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Welcome to second drink healthcare I love this episode!
It's one of my absolute favorites, Jenna you know I have a t -shirt that I wear all the time, I've had it for years, it just says Hot Dog Fingers.
I know. Well, I love that we interview Rayne Wilson in this episode and he talks about the origin of Hot Dog Fingers which is such a great story.
Yeah. Let's dive in with some new tidbits.
All right. Well, I'll start because I promised that I would track it, and I'm delighted to report that, at 45 seconds, there is still a cat calendar at reception.
Nice. I love that you're tracking this cat calendar.
I'm on it. Well, one of the things I really love about these early episodes is getting to revisit the beginning of Jim & Pam.
Yeah. Yeah and if you want even more of that, there is a super -duper cute Jim & Pam, deleted scene for this episode.
It's on the DVDs. Okay, so do you remember how Dwight made a sign to hang on the conference room door while he was working on the health care plan?
Yes, Dwight, Schrute, Workspace.
Very official. Well I guess he made a few other signs before he settled on that one.
And he put them all in the trash and Pam and Jim take the trash can and they go sit together and they go through it and they read all the other ones.
it is just kute see, cute see stuff.
I mean, it's just an excuse to flirt with one another, really?
Yeah, it's those early days when they just did anything so they could be together.
Yes. I also loved watching it because you see our original location when you watch it.
It's outside on this little tiny balcony overlooking the parking lot that does not exist once we move to the soundstages.
Yeah. And you see a whole different view, but I really want to play it for you guys, it's super cute.
We stole Dwight's trash can and we found some of his early attempts at his sign.
Okay, this is very simple.
Dwight's work space.
Nice. This one's interesting the power comes from the font in this one.
Sh bosses. Very medieval, very England.
This one's forceful this one's very Dwight.
Quiet, Dwight Schrute working.
That's good, I really heard him on that.
This one's interesting, I'm not really sure what he meant by this.
Dwight Schrute, privates.
Tough to say. You are so stinkin' cute in this scene, Jenna.
I mean, I left you a message, and I was like, you would win cutest in the office, Dundee.
like truly. My job in that scene is mostly just to look at Jim with just sparkle eyes, to just I'm so enamored and just so tickled he makes me laugh he's so funny that was basically what I'm doing.
Young actors if you want to watch a scene on how to just be in the moment and be adorable go watch this deleted scene.
Oh my gosh you're being so sweet Angela.
It's true! I thought it was adorable.
Well, in our breakdown of this episode, we talked about how this idea of Dwight taking over the conference room was a nod to the second episode of the British office and that Jim Pam scene that you just played, it was actually borrowed from their episode.
Don and Tim go through discarded conference room signs.
It's super cute when they do it too.
And here's another little tidbit.
This episode ends with major cringe.
Michael has promised everyone a surprise and everyone's pretty grumpy because they end up getting a crappy healthcare plan and ice cream sandwiches.
Paul Lieberstein did an interview where he shared that the final scene of this healthcare episode was scripted as quote the longest pause in television history which I just love their fascination in these early seasons with creating the longest pauses just leaning into the awkward.
Well we had to look it up and here's how it's described in the shooting draft.
I'm gonna read you the stage direction for the scene.
Okay so Micheal says okay well I have news for you there is a big surprise and the big surprise dot dot dot is dot dot dot, and here's the stage direction.
We now experienced the longest silent beat in network television history.
Micheal is blank. No one is willing to let him off the hook.
We check in with everyone's expression.
It's excruciating. Oscar gets fed up, puts on his coat, and drifts away.
After a beat Meritath and Angela shake their head sadly and leave.
Michael is now flop sweating a tiny bit.
No one is willing to let him off the hook.
We check in with everyone's expression, it's excruciating.
Oscar gets fed up, puts on his coat, and drifts away.
After a beat, Meredith and Angela shake their heads sadly and leave.
Michael is now flop, sweating a tiny bit, still silent.
Kevin and Kelly drift away, followed by Toby.
Stanley as he walks out glares at Michael.
Michael turns away.
Jim looks at Pam like, can you believe this?
Pam stares back, still upset at him.
She leaves. Jim, stung a bit, waits a second, and then follows her out.
Slowly, everyone else leaves.
Dwight is standing next to Michael.
After a final beat, Dwight says, Jan wants you to call her.
And Dwight walks away.
We talk about shooting that scene in our breakdown but I am not sure that we cover how truly impressive it is that Steve somehow manages to make himself start sweating.
Yes. You feel his body temperature.
You see him starting to break out in little beads of sweat.
Yes, I rewatched it.
It's really incredible.
And we should say that while we did stand there for about 2 and 1 by 4 minutes of silence, all just staring at him, and then we did exactly what the stage direction said, in the episode they cut back and forth to talking heads.
so you don't really ever have like two and a half minutes of silence.
Yeah, you have Michael's talking head in the middle.
There is a lot of awkward silence, but I think Booze Crews still gets the award for longest silence on the show.
Yes, not quite as cringy, but definitely uncomfortable.
Definitely uncomfortable silence.
So, there you have it, you guys.
Office Ladies 6 .0 is off for Thanksgiving break this week, but we will see you back next Monday for a second drink of The Alliance, and we have some fun new tidbits!
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 Re -Watch 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.
Hey, welcome back to Office Ladies.
It is Angela Kinsey and Jerna Fischer.
And we're going to be talking today about health care.
Health care, one of my favorite episodes from season one.
I love it. I love this episodes because to me it's the office at its best because it's ordinary people doing ordinary things and it all goes south.
And it's big stakes because having a job that has good health care is everything.
So, yes. Today, we are talking about season one episode three, health care.
It was written by PaulSepteam, who plays Toby descendants and directed by Ken Whittingham.
I love Ken, and we love Ken is the tall, gentle man.
He's just so sweet and kind.
O you and I would talk to Ken all the time.
All the time. Yeah.
Probably like too much, Like he probably, at some point was like - And he was like, I have work to do.
... like I have work to do." And we're like, hi, Ken.
He's just so lovely.
We had Ken back a lot over the entire nine seasons.
He directed nine episodes of The Office, including Phyllis' wedding.
