner Party? Did we manage to keep that same place?

[Angela Kinsey]

It looked familiar. Like, it looked very familiar to me. Didn't it to you?

[Jenna Fischer]

Like, I thought it was the condo. Yeah. That's amazing.

[John Krasinski]

Well, what was fun about that is being able to go in and turn it into Jan's place. And that was. I mean, I don't want to jump episodes, but, I mean, for Dinner Party, that was the most fun of, like, how do we see how Jan's woman's touch went in with kimonos on the wall and that kind of stuff?

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my. Gosh Paul, you have to come back. You have to come in. We will have so much fun with that.

[Jenna Fischer]

I was talking to Mike Schur about this episode. He was the writer of this episode and he shared with us your choice of using a wide angle lens when filming Steve for this episode. Can you talk a little bit about that?

[John Krasinski]

Yeah, it was just, you know, we really wanted him to feel lost in this, in this thing because, you know, it's so much about him being overwhelmed. Yeah. I had a very similar experience when I first met Laurie, my wife. We were gonna move in together, you know, and she had found this place and I came over. It was under the guise I was just gonna, like, look at it and see what it's about. And little did I know, she kind of had the realtor there and everything. And, like, I had to sign the papers, pull the trigger. So suddenly I went from being like this kind of weird, lonely bachelor, did like committing to moving in in front of all these people. And I just kind of freaked out. And I just remember that feeling of like, suddenly the house felt very, like, abstract and like you're in a horror movie a little bit, you're having a panic attack. And so I wanted Steve to kind of feel that being, you know, in that house of like, it's almost like, you know, forget there's an old movie, not obsession, but something where this woman's going crazy in this house. I just thought it'd be kind of funny to give it that feel.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my God, I love that story. Laurie, you go. Laurie, I'm telling you.

[John Krasinski]

I know. Look at that. We celebrated our 25 year anniversary, wedding anniversary.

[Jenna Fischer]

So it works the most well. We got a lot of questions also about the yogurt lids. This was maybe the thing people are most curious about, these yogurt lids.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my gosh, they went crazy about the yogurt lids.

[Jenna Fischer]

Paul Mel wanted to know how many metals were made. Casey wants to know were any other items considered for metals before landing on yogurt lids. Literally, any information you can give us about this yogurt lids, anything about yogurt lids, people want to know.

[John Krasinski]

Wow. Because I remember that so distinctly. Just because I remember thinking it was not at all what I thought we were going to make the metal. And I remember Phil, remember good old Phil, Props coming up with those. And I remember him rigging that up with, you know, with heat, with the paperclips as the chain and hanging that on there. And I had moments of going like, I don't know if it's Substantial enough because they're so light. But then thinking, but this is kind of brilliant too. And so going with this, I have some weird memory and I don't know if this is accurate or not, of like a cottage cheese lid.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, it would be larger.

[John Krasinski]

Yes. But I think, I think we might have said they were too big. And also I think they didn't stay on the, on the paper clip. So. But that's just a kind of a hazy memory.

[Jenna Fischer]

Steve Gordon asked. This is just kind of a fun question. Which one of the Freaks and geeks could work in the office?

[John Krasinski]

I think it had to be Lindsey. I think only Lindsey could really pull it together inappropriately and navigate that maelstrom.

[Jenna Fischer]

I hear that. I think that is the right trait.

[Angela Kinsey]

I think that is correct.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, Paul, we have to bring up, because Jenna and I love this about you so much that you wear a suit every day with a tie and that our crew loved it so much on Friday. A lot of times on a set, the crew will wear Hawaiian shirts. It's Friday. But when you would work, they would all wear a tie on Friday. And so we were wondering, when did your origin of the daily suits start?

