Customer Loyalty
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Okay, you say, I want some breakfast. Your so-called boyfriend says, we got eggs in the fridge. Obviously, when you say breakfast, you mean McDonald's. Definitely a side-eye situation. Bring home the bacon, steak patty, or others with a BOGO for $1 breakfast. Only in the app. Limited time only at participating McDonald's. Valid once a day. Must opt into rewards. Visit McDApp for details. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

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. Are you ready for a very fun episode?

episode today and very controversial. Oh, we got a lot of mail. So much mail. Everyone, it's Customer Loyalty. It is season nine, episode 12, written by Jonathan Green and Gabe Miller and directed by Kelly Cantley. Now, before you get into a summary, I thought we needed a little something from the episode to kick us off. Oh, all right. Ready? Yeah.

Yes, we will be delivering a shipment of paper today, but I will also be delivering you a big shipment of... Are we going to be delivering people a shipment of fun? A big shipment of fun, that's right. You heard it from Dwight. Buckle in, because we've got a lot of fun stuff today. What's that, Ange? I just thought it was fun. I love it when you get a kickoff idea. It's a big shipment of fun, come on. All right, well, here's your big summary.

An important meeting in Philly prevents Jim from attending Cece's dance recital.

Dwight goes to great lengths to keep Daryl at Dunder Mifflin. Nellie fears she will fall out of good standing with Andy after pairing Aaron and Pete on a project, and they get real flirty. Yeah, they do. Finally, Pam receives some good news, but her excitement is dampened by a conflict with Jim. Conflict? Boy, is it dampened. It's a big old fight, is what it is. It is.

And like I said, we got some fan soapbox mail about this episode, but it is not the scene you think it is.

Okay. It took me by surprise. Don't tell me. People had feelings. I mean, I want you to tell me, like when it happened. Later. Okay. Let's get into fast fact number one. I'm very excited about this fast fact. We have a major guest star alert in this episode. Your daughter, Isabel, was one of the dancers. She was a

Oh, my gosh. Well, Steve Burgess reminded me that Greg's daughter, Maya, was also in this episode, and it was her dance class that was so cute.

That was featured, and then you folded Isabel in as well. Yes. Well, Isabel and Maya are a year apart, and they're really close. You know those cousins you grow up with that you're close in age, and they're just so much fun? So they have that kind of relationship. They're still just two peas in a pod. In fact, today, their schools are playing softball against each other, and they're both on rival softball teams. Oh, my goodness. I know. So I'm like, oh, my gosh, the whole family's going to be there. Isabel's like, Mom, we better win. Yeah.

So it's a very sweet friendship that they have, and they were so cute when they were little. And this is a really special memory for our family that they both got to do this. And I thought maybe I should ask Isabel what she remembered from this day. Now, she was only about four years old. She's so tiny, but here's what she had to say.

Hey, Office Ladies listeners. I am here with my daughter, Isabel. Hi. And she's going to talk about her time being a ladybug in this episode. All right. We normally ask our guests, how'd you get your job on The Office? But I think we can skip that one. Yeah. What do you remember?

Oh, yeah. You were in a big tutu phase then. Yeah, I love tutus. Still am. But...

And I love to be able to hang out with my cousin Maya. We got to do it together, which was so fun. Yeah. Oh, and hair and makeup that I thought that was so cool. Oh, yeah. The ladies were so sweet to you guys. They were the best. They were so sweet. They made us feel so special. I loved it. And they let you have lip gloss. Oh, my gosh. I remember you were very probably so excited. So excited. All right. Anything else?

Not that I can remember. I do remember after the dance, you were tired. Oh, I probably was. I probably wanted to nap. Yep. Gosh, I'm just smiling so big. You know, Isabel is my goddaughter. I know. So this was...

That was so sweet, Ang. I found so many cute photos. And then something I was really surprised by that I'd forgotten about, way buried in my digital clutter, one of the moms from the dance class filmed the dance rehearsal day. So we had a rehearsal day. It was on Tuesday, and we filmed this on the Wednesday. Mm-hmm.

Isabel came to work and it was so cute because she thought, well, I'm visiting my mom at work. My mom's part of the dance too. Oh, yeah. And she kept wanting me to come stand by her and like learn the dance with her. And it's all on video and it's so precious, Jenna. And I'm so thankful for this rewatch podcast because I found this video buried way deep in email that I had forgotten about. Yeah. I'm going to put part of it in stories because it's just the

The cutest little girls learning this dance and me in the middle of them. Well, I loved that. And I have really cute photos from hair and makeup. And then the other thing the little girls were so excited about is I found photos. You know how when we would go from our main soundstage maybe over to like the other soundstage? Well, rather than having all these little girls walk all that way from hair and makeup to that other soundstage, this is just in a parking lot, you guys. It's very safe.

They let them ride in the big passenger van. Uh-huh. And they buckled them all in. Sure. But they are so tickled. You should see this photo of their faces. They're so delighted to go, like, just a few hundred feet in this passenger van. Uh-huh.

Oh, my goodness. I'm so glad. Isabel, thank you for sharing your memories. That was so cute. I have more to share later in the episode, too. Well, let's move on to Fast Fact 2. I'm calling this the big reveal. Boy, is it. Yeah. You know, we reveal the documentary crew for the first time, and someone from the documentary crew interacts with someone from the office.

This was a big moment. I mean, not just someone. It's Pam. Yeah. And Brian. The boom guy. Well, Jenny Tan, who runs Office Tally, posted a message to fans before this episode came out. Just to give you a sense of, like, how big a deal this moment was in the history of the show.

And she said the producers of the show had sent her an email that said this. Hi, Jenny. I know the episode summary says, quote, we start to see behind the scenes, but I wanted to let you know how really good tomorrow's episode is. You have been great about letting the Office Tele fans know what's going on at the office, but they should really watch tomorrow night. I think they will be sorry if they don't. So watch tomorrow night.

And Jenny Tan went on to say, quote, I have never received an email about an episode before, so I think this is a big deal. Who sent it? Someone from The Office production. Oh, my gosh. We got a lot of fan questions about the big reveal. I like that you started to whisper. Because sometimes when life gets serious, you whisper. You've got to take it down. Yeah.

Stephanie B. from Cleveland, Ohio said, How did you all feel when you saw the script was featuring the documentary crew? Did you know it was coming? I remember being astonished when I first saw the episode. Tell us everything. What do you know about this decision to bring the camera crew into the story? And Morgan E. from South Bend, Indiana said, I can remember exactly where I was sitting when you guys smashed that fourth wall. And I remember being astonished when I first saw the episode.

And we saw Brian for the first time. I was stunned, shocked, mouth agape. Even though there had been nods to the crew all along, this felt major and I never saw it coming. I need to know everything about this decision. Was there a debate about incorporating the documentary crew into the storyline?

Well, Ange, I reached out to Greg about this, and I have his side of the story. We reached out to director Kelly Cantlie, and we got her thoughts on the matter. But why don't we start with us? What did we think? Well, okay. This is, oh, man, this was a big moment. I put this on a list of, like, bombshell table read moments. Yeah. So I remember there were just a few where literally you felt the air go out of the room, like everyone's reaction. Yeah.

When Pam and Jim kiss in Casino Night, and we read that at the table read, everyone was like, oh, s***. Mm-hmm. And then when Dwight and Angela went there for a field. Yes. Making out. For a make it out. Everyone was like, oh, my gosh. When we find out that Michael and Jan hooked up in Jamaica. Yes.

When we find out about Oscar and the senator, when we find out that Pam was pregnant, there were these big moments at the table read. Yeah. And this was one of the biggest. We were like, oh, my God, oh, my God, we're seeing the crew that have been there all these years and that he knows her well enough that he hugs her in a time when she's vulnerable? Wait, does he hug her? Okay, in the shooting draft, he hugs her. In fact, in the shooting draft, she gets up and goes over to him and they hug.

I forgot about that. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. That is not how we ended up filming it. Yeah. But that's what we read at the table read. Yeah. Yeah. It was one of those big moments. I remember being conflicted but excited. I was like, oh, my gosh. We are really wrapping up the show. If we're going to show the crew, it's real to me now that we are wrapping up storylines. We are peeking behind the curtain. I think that's what it made me realize, that this is –

the beginning of our final, final episodes. Yeah. These are definitely the layers of the onion peeling back. Yes. And then, of course, none of us wanted Jim and Pam to break up. We wanted to protect Jim and Pam. They were hope in a frame. Hope in a frame. Yeah.

Well, like I said, we reached out to director Kelly Cantlie. This was her first episode that she's directing, and this is the script they hand her. So much going on. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Here is what she had to say.

So Greg Daniels had told me that I would be able to direct an episode season nine, which I was really excited about, but I didn't know which episode. When I got the script for Customer Loyalty and I read it, I absolutely could not believe that Greg had given me the script where we revealed the documentary crew for the very first time because I was a new director and that just seemed unbelievably huge.

So I started at the beginning of the script and I just kind of worked my way through it. I spent a lot of time on stage. I spent a lot of time looking at angles and talking to Matt Sohn, our DP, about how to stage things so that they'd be funny and so they'd be interesting and look like it belonged in our show.