Yes. You just had a little bit of St.
Louis there. I did.
I hear it every once in a while, but you said, over.
Oh, is that a St. Louis thing?
I don't know, but you say some words like different, and I think...I think it's St.
Louis. The biggest St.
Louis thing that I don't do, But that Philas does, speaking of Philas, is farty -far.
Oh. So we have a highway there called Highway 44.
Yeah. They call it farty -far, and you eat with a fart.
Yeah. Sometimes rain and Philas sat back -to -back, you know?
And every once in a while, rain would just turn around to Philas and say, villains say 44.
Philas, when she gets really tickled she snorts when she laughs, so she'll be like, farty -far.
OK. All right, keep going.
All right. let me do a summary of health care.
It's pretty simple, Jan tells Michael that he needs to pick a cheaper health care plan for his employees to help prevent downsizing.
Michael gives the job to Dwight and then hides in his office all day, because he knows, oh yeah, no one is going to want their health care slashed.
This is classic Michael passing the buck.
For sure. For sure, to see over and over and over in the lifetime of the show.
So after Dwight picks a plan that slashes almost all the benefits and the entire office results, Michael promises us a surprise.
Very big. Yes. Which is which is what you do with your children when you have to give them right bad news, but there's gonna be a surprise.
It's so true. And what I think is interesting is that everyone is skeptical, but also like, well, maybe there is a surprise.
It's so sad. It's a little bit like Charlie Brown kicked the football like, you know, when Lucy kept doing that, I feel like they're like there's no way he's going to come through.
But maybe because we hate our job so much, so maybe they'll be somethings going to happen.
But then Michael has to spend the entire rest of the day scrambling Yeah.
And what he comes up with is just nothing.
Just nothing. Yes. Alright Jenna do you want to do some Fast Facts?
You know I do. I know you do.
You know it. Alright, so my first Fast Fact is that after the pilot episode, which we talked about, was pretty much a word -for -word adaptation of the British pilot, because this was a British television show before it was an American television show.
After that, we started writing all original episodes.
So diversity day was all original.
It was our story. And this is all original with the exception of a little wink, a little nod to the British show.
putip off screen What trivia master?
So in an episode of the British Office, their Dwight character whose name is Gareth, he gets to lead an investigation into some dirty emails that came into the office, and So he takes over the conference room and he even puts a little sign on the window, and that is the little thing that we stole for this episode
is that Dwight is gonna do that same thing.
He's gonna take over the conference room.
Yes. but in this case it is to pick a new health care plan for the company right so we did that from time to time we just do like these little nods to the British show which I always think are kind of fun, especially because there were people who were huge fans of the original who were then watching
our show and that was like a little treat.
Well, I like it. I like where your head is at, starting out this episode.
Do you like it? With some really good trivia.
Jenna, I like where you're going.
I like it. I've got my note cards ready, lady.
Do you want to hit me with a note card or shall I continue with fast facts?
No, no, no. Do your fast facts.
I've got some note cards waiting for you, though.
All right. Well, this is a fast -fact.
And it's actually something, Angela, that you pointed out.
Is it a Kinsey Fast Gaga?
It's a Kinsey Fast Vag.
OK. That this is the first time we see Devon and Creed at their desks.
Oh, yes, yes. I love spotting little things in the background.
Do you are? I'm going to label you our background expert.
No, don't. I'm not the expert.
You are, but you notice those things.
You really noticed continuity stuff.
Was it because you spent so much time in the background, Angela?
Is that a dig? No, we all did.
I'm totally kidding.
No, we did. I'm totally kidding.
All right Miss Front Reception.
Let me tell you something.
Back in a counting corner.
We know this shiitake , we know this thing.
You were always lurking back there.
I thought now I'm a lurker.
I thought maybe you're noticing more of what's happened back there.
Well some real truth is coming today.
You know what I noticed in this episode?
That Jim has an ET on his desk.
An ET doll. A little extraterrestrial.
Yes, ET. You know what I'm saying?
This is aK Lasisner background observation.
He's wearing, it's got a little ET on his desk, and the ET is wearing like a blue coat.
I have never noticed that.
I know it's at for you guys watching it's at 14 minutes around 35 seconds.
There's an ET on Jim's desk and I'm like what the heck I don't remember that ET.
Okay, anyway see if you see ET at 14 minutes.
Wow see what I'm saying?
You did have a note card.
I have a ton of note cards.
There you go. I have more.
Okay, go. All right, Angela.
Here's my last fast fact.
And this is something I learned when I was doing my prep for this episode and I listened to the DVD commentary.
So this is the third episode of Season 1, however, we shot it sixth.
What? Yeah. So I remember, we shot the pilot and then we waited like six months to see if we got picked up.
And then when we did get picked up, said, the writers had turned in–like, they had all their scripts ready for season one because there were only five more to do.
That's right. We only did six.
We did not shoot them in the same order in which they aired.
So, when we finished this episode, we all said goodbye.
Oh, my gosh. Do you know that– And I remember that now.
Yes. That puts a whole different filter on it now, like rewatching it, because I feel like we were really loosey goosey in this episode.
I mean, we're going to talk about it.
But a few of us just full on laugh, and it's in the episode, but we were really, we were a tight knit group by the time we were filming this, yeah.
Yeah, we were all pals at this time.
And I think it shows in the episode.
And I think that might also be why I have such, like, a warm place in my heart for this episode, because when we were filming this episode, we really believed, we really, really believed that this was the last one we would ever do.
Oh, for sure. I thought we were not coming back at all, and I had my name, like, they printed out our name on paper, but then laminated it for our trailer door with a little bit of velcro that was on our trailer door.
And I took my little laminated piece of paper that said my name.
I still have it. I still have it.
You know what I did?
What? I made a mix tape.
Oh, my God. I made a mix tape and I called it something like Scranton Sound, Sounds of Scranton.
And I gave it to John, Raine, Steve, and Bj along with a tiny homemade scrapbook of some photos.
And then you said, hi 1994 called, they want my mixtape back.
I'm sure these guys were like this… And you were like, listen, the girliest present I've ever been given.
I just picture you giving that mixtape to people and some people, like, they don't even have a tape player in their car.
