Second Drink: Valentine’s Day with Andy Buckley | Office Ladies

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Welcome to our second drink of Valentine's episode.

In this episode, we had Andy Buckley as our guest. David Wallace.

Yes, I remember he showed up in a yellow Suck It sweatshirt.

Yes. And he brought us each a little Dunder Mifflin coffee mug.

It was so sweet. So sweet.

Well, I cannot tell you the amount of mail we got saying how much people loved this interview.

Allison T said I grew up in Lynn.

So hearing Andy Buckley shout out the North Shore was the best. Ms. Bonita said I have the biggest crush on Andy Buckley.

And Megan M said Andy Buckley was so great for this role David Wallace was probably my favorite non -main cast member.

Well we also had a few folks write in to tell us a crazy fun fact about Andy.

And lady, I did not know this I so wish we would have asked him about it.

But he was in two country music videos.

He was? Yes. Both for Reba McEntire.

What? I went and watched them.

Yes, so in 1997 he was in the music videos I'd Rather Ride Around with You and What If It's You by Reba.

And, oh my goodness, in I'd Rather Ride Around with You, Andy, is Reba's love interest. No. Yes.

And they go on a road trip.

It is so wild and then in the song What if it's you?

He plays the guy who got away She like watches him longingly as he rides a horse on the beach then he canoodles with this other woman I just need to ask him about this.

We have to call him right now call him right now I can't let another moment of my life go by I know and like clearly she liked him she put him it Okay, I'm calling him.

Alright Andy here goes, let's see if he answers Angela, oh Angela.

Andy, it's me and Jenna.

We're calling you from our podcast. Hello, young ladies.

Hello, Jenna. Hi, Andy.

We are revisiting the episode that you joined us on the podcast for Valentine's Day.

And, Andy, people wrote in and said they could not believe we did not ask you about being in Reba McEntire's music videos.

Well, I don't go a day in my life without walking down the street without someone asking me about those.

But you play her love interest in one.

You guys go on a road trip.

How did that come about?

By the way, she is the greatest. She couldn't be nicer.

She couldn't be lovelier.

She is the queen of country music.

But this is as a human being, she's just, she's, you know, much like you two young ladies just as kind and lovely as a person can be.

And it's funny, I just think this is great.

So I did two music videos with her in the course of like three weeks.

So each one took like four days.

So I was around her for about eight days.

Every single day people come up to you and people come up to her, oh you're great, you're great.

But every day there was always somebody who came up who was very emotional about her music and got them through you know some horrible period in their life.

And she was the greatest. She would give each person like as much time as they needed.

I thought that was great.

How did it come about?

I had an agent at the time who was friends with someone who was producing the music video.

Originally it was supposed to be like a big actor that was going to do it, but that person wanted to direct it.

Like, yeah, I'll do it, I'll be the love interest. But you know, I really want to direct it, and push him to shove, and they're like, eh, we want the person who directed him to do it.

And then like so that fell out and then it was like four days before and they're like, hey, we got to find somebody.

And my agent said, Hey, what about, you know, this guy Buckley?

And how'd you end up in the second Music video.

Here's my question.

The first one, you're clearly her love interest. And then in the second one, you're like the guy that got away.

You're riding a horse on the beach. You're with some other gal now.

I had to break Reba's heart.

I was What if it's you?

That was the other thing.

Yeah, so exciting. I would go, and I would sit there and I would listen to her sing, those music videos.

They sing along and they're playing the track, but she's singing.

And it's, I mean, oh, that was a treat.

And that's such a pretty song.

The other one's such a fun song.

You got like a private Reba McEntire concert.

I did, yeah. Wow. I guess this is gonna be on the podcast, so.

You're on it right now.

If it's okay. Hold on, hold on.

Sorry. Thank you for answering your phone.

Yeah, exactly. It was in a place called Jekyll Island, Which is North Florida's beautiful Savannah -like looking place, as, I guess you can tell, from looking at them.

Yeah, I was very curious.

I thought it was the Caribbean or somewhere, and it looked like, wow, what a great gig.

I mean, it was great.

It was like I was doing much acting.

And at the time I had done a few episodes of this show called Pacific Blue, which was a instead of like a Baywatch thing, it was Cops on Bikes.

You know, but, but, you know, the main guy and then, you know, the cute girl, cops on bikes by the beach. It sells itself.

It sells itself. Yeah.

That was about all, I had like two episodes of that.

Well, thank you so much for answering the phone because fans wanted to know about it.

And so there you have it and Andy, you're just a delight and I hope all as well.

And I think maybe I'll be seeing you this summer at that convention.

I guess so. At the office convention.

You know, maybe we'll convince someone else to come along.

Someone else is going to be doing a play in Chicago.

Yeah. Oh, yes. At the Goodman.

Maybe on your way back.

You'll have to stop in Chicago and see me on stage.

Yeah, I'm glad that you're feeling so much better, Jana.

Thank you. I really am.

That obviously could not have been very fun at all, to say the least. So you sound great.

And you're doing a play in Chicago.

Come on. That's right, man.

forget about it fancy chicago theater i went and saw steve's play last summer oh uncle vanya uncle vanya which was so fun yeah what can't that guy do he can do it all but has he been an areva mackintosh video i think not you know what i think it was him he was the guy that was gonna do it but he insisted on directing sounds like steve's he was probably still like in the, that was in like 95 or 96 or something like that.

So that was a while ago.

I'd just gotten out of high school.

Um. Alright, Andy, big hugs, we love ya and thanks so much for chattin' with us.

I'll chat with you ladies any time.

Alright. Aw, thank you.

Bye. See you at the office, ladies.

Okay, bye. Bye -bye.

Well, there you have it.

There you have it. I'm so glad he answered the phone because I needed that story today.

Also, I need everyone to answer the phone like that when I call them.

I know. That was incredible!

All right, well, everyone, thank you so much for listening to Second Drink.

Here is our breakdown of Valentine's Day.

I'm Jenna Fischer. 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.

Today we are talking about the Valentine's Day episode.

I am so excited for this one.

Me too, I liked this one so much I watched it an extra time.

I did too. Just for pleasure.

I did too. My husband Josh was like, babe how many times are you gonna watch that episode?

I was like, I am really enjoying it.

I think this one sneaked up on me because there are certain episodes that I remember as being favorites.

Yeah. And this one was not on my radar.

And then I watched it and so many memories came back.

So many. Okay, this is a goodie.

This is season two, episode 16 written by Mike Schur and directed by Greg Daniels.

I mean, honestly, that's all you need to know right there.

That's like the super team.

Yeah, of course this is a great one.

Alright, I'll give a summary.

It's Valentine's Day at Dunder Mifflin.

Michael has to go to the corporate offices in New York.

He has to meet and do a presentation for the new CFO, chief financial officer.

It's a big deal. It is.

And he's gonna be there with Jan. On Valentine's Day.

Oh no. Back at the office, Phyllis is overwhelmed by gifts from her boyfriend, Bob Vance at Vance Refrigeration.

They just come all day, these gifts.

All day. Pam patiently waits for a gift from Roy...

that never comes. No, no. And she really dolled herself up.

Oh yes, that's my Fast Fact Number 1, Angela.

Do it, do it. Fan question from Baltimore Ashley, what was the thought process behind Pam's hair for this episode?

Was there another special meeting?

I bet there was. Oh my gosh, you guys, I also got similar questions from Casey McMillan and many other people asking if there was a special meeting for Pam's hair, there was more than a meeting.

It was like the joint chiefs of staff came together for your hair.

So the thought process here was that Pam and Jim in this episode, they're going to be a bit estranged.

So wouldn't it be an extra nail in the coffin for gym if Pam just looked super duper cute?

So we thought, can we please do something different with her hair.

I had a MySpace blog at the time, and I wrote about my hair, and I said that Kim Fairy and I worked for weeks on different versions of this look.

Well knowing Kim Fairy like I do, like you do, she must have been so excited, because she was so good at hair, but she never got to do much with her hair.

No. Okay, so here's what we tried.