If I had gotten this script as a first-time director, I would have pooped my pants and handed it back. I know. And, like, hard pass. This is the same thing we talked about with Bryan Cranston is you say yes, but then you don't know the episode you're going to get. Yeah. Wow. This was a huge episode. It had a bunch of toddlers. Yep. It had this major reveal. It had multiple locations. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, I'll tell you from my point of view, because I had been working as a producer this season, I knew this was coming. So it was really fun for me to sit in that table read and have everybody else find out.

But this storyline of Pam being comforted by the boom operator was actually a pitch from Mindy Kaling that went all the way back to season three. Oh, wow. Yeah. And I remember Greg bringing it up to me and John over the summer during our producer sessions for season nine. So I reached out to Greg because I wanted to kind of get this backstory. And here's what Greg said. Greg said, yes, it was originally a pitch for Pam when she was in New York going to art school.

The idea was that she was on the subway and she was getting hassled by someone, and the boom operator would drop his boom mic and come in to save her. And once he was revealed, he would become a little bit of a character on the show. Maybe she would have a few meals with him. The idea was that we wanted to make people worry that she was maybe drifting apart from Jim while she was in New York. Greg said it was pretty much the story role that Rich Summer ended up playing.

And he said he loved this idea, and everyone in the writer's room loved this idea, but they felt like it was something we should save for later. Kind of like what you were saying, Angela. He said it kind of made you think about the documentary crew too much for like a season three moment. Yeah, that's too soon. I agree. He said it would be hard to put that back in the bottle for the rest of the season. Yeah, because you're like, what, is the guy standing there? Yes, you'd be thinking about them too much. Mm-hmm.

But Greg said he always thought it was a really creative pitch. And he said, but considering it was season nine and he was aiming at the documentary airing at the end of season nine, he said we wouldn't need to put anything back in the bottle so they could go with this. And he said, you know, remember, we discussed putting a little conflict between Pam and Jim for season nine because we didn't want it to be all smooth sailing.

And so he said Jim was going to go to Philly, kind of like Pam going to New York, and this was an opportunity for some drama and tension so that the eventual happy ending would feel even better. He wants fans to know there was never any way that he wasn't going to give Jim and Pam a happy ending. But the boom operator seemed like something that would worry the audience.

And he said, it was really the only plausible relationship that Pam could have had all these years that we wouldn't know anything about because the crew's never been included in the footage. Yeah. And he said it did worry the audience. They hated Brian so much. Oh, Pam, instantly. Yeah. I felt so bad for Chris, who played Brian, because...

Oh, my Lord. The minute he hit the screen, people were like, hold up, buddy. Yes. What are you doing? Putting your hand on Pam's back. I don't think so. Yeah. Greg said it definitely served its purpose. Whew.

All right, moving on to fast fact number three, which we've touched on a little bit. How was this received? Well, many reviewers loved it. E! Online named the reveal one of the best TV moments of the week. Newsday called the scene historic and said that the moment between Jim and Pam fighting and the cameraman making an appearance was a lot to take in, but that the scene was properly done.

The Huffington Post called it, quote, huge and shocking. But some people took issue with it. Critics and fans alike wondered, is this the moment that the documentary crew finally steps in? Because Pam is emotional. So like when Michael drove his car into a lake? Yes. They're not like, wait, wait, Michael, you're driving into a lake. Correct. Correct.

We had a letter from Jennifer P. in Spanaway, Washington, who said, Pam, I don't like to see her cry, but the documentary crew stops filming. Here's a list of things the documentary crew did not stop filming for. How about allowing Andy to float around in a lake in a sumo suit and not helping him get out? Allowing Dwight to stroll.

fire in the office. Oh, that's a good one. Locking us all inside. Yes. Allowing Michael to jump off the roof onto a bouncy castle. Or Dwight to ride a bicycle on a tightrope. Yes. How about letting Uncle Al wander around the city when he goes missing from Phyllis's wedding? Oh, Uncle Al. I didn't even think about that one. Yes.

filming Kevin as he passes out in his car when they're worried about the dog in the parking lot. Allowing Jim to stab into snowmen with a pointy umbrella with the possibility of Dwight being inside. Allowing Angela to hire

Hire a hitman to injure Oscar. Commit a possible crime. They did not stop Dwight from riding a bike across a high wire. They did not stop Michael from attempting to frame Toby. They allowed Dwight to shoot Stanley with animal tranquilizers. And Jennifer says, I am sure there are plenty more.

So, yes. Well, Jennifer, I totally agree. Although in those instances, none of them turned to the camera operator and said, Brian, what am I doing wrong? Yes.

Pam, and this was a big note that we had, which was that Pam has to break the wall. Yeah. Pam broke the wall. Yes. Brian did not. Correct. The documentary crew did not interfere until Pam initiated that contact. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Well, that's all I have for Fast Facts. I'll get into the weeds on how we filmed that big reveal later when we break down that moment. Well, let's take a break because when we get back, I have some call sheet tidbits to kick us off. I love your call sheet tidbits.

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Okay, you say, I want some breakfast. Your so-called boyfriend says, we got eggs in the fridge. Obviously, when you say breakfast, you mean McDonald's. Definitely a side-eye situation. Bring home the bacon, steak patty, or others with a BOGO for $1 breakfast. Only in the app. Limited time only at participating McDonald's. Valid once a day. Must opt into rewards. Visit McDApp for details. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba.

We are back. Here are my call sheet tidbits. First of all, you guys, when Steve Burgess sends me the call sheets, he always includes a photo from his day. It's the cutest thing. And for this week, he had some flowers blooming in his yard.

And he sent me a picture, and so I sent him one back of my flowers. It just makes me so happy. I feel like I'm trading emails with my dad. I totally get it, Angela. The other day, I wrote to Randy Cordray, and I was like, I know I'm not reaching out to you every week anymore, but I just wanted to say hi. I know. They're such a wonderful part of this journey with us. And I feel that way about Kent Sabornak, too. Yeah. Aw, Kent. They are kind of like the dad of the production. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

So our first day of filming started on November 26, 2012. For this week, the weather averaged a high of 74 degrees and a low of 50 degrees, and we had rain Wednesday through Friday. That sounds so pleasant. It's a nice time of year. Yeah. Well, that's your weather report from the call sheet, and that's when we were filming this episode, November 2012. Well, this episode opens with a very cheeky cold open.

Dwight is going through a file cabinet over by the accountant's desks, and he is complaining because he's like, there's so many dead accounts in here. Do we ever clean this thing out? And he finds a letter, an old letter from Robert Dunder, implying that he might be in possession of perhaps the Holy Grail and that he has hid it,

somewhere in the office? Yeah. The letter reads, a valuable artifact has come into my possession. I have hidden it until such time as a person of strong intellect may safely recover it. This golden chalice is of immeasurable historical and religious significance. Pam overhears this. She's like, oh my gosh, this is a classic Jim prank. And she calls him. Yeah. And she's asking him about it. And he's like, Pam, I am too busy to do pranks on. Oh my gosh.

He remembers. He did this years ago. He spent weeks on it, and Dwight only just now finds it. Yeah, Jim says he stayed late every night for a month. He had a lot more free time back then. And he says the Dunder Code. Well, here is the Dunder Code breakdown of clues. Are you ready? I'm ready. First clue is a light bulb, which reveals a message written in invisible ink that

Higher than numbers go. Dwight immediately is like, oh, the ceiling above accounting. Next clue is a key with a tag marked X. Oscar solves this one. He's like, Annex, it must be something in there.

Over in the annex in a locked bottom drawer in Clark's desk is a scroll reading, Seaties in Troti, or Seat of Entrance. This leads everyone over to front reception, where Dwight cuts open a sofa cushion to find five red playing cards. Kevin immediately is like, that's a flush, because, you know, Kevin, he's our card guy. Dwight then emerges from the bathroom. He's clearly gone in the toilet somehow, and he's found a little...

I don't know, like a little pallet stacker, you know, like a little warehouse. Little toy. Yes. Like warehouse. Forklift. Forklift. That's the word.

And everyone is cheering. They're like, it's the warehouse, the warehouse. They go down to the warehouse. They're tearing the warehouse apart. They can't find it. This cuts to Glenn, who's enjoying a donut as he dunks it into coffee in a... Golden chalice. Yeah. I guess he found it. He found it a long time ago. I have one bullsh** card to play in this whole cold open. Just one? As Dwight is going and finding all the clues, it cuts back to Jim at Athlead. And Jim says...

Oh, I can't wait for Dwight to get to the end and find the fake grail. Or wait, is it? Wait, did I get a grail? I can't remember. I'm sorry. Jim would remember. Did you see that golden chalice that Glenn is dipping his donut in? It's very elaborate. He had to special order that or go to a store. You would remember buying a golden chalice. Am I wrong? You're not wrong. We have what I was calling a fan catch but could call a bullsh**.

card from Randy C. in Columbia, Maryland, who said, how do all these artifacts still exist after the various things that the office has been through, such as the fires that both Ryan and Dwight set?