[John Krasinski]

It was after Freaks and Geeks because I'll flash all the way back, just briefly. When I was a kid, I used to wear suits and ties all the time. I loved that. It was kind of like starting like 8 years old. I got my mom to buy me my first three piece suit and I wore it. My dad was so mad because he's like, he's going to grow out of it in six months. And he was right. But oh, what a six months I had walking around with these suits. So it was always in me. But then when I got into my 20s and I became a stand up comedian, I used to wear a suit on stage. And then I realized I wanted to be more, I don't know, relatable to the audience. So I started wearing like jeans and bowling shirts and that kind of thing. And then when I did Freaks and Geeks, I, even though I didn't dress this way in high school, I started dressing just like kind of T shirts and jeans because I was trying to get in the head of like the freaks and stuff. And so grew my hair really long. So if you see pictures of me from then, my hair was super long, like down to my shoulder, I think. And. But then, so then it was after Freaks and Geeks was done and I was going out and pitching new shows and taking all these meetings that I was in These in the meetings, and all the executives would be in suits and ties, and I was there in, like, jeans and a T shirt, and I just didn't like it. I felt, like, really identifiable as sort of the prey, if you will, in that room. And so I remember going like, well, screw this. I'm gonna go back to what I used to do and wear suits and ties. They kind of thought I was an idiot for doing it, but I just remember going like, I like the power structure of this better of me in a suit, like, as an adult. And just decided from that point on, I was like, I'm just gonna wear a suit and tie all the time, because I enjoy it, and it makes me feel like an adult and also makes me feel in charge. And I look better in a suit than I do in jeans. So there you go.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, and, Paul, without your suit, I wouldn't have my favorite hashtag you do, which is drunkfunkle on your Instagram.

[John Krasinski]

Thank you.

[Angela Kinsey]

I live for it. Paul, I love your Instagram so much. I want everyone to go follow Paul Feig. And also, Paul, I'm so excited about last Christmas. I am so excited to see it. I can't wait. And, you know, I loved. I loved Game of Thrones, so of course Jenna doesn't watch Game of Thrones. It drives me crazy. So Emilia Clarke's in it.

[Jenna Fischer]

I'm still an Emilia Clark fan, even though I didn't watch Game of Thrones, so this is very exciting to me because I get to see her in. Not Game of Thrones.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, exactly. And then, of course, like, Emma Thompson, I cannot get enough of that woman. I just live for her, so. And Henry Golding and all of it. I can't wait to see it. I love, love holiday movies so much. So everybody go see Last Christmas.

[John Krasinski]

Yay. You'll love it. You laugh, you'll cry, and it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever shot. It's just absolutely gorgeous to look.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, I can't wait. I cannot wait to see it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Paul, thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you. Thank you, Paul.

[John Krasinski]

Thank you. It's so much fun. I'm so glad you guys are doing this, because the show was so special to me. I mean, honestly, I just. I have to pinch myself that I was Got to be involved and be involved with so many episodes and so many kind of the bigger ones, too. And it will just always be one of my proudest, proudest moments. And working with you guys, just. Just one of my great joys. You were just such a wonderful cast to work with. Every. Every day was really fun to come in and just every take was fun and different and I mean, I just couldn't have had a better time. So thank you for that and I love you guys very, very much.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, Paul. Thank you, Paul.

[Angela Kinsey]

Every year I try to set a new goal for myself, and one I really want to do this year for 2025 is improve my Spanish. And I'm going to use Rosetta Stone. It is the most trusted language learning program. It's available on desktop or as an app, and it really immerses you into the language you want to learn. They have 25 languages offered. They have been the experts for 30 years with millions of users.

[Jenna Fischer]

And, you know, with their lifetime membership, you get all 25 languages.

[Angela Kinsey]

And one of, one of the features I really like helps you with your pronunciation and your accent. It's called Truaxent and it gives you feedback on your pronunciation so you can make sure you're saying things properly.

[Jenna Fischer]

In French, for example, you want to say air. You have to get that little yeah in your throat, right?

[Angela Kinsey]

Start the new year off with a resolution you could reach today. Office Ladies listeners can take advantage of this Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off, visit rosettastone.com officeladies that's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50% [e-mail] OfficeLadies today. If you are hiring, you need Indeed. Indeed is your matching and hiring platform with over 350 million global monthly visitors, according to Indeed data, and a matching engine that helps you find quality candidates fast.

[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]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

Need to hire you. Need indeed.

[Angela Kinsey]

Today's episode is sponsored by Acorns. You know, this is that time of year when I start to think about, all right, what are my goals for next year?

