Free Family Portrait Studio 01:16:01

Pulling up to Mickey D's just for drinks. Oh, yeah, that's me. Nothing extra, just perfection and a straw. Coming in hot for the coldest cups on the block. Because there are drinks. Then there are drinks from McDonald's. Mix things up with any size lemonade or sweet tea for $1.49. Perfect with our classic fries. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

Hello, Office Ladies family. Before we get started with today's episode, we have some sad news to share. We do. Our hearts are broken and our dear Phil Shea has passed away.

We just wanted to share that news with you because he was a part of our office family. He was a part of our office ladies family. I was just in touch with Phil recently. We were trading some text messages about Pam's chore wheel. And something I can tell you is just how much he loved sharing his passion for

his work with everyone. And he loved that you all took such an interest in all of his props and all of his work. And it was his pride and joy. And we're so happy that we got to share it with you. Yes. When I ran into him a few months ago, he told me how much it meant to him that

people on Office Ladies knew his name, knew what he did. So thank you for being part of our office family. And we will miss Phil very much. We will. We love you, Phil. Love you.

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. Hello. You guys, guess what I was just doing. As our theme song comes on, we listen to it every time we record. Is that dorky? It is dorky. It is dorky. But it gets me in the mood. Me too. And it makes me excited to hop on here and talk about The Office. So we listen to our theme song with you guys. And this morning, I decided to dance. I did a little dance. She did. We do that sometimes. Sometimes we mouth the words. Sometimes we do. My dance this morning was two fingers where you're like going...

Yeah, I did a little shimmy. You did. You shimmied the ladies. I shimmied the ladies today. And I'm glad we did it. Yeah. Because... Oh, boy. Uh-oh. That's a big sigh. Today, we're completing Season 8. Yeah, this is it. This is the last episode of Season 8. It's Season 8, Episode 24. It's called Free Family Portrait Studio. Yeah.

It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by B.J. Novak. He was wearing a lot of hats. On this last week of 24 episodes, poor B.J., he must have been so tired. I mean, we were all tired, but I think B.J. must have been super tired. This was also my birthday week. Oh, yeah. My birthday happened in this week. I bet you were tired on your birthday. I was tired on my birthday. Yeah.

Oh, but we did the cutest thing for my birthday during this week. We were filming over March 7th, which is my birthday. And you guys got me a cake, which was really, really sweet. Oh, yeah. And Lee brought my son up to set for the cake and the singing, which was so adorable. And we were doing talking heads at that time. That's what we were set up to do. And so we put my son in the talking head chair. That's adorable. And they filmed a little bit of him.

I know. And I just wrote to Dave Rogers and asked him if there was any way that he could find that footage. Because that memory came back to me when I was watching this episode. So he's going to look for it. Somebody has that footage, and somebody at NBC also has when Creed and Ed sang Angela's Baby to Me. We want these things. Someone at NBC. I know. Get it to us. I just sounded so Southern. You did. Get it to us. Dang it.

Are you ready for a summary? I am. Last summary of season eight. Are we going to do this the whole episode? I'm going to do it the whole season nine, so just get ready. Oh, no. Okay, here's your summary. In an effort to prove his paternity once and for all, Dwight sets up a portrait studio in the office for all of the employees.

He's hoping to steal some of baby Phillip's DNA for testing. Yeah. Andy pretends to be down and out, but he has a secret plan to become manager again thanks to David Wallace. I loved when Nellie calls him like a drunken chimney sweep. Such a good description. Robert California reveals his true identity after Joe Bennett dissolves Sabre, and Daryl makes his intentions clear with Val.

It's a lot happening. Yeah. I have lots to say about their impromptu photo shoot. We'll get to it. Oh, we got a lot of mail about it, Anne. Uh-huh. Yeah. Are you ready for the last Fast Fact number one of season eight? I mean, I guess so. Here it is. Like we said, this was our season eight finale, and it marked a number of goodbyes.

We mentioned that BJ Novak wrote and directed this episode. This was his last episode as a writer on The Office. He'd been with us since the very beginning.

This was also Mindy Kaling's last episode as a writer. She left to start her own show, The Mindy Project. I remember just at the time being like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You guys can't go. It felt like we were losing our core team that built and defined the whole show. I call them the originals. The OGs. That's what kids say. They say the OG. Oh, not the originals? No.

So, you know, Mindy and BJ are going to appear as actors a couple times in season nine, but this ended their time as writers and regulars on the show. And then Paul Lieberstein was also stepping down as showrunner after this season. Yeah.

There was a lot of discussion about who might step into the showrunner position. I dare say there was hubbub, lady. Oh, I think that is accurate. Yes. Hubbub. Hubbub about the originals. Yes. Leaving. Well, I remember John and I went over to BJ's trailer.

And we asked him to please consider taking the showrunner position for season nine. We told him nobody else knew the show as well as he did. We were very, what would you call it, passionate. Yes, you guys wanted him to stay. And he said yes.

No. He said no. Yeah. I could tell he was really touched, but he said he felt really burnt out. He needed to move on. Well, I can understand that. I know. And when you're writing and creating, you can't be in a space where you're burnt out. No. Another goodbye, James Spader. Yes. He was moving on. You know, he'd really just agreed to do the one season. Right. So we were saying goodbye to him after this episode. We also say goodbye to Saber.

Goodbye, Saber. Yeah, Saber's no more. Sabre. So we had a lot of goodbyes. Mm-hmm. But we also had a lot of, oh, hellos. Oh, okay. Hello. Oh, hello. Hello.

again, Senator Lipton. Yes. Hey there, David Wallace. Yes. Oh, hi, Jerry Minor is Val's boyfriend, Brandon. Hi there, Warehouse fellas. Now, Hiday and Calvin Tenor is Hiday and Glenn. I'm sorry, is this oh, hello, or is it hi there? Because, oh, you pivoted. It's all. It's oh, hello. Hi there. Hi there. Oh, good to see you again.

Top of the morning to you. That's right. Good to see you again, Mike Schur as Mose, who we haven't seen in a real long time. Yes. Oh, is that section done? That section's done. Okay. Oh, hello, hi there is done. Yes. And the goodbyes are done. Okay. In fact, I'm moving on to Fast Fact number two. Oh, let's do it. I'm calling Fast Fact number two,

Reflections. Oh, gosh. And you did like the whisper voice. Reflections. Reflections with office ladies. We got a fan question from Allison W. in Dallas, Texas, who asked, now that you've watched eight seasons of the show, what is your favorite episode so far? I thought that question might kick off our reflections. Well, it's a fantastic question from Allison. What's up, Big D? Love Dallas.

Just thought I would just say that. Shout out Dallas. Shout out Dallas. Gosh, Jenna, that's one of those thinking questions. I gave it some thought. I sent it to you. We thought on it, Allison. We thought on it. We sure did. It has been a really wild ride watching this show again. I've just loved it.

I've really gained a deeper appreciation as a fan. Yeah. And I have to say, there are so many episodes that surprised me, that I had completely forgotten about. Or there were some that I totally changed my opinion about after we rewatched them. Give us an example. Mafia. Okay. I remember when we filmed it, I thought it was so broad and so silly. Right. I thought, this is ridiculous. Yes.

As a viewer, I just absolutely loved it. It's one of my favorites now. Yeah. I have really enjoyed watching the show evolve. But if I have to be honest, and this is what you do when you're reflecting. You just did that thing where you kind of looked over the top of your glasses a little. Well, that's my lawyer look. That's when you know I'm serious. Okay, serious. I thought season eight was a little clunky for you.

