Second Drink: The Return with Ed Helms | Office Ladies

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Visit yearup.org to learn more. Welcome to Second Drink, The Return.

This episode, Ed Helms is our guest. Yes.

And we also hear from Greg Daniels about the inspiration for The Return and how he structured the storyline.

You know, we discussed in our original breakdown, we shot Traveling Salesman and The Return as one big episode.

Yeah. So there are a lot of fun behind the scenes details in this one.

But before we get going, let's start the second drink with some great fan background catches.

You know, we love it when John says the white.

And M.N. Cunningham commented that there is a great the white in Jim's first talking head.

It comes right after Andy is singing and driving him crazy.

Let's hear it. So here's to the future. Andy and the Tudor.

Yeah, and then the tuna. Oh, but it's magical.

And then the tuna. I miss Dwight. Congratulations, universe.

You win. That's a full Dwight. It is a full Dwight.

That's crazy. I also just love the talking head because Jim...

Well, listen, we also had a lot of people write in to say we missed a great guest actor shout out.

I actually ended up talking about this in our episode Revisited with Randall Einhorn, but I'm bringing it back here.

Jesse M and many others shared that the woman at Staples that Dwight asks if she needs help is credited as a woman.

And that person is Charlotte Stewart, who played Miss Beetle on Little House on the Prairie.

Jesse went on to say this may be a fun fact only the older generation can appreciate.

But I want to say, Jesse, thank you so much for pointing this out.

Yes. And, you know, I guess that makes two Little House on the Prairie crossovers with The Office.

Because of Melora Hardin. That's right. Well, this next fan catch cracked me up.

Madeline Kay wrote, It makes sense that the Nard Dog graces us with his presence on National Dog Day.

Every year, August 26th is National Dog Day.

Oh, wow. So you got a lot of Nard Dog on August 26th, 2020.

Well, in this episode, I shared how we made all of the snow that was falling outside of the windows.

We even posted a picture of the snow sifter that we used.

You all sent in so much mail. So many people were curious about it.

It made me so happy because I really was so interested in this falling snow.

A big thank you to Chris H. for writing in to say, just listening to this episode and had to find the picture of the snow sifter immediately while on the train toward home from work.

And it did not disappoint. People were very happy about it.

Well, a big thank you to Kentopedia for giving me the picture.

Yeah. Lastly, I want to share a deleted scene we didn't even discuss the first time.

It's just one of those great small moments that I love.

So, you know, Oscar has come back to work and he is sitting in the break room and Toby pops his head in to say hello.

They haven't seen each other in a while.

They're going to kind of catch up, right?

Yeah. This conversation is hilarious. You have to hear it.

Hey, Oscar. How was Europe? It was great.

Yeah. A lot of pictures. Oh, great. You?

Well, my daughter turned seven. So, yeah, big party, lots of pictures.

Nice. Yeah. That's nice. Thanks. So should we email the pictures to each other?

Or... I don't think we have to do that. Okay.

All right. So they both say they took lots of pictures of these two events in their lives.

And then that's it. Do you want to see them?

Nah, I'm good. I don't know. It just cracked me up.

That is very funny. All right, you guys.

Well, now it's time for your second drink of The Return.

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on The Office together. And we're best friends.

And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Rewatch Podcast just for you.

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

We're The Office Ladies. Welcome. Welcome back to The Return.

We're returning with The Return. Do you see what we did there?

See that? I like that. We're geniuses. No one can top us.

Guys, this is season three, episode 13. This was written by Gene Stupnitsky, Lee Eisenberg, and Michael Schur, and directed by Greg Daniels.

Jenna, let's have a summary. All right, here we go.

Oscar returns to work. He's returning from his vacation to an elaborate Mexican-themed party that he didn't ask for and doesn't really want.

That sounds about right. With Dwight gone, Andy fights hard to win Michael's favor but crosses the line.

Jim and Pam team up to prank Andy and ultimately bait him into an angry meltdown.

When Michael learns from Angela that Dwight's supposed disloyalty was actually just a misunderstanding, he goes to Staples to win Dwight back.

And Dwight returns. It's a double return.

And there it is. It's a double return. Jenna, I feel like if we were to title this episode from Angela Martin's point of view, I would like to title it Snow and Sadness.

There are so many snowflakes and tears falling in this episode.

There's some serious moping and snow. Yeah, it's so true.

Well, Angela, that leads me very well to fast fact number one, which I called it's snowing in Scranton.

It was such a fun backdrop to the whole episode.

I know. We also got a lot of fan questions about it.

Elisa Schroeder, Mariana Gonzalez, Holly Gannett, and Paige Carter all said, in this episode, it is constantly snowing.

How did you do it? Was there a video there?

Did they use a green screen? Well... I mean, I think we all know who I asked about this.

Please tell me you hit up Kentopedia. Oh, lady, you know I did.

And you know he delivered because he's amazing.

Kent Zabornak, thank you so much for always being there for us.

So first of all, on one of the first pages in the script, there is this note.

And it says, through the window, we see that it is snowing.

Michael doesn't notice. It should be snowing throughout the entire episode.

So this was noted in the script. The writers came up with this idea.

It's going to pay off when Michael's car fills with snow.

But we also just used to like to represent the season that the show would be in when it aired.

So even though we shot this in October, it was going to air in like January or February.

It would be winter in Scranton. I love it.

I love that throughout the episode, you see people like having talking heads and it's just coming down.

I just love that little detail. Well, here is what we did to make it snow in those talking heads, Angela.

We use the same company that we used in the Christmas episode, the first Christmas episode.

Remember them? Snow business. And they use this very old fashioned technique.

He said they've been using it for decades and they still use it today.

They take like a large roller. And they put it behind the window.

And it has like, what's that thing that you put your pasta in to drain it?

Or like a sifter when you do powdered sugar.

Yes. So it's a giant rolling sifter that they fill with snow and then they just crank it.

There's like a dude back there cranking fake snow like through a giant sifter.

Yeah. There can be a dude or a lady or it can be on a little motor.

It just spins endlessly and snow falls out of it until you fill it again.

And he even sent me a picture of it. So I will put it up on our Office Ladies Pod Instagram.

Oh, I want to see that picture. Yeah. And then this same company, Snow Business, would come and put all the snow and ice on the ground.

And they had this big blower machine where they would like blow it all over the bushes.

I remember the blower machine, but I don't think I ever went back behind where the windows were where we did Talking Heads and I never got to see the sifter.

Well, there's a little gap, you know, there's like the wall and then there's a gap and then there's that Scranton backdrop that we would also change seasonally.

So we had a snowy backdrop. And then we had a little sifter fellow.

Our sifter person. Yeah, exactly. Well, I love that fast fact.

Well, fastback number two, Angela, remember last week we talked about how this episode and Traveling Salesman were shot as one big episode.

And our director of this episode and our showrunner, Greg Daniels, sent in a bunch of audio clips where he mentioned some of the inspiration for these two episodes.

Well, he did it again. And he sent in an audio clip about some of the things that they were juggling for this portion of the storyline.

So, Sam, will you play that clip? These were like extremely complex storylines.

There was a lot of good stuff between Pam and Angela, between Dwight and Angela, between Michael and Dwight.

And these stories brought in lots of cards that we had on the boards.

One of the things that we would do in pre-production is we would generate all these funny ideas for different storylines or fragments or B stories.

And they would become... note cards that would be push pinned into the cork boards.

So there's a lot of cards. I recognize cards in the stories that had been on the boards.

Like I think the, the Mexican themed party, for instance, was a card for Oscar and certainly the Pam and Angela relationship or Andy being more sinister and, and Michael having to, to wise up and realize who is, who is most loyal servant was.

These are all, you know, fragmentary ideas that, that we combined into a, into a great episode.

I think a lot of moving parts. Yeah, I love picturing the writer's room in these cards and them coming back around.

And, Craig, I love when you send in audio clips.

Thank you. I agree. Fast fact number three.

Ridditypdadoo! Ed Helms. You heard her, everybody.

We talked to Ed Helms about this episode.

This is such a big episode for Andy. He is driving most of the storyline.

He is the instigator. We absolutely had to talk to Ed.

So we did. And it was great. It was so fun.

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I don't know if it is normal to have an attachment to a lunch meat, but I really love Forcehead brand lunch meat.

You're not weird lady. You're just someone who likes a good sandwich and some good lunch meat.

It's our go-to for our kids' lunches. And it's our go-to for our lunches.

Same. Josh often makes me a lunch that I bring into the podcast.

And many times it is a sandwich with Boar's Head oven gold turkey.

Well, I want to throw everyone a little curveball.

I just want to throw this out there. Okay.

Boar's Head does an ever roast chicken. You're going to like it.

When you think of sandwiches, I think you think of turkey ham.

I'm not sure. You think of chicken, and I just wanted to throw it out there.

That's it. Well, you know what? You know you're sending your kids to school with a good lunch when they've got boar's head in their lunchbox.

So head to your local boar's head deli counter to discover the craftsmanship behind every bite.

You won't be sorry. Try the chicken. Ed Helms, hello.

How are you? Hi, office ladies. Ed, it's so good to see you.

You got an office guy right here in the mix.

We do. We got an office fella. We got one of the best office fellas.

