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Why, hello.
Hi there.
Welcome back to a second drink of women's appreciation.
This is so fun.
It's from writers Jean Stepnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, who we love.
Our interview we did with them.
It's one of my faves from the year.
Same.
Well, I've shared a lot about the standards and practices guidelines for the office.
I mean, the emails from them to our producers are one of my favorite things.
And in rewatching this episode, I love this observation about this episode from the website.
Give me my remote.
Remember them?
Yes, of course.
They said, here's what I don't understand, though.
Season two's sexual harassment had a warning before the episode because of the word boner.
But this episode was acceptable.
I don't think the office has ever pushed the envelope in terms of sexual discussion as much as it did tonight.
Michael with his hands down his pants.
Oh, my God.
Seriously.
Oh, my God.
I mean, where was standards and practices?
I don't know.
You know, we do say penis a lot.
So many people wrote in about this episode breakdown.
Many people loved our commentary on getting flashed in real life.
They think we should put and I'm quoting I don't have time for your old man penis on some merchandise.
What are we putting that on a coffee mug?
What's that going on?
Well, I think it needs to be on a to go coffee mug.
OK, right.
Like a travel tumbler.
Yeah.
Especially if you're in a city with like a lot of public transit.
Oh, yeah.
So you're riding on like the trains with like that.
I don't have time for your old man.
Yeah.
On your coffee mug.
I think it could be helpful.
Well, there were also so many candy bag alts for this episode.
There are two pages of alts for Angela's talking head about shopping at the mall.
I think the writers had some fun with that one.
Oh, my goodness.
Your character is clearly not happy about Michael's idea to take us out of the office.
So they wrote a bunch of extra talking heads for you.
But this one was my favorite.
Field trips at work.
What's next?
Recess.
I shouldn't say that so loud.
He might get ideas.
Michael would love to have a daily recess.
That would have been a fun like episode story in an episode.
Daily recess.
Yes.
Speaking of those scenes of Victoria's Secrets, Marley H and others wanted to know where they can watch the blooper we talk about.
Jenna.
It's the one where Steve, as Michael, keeps messing with Angela Martin, but he's messing with me in real life, trying to get me to laugh.
We were filming in Victoria's Secrets.
It's on YouTube.
But Marley, there was so much more in the shooting draft for the scene.
It was just this long, crazy list of suggestions from Michael of things he could buy for Angela.
I want to read it.
Okay.
This was in the shooting draft.
Michael sits on a bench watching the women shop.
Angela sits next to Michael on the bench, checking her watch.
For each suggestion, she demures Michael to Angela.
Nothing?
Not even a skort, nightie, thong, boy shorts, laces, frillies, bra, push-up bra, merry widow, control top, garters, corset, girdle, edible panties, g-string, briefs, string bikini, strapless bra, c-cup, hip hugger, bustier, pantalette, farthingale?
You must use some sort of barrier between your clothes and your situation.
Oh my gosh.
I have so many things to say.
Yeah.
What is a farthingale?
What is a merry widow?
I don't know.
I'm looking it up.
A merry widow is a type of strapless waist cinching corset.
How does Michael know about this term for a sexually experienced woman?
But oh my goodness, apparently there's even a cocktail called the Mary Widow.
Who knew?
Did not know.
Okay.
Now look up farthingale.
It looks like it's another kind of corset, but okay.
You know, the really famous pictures of like, oh my gosh, Queen Elizabeth.
And she has the little teeny waist and then like just the giant hips that come out.
Yes.
Okay.
So a farthingale is a corset that has like oh like, queen elizabeth the first yes, it has like a big round thing that comes off of it so that your skirt like poofs out real far the things we're learning.
But i have to say, finding out that michael calls angela's below the waistline, the situation i know Well.
Lady, in that whole speech you called the store Victoria's Secret.
I know.
And it made me think about our conversation in this episode, where we talked about how she just has one secret.
And the secret is the bras kind of suck.
And I'm not sure that it's a coincidence that this podcast has ever been sponsored by Victoria's Secret or Secret.
Well Angela, I remember how you could not keep a straight face during the scene and I pulled the blooper so that we could hear it.
All right.
I'm the candy man.
Santa's come early.
I'm sure Santa would like to buy you a pair of panties, little girl.
That's so gross!
I mean, you didn't even get to the list.
Well, what you have to know is the list came before.
He sat there and just rapid fired stuff at me and I had to keep a straight face.
And then he throws in Santa and I was like, that's it.
I'm out.
I can't make it.
But yes, Marley, you can find that on YouTube.
Just type in the bloopers for in the candy bag, alts.
I have to share this one for Michael.
We find out something he does after he and Jan like get it on.
That really annoys her.
Oh lord.
He says it starts amazing.
He says you want proof?
I understand women.
Here you go.
Jan tells me she doesn't want me to sing to her after we make love anymore.
Now I know it's not the singing she minds, because hey, who doesn't like singing?
It's the volume that gets to her.
Oh no.
So what do I do?
I hum. very softly, but very melodically.
And I'll tell you one thing, she hasn't complained since.
There's so much information.
So much information.
What song is he singing?
How loud does he sing it?
And also, is this why he has to go sleep at the bench?
I mean there are a lot of things that I've learned since the dinner party episode that make me not judge Jan.
So much for the bench.
You know what I'm saying?
Like...
I'm a little bit, I judge her for not leaving a guest room for him to go to.
Yes, like she put all of her candles in the one room he could sleep in.
And then the other one is her office.
Right.
Oh, she took up all the rooms.
All the bedrooms.
Well, I feel like we learned a lot in this top of show for the second drink.
We sure did.
And now here's our breakdown of women's appreciation.
I'm Jenna Fisher.
And I'm Angela Kinsey.
We were on The Office together.
And we're best friends.
And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you.
Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.
We're The Office Ladies.
Hello.
Hi there.
Today is women's appreciation.
Everyone start right now.
Think of a woman you appreciate.
Appreciate that lady.
Appreciate her.
Maybe pause, give her a text message, but appreciate a woman, because Michael is going to appreciate women today.
He knows the crap out of women and he's going to appreciate them.
And I'm excited.
I loved this episode.
I loved filming this episode.
I wrote about it in Moderna.
Oh, lady, I can't wait.
This is season three, episode 21, written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, directed by Tucker Gaith.
Let's get right to it.
After Phyllis is flashed in the parking lot, Michael decides to take the women to the mall to bond and unwind.
The workplace was too masculine.
So he wanted to take them somewhere where they could really relax.
And that's the mall.
Yeah.
Oh, Michael.
Well, while at the mall, Michael reveals how distressing his relationship with Jan is.
Distressing is a word.
Yeah, I had to come up with a word for the summary.
I picked distressing.
Yeah.
And with the support of the women, he decides to break up with her.
Meanwhile, Andy and Dwight try to hang up sketches of the flasher.
They're trying to find this guy.
Right.
The pervert.
Yeah.
Yep.
The sketch was drawn by Pam and it heavily resembles Dwight.
It's exactly Dwight.
It's Dwight with a mustache.
And no glasses.
Oh, yeah.
Finally, Kevin and the rest of the men in the office enjoy hanging out in the ladies' bathroom.
Yeah.
That is a crazy episode description.
And that really is just barely touching the surface.
It really is.
It really is.
I mean, Meredith's van isn't in that summary and that's a whole.
Meredith's van could be a whole episode itself.
Oh, I wish we'd done an episode called Meredith's Van.
Wouldn't you like to see that?
Yeah, exactly.
Or that's a spinoff right there, Meredith's van.
Just Meredith living out of her van.
Yeah.
What are your fast facts, lady?
Well, Ange, my first fast fact is about you.
