The Office & HIMYM: Favorite Cold Opens!

Summary

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Office Ladies – "The Office & HIMYM: Favorite Cold Opens!"

Release Date: April 15, 2026
Hosts: Jenna Fischer & Angela Kinsey
Guests: Josh Radnor & Craig Thomas (How I Met Your Mother, How We Made Your Mother podcast)

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Episode Overview

In this vibrant crossover episode, Jenna and Angela are joined by How I Met Your Mother’s Josh Radnor and showrunner Craig Thomas to geek out about the magic of "cold opens." They trade their favorite cold opens from The Office and How I Met Your Mother, dig into what makes a memorable opener, share behind-the-scenes stories, and explore how these short comic (or sometimes profound) scenes set the tone for fan-favorite episodes. The conversation is warm, witty, and packed with nostalgia and camaraderie between all four sitcom insiders.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. What is a Cold Open? (13:20–14:39)

• Craig Thomas offers a showrunner’s definition:

  “It's a little funny thing at the start of the show. ...The Office was amazing at doing ones that were these little self-contained movies, these little mini short films that stood alone sometimes. ...We almost never did it on How I Met Your Mother. ...You can either kick off the plot in the cold open or it's just a funny little thing. ...I would argue that doing the funny standalone way is probably harder.” (13:46)

• On The Office, cold opens were often movable and self-contained, allowing writers to shift or cut them as needed for time (15:15).

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2. Favorite Cold Opens: Deep Dive & Nostalgia

A. The Office “Stress Relief” (Fire Drill)

Chosen by Angela Kinsey

• Cold open: Dwight’s extreme fire drill spirals into mayhem for the whole office ("Have you ever seen a burn victim?", Bandit the cat tossed into the ceiling, and pure ensemble chaos).
• Angela:

  “It included a huge rehearsal with our camera operators, our Boom operators. It was like a real dance, if you will. ...This is from ‘Stress Relief’. ...It's absolute instant mayhem.” (17:31)

• Behind-the-scenes:

  “It was a full day to shoot it, but it was also a bunch of rehearsal. ...I had to work with this cat and the cat wrangler. ...Just that moment of throwing the cat in the ceiling... was a huge stunt.” (19:08)

• Josh Radnor:

  “There's nothing funnier than people being confidently wrong. ...So much of Dwight is confident wrongness. And so much of like the humor on The Office is confident, absolute wrongness.” (19:56)

• Angela reassures: the cat was unharmed thanks to safety pads (19:48).

B. How I Met Your Mother “Right Place, Right Time”

Chosen by Josh Radnor

• Scene: Ted’s minor decision (which way to walk for a bagel) sets the “butterfly effect” plot in motion, underscored by Bob Saget’s iconic narration about fate and timing.
• Bob Saget narration (played on air):

  “The great moments of your life won't necessarily be the things you do. They'll also be the things that happen to you...You see, the universe has a plan, kids, and that plan is always in motion. ...All these little parts of the machine constantly working, making sure that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be, exactly when you're supposed to be there. The right place at the right time.” (22:13)

• Josh Radnor:

  “The entire DNA, like blueprint of the entire series is in that Cold Open. ...Mysteries inside mysteries inside mysteries. This just lays out all the themes so beautifully at the beginning.” (23:09)

• Craig Thomas on Bob Saget:

  “I get such a chill hearing Bob do that one. ...He loved playing future Ted. He took a lot of pride in being future Ted.” (23:59)

• Touches on how HIMYM’s cold opens often bear the plot’s weight, planting a “mystery" (24:21).
• Josh Radnor:

  “It’s an antidote to cynicism…that every little encounter has meaning. Even if people don't articulate it that way, that's part of the warmth they feel when they watch the show.” (25:21)

• Angela shares a fan story: a couple recreating HIMYM’s yellow umbrella scene for their engagement photo. (26:13)

C. The Office “Pam’s Chore Wheel”

Chosen by Jenna Fischer

• Ensemble-driven cold open: Pam tries to organize office cleaning duties with a chore wheel, but chaos and hilarious resistance ensue; invention of the “tiny wheel.”
• Jenna:

  “If there was one prop that I wish I had from the show, it would have been any of these chore wheels. ...She makes a spinning wheel and then they get mad because the only thing that you can win is a chore.” (29:03)

• Craig Thomas (teasing):

  “Jenna, I don't know you that well yet, but this seems to me like entirely door to door, something you would do. Am I right about that?” (29:41)

