The Paper Ep 6: Churnalism

Summary

Office Ladies Podcast Summary: "The Paper Ep 6: Churnalism" (February 11, 2026)

Main Theme & Purpose

In this episode of Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey break down Episode 6 of "The Paper": Churnalism. They discuss the satire around sponsored content in journalism, team up for exclusive behind-the-scenes stories, and dive into the episode’s production details. Lively tangents about conspiracy theories, skincare gadgets, bald eagles, and Angela’s monkey run-ins add the signature blend of friendship, laughter, and nostalgia for "The Office" fans.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Opening Chit-Chat & Listener Question: Conspiracy Theories (04:41–14:27)

• Listener Darby’s Question: Which conspiracy could you most easily believe?
• Angela’s Pick: Stonehenge. She details the new findings about the altar stone’s mysterious journey from Scotland, igniting speculation about giants or even aliens.
  • Angela (06:41): “It’s a pretty fascinating revelation because... how were the stones, some weighing 45 tons, transported and arranged?”
• Jenna’s Approach: Admits she’s a “naturally wired skeptic,” so she rapid-fires prominent conspiracies for group discussion:
  • Alien abductions: Sam (audio engineer) and Angela see them as plausible ("I think they've happened." – Angela, 09:44).
  • JFK assassination: Both lean towards one shooter, but debate conspiracy in Oswald’s rapid assassination (10:09–10:47).
  • Moon landing, flat earth, death hoaxes: None buy in.
  • “Fake Melania” body double: Dismissed as makeup and styling differences.
  • New Coke: Covered as more clumsy marketing than grand strategy.
  • Bermuda Triangle: Jenna’s pick — she’s legit scared (“I would never fly over it.” – 12:58).
• Bigfoot is Teased as a future deep dive (14:00).
• Memorable Moment: Hilarious SNL reference about alien abductions (09:18).

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2. Personal Updates & Valentines Plans (14:35–17:05)

• Angela’s heading to New York City to be a guest judge on "Beat Bobby Flay".
• Jenna’s spending Valentine’s Day in Vegas with her manager, Naomi, and shares gifting ideas.
• Angela bought a Macy’s 9-piece skincare set "for the plane."
• Notable for the real-life, best-friend banter and practical travel tips.

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3. Episode Recap: "Churnalism" (18:21–65:52)

Summary of “Churnalism”

• Plot: Ned takes over the advertorial department, having the Truth Teller staff test and review sponsored products for profit and credibility. Esmeralda, whose own pitch was upstaged, retaliates by blowing up Ned’s bathroom closure story into an investigative expose, uncovering unexpected corruption at City Hall.
• Behind-the-Scenes: Eric Rahill (writer/actor) remarks on the scope of TV production and the hundreds of people involved (“It really is insane.” – 20:07).

Conference Room Antics & Clickbait Debate (20:29–25:10)

• Esmeralda’s pitch: A viral Korean face mask (Ulzang mask) and jawline enhancer. Angela bought real Dr. Jart+ masks for the team — demonstrates the product in real time.
• Ned belittles product stories as "churnalism", preferring “serious” news on city bathrooms.
  • Ned: “Who’s ever learned anything from such an article?” — Everyone raises their hands (22:54).
• Ken delivers a legendary analogy comparing clickbait articles funding the paper to “prostitution”:
  • Ken (23:51): “These, yes, slightly dodgy clickbait articles are prostituting themselves for us. Without them, the TTT will die in darkness.”
• Fan-favorite moment: Ken’s story, Oscar’s interjections, and playful office banter.

The Product Review Montage (25:00–34:37)

• Product Assignments:
  • Kombucha (Nicole) – she forgets to refrigerate it: “She is not gonna have a good time.” (42:16)
  • Tooth whitening device (Barry)
  • Ab belt for “six pack abs” (Oscar)—cue to his Office character’s history of falling for ab gadgets.
  • Jawline enhancer (Detrick) — Angela and Jenna get inspired, test products on-air.
  • Sketchy “Scorpion Sting” pills (Adam), supposedly a fertility supplement.
• Oscar’s Talking Head:
  • “Obviously, I know these things don’t work, but they may work for me.” (25:46)
• Angela & Jenna’s Real-life Shopping Guilt: “Instagram ads have me in a chokehold.” (26:30)
• Behind-the-scenes: The episode drew inspiration from the writers’ real-life susceptibility to health-product fads.

Esmeralda’s Retaliation & City Hall Investigation (27:20–47:20)

• Esmeralda, feeling scooped, takes Ned’s “boring” park bathroom closure story and turns it into a takedown of suspected municipal corruption.
• She and Mare visit City Hall; Esmeralda fakes a migraine, sneaks into Frank Durham’s office, and finds he was at trivia night (not at the city council closure), revealing a possible cover-up.
  • “She wasn’t even there. This Frank Durham guy.” – Jenna (45:36)
• Location Facts: City Hall interiors filmed at Pasadena Freemasons Hall (Eric suspects it’s haunted), and fun Pasadena ghost trivia (46:41).

Recurring Themes, Inside Jokes, and Tangents

• Stars & Red Motif (47:31–49:05)
  • Jenna and Angela geek out over Esmeralda’s star stickers on everything.
  • Through Chelsea Fry, they confirm actress Sabrina personally stuck star stickers on props and even the car.
• On Stage Details: Observations on Mare’s cracked phone screen (49:22); cast braving 100° LA weather in winter clothes for the shoot.
• Trivia Nights: A breakdown of bar trivia themes (from Nicolas Cage to “Stoner Movie Night”); fantasies of assembling an Office trivia dream-team.

Product Mishaps Escalate (50:26–54:38)

• Ned tries all the products at once, burns his face (“Watching him put that lighted chinstrap over his burned face and then drinking the kombucha… it was like wound on wound.” – Jenna, 51:04).
• Esmeralda gives Mare a makeover (“She’s undercover as a beautiful woman.” – 51:24).
• Mare successfully extracts a confession that the city administrator was at trivia, not overseeing the park closure.

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4. Iconic Tangent: Angela’s Monkey Attacks in Indonesia (54:02–59:35)

Angela tells three harrowing, hilarious stories about being attacked by monkeys as a child in Indonesia—including a gibbon biting her, an orangutan flinging her, and a monkey stealing her earrings at a Balinese temple.

• Angela (57:13): “I thought, that doesn’t dangle… literally, torpedo jumps onto my shoulder and rips the earring out of my ear.”
• Sam (audio engineer): “Your ability to drop such deep Angela lore so casually is one of my favorite things about you.” (59:13)

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5. Production Details: Makeup & Filming (59:47–63:01)

• Ned’s Face-Burn Gag:
  • Makeup artist Autumn Butler tested combinations of Elmer’s glue and duo eyelash glue to create the peeling, “snake-skin” effect, avoiding any real skin conditions.
  • Pieces were applied and peeled for comedic timing; actor Eric Rahill would’ve gone to the hospital if it was real, but loved the “charismatically comedic” result.
• Location Trivia: The “Macaroni Barn” is actually “The Smokehouse” in Burbank (interior); exterior shots use a Universal Studios façade across from the Back to the Future high school set.

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6. Final Scenes & Character Moments

• Adam’s Supplements: After “Scorpion Sting” supplements, Adam reports he and his wife had sex three times — a standard for them, explaining four kids. Ken teases, “Big man. Wowie. Three times.” (64:33)
• Hinted Romance: Ned’s awkward exchange with Mare over her asexuality and the assumption planted by Esmeralda.
  • Jenna: “He’s her boss. How can he go to her and ask her about her sexuality?” (65:15)
• Ned’s Glow-Up: The face mask disaster ends up making Ned’s skin “glow” the following day (63:15).

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7. Around the Town (38:04–41:43)

Angela & Jenna highlight listener stories:

• Bald eagle sightings in Northern Utah (Josie, Syracuse, UT)
• Yiddish cultural revival and local theater (Izzy, Philadelphia)
• Marie Antoinette exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London (Kelly, UK)
• Jenna shares “Fiddler on the Roof” high-school memories, complete with her dad’s classic dad joke:
  • “Without you, it’d just be called The Roof.” (40:58)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Conspiracies Chunk
  • Angela (06:41): “It’s a pretty fascinating revelation because... how were the stones, some weighing 45 tons, transported and arranged?”
  • Sam (10:47): “It’s too neat and tidy.”
• Product Testing
  • Oscar (25:46): “Obviously, I know these things don’t work, but they may work for me.”
  • Jenna (26:30): “Instagram ads have me in a chokehold.”
• Ken’s Analogy
  • Ken (23:51): “These, yes, slightly dodgy clickbait articles are prostituting themselves for us. Without them, the TTT will die in darkness.”
• Monkey Stories
  • Angela (57:13): “Torpedo jumps onto my shoulder and rips the earring out...”
  • Sam (59:13): “Your ability to drop such deep Angela lore so casually is one of my favorite things about you.”
• Makeup Department
  • Autumn Butler (61:11 paraphrased): “Greg wanted it to feel ‘charismatically comedic’ — like a snake molting in sheets.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Listener Chit-chat: Conspiracies: 04:41–14:27
• Valentine’s Plans: 14:35–17:05
• Show Recap Begins: 18:21
• Product Testing Montage: 25:00–34:37
• Esmeralda & Mare Investigate: 45:24–47:20
• Monkey Stories: 54:02–59:35
• Peeling Face Makeup Details: 59:47–63:01
• Around the Town: 38:04–41:43
• Wrap-up & “Around the Town” jingle: 66:14–66:32

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Overall Episode Tone & Takeaways

True to Office Ladies form, this episode blends sharp show analysis with warm BFF banter, in-jokes, and interactive listener moments. Angela and Jenna’s ease as friends and co-hosts makes for an intimate, comedic, and sometimes informative ride, packed with behind-the-scenes trivia, workplace nostalgia, self-deprecating product confessions, and wild sidesteps into personal lives.