What is it?
Is it true that you once had a flasher at one of your jobs?
Okay, this is true.
And I told this story in the writer's room.
So I was talking to Greg on set one day about just different things that happened when I worked at 1-800-DENTIST as an operator.
And he was like, oh, you got to go up to the writer's room.
You got to tell everybody these stories.
So I did.
And I'm not sure that this episode is 100 from the story, but I like to think it was a little bit inspired.
So I was working at 1-800-DENTIST in my early 20s, which was just yesterday, Jenna.
Really, right?
Yeah, it really was.
Just yesterday.
And we had a man.
He went into the women's restroom and kind of hid out in the women's restroom.
And then when women would go in there, he would flash them.
And who was he?
We don't know.
He was like some guy from the street.
He was like, went in the women's restroom.
Okay.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
How did he, where were your, did 1-800-DENTIS not have their own dedicated bathroom?
Was it like a whole building?
It was a whole building.
Yes.
It was a whole building and several businesses, you know, the bathrooms were in the hallway.
You know what I mean?
Shared bathroom.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Like when I go to a doctor's office.
Exactly.
Exactly.
Okay.
Okay.
Yeah, this guy.
He came in off the street and he flashed one of the ladies when she went into the bathroom and she came running out and came in the office and was like I just got flashed.
And, oh my gosh, 1-800-DENTIS obviously took this very seriously and they implemented a whole new security system for our office.
Okay, we are talking to people about their teeth.
That's all we are doing.
We're talking to people about their teeth, but guess what our security system was?
Guess what the upgrade was?
What?
They scanned all of our fingerprints.
And when we got to work, there was a scanner that you put your hand on that opened up to our hallway.
Oh.
I put my hand there and it would go blink, blink.
Angela Kinsey admitted.
Wow.
Yeah.
All because of the flasher.
Yeah.
But anyway, I told the writers that we had a flasher at work.
And it caused all this big hullabaloo.
And, you know, I just like to think that went on a note card on the wall somewhere.
I want to give you credit for that.
Oh, well, thanks.
I like it.
All right.
Well, are you ready for fast fact number two?
Yeah.
Fast fact number two.
This episode originally aired in May of 2007, and it is a supersized episode.
Yes.
However, when it reran in August, they cut it down.
I know.
They trimmed out a bunch of stuff.
Why was that?
The reason this was originally a supersized episode is because this was our 50th episode of The Office.
Oh, wow.
So it was like a little celebration.
But you know, then when shows rerun, they have to be regular size.
Oh, I see.
Well, to celebrate our 50th anniversary, we invited two super fan Office bloggers to the set for a full day of filming, so they could have a sneak peek.
And do you remember who they were?
Was it definitely Jenny Tan from Office Tally?
Yes.
And Kath Scarry from Give Me My Remote.
Oh, nice.
Oh, they were so supportive of the show.
I feel like they really were some of the first people organizing an online fan site where fans could go and share.
Yeah, and the writers would read their sites and gather feedback, like they were a big part of formulating the show.
I still go to officetally.com, Jenna.
Like when I'm looking up quotes, when we're doing our podcast document and I'm like oh, I want to get that exactly right.
I will go to Office Tally because they usually have quotes up there.
Yeah.
Well, I went and looked at both of their blogs that they did after visiting the set.
And I'm going to sprinkle in some of their observations as we go along in this episode.
Oh, that's so fun.
This is like a little time capsule.
Yes, it was so cool.
And by the way, OK, wait, here's one of the things. that Jenny Tan wrote about her visit.
This was just sort of an overview.
Okay.
She wrote, everybody works together really well.
The actors are just incredible and they are so well prepared.
Knew their lines and I didn't hear any of them once ask for a line.
That's true though.
That's true.
We were pros.
We came up ready to play, but you know what?
Steve set the bar for that.
We've said that many times.
She also probably couldn't see that we had our scripts hidden in our desks and we would sometimes have to sneak a look.
We had to sneak a look between takes.
We did do that.
We did sort of like just look over them really quickly, but that's all right.
That's all right.
We didn't, we were never like line.
Can I get my line?
What's my line?
Yeah.
So yeah.
And then Angela, another thing I thought was really interesting.
She noted that you had a 4.30 a.m. call time that day.
Those first...
Few seasons.
I was almost always at 430 because we didn't have the budget that we then ultimately gained and we hired more hair and makeup people.
So they would stack us super early in the morning.
Kate Flannery and I always were there at 4.30.
I remember that.
And then this also I thought was kind of funny.
She wrote this.
Jenna mentioned more than once on her MySpace blog that she sometimes wears sweatpants and her Uggs when she knows she's only being shot from the waist up, and it's true.
She confirmed that I only got half dressed.
Our set was so cold.
I know.
I know.
So anyway, I am really excited because I'm going to sprinkle some of their observations in throughout the episode.
All right.
So what's fast fact number three?
Fast fact number three is a location breakdown based on this fan question from Deva Crane, Sophia Bahena, Cassandra Irochetta, Mary Ruff and Jocelyn Isaguirre.
They all asked, did you film in a real mall?
Where was it?
Did you have to close it down?
Or did you film with real patrons?
Now, Ange, I usually go to Kentopedia.
But you didn't need to this time, lady.
You didn't need to because this was our mall.
This was our mall, you guys.
Literally, this is the mall in our neighborhood where we lived.
Angela and I have been to this mall in real life 90 gazillion times.
Many, many times together, separately.
Sometimes we'd have a BFF date.
Yes, this was Fashion Square Mall in Studio City.
It was like three miles from my house.
We went all the time.
We knew we knew the layout.
We knew when they said, OK, ladies, we're going to start the morning in the food court.
You and I were like, I wonder where they're going to see this.
Maybe over by Panda Express or they're going to put us over in the corner.
I bet they put us in the corner.
Yeah, we knew the layout.
We knew the layout, of course.
And guys, we did not close down the whole mall for filming.
No, no.
People were there.
We started crazy early, though.
In the food court.
Yeah.
And we started upstairs.
There was like an upper level of the food court.
And we had that whole upper level to ourself.
And it didn't open until like 11 a.m.
But we had to be done so they could open the food court on time.
I remember that.
Yeah.
I wrote that we were seated in the food court filming at 7 a.m.
Yeah.
Yes.
And all the people in that food court were hired background performers.
But later when we went into the mall, all the people sort of passing behind us, like behind your talking head, behind Steve's talking head, those were just people in the mall.
Yeah.
They couldn't close that main part of the mall, right?
So we were just navigating around them and we were filming.
And this is a thing I wrote in my journal, Jenna, is that we really realized what a big star...
Steve was like we knew we knew he had become a big star.
You know, he had these movies coming out and they were big hits.
But being at that shopping mall to him, we really got a window into what his life was like now, because no one yelled our names.
No, Jenna.
No, people are walking right past us.
But they would see Steve and they would start to yell at him.
Steve, Steve.
I wrote that someone yelled, I love Lamp.
Oh, yeah.
That line from Anchorman.
Yeah.
And we were like, oh, my God, Steve, that guy's yelling at you about the lamp.
And he goes, I know.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That was crazy.
Yeah.
That was crazy.
I do remember, though, that they shut down the Victoria's Secret for us.
We had the whole store.
Yeah, we felt very fancy about that.
That was very exciting to have a whole store to yourself.
That was so cool.
And then we also had one level of the parking garage and they put all our trailers there.
We ate lunch there.
They set up the catering.
And then we also were able to bring in our own cars to do that scene with Meredith.
Yeah.
Parking.
But we really just spent the whole day at the mall.
We really did.
We really did.