• Angela:

  “In real life, Jenna, you do make a chore list. ...I loved, as part of the ensemble, whenever we would all collectively, like, react to one character.” (29:55, 30:54)

• Jenna admits:

  “It was very intimidating to stand in front of you all, too. ...Steve did this for seven years. How did he do this?” (31:16)

D. How I Met Your Mother “Swarley” (Coffee Shop Cold Open)

Chosen by Craig Thomas

• Scene: Marshall flirts with a coffee shop barista, prompting a friends-vs-bars gag and the “Swarley” running joke, originally written by Greg Malins for Friends.
• Craig Thomas:

  “It seemed that opening joke about the coffee shop versus the bar, our home base set as a bar, it seemed obvious. ...And it was written by a Friends writer... I thought that was such a great way to differentiate the two shows.” (33:45)

• Surprising revelation from writer Greg Malins:
  • He didn’t intend it as a Friends reference—despite everyone’s assumption (35:01).
  • The punchline was recycled from an old Friends episode, a fact Craig discovered only during the How We Made Your Mother podcast rewatch (36:14).
• Angela Kinsey:

  “That is so crazy. ...There's the cute waitress barista, kind of like Rachel. Wow, that's crazy, Greg.” (35:25)

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3. Behind the Scenes: Rewatching and Self-Discovery

• Josh Radnor shares about watching HIMYM now with his wife, who struggles not to binge ahead.

  “It's so nice to watch it with her... to let her see this huge part of my life... learning about myself now versus then...” (39:09)

• Craig Thomas marvels at what the rewatch podcast has uncovered ("the whole thing has been, like, quite a blessing").

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4. The Office Q&A and Community Segment (42:16–53:12)

Around the Town

• Fan Jesse P. in Ohio taps their own maple syrup; hosts are surprised syrup production happens outside Canada (42:16–43:19).
• A “wiener dog” named Walter Pickles wins a dog race (43:26).
• Listener Kate W. starts a local “Chatty Noogans” newspaper inspired by the show (44:00).

Office Question of the Week:

• Which episode was your favorite to film and why? (45:37)
  • Angela: "Beach Games" – despite tough conditions, recalls camaraderie, letting Andy float away, watching Jenna’s emotional monologue, and morning coffees with Harold Ramis (47:01).
  • Jenna: "Booze Cruise" and "The Injury" – both physically challenging, but bonded the cast and marked milestones (49:47). Also cherishes conference room scenes for the shared punchiness and creativity.
  • Both: Would love to revisit “The Injury” or “Women’s Appreciation” for the ensemble experience.

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Notable Quotes (with Timestamps)

• Craig Thomas:

  “The Office was amazing at doing ones that were these little self-contained movies, these little mini short films that stood alone sometimes. ...I would argue that doing the funny standalone way is probably harder.” (13:46)

• Angela Kinsey:

  “It's absolute instant mayhem.” (18:06)

• Josh Radnor:

  “There's nothing funnier than people being confidently wrong. And so much of Dwight is confident wrongness.” (19:56)

• Bob Saget as narrator:

  “You see, the universe has a plan, kids, and that plan is always in motion...all these little parts of the machine constantly working, making sure that you end up exactly where you're supposed to be, exactly when you're supposed to be there.” (22:13)

• Craig Thomas on Bob Saget:

  “He was such a secret weapon of the show. ...He loved playing future Ted. ...He and Josh developed a real bond.” (23:59)

• Angela Kinsey (on ensemble moments):

  “I loved, as part of the ensemble, whenever we would all collectively, like, react to one character, I loved it so much.” (30:54)

• Greg Malins’ confession (Craig sharing):

  “The end of the cold open of this episode. I wrote that joke already on Friends.” (36:14)

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Memorable Moments

• Jenna being spotted in Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour concert film (8:40), delighting both hosts and listeners.
• Angela’s "Bandit!" cat stunt discussion and Dwight's over-the-top disaster preparedness (16:57–18:53).
• Josh’s reflection on the significance of fate and meaning in HIMYM, and why the show brings comfort to viewers (25:21–26:09).
• Craig’s shock at discovering a beloved HIMYM cold open joke was recycled from Friends (36:14).
• Loving, competitive banter about who makes the best “chore wheel” and why Pam’s personality is so relatable (29:41–30:54).
• Angela’s touching admiration for Jenna’s “beach games” monologue and their mutual nostalgia for the camaraderie-filled, challenging shoots (47:01–49:07).