We tried a ponytail, a barrette, and headbands.

We took a picture of each choice and we presented them to Greg Daniels, and he went through the photos and had to pick hairstyle, and he picked the headband.

And there were various headbands.

When I say headbands - I was gonna say, were there 12 different headbands?

Yes, yes. So it was, and also ponytails.

High pony, low pony, side pony - No side pony.

Well, sidepony shows up later at the art fair.

I wore a side ponytail to my prom.

I think it was my senior year I did a sidepony.

I was not cool, guys.

You did a sidepony to prom?!

Yeah! Did you get that done at a salon or did you do that at home?

No, my mom did it. My mom did it and that was the year, the year before we had all had dates and none of us had a good time, my group of, like, really close girlfriends.

So that was the year the guys thought they were being really cool and they're like we're not going to take dates this year I went to a small school and so the girls were like fine And we had the best time.

Was that your senior prom?

Our senior prom I danced in the circle with all my girlfriends with the side ponytail Lady, I did an all girls prom for my senior prom, too You did, we would have been in the same dance circle!

We would have! You would have loved my side pony I have a card about that fast fact Tell it I mean, not only is it Pam's hair Pam is wearing a pink sweater.

Her headbands pink She has a heart necklace on she has pink earrings on I mean little pink dangle earrings.

No the lady came Like she came to be noticed.

She did she's I think a little lip gloss.

Yes. It was a whole look I have to say when I first saw myself on screen I was a little bit like oh oh Pam Pam went for it showed up today and I mean I mean it's gonna play out later in the episode but like Roy come on this is what someone who clearly wants a Valentine no matter what she says okay sorry fast fact number two fast fact number two a portion of this episode was shot in New York City we got a lot of fan questions about this people wanted to know if we did Steve stand in front of a green screen did we shoot on the streets of Los Angeles no but there's more Questions Angela question from Cora Louise

how many crew members?

Came to New York City and guava a ora asked How long did it take to shoot this episode in New York and was the rest of the cast in California?

Yes, we did not get to go we did not we were all pretty bummed because it sounded like so much fun So I reached out to Randall Einhorn our director of photography Jenna.

You know I did this I know and you guys she wouldn't tell me what he said she's got all this good information about the New York shoot and she made me wait well this is something we do we both love to like dig up nuggets of info and then we don't tell each other because we want the surprise I know I've been waiting like five days for this okay here we go so I reached out to Randall and he said the crew in New York was just him and Greg and Steve that would go out on the street when they would film yeah and in the van they had like I think two crew members that were New York base like because they

had to do things by the rules, you know, and our line producer, Kent Zborak.

But whenever the van doors would open, it would just be Greg, Steve, and Randall.

He said that this was right at the height of 40 Year Old Virgin.

It was the biggest movie in America.

He said there was a billboard in Times Square where they were filming.

So he said the minute Steve would get out of the van, a crowd would form.

So he said they had to move really fast and quickly, And he said he used a HandyCam camera, like a basic HandyCam camera that you could buy at Costco.

It's a really small camera so not to draw a lot of attention to them, because the minute people saw Steve, literally he said a crowd would form.

Well, wasn't this also right after his Golden Globe win?

Oh yes, yes. It was all of that.

He just won the Golden Globe, there was a billboard of him in Times Square, and they're gonna film on the streets of New York.

Bonkers. Bonkers. Now, this was scripted though.

They had certain scripted spots, but I know that Steve was also improvising and riffing at the same time.

It was very loosey -goosey.

That's true. That's true.

So I asked Randall, okay, what were some of the things that you know were scripted?

He said the Rockefeller Center portion was scripted.

He said that Saguaro was scripted, but he said that he's pretty sure when Steve goes into the subway and sees a man pooping in the box that that was improv, that was Steve just pooping around.

but Steve did a lot of improv.

Like whenever they saw something or they had a moment, he would hop out, you know, there's a tag at the end of like the Fiddler on the roof, like him goofing around, that's improv.

There's a bunch of deleted scenes of him on the streets of New York that I think are a lot of improvisations.

They're fantastic. The deleted scenes for this are great and I'll bring up some more of them later.

And then I said, Randall, is there like a fun story or a memory you have from filming in New York that maybe doesn't even have anything to do with the episode?

And he said, yes, this is what he said.

He said the night they got into New York, just him and Steve went to this place called Johnny's and they got beer and pizza.

He said he thought that pizza was pepperoni.

But he just said it was really special.

And they were walking back to their hotel, walking through Times Square.

And he said there were billboards everywhere.

A 40 -year -old virgin with Steve's face like all over the place and the show was getting popular.

Steve had just won a Golden Globe.

So it was kind of surreal to walk through all of those, you know, billboards of Steve.

And people started coming up to Steve and Randall said that Steve was as gracious and kind to the first person who stopped him as he was to the 100th.

He just was so kind and in the moment.

But that is Steve, you know, he is so kind and gracious and Randall just said it was really special, I think for him and Steve to just have that night together like that yeah grabbing a slice and a beer and being in New York, I'm sure it felt really cool.

I love that. I know me too.

That's one of the cool things about the show where there's some circumstance that brings you to an experience you would not have normally had.

Yeah, yeah so cool.

So cool. And Greg and kids born act talk a little bit more about New York in the DVD commentary.

So if you want to give that a listen.

Alright, Jenna, that's my New York City nuggets.

They were great, and they were worth waiting for.

Thank you. I loved them.

Thank you. Fast fact number 3.

In this episode, we meet the new CFO of Dunder Mifflin, David Wallace.

Hey now. Hey, who's here?

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey now.

Divided by Andy Buckley, who's in studio with us now.

Got to put on the Wallace glasses.

Put on the Wallace glasses.

Andy, you appeared in 37 episodes of the show.

Yep. 37? That's crazy, yeah.

Here's some stuff I learned about you by looking you up on the Internet.

Well get ready. We should say the three of us are friends in real life.

So it was a little bit interesting to Google a friend but here's some things I learned about you.

None of it is true.

Oh boy, that's good to know.

You were born in Boston.

Salem, Massachusetts.

Grew up in Marblehead, Swampscott, Peabody, mostly Marblehead and I have the SmartPak.

You do? John Krasinski, Todd Pack.

You graduated from Stanford University, but you got a degree in political science.

Yes, that was. Not theater, not acting.

No, so I did, I was a golfer in high school and I went there to play golf, like I was on the.

Like on a golf scholarship?

Yeah, they didn't have a ton of money, but I got in through the golf program and they gave me a thousand bucks.

You're a good golfer.

I used to be, I'm still good, but I used to be.

But yes. So and I was a polysome.

I did I did plays there and I done plays in high school also and loved acting and saw James Dean movie when I was in high school and thought I was gonna be like a brooding young brooding golf playing.

Yes. Yeah. All political science.

None of it. James. But when you were cast on the show, you were working as a wealth management advisor.

Yeah. Which I believe is a fancy word for stockbroker.

that's exactly it yeah at Merrill Lynch yes I study acting I moved to Los Angeles it does not go well for the first like seven or eight or nine years I get little bits and pieces here Allison Jones being possibly my only fan luckily and my wife who was then my girlfriend said you got a you got to change it up this is crazy like you can't just keep doing these odd jobs and then think you're going to get hired, blah, blah, blah.

She was like, get a job.

Get a job. Literally you guys basically get a job.

And there was an old acting buddy of mine who was working there.

And he would still audition.

He said, oh, come interview me.

It might be great for you.

And they hire me. And I loved it.

It was crazy. I loved it.

So I started there in 2001 and was there.

And that's all I was doing.

And then we got married.

We had our first son.

I bumped into Allison Jones for the local farmer's market on Larchmont.

And you're… I'm just a guy getting up and being in the office at 6 and talking to clients or potential clients.

And I see her and, what are you doing Buckley?

I haven't seen you in a while.

Stockbroker. I'm married.

I've got a kid. Mr. Grownup.

She says, well give me your card just in case something comes up to you.

You never know. I mean, would you want to do it?

I'm like yeah sure.