And lady, by the way, I'm going to point it out, but oftentimes you can see you and I walking in the background together of different shots.
And our characters should not be walking together in the background shopping.
No, we were just hanging out.
We were probably saying this.
Listen, we should come back tomorrow because did you see the sale?
We were 100% doing that.
We were Kelly at the mall.
Yeah.
If we have a break, maybe we can sneak in there.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like we did some shopping that day.
I was going to say, I feel like we came home with something from Macy's.
I know.
I know.
I'm pretty sure.
All right.
Well, ladies, should we take a break and then we come back?
We will really, really break down this episode.
I might have tracked something.
We might need to discuss it.
That is the best news I've heard all day.
I can't wait to track.
You might change your mind.
Oh, no.
All right.
We'll be back.
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And we are back.
We start with a cold open, Jenna, that was originally written for the business school episode.
What?
Yes, the cold open where Jim comes in and he's tardy and Dwight is going to write him up.
That was originally for the business school episode.
And the Dwight and Jim dressing like each other was supposed to be for this episode, but they switched them for time.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, you know, they would do these cold opens and they were meant to be standalone.
They were meant to be their own encapsulated joke.
That really didn't interfere with the main plot of an episode.
So I guess they were kind of interchangeable in a way.
Now, sometimes the cold open did affect the plot.
But you know two standalone cold opens.
I guess you can put them wherever you want.
And I feel like the tag in this episode is plot related.
So I think it was for the best.
Yes, I agree.
All right.
So Jenna, here's the thing.
Do you know that if you are tardy, you will get three demerits?
Yep.
And then you'll receive a citation?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then five citations and you're going to get a violation?
Which is bad because tell us what happens after that.
Four violations and you're going to get a verbal warning.
Oh, no.
Yeah.
Keep it up.
You're going to get a written warning.
Yeah.
Two written warnings and you're going to be in a world of hurt in the form of a disciplinary review.
And that disciplinary review is going to be written by Dwight and placed on the desk of his immediate superior who, by the way, is Jim.
Who is Tardy.
Right.
It's going to take a week worth of paperwork.
I mean, this just made me laugh so hard.
I just feel like I know these people.
I feel like I know a Dwight.
I feel like I worked with a Dwight.
Like someone who has such a small amount of control and takes it so seriously.
It's just so ridiculously perfect.
I love it.
This episode opens with Phyllis arriving to work and she is clearly upset.
And by the way, I really like how all of us are genuinely kind to Phyllis and concerned for her.
Yeah.
Yeah, she's shooken up and we're worried about her.
And Jenna.
Before we get into the scene, I have to share something with you that has become part of our family.
It's like a family story.
You know those stories in your family that you retell over and over?
Yeah.
Well, this episode inspired one of those family stories for me that we get together and retell at family reunions and everyone just cracks up.
What is it?
All right.
Jenna, you know my grandmother, Lena May Kinsey.
She was a very, very proper, classy Southern lady.
And, you know, she was not a fan of The Office.
She thought that Michael Scott was vulgar.
And she would say to me, Angela, we are so proud of you.
But I don't care for it and I do not watch it.
But we are so proud of you.
I remember.
Yeah.
So my parents were really getting into the show and they were like Lena Mae, you got to give it another shot.
We gave it another shot, and now we like it.
You got to watch this week's episode.
Oh, no.
I call home.
I'm like, hey, Mom, are you going to watch this week?
We are, and we told your grandmother to watch.
We got it on right now.
I said, oh, no, Mom, not this week.
Not this week for grandmother.
No.
Oh, no.
She was like, why not?
And I said, because Phyllis gets flashed and it's all we talk about.
What did your grandma say when she watched this episode?
Well, she never watched another episode, did she?
I called home the next day and I said, hey, mom, did you talk to grandmother?
Did she watch it?
She said, I did.
And this is what she said.
And I wrote it down and I have it in my journal.
This is what my grandmother said.
I watched it right up until they started talking about penises, and then I turned it off.
That was probably good she turned it off because, I mean, we didn't want her to be subjected to that scene in the mall.
When Michael describes his sex life with Dan.
Oh, my God.
When he's like, what is a pap smear?
I'm glad my grandmother didn't make it that far.
Do you want to know when she turned it off?
Yes.
Four minutes, 25 seconds is the first time we say the word penis.
Click.
Bye bye.
She checked out.
She was done.
And I mean up until that point.
You know we're talking about how Phyllis has been flashed and where he put it on the map.
Oh, my God.
Jenna, do you remember that Phyllis could not get through that?
Do you remember that?
No.
Which part?
She broke every time she said he had it out on the map.
She could not get through it.
She was laughing so hard.
Well, I remember it was very difficult to get through Creed saying, what's the big deal?
He's hanging brain.
That like that phrase hanging brain.
It's so gross.
It's so gross.
But then Michael comes in and he finds out what happens.
And he is like completely not happy. sympathetic at all.
And Phyllis isn't even there anymore.
Phyllis has gone off with Bob Vance.
He's taking her for a walk to calm her down.
But Michael comes in and he is just making a joke of it.
And he puts his finger in his pants through the zipper of his pants to look like a penis.
And I remember we all thought, There's no way this is making this on TV.
Well, Jenna, I was super curious about how we were able to get this on the air.
So I went to the DVD commentary to see if they said anything.
And they did say there was one specific thing we had to do by standards and practices rules.
Oh, really?
This went all the way to standards and practices.
Should we tell them what standards and practices is?
Yeah well, there's like there's certain rules about what you can and cannot broadcast on network television commentary.
This was the one thing we had to do, by standards and practices.
Before Michael turns around with his finger in the fly of his pants, camera has to see him fully extend his hand outside of his pants and then watch his hand go in his pants through his fly.
So you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that is Michael's hand.
You'll see Michael turns around and You have a close-up of his hand and he's kind of fidgeting so that we all know it's his hand.
And that was because standards and practices said that's the only way we'll let the scene play.
Wow.
I know.
I still can't believe that we got away with it.
And then what I really can't believe is that when Toby walks in, the finger goes down.
Yes.
Well, fan catch from Breanne, Catherine, Julie, Elizabeth and Christina.
Everyone noticed that in the background of this exchange between Michael and Toby, it's sort of near the end, after Toby's walked away and Michael is apologizing.
John Krasinski is visibly red in the face and laughing into his hand.
He is flat out breaking.
And not only that, I love this fan catch because I wrote a time code down between four minutes and 36 seconds and four minutes 40 seconds.
I see John, not Jim, look right to Randall, our camera operator.
Yes, I thought the same thing.
I thought that is not Jim glancing to camera.
That is John glancing at Randall.
Yes, because it's just above camera.
You know, it's not right down the barrel, which is where he would normally glance.
He's looking at Randall trying not to break.
And Randall was probably breaking too, but they're having a moment.
And the line that really made him go is when Michael says as that was coming out of my mouth, I knew that it was wrong.
Well, now Michael has a talking head where he explains that in all of the excitement, he forgot that his primary concern is keeping the people in his office safe and that women just can't have fun if they don't feel safe.
And he knows this because, you know, he and Jan have a safe word, which is foliage.
What is happening in that bedroom?
I don't know.
What is happening that he has a safe word that she doesn't pay attention to?
What is happening?
I don't know.
Oh, Lord.
Oh, and then Jan's phone call.
She like wants his body.
She's going to leave him $200, $300.
She'll get more vodka.
Hunter, are you on the call?
Like everything about this is horrifying.
Lady, I have to say that that thing of like, Hunter, are you on the call?
Yeah.
That has happened to me in business calls where I'll be talking to my agent or to my manager and I'm having what I think is like a private, candid conversation.