Well, thanks so much for being here, Ed.

People just love Andy Bernard, and we're so excited to talk to you about this episode.

Yeah, I rewatched a little bit just so I had it in my head for this episode. chat because I never watch it unless I happen to see it on in the background somewhere.

But I love it when I catch it. Yeah. Yeah.

Have you ever had that experience, though, where you're like flying on an airplane and you see it on all the screens that people are watching it on all their personal devices and on the airplane and then you're just sort of sitting there?

Please don't notice me. Please don't notice me.

Yeah. I'm always like, do I go to the bathroom?

Do I not go to the bathroom? I was trying to time it out to go to the bathroom one time and like there was someone in there.

So I was standing outside and I was on the little screen above my head.

I just started to see the faces. Look at me.

Look up. Look at me. Look up. And I was like, oh, God.

Oh, that's amazing. Angela, I would expect you to just sit down on someone's armrest and be like, hey, you having fun?

You enjoying the episode? We got any questions?

I'm happy to talk about it. I've exchanged more email addresses with flight attendants and made good friends on planes.

Literally, I sat next to a woman one time and we're still friends to this day.

We're total strangers flying to Canada. So, Ed, you watched part of The Return?

Yeah. Yeah. I rewatched The Return. You know, I watched just a couple of episodes from that that first chunk of season three, because that was my first time on the show.

Yeah. And, um, and it feels so long ago.

I can't like, it's just not fresh in my mind.

So many of those experiences. And so rewatching it, I was hoping I could kind of trigger a lot of memories of, of kind of the experience and the emotional memories and so forth.

And, and, and, It was a joy. It was really, really fun.

When I watch it, I get a sense memory of my desk.

I know that they've torn it down now and they do a lot of game shows where our set used to be.

And I was even invited to go on one of them.

And I turned it down because I didn't think that I could emotionally handle walking into the soundstage and not seeing Pam's desk.

Oh, at Chandler Valley Center Studios, they do game shows now?

Yes, I did to tell the truth. And when I got the address, I said, yes, I would do it.

And I don't know where things tape. So I was like, sure, I'll do it.

And then I got the address and it was Chandler Valley Studios.

And I was like, what? I showed up at our studio and I started sobbing.

Because it was just so weird to pull up to that building.

Oh my gosh. And there were a lot of, you know, there were, there were a lot of major chapters in, in our lives that, that went, that people went through marriages, divorces, children, all these kind of major life events that were happening.

And sometimes I'll see an episode and I'll be like, oh yeah, that's when so-and-so was going through this, or that's when, that's when such so-and-so child was born or, you know, and, and that, that stuff's really beautiful to, to remember even the, even the parts that are, that might have been painful chapters.

They're still merely meaningful chapters in our lives and histories.

And, and it's just so wild to have this show.

That's kind of a bookmark, right? You can just go to any point.

I mean, for us that having made the show, I can recall things that I was experiencing when I see a, a, a scene or, or, uh, uh, or I just, if I, if I catch a chunk of an episode, I can remember where I was like in my life a little bit more.

And, um, that is so true. It's really wild.

And, and, you know, and like I said, even the ups and downs of it, it's all beautiful.

Right. And, and just to have that, that those triggers available to remember those things, it's feels very, uh, yeah, it just feels very, very beautiful overall.

Yeah. Yeah. This, as you were saying, is such a big storyline for you traveling salesman leading into the return.

And were you super excited to get this script to see what all you got to do and play with Steve and like, like you got to in this episode?

Yeah, of course. I mean, it was still early enough for me.

I mean, I, every table read is a joy, right?

It's just so much discovery for the, for the cast.

The writers have been kind of in the trenches for a couple of weeks or months at that point with every episode.

But for us, it's like this fresh, exciting thing.

And I do, I do remember feeling, you know, as I got more sort of meat on the bone and some of those later episodes, it just felt, it really felt like an affirmation that Andy was a, was a valuable part of this, uh, you know, cast overall and of the show.

And, um, so yeah, there were, there was always a kind of giddy anticipation with those table reads like, Oh, what am I going to get to do?

What did the writers come up with? You know?

And then of course, what did the, how is Steve going to make me laugh this week?

Right. And this episode opens with your phone ringing and there's like a four part harmony, uh, Of you singing.

Yeah. Your ringtone. Is that you? 100% me.

All four parts? All of it? Yeah. Yeah. Yep.

And I did it. And just like Andy says in the show, I did it on my computer at home.

You, Ed, did it on Ed's computer at home?

Yeah. They didn't like bring you into a studio or something?

No. No, I think they, they, that does, that does track for our show.

Like, Hey, can you do this whole thing at home on your flip phone or whatever we had at the time?

Well, I can't remember. I think maybe, I don't think they wanted it to be very good, but I was like too into it to make it anything less.

And I thought Andy would make it as good as possible.

Right. So I spent a long time on that and garage band kind of figuring out how to do multiple tracks, but, but yeah, I recorded it and, um, and I sort of figured out four parts to it, which was really pretty simple.

I mean, it's a, it's a very elementary kind of harmony, uh, arrangement, but, um, but it, it, yeah, super fun.

And then I played it. for Greg and he was like, great, we'll use it.

I feel like Ed, cause I know you were in an acapella group, right?

In college. Well, yeah, that, that's a little bit of an overblown history.

I was, I was in an acapella group, but only for a semester in college.

It wasn't like a huge part of my identity.

Although it was for a semester, but then I just kind of realized it wasn't for me.

But, um, But you have an ear for music.

There is no way they could have given that assignment to Jen and I. I know.

You're like, it's a pretty easy harmony.

And I'm like, is it? It is? Yeah. You're very talented.

Well, since we're talking about famous Andy Bernard things, I need to ask you about... I have the script and I have not once ever seen it written in the script for Andy Bernard.

You had to have invented this. I improvised a ton in my early episodes because I, again, I was eager to prove myself.

And I also was trying to find Andy Bernard as a character.

And that particular thing, which I think was this, I think this was the first episode where it appeared for Andy, right?

Yes, yes. And so it just was this thing that these guys I went to middle school with, would say, they would just inject into, that was kind of like a, there you go, gotcha.

You know, if they got off like a good zinger at your expense, they'd tag it with a, and I don't know if they weren't exactly bullies, but I just remember this little clump of guys that were sort of like wisecrackers in my middle school.

And I don't know where it came from, Before that, picked it up and always thought it was kind of a funny, obnoxious expression.

It has no meaning and it just kind of fits in wherever you want.

It's so perfect, Ed. I have such a memory. of being in Scranton with you, Ed, do you remember?

I remember like we were there for the office convention and there were so many people there and you and I were in a car and like there were people all around the car and we went into that train shop and we had to exit out the back.

I mean, that's right. We were driving through downtown Scranton.

I was like, Oh my God, it's a Lionel trains model train store.

We have to go in there. And I made the car stop and I made, and you got out with me and we went in and People started to press up against the glass.

People surrounded. And it was like, we were like Michael Jackson.

It was crazy. You said to me... they pulled the car around the back.

We had to exit out the back. And the man that owned the model train store, he was like an elderly gentleman.

He had no idea who we were or what was happening.

He was like, I guess you can use the back door, whatever.

And then we got in the car and you're like, Ange, this is the closest we'll ever be to being a Beatle.

This is our moment. But why I bring it up is that To a crowd of people, Ed just turned to them and said, and they lost their minds.

Oh my gosh. That's still like if someone is kind of trailing me in an airport, like, hey, Ed Helms.

Hey, Andy. Andy, what's up? I'll just toss a and then they're like, they'll leave me alone.

And then they faint. Well, Ed, I wanted to ask you about The scene where you punch The Wall, because I rewatched this with my kids.

My kids are older now, Ed, and they love The Office and they love Andy.

And we curled up in bed and we watched this episode and they were giggling so hard and they wanted to know anything about it.

Like, do you have any story about punching the wall?

Did you really do it? What was it like? I know Jenna had a front row seat at reception.

Yeah. Accounting watched it from afar. Well, it's funny because that was technically a stunt.

Right. And in the in like a production from a production standpoint, the the sort of stunt effects, people have to oversee something like that.

And so I remember it was my first time doing anything that qualified as a stunt.

So like. there was a whole little meeting about how they were going to score the back of the, the sheet rock so that my hand went through easier.

And then they were going to put up, they like fixed a pad onto the inner wall so that when my hand went through, um, I wouldn't hit, you know, wood or aluminum or anything.

And also they had multiple planks that they could stick up just so we could do multiple takes.

Um, but it's still, I mean, you guys know anytime, um, you as a character are holding court and for the whole bullpen, it's, it's, it's, it's daunting, right?

It's, it's, it's kind of something that, um, that, uh, I think was, I always felt anxious about in a good way, like in a kind of, um, you know, I was always amped up for those kinds of things.

It's also what makes me just stay in awe of, Carell because so many of his scenes were with the entire cast where he's like running a scene with the entire cast and that's so hard I mean that is just it is a really it takes a tremendous amount of focus and concentration because everyone's lines are responding off of yours as opposed to and so you have to drive the scene as opposed to being someone who's just responding to somebody else who's Um, which is what we all got to do with Steve.