No one. It was a CD.
It was a mixed CD. I call it mixed tape.
Okay, I pictured an actual mixed tape.
No, it wasn't a cassette.
It wasn't a CD. I am certain I've had, to bet money, I am certain no one, ever listened to it.
Ooh I listened to it all the time.
Yes, you listened to it in your car ride because it was The Sounds of Scranton for you.
This is real. So my commute to where we filmed the first season of The Office was very long.
It was over an hour.
Because I lived in the San Fernando Valley and we shot in Culver City," and if you live in Los Angeles or have ever been here, that is a very long commute in the morning.
And I wanted to quote on quote get in character.
So I wanted to pretend like I was driving in Scranton.
So I wanted some sounds of Scranton.
Did you like research what people were listening to in Scranton, like how do you know, how do you know the sounds of Scranton.
You know what, I really don't.
I'm going to say I made a lot of assumptions and I kind of went back to my college days And I had some classic rock and a little bit of Garth Brooks, but now that I'm saying it, I realize I don't really know what East Coast people listen to.
So, whatever, it put me in a headspace.
Okay, well I just want you to know I want The Sounds of Scranton on our website.
I am gonna look for it, I bet I still have it.
Also, I wanna know.
It's gonna be embarrassing.
If it was a CD, I wanna know, did you make a little cover and write out each song, or did you type them out and print it?
Is there a photo? What's the cover of the CD?
The cover of the CD is a collage of different pictures that remind me of Scranton.
Wait, wait, wait. Wait.
And it's printed on the back.
No, no, no, no, no, wait!
Please stop. Please stop.
These aren't photos of people on the They're images of Scranton you like got from the computer.
You got from the internet.
And it's a collage.
And so they're photos of Scranton.
And it's called Sounds of Scranton.
You are the biggest jerk I know.
You are officially the biggest jerk.
Ohh my god. And then I would go to work.
This is all why I love you.
This is why I love you.
Because I want to be best friends with a person that prints images of places in Scranton.
It makes a collage.
It makes up a CD. Oh my God.
As I'm telling this story now, it's occurring to me that when you live in a city you don't make a tribute CD of the city you live is.
Like I lived in St.
Louis my whole life and I never drove around with a CD called Sounds of St.
Louis. Well, I'm going to now.
Sounds of Los Angeles.
It's gonna happen. I didn't know what to give as a rap gift.
That's a thing. Do people know that?
When you finish a series, when you finish a season of a show, it's customary to give out little presents to your cast members or to some of your crew members.
And so I really did not know what to give out.
You know, Kate Flannery, I gave out Sounds of Scranton, Kate Flannery had these Dunder Mifflin candles made.
Do you remember that?
I still have it, yeah, and she gave out a Dunder Mifflin candle, but we really gifted, we were like, we're done.
I got everyone to sign my script.
So I still have that and that's really cool.
And Kayte gave trailers because we shared a trailer.
Kayte and I had a trailer, and just the only thing between our toilets was like a plastic accordion door.
So if I sat on my toilet and she sat on hers, our knees touched.
So we made a vow to never use our toilets.
We were like, we just can't, we can't, that's just not gonna happen.
I remember that! You remember our plastic accordion door?
It didn't even really shut.
So we just opened it and just shared basically one room with two toilets.
Well, when I think back to that time, I remember having anxiety about I mean, I've just had the most thrilling experience of my acting life.
I had been a struggling actor for eight years before I got my job on The Office.
I'd never had a regular role on anything.
I'd done pilots, but they never got picked up.
So this was my first series.
And I thought, well, what do I do?
So, if this show gets canceled, I guess I just go back to the beginning.
I mean, we could have all had to go back and get day jobs again.
I mean, so, Kate Flannery and I both – we did not quit our day jobs for the first season of The Office.
Oh, I remember that.
Kate Flannery was still a waitress at Cape Manolini in Beverly Hills, and so, she would work on The Office, and then she'd go wait tables.
I remember that. Yeah, and I was working at IOS, which is in improv theater and I was helping run the office and I stayed on and would help.
I just would have gone back to help run a theater in improv classes and I ran the intern program.
I fired someone who is now famous, one of my interns.
Who, can you say? He is a loveable person and I love him.
Tell me. So, this was my intern who was always late.
He was always late.
The higher ups said, okay, you can be late 3 times and then you get fired.
and so I as an intern his job was to keep the restroom clean or he had to come early set up the box office Okay, like we needed him there early and he was late a lot But I really liked him and then finally they were like you're gonna have to fire them So he walks in one day and his name is Derek Waters
Creator of drunk history creator of drunk history and he walked in and he was really late and I was like Hey Derek, and he's like hey Angela.
Are you gonna fire me today?
I was like I am and he goes, okay Oh my gosh, Angelie...he told me the story.
I wrote a book, everyone plug, the actor's life, a survival guide, check it out, local book stores.
Check it out. And I interviewed Derek in the book and he told me this story of being fired from IO.
I did not know it was you that fired him.
It was me. But it's still very much on his mind because he mentioned it in an interview.
I know. But anyway I would just go back to running a theater basically.
I have something so I know healthcare is about the office finding a good health care plan and the downsizing.
I know the overall arc of this episode.
But I just want you to know I have started calling this episode the PamSass.
The PamSass? Uh -huh and it's gonna come up throughout this episode where Pam is super sassy.
Well, well. It starts off right away when Michael comes up to you and you say, I'm not making any copies.
Like you're sassy, out of the gate, lady.
And then you say, oh!
Do you want me to repeat the messages for the, and like you look to Camera?
I have many more as we go through this episode.
What were you, did I piss you off before you watched this episode and then you're just looking for sass moments?
I am not, listen! Listen, you re -watch it and right away you're just like, you are here, like you are not here to mess around.
I'm sorry, you try having a boss like Michael Scott and see what kind of mood it puts you in.
Well, you were sassy in the same time.
I was a matter of fact.
Pam sass. Okay go, go on.
What else is there?
That's it. All right, Lady, I think we should take a break.
I think we should, but I think we should tell everyone that when we come back from our break we're gonna have a special guest.
Well, I think you just told them.