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Important Timestamps

• What is a cold open? – 13:20
• Fire Drill cold open clip/discussion: 17:31–19:48
• HIMYM “Right Place, Right Time” cold open/narration: 21:26–23:09
• Pam’s Chore Wheel/tiny wheel: 28:20–31:38
• Swarley cold open and Friends joke confession: 33:23–37:48
• Josh on personal growth via rewatching: 39:09
• Fan Q&A/Behind the scenes reflections: 42:16–53:12

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Tone & Atmosphere

The hosts and guests keep the tone playful, affectionate, and a little nerdy, reveling in sitcom history and poking fun at themselves, each other, and the shared quirks of their shows. There are moments of nostalgia, humility, and genuine surprise (like the revelation about recycled jokes), and the episode is shot through with warmth and gratitude for their fans and the enduring impact of their work.

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Conclusion

This “Ultimate Cold Opens” crossover episode is a heartfelt blend of insider stories, comedy craft discussion, fan appreciation, and real-life friendship—perfect for fans of The Office, How I Met Your Mother, and anyone obsessed with the power of great TV beginnings.

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Transcript

[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]

So if you're in healthcare or you know someone who is, don't miss out on 20% off for Nurses Week happening May 6th through May 12th.

[Jenna Fischer]

Go to wearfigs.com that's 20% off during Nurses Week at wearfigs.com lady have you

[Angela Kinsey]

ever invested in something that seemed really amazing at first but then did not live up to the hype?

[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]

Terms and conditions apply. 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 Lovers podcast just for you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Each week we will dive deep into the world of the Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details and lots of BFF stories.

[Jenna Fischer]

We're the Office Lady 6.0. Hi there everybody.

[Angela Kinsey]

Hi. We have such a fun episode today, lady. I'm really excited about it.

[Jenna Fischer]

We do. We are going to be discussing our favorite cold opens. I think you guys have heard us use that term before. That's sort of like the two minutes of a TV show that precedes the title sequence. A lot of times on the Office, this was a standalone comedic bit that was separate from the plot of the episode, but sometimes it was on Plot of the episode.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And we're going to get into some of our favorite cold opens with some special guests today. We have Josh Radner and Craig Thomas, the hosts of How We Made youe Mother. We. We love their podcast. You guys know it. It's on our network. They rewatch each week an episode of How I Met yout Mother. And we're gonna talk cold opens with them today.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. We thought it would be kind of fun if we traded some of our favorite the Office cold opens, and they told us a couple of their favorites from How I Met yout Mother.

[Angela Kinsey]

But before we get to that, we have a really great chit chat.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. This week's suggestion comes from Bailey M. In Oklahoma City, who said, hey, ladies. Taylor Swift recently released a music video for her song Opalite. And Donal Gleason is in is glorious. She put a period after each word like.

[Angela Kinsey]

Like it. Like, she wrote it out like it is your birthday, but she put it is glorious.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes. Bailey said there's some Ned like dancing. Please discuss.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay, Bailey. We were very curious about all of this as well. And. And we did some digging, and this music video came about because Taylor and Donal were guests on the Graham Norton talk show, which is a really fun talk show. It's in England. There's, like, a big sofa, and there's always a random assortment of celebrities on this sofa. And if you watch the episode of the talk show, you can literally see Taylor's eyes light up when she has the idea for this music video. It all started with Cillian Murphy and Taylor Swift complimenting Donal on his performance in the paper. Let's hear it.

[Craig Thomas]

Donal is magnetic in that show. I love that.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love that show. I want to say, too, I'm so happy it's coming back. And his character is, like.

[Josh Radnor]

It's so good.

[Jenna Fischer]

The loveliest, most romanticizing character.

[Angela Kinsey]

He, like, romanticizes his life, and it's really sweet and beautiful. And also, I don't think that you just sound American.

[Craig Thomas]

You seem American.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Craig Thomas]

Your actions are so good.

[Angela Kinsey]

Like, you have to leave American.

[Craig Thomas]

You have to leave that in the show. Hearing numbers are about to skyrocket. Thank you, Taylor Swift, very, very much. Can I ask you. Thank you, Killian. Thank you, everybody. Thank You, Killian. Thank. Thank you.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, he started it.

[Josh Radnor]

Thank you.