I know that we were trying to find our way after Steve left, and I think you can. Well, you're doing that thing where you say something you don't think is 100% going to be received well, and you whisper it. Yeah, I think here's... It's your bless her heart. It's my bless her heart. Yeah. I mean, season eight, bless its heart. Bless its heart. I think it started...

Well, I would say I think it's ending like feeling like... It ends strong. Ends strong, yeah. Turf War and Free Family Portrait Studio. We feel like we're back in the zone there, I think. But I think we took a real crazy detour around Pool Party. Oh, yeah. And then things got real kind of spotty. That said, I do think there are a lot of wonderful moments in season eight that are truly classic. Yeah.

Big pregs, little pregs. Love that. Josh Groban and Garden Party. Oh, yeah. Jerry Miner as Brandon. Perfect. Need him to be a series regular. Sad that he's not. Also, we had Unbelievable. Unbelievable bedbugs. Oh, bedbugs. We had Smug Bedbug. Yes. I thought Jim's presentation at Test the Store, I had forgotten about that. Loved it. But like I said last week, I really understand why people start over and rewatch. Yeah.

I think that the show has evolved very subtly over the many seasons, and I really want to go back and see people from before. I want to see Michael again. Yeah. I want to see old Jim. I want to see Dwight and Angela and their romance unfold again. Yeah. That's such a good point. You know...

Like you said, I have this new appreciation for the show in a way that I didn't when we were filming it, even though I was a big fan of the show when we filmed it. But now I have an appreciation of the fandom of the show. And what I mean by that is when we first started this rewatch, so many people would come up to us and tell us how many times they had watched the show all the way through. And it's many times.

I mean, you guys have really watched the show, and I realized there were so many episodes, I mean, whole seasons that I hadn't seen since they aired. Yeah. So I have this new appreciation for the fandom because, like what you were just saying, we're coming to the end of this rewatch, and I find myself just so desperately wanting to go back to season one. Me too. It's emotional, and it's comforting to go back to those seasons. Yeah.

And, you know, I was thinking about which episodes were my favorite. And I know I have my go-tos that I've always liked, like Dinner Party, things like that. Sure, sure. But in my rewatch, kind of like you with Mafia, a few that snuck up on me that I'd just forgotten about was, like, The Deposition, for example. Love it. Every moment in that deposition when Michael's being cross-examined is just hilarious. I forgot about Sconesie Cider. Oh!

And the christening, you know? But I do. I find myself wanting to go back. I want to see the first party planning committee meeting. I want to go back to all of that. Well, when we talked to Billie Eilish on the podcast, we asked her about rewatching. And I kind of think of her as a rewatch expert because she really has seen it so many times. And we asked her, do you ever skip anything? Yes.

You know, do you have favorite seasons? Will you just start with a certain thing? And she said no. She said she always goes back to the very beginning and she watches everything. Although she did say sometimes she skips Scott's Tots. Well, you know. That's the only one. That's okay. It's okay. I think I would have to skip the one about the family paper company.

Oh, yeah. That they closed down. They put out a business. Yeah. Yeah. Prince family paper. Prince family paper. That one, I couldn't take it. But, Allison, fantastic question. It clearly made Jenna and I think a lot about this rewatch and what it's meant to us. And we both want to start back at the beginning. We do. But don't worry, we will cover season nine. Yes, yes. First. Not to get ahead of ourselves. All right. Fast fact number three.

is a fan question from Curtis G. in Seattle. I didn't think there was anything else that we could learn, Angela, about, I don't know, the origins of characters or anything this long into our rewatch, but Curtis has found something that I didn't know. What? Here's what Curtis said. When I was in grad school, one of my professors was named Andy Bernard.

There was a rumor that he and Greg Daniels were friends in college and that Greg named Ed's character after him. Is it true that Andy Bernard on The Office is named after Professor Andy Bernard at Dartmouth? I would not be surprised at all because Greg liked to do that. Well, I asked Greg. What'd he say? He said, you can tell Curtis G that it is completely true that Andy Bernard on The Office is named after Professor Andy Bernard at Dartmouth. Wow.

However, Andy and I and our mutual friend Jim Halpert have been great friends since first grade. So Greg's two childhood friends are named Jim Halpert and Andy Bernard. Yeah. I knew Jim Halpert. Same. But, oh my gosh. Greg said that it was really fun for him to give the characters his old friends' names. He never thought that people would still be asking about it 20 years later. Yeah.

Greg also said the real-life Andy Bernard is at Dartmouth, which is Cornell's big rival, and that the real Andy Bernard is not much like the character of Andy Bernard. Well, I should think not. He did say he thinks the real Andy Bernard might have had one of those preppy belts with whales on them at one time in the 80s. But besides that...

Nothing else. He said the real Andy would never punch his fist through a wall. However, Greg said the real life Jim Halpert is very sociable, athletic, and romantic. Greg said he was at his wedding and his marriage was beautiful and his wife is completely Pam-worthy. He has many of the qualities that he wanted the character of Jim to have as well. Greg said when he met John Krasinski, he reminded him of the real life Jim Halpert.

Greg said they're both incredibly admirable men. Greg said that in real life, Andy Bernard is a renowned economist who studies globalization and was named by Reuters as one of the world's most influential scientific minds. Oh, my goodness. The real-life Jim Halpert works in the White House as general counsel to the national cyber director trying to write laws to protect people's security and privacy on the Internet. Okay, Greg's friends are really smart.

He said, this is why I asked them both if it was okay to share a recent photo of the three of us. Oh. And Greg said we can put it in the Office Ladies pod. Stories? Instagram stories. Oh, great. Yes. And it's the cutest picture. And I'm just imagining these three guys.

All the way back in first grade. Yeah. There's probably not a photo of that because we just didn't have cameras like we do now. But I love this friendship. What a lifelong friendship. Yeah. Oh, I love that. Thank you, Greg.

Thank you, Greg. And thank you, Curtis. Yes. And for all of you Greg Daniels fans out there, you know, season three of Upload is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. The trailer is awesome. We have to put that in our stories, Angela. And by the way, if you have not watched Upload, it is so good. It has like 93% on Rotten Tomatoes. You should definitely check it out.

Well, that's all I have for Fast Facts, lady. Should we get into our last breakdown of an episode from Season 8? Let's do it because we have a little bit of old tech that was new tech at the time. Oh, well, we'll take a break and discuss. Pulling up to Mickey D's just for drinks. Oh, yeah, that's me. Nothing extra, just perfection and a straw. Coming in hot for the coldest cups on the block.

Because there are drinks. Then there are drinks from McDonald's. Mix things up with any size lemonade or sweet tea for $1.49. Perfect with our classic fries. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. We are back and Oscar is talking directly to...

a camera on his computer. He's doing like one of those... Like a webcam. A webcam, like, you know, like one of those confessionals that folks do on YouTube now. You guys, people were not doing this yet. This was the very beginning. So this whole scene and the way the camera was set up and how Oscar's talking directly to the internet, as I call it. Yes. That wasn't really happening. And it wasn't featured very much on television. So this was a little bit of like, you know, new technology. And of course, now we look at it and we're like, oh my gosh. Yeah.

Yeah, people do it all the time. All the time. Well, I asked Steve Burgess, how did we get this shot? And he said Matt Sohn just set up one of the cameras on Oscar's desk, moved the computer out of the way, and set the camera there with this sort of special lens. And then everybody just walked over and talked into it as if it was a webcam. It's very funny. You know, Dwight and Phyllis are kind of lurking behind the

Kelly comes in and touches up her makeup. Robert then comes in and just starts talking straight to camera, takes over, headbutts Kevin, and then it all falls apart. So Oscar ultimately tells the youth, you know what? It may not get much better, but it does get a little better. Yeah.