Yeah, how's that thing still up in the ceiling above a counting if, like, remember, Oscar fell through the ceiling. A cat fell through the ceiling. Okay. It's still just, like, right up there? Of all the clues, I believe they would all still be in their places. The toilet? No one cleans. Michael has done so much to the toilets. Okay, the two spots are the toilet and above a counting. The ceiling. Yeah. I'm just saying, I—

How are these clues still there? I did want to point out some background details and just give a big shout out to our crew. At 44 seconds, we see flashback footage of Jim at his desk planning this whole thing. Yes. And he's got, you know, his old wardrobe, his old floppy hair. They tried. They tried to make his floppy hair, but I didn't buy it. Well...

I wanted to point out all the ways that the set had been taken back in time. So there's a little piece that you can see over Jim's shoulder of the manager's office, and it's been redressed to be Michael's office. There is no desk for Andy or Nellie, you know, that desk that was added to the Phyllis...

Stanley clump. And there is not a desk for Pam in the Jim Dwight clump. It's back to that stack of paper boxes that it was in the very early seasons. I love that. Yeah, great detail. Before we end this cold open breakdown and get into the episode, I have two background catches. Number one, Meredith has a new wig. Yes. She's a blonde this week. Yes. Number two, Angela is wearing pants.

Oh, pants. That must have been comfy. I know. Well, I have one last thing before we move on. I have a cold open snark. Oh. You perked up. It's our favorite thing. I get very excited. Oh, we text each other, I have a snark. We're like, I'm sorry. Kids, we're going to be a little bit late for school. Jenna has a morning snark. I got to hear it. Sorry. It's so true. Yeah. It's so true. It's just your face lit up when I said it. You sat up. Oh. Okay. Okay. Okay.

I just need to note that Pam is on the phone in the background every step of the way. She's on the phone giving Jim a play-by-play of this whole search that Dwight is on. I just think it's interesting that he's able to step away from work to get real-time updates on his prank. Right. I see where you're going. Okay. Yeah. You got it. Yeah, I got it.

But Pam's the bad guy this season. Oh, now. I guess. Come on. That's okay, though. Yep. Yep, yep. Fine, fine. Well, I just sent you a link to an article titled, Jim Halpert Sucks. I know you did. And it's about this season. I know. Really, I feel like finally maybe people are seeing it through a different lens. Ah. Okay. Now we're starting the episode. Let's. Oh, my God.

You sound like a cartoon. You sound like a cartoon. I want to do more voiceover work. So do I. So I'm going to try some stuff out on the pod. I really do. I want to be in an animated show.

Yeah. Don't have to do my hair. Don't have to do her hair. Never. Never again. Never again. Do I have to worry about the back of my head? I mean, I let it go anyway, but... Lady, I'm wearing a hat today.

Because I'm trying to do fashionable hat because I haven't dyed my roots and I didn't do the back of my hair. You have a root stay. It's the 50s. I'm fully 50s now and I've started to stop doing the back of my hair. Yeah. What's going on? You know, I feel like when you're young, you wear a hat because you're like, I didn't wash my hair, whatever, I'll wear a hat. But now as you get older, it's like...

I didn't do my roots. No. I've got some grays and the back of my head's a hot mess. Put on a hat. Those are the three reasons I put a hat on today. Well, I think you look really cute. I think it looks cute too. All right.

Time for the Ampa Show! I know. That's my, um, another one of the characters I can do for any of the voiceover folks listening. Can you sustain that? Sure I can! Oh, you can. You really can. Hey, Ange! I mean, write the show for her, please. All right. For real, we open with Nellie in the conference room with Aaron and Pete. Yeah, apparently Aaron and Pete are part of this...

social media initiative that Nellie has set up. So they're trying to have an online presence for Dunder Mifflin. Yeah. They've created a fake profile for a really cool guy named Derek McBlack, and I guess it's just Pete in sunglasses. And they're trying to get likes and followers, and they're creating fake accounts to get those. And at the same time,

They're just being flirty and super cute. And Nellie says, I consider myself a genius for putting the two of them together. First of all, I just want to say kudos to our writers for making Nellie's job a job. She really does have special projects. Now, do we need these special projects? Right. Probably not. But, you know, the social media initiative, special project. Yeah. Makes it legitimate. Right.

All right, we had a fan question from Chris W. from The New Forest, England. When Aaron and Pete are working on their grand social media initiative, they set up a fake profile for Derek McBlack. Aaron informs Nellie that Derek is, in fact, just Pete in sunglasses. We only get a brief glimpse of McBlack, but I'm not convinced this is Pete in sunglasses. Would the real Derek McBlack please stand up? I didn't think it looked like Pete either.

Me either. I reached out to Steve Burgess and Steve said, Chris, you're right. That doesn't look like Jake. He said, I don't have any info. I'm pretty sure we didn't ever take a picture of Jake. My guess is it's a stock photo that the art department picked of a guy in sunglasses.

Good catch, Chris. I totally agree. Yeah. Here's one little catch in this scene. Did anyone else notice that Jake Lacey has a cold? I didn't. Yeah. He has a cold in this episode. How do you know? For sure. He's like, yeah, exactly. He's like, this is my cold. That's what he sounds like. He's like, come on, guys. He literally says that in the conference room later. He's like, come on, guys. What's this all about? I did not notice this, but I just want to say.

you can do person with cold voiceover. Thank you, my resume. Yep. Erin's going to have a talking head where she's giddy about getting to work with Pete. She talks about how well they work together and she gets all flustered. Yeah. She's clearly sweet on him. Yeah, she's like, you know, I mean...

I probably work well with a girl or a guy or someone I'm into. Not that I'm into Pete. Yes. She's very cute in it. Next up, we see Jim at Athlete. We find out that one of their biggest investors has requested a lunch meeting. And he just says, hey, guys, is it cool if we just do it a little early? Because remember, I have to get back to Scranton today.

And they're like, sure, yeah, no problem. Yeah. And then Jim has this talking head. He's very excited about Cece's ballet recital. He's taught her a signature move, the Cece spin and kiss, and he demonstrates it. He's very cute dad moment. I absolutely love the guy who is walking in the background of this talking head. Oh, no. Did you see him? I watched it three times. No, I didn't see him. Oh, my gosh. It's such good background acting.

He's walking by and Jim does the spin and the kiss and he just kind of looks in to the conference room as you would if someone was spinning and whatever for a camera. It's

Very good job. Very, very good job to the person who did this cross. Well, now we're going to set up a Daryl Dwight storyline. Daryl arrives to Dunder Mifflin. He has an athlete bag. And Dwight immediately is like, why do you have that? Why are you? And he calls the company Stumpany, a.k.a. Stupid Company. That really made me laugh. It made me laugh, too.

This is when Daryl tells Dwight that he's going to work for Stumpany. Uh-huh. Dwight is shocked. He's so mad. He calls Jim. He's furious. He's like, hey, Halpert, what's the big idea? First, you jump ship. Now you're stealing Daryl, too. When will it end? Yeah.

And Jim says, we'll take your worst fear and multiply it by infinity. Dwight says, you won't stop until you've poached us all. And Jim goes, yeah, even you. And then here's one of my favorite lines from the whole entire episode. Dwight says, no, I'll be damned if I'm going to let us lose me. I know. That made me laugh so hard.

Well, now Pam is going to approach accounting because she needs to ask Angela if she's heard anything about the Irish American Cultural Center mural. Guess what, guys? Angela's husband, the senator, recommended Pam to be the artist.

for this big mural project in Scranton. Yeah, I loved this callback. Remember, the senator had come to the office with coffee. During the Target. During the Target. It was in deleted scenes. And here we have this footage because the senator is looking for Angela but wants to talk to Oscar. And Daryl says, I think...

They're in the warehouse. So we've got this great footage of the senator noticing Pam making her mural. Pam has a talking head where she says, Senator Lipton helped me submit my design for a new mural on a downtown building. And she's waiting to hear. You know, she's trying to downplay it. She's like, I mean, there are so many people they would go with. Why would they go with an unknown like me when they could have a big name like Tracy Fleab? Oh, Tracy Fleab.

Big time mural artist in Scranton. Yeah.

I know for a fact that Greg likes funny names. Yeah. And I feel like a bunch of names were pitched, and they loved Fleab, Tracy Fleab. Sorry to all the real Fleabs out there. There are some. I'm sure, but it is an interesting sounding name, Fleab. It is. You must know that. Yes. If your last name is Fleab. You know. You know. It's like this family we knew growing up when we lived overseas. Their last name was Herb. Herb. Herb. Like Herb.

Basil? As in herb? No, like E-R-B. Herb. Oh. And guess what the dad's first name was? I'm scared. Herb. No, it wasn't. Yes, it was. Stop it. Herb Herb. Come on. His name was Herb Herb? His name was Herb Herb. But I'm just saying, Herb Herb knew he had a funny name. Why did Herb Herb's parents do that to him? Maybe they had a sense of humor.