I guess if it's in town and without her mentioning anything or thinking, you know four months almost later She calls me.

It's like Buckley. I can't believe I found this card, but I'm glad I did I think you might be the right guy.

You should come audition for this.

You know the boss on The Office You know the show?

Yeah, of course. I know the show like yeah, he's the financial guy and you're a financial guy They might like that you should audition and it was great I go I so I go in say hi do the first scene by red with Allison and it was Mike Schur in the room and it was just the two of them.

So I read with Alice and I do the first scene and then the second scene, and Michael says, now you're like some kind of financial guy, right?

Now, knowing, Mike, the way we know Mike, he loved that.

I know that he loved that, that you were actually working at Merrill Lynch was probably one of the coolest things to him.

I figure that's why I got hired.

And then I go back to my office and I'm like, all right And you just go about your day.

And then the next morning, Allison calls and says, hey, they're going to hire you.

And it was so I was so excited.

It was like, oh, man, this will be awesome.

And at the time I thought, well, maybe like this would be cool.

I get to be on the show like once a year or something like that or twice.

I mean, that'll be fun.

And yeah, I was going to ask you when you auditioned, did they say this was one episode with the possibility of more or did they give you any indication that this might lead to 37 episodes?

No. They didn't say anything.

And I mean that was it.

It was so whatever day the audition was and then, the next week I guess I did it.

Now where did you film the boardroom scenes?

My memory is that it was right next to our Dunder Mifflin set, that you could walk from our set to your set.

Right, that's what it was.

So you were just right there?

I was right there and I show up and and Steve couldn't have been nice everybody, you know, everybody couldn't have been nicer and and And and it was just it was fun cuz Greg would come up and he would say great.

That was good Okay, and let's try this way and he would have an idea which I can't I was trying to think like what were his specific Ideas and it was along the lines of like do this one as if you just want to keep things Calm do this one as if you're you're a little irritated Just sort of subtle changes.

This is in the great Scott when he shows the video.

Oh my goodness, you guys your facial reactions to the video that Michael makes is so amazing.

It was so wonderful.

So when do you get the call that they want you back for another episode?

A year later. A year later!

Oh my gosh Andy. Oh it was crazy.

Allison calls and says, blow you're in an episode in a couple weeks and you're all over Like you're having a party at your house.

Everybody's there. It's crazy, and Jason Abrams is directing like it's it's crazy You're like wait.

I have some meetings.

I have to But it was after we hired Ryan at the very end of season three that I kind of thought oh Maybe I'll get to be on this like two or three times.

It's like we're coming to corporate He's coming a corporate.

Maybe I'll get to be on it.

You could see a possible.

Storyline. I thought yeah like oh wow Do you get recognized a lot?

Do people scream, suck it at you?

And then do other people wonder why people are screaming suck it at you?

It's funny. And I definitely haven't sometimes.

And it's, and all of this has started to happen so much more in the last three or four years because of Netflix and the show is so much bigger and everything.

Andy, do you still work at Merrill Lynch?

No. So I left the last season of the show was when I finally left. Well, you've gone on to do a bunch of stuff now.

You're now a full -time actor.

What are you working on right now?

What can we tell people where to find you super super lucky.

So let's see. So I get to be on a cast once again by Allison Jones, HBO show called Avenue Five, which is super funny.

And it's the fellow that created Veep.

It's his new show. We're on this crazy you know, we're on a cruise ship, luxury cruise ship in outer space.

Like it's it's just a cruise ship, but it's 30 years from now.

So we're in space as if Elon Musk or Richard. Right, right.

Had finally figured it out.

and Hugh Laurie is the captain of the ship and Josh yeah and a Zack Woods is on it it's great because I oh my goodness is he so funny because I never acted with him like basically he came in as I was he is so funny and he's so smart he's so smart thank you so so thank you for coming you guys can find Andy on Instagram as well and Twitter you've got I a nice Twitter will tell us your hand I'm at JustAndyBuckley and then on Instagram, I am AndyBuckley2020, in case I decide to run for an office.

Great, but just for this year.

Just for this year.

Well, I am following you, AndyBuckley2020, on the Insta.

I appreciate it. We're Insta -pals.

I appreciate it, I know.

And you'll have to come back.

You'll have to come back.

Yeah, you do have 36 more episodes.

And we've only really covered your origin story, so there's more to talk about.

All right Andy, thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me ladies.

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And we're back. Hello!

Let's start breaking down the Valentine's Day episode, Andi.

Let's get into it, lady.

All right, so we start with, a Pam talking head.

She explains it's Valentine's Day.

This is not your typical cold open where it's a standalone kind of prank or joke.

This applies to the story of the episode.

We noted earlier, her hair is down.

She's got her sparkly headband on.

She actually says, I like Valentine's Day in this office.

Yeah, because we all hand things out to each other.

She talks about how last year Jim gave her a card, a hilarious card with Dwight's face on it.

It was so funny. But then she says that her and Roy are saving money this year for the wedding, so she told him not to get anything too big.

Too big, but she's still clearly expecting something.

She still wants something.

Well, I have a few little background things for this talking head that I found very interesting, So, behind our talking heads was normally you could see Leslie David Baker, who plays Stanley, Arphilis at their desks.

You would never see Jim behind you during a talking head because his desk is over closer to Pam's at reception.

Is Jim in the background of this?

Jim is in the background of your talking head.

He's like sitting over there talking to Creed.

You can see him in the distance.

And you know I was listening to the DVD commentary, and one of the things that Greg and Mike talked about was in this episode Jim and Pam barely speak yeah but they're always in the foreground or background of each other's shots that was sort of a conscious thing when they could have one of you in the background they would.

That is so interesting because I noticed that in the background of Jim's talking head later Pam is delivering Phyllis a little piece of candy.

Yes, so see this was thought out.

Now there's one other thing I want to point out because in the episode is handing out valentines and this is footage behind your talking head you say i like valentines at this office we hand out cards and things you see oscar passing out these little red hearts well it's a great deleted scene he hands one to creed creed is getting off the phone where he calls a guy ace and then he says to oscar thanks ace and then he has a talking head where he's like yeah i'm not good with names i don't know he doesn't know people's names so that was actually a scene that they repurposed and used for the backdrop

of your talking head.

Oh my gosh, that is a great catch!

Yeah, and then I think just before we get into this episode, I would love to give a little props to the party planning committee, because you know they were in charge of decorating the office.

Did you see all the Valentine's stuff?

I did! Fan catch from Izzy Garrigan.

She said around 22 seconds, Pam has a football plush on her desk.

but I noticed that she has Valentine's Day themed candy.

She has a cup of pens and a Valentine's Day cup on the top of her desk.

And the cups are even sort of like red pens.

Yes, and then she even has, there's all these like decorations on the front of reception.

She's got like a Valentine's Day poster and there's a heart shaped candy dish.

There's red jelly beans.

There's like a little squishy heart dude on top of the jelly beans.

Over by accounting, there's Hart Garland.

There's a Hart poster, there's some Hart Garland over in the supply cabinet.

So the ladies really - We did a good job.

They went all out, buy all out, they put up two posters.

It's still within their budget.

But it was fairly decorated I will say.

I noticed as well. All right, so next up, Phyllis gets a giant bouquet of roses.

Did you catch the card?

It made me laugh out loud.

No, what was it? The flowers are from Bob Vance Vance refrigeration.

Oh yes yes yes, I did catch that.

Just that Bob Vance Vance Refrigeration was part of the card?

Was part of the card. That does make me laugh I don't know about you but my husband when he gives me a gift like his card skills babe I love you okay first of all I appreciate the thought but for Valentine's his card said to my wife from your husband.

Hahaha and it was like flowers and it was really sweet but that's all the card said.

So, we find out now that Michael is heading to New York to do a presentation about the Scranton branch for the new CFO, and we know this is important because there have been rumors of downsizing.

So, Michael has to really prove the worth of this branch so that no one gets fired.

In this scene, he packs his passport.

For a two -and -a -half -hour drive, guys.

For a drive. It's a two -and -a -half -hour drive.

