All About Stanley Hudson

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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 Lovers podcast just for you.

Each week we will dive deeper into the world of the office with exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes details, and lots of VFF stories.

We're the Office Lady 6.0.

Hello, everybody.

Hi!

Welcome to Office Lady 6.0, All About Stanley Hudson.

You know, National Pretzel Day is coming up.

It's Saturday, April 26th, and we thought, what better way to honor National Pretzel Day than to do our All About Stanley Hudson episode?

I mean, Stanley does love pretzel day.

Loves.

Angela, did you know that pretzel day originated in Pennsylvania?

I did not know that.

I didn't either.

But according to the internet.

which is our favorite way to reference things.

That's how I reference things.

Thank you.

2003, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Randell and former Philadelphia mayor declared April 26th National Pretzel Day to recognize the importance that pretzels have to the Pennsylvania state history.

It is believed that the hard pretzel, not the soft pretzel, but like hard pretzels, were invented in Pennsylvania in 1850 by German immigrants.

Huh.

I got another stat for you.

Okay.

Well, here it is.

And I found this staggeringly interesting.

Pennsylvania produces 80% of the country's hard and soft pretzels.

80%?

80%.

of the United States of America, pretzel making happens in Pennsylvania.

That's right.

Wow.

And apparently, Pennsylvanians eat more pretzels per capita than any other state in the United States.

Really?

They make them and then they eat

them.

In fact, Pennsylvanians consume 12 times more pretzels than the average American.

How do they measure that?

I mean, come on.

But hey, listen, look at the enthusiasm for the pretzel cart on pretzel day in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Yeah.

Pennsylvanians love their pretzels.

It's true.

It is true.

Well, you know, Josh has a great pretzel bite recipe.

Oh, I know about those.

I will share it in stories.

I told him kind of late in the game that we were doing this.

He was like, Ange, I would have made you all pretzel bites.

You know what?

No one wants to hear us eat anymore.

No one did.

Did you see the comments?

I did.

I did.

And I said, babe, it's okay.

We can't eat on the podcast anymore.

People loved all about Kevin Malone, but they're like, I didn't need to listen to them eat chili.

Don't eat anymore.

Well here's here's something I wanted to share with you guys.

The folks that make pretzels, they honor National Pretzel Day as well and there are some great deals on pretzels on April 26th.

Auntie Ann's offers their rewards members with an in-app coupon for a free original or cinnamon sugar pretzel in store on April 26th.

No purchase required.

You just have to sign up for their rewards program to make sure you get that coupon sent to your account.

And Wetzel's pretzels will celebrate National Pretzel Day.

And by the way, their 30th anniversary this year, they're going to offer free original pretzels to all customers at participating locations starting at 3 p.m.

until closing.

They also call it National Wetzel Day.

And they come on, Wetzel's Pretzels.

I know.

And they're going to have a sweepstakes this year.

They have what's called a Wetz party where five winners will receive Wetzel's pretzels for a year.

Free Wetzel's pretzels for a year.

Wow.

Mm-hmm.

So lots of folks celebrating National Pretzel Day.

And I read too that check your local stores that make pretzels because they usually have their own thing too.

I love some free stuff.

I get very excited when I know that I can get like free food somewhere.

I know you on National Donut Day.

Oh yeah.

Krispy Kreme.

Mm-hmm.

Go there.

And also on 7-Eleven, you can get a free slushie at 7-Eleven.

Oh, that's a good one, too.

Well, Jenna, I know you usually like to kick off our all-about episodes with the show Bible summary.

But before you do that, I wanted to share a piece of mail that we got recently.

It's a letter from Kathy L, and it's really special.

Oh, yes, I know what this is.

She said she has only just started listening and loves the podcast, and she might be giving Dr.

Thibodeau a run for his money as the ultimate office lady's tracker because listen to what she did.

Sam, Cassie, I can't even get over this.

She wrote and said, I thought I would try to document all that you said in at least season one of the Office Ladies Podcast.