Yeah, sometimes it happens. That's a head shaker. You're an herb, you're a fleab. Dweeb fleab. No, no one would do that. No. No. Herb herb. It was real.

Okay. Well, Angela has no information. She doesn't know if they've gone with Tracy Fleab. She doesn't know anything. She doesn't. This is when Pam is going to share that she's off to Cece's recital. Oscar could not be less enthusiastic. He's like, okay, whatever. I have a question. What? Why is this dance recital in the middle of a work week? They often are.

Sometimes. It must be a school thing. I mean, could you make it harder for working parents to get there for their kid? Why do you have this in the middle of the day, in the middle of a week?

day. I mean, I go to a lot of things at the kids' school, but it's always like at the end of the day. It's like an evening thing, which is always a heavy lift because you're like, oh my God. I will say, though, in elementary, when they're really little, I mean, this is little, this is like preschool age, kindergarten age. When they're really little, sometimes their big events are like at 1.30 or 2 p.m. And you do, you have to scramble to get there as a working parent. I mean, okay. Yeah.

I thought it was a little odd. So after that Pam talking head about Tracy Fleab, there would have started this deleted storyline about Angela's weird bent foot. Remember that? Yes. Yes. And we talked about it with Kelly Cantlie when we interviewed her because she was my foot double one day and we both had to contort our feet. Well, when I was looking in my digital clutter for this episode...

I mean, I know I've already shared a photo. I found more. There were more pictures. So in addition to finding all of these extra photos from the fake foot fitting, I also found an email I sent to you. Oh. Mm-hmm. Here's what it's titled. Ugg and Ugg some more. Oh, boy. I couldn't wait to open this email. Okay. Okay.

It starts with this. I had to get here super early for this random prosthetic foot gag that Greg loves, and I bet it won't even make it into the episode. Oh, no, and it didn't. And get this. A prosthetic specialist guy had to come to my house over Thanksgiving break to take measurements of my foot. And this morning, I had to meet with Phil Shea and Alicia to figure out wardrobe that will go over the fake foot leg.

And then we had to take photos of the fake foot leg. And it's only 9.30 a.m. Oh, boy.

It's so great that you have these because this was like sort of pre-texting where if you did want to fill someone in, you wrote it in the email. We would write emails. Yes. And one of the reasons I emailed you rather than called you and vented is that you had the morning off and you had a baby. Yeah. You had Weston. And so I was like, I'm not going to rant to her about this prosthetic fake foot gag that Greg wants. I'm just going to email her and she'll see it when she can. Oh, my goodness.

Well, you called it. It wasn't in the episode. You're like, all this effort. I interrupted my Thanksgiving break. A man came to my house. Oh, my gosh. Well, now Pam and Cece are in the car, and they call Jim. They call Daddy. This is really cute. Mm-hmm. So sweet.

But this is where Pam is going to find out that Jim is still in Philly and he's not going to make the recital. This investor might back out and Jim can't leave. So Jim says, Pam, will you please film the recital? And he sort of

starts talking to her, kind of condescending about how to film it. And she's like, look, I know how to point a rectangle at something and film it. And then he's like, okay, and then it's time to say goodbye. And then there's this pause. And then he's like, hey, Pam, you have to press end, you know, which is sort of meant to be like a dig at her phone skills. Yeah. Lady. Why can't Jim just hang up the phone?

This is the scene. Oh, that people were pissed off about? For so many reasons. I saw the mail for this episode and I couldn't believe it. Where should I begin? I'll begin with Amanda C. from Montreal, Canada. Amanda says, I have to go on a little rant about Jim, but maybe not from the moment you think.

What absolutely grinds my gears about Jim's behavior is when Pam is on the phone with him in the car and he implies that she doesn't know how to use her phone to video the recital by saying, see, Pam, you still need to hang up the phone. Excuse me, sir. She is driving. Can you not hang it up yourself? And then it will automatically end the call on her phone. Samantha L. from Tampa, Florida said, the thing I actually cannot get past is

is the incident when Pam is in the car on the way to Cece's recital. Why is Jim giving Pam such a hard time for being bad with technology because she doesn't hang up the phone? Pam is driving with your child in the back seat. You hang up the phone, Jim. You're not the one that would need to take your hand off the wheel of a moving vehicle.

Let's see. Samantha goes on to say, who's the one who's really bad with the cell phone technology, huh? Spoiler alert, not Pam. Another letter from Nora E. in New Orleans, Louisiana. I want to go on record to say that the tipping point moment when Jim has clearly gone full ass was in this episode when he's on the phone with Pam and he berates her for not hanging up the phone. She's driving. He's at work.

He's clearly not in a huge rush to return to his meeting since he's able to stay at his desk and what, have a gotcha moment with his own wife? This scene in the car makes me so deeply angry. I need this full dickhead moment to be acknowledged. I love that she puts full in front of her curse word. I know. Full a**hole. I want to use that. He's gone full a**hole. I know.

So, Ange, it's literally what you said. You said it. You're like, why can't he hang up the phone? This is just three of the letters we got about this moment. But this is very good foreshadowing for what is going to happen later. And I think an interesting dynamic in their relationship, which is that, and I think some relationships have this, they've got the gotcha person. Oh, I got to point out the little thing. Gotcha. Gotcha.

You know, you said that you are good at cleaning out the fridge, but gotcha found a rotten tomato or whatever it is. You know, the gotcha people, the gotcha moments, which are just like so toxic for a relationship. It's petty. Pettiness. It's pettiness. Yeah. Yeah. But Jim's in a mood. He's stressed. He's not handling it well. Yeah.

In conclusion, I hope that us discussing it today on the podcast has brought some of you relief because the number of heated letters we got about this moment. I felt it. We also asked Kelly Cantlie about directing this scene, and here's what she had to say. Cece in the car. Surprisingly,

Cece in the car was really hard to shoot because Cece was a little girl and little kids don't do lines. So Jenna, I don't know if you remember, we shot all of your dialogue and then we shot lots of

both of us taking turns just saying the lines. I think we started with you doing it and then we wanted to go from you to the little girl so we would see you talking. So you did it a few times where you would just say her line and she would say it back. And I believe I did it a bunch of times on the speaker in the car. So I actually had forgotten that until I watched the episode again.

I actually did remember that. I had such a great rapport with those little girls. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm 50 now, which is the decade of tooting your own horn. It's time to toot. Bailey and Sienna.

I just loved them so much. And we would do a thing where we would do, like, repeat me. So I would say their line and they would say their line. And we made a little game out of it. They did great. I thought it was so cute. Yeah. Those girls were so cute. Well, lady, I think we should take a break. And when we come back, I have a copy of Dwight's loyalty oath and everyone's coffee order. Okay. Okay.

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Welcome back to Office Ladies. Is this another one of your... This is another one of my characters. Oh, my gosh. I'm not sure who I am or what I am, but I think it's a good voice. I think it's perfect for, like, maybe you're, like, a little tiny lizard that, like, lives... Yes, I live in a crevice. Yes, you live in a crevice. Surprise! Surprise! That isn't a deal. That's it. I put it on your resume. Can do. Cute lizard. Can do.

Take this lizard voice and put it onto a lizard and we'll post it on Office Ladies Pod. In stories. Not a feed post. Just in stories. Who are you? What's your character? I don't know. I'm just trying to match you. Are you another, like, amphibian? What are you? Who's that guy? The voice of reason guy.

My character has wild ideas and has lots of enthusiasm. My character doesn't always want to go with the flow. No. This is horrible. Listen, we're not writing it, okay? We're just doing the voices for it. Okay. We're back. And Nellie and Pete and Erin are celebrating their first real like.

fake person to like Dunder Mifflin. Yeah. And they are very excited. They do their little handshake. It's really cute. And Nellie is like, oh, no. What have I done? Yeah. She said, Andy is just starting to be nice to me, and now I've driven his girlfriend into the arms of a younger man. And she has CC'd Andy on all the incriminating correspondence, in which she tells them not to hold back, to make sure their social media presence is hot, hot, hot.

Yeah, she says I did everything but unzip their pants for them. And now she's on a mission to undo all of it. I have to point out, in the background of Nellie's talking head, you know, we were always doing background for each other. Super cutesy background. Like, Pete and Erin are just continuing very animated, flirty, handshaky cutesiness.

Dwight is now going to announce that he's ordering coffee for the whole team and presents a sign-up sheet. Phyllis looks below the top flap and discovers it's actually a loyalty pledge. She's trying to be sneaky and get them to sign it. Well, after this episode aired, NBC released a copy of Dwight's loyalty pledge, and here's what it had to say.

By writing my name in the column below, I do hereby resolve to swear an oath of loyalty and obedience to Dunder Mifflin and its affiliates hereinafter company for life plus 10 years. My loyalty and priorities will be wholly with company and no side projects or extracurricular endeavors, aka moonlighting at dumb sounding companies, including but not limited to athlete.

I also promise not to take tips or kickbacks or any form of payola, as such term is generally defined in the radio industry, in exchange for giving special treatment to any customers, hereinafter customers. My devotion to the company shall be nothing less than unconditional obedience, and I shall be prepared at all times to give my life to uphold this oath in this life and the hereafter. One coffee order maximum per name, no pizza.