Whether you’re a fan of "The Office," "The Paper," or simply the ladies’ dynamic, you’ll come away laughing and learning — and maybe even questioning if your own Instagram-ad wellness product is churnalism gold or six-pack vapor.

Transcript

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[Jenna Fisher]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Angela Kinsey]

Same. And I loved the Bombas sports socks. I have a pair of BOMBA socks that are my go to travel socks. I wear em on every trip we go. I lived in them in Iceland cause they were comfortable. They kept my feet warm but then my feet weren't sweaty.

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Angela Kinsey]

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[Jenna Fisher]

I'm Jenna Fisher.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I'm Angela Kinsey.

[Jenna Fisher]

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 deeper into the world of the Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories.

[Jenna Fisher]

We're the Office Lady 6.0. Hi, Angela.

[Angela Kinsey]

Hi, doll. What's up?

[Jenna Fisher]

Not much. We both dug out of our closets some really cute little jackets. Today. Today's the day of the cute jacket.

[Angela Kinsey]

My jacket I have had since before Isabelle was born.

[Jenna Fisher]

And it's so cute.

[Angela Kinsey]

Is it still in style? It's kind of like a little bomber jacket.

[Jenna Fisher]

It feels in style.

[Angela Kinsey]

Sam's nodding.

[Jenna Fisher]

Why would you ask me this question? I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

This is true. How would I know this is true? This is what happens when two best friends, neither have any fashion sense, start advising one another. I like your jacket too. Thanks.

[Jenna Fisher]

I love it. I got it at that store. Oh, God. What's it called, Lady? This is my brain.

[Angela Kinsey]

The Gap?

[Jenna Fisher]

No.

[Angela Kinsey]

Zara?

[Jenna Fisher]

No. Just keep naming stores till we get there.

[Angela Kinsey]

Anthropologie.

[Jenna Fisher]

No, it's that one where you go in and they give you a little stylist like you go in and you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Macy's?

[Jenna Fisher]

No, the one where you go in and then you pick stuff out and then they style you where they like, fill in all the blanks.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wow, that sounds really good.

[Jenna Fisher]

I did it in Oklahoma.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fisher]

I did it in Oklahoma City.

[Angela Kinsey]

Those ladies loved you.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. I needed a blazer. I hadn't packed a blazer. And Lee wanted to take me out for an early birthday dinner because he was gonna miss my birthday last year. I mean, this is going all the way back to March. And. And I said, I'm just here for a blazer. And you know, of course they were amazing and they put a bunch of cute stuff in my dressing room.

[Angela Kinsey]

Shout out to the ladies at Evereve in Oklahoma.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, first of all, I think we need to take a picture of us in these jackets.

[Jenna Fisher]

I agree.

[Angela Kinsey]

And do a little side by side.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know you love a side by side. I do.

[Jenna Fisher]

Wait, it's not really a side by side.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's not a side by side. It's just a standing side. Standing side.

[Jenna Fisher]

I like that too.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, we are kicking off this week's the Paper episode. It's episode six, journalism. And before we get to this breakdown, it's time for a quick little chit chat.

[Jenna Fisher]

Don't worry, we are going to do around the town. We're going to get to that a little bit later. But first, let's hear this chit chat suggestion from Darby in Iowa.

[Darby (Listener)]

Hey, office ladies, I absolutely love your Podcast. And I'm so honored to be chosen to read my question for you guys today. So, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but I do find them fascinating to hear or read about. One of my favorite things about your podcast is when you do deep dives, it's fun to learn so much about random things. So my question for you guys is, was a conspiracy theory that you could be convinced is true, or maybe you already have one that you believe in? I thought it would be interesting to hear what you guys come up with.

[Angela Kinsey]

Darby, we loved this suggestion. This both got our brains buzzing.

[Jenna Fisher]

It did. Did anything come to mind?

[Angela Kinsey]

You know, we both have one. I don't even know what yours is. Okay, here's mine. Should I go first?

[Jenna Fisher]

Sure. Darby.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm a little obsessed with Stonehenge. Okay. So when I was in college, I did a semester abroad in London, and I signed up for this bus tour. We loaded up on a bus and we drove to Stonehenge. And I got goosebumps. It was, like, foggy. These things are huge. They're huge. I also took my ye olde camera and I took tons of pictures. And then when I got back to my dorm room, I realized I hadn't put any film in it. I don't have a single picture.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, what's the conspiracy about Stonehenge? That it's arranged by, like, aliens or something? Like, what is it?

[Angela Kinsey]

When you go and see it, it's hard to imagine how these stones got there, how they got upright.

[Jenna Fisher]

Does nobody know how they got there?

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, there's a lot of different theories and things, but the thing that I think really kicked off some conspiracy theories, at least from what I saw online, is In 2024, the science journal called Nature revealed that the 6 ton altar stone at Stonehenge came from the northeast of Scotland and not Wales, like the rest of the monument's bluestones.

[Jenna Fisher]

Wait, there's one stone that's different than all the other stones?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, and it's a pretty fascinating revelation because it really ignited the question, how were the stones, some weighing 45 tons, transported and arranged to where they sit today? I mean, there was no basic transportation. The wheel hadn't even been invented. The wheel was invented five centuries later.

[Jenna Fisher]

Wait, what?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, I know. So much of what scientists do know about the construction of Stonehenge is from educated guesses and constantly evolving research, the most recent of which suggests that, in fact, two of the largest boulders that make up Stonehenge have always been there, where they sit today. But they don't know where the rest came from. And so theories are, if not aliens, perhaps giants.

[Jenna Fisher]

Giants, yes. One of the earliest. We used to be a land of giants.

[Angela Kinsey]

Listen. One of the earliest names for Stonehenge was, and I'm going to say it wrong, guys, Chorea gigantum.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

Which has been interpreted by some as giants dance. So, you know, I don't know, is this, like, giving credibility that giants used to roam the Earth are aliens or. Who knows? But let me tell you, whoever arranged those was an amazing engineer to make all that happen.

[Jenna Fisher]

But you feel it when you're there in person. Something feels, like, eerie. Something extra.

[Angela Kinsey]

It feels like this doesn't look like it should belong here.

[Jenna Fisher]

I gotta go.

[Angela Kinsey]

It feels really old. Like, I felt like when I went there, like I was entering a time I didn't belong in. It felt very old. Like I felt the passage of time from the Earth.

[Jenna Fisher]

Wow.

[Angela Kinsey]

So there you go. I don't know, Darby. Like, Stonehenge is fascinating to me. That is a conspiracy theory I can get sucked into. What about you, Jenna?

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, I had a hard time. I am such a naturally wired skeptic. Critical thinker.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

When it comes to these things, nothing came to mind for me. So I instead Googled what are common conspiracy theories, and I thought I could list them, and maybe we could all just say if we could get sucked into them or not.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right. Matt. Sam. Alien abductions.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Oh, yes. But I think a lot of the people that say they have them haven't had them.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

But I do think it's feasible.

[Angela Kinsey]

All I can ever think of is that SNL sketch.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Oh, the Kate McKinnon one?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Basically, if you haven't seen it, Ryan Gosling, he gets abducted and he has the most magical experience. And they just. They surrounded me with love. And then Kate McKinney has a cigarette and she goes, yeah, that didn't happen to. And they, like, came by and, like, swatted at her boobs. It's just hilarious. I'm sorry. Okay, go on, Matt.

[Jenna Fisher]

Do you want to weigh in on alien abductions?

[Angela Kinsey]

I think they've happened.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

I think they're out there, Matt. Oh, we don't know very much about you. And I am already just, like, I'm not big on it, but I could go with it.

[Jenna Fisher]

You could be made to believe. Here's where I'm thinking Darby is coming from. Like, if one day one of these things was proven true, you'd be like, yeah, I see it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, fair enough.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

JFK assassination. One shooter or multiple.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my.

[Jenna Fisher]

Gosh I'm one shooter.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

One shooter. But a lot of people planned it. I don't think. I don't think Lee Harvey Oswald did it alone.

[Jenna Fisher]

I think he did it by himself.

[Angela Kinsey]

I think I'm a one shooter guy here. Huh. This one is tricky to me because I think it was one shot. But I always wondered why he was assassinated so quickly right after. Felt that part. Always felt a little cover up to me.