Not even flying. Not going across the border?

Nope Passport got it Dwight asked if he's excited to see Jan because it is Valentine's Day and Then Michael has a talking head where he says I would have to be a raving lunatic to try to talk to Jen about what?

Happened between us her words not mine.

She sent me an email this morning.

I loved that I love that so much also Did you notice right after his passport Dwight handsome what looks like it looks like a Blackberry?

Do we have some old tech some old tech catch there?

Ooh old tech catch old tech catch I can't even say that.

Old Tech Catch. Old Tech Catch. Okay.

As Michael is leaving, he asks Pam if he can pick her up anything in New York.

I love Oscar's response.

Because Oscar's like the dad.

He is. He's kind of the dad.

He's like, you know, the best gift would be just do a good job on the presentation so we can all keep our jobs.

And thanks a lot. Thanks a lot.

And Michael's like, me in New York?

Oh, I own that city.

Forget about it! Yeah.

But you have to go back and look at Oscar's face.

Oh my god, it's so good.

If that's not a meme, it should be.

That should be. So then we have our opening credits, and when those are over, Michael is driving to New York.

No need for a passport.

Two and a half hour drive.

Don't need it. Within the continental United States.

Still don't need it.

And then Jim has a talking head where he tells us that he is not dating anyone, and he's just gonna have like a party with his buddies.

Well, what the heck happened to Brenda?

I don't know. He's not dating anyone.

He left Brenda that ridiculously awkward voice mail.

Well, I guess that didn't work out.

I guess it didn't. Now, during his talking head, you can kind of get a glimpse at Pam's wedding invite list. Yeah, there's a shot of Pam at her desk and I had a fan question about it.

Okay, you know, I did a screen grab and tried my best to read every name.

Oh, I want to hear what they are.

Louisa J said, are the names on the wedding invite list, characters or made up or based on real -life people?

Now, I was looking at some of these names and part of it looked like, like maybe Phil Shea had started the list, but it looked like you had added to it during the scene.

Yes, the typed list was provided to me by Phil Shea.

Yes. The handwritten list are the names of my real aunts and uncles and cousins.

I was going to say, I saw Emily, which is your sister.

Yep. So I was like, as I screen -grabbed it, I was like, oh, Jenna just started writing her actual family.

I did. Okay, that's what I thought.

Yeah. I wrote down Bob and Millie, Jim and Debbie, Ed.

I'm trying to remember all of them.

Yeah, you wrote down Ed, Marc, Jim and Debbie, it looks like Ann, which is your mom's name.

That's my mom. Yeah?

I just thought it would be fun because maybe they would get to see their names on TV.

No, I think that's fantastic.

I would have done the same thing.

I'm pretty sure my uncle Bob did write me an email because he noticed, or someone noticed and told him so that was like a fun little thing.

I think it's also good that your family has somewhat like common names because like I would have done the same thing, but my list would have been like birdie my My aunt Thelma could be like wait this this looks a little southern.

Let's see next up Dwight gets a Valentine's Day gift. Oh, there's a box on his desk.

He gets the best gift ever yes, he gets a Dwight bobblehead a bobblehead of himself and We had a fan question Actually, a lot of people asked but Callie Peck and Enza from Chicago both asked, how was the Dwight bobble head made?

So Phil Shay found a bobble head maker on the internet and he had rain pose for pictures in his Dwight outfit and they took pictures of him from all directions, all angles.

Yes. And sent them in.

It took a couple of weeks and they sent back a sample.

They were able to make notes and then they sent the real thing.

And they just sent the one guy.

I remember the real thing too was kind of fragile.

Yeah, it was heavy.

Heavy, heavy. It's not like the ones you can buy now online.

And not made out of plastic.

And if you want one of yourself, the guy's still making them.

Oh, what's his name?

Let's give him a shout out.

It's bobblemaker .com.

Bobblemaker .com made the original Dwight bobblehead.

That's right. And it was originally called It's you small.

It's you small. I like that.

It's you small. But um yeah, bobblemaker .com.

That's where you can get a bobble head made of yourself.

And I went on there, and they're really great.

You can also get them made of your pets.

Oh. Your whole family.

He'll also just sculpt your face and put it on a coffee mug, like coming out of a coffee mug.

That one, I wasn't quite as attracted to.

I'm gonna just be honest. The coffee mug giving birth to your face?

Yeah. But the bobbleheads are amazing.

I would kind of like a bobblehead of our cat, Oreo.

I thought the same thing about Sunny.

Oh, we should get kitty cat bobbleheads!

I want a kitty cat bobblehead!

Okay, where are we?

I had another question about the bobblehead from Dagmara K.

Did anyone end up keeping Dwight's bobblehead?

Well, I just assumed that Rain got to keep it.

So I texted him and he said, no!

Who kept it? NBC. And they auctioned it off when the series ended.

Oh that makes me a little sad.

It makes me a little sad too.

And it brought up a question for me.

I remember NBC did this big auction of all our stuff they auctioned off some of our clothes.

Oh! There was a big auction I think they auctioned off all the desks, furniture.

A bunch of stuff from the desk, a bunch of furniture, but it made me wonder with all this talk and speculation about a possible reboot, how did they get all the stuff back?

How do they even recreate the set if they auctioned everything off?

Well, I think that probably doesn't bode well for a reboot.

I think that people are like, nope.

They'll have to, you know, get bobblemaker .com to make another bobble head.

I guess. I don't know.

I actually have a Dwight and Angela bobble head, and I bought one and Rain signed it for me.

So I've assigned Rain bobble head.

After this episode, people started asking for Dwight bobble heads.

and so NBC made a run of bobble heads.

They found a way to make them - Mask produced them.

Yeah, and they sold out immediately.

Alright, so next up in the episode, Michael is walking the streets of New York.

Oh, he's so happy. Oh, he walks by his favorite local New York pizza joint, Sbarro.

You can only find it in New York.

In New York. It's such a great joke because you guys know Sbarro is a huge chain, and you can get it outside of New York City.

However, this made me curious about Sbarro.

So, guess what I found out.

What'd you find out, lady?

Let me tell you. Sbarro began in 1956, when Carmela and Gennaro Sbarro opened an Italian grocery store in Brooklyn that also happened to sell food.

Okay. So, they had a little deli.

They had a little market.

Yes, and one of the things that they sold was Pizza By The Slice.

Mama Sbarro, as she was known, had this pizza by the slice and it became super popular with construction workers, shift workers who needed to grab something in one hand and eat on the go.

They became so popular that they ended up opening a second location that was only about pizza.

Okay. Pizza only. We are not sponsored by Spar— We are not.

—Sbar -barro, probably because I can't say it.

Sparboro? Sbarro. Sbarro.

Not spar -bar -ow. Not spar -bar -ow!

That's a different restaurant.

Sbarro. Sbarro. And so since then though Sbarro has expanded into 630 eateries across 28 countries.

I'm applauding you.

Sbar -bar -ow. Sbar -bar -ow.

So, on their website it says quote Your welcome world.

Well, not only pizza slices but pizza slices with sass.

I like it. That's some Sbarro sass.

That's some Sbarro sass.

But I thought it was interesting, because the joke of our episode is kind of that Michael doesn't get what a local pizza join is, but it did actually start as a local pizza joint.

It did start local.

Just not in Times Square.

So there you go. So next we go back to the office, and Jim and Kelly are in the kitchen.

I love this scene so much. John Krasinski, your acting in this scene is delicious.

It's delicious. Mindy's acting is delicious.

I was like, she's so funny in it, she's full on Mindy.

Yeah, it's full Mindy.

This is full Mindy.

I want you to know, when I was listening to the DVD commentary, I almost like spit out the water I was drinking, because Greg and Mike both go, oh, I mean, Mindy just took over, like there's no more Kelly.

It's just Mindy. This was a whole thing.

What they don't know is that it happened last episode.

OK. Well, I felt very validated that we didn't even know that like they totally talk about it in the commentary.

That's amazing. Well, basically she tells Jim that her and Ryan hooked up last night.