And then it listed everybody's coffee order. Can I just say, I feel like he had to put no pizza because it's come up before that they've had a coffee order and someone has also asked for pizza. Yes. All right. Here is the coffee order for the folks at Dunder Mifflin. Phyllis ordered a banana fruit smoothie. Stanley ordered a small decaf. Daryl ordered a double latte, lotsa latte.

Oscar ordered a venti chai tea misto half soy. Kevin ordered a cappuccino. Is that different from a cappuccino? I think it's what Kevin thinks is a cappuccino. He wrote cappuccino. Okay, okay. Pete ordered a cappuccino with cinnamon. Clark ordered a tall and black like my women. Nellie ordered a black tea, any, with lemon like my men.

Erin ordered a vanilla blendy thing, five sugars, happy face. Meredith ordered an Irish coffee, extra Irish. And this goes to your theory, Angela. Creed ordered a pastrami on rye, fries, Coke, nothing to drink. Yeah. There you go. Angela did not order any. No, she didn't. Angela Martin and Angela Kinsey don't want to be part of your coffee order. Angela Martin does not want to be stimulated. Mm-mm.

She doesn't. And Angela Kinsey doesn't drink coffee. And Angela Kinsey doesn't drink coffee. Dwight now bursts into the annex and he says, Clark, I need any complaints pertaining to Daryl in the past few weeks. I want it broken down by keywords. And Clark's like, listen, that's going to be tough. We use Windows 95.

And Dwight's like, fine, just print it out. Then this cuts to that hilarious dot matrix printer that's like, it's going to take forever. And when we asked Kelly Cantlie what memories she had from shooting this episode, this was one of the scenes she mentioned. Here's what she said. The scene where Dwight goes into Clark and tells him to print all the complaints, it

I looked and looked at that scene and I could not figure out how it was going to be funny until we shot it. And Matt's own brilliant operator dropped the camera down to just over the machine onto Dwight and Clark. And then I thought it was just so funny. It makes me laugh every time I see it. I think this scene is so funny because it is the callback to Clark and

being frustrated by our just dinosaur technology. Yeah. Talk about old tech. He's surrounded by old tech.

Dwight is now going to hold a conference room meeting about customer loyalty. What is it? Can you hold it in your hand? Can you dump it on a woman? No, because it's an idea. What does it mean? This whole time, a man has been sitting at the front of the conference room. Dwight is now going to introduce him as Mr. Romanco, a client of 20 years who came in today enraged at Daryl, who was distracted because he was working on outside projects. And Mr. Romanco is like, no, no, no, I wouldn't

I wouldn't classify this as rage. He seems a bit confused. Well, there was a scene that would have come previous to this that sort of explains it all and set up the whole scene. In the shooting draft, it read like this. A client, Mr. Romanco, a meek little man, enters the office tentatively. Dwight spots him. Dwight says, Mr. Romanco, right away. So sorry you felt the need to come in. Mr. Romanco says, I didn't. You called.

But it's such a small matter. Maybe we should just, Dwight says, I understand, but we take customer loyalty very seriously here. Emergency conference room meeting, everyone. Mr. Romanco is like confused. He's like, what? And he turns to Mr. Romanco and says, I hope you have nothing planned for the whole afternoon. Yeah.

And Mr. Romanco says, actually, I do have. And Dwight pushes Romanco into the conference room and then shouts to everyone, irate customer coming through. Yes. When we get back to the conference room, Daryl is going to say, I'm so sorry. We were a day late on your delivery, but two of our trucks were down for repairs, and I don't see this ever happening again. And Mr. Romanco is like,

Fine, great. He's satisfied with that answer. He wants to leave. Yeah, he's like, good for me. Dwight's like, no, Mr. Romango is angry, and Daryl forgot that loyalty is the key to relationships. Well, Nellie is going to be like, I agree. Yes. She sees her way out now, and she's going to take it. She says loyalty is everything, and they should all ask themselves if they've been faithful in their relationships. Yes.

Stanley is like, uh-uh, he's not going to participate in this conversation. Nellie says Daryl is dating Dunder Mifflin, but flirting with athlete on the side. Then they start using Aaron as an example. Like, what would it be like if Aaron, who is in a relationship with Andy, was flirting with someone on the side, like maybe Creed? He's so funny. He's like, yeah, I'll play that out. He's like, sure, yeah, let's see what...

And imagine during all of this, poor Mr. Romanko is like, can I go? And this conference room scene was so fun to shoot. We broke and laughed several times. And I loved this little brief exchange between Angela and Aaron. I want to play it. Well, I think it would be immoral for Aaron to cheat on Andy. Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't you cheat on Andy? Yes. And he didn't like it.

that too. I love when you said yes and he didn't like it very much. Yes. And I'm really put out and he didn't like it.

One of our favorite things as a cast, we've talked about this before, is to have a big group scene where everyone has a moment. And this was one of those scenes. Everyone in the conference room had something hilarious that they contributed. Yes. And by the way, Mr. Romanco was great. Yes. Guest star shout out to Mr. Romanco, played by Bob Bluberman. He was originally a lawyer, but he was a lawyer.

who left law to become an actor in 1995. Well, Bob has crossover connections with both you and I. You want to hear them? Yes. Bob and I have both had roles on Spin City and Strong Medicine.

And Angela, your crossover connections are Hot in Cleveland, New Girl, and Fresh Off the Boat. Bob, we've worked on so many of the same shows. I know. He's appeared in over 100 TV shows, dozens of commercials, and voiceover spots. Bob. Hook us up. Yeah. We have so many voices. We can do a lot. Hey, now, listen, Bob. I got this guy, too. I can do this one. He works at a tire shop. Tim's Tire Town.

I always say, if you're going to get your beauty done, get your beauty done right. That's what she says. See, look at us. What can't we do? Bob, probably voiceover. Well, should we head on over to Cece's recital? Because it is underway. Yes, it is. And I have a few more things to share about this day.

Kelly had made sure I had the day off so when we filmed these scenes, I could be there just right off camera. You had to be. I know. That morning, the girls got to go through hair and makeup. They were very excited. I have adorable pictures of these tiny little ladybugs in those big hair and makeup chairs, and they look so tiny in them. Debbie and Sherry in hair and makeup took such great care of them.

And Isabel was already really familiar with the hair and makeup trailer. So she was actually very excited that she got to sit in the chair and not just pop in and say hi to me. Well, what I loved about our hair and makeup folks, Angela, is that...

you know, these little girls didn't really need hair and makeup. No. But they fussed over them. Yes. They made it an event. This day was like a whole event for these little girls. So they would like maybe put their hair in a ponytail or pigtails or something, but they would linger. Yeah. And they would brush their faces even if there wasn't any makeup on it. It was the cutest thing. It was so cute. In fact...

One time Isabel was on set, and I think I've shared this before, and I think my forehead was shiny. They said, Angela, you have a little bit of shine, and they powdered my forehead. So Isabel walked into the hair and makeup, and she said to Sherry, can I get a little shine? Yeah, because she thought that was what you got. Yes. And they just put their hair up in little ponytails, and then, you know, they got a tiny little bit of chapstick and a little bit of shine. So sweet. Yeah.

Well, the location of this recital was the 20th Century Women's Club in Eagle Rock. And I asked Steve Burgess what was involved on the production end when you have a bunch of little kids on set, because I know they can only work certain hours. They have to have breaks. They have to have tutors. They have to have a parent or guardian. Steve said since these were just three and four-year-olds, they didn't really have to go to school, but they did have a school teacher there.

Because it's required by California law. But they didn't really make them go to school. And that the shooting was very short. It was very short. And they did have a big room for everyone with chairs and the girls. Like, I mean, literally, they had coloring books and crayons and little games. And we all hung out together. And when I rewatched the episode with my daughter and we watched the dancing, she's right in the middle at the very first opening shot. It's her and Maya. And they're right in the middle next to Cece. Yeah.

And she's like, oh, mom, Maya knew the dance perfectly. And when we watched, we both got tickled because Isabel got distracted by her shoes. She looks down at her feet. And she was like, what am I doing? I was like, well, you did love shoes. I don't know. Maybe you were looking at your shoes.

And there was an extra scene that they did with the little gals where they all poke their heads around the big curtain before they go on stage. That one didn't make it in the episode, but it is in deleted scenes. Well, while the recital is going on, Pam is in the audience and she's filming. But guess what? She gets a phone call. Yes. And she's so excited.

It's the city of Scranton. Yes, she got the job painting the mural over Tracy Fleab. She got the job. Well, the other parents around her are not pleased that she took this phone call. They're shushing her. They're saying, you are very rude. Very rude. Well, when you watch this, you might think their reactions kind of are harsh, right? There were a few vignettes that led up to this moment.

First of all, Pam tries to get a seat in the front row. I remember this. It's in deleted scenes. And she asks the man she ends up sitting next to if he can move his son. So they put his son on his lap. His kind of too big to sit on your lap son. Yeah. To make a space for Pam. So that's the first thing she did. And then she's trying to get a better shot. And she's kind of like crawling on the floor. Like she's kind of being annoying. I remember all that.