[Jenna Fisher]

Lee Harvey Oswald then being killed.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. Seemed like a nice, like, tie it up with a bow.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

It's too neat and tidy.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right. The moon landing was a hoax.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No.

[Jenna Fisher]

The earth is actually flat.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, no.

[Jenna Fisher]

Then you know always that somebody is still alive or faked their death. Elvis, Michael Jackson, Tupac.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, I don't believe those.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay. What about fake Melania?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No, I just think it's just different makeup and styles.

[Jenna Fisher]

You know, she doesn't do a lot of public appearances as first lady. So there has been a conspiracy theory that there's like a body double that shows up in like sunglasses and big hats for like short photo ops and stands next to the President, but that.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

The person being replaced by somebody that goes back to like the Beatles and.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes, Paul McCartney has been replaced by a lookalike is another conspiracy theory.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay, what about the New Coke conspiracy? Do you know about that one?

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Jenna Fisher]

Do you remember back in our childhoods when Coca Cola changed to New Coke?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

It was clear.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, that's crystal pest football.

[Jenna Fisher]

That's different.

[Angela Kinsey]

But everyone got pissed off. They were like, we don't want New Coke.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. Nobody liked it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. That's what I remember.

[Jenna Fisher]

And they were gonna get rid of old Coke. Well, they did. They got rid of old Coke. They replaced it with New Coke, and then everybody got mad. So then they came out with Coca Cola Classic. And for a while you could buy either New Coke or Coca Cola Classic. So the conspiracy is that they intentionally changed to an inferior product, New Coke, to drive up demand for the original Coke, which they then re released with cheaper products and made more profit.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

See, that just seems pretty straightforward business to me. I'll buy that one.

[Angela Kinsey]

That seems like a little marketing, like, strategy, but also it could just mean that someone the bed and then they had to scramble.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah, see, I can't get behind that conspiracy. I think it's more likely just poor business decision.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right, well, finally, this is my last conspiracy. And this is the one that I believed in. We finally got to my one.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

All right.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, Bermuda Triangle.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Now, what is the conspiracy?

[Angela Kinsey]

I think that it's got some kind of magnetic field that makes planes drop from the sky, or there's some kind.

[Jenna Fisher]

Of, like, I believe in it. Like, I believe the Bermuda Triangle. Triangle, I don't even know. But I would never fly over it. I'm not going to sail a ship into it. No way.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Yeah. I think that's more superstition, though.

[Jenna Fisher]

But, no, it's happened. All these ships and planes have been lost in the Bermuda Triangle, never to be seen or heard of again.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Is that where Amelia Earhart went down?

[Jenna Fisher]

I don't think so. It is. No, we don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Famously, I'll tell you, the Bermuda Triangle, it is loosely defined as a region in the North Atlantic Ocean bound by Florida, Bermuda and Puerto Rico, and it kind of forms a triangle over sort of deep part of the ocean.

[Jenna Fisher]

Is it where Amelia Earhart went down?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No, but there is a fringe conspiracy theory that I'm looking at it now.

[Angela Kinsey]

The Amelia Earhart Bermuda Triangle theory.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Conspiracy theory. Yeah. It's a very fringe belief of that.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay. Well, there you go, Darby. We dug into conspiracies for you. I hope you enjoyed it. That was fun for me.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Now, there is one conspiracy that I did not mention, and it's because it was a chit chat suggestion. A single item to discuss in a future chit chat. And I think we should save it. But it's Bigfoot.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Oh, yeah. We could talk so much about Bigfoot.

[Jenna Fisher]

I know. And you know, Lee did some deep dive research on Bigfoot. I feel like I need to get him in here.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Yes, yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, yes. And let's have Lee come in.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right, well, listen, why don't we take a break, and then when we come back, we're gonna get into season one, episode six of the Paper Journalism.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. And writer Eric Rahill, who also plays Trav, gave us some great behind the scenes details.

[Jenna Fisher]

He sure did. This segment is brought to you by Macy's. Well, Valentine's Day is coming up, Angela. I have some very unique plans this Valentine's Day.

[Angela Kinsey]

You do?

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes. I will not be with Lee and the kids on Valentine's Day. I am going to be in Las Vegas.

[Angela Kinsey]

Whoa.

[Jenna Fisher]

With my manager, Naomi.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fisher]

And we are going to dinner together on Valentine's Day, because I'm going to be there for work.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know what? I'm working, too.

[Jenna Fisher]

Where are you going to be?

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, Valentine's Day morning, I'm going to have breakfast with Josh, and then I'm getting on a plane and I'm going to New York City. Because I'm going to be on Beat Bobby Flay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, okay. That's so fun.

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm the guest judge.

[Jenna Fisher]

You get to eat all the food.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fisher]

I cannot wait to hear about this.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, I'll give you the full download everybody. But I actually got myself a Valentine's gift at Macy's.

[Jenna Fisher]

You got yourself a gift?

[Angela Kinsey]

I did.

[Jenna Fisher]

I love this.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, and I got it for my trip because I thought it would be perfect. It's actually amazing. I want to tell you about it. It's a nine piece Valentine's Day gift set. It's featuring a curated mix of skin care and makeup essentials from really great brands like Clinique and Lancome and NARS benefit. It's in this heart shaped box. But what I loved about it is like all of its little small sizes, like perfect for the plane. And it's a mixture of hydrating, illuminating and enhancing products to pamper your skin.

[Jenna Fisher]

Come on, that sounds amazing.

[Angela Kinsey]

This is a great gift.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, I want to get Naomi something. I mean, she's spending her Valentine's Day with me in Vegas. I want to do like a Galentine's Day thing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

So here's my idea. Tell me if you like this. Macy's has these state of day floral sleep. So like a little pajama set, right. But then maybe do like a slip silk eye mask and then maybe a little white noise machine, like this sleeping oasis little package, kind of put them all together. Do you like this?

[Angela Kinsey]

I like this. Especially for Las Vegas.

[Jenna Fisher]

This is what I'm thinking, right? I can give this to her and then she'll sleep even better.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, here's the thing, you guys. Macy's has so many great gift ideas for Valentine's Day. Doesn't matter who you're shopping for, if you're shopping for that special person or if you're shopping for yourself or your friend.

[Jenna Fisher]

And even if you're short on time, we know you're not short on love. You can shop all things for Valentine's Day in store or online@macy's.com 2025 was a great year for TV, movies and music. And we are highlighting the best of the best, including K Pop Demon Hunters, Sinners and Severants. We're talking about our favorite moments of the year, including some of the best pop culture you might have missed. Listen to Pop Culture Happy hour wherever you get your podcasts.

[Angela Kinsey]

This podcast is sponsored by Squarespace.

[Jenna Fisher]

We have a new feature on our OfficeLadies.com website.

[Angela Kinsey]

We do. And thanks to the folks At Squarespace, it was so easy to set it up.

[Jenna Fisher]

You can now submit audio files along with your chit chat suggestion. We are loving getting to hear people's voices.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. And we play them on the show. But this is just one great feature of Squarespace. You guys know we've been using it for years. We used it to build our Office Ladies website. Josh and I have been using it for years on bakingwithjoshanan.com and really, it's like, how do you want to grow your business? What do you need for it? All the tools are there to create an amazing, dynamic website that connects you with your followers. And anyone that's interested in what you.

[Jenna Fisher]

Got going on, head to squarespace.com officeladies for a free trial. And when you're ready to launch, use offer code officeladies to save 10% off your first purchase of a web website or domain. All right, we are back. As we said, this episode is Churnalism. It was written by Eric Rahill and directed by Jason Walliner. Jason has also directed St. Denis Medical. Nathan, for you and the Last man on Earth. Here is your summary. Ned takes over Esmeralda's advertorial department and enlists his staff to personally try out sponsored products. Believing the move will strengthen both the paper's Prof. And its credibility, Esmeralda retaliates by commandeering Ned's story about a park bathroom shutdown, blowing it up into a dramatic investigative expose with mayor as her sidekick. What begins as a publicity stunt unexpectedly exposes a real scandal at City Hall.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, you and I would have so much fun if you and I got to hit the streets and question someone at City. City hall and Bustum.

[Jenna Fisher]

I mean, we're going to get to it, but I thought they did an excellent job here.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. You know, we asked Eric what it was like to be a writer and actor on the show, and this is what he said. He said, I've mostly just acted before this job, so it's really crazy to see how much it takes to make a TV show come to life from start to finish. Hundreds and hundreds of people. I mean, maybe everybody knows that, but it really is insane. And I thought about that. I thought about, like, the first time my parents came to the set of the Office. My dad was like, all these people. Yeah, dad, all of them.