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, guys, we're back and now we are going to break down Office Olympics.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

That was so nice talking to Paul.

[Angela Kinsey]

That was so great.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, let's get into this episode scene by scene. We start with Michael's talking head. He explains that he has come in early. And we learned that Ryan had to come in early to bring Michael a sausage, egg and cheese biscuit. Ryan is so pissed. Angela, I noticed a little bit of Ryan Sass.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, Ryan had some sass.

[Jenna Fischer]

Can I get Ryan Sass from you?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Do you have a card that says Ryan Sass?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't. Because the only person that bumps me with sass is Pam.

[Jenna Fischer]

I knew. I knew it was targeted. I knew your sass was not universal. I knew it was personal. See, I just proofed it. I also remember that Steve had to eat all of those egg and cheese biscuits and he had a bucket under his desk because he would spit them out because remember, he had just gotten in this amazing shape. And I feel like season one, Steve might have enjoyed eating all of those, but season two, Steve was like, I'm not doing that to my body anymore.

[Angela Kinsey]

Also, though, I mean, listen, here's the thing. When you have to eat that much Food. Like the same food over and over. Maybe 30 takes of that food. It turns on you.

[Jenna Fischer]

It does.

[Angela Kinsey]

You don't need that sausage egg biscuit turning on you.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's true.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'd spit it out.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right, so then there's another scene that has the thing that I love so much, which is when we start on Michael speaking to camera, and we widen to reveal Dwight lurking over his shoulder.

[Angela Kinsey]

It is one of your favorite, favorite talking heads.

[Jenna Fischer]

And this is when Michael reveals he is buying a condo, going to become a homeowner.

[Angela Kinsey]

Big day for him.

[Jenna Fischer]

And then we swoop into the main office. And did you notice this, Angela? The photo on Jim's desk?

[Angela Kinsey]

I have two note cards about these opening shots in the bullpen at a minute, 48 seconds. Do you know what Jim's screensaver is?

[Jenna Fischer]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

It's a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. I think that's a little foreshadowing to.

[Jenna Fischer]

The fire, which is coming next.

[Angela Kinsey]

Coming next, that desert island. At a minute 51, John's desk, right next to his computer, there's a photo of him holding a baby.

[Jenna Fischer]

Do you know who that is?

[Angela Kinsey]

It's his nephew.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's his nephew.

[Angela Kinsey]

So when we had to personalize our desk, that's one of the things John brought in.

[Jenna Fischer]

He was so proud to be an uncle.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. He's adorable.

[Jenna Fischer]

He was so excited to put that picture on his desk. Then we go to the scene where Jim and Pam are throwing things into Dwight's cup. This is when Pam has to revive Jim because sometimes he dies of boredom. I remember shooting that. That was really fun. John and I got really into seeing if we really could throw stuff in the cup. Like, sometimes that happens where it's in the scene, but then in real life, you actually really enjoy it. That was a moment.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I have a little something from that scene. At 2 minutes, 4 seconds, boom. The boom drops in the scene.

[Jenna Fischer]

Really?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, we got a little bit of boom. And they left it in because, as you know, it was a mockumentary. So when that happened, they let it stay. They wouldn't let it ruin a take. But there's a boom in that scene.

[Jenna Fischer]

What about Dwight's Mozart Butch Cassidy talking head? This, to me, is such a sign of Mike Scher's writing. I think if you go back and look at every amazing Dwight talking head, most of them were written by Mike Scher.

[Angela Kinsey]

Mike is brilliant. He is brilliant and he's smart. And I mean, I feel like I would wear a T shirt that says Mozart and Butch Cassidy, you're gonna get.

[Jenna Fischer]

A bullet in your head thanks to Butch Cassidy if you mess with Mozart, everybody.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm not messing with Mozart.

[Jenna Fischer]

No. Again, Michael's list of magazines. He lists off all his magazines. He asked Pam if she has forwarded Cracked, an American Way magazine to his new condo. I just wanna point that out.