So by the time she gets the phone call, people have had it with her. Yes. Well, special guest star alert. The angry, shushing mom and dad were played by people we know, but I'll let Kelly Cantlie tell you all about it.

Interesting trivia about the Ladybug recital. Brian Whittle, our actual boom op for multiple seasons of The Office, plays the man sitting next to Pam. And then Stephanie Lesch Farrell, Sean Farrell's wife, one of our set decks, plays the woman sitting next to Brian.

Also, Brian Whittle appears three times in the credits of that episode. Brian's playing the man at the recital. Brian Whittle is also the actual boom operator credited for the show. And then Chris Diamantopoulos played Brian Whittle, the boom operator character who breaks the wall. So there's trivia. Brian Whittle, you're all over the place in this episode. I know. I do love that the character of the boom operator's name is Brian Whittle.

First and last name. I know. Of the real guy. Of one of the real boom operators for the show. You know, this brings me to a fan question from Lindsay A. in Thousand Oaks, California, who said, my question is, why is there all of a sudden a boom operator? They've had lapel mics this whole time, and out of nowhere, there's a boom operator who's been doing sound for Pam this whole time? Well, Lindsay, I think this was something that, like, we knew, right?

as actors or making a show, which is that you wear a mic pack and you have a boom operator. It's very common to have both. They want to have backup sound. And so they grab sound in two different ways on projects. Always. Always. Always. Even when Josh and I do our little baking videos at home.

We have a lav mic kit that we bought, so we put the little mics on our shirts. But then he has one boom mic. Basically, he just puts on a tripod because we don't have a person to hold it, so we capture other sound. Yeah, you get the atmosphere of the room on the boom mic as well. Yeah. And a lot of times, for the most part on our show, it was the boom sound that you heard. The lav mics were backup. Yeah.

But it's a really good question. Good question. Well, Dwight and Daryl bid farewell to Mr. Romanco, and Dwight asks Daryl if he's ready to tell Jim to go screw himself. But Daryl says, no, athlete is my future. I want to have fun at work. This gets Dwight's wheels going. Yep. Well, back in the conference room, we are still going over this Aaron-Pete thing. Phyllis is on Team Pete. Yeah. Do you want to know the moment in the scene that we kept breaking and couldn't get past?

Was it Kevin's line? You want me to play it for you? Sure. Can everyone please stop speaking for me? Andy is my boyfriend. Pete and I are just friends. And that's the end of it, right, Pete? That is correct. Come on, guys. Where's this even coming from? Your feelings for Aaron? Probably your heart. And a little bit your penis. Okay.

It's also how he says penis. He doesn't say penis. He goes, penis. Yes. Also, did you hear Jake's cold? He's like, come on, you guys. I didn't hear it. Come on. I'm not hearing it. Are you kidding? Play it again. All right. I'm going to play it again. All right. That is correct. Come on, guys. Where's this even coming from? Come on, guys. Where's this even coming from? Where's this even coming from? I'm not hearing it. Come on. Are you kidding? That is correct. Come on, guys.

Where's this even coming from? Where's this even coming from? It doesn't sound like that to me. It does. It does.

a cold. I'm doing a poll in stories. Who thinks Jake had a cold? Who doesn't? Okay. Who can hear it? I can hear it. Okay. I believe you. Goodbye, you guys. I don't hear it. Where's Lizard coming from? I don't even hear it. Okay. Okay. Lizard doesn't hear it. Well, ultimately, the conference room scene ends and Nellie is happy because she feels like she has squashed that relationship. Yes. Back at Athlete, the team is still scrambling to keep this investor. Okay.

I mean, if you're an investor and you're not interested anymore, how long do you sit around waiting for them to get a call about some information? I don't know. Also, I mean, I do get why they're scrambling. Have you looked at Athlete? That place looks expensive. It does. I agree. Pam is trying to call Jim to share this good news about the mural, but it just goes to voicemail.

By the way, The Investor was played by Mitch Poulos. He's been on 30 Rock, most recently on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Chicago Fire, and he has played Santa more than once. Oh, yeah. Well, in the warehouse, Glenn has told Daryl to jump in the delivery truck, even though he doesn't do them anymore. Well, guess what?

There is another reveal in this episode, not just Brian. It is Dwight. He is inside the truck because now him and Daryl are going to have fun, lady. They're going to have fun and they're going to make some deliveries. They're delivering fun. This is the moment we played at the beginning of the episode. That's right.

And Dwight kicks it off by throwing a plastic basketball at Daryl's head. That's fun. Now he's going to pull into a fast food drive-thru. Bet they don't have this in Philly. And he throws a milkshake at the employee. Yeah. Daryl is horrified.

so horrified, he takes the keys out of the ignition. He's going to make Dwight go in and clean up the milkshake. Yeah, Dwight says this doesn't feel like a prank anymore. And while he's cleaning it all up, a couple of guys drive through and yell fire in the hole and throw a strawberry milkshake at Dwight. And he says, joke's on you. They make you come back and clean it up. Is this a thing? It's

It's fire in the hole thing, and I just missed... I think it was. Oh, no. Isn't that terrible? That's horrible. Well, I'll tell you, the location of this drive-thru is a very beloved fast food place. It was just down the road from the ballet studio in Eagle Rock. It's called Pete's Blue Chip Burgers. It's still there. It's been there for 50 years. We closed it down while we were shooting, so all the people you see inside were all background performers that we hired to be there. The first guy who gets hit with a milkshake...

is Eli Vargas. He's very funny. He had a recurring role on Summerland. And the guys in the car who throw the second milkshake have an interesting connection to Steve Burgess. He shared that the teenager driving the car was a friend of his son, Matt's, Alex McCaslin.

And he said his son Matt and Alex played soccer together since they were little kids. And when we were shooting this episode, Alex was trying to break into stunt work. So he was hired to drive. This was considered a stunt driving moment. And Steve said since then, he's had a great career as a stunt performer. So Alex's dream came true. Yay! Isn't that so fun? I love it. Well, we had to ask Kelly about shooting the scene. And here's what she had to say.

Lots and lots of fun for me was the scene where we got to throw a milkshake at Rain when Dwight gets a milkshake in the face when he's trying to clean up. That just made me laugh and then made me laugh even harder when Daryl watches it three times at the end. Did you hear it, lady? Lots and lots of fun for me was shooting the scene where we throw a milkshake at Rain. I don't know. Do you think this goes back to their whole thing about like,

Oh, yeah. Like having things off your screen. Yeah. Was this, I feel like maybe Kelly enjoyed that Rain got a milkshake thrown at him. I think she did, too. If you listen to Kelly's interview, her and Rain had a whole thing about his computer screen. Yes. Yes.

I would want to throw a milkshake at him. Well, let's go back to the kitchen for a second because we have a little bit of kitchen cringe happening. Toby is going to come in and give Nellie a big old hug while she's making coffee. And he says he's proud of how she handled the meeting. But then he says, what do you have against Pete and Aaron, though? Toby reminds Nellie that Andy was terrible to Aaron. Well, he doesn't say terrible.

Fan mail from Destiny S. in Northern Virginia says, can we please discuss Toby's comment of, quote, Andy was a terrible lover to Aaron? That's right. That's right. You're right. He said lover. Yes, that was so cringy.

said, I highly dislike this word, ew. Ew. It wasn't ew. You're so right. Yes. So this is a double cringe in the kitchen because I thought the hug and then when he says, you know, not everyone has what you and I have. And Nellie's like, what? I thought that was cringe, but I totally forgot that he said Andy was a terrible lover. Oh my gosh. Yes.

This is going to cut to a Nellie talking head where she says, oh, my goodness, I just remembered that I kissed that man. Mm-hmm. There were candy bag alts for this talking head. Oh, dear. Two of them I have to share. Nellie would have said, I just remembered I kissed that guy. Apparently, my brain refused to record a memory of it. And who can blame it? Poor dear. Yeah.

And then here was the second one, and this one really cracked me up. My mouth has touched the face of sadness. I'm sorry. That made me laugh. It was like in Harry Potter when those ghosts suck your soul out of your face. Hilarious. My mouth has touched the face of sadness. That is hilarious writing.

Oh, my goodness. Well, also back at the office, Pam asks if anyone wants to see the video from Cece's recital. Angela's like, oh, I'm swamped and holds up one piece of paper. Oscar's like, let's get this over with. I know.

You know, lady, this scene made me think of this moment. Years ago, I was at an Emmy's party. Okay. And Isabel was a baby, and everything about her was just the newest, funniest, most amazing thing, and it's all I could talk about. Oh, I know what you're going to say. Are you sure you don't want to save this for Office Ladies? Burn it to the ground.

Okay, I'll save it. Oh, now you have to tell it. No, no, I'll save it. I'll save it. I'll save it. It's some pretty good snark, and you guys will all know the people I'm talking about. People, yeah. We'll save it. People oscar'd you. People, a famous couple oscar'd me when I was talking about my baby at an Emmy's party. Now I think you have to tell it. No, I'm not going to tell it now. Don't say their names. Just say what happened.

