Livin' the Dream, Pt 2
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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.

We're talking about Living the Dream Part 2. It's a two-parter. Wasn't supposed to be a two-parter, became a two-parter. This is Season 9, Episode 23, written by Nikki Schwartz-Wright and directed by Jeffrey Blitz.

Do you want a little summary catch up? I think we need a recap because even in the episode when it aired, there was a previously on The Office. Yes. Well, that's how it is now. Yeah. It originally aired all together, but now they- Now. For syndication or what do you call it? The DVD and- It's one episode on the DVD. No kidding. Yep. But it's two episodes on Apple. It is. We got to the bottom of that. Woo-woo!

We're solving cases already today. Oh, man. Oh, I'm feeling good. Well. All right. Let me tell you what's going to happen this week. Dwight will be appointed manager. Yes. And he's going to offer Jim a new role in the company as well.

Now, in the previous episode, Andy decided to quit to pursue his dreams. Well, now he's going to decide to stay but be a salesman. He's doing a little bit of snip, snap, snip, snap. He is. It's true. Because at the end, he's going to change his mind again. Big time. Finally, Angela is going to be evicted from her apartment and Jim is going to receive some very good but complicated news about Athlead.

But before we get into all that, Angela, I believe you have a share.

And I'm really excited about it. I'm excited. I've been waiting for weeks for you to be able to share this. Okay. Well, let me start by asking you and Sam and Cassie this question. Have you ever written a family Christmas letter or received one? Well, I've received many every year and I love them. I really like the little update letter that people send with all the details. I love them. I live for them.

I'm on a few of like my mom's friends' Christmas card lists, and I get the letter from some of these ladies that I grew up knowing. I hang on every word. Same. Now, have I written one?

I wrote one one year and I found it so stressful I never did it again. Really? Yes. I couldn't, it was just, I was like, what do I include? What do I not include? It is, it's stressful, right? It's very stressful. Sam, Cassie? I don't get letters, but I always get pictures of my friends with their pets and I love those.

I've received many. I've written zero. Okay. All right. Well, I love a Christmas letter. And if you saw my post last week on Instagram, you know I was super excited about this opportunity that came my way. I am the lead. The lead. The lead. The lead.

in a new Hallmark Christmas movie. I am so excited about this. It is such a sweet movie. It's funny. It's heartfelt. I can't wait for you guys to see it. My mom is over the moon. Oh.

My mom is over the moon. Well, Ange, I know this has been a bucket list item of yours. And when this came along, I feel like we just both squealed with excitement. And I'm so glad that it got to happen. I have to say two big thank yous. One is to my husband, Josh, who held down the fort at home so I could go do this. Because you were gone maybe the longest. You've had to be gone for a role. It's the longest we've ever been apart in our marriage. It was three weeks. And I'm so glad that it got to happen.

Which feels like a long time, you know? It does. When you're never apart. And then also, I really want to thank you and Cassie and Sam for the way you came together and helped me get through this time. I took my microphone with me. I was recording ads at night when I wrapped. I was loopy. But you guys all really came through for me. So thank you. Well, we can't wait to see it. Will you tell us what it's about? I will give you a little summary. Ooh, I'm going to do a summary, Jenna. Ooh.

It's called Confessions of a Christmas Letter, and the premise is that this little town where my character lives has an annual Christmas writing letter contest.

And the winner gets proudly displayed on the post office wall along with a picture of the family. So your letter's in a frame, your family picture's in a frame, and it is a big, big deal in this small town. And my character is horrible at writing Christmas letters. And her next door neighbor, who's like the town snarky lady, wins every year, you know? Yeah. So my character decides this year she's going to hire a novelist.

to write her letter for her. That's very sneaky. Very sneaky. And hijinks ensue. It's really fun. And it's just a really sweet, fun movie. And I hope you guys all like it. I already love it.

And there's a really fun cameo. Jenna knows this. It's by Brian Baumgartner. We had such a fun time working together again. So cool. I know. And hey, I just want to throw this out there. Listen, everyone at Hallmark was so fantastic. I had such a blast. I kind of feel like there is a mom detective Christmas caper out there, lady. Stop it. You and I could be the mom detective Christmas Hallmark movie. Let me say one thing to that.

Y-E-S, exclamation point. Okay? For sure. Do you know when your Christmas movie is coming out yet? Yes, I do. It's going to premiere on Sunday, November 17th, and it's going to re-air throughout December. Yay! I love it! We have to have a viewing party. Oh, I really want to. Yes.

Anyway, yay, that's my big share. Yay, I love it. Well, listen, why don't we take a break? And then when we come back, we'll break down Live in the Dream Part 2. Part 2. Here we go. Do I want a crayon?

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Redeem your 50% off at rosettastone.com slash officeladies today. Angela, I know in the office you are the cat lady. Angela Martin is the cat lady. But in real life, I am the cat lady. You are a cat lady, although I do have two cats.

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All right, we are back, and this episode is going to pick up literally where last week left off. Dwight is entering the conference room, and David Wallace has something to say. Rain played this so well. The emotion on Dwight's face. It was this combination of being teary. I was like teary and laughing. Yep. I have watched ahead to AARM part one and two. You and Rain, you're...