[Jenna Fisher]

I mean, this is why we don't want AI to replace actors, because you maybe only see a handful of actors in the project, but behind that are hundreds of people being employed.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's right. Building Sets. And I mean all of it. Yeah. It's a real community effort to get a show are movie made.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes. Well, listen, this episode is going to start in the conference room. Ned is leading the team in a story brainstorming session. Esmeralda is going to pitch a story about the most effective face product in history. This is a new product. It's a face mask from Korea.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. She has made two posters, and one of them features this Ulzang mask, if I'm saying that correctly. And I looked on the Internet and I guess it's a popular South Korean term literally meaning best face or good looking. And, you know, I was looking into these face masks and I was trying to find one that was very similar to what Esmeralda is pitching. I couldn't. Although I found one that the Internet is raving about, and I brought one for Miyu and Sam. We obviously can't do them today. I want you to go home and do them and I want you to report back.

[Jenna Fisher]

Wow. Exciting.

[Angela Kinsey]

Are you ready? Look at this.

[Jenna Fisher]

What is it?

[Angela Kinsey]

It's a Dr. Jart Plus Chiro rubber mask.

[Jenna Fisher]

Lady Dr. Jart is expensive. I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

I bought it with my own money. I didn't use the company credit card. You guys, this one I bought is a firming mask. We're going to get firm, y'. All.

[Jenna Fisher]

I can't wait.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's what she said. Okay. Anyway, you each have one.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right.

[Angela Kinsey]

The other thing on her poster is a jawline enhancer. It says it's a game changer for men. Oh, I looked for one for us. You have to order them. It takes a while. I don't have them.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, well, I'm excited to just see what this rubber mask will do. Wow. It's very. It's a little creepy looking.

[Darby (Listener)]

It is.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fisher]

I feel nervous. But Ned is not impressed by Esmeralda's pitch. He's like, let me give you an example of a great news story. He bicycled past the park today and the restrooms were closed. He found out that they're gonna replace those bathrooms with an E bike kiosk. What's up?

[Angela Kinsey]

What's up with that? Why can't the park have a bathroom?

[Jenna Fisher]

This made me laugh. Nicole said, Esmeralda's article seems like clickbait. And then she said, ned's story seems like something my mom would text and it wouldn't be clear why.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's just out of the blue.

[Jenna Fisher]

It's very funny.

[Angela Kinsey]

So Ned has some Ned sass. He kind of talks down to Esmeralda he calls what would be her article churnalism, and was like, who's ever learned anything from such an article? And everyone raised their hands. They all feel like they've learned something.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. Ned says, I don't know if there's a place for this kind of story at the Truth Teller. And then Ken appears kind of out of nowhere, and he says, actually, can I tell you a story of my childhood friend? And I loved this story so much. I also loved Oscar in this exchange, so I wanted us to hear it.

[Oscar (Character)]

Now, I don't know if I've ever told you guys about my old childhood friend, Douglas Keane.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No.

[Oscar (Character)]

So Douglas grew up in a 10 bedroom estate in Cardiff.

[Angela Kinsey]

Sounds sick as hell.

[Oscar (Character)]

It does indeed. Thank you, Travis. But do you know how Douglas's parents paid for this 10 bedroom estate in Cardiff?

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Oscar (Character)]

Anyone?

[Angela Kinsey]

No.

[Oscar (Character)]

Oscar? Textiles. Pardon me? Textiles. Prostitution. I'll give you it. Prostitution. Well, we are Douglas Keane. This beautiful office is the 10 bedroom estate. And these, yes, slightly dodgy clickbait articles are prostituting themselves for us. Without them, the TTT will die in darkness.

[Jenna Fisher]

I just. I don't know why I loved it so much.

[Angela Kinsey]

I did. It's just great conference roomy vibe, you know, where people have these little, like, one off lines. Cause I love Travis in that too. Yes. Yeah. Well, you know, I asked Eric who are his favorite characters to write for? And he said, it's a tie between Barry and Ken. He loves them. Yeah, I get it.

[Jenna Fisher]

I do too.

[Angela Kinsey]

And Ken has some great couplets of dialogue in this episode. I'm gonna mention a few as we go.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, Ned says, fine, we'll do this article about this beauty product. In fact, why don't we do an article where we test a whole bunch of these products, but we have to review them with rigor and. And integrity.

[Angela Kinsey]

Mm.

[Jenna Fisher]

And now Esmeralda is mad. She's like, ned just stole her story idea.

[Angela Kinsey]

So she's so. She's like, fine, I'll take your boring bathroom story and show you what.

[Jenna Fisher]

Exactly. So in the next scene, Ned enters the bullpen, and he's got two big plastic bins full of free products for the team to test out. And he says, you have to be neutral and honest in your reporting. And he starts handing them out.

[Angela Kinsey]

Mm.

[Jenna Fisher]

He gives Nicole some kombucha. Barry gets this, like, tooth whitening device, this thing he puts in his mouth, and it lights up. Oscar is gonna get a product that promises six pack abs without a single crunch.

[Angela Kinsey]

And then this leads into an Oscar.

[Jenna Fisher]

Talking head, which I really loved and I thought we should hear it.

[Oscar (Character)]

Guaranteed six pack abs, no crunches required. Obviously, I know these things don't work, but they may work for me.

[Jenna Fisher]

This is me.

[Angela Kinsey]

This is me.

[Jenna Fisher]

Every time I see a stupid Instagram.

[Angela Kinsey]

Ad, I know you're like, this could work.

[Jenna Fisher]

I mean, I know that it's stupid, and then I just spend my money on it every time. And, you know, Eric shared with us that this was basically the inspiration for this episode. He said, I think the inspiration came from the writer's room. Talking about what in quotes? Health products we've all fallen for. He said, we loved imagining Esmeralda pitching this idea just to get free stuff. Eric said, I've fallen for so many powders.

[Angela Kinsey]

Good God.

[Jenna Fisher]

Instagram ads have me in a chokehold.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know you and I did trade messages. I was, like, cleaning out my bathroom and I was like, here are things I am never allowed to buy again. No more neck firming cream. Give it a rest. Pick one. Stick with it. I have so many creams.

[Jenna Fisher]

You know what? I don't need another one of a hair mask. When do I have time to put something on my head? I wash my hair, then I have to put a hair mask on, and then I wait 10 to 15 minutes and then I have to get back in the shower. This is never happening in my life.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know what I bought?

[Jenna Fisher]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

I bought these pouches you stick your feet in. It's like a foot mask.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, I love those. My daughter and I love to put those on and then watch a movie. We do, like, movie spa night. They have them for your hands, too.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know, but I'm good. You know what I'm saying? They last forever. Okay, I don't need to buy anymore. Okay, well, Mare is now going to go into Esmeralda's office and she's like, I'm here to, like, assist you. Ned thought I could help you out. And then you know what their dynamic's going to be? Esmeralda's going to run the show. And now she has her guy Friday.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, did you see the book she's reading? I mean, she's taking this very seriously. I zoomed in on it. When Mair enters her office, she's reading a book called Basic Exploring the A Comprehensive Study for University Level Students.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wow. I did not catch that.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, for what it's worth, it's a real book.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wow. Well, now Adam is going to test maybe some type of mushrooms, but Ken quickly comes in, tosses those out, and gives him this packet. And he's like, here, take these pills. You know, they're like a supplement. And Adam, without even looking at the package, takes the pills. What the hell?

[Darby (Listener)]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

And there, this packet is called Scorpion Sting from Rudy's Gas Station. There's some type of, like, male enhancement. Male enhancement. It's going to pump up his sperm count or something. And Adam's instantly worried. He's like, oh, God, I can't get my wife pregnant again. They have four kids.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

I have a few questions for Adam.

[Jenna Fisher]

What are they?

[Angela Kinsey]

One, you don't look and see what you're taking before you take it. But two, he quickly downs them with water, thankfully, because if he drank them without water, it'd make me cringe.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

Does that make you cringe when people, like, take pills without water?

[Jenna Fisher]

One of my pet peeves is movies where people open up a prescription pill bottle and then they pour like, just a bunch of pills like they're in pain and they don't like, take the prescribed amount and then they just put them in their mouth and then they just like they chuck their head back and just swallow them dry.

[Angela Kinsey]

Josh takes his vitamins like that.

[Jenna Fisher]

What, he just puts them dry?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes. And I'm like, I'm sorry, how in the hell I can't do that. And every time he does it, it makes me want to gag.

[Jenna Fisher]

Wow.

[Angela Kinsey]

Anyway, lastly, Adam get a vasectomy. Snip, snap, Snip. Like shut it down.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, he says his father in law doesn't believe in birth control. Would that be considered birth control?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. I also have a question about that. How is your father in law in your marital bed? How's he know your business? Who's telling your father in law, oh, we're not using condoms this month. Like, who's reporting back? Don't report back.

[Jenna Fisher]

I don't know. It sounds like they have a very enmeshed relationship with her parents.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's creeping me out a little bit. Okay, so in the next bit, Oscar, he gets this ab device, right. It's like on a belt. It looks like. Or something he like, puts it around his abdomen. It looks like little, like pulsi thing.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah, they look like little stickers, like when you're getting an ekg.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right. Or we actually have these little things you can put on a muscle that's like, tight or locked up. Josh has them and they give you little pulses and they help work out. Like when I had tennis elbow, it was amazing.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, yeah, I've had that from at physical therapy before.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

So it's kind of like, that he's put it on his abdomen. It's supposed to, I guess, like, help you get a six pack. He puts it at a level three, and he's in so much pain, he's like. And then Adalola walks up and she's like, I'm gonna put it on because it can't be any more painful than cramps, basically. Oscar keeps turning the notch up, and it isn't until level nine that she is like, okay. Yeah, that kind of hurts. Yeah. And he's like, holy crap.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. And so then he puts it on at a nine and he's like, convulsing in the chair.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's amazing.