Listen to this. Listen to this. Okay. We were in line, I think, for food or something. Like, it was like a party and there was food. And they were in front of me, this couple. And they're famous. You guys all know them. And she was being very nice and asking me how things are. And I started telling a story about my baby because that's all I wanted to talk about was my cute, adorable baby girl.

And her husband, who wasn't really making eye contact with me, kind of like looking over me for someone cooler to talk to, said to me, you know what I do when I can't fall asleep? And I was like, no. And he goes, I call my lawyer who's just had a baby and I'll say, tell me about your baby. Can you guys believe that? Can you believe that? And I was like, oh, got it. I'm Aria Stark and you're now on my list. Yeah.

I just want to put it out there. Famous person. You know who this person is. Famous person. And you probably like him. I'll say that. Well-liked. Like persona. By some. I think there's a debate about him. There's some douchery there, but... I will say this. What? This person, these people are not actors on the show.

On our show? Yeah, they're not. Of course not. I know. I just, I wouldn't want anyone to think that. We don't have that kind of douchery on our show. No, we do not. But yeah. Can you imagine? You're like in line to get some french fries and someone says that to you. I hadn't even been talking that long. It's not like I was showing videos or anything. I wasn't full Pam. Oh, excuse me. I'm so sorry.

Sorry, but Pam wanted to show a video of her dance recital to someone since her husband wasn't there. I told one story, but I will say to call back Nora, this guy was being a full ass. Yeah. Full ass.

My question that I've never even asked you, how did his wife respond? Was she taken aback? She just kind of did that thing where she was like, oh. You know, they did not have children yet. They do now. But she kind of just said that like, oh. Like, oh, fine.

They do now, and they talk about them all the time. Oh. Well, maybe I'll have to go full Oscar on them. Exactly. People are going to be guessing. You know, people have been trying to guess who the musician is. The blowhard that I ran into on the hike, no one has guessed it, I just want to say. They're never going to guess. No. It's so out of left field. It's very obscure. Famous, famous musician, but obscure. Can I give one hint to that? What? Tall. Tall.

We said that. So tall. Did we? Oh, we did. Yes, very tall. Very tall. I'm not going to give any hints on my couple. No. Except now they have children. That's all. Except now they have children. A couple with children. No one will ever figure it out. We know. We know. And we will reveal their names on Office Ladies Burn It to the Ground.

By the way, this is a very good example of a message from Angela that might begin, I have some snark. I have some snark. And now you see why we have to stop everything to listen to these messages. I know we're off topic, but if you want to stay off topic for a second, do we think that Pam's phone call was important enough to interrupt the recital? Would you have taken the call, Angela? From the city of Scranton? You're waiting to hear about your mural.

They would have told me in my messages. I would have let it go to voicemail. If I'm filming the recital, the only thing I can think of is if you're so thrown that you answer by accident. And she didn't. She answered on purpose. That's true. I really thought about this because my instinct was no, I wouldn't answer the phone in the middle of a recital unless it was some indication of an emergency. Exactly. But...

As an emerging artist, we get very superstitious, and I could imagine having the anxiety that if I don't answer this call, they'll give it to someone else. Right. They'll think I'm unreachable, and they'll pass on me. Right. Yeah. So I did understand that. Yeah. I see that. Well, Pam is trying to, you know, defend the fact that she took this phone call during the recital, but she doesn't want to say why or who it was. So we cut to this talking head where she explains...

She just wants Jim to be the first one to know about the mural because whenever something good happens to her, he always says, Beasley! And she wants to hear a Beasley. It's so cute. It's very cute. So sweet. We're laying it on thick, guys. Yeah. Well, now things are just kind of awkward and miserable between Pete and Erin. He's on his way to make copies. She notices. They're kind of curt to one another. Yeah.

And they both just look unhappy, and Nellie clocks it all. Yeah. And now Nellie is going to have a meeting with Pete and Aaron, and she says, you know what? I'm going to reassemble the task force. It's my decision. They have no choice. Everybody knows it. She apologizes to them. Aaron and Pete are so happy. Yeah. And Toby approves. He approaches her from behind. He rubs her shoulders. He calls her Lady. Oh, Lady. Lady.

Fan catch from Jessica N. in Rochester, New York said, oh, no. When Toby comes up creepily behind Nellie, he uses your hour word, lady, dislike. Thumbs down. Yeah. And then he kind of leans in and says, you never stop surprising me. Yeah. Oh, cringe. Well, here we are, everyone. It's the big reveal. Yeah.

I was going to say something else. It's time. It's time. It's time. Everyone's leaving for the day and Pam gets a phone call. It's Jim. He has bad news. They lost Bridgeport Capital. I do have a call sheet tidbit here. This scene was the last scene filmed on the last day on Friday. Yes, well, Angela, there was a reason for that. We wanted to clear the set and we wanted to have plenty of time to get this

because it was complicated. Here's what's going to happen. Like I said, Jim says they lost this big client. He says he's going to have to work insanely hard for the next few weeks.

Pam has a sort of passive-aggressive comment where she says, really, I feel like you've already been working insanely hard. Jim says, you know what would make me feel better? If I could see that video of Cece's recital. Pam tries to be lighthearted about it and is like, guess what? Turns out I'm not great with technology. I didn't get it.

Jim is really upset by this. He's like, are you kidding? I mean, come on. And Pam's like, you want to ease up a little bit? And then Jim's like, the recital is done. I missed that moment. And she's like, I'm sure another family filmed it. A lot of people were recording this. And he's like, oh, great. So now I can watch a recording that like focuses on their kid and we don't even get to see our kid.

Now they're in it because Pam says, maybe you should have been there. Yeah, if it was so important, maybe you should have been there. And he now is ticked off because he says, listen, you agreed to me spending these days in Philly. And Pam says she's trying to do her best to make things perfect so he can do what he wants to do. And basically, he's like, oh, this is what I want to do? You think I'm just doing this for myself? Yeah.

Because if so, then this is a very sad night. And now Jim is being called back to work and he's like, you know what? I got to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow. Yeah. She's like, fine. Talk to you tomorrow.

Pam starts to break down, and this is how it was written in the shooting draft. Pam hangs up upset. She looks around and realizes she is the only one left at work. She slumps and then unexpectedly starts to cry. We watch her cry for a little. Then she turns tear-stained face to the side of the room and says, Brian, what am I doing wrong? What did I do? There's a beat. Pam looks like she really needs an answer.

Brian Whittle responds, nothing. You're doing the best you can. The camera frame quivers, a moment of indecision, and then the operator pulls wide to see that Pam is talking to the boom operator, Brian. He looks sympathetic. Fan question from Chloe B. in Australia. During the phone call between Pam and Jim, Pam is super upset. I was wondering if Jim really was on the other end of the phone during this scene.

Yes, Chloe. Our sound engineer, Ben, hooked it up so that we could actually talk to each other in the two offices. I was on the main stage and the athlete set was over in our warehouse building. But setting this up was a huge ordeal, but it was also super important. But I'll let Kelly Cantlie, our director, tell you a little more about it.

The phone call was so stressful. There was so much going on. So normally in television, when we shoot a phone call, we shoot each actor individually. So you would shoot one on Tuesday and one on Friday. And if you're lucky, the person off camera is actually off camera to give you your cue lines. But on The Office, we did as much live as we could. So anytime we had a FaceTime, we would have a little set

over on a corner of the stage and we'd have an actual live FaceTime. We tried to do it with phone calls as much as we could. And in this case, because the argument was such an important story point and arguments are sort of better when two people are arguing.

We worked out a way to shoot John playing Jim on the other stage in the athletes set. And then Pam, Jenna, was on our regular set. And there was some technical hoops to jump through to make it happen. I was on set with Jenna and Stephanie Kinch, one of the assistant directors, was on set with John.

I could see John through the monitor and listen to the dialogue on the Comtex. And then in between takes, I could talk to him on the phone. Jenna, I don't know if you remember this, but also on set with us, it was you, the crew, me, and every producer or executive who'd ever been involved in the office was there.

Angela, it was not just every producer. It was like every writer. Like there were so many people. Greg was there.

So many people invested in us getting this moment right. It was a lot of pressure. John was insulated from it a little bit. You were surrounded by it. I was surrounded by it. Yes, because our video village was on the main stage. Yes. We got a fan question from Courtney B. in Perth, Western Australia, who said, I would love to know how you got into character for such an emotional scene. Well, Courtney, this scene really hinged on me being able to break down crying. And I'll tell you, this...

that in many ways, the writing and the words and the planning of these emotional beats were enough to get me nearly there.

Just playing the truth of the scene to be Pam and having this disconnect from Jim, her true love, that is, like, devastating. And so that got me nearly there. But they really needed me to have tears streaming down my face. That's hard to do. Yeah. So what we did was we did a take where John, as Jim in character, laid into me

really hard. It was dialogue that we agreed we would never use, and they didn't even run the camera on his side. But through the phone, I just said, you need to get really upset with Pam, and I'll react as Pam. Yeah. You know, and John was a little nervous about it because he said, this is going to be out of character for Jim, so we can't use it.