So that, that was one of those scenes for me and, and, uh, and a very early one and something that, uh, I think was, um, very exciting, but also kind of daunting.

And I really didn't want to screw up the punch.

I didn't want to get it wrong or, um, there were a lot of kind of windups to practice, practice swings, if you will.

Um, and then, uh, I think we only did up to two takes or so.

And I skinned up my knuckles. I do remember, you know, I got I still there was a pad in there, but I still I think breaking through the sheetrock skinned up my knuckles.

So, yeah, that was pretty intense. I remember you shed some blood for that one.

I remember that. But I also remember. feeling as a person who was in the bullpen watching how I could not break.

Because I knew the pressure you were under.

And I also knew we didn't have that many of the walls.

They had extra, but it's not like they had 14.

So we couldn't crack up when you punched the wall.

We had to hold ourselves together. So I remember it being like, oh boy, all right, bite the inside of your lip.

Whatever you have to do, do not mess this up.

Oh my gosh, there's so many of those moments of trying to not look at what's happening because it's too funny.

Yeah. I can just remember like... I feel like that was most of our day.

If I were in the bullpen for a scene like that and didn't want to laugh, I would just be looking at the wall three feet to the right.

Just because that was my trick. I always just looked somewhere else because everyone...

Everyone's just so damn funny. I used to look at Steve's neck.

I know. That's so weird. Yeah. I looked at his ear a lot.

But I love that you were looking at his ear.

I was looking at his neck. Yeah. I would usually look at, like, his forehead.

These are the parts of Steve we know so well.

I can tell you all about his ear. Steve.

Yeah. Steve right now is like, oh, good Lord.

But you're right. There's something like so much of his, of Michael Scott was in those eyes.

And if you locked in on him, you're done.

Just like all of the tsunami of comedy that is Michael Scott would just like wash over you.

And I could almost never keep it together with him.

Even just the dumbest little moments. He just...

Well, you guys had so many great moments in this episode.

Like, I love when you're in his office, like telling him about like, I'm going to get my beer on, get my lost on.

And you follow him to the bathroom. Yeah.

What was that like? I'm on my way to the kitchen.

I'll follow you. I'll walk you there. Yeah.

Oh, God. Yeah. So, I mean, the writers just, you know, there was something a few of the writers and Mike Schur in particular.

We really bonded at that time because for some reason, Mike Schur just got Andy Bernard in this really weird way.

I mean, maybe there's some bit of Andy Bernard in Michael Schur as well.

But I mean, the stuff they came up with for him, I would read the scripts or, you know, be at the table and I'd be like, yes, this is exactly what Andy would do.

This is exactly how the Andy in my head, the way that I think about him, would behave.

And so I, I just got it. I felt like I, these, these scenes were like such a perfect fit, like putting on a nice comfy sweater.

I mean, you guys know the writers paid such close attention to the actors that so that they've, and it's that great thing that happens around late in season two or season three of a show or, or even early, earlier than that, where the writers start to write towards the, the strengths of the actors or towards certain personality traits or, uh, mannerisms or all just these incredibly specific things that start to bubble up.

Um, and, uh, and Mike Schur and I would just sit around and laugh and like come up with bits about who Andy was and his background and his family life and, and just die laughing.

And we just had, we just had such a common understanding of of the character that things like that walking michael to the bathroom which is so insane but it made perfect sense to me for andy and was just a joy to do Well, I can tell you, Ed, that the cast, when we got to see you be in scenes, when you finally came, you know, because we didn't see you guys.

You guys were over at Stanford and we didn't get to interact with you.

And when we finally got to see you in scenes, you just cried. crushed every scene you were in and you were so funny.

And I remember trying so hard not to laugh.

It used to be my goal. Don't laugh when Steve does something.

Don't laugh when Steve does something. And then all of a sudden I had to add this other layer of like, now don't laugh when Ed does something.

Oh, my God. Oh, that's so sweet. I remember laughing with you, Angela, so hard about the Michael's trying to play a jukebox, but he can't start the tune.

So Andy starts doing the The Night at the Roxbury song.

That is in, is that in the merger? Yeah, I think so.

I think. You and I would just do that for hours and just crack each other up.

What is love? Our trailers were side by side.

So you were the one, you know, I just walked out my door and went around the corner and there you were.

And I know I have this memory of walking past your trailer because you would have the door open.

You'd be playing your banjo or something.

And I would walk past your door and go. Oh, my gosh.

Well, I loved the addition of Andy because you were this great foil to Dwight.

Like Jim would always tease Dwight or prank Dwight.

You had this like power struggle with Dwight.

That was so funny to me. And in rewatching it, I just love every time you and rain would face off.

And there was, there must've been so much improv in that because I feel like Now having the scripts, when I go back and look, I can see now percentage wise how much more of different people's improvs make it in the show.

And I have to say that you and Rainn Wilson have the highest amount of improv that makes the cut.

Yeah, that's cool. Well, until Zach Woods joins the cast and then Zach Woods just demolished the improv.

He is a genius. He is so smart. So, so smart and funny.

Yeah. But yeah, Jenna, it's funny. You're right.

I think the Jim Dwight dynamic was was hilarious because Jim was a reasonable person. person and Dwight is a sort of whacked out, unreasonable person.

And the, the seeing Jim always in a sort of superior role, just messing with Dwight was, was fun and gratifying to see, you know, Andy was also whacked out and, and, and so he really was at Dwight's level.

And that I think made their conflict super fun and certainly super fun.

For Rain and me, I just can, yeah, so many, so many hard laughs with that guy.

And you guys would compete over the stupidest things.

I mean, I know it's not in this episode, but there's a deleted scene where you two, like, are going head to head about who was the better baby.

Yeah. You're in the kitchen and you're like, well, I was a beautiful baby.

I was a model. So I was a model baby. I modeled.

And then he's like, well, I was so big, my mom couldn't walk.

And you're like, gross. But it's like this crazy competition over the stupidest thing.

Yeah, but you're competing over who was the better baby, but your standards for what better baby means aren't even the same.

Like you're not arguing over who was most beautiful or who was largest.

It's like this complicated one-upmanship and I love it.

Oh. So, such flawed characters. Deliciously flawed.

And I think, you know... the pettiness of Andy was, was a bit cathartic for me.

Cause you know, uh, it just, it was a way, I was saying, we all have petty reactions and impulses and thoughts about going through life.

But in Andy, I was able to just fully act out all of them.

Yeah. Like whatever petty impulses or instincts bubbled up.

Um, it just, I was able to kind of funnel through Andy.

I love that. I love that, Ed, because I have to say, when I think of you, I would consider you one of the least petty people.

I mean, I can't even, I don't even have a memory of you griping.

I always found you to be such a role model in that way, too, because that's fun.

You got to let it all hang out with Andy then.

Well, yeah, maybe I would have been a much more unstable person if I didn't get to play Andy, if I didn't have that release valve.

He balanced you out. Yeah. But I really can't overstate just my gratitude to all of you guys for when we started in Stanford, just that feeling of welcome.

And it was you guys, but also all the writers.

And then when we arrived at Scranton, It was very scary and daunting, but we never felt like there was any threat.

We never felt like there was anything personal we had to overcome to prove ourselves to you guys.

It just felt like you guys were happy to have us.

And that's the most incredible thing. the most incredible environment to be creative in.

We really, Ed, someday want you and Creed to just play the banjo and mandolin like you did on set.

I don't know where this fits in an Office Ladies podcast, but someday we want you here to hear that.

Anytime. Yay! Anytime. This has been so fun.

And yeah, it's just really fun to get into this headspace with you guys.

So thanks for that. Well, before we go...

I want to hear a little bit about the new show that you're doing with Mike Schur.

Oh, yeah. Peacock called Rutherford Falls.

Yeah. Ever since The Office, obviously, Mike has gone on to do these just incredible shows.

But we've stayed close friends. And so we just came up with this character, Nathan Rutherford, who lives in the small town of Rutherford Falls in upstate New York.

And he is the curator of the local museum about Rutherford Falls.

And he's a descendant of the town founder, Lawrence Rutherford.

So he's incredibly enthusiastic about Rutherford Falls and all of its history.

And he also has his best friend, Regan, who is Native American and grew up on the reservation next to the town in upstate New York.

And so the two of them, and she also runs a cultural center there on her reservation.

But it felt important to kind of address some of the reasons why people believe what they believe and why it can be so hard to accept a different version of your own kind of personal narrative, even when you're confronted with overwhelming evidence that maybe you're wrong about what you thought about your history or your town or whatever.

And so that's really the crux of the show is this friendship kind of being challenged.

And it also is super, super funny. It sounds very heavy, what I'm describing.

And it does have some heavy themes, but it's super, super, super funny.

We roped in also very early on as our showrunner, Sierra Teller Ornelas.

I worked with her on Splitting Up Together.

Hey, there you go. Yeah. Yeah. So she's she's our she's our showrunner and she's just incredible.

And then she just put together this incredible writing staff and we've been cranking on it.

Well, but we were supposed to start shooting right when the lockdown started.

And now we're just kind of trying to figure it out.

Well, I can't wait till you guys can start filming and we can start watching that because it sounds so great.

Before you go, is there anything else you want to share?

Any memories from the show? We don't want to leave you.

If you have anything else to say, but also no pressure.