And all of a sudden, like 20 minutes in, they'll ask their assistant, did you get that?
Can you go ahead and set that meeting?
And the assistant's like, no problem.
I'll put it in the calendar.
And I'm like, wait, what?
How long have you been doing this thing?
Your assistant just listens to our phone calls?
That's a thing?
Man, oh man, I couldn't be an assistant.
I couldn't handle that information.
It would be so hard for me not to interject.
Like if I had to listen in and my boss was having a conversation with someone and it got like sort of personal or heated, it'd be so hard for me, you know, to not be like.
You know you might try just taking a minute.
Take a breath before you, you know, don't say something you're going to regret.
They'd be like, who is that?
Well, we have a nice callback at five minutes, 47 seconds.
Yes, we had some fans catch this as well, Angela.
Dwight is down in the parking lot and he is stabbing the shrubbery with that pointed, carved out broom handle that he made for business school when he was worried that Jim was becoming a vampire.
Yeah.
He kept it.
Of course he kept it.
He probably duct taped it under his desk.
Well, that was caught also by Renee Brown and Stevens, Bethany A, Phoebe Tomac and Jacob Hirsch, among others.
All right.
So Jenna, now it's six minutes, 29 seconds.
Michael and Dwight have decided they are going to form a new anti-flashing task force.
They come out and announce this.
And I want you to know, Rainn Wilson broke so hard throughout this scene.
Jenna, I think we did like 15 or 16 takes.
Do you remember what line he could not get through?
Because I will never forget it.
I'll never forget it.
And it's on the bloopers.
It's so good.
Say it, Jenna.
So he says that we should install floodlights in the parking lot.
Yeah.
And then he says, I know what you're thinking.
Won't that just shed more light on the penises?
We could not get through that line.
When I was rewatching and I heard him say it again, I was like, that line is so genius and absurd.
I know.
Sorry, it just cracks me up.
And all of it, all of it was so perfect.
And then him having to say...
Pam, you can draw.
Get with Phallus.
You're like, Phallus?
Phyllis, sorry.
I just have penises on the brain.
And then Jim's like to camera, this whole moment is just so beautifully written and performed.
Yes.
And the other thing that led to the absurdity of it is that you're expecting Dwight to have horrible ideas.
But his ideas start off really good.
Smart.
This idea of floodlights, this idea of extra security cameras.
And I remember being directed to give a look to Phyllis like reassuring, like hey, they're not going to totally mess this up.
And then it just gets weird and so funny.
Yeah.
He starts out so well.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, my gosh.
Well, so Pam is going to meet up with Phyllis and she's going to make a sketch, except that Phyllis can't really remember any details.
And Pam's like, it's fine.
I just don't feel like answering the phone.
Yeah.
But then Karen enters and now we get Dwight's weird list of ideas.
So like what he was announcing originally is what the business park was planning to do.
To help the situation.
And now we're getting Dwight's mandate.
Yeah.
Dwight's mandate is basically lock up the women.
And get rid of all the bananas.
Yeah.
What is happening?
Yes.
He starts saying that like.
The women have to dress a certain way.
They have to wear sleeves down to their wrists, muted colors.
And Pam is like, no one dresses like that.
And then the camera swings over to Angela, which is a very funny moment.
That was in the script.
I remember this was one of those moments Jenna, that it looks simple, but it was very choreographed because the B camera had to find me and zoom in right.
And it's a quick, it's a very quick whip over and it had to, you know, be in focus.
So That's a really tiny moment, but it was very thought out exactly where I would stand.
And it was all timed off of your line.
And I want you to know since we're talking about what I have on that at eight minutes 28 seconds is when you see my outfit that our wardrobe designer, Carrie Bennett, and I had so much fun.
We were giddy when she got the script and it said I would be wearing this like cat sweater and this outfit.
We just couldn't wait.
And I tried on all these different sweaters.
This is the one we picked.
And you can't really tell, but each of the cat is very different and distinct.
And one of the cats on the sweater had a beaded purse that it was carrying.
One of the other cats had like earmuffs, but the earmuffs were like poofy, you know?
Wow.
Yeah.
I wish I still had that sweater.
I talked to Carrie about where did she shop for you?
Where did she She said that a lot of your sweaters and your floofy blouses were vintage.
That's true.
That is true.
And there was no double for them.
There was just one.
Yeah.
And it would make her a little nervous because if you spilled coffee on it or something she was going to be in trouble.
But that was how she found these weird little items.
And also, she said vintage clothing usually runs smaller.
And so it was fewer alterations for her, actually.
Yes, that is true.
And she would let me know when whatever sweater or blouse I had didn't have a double.
And I always made sure Jenna to change at lunch.
I never ate in my clothes because we often didn't have a match for it.
I remember that.
I also remember you.
Sometimes Angela, if we were rushing you would do this, really elaborate like napkin bib thing on the front of you.
I would.
You were so worried.
Sometimes we were rushing, for whatever reason, and I didn't have time to run to my trailer and change.
I would get like eight napkins and tuck them around my collar all the way to my armpit.
Yeah.
I looked insane.
So now the women in the office, they're really upset with Dwight, right?
These rules are ridiculous.
Yeah.
And Michael comes out.
He's upset with Dwight.
He's like, you know what?
Women's appreciating meeting in the conference room.
He's qualified to appreciate women.
Because he came from a woman.
Yeah.
He has slept with more than one woman.
Less than three.
Well, that's not accurate information.
Yeah. he says.
But also, he just knows the crap out of women, Angela.
I know.
What women need is R-E-S-P-C-T.
That's what they need.
Phyllis's face when he says that is so amazing.
She gets this little look that washes over her face like, huh?
Fan question from Taylor Seagraves and Jenna Aldridge.
When Michael spells out respect, was that improv or scripted?
It was scripted that he spelled it out correctly.
And then every take he would do it differently.
We couldn't get through it.
This was another moment.
That's what Steve would do, though.
You know, he was like the comedy assassin.
He would like take it as it was written and then he would play around with it.
And you could never know what he was going to do.
And it made it so hard to keep a straight face.
Yes.
Also during the scene, Angela Dwight is eating a banana.
Yeah.
And this is one of the ones he's taken from the kitchen.
Kath from GiveMeMyRemotecom noted in her blog that Rain had to eat a new banana every time we started over a new take.
And we did a lot of takes of this scene.
She asked Rain on set that day how it was to eat all the bananas.
And he said it was making him sick and he may never eat another banana again.
It turned on him.
That would happen.
Yeah.
And he made a big choice early on, which was to devour the banana, which was a very, very funny choice.
And he had to repeat it then.
But that is how he made Dwight eat.
Rain, you did this to yourself.
Let's not forget the pancakes.
And then we have a candy bar coming up.
Dwight does nothing half-assed.
If he's going to eat something, he eats it.
Yeah, that's true.
Sorry, I'm yelling at you.
I like it.
Bring it on.
I'm getting very worked up by how Dwight eats.
Well, now the meeting is underway in the conference room.
Michael is perched on his chair like a bird.
Nine minutes, 36 seconds.
How does Steve sit like this?
I don't know.
How does he do it?
He just finds the most awkward ways to sit and stand.
And it's so funny.
Well, he apologizes for all of the men who didn't take this seriously.
Creed still doesn't understand what the big deal is.
But Michael explains no one likes being flashed.
It's not just women.
When Meredith flashed him during the Christmas party, he was sick.
He hated it.
Yeah.
But listen.
He also wants us to know that a penis in the right context is the most wonderful sight for a woman.
But in the wrong context, it's like a monster movie.
I have a question for you.
When Dwight goes alien, blah, and Michael's like, shut it, shut up.
Was that improvised?