[Craig Thomas]

But I can also say it's just worth watching for Donald's dancing alone.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my. Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Absolutely.

[Josh Radnor]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm hoping to get in a Taylor Swift music video.

[Josh Radnor]

I'm hoping.

[Angela Kinsey]

And as the music video came out, Graham Norton was a guest on a podcast called Wanging on, and he talks about all of it. Let's hear it.

[Craig Thomas]

And so tell us who was on

[Jenna Fischer]

your sofa that night?

[Craig Thomas]

So basically, well, okay, I'll tell you what happened. So I got contacted by Taylor and Taylor's people, and they wanted to. I think they wanted to discuss something. I was like, I wonder what that's about. And then something about the music video.

[Josh Radnor]

And I thought, oh, what's that? And then I got through the thing, and it was like the whole thing

[Craig Thomas]

came to her in a blinding flash on the sofa, which you see in the video at the end. If you stay to the end of

[Josh Radnor]

the video, you see her get the idea?

[Craig Thomas]

And it was so she was on the show with Cillian Murphy, Donald Gleeson, Greta Lee, Jodie Turner Smith, and Luz Cavaldi. And Donald Gleason said something about his

[Josh Radnor]

dancing, and he said, oh, I'm hoping

[Craig Thomas]

to be in the next Taylor Swift video. And you see her little eyes go ba Doing little light bulb moment. And the next thing you know, she's written this whole treatment and we're all in it. And everyone was available. Everyone agreed to do it.

[Angela Kinsey]

He also said that it was, quote, like shooting a movie. It was a massive, massive deal. And everyone was lovely on set. It was a really, really fun experience. And he said they filmed his scenes at the Whit Gift shopping center in South London towards the end of 2025. And he was so excited to finally be able to talk about it.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I mean, first of all, if Taylor Swift asks you to be in her music video, of course the answer is yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Come on.

[Jenna Fischer]

Of course.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

I mean, anything, Taylor. Of course.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, Taylor, if you need two, you know, ladies of a certain season.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes, we're there for you, Taylor.

[Angela Kinsey]

We're there for you, Taylor.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, it's very funny because I have a little fun surprise to share. Also about Taylor Swift. I was in our general mailbag for office ladies, and I found this letter from Kayla M. In upstate New York. And Kayla, I thank you so much for this letter because I didn't know this, and it was a very exciting moment for my family. Oh, here is what Kayla said. Hi, office ladies. This is urgent. Did you know that Jenna can be seen in the Taylor Swift the ERAS tour, the final show concert movie. I noticed and screamed, what? Yes, lady, yes. So Kayla says, just toward the end of all too well during the red era, you're in the crowd singing along and wearing your friendship bracelets. I cannot believe I just noticed this, considering how many times I have watched it. Love you, ladies.

[Angela Kinsey]

You are kidding me. We both went to Taylor's ERAS tour. I cannot believe I was not at the one in Vancouver. In Vancouver. I was in New Orleans. Lady, you made it into her movie.

[Jenna Fischer]

I can't believe it. I cannot believe it. My daughter and I went to that together. I took a screen grab of it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I was gonna say I need a screen grab immediately.

[Jenna Fischer]

It's a very fun moment because I am just looking up at the stage with just, like, stars in my eyes. I look really happy. I've got my friendship bracelets. And I was really happy. It was such a special night for me. So, lady, I took a screen grab of it. Here it is. Look at me. I've got. I'm holding my hands up under my chin. I'm looking up. I'm smiling. Oh, my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

I see you.

[Jenna Fischer]

I've got my light up bracelet on.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Oh, that is so special. That is so fun.

[Jenna Fischer]

And, you know, right to my left there is my daughter who didn't make it into the movie, but who was there that night. And it was just such a special night for us and. Yeah, but isn't that crazy?

[Angela Kinsey]

That is crazy. Crazy. Okay, so I also went with my daughter, but, Jenna, what did you wear? Because I look back at my pictures, I wore, like, sparkly cat ears and I had glitter on my face. Like, what. What did you wear?