[Angela Kinsey]

His magazines are Small Businessman, Maxim, American Way, Cracked, and then the Fine Arts Aficionado.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, the one he made up. Yeah, the fake magazine. We also get to see Michael's car in this episode for the first time. Is it for the first time? I think it is.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I have a pretty big note card before we get to the Sebring, I think. At what minutes?

[Jenna Fischer]

The Sebring. I don't write down minutes. That's your thing. It's weird. I like a good list, but you're really obsessed with these minutes.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know what? You and your Clins can suck it, Fisher. All right. My background. People who love background stuff. At 4 minutes, 52 seconds, Jim is talking to Oscar. And Oscar's desk faces the partition that is between Angela and Kevin.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

And on that partition is a post it note. It's a drawing that Oscar drew. And after this episode, he gave it to me, and I still have it. And I. So here's.

[Jenna Fischer]

What is it?

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, so Oscar is a very good drawer. He's very good. And he would make these doodles, and I kept a lot of them. And he often would draw Kevin, Angela, and Oscar, our characters doing crazy things. I have a drawing one of one where we're on a moped.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, I've seen that one. That's so cute.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, so this. This post it note is a drawing he did is one of my personal favorites. It is Angela as a dominatrix. She is getting a shoulder ride from Kevin.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

She has a whip in her hand. Like, she's cracking the whip. And on all fours being drugged. Behind them is Oscar by a leash.

[Jenna Fischer]

Wow.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. That is what's on the post it note on his partition. And it cracks me up. Like, the detail that he drew our costumes, our dominatrix costumes. He has, like, a spike collar on. He definitely would do all these drawings of the accounting department. And my character was always invoking pain in some way. But it is one of my favorite things I own is this post it note that he drew. And it's there on the partition at 4 minutes, 52 seconds. I about fell off my couch. I was so excited.

[Jenna Fischer]

But then after that, he gave it to you after this episode, and you would never See it again on the show. It just lived there for the second time.

[Angela Kinsey]

It lived there. He drew it clearly that day and stuck it up there. And I now have it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, I love that.

[Angela Kinsey]

And then also at 4min. 52 seconds, because we were allowed to personalize our desks. Right there is a photo that Oscar brought in of himself and his dog in a frame.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

So there you go.

[Jenna Fischer]

I want to talk a little bit about Michael's car.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fischer]

He has the Sebring convertible. I think this is the first time we really see the car. It's certainly the first time we drive in the car.

[Angela Kinsey]

It is the first time it's featured.

[Jenna Fischer]

And BJ told me that they picked this car very carefully. They felt like it was the flashiest car Michael could afford on his salary.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's a convertible.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. And he's very, very proud of it. And when Michael and Dwight leave the office and they're shooting that scene, Randall Einhorn, our director of photography and also our main camera operator, was shoved in the back seat in order to get those shots.

[Angela Kinsey]

Randall is a big guy, and that is not a big backseat.

[Jenna Fischer]

No. He told me that his knees were up by his ears. He was confused, contorted in this weird position. I traded some messages with him and he said, though, that whenever they had to get in the most painful position, they usually got the best shot. So he was like, you knew you were getting a great shot if you were hurting. And I also. The back window of the Sebring broke in this episode. And Randall has been blamed for this on the Internet. Really? Yes. The Internet says that Randall broke the window and it had to be replaced. It cost almost $900 to replace. I know. Cause, you know, we rented these cars. We didn't buy them. I asked Randall about it and he said, actually the window did break. He said. This I thought was interesting. He said he thinks it's because they left a camera battery pack on the back shelf. And then when they put the convertible top down, it crunched it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Crunched it.

[Jenna Fischer]

But who's they, Randall? Who is they?

[Angela Kinsey]

Would that be film crew?

[Jenna Fischer]

Would that be you?

[Angela Kinsey]

Camera. Camera.

[Jenna Fischer]

So he said they. But yes, it did break in that scene and we had to then replace it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, so I have a little story about the Sebring. I have a time code now. We're jumping ahead, but since you're talking about it, I'm gonna bring it up. Jenna, is that all right?

[Jenna Fischer]

I'll allow it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, Lord. At 16 minutes, 39 seconds, there is proof of what the Actual outside temperature was because there is a full on camera shot of the dashboard and the Sebring. It says that they are going east and that it is 91 degrees.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. Because we shot this in the middle of summer.