Well, this episode opens with a Dwight talking head. Mm-hmm. And he's explaining that he wanted to give the tenants of the building something nice. So he has set up a family portrait studio in the break room. And during this talking head, we're seeing groups of people getting their picture taken. Yes. Yes.

I will say for this montage, everyone that's getting their picture taken, there was written dialogue. There was? Yes, that wasn't used. Please tell me more. Well, Toby and his daughter are doing a dance and she's like saying, jazz hands, dad, and he can't quite get it. Stanley and his daughter just have a sweet moment.

You know, and then Creed and his parents, he's like, look, I'm in a parent sandwich. You know, Creed is just being cuckoo pants. And then Meredith and her son just continue to yell at each other. I see. Yeah. So there was just extra beats of all of it.

Well, if you're wondering who played all the family members, Toby's daughter was played by Delaney Ruth Farrell. She was the daughter of our set dresser. Stanley's daughter was played by Sarah Rebecca. Creed's parents were played by Ed Ford Jr. and Jackie Benneau. And Meredith's son was played again by Spencer Daniels.

Shout out to our actual NBC set photographer and Kate Flannery's longtime fella, Chris Hastings, for working the Dwight's Family Portrait Studio. You'll see him in the corner. He's sitting at the desk.

Kind of logging all the pictures onto the computer. I saw him. I also want to share with you guys in the shooting draft, there would have been an establishing shot of the flyer for this Free Family Portrait Studio. And here's what it said. Oh, boy. In all caps on the flyer, it says, Free Family Portrait Studio, all professional, exclamation point, May 9th.

Noon to 5 p.m. in Dunder Mifflin Break Room, courtesy of building manager Dwight K. Schrute. All professional. Please, guys, keep it professional. And I have another tidbit to add about this scene. You thought I was done. I've got one, too. It's the scene that keeps on giving. Okay, here's mine. In the shooting draft, the person who was in the very front of the line who would have been first up to get their picture taken was, any guesses? Yes.

Oh, this is a good question. Kevin? No, it was Brandon.

And this might explain a little bit of that photo at the end. Oh. Here's how it read, and it's also in deleted scenes. Interior break room. Brandon and Val are at the front of the line. Photographer, next up. Brandon checks himself in a compact mirror and steps up. Val follows. Brandon waves her off and says, baby, I need some singles, okay?

She says, what? And he goes, I need some singles. And he shoos her away. And then he turns to the photographer and he says, can we clear some of this kid stuff out of here? This is a promotional shot for my restaurant, and I am selling three things, food, sex, and laughter. And then he does a series of photos with that kind of in mind.

And Val is just sitting on the side just watching him like, what the hell? He didn't want a picture with his own girlfriend. I have a question. Is Val wearing her warehouse uniform in this scene? Yes. Why? She wants a portrait with her boyfriend and she's in her, like, work uniform and he's in regular clothes? This is very poor planning. Well... It bothered me later, too. We can talk about it more. Yes. It didn't really look like most everyone dressed for this photo.

Pam really dressed her kids for this photo. Pam went all out. As did Angela or the senator. The senator. Angela had nothing to do with it. But I wanted to share this scene because it just shows you the dynamic of their relationship. He didn't even want a picture with her. He wanted photos by himself. That doesn't feel good. I wish we had that scene in. I just want more of Jerry Miner. Oh, he's very funny in it. He would have been so good in that. His poses are hilarious. Yes.

We got a fan catch from Emily J. in Ohio who said, Creed brings in his parents for a photo, but in season six, the cover-up, Creed says his mom has died. You know what, Emily? You can't trust anything Creed says. These might not be his parents. I was going to say he might have multiple families in different places. Yeah. I think that is a good catch. And at the same time, anything goes with Creed. Yeah.

which I think the writers took to heart because I think his show Bible is a bit squirrely. It's all over the place. It's just a bunch of contradictions. Yeah, but very good catch. Dwight now enters the bullpen and announces there's only a few more hours left of the portrait studio. He suggests for Daryl to bring his daughter in, for Angela to bring Phillip. Maybe Jim could bring his two cuties.

And Jim says, you know what? I know why Dwight's doing this. Yes. He has a whole talking head where he describes that he did this elaborate prank where he got Dwight's suits and made them with tearaway Velcro. What is Jim's budget for these pranks? Have you ever had alterations done? I'm a short person. I have to get everything altered. And it is not cheap. Well, you know, Angela, in our fan appreciation mailbag episode, we discussed this

this scene. We did. I read a letter from Joe V. in Oregon, and he had done an in-depth breakdown of what it costs Jim to prank Dwight over all of these many years. If you haven't listened to that episode and you're interested in really digging deep into this subject, you can go back and listen to it. Joe V. from Oregon, he thinks that this tearaway suit was Jim's second most expensive prank, and he broke down the cost like this.

He had to buy an alternate cheap suit that cost about $200. Uh-huh.

He had to have a tailor sew Velcro into it. He estimates that was $100. Easily $100. Easily. And he included a tip for the dry cleaner. That was $10. So he estimates this prank cost $310. Yeah, I mean. How does Pam feel about that? I mean, I. Is their family so flush with finances that they can afford to spend $310 on this prank? Absolutely.

Absolutely not. No one. No one wants to spend $300 on a tearaway suit. Like, what are you doing? Yeah. I will say this. What? Maybe we'll get mail about it. What is it? But I'm just going to say it. What is it? I think Jim's pranks are Roy's jet skis. Hmm.

Oh, boy. Uh-huh. Angela, that is a strong statement. It's a strong statement. But if you add up everything Jim spends on pranks, what, could that be a vacation for their family? Could they go to Disneyland? Could they maybe, you know, splurge and buy that new sofa they've been wanting? No. They bought a tearaway suit. Ooh, Angela. Oh, boy. I had not ever thought of it. Here's my yes and to that theory. Okay.

Do you think Jim checked in with Pam before doing this? Did he say, hey, babe, I have a hilarious idea. What if I do a tearaway suit? And then did she say, how much is that going to cost? And he said, I don't know, maybe $300, $310. But remember, we said. And she said, that's hilarious. We should do it. Do you think he consulted her? He bought a whole house without talking to her.

Well, now we're going there. Well, I'm just saying people come for Pam all the time, but we don't discuss exactly what you said, which is that there's no trips to Disneyland because we're pranking our coworker and not talking to our wife about it first. Yeah. We're on to something here. I think that there is a pattern of Jim spending the couple's money without consulting Pam. We're going to see it coming up again.

I think these pranks are the jet skis. That was Roy spending the couple's money without Pam's consent. Why does Pam pick men who spend her money without talking to her first? Pam, get some therapy. Well, Jim is going to finish this talking head by saying he now thinks that Dwight is trying to get payback on him for this prank and wants Jim to bring his kids to work. And this is making him feel very nervous. Yeah.

Immediately after Jim's talking head, there was a Dwight talking head. They filmed a few versions of this talking head. None of them made it into the episode. This one was my favorite. It was a, quote, must shoot. Okay. Right? So we filmed it, but it didn't make it in. Dwight would have said, this has nothing to do with Jim. I'm merely trying to determine whether Angela's son is mine. Of course, if he is, I will raise him to be Jim's enemy. Yeah.