It just it's something I cherish so much having been a part of that.

And and the the friendships that have endured.

I mean, I can't believe we're all still on a text chain.

That blows my mind. And I. I just, I love that so much.

And I love the, just a little blurb from Oscar and then Creed will chime in and one of you, everybody just it.

And sometimes they're funny and sometimes they're, they're just like a information or news or whatever, but it's, it just, I don't know.

It speaks to, I think that is what made, that's why the show has endured the way it has is because the, the camaraderie was real.

Yeah. You know, the, the friendships and the, the kind of mutual love and support and respect was, was real on that set.

And even though the characters were in, in like ridiculous conflict all the time, um, there was always, I think people could pick up on an underlying sense that, that, that Dunder Mifflin kind of had a foundation of love.

Yeah. Does that make sense? Yes. Yeah. I love that.

Well, Ed, thank you so, so very much for coming on and talking to us and sharing your stories.

It's just been wonderful. And we'll bug you down the line because I have a good dinner party story with you.

Oh, my goodness. You can't tell that story.

No, you have to talk about it. I'm not telling, wait, I'm not even talking about that one.

I know what you're talking about in the car.

I'm just talking about, I have a dinner party moment, but we'll get there.

Okay. I can't wait to come back, guys. You're the best.

Love you, Ed. Anytime. All right. Thanks, Ed.

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All right, well, we are back. Jenna, let's get into this episode.

Yeah, so guys, Dwight has left Dunder Mifflin and he's on the job market.

So this episode opens with Dwight going on some job interviews.

We see him interviewed by two different people, a man and a woman.

And our fun cameo catch tidbit is that the man who interviews Dwight at the beginning of this episode is Kevin Reilly.

Kevin Reilly, who was the president of NBC.

You guys have heard us talk about him. He is the reason The Office stayed on the air.

He fought so hard for us. So this was really fun and special to have him sort of pop in and make it into an episode.

Yeah, I asked Greg about this, and he said he got the idea because Greg's father had worked as a radio executive, and he was really funny and smart like Kevin, he said.

And when he left ABC, they gave him a present that he could appear as a magician in one of their soap operas.

Oh! So he thought this would be a really fun way, especially with The Office being documentary style, to cast a real person, a real executive instead of an actor.

And also, this would kind of commemorate Kevin Reilly's contribution to our show staying on the air.

Oh, well, then Dwight goes on to his second interview.

And it's a woman, right? Yes. Clearly, you know, we're picking up in the middle of the interview.

She must have said to him to describe himself with three words.

Dwight says he's hardworking, alpha male, jackhammer, merciless, insatiable.

And as he's saying this, if you look around the office, it is the most feminine, pink office you will ever see.

Everything in it is pink. Every container on her desk, the paint on the wall is pink.

The flower behind her is a whole bunch of pink flowers.

And Dwight is throwing out alpha male and it's like merciless.

And you can just sort of see her being like, Well, it's very interesting because I noted this as well.

I noticed there's a fuzzy purple butterfly frame on the desk and like a tassel lamp that has fireflies on it.

So I got a little curious about this. Like, what's the story behind this?

Did a 12 year old girl decorate this office?

Well, I guess in the script, Mike Schur had named this character Gwendolyn Trundlebed.

Oh, my Lord. This is bringing up some Clementine Paddleford memories for me, Angela.

Yes. 100% Clementine Paddleford and Gwendolyn Trundlebed are friends in a Disney film.

But... This woman, we never call her by name.

She was played by a background performer.

She didn't have any lines. But I guess the set decorators, they really took it to heart and they were inspired by the name Gwendolyn Trundlebed.

And that is why the office looks the way it does.

Well, it works perfectly because Dwight, I feel like is coming in there with all this sort of like macho energy.

And he came into Gwendolyn Trundlebed's Boudoir of pinkness.

That's what it looks like. It's very boudoir looking.

Eventually, we find out that Dwight lands at Staples.

He says it's temporary while he continues his job search.

Remember, Staples is Dunder Mifflin's big competitor.

They're their big rival. I know. Yeah. But then back at the office, Andy has taken Dwight's seat across from Jim.

Yeah, yeah. And he's really proud of the ringtone.

We talked about it with Ed, but he is very proud that he did all four parts of the harmony.

And I don't know music, Jenna. I don't even know what you call it.

I have to tell you, I still, I know we talked about this with Ed, but it's still, it's incredibly impressive.

I mean, it's so impressive. I mean, acapella is really impressive.

Aca what? Yeah, I just said it. Because there's one guy that's like, bing, bong, bong, bong, bong, bing, bong.

You know what I mean? Yeah. And then there's another person that's like, la, la, la.

Like, I don't get it. But it sounded amazing.

I still can't believe he did that himself.

One of the things I love about the scene, obviously, how much Andy's annoying everyone already.

But he calls Ryan big turkey. Yeah. Does that mean that Ryan eats turkey sandwiches for lunch?

It has to. It has to. What are we learning here?

Well, clearly, I mean, Andy had a friend called Broccoli Rob.

Do you know what I mean? Yes. All of the nicknames are just what you eat.

Yeah. I'm Yogurt Pam. I'd be Donut Kinsey.

Well, in real life. Oh, in real life. Yes.

I guess I'd be Eggs and Strawberries Fisher.

That's catchy. Jenna, I feel like there is a very classic Jim-Pam shot that we have to talk about.

What is it? It's at one minute, 58 seconds.

Andy is singing the ridiculous version of Andy and the tuna, you know, that whole part.

Yes. And the camera focuses on Jim's reaction and then pushes past Jim and Jim goes out of focus and it lands on Pam.

And they both have similar expressions of like, oh my God, this guy.

And for me, I don't know. I know I love Jim and Pam so much.

So I don't know if I'm like looking for meaning.

But in that moment, I'm like, they're on the same page.

These two are both in it. Like they're going to be in it together for this episode because it's putting them the same way.

Yes. I think this is that first hint that they are in sync.

I think so. And it was just also a beautiful shot.

Just to be a technical nerd like that is a beautiful shot.

I agree. Well, now Michael arrives to work and he's parked his car.

You know what? His roof won't go up, but who cares?

It's fine. He's going to leave it. Nope.

It's not going to be a problem. It's not going to be a big deal on the biggest snow day they've had.

I watched this episode with my kids. I know I talked about that.

They loved his hair. They loved how his hair was just messy.

I didn't even notice that. That's such a good detail.

I know. I know. They catch a few things.

I'm going to sprinkle them through. I love that.

Well, Oscar arrives next to Michael and he is welcomed back by Michael.

Yeah. Michael says, hey, nice new car. And Oscar said, well, I got this new car in the settlement after you kissed me at work.

I love how matter of factly Oscar says it.

That Lexus SUV. That's all you, buddy. And then Michael's like, well, that's how we do it here at Dunder Mifflin.

When we settle, we settle high. And then Oscar has that great talking head where he says part of him wants people in the office to have learned their lesson and to shut the hell up.

But another part of him wants them to keep talking so he can buy a home theater.

So now we go into Michael's office and Jenna, it's one of those classic scenes that you and I love where it starts with Michael and who else is in the room?

You don't know. And then it's revealed. And this time it's Andy.

Andy is taking the spot of Dwight over Michael's shoulder, but he's creeping Michael out.

You can already tell. Well, there's a way that Michael is always kind of annoyed when Dwight interjects in the middle of what Michael is saying.

But this is different. Like, Michael's annoyed by Dwight, but Michael, like, really is annoyed by Andy.

Well, you know what it feels like to me?

Like, Andy is getting under his skin. Like, Dwight is like an annoying brother, but Andy is like the creeper that lives down the street.

I don't know. That you try to avoid when you go to the mailbox.

Well, we had a fan question in this scene from Tennille. who wants to know, in this episode, there are a lot of talking heads with Michael facing the window where it's snowing.

Were those talking heads shot in sequence so that they didn't have to keep turning the snow on and off?

Yes. Yes. I love this question, Angela, because we've never really talked about this.

We always shot all of our talking heads in a row.

So what they would do is they would set up the shot, let's say in Michael's office for a talking head and every talking head he had for that episode, they would spend hours doing all of them.

And the same thing in the conference room.

Remember, they'd set up the chair and we would all cycle in for hours and do our talking heads.

Yes, it would literally be like talking head day on set.

And I always really felt for Steve because he always had the most.

And I would think like, oh, my God, I had to like learn one, you know, and maybe they would give me some alts on the day.

But Steve had to learn so many and just sit there and do them and do them.

And Veda would be there, our scripty, our script supervisor.

And sometimes she would remind you if you had more than one.

OK, now remember, this talking head is after Dwight left.

So you're more sad than the one before, you know.

So sometimes she was helping us kind of navigate the time sequence of it all.

Yes. And we would usually do these either first thing in the morning. or at the end of the day.

Steve would always do his first thing in the morning.

I think he liked to lead with them. He would, oftentimes, I feel like on a Monday, it would be like Steve talking heads until almost lunch.

And then we would all come in and film like group scenes for the rest of the day.

But then on Fridays... we would spend Friday afternoons, all the rest of the cast doing our talking heads.

That was kind of how we framed our week.

Yeah, that's how I remember it too. Well, Jenna, you know, Oscar's back now and he walks back over to accounting.