[Jenna Fischer]

So I wore. Remember that sparkly sequin jacket that I got from Macy's?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. So I wore just black pants and a T shirt, and then I wore that sparkly jacket because I was deep in hot slash mode at that point, and I knew I was going to be taking my jacket on and off.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, you went sparkly jacket. I bought a shirt that said karma is a cat, and I wore cat ears. But what a glorious, wonderful, joyful experience that was. And I cannot believe you're in the dang movie. That is so cool. Taylor, our offer still stands. I know Jenna's been in the movie, but if you need us to be in any future music videos, literally any

[Jenna Fischer]

future anything, and actually, anything.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

We're here for you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, thank you so much to Bailey for writing in with that chit chat. I had A lot of fun watching all of those clips. We're going to take a short break and when we come back, we're going to discuss Cold Opens with Craig and Josh. This podcast is sponsored by Squarespace. Jenna, guess what I'm doing right now.

[Craig Thomas]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

I am looking@our officeladies.com website. It looks so great. We have a new banner now where people can submit questions. We have all these different folders with different topic ideas. We have our shop drop down menu. I'm just loving our website.

[Jenna Fischer]

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[Angela Kinsey]

And they have all of these cutting edge design tools so you can really make your website fit your brand or business. They have a blueprint AI that's an enhanced website builder to get a fully custom website in just a few steps, using basic information about whatever your industry or goals are. We love Squarespace. We think you will too. Go to squarespace.com officeladies for a free trial and when you're ready to Launch, use code OfficeLadies to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

[Josh Radnor]

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[Craig Thomas]

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[Jenna Fischer]

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[Craig Thomas]

Why, hello.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

That's us.

[Josh Radnor]

We're the fine gentleman. I was so.

[Craig Thomas]

You are never been called that.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

No pressure, by the way. No pressure.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

And this will be canon. Whatever you say.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

You know, we all today picked one of our favorite cold Opens from each of our shows. We're gonna share those. We'll set em up and we'll talk about em. And I know the one I picked. I'm not gonna say it yet, but I almost picked the episode the Injury. And that was a time we had a cold open on the Office that did kick off the episode. That's when Michael has a George Foreman grill by his bed. Cause he loves the fresh bacon in the morning and he steps on the grill. But so that cold open where he calls Pam in a panic is one that then leads into the whole episode. So we did that every once in a while. But you're right, mostly ours were these standalone little movies.

[Josh Radnor]

Did you guys tell us in one of the episodes we did together that often they would write it for one and it would end up on another episode. Like they would mix and match them. They weren't always the ones that you thought they were gonna be Paired with.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, exactly.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Right. And if it is self contained and modular like that, it's easier to take out. Whereas if you start the story, you're kind of stuck with it. Did you guys always do a cold open? Because we didn't do it every episode. We did sort of longer full act ones. We started the show with titles for the entire first season and then kind of mixed and matched. Although we realized in season two that we had a great theme song to smash cut to.

[Josh Radnor]

Yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

I was going to say, though, both our shows have really iconic Grab youb by the Lapels kind of theme songs. And there's something especially about if you do the first season, people get to know the theme song by the second season. It's actually really thrilling to do a cold open and then cut. You know, do the needle drop to the theme song.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

Setting a fire.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. By locking the doors and setting a fire. It's absolute instant mayhem. We pulled a clip from the middle where Dwight is trying to get everyone to do all the steps in the chaos. Here it is.

[Craig Thomas]

You ever seen a burn victim? Okay, procedure, procedure. Excellent options. Where do we go? Use a what to cover the mouth.

[Josh Radnor]

A what?

[Craig Thomas]

A rag. A damp rag, perhaps. Let's remember those procedures.

[Jenna Fischer]

What are the objects?

[Craig Thomas]

That's the wrong way. We've already tried that.

[Josh Radnor]

Remember your exit points.

[Craig Thomas]

Exit points, people. What's next?

[Jenna Fischer]

Stay alive.

[Craig Thomas]

I'm getting help.

[Angela Kinsey]

Pull me up.

[Josh Radnor]

You're too heavy.

[Angela Kinsey]

I only weigh 82 pounds.

[Jenna Fischer]

Say, Bandit.

[Craig Thomas]

How about 9? 1 1?

[Josh Radnor]

Anyone?

[Craig Thomas]

911. Oh, my God. I mean, it's so ridiculous.

[Josh Radnor]

It's so good.

[Craig Thomas]

It's so great. Can I ask a question? How long did that take to shoot that? That looks like an entire movie.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

All right, so we asked you guys to pull your favorite cold opens, and I Know, it's always so hard to pick one. But, Josh, which one did you pick?