I did. It's gonna be a tall drink of water.
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Every January is a time when I feel like we all reflect.
You know, you can really do at any time of the year, but I think you do feel that reset.
What's that? You do.
It's like you have 365 blank pages ahead of you, just waiting to be filled and you can decide how to do that.
I'm so poetic, Angela.
Oh, really? Thanks.
365 blank pages? Well, I might have had some help.
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It's time to break down the healthcare episode.
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It's time to break down the healthcare episode.
Let's do it. All right, we're going to go a little rogue here.
We're going to do a phone call with Rainn Wilson.
With Rainn Wilson. Yeah, there were just too many things about this episode that were Dwight centered, and we had a lot of questions from fans that I think we needed to go straight to the source.
We agreed. We agreed, and Rain said yes, and we're so thrilled.
So, we're gonna talk to Rain.
We're gonna call him.
Let's call Rain. Hello.
Is this Rainn Wilson?
Hey, Rainn! It is Rainn Wilson.
Rainn Wilson. It's Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.
What's up, fella? How are you?
Thanks for doing this.
I'm great, guys. I'm really good.
I'm launching a podcast this week called metaphysical milkshake.
Oh! I'm doing that with Reza Azites.
And is this in coordination with Soul Pancake?
It is, yes. And it's life's big question of philosophy and psychology and spirituality and sociology and we're talking to some of the world's greatest minds with some super interesting stories...
I love that. Oh, that's not...
That launch is very soon.
That is so you, Raine.
That is so so... You are the person I go to with all of those questions in life.
We can tell people I have called you on occasion sobbing.
You are my person that I trust with those big life moments.
So this makes total sense.
That's so sweet. It's true!
And I call you any time I have an issue in the kitchen or anything you're cooking or bread, anything yeast related...
good for whoever. Ray, and you know what I love is that you do reach out to Jenna and I, in times when you're definitely, like wanting like love and support.
And I love that, we are all there for each other like that.
It's true. Oh guys are like the sisters that I never had, we've talked about you a little bit, like how you would look at us and say, like, look at them.
They just like they're two hins like they will not stop talking.
I mean, if the listeners could only know what those conversations were like, on the set, I mean, it's just like, I made the best lasagna, you did?
I love lasagna, one time I went to Italy, I had a lasagna, you know, you went to Italy, I've been to Spain, one time… I mean, like rain, rain… So handsome.
Did you just have ham, I love ham.
They weren't even that interesting, rain, they weren't even that interesting.
That is way more, way more fascinating.
Fascinating than anything we ever talked about for hours on end.
That's fantastic. It's so cute.
Well we have some questions for you about the healthcare episode.
We do. So we're talking to you about the healthcare episode which is appropriate because this is a Dwight A.
storyline. Big storyline.
Your first real big one, right?
Wow, thanks guys. Thanks for the support, from 2004.
Thank you. Hey, you did some great stuff a decade ago.
Okay. Alright. So I wanna ask you, Raine, just what comes to mind for you when you first think of the healthcare episode?
That was the first episode that I remember that we spent an inordinate amount of time in the conference room.
And I remember saying Hot Dog Fingers.
Yeah. Hot Dog Fingers.
Which totally made us break, and they left it in the episode.
rain, I full -on start laughing and then Brian breaks character and points to me and starts laughing and it's still Maria laughing and that's me really laughing it's true they left in the Edit you guys breaking you guys cracking over these diseases it's truly hysterical but I do remember saying to Kate
Flannery did my say like you had your vagina moved and she's like it was it was a hysterectomy it was my uterus yes that was in the conference room But when you first come out this is a frequently asked fan question which is did you guys improvise the fake diseases or were they scripted.
And I remember that there were scripted fake diseases but then at a certain point just Paul and the director and other writers came down and they were just handing you a piece of paper with improvised fake diseases and none of us knew you were going to say ha dog fingers.
It was a complete Waller surprise that was not in the script.
Do you remember that?
Yes, so that's exactly there were some very funny ones that were scripted and Nano robot...mm -hmm...
micro invasion or whatever that one was, right, that was in there and a lot of great ones were in there, but yeah they kept feeding the other ones, it was very hard for me to keep a straight face, I probably broke all the time.
I know, I remember thinking how are we gonna have any usable takes I didn't know… And we all kept laughing.
You know you get to a certain point in laughing when you just cross a line where he's just been tickled too much, and you just can't bring it back, but that happened.
You know that happened maybe like, I won't say every episode, every two to three episodes, that kind of happened for me and it absolutely happened in this one.
But my friend, Kevin, Kevin Isolo, who's an actor in New York.
He was visiting the set and he was the winner, actually, throughout Hot Dog Follows.
Oh my gosh. Oh my God!
Kevin! They've done his claim to fame, yeah.
His claim to fame. I hope he has a shirt that just says Hot Dog Fingers.
I mean, I feel like we - I am going to buy him that shirt right now.
Send that to him. That would be a really good shirt, wouldn't it?
Yeah, Hot Dog Fingers.
Rain, you have one of my favorite talking heads in this episode.
I mean, you have so many good ones over the years, but this is definitely season one that is.
It sort of is like the quintessential in for Dwight Yes it's the lion your whole like Like your whole rant about in the wild.
There is no health care in the wild health care, right?
Oh, I hurt my life.
Should we play it? Do you have a sighted rain?
We have that really here.
We're really you Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, you want to listen to yourself Deliver a great talking head I do in the wild There is no Health care in the wild health care is I can't run.
A lion eats me, and I'm dead.
I'm not dead. I'm the lion.
You're dead! I love that so much.
Oh my gosh. The only thing I'll say about that one was you know we were really establishing Dwight and his logic and how seriously he took himself and these kind of rules that Dwight started to develop where he's very hierarchical and status and like this is how things must be done.
But he has a completely different set of rules than other people do how he sees the world.
So one of the things I think that is given the character enduring appeal is he sees the world in a very clear way with these kind of strPREH same strATA strATA him hierarchy of rights and wrongs and moralities and how things work and how they should work and they're very severe and this is one of the first
talking heads that kind of like doves delves into that world of Dwight and it's all Paul other steam he wrote that and he I was very happy with he was so excited to kind of help, he really helped to.