This combination of like emotion and comedy in these episodes leading to the finale is so amazing. I mean, I'm going to get to yours later in this breakdown, but so good, Angela. Oh, my God. Thanks, lady. David says, I would like you to be manager. Dwight already has a business card ready. I know. He can't believe it. He had one ready just in case Michael or Andy ever got killed in a traffic accident. And there was a trade show on the exact same day.

He's a planner. He sure is. Listen, we got a fan question from Sammy B. in Barrington, New Hampshire, who said, at what point was it decided that Dwight would be manager? It's the perfect culmination of his storyline. It really is. Well, basically, Sammy, as soon as they knew that the spinoff wasn't happening, they knew that Dwight needed to end this series as manager of Dunder Mifflin. I actually reached out to Greg and

And he said that the discussions over how to end the show focused a lot on what each character deserved. Like, how could we make everyone's...

Maybe make their wildest dreams come true, but also what do they deserve to get from this journey? And Greg said that Dwight was a man with very clear passions. It was not hard to figure out what would make him happy. And he said most character arcs were decided about a quarter of the way through season nine so that they could slowly write toward all of them. Well, I have to tell you guys, while I was in Canada filming this movie, I was in Canada

Greg and I were texting, and we realized we were both in Vancouver on the same day. And we both realized this on our last day there. So we were able to meet and have lunch. It was so great. We hung out for two hours. We laughed. We talked about the show. He is so happy for Office Ladies and for what we've done in the rewatch, Jenna. And I hope we get to have him on again because he's just rooting for us. And he's like, Ange, where are you in season nine? Tell me everything.

I love him. I know. You know, he told me that when they start filming this spinoff, that we can come to the set and get a behind-the-scenes, I guess, view of all the goings-on. And I can't wait. And we get to tell you guys about it. Yeah. Well, speaking of behind-the-scenes, how do you like that segue? Angela's doing something behind-the-scenes. Yeah.

Under her desk. She is pouring, is it vodka? It's a clear alcohol into her big 7-Eleven Supergulp is what it looks like. She's basically become Meredith. Yes. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. She's got a lot going on, and she's not handling it very well. Meanwhile, Pam goes back to the annex to visit Jim. She has a question for him, but she can't remember what it is. Oh, this is such like back to Jim and Pam flirty days. I love that they rack focus to Toby. He's in agony. Yes.

It was so fun to finally get to play Happy Jim Pam again. Yeah, I bet. And now when I'm rewatching it and I'm seeing it, I see how very long it has been. Andy is now going to address the whole bullpen. He announces he's decided to stay at Dunder Mifflin and transition to sales.

Nellie thinks this could be his best role yet. Everyone's very supportive of this idea. Yeah. I need you all, though, to go to four minutes and 26 seconds. What will I see? Well, I have a dundee to give out in this scene. What is it? It's the hair-ific...

Dundee for most beautiful hair in the office, and it goes to Nellie. Yes. I meant to mention this last week. There was that scene of her and Kevin in Andy's office, and her hair is...

So voluminous. It is like, what a blowout. What happened? I said this is like Victoria's Secret's model hair. You know when they stand in front of the fan? Yes. Yes. I looked in the script to see if there was a deleted storyline that pointed to why her hair is so terrific. It is phenomenal hair day for Nellie. Anyway, she gets a dundee for hairific. Did you see what I did there? I love it. I love a hair pun.

Well, should we go back to the annex?

There's some cutie pie business happening back there. There is. Pete is showing Erin a new way to use the stapler. I didn't know this. Is it a real thing? Yes. But when am I using this? I've known this about the stapler all along, that you can switch the foot plate and then instead of crimping in, it crimps out. When do I need to crimp out my staple? Why? Would you use it for like a poster on the wall or something? No. No? I would use...

I hadn't thought about it. Yeah. There's no use for it. Someone please write in and tell me the use for the reverse crimp. I would like to know. I would too. I should have done a deep dive on it. Should I do it right now? Hold on. I'm going to Google it. All right. I'm going to have some iced tea. Why would I reverse crimp a staple? It looks like it's for temporary or permanent stapling.

One is easier to remove. Which one's easier to remove? I guess the crimped outward one. Is easier to remove than crimped in? The crimped area of a stapler is used to bend the ends of a staple into secure shape that holds a paper together.

The plate that makes up for the crimp area can be adjusted for either temporary or permanent stapling. I mean, is any staple truly permanent? No, because there's that special little prongy thing that you can use to unstaple things. Stapling with the crimp area set for outward bend staples results in the weaker but easier to remove staple. Well, I feel like we learned a lot and nothing all at the same time. That was not satisfying at all. I feel like...

Someone really overthought the stapler when they designed it. I'm not going to judge that person. They wanted to give you options, but they didn't know the prongy thing was going to be invented. There you go. That's what happened. I have an invention that I hope someone is working on. What is that? Is anyone working to make... What? You're so tickled. What is it?

I really fired up last night about it. It's so dumb. I really had this thought. I thought, is anyone working on this? Why are you angry about this?

Is anyone working on making bags of cereal easier to open? Why? Why does every time I open the cereal bag, does it look like a wolverine came into my cereal box and tore it open? Like, why is this so hard? Is anyone working? I said it out loud in my kitchen alone. I said, is no one working on this? Yeah.