It involves Jim in that sense. Oh, I love that. Next up is a scene that I absolutely loved. Daryl is going to be talking with Hide and Glenn. They lost all of their lottery winnings already. Hide blames the bad economy, bad investments, it's...

It has my favorite line in the episode. Is it Calvin's line? No, it's Daryl's line. Okay, there's so many good lines in here. But Daryl says, so nobody wanted an energy drink for Asian homosexuals. And then Calvin says, they did not. I love the delivery so much. They did not.

Okay, my favorite line was when Daryl, you know, he's going to try the drink. Yes. And he's like, what's the flavor? And they say coconut penis. And then Daryl takes a sip and goes, the coconut's pretty subtle. Yeah.

pretty amazing. So well written. So we got a lot of fan mail about this scene. Writer N from Idaho said, what is the writing on the can of the energy drink? Does it mean anything in particular? And Anna O from Tokyo, Japan wrote in to answer that very question. Oh, great. Tell us what it actually says. Anna

Hannah said, as an Office fan from Japan, I was thrilled to see Hide in the cold open of this episode. And when he handed Daryl the Japanese energy drink, I had to pause and read what it said on the can. To directly translate, it says, gay energy superpower flavor. Banish lazy attitudes to the land of wind and ghosts.

Okay. Thank you so much. I had no idea what it actually said all these years. And you know what? I looked in the script to see if there was any description of the can or what was written on the can. No. So Phil Shea had to invent this all himself. It's so well done. We also got a fan catch from Adrian G. in Connecticut who said, continuity error?

When the two former warehouse workers and Andy come into the office this week, none of them are wearing the visitor pass that Erin established in episode 23. Oh, none of them the whole day. People, family members are coming in and out. There's no visitor passes. No visitor passes. We also got a really nice note about Hide. This is from Shuhei in Tokyo, but who's currently living in Australia. Shuhei said...

After I had listened to the podcast episode for Body Language where you shared that Hide was on Instagram, I sent him a direct message in Japanese letting him know that I'm a big fan of his character. He surprisingly replied back to me thanking me in a very polite way, but this wasn't the end. He offered his autograph and actually sent it all the way to Sydney, Australia. The whole interaction I had with him and Hide as a person were literally the best.

I mean, this doesn't surprise me. Not at all. He's a lovely person. This is who he is. Yeah, he's so warm and gracious. I'd like to mention that if you love Hiday and would like a personalized message from him, he's on Cameo. That's the website where you can request videos from celebrities. So if maybe, I don't know, you're looking for a last-minute holiday gift for someone, maybe ask Hiday to make a video. I'll put it in stories so you can find it.

Well, this scene is going to end because Daryl sees Val walking into the office and he gets up. He's like, hold up one second. Then he sees Brandon. Yeah. And he has a talking head where he says, you know what? If he was Val, he would break up with Brandon and then date the hell out of him. Yeah. Yeah. Well, after this talking head, there would have started, Jenna, the most bonkers Jim, Pam, Robert, California storyline. I remember it.

It was a hole runner. It was so weird. It goes throughout the entire episode. You can also watch it all play out in deleted scenes on the DVD. But I wanted to play it for you all. Oh, boy. Yeah, I need you to hear it. And thanks to Cassie, who helped me stitch these moments together so we can play it all as one. I'm going to give you a hint to the subject matter. It's just the number three. Oh, boy. Uh-huh. Mm-hmm. Shared silence. It's the hallmark of an authentic...

relationship. Your intimacy ennobles this office. Thank you, Robert. That is a really sweet thing to say. I want to be part of it. Huh? Okay. Great. It's from Robert. Saturday 10 question mark? Yeah, I could hear you do the question mark. 10's a little late for dinner. We were just wondering what we could bring on Saturday. Oh, no, no, no, nothing. I have everything we'll need. Do you have a list of categories?

Yeah! Yeah, we love Scattergories! That's great! We'll need the icosahedron dye from it. 20 sides. Just enough. Great. Well, we're looking forward to it. Me three. Me three. Yeah. This is crazy. We're being crazy. Totally. Yeah. So we should go. Yes! You know we can't go. No, we should stay home Saturday night. I can make my salmon. This is gonna haunt us. Yes. Yep. God, what a couple. Ha ha ha.

Jim, Pam, given the circumstances, I'm afraid I must cancel our Saturday night. Oh. Oh, yeah, of course. I'm sorry. Me too. Just out of curiosity, what would we have been doing, exactly? Three-way. I hate breaking plans. But without the underlying power dynamic, I'm just a guy f***ing two parents. No worries. I get it. Sorry to disappoint. It's okay.

Lady, Robert California wanted to have a threesome with Jim and Pam. Yeah. They're like, this is what it is, but is it? They're doubting themselves, but they know. I had completely forgotten about this. If you would have asked me this on an office trivia night, I'd 100% say no. There was never a storyline where Robert wanted a threesome with Jim and Pam. No.

But there was. Yeah. That's crazy. Crazy. Well, Jenna, we have a fan question about it. We do? Yes, we do. You're dipping into the fan questions over there, Ann. I am. Ella E. from the UK wrote in and said, I want to know, Jenna, how did you and John react to this storyline? How did you guys get through the scene where Robert says, otherwise, I'm just a guy f***ing two parrots?

It was very hard to keep a straight face during all of this. That was a doozy. But it was especially difficult for me in the scenes that were just Jim and Pam because John is particularly funny to me. Oh, he's so funny. When he's in denial about something. When he's in denial or a little, like, freaked out or scared. Yes. In fact, John in this whole episode is some of my favorite John Krasinski comedy characters.

You know, when he's taking the picture, when he's like worried something's going to come get him. It reminds me of, you know, when he's walking out among all of the snowmen. Yes, yes. That's just some of my favorite John comedy. So I am glad we cut this storyline. I think it was too much, but I did enjoy shooting it. It made me laugh. I laughed really hard when...

they're trying to get to the bottom of like, what are we doing at 10 p.m.? Like, what is happening? We're not eating. And you guys go in the conference room. And the part that really made me laugh is when Robert says, do you like Scattergories? The two of you have such a moment of relief. Like, yes, we love Scattergories. But then it quickly turns and you're like, oh. I love the reveal that Jim has a salmon that he makes. I know. Should I make my salmon? I'll make my salmon. Let's just forget it ever happened.

Lady, I think we should take a break. I think I need a moment. Oh, after that? Yeah. All right. Well, I think we do need a big reset, and I think I have the perfect thing. Oh, really, Angela? I do, as head of the party planning committee. It is...

Happy holidays here at Office Ladies. Sam and Cassie, get ready to open some presents because we are doing our gift exchange today. That's right. And we have sweet treats. You guys, this is my favorite time. I know. Kinsey Claus is here. Kinsey Claus. You know, we're about to go on our two-week holiday break. And before we do, we had to give you some gifts, Sam.

We wrapped yours in our own faces. In our faces. We thought you would appreciate it. Cassie, I wrapped yours in the unicorn princess paper. Here you are, Sam. It is the Green Day When We Were Young Festival t-shirt. We both went to this concert. Yeah, thank you. Yes. I love it. Thank you. Oh, what a cool shirt. Yeah, this is great. Thanks. Yay. Cassie, I just saw these and I thought of you and I just think they're so cute. Aw.

Angela sent me multiple photos of these, by the way. Yes.