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, we told the audience that is involved in how Ted is going to meet the mother eventually. That's like this magical, like, little flash forward we saw. A yellow umbrella is part of that meeting.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

I loved this cold open. And I also love the voiceover, which is by Bob Saget. So I would love to hear that because it's poetic and wonderful and I love it.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

There it is.

[Angela Kinsey]

So beautiful.

[Josh Radnor]

Craig, I think that's some of the most like kind of lyrical narrating writing that you and the gang did. And I also. It really strikes me that the entire DNA, like blueprint of the entire series is in that Cold Open. Yeah, right. Like the whole show is spelled out thematically and illustrated in that. And then as the episode goes on again, we talk about a lot about How I Met yout Mother one. It's a big mystery. It's a nine season mystery. But also a lot of episodes start off with something very strange and disorienting and what is going on. And then the episode solves the mystery. So it's like mysteries inside mysteries inside mysteries. And this is like, this is a great mystery episode. But it's also. It just lays out all the themes so beautifully at the beginning. And Bob, man, I love hearing Bob's Bob.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Oh, yeah.

[Craig Thomas]

Can I spin first?

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Craig Thomas]

A wheel is supposed to spin?

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Bah. Boring. All she talks about is chores. A wheel wants to spin, pa. Okay, okay.

[Josh Radnor]

That's what I'm talking about.

[Craig Thomas]

Big money. Big money.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

So she makes a spinning wheel and then they get mad because the only thing that you can win is a chore. So then she has to make another wheel where you win. Fun stuff. But there's one thing on the wheel that's called tiny wheel. And if you hit tiny wheel, you have to spin a ton tinier chore wheel. That's really cute. And that has actual chores on it. But Pam says no one cares. Cause the tiny wheel is so cute. And it was just funny and, you know, silly and I don't know. I would love a chore wheel in real life.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

Even Jim doesn't have her own.

[Craig Thomas]

Even Jim turns on you.

[Josh Radnor]

But it's a little, like, I always like Simpsons. Crowd scenes are so funny when everyone, like, picks up, like, pitchforks and lanterns and just, like, storms city hall or

[Jenna Fischer]

whatever so quickly over. Over anything.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Craig Thomas]

I'm very nervous now. The funny thing is, this is by far the simplest one of any of the ones that we talked about today. I chose it mainly because I'm looking at it through the lens of doing our podcast, of doing a rewatch podcast, where you go back and you investigate what the hell you did, if you can remember it. And the way I felt about this cold open at the time was I really liked it, and I'll tell you why. And then we got up to this episode just a couple months ago, and we had the writer of this episode, Greg Maylands, who worked on Friends and How I Met yout Mother. And he came on, and he dropped a couple of bombs on me that made me completely change how I see this cold open now. So I chose mine to be podcast relevant. I'll set it up really quick, because I think we're gonna play a clip, and then we're gonna surprise you with a couple of subsequent clips of the podcast. Okay, so it's early season two. Marshall has had his heart broken. Lily and Marshall broke up at the end of season one. Marshall is tepidly trying to tiptoe into being single. He's flirting with a woman at the coffee shop. They're actually hanging out at a coffee shop because he likes this woman who works there. And there's a debate about coffee shops versus bars. So I guess that decides it. Yep. Hanging out at a coffee place, not nearly as much fun as hanging out at a bar. Okay, so it goes on from there. You see a flashback of Marshall flirting all week with this woman who works at the coffee shop, telling really stupid dad jokes, basically. But she's into it, and you kind of catch up to reality. He's gonna ask her out, and they discover along the way that she drew a heart on his cup but didn't do anything on Ted's cup. Well, what if the heart doesn't mean anything? What if she writes it on all the cups?

[Josh Radnor]

Mine says Ted, no heart. Mine says Suarez.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

Man, what's up with Swarley?

[Craig Thomas]

I know. You almost never see old Swarls get that upset. Shh. Here's why I love that. When we did this in 2000, I guess that I heard when we launched How I Met yout Mother, we really wanted to separate ourselves from friends. We wanted to be able to say, we are not one of the 75 other shows that has tried to recapture what Friends did. But of course, we look like friends. If you put it on a poster, it's like young people dating in New York. It looks similar. We wanted to differentiate ourselves. I thought this was A very clever way to do that, because it seemed that opening joke about the coffee shop versus the bar, our home base set as a bar. It seemed obvious. And it was written by a friend's writer. Greg Malan's the only writer who wrote for Friends and How I Met yout Mother. And I thought that was such a great way to differentiate the two shows. Well, Greg came on our show recently on the podcast cut to 19 years later, and he revealed to me two big things that really undercut my feeling that had differentiated us from Friends. One was his assertion, and he swears to God about this, that he did not mean it as a Friends versus How I Met yout Mother joke. And literally every single person working on how much yout Mother and the millions of people who've seen that episode, every single person thinks it's a friend differentiated from How I Met yout Mother joke. Except the guy who wrote it. He's like, no, I just thought it was like a funny line.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Craig Thomas]

Right? Right. There's no other way to filming it.