He wasn't directing the episode, but he was right there kind of getting a ton of notes on different inflections and ways to say it.
Wow. Okay this is totally random but Rain, in rewatching this during that Talking Head you're passing out the new healthcare plan.
You're tossing it to people.
You're handing it around the office and it looks like you have a lollipop in your mouth there is a white stick sticking out of your mouth as you're passing all these papers out you should know something about this podcast rain which is that Angela is constantly picking up on these weird little details
Well I'm just like what the heck when I rewatch and like does rain asked white is are you sucking on a lollipop as you're passing this out because that's brilliant.
I have no memory of that whatsoever but I think maybe I was yeah while look around 4 minutes 50 seconds you like have, it looks like a lollipop in your mouth.
Did you hear that? Four minutes, 30 seconds.
No, no, 50, around 50 seconds.
50 seconds. You're just like flippantly passing these papers though, sucking on a lollipop.
I thought it was really cool and powerful.
I don't know. I loved it.
Well this leads us into the scene with Jim and Pam confronting you about, confronting Dwight about picking a horrible plan where he slashed all the benefits.
You have all those other great Dwight -isms where you say you've never been sick, that you have an amazing immune system to which, you know, we ask you how can you have a great immune system if you've never been sick.
And it's just you have great genes.
And that's when you say that you can raise and lower your cholesterol at will will.
And I say, why would you raise your cholesterol?
And you say so I can lower it.
I remember shooting that scene with you.
And I remember that was the couplet that I couldn't get through.
No, why would that was the one that got me?
And that was a question from a fan actually.
Christopher said, how many times did it take for you and rain to get through the cholesterol scene?
And I can't remember how many times but it was a lot Christopher.
Yeah, it's funny how in history looking back on the office, there are these quotes that pop out that become like the classic quotes of the character.
And it's interesting that, for Dwight, there's like 15 or 20 kind of Dwightisms that stand the test of time and that fans love to, you know, identity theft is not a joke to Jim, some of these ones, and the cholesterol one is definitely one of them.
I feel like another one of those phrases that people talk about is the countroculitis, This is the scene where you are confronting Jim, but also something that ended up on the cutting room floor from this where you actually had meetings with a bunch of people in the office.
You shot something where you confronted Oscar, I think you had a meeting with him, didn't you Angela?
And it was very short.
Probably. Where he asks you if you wrote the fake diseases.
Because he goes through and like interviews people.
Well in, in your interview with Jim, you say, count Chocuelatus?
Why did you write that down, Jim?
Is it because you know I love Count Chocula?
I love the idea that you love Count Chocula, that, that's what Dwight has for breakfast in the morning or maybe late at night while he's watching TV.
Maybe it's a snack.
Maybe he models himself after Count Chocula.
Maybe there's a... he has an affinity for Count Chocula.
of a character, a person behind the serial.
Yeah, not even the serial.
It's not the serial.
The character. That's right.
He loves Count Chokela, the serial - Yeah, he's more just connected to actual Count Chokela.
He relates to him. Yeah.
Well, you brought it up earlier.
There's also the conference room seen when you start announcing ailments and you tell us that if we want it covered, we have to fess up and admit that it's a real disease and that's when you have that bit with Meredith, where she says, you say inverted penis and she's like, she said it, do you mean vagina?
Because if so, I want that covered and then then you bring up, I thought you didn't have a vagina, you had a hysterectomy?
And then she has that great line.
I still have a vagina.
Yeah, I think I improvise, I improvise that.
And this was early on we started to kind of like improvise a little bit more.
Where you improvised that she had a hysterectomy?
Did you improvise that?
That was because - That pays off later in another episode.
No, no, no, no. That was in there, the hysterectomy.
But the line that I thought you didn't have a vagina.
Oh, because you - Was mine.
Okay. That sounds like you.
Isabel has been wanting to watch The Office reign.
And I haven't let her yet.
But now like all of her friends have seen it in fifth grade.
So, I let her watch this episode with me.
In fifth grade her friends have seen - Her friends...
Oh my God they're obsessed.
That's when it starts now.
That's when it starts.
Fifth grade. Fifth grade.
It's it's great as young fifth grade is young and so is inequalities in the office and I I didn't have her watch it because I didn't think it was age -appropriate and also I just need to be mom, you know, and But she's getting more curious now and so she loves the bloopers, so we've watched the bloopers
because they were on YouTube and then I was re -watching this episode and She wanted to watch it.
So I let her watch it with me and it's so her her introduction to the office is health care Oh my goodness.
So - anal fissures. That's it, that's it.
Okay, so that, that scene came up and she was like, wait mom, that's not a real thing is it?
What is that? And I was like oh God, it is a real thing.
And then she's like - But if you ride on the New York, if you ride on the New York subway, they have ads up for anal fissures.
And does. Kevin does.
And anyway, it was just sort of funny to to watch the episode with her.
Well this is a little bit off the topic of welcoming of health care.
but a little on the topic of just how we're friends in real life.
People ask that all the time.
We're friends in real life, right, Rain?
Rain? Yes, yes. Yes, we are, Jenna.
OK. We've gone to lunch.
We text and talk to one another.
Jenna, do you need affirming?
Can I get this reading.
No. No. We're all friends in real life, and they.
We have. We shared so much of our lives doing this show for so long.
I remember that your wife Holliday was pregnant with your son when we were shooting the pilot.
And then— He was born during an episode.
But, Raina, I couldn't remember which episode it was.
We were shooting. So, Walter—Walter was born during the hot -person, first -girl episode.
Oh, right. So, they shot me out the first two days.
They just were like, oh, 1ll, just shoot all Raines scenes on Monday and Tuesday.
And then sure enough late Tuesday night, Walter was born, and it was horrific, ugly, difficult birth and we were in the hospital emergency room and all that kind of stuff.
You can read about that in my book, The Bassoon King.
Yes! I did. Available now.
No, I wasn't talking to you two!
I was talking to all the listeners.
Listeners, if you want the full story, Go to you can read about it in The Bassoon King.
The Bassoon Kingdom.
Yes, after this. It's a very good book.