They're little silver kitty cat earrings. And each kitty's in a different pose. Yes. So cute. I love it. That's so cute. And then Josh made ginger cookies with candy cane Hershey kisses in the middle. I love the candy cane Hershey's kiss. They're my favorite. And Jenna, you are not forgotten. Here's some gluten-free shortbread cookies. Gluten-free shortbread. And I brought extra things so everyone can take cookies home. Oh, excellent. Yay. Thank you.

Happy holidays. Happy holidays. Wait, you guys, I have one more thing. Okay. You know, for years on The Office, Jenna would make us all Christmas ornaments. And then when we started Office Ladies, I made us Christmas ornaments. And then I kind of dropped the ball on it. So I made us all a Christmas ornament this year. Okay. Okay. There you go. Now, turn it on the other side. Turn the other side.

What is it? It's a picture of the four of us. It's a wooden cube. And then on the other side, there's a pair of granny panties that say getting done. I love it. This is perfect. Thank you. This is amazing. Well, that is the palate cleansing that I needed, Angela. Thank you. Thank you. Let's go to break. And when we come back, Andy's got a real unique outfit on. Yeah. Be warned that once you pick up a refreshingly cold drink from McDonald's and

and people see just how refreshingly cold that drink from McDonald's is, you may create drink envy. Because there are drinks. Then there are drinks from McDonald's. For a morning brew that really creates a stir, get any size iced coffee, including caramel and French vanilla, for just 99 cents before 11 a.m. Price and participation may vary. Cannot be combined with any other offer or combo meal. Ba-da-da-ba-ba.

These cookies are so good. Josh crushed it. Josh, these cookies are really good. Even though I'm, I've moved from no gluten to avoiding gluten, and I'm not going to avoid these cookies. She told me right away. She was like, I will be having one of those.

All right, listen, while we were on break and we're eating our cookies, we started talking to Sam about his new podcast that's coming out. Sam, will you tell everyone about it? Because I'm so excited. We are so excited about this, Sam. Enemy in Paris. Sure. Sorry. I'm also eating. Also, the title is perfect, Sam. It's a hate watch along podcast for Emily in Paris. I received feedback from my comments on the show. Other people dislike the show. So myself personally,

and a comedian named Beck Hill are going through and watching the show from the start and tearing it apart. Brilliant. Oh my gosh. Can I please come on an episode, please? You sure can. Both of you can. Same. I absolutely love Emily in Paris and also hate it all at the same time. Yes, I can't get enough

of it. I have so many feelings about it. Yes. This podcast was needed and I'm so excited. And when does it start? It comes out December 20th. Okay, so perfect for the holidays. Are you kidding? Yeah. One of my favorite things too, Sam, is when you were in Paris, how you went to places. Oh yeah, we stopped by Emily's apartment. We stopped by Gabriel's restaurant and got filled with anger. And then you have like snarky content. Snarky photos.

All right, we should get back to this episode. Mm-hmm. Candy.

He has shown up to work in a, I guess, like a boiler suit. Yeah. He hasn't shaved. His hair is all a mess. He tells Jim he's fine. He goes into Nellie's office and asks if there's any work he could do. He can pull the poop out of the toilets if she needs. You know, on this day where Andy most definitely doesn't look fine, even though he's orchestrating this whole look, you would think they would want him to log in and get his visitor label done.

Listen, they were worried when he was sitting outside in his car, but I feel more worried now. Yes. When we talk about clunky moments in season eight, I'm sorry, but this one was hard for me. It's very hard for me when he is mopping the floor. The carpet. The carpet. With like a bucket. What? Yeah.

He has a talking head where he explains that he has a delicious secret. This is all fake because at 3 o'clock today, David Wallace is going to walk into the office. He's going to announce that he has purchased under Mifflin, and he is reinstating Andy as manager. I would say this is a cautionary tale for anyone out there that feels like they need to have a moment of, like, gotcha, like a revenge moment. Gotcha. Yeah. It's never going to play out the way you hope.

Also, it is sort of the poison that poisons the well. No. How's that saying go? I mean, I'm sure it's not it's the poison that poisons the well. No, no. No, it's the poison that poisons the bottle that holds it. Anyway, I don't know, but I'm just saying. Is that a saying? It's the poison that poisons the bottle that holds it? I just made it up, maybe. Is it? I feel like it. What are you going for? It's the...

It poisons the well? No, I'm going for it poisons the bottle that holds it. So here you are. You have just taken into your body this resentment, this revenge. I'm going to show them, right, that energy. And the more you... And my body is the bottle. Yes. And the more you hold all that in, it poisons you. It poisons the bottle that holds it. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm liking this phrase. If this isn't a phrase, I like it. Don't poison the bottle that holds it. Don't poison the bottle that holds it. You just put on your glasses with emphasis and looked at me over the top of them after you said it. I think that means you're on to a good saying. Okay. Well, Pam is now going to arrive with Cece and Phillip. It's family picture time. Jim is like, whoa, whoa, whoa. What? What are you doing here? This is where I love paranoid Jim. Yeah.

I love him. They go into pose for photos, and Jim could not look more freaked out in every picture. What are they doing with those pictures? That can't be the Christmas card. I improvised the line, okay, so I'll just stand here when he takes, like, both children. The kids, yeah. Also, I want to say that they brought these kids to set. I had no idea what they were going to be wearing.

the little purple bows and Cece's hair that kind of matched what Pam was wearing. It was all so coordinated. I was like, this is what I can never do in my real life. I can never coordinate all our outfits. We will never send you a family holiday card where we are coordinated. I tried one time. How'd it go? We were at Josh's sister's wedding in Hawaii, and I thought, Christmas card opportunity here. I remember this now. I'm sorry to laugh. Yeah.

And I wanted to

They wanted us all to have like a shirt that looked tropical, like sailboats or, you know, flowers or, you know, someone surfing or coral fish. Yeah. It was such a thing. No one wanted to wear their shirts. I know. I remember. But you did get a very nice picture and you were all dressed up. You just weren't in coordinating outfits. Well, we couldn't. No one wanted to wear the same thing. But, you know, then ultimately I just went for, okay, tropical. Yeah.

whatever that means to you. Well, Angela, I think your card turned out adorable. Thank you. And Jim and Pam's color coordination in this family photo, I was like, wow, they did it. They did it. They look great. I have a bunch of fan questions I can get to. Ryder N. from Idaho said, was there a fake baby used during the filming of this episode, specifically when Pam brings her kids into the office?

Nope, Ryder, there were not. We had a real baby, Phillip Halpert, who was played by some twin girls in this episode, Mahina and Malia Hatchie.

And at 6 minutes and 12 seconds, I don't know which one of them is in the stroller, but there is a baby in that stroller. And you can see the baby's legs kicking as I push it toward the break room. And I actually really appreciated that there was a real baby there. And I was trying to keep it calm. And that's why I keep talking to it during the scene. Yeah. That's why I'm talking to the baby. And it really helped my performance. So I appreciated it.

We also had a fan catch from Christopher H. in Hawaii who said, did you notice that the duck the photographer is using to distract the kids when the photos are taken is the same stuffed animal duck that Toby gave Pam in season three?

No. What a great catch. It's literally exactly the same duck I went back and looked. Speaking of ducks, you guys, you'll remember when we had Claire on, how we talked that she took from set the quacking duck, not this stuffed animal duck that's in this scene, Christopher. Different duck. The little duck that sat by the file cabinet by Phyllis's desk that

That would go off during takes and ruin take after take. Yes. Well, Claire sent this to me the other morning. First thing in the morning, I'm going to read what she said. She goes, hey, Ange, good morning from this little guy. And then she took a video of herself hitting the duck. This is the duck, guys, that would ruin take after take. This is what it sounded like.