The person who thought so deeply about our stapling needs, where is that person in the cereal bag design firm? Exactly. Exactly. I want to put, you know who I want to put on the case? This is so stupid. You know who I want to put on the case? Who? This is ridiculous. I am so thankful for the person that got rid of the springy toilet paper.

I'm so thankful now that you can get it just like on a hook or like a little arm that bends. I'm so thankful for that because no one in my house ever changed the toilet paper when it was the springy thing. But now that it's an arm or a hook, we have fresh toilet paper. It's like the whole house collectively decided I will do this thanks to this one person. So I'd like to put them on the cereal bag project. Yes.

How can we? I can't even sip my tea. I'm laughing too hard. How can we honor this person? I wanted to sip my tea, but I'm laughing so hard I couldn't pucker my lips to sip my tea. Sam, Cassie, can you find out who invented, please, the toilet paper roll hook?

Person? If possible, so that we can honor them by name on the podcast today. Hook or the arm. You know what I'm talking about, the little arm that bends down. If you could find that out. That'd be great. Okay. Okay. Well, meanwhile, the annex. You can tell we haven't been in the room together in a while. It's true.

Pam enters and she's going to sit on Jim's desk. And they're both flirty flirting with their fellas. Yeah. Aaron with Pete and Pam with Jim. And they say maybe we should go on a little double date. Yeah. It's kind of like a double date. Let's do it for real. Yeah. Pete's like, boop, boop, ba-doop, ba-doop, ba-doop. Yeah. Well, we had a fan question from Adam W. in Webster, New York.

who said, when Pam sits down at Jim's desk, did they purposely make Pam and Aaron look the same with their wardrobe and the way that Pam sat next to Jim? Well, I will tell you, Adam, it was scripted that I mirror the way Aaron was sitting. I don't know about the wardrobe, but I have to imagine that was also intentional. But I have a question about this scene. Oh, is it about making plans with people? A little bit. I was in the scene. I played Pam. And

and I can't tell

If Thursday is really bad for us or if I'm trying to get out of this idea of a double date, what did you think? Here were my thoughts. If someone sort of says, oh, we should do this sometime and you immediately throw out a date, it can be just a little scary because you're like, I like the idea of us getting together. I need a minute. Okay. I need a minute. Maybe I'll look at my calendar. Don't put me on the spot right away. Yeah. I think that Erin was so quick to be like, okay, great. How's Thursday? And they're just like, uh, well, well.

You know? Well, and I think that when you have littles the way Jim and Pam do, you can't be that spontaneous. You can't just go out on Thursday. There's so many moving parts to making that happen. But I wasn't sure. And I checked the script to see, like, did it give me a direction? Like, Pam trying to get out of it or, you know, Jim trying to cover. But it didn't. It was just our lines. And I really don't know.

If we would want to go on a date with them or not. I couldn't decide. I was in the scene. I don't know. I don't remember what I was playing. Yeah, I really think that it wasn't you weren't trying to throw shade at them. But just the fact that you hesitated, Erin got so pissed off. She really did.

I kind of loved her performance in that scene. I thought it was fantastic. Well, Dwight and David Wallace are now going to come out of the conference room. David says they have a big announcement. And Dwight says, can I please just do this one thing? I'll only ever ask to do it once. But then David gets a phone call. And it sort of stops the announcement. Yes.

And then Dwight just sees his moment and takes it. He stands on top of his desk. He says, Dwight Schrute is manager. And everyone is so happy for him. Genuinely happy for him. I was surprised by Erin's reaction. It's the strongest reaction of the bullpen. I don't know if you clocked it. I didn't. She does a huge like fist pump in the air kind of thing. Okay. So I went to the script to see if this is something Ellie came up with.

No, it was scripted. This is what it said. Aaron jumps up at reception. She does Arsenio arm pumps and hoots as she runs to Dwight and hugs him. From accounting, Angela proudly and shyly watches. Andy also gets up from his chair, giving Dwight a standing ovation. I like it. They really wanted Aaron to celebrate this moment in the writer's room. Well, Creed is going to jump on the desk and announce himself as manager. Yes, crickets. Crickets.

And then Jim and Pam are going to enter from the annex and find out the news. And this is great. Immediately, Dwight is like, Clark, get out of this chair. Go back to the annex. Yeah. Jim, you get your seat back. I loved his line. He says, you're an annex kid. You might be bullpen. We'll see.

Here was my thing when I heard that. That's what we as the actors and the writers and the production crew called those rooms. We called them the annex and the bullpen. If you really worked there, would you call them the annex and the bullpen? Did our like code names for these rooms slip into the script, do you think? I don't remember us on the show ever like referencing names.

them with this shorthand before as characters. 100%. I feel like the annex was our shooting vernacular. That's what I mean. Yeah. Yeah. Because we would put the writers in the annex so they didn't have to be in every scene. But if they worked there, it would just be human resources. Yeah. I don't think we would have called it the annex if we worked there. I think that just- Or the bullpen. Yeah. I think that just slipped in, like when Ed called me Ange in the scene. I think so too. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, Jim and Pam are going to happily take their places at their desks. They're going to air high five. It was scripted as an actual high five. And I remember John and I were like, oh, no, no, no, no. It's air high five. We air high five. You got to bring back hope in a frame. We do. There it is right there. There it is. Well, there's a super nice moment between Dwight and Jim.