So, that was kind of crazy and then I had a couple days off and I don't.
But we shot out of order.
Yeah. So because the hot girl is the last episode that airs for season one, but it was we shot it in the middle.
Healthcare was actually the last episode that we shot and you had a little tiny Walter while you were shooting this episode.
Yeah. And I remember you had to come back to work step guide.
You've only had one.
We were so tired. Five days after we spent the whole weekend in the hospital, we were my wife was in the hospital for like four or five days, so we went home from the hospital maybe Sunday night or even that Monday morning.
And I came to work on regard.
I remember being worried I remember just thinking about just being concerned.
I hope that you guys are okay.
Yeah just emotionally with them.
Yeah everything worked out great she's great Walter's great, all aces.
It's all aces. I remember the first time I met that your wife was on, uh, when we were filming the pilot.
And I remember how you introduced me to her.
I'll never forget it.
You said, um, this is my wife, carrier of my seed.
That's such a Dwight thing to say and she was like, Oh hi, I'm Holly.
Oh great. Yeah. It definitely blurs between me and Dwight.
And I think the line blurs between all of us and our character in some regard.
For sure. Rain, thank you so much for talking with us on our podcast.
Hey, this was great.
I love the health care episode.
And I'll let that if you'll invite me back.
I'll come into the studio and we can sit down and have high fives and iced tea.
Yes. Let's do that.
And you guys have to all check out Rain's new podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake.
And Rain, that is on what?
Where do we find that?
It's on Luminary. Luminary.
Now you'll download the Luminary app and it will be right on that luminary app.
Well I can't wait to listen.
Rain, I love you so much, thank you.
We love you. I love you guys.
Missed you. I'm so happy you are doing this podcast and fans are just gonna love it.
I'm hope so. Rain, OK.
Come back. OK, we love you.
Bye. See you soon. Bye.
Thanks, guys. Why is it every time we talk to someone from the show, I wanna start to cry.
I'm like tearing up a little.
I don't know. Well, I think it's just that those relationships are so fundamental to us.
They are like family.
And it's a crew member, it's a cast member.
It doesn't matter. It's just such a special chapter in our lives.
And just hearing Rayne's voice and him laughing at you and I being chatty, it just brought me straight back.
Rayne, thank you so much for coming on.
That just made my day.
Peloton is not just bikes people.
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So I like to walk in my neighborhood, I like to walk in the fresh air, and then I like to do one of the Peloton meditations and total body stretches.
That is an example of like one fitness thing I'll do in a week.
And here's the thing, a lot of times you think oh, do I have time to exercise?
Well they have 10, 20 or 45 minute time increments of classes.
I usually do the 20.
I hit it right in the middle.
Uh -huh. Find your push.
Find your power with Peloton at onepeloton .com I am fifty years old, and do you know what I don't want to do on my vacations anymore?
Oh, probably a few thinks.
I don't want to cram my family into the same one bedroom, room, and bathroom.
I don't want to. No.
I don't want to sell on top of each other.
I want. in my own bedroom separate from the children, which is why I prefer Airbnb because we can all have our space and then it's like makes the whole vacation more relaxing, we can go to bed at different times.
You know, I can stay up and read or more likely these days I go to bed before everybody else.
You know what I love about Airbnb?
What? Snacks. You have a fridge, you have a kitchen, So, I'm not calling up room service constantly and having to pay that fee.
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Well, everyone, consider Airbnb for your next adventure.
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Ladies today Angela I want to talk about something that was one of our other most popular questions and it came from a fan and it's something I was wondering about as well when I watch this episode It has to do with the accounting department.
So this is for you.
Okay Paige Oh, Murphy mmm asked, I love how you get to see the start of the dynamic between the accounting department and healthcare.
And this is when you're leaving the conference room and you say, you let him walk all over you.
And I'm like, did you talk to him?
Did you talk to him?
I was like, what was that?
Like it was pathetic.
You let him walk all over you.
And Kevin's like, what are you guys talking about?
And I'm like, nothing Kevin.
Okay. So her question is how much of that was you guys improvising?
And how much was written?
Movement. This is to me like the quintessential accounting department dynamic.
Yes, this is on my notecard because to me this really defined our corner this moment.
Yeah, so let's let's watch it and then I want to hear I want to hear the real story.
I won't go. This is not good.
It's ridiculous, did Did you talk to him?
What was that? You let him walk all over you.
It's just thecharge?
What are you guys talking about?
Nothing, Kevin. There it is, there it is.
So we improvised that.
And here's the thing that I learned really quickly on this show.
And I learned it from our B camera operator, Matt Zone.
Matt was like, And if you guys have bits, make them quick.
And they have a chance of getting in the show.
And so we had this moment where we were all walking back to our desks and Oscar and I kind of improvised this moment where I'm like, you know, did you talk to him?
And he's like, what was that?
And then we kind of just had this chit -chat on the way and our B camera operator got it and he was like guys, if you tighten that up, it's going to make it...it'll make it in, I think if you tighten it up.
So we did. We had this back and forth and then of course like I had no idea that Brian was already go walking up behind us and so he was like, what are you talking about?
So I was just like nothing.
Kevin. And it just sort of...it just sort of crystallized that like, Oscar and I have this like weird sort of like office like dysfunctional marriage in a way, and that Kevin is like our child that we're like, just stay out of it, leave him out of it.
And it was just so fun that it made it in for us, that it was really fun.
How did that dynamic come together?
Because I know you guys would have to get stuck in the background, we've established that, but for real you did.
and I know you guys are all comedic and broad performers.
Well, Oscar and I had done a show together.
You know, we met well before the office I've talked about this before, we had done a sketch show together called Hot Towel and we've known each other a long time, we had done the groundlings together and I think we just naturally fell into step with one another, I knew my character was always annoyed.
That was like my baseline as I was always annoyed and then just the way that Bryan did Kevin And he seemed a little bit like the idiot.
So, pretty much if I had anyone I could go to about something, it was Oscar.
And I was always annoyed.
And I was always going to him, and he never had the answers I wanted, and then I just didn't want to even talk to Kevin.
So that just sort of like came about naturally, I think.