And of course, Kevin has a ridiculous joke that he's been saving for weeks.

Kevin thought of it. He was like, how was your gaycation?

Oscar's like, awesome. Kevin's like, yeah, I thought of that.

Two seconds after you left, Kevin's so proud of himself.

And Angela is just like, hello. And he's like, hello.

And you can tell that there's, I feel like a lot she wants to say, but she's not, she's not ready yet.

She doesn't know how to say it yet. Yeah.

But then eventually Angela does invite Oscar to join the party planning committee.

She says she's sorry for the way certain things transpired and she wants to make some changes and she starts crying.

Yeah. Well, Jenna, I really cried. That was me really crying.

And I had a whole conversation with Greg about it as we were trying to find the scene.

And I did one take and he was like, Angela, I'm feeling sad.

And he said, this has to be a funny cry.

Where sometimes on a show, someone cries and it breaks your heart.

He said, this needs to be just awkward. And then at the end, we have a joke because...

Kevin says, can I join? And I say, never, right?

So it was sort of this interesting thing of figuring out how do you cry, but you don't make people feel bad, you know?

So, and what really helped me was that my lines were so ridiculous.

So it was, you know, me being like, Certain events transpired and certain people said certain things.

You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. But it was sort of this art for my character to find a way to cry that was just more awkward than sad.

Well, you just made someone very happy. Sarah Cooper had written in to ask you, did you have to do anything different to get into character in preparation for this episode?

You know, when you cry, we all have a little bit of our process of actors of how we get to that place.

But it was this sort of interesting thing to get myself there, but then kind of pull back a little bit.

And this might be really boring actory stuff, but it was a really interesting exercise.

Well, we had another fan question, Angela, from Beatrix Smith.

Was it weird for you to have Oscar back?

Did you miss him when he was gone? Oh, yeah.

I think Angela definitely missed Oscar. Listen, him being gone means, A, she's carrying most of the workload in accounting because Kevin's no help, really.

And I think that Oscar and Angela really are these sort of mismatched roommates, if you will.

And you'll see their friendship come through throughout the seasons.

But they are there for each other. It's just I think they just had some hurdles to get over.

Oh, well, that's a nice answer. I think she meant you, Angela.

Did you miss your friend Oscar who hadn't been sitting there with you?

But I like how you stayed in character there for that answer.

Well, we were talking so much about Angela Martin.

Well, of course I miss my friend. Are you kidding?

I didn't have anyone to draw me little crazy cartoons of myself being silly and passing me notes.

You guys are such a little trio over there.

Yeah, I definitely missed him. Well, while all of this is going on, Andy is just stalking Michael.

Yeah, he's like looking for him everywhere and he follows him to the bathroom.

Yeah. Jenna, Andy now has two expressions that I love.

We first heard nifty gifties from Andy. Love me the nifty gifties.

And in this one, Michael's like, what's up?

And Andy goes, nerfin'. Nerfin'. Nerfin'.

And now me and my kids are saying Nerf. And it just, it has stuck here at the house.

I thought it was so funny. But yeah, Andy's driving Michael crazy.

And Michael has a whole talking head from behind his door.

He's hiding. It made me laugh out loud because I didn't know where he was during this because Andy's looking for him and he's just nowhere.

He's nowhere. And then when he's revealed to be giving this whole talking head from behind his door, one of the things I loved about it most was that while hiding, he was still compelled to perform and speak to the camera.

He was like, I'm hiding, but I'm not going to stop presenting myself to this camera crew.

I wonder if he was like, I'm going to hide and you have to too.

Because if Andy sees you guys in here. So like, is there a way where the camera crew is like smushed up against the wall?

Also hiding? That's such a good point. Like all Andy has to look for is like, where's the camera pointed?

Yeah. There's a crew constantly following Michael around.

Well, we're coming up on a scene. That completely destroyed John Krasinski in real life.

I don't think he's ever laughed so hard ever, ever on the show.

He has said it's the hardest he laughed the whole series.

Like, and I texted Creed about it. Yeah, it's this scene in the kitchen where Oscar comes in and he's just kind of like, where's Dwight?

And Creed says Dwight was decapitated and they had a funeral for a bird.

Which is... Not correct. But kind of correct.

Just all mushed up together. Yeah. Ed Truck was decapitated and they did have a funeral for a bird.

And remember, Jim wasn't around for any of this.

So Jim isn't even able to like correct this.

So he just says, I'm pretty sure that's not real.

And then Creed says, you're not real, man.

And that is the line that destroyed John Krasinski.

Yeah. John could not keep it together. He crumbled like into just fits of laughter.

And I texted Creed. I was like, Creed, oh my gosh, we're breaking down the return.

And you have that great line that you said, to John and he was like, I said, what was that like?

He said, oh, Ange, it was so much fun to see John lose it like that.

He said he lost it. There are a couple of times on the show where John has laughed so hard that like you can't, you just can't even film him because when he really loses it, He cannot be brought back.

He can't. He's like he is what we said. He is destroyed.

He's destroyed. He doubles over. He kind of tears up.

He can't make noise. It was laughing like that.

And I said, Creed, I mean, how did you how many takes did you do?

And he said, I think we got one where he kept it together.

I think that's the one they used. Yeah. Exactly.

Exactly. So now we have this little scene where Michael is noticing that like the plant in the office is dying.

He says, you need to talk to the cleaning crew about this.

And also while you're at it, they used to arrange the toys on my desk in this really pleasing way.

And I need to know why they've stopped. And Pam is like, well, no, that was Dwight.

Dwight used to do that. And then, of course, up from out of nowhere comes Andy.

And he's like, I agree. And Michael's like, what are we?

How do you know? What do you agree with?

How do you even know what we're talking about?

Yeah. And Andy's like, Pam was like, blah, blah, something lame.

And then you're like, right on. There it is.

There it is. Come on. Seven minutes, 33 seconds.

The very first, but not the last. So we're back at the party planning committee meeting.

Angela is sad. She is sad. She's not even speaking up about anything.

She's not even being mean to Phyllis. You know the woman is sad.

Can I say something? Yeah. I think that later when we see this party, it's going to be one of the best ones we've ever thrown.

How dare you? I'm just saying. I'm just saying that you're a little checked out.

And look what we did without you. When others were allowed to participate in the planning, we threw the decorations, that Creed loved the food.

Let me tell you something, lady. What? What?

I am flabbergasted. Well, I mean, I just want to say I noted.

I noted how disengaged from the planning Angela was.

And then I noticed what a really great party it was.

Well. You know, Michael has given the marching orders.

He really wants to celebrate Oscar, as Michael says, quote, his Mexican-ness.

He wants firecrackers, a chihuahua. You know, he also tells them to get a donkey.

A burro. Because, you know, the reason that we're throwing a Mexican-themed party is because Oscar's gayness does not define him.

His Mexican-ness is what defines him. And Oscar's just like... According to Michael.

Great. Great. Right back in it with Michael.

Oscar's thinking of all the things he's going to purchase after this party.

I know. Well, I have a question for you about a scene coming up, Jenna.

Okay. Was it in the script that Andy, like, fishes for Jim?

Like, that he throws the rod and reel and the whole thing?

Or was that just made up on the day? Angela, I will check the script for that.

And in the meantime, while I'm doing that, please enjoy this hold music by Carmen and Camille. doing their version of Heartbreak in the Break Room.

One moment. My mama, she nipped me A sexy sweater, but all that got me was heartbreak in the break room.

All right, thank you for holding. I could not find that in the script.

It wasn't in the script. No. So it was either conceived of as a rewrite page or it was something he did on the day.

So what's in the script, the thing that makes Jim want to prank Andy is just more singing at his desk, that he's just obnoxiously singing.

And then Jim decides he has to do something.

Right. But the fishing for tuna, not in the script.

Okay. Well, it's perfect for Andy. It's so perfect.

Jim has had it, though, and he now wants to play a prank.

He asked Karen. Karen says she's too busy.

She got all of Dwight's clients. Then he asked Ryan, and lady, we have some Ryan sass.

I loved it. I'm falling in love with Ryan.

I know you are. Not going to lie. I know you are.

What does he say? I'll tell you what he said.

He says, oh, you know what? Not right now, but ask me again 10 years ago.

Oh, that's so good. And I feel like the look on John's face as Jim in that moment is so good.

So good. He's like, all right, man. I liked you better when you were the temp.

Ryan's like, so did I. Ryan says, so did I. That's some serious Ryan sass.

So, Angela, should we check in with Dwight now?

See how he's doing over at Staples? Yes.

He's doing great. He's crushing it. He is.

We had some fan questions about Staples from Amy Jackson, Aaron Westra, Ainsley Thompson, Jeff Needham, Diamond P, and Kate N. They wanted to know, did we film in an actual Staples store?

Yes. Yes, we did. We filmed at a real Staples.

It was at the Empire Center in Burbank. I've actually been there many times, not only to the Empire Center, but to this actual Staples.

I have purchased my home printer at this Staples.

Jenna, I feel like we went there for like a BFF afternoon where we went to Target and then we went to Staples together.

I have like a memory of that. Oh, yeah. I'm sure we did that because then there's that donut place that you like.