[Angela Kinsey]

In the middle of summer. We had to have coats on and pretend to be cold. But there you have it. It was 91 degrees.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay, Angela, I have a question about hate ball.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, I have a note card about hate ball.

[Jenna Fischer]

All right. Your hair.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

In hate ball.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Your. Will you please talk about the braid headband thing?

[Angela Kinsey]

I have been wanting to. Okay, so at 5 minutes 42 seconds, there is a great shot of me through the partition because obviously I hate what they're doing. So they say hate ball and they cut to me and I'm frowning. You see the classic headband braid that was created by our hairdresser, Kim Ferry. She did my hair every day on the show. She actually is an amazing braider. She can do any kind of braid. And all of my intricate braids and hairstyles of Angela Martin were by Kim Ferry. So she called this the headband braid. And what she would have me do is she would flat iron my hair straight.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

She would have me flip my head over and then she would start at one side of my ear and do this like inverted braid over the top of my head, ending at the other side of my ear, leaving the back of my hair straight. So it would only braid like basically like a headband that went over like the top of my head.

[Jenna Fischer]

Did it hurt?

[Angela Kinsey]

It did not hurt, but I did have to sit with my head kind of contorted in order to get this. In order to get it. But it was like one of our favorite things. Greg Daniels loved it. The first time he saw it, he was like, oh, my God. Yes. Yes, this is Angela Martin. And it went on to be featured in a lot of episodes. We even did a behind the scenes for NBC.com, because so many people asked if that was my real hair. It was my real hair flipped upside down, inverted braid. And it made it look like a headband.

[Jenna Fischer]

The headband braid did not hurt. Like you would far prefer this over a bun.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

It was just like having a part of your hair braided, but it wasn't tight or pulling at the back of my head.

[Jenna Fischer]

To me, that is classic Angela.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. The headband braid.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Speaking of hair.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

At 6 minutes, 15 seconds, you go in the back of the office. Cause they're playing Dunderball.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

And you see that Kelly still has.

[Jenna Fischer]

An updo still an updo with Kelly.

[Angela Kinsey]

But it's a little bit looser. There's like a little piece kind of dangling in the back. It's like a loose braid. It's starting to come down.

[Jenna Fischer]

Jenna, you know what I think? And I'm gonna predict, because we have not watched all the episodes. We really are watching them in order. I think her hair comes down in Casino Night. I think it's the first time her hair comes down. I'm gonna predict it. So let's see if I'm right. Let's continue to rewatch. Cause I know her hair is down in Casino Night.

[Angela Kinsey]

I remember the bun is getting looser.

[Jenna Fischer]

We're heading there, folks. It's interesting. It's her hair comes down the closer Jim and Pam get to kissing. Sort of.

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know what, you know what that correlation is.

[Jenna Fischer]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

A cleanse correlation.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, no, that's cleanse logic for you guys.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's cleanse logic.

[Jenna Fischer]

Let us talk about Michael's condo, please. Yes, he gets to his condo. And like we said in our Fast Facts, the realtor is played by Nancy Carell. So our casting director, Allison Jones, pitched Nancy for this role. She thought Nancy would be perfect. I emailed with Alison and she said that she had always been a huge fan of Nancy's and she was looking from day one on our show to find a place for her. And she thought this was perfect. She loved being able to pit Nancy and Steve against one another in this way. Mike Schur told me that Steve was positively giddy when Nancy was on set. He was just giggly and delighted that they're so cute together. And we know they're so cute together.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, she is hilarious and so smart. But Steve, you want to meet a man that loves you the way Steve loves Nancy, for sure. Cause he just. He's just delighted by her. I love when Michael starts to spiral out. Cause he realizes, you know, and Dwight is not helping. Dwight's like, you know, you're gonna be 75.