Yes. And Mindy says in the DVD commentary, she goes, Mike, I really feel like the scene is just like a transcription of a conversation you and I actually had about a guy, which cracked me up.

Well it leads to the very famous Ryan Talking Head, I hooked up with her on February 13.

I know, it's like so perfect.

All right so then we head back to New York City again and now we're going to see Michael in Times Square.

You know a lot of people he tells you they get to New York and they go to really touristy places like the Empire State Building but he likes to go to Times Square.

He likes to go to the most tourist spot in New York.

Which I love and then at 5 minutes 26 seconds Michael is giving us a tour of Rockefeller Center Yes Where he says founded, of course by Theodore Rockefeller, and he also says that the Rangers sometimes practice there Okay, I did a deep dive the Rangers don't practice there the Rangers don't practice there But they do sometimes practice at this rink in Central Park like once a year.

There's a rink there I know this because I have a huge You're a hockey mom.

Yeah, I'm a hockey mom.

Your husband plays hockey, your son plays hockey, you're a hockey mom.

Yes. We've been in New York when the Rangers have practiced on this rink in Central Park and it's super cool.

It's a thing they do for the fans.

And, but never at Rockefeller Center.

Also, there is no one named Theodore Rockefeller.

I did a deep dive on the Rockefeller family, and I could not find anyone named Theodore.

OK I know 30 Rock really well because I worked there.

Oh that's right. I was an intern on the Conan O 'Brien Show.

And so were like a bunch of office people.

Mindy, Ellie, John.

But not at the same time.

Not at the same time.

I'm much older than those guys.

I was there the very first year of Conan when they thought they were gonna get cancelled week to week.

Oh my gosh. What do you do when you're an intern on that?

Like what is that? Well there was.

What does that mean?

Well, there was different types of internships like there was a writers intern.

So when I got the internship, they already had the writers intern.

So I became a general intern.

So I just basically got everyone their coffee.

And I didn't know New York City so I kept getting lost. I was probably the worst coffee run person ever.

Did you get to meet Conan or interact with him as an intern?

I didn't and I mean, he would walk past and he was always nice.

He would kind of give a nod or a wave but he was busy.

And I knew not to bug him.

I had enough awareness that I wasn't gonna be like, hey, Conan, I'm the new intern, what you doing?

The really cool thing about Conan's studio is it was one floor away from where they did Saturday Night Live.

So could you, you could do a backdoor, Like watch SNL ever?

I actually, one of the people that worked on Conan knew that I was pretty strapped for cash and she got me a weekend job on Saturday Night Live as an extra.

So there's a whole season of SNL that I'm an extra, and I'm in a bunch of skits.

What? Yes, there's a great scene with Chris Farley and I'm like sitting in front of him, and everyone was so nice.

Yeah, because all that stuff is happening in that same building.

That's what's so crazy about that area.

And like NBC News is happening in the Today show.

It's all right there.

Can I tell you one of the coolest moments is right outside the stage doors where we recorded.

I'm standing in this hallway, alone.

There's no one in the hallway.

The elevator door is open and Robert Redford walked out.

Rachel Lander Wow. Rachel Tompa And he was with like an NBC you know someone in a suit and they were walking down the hall and they just walked past me and I was just like ughhh.

Rachel Lander Just watched Robert Redford walk right by.

Rachel Lander Wow. Rachel Tompa And I'm just like a young kid from middle of nowhere Texas.

It was just like a really cool surreal moment.

And there were many of those in my time there.

That is pretty awesome.

We got a lot of fan questions about this Tina Fey, Conan O 'Brien business.

The first one is from Sarah Marshall, 44.

Did production hire the woman to play the fake Tina Fey or was she just a random person?

No, we hired her. She has an actress named Miriam Toland.

She's been in a ton of stuff, including, ironically, an episode of 30 Rock season 2, episode 14.

She has a really funny scene with Jason Sotekos around 12 minutes.

She plays a woman at a check -in counter at an airline.

It's very funny. I went back and watched the whole episode It's really good.

And then we had another fan question from Livvy Fitzgerald Please explain the Conan cameo Well, you know Greg and Conan were very good friends.

They went to college together.

They were roommates I think some of their very early writing jobs on SNL and Simpsons.

They were like they live together their friends They're really good friends.

And so it definitely makes sense that Greg would want to reach out to Conan if he was right there.

There is quite a bit about it in the DVD commentary but one of the things that really stuck with me that I loved is that Greg said it took Conan 15 takes to time that out.

He said literally it took about 15 tries and he said you think Steve gets a big crowd?

Imagine Conan standing in front of the building where they tape Conan.

He said the crowds were crazy so they were trying to get that.

And he's really tall.

He's in heavily tall red hair He's very very distinguishable hard to blend hard to blend Mike sure said that he wrote the scene with fake Tina Fey as a Shout out to her a little nod to their time together on Saturday Night Live because he said tourists were Constantly mistaking other women with brown hair and glasses for Tina Fey.

It was like almost like a joke They would watch other women like get tapped on the shoulder and it was never Tina Fey.

And he said that many times him and Tina would like take a coffee break in between writing and walk outside and no one would stop her.

No one would stop the real Tina Fey.

No one would stop the real Tina Fey but they would mistake all these other women.

And so he said that scene was kind of his little nod to Tina.

Oh my gosh, I love that.

I did too. I love that.

All right, so next we go back into the office.

and more flowers arrive for Phyllis.

Oh gosh. From Bob Vance.

I mean Bob Vance. Not for Pam, but for Phyllis.

Pam is getting annoyed, and you know who else is taking it hard?

Meredith. Meredith!

It's like, she's taking it real hard. She's looking real sour.

Yeah. Well then we have this awesome covert scene between Dwight and Angela at the copier.

Yes. He says thank you for the gift. Mmhmm.

And then she says, I haven't gotten one yet.

I haven't gotten anything now this has nothing to do with the scene But I have to bring it up right now because this is the first moment you really get a full shot of me Right on camera.

Yeah, do I look tan Jenna?

Do I look a little tan?

Yes, now that you mentioned.

Oh, I am very tan because in my journal you guys I wrote We shot this during the Golden Globes when I got that Mystic spray tan Oh that's right, when we went to the Golden Globes when Steve won, you got a spray tan that was real dark.

It was orange. Guys, I watched this episode and the next one, I am like orange for two weeks.

Oh my gosh. I mean I am so tan, it's ridiculous.

And they tried to make my face look lighter.

They tried to tone it down.

I wrote about it in my journal that they tried to tone down my tan.

But what happened was my, I just look weird. I thought you looked good in this episode.

Well, I have a mystic tan.

A spray tan. But anyway, when I watched that scene, all I could see was my very, very tan forehead.

And next to Ryan, I look crazy tan, because he's so white.

But yes, I have given Dwight, he says the best gift ever.

And he promises that he has one for me, which I'm very happy about And then he clearly realizes, oh, no, now I have to deliver.

Exactly, exactly. He says, you'll get something by the end of today.

He needs to give himself some time to get something.

All right, so then we have the scene where Jim is on the phone.

He's making plans with his poker buddies.

John Krasinski does such great fake phone.

You guys, fake phone.

Fake phone is not easy.

No, there's no one on the other end of that call.

I fully believed he's talking to someone and his laugh seems so organic, I'm like, John applause for fake phone skill.

Great fake phone, really, really good.

And this is also sort of the time in their relationship if you will, where Jim, I mean, you have a wedding date set.

Yeah. It's like all that Pam is talking about really is like planning the wedding and Jim really starts to pull away.

And then you see Pam feeling that absence.

Well, and remember in the last episode, they got in a full fight.

Yeah. About Pam's decision to not pursue her graphic design internship.

Yeah. And so I think Jim kind of feels like I don't know what I'm supposed to do here.

I don't know where I fit in anymore.

Yeah. And she's getting married.

Yeah. Yeah. Then a giant teddy bear arrives and it's being delivered by two guys and Vance Refrigeration Outfits.

they were played by our writing team of Jean Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, but you only see Jean.