And Oscar and I just picked up on all those cues.
Well, I love that Greg and the directors gave our camera operators the license to pick up moments that they hadn't even been directed to pick up.
Yeah, like they would keep one eye open on everything that was happening in the background and especially Matt his job was to catch reactions and to catch these little moments that were happening off of the main action.
And Matt went on to direct episodes in later seasons.
Yes he did and our director of this episode, Ken Whittingham was so great about letting us have that creative opportunity so when he saw us do that as we walked away he He was like, yeah, yeah, keep, keep doing that.
And so he encouraged us and then, you know, we used to joke that we would have just kept going and going.
And so I'd be like, I'd have to say all, I would say all the time to Brian and Oscar.
It's not, it's not our show guys.
It's not our, it's not our show.
And then we had this whole like running bit that we did for years that there was an actual spin off called.
Los canto dollars Oscar, enhala ,Mis.
And it lived on Telemundo.
That was our spinoff.
– Angela, that is actually a really good idea for a spinoff.
– Just… The accountants?
– The accountants! – And Creed.
– And Creed – The accountants and Creed?!
– The account… Well, Creed has to work in every office somehow.
– Yes, yes! – He's always there.
– I actually would like Creed to be in every project.
– I need a phone number whose… I need to call someone at NBC!
– I don't know I think this is gold!
– I actually would like Creed to show up in every project I have for the rest of my life.
Also he text me this morning and he really wants to come on the show.
So - He's coming on the show.
Yeah, that's happening.
I know exactly one episode, too.
Oh, you've got it all figured out.
Yeah, he needs to come on for the Halloween episode, which is the first episode that he speaks.
No, Jenna, that is not the first episode that he speaks in.
What? Yeah! Lady, look at my note card!
He has a few lines in this episode.
Of healthcare. What!?
Creed does not speak in healthcare.
Yes, he does! Oh, he does not!
...but, lady, you have to listen!
Okay! You know the scene when Michael calls the Lackawanna coal mine?
Yes. For you to know, he's calling because he's like, hey, is there some kind of ride there?
And there's a voice that's like, it's an industrial elevator.
Goes 300 feet into the ground really slowly, and Michael's like, what is there?
Laser tag down there?
And he's like, nope.
Remember that guy? Yeah!
Yeah. It's Creed. What?
Yes. The Voice of the Coalminer guys, Creed?
Yeah. No way. Well I'm reading the two of us.
I'm sure someone out there caught this but I was watching this episode with my daughter and she was like, Mommy, that voice sounds familiar and I was like, it does.
The voice of the man that works at the coal mine sounded familiar to us and I was like, oh my gosh it's Creed.
It's Creed. And I texted Creed.
And he said, yeah, I was so excited.
he said that Kenol identification who was a friend of his who was our director He said you know Creed why don't you read this and Creed did and they were really happy with it and he really felt like that helped him sort of Down the line for Halloween because they already thought he was funny that ken
coampus who was a friend of his who was our director He said, you know creed why don't you read this and Creed did and they were really happy with it And he really felt like that helped him sort of down the line for Halloween because they already thought he was funny.
And he is so funny.
He's so funny. And his delivery is perfect.
Yes. But, I want you to know, I said Creed, Oh my gosh, so that was your first speaking part on The Office was as that coal miner guy.
Yeah. And he goes, no What?
I know. What? I know.
I have episode three.
I know. I know you don't know this and I'm bouncing in my chair because you don't know this.
That's okay, the actual first time that Creed ever spoke was in Diversity Day.
What? Yes! So, at the time they needed some banter, and our first AD did not realize that Creed wasn't a series regular and didn't have a contract.
That he was just a background player...
Just a background player?
Literally, the contract for a background player is you are not allowed to speak.
If you speak, there's a big bump in pay.
And they have to pay you.
Creed said the AD to him, can you fill in some banter with Phyllis?
And Creed was like, you know, me Ang, I'm not shy.
So he has this banter with Phyllis and it made it in the episode.
And then they realized they wanted to use it, but Creed wasn't officially under contract.
So then they paid him.
And that is actually his first line.
Well, your mind is blown because Creed actually had an improv line in diversity day that made it in the show.
And that is the first time he spoke.
The second time he spoke was the elevator shaft operator guy on the phone with Michael.
And then Halloween as we will get to is his big, big moment.
Yes, oh, that is some good stuff.
That was a good note card, lady.
Very good note card.
Okay, Angela, well, I have trivia.
I have trivia. Why are you looking at me like that?
I don't know. I have trivia.
It's feeling very smug with my You are!
my free trivia. Well, it was really good.
All right, here's mine.
You know this scene when Michael goes to the travel agent, where he wants to try to get us the all -expense paid trip to Atlantic City, where he says the thing about like, isn't there like bus that takes you there and then you get all your meals calmed?
Everything's free. Everything's free, and the travel agent is like, yeah, I don't really know anything about that.
You might want to just contact the casino.
The casino directly.
Do you know who played the travel agent?
Is it his friend from college, Charlie Hartzach?
Angela! I remember that.
I remember Steve was really excited because his friend from, you know, like his good friend was going to be on set that day You weren't there that day.
I wasn't Jenna but Steve was my friend and he shared with me Alright well, what else have you got?
You got more note cards over there You know what?
Jenna when I was watching this, I was like, Oh my Gosh.
This really, this peep shot.
And I know we're gonna talk about it.
The peep shot? The spy shot, Angela?
I call it the peep shot.
Well, ladies don't call it that to anyone else.
It's called the spy shot.
Well, you just called it - We're spying.
We're not peeping. Excuse me.
You called the background actor learners.
So, we're lurking and we're peeping.
Okay, but it's just that shot where you go through the blinds.
Right? Yeah. And we saw that a lot in this episode because Michael is hiding.
He is hiding in his office.
And one of my favorite ones When you're being sassy Oh, my gosh, it's a peep and a sass?
It's a peep and a pam -sass.
So we're looking through the blinds and Michael is just playing with his truck.
He's rolling the truck back and forth.
And he's claiming that there's many calls.
base -ized Yeah, busy, busy, busy, busy.
And Pam goes, still no one calling.
Yeah. Still no one calling.