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

That is so crazy. Cause also there's the cute waitress barista, kind of like Rachel. Wow, that's crazy, Greg. Oh, my Lord.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my gosh.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

No way are you cool enough to pull off Clint.

[Craig Thomas]

Okay, so what name am I cool enough to pull off?

[Jenna Fischer]

Um, Gene. It's.

[Craig Thomas]

It's Clicked. It's clicked. See you later, Gene. It's clicked. Clicked.

[Josh Radnor]

What's up with Gene?

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Josh Radnor]

You're allowed to steal from yourself.

[Angela Kinsey]

I did a series with Greg after the Office called you'd Family or Mine on tbs, and now I want to rewatch it to see if there's any friends, like, sliding into his family or Mom.

[Josh Radnor]

She just keeps using them.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

It's gonna stay.

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

That's great.

[Jenna Fischer]

Awesome.

[Angela Kinsey]

And look at all the things you're discovering through the podcast, through the rewatch. You know? How fun is that? Yeah. Love it. Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Josh Radnor]

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

[Craig Thomas]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

Next time, tags.

[Craig Thomas]

Yeah, man. We'll define what tags are. We'll have a whole philosophical discussion.

[Jenna Fischer]

Good times. Love you guys.

[Craig Thomas]

Thanks for having us, you guys.

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you so much.

[Josh Radnor]

Bye.

[Angela Kinsey]

Bye.

[Jenna Fischer]

You know that thing where you get

[Angela Kinsey]

an amazing pair of shoes at a

[Jenna Fischer]

really great price and want to tell everyone about it? Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

So.

[Jenna Fischer]

So do we. Here at Designer Shoe Warehouse. We'll give you something to brag about, like the latest styles from brands you love or the trends everyone's obsessing over

[Angela Kinsey]

or shoes that make you feel like, well, you.

[Jenna Fischer]

So go ahead, show off a little. Find shoes that get you at prices that get your budget. Head to your DSW store or dsw.com today. DSW. Let us surprise you.

[Angela Kinsey]

We all belong outside. We are drawn to nature. It calls to us.

[Jenna Fischer]

Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the

[Angela Kinsey]

succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives richer, calmer, and frankly, better. Despite all this, we often go about

[Jenna Fischer]

our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize.

[Angela Kinsey]

With Alltrails, you can discover trails nearby or trails worth traveling to and explore confidently with offline maps and on trail navigation.

[Jenna Fischer]

Whether you're looking for a laid back walk with family or something more adventurous

[Angela Kinsey]

to get your heart pumping, Alltrails gives

[Jenna Fischer]

you the tools you need to get

[Angela Kinsey]

out there and find your outside.

[Jenna Fischer]

Download the free app today and make

[Angela Kinsey]

the most of your summer with Alltrails.

[Jenna Fischer]

Well, I love those guys.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

And kind. And warm.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, I don't know.

[Jenna Fischer]

I think you spicket the tree. Is that crazy? Did I see that in a movie? Was that a cartoon? Was that like a Bugs Bunny cartoon I saw in the U?

[Angela Kinsey]

I know because I feel like I saw a spigot in a tree too, but I don't know why. Maybe. Was it in a movie or something?

[Jenna Fischer]

I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Aw.

[Jenna Fischer]

Congratulations, Walter Pickles.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

The bubble wrap, yeah.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Right.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah. In the office. Right in the office.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Aw.

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

See you then.

[Jenna Fischer]

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

[Angela Kinsey]

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

[Jenna Fischer]

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

[Angela Kinsey]

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese. Dennis.

[Jenna Fischer]

Office Ladies was mixed and matched by Bill Schultz.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

[Jenna Fischer]

Spring just slid into your DMs grab that boho look for that rooftop dinner,

[Angela Kinsey]

those sandals that can keep up with

[Jenna Fischer]

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