Lee got cut out. Lee got cut out.

It's in the deleted scene.

Yeah, they get in a fist fight.

Yeah, it's kind of ridiculous.

But Jean is the person who says, Phyllis Lapin?

So. If you're wondering which one is Jean and which one is Lee.

Jean is in this episode and they come back later, they're going to recur and you'll actually get to see Lee.

There's a very funny little sort of exchange between Jean and Brian is Kevin, where Kevin's like, that thing's as big as me.

And Jean's like, no, it's not.

No, it's not. Kevin's like, zip it.

So now Michael has finally made it to his meeting.

He's done wandering the streets of New York and he's going to meet with the other branch managers in a conference room.

And I just want to mention we said this earlier.

This part of it was not shot in New York.

This was shot on some stages.

Right there where we film every day in California.

Yes Look out the window.

They did such a good job the backdrop It really looks like they're up high in a building in New York No, there that are trickery is so good our set design team was phenomenal Yeah, but really they are on ground level in a warehouse and van is, California Yeah, kind of amazing.

But let's meet the other managers.

Yes. I have a card. All right.

Give me your card lady Here's my card. So the other managers are Dan Gore, who manages Buffalo, played by Dan Cole.

Josh Porter, who manages Stanford branch Craig.

Michael calls him, Krager's played by Craig Anton manages Albany.

Yes. So here's a little tidbit about the Dan Gore character.

Okay. In the DVD commentary, Mike sure says the quiet guy in the conference room.

He I mean he created Brooklyn Nine -Nine.

He's a phenomenal writer.

And he was a friend of Mike's and Mindy sort of chimed in that Mike love to do that.

He loved to put his friends names in things.

He was a Conan writer.

He wrote on Parks and Rec and now of course, he's the showrunner of Brooklyn Nine -Nine.

So Dan Gore got a nice little shout out in this episode.

Yes. So we are meeting all the branch heads and Craigers is an idiot, he's, right?

He's gotten kicked out of all the strip clubs in Albany.

Very proud of that.

and then he starts insulting Jan. Yeah, yeah.

He says... He calls her the b -word. He does, and Michael comes to her defense.

He says, oh, come on now, come on now.

And he stands up for her first by saying that's my girlfriend, boy, and then he backpedals and says, I mean, we hooked up.

And then Josh Porter's like, you hooked up with Jan?

And now he's in it.

He spilled the beans, dang it, Michael.

He's only been there like five minutes.

Yeah, he's been in a room with these people for five minutes and he already told everyone that he hooked up with Jayon.

With their boss. Yeah.

Oh, Michael. And then it's like crickets in the room.

All right, well maybe we should take a break.

Yeah, with that news.

On that news, Michael has just spilled the beans and we'll be right back because one of my favorite scenes is happening back at the office.

Yeah. We need to talk about it.

It's good stuff. it's good.

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Okay, so we're back.

You guys, I have to talk about this scene between Dwight and Pam in the break room.

I loved it so much, Jenna.

I rewound and watched it a few times.

Oh, gosh. How did you get through it without laughing?

How, your reaction when he, when he says, like a ham?

And you're like, no, not exactly like a ham.

Jenna is so funny. I don't even know how you kept straight face though.

My intention in that was like, I was talking to like a five or six year old and I couldn't let them see my real feelings about the things they were saying.

Yeah exactly, we had a fan question from Suzy Young 22, she wanted to know if Like A Ham was scripted or improvised, it was improvised.

Did he improvise a bunch?

Yeah so on the day, we didn't really have an ending to this scene.

We had him coming in and asking for advice and they wanted a button, and this would often happen in scenes, and the writers would then come over and give us a list of options.

Like suggestions, yeah.

So, Like a Ham was improvised but then there were all these other options that were written on a piece of paper and so we shot all of these things that he said.

Like -a -this, like -a -that, like -this, like -that.

It was so hard not to laugh.

I did laugh at Like a Ham because it wasn't on the piece of paper so I was not expecting it.

You didn't see it coming.

No, no, so that my response is definitely, like take four or five, because I remember everyone just lost it when he said it.

And then they were like, okay, wait, that's good, that's good, that's the one we want.

And so then they were like, pull it together.

And do it again. Do it again.

Okay I have a question for you, when he says, shut up, I know exactly what to do, was that improvised?

That I don't remember, I don't remember because I do think that that final look to camera was, that was some direction I was given.

Which is like I know the camera's out there.

Yeah and your look to camera's like, can this day get any worse?

It's so weird. I'm not getting any gifts.

No. Jim has barely acknowledged me and Dwight just asked for my help and then told me to shut up.

I also love when Rain, how Rain responds to me saying like, she's a little like tightly wound and he's like, yeah.

He like chose to be like turned on by it.

So gross. Kind of creepy.

Did you notice how many times we were in scenes in the breakroom in the kitchen?

Like in this episode, we're in quite a few, I think we have like three break room scenes, two kitchen scenes.

So it's interesting.

And I don't know if that's because they were constantly trying to keep Jim and Pam apart or there were these secret conversations about relationships, but I feel like this was a very interesting episode for that reason, because a lot of the scenes don't actually happen in the bullpen.

Yeah, they're not at our desks this time.

So Jim is in the break room with Kelly and he's kind of trying to give her advice.

He's really just trying to eat his bag of chips.

He tells her to take it slow, and then Ryan walks in.

And she asks him out in front of Jim in John's — the way John played this moment like he was like, not in front of me.

He's like, oh, no, not while I'm here.

No, I'm here, please.

Oh, so good. But Ryan shoots her down.

He says I can't I have plans with friends, and I can't it's so cringy And Jim is just sitting there like getting me out of here Back in the bullpen more gifts for Phyllis and Meredith is drinking heavily.

She's had it She's yeah full on mixing up a cocktail and there is super gulp I have been to family reunions where I have one or two ants that walk around with a giant 7 -11 Super Gulp and I'm always like...

What's in there? What's in there?

Why are you nursing on that 7 -11 Super Gulp all day?

Well, I used to do an opposite thing in college.

So I was not a big drinker but I wanted to go to the parties and not be judged.

So you'd bring a Super Gulp full of soda?

I would bring a red Solo cup full.

Your own Solo cup to the party?

I had my own red Solo cup and then I would put something non -alcoholic in it.

I'm good. I've got my job.

Yeah, I got it. I'm fine.

Good. I don't need to get drunk on Whatever you're handing out weird frat boy party.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Have solo cup will travel exactly so I did like Opposite reverse.

Yeah reverse Meredith.

Should we go back to New York and meet our CFO David Wallace?

Yeah, cuz it's about to Really go South and also I mean, oh god How funny is faces of Scranton?

I don't want to jump ahead, but that is some funny shiitake.

Yeah, it's time for the presentations.

Josh Porter gives a nice normal presentation.

Yes, yes. And in the DVD commentary, Mike Schur said, it was really important to him that you saw a range of competence in the branch managers.

A range of competence, I like that phrase.

I'm paraphrasing. I don't know that he said that exactly, but like, Josh Porter is on it.

He's got his presentation, he's got it down and then you have, Michael's kinda somewhere in the middle.

Cause he does actually have a binder.

And then you have Craig who didn't prepare at all.

And Dan, we don't get to see.

Well, actually he's sort of finishing his and he goes and that's how we're doing it or whatever.

I think Mike was saying it was important that they wanted to show that although Michael Scott does this crazy video that he also did come prepared.

He's not like Craig.

He's not completely incompetent.

Yes. Well let's talk about that video.

When Michael starts his presentation, he presents Faces of Scranton, which is a video of the people at the Scranton branch set to.

With or without you.

Yeah. By U2. Yeah. How could we afford that?

We must have blown our whole budget on that song.

And it's like not in slow motion, but it's not in regular motion.

It's a little slow down.

It's a little slow down so everyone is like blinking real slow, waving the camera real slow.

Yeah walking slowly sitting slowly.

Yeah. We had a fan question from Rebecca Heaven.

She said did Steve actually film the footage from the business meeting presentation video?