Jim is truly happy for Dwight. And then Dwight is going to offer Jim the position of assistant regional manager. Yeah, but Jim says, I cannot accept. It's not a real job. However, I will proudly take the job of assistant to the regional manager. So sweet. And they shake on it. And Dwight's like, idiot, you didn't, that's how you negotiate? Yeah.

I was in the general office lady's mailbag and I found a really fun letter from Marcy M. in Ransom Township, Pennsylvania, who said, "I am sharing a recent news article from the Scranton Times with you. The Scranton School District recently hired two new people. They've created two new positions." And Marcy said, "When you read their titles, I think you'll understand why I sent this."

Marcy also said, I hope you can open it. I'm not tech savvy and I don't know how else to send it. Marcy, I'm not tech savvy either, but we did it. Way to go, Gal. You typed out the HTTPS colon slash slash whole thing and I got it in my browser and I saw the article.

Here is what it said. The Scranton School Board promoted two veteran district administrators to assistant superintendent and assistant to the superintendent. Oh, that's great. Isn't that amazing? That is so cute. I love that. Scranton. Scranton. Way to go. We got to go to Scranton, lady. We really do. I hope that as we segue into the next phase of this podcast that it will involve more travel.

I know. Every time we brainstorm, you bring up a place you want to go. This is the problem. We have a lot of travel. Well, lady, I think maybe we should take a break. Yes. And when we come back, I have a few little things I want to give you and Sam and Kathy from Canada. Oh, I love a gift. Thank you. A nifty gifty. Let's do it. Let's do it.

We are getting ready to plan some travel for the holidays. And so we've started to look on Airbnb. We love to stay at an Airbnb because when you travel with children and your family, it is nice to have a kitchen. It's nice to have you all in one area. You know, I've talked about this before, family of five.

It's a little tougher. Like we can't all pile in one hotel room. Yeah. So it's nice to have some space. And we love an Airbnb. We found an Airbnb that was literally down the block from Lee's brother's house. Yeah. It was amazing. We could walk in between the two houses, but then we all had our own space.

I really like being able to get up in the morning and have a cup of coffee and eat breakfast, and I'm not in a public space. I don't have to go get fully dressed to go down to breakfast. Right, yes. Or find breakfast. Airbnb offers the perfect accommodation, whether you're traveling with friends, family, or on your own.

consider Airbnb for your next adventure. So I have to tell you what I just bought at Macy's. What? Do you remember how I went to that fancy Emmys party? Yeah. I didn't really have time to go and you know how people get a stylist and they go all out with all the fancy stuff? Yeah.

I went to Macy's because I wanted a pop of jewelry that would be a little bit of a dazzler. Yep. Right? You would not believe the sale they are having. They are having 30% to 75% off of fine jewelry, plus an extra 20% off if you use code SPARKLE.

This is a sale you're not going to want to miss, especially with the holidays coming up. Shop Macy's Fine Jewelry Sale in-store or at macys.com from October 18th through the 27th. Get 30 to 75% off their selection of fine jewelry and an extra 20% off with code SPARKLE. It's a huge savings and I just want to say this is a good time to do some early holiday shopping. Yep. I think we're

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Indeed.com slash office ladies. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. All right, we're back. And Angela, while you're unpacking your nifty gifties, did we find out Angela's hero, the person who invented the toilet paper roll? Hook. Hook.

I'm very excited. So I'm trying to find like the modern version, but the person that invented the toilet paper holder is Mary Patrice Davidson Kenner. And she also helped invent the sanitary napkin for women.

Love her. Yeah, which is super cool. I am trying to figure out when the hook came. So maybe it started off hook and then it got fancy and now it's going back to hook. So her original design was a hook? That's what I'm trying to lock in, but I think it was. Come on, Mary. Yeah. Of course it was because Mary knew what was going on. Mary knew that her husband and kids were never going to use a springy thing. And in the patent for it, it's clearly the front-facing thing.

Toilet paper. This is important to you, Sam, because you brought this up before. You put the toilet paper so the roll comes front facing. Yes. Front down. That's what you do. Not from the back. No. Don't do that to anybody. I'm so happy with that, Google. Thank you so much. All right. Oh, my gifties. My nifty gifties. Okay. So I got you guys each a little something in Canada.

Kathy, God bless you because I would send you my ads at midnight when I was so tired and you were so helpful. So right by my hotel was the Roots flagship store. You know Roots, the brand? It's so cute. So Kathy, I got you a t-shirt. Is that the lamest gift? But it's so cute. And I thought it looked so cute on you. And then Sam at the airport. Oh, boy. Kathy, this is your shirt. Isn't it cute? Yeah, it's cute. So cute. It's very cute. Okay. Okay.

I know these are visual props on a podcast, y'all. I'll put them in stories. Just let me have this moment. Sam, this was on the magazine stand. Oh, no. I know what this is. Yeah. It is a full magazine dedicated to Emily and Paris. Thank you. It says it's the style guide. Oh, good. Because that's what I love the most is the outfits. I know. And it says season four secrets, new picks, and all the info. Will Gabriel and Emily unite? Who cares? I don't know.