[Jenna Fisher]

I really need to give Oscar a standing ovation for his physical comedy in this scene. We also got a fan question from Yasmin Y in Dallas, Texas, who said, great callback to Oscar in the ab workouts from the end of the Office.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, I thought the same thing, Yasmin. I guess Oscar has always been a sucker for ab gadgets. I went back to the episode from the Office in season nine. It's the episode moving on, and Oscar has a talking head about it. I want you to hear it.

[Oscar (Character)]

I watch way too many ads online and I don't do enough sit ups. So I bought these. Now every time an ad pops up online, I get 30 seconds of AB blasting. I call it ads for abs.

[Angela Kinsey]

So he's always wanted to get a six pack. Anyway, it just cracks me up. And, you know, I recently worked with Oscar. You'll see what it is soon. It's nothing to do with the paper, but it was fun. Yeah, but we were between scenes, and Jenna, you and I were texting about this specific scene. So I was like, oscar, we gotta know about this ab contraption because it looks like you're in a lot of pain. Like, what were you doing? Was it really kind of pinching you or something? And he said, oh, no, it was just these tiny little pulses. It wasn't painful at all. He said that was all acting. In fact, when it goes up to the level nine, I wanted them to put a pillow on my desk because I wanted to slam my head on my desk. But then I was like, okay, maybe that's too much.

[Jenna Fisher]

I can't believe it actually was doing something. I just assumed it was fake.

[Angela Kinsey]

No, he said it was like tiny little things, but his reactions were all his own.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right, well, now Detrick is going to have a talking head, and he's wearing his device that he's meant to be testing it's like a jawline defining device. It's like a red LED thing that you put on your neck.

[Angela Kinsey]

I looked online. There are several versions of things like this. Oh, well, did you bring one?

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes, lady.

[Angela Kinsey]

Have you bought one?

[Jenna Fisher]

You bought one for us.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wait, did you buy this just cause of this episode?

[Jenna Fisher]

Uh huh.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh my gosh.

[Jenna Fisher]

I've been plugging it in all morning.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wait, basically I got us firming facial masks and you got us this thing, this chin strap thing. Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Here, I'm gonna put it on. All right. Ready?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Guess how much this was.

[Angela Kinsey]

$40.

[Jenna Fisher]

$21.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh my gosh. My face mask costs the same.

[Jenna Fisher]

What do you think?

[Angela Kinsey]

Looks good, lady. Looks really good. I think you should wear it for the entire episode.

[Jenna Fisher]

Great.

[Angela Kinsey]

See how you feel at the end.

[Jenna Fisher]

You tell me if my neck looks firmer at the end.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Here's what the brochure says. It says Red light therapy boasts a broad spectrum of applications and health benefits.

[Angela Kinsey]

Right now you're reminding me of when my kids got their wisdom teeth out and they wrapped their chin with this like ice pack thing.

[Jenna Fisher]

It says that the wavelength is particularly effective in managing acute and chronic pain conditions like sports injuries, joint pain and inflammation. But it also improves blood circulation and alleviates pain and stiffness. Giving me a headache taking it off.

[Angela Kinsey]

Ow.

[Jenna Fisher]

I don't want it. Okay, I'll just have a saggy chin.

[Angela Kinsey]

Lady. I'll have one with you. Why don't we take a break? Because us and our saggy chins have more fun stuff.

[Jenna Fisher]

I'm really grateful to my dad for teaching me about money management and investing. He said investing is not something you do. When you have extra money, you start small and it builds up over time.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's exactly right.

[Jenna Fisher]

And Acorns is a really smart way to give your money a chance to grow, even if you're starting small. You can sign up in minutes and automatically invest your spare money, even if it's just spare change.

[Angela Kinsey]

And I love that you can just quickly adjust how much you're investing every day, every week, or every month so it fits your life and your goals.

[Jenna Fisher]

Sign up now and ACORNS will boost your new account with a $5 bonus investment.

[Angela Kinsey]

Join the over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $27 billion with Acorns. Head to acorns.com officeladies or download the Acorns app to get started.

[Jenna Fisher]

Paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns Tier 2 compensation provided potential subject to various factors such as customers, accounts, age and investment settings does not include Acorns fees. Results do not predict or represent the performance of any Acorns portfolio. Investment results will vary. Investing involves risk. Acorns Advisors, LLC and SEC Registered Investment Advisor View important [e-mail] officeladies you know.

[Angela Kinsey]

What I love about Chicken of the Sea?

[Jenna Fisher]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

I like it. It's tasty and I can grab and go.

[Jenna Fisher]

You know what I like about it?

[Angela Kinsey]

What?

[Jenna Fisher]

Lots of protein.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, exactly.

[Jenna Fisher]

Chicken of the Sea has something for everyone, including an expansive portfolio of tuna, salmon, sardines and more. Available in cans and portable packets. I love the portable packets. I have bought the portable packets.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, same here. There's also a new Chicken of the Sea Wild Caught light tuna with Frank's Red Hot. Oh my gosh, my son's put Frank's Red Hot on everything. They're going to love that.

[Jenna Fisher]

Chicken of the Sea Tuna packets are portable. They're great for hiking, camping, perfect for office lunches or as a quick snack.

[Angela Kinsey]

To learn more about Chicken of the Sea, visit chickenofthesea.com and look out for their products sold in store and online nationwide at major retailers.

[Jenna Fisher]

Try Chicken of the Sea's new Frank's Redhot Tuna Packet today.

[Angela Kinsey]

Come January, everyone's like, okay, I'm gonna fix all these different things in my life, right?

[Jenna Fisher]

It's the big reset month and sometimes.

[Angela Kinsey]

There'S pressure to figure it all out. But you know, you don't have to have it all figured out.

[Jenna Fisher]

No, you do not.

[Angela Kinsey]

Grow Therapy makes it easier to reset at your own pace with therapy that's covered by insurance and built around your life.

[Jenna Fisher]

Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 50th, grow makes it simple to find a therapist who fits you. They connect you with thousands of licensed therapists across the US Offering virtual and in person sessions, nights, weekends, whatever works for your schedule.

[Angela Kinsey]

Whatever challenges you're facing. Grow Therapy is here to help. Grow accepts over 100 insurance plans, including Medicaid in some states. Sessions average about $21 with insurance and some pay as little as $0 depending on their plan.

[Jenna Fisher]

Visit growththerapy.comofficeladies today to get started. That's growthherapy.com officeladies growtherapy.com officeladies availability and.

[Angela Kinsey]

Coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Well, we are back from break. Before we get back to more of the paper, it is time for around the Town, which I really think we need a sting for.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes, right.

[Angela Kinsey]

I want to go back to ye olden times when we had a sting.

[Jenna Fisher]

Sam.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

On it.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Angela, kick us off.

[Angela Kinsey]

I will. This is from Josie W. In Syracuse, Utah. I'm so tickled by this. Okay, listen to this.

[Jenna Fisher]

What?

[Angela Kinsey]

Josie says it's bald eagle season in northern Utah. Exclamation point. Bald eagles migrate from the mountains and from colder northern regions, and one of them comes to my little neighborhood every year during January and February. We see him flying around the pond, perched on phone lines, and flying over our house. I'm a birder, and seeing a bald eagle so close and in my literal neighborhood is easily one of my favorite times.

[Jenna Fisher]

I love that it's the same one that keeps coming back.

[Angela Kinsey]

It makes me so happy. Remember when I had those ducks that would come and hang out in my pool? Few years in a row when I.

[Jenna Fisher]

Was a kid, my parents had a purple martin house in the backyard, and we would just wait for the purple martins to come each season.

[Angela Kinsey]

Look at that. I never knew that about you.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

Now when I see your parents, I'm gonna say, you know, how's the purple martin business going?

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, it's not going great. They moved.

[Angela Kinsey]

They did.

[Jenna Fisher]

They brought the purple Martin house. I mean, it's not like they moved to a whole new state or anything. They just moved across town.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah, no, I know. My ducks move, too. Okay, well, Josie, I loved that.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right, next one is from Izzy A. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Izzy says, I was part of a live podcast recording event in my neighborhood of West Philly. In quotes, Best Philly. About the local Yiddish cultural community. I am part of a group of people who are learning Yiddish to reconnect to our ancestral language and also do Yiddish music, dancing, and theater. I'm currently organizing 53 people in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, my gosh.

[Jenna Fisher]

And I got to talk about that on the podcast. I'm proud that my little neighborhood has this much interesting culture and art going on.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love that. And, Jenna, you were in Fiddler on the Roof.

[Jenna Fisher]

Lady, I was the fiddler and Fiddler on the Roof in high school, the musical. I was the fiddler. It was the lead. The lead dance role. Cause I was only ever in the dance chorus. I never broke out.