Oh my God, I don't know.
Do you want me to look it up?
I do, because I remember Rain as Dwight messing around and I just didn't know if that was him being an idiot and it got to stay in.
Well, let me see.
How should I find this in this document?
I'm thinking I should...
Put in the word penis.
Oh, God.
And see.
Oh, there's so many.
So many.
Oh, boy.
I'm opening up some snacks.
Your grandma would not have liked this word search right now.
No.
Oh, all right.
Okay, I found it.
So after Michael said that, Dwight was supposed to say Freddy Krueger.
Okay, I remember this.
I remember that Rain kept doing these alts that he was kind of making up in the moment.
And that alien one was not one that was scripted.
I was pretty sure, but I wanted to see.
You were right.
This is a random tangent.
Okay.
Have you ever been flashed?
Well, I've spent a lot of time in New York City and I've seen a lot of penises on the street and on the subway, but I've never been directly flashed.
What about you?
Oh, I mean, listen, women out there listening, they're just creepers.
And I mean, I have been flashed.
One, I was waiting for the tube in London.
I was in college and doing a semester abroad.
And my friend and I, We're standing there and this old man, I'm talking in his 70s.
It was like if you saw it in a movie, you'd be like, oh, it's too on the nose.
He literally had on a khaki trench coat.
He was 70.
Oh.
And he opened up his trench coat and was totally naked and wiggled around his old man penis.
And we were like, oh, my God.
It was so crazy to me because.
It looked like something out of a cartoon.
I was like, this can't be real.
Old dude, khaki coat, flasher in a subway.
Come on.
You know, flashing is considered a sexual assault.
And statistically many young and underage women that is their sort of first experience with a sexual assault is flashing.
Is men flashing their penises?
And it's horrible.
It's freaking horrible.
I was young, so I just went, ah.
And then years later, I was flashed and I literally yelled, knock it off.
But why do we have to deal with that?
I don't know.
Why do women have to deal with that?
Like, I don't have enough to do in my day.
I also have to tell you not to flash me.
Yeah.
I have to tell you to get your penis out of my face.
I'm busy.
I don't have time for that shit.
I don't have time for your old man penis.
No, I don't.
For reals.
You know what I mean?
My grandmother would have turned us off, Jenna.
This podcast.
I feel like your grandma would be on my side on this one.
Oh, for sure.
I'd like your grandma and I to go around and talk to some flashers.
Oh, she would let them have it.
Well, let's see.
Sorry, I got us off on a tangent.
But I was just like, hey, I've been flashed.
I wonder if Jenna has.
Most women have been flashed.
Yeah.
That's the problem.
Yeah.
And you know what?
By the way, I just want to say the unsolicited dick pic text is the modern day flashing.
Oh, yes.
If a woman doesn't ask to see your dick, don't send a pic.
Yeah.
It's not difficult.
Yeah.
Truly.
Truly.
It's like, why does it need to be said?
Oh, my God.
You got me all amped up.
I'm sorry.
I just am realizing I've never gotten a dick pic.
What?
Honestly, I've never gotten a dick pic either.
We're old.
We're old.
We've been flashed.
We haven't had dick pics.
We've been flashed, but young ladies get dick pics.
Okay.
Where were we?
Where we are is that Michael is angry at society.
He says that the problem is that the media portrays women as being skinny, tall goddesses which, if you look around the office, they clearly are not in real life.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Even the prettiest ones are, what does he say?
Not that thin or something.
Jennifer, you're just like, hey, what the heck?
No, people ask us that all the time if we were personally offended by jokes at our expense.
And No, I don't know.
Is it just because in comedy you're so often asked to be self-deprecating, or you just have a good sense of humor?
I don't know.
I thought it was funny.
Yeah, I mean, same with me.
I'm always like some size joke, you know.
And it also just never really felt personal.
I don't know.
It didn't.
The joke is that he's saying something he shouldn't say, right?
Yeah.
Well, Karen tells Michael he's being misogynistic and Michael is like, thank you.
Thank you.
Yes.
And she's like, no, I'm saying you're being sexist.
He's like, no, I'm not.
I'm being misogynistic.
And she's like, oh, my God.
And then and then the women just start to really call him out.
Phyllis is like, Michael, when I got my haircut short, you said I look like a lesbian.
And Angela's like, yeah.
And you always think we're on our periods if we get upset.
But that's because he needs to know if he should take you seriously or not.
No, there's a lot of issues.
There's a lot of issues.
Well, Karen and Angela want to get back to work, but Michael says he knows what the problem is.
The problem is they're in too masculine of an environment to really bond and heal.
He needs to take them to the mall.
Yeah, he needs to take the women to a place where they can heal.
And that's a shopping mall.
Yes.
We see a series of talking heads.
Karen, she still thinks all of this idea of going to the mall is insulting, but she had some items to return.
I have a talking head that I say that malls are just awful and humiliating.
They're just store after store of these horrible salespeople making a big fuss out of an adult shopping in a junior section.
And I improvised the last line of this talking head.
You did?
I did.
I did.
I said, there are petite adults who are sort of smaller who need to wear maybe a kid size 10.
Lady, I've been to Target with you and gone shopping.
Yeah.
And you shop in the junior section.
I do.
I shop in the kids section.
And for a long time, I was a kid size 10.
I remember you couldn't find a pair of jeans that didn't have like a rainbow applique on the pocket.
Yeah.
All your clothes.
All my clothes had a butterfly or something on it.
I am no longer a kid-sized tin.
Well, there you go.
Okay, so Pam has now finished her sketch of the flasher and hands it over to Dwight.
Yes, and he is thrilled.
She's like, listen, Phyllis got a good look.
This is accurate.
Dwight starts making copies of this flyer, which reads, This man is a pervert.
And the picture is very clearly Dwight with no glasses and a mustache.
Lady, I saved one of these flyers from that week.
And I have it.
I have one of the original ones that Rain is holding up as Dwight.
And I love it.
It makes me laugh.
I have it in my scrapbook bin.
Speaking of, I've started scrapbooking.
I saw on your Instagram stories.
You put your kids to work on that.
They were very excited.
They loved it.
It made me happy.
It's a great idea.
Well listen, if you look on this poster, there is a phone number, a 1-800 number, for the anti-flashing task force.
This was a real phone number.
And after the episode, you could call it and you would get a message from Dwight.
And I have what the message said.
I love this.
Read it, Jenna.
You have reached Dwight K Schrute, commander of the Lackawanna County Anti-Flashing Task Force and regional manager of Dunder Mifflin.
If you have information leading to the capture and or castration of this pervert, press one.
If this is the flasher, let's talk.
You need a friend right now and I can help you.
Just tell me where you want to meet and I promise to help you with whatever it is you need.
Thank you and have a nice day.
Oh, and if you are inquiring about any of our paper products and would like a catalog, please press two.
Finally, if anyone not the flasher is interested in a kick-ass 1985 maroon Firebird, I could be persuaded to sell mine.
Please press one for that too.
And people called it.
A lot of people called that number.
Here's an interesting trivia tidbit.
That is the same phone number as Vance Refrigeration.
Oh, yes.
Yes, when we've seen the Vance Refrigeration phone number.
Yep.
Well, listen, lady, before we head out to the mall, maybe we should take a break.
Let's take a break, because then we're getting into Meredith's van and we're going to need to talk about it.
Yeah.
Yeah.
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Okay, we are back and all the ladies are off to the mall with Michael in Meredith's really fantastic van.
Yeah, she's driving, but also eating potato chips and littering.
I do want you all to know that we had a van following behind us and their job was to pick up the bag.
It would go out the car and they had to pick up the bag.
So we, in fact, did not litter.