And 200 plus photos of Emily, Mindy, Camille, and Sylvie's hottest looks. Great. Thank you. You're welcome. Sam, I left you an audio message just yesterday to you and Beck.

about how much I have needed your breakdowns of season four in real time while I'm watching Enemy in Paris. It is saying all the things that I want to say as I'm watching, and I really appreciate you. Good, I appreciate that. It's Sam's podcast. It's so funny. We're going to put another swipe up. I know we've talked about it before, but we love it. Lastly, Jenna, when I was on set,

There was a gal named Olivia. She was so talented, and she was making hand-painted ornaments for a Christmas tree in one of the scenes that we were doing at the post office. And she does custom paintings on wood. I'm going to put a swipe up to her Instagram. I know you love a homemade gift. And look at this. This one's for you. For your Christmas tree, it's a little mailbox.

Oh my gosh, I love it. Isn't it so cute? It's truly the cutest dang thing. I know. It says, Dear Santa. And there's a little mailbox. I know. And she also does pets. Like if you love your pet, I think these are going to be great gifts. I think I want to get one for my sister who loves her dog so much. Angela, I love that you got us all gifts. It's so very you. And per usual, you got the perfect gift for each person. You guys, I love shopping for people.

Well, Dwight is now going to go check in over at accounting. Oscar and Kevin and a very sad Angela congratulate him. I wanted to share with you guys how thankful I was that Jeff Blitz was the director of this episode.

because he's so kind and thoughtful. And he really worked with me on how to build what was going on in Angela throughout the episode. So that when I get to the car, and we'll get to that, what all my character is holding emotionally. And all these little moments, I just remember Jeff and I having a sidebar conversation about kind of where I was at in that emotional journey.

While at the same time being so happy for Dwight and really understanding what a big day this was for him. Yeah, you know, we had some directors who we knew were just going to really lean into comedy. And then other directors like Jeff Blitz really liked to get into like the human details. And I think for this episode in particular, your character Journey, that was a really good match. Yeah.

Well, Andy's watching as Dwight kind of goes around and is shaking hands with people, and he's going to have a realization. He's going to have a talking head where he says, I can't believe that I was so quick to abandon my dreams. And it's because he has this fallback. He shouldn't have a fallback. I would like to point out that Andy's talking head, he's facing out. He's looking out towards a future outside of Dunder Mifflin. And a lot of characters have that in this episode. Very interesting.

Well, Andy's gonna jump on his desk to announce that he's changed his mind again. He is going after his dream. And he's gonna run back and tell Toby his news, including the fact that...

That he needs to eliminate all possibility of a fallback plan. Yeah, he needs Toby to fire him so he can't go back to Dunder Mifflin ever. Yeah. Toby's like, I have no reason to fire you. And so Andy's like, well, then I have no choice but to start groping you. Well, first he says, fire me for theft or groping wieners. Yes. And so he's going to, I guess, mildly grope Toby.

Try to grope Toby. Yeah. Toby's just like, get off me, Andy. I've got a little background catch. It's a whiteboard detail. And it's also a shout out to our set decorators. We shot this episode the week of February 19th. But if you check out the whiteboard above Toby's desk, it is for the month of May because this episode aired on May 2nd.

So they had to track that and make sure that the whiteboard matched the month of release and not the month of filming. And in the next scene, we are about to go to accounting and you can see again that the calendar behind Angela is also for May. Very well done set decoration team. Angela is now going to get a call from her landlady. She's worried that maybe her rent check bounced.

And Oscar and Kevin are listening and Angela is really getting into an argument with her landlady. I just want you to know there was no one talking to me. There was no one on the other side of the call. I just had to pretend like someone was saying things to me.

Well, lady, Adam W. from Webster, New York is very impressed. Adam said, I need to point out how amazing the phone acting is here. Every time I watch this scene, I can perfectly imagine this real conversation between landlord and tenant is happening. Amazing in all caps. Thank you. I agree.

And also, we got a letter from Laura M. in Hampshire, England, who said, not a question, but Angela goes all Southern on the phone to her landlord. I heard it. Is it when I say in the end or something? Yeah, clearly on your end. On your end. Yeah. I have an audio clip. Oh, gosh. I heard it, too. This is Angela. Oh, hello, Ms. Plonnikowski. How can I help you?

Did my rent check not clear? Because I just transferred another $25 to that account. So if there's a problem, it's clearly on your end and you...

There it is. It's clearly on your end. It's not my problem. It's on you, lady. Well, you guys know I go Southern in three situations. One, hungry. Two, annoyed. Three, a little tipsy. That's true. Well, Andy is still determined to, I guess, burn all his bridges. He's going to burst into the conference room and confess to David Wallace that he is the reason why they lost the White Pages account.

And he might poop on Wallace's car. Yeah.

He really needs to get fired. And as he's leaving, he gives David Wallace two birds, two middle fingers. Yeah. Shoots him the birds. I got the lowdown on standards and practices here. Here are their notes. They said this, quote, page 33, blur Andy's hand as he gives the finger gesture. And then in parentheses, they put you to David Wallace. In case you weren't sure what the gesture meant. Exactly. Exactly.