But I will do this for you, Jenna. I'll help you. And I was like, I really appreciate it. So we turned the camera off on his side and it was just him on the phone. So there was that take that you see in the episode that was he like really laid into Pam. And I just...

It was waterworks. And you just reacted. Yeah. As Pam. So I got there with his help. Yeah. I mean, sometimes, you know, in scenes, as your scene partner, you do that for each other. And even sometimes there'll be a director that will give you a note that just breaks your heart open. Yep. You know? That's right. And you kind of need it in the moment.

And then I think, you know, a lot of times you get yourself there. But then if you need to dial it up or dial it down, it's really nice to have a scene partner that can help you dial it up emotionally. Well, that was the thing. We had gotten a number of takes, but we were going to go one more time. And I said, OK, for this final one, let her really sob. But I need help. Yeah. And speaking of that.

The first part of this was just getting the fight right. And then the second part was getting this big reveal right. Yeah, Kelly shared with us about how much planning and discussion went into shooting all of this and also about the different shots that she needed to get. So not only did she need to make sure all this emotion was happening, but technically she had to make sure she covered it right. Here's what she had to say.

Matt and I had come up with a plan for how to block it so that it would be kind of easy to get the camera to Chris, who played Brian the Boom Up when he breaks the fourth wall. And then when we rehearsed it, Greg had pictured it very differently. So we put everybody in those positions and we rehearsed it again and we started to shoot. And there were lots of opinions on how to shoot it. And we started shooting it like he was a character. And we did...

five or six takes and Greg said okay I think I have what I need and I said well I think I'd like to go one more time and he's like okay great get what you need Jenna I came in to talk to you and you looked up and hysterically crying because we just got you said okay I have one more take of me and then I'm done I was like oh my god I've felt really bad for me asking you to do it again and

But we really needed one more because the argument was great and it ramped up to the point where it was super believable the way two people who love each other can just like go at each other. The fight was great. Your reaction was great. It was heartbreaking.

The only thing that really bugged me is that we were shooting Chris like a character, and I thought that we needed to shoot it like it was found footage. Like the doc, you know, they didn't know they were going to show this as part of the doc when it happened.

So I had had an idea because whenever something like disturbing happened or somebody made a noise, a wreck to take, or if a camera person had to give a note, they would like shift the camera sort of at a cocked angle on their shoulder to make it more comfortable.

give the note or tell the person whatever, and then put the camera back up and be ready to go. So I ran in, apologized to you for going again, and said to Matt Sohn, Matt, this time, as soon as Chris talks, cock the camera under your shoulder like you're going to yell at me for something and turn to him and say his name or something like, hey, cut it out.

So that it's found. And then once he's in there, you can just cover it because that's what you would do. So we all agree what we're doing and we go again. And I realize once I say action and the scene is going and it's really good. And then I think, oh, my gosh, I forgot to give him a note about the end.

So I did the worst thing that you can ever do as a director or an assistant director. I grabbed my AD's radio, Rusty Mahmood, and I turned to the camera channel. And on the very last line where Chris plays Brian says, that's enough.

I say, Matt, tilt to the floor so that we're on the floor and you can hear the last line. And then you're just out. So that was very stressful. But I thought the scene came out really good. And I thought, Jenna, that you and John did such a good job with the acting of it. And Chris was great as the boom up. So that was a really long clip, but I think so fascinating to see how she set that up.

But there were a couple things that she said that stood out to me. For example, you know, at the end of every take, I'm crying, but now I have to uncry and go back to the beginning. And that's the exhausting part is like taking that journey over and over and over again. So she was so sweet to be kind of looking out for me. But then also her brilliant idea to have the camera...

Come off the shoulder. Yes, which is what our camera operators did all the time on set. Yeah, the minute we stopped filming, they would take it off their shoulder. Or if something happened. Yes, so, so smart.

So the boom operator was played by Chris Diamantopoulos. At some point, I'm going to share all about him and his casting session for this role. But I wanted to wait until after the reveal. Okay. So Brian the Boom Guy is going to be with us for a little while. I'll tell you all about Chris and how he stole this role. You know, obviously, I don't ever want to see you cry.

But in watching this and re-watching it, at least you look cute when you cry. Don't take me wrong. When I cry and I really, like, cry, it is the ugly cry. Like, it is a hot mess. And you still look...

Cute. Well, thank you. I mean, this wasn't an ugly cry. I can do an ugly cry for you. But this was like, oh, this was just, I don't know what. Heartbroken. Desperate at the end of my rope. And sad. Yeah, deeply sad. Deeply sad. Yeah. Well, this episode's going to end on

We've got a tag, Dwight's Day of Fun. Maybe, I don't know, it did work out because Daryl's having a good time watching an online video of Dwight being hit with a milkshake. Yeah, it's already uploaded. It's posted to the internet, and he hits it on repeat, and he laughs. Yeah, he says, maybe I am going to miss the paper business. Well, I bet no one's going to take him on a ride adventure for fun over at Athlete. They seem kind of serious. Not like this one. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, listen, before we go, we just wanted to give you Kelly's final thoughts on directing this episode. She has some really nice things to say. The other thing I should share is that the cast and crew were amazing to me when I directed. I had directed the mentor webisodes and this was my first episode and everybody was wonderful. The cast was great. Jenna, you were awesome. Angela, you were great. Everybody was really nice to me.

The crew went over and above to help me do a great job. Matt Sohn, our DP operator, and Sarah Levy, our other camera operator, amazing. They had great ideas and they're amazing operators. And Rusty Mahmood, my AD, did a great job for me. He was super supportive. So it was a really good experience for me.

Oh, I'm so glad that Kelly mentioned Sarah. Sarah Levy, one of our real camera operators, is who is operating the camera in the reveal moment as well. She's standing right next to Brian, the boom, quote unquote, operator. Yes. And that's how it works, by the way. Each camera gets a boom operator. They're like a little pair. They go around together. Mm-hmm.

That was Customer Loyalty. Thank you so much, Steve Burgess, for all of your behind-the-scenes information. And thank you, Kelly Cantlie, for those awesome audio clips. We loved hearing about your time directing this episode.

And thank you to my daughter, Isabel, for sharing with us about being a ladybug in this episode. She loves Office Ladies. She was so tickled when I asked her to be on the podcast. She was like, seriously, Mom? I get to be on the podcast? She had to be on the podcast. I know. She's a guest star. And I do have to tell you one thing.

She was like, Mom, can I hear what I sound like? And when I played it back for her, she goes, Oh, my gosh, that's what I sound like. That's what everybody says when they hear their voice. I know. But thank you, Isabel. I loved rewatching this episode with you. Well, thank you to all of you for writing in. We hope we helped you get some things off your chest today.

There was a lot of mail. There really was. There's going to be more. Oh, and before we go, we want to give a big shout out to our pal Rainn Wilson. He has his new podcast. Yes, it's called Soul Boom the Podcast. You remember we had Rainn on to talk about his book Soul Boom, Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution. Well, this podcast is going to cover similar themes. Yes, and I'm a guest on his show. I

I was a little nervous, but it was wonderful to sit down with Rain. We talked about some real big life moments that shaped our lives. I laughed a lot. I cried. He's such a thoughtful person, and I'm really looking forward to his new podcast. I think it's just going to be great. You guys, he does film his podcast, just so you know. And I showed up with barely any makeup on because I don't wear a lot of makeup out and about, you know. I think also, if memory serves, you didn't know that he filmed his podcast.

On the way, pretty much the day of, Rain was like, oh, Ange, we're going to film it. And I was like, oh. And, you know, I am not judged. It is just real life. Two folks talking. Anyone who decides to watch the podcast rather than listen to it, no need to be snarky. I look how I look. I'm 53 and I'm real happy in my own skin.

And I'm so thankful to be turning 53 this year. And what a blessing it is to grow old. So I hope you enjoy it. It's a great podcast. Enjoy looking at my old wrinkly ass, who's happy to be here.

Oh, Angela, I am going to toot our horns. Oh, toot them. Because I just turned 50 and I declare that the decade of tooting your own horn and giving zero Fs. Yes. So here I go. I admire deeply how you and I have embraced our age. Thank you, lady. I think so too. We have embraced our changing bodies, our changing faces, our changing hormones, all of it.

And that doesn't mean we don't complain about it. It doesn't mean that we don't like certain angles. That's true. Doesn't mean that we don't throw a filter on it. And let me tell you, there's some unflattering angles when you do a podcast that's filmed. So enjoy those.

But it's a wonderful podcast. I'm really happy for Rain. Next time, Rain, let me know in advance that it's filmed. Maybe I'll pay for hair and makeup. Everyone, please go check out Soul Boom the Podcast with Rain Wilson. It's out now wherever you get your podcasts. And of course, Angela will put a swipe up in our stories. Absolutely. All right. We hope you have a good one. Take care. We'll see you next week.

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 audio engineer is Jordan Duffy. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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