That is incredible.
Yeah.
We had a fan question about the van from Nikki Lawrence.
How did they decide the order in which you all sat in Meredith's van?
Was it planned out or did you just sit wherever?
Well, I know that I sat in the front seat because I get car sick and I know that they planned it that way.
But I went to the script and here is what it said about the van.
Okay.
It said, The van is strewn with takeout containers and the dashboard is lit with every warning light imaginable.
Michael sits in the middle seat of the middle row between Kelly and Phyllis.
Karen and Angela are in the back row.
Michael watches the girls talk as if he's Jane Goodall observing apes.
That was the script direction for our van placement.
So it was planned.
But lady, when I read this, You can't see it in the episode.
But do you remember how filthy the inside of that van was?
Jenna, it was so crazy.
The props department went all out.
You could not see the floorboard.
That's how much stuff they threw into that van.
It literally looked like someone had lived in there for years.
There were takeout containers.
There were like food items that had been half eaten or made to look half eaten.
Sitting next to me in the seat was a half eaten chocolate chip cookie.
On the seat next to me.
And when we would get in, we would step and like kind of turn our ankles on all these weird things.
Pieces of clothing, like a broken like old phone, like just everything you could imagine.
It looked like someone dumped a trash can in the floorboard.
Well, another thing they did, and I don't know if you remember this, Ange.
But as a joke they thought it would be really funny if they put all of these air fresheners in the front of her car.
So like Meredith wouldn't clean out her car.
She would just add another air freshener.
And they were dangling from the rearview mirror.
They were all over the dashboard.
Yes, they were all over the front of the car.
Just the front where Kate and I were sitting, and the fumes from these air fresheners were making us sick.
You were getting a headache and you kept being like, gosh, guys, I keep getting a headache.
You know, while we were filming in the van, I was in the way back with half eaten food.
I couldn't smell the air fresheners.
I remember there was all of a sudden this moment where you and Kate were like, oh my God, it's these air fresheners.
There's like 15 of them.
And here's the thing.
You couldn't even see them.
So they were like, oh, we don't even see those in the shot.
We can just take those out.
So they took them out and then we were fine.
It's too bad you couldn't see the hard work that the crew did to make that van look so junky inside.
Yeah, it was a work of art.
Jenna, there's one thing in the DVD commentary about the scene where Meredith is eating the potato chips.
She just dumps them on her face from the bag and throws the bag out.
In the DVD commentary, you said you kept laughing and laughing and laughing.
You couldn't keep a straight face.
And they actually used a different reaction shot of you from a different moment in the van because they never got a clean one of you.
I was probably jealous, too, because I really like those sour cream and onion chips.
You do love sour cream and onion.
You and my daughter.
Isabel loves them.
I do, too.
I can't keep them in the house.
It'll just be cheddar bunnies all over again.
Oh, no.
So now we're back at Dunder Mifflin.
And this is such a quirky little storyline where Kevin comes up to Jim and says would you like to join me in the women's bathroom.
I thought this was so funny because I just so believe this curiosity of like what's it like on the other side over there?
You know, I mean, I've been in a men's room and like it's disgusting.
Disgusting.
So gross.
Like I've been like somewhere like a Starbucks like a year ago or so.
And there's a line for the women's room.
And like I my daughter really, really had to go.
And there was no one in the men's room.
So I was like, listen, we'll just go quickly.
And you go in the men's room and it's like, what is going on in there?
Another thing I'd like to say is that, you know, there are a lot of fathers with daughters that.
And they are actively parenting their children and they go places and their kids need to use the bathroom.
And by the way, their little boys need to sit down too.
Can we keep our bathrooms clean, guys?
Can we keep them a little cleaner so that dads can take their kids to the bathroom and it's not totally disgusting?
Jenna is just asking two things, guys.
No dick pics.
No unsolicited.
If a lady asks for your dick pic...
Send fire away.
Go for it.
Fire away.
I don't know why that's making me laugh.
But yeah, and keep your toilets tidy.
So yes, Kevin is curious.
He wants to go in the women's room and he goes in.
He's like, oh my God, you got to see this.
There's like a sofa.
There's potpourri.
There's candles.
There's like a nice lamp, you know, magazines.
Do you blame us?
This is our only sanctuary away from Michael.
We've had to do this in this office.
It's the one place he cannot come speak to us.
So we've created, I believe, a sanctuary.
Oh, yeah.
Well, I have to tell you, this bathroom, the woman's bathroom set, this is a non-working bathroom.
None of the sinks and toilets actually worked.
When we weren't using them.
I was always bummed about that, by the way.
Because they were so conveniently located to our set, but they weren't real.
The actual bathrooms were much further away.
And I always wished our fake toilets and sinks worked.
You know they used to put signs on the toilets warning visitors that they were fake and not hooked up to any plumbing.
Yes.
And I feel like those signs were made because someone didn't know.
They had to deal with that moment.
They did.
Yuck.
That's true.
A visitor used our fake toilet.
Can you imagine if you're a big fan of The Office and you get to come to set and get a tour and you're just giddy.
You're so happy to see all these characters that you love and you're the visitor that took a dump in the fake toilet on set?
Who was that person?
That person knows who they are.
And that's why we had to make signs and tape up the toilets.
Oh.
Okay, sorry.
Well, also, I want to say that the bathroom didn't look like this before this episode.
They had to build this little set.
They did.
I mean, pretty much these fake bathrooms were really small.
And when they weren't being used, they were storage.
They were like closets.
Yeah, the crew would keep like their stands and lights and things behind those bathroom doors.
Yeah.
Well, this scene that they have in the bathroom, they're kind of just chit chatting.
And Jim says that he's going out to dinner for his six month anniversary with Karen.
And I have a question.
Do we celebrate our six month anniversary of dating?
Are we doing that?
I think you do if things aren't going well.
That's what I was going to say.
Yeah.
You mark the occasion of your six month dating anniversary when you need something to celebrate because it's been difficult.
Yeah, because you're like, we made it six months and this will mean a lot to her.
So let's celebrate it.
I had that same thought.
I was cracking up in the scene because Ryan clearly doesn't know what potpourri is.
Is he going to eat it?
He's playing with it.
He's fidgeting.
And it's also awkward.
He sent Karen this email and Jim's like, yes, she read it to me.
It's so cringy and just so well done.
But I couldn't help but watch BJ playing with that potpourri.
I agree.
Well, back at the mall, Meredith is parking the van and she is.
She's just crashing into a car next to her.
Jenna, in the DVD commentary, they said we really did that.
We really, really scraped up an actual car.
No, not one that we didn't own.
No, we owned it.
But still, they were going to see if they could cheat it where it looked really tight.
But you can't cheat that shot.
And just put in like a sound effect or something.
Yes, they were going to put in a sound effect and see if maybe we could just cheat.
But you couldn't.
You could see it too clearly.
So they just let Kate actually do that.
Kate Flannery, there was no stunt driver, wedged that van and scraped up that car.
And then we had to pay for the damages.
But it was our car.
It was like a picture car, as they call it.
Yeah, our sort of prop car.
Well, when we get into the mall, we're up in the food court.
And you remember, lady, it was like 7 a.m., And it was so early.
And I just watched this scene.
You talk about Ryan playing with the potpourri.
And I was just watching this, being so impressed that Rashida committed to eating those chips at 7 am.
I was like, you go.
I remember really wishing we had soda.
Like I was like, oh, I'd give anything for a Coca-Cola or something because it was so early.
But those cups just had water in them.
And I was like, oh, dang it.
I could use some caffeine.
I remember being very jealous of Mindy's Cinnabon.
Yes.