What is it? Krispy Kreme. Krispy Kreme. What's not to like?

Exactly. And they have a drive-thru. They have a drive-thru.

They have a drive-thru and they also have this conveyor belt that you can watch.

It's like watching a car wash, but it's donuts going by.

And then you get to the end and they just take it right off the conveyor belt and it's super warm and they hand it to you and kids love it.

It's like a mini donut factory. Well, I would take my kids there all the time.

I think the first time we went, you and I didn't even have kids.

Yeah. Well, this is true. This is true.

Okay. So yeah, Dwight is crushing it. Sorry, we got off on a tangent about donuts.

Go figure. We did. But I want to say, remember back in the merger when we talked about how Staples paid the production to feature one of its shredders in an episode?

People were asking if this was still part of that product integration.

No. No. No, this was just a plot point.

They just thought it would be funny that Dwight ends up going to work for Dunder Mifflin's competitor.

So Staples did not pay to be featured in this episode at all.

And then guess what they did? What? They did something insane to the Staples.

What did they do? So I'm going to let Greg tell you.

We arranged to have a real Staples be the location for this episode.

And... I had scouted it, and then between the time that I scouted it and the time that we showed up to shoot, they had replaced all the staple signage with very unrealistic-looking staple signs that were three times bigger than what we had seen because they wanted more of an advertising pop in the background of our show in the morning of the day we were supposed to shoot there.

And so it became like a thing about – You know, we had to make our day and we had to shoot, but I didn't want to turn the show into an ad for Staples.

So there was a lot of shooting around it.

And I believe the last shot where the camera kind of zooms into a security camera to see them exiting was to avoid a gigantic Staples sign that they had put up at the last minute.

Staples, you were so sneaky. Oh, Staples, can you blame them?

They're like, hey, we got a camera crew here.

I'm going to put up my big sign. I'd probably do the same thing.

I would do the same thing. They were like, Henry, get over here.

Bring the tall ladder and the big signs.

Yeah. Get it on TV. You know I love the Staples folks because they give back to teachers, Jenna.

Oh, yeah. I love them. But that is very funny.

I have a little piece of trivia, though, about that day.

Dave Rogers said that Greg got really sick that day.

So sick that he had to go home halfway through the day and Randall took over.

Whoa. Yeah. That's crazy. I know. Wow. Well, listen, I want to talk a little bit about Dwight's new co-worker, Paris.

She's amazing. Played by Yvette Nicole Brown, who would later go to star in Community.

This scene with them in the break room eating lunch, I watched it three times.

I watched it three times because she is so funny. her like you know what it is i feel like we're getting this opportunity to have someone outside of the dunder mifflin family react to dwight shroot we all know what dwight is like we know what to expect from him so to place dwight in the real world with a regular person who's not used to him was so funny to me and her reactions were what I would imagine anyone would react like if they met Dwight.

Yes. I texted her. I said, Yvette, I just want you to know I forgot about this scene and how great it was and rewatching it.

It was hilarious. And she was like, oh, Angela, I feel like I was just there for a blip.

And I said, Yvette, you stole the scene.

You stole the scene. Yes. Now, you mentioned, Angela, that you were watching this episode with your kids.

My son walked into my office while I was watching this scene.

He was laughing. And then he and I looked for a fan catch that was sent in by Lori Lex.

Oh, what'd you guys find? Oh, my gosh. My son was so tickled because during this scene, Dwight's sandwich that he's eating gets bigger rather than smaller as he eats it.

Because they use different takes. So at 12 minutes, 21 seconds, all that's left is like a little corner of bread.

And then at 12 minutes, 28 seconds, it's much larger.

I love it. I love how into this episode our kids were with background catches.

I know. It's so cute. Well, lady, I want to talk about the scene with Michael and Angela.

They're in the break room and they're clearly both missing Dwight.

But obviously, neither of them are saying that to each other.

And Michael just says, oh, it's good to have Oscar back.

And Angela's like, yeah. And they both just sort of sadly take a sip of their beverage and look off into space.

And I never, ever got quiet moment scenes with Steve.

And so in rewatching this, it was so special to me because I just, our characters hardly ever interacted.

And when they did, I was usually mad at him, you know?

Yeah. So that was really special. And then on a total tangent, there is a fantastic shot at 13 minutes, 47 seconds of Luann's water fountain.

And they're like gurgling away. Lady, I saw the same thing.

I saw the same thing. I think that's what was in the background of that kitchen scene in that other episode that we all thought was a fireplace.

I think it was Luann's water feature. She had a Zen garden and a water fountain.

She did. And they never plugged it in because it made noise.

But every once in a while, I guess it got plugged in.

And I think you're right because it has a little blue light.

Yes. That maybe we thought was a fire something.

Yes. Oh, my God. I love that we both got excited about Luann's fountain.

Well, Jenna, I think on that note of getting super excited about a fountain that in the background, we should take a break.

Yeah, we'll take a break and then we'll come back and get into this big prank.

All right, guys, we are back. Angela, do you know what I'm doing right now?

No, I mean, I can see you, but... I'm making bread.

I can't see your hands, but I know your left one is moving.

No, I'm not literally making bread in my lap.

I'm sitting here podcasting, but I am simultaneously bread making.

Like, that's the cool thing about bread making is that I have dough that is rising into a little living dough baby that I'm going to put in my oven and turn into crisp, delicious sourdough bread as we speak.

That science is working in my kitchen on my counter right now.

During this break, I molded my little dough baby.

Aww. Aww. Yeah, well, I molded another dough, baby.

I like to call my belly because I went downstairs and ate a little piece of this.

I don't even know what it is that Josh made.

It's like some kind of it tastes like a little square pecan pie.

It's so good. Can we give a plug to Josh's baking page, please?

Baking with Josh and Ange. There is a recipe on there for something called a brookie.

Okay, you know, I made this the other day.

It is a layer of brownie topped with a layer of chocolate chip cookie and they're bars.

Angela, I ate so many of them that I made myself sick.

I made myself sick like I was like a child who couldn't stop eating candy on Halloween.

And I felt so ill. And even when I felt sick from eating so many of them, I wanted to eat more of them.

That's how good the Brookie is, guys. It'll make you sick and you won't care and you'll keep eating it anyway.

I don't know what kind of endorsement that is, but I feel like that's a good endorsement.

Yeah, well, he has tons of recipes. You guys, my husband is a baker.

You can go to bakingwithjoshandange.com for all of his recipes.

I don't even know why I'm in the equation there.

It's just that when he bakes, he likes me around.

But he is the master. I'm the taste tester and he's the master.

That was really sweet, Jenna. Well, if you want to eat so much of something that you make yourself sick, make the brookie.

But he also has, guys, not just sweets. He's got like these one-sheet And I love to cook things on one sheet because then I only have to clean one thing.

Yes, they are really good. We just did his one sheet chicken fajitas.

That's my favorite. It's so good. All right.

This became a small commercial for baking with joshandange.com, but I stand by it.

Well, thanks. That's really sweet. I'll tell him he'll be tickled.

All right. Well, let's get back to this episode.

Jim. steals Andy's cell phone. Yeah, but why does he pass it off to Pam?

I don't understand why they trade it twice.

What are they, secret spies? Couldn't he have just taken it and gone straight to the bathroom and chucked it up in the ceiling or something?

Yes, this entire prank could have been done by Jim alone.

He tried to recruit all these people to do this prank with him that required only one person.

He could have pranked Andy on his own, but for Jim...

The prank is like the social bonding experience.

It's not about like just doing it by himself.

What's the fun in that? Exactly. He wants a partner.

He wants a buddy. Yes. So he does this weird thing where he knocks over the pens and steals the phone and then gives it to Pam and then Pam gives it back to him.

And Karen clocks it. Yeah, Karen notices.

She doesn't know what they're doing, but they're in cahoots.

And then you're like his lookout, but you can clearly see him.

You guys have the most, like you're the most oddball like duo.

I feel like there could have been a spinoff where Jim and Pam are secret spies, but everyone knows.

Well, and just to our point earlier, is no one noticing the camera crew?

Following Jim and Pam sneaking and like filming them do this prank.

There's a lot of disbelief you have to suspend right here in this moment.

Jenna, no one sees it because Pam is so great at distracting them by drinking her water.

That's all we see. Pam's just drinking her water and playing with her necklace.

Nothing to see here. Yeah. what do you mean what well you have to remember in the last episode phyllis kind of spills the beans and says to karen i'm so glad you and jim are together because he was hung up on pam for so long so you know karen has got that in her brain and when she sees the two of them kind of giggling and up to something she's like oh no what's happening yes Well, meanwhile, Kelly and Oscar are setting up for the party.

I think it's very funny that Oscar has to set up his own party.

He has chores at his own party. It's amazing.

And then Michael, meanwhile, is pouting in the kitchen.

He wants to let Jim know that he's not fine.

He's not fine. And he's like, he doesn't want to talk about it.

But Jim's like, OK. And he's like, OK, I'll talk about it.

He's like, OK. Yeah. And he's like, what do you think of Andy?

Andy. What do you think of Andy? And I love this Angela.

Jim is like, well, I mean, he's kind of a yes man.

And Michael's like, that's not true. Because when I say I don't like something, he says he doesn't like it too.