And she made a book called The Podcast Bible.

Look at it.

Look, our pictures on the front.

It says the Office Ladies Podcast Bible season one.

I'm going to share this in stories.

Oh my goodness, Kathy, the time you've spent on this.

It's amazing.

I was flipping through it, and she has all of our like banter moments and facts and tidbits all in book form.

It's so cool.

And she'll have like the synopsis and a photo from that episode.

It's really well done.

Thank you very much.

We loved this.

I love this and I'm so excited to show it to my kids because I think it's like this tangible representation of the podcast.

Yeah.

Well, speaking of show Bibles, Angela, we did get this fan question from Alexander G in Houston, Texas, who said, I recently listened to the Office Olympics episode and recalled the show Bible and how Jenna stole it from Greg Daniels.

I need to say, guys, I didn't steal it.

It was given to me.

I love, though, this image of you sneaking into his office and rummaging around.

I know.

Alexander said, please, please, please read us Stanley's section of the show Bible.

I love Leslie David Baker's character, and Stanley is always so funny.

All right, Alexander.

Here it is.

Stanley Hudson is a sales rep at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, and as of season four, he had been at Dunder Mifflin for 10 years.

His birthday is the week of July 21st.

He is Catholic and he grew up in a small town.

Here are some of his likes.

Oh, I can't wait.

Is it a short list?

Shorter than the dislikes.

You know it.

His likes are red wine.

In fact, he has a glass of red wine with dinner once a week for the antioxidants.

He also loves red wine and a bath.

He likes mystery stories, crossword puzzles, pretzels, and chocolate ice cream.

That's literally all of the likes.

Okay.

I can get behind all of those, but now I'm buckling in for the dislikes.

Dislikes.

When asked to give feedback, he has a lot of complaints.

For example, he filed a complaint that Phyllis cries too much and it bugs him.

But he's never said a word about Phyllis's stinky perfumes, no matter how much they bother him.

So I guess he does show some restraint sometimes.

He doesn't usually enjoy theater.

He doesn't dress up for Halloween and he threw out his Dundees.

He refuses to participate in grief counseling.

He thinks his bed is too small, his daughter's school is too expensive, and he believes he's underpaid.

He also has a lot of health issues.

Oh.

He has type 2 diabetes, varicose veins, swollen ankles, and nipple sensitivity.

What?

Yeah.

I can't remember what episode that's from, but it's in the show Bible.

And Stanley has a heart heart attack at work.

Finally, he is quite the lady's man.

Yes.

But I'll be breaking that down in more detail a little bit later.

In your area of interest?

Correct, Angela.

In my area of interest.

What is your area of interest?

Stanley origin story and family.

What's your area of interest?

I called mine the Stanley Shutdown.

Well, why don't we take a break and then we'll get to it?

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Well, we are back and you guys, we cannot do an episode about Stanley and not list some of his greatest shutdowns of his coworkers.

There are many, but I'm going to highlight five.

Okay.

Number one, and it might be the most popular of all of his shutdowns, you guys can probably all guess, but it's when he took down Ryan and Take Your Daughter to Work Day.

Stanley confronts Ryan about his teenage daughter.

It's one of the most quoted Stanley lines from the show, and Leslie improvised quite a bit of it.

Boy, have you lost your mind?

Cause I'll help you.

Find it.

What you're looking for?

Ain't nobody going to help you out there.

Jesus can come through that door and he's not going to help you if you don't stop sniffing after my child.

Okay.

Well, lady, I traded messages with Greg Daniels about this episode, and he said that is his favorite Stanley line.

And he confirmed that Leslie improvised almost all of it.

I love that that's Greg's favorite Stanley moment.

Me too.

Number two on my shutdown list, who can forget when Stanley completely shuts down Michael in the episode, Did I Stutter?

If you remember, Michael has a conference room scene where he's trying to get everyone to energize the office, right?

And he's holding this meeting and he asks Stanley to contribute.

And he says, Stanley, hey, you want to help us out with that?