I could do it from memory. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack. It has a rhythm. It has a little cadence. Quack, quack, quack. They say some sounds take you right back to where you were the moment you first heard them, and that definitely does. I'm going to put that in stories so you can see the famous quacking duck. You should. The senator arrives with Angela's baby, Phillip. No, no, no, no. What are you doing here? Yes, baby Phillip Lipton, also played by twin girls Allie and Suzanne Hartman.

Well, Dwight is going to welcome Angela and the senator to the photo studio. Angela will not let Dwight hold Philip. Dwight keeps trying to get near Philip. Angela has a talking head where she says she thinks Dwight's doing this whole thing to get a DNA sample to prove he's the father, which is impossible because the senator is the only man she's ever been with. I have a question for you. What is it? What's up with my hair? What is up with your hair? It looks like I had just been in a wind tunnel. What is up with your hair? It's a good question.

Immediately when I go to the family portrait studio, it's totally normal. What happened to my hair? I wondered if there was a deleted scene. Are you ripping your hair out in frustration? It's odd. It's very odd. I went to the shooting draft. I went to the candy bag. I watched deleted scenes. There is no mention of Angela looking disheveled, her hair a mess. I was trying to

think if maybe, you know, we would do a series of talking heads in a row. I was trying to imagine what had happened, why my hair would look like that. And all I could think of is that

I was holding a real baby. If maybe the baby had touched my hair somehow or I have a little burp cloth, maybe I had tried to put it on the other side and tossed my hair. Yeah. I noticed it as well. Well, speaking of messy hair, Dwight wants to try and comb baby Phillip's hair, but Angela swats him away. These scenes were so fun. They were so funny, Angela. Can we keep going with them? Because Dwight is also going to suggest he trim...

Philip's toenails? I know. Every time rain as Dwight came at us and I got to swat him away, it was so fun. He's going to try to collect excess dry skin. Oh, I know. Could you imagine if like a photographer at a baby studio was like fussing over your baby like this? Also, isn't the senator like, what are you doing, Dwight?

Like, the senator is so checked out. He's so unaware. Mm-hmm. Oh, you know what? I should give a shout-out to Julie Dove, who played our fake photographer in all of these scenes. She was very good. Well, little baby Philip Lipton is going to make the poopskies. Yep. The senator takes him out to change his diaper. Very helpful. Refreshing to see that. And...

Dwight is then going to emerge from the bathroom with a diaper. Angela notices this and screams for him and runs after him. Where did Senator Lipton change the diaper in the men's restroom? I don't know. Because I don't think there's a changing table in there. Well, there's definitely not. I don't think there's a changing table in the women's restroom at Dunder Mifflin. Maybe he just laid them down like on the...

carpet near Kelly's desk. And then he threw it away all the way in the bathroom. I don't know. These are logistics I can't get into. There's also something that I noticed because we rarely have this angle where we're in the kitchen like this and we shoot kind of into the bullpen in this way. Yeah. And I noticed that at 10 minutes and 30 seconds, Leslie has a heater under his desk. Oh, I

saw that too and I thought Leslie got cold I never knew that I knew we had heaters I know I thought only the ladies had heaters because the men would wear full suits yeah they were always hot they were warm but we would have our tights and our skirts and everything I

I didn't know this. All these years. I didn't know it either. Learn something new. Well, we should probably go back and discuss Andy. We should because there's a lot going on. He's going to gargle some whiskey. He's going to choke on it. He then brings out soup for Nellie but then spills it all over himself and then tries to eat it off of his clothes. Licks it off his arm. Erin's going to pull Andy aside. She's going to say, hey, the payoff for this is going to be delicious.

But some of these images are going to be hard to shake, Andy. You know, so calibrate. Erin is having such a smart, practical, sober moment here. Yes, she is. But she also co-signed on Drunken Chimney Sweep. She did.

But I appreciate her pumping the brakes on this. Meanwhile, Daryl is going to bring Hiday and Glenn down to the warehouse. He's given them their jobs back. He's going to reacquaint them with the goings-on. Yes. He tells them about Val and just really gushes on her as the foreman of the warehouse. Brandon hears this and accuses Daryl of hitting on Val. And Daryl goes, yeah, okay.

I am. Let's just get that out there so we're all on the same page. And then Brandon starts personally attacking Daryl. Yeah. And, oh, does Daryl do the right thing here?

He just is like, good luck. Yeah. Doesn't insult him back. Just lets that bad behavior just sit there with a giant spotlight on it. Just wonderful restraint. Absolutely. And now we know that there was already a moment in this day where Brandon has pushed Val aside, taken photos by himself, and now he's being shitty to Daryl when Daryl was just giving her compliments on her job. Yeah.

Mm-hmm. So you see this building for Val. Meanwhile, upstairs, some of the folks in the office are going to take Andy into the conference room and have a kind of intervention. Yeah. And I say some of the people because there are people missing, and it really begs the question, where is Robert? He usually works in the conference room.

But he's not in there now, and he can't be in the break room because there's a portrait studio happening. He's not in the bullpen. He's running errands for his threesome later that evening. Uh-huh. There it is. He's buying all the things he's going to need for his night of hosting. Right.

We might be right. Dwight and Angela are in a car chase. We'll get to that. Yes, they're gone. But I don't think that Meredith went into the conference room. Well, I don't think she'd want to attend one. You might be right.

There's a very fun moment where there's a knock at the door, and Andy thinks that it must be David Wallace. Yes. It is. He's ready for his delicious moment. It's Gabe. He's wearing a tiny birthday hat and carrying a tiny cupcake, and he says, happy birthday to Gabe. Nellie says, get out of here, skeleton man.

But now Andy's phone is going to ring. He's going to step out to take the call. And it's not good news. David Wallace is stuck in traffic. He thinks maybe he'll come a different day. Andy's like, you have to come today. Yeah, I am fully committed to this bit. You've got to come today.

Then there was a moment in this group scene that really cracked me up. It's when Andy says he's been talking to David Wallace all the time, and they're like, really? Like, really? Yeah, but Aaron's like, it's true. Yeah, he's always talking to him. And they're like, have you seen David Wallace? And Aaron's like, oh, no, I haven't. And then when Toby says, do you see David Wallace right now? Yeah. Do you see him in the room? Yeah. And he also keeps saying his name.

Hey, Andy. Yeah. We're worried about you, Andy. He's like, stop saying my name. I thought all of that was really good writing. I did too. Well, while all of that is happening up in the bullpen, there is a full-on car chase happening. Dwight has peeled out of the parking lot. Angela is in hot pursuit. We got a fan question from Ryder N in Idaho who said, what are the logistics of filming a car chase like this and how did you get the second car? Well,

Well, I asked Steve Burgess about this. Ryder, basically, we did an elaborate breakdown of the shots that we needed for all of the elements of this car chase. We had to close streets. We had lots of safety meetings. We had our stunt coordinator, A.I. Jones, on set, had to talk everyone through each sequence. Yep.

Because these sequences involved not only the cars, but also all of the insert cars with cameras on them. That's right. The LAPD has to come out and deal with all the traffic. It's a big deal. So Steve said this was a big one for us. It was. And the car chase had more than one location. There was a lot more to it. It's in deleted scenes and in the shooting draft. I want to share with you guys two things we filmed that you don't see. First of all,

When Angela is following Dwight, he pulls over on the side of the road. She pulls over behind him, and he throws a diaper out the car window. In the shooting draft, it said after Dwight throws the diaper out the window, Angela stops her car, runs after it. So I had to get out of my car on a busy street. I had to run into the side of the road. I had to find this diaper. I pick it up. I look at it. I throw it back on the ground and yell, damn it!