Did you get any intel when you were talking with Randall about how they made faces of Scranton?

Randall said that he filmed that specifically for this episode.

It wasn't pieced together from other footage.

That was my question.

He actually filmed that.

I noticed I'm wearing the wardrobe from Boys and Girls.

Did you notice? I did not.

Yeah, so I think we filmed it the week prior.

Because I'm in my Boys and Girls wardrobe, which we filmed the episode before this one.

And you're not spray tanned.

I'm not tan. In faces of Scranton.

I'm not tan and I'm in my pink sweater with my low ponytail.

Oh, OK. Yeah. So that I think we filmed it right before.

But I'm happy to hear that because my memory was that those shots were scripted in the script.

That there was a description of faces of Scranton, particularly I remember.

Getting those shots of him like over my shoulder With the like the dialog was scripted and then there were suggestions of what the shots should be Definitely their whole scene where I have the brownies and I'm looking kind of sour at him Yeah, that was all like playing out Phil.

Chay had the brownies the whole thing yeah, so so yeah Randall shot that specifically for this and there were beats that he had to hit now the great thing is you guys, if you love it, go to the DVD extras because there's extended footage.

What you see is actually condensed.

There's actually more footage of faces of Scranton.

Oh, maybe that's the version that Michael submits to the film festivals.

Well, but he, he tells, so he's like, but you know what?

Maybe, maybe it's not appropriate.

Maybe not. Maybe he will.

Maybe he won't. Maybe he won't.

He's not sure. The video doesn't go over well.

They're stunned. Oh my God, Malora's reaction as Jan is just amazing.

Malora, you crushed it.

I loved it. So David just asks for his sales numbers.

He's like, can I just get your sales numbers?

And I was really worried for a second.

I was like, oh no, but no, Michael has those too.

He hands out some little binders.

He was prepared. He was.

He has binders all ready to go.

That's Michael in a nutshell.

He's trying to be outside the box.

He's trying to tug on your heartstrings and make this is his whole thing.

He wants the work to be more than just a binder of numbers.

He wants it to be about people.

The thing is, they are his family.

You know, things move at a slower pace, the song is with or without you.

It has nothing to do in the workplace.

It's like a love song.

And just when he was like, spend a day in Phyllis's pants, what does he say?

Spend a day in Phyllis's pants is not what he says.

Well it says like, see what it's like to walk a day in Oscar shoes.

Or sit in Phyllis's pants.

I don't know what he says about Phyllis's pants.

It's right if she's sitting down in slow motion.

I just love it. I hope this gave you a little taste of what life is like here at Dunder Mifflin Scranton.

What it is like to walk a mile in Oscar shoes or try on Phyllis's pants.

There it is. Or try on Phyllis's pants.

Okay. So he says, try on Phyllis's pants in slow -mo as she's sitting down.

Faces of Scranton. And then the very end.

Great Scott! Mike said was, Mike Schur said that was an afterthought.

That he just sort of added that last minute and they made it.

But it's so funny. It's so funny.

It's so funny. So funny.

All right. So now we're going to go back to the office again after that presentation.

And Oscar is going to get some flowers.

He, not flowers. He got a plant.

Well, yeah. Which I think is perfect.

And he reads the card. He says they're from his mom.

And I loved his choice of putting the card in his pocket.

He puts it in his pocket.

Puts it in his pocket.

Meredith has passed out.

There's nothing for Pam, there's nothing for Angela.

Yeah. And Meredith is going to sleep this one out.

Here's a fan catch. At 14 minutes, 45 seconds, AdamWest84 says, There's a huge week calendar on the wall beside accounting that you can see from both accounting and from reception.

It's always there. It's always there.

It's a dry erase board calendar.

Yes, he said it has always bothered him that they abbreviate Thursday as T -H -U -S.

Thus instead of T -H -U -R.

And he said, quote, it breaks my mind.

Well I need to go back and see that.

Fourteen minutes, 45 seconds.

I mean I know I do remember the hand writing was a bit sloppy.

There is a chance that R looks like an S if it's in cursive.

I'm going to go look at it.

I'm going to go check it.

So you're thinking it's T -H -U -R.

You know what, I'll tell you what, it's not written in cursive.

The days of the week are taped out.

In block letters. T -H -U -S, thus.

That would make me crazy too.

It's really bothering Adam.

That's a crazy good catch. I'm gonna go check it out.

And I think it's just always that way.

I can't wait. I can't wait to go check it out.

Alright so next, Jim's in the kitchen with Kelly and he's giving her...

He's being a good friend actually.

He's being gentle and he's like, you know what?

He's just not into you.

It would be great if he was, but he's not.

So you just have to suck it up.

both Jim and Pam are saying to others they're giving advice to others in this episode Pam gives advice to Dwight and she says something where it's just Pam projecting where she says you know it's just you want her to think that you thought of her yeah it's not what you give her it's that she she knows you thought of her right and that's desperately what Pam wants she just wants to feel like Roy thinks of her that he ever ever thinks of her And then Jim is saying to Kelly, look, it'd be nice if he was into you, but he's not, you just got to let it go.

And of course, Jim is talking about Pam.

Yes, yes. And Kelly doesn't hear any of it.

Kelly does not get it.

She's like, you know, he invites her to poker and she's like, can I invite Ryan?

And the face, the face John does when she does that is like, oh, come on.

Come on, Billy. Alright, so again back to New York.

We go back and forth between New York and Scranton a lot in this episode.

This is when we find out that Kregers did not prepare anything for the meeting because he thought it was more of a meet and greet.

Well, he's also just a slacker.

For sure, and he ignores direct orders.

I think his performance is so delicious and he kind of gets in trouble.

Jan says this does not bode well for your branch. And then he throws her under the bus.

He's like, what? I mean, I guess I'd get better treatment, you know, if we hooked up, like that's what he's inferring right?

Because you hooked up with Michael.

He flat out says, Michael made a stupid movie and didn't get in any trouble.

Maybe I should have slept with you too.

Oh yeah. Boom. Screech. This heads us into the Jan -Michael scene and Jan is just so defeated.

She's like, Michael.

It's over. It's like, I can't… Like it was over.

Yeah, I can't believe it.

Like you don't understand for the new CFO to find out that I would have slept with an employee is she's like, I can't believe you why?

Why are you you? and Michael just says he's gonna fix it He's gonna talk to David Wallace and you just see Michael loves Jan so much He feels so bad.

Like I think he finally gets it.

He's like, wow He...

he feels bad. He feels bad, but he still makes a really lame joke!

So he's like, and don't call me Shirley!

He can't resist being an idiot!

He can't resist it!

Yeah, he's trying to make her feel better and then has to like, put a joke in and look to camera.

Ugh, Michael. So I'm gonna jump ahead to the scene where Michael does go into David Wallace's office And then we'll go back to Dunder Mifflin and talk about what's happening there.

But Michael does go into David Wallace's office and he says, it's not true.

I didn't sleep with Jan. I just made a joke.

It's all my fault. All my fault.

It was a bad joke. I'm so sorry.

And Jan kind of perks up like, oh, yes, it's a joke.

It's totally a joke.

It didn't happen. And David Wallace kind of accepts this.

He's like, OK. Michael promises it will never happen again.

And all is forgiven like they don't get in trouble.

It's okay, but I want you To know that I notice something on David Wallace's desk in this scene what at 19 minutes 24 seconds David Wallace has a world's best boss mug.

Oh my god, but it's black with white cursive writing Nice catch. Yeah, yeah, if you freeze -frame it.

Oh, that's a really good catch I love that.

Oh wow. And I have to imagine that that was a choice and that's a very subtle Phil Shay thing.

That's the kind of sense of humor that Phil Shay has, that he gave him a world's best boss mug on his desk.

Isn't that great? Alright, so back at the office, Angela finally gets her gift from Dwight.

Yes! It is a key. Angela, your performance in this scene is so good.

You get this key. and you're like what is that it's just a key like I feel like I could hear your whole interior monologue what is this is a key I don't even know what this oh like you're so delighted it's so great I had a fan question Jenny this Lynn asks was the key Dwight gave Angela for her to move in or just for her to have when she wants to stay there what do you think I think it's an All access pass.