Stanley, Earth to Stanley.

And Stanley does not look up and he says, not me.

And Michael goes, yes, you.

Come on, Stanley.

Put your little game down and join the group.

And Stanley goes, no.

And then Michael says, Stanley, we're having a little.

And Stanley says, leave me alone, damn it.

I mean, could you imagine that happening in a conference room meeting?

Like to your boss?

Like, I could not even imagine.

In that same episode, they have a knockdown, drag out argument in the bullpen, and he calls Michael a professional idiot.

Well, this is crazy, lady.

You didn't know this, but I also reached out to Phyllis about working with Leslie.

You knew that part, right?

Yeah.

When I was trading messages with her, she said that was her favorite.

Stanley episode and moment was watching Leslie go toe-to-toe with Steve Corell in those scenes.

Wow.

Well, he really did.

He commanded the whole room.

I mean, you could have heard a pin drop because his performance was so fantastic.

Number three on my Stanley shutdown list is his famous rant about Christmas parties and Christmas wishes.

He says, look, I've been here 18 years and have suffered through some weird thematic Christmases.

A Honolulu Christmas, a pulp fiction Christmas, a Muslim Christmas, Moroccan Christmas, Mo Rock and Christmas.

I don't want it.

Christmas is Christmas is Christmas is Christmas.

Again, he shut down the whole conference room meeting.

He just wanted plain baby Jesus lying in a a manger Christmas.

Yeah.

Number four, sometimes you don't have to use words for a shutdown.

You can just have one look that scares the crap out of everyone.

For example, in the episode PDA, when Andy says to Aaron, don't look at Stanley.

I accidentally did his Sodoku.

And then it cuts to Stanley.

And if looks could kill, he shut down Andy.

And then number five is one of my all-time favorites.

It's how Stanley shuts down Dwight and his shrootbucks in the episode The Job.

Let's hear it.

When rainfall occurs, does it usually fall in a liquid, solid, or gaseous state?

Liquid.

Very good.

You have earned one shrootbuck.

I don't want it.

Then you have been deducted 50 shrootbucks.

Make it 100.

Don't you want to earn shrootbucks?

No, in fact, I'll give you a billion Stanley nickels if you never talk to me again.

What's the ratio of Stanley nickels to street bucks?

The same as the ratio of unicorns to leprechauns.

But I like how he says, don't ever talk to me again.

Anyway, the Stanley shutdowns are an absolute delight.

I had a lot of fun re-watching them.

And Leslie just, he just is so fantastic in each moment.

You know, I don't think there are any, and correct me if I'm wrong, Angela, since you clearly deep dived the Stanley shutdowns.

I don't think there's like a Stanley Pam shutdown or even really a Stanley Angela one.

He really would focus on Michael, Ryan, I think then Andy because Andy was in his desk clump.

Dwight, he thought Dwight was an idiot.

Dwight, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, he kind of left the ladies alone.

I mean, you know, him and Phyllis have their thing.

We'll get to it.

Yeah.

We also got this fan question from Brie S.

in Indiana.

Her favorite Stanley moment was also when he shuts down Ryan and says, boy, have you lost your mind?

Because I'll help you find it.

And you know what, Brie?

I thought we should all share our favorite Stanley clips too.

Jenna, why don't you go first?

All right.

Well, my favorite Stanley line is in season two, Boys and Girls.

This is a deep cut.

It's just a personal fave that really speaks to me.

I feel Stanley in this moment.

This is when Jim, Ryan, and Stanley are all down in the warehouse and they have to unload a truck together.

You know what?

We could get this done a lot quicker if we formed a type of assembly line.

This here is a run out the clock situation.

Just like upstairs.

I just love it.

Run out the clock.

Speaking of shutdown, he's like, I'm going to shut this down right here.

Yeah.

We're not organite.

This is a run-out the clock situation.

We don't need to chat.

Let's just get it done.

Yeah.

Sam, what about you?

Mine is Don Pretzel Day when someone tries to cut in line.