[Angela Kinsey]

You're a very good dancer.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, I mean, I was.

[Angela Kinsey]

You know, like, every once in a while, there'll be a little song on, and you get your little hip sway and little. You do some, like, toe tapping things.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, I was trained in Bob Fosse. It's a way you move your hips.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's a flex. Mm.

[Jenna Fisher]

A little Bit of a flex, but yeah, I had the lead dance role in Fiddler on the Roof. My dad's favorite joke. This is such a dad joke. He was like, you know what, sweetie? Without you, it would just be called the roof.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's adorable.

[Jenna Fisher]

That show needed you.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's adorable.

[Jenna Fisher]

So cute.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, Izzy, that was fantastic. Next up is Kelly M. From London, uk. Kelly says, dear ladies, happy New Year. In news from London, I visited the Marie Antoinette style exhibition at the VA Museum yesterday. It was wonderful. Items actually used by the queen. Chairs, desks, tea sets. Finishing with a room filled with modern designs Inspired by her 10 out of 10 recommend. Lots of love to you and the pod team from London.

[Jenna Fisher]

This is making me want to get on an airplane right now and see this exhibit.

[Angela Kinsey]

I want to see the tea set.

[Jenna Fisher]

I want to see it all.

[Angela Kinsey]

I want to see it all, but I need to see the tea set.

[Jenna Fisher]

What are we going to do?

[Angela Kinsey]

We're going to go to London. Are we office ladies in London?

[Jenna Fisher]

Lady, we are having a hard time planning our one day work retreat in town.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know.

[Jenna Fisher]

How are we going to look?

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, we're busy. We have five kids between the two of us. I know we're busy, but I mean, Kelly, I'd love to get there. Thanks for sharing. Thanks for writing in with your around the towns. Let's get back to the episode. Next up, Detric lets us know that Nicole is really struggling. I guess the kombucha that she drank was supposed to be refrigerated. She is not gonna have a good time. She's gonna spend a lot of this episode in the bathroom.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

Like, you know. And Esmeralda calls Frank Durham, the administrative manager of McGundry Park. And he's very dismissive towards her.

[Jenna Fisher]

He is? Yeah. He says, listen, that's what's happening. But Esmeralda is not dissuaded. In fact, it emboldens her. She's like, you know what? There's a story here. She thinks he was being dodgy on the phone.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

So her and Mare are gonna go down to the City hall offices and do some digging. Yeah. They go tell Ned, who has this insane blue face mask on his face. Honestly, it looks like the blue version of the mask you bought us, lady.

[Angela Kinsey]

This is what inspired me to get this mask is Ned's blue mask. And guess what? You can get a blue one. It's like hydration. But I thought we should get the firming one.

[Jenna Fisher]

What are you saying? What are you implying?

[Angela Kinsey]

All we ever talk about is like, how do we firm up our wobbles. Anyway, Sam, sorry to lump you in that.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Nope, I'm good.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, all of Hollywood is firming up their wobbles.

[Angela Kinsey]

They're doing all the things and we have done nothing.

[Jenna Fisher]

What do they call it now? You look snatched.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, snatched.

[Jenna Fisher]

You look snatched.

[Angela Kinsey]

We're not snatched.

[Jenna Fisher]

Your neck is all, like, tight.

[Angela Kinsey]

What's the term? If you're not snatched, Us office ladies.

[Jenna Fisher]

But here's my question. When you snatch up your face like that, when you do all that. Right.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

What about your hands? Do you still have old lady hands or are you snatching your hands?

[Angela Kinsey]

Here's what I told you when we were talking about this. I said, I feel like it's like my house. My house is an older house. Well, guess what. We've got a leak in Cade's bathroom. It's going to have to be gutted and redone. And now Cade's bathroom is going to look amazing, and the rest of the house is going to look like shit. So this is what happens. You fix up one part, and then the rest that isn't working is very obvious.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. It's a slippery slope.

[Angela Kinsey]

So, like, if I did my neck, then what about my eyebrow, my forehead?

[Jenna Fisher]

I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's a domino effect.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. Well, that's why I guess you have to do, like it all at once.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Seems traumatic to me.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And painful.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. And expensive.

[Angela Kinsey]

And so expensive. Yeah. I mean, for that amount of money, just retire, go off the grid. I won't be on tv. Like, who cares?

[Jenna Fisher]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

No kidding. My gosh. All right. Anyway, one of the things that does happen, though, is part of Ned's face mask. A clump of it falls on his shirt, and he rubs it off, and where it landed, it bleaches his shirt. So now he's freaking out.

[Jenna Fisher]

This is foreshadowing for how this face mask is gonna go, by the way. So now we're gonna go to city hall. Mare and Esmeralda are talking to the city hall receptionist. They're like, okay, so there was a hearing about the bathroom closure on the 13th. This was all on the up and up. This closing of the bathroom. This was approved by a vote.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Esmeralda's still not convinced.

[Angela Kinsey]

She sort of fakes this giant migraine, and then she goes off into his office. She gets his day planner. She takes a picture of it.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes.

[Angela Kinsey]

And she sees that he was doing a trivia night whenever this meeting took place. He wasn't even there. This Frank Durham guy.

[Jenna Fisher]

Exactly. I want to give a shout out to Leslie Thurston, who played the City hall administrator. She was great. She studied at Groundlings. She's been in a gazillion TV shows, including Parks and Rec and the morning Show. And I've also got a little location breakdown for you. Eric said Frank Durham's office in City hall was shot at the Freemasons hall in Pasadena. He went on to say, I don't want to make any enemies of the Freemasons, but I think that building is haunted. I looked it up. We were talking about conspiracies earlier. I could find nothing about the Freemasons hall in Pasadena being haunted. But did you know Pasadena, California, is, like, the most haunted section of Los Angeles? They've got a gazillion buildings and parks that all have stories of being haunted and ghosts. There's this one park that people say is haunted by the Marx Brothers.

[Angela Kinsey]

Wow.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah.

[Angela Kinsey]

I bet you could do, like, a haunted walking tour of Pasadena.

[Jenna Fisher]

You probably could.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our driving tour is kind of spread out. You could, yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, lady. Can I also say my favorite Esmeralda line? When she's showing Mare the pictures of her calendar now, they're like, outside, they're in the parking lot, and they're like, look at this. There's no mention of a hearing, only trivia night. And then Esmeralda says, yes. Those kinds of men, they love to yell out facts. Like a very funny thing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, did you notice the star sticker on her phone? And all these stickers on her car, which looks like it's a Fiat 500X? I looked it up. Her car is also red. I feel like this red color is a theme for her. She almost always has a hint of red. Red. Yo, yo. Red flowers on her blouse, red lipstick, red dress, red carpet.

[Jenna Fisher]

And stars are everywhere, lady. I became obsessed with these stars, like, two episodes ago. I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

When I did a breakdown of her office, I mentioned they're on all kinds of things. They're a star sticker on the lamp.

[Jenna Fisher]

On her frame, and they seem to be expanding. I feel like I keep noticing more. And like you said, I noticed them on her phone and her car. I reached out to Chelsea. Chelsea Fry.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh. What did you say? What's the scoop?

[Jenna Fisher]

Chelsea, talk to me about these stars, because I feel like this was Sabrina.

[Angela Kinsey]

Mm.

[Jenna Fisher]

Can you find out? Was it her? Was it set decoration?

[Angela Kinsey]

It's so specific.

[Jenna Fisher]

Chelsea was like, I'm on it. So here's what she found out. Sabrina said it started with an email between herself and set decoration. Just talking about what Esmeralda's office might look like. And Sabrina had really wanted the office to look personalized, so she brought in this sticker tape of stars.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Because Sabrina herself has always loved stars, and she thought this was a really good overlap with her character. So they just let her start putting these stars wherever she wanted. And she stuck them on everything, including the car. Sabrina stuck them on the car. There's so many. They, like, outline her window, her driver's door.

[Angela Kinsey]

So did she stick one or two on the car and then set Dec was like, okay, we'll take it from here.

[Jenna Fisher]

No, I think she did it. I mean, I'm not 100% sure, but Chelsea was like, no, no, no. Sabrina stuck the stars on the car.

[Angela Kinsey]

Holy crap.

[Jenna Fisher]

I know. Isn't that crazy? I also have to point out something else from this scene. Did you notice that mare's phone screen was cracked? They facetimed Ned to tell him about this find. And I just loved that little detail that Mary's screen is cracked.

[Angela Kinsey]

She hasn't fixed it. It's so relatable.

[Jenna Fisher]

I know.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I also wanted to point out, since they're filming outside, it's in a parking lot. We filmed outside in parking lots in the summer in Los Angeles. They're dressed in jackets and winter wear. And Eric shared with us that the week they filmed this episode, it was crazy hot with temperatures over 100 degrees.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, my gosh.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. And he said that he and Jason wolliner, the director of this episode, they decided to do a food truck that week. Right?

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. So nice.

[Angela Kinsey]

So nice for the crew, for everyone. And they picked a poutine truck.