Then it would have cut. Then we both had driving talking heads separate from one another. It would have cut to Dwight's car on the interior, and he's looking in his rearview mirror saying, you think I wouldn't grab a second diaper? You always have a decoy for everything, idiot. Amazing. Then Angela's getting more and more frustrated. Here's one of those moments. And by the way, this was scripted exactly as I said it.

This is how Angela Martin curses you guys. So it's a lot of letters. She doesn't say anything full out. She just has all of her abbreviations that she says very angrily. One of my bosses that I worked for, who I just absolutely adored, who was so supportive of my acting career, he would let me leave secretly for auditions and cover for me with the powers that be.

I was his executive assistant. When he would get really frustrated in his office, he would go, fiddle sticks.

say fiddlesticks. It was so pure. So cute. But I knew he was real upset if he said it. Oh, yeah. I'd be like, uh-oh. Son of a B. H. I know. He and Angela would make quite a pair. See them argue at home. Well, the car chase is going to end in what looks like is a dead end. In real life, it was actually a cul-de-sac. And I want to read from the shooting draft how this scene was described. Okay.

Okay, great. Angela gains on the Thunderbird, honking and honking. The Thunderbird pulls over. Angela runs over to the car. Angela, hmm?

She opens the door and pulls out the driver of the car. It's Moe's! She starts shaking him. Angela, where is he? Where did he go? Moe's, I'm not supposed to say. Angela slaps Moe's in the face. Angela says, where is he? Where is he? Moe's runs away. We got some fan mail about this, Angela. Are you ready to answer some letters? I am. All right.

Fan mail flurry. First up, from Ivan N. in Chile. Angela, is that really you driving the car in pursuit of the diaper? Okay, I will say this. Yes and no, Ivan, because there were a lot of driving sequences.

As we have shared, anything on the big open roads, that was not us. Okay. Right? But this little sort of peeling out into the cul-de-sac where we pull up kind of side by side, Mike and I did do that. But it was a dead-end cul-de-sac. There were no homes or businesses or anything. It sort of backed up like a parking lot. So there was no other motorists that we could— Accidentally run into. Yes, to worry about—

But having said that, even us just pulling in and having to do this sequence where we kind of pull in a little bit side by side, staggered, the stunt coordinator showed us exactly where the car would stop, where we would pull up to, and we had a little practice before we did any of the dialogue. I've done driving scenes like that before. We talk about as actors,

sometimes in order to be on camera in focus, you have to hit a mark and they'll put a little piece of tape on the ground. They'll be like, okay, when you enter this scene, you got to stand right here or else you're going to be out of focus.

And then in these driving sequences, your car will have a mark. Yes. That is so hard to do, to stop your car at the exact right place. Right. And throw it in park. Make sure you throw it in park because then you've got to get out and run. And there was a camera operator between the two cars standing there. Wow. Well, Steve Burgess said not to give away too many secrets, but Angela had a driving stunt double named Nancy Thurston. And Brett Jones was...

the Dwight stunt double. He was dressed up to look like Dwight, and he drove both for Rain and then also for Mike Schur. He sent a picture of Brett dressed up as Dwight. It's really great. So we can share that in our stories. And Steve Burgess said, Nancy really looked like you, Angela. Really? Like they would be, they were fooled sometimes. They were like, wait, is Angela in the car? No, it's Nancy. Right.

All right. Are you ready for your next fan question, Angela? I am. This is from Grant S. in Austin, Texas, who would like to know, when Angela smacks Moe's at the end of the car chase, did Angela really smack Mike? The sound makes it seem like it was a hard hit, and I'm not sure which answer I'm hoping for.

Oh, Grant. Yes, I did slap him really hard. And that sound you hear from the slap is very real. They added nothing in post. But here's the deal, Grant. I didn't slap him in the beginning. We did a few takes where I did a fake slap. But the camera is really close. If you rewatch that scene, the camera is right up on us. And they could just tell that it wasn't really having any effect, right? So...

We decided to go for it. And, you know, Mike Schur was on our podcast. That's a fantastic interview if you haven't heard it. It's one of my favorite interviews we have done in this whole rewatch. But we did talk quite a bit about that slap. And here's what he had to say. No, I hate it when there's like a fake slap on TV. I'm sure this will be fine. Just really hit me. It'll be fine. I remember telling you that. Like, just really hit me. It'll be fine. It'll be fine. I had no idea. Yeah.

that you were a mixed martial arts professional and you hit me so hard. I really like lost my, I did not know where I was. I didn't know what was happening. My eyes went blank and my hearing dropped out and I had no idea what was happening. It was wonderful. And that's the take they used, thankfully. Because afterwards, also, I remember afterwards, you were like, oh my God, I'm so sorry. And I was like, no, no, no. I just didn't understand how strong you were.

Oh, Angela, I remember when he told that story. I felt so bad. And I realized I'd only ever slapped one other person, and that was Rainn Wilson in Casino Night. Yeah. And so I don't think I knew how to calibrate when they were like, okay, the camera's tight. Really slap him. What are you supposed to do when they say really slap him except really slap him? I know. And Mike was. He was like, Ange, I don't want it to look fake. I said, okay. Okay.

I still feel bad about it. Was that the last take, though? Did you only have to do the real slap once? Oh, 100%. Yeah. They were like, we got it. Don't worry. Also, Mike had a red imprint on his cheek.

And so they had to be like, well, I guess the scene is done. That's it. No more close-ups there. Well, we should probably talk about what's been happening back in the office during this chase. We saw Kelly and Ravi pose for their portrait together. They're very much in love. Ryan's very jealous. Ravi is smitten. Ravi is definitely smitten. And also, guess what, everybody? David Wallace did smite.

He did show up. Yeah. He's here. He lets everyone know that Joe Bennett is liquidating Sabre.

And they'll no longer be associated with that company. Andy sees his moment. He's getting ready for his big reveal. His delicious moment. But he gets interrupted by some very practical questions from Stanley about is there going to be a payroll interruption? Yeah. People want more information about, you know, this whole sale. Mm-hmm. So Andy says that didn't really go how I was hoping. Yeah.

Yeah, he didn't get his moment. Robert is now going to come out of the conference room where I guess he has been except for when there was the intervention. Right. He's going to introduce himself to David Wallace as Bob Cosimachus. Mm-hmm. I was like, what? Why doesn't anyone say, what are you talking about? This is Robert California. Also, he made a big speech at the Senator's Charity event. Oh, let's see.

Amanda A. from North Carolina pointed that out as well. It was just two episodes ago. Both David and Robert attended a charity fundraiser event, and Robert was a main speaker. Yeah. You know what? Nobody noticed David Wallace at this fundraiser. David Wallace didn't clock Robert California. People were out to lunch. Okay, fine. Let's say we'll suspend belief here that they didn't cross paths at that charity event. David Wallace is a good businessman.

He's buying this company. Yep. He would know who the CEO was and their name. You would think. Yeah. Can we talk about something that we teased earlier that I think has been on both of our minds, which is Daryl and Jada having their portrait taken and then Val joins them? And holds Daryl's hand. But also, I'm sure Jada's like, who's this lady? Why is she in our picture? What?