Phyllis.

Yes.

Yeah.

I want to kill him.

Hey, hey, hey, Phyllis.

What are you doing?

I'm just saying hi to Bob.

No, I think you're cutting in line.

Well, settle down, Scott.

I'm no longer settled down.

No way.

Get in the back, please.

Boo.

Back on line.

Thank you.

He's so quick to boo, Phyllis.

Yeah, something about the way he boos is so funny.

Yeah.

Cassie, what about you?

So Stanley's my favorite office character because I think if I worked at Dunder Mifflin, I would be most like Stanley.

Oh, my goodness, Cassie.

I love that.

Yeah.

So my favorite clip is also a little bit of a deep cut.

It's in night out when Jim and Pam lock everybody inside the parking lot and he says this to them.

Did you not tell the security guard we were working late?

Nope.

I didn't.

But let's go inside and I can call him right now.

We can't.

I locked the office from the inside when we left.

Perfect.

You guys work together on this one.

If I'm not in my bath with a glass of red wine in one hour, you're both dead.

I guess there's the Pam shutdown I was wondering about.

Yeah, Pam got looped in with Jim, but yeah.

Well, mine is from jury duty because

I love jury duty.

And Stanley looks so forward to it.

Let's hear it.

Do they bring in food or do you get to go out?

No, they bring it in.

You lucky son of a bitch.

I have been trying to get on jury duty every single year since I was 18 years old.

To get to go sit in an air-conditioned room downtown judging people while my lunch was paid for,

that is the life.

I just laugh so hard when he says, you lucky son of a bitch.

You got jury duty.

The thing that people try to avoid.

And I get excited for jury duty.

I have my notepad.

I'm ready to take notes.

I'm very excited about it.

I love to people watch, observe.

Maybe I judge.

I don't know.

I would love to be on a jury for maybe like a non-criminal trial.

Yes.

I got almost chosen for a criminal trial and it was after like the office and the fame of the office.

And I felt very vulnerable.

I was like,

like I'm not anonymous

on this jury.

And whoever this person did their crime with who might want to shut me down or intimidate me, like I'm kind of a sitting duck.

A little bit.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I ended up getting excused.

I was relieved.

I got excused.

My most recent one was a fraud case.

And I would love a fraud case.

I know.

I was very excited about it.

Oh, I hate fraud.

I know.

I was so excited to be on the jury.

And then one of my fellow jurymen asked me for a selfie photo.

They were a big office fan, and the judge saw it.

I got booted.

I didn't take the picture.

I want to know what would happen if Scam Goddess was called for jury duty on a fraud trial.

She would get dismissed because she has so much knowledge.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love a fraud.

I know.

I was really excited.

I mean, I hate fraud, but I love to hear about a fraud.

I know.

There was a whole, I guess a whole,

like,

what do you call it?

They had a whole, what do you call it, lady?

I mean, I literally have no idea.

What do you call what?

They had created a whole like PowerPoint?

Faky network of things and how they got money.

And it was like, oh your case yes I looked it up after it was I mean they were clever

but anyway you know what I am realizing right now as we talk about how much I love fraud um and then also hate fraud is that I love movies where that what do you what do you call that like con con artist yes movies yes like the grifters or the sting I just watched um

what's the one where the house of games oh yeah What's that one?

Catch me if you can.

Oh, yes.

Right.

And it's like, love a con artist movie.

Right.

And I, what do we love about con artists?

I think it's because I think I see through the con and I'm like, how are they?

I mean, come on, how do people see this?

And then I'd probably be conned.

Right.

Anyway.

Okay.

Where were we?

Anyway, I love that about Jury Duty and Stanley being so excited.

and wanting to be on it.

Is it time for my area of interest?

Yes.

Ooh, I'm excited.

Well, I really wanted to dig into the origin of Stanley Hudson.

I always find that stuff interesting.

Yeah.

So I started by reaching out to Greg Daniels about how he chose the name Stanley Hudson.

Because Greg always seems to have a fun story about how he chose the names for our show.

They're some of my favorite Greg tidbits.

This did not disappoint.

Okay, let's hear it.

Greg said, my memory is I called the character Stanley Hudson because I wanted a strong, no-nonsense energy that reminded me a bit of my father-in-law, Stanley H.

Lieberstein.

Yes.

And in parentheses, he wrote, Paul's dad.

And Warren's dad.

Yes.

Yes.

So how cool.

Well, I love that then when Greg was writing Stanley, he had a vision of a person in mind.

You know, it's like you had an energy in mind.

And then it kind of helps you drive that character specificity.

I loved it.

I also reached out to Allison Jones about Leslie's audition because I know that with a lot of the supporting cast, there wasn't really a template for the character or even a big character description.

You guys really kind of created your roles in many ways.

So you know how in our pilot episode, we were using the script from the BBC office?

Yes.

Well, they had a character on their show named Malcolm.

Yeah.

He was kind of an older.

grumpy white man with glasses.

And they gave several of Malcolm's lines to the character of Stanley.

Right.

But that's it.

Like the rest of the character is really Leslie's doing, I think.

Right.

Allison confirmed that they had a pretty wide open call for the role.

They read people of all ethnicities.

And she said she did not know Leslie before he came in to read for Stanley, but she knew right away that she needed to bring him to meet the producers because he just nailed it.

And then, Angela, you sent me, you found his audition tape online.

Yeah.

Should we listen to it?

Because it's really fun.

You can actually hear Allison Jones reading with him.

Yeah.

She's playing Michael Scott.

Here it is.

I said, if Corporal wants to come here and interfere, you ain't messing with my chillin.

I am if anyone's going to.

Yeah.

But Michael, what if they do dials eyes here?

Not going to happen.

It could be out of your hands, Mike.

That was it.

Those were the two lines.

It could be out of your hands, Michael.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And those were the two lines from the British pilot also.

Yeah.

Crazy.

But you can already hear the character.

I can already hear it even in those two lines.

Oh, he's fully formed in his audition tape.

It's really crazy.

And I've also been trading messages just in general with Terry Weinberg.

She was one of our producers from the very beginning.

We love Terry.

Love.

That's someone who I want to chat with.

Oh, I would love to hear from Terry.

Yeah.

Well, she was asking me, what are you guys doing on the podcast?

I said, oh, we're about to do all about Stanley Hudson.

And she said, oh, my gosh, I remember his audition.

Here's what she said.

I think he was kind of having a day.

By the time he got into the room, like traffic or heat, he had a bit of an attitude, which must have worked well because the audition was fantastic.

And I don't know if you all remember when Angela interviewed Leslie for our Stare Mageddon episode, he shared his side of the audition experience.

Yeah, that is so funny hearing what Terry saw because it was very true of what was happening in his life at the moment.

Leslie's interview interview is really fun.

If you guys missed it, you can find it in our Stare Mageddon breakdown.

But I thought we should hear what he had to say about the day he auditioned.

Here it is.

I got my job on The Office.

Allison Jones called me in and said that she wanted me to audition for a show called The Office based upon the British version.

I had never watched it, but heard it was successful.

Went to the first audition, had on a very nice press shirt, suit, tie, was looking very elegant and dapper.

Did the audition, she told me, said, Okay, I want you to go to the callback, but when you go to the callback, don't go in looking as crisp and pressed as you are.

You want to come in looking kind of slumpy and kind of, you know, shirt, wrinkled, disheveled, because you are at this paper company and you've been there for quite a time and you really don't want to be there.

So I went to the audition,

got to the callback audition, had another audition day for another project.

And when I got to the office audition, there were about 50, 75 people there.

It was a very crowded room.

And I looked and I thought, so wait a minute, all these people are ahead of me.

I have time to go to my other audition.

Hopped in the car, left, went to the other audition.

On the way back, ran into a lot of traffic and ambulances and school buses and every senior citizen in the free world out driving.

So when I got back, I got to sit down and do my reading with Phyllis Smith.

Allison Jones said, oh, Leslie, thank you so much for being patient and waiting.

They said you were in the restroom, you know, and I just went, oh, yeah, okay.

No, my pleasure.

I didn't mind waiting at all.

And sat down, read with Phyllis.

Greg Daniels told us, when you finish the scene on the paper, just keep going.

He wanted us to do some improv.

So I did.

So I incorporated what I had just gone through driving through Rush Hour traffic with Phyllis.

And Phyllis was feeding me all the, you know, good vibes that she was feeding me.

And we bantered back and forth.

And we looked up, and the people at the casting table were laughing and, you know, cut me off and said, Okay, thank you.

And I went outside.

Allison gave me two thumbs up.

And I thought, you know, okay, she's just a sweet, loving, positive person, and I probably won't hear anything.

A few weeks later, I got a call.

And next thing I knew, they said, you booked it.

I mean, I just think it's so funny,

like Terry's little memory just being like, I feel like he was annoyed that day, but it really worked.

Maybe traffic, the heat, it was all those things.

All of those things.

He was Stanley the minute he walked in that room.

I love that, and I love hearing Leslie tell his story.

You know, Leslie was one of the very first people from the extended cast that I met on the first day that I showed up to shoot the pilot.

So I had done a table read with Steve, John, Rain, BJ, and David Denman and Phyllis.

And other people read all of our roles.

We weren't there.

Yeah, I remember that.

This was like a very early table read that I believe we did for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant for any maybe little notes that they had.

And they were still closing our contracts and everything.

So we couldn't go to that table read.

Yes.

So anyway, when I was walking into my first day of the pilot episode i was meeting you and oscar and leslie and brian all for the first time but leslie was and i have such a strong memory of meeting him because he was so like friendly and like had a whole personality because you know how he is yeah in real life yes in real life yeah and chatting hair and makeup and all that and then when he became stanley i was like oh my gosh he's like a different person

It was, it was very, very funny to me.

Yeah.

He smiles a lot more in real life, you guys.

He does.

And he's thoughtful.

He's like the person that's like, oh, Angela, I know you like tea in the morning.

And he like would get you a cup of tea.

Like, he's that person.

He's also the kind of person where, like, if there's only a few chairs and he sees a lady come by, he stands up and gives his chair to her.

Yes.

He's that person.

He is.

And I have to tell you, I was cold so many times in those early mornings.

I can't even tell you how many times Leslie would give me his suit jacket if I was cold.

Yeah.

Sweetheart.

Well, listen, we also got a lot of questions about Stanley's family because it is a little bit of a hot mess.

And I want to preface this by saying, I don't think I got any answers, but we got so much mail about it

that I wanted to at least address it.

So fan question from Martina B.

in Denver and Kendall W.

in Phoenix, Arizona.

How many kids does Stanley have?

The slight inconsistencies bother me, so I'm hoping you ladies can help.

In season two, episode five, Halloween, Stanley says, I have kids in college, kids, plural.

Valentine's Day, season two, episode 16.

In Michael's video presentation, he says, this is Stanley Hudson, one of our talented salesmen, an African-American father of two.

In Take Your Daughter to Work Day, season two, episode 18, we meet Stanley's daughter, Melissa.

But Melissa is in eighth grade.

So does Stanley have two kids in college and Melissa?

Is Melissa his third kid?

How many kids does Stanley have?

Well, here's what I could piece together.

In sexual harassment, season two, he has a photo of one daughter on his desk, and we know she goes to Catholic girls' school.

Yeah.

And I assume that this is the same daughter that he brings to work in Take Your Daughter to Work Day.

Her name is Melissa.

And we also find out she is Stanley's daughter from his first marriage because she says Terry is my stepmom.

But beyond that, there are no details about additional children.

However, for what it's worth, Wikipedia says Stanley has two children.

I think the thing that's tripping us up is in Halloween when he says, I have kids in college.

Yeah.

I think he has two kids from his first marriage.

One is in college.

One is Melissa.

I'm going to give it to Stanley that he's the kind of person that just, you know how he is about having to pay for things.

And he's just like, I've got kids in college.

You know, he's going to have another kid in college.

Yeah.

College is looming.

Yes.

For Melissa.

He's already got one in college.

Yeah.

I think he has two kids, period.

Two kids.

Yeah.

Okay.

That's.

what I thought as well.

There's nothing in the show Bible about it because the show Bible just says what he's said.

Yeah.

You know?

Fans were also confused about Stanley's very complicated love life.

Ooh, it's spicy.

So I'm going to break it down.

We know he has an ex-wife and a current wife, Terry.

In season six, we find out he's having an affair with Cynthia,

his physical rehab nurse.

And they end up knowing about one another because Michael accidentally tells Terry about Cynthia.

Yeah.

And then for a while, he's just with both of them.

He has a wife and a girlfriend.

I almost included included that in my Stanley shutdown as when he bashed all the windows out of Michael's car.

Sorry.

Well, then in Stare Mageddon, it is revealed that Stanley is having another affair with a woman named Lydia, who neither Cynthia nor Terry know about.

So now he's in three relationships at once.

And of course, there are also some questions as to whether or not Stanley also had an affair with Phyllis at any point.

But Angela, I know you're going to address that a little later in the pod.

I am.

I'm Mom Detective, that one.

Ooh.

Ooh.

Well, that's all I got.

I hope I was able to provide some new Stanley origin tidbits for you.

I love it all listed out.

I love sort of seeing the character as they unfolded on the show in the show Bible list.

I enjoy it.

Well, why don't we take a break?

And when we come back, we will get to our fan mail QA section for all about Stanley Hudson.

Let's do it.

I have some really great clips coming up that I can't wait to share.

Hint, hint, Phyllis and Stanley.

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All right, we are back and thank you so much for writing in with all your questions.

We'd hope to have Leslie on today for our Q ⁇ A section.

Angela, you reached out and he was unavailable to come on the pod, but between Angela's conversation with him and some other folks we reached out to, we were able to get answers to a lot of your awesome questions.

Okay, let's start off with a fan mail flurry all about pretzel day.

This one came in from Abby W.

in Charlotte, North Carolina, Amber R.

from Charleston, South Carolina, Angela S.

from Ohio, and Haley S.

from Nashville, Tennessee.

Everyone wants to know what is Stanley's pretzel order.

Yeah, people are really curious about this.

When I saw all of this mail, I thought,

do we not know Stanley's pretzel order?

He loves pretzel day.

He stands in line.

Right.

Okay,

I watched it.

The episode is the initiation, season three, episode five.

Sure enough, after standing in line with Michael at nine minutes and 42 seconds, you see Stanley and Michael finally get to the front of the line, but the scene opens with Stanley getting his pretzel and walking away just as Michael walks up and asks for his pretzel with the works.

You never

find out what Stanley's pretzel was.

So wait, I go to the Peacock Super fan episode.

I'm like, they must,

it must be there.

No.

I didn't give up.

I feel like I have a memory of them eating them.

Oh, you're correct.

I'll get to that.

Okay.

But that moment still does not reveal what was on his pretzel.

Okay.

However, everyone, fan mail flurry, I now became obsessed with this.

I'm going to tell you I have the answer.

Okay.

I went to the shooting draft.

I love it.

In the shooting draft, Stanley had a line.

where he orders his pretzel.

And here's what he said.

One salty, please, extra mustard.

There it is.

Oh my gosh, you just made so many people so happy.

Yeah, that's Stanley's pretzel order.

It's very simple.

Mm-hmm.

Now, while I was digging around in the Superfan episode, I found a tag with Stanley and Michael.

It's what you were just talking about, Angela.

It was a deleted scene, but it got added back in to the end of pretzel day.

We actually talked about this in our breakdown of the initiation.