[Jenna Fischer]

You're basically buying a coffin.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, if I had a. If I bought a coffin, I'd buy one where I couldn't hear the other dead people. But Michael, as he's spiraling, has this line that I love where he's like, I was promised hot people. Where are all the hot people? Like, what? In this condo development, you were promised hot people. But Nancy's reaction to that is really what makes it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Angela, you have a three star card about the condo.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, it's at 6 minutes 58 seconds. It's not so much about the condo, but it's what information we find out at the condo, which is that Dwight has a 60 acre beet farm.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. This is the first mention of his beet farm.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. And you mentioned that we see a photo of Moe's, but this is when we learned that Dwight is a landowner. He has a working beet farm.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. And this brings up a fan question. Angela, Stan wrote in this episode, Dwight says that his parents left him a 60 acre beet farm. But in the farm in season nine, Aunt Sally leaves the farm to all three kids if they move back into it. Jenna, did this discrepancy happen because you stole the show Bible? Stan, I have the show bible right here. I'm referring to page 31 of the show bible. And it says that in Office Olympics, Dwight says He has a 60 acre working beet farm left to him by his grandfather.

[Angela Kinsey]

And also, Stan, if you want to go to 6 minutes 58 seconds, Dwight has a talking head to camera where he says, my grandparents left me a 60 acre beet farm.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. So, Stan, I do have to say this still does bring up the question of why in season nine do we say that it's his Aunt Sally who has the beet farm?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know. I need to revisit season nine because I know an Aunt Shirley. Cause she slapped me and called me a kitchen witch.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

But I don't know who Aunt Sally is.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, he has a number of relatives.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, I know you guys.

[Jenna Fischer]

I do wanna say that to find this reference in the show bible, I had to read something like five pages of facts about Dwight Schrute. And I think that if they only published the Dwight Schrute section of the show bible, it would do very well. Every single one of these bullet points is gold.

[Angela Kinsey]

Just pick one random one and read it to us. All right, from the show bible. The chapter is, Dwight thinks wolves are.

[Jenna Fischer]

A major threat to office workers.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thinks wolves are a major threat?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. Season three, episode 20. He says that he has a bomb shelter. It cost him twelve hundred dollars. He performed his own circumcision?

[Angela Kinsey]

No, no.

[Jenna Fischer]

He can sneeze with his eyes open. These are amazing. He thinks Triceratops is the lamest dinosaur.

[Angela Kinsey]

I kind of want you to make.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, I could go on and on. Uses deer penis as an aphrodisiac.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, God. Poor Angela Martin.

[Jenna Fischer]

Appears to be a fan of wrestling.

[Angela Kinsey]

Just fakes it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Not sure.

[Angela Kinsey]

Just for appearances.

[Jenna Fischer]

This one made me laugh out loud. His farm is non organic.

[Angela Kinsey]

He uses Pesticides, I guess.

[Jenna Fischer]

So in some episode he must brag about the fact that his farm is non organic. He has $30,000 buried very deeply and under someone and he doesn't want to dig past them to get it. Guys, I mean, I really the.

[Angela Kinsey]

Dwight.

[Jenna Fischer]

We could do a whole episode where I just read you Dwight Schrute from the show Bible.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is amazing. But yes, six minutes, 58 seconds. Huge information, which is that Dwight owns a 60 acre beet farm.

[Jenna Fischer]

This is one of my favorite things that they came up with for a character on our show. Because we are just going to continue to mine gold from this fact forever.

[Angela Kinsey]

Forever. I have a little card here. At 8 minutes, 36 seconds, there are the opening ceremonies.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

There's a banner, there's the lighting of a candle. I wanted to share a little behind the scenes story for you guys. So whenever we had a lit candle, we had to by law have a safety meeting.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I used to crack up because I would think about shows that had car chases and explosives and things. And on our show you had a safety meeting about a candle being lit. And our second ad, Kelly Cantley, would go, safety meeting. We will have a lit candle.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. That is real fire. Everyone on the set, please be aware of your sleeves and elbows around the candle.

[Angela Kinsey]

A lit candle, everyone. Okay, safety meeting adjourned.

[Jenna Fischer]

And it's funny because I would go on to do shows or projects where we would have safety meetings and they would be said with sort of that same bravado, but they would really be like, everyone pay attention. A car will be exploding at 2:00.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

So please keep your distance. Do not go toward the car after it has exploded as it will be hot.