And then they wrote, page 35 and page 39, it is our understanding that Andy squatting on the hood of Wallace's car, his pants around his ankles will play off camera. Well, standards and practices, you're right.

Your understanding was incorrect because when I watched the episode, it was not off camera. It was full on camera, but pixelated. So I'm not sure what happened when their understanding was not met. But those were their initial script notes. Well, now Andy's out in the parking lot. He's packing up his car and Angela approaches. I love doing the scene with Ed. This was a beautiful scene. Yeah. This was our character's last big scene together. Wow. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you're so great in this scene. I really would love someone to write a series for you that is like this character. The one sipping on the big gulp at her wit's end? Kind of, yeah. You're really great at it. Thanks. I think this could be a series. This character could have a journey, and I'd like to follow that thread.

With you in the lead. Well, it would certainly be a fun role. I agree. And I'd never have to worry about doing the back of my hair ever. Oh, no, no, no, no. That character does not do the back of her hair. No. She aggressively does not do the back of her hair. And the cowlick...

That I have would just be. It just works. It would just be an accent on the perfect hairdo. Exactly. I do want to point out one thing in the script. At the end of the scene between Angela and Andy, when Angela walks away would be the moment that Andy clocks David Wallace's car and makes the decision to poop on it.

I see. And so then when he walks into the bullpen with his guitar and says, no turning back, it's because he's already pooped on the car. Yeah. Okay. Well, this next scene, I mean, if you wanted to make a lady sob at her desk at 2.30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday, congratulations, mission accomplished.

I watched this and I wasn't the same for the rest of the day. This is when Andy came in with his guitar, Lorelei. He wants to sing his goodbye. He's a performer and that's how he wants to say goodbye. Yeah, there was a fan question from Alexandra in Tasmania, Australia, who said, I love the scene where Andy sings I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan. And I think it's such a great choice for Andy to sing it in a normal...

Yeah.

Was that scripted or did Ed Helms choose to sing that way? Well, Alexandra, it was scripted. It was scripted that the song is good and that everyone in the office is impressed. Steve Burgess said that that song cost $25,000 for us to be able to do. And I think that when I watched this scene, it brought back so many deep personal memories from

from shooting it. And I really was not the same the rest of the day. And then I dreamt about the show that night. I dreamt

Does this ever happen to you? I have dreams where we're back on set and we're making more episodes. Like we're making season 10. Yeah. Yeah. I've had that similar dream that I am walking from hair and makeup to get miked. Yeah. To go on to stage. And the stage is right there. And I'm looking at our desks and I'm about to walk into the bullpen.

And I'm getting miked. And it's so real. So real. Watching this for this rewatch like triggered that and I ended up having a dream. Also in my dream, we all pick up right where we left off. Yes, exactly. Like no one has to get reacquainted with their character. We're instantly those people again. Yeah, it's not like those anxiety dreams where like, oh, no, I don't know my lines. It's always like this pleasurable. I'm getting emotional thinking about it.

I'm going to move to a fan question from Maddie R. in Kansas City who said, when Andy sings to the office, we see lots of emotional reactions from the staff. Were any of the emotions we see real reactions from the cast being sad about the show ending? Well, Maddie, we shot this at the end of the day on Friday. So the end of the day at the end of the week, it was the last group scene we shot for this episode. And it was deeply emotional.

It was very emotional. You know, we just all knew that there was just a few more weeks left at this point. And Andy was really saying goodbye. This character is saying goodbye. And right before we did the scene, there were two camera setups. There was a master shot to get everyone. And then there was going to be a close-up of me and Rain as Dwight and Angela have their exchange. Mm-hmm.

And Jeff came up to me and said, save it for your close-up. So feel the emotion, but really let it come through on your dialogue line. And sometimes that's hard to calibrate because you just start to feel it when you feel it.

But I do remember this scene. I was so emotional. I don't know how many takes we did, but I had to hold that for the whole time. Wow. Yeah, you know, this was one of our last kind of everybody bullpen scenes because we knew that in the next episode, Andy was off pursuing his dream and we don't see him until like the very end. And

So, yeah, it felt like, wow, it felt like people's story arcs were wrapping up. Yeah. And this scene was a very tangible moment of that. Yes.

In this scene of all the emotion, I do have one moment that I'm calling busted. What's that? At 15 minutes and 18 seconds, as Clark comes out of the kitchen into the bullpen, you can see Clark Duke for one second look right down the barrel of the camera. Oh, really? Just for a second. Yeah.

And we weren't supposed to do that. You know, we were not supposed to look right into the camera unless we had a talking head. Or unless there was like a scripted note. Exactly. Right. The way Jim would do that. Sure. Mm-hmm.

Well, I had these guys pull an audio clip of the song, but I honestly don't even think I can listen to it. Oh, no, we need to. It's so emotional. I know, but we need to. We need to all, we've all been on this rewatch together. Everyone listening is here with us. And we're going to have to say goodbye to the show again, Jenna. We are. I don't mean, now you're tearing up. I don't want to make you sad, but we are going. We can listen to it. Okay. Okay. We'll listen to it. Let me get some tissues.