And I'm just reading The Electric City the whole time, which is an actual Scranton newspaper.
Yes.
Well, I also want to note that in this scene, Michael says ladies, let's dish about anything on your mind.
And then I counted.
There is a 15 second moment of silence.
I love that.
I love when our show does that.
I know.
And he breaks the silence by asking what a pap smear is.
And then also, is it schmear?
Growing up as a young woman, it was a little unclear to me if it was smear or schmear.
I had no idea.
It's smear.
Pap smear.
Pap smear.
Yeah.
And if this has been haunting anyone else, it is not schmear like the cream cheese on a bagel.
Yeah.
They smear it after they pap it.
That's right.
Pam changes the subject to Kelly and Ryan, but that doesn't really go anywhere.
And then Michael starts asking them about role play.
And this is when he, I guess, it becomes clear that he and Jan do role play where he is the school girl.
But also apparently so does Phyllis.
Phyllis is like, yeah, it can be fun.
Phyllis is very... She's certainly not disapproving of the idea.
No, she's not.
Angela, however, is like, I'm out of here.
I'm going to the doll store.
Yeah.
She's like, I don't need to sit here and listen to Michael talk about his sex life with Jan.
I'm out.
Yeah.
Now, Angela, there is a big scene coming up now, and then you're not in it.
What were you doing?
Were you just back in your trailer?
I kind of remember sitting by the...
The pretzel place, the Auntie Anne's pretzel place.
I thought it was a Wetzel's pretzel.
Yes.
Is it an Auntie Anne's?
It's one of those.
Well, in this scene, we ask Michael to make a list of pros and cons for why he is with Jan.
And one of his cons is I'm not happy when I'm with her.
And we we all kind of like help him hear that.
Right.
We're like, Michael.
I think you should break up with Jan.
And he's not sure.
And Phyllis is like, no thinking.
What do you want to do?
And Michael says, I want to break up with Jan.
I want to break up with Jan.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like this is like a great little moment that Phyllis has.
And I've done stuff like this.
Jenna, haven't you?
Haven't you, like had a moment where you're like you have a lot of feelings about something and you're trying to make sense of them and you just are like okay, quiet my mind.
How does this make me feel?
If I'm having a hard time making a decision, it could be a big thing or a small thing.
I'll get out a coin and let's make it a small thing.
Let's be like, I wanna buy this new couch, but I can't decide.
So heads is buy the couch and tails is don't buy the couch.
I don't let the coin decide, but what I do is I flip it and then I note my reaction to the answer.
Because usually you kind of do care, yes or no.
So if I flip it and it says, no, don't buy the couch and I feel relieved, then I have my answer.
But if it says no, don't buy the couch, and I'm disappointed and I'm like oh, two out of three, that means I want to buy the couch.
Right.
Did that make sense?
It does make sense.
I feel like I always know.
I always know pretty much how I feel about something in the moment.
I don't have to like break down how I feel about it.
It's very clear to me.
And it's easy for you to make decisions.
Yes.
Even with breakups and relationships.
Well, here's the thing about relationships.
Sometimes you know, but it takes you a while before you can say it out loud because of the ramifications.
Right.
But I think you always know.
Well, I think the women really helped Michael know, and he is very excited.
And to thank them for helping him, he's going to buy each one of them an item from Victoria's Secret.
It's what we all wanted.
Yeah.
And then there is a talking head that Lee Eisenberg, the writer of this episode, said is one of his favorite things he got to write for Steve, because Steve's delivery is so great.
It's the one where he says most guys want their women in high heels, with cleavage and wearing skimpy little outfits.
I'm paraphrasing, obviously, but that he thinks a woman looks best absolutely naked.
He just said when he heard Steve deliver the end of that talking head, he so nailed it.
It was like it was like a gymnast sticking the landing.
Yeah, totally.
Well, Jenna, here's one quick thing.
There are deleted scenes for this episode.
And there's some really great ones.
But one that I found sort of curious and fun is that all the women go into the Victoria's Secrets except for Pam and Angela.
They hang back outside in the mall.
And there's a beat where you and I look at each other and we don't really say anything.
And we're like, I guess.
And then we both walk in.
Well, that's very interesting because we had a fan catch from Sophia Lee.
And this is one of those moments Ange at 20 minutes 10 seconds, you and I are way back in the background of Steve's talking head and we're just walking together through Victoria's Secret.
I feel like we didn't know we were on camera and we're just shopping.
We were just sort of being chatty in the background.
Totally.
That tracks.
Should we go back to the ladies lounge at Dunder Mifflin?
Yes.
And I have one of my favorite lines from this episode and it's Toby, and Paul Lieberstein totally crushes it.
Kevin's like, we should do this more often, guys.
This is great.
And Toby goes, I think we hang out an appropriate amount of time.
Yeah.
It's so good.
It's so good.
And then, at 20 minutes 35 seconds, we have a major old tech alert when Creed enters the bathroom with a Walkman.
With a yellow waterproof Walkman.
Do you remember those?
I owned one.
I owned one.
They were the best.
Do you remember the little gray buttons, though, would pop off?
Yep.
Yep.
And you'd have to wedge them back in.
But it was fun.
And why did we need a waterproof Walkman?
Well, the idea was that you were going to get so sweaty while you were working out.
But I mean, really?
Okay.
Well, I guess also Brian Baumgartner told me that when Creed would enter the bathroom with that Walkman and be completely stunned and horrified that other people were in there, it would make everyone crack up.
And they had a really, really hard time just getting that, just getting Creed in the room.
They could not get Creed in.
I loved Creed's talking head too, because he's listening to music while he's doing the talking head.
So he's sort of like yelling over the music he's listening to.
Yes.
And I think it's pretty on brand that Creed would go poo in the women's restroom.
You know those people, Jenna.
You know those people.
We've had roommates.
The roommate that goes and takes a dump in your bathroom instead of theirs, that's Creed.
Well, now, Ange, we go back to the mall.
Angela and Michael are sitting and I love the scene so much.
Michael is dying for Angela to pick something out that he can buy her.
He has a line where he says, can I please buy you some underwear?
Yeah, so you guys, Steve wanted me to break.
He was 100% messing with me.
And I'd been given a very strict note from Tucker Gates and Lee and Jean that they really did not want Angela to entertain him at all.
So I had to sit there very stoic as Steve as Michael just got to throw these lines at me.
And there's a few in the bloopers because it was really hard to keep it together.
And Steve was just having a great time.
I watched the bloopers for this and there is a great line that didn't make it.
Is it because I started laughing?
Yeah.
But Steve went on to improvise something along the lines of like pretend it's Christmas and I'm Santa.
Santa would like to buy you some panties.
Yes.
And I started laughing so hard.
Oh, that was very hard for me to get through.
And I feel like Steve just started making up things.
He's like, want a teabag?
And I was like, I don't even know what that is.
Well, Pam has a talking head where she explains that she's between boyfriends right now.
She doesn't need anything sexy.
So she's going to buy a robe and just turn it into some hand towels.
I thought that was really industrious of her.
I thought I thought it was ridiculous.
I'm like, Pam, just get a pair of comfy sweatpants.
Right.
That's true.
Right.
And, you know, just go buy some wash rags.
Wow.
We have very different responses to this talking head.
I was offended.
I love a good bathrobe.
Come on, Pam.
Don't cut it up.
All right.
Well, now Meredith is driving everyone home from the mall and her tire blows out.
Probably because she was going too fast.
I mean, how many times is my character like, slower, slower, Meredith.
Yeah, Meredith doesn't take care of her car.
That tire blows out.
Michael has no idea what to do.
He's like, Pam, maybe we need a Crescent Allen.
That's not a thing.