What? Would you like to hear the fan mail flurry about it, lady? Val and C from Virginia said, does anyone else find it odd that Daryl includes Val in her warehouse uniform in his family portrait? Yeah.

Kiara V. from Belgium and Caitlin M. from St. Petersburg, Florida said, "...on my last rewatch, I realized how weird it would be for Daryl's daughter to find a picture of her father and a random woman holding his father's hand like they're a little family. And even if Val didn't have a boyfriend, I still find it super weird since Val hasn't ever met Daryl's daughter, to my knowledge."

Imagine how confusing that must have been for Daryl's daughter to see some strange new woman take a picture with her and her dad. It's probably supposed to be a cute moment, but I think it's strange. Am I alone in this? You are not alone in it because I thought, have they met? Was Jada at the Christmas party? Was she? She was. She was at a different Christmas party. Was she at this Christmas party where Val dressed up in the dress? I don't think so.

And then Daryl shows up in the tux? I don't think so. So, yes, I was doing the same math of like, have they met? Would Jada know Val? But even if she knew Val, they're not dating yet. We know that. Jada would be like, hey, Dad, why is your friend from work holding your hand on our family picture? Yeah. Yeah. All of these things. Andy's going to go into Nellie's office.

It's his office now. Well, he took off his, you know, chimney sweep outfit. He's in a suit now, a very nice suit. Yes, still unshaven. But Nellie wants to say one thing. She's going to start quoting Shakespeare. Oh, don't bring out the bard. Don't do it. She gives a speech by Portia in Merchant of Venice.

And Andy, he melts. He agrees to give Nellie a job as special projects manager. He calls her a sly bastard and he hires her back. Yes. They shake on it. Mm-hmm. Now we're going to have a scene that I can barely watch. It makes me so uncomfortable. Oh. It's like...

If you took all of Pool Party and condensed it into one scene. Yeah. I was so confused by it. I was so, I had questions. I don't even want to describe it. Let's just sum it up like this. Somehow this new fella, quote unquote, Bob, a.k.a. Robert California, is going to get a million dollars from David Wallace? Mm-hmm. Where he's going to go study in Europe? But it sounds like his studies are just being a creeper.

Yeah. On ladies? That's what it sounds like. It's like Creeper 101. Yeah. He's not going to study. He's going to help other people get more educated because they've spent all their time being gymnasts. I don't like to speak about it. I'm going to be honest with you. You know what? It's our Voldemort. Thank you.

It's our Voldemort. We're not going to talk about this Bob guy. Yeah. Bob is our Voldemort. Yeah. I think there's a cut to a shot of my face in this scene, and I think it says it all, all my feelings about this. What a way to write off the character of Robert California. Mm-hmm. It really undermines David Wallace's intelligence. I actually really appreciated Andy Buckley's performance here because I feel like it was

It was one of those moments where maybe in the conference room, he heard it a different way. But now as Bob, a.k.a. Robert, is explaining it to the group, I feel like you see the wheels turning. Like he's hearing it in a new way. Yeah. And he's like, wait a second. Hmm. Yeah. So I did appreciate that choice. Bob leaves. He's going to give Andy a big old smooch on the lips. He says it's been a great year and he's out of there. Okay. Yeah.

Well, who knows if that's even his name, because he's the Lizard King. What a journey. Angela, you are now going to have quite the scene. I am. This was a big scene. Before I dive into it, I'm sure everybody noticed my mic pack at 20 minutes and 19 seconds. How could you miss it? They did, Ang. As she runs into the DNA lab testing place. So I have a lot of memories about filming this. First of all...

The day we filmed this scene with Dwight and Angela at this lab testing place, they had built it over in our warehouse, so it was right there on set. Greg was there. And, you know, we didn't see as much of Greg in season eight. He was over at Parks and Rec. But he came for this day, and he was talking to Rain and I about this storyline. I have a great, candid photo of him and Rain just sitting backstage talking. I'll put it in stories. I really love it.

But one of the things I wanted to share is that when we read this shooting draft, when we got this script, I remember being sad. I was sad because I was starting to realize it didn't seem like Dwight and Angela were going to end up together after all. Yeah. And I had been rooting for them for so long. I really believed in this relationship in the world of the show, you know? I thought they were the perfect foil to Jim and Pam. Yeah.

They were to me the Mike and Holly, the Jim and Pam, you know? Yeah. And I wanted to share two scenes in the shooting draft that really made me feel like they weren't going to make it. They didn't make it into the final episode, but it felt like the writing was on the wall. Literally. This is how they read. One scene took place in the break room right after they got their photos taken, the Senator and Angela and baby Phillip.

The senator leaves, and Angela would have said to Dwight, "'Why won't you let go of this fantasy?' Dwight says, "'Why won't you admit the truth?' Angela says, "'Dwight, I know this for a fact. It is not your baby.'"

And Dwight says, how do you know? And then Angela sees through the window that the senator is returning. And I don't know if you noticed this, but if you rewatch that scene, as Angela and the senator and baby Philip leave, Dwight looks at them for a long time. And it kind of has a deep thought on his face. In the shooting draft, it said Dwight watches them leave calmly. Hmm.

As if Dwight is wondering as well that maybe they shouldn't be together. Mm-hmm. Then there would have been another scene that was in the shooting draft. It was part of this DNA lab testing scene, and we filmed it. It was a much longer scene. Angela says to Dwight, Dwight, I don't think it's yours. Dwight, we'll see, won't we? And then he thinks for a minute, and he looks at her and says, why not? Angela says, why?

It's just a feeling I have when the three of us are at home together and it's just quiet and it's just us. It feels right. It feels like it's the way things were meant to be. Dwight looks at her. Does it? They sit. After a beat, Angela puts her hand on Dwight's. After another beat, he clasps her hands and they wait.

And it says, a stage note is, Angela seems very sincere. Wow. So what that's telling me is that whatever the results are, Angela is saying to him, I feel like a family with this man. Yes. Yes.

She's really saying that this is the family she wants. Yes. And in the scene description, when it says that Angela is sincere, it says Dwight hears this. So that's how it was scripted. So you understand why I was like sad. If you watch this scene before Dwight tries to kiss Angela and that moment happens, which was improvised, by the way, that wasn't the way the scene was going to end.

But I also think it needed a little bit of levity there. But right before that moment, before we hold hands, both Dwight and Angela Martin look sad because I think it's this realization that was said in the extended scene. That's interesting. And then they cut that out. I think maybe they were wanting to make a little bit more of a cliffhanger here. Yeah, because it's the end of the season. And we do leave this episode not knowing the result. That's right. Ultimately,

Ultimately, this episode is going to end with Oscar at Caffeine Corner, and the senator is going to make a pass. He covers baby Phillip's ears and is like, call me. And Oscar's like, oh, my gosh, it's on.

Great cliffhanger for season eight, I thought. And you know, I watched all 19 minutes of those bloopers. And I want us to end with a blooper from this episode. Ed improvised a song in between talking heads while he's dressed like the chimney sweep. I want you to hear it.

And that's the end of season eight. And that's the end of season eight. It was a wonderful season with lots of great laughs and lots of tears and joy. That's the end of season eight. Reset, listen to the season eight song one more time. What?

Yay! Thank you, everyone, for being on this journey with us. We have completed Season 8, and we will be back now with Season 9 in the new year. In the new year, 2024, Season 9. We just love you guys so much. Thanks for writing in every week, and we just hope you have a great one. We'll see you then. See you then. See you then.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our in-studio engineer is Sam Kiefer. Our editing and mixing engineer is Jordan Duffy. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. ♪

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