Here it is. Tuna, I'm a performer and perform I shall. I will hear you. Don't let your lies see you by. And weep not them. Remember all the good times that we had. Step away from us when things got bad. How clearly I first saw you smiling in the sun.

You know what it is?

It's like, I can't believe that we have a recording of, like, Ed singing to us, which is something that him and Creed and Craig and Kate, you know. They would do when we were just hanging out. Yeah. Yeah. And so that song brings up all the memories of us hanging out. And it's like, this is one of the crossover ones. This is like, it was for the show.

But it was also for us. And it just hits deep. Yeah. And it makes me miss Ed. It makes me miss Ed. It makes me miss all of us in a room together like that. Yeah. Because it was so, so fun. And so special. Yeah. And I think, you know, Andy's going to have his line about how you wish you were in the good times, you know, whatever that line is.

But we actually did know. We actually did realize. So I feel like we were really present to the specialness and also the limited time of this. Yeah. Like we were aware it was coming to an end. So we were especially, it was heightened. Yeah. Well, you know, Phyllis and Stanley are going to have a talking head. They're facing out as well. Are they? Yep. Yep.

They're going to say maybe Andy can make it. Yeah. They were so impressed by his song. And Phyllis says worse people make it all the time, like Lil' Romeo. And Stanley is like, no, Lil' Romeo was good.

I want you to know this scene was longer and the two of them debated musicians and artists for a bit. And it was so funny. It's not in deleted scenes, but it was in the shooting draft. I love Phyllis's reaction to Stanley saying that little Romeo was good because it's like she's going to bite her tongue. Like, I can't have this argument again. They've had it so many times. There's such a moment of assumed history between these two people in that moment.

Well, I thought I was done crying as I was watching this episode, but no. Now we're going to go to Angela's desk and she's looking at tents on her computer. And Oscar's going to approach her, realize that she is looking at tents because she has nowhere else to be. What is wrong with me? You know what? I'm going to read these letters. Okay? We got a lot of letters about this scene and they deserve to be read. Okay? Here it is.

Susan C. in Plano, Texas. I have been waiting to write to you since this podcast began over four years ago. Now's the time. I would like you to know that the scene between Angela and Oscar, when Oscar sees Angela in distress, offers her living space until she gets on her feet and reaches over to place a comforting hand over hers. Oh my gosh.

This is the embodiment to me of grace and mercy. And after all they have been through together, all the ways they have wounded or tried to kneecap each other, all the ways they have irritated the fool out of one another, Oscar compassionately reaches out to his friend in love, and she responds not with pride or rebuff, but with tender acceptance."

I love this moment in the series so very much and commend both Angela and Oscar for their acting. It could have been maudlin, but instead it is pure gold. And I couldn't have said it better, Susan. Thank you. And Angela, Christine C. from New York said, One of my all-time favorite scenes is when Oscar tells Angela to come live with him and Angela takes his hand saying thank you.

I've watched the show over a hundred times, no exaggeration, and this moment always moves me to tears. Angela, what was it like to approach this change in your character while also staying true to who she was? Oh, y'all are going to make me cry. You know, I approached it as, oh gosh, are we going to make it to the finale? I don't know. We are a mess. We are a mess.

You know, to play these characters, honestly, they had to be real people to us. And Angela's best friend in the office was always Oscar. Even though we kind of like that sibling that you love but can get under your skin more than anyone else. That familiarity breeds contempt person in your life, but is the only person you probably really trust. Yeah.

Yeah.

And that's why she had that conversation with Andy in the parking lot. She was like, don't let pride get in the way. Yeah. So thank you for noticing that in our performances. I'm really proud of that scene. And I'm really thankful I got to do it with Oscar, someone who I'd known for so long and I trusted in real life so that I could go to that vulnerable place.

But I want you guys to know one of the things I absolutely love when I rewatch this, I loved when I touch his hand. Same. That was what got me. Yeah. And I just said thank you to him from the bottom of my heart. Yep. But what I loved about doing scenes with Oscar is we could play this emotion and stay in it and then also find a

A comedic moment. When you ask him if his place allows pets. I improvised that line. Oh, lady. And his response. That was not scripted. The scene ended with, let's go get Phillip and we'll get your stuff. And I say, okay. That's where the scene ended. And then we were to get up and walk out. And Oscar and I had been in accounting for a long time. We knew if we made it quick, especially on an exit, an improvised line might make it in.

So we didn't even talk about it. He said, let's get you the hell out of that place. And then there was this brief pause. And I said, are you allowed to have pets? And he's like, oh, Angela. And it made it in. And that delights me every time I see it. Well, it's so great because it helps you release some of your emotion with a laugh at the end. Yeah. Oh, I love that moment. I did not know that was improvised. Yeah. Oh, so good.

So good. Dwight now has a talking head. He says just yesterday he was a paper salesman with a farm and a dream about beet fuel. But today he's regional manager with the Black Belt. It's amazing how life can change in one day. I'd like to point out that his talking head is facing towards the bullpen. Because his future is at Dunder Mifflin. Yeah. I love that so much.

Well, speaking about futures, Daryl is going to find Jim in the kitchen and share some happy news that Athlete received an offer for a buyout. And they want them to go on the road for three months. They want them to pitch out west because they don't want this to be a regional thing. They want Athlete to be national. And Daryl's like, we're going on the road, buddy. We did it. He's so excited. But Jim says, I can't do it.