It's like, oh, Michael. Oh, Michael. Steve is so brilliant in this episode.

I know we talk about how good he is. So like every week, but he had to, I don't even know how to say it, but The way he reacts to Andy is like a whole new version of Michael Scott we haven't seen.

And he's so brilliant. And the way he doesn't get things and then the audience gets it before him and then he finally gets it.

It's just amazing. Well, Angela, he has this talking head that I can't even barely watch.

Is it about the raspberry? Yeah. The Sherbert thing?

It's about the way Steve delivers it is so masterful, but the whole thing just makes me so uncomfortable.

Whenever Michael talks about his childhood, I get scared.

I just feel like I don't want more details about his loneliness and his need for attention.

Yeah. And his all of it. Awkward interactions with his mom and stepdad, Jeff.

I mean. Yeah. Yeah. I know. Poor Michael.

I know this is totally off topic, but I was impressed that Jim's choice of snack was raw carrots.

Yes. Angela. Angela, we had we had a fan point this out about the carrots.

Brianna Kernan wrote in to say, does John really like to snack on carrots?

Because he can be seen in multiple episodes snacking on carrots at various times.

I did a lot of scenes with John. And so I can tell you that he eats carrots.

If given the choice for what he gets to eat in a scene, he will pick something healthy.

He will pick carrots a lot. He would pick carrots to the point that they finally had to say, John, You can't with the carrots.

It's like really bad for sound. So then he started eating grapes.

So you'll see him eat some grapes, but occasionally it would be scripted that we're eating chips.

And he would eat the chips, but he preferred a healthy snack, guys.

He just did. I am very impressed, John. I'm very impressed.

I mean, I usually would ask for potato chips.

Yeah. Well, BJ Novak and I used to say that if it's a prop, it doesn't have any calories.

So you can eat as much of it as you want.

Oh, interesting theory. Yeah. It's not real food.

You're pretending. It's pretend food. No calories.

Pretend calories. You know what I would pick now is a brookie.

I'd be like, can I snack on a brookie, please?

Well, the party setup is underway, but Angela and Pam have a little conversation out by the elevators.

And I loved it so much, Jenna, when Pam's like, is it about Dwight?

And Angela's like, no, John Denver. You're like, okay, that's how it's going to be.

I'm out. Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. But is John Denver like one of her favorite singers?

Like, where did John Denver come from? It's just such a funny sort of little bit of detail to me about Angela Martin.

Well, Angela tells Pam that she's really missing Dwight and she feels bad.

Yeah. And Pam says, I think you should talk to Michael.

And Angela's like, Pam, I'm not like you walking around in your provocative outfit saying whatever thought pops in your head.

Yeah. As she's wearing a sweater over a button down, like, what are these outfits, Angela?

What are you even talking about? Yes. But anyway, Angela appreciates Pam's, you know, talking with her and gives her such a weird hug.

It's like she hugs her. And then when she realizes she's hugging you, she shoves you away.

Well, we had a fan question about it, Angela.

Caleb Feener and Kylie Campbell both ask, was that hug improvised or was it in the script?

What do you think, Angela? Improvised or in the script?

I feel like it was improvised. It was improvised.

It was not in the script. It was not in the script.

That was improvised. Yeah, yeah. I feel like you and I played around with that scene a few different ways.

It was so fun. That was great. That was great.

Well, back in the bullpen, Jim just keeps calling Andy's phone, which is ringing now up in the ceiling.

And a lot of people asked... Was the phone really in the ceiling playing the song?

Now, normally, I feel like the answer would be no, because it would ruin your ability to edit the scene.

But Angela, I remember that phone playing up in the ceiling.

Am I going crazy? No, I feel like I remember it too.

I feel like they put a speaker up in the ceiling and they had someone play that song for us to react to.

I have like such a strong memory of hearing it all day long.

Like over our heads. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So guys, no one can remember.

I reached out to a bunch of people about this.

What's the deal? No one is sure. But I'm going with my personal memory that we really did have.

I don't know if it was the phone, but we really were listening to that four-part harmony up in the ceiling and reacting to it.

Yeah. We weren't reacting to nothing. Yeah.

It was actually getting really annoying.

I do remember that. I was like so sick of that song.

That's like, oh, my God. Angela, when we were rewatching this episode and it played for the first time, I kind of like I recoiled a little bit like my the cells in my body were like, oh, no, not again.

Not again. Since memory. Yes, because I I remember shooting this episode and singing it.

And then when I went to bed the night I rewatched it, I was like, I couldn't.

I was like, don't do this to me again. We cannot skip past what I like to call nimble Phyllis.

Yes. She's so nimble. She's agile. She's quick.

I mean, Andy tries to open her drawer. Phyllis does the no look slam.

Yeah. Push back. Yeah. I mean, that's some quick reflexes, Phyllis.

Yeah, because Andy is looking for it everywhere.

He cannot find it anywhere. Well, while Andy's looking for his phone, Angela goes into Michael's office, like Pam suggested, and she says, listen, the reason Dwight was late that morning was because he was dropping off the quarterly tax forms that she forgot to send.

And to be fair, Kevin never reminded her.

She just wants Michael to know that if Kevin had done his job, she could have done her job better.

But Dwight was saving the day. He wasn't going for some weird corporate power grab.

He was doing this favor for her. Yes. I remember in the scene, Greg gave me the note to, you know, I'm coming in there.

I'm very nervous because I really don't want people in the office to know my business.

I don't want them to know who I'm dating.

Even though I really care for Dwight, I just hate the idea of being office gossip, you know?

Yeah. So I'm going in there and he said, Angela, just deliver those lines at the top.

Like you're just... quickly spilling it all out, you know?

Yeah. So that's why I went in with that energy of just like, like if she didn't say it right away, she was going to lose her nerve.

So I was like, Dwight went to New York, he dropped off the tax deferred, like, you know, just kind of like throw it out.

Yes. And then, thank God, Michael is such an idiot.

He doesn't connect the dots. He's like, oh my God, Dwight, if he would do that for anyone in this office, who else is like that, you know?

Yeah. And I'm like, no one. And Angela's so happy.

She's so happy she was able to sort of set the record straight without revealing their relationship.

Yes. Michael just takes this as a sign of Dwight's undying loyalty to the company.

Yeah. So he's like, I have to go get him back.

I have to go get him back. Yeah. But as he's on his way out the door, Andy...

Like jumps in front of him and pitches him like this weekend date that they're going to go on.

He's like blurts out a gazillion things.

And Michael is like, just stop. Stop. You're driving me crazy.

And Andy is like, oh, I'm sorry if my friendship is annoying you.

Sorry, I annoyed you with my friendship.

Oh, that's what it is. That's what it is.

Well, we had a fan question from Allie White.

She wanted to know if that list of activities was scripted or improvised by Ed Helms.

Guys, it was all scripted. Ed memorized that.

That was not an improvisation. It was perfect because they all sounded like a horrible evening.

Michael's like, I don't want to do any of those things.

So now Andy's phone starts ringing. So he's just been rejected publicly in front of the whole bullpen by Michael.

And now his phone is ringing again. And the man snaps.

He loses it. Yes. And this is what we talked about with Ed, where he had to punch a hole in the wall.

And Angela, I reached out to Kent to find out exactly how many walls we had prepared for this stunt.

And it was... How many? Four. So we could have done four.

But remember, Ed thought they only had to do it twice.

But there were four chances. So that's why when we were talking with Ed, I was like, my memory of this scene was that we all had to have our, you know, game face on.

So we didn't ruin one of these takes. We only had four walls, everybody.

Right. Well, I noticed in the reaction pass in the accounting department, there's one reaction pass where Oscar is standing and then it cuts back and he's like seated and then it cuts back.

And so it was like it didn't quite match up.

But my kids loved that. They're like, Oscar sitting, Oscar standing, Oscar sitting.

And while all of this is happening, the thing they really were tickled by is that the Homer Simpson doll was turned sideways with like his butt in the air.

Oh, Homer fell over. Homer fell over, and then we had to go back and look for when Homer was upright, and he was on his side pretty much the whole episode, just so you guys know.

Oh, guys, the name of this episode is Homer Fell Over.

And Snow and Sadness. So now we go outside, and Michael's in the parking lot, and his car has filled with snow.

How's he going to get in it? He's got to, like, shovel it out.

He's rushing, but he has to dig the snow out first.

Angela, I have a wonderful tidbit about this snow.

What? Okay. Kent told me the same snow company filled that Sebring with fake snow, but it wasn't icy snow.

It was like the little plastic flakes because there's lots of different kinds of fake snow.

So they were these little plastic flakes.

And at the end of the shoot day, it took them the entire next day to vacuum all of the snow out.

And that was a rental. They rented that car.

They had to get all that out of there. Yeah.

And at the end of the season, they kept it for the whole year.

At the end of the season, when they returned it, the snow was still in the inner workings of the car.

He said whenever they would turn on the AC, snow would blow out of the vents.

Oh, God. They never could get all the snow out.

And I think they had to pay a fee when they returned it.

I'm sure they did. I'm sure they did because someone is going to rent it, turn on the air, and these little fake pieces of plastic snow are going to fly out at them.

Yes. I loved that tidbit. I loved that every time we tried to turn on the AC, snow would come out of there.