[Angela Kinsey]

But on our show it was. We will have one candle. It will be lit with a lighter.

[Jenna Fischer]

A very long lighter.

[Angela Kinsey]

A very long lighter to protect John's hands. Safety meeting.

[Jenna Fischer]

I want to say, in that same scene with the opening ceremonies, I really drew the sign that says games of the first Dunder Mifflin Olympiad.

[Angela Kinsey]

You drew that?

[Jenna Fischer]

I drew it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Did you color it in?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

You made the sign?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

What the hell?

[Jenna Fischer]

Really? I made it. Those are my bubble letters. I drew it. I also put together a lot of the yogurt lid things. I did it as part of your method acting. No, it's not part of my method acting. They gave me some paper clips and yogurt lids and they had some shots of me putting together the medals at my desk. We never used it, but I did do it. And then I also made that Sign myself.

[Angela Kinsey]

Now, did they want you to make that sign?

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't remember.

[Angela Kinsey]

Or did you volunteer in your method acting ways?

[Jenna Fischer]

You know, I feel like Phil Shea came up to me and said, do you want to make the sign since Pam made it? And I said, sure, why not?

[Angela Kinsey]

There were times where they would ask me, you know, Angela, your character's gonna hand this piece of paper. Do you want to write out all the things so it's in your handwriting? And we always did. We always would sort of do that kind of thing.

[Jenna Fischer]

I liked that detail. Continuing our conversation about the office Olympics. We should talk about the game Flankerton.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, we should.

[Jenna Fischer]

I got a lot of questions people asked. Was Flunkerton scripted or improv? It was a written line, but I was told to deliver it like I was making it up on the spot.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, that was scripted.

[Jenna Fischer]

A lot of people also asked who came up with the term Flankerton. It was Mike Scher. Well, Mike said it was either him or Greg Daniels, but he is personally obsessed with the FL sound. The Fl. Yeah, the FL sound. He thinks it's very funny. He said that is also how Toby got his last name, Flenderson Flinderson, that Mike was responsible for that. So he's pretty sure he can claim having written Flunkerton. I remember Phyllis had so much fun doing that scene.

[Angela Kinsey]

She had so much fun.

[Jenna Fischer]

Phyllis loves getting to play basketball, play Flankerton, to play games.

[Angela Kinsey]

She wants to be a participant.

[Jenna Fischer]

She does.

[Angela Kinsey]

She was very excited. I felt like, Jenna, I have two note cards here that I felt like we should outline a little bit of the games.

[Jenna Fischer]

Let's do it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay. First of all, there are the games that people played that weren't part of the office Olympics but were the inspiration for Jim when he was going around to everyone's like, sort of desk area. So Pam, of course, threw things into Dwight's coffee cup. There was hate ball in accounting. There was dunderball and human resources. Stanley said he plays work hard so his kids can go to college. And then Angela Martin says she plays Pampong.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. Oh, that's some Angela sass.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is some serious Angela sass. I have a question for you about Pampong.

[Jenna Fischer]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

Is this the first time that an office co worker has called out the Jim Pam crush?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. That's the first time someone's like, oh, I see what's happening. You're not fooling anyone.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

And Pam is super self conscious about it for the rest of the episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. So. And then of course, we have Angela at 16 minutes, 20 seconds. She's keeping score. She comes over.

[Jenna Fischer]

That's the only game she's playing that day.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's the only game she's playing. But then the actual games that Jim makes up, Jim and Pam, Right. They look these up are number one, Flankerton, Phyllis being the winner of that.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yep.

[Angela Kinsey]

Number two, how many M and Ms. Can you put in your mouth? Kevin was the only.

[Jenna Fischer]

Only participant.

[Angela Kinsey]

Only participant 3.

[Jenna Fischer]

Guess the elevator inspired by the real office Olympics.

[Angela Kinsey]

And Ryan won that. And then the final game that we see is this full coffee mug relay between Oscar and Toby. And it disrupts when Michael and Dwight come in the office. And we never see the outcome of that.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, we kind of do. I think Toby's coffee is spilling at the end.

[Angela Kinsey]

So you're. You're.

[Jenna Fischer]

I'm giving it to Oscar.