[Jenna Fisher]

What's poutine haven't you had?

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, it's like french fries with, like, stuff on it, like gravy and cheese curds, but the gravy's, like, hot. Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. They have those in Amsterdam too.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

He said this poutine truck arrived on the hottest day of the year. He said, so people were having to eat hot duck gravy over french fries and, like, triple digit weather.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yum.

[Angela Kinsey]

He said, not great.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, it's getting close to the end of the day, and Ned has gathered most of the staff into his office, and it is revealed that he has burned his face from this face mask thing.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. He also started taking everyone else's products. Like, he went overboard.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah. Because they were like, we can't do this anymore.

[Angela Kinsey]

They were failing.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes. And he was like, I'm gonna do everything, ladies. Watching him put that lighted chinstrap over his burned face and then drinking the kombucha.

[Angela Kinsey]

It was like wound on wound for you.

[Jenna Fisher]

It was the same as someone getting punched in a wound. It really.

[Angela Kinsey]

I thought about you.

[Jenna Fisher]

Thank you.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, now we're at the bar. I mean, Mera's gonna go undercover. Esmeralda has given her a makeover in the bathroom. She looks amazing.

[Jenna Fisher]

Do you think that is one of Esmeralda's dresses? Yes. This was my question.

[Angela Kinsey]

I totally.

[Jenna Fisher]

It looks like Mare is wearing an Esmeralda dress.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's got kind of the Esmeralda belt look to it. Yeah. Ned shows up. He's like, why is she dressed like that? And Esmerelda says she's undercover as a beautiful woman. I know. And Mare is working at me. And she got Frank to confirm that he does do trivia every Tuesday night, including the 13th. This is very exciting.

[Jenna Fisher]

Very exciting.

[Angela Kinsey]

They're exposing him. I was curious about popular trivia game nights at bars.

[Jenna Fisher]

What about them?

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I've never been to one. And you know what? I found a website called Best Trivia Ever, and it lists different trivia themes and trivia night schedules nationwide.

[Jenna Fisher]

They're very popular.

[Angela Kinsey]

They're so popular. But, lady, I didn't realize how many different types of genres. I mean, obviously, there's sports, movies, books, musicians, animation, television. I mean, we know there's an office one. There's also, like, eras. Like, there's 90s night, 80s nights, trivia. But listen to some of these categories. I just want to read you a few. They sound like so much fun to me. Action movie trivia night. Celebrity couples trivia night. Stoner movie trivia night.

[Jenna Fisher]

Okay.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's all movies where they think people get stoned.

[Jenna Fisher]

Or are they movies you watch when you're stoned?

[Angela Kinsey]

I think they're movies where people are stoned.

[Jenna Fisher]

I feel like it's both.

[Angela Kinsey]

Could be next one. Nicolas Cage trivia night.

[Jenna Fisher]

Is there a Keanu one?

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm sure there is. And, Sam, there's an Emily in Paris trivia night.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Good.

[Angela Kinsey]

You would destroy that night. Anyway, I just was very tickled that there's so many types.

[Jenna Fisher]

We've been talking forever about doing one. We never do it.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, which one would you do? I don't think we can do the office one.

[Jenna Fisher]

I wouldn't do well in the office one unless we got my friend who I did Ashland Avenue with Will, who won the national office trivia contest.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, I think we would have to take Will and Billie Eilish and then also from Boy Meets World. We'd need to take Will Friedl. He has a photographic memory.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, then we would win.

[Angela Kinsey]

Then we would win.

[Jenna Fisher]

But non Office trivia night. I would do good at a horror movie trivia night.

[Angela Kinsey]

They have that genre.

[Jenna Fisher]

I think I could do really well.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

Although I'm not up on a lot of the more recent horror films. I could do like horror films in history.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. I mean, we might do well at like,'80s or-90s pop culture, right?

[Jenna Fisher]

Sam, have you seen Primate?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No, I haven't. Is it good?

[Jenna Fisher]

I don't know.

[Angela Kinsey]

What's it?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

It's a horror movie, right?

[Angela Kinsey]

Is it about primates that take over?

[Jenna Fisher]

It's about a single pet chimp that turns.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, this is a total fear of mine.

[Jenna Fisher]

Like, I mean, you shouldn't be that afraid. I don't think you're ever gonna have a pet gym.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, you guys know I've had so many monkeys.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

There's so many ways to avoid this scenario.

[Angela Kinsey]

I've had so many monkeys attack me. You know this.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No, I don't.

[Jenna Fisher]

Come on.

[Angela Kinsey]

I did an open mic night.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

I wasn't there.

[Angela Kinsey]

When Monkeys Attack Me. I've talked about this.

[Jenna Fisher]

This is the title, When Monkeys Attack Me. It's very funny.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

That's great.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Are you still doing it? Can I still come see it?

[Angela Kinsey]

No. It was like an improv night. And you got a suggestion about. It was actually monkeys. Was a suggestion. And I was like, well.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, I knew that. One armed monkey attacked you. Your friend's one armed monkey?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes, Becky's one armed monkey. It was a gibbon monkey. Okay. This was the 70s in Indonesia, and some people had monkeys as pets. My family did not. But Becky's had rescued this one armed gibbon, and they built an enclosure for it. And she brought me inside it to meet the monkey. And then it started kind of going through the hair on my arm, like, looking for bugs. And Becky laughed and I swatted at her, like, huh? Stop it. When I swatted at her. This monkey loved Becky. The monkey freaked out, started to bite me. I had a little light jacket on. Started to, like, bite me through my jacket. And then after that, whenever I was there, it would swing by the kitchen nook. They had a window, and it would open its legs and piss on the window every time it saw me.

[Jenna Fisher]

But there's more than that. You've been attacked by more monkeys than that.

[Angela Kinsey]

We went to. When I was in elementary school in Indonesia. You know, the word orangutan in Indonesian is orangutan, which means person of the forest. Orangutan so we went to this orangutan sanctuary.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

I don't laugh because you assume the listener knows so much. No, I didn't know that. Of course I didn't know that.

[Jenna Fisher]

I didn't exactly. I'm like, why would I know that?

[Angela Kinsey]

Anyway, we go to this sanctuary and they have this big mama orangutan. And they're letting these, like, second and third graders, they go up and you get to hold her hand and you take a picture. Uh oh. She. First of all, we're like the same size. Because I'm in second grade and I'm tiny. Maybe I was first grade. Anyway, she holds my hand and she just starts swinging my arm. Like, swinging my arm. And then she swung up and then went boom. And I face planted. Like, she swung up, like, on my face. But, like, she was so happy. Like, it was. I don't know. Anyway, so orangutan face planted me.

[Jenna Fisher]

Is there another one?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

There can't be a third one.

[Angela Kinsey]

There's a third one. Rule of threes. So, okay, I had the one arm gibbon bite me, mama orangutan face plant me. And then I was in Indonesia. Years later, I was older, and I was at Uluwatu, which is this beautiful temple on the ocean. But there are monkeys everywhere. And they say to you, the monkeys are nakal, which means they're kind of, like, mischievous, right?

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Sure.

[Angela Kinsey]

And so you have to be careful. Don't wear glasses, water bottles, no earrings, nothing dangling. Because they'll just jump on you and take them. I had these tiniest hoop earrings. They're so tiny. Like the kind that don't even leave room for your skin. You know, they're just flat to your earlobe. So I thought, that doesn't dangle. I'm standing there, I'm looking out at the ocean. I'm like, oh, this is so beautiful. There's a monkey in the tree. Literally, torpedo jumps onto my shoulder and rips the earring out of my ear.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, my God.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Did it tore your ear?

[Angela Kinsey]

No, it didn't. It just popped right out. But I literally turned into the most southern person. I was like, oh, my Lord. And then it had my earring up in the tree, and it was kind of like gnawing on my earring. And. And this guy that was kind of guiding everyone through the temple, he had these little bananas and he traded. He looked at the monkey and he was like, you want a banana? And the monkey's like, you want this earring? And they went back and forth. And then they traded, and I got my earring back.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Oh, so you think the monkey knew to do that to get a banana?

[Angela Kinsey]

I don't know.

[Jenna Fisher]

I mean, here's my thing about these three incidents. Yes, they all involve primates.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yes.

[Jenna Fisher]

They also all involve Indonesia and trying to domesticate them and human error.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, there are sanctuary.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

All three of these weren't monkeys who should have been near in any scenario.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, the temple. They're everywhere. Okay, so if you go to a temple anywhere in Bali, the monkeys are there, and you leave them alone. It's their temple. I mean, that's their area, you know, so you don't mess with them. But they're everywhere. Anyway, I don't know how we got off on that. You asked him if he saw Primate.

[Jenna Fisher]

I just asked if he'd seen the horror film Primate.

[Angela Kinsey]

Anyway, I'm convinced. Let's say you had a chimpanzee. And I went over it. It's coming for me. I'm never gonna have one. Well, I just. I am just convinced that monkeys. Like, I am not getting around a monkey. It's coming for me.