Well, Michael is now at Staples. He's going to go up to Dwight.

He's going to apologize. He wants him to come back.

And I love this scene so much. I mean, Dwight is tearing up.

It is a very bromance moment. Well, yes, that is what Greg calls it.

He calls it the bromance moment. And, you know, playing underneath the scene is the song from An Officer and a Gentleman.

Yes. Remember at the end of Officer and a Gentleman where she's in the factory working and Richard Gere walks in and he scoops her up and they kiss and everyone cheers.

It's, what is it? It's love lift us up where we belong.

Yes. Right? Yes. Where the eagles fly. Yes.

The whole thing. Well, there is like a music version of this playing. at Staples during this scene.

It's amazing. Guys, Greg sent in an audio clip talking about this bromance.

The ending of The Return was like the big bromance moment between Michael and Dwight.

I'm pretty sure the officer and a gentleman was in the script to begin with.

As I recall, we were building towards that moment to see Michael going through the aisles at Staples and trying to, you know, make a big romantic moment out of it, like Richard Gere returning for Debra Winger.

And that is exactly what it is. I really wish Rain had picked Steve up and told him around.

I wish that had been in the script. Well, Rain is Debra Winger in this scenario, though.

I know, but he's bigger than Steve, so I think it would be sort of like...

That's how they, instead of them disappearing, like with him taking his Staples uniform off, that he just carries Michael out.

Anyway. Well, speaking of his uniform, when Dwight comes back to the party at Dunder Mifflin, he's wearing a Battlestar Galactica sweatshirt, right?

Yeah. Okay. You know what about this? That Battlestar Galactica did not have any sweatshirt merchandise.

Isn't that insane? Yeah. Yeah, so our wardrobe designer, Carrie Bennett, had to make up a Battlestar Galactica merch sweatshirt for Dwight to wear.

Yes, they made it special. It doesn't exist.

I texted Rain and asked him if he still has it.

Oh, please tell me he said he did. He doesn't, and he super regrets not snatching it.

Oh, that would have been a good one to snatch.

I know, I know. Someone has it. It's the one and only.

Well, you know, when Dwight comes back in the office, I remember...

I have this moment where I'm talking to Oscar and Greg was like, when he walks in the room, I want Angela Martin in the moment to sort of let her guard down.

You know, so I'm blatantly looking at him with such like love in my eyes and happiness.

And, you know, we're still reserved. We just shake hands.

Yeah. Yeah. But there's so much emotion like between the two of us and Michael's just oblivious.

But then you shake hands with him. You welcome him back with a handshake.

Yes. Now, I need to ask you a question, Angela.

Have you not been in touch? I mean, you guys aren't seeing one another outside of the office?

You don't go to each other's homes, talk on the phone?

I think so, but I think he was miserable at his job, and I was the reason he wasn't at the job he wanted to be at.

And to see him come back in the office and to know that he's back where he wants to be...

And it's so layered what he did for me and then the risk I took going to Michael.

All of that emotion is playing out in that moment.

Yeah. It's not that it's the first time you guys have seen each other in a month.

It's that he's back where he belongs. Yes.

And we both made sacrifices for each other.

Right. And so it sort of takes our relationship to this next place.

I think very subtly of like, he did that for me and I went out of my comfort zone and did this thing for him and he knows it and I know it.

Right. So I think it's that. But of course, Michael's oblivious and we look at each other with love in our eyes and shake hands and then that's it.

The party is well underway though, lady.

Yeah. While we're shaking hands and doing all this, everyone's having a good time.

And Jenna, we have a fantastic... Phyllis dance catch yes Michael says to Pam hey Pam shake yours and I'll shake and she's like no yeah yeah I'm not gonna do that but guess who's so like delighted Phyllis at 25 minutes 18 seconds you guys know that Phyllis was a burlesque dancer and you are seeing a straight up real deal burlesque shimmy in the background by Phyllis I'll tell you what that shimmy was not in the script Oh, of course not.

So, I don't know where we got that, but I think Phyllis... I think Phyllis just improvised that in the moment.

Any chance to dance, Phyllis is in. Yeah.

But also, I just want to say, Angela, I want to point out this party's going great that Angela didn't plan.

That's all. I'm sorry. She was there. She was just sort of zoned out, but she was part of the planning.

I know, but it's just maybe we should take note of what a great party it is.

Oh, my gosh. That's all. Well, I titled the next scene OOF.

And we have another OOF? The scene is just called OOF.

This was Heartbreak in the Break Room was titled OOF.

Well, this is Heartbreak in the Conference Room.

Yeah. So here's what happens, you guys. Karen and Jim, they're sitting side by side in the conference room.

They're not even talking or looking at each other.

They're not even looking at each other. That's even the saddest part is that when he says he's still into Pam.

He won't even look her in the eye. Yeah.

She just gets up and walks away. She's like, F this.

Yeah. Because she says, do you still have feelings for her?

And he says, yeah. Yeah. And I just want to say, Jim, yes, wishy-washy Jim is gone.

And we have real Jim back again. Jim is back and he's owning his feelings.

Yes, we're happy. So this episode ends with Dwight, who thinks the party is for him, by the way, even though the sign says, welcome back, Oscar.

There's three signs. There's three signs that say welcome back.

Now Dwight is like, this party's for me.

He gets to hit the pinata and he just destroys it, destroys it.

He destroys it. Then he goes through the office, just whacking all the pinatas that were decorative pinatas hanging through the bullpen.

In the DVD commentary for this episode, they talk about the fact that as rain started hitting pinatas, Phil Shea was like, hold up, wait, wait, wait.

I have duplicates for this one, this one, and this one.

You cannot hit that one or that one. Oh my gosh.

So when you see Rain kind of like running through, he had like a little roadmap of which pinata he could hit and he couldn't hit.

So if you see him run right past a perfectly good pinata, it's because we didn't have a duplicate for it.

So we had to run across to another one and whack it.

These are the details people don't know that actors have in their brains when they're doing a scene.

Yeah. We only have one more thing to talk about, Angela, which is Andy is going to anger management.

And he's going to crush it. It's supposed to be 10 weeks.

He's going to knock it out in five. He has a whole plan.

Through his usual name, repetition, personality, mirroring, and positive reinforcement through nods and smiles.

He's going to do this in five weeks. And in fact, he does do it in five weeks, Ed.

The character of Andy is gone for the next five episodes, and then he returns.

And we had a lot of fan questions about this, Angela.

Chelsea Lane, Aaron Westra, Amanda Gerson, Brianna Kernan, Kaylee Waiting all asked, did Ed Helms have to be written out because he had to film something else?

No. No, we had asked Ed about this. So I don't know if you guys remember back in Gay Witch Hunt when I had talked to Ed about how he came to be on the show.

Remember, he said he was originally only hired for a short period of time, and it wasn't until later that they decided to add him as a series regular.

Well, I guess, Angela, how did he explain it?

He said that by the time they decided to make him a series regular, they had actually written all of the episodes together. to finish out his initial little contract.

Yeah. And this episode was supposed to end with Andy punching the wall and being fired and never coming back again.

Yeah. In this episode, we basically lose Andy and then we're soon going to lose Karen, right?

And that would have wrapped up all of the Stanford extra character storylines.

But everyone just fell in love with Ed and just how Andy was the perfect foil for Dwight.

And They wanted him back and they had to sort of figure that out.

How does that work? What does that contract look like?

We already have these scripts without him.

So they sorted it all out in five weeks and Andy comes back.

Yes. And it was so, so great. And in the meantime, I remember that they were wanting to also keep Rashida around a little bit longer, but she ends up getting a job on Parks and Rec.

Yes. Yeah. Which stays sort of in the office family, which is really fun.

Yes, because Parks and Recreation was created together by Greg Daniels and Mike Schur.

Yep. Well, lady, before we say goodbye to the return, did you happen to catch what the anger management class, what the name of the company was?

No. I loved it so much. It's on the door as they go in.

What is it? Calm Visions. Oh, okay. You know what?

I'm already less angry. Are you having calm visions?

I am. I am. Done. Done. Well, that was the return, everybody.

Thank you so much for listening. A big thank you to Ed Helms for being our guest and Greg Daniels.

And as always, Kent Sabornak, Kentopedia.

And, you know, Jenna and I, we reach out to people like crazy if it's as simple as like a text to Creed to jog his memory or I DMed Yvette.

Like, I'm just always so appreciative by how many people, Jenna, respond in a timely manner and get back to us and help us make these podcasts happen.

Well, listen, guys, we will see you next week with one of my favorite episodes, Ben Franklin.

Ben Franklin. We'll see you then. I love Ben Franklin. so much we'll talk about it next week all right bye everyone have a good one bye Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.

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

Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins and our audio engineer and associate producer is Molly Nugent.

Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.

Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

[The Return: A Deep Dive into Season 3, Episode 13 of The Office]-[Second Drink: The Return with Ed Helms]

📋 Summary

The Return: An In-Depth Look at Season 3, Episode 13 of The Office

The Atmospheric Magic: Snow and Sadness

Ed Helms and the Evolution of Andy Bernard

Narrative Complexity and Improvisation

Iconic Moments: From the "Tuna" Prank to the Staples Cameo

Conclusion

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript