The Target
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Let's go places. 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, everyone. Happy Wednesday. I am very excited because I absolutely love this episode. I love it so much. I do too.

I'm so excited to talk about it. This had remnants of the duel for me. I remember loving the duel. Yeah. It's great. I can't wait to. You know how much I loved all these scenes with Oscar. Let's get to it. We are talking about The Target.

Season 9, Episode 8, written by Graham Wagner and directed by Brent Forrester. Here is your summary. Oscar isn't sure if Angela knows about his affair with the senator. But in reality, oh boy, does she know. And she has enlisted Dwight's help to exact her revenge.

Jim is going to go to great lengths to be granted permission to work part-time in Scranton. And Pete's meaningless office task ends up being a fun project that unites his coworkers. Can I just say that Pete is the new Jim? Oh!

I literally wrote down in the breakdown that I am in love with Pete. But just how he got everyone to do this activity, it's Office Olympics. Yes. It's gym and Office Olympics. Yes. All right. Fast fact number one, Chris Gethard is...

is our special guest star playing Trevor. He's so funny. I have so many stories. We got so much mail. Fan question from Lindsay H. in Tempe, Arizona, who said, I just wanted to show appreciation for the genius that is the character Trevor, played by the awesome comedian Chris Gethard. He did such a great job embodying the sort of dazed weirdo that was Trevor and was so funny in spite of only appearing in two episodes.

And then Wendy B. from Bethesda, Maryland said, I got such a kick out of Chris Gethard as Trevor. He was strange and hilarious. How did he wind up being cast? Well, Lindsay and Wendy, thanks for writing in. Yes, Chris is so amazing and very unique. And Angela, you got to work with him. Yes. You said it was so fun. And you also reached out to him, and he sent us in some audio clips. I did. He was so funny.

That's so great. You know when you write someone and they respond back right away and are like, yes, I'm in. Yes. That was Chris. Well, of course, the first thing we asked was how did you get your role on The Office? And here's what he had to say. Hi, everybody. My name's Chris Gethard. And I was really lucky to play a character named Trevor on The Office just for a couple episodes. But sometimes I think people think I was on it more than I was based on the amount that they talked to me about it. But it was a really lucky experience.

And I think about it a lot and I feel so lucky to be here talking about it today. How did I get my role on The Office? I've never totally been sure. I auditioned. I know that much. I've always been East Coast based. I grew up in New Jersey and came up at the Upright Citizens Brigade in New York. I remember that I filmed my audition for The Office yesterday.

at the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, which is the public access studio in New York City. And it's kind of legendarily weird, all the stuff that comes out of there. And I did a talk show there for many years. I know I was on Alison Jones radar to some degree. I was actually in an improv group in New York with Bobby Moynihan and Zach Woods. Zach Woods obviously played Gabe on The Office and

You can imagine being with those guys at UCB at the time. There was just a lot of eyes on us. So mostly I just auditioned and got lucky. And I've always kind of wondered who championed me over there, if it was Allison or one of the writers, just because I knew a lot of people from my time in comedy. This answer is very rambly. But when you ask an actor how they got a role, the answer always sort of comes down to, I don't know, but it's some combination of

UCB and having some hype from my public access show, having done a couple other things at that point in time, but mostly just auditioned and sent in a tape and then felt really lucky that they went with me.

Chris, we love a rambly. Ramble as much as you want. You know what I love about that story is that we were still – oh, Sam, you are so kind. Did he bring you a tissue so you don't have to use your sleeve? I was using my sleeve to wipe my nose, and all of a sudden it started running. I don't know. It's the weather. It is. It's the weird cold – the cold L.A.,

It's very, what would you call it? We had frost this morning. Yeah. It's a weird cold snap that happens in the L.A. winter, and it happens suddenly, and then my nose just runs. Okay, thank you, everyone. What I was going to say was...

I love the part of that story that makes it so obvious that we were still going to New York to find actors. Like, at this point, nine years in, I feel like Allison Jones could have just been phoning it in. Mm-mm. Not Allison Jones. No. No. She's like, I still want to know who are the hottest people in comedy and improv. I don't care what city they're living in. I need to see them. Yeah.

That's it right there. I think mystery solved. It's Alison Jones. It's Alison Jones. Just doing her job so well. And then Chris showing up. Oh, well, of course. But, you know, half of getting parts as an actor is...

The access, the opportunity. Getting your foot in the door. Yeah, you have to be ready, but it's my old acting teacher used to say, success is opportunity meets readiness. You can get all the auditions in the world, but if you're not ready for them, you're not going to go anywhere. Similarly, you can be the greatest actor in your living room, but if you have no opportunities...

Again, opportunity meets readiness. I think that's good for just life. Because imagine if you're going in for a job interview, it's the same thing. You can have all the skill set, but if you can't get in the room, I want to be in the room where it happens. The room where it happens. We go back to Hamilton. Always. Always. You know, Angela, you said that when you emailed Chris, he responded right away and he was so nice and so receptive. Yeah.

I have to share with people that Chris told us that the reason he was so happy to send an audio clips was because you were so nice to him on set and he never forgot it. He actually shared that you were so nice that he was kind of confused at first because he only knew you as Angela Martin. Here is how he described it. I was on season nine and like everybody else in America, I had watched the first eight episodes.

So you do forget, like, people are humans. They're well-rounded humans. So I will say anytime Angela would ever ask me to do anything, I would, of course, say yes, because she was so kind on set. But it is funny because the character of Angela is not always nice. So I walked into it with some trepidation and then had to remind myself, oh, right, these people are just really good at what they do. Like, I'm acting with Angela and Rain. That is different than, quote, Angela and Dwight.

And it was that funny thing to walk onto a set and I'd been on enough sets before that I should not have fallen for that. But just tells you how much the characters of The Office seeped into our consciousness in a way that was very real and organic and genuine and where people bought it. Because even I, someone in comedy was like, oh, right, these people are nice. They're not the characters. So I remember being so acutely aware that we were shooting inside a minivan and

And you two knew each other so well. And neither of you knew me. So to be in a social environment where not just while shooting, but in between takes, we're all just sitting in the minivan together. And you guys have like, you know, a decade of intimate knowledge of how each other's lives work and things to chit chat about and small talk. And then I'm also just some guy. I remember that being very funny to me and leading to some giggling moments.

Oh, my gosh. I love all of that. I know. I mean, Chris was so lovely. And I just remember him falling right into step right away. And I also remember that Rain was so enamored with him.

Rain was so tickled by him. Everything he said, Rain would just get the giggles. And it was really fun. It was a fun day. Oh, I love that. I'm sure you're going to have more stories as we break down the episode. Oh, I do. All right. Fast fact number two, I'm calling it The Reviews Are In. Oh, your fast fact has a title. I titled it. Okay. We said we loved this episode. The reviewers agreed. It was a hit.

But there was one thing in particular that was cited in every single review, and Angela Kinsey, it was you. Oh, come on. Your performance. And by the way...

I love your performance in this episode so much. Oh, my God, so much, Angela. And so it made me very excited to read all these reviews about your performance, and here they are. Eric Adams, he was the new reviewer at AV Club, gave this episode an A- and said it was your plot line with Oscar that was a season highlight. That's a quote. And he complimented you in particular for your commitment to character.

Thank you. That's not all. The Paste writer called it your best performance of the year. Wow. Michael Tedder praised the writers for giving your character a chance to shine. And this was also rated the fifth best episode of the season, according to fans on Office Tally. And again, the comments cited you. You an Oscar, but you lady. Star of the episode.

I don't even know what to say. That just warms my heart. You know, when you're part of a show like The Office and there's such a deep cast of amazing people, when you're a supporting actor, you just have to be patient and hope that someday you get your turn. And Kate Flannery and I used to talk a lot about that. You know, she would say, Ange, we're not the meat, we're the seasoning.

But the seasoning has their day. And I was so, so delighted by the storyline. And I have such fond memories of getting to do it. Well, lady, if you thought I was finished, I'm not. There's more to this fast fact. Oh, okay. In addition to reaching out to Chris Gethard, we also reached out to the director of this episode, Brent Forrester. I have an audio clip from Brent just for you. Oh.

Jenna, you mentioned that when you rewatched this episode, you were struck by how grounded the performances of the actors are. And I actually believe that the actors saved this episode because the premise is potentially so crazy, especially for a show like The Office, which is famous for having the most realistic tone of any show in the history of network TV. How do we get away with an episode in which one of the characters is threatening to assassinate the other character in The Office?

Well, the answer is the performances of the actors themselves.

Somehow, Rain, Oscar, and especially Angela managed to find some kind of emotional reality in the performances that ends up redeeming this zany premise so that at the end, after all this frenetic activity, when Angela says to Oscar, you were supposed to be my friend, there's a feeling of real emotional tenderness there within this crazy setting. I don't know how they did it, and I wish you would ask Angela how she pulled this off.

I think that's a really good analysis of why this episode works. Angela, how'd you pull it off? Gosh, that's such a big question. Well, Brent, thank you so much. You're always so generous and kind. Really, Angela Martin was a real person to me. She was. So I had to think about her life and how she tried so hard to...

have this persona and image of the senator's wife and what that meant to her. That status meant so much to her. And when Oscar has this affair, someone who she trusts, who she has sat next to for years and years and years, that threatens everything about who she thought she was, this image that she puts out to the world. It was all shattered. And she probably went to a pretty dark place.

And Angela's dark place was, I'm going to mess you up, you know? But I never thought that she wanted Oscar to be seriously injured. I think she just wanted to scare him and let him know how pissed off she was. That was sort of how I approached it. She was just hurt. She was really hurt. I mean, I think everything you just said is true.

so emotional and real and grounded and relatable. And that is why this premise doesn't get zany because you grounded it in all that realness.

You know, it was really hard, though, because I wanted to jump in and be silly, but I couldn't. Like, we'll get to it, but the scene in the van with the receipts, oh my gosh. Oh, yeah. But I had to play it as honest as I could. Yeah. Even though there was a little bit of zany happening around her, she was still very hurt and angry. Those were real emotions, so I had to play them real. I just loved it so much. Thanks, lady. Thanks, everybody. All right.

All right, moving on to fast fact number three. Angela, last week you had a mailbag moment, which I loved. And I thought I might like to have a mailbag moment this week. Okay. So this will be a mailbag moment with Jenna. This is a post that I was made aware of that was on the Office Lady's Facebook fan page. It's from a poster named Chris C., and it was posted after we broke down the episode Welcome Party. Okay.

That's the one where Andy and Erin are driving back from Florida together and they decide to stop at Jessica's parents' cabin. Yes, at what was like a bachelorette party. Yes. Okay, here is what Chris posted after that episode. I had a good laugh at this week's podcast regarding the penis cake and gummy straws. Remember, we had that big conversation. Yes, yes.

Chris said,

I figured I'd share a few of our creations over the years. Are there pictures? There's pictures, lady. Oh, my gosh. And they're amazing. So what these ladies have to do is you have to make a cake using the penis pan, but it's not a penis. Yes.

Right. So it's like, I don't know, what is it? A spaceship? Here they are. A flying saucer? She posted a bunch of pictures. Oh, my gosh. Oh, one is balloons. Mm-hmm. Like a little basket. Mm-hmm. One looks like, is that a, I have to put my glasses on. I think it's like a wizard with a tall hat. Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay.

Oh, flowers? Yes. So the testicles are like a flower pot, and then the top they decorated to look like flowers. What is that one? No, the testicles aren't the flower pot. Wait, let me see. The tip of the penis is the flower pot. Oh, yes. I'm so sorry. And then the testicles are the flowers. Yes. But what is this? Is this a spaceship? You know what? That one got me. It really looks like a penis. Is it a lighthouse? No.

Is it a spaceship? No, you're right. It's a lighthouse. That's what the jelly beans are. I'm going to put these in stories. I mean, I was hoping you would. Uh-huh. This one is very funny, right? It's a monster. It's a one-eyed monster. Oh.

Oh, and then there's corn on the cob. And there is an actual spaceship as well. Yes. And then a fruit medley. Mm-hmm. Okay. I was so tickled by this. It was the cutest idea to me. How fun. I love that these ladies do this.

I was so happy that someone made me aware of this post. Thank you. Thank you, Chris, for sharing. And I hope you don't mind that we've now talked about it on the podcast and we'll be posting your penis cake photos that are not penises. Oh, my gosh. Well, on that note, I think we take a break. And when we come back, Oscar is very anxious. He's waiting for Angela to show up to work. Mm-hmm.

Hear that? That's what cooked when you order juicy beef sounds like. The steaming hug of two slices of melted cheese, the crunch of tangy pickles and sliced onions, all topped with a toasted sesame seed bun. That's the sound of a quarter pounder with cheese. First Beef at participating U.S. McDonald's. Excludes Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories.

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We are back, and the first thing we see is an Oscar-talking head. He says, yesterday, Angela may or may not have figured out that I'm having an affair with her husband, so I just have to wait and see. When she comes in, if she's cold and awkward and cruel to me, then great. It's business as usual. This is such a great opening to an episode. Like, you don't need to have ever watched this show before.

And I'm hooked. Yeah, talk about starting in the middle, right? There's no backstory explanation. Well, Angela's going to arrive, and I think Oscar should have known right away when she asked him about the thermostat. This is such a friendly small talk, I think. What do you think? Well, except it's a half complaint. Okay, okay. She's a little annoyed. And so I do think that when Angela talks about something that's not work, it's probably a complaint.

Or like she's irritated about something. Slightly irritated or very irritated. Yes. Probably is her small talk. Well, Oscar is so relieved. Oh, my gosh. He's so relieved. And talk about the reviews are in. Oscar Nunez's performance when Angela says, can I talk to you? The look on his face.

He's so good. Oh, he's so good. Oscar is very good in this episode. The two of you are such a good team. I would like to point out in the background of the scene that Kate Flannery is making some major solitaire moves. She's moving things around. Things are shuffling whole decks. Oh, wow. Yeah. She was crushing it that day. Well, now Oscar's going to have a talking head, and he's thrilled. Yeah. Angela doesn't know. It's great. Yeah.

However, then we see over his shoulder in the background, Angela just glaring at him, gripping some scissors. Oh, yeah. This is how it read in the shooting draft. The camera finds Angela over Oscar's shoulder, glaring at him with murderous intent. You did it. I remember doing this a few times, and they were like, Angela, even meaner. Glare more. Glare meaner. I'm like, I don't know. I've given it all I got here. Yeah.

Also, you might have caught that Stanley is not at his desk during Oscar's Talking Head, which is very rare. Stanley's almost always at his desk. Well, I have a little call sheet tidbit for you that will explain why. Please. We filmed the scene on the first day of filming on Monday, October 22, 2012, and the only people called to set that day were me, Oscar, Rain, and Chris Gethard. Oh!

We stacked all of our scenes together on that one day, and so the rest of the cast had the day off. Nice. Yes. And in case you were wondering, the high that day was 71 degrees. Oh, pleasant. There's your weather report. One other little thing on the call sheets this week is in the top right corner, there was a little pumpkin with a countdown to Halloween. Hmm. So cute. So cute.

Those are my call sheet tidbits, but I also have a big reveal from the shooting draft. A big reveal? Yes. What is it? Okay. Do you remember the holiday that we have always said was missing on the office? Thanksgiving? Yes. There was a whole Thanksgiving cold open. Oh, because we were shooting this in late October, but it would have aired around Thanksgiving? Yes.

And we actually filmed a Thanksgiving cold open that didn't make it. A lot of it is in deleted scenes, but I wanted to read you how it started in the shooting draft. Interior conference room.

Daryl and Toby are leading a meeting. A stack of assorted canned foods is presented on a table. Toby says, thank you all for participating in this year's Thanksgiving canned food drive. I remember this. It's so funny. And then it says, the staff all applauds itself. We're very pleased with what we've donated. But then Daryl starts looking at what all the people brought in to donate.

It is so funny. He starts calling people out. He's like, Phyllis, you brought in water chestnuts. Meredith, also water chestnuts. Creed brought in a can of garbanzo beans dated 1990. Someone else brought in racquetballs. And Daryl is getting so annoyed. Then he holds up a can and says, I don't even know what this is. And Kevin says, it's brown. And Daryl's like, what? Kevin then has a talking head where he says,

I eat brown every week, hot brown, ice brown, scrambled brown. And then he holds up a can that has a little pig on it. And in Russian, it says dog food. Yes, I so remember this.

And then Toby gets upset. He says, you know what? I have a solution for your poor participation in this canned food drive. Instead of going home early today, we'll be having a little Thanksgiving feast of our own made with your canned food. And Kevin at first was like, yes. And then when Toby says with your canned food, Kevin goes, you son of a bitch.

Then there's a whole montage of the Dunder Mifflin crew making this Thanksgiving lunch out of these lame canned contributions. And here's how the scene ends. I want you to hear it. Happy Thanksgiving. And remember, you did this to yourselves. I think everybody learned a valuable lesson. And if I had a Thanksgiving meal with other people for the first time in years, good for me. Toby!

So we did have a Thanksgiving episode. This would have been it. Wow. Our only nod to Thanksgiving and it got cut out. That's right. Well, I think there was just too much good stuff in this episode that we just didn't have room for a cold open. We start right with the plot. Yep. But there's a bunch of deleted scenes. So if you have the DVDs, you can go watch them. Well, now Pam and Jim are going to arrive to the office and Pam is wearing her painting clothes.

because she's going to finally start on the mural in the warehouse. Meredith has such sidebar sass. She goes, queen of the primer, this one. Yeah, she asked Pam, you sure you don't want to put another coat of primer on it? Queen of the primer. We had a fan question from Colleen S. in Chicago who said, do you have any stories behind Pam's painting clothes? The outfit was auctioned off after the series ended and I ended up winning it.

Jenna, if you would like to have it back, I would be more than happy to send it to you. Colleen, I have to tell you something. I have one too. There were multiples. You know, all of our outfits, we had more than one. We had doubles in case we spilled something on it or something happened. So I have one of the sweatshirts and you must have the other one.

So I have one of the Pratt sweatshirts with all the paint on it. And this was just the idea of Alicia Raycraft, our costume designer. She came and she said, what do you think Pam's painting clothes are? And she had this idea. And I loved this callback to her time at Pratt. I just absolutely loved it. So creative. It also looks like a very cozy sweatshirt. Oh, I loved this outfit. I bet. No pantyhose. Jeans. I can't believe you wore pantyhose for nine years. I know.

Or tights. I didn't wear them one day. Every time you say it, it hurts me. Every time.

I just shoved him aside and no one said anything. I don't know. I'm a rule follower. You are. Jim and Pam are now going to have a joint talking head. And Jim explains that he has to ask David Wallace if he can start working part time because his sports marketing team really needs him. He also shares in his absence they named the company Athlete. While he wasn't there. Yeah. He was like, I could have prevented that if I had been there. Yeah. I guess Jim doesn't like the name. I like

I like athlete. I don't. I think it's terrible. Oh, really? It's like so – it's so well chosen that it's a bad name. It's hard to say athlete. I don't like it. Athlete. Sounds like athlete's foot to me. I don't know. But then it's elite. I don't get it. I don't like the play on words. Okay.

We had a fan question from Chaley D. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who said, were there any other ideas for the name of the company? There must have been so many. I asked Brent. He said there were so many names. He said writers love riffing on dumb names. And here are a few. Winnovate. Okay. Champlify. That's funny. Gosh, I don't even know how to say this one.

Jockatagon. What? Can I see it? Yeah, I think it's like octagon, but it's joctagon. Like a jockstrap? I don't know. I think like jock, like athlete. Oh, like an athlete. Jocktavon.

There's no V in it, lady. It's Jocktagon. Oh, Jocktagon. Yeah. Did I say Vaughn every time? That last time you did. Yeah, I did the last time. Jocktagon, like Octagon. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I like Champlify. That, to me, would have hit the joke harder than Athlete, but maybe it's too ridiculous. Well, Athlete is a better name than Champlify. Yeah. But Champlify is very funny to say. It is. It is.

Lady, I have a tangent that just popped into my head. It is in no way related to this episode. In fact, it's related to an episode of The Crown. Oh, I take. Do you mind? I don't. Are you kidding? The Crown. I don't mind. I'm taking off my glasses. I'm getting my cup of tea. Let's hear it. Okay. This is totally unplanned. Okay. It's not in my document. I know it's not. Okay.

The other night, Leigh and I were watching The Crown, the latest season, the final season. Yeah. And I'm on the episode where Prince William has gone to college. Yes. And he goes out to a party one night, and they do beer bongs. Yeah. Have you ever done a beer bong? Because I haven't, and as I was watching it, I was like, who wants to do that? It looks awful.

It looks like torture. No, I've never done it. The closest I've come to that is in college, I played on a co-ed softball team. And at second base, they had a pony keg. And if you made it to second base, you could do a keg stand. What's a keg stand? You do a handstand. Oh, this is worse. This is getting worse. On top of a keg, and then there's a little hose, and they put beer. You have to drink upside down? Yeah, I did a keg stand. And

Anyway, I've done that. But it just basically it just goes all over your face. And, you know, you're just like, this is stupid. But I was in college. I have not done. What's it called? A beer pong? A beer bong. Oh, bong. A beer pong. Beer bong. Bong.

Why would I think it was beer pong? Well, there's a game called beer pong. Oh, I've done that. Where you try to get a ping pong ball into a thing of beer and then you have to chug it. I did that, but on a TV show. And they were like, Angela, we want you to toss this ping pong ball into the cup of beer. And they were like, we'll roll a few because you probably won't get it, you know, right away. I got it on the first take. Was it real beer? Yeah.

Was it like a reality thing? No, it was fakey. Oh, it was for a scripted show. Yeah, it was the show I did with Kate Walsh, Bad Judge. Okay. But I made the ping pong in the Red Solo Cup on my first try. I think I could be good at it. So?

So wait, when you play beer pong, you throw the ball and you're trying to get it in the cup so that you can chug it? No, the other person. Or the other person has to chug it? I think it's the other person. Right. Because like if I were playing that, I would just always miss because I would never want to chug the beer. No, no, yeah. So I fake played beer pong but never played it in real life. I have done a keg stand playing softball, but I've never done a beer bong. It looks difficult. Yeah.

When I was a freshman in college, like the first two weeks of school, me and some of the other gals on my floor at my dorm, we got invited to a frat party. Oh, gosh. I went to it for less than an hour and never went to another one again. Yeah. I was like, I don't get it. Yeah. This is not for me. I am confused by all of the activities. None of them seem fun. I am very anxious at this event. Yeah.

And then later when I was an upperclassman, like there was a group of guys in the theater department who had a theater fraternity. Okay. And I was like, maybe that's my jam. I know all these guys. I'm doing plays with these guys. Yeah. And you didn't have to be in the theater department to be in that fraternity, but it was sort of like you were. I went to that one and I was like, I don't know what's happened to all of these people who I adore while we're doing theater, but now I can't.

It's a culture that I... Yeah. I just... I don't know what's happening here. But I did... So I'm watching The Crown and I'm watching the beer bonging. Okay. And I...

I was like, I've never done – there's nothing from the time I was born in my DNA that could get myself to do this activity. Yeah, no. And it's very popular and many people do it and I guess are enjoying it and having fun. But I can't. I don't get it. I don't, like, get it. I've never done a beer bong. I've had no desire. I've seen people do them around me. My college didn't have sorority and fraternity houses.

So a lot of that, like, kind of big frat party thing wasn't part of my college. But I do notice that, like, if I do have a story, it's around, like, a sport. It's like softball or a football game. But I don't like chugging stuff. I don't like speeding up the getting drunk process, right? Like, I don't – I haven't gone out for the purpose of getting drunk super fast. I probably shouldn't have told you I brought shots for us today. I'm kidding. Yeah.

Shots, shots, shots, shots, shots. No. Okay. Sorry for that tangent. It just popped into my head. I doubled down on your tangent. I could have just said, no, I've never done one, and we'd be done with this conversation. Well, let me tell you what I would love to do as an activity at a party is build a giant card wall. I would, too. A tower. I would love that. That's my jam. They're really hard to do. I've tried to do it with a deck of cards before, and they're real slick. You need an old deck.

What? What? I don't know, lady. I don't know that just the earnestness and authority with which you have given us this tip on how to build a successful card tower.

You need an old deck. They can't be shiny or slick. I noted that Pete used these complaint cards, and I looked at them, and they are like the rougher cardstock. They're not the slick paper. I'm just saying.

More successful tower. That's right. Well, let's tell you why Pete is going to start a tower. He's not starting it yet, but he has a talking head where he says he's been tasked with entering customer complaints into a computer. And then after that, he has to fill out a comment card. He asked Andy, why do I have to do this? They're already in the computer. And Andy said, chillax. And then went on a big boat ride. Yes. Yes.

So he's decided that he's going to use the cards. He's going to give them purpose, and he's going to build a paper tower. Yeah. I love Pete. He says, don't give me a pointless office chore because I will build a little paper house. Fight the power. I love him. I do, too. Angela now approaches Dwight. Ooh, sabotage in the break room. Sabotage in the break room. She says, meet me at the old place in five minutes. I need you.

And then she goes down to their warehouse spot and she opens up that door and he is completely nudie. He is naked. With his leg up and his bits dangling. Oh, yeah. She says, Dwight, please put your clothes back on. It's not that kind of meeting. And then she says, I need someone who can operate outside of the law. And Dwight says, nope, you lost those privileges. If I'm not in your panties, I don't go vigilantes. You've got to know.

Some writer pitched that, and when it made it in, it was just like so tickled. Yes, we should have asked Brent about that. That's a really funny line. It is. Angela then confesses to Dwight that her marriage is in danger. She doesn't know who she can trust. Dwight says, you know, I know just the guy, the former cop who was kicked off the force. And then he says, I'm going to SMS text him to set up a meeting. Gets back to him right away. No problem. He's free anytime. Yeah.

Well, now Jim is on the phone with David Wallace. He's doing this phone call at his desk because Jim doesn't know how to make phone calls more private. No, he doesn't. We learned that. No, he's not going to have a private conversation. And Jim is like, listen, it'll just be a couple days a week that I would be in Philly. I'd be in Scranton the other days and...

You know, what do you think? And David Wallace is kind of like, I don't know, Jim. It kind of seems like what if something goes down? I need someone there in person to deal with it. Yeah. So Jim lies. In the moment, he says, oh, Phyllis and Stanley offered to cover for me. And David's like, oh, well, if that's the case, okay.

I will point out, I think David Wallace might be the most lax boss ever. Yeah. And he's off on a boat. No problem. Jim's like, I want to only be part-time but pay me the same. He's like, okay. Yeah. We should all work for David Wallace. No kidding. We had a fan question from Emily J. in Ohio who said, is Pam not a salesman at all anymore? Why does Jim need Phyllis and Stanley to cover? Can't Pam cover?

Emily made a good point. I think I'm trying to remember back when Pam became the office administrator. I think she was still going to keep her couple of clients that she had. She still does a little sales, right? Oh, I thought she was done. I thought she created a new position and she was no longer part of the sales team. That's how I saw it. I couldn't remember. But let's say like

Sure, she does still do a little bit of sales. I think the question is, do you want Pam covering for you? She was the worst salesperson. I'm not sure David Wallace is going to let Jim go to Philly a couple days a week if the backup is Pam. I don't know. I'm just saying, you know, no offense to Pam, but like this is- Sales are not her thing. Sales were not her thing. We don't have to all be good at everything all the time. No, we don't. It's okay, Pam. Yeah. We love you.

Well, now we go back to the break room. Stanley and Phyllis are there. And Jim comes in and really wants them to help him. He says, hey, we're friends, right? And Stanley's like, we're not friends. Yeah, Stanley's like, if we were friends, when's my birthday, Jim? And Jim is like, when's my birthday? And Stanley says, I have no idea because we're not friends. You know, every single person wrote in about this to remind us.

us that in season eight, episode 10, Jim says he got Stanley tickets to a comedy show for his birthday. So Jim knows Stanley's birthday. Or he's certainly celebrated it before. He must have a general idea of when it is. Well, Jim is going to offer to take them to lunch to discuss it further. And now they're in. They're up for a free lunch. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Outside, Dwight and Angela are walking down the sidewalk when Dwight shoves Angela into a van

And we meet Trevor. Call sheet tidbit. This was the very first scene filmed on the very first day of filming. So Chris, as the guest star, was first up. Wow. Right? Trevor says, is it safe to talk? Dwight says, well, this documentary crew has been following our every move for the past nine years. But I don't see him, so I think we're good. Angela is going to ask Trevor, what are your credentials? And this line made me laugh so hard.

I broke when he said it the first time. With super seriousness, Trevor says, I started following people around to get exercise. Turns out I'm damn good at it. Lost it.

Yes. Next question, they would like to know if he has a gun. And he's like, do I have a gun? Check this out. He pulls out a receipt. He says, read the receipt. And Angela's like, what, you don't carry it with you? And he's like, it's expensive. Someone could steal it. And then Dwight says, you have no idea how many guns Trevor's had stolen. And Trevor's like, yeah, now I keep it in a safe and then shows them the receipt of the safe.

This is something I have to share with you guys. This receipts bit went on for so long.

Were there more receipts? Chris started improvising. You saw how many papers he's holding in his hands? Yes. He just started improvising all the different things he has receipts for. Oh, my God. I was crying. I was laughing. I was so hoping that I would find them in the bloopers or something. I know they're out there somewhere. But, oh, my gosh. We did a lot of takes. And each time, he had more receipts for things.

Well, you know, one of the things he shared with us was that when he runs into people who recognize him, they always say, check your receipts. Yes. And he's always like, wait, what? Oh, oh. Yes. Check your receipts is his safe bandit or don't throw garbage at me. Exactly. Perfect strangers say to him as he's walking through an airport.

Well, now we're going to go to the warehouse as Pam prepares to start painting. She's up on this big, what do you call that thing? Like a scaffolding? Yeah. It's like a scaffold thing. Yeah. And she's put a grid up in pencil and she's looking at her sketches. She's getting prepared. She's

Gonna start this. Yeah. She says, you know what? If I mess up, I can just cover it with a shrub. Yeah. This talking head of Pam's was actually longer by one sentence, and it cracked me up. Here's how it read in the shooting draft. I guess if I make a mistake, I can just cover it up with a shrub or something. But I always think less of paintings that are full of shrubs. I'm only allowing myself one shrub. And then here's the line that she would have said. Two shrubs and a guy with a big umbrella. Tops.

Nice. I thought it was so cute. From down below, Hide is watching, and Pam is just like, go back to work. It's like she feels this pressure that he's just watching and watching. He says he'd prefer to wait. Well, guess what? There was a lot more of Pam and Hide, and talk about the pairing I need more of. It is so funny. There's a bunch of deleted scenes. First of all, do you know what the warehouse workers call Pam?

It's in deleted scenes. I want you to hear it. It's a lot of pressure. People work in this warehouse every day, and I don't want them to look up and say, boy, that Pat really screwed up this one. A lot of the people who work in the warehouse think my name is Pat. I thought that was so funny. So funny. They all think your name is Pat. And then Hide has a talking head. He has some insights on Pat. So many things. More security than painting. Japanese government.

Chinese Navy. What is Pat afraid of? Pat afraid of Pat. Pat's afraid of Pat. Pat is afraid of Pat. Listen, that's what stops most of us most of the time. Yeah. It's just the fear, the fear of failure, the fear of things not turning out the way you hoped. Pat is afraid of Pat.

You know, when I gave myself permission to do things imperfectly, my career started to take off. Isn't that a weird thing? It was like I found that, by the way, artist's way. Artist's way. Can I do it imperfectly? Yeah. Yeah. Can I finish it and it might be crap?

That's the thing. The first thing you write, the first time you do the scene, it's going to be crap. You know what I mean? It's like you're not Rembrandt with the first painting. Right. You have to have a bunch of crap first. So make the crap. Do the crap. Do the crap. Write the crappy novel first.

or short story or whatever, you'll revise it 50 times and then it'll be great. That's right. I even look at these scenes, you know, this episode as we break it down, and I just remember how many times we would have to do things to get it right. Oh, yeah. That's the kind of cool magic of film and television is that someone watches the final performance. Yeah. You don't know how long it took to get there. That's right. And they use the best take. Exactly. Exactly.

Back in the van, Dwight tells Trevor that he'll be paid half now and half upon completion of the job. Obviously off the books. Nice, no taxes. Yeah. Angela hands him an envelope with all the pertinent information. But what's the job? Murder. Murder. Yeah.

This is even too much for Dwight. Yeah. He pulls Angela aside. They're on the sidewalk. He says, you cannot have someone murdered. And she explains to him that the target is sleeping with her husband. And he says, I'm so sorry, but this is just crazy. You can't do this. Trevor's up for it. Trevor's like, I think I can do it.

I know. I know. Dwight says, listen, there are different ways to get revenge, like defecating in a paper bag. Trevor quickly says, I've been on the receiving end of that a few times and it's devastating. That's another line that made me laugh.

What they decide on is that Trevor is going to damage Oscar's kneecaps. Yeah, and kneecapping. Yeah. Hit him in the kneecaps. It's going to happen at 4 p.m. No turning back once Trevor leaves. That's right. Fan question from Jenna F. in Los Angeles.

Angela, Chris talked about being in the van all together with you guys shooting these scenes. Can you please share about doing these? These were so great. I mean... How did you get through these? Almost everything he said made me laugh because he said it with such earnestness. This character, Trevor, is such...

Like a funny guy. But there was one moment that really got me, and it's actually in deleted scenes. I'm not going to play it, Jenna, because it's more of a sight gag. Oh, okay. But I have to share it in stories. I have to. So there's this very serious moment in the van, and Angela Martin says to Trevor...

what do you do if you get caught? And then he says, I slip through people's fingers. And then Dwight tries to grab him and he does this hand move. And Dwight's like, I can't get him. I can't get him. And then totally improvised, Rain's like, you go, you try, Angela. So then I just start trying to grab him. And Chris's Trevor just keeps doing these moves. And then I'm like, I can't get him. Anyway, we ended up

cracking up at how ridiculous me and Rain trying to grab Chris and him doing these ridiculous hand moves and he's like slips through your fingers can't get me it was just such silly physical gags but we we just lost it oh my gosh I wish that was in the episode that sounds so funny imagine Angela trying we were like tussling like

Like, I'm trying to grab him, and he's, like, swatting at me. But we're seated in a van. I mean, amazing. Amazing. It was such a fun day. Well, there was another thing that Chris shared with us that I found so relatable and so charming. This was about just a memory he had of being on The Office. Here's what he said.

Another thing I remember is that The Office got me glasses to my actual prescription. And I think in my entire career of acting, that's the only time that a set has gone above and beyond like that. It's really, really thoughtful to do. I get a lot of parts as guys...

in glasses, like weird guys in glasses. And sometimes they make me wear my own glasses. And then a lot of times they want you to wear like slightly weirder glasses. And that just means I'm blind. It means on a lot of sets, like honestly, anytime you've ever seen me acting, if I'm wearing glasses that aren't mine, I'm just blind. Except the office. The office contacted me ahead of time and got my prescription and

and had a few sets of glasses made with my prescription. So I'm wearing these big goofy glasses in the show and they got my actual prescription. And I can tell you that's above and beyond and extraordinarily thoughtful because I don't, when someone calls cut and there's a million moving parts and you're just a guest star and you have to be like, can somebody find the PA who took my glasses? Cause you literally can't walk 10 feet without banging into something or like knocking into a piece of equipment without it. Like

you do feel like really stranded out there on a set. So the fact that the office got my prescription and made those glasses real was shocking and really cool and thoughtful and nice.

Well, Angela, we know who that is. We know who did that. Phil. That's Phil. Yeah. And I'm going to get choked up. I know. Because, you know, we lost Phil last year. He passed away. And yet as we do this rewatch, I just continue to think of him. Yeah. Yeah, me too. And with this story and with the card tower, that was Phil. Yeah. You know, and... The sandwich with the pipe in it, it's coming up. That's Phil. Phil.

But you know, Ange, when I was on Splitting Up Together, they wanted my character to sometimes wear glasses, but not my glasses. And originally, they just gave me glasses.

Some glasses with glass in them. And every time we would finish a scene, I would have to be like, do you know who has my real glasses? Do we know where my real glasses are? And I ended up losing my real glasses several times because I would take them off and put them down on a shelf on set and then put my fake glasses on. And so in the second season, they had...

my quote unquote show glasses made with my prescription. And it changed everything because then I could read my script in between scenes. And so when Chris told this story, I did also think of that like, yes,

Yes, Chris. I've been there, too. I know what that feels like. But how, to his point, lovely that they did it for a guest star. I know. That was your show. I know. You were a series regular and you didn't have glasses. Till season two. Yeah. It was just one of those things where it was like, hey, we just realized we could put my prescription in these glasses. Everyone's like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Now you can see. But, you know, Phil being Phil. He thought of it. Thought of it right away. Yep.

Should we go to crazy lunch with Jim and Stanley and Phyllis? Oh, my gosh. This is hilarious. Talk about at the top of their game, Leslie and Phyllis in this scene. First of all, Stanley is in no rush to talk, and he just wants to order surf and turf with an extra side of surf. They're going to really run up this bill. Phyllis wants to know how much wine they have. Not what kind of wine. How much? Yes. Well.

Well, location alert, we shot this at Delmonico's on Ventura Boulevard. I think this is the same place that Michael ordered his gabagool. Oh. Same restaurant. And the waiter was played by guest star Noah Blake. And I think what this scene tells us is that Jim has an uphill battle here. Yeah. It's going to be a long lunch. It is. Oscar now brings Angela a cookie, and she calls him an angel. All right. Come on, Oscar.

Fine, I get it that maybe her complaining about the thermostat didn't tip you off. But Angela just called you an angel. Come on. Yes. I think normally if you handed Angela a cookie that large, she would comment on it, right? Yeah. She'd be like, thank you. Why is it so big? Or she'd say, why are you giving me a cookie? You never give me a cookie. I don't want this.

Exactly. When did they start making cookies like this? I don't like it. It has nuts. There'd be something. There'd be something. But she calls him an angel, and as he walks away, she crushes the cookies into her hands. Which Dwight notices. Yes. He's putting all the pieces together because up until this point, he didn't know who this person was that Trevor had to take out.

Well, Angela, we got a fan question. People want to know, how many cookies did you have to smash? Do you remember? I don't remember, but it was, I think we did more than one take. So it was probably three or so. I'm sure Phil had a whole basket of them standing by. Exactly. And the one thing they wanted is for me to crush it and for it to just kind of fall off my hands into the trash. That was all scripted. And that was, I would say, of...

All the scenes that I had to do for this episode, that was the hardest one for me to ground in reality. Crumbling the cookie. Yes. Yeah. Because I just thought Angela wouldn't want to get her hands messy. She'd be like, oh, yeah. She'd be like, oh, I'm very annoyed at you. In fact, I'm incredibly pissed off at you.

But I'm not going to get this crap all over my hands. I guess that tells you how incredibly pissed she was. She was willing to dirty her hands. Yeah, she's super pissed. Well, now we're in the stairwell. The secret stairwell. The secret stairwell. The secret stairwell. Where Jim could have taken any of his business calls. Nope, Jim's not going to go there. But Oscar is. Yeah, and he's on the phone. He's assuring the senator that they are A-OK. Yeah. Angela doesn't know a thing. Dwight, of course.

is lurking and has overheard the whole thing. He now knows. Dun, dun, dun. Dun, dun, dun. Well, lady, I think we should take a break. And when we come back, I have some tower stats for you. Oh, I love tower stats. I don't even know what a tower stat is, but I'm so excited. ♪

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Let's go places. All right. We are back. And Pam is going to walk into the annex and see everybody building this giant tower. And there's all this camaraderie. And you can tell she's kind of like, I think she's maybe looking for a reason to not have to work on her painting right now. I think she's procrastinating. She is. But she's also very interested in this group activity that looks like a lot of fun.

The tower is getting taller and taller, and Kevin wants to put two cards at the tippity top, and everyone's like, Kevin, be careful, be careful. And you can guess what happens. He knocks the whole thing down. But they vow to start over.

They're going to go again. Yeah. Well, we got a lot of fan questions about this tower. Allison M. from Shelby, North Carolina said, please explain how the Tower of Complaint cards was made. How did you get the tower to stay put? How was it reconstructed between takes? And Jessica N. from Rochester, New York said, do you know if there were any structures that were possibly glued together for some of the scenes?

Or were they all legit card structures that just didn't make it through some of the takes? They had to have been glued together. They were. Yeah. This was such an elaborate prop, actually. Kudos again to Phil Shea. Steve Burgess said that we had about six different versions of the tower in various stages, and

And then when I was talking with Brent, he reminded me that they built it in layers. So there would be like the bottom layer that was all glued together. And then we could add like another layer that was all glued together. I do remember that, that they would carry them in on almost like this

I don't know, like a tray, like a big flat piece of plywood they would carry in a layer at a time. Yes. Yeah. And Steve Burgess actually sent me a bunch of pictures of us posing around the towers. So you can put those in stories, Angela. But Brent said there was one exception, you know, the scene when Kevin has to knock the tower down. That was a real tower of cards.

And it took a very long time to build. We filmed that in two parts. Brent said we did six takes of the scene right up until the moment when Kevin knocks the tower down.

Then we did one take of him knocking the tower down. And then we did six takes of the second half of the scene when the cards were all splayed out. So he only had to knock the tower down once. But this was really important because you didn't know where the cards were going to go when they fell. So it was kind of like an impossible continuity thing to try to recreate the cards falling. Yeah.

So that's why once they fell, we just left them where they were and we did the end of the scene six times.

Shout out to Brian Baumgartner because this is yet another time where he has to get it basically in one take. He had to spill that whole pot of chili in one little area. And then now he has to knock down this tower of cards and not mess it up. You know, like what if he like hit the middle by accident or, you know. Yes, if it hadn't fallen correctly, we would have had to wait for them to build the whole thing again. Yeah.

In order to get the fall right. Yeah. And then, of course, the subsequent takes afterwards. Way to go, Brian. Way to go, Brian. I would like to share that someone is really noticing how sweet Pete is. Mm-hmm. Yeah. When Kevin knocks it all down and everyone's upset at him, Pete says, you know what? He made a mistake. And isn't that what that whole tower is about anyway? And he gives Kevin a fist bump and he says, let's get back to work.

Aaron is all smiles, and there was a deleted talking head where Aaron talks about Pete, and I want you to hear it. Pete really sticks up for the underdog, and in my book, that's the best dog to stick up for. The little dog that's underneath all the other dogs, way at the bottom. So yeah, good guy this Pete. I like this guy.

Oh, my gosh. I love the definition of underdog. I know. I love the idea that there's a pile of dogs and there's a little tiny one underneath all of them. Got to get them out of there. You know, another thing that Pete says is, come on, who in here hasn't gotten a complaint or made a mistake? And Pam raises her hand. She's never had a complaint against her.

Ever? With all the pranks she's done with Jim over the years, Dwight hasn't filed a complaint? Well, I think it's customer complaint, right? Oh, yes, yes, yes. Okay, okay, yes. I'm sure there's been files of Dwight complaints. Oh, yeah, you're right.

So now the tower has been rebuilt, and it is almost up to the ceiling. Yeah. And they've run out of cards. There's no more complaints. They just need one more complaint to make it to the ceiling. So Pam is going to volunteer to get a complaint. Meredith doesn't buy it. She says, you know what, Pam? She wouldn't fart on a butterfly. And then Jenna, the way you as Pam said the line, I can't even relate to that impulse.

It was so funny the way you said it. Well, one thing I remember from this particular scene was that the first time we had what was going to be the tallest tower, Greg said it wasn't tall enough. What? Yeah. He said, I want the top card to touch the ceiling. He's like, that's when they know they've done it. I have to say.

have to say I agree with that. That feels like, okay, we've literally reached the ceiling. Yes. Well, Pam is definitely part of the camaraderie now because everyone is chanting, Pam, Pam, Pam, Pam, except maybe someone in the warehouse would be chanting, Pat, Pat, Pat. Very true. Well, back at Jim's lunch, Phyllis's, what would you call it? She's

Looking at her hands, she's seeing the passage of time. I thought Phyllis was so brilliant in this scene. She says, you know what? I don't know where the years went. Because sometimes when I look at my hands, I don't even recognize them. And she goes, whose hands are these? And then she kind of folds them into her body. And she's like, they're not my hands. I don't know.

And Jim's like, oh, gosh, I'm not getting anywhere. Phyllis is so drunk. You know what this scene made me think of? I remember, I think I must have been in, like, my mid-40s. One morning, I looked down at my hands, and I got, like, immediately emotional because my hands looked just like my mother's hands. Oh, yeah. And...

I thought one day she's not going to be here anymore, but she's always going to be in my hands. Yeah. I'm going to see her. And I do see her when I look at my hands, even now. It's so special to me. Yeah. Yeah. I started looking more and more like my mother as I get older.

Even in my face and everything like that. Growing up, I thought I didn't really look like either of my parents. So when Phyllis was giving this big speech about whose hands are these? Yeah. I like remember the day I felt like I went from having my hands to, oh my gosh, I have my mother's hands. Yeah. Yeah. No, I get that too. My dad's index fingers turned in and so do mine. Yours do. Yeah. I never noticed that about you. Yeah. And he's... I see it.

He's no longer here, but I think about that when I look at my hands.

Sorry. That was okay. Sorry, everyone. We went real deep there for a second. We did. Sorry. These are more of the things I think you think about as you age. You do. You do. Passage of time. Passage of time. Like Phyllis is talking about. Phyllis is having a moment like that. She is. Which is not helping Jim as he's trying to just get her to cover for him when he goes out of town. No, because how do you say?

you segue from that right could you imagine us having the conversation we just had about our hands and then cassie had to walk in here and be like so listen are y'all gonna be able to cover four right just bring up business yeah yes very difficult position he is in well if you thought that was the worst it was gonna be for jim it's not because in a later scene phyllis

He starts poking a fellow patron with a knife because she wants him to help her pry that ginormous decorative bottle that it looks like it's been super glued down to the banister. Yeah. But she wants to drink it. That reminded me of those bottles of wine they would put on the tables at the SAG Awards. Right, the one that Matt Damon took. Mm-hmm. We got a fan question from Becca G. in Morganfield, Kentucky.

who said, the scene that makes me laugh the hardest, and it only gets funnier every time, is when Jim, Stanley, and Phyllis go to lunch. Every time Phyllis goes for that decorative wine, I cry from laughing so hard. Those three were phenomenal in that scene. So good.

So Brent told us that this shoot at the restaurant went so smoothly and so quickly that they got ahead of schedule and they had time to write an extra scene on the spot and shoot it. And it was a scene where Stanley...

drags Jim into the kitchen and makes him pay the cook to create a custom dessert for the table. It's in deleted scenes. Part of it is in deleted scenes. He just starts taking like plates of dessert off like, you know, he's in the kitchen in the back where they're plating things and Stanley just starts grabbing them. Brent said the scene was so funny, but unfortunately there was no room for it in the final cut.

But I love that they were on set and they were like, we got to write something right now for these three. What else can they do? This is going so well. Back at Dunder Mifflin, Dwight has called Angela out to the parking lot and he tells her, I know who your target is. It's Oscar. Yeah. Well, she pretends like she doesn't know what Dwight is talking about, but he says, your nostrils are flaring and they tell another story. Yeah, you're lying because of your nostrils. He says, your naughty nostrils.

Well, of course, I had to look up facial signs of lying. Is flaring nostrils one of them? No. Oh. No, Dwight is not right. Unless somewhere else on the internet, there's something to prove me wrong. No, I think Dwight is right, but it's just a particular tell of Angela's, not in general. The most common tells of facial lying are pursed lips, bruises.

Blushing, blinking, darting eyes, avoiding eye contact, face touching, covering your mouth, head shaking, and sweating. I knew that touching your face is a sign of lying. How? I remember that from my poker days. Oh. Many of the things you mentioned are also poker tells for when someone is bluffing. Oh. Like flushing of the cheeks, but also like touching of the face. Okay.

Interesting. Well, flared nostrils isn't on the list. I really like Dwight in this scene because he reminds Angela that the first person to break her marriage vows is her. It was the two of them. That's right. And she goes, well, you might be right, but it's too late. He's here.

The plan is in motion. Yeah, they look over. There's Trevor's van, and it's empty. Trevor is on the move. Dwight is now panicked. He's got to find Oscar. So he rushes into the office. He grabs him. He's making up an excuse to get him down to the warehouse. Meanwhile, just as they get out of there, Trevor enters with a sub sandwich, like a big sandwich, and

And he has a metal pipe in it. You can clearly see the metal pipe. It's so funny. He announces that he has a sandwich for Oscar Martinez. And Kevin says, I am Oscar Martinez. And then Angela comes in and goes, no, no, no.

and tells Kevin there are donuts, so Kevin will get out of the way. Well, we asked Chris if he ever got recognized for being on The Office, and he has a very funny story. And he referenced this sandwich delivery moment specifically. As far as if I get recognized as Trevor from The Office, holy s***, it's nonstop. To the point where I've said, and again to Angela, Jenna,

I say it to you as well. Like I've, I've, I've kept in touch with rain to a degree and I'm like, man, I don't know how, I don't know how you like go out for dinner or go to the airport because I was on two episodes of this damn show and I got stopped all the time. And it's been so many years. It's been, I think over a decade at this point. And to be clear, I had an HBO special standup special. I had a show that,

called the Chris Gethard show. I've been on other things, Parks and Rec. I've been on Conan a bunch of times as myself where they're saying my name. I've been on Inside Amy Schumer. I don't want to list a million credits, but I've had a good career as a character actor. Nothing gets recognized more than just, hey, weren't you the guy with the pipe? Weren't you the guy, the sandwich delivery guy? I get that all the time still. I would say if I get recognized, there's an 85% chance it's for The Office.

Like no joke, just last weekend, did stand up in San Francisco and Portland and my bag got pulled by TSA. And this is not an exaggeration at all. The TSA agent, he didn't say anything to me at first, but he patted down my chest and then my actual ass and testicles. He touched my testicles with his hands, popped up and went, you're good to go. I loved you on the office. That is not an exaggeration. Like a TSA agent fondled my testicles

and then told me he really liked me as Trevor on The Office. So it is hugely flattering to be part of something so meaningful that such a small part struck a chord with people. It's awesome. It's an honor. I also sit here and I go, for those of you who were series regulars every episode for 10 years, God bless you all because...

I've had my nuts touched by a TSA agent who immediately then brought up the office. So I can't imagine what you all go through on a regular basis. I absolutely love that story. I mean, we both have so many versions of that story.

It does happen all the time. But you just can't help but laugh. I mean, my goodness. It's also the timing of when it happens. Like, this guy just frisked you. Yes, exactly. And then was like, by the way. Yes. And also because you've been frisked, right? And you think you have anonymity while the frisking is happening. Yes. And then as you're leaving the frisk, you realize...

Oh. Yes. Okay. That's just one example. Just one day. Of hundreds. There are truly so many examples, just like Chris's. Yes, there are. We have so many. But, you know, obviously, we're so appreciative that people love the show, but sometimes the timing. Sometimes the timing could be better. Maybe mention it before the frisk. I think you should.

I do think if you're going to say something, do it after a frisk. After the... I think. Yeah. Okay. Right? Yeah, maybe so. I think so. Well, now Dwight and Oscar are in the warehouse, and Dwight tells him what was going on, that they were going to break his kneecaps. And he says, of all the gorgeous men in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre area, why did you have to choose the father of Angela's child? Right.

Come on! Dwight is still trying to just get Oscar out of there. He rushes them out of the warehouse into the alleyway. And guess what? Trevor is right there. And he is determined for once to follow through with something. So the three of them end up kind of scuffling, struggling over this pipe. Dwight and Oscar are trying to get it away from Trevor. Trevor's trying to complete the job for which he was hired. Oscar prevails. He gets the pipe. I

I asked Steve Burgess if we had a fight coordinator or a stunt coordinator for this fight, and he said no. No. They just let the three of them sort it out. Yeah. Well, I asked Chris about this scene, and here's what he had to say. As far as the fight scene, I remember the day moving pretty quickly. I remember being pretty intimidated, even though obviously everyone on set was so nice.

but I felt like things could get wild, but it all went well. I remember being slightly different each time because we were kind of really wrestling around. I think I like that. I like the idea of if we're going to do something physical and we're not supposed to be trained fighters, we might as well go for it and see where our bodies go because that'll be natural. I also got the sense that

Rain was probably into that. Oscar, I think, was probably the one who was the most reserved about, wait, what's exactly going to happen? And I think Rain and I have remained not super tight, but we touch base every couple of years just to see how the other one's doing and cross paths. And I do get the sense he and I both probably have a similar sense of, well, if we're doing some scene that's supposed to be some crazy unplanned wrestling match, the easiest way to do it is just let's start wrestling. So that was pretty fun.

Chris, I would confirm that that would be Rain's take on that. A hundred percent. Yes. I also asked Chris if any of his improvs made it into the episode because, you know, he was so funny. And yes, we got everything scripted and it was so well written. But there were these great moments of improvisation from him. And here's what he had to say. I do remember improvising a line in the fight with Oscar.

If I remember right, I run away. And while I run away, I'm shouting something along the lines of, I have masculinity issues. And that line was improvised. I remember being psyched that they used that.

That is so fun. Chris also had talked about just how amazing the writing was. Yeah. And he said, like, one of the reasons he was so tickled to get an improv line in was because he knew it was going to have to really be good in order to make it because all the scripted stuff was so good. Yeah. Well, we got a fan question about this scene from Carly P. in Sessor, Illinois. And Carly said this, when Dwight, Oscar, and Trevor are fighting over the pipe...

There are people passing by in the background on the street. Were these just actual passerbys or were they staged to walk past at this point? Because they do not look concerned about three grown men rolling on the ground fighting over a lead pipe. Carly, I did not notice this at first. I went back and I rewatched the scene and I see this couple walk by.

I think they're just two people who walked down the street. Carly, I went back and looked as well. They are 100% just two people walking down the street. I think the other thing that's going on here is that we had been filming this show for nine years at this location, and there were other businesses right next to us. And at this point, they just knew, oh, it's that TV show. So I think when they saw three men, like, tussling...

They were like, oh, they're doing, they're filming something. I don't know. That is exactly what I thought as well. Well, now it's Pam's turn to try to get a complaint, right? Yep. Erin and Nellie and Creed are really encouraging her to fail. They say you got to think like a scumbag. Creed shows her, but then just looks off into space. He's like, like this. Pam calls a client and does your mama's so fat joke.

and hangs up on them yeah Aaron's phone immediately rings and she takes the message and guess what they lost a client everyone's like but then they're like oh wait crap we lost a client that was we just wanted a complaint complaint Jenna you're so good in this scene I thought you just were great and you know what Brent thought so too here's what he had to say

The Tower of Complaints subplot is one of those big group stories that becomes so useful to the writers in the later seasons of The Office when we have 14 characters in the show and we have to give them all something to do. So this one takes up eight characters and that's really useful to the writers. What was so fun about this episode was how fast

funny Jenna was in it. So often Pam's character is the emotional heart of the story and her relationship with Jim is the romantic subplot that is driving so much of the series. But it is so delightful when Jenna gets to be funny and the writers took a lot of pleasure in figuring out how to make this proper character funny by forcing her to fail. And you'll notice that in the final prank phone call that she makes to lose a client,

The laugh doesn't come on the yo mama joke. It comes on Pam having to over explain the yo mama joke because she's never had to deliver an insult like this before. It's a classic example of the laugh coming not on the cleverness of the joke itself, but on the performance of the actor. And Jenna just nails it. Lady, my favorite thing about Brent sending an audio clips is that they always include like high praise for you and I.

I know, Brent. And they make me feel so good about myself. Brent, thank you so much. But one of the other things I really appreciate about Brent's perspective on episodes is he always takes it back to what moves the story, what makes the joke happen. I can just hear what a great teacher he is because he's so right.

The thing that's funny about it isn't the yo mama joke. It's Pam getting so flustered and trying so earnestly to really be off-putting. Yes. Speaking of, Brent is a teacher. He teaches comedy writing classes. Yes. And you can sign up for his classes at brentforrester.com. And you know I'll put it in stories. Yes, she will.

Well, this storyline ends with everybody back in the annex, and they put Pam's complaint on the top of the tower, and it's almost brushing the ceiling tiles, and everyone cheers. Yeah, Pam saved the day. Yes, but we learn a little more information about how her insult was truly terrible because I guess this woman had recently passed.

passed away and had struggled with obesity her whole life. The client's mother had just recently passed away, which is why it wasn't just a complaint card. It was, you don't get our business anymore. Yes. This is horrible. Pam wants you to know I did not know any of that information. I am so very sorry. Of course not. But everyone's happy. They built a tower. That's what they did that day. So simple. So simple. And lovely.

We also got a fan question about this scene from Royale L. in Boise, Idaho, who said, I have been waiting for years to submit this. It always makes me so happy when we can, like, answer a question for someone that has been, like, years in the making. Waiting for the episode. Yeah. Same. All right. Here's the question. When Creed is congratulating Pam for her first customer complaint, why is he in gray sweatpants?

I also noticed he has his business shirt tucked into his sweatpants. This is such a funny detail. Well, Royale, I noticed this too, and I was curious, so I went to the shooting draft and I found the answer. It was actually explained at the very top of the episode, and here's how the script read.

Jim and Pam walk in for the day. Pam is wearing painting clothes, a paint-flecked sweatshirt and jeans. Dwight says, well, it finally happened. Pam stopped caring. Creed says, welcome aboard, Pam. And in the stage direction, it says, Creed is wearing sweatpants and Crocs.

Oh, wow. That's great. And then Pam says, these are my painting clothes. Isn't it funny how you trim out one line? Yeah. And now for this whole episode, we have the mystery of why is Creed wearing sweatpants? I bet Creed was so happy to be wearing sweatpants and Crocs all week. He was probably like, we should make this a weekly thing. A thing.

Back in the alleyway, the guys have stopped tussling and Angela now has suddenly appeared behind Oscar. Yeah. And he's going to yell at her. He's going to be like, I cannot believe you hired someone to beat me with a pipe. And he says, look, what I did was wrong and I have to live with that every day. But your husband is gay and he was gay when you married him. And Angela's like, no.

And Oscar says, Angela, until you face that, you're going to be confused and angry for all the wrong reasons. But if you want to blame me for the whole thing, go ahead. I won't stop you. Hit me. You have my blessing. Hit me.

And Angela's like, okay. And she grabs the pipe. I know, but he won't let go of it. And she says, are you going to let go of it? Because part of the blame is definitely on you. And then Oscar says, Angela, it's a lead freaking pipe. And then Angela just kicks him. How did that work, Angela? Did you just fake kick him? Did he have a pad? I kicked him and he had a pad on his shin. Like a shin guard. He had a shin guard, but I really kicked him. Okay. Because it looked like a real kick. It was. Okay. Okay.

And then Angela very emotionally says, you were supposed to be my friend. Yeah. And then later, Angela is crying on a bench outside and Dwight joins her. And she says, I just feel so stupid. I sit next to him every day.

So, lady, this is a line that's quoted to me a lot. Okay. This is one of those lines. And Rain gets it, too. You're not stupid. Jazz is stupid. And then I say jazz is stupid. I mean, just play the right notes. It's such a funny thing to say. And then Dwight says, I know. You're going to be okay, monkey. And then the last couplet of dialogue was completely improvised. About Trevor? Yes.

I say, I don't like your friend Trevor. And then Rain says, I don't like him either. And yet I really like him. Oh my gosh, I can't believe that was improvised. Yep, and it made it in. And I was so tickled when I saw it.

Because, you know, with me crying and Dwight puts his arm around me, they left the camera there for a bit. Yeah. And so I just said, I don't like your friend Trevor. Such a funny thing to say. And then Dwight has such a great response. And then Ray's response is perfection. We got a fan question from Jennifer C. in Colorado Springs, Colorado, who said, this is something I've wondered for years.

Does Mike Schur hate jazz? Oh, I know he didn't write this episode, but this theme pops up in a lot of his projects. And then Jennifer cites all these projects. The Good Place, season one, episode nine. Someone says, oh, I hate jazz. It's like, we get it. Wrap it up, Elton John. Yeah.

In Parks and Recreation, in Season 5, Episode 12, someone says, you'd really want to get to know the guy, right? You'd want to know his personality, his favorite season of Friends, whether he hates jazz. Hopefully he does. There is a theme here. Yes, and then jazz is stupid. Just play the right notes. Jennifer said, these are just three examples, but there are so many more. Please explain.

So one of my favorite things with our podcast is to reach out to people. Please tell me you texted Mike Schur about this. I did. What did he say? He wrote back, ha ha ha ha ha ha. You can tell, Jennifer, I don't hate jazz. I didn't even write all of those jokes. But comedy writers like to pick on jazz because, like most art forms, it has a certain group of adherents.

who like to lecture you on why it's so amazing and so cool and so special. Mike said kind of like the Ryan Gosling character in La La Land where he explains jazz to John Legend.

Mike said comedy writers in general have a disdain for anything that causes people to wax poetic or why you just don't get something. And he said jazz is one of those things. What a perfect answer. I know. I love that. Well, I love that Jennifer keyed in on this joke about jazz that keeps popping up.

You know, we also got quite a few people who wrote in and said, wait, so Angela likes babies who play jazz for posters, but not actual jazz? Yes, I saw those. I think it's not so much about babies playing jazz that Angela liked about the poster, but just the fact that they were dressed up in like a little fedora and they had instruments. It's like when you dress up your pets. I think Angela likes babies dressed as like adult things. Yes. So like...

A favorite Halloween costume for Angela would be like a baby dressed like an old man. Or a baby dressed like an old-timey pilot. Yes. Or a race car driver. That's right. Yeah. Kind of like how you like animals dressed as other animals. Yes. Right. Like, I love nothing more than a bunny rabbit dressed as a bear stuffed animal.

Right. That's such a weird thing that I like that. What is that about? I don't know. I don't know. We like what we like. We like what we like. Well, Jim is finally pulling into the parking lot now with Stanley and Phyllis. They're asleep in the back seat. They've eaten everything. They've drank everything. And Jim is just going to kind of tuck them in. He's taking his coat, putting it over Phyllis like a blanket. And she says,

Of course we're going to cover for you, Jimmy. We love you guys. So sweet. So sweet. And she calls him Jimmy, which I love. And then we're going to go to the warehouse, and guess what? There is paint on the wall. It's happening. And I have to tell you...

There was a very sweet deleted scene between Pam and the senator that happened here. So in the shooting draft, there was a scene where the senator shows up to the bullpen with coffee. I guess he's just stopped by, right? No one's in the bullpen except for Daryl. And he says, hey, where is everyone? And Daryl says, I think Angela's in the warehouse.

And the senator goes, okay, well, if you see Oscar, will you tell Oscar that I stopped by with coffee for Angela? And Daryl gets this look like, what? And Daryl's like, or I could just tell Angela herself. And the senator goes, oh, yeah, I guess that would work too.

And Daryl has this look of like, what was that about? And then the next scene is the senator walking into the warehouse and he sees Pam and they have this exchange. And I really loved it because I feel like Pam has locked into something about herself. Hello, Pam. Senator. I thought you were the office manager. No, I'm an artist and I work in an office.

I love that. She just owns it. She goes, I'm an artist. I also do this other thing, but that's where my heart is. Yeah. You know, we had a fan question from Bethany N. in Australia who said, who actually painted the mural? Well, Bethany, all the paint that you see on the wall in this episode was me. I painted it. Later, it was not me at all, but I actually got to put paint up on the wall for this one.

Well, this episode is going to end with a tag. Dwight and Angela are meeting with Toby. Yeah. For some reason, Toby is who Dwight goes to for any kind of like questions about relationships or sex. He goes to Toby. Yes. In the episode Sexual Harassment, Dwight sits down with Toby. Yeah. Remember? And he's asking about a woman's body. A woman's pleasure areas. Yes. Yes. So,

For whatever reason, this is the go-to, Toby. Toby. And he's always very kind. And thoughtful. Yes. Well, Dwight and Angela have a lot of questions for Toby about basically Oscar and the senator. Yes. And how things are going down. Right. Brent shared with us something about this scene. He said that it was Paul Lieberstein's idea that we speak in a whisper to make it seem that much more serious. Yes.

and ridiculous. Yeah, that was a good choice. Well, guys, there you have it. The Target. Gosh, I loved this episode. I absolutely loved doing these scenes with Oscar. You know, the show had a lot of love triangles, and this was one of my favorites. Well, a big thank you to Brent Forrester and Steve Burgess.

for sending us all your behind-the-scenes info. And a big thank you to Chris Gethard for sharing with us about his time playing Trevor. Oh my gosh, what an amazing character. And Chris has so many great things he's working on. You can hear him on his podcast, Beautiful Anonymous.

He also wrote a book, Dad at Peace. And Chris is the creative mind behind Wellness Together's newest program, Laughing Together. Chris says they're very excited to announce their efforts to expand advocacy, awareness, and access to mental health for students. And you can learn all about it on their website, laughingtogether.org. I'll share all of that in our stories. And of course, thank you to all of you for sending in your questions. I'm so glad we could answer so many of them that have been bugging you all for years in this episode.

We hope you have a great rest of your day and a great week, and we'll see you next week. See you then. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies. Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our in-studio engineer is Sam Kiefer. Our editing and mixing engineer is Jordan Duffy. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

Cam found out that group chats between different phones aren't private. Or encrypted. Or encrypted, thank you. We only text in code. Yes, which I created. I created a code. Yes. Which can be a little annoying. Wait, was that your attempt at the code? You already forgot the code, didn't you? I should have written it down. The place to safely send messages between different devices. WhatsApp. Message privately with everyone.

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