[Jenna Fisher]

I mean, I have not a single monkey story.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Yeah. Your ability to drop such deep Angela lore so casually is one of my favorite things about you. You've never mentioned this before.

[Angela Kinsey]

I swear. I. I thought you guys knew this in all these years about all the monkeys. I actually have more. I'll save it for another day.

[Jenna Fisher]

I can't believe there's more. I look forward to it. Well, this was a tangent.

[Angela Kinsey]

It's a true classic tangent.

[Jenna Fisher]

Well, I've got a fact. Do you want me to bring us back to the episode with a little fact?

[Angela Kinsey]

I'm sure everybody wants you to bring us back. Everyone listening right now is like, good Lord.

[Jenna Fisher]

All right, well, listen, when Ned shows up at this bar, his face is, like, peeling off in huge sections. It's like red. It's flaking off. And I was really curious, how did they do this? Because we know that this would have been, like, an elaborate makeup test, and.

[Angela Kinsey]

It also would have had to have continuity. Like, okay, this is the fifth hour into this face mask.

[Jenna Fisher]

What does that look like? And it does. His face progresses. It gets worse and worse. So I reached out to Kelly Cantley, who put me in touch with Autumn Butler, the makeup artist for this episode. Thank you so much, Kelly. And Autumn said this was a very fun makeup to design and that Greg Daniels had very specific ideas. Greg definitely did not want it to look or feel like an actual condition that somebody would really have in real Life. He didn't want anyone to feel like they were being made fun of about any actual real life problem they might be experiencing. He also wanted it to feel very, as Autumn put it, charismatically comedic. So Autumn said they tested this makeup for two days to find the perfect look and texture. Greg really wanted it to look like a snake that was, like, molting and shedding in sheets and layers.

[Angela Kinsey]

Oh, it does look like that.

[Jenna Fisher]

By the end, he also wanted pieces that could be peeled away on camera. So they had to create both this makeup that was on his face and also this interactive piece. So Autumn said first they tried it with silicone. They tried melted pieces of bald caps. They tried latex strips, but nothing was giving the right feel. So in the end, she created a mixture of Elmer's glue and duo eyelash glue applied to his face in really thin, thin layers. And then they scrunched up his face and started peeling portions off. She said it was like a total old fashioned arts and crafts project.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, how was his skin in real life?

[Jenna Fisher]

I didn't ask her.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean, he's wearing glue.

[Jenna Fisher]

But she said they also made sheets of fake skin with that same Elmer's lash glue mixture, and they spread it out on wax paper, and then they let it dry, and then they would peel that off. And those were the pieces that they would use. Like, they would just attach it very slightly to his skin, and then that would be the piece that he, like, pulled off interactively. And then Eric said he remembered the test process for this whole thing. He said it was very thorough. He remembered Autumn from makeup hired somebody to do the test makeup. Isn't that a crazy job?

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah.

[Jenna Fisher]

You get hired to just come in and let them test stuff on you.

[Angela Kinsey]

I mean.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yeah, yeah. So anyway, Eric said that Autumn brought this guy into the writer's room. He thinks it was, like, four times before Greg approved the makeup look.

[Angela Kinsey]

How much went into this one gag?

[Jenna Fisher]

I know. Wow. Eric also said, if I were Ned, I would have gone to the hospital if my skin looked like that. But I understand he's just very passionate about journalism.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yeah. Well, we do find out that in the end, his skin ends up looking amazing.

[Jenna Fisher]

The next day, he's like, glowing, glowing. It comes around. And just to keep throwing facts at you, I have a location breakdown for the macaroni barn. First of all, there's no macaroni barn in Toledo, Ohio, but there is a spaghetti warehouse. Coincidence. Inspired by perhaps, Eric shared that the interior and exterior of the macaroni barn were two different places. We've done that before. We did that with poor Richards on the office.

[Angela Kinsey]

Yep.

[Jenna Fisher]

The interior of Macaroni Barn was shot at the smokehouse next to the Universal lot. And the exterior is actually a fakie front restaurant on the Universal lot, right across from the high school from Back to the Future. So if you go on the little Universal bus tour.

[Angela Kinsey]

There you go, you could see it. So the following morning, we do have this little wrap up scene between Ken and Adam. I just loved Ken in this episode. I get why Eric loved writing for him. Ken says, how are you feeling? More importantly, did you make mad, ravenous scorpion love to your wife? We find out from Adam, they did it like three times. And Ken's like, wowie. Three times. Big man. Love that. And then Adam's like, maybe they were just sugar pills. Because three times is pretty standard for us.

[Jenna Fisher]

I mean, no wonder he has four kids.

[Angela Kinsey]

No wonder. Snip, snap, Adam. And then we have a little hint at maybe romance.

[Jenna Fisher]

Between who?

[Angela Kinsey]

Ned and Mare. He clearly thought she looked beautiful, but he was like, listen, I'm sorry if Esmeralda made you dress up like that. I know that's not something you like. She's like, what are you talking about? I like dressing up. And he was like, yeah, but you know, you're asexual, so. And she was like, why would you think that? And then he's like, esmeralda. And he's so ticked off. He's like, esmeralda, you told me. And Mayor's like, it doesn't matter what she told you. What kind of journalist are you? You didn't even ask me. You didn't even follow up.

[Jenna Fisher]

But I mean, he's her boss. How can he go to her and ask her about her sexuality? He's not allowed to do that.

[Angela Kinsey]

I know. So it's like, I get it.

[Jenna Fisher]

Like, I thought it was cool of him to be like, hey, listen, I hope that whole thing didn't put you in an uncomfortable situation in general. You shouldn't have to be, you know, flirting with men and sources in order to get a story. And I just.

[Angela Kinsey]

He's trying to be appropriate.

[Jenna Fisher]

He was.

[Angela Kinsey]

Well, this episode ends with the Ned talking head. He's just perplexed. He's like, why is she mad at me? Some people are just sensitive. And then he's like, she didn't even notice how revitalized I look.

[Jenna Fisher]

Exactly. And that's the end of the episode, everybody.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thank you to everyone who sent in their around the towns and to Darby for our chit chat.

[Jenna Fisher]

Yes, and also a big thank you to Eric Rahill, Kelly Cantley, Autumn Butler, Sabrina Impacciatore and Chelsea Fry for some great behind the scenes nuggets on this one.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Great. Before we go, I have something for you guys.

[Jenna Fisher]

What is it?

[Angela Kinsey]

Don't say it's a monkey.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

No. Okay. You guys know at the end of A Christmas Carol, he opens the door and he goes, what day is today? And he goes, today, it's Christmas day. I wanted that to have this energy.

[Angela Kinsey]

Okay.

[Jenna Fisher]

Around the town. We have it.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Yeah.

[Darby (Listener)]

There you go.

[Angela Kinsey]

Thanks, Sam.

[Sam (Audio Engineer)]

Yep.

[Angela Kinsey]

You were working on that while we were doing the episode. Oh, I love that. All right, you guys. Well, we hope you have a great week. We appreciate you all and we'll see you next time.

[Jenna Fisher]

See you then. 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 Fisher]

Our senior producer is Matt Beagle, our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainslie Bubaco.

[Angela Kinsey]

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

[Jenna Fisher]

Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

[Angela Kinsey]

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

[Jenna Fisher]

Even if you're short on time, we know you're not short on love. Macy's has curated collections of thoughtful, ready to go gifts that make it easy to celebrate every kind of love. Because last minute can still be meaningful. If you couldn't guess, we're talking about Valentine's Day here. And if you're searching for a great last minute gift, why don't you check out Macy's?

[Angela Kinsey]

You know what I love as a last minute gift and it always is a hit, is the little sampler of perfume or cologne. You know, where it's like a tray of a few different sizes. Macy's has a bunch of those. They're always priced really well. They have a Coach mini gift set of perfume for $49 and you get four different samples of perfume.

[Jenna Fisher]

They also have the men's Gucci Guilty Essence three piece set.

[Angela Kinsey]

Those are always a hit. I love them.

[Jenna Fisher]

Macy's is the perfect place to find the perfect Valentine's gift for all the people in your life. Shop now@macy's.com or in store. Hey everybody. If you wanted to plan a romantic night in, Whole Foods Market is the place I'd recommend for pulling it all together.

[Angela Kinsey]

I love Whole Foods market. They have that 365 by Whole Foods Market makes it easy to create an unforgettable evening without running all over town.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh yeah, you can put together your charcuterie board with your little cheeses and your meats and your crackers and your nuts. Some grapes, some figs. Some wine.

[Angela Kinsey]

Some wine. They have a great wine selection. They also have great desserts. They have the chocolate dipped strawberries, which I love. Or you could get like a little heart shaped cake. And then they also have beautiful flowers.

[Jenna Fisher]

Oh, yeah, yeah. Whole Foods Market has a whole floral department. So listen, you can skip the extra trip to the flower shop. You literally have everything you need in one place.

[Angela Kinsey]

That's right. You got dinner, you got dessert, you got a little adult beverage, some flowers. Don't take it from us. Go to Whole Foods Market.

[Jenna Fisher]

Taste the love. All month at Whole Foods Market.