I don't think I move in.

We're not ready for that.

But it means I get to come and go now as I please.

Yes, I have the same interpretation.

That's what I think too.

And she's thrilled by it.

And in the bloopers, one of my favorite bloopers from this episode, they're on YouTube.

There was the thought at first that Dwight would give her this gift with a card. Okay.

Okay. So Dwight was gonna write a card and he wanted Jim's help in writing a card for a girl for a girl he doesn't say who it's for and so he starts Jim doesn't want to help them really he gives him a hard time and Dwight's like annoyed so Dwight is sitting here trying to write this card and Jim is hearing all of it and they're in the bloopers and it is hilarious but if you want to see John Krasinski break really hard watch the bloopers on YouTube when Dwight writes you are evil like a hobbit.

Oh, this was the valentine's card?

You might give Angela and John loses it.

So that's, that's a fun blooper moment.

Well, next up, Roy comes in and Pam is done.

Yeah. She's very annoyed.

Yeah. And Roy is like, what's wrong?

Are you upset? And she's like, yeah, I mean, I know I said don't spend a lot, but I thought I'd get something.

But not only that the person that fills in the blanks when Roy consistently Fails is Jim.

Yeah, and he didn't fill in the blanks.

No, she's feeling it more than ever.

It's magnified She didn't get a cute little card from Jim this year.

Yeah, I've heard nothing this nothing.

Yeah But Roy tells her It's not over yet, baby Yeah, let's get you home and you're gonna have the best sex of your life your reaction to that was so perfect Oh my gosh.

We had a fan question from Jonia Woods, What is the worst Valentine's gift you've ever received?

Have you ever gotten anything worse than what Pam gets from Roy?

The best sex of her life.

Oh my gosh. I mean, I was dating a guy one time and he got me salsa.

Really? Was it special?

Was it from somewhere that you enjoyed salsa together?

No, someone, this wasn't a bad gift. Okay.

It was just odd. It was just odd.

It was homemade salsa.

Did he make it? No, a co -worker made it.

I think the coworker gave it to him.

Okay. And then he was like, oh, I got you salsa, maybe?

Do you like salsa? I like it okay.

It's, I mean, it's like kind of getting like a condiment, like you're some mayonnaise.

Happy Valentine's. My friend makes their own mayonnaise.

Listen, I tried it.

It was good salsa. But it was kind of like, okay, well I think I see the writing on the wall here.

How much longer did you guys date?

Not much longer. Not much. Shocker.

Just a few more months later.

Shocker. But I am not, like I don't need a big gift. It's kind of like that thing if you thought of me, great.

Yeah. But it was just really random.

And I really, really think his co -worker made everyone salsa for Valentine's and he basically gave me - He re -gifted.

He re -gifted salsa.

What about you? I can't think of a worst gift. I can't think of a best gift either.

I think most of my Valentine's days have come and gone without much fanfare.

I mean - I love flowers.

I do. Flowers are nice.

I'm sort of old -fashioned that way.

I love flowers. And you know what?

My husband was like, I am not a mind reader.

I am not good at this.

If you want something for Valentines, you have to tell me, cause I am gonna get it wrong.

So I just said to him, when we first got married, I was like, babe, just always get me flowers and I'll be happy.

You can put to my wife from, to wife, one year it was to semicolon wife from semicolon husband.

But it was roses. I'm happy you got me flowers.

I just like to get a nice card. with a little note on it.

I think that's why, you know, I married a writer.

Write me somethin' good in a card, and I'm happy, and that's what he does.

Generally. Two wife from husband.

I guess very different.

That's why you need the flowers.

I want the flowers, guys.

Alright, so now, you know, Pam just so desperately wants Jim to acknowledge her in any way today.

And he doesn't. No. He just walks past, kinda taps her desk, says happy Valentine's Day, and your little bye is the saddest thing at the end so sad like bye when I go home get the best sex of my life I can't wait happy Valentine's Day to me per Roy Yeah what is what level of investment is that from Roy I don't even want to think about it and then Phyllis and the enormous bear you know the writers just wanted to see her carry that bear oh my gosh we got a lot of Questions about where did that bear come from, and I'm sorry I couldn't get you an answer, but where did that bear come from?

I don't know. That's insane.

That's a Bill Shai classic.

Now in the deleted scenes, there's one that is hilarious.

Michael actually gives all the ladies a valentine.

Yes. So in Pam's talking head at the beginning, she talks about how people at the office hand things out and there's actually a bunch of deleted scenes of people handing things out, Including Michael who hands out a bunch of plastic roses plastic roses that have thorns and then his card says me so thorny Yeah, Oh what we all want and then one other deleted scene before we wrap up this episode You guys is that when Michael is walking on the streets of New York?

He walks past Devon.

Oh Yes, and Devon recognizes him and is ticked off and kind of chases after him Yes because Devin was now in real life living in New York and doing theater.

So they called him up when they were going to be in New York to have this additional cameo, and unfortunately it did not make the cut.

It's a very funny deleted scene though so you guys have to go check it out, and Michael has a talking head about it that's also deleted.

Well the very end of this episode, Jan catches Michael as he's getting in the elevator at corporate.

And she just says, thank you Michael thank you so much and he's like yeah okay and once again he's oddly impressed her yes and he's very calm and he's clearly like I get it it's over it's over and I'm never ever gonna go there again and then she kisses him Jan!

Jan, you are torturing this man!

Jan you're She's self -destructive.

Oh my gosh, and you even see her look around she looks over her shoulder to see if they're alone and then she kisses him but she forgot to look over the other shoulder.

But Michael knew immediately, he looked right at camera.

And then she looks at camera and she's like, oh forget about it.

Forget about it! Ugh boy, and then that is how the episode ends.

That is how the episode ends it's such a good one, and I have, I have kind of a fun journal entry that I wrote okay during this week I wrote John and I have a new goofy walk we do when we pretend to be kids sister and big brother well you have to explain kids sister big brother because we've never even talked about that guy John and I you guys we would have some downtime between scenes and we would just kind of hang out and sometimes he'd get a little punchy if the day would go and um John's when I stand next to John he's so much taller than me we both sort remembered this childhood doll that you

could buy that was called Kid Sister that stands about three feet tall and you could hold her hand and kind of make her walk.

And John and I made up this whole thing where he would hold my hand and I'd pretend to be the Kid Sister doll and he'd go, Kid Sister, and I'd go Big Brother.

And we made up this whole goofy walk and everything.

So this is what was happening behind the scenes while we're filming.

Yes, we loved when you guys did Kid Sister Big Brother.

that was very entertaining for our downtime you guys were a good team well so you came up with a new walk I guess a new goofy walk we had a new bit to do all right you guys that was the valentine's episode yes and next up is Dwight's speech another really good one really good and we'd like to thank andy buckley so much for stopping by yes and thank you randal einhorn for all of your insider tidbits yes and for more stuff guys don't forget to check out the DVD commentary and the bloopers, there's good stuff there, and thank you so much for sending in your questions!

Yeah, happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Happy Valentine's Day, enjoy your salsa!

Angela, wait, can you please?

I have a new merchandise idea for office ladies, it's Valentine's Day salsa!

Oh no, that guy's going to crawl out of the woodworks and be like, I think I'm going to 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 Daniela Silva.

Odyssey's Executive Producers are Jenna Wise Burman and Leah Reese Dennis.

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

[Podcast Summary: IKEA Convenience, Andy Buckley’s Reba Music Video Cameos, and an 'Office' Valentine’s Day Breakdown]-[Second Drink: Valentine’s Day with Andy Buckley]

📋 Summary

IKEA: Reclaiming Your Space with Convenience

Andy Buckley’s Country Music Past

Behind the Scenes: The Office "Valentine’s Day" Episode

Pam’s "Look"

Filming in New York

The "Faces of Scranton" Video

Corporate Cameos and Props

🎯Key Sentences

📝Key Phrases

📖 Transcript