And Pam is like, I'll do it.
And she starts to change the tire.
We had a fan question from Megan Keel, Ciara Begley, Bethany A, Victoria Nash and Jamie Hahn saying Does Jenna really know how to change a tire?
Yes, I do.
So do I. And I've changed one on the side of the road with a friend of mine.
Same.
Yes.
My dad taught me how to change a tire.
He would make me practice and he would not let me get a car until I knew how to change a tire, check the oil and replace the fluids.
I love that our dads taught us how to handle our cars.
I just think that's so sweet.
OK.
So now we're back at the office and you guys, Jim goes to grab a yogurt and he sees Pam's sketch of Dwight and he knows it's Pam.
And I just feel like this is just a little moment between the two of them, even though they're not together.
Yeah, I just thought it was really sweet.
Well, they've purposely not had much Jim-Pam interaction for the last three episodes because, you know, next week is beach games and we're going to have a big moment.
Oh, are we?
And they really wanted that to be a surprise.
Man, I rewatched Beach Games.
I know we'll get there, but I was like, whoa, Pam.
Yeah.
But even still, they did want some little moment where you were reminded of the affection of these two characters.
And this was it.
Just him seeing the poster.
That's all you got.
Yeah.
This episode.
And it inspired him for the tag.
And we'll get to that.
I think so, too.
Yeah.
Well, something we haven't talked much about is the Andy Dwight storyline in this episode, where they're going around and they're hanging up these posters.
And Dwight is just being so condescending to Andy the whole time.
But it's very clear to Andy that this is a drawing of Dwight.
So he's going along with it.
And he takes extra flyers, says he's going to put them up all over the town.
And there is a great deleted scene, Jenna.
It's a quick moment.
But as Michael and the ladies are driving back, they come to a red light.
And Michael looks out the window and sees one of the flyers on a tree.
And he looks at it and then looks to camera and goes, idiot.
That's brilliant.
So Andy's having some fun at Dwight's expense because he's going to just plaster these everywhere.
And there's a great scene when, at 23 minutes 40 seconds, Andy shows Dwight three musketeers and goes have these.
And Dwight's like, no, hold these.
And he takes the whole thing in true Dwight fashion, just starts chomping down on it.
Well, in one of the takes, as Rain ate this candy bar this way, he choked.
I remember that!
He choked and coughed.
And they loved it so much, they were like, will you do it in every take?
That's amazing.
Well, when Michael and the women get back to the office, Michael asks Phyllis, Karen and Pam to come into his office, while he calls Jan to break up with her.
Yeah, he's like, I need my girls.
I love you guys.
Well, he gets her voicemail and he leaves a breakup message.
Oh, and Jenna, your performance as Pam is so great.
You're like, don't leave a message.
He's like, you don't want him to leave a message, but he does.
And then before he can finish it, Jan walks in.
She walks in.
Can you imagine?
I can't imagine.
And then he's just like, all right, buddy, talk to you later.
Someone just walked in.
And Phyllis and Karen and Pam, they clear the heck out of there.
They're like, we're getting out of here.
Yes.
And Jan then apologizes.
She says, I don't like how that phone call went earlier.
So I drove all the way here to say I'm sorry.
Can we get some dinner?
They awkwardly hold hands.
Such a weird moment.
So weird.
Steve's performance in this scene is so brilliant.
When she starts listening to the message and he's kind of looking off, he has this expression on his face.
It's just brilliant.
And he's just saying things like, maybe we could get Italian, Chinese.
Jan hears the breakup message and she leaves without saying a word.
Yeah.
But I went to the blogs of Jenny Tan and And Kath... What'd they have?
Well, first of all, Kath said that when they started shooting the scene, Melora had on dark colored nail polish and Greg stopped the scene because he didn't think that it fit her character and he had them change it.
Oh, wow.
And she noted how impressed she was at his attention to detail, that everything mattered.
The smallest details mattered.
And I can imagine if that nail polish was distracting to Greg.
It might be distracting to an audience member and it would take you out of the scene.
And being in this scene with these two characters was so important.
Yeah.
That would have been weird to me to see Jan with dark nail polish.
I would have been thrown by that.
Well, Jenny Tan said that while they were shooting this scene, they gave Melora and Steve the option of doing alternate endings.
And that in one, Melora threw something.
And in another one, she growled at him.
She just growled at the end.
Growled?
Growled.
And then in another one, she broke down crying.
And they were watching the taping with Jean and Lee, the writers, and Jean and Lee asked them their opinion.
And that she and Kath said that they both felt that Jan would be more mad than sad.
And they were so excited when they saw the final cut because they felt like they had a little part in picking the ending of the scene.
Well, I thought it was the perfect ending.
I also think that Jan is not going to spiral out in an office where she is everyone's superior.
Yeah, and in front of the cameras.
Oh, yeah.
I feel like once she got in her car, maybe it was a different story.
Yes.
But she wasn't going to let them see too much.
So the episode is wrapping up.
We have Michael's talking head.
And Jean and Lee said this was actually a series of three talking heads that they meshed together.
And then they had all this B-roll when he's like he wished for Jan to get over him and Phyllis to get a plasma TV.
For Pam to get courage and Angela to get a heart and Kelly to get a brain.
Yeah.
All of these moments.
I just loved it.
I thought it was like such a great way to wrap up the episode.
And now Jenna, let's discuss the tag.
This is amazing.
Lee Eisenberg told me that it was actually Randall Einhorn who pitched this tag.
Yes.
Who, who pitched the idea of the Sharpie on the mirror, right?
Yes.
So in this tag, Jim calls the sex predator hotline.
He has information.
Dwight answers the phone.
And Kath noted in her blog that it took Rain six takes to get out the line.
Dunder Mifflin slash sex predator hotline.
This is Dwight Schrute.
He had a really hard time saying it like because it was making them laugh.
And Jim tells Dwight that he saw the perp in the woman's bathroom above the sink.
And this is Jim and Pam having a prank with each other without even knowing it.
They're just missing each other.
Because Dwight runs in the bathroom, he looks in the mirror and this was Randall's pitch that there would be a little Sharpie mustache and Dwight would take off his glasses and realize that he is the person on the flyer.
It's so great.
It's so great.
You know, I think it would have been funny without the Sharpie, but the Sharpie nails it.
The Sharpie makes it.
So that was a phenomenal idea by Randall Einhorn.
Well, that was women's appreciation.
Do you guys feel like you appreciate women more?
I hope so.
I had two things I was tracking, Jenna, and I feel like I should share them with you now.
Please.
First of all, Pam's plant at reception.
There's not.
It's not a new container.
I'm sure the plant is new, but we have recycled a container.
Which one is it this week?
It is the indigo purple one with polka dots.
Callback plant container.
I know, riveting you guys, but I'm obsessed.
The other thing I tracked, sorry to parents with children listening, maybe earmuffs.
Here is our penis count.
Oh, great.
So this is the actual times we say the word penis, not all of the other ways we talk about it, because we talk about it in a lot of different ways in this episode.
Okay.
Michael says penis twice and Dwight says penis four times.
We actually only say the word penis six times in the whole episode.
See, so if your grandma hadn't turned this off, she would have only had to hear it five more times.
Didn't matter.
Didn't want to hear it one time.
Click off.
Finished.
Well, and now we're finished.
But we'll be back next week with Beach Games.
Beach Games is so great.
And Jen Salata is going to send in some audio clips.
She has some phenomenal stories.
I can't wait.
Can't wait.
We'll see you then.
See you guys.
Have a great one.
Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.
This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf.
Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.
Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins, and our audio engineer and associate producer is Molly Nugent.
Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis.
Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Schultz.
Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.