It's matter of fact.
Do you find matter of factness to be sass?
No, I think there's a little bit of sass on it.
But yeah, so I thought I love that you got to see how we spy on people through the camera, that we get to see these moments they don't know that we're seeing.
And you'll see it over and over.
But when I watched the BBC version of the show, and then when I watched our version, those were the only shows doing that at this time.
We were really trying to employ what you would do on an actual documentary, where you want to like catch people when they're not aware they're being filmed.
And we behave differently when we know we're being filmed or not.
and so that was we would use the spy shot when we needed to catch people.
Or the Peep shot. Or the peep shot, as Angela was calling it.
Moving on, moving on.
Alright, next card.
Two observations about John in this episode.
The first one has to do with his hair.
John has a full -on bowl haircut in this.
What? Yes. Sam, could you pull up a picture of John in this to show Jenna?
I grew up in a small town, and some of these farm boys, they would just put a bow on their head and cut their hair around it.
What was that about?
I don't know. Look at that.
John says doh -white and I say doh -white.
I say doh -white, doh -white.
I absolutely love it now because it just makes me miss John.
And every time I hear him say doh -white, it just makes me smile.
So there are my two John observations.
I have an observation about Jim in this episode, which is, and actually, if Phan pointed this out as well.
I had noticed it, but I will give some props to the other person who noticed it, Except I don't have their name written down, I'm sorry.
Person out there, you know who you are.
Yeah. Which is that all of this could've been avoided if Jim had just taken 15 minutes and picked a plan.
No, I know. No... The way he was asked in the beginning of the episode.
Yes. I mean he ends up having this fun, playful day with Pam, but if we're gonna get real here, it cost him and everyone else in the office decent healthcare.
On the other hand, in his defence I will say the task was to slash the healthcare.
So I'm not sure he could have done much better than Dwight, but maybe he could have.
Well, does that make him kind of not as charming?
I don't know. Well, I think what happens - This is an argument.
I think what happens in this show is that Michael passes the buck to Jim and Jim passes it to Dwight and it happens over and over.
It does. It does and Jim is just like, listen, I don't get paid enough to do this.
Yeah, well, and I think the argument And it really can't be made that Jim knew it was inevitable.
Like what we ended up with is what we were going to end up with.
Although the other argument that can be made is that Dwight made it worse than it needed to be.
OK, I have another notecard.
OK, here it is. And it's a bunch of people've jumped out of a plane and they're all locking arms?
Teamwork. Teamwork.
These are all over the office.
So at 15 minutes, 50 seconds around there it flashes to the clock on the wall and under the clock you just see it says self affirmations.
self -esteem and then you can't see what else it says.
But I'm like, what is under the clock?
What are all these self - modifications.
The detail work in our set design was incredible.
And that was Michael Gallenberg.
He was our set designer.
Oh, he was so amazing.
And so many details.
And then the props department would, any time there was some sheet of paper that we had to look at as a prop, it was a fully -formed idea.
Mmhmm. You know, if there was a memo, they wrote out like a whole real fake memo and they weren't funny.
When stationary. There's always funny little jokes hidden in them.
And also all around the office, if you're in the break room, the menus, the magnets on the fridge, they're all from Scranton.
They reached out to local businesses in Scranton and they all sent their items and they're all throughout our office.
Also, of course, froggie 95 .5.
Yes. Local Scranton Radio.
That's what should be your playlist.
You should have just listened to some froggy.
I really should have.
All right. This episode ends with Michael coming out of his office.
He's successfully hidden in his office until 5 PM after 5 PM and the entire office is waiting to confront him.
Both about the horrible healthcare plan that Dwight picked and to finally find out, please, what is the surprise.
So he's come in attempting to surprise us with ice cream sandwich.
Oh, he about hit me in the head with an ice cream sandwich.
I mean, Steve actually, Like, the look on his face After that take, I was like...
He was like, and just, how close did that come?
I was like, Stevie, Pretty much almost hit me in the head with it.
And he also announced so proudly Operation Surprise!
Yes. And so we're like, okay, what is it?
What is it? And all he could come up with in his whole day was ice cream sandwiches, and then he says that's not the surprise.
It's surprising, but it is not the surprise.
So at the end of the episode you confront him.
I do. I love it. I loved being the person that confronted him, because Steve was so funny, and he turned to me, and he's like, Yes, Angela, likee.
Thank you for reminding me.
So, you ask him, point blank, what is the surprise, Michael?
And then he says, the surprised is, and then he short circuits, he just stops talking.
He just stops talking and it just starts to have like upper lip sweat.
And we all are just looking at him.
It is so awkward, it is so awkward.
And I remember when we did it, like timing it out to that moment where we start to like, slowly leave each person, yes, and how long that felt.
Yes, so long. It really did as we were standing there.
And they had choreographed the order in which we would leave.
And of course we did many takes, so we would have to come back and reset.
And I remember thinking, are we going to leave this, this is a giant pause with no dialogue.
Is this going to be able to stay in?
Because that was not something you did on television shows.
In fact, on television shows, especially comedy's, it was pretty traditional to have set up, set up joke, set up, set up joke.
And this was like a whole different rhythm.
And so yeah, I remember this.
And I remember he just had to stand there.
Oh, it was so awkward.
And then when you watch it, it's so like cringy, but it's perfect.
It's perfect. It's so good and I, and there's so many times like when I watch episodes of The Office where I'm like, how does Michael come back from that?
Like, I say that to myself, like how does he come back the next day?
And be like - We all knew there was no surprise.
We all knew. But man, we made him suffer through that pause.
And then best last line ever, after that suffering silence, Rainn says, oh, um, Jan wants you call her.
That's so good. So good.
That's healthcare, guys.
That is healthcare.
Thank you so much, Raine Wilson, for calling in, and it was just so great to hear your voice.
Oh, I'm just going to go listen to the sounds of Scranton and I'll do it right back.
I'll see you guys next week.
See you next week when we do...
The Alliance. The Alliance.
Oh, there's so much good stuff in that one.
Not to be missed. Not to be missed.
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 Daniella Silva.
F 145 Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Wise Berman and Leah ladies Denis Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.
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