[Angela Kinsey]

You're giving it to Oscar. Okay. Okay. But you have two medals hanging on your desk at 17 minutes, 32 seconds. You have a gold and a silver.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

So I wonder what Pam won for.

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know. You're saying I don't deserve my medals, Angela.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, Clint, I'm not. I'm just merely being a fan, saying, I wonder. I wonder what other games we didn't get to see.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah, well, obviously something where Pam won a gold medal.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my God.

[Jenna Fischer]

Sass, Just want to say. Okay, all right, Angela.

[Angela Kinsey]

Maybe she won a gold medal at Pampong. Oh.

[Jenna Fischer]

Oh, I see. I see what you've done there.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you.

[Jenna Fischer]

I do have a fan question Karen asked. Did you get to take home the medals? Yes, and I still have mine.

[Angela Kinsey]

Aw.

[Jenna Fischer]

I have a yogurt lid, metal in my home office, and it is hanging on my Dundee.

[Angela Kinsey]

And from this episode, I have the drawing Oscar did of Angela as a dominatrix pulling Kevin and Oscar around in costume.

[Jenna Fischer]

We kept all kinds of stuff from the show.

[Angela Kinsey]

We did. We're a little bit of hoarders, guys. Someday we joke that we're gonna do a book and put them all somewhere where we can share em.

[Jenna Fischer]

I think we should.

[Angela Kinsey]

I think we should too.

[Jenna Fischer]

We should go through our bins and we should share all this memorabilia and our time. Tons of photos. I mean, we have so many.

[Angela Kinsey]

So many.

[Jenna Fischer]

And I also want to finally get on that. Please, Angela, can we do that?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

You guys would want that, right? You would want a book of this stuff. Do people want that?

[Angela Kinsey]

Like a scrapbook?

[Jenna Fischer]

A scrapbook.

[Angela Kinsey]

Like our sort of BFF scrapbook?

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, I think we should, because I want to do it before I lose the stuff. Okay. Because I'm worried. I'm worried about my shed. Lastly, guys, I cannot not talk about the scene at 20 minutes, 53 seconds. It's the closing ceremonies.

[Jenna Fischer]

We talked a little bit about this. Paul and I agree.

[Angela Kinsey]

Steve did such an amazing performance where as Michael, he tears up. He's made this huge life choice to buy a condo. He's feeling this love and support from his office family that he doesn't get from his family, probably.

[Jenna Fischer]

Right.

[Angela Kinsey]

The office family is his family. And he's absolutely emotional. And when we filmed it, we did not know that Steve was gonna make that choice to get emotional. And so we're all looking at him, and he started to tear up. And I, as Angela Martin, started, as myself, started to tear up. It was so moving. Just sort of his honest portrayal of this person and Steve is just amazing.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. When that happened in the first take that that happened in, Paul then said to us, this is the direction of this scene.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

This is how we're gonna do it. So everyone just be proud of Michael. Just play it real.

[Angela Kinsey]

Play it real. It was hard for me because I feel like Angela Martin did not want to participate in Office Olympics. Probably thought this was a waste of time. Also, probably doesn't have really a lot of warm feelings towards Michael. But. But for me, as Angela Kinsey, watching my friend Steve do this performance, it was so hard not to get emotional and sort of know the fine line that was me reacting and Angela Martin, how she would react.

[Jenna Fischer]

I teared up when we shot this. I tear up every time I watch it. I also watched this episode three times in preparation for this podcast, and I cried every time.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Isabel, when she watched it with me, she said, mommy, he's crying. I said, I know, I know. It was a big moment in his life. These are the things I love about this show.

[Jenna Fischer]

Same, guys, that's Office Olympics.

[Angela Kinsey]

That is Office Olympics.

[Jenna Fischer]

Join us next week for the fire.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

You're gonna hear all about how Angela was almost carried away by a giant bug.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I might have hit John Krasinski.

[Jenna Fischer]

You did hit John Krasinski. All right, we'll see you next. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. 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.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins, and our audio engineer and associate producer is Daniela Silva.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basket.

[Jenna Fischer]

Our theme song is Rubber Tree. By Creed Bratton.