I can't do it to Pam. And Daryl's like, can't believe it. And they kind of walk out and you see that Pam has overheard this from the bathroom. Which I think is so important. I'm so glad they had that moment.

I am too. And I know where this is going and I have a few gripes about it, but I'll bring them up next week when we get to them. Okay. Hold it. Hold it. I will. Now we have this scene of Angela and Oscar in Oscar's car. They're in the parking lot.

And Angela starts it off kind of snarky. She's like, so is your place all bachelor, slobby, and gross? And Oscar's like, no, it's neat and tasteful. Yes, he said it really lives up to the gay stereotype. Yeah. And then Angela, oh, the sass still in her, even when she's at her broken lowest moment. She goes, I wouldn't know. I never lived with a gay guy.

And Oscar's like, Angela, you were just. Yeah. He's like, you did. You did. And then she completely breaks down and starts sobbing.

And she says, I love him. And Oscar thinks she's talking about the senator. And she says, no, I love Dwight. Now, Angela, I know you've shared this before in different places, but will you tell people how you got to this cry? There was this moment, a piece of direction from Jeff Blitz that really helped you here. Well, in the other scenes, my cry could build up.

But in this scene, they wanted me to all of a sudden break down. They wanted just her to break apart.

And that's harder to do. Yeah. Because emotionally you can, like when Andy was playing the guitar, there were so many moments I could run through my mind to be teary. But this had to go from kind of being snarky to an instant breakdown. Yeah. So we did one take and I did break down. I kind of built up to it a little bit. And then Jeff came over to me and said, Angela, that was great. And now I have that.

And he said, can you step out of the car for a second? I want to talk to you. I said, okay. So Oscar stayed in the car and he said, will you do a favor for me? And I said, yeah. And he said, oh, it's going to make me cry. That's good direction. He said, in this take, will you say goodbye to the show? And will you say goodbye to all the characters? And will you say goodbye to playing Angela Martin? So on your line, I love him.

The subtext he wanted was goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye to these people I love. Mm-hmm. And this character. And so I was thinking about that, even as I said my snarky lines. Mm-hmm. And so when I got to I love him, it was, I'm never going to get to do this again. Yeah. This is it for me on the show. Nine years of my life.

I'm saying goodbye to. And I cried, big, ugly cry. I cried so hard that after the take, Jeff came up to me and said, that was fantastic. I can't use it. It's too much. Yeah.

when Paul Feig told me to say goodbye to Steve at the airport. Oh, my gosh. It was like, that was great. And he said, I don't want to say too much. He said, I want you to stay in it. Can you do that just a little less? And you guys, some people, I guess they can cry and look attractive. Not me. When I cry, it is like a full body wheezing. I can't talk.

But what you see is real tears, and it's me saying goodbye to the show in that moment. And I wanted to share one thing that just delighted me. I found an article that the AV Club did about this episode. Oh. It was written by Joshua Alston, and he was very excited to finally get to review an episode of season nine in particular because he was a big fan of season nine. And the first one he was assigned to do was,

was Living the Dream. And it wasn't his favorite. But he wrote this, I can't help but wonder if I'd have the same impression of Living the Dream if I hadn't read that it was originally planned as a half hour installment, then padded out to fill an hour, but I suspect I would.

I hope this gets better. And he goes on to point out some of the things he liked about it, but that it had just kind of been stretched out maybe more than it needed to be. Listen, I felt that. Yes. I felt that, but I also know that the things that hit in this episode, they couldn't have been done in 22 minutes. So sorry if you had to sit through a couple of repetitive beats, but it's what needed to be. Yes. And then at the end of his review...

He said this,

That said, an uptight gay Mexican sharing an apartment with the differently uptight schoolmarm whose ex-husband is his former lover? The words, the office spinoff, usually make me break out. But in all caps, that is a show I would watch. Yeah.

I always felt that way, too. I was like, Angela and Oscar sharing an apartment? Sign me up. It's like the odd couple. I wish we could see more of that. Yeah. Well, I'll have you know that critically, this episode was very well received. And in fact, these last six episodes, Live in the Dream Part 1, Live in the Dream Part 2, AARM Part 1, AARM Part 2, Finale 1 and 2...

This block of six episodes were rated the highest among OfficeTally.com viewers as well. There is this stretch here where we got people excited. Like the critics and fans alike, they liked where this was going. Well, by this time, we're all so invested in these characters and big life stuff starts happening. Well...

That's the end of this episode. Thank you, Steve Burgess, for all of your behind-the-scenes tidbits. And thank you all for writing in. And Angela, thank you for your nifty-gifties. You're welcome. And thank you, Mary. Beatrice. Davidson Kenner. Yes, for inventing the toilet paper roll hook and sanitary napkin. When she did the sanitary belt specifically, she did it with her sister, Mildred Davidson Austin-Smith.

So is Two Sisters. Two Sisters. Helping ladies out. I mean, amazing. Amazing. Well, there you go. That's Living the Dream Part Two, everybody. Thank you for listening. We love doing this and we hope you have a great day. We'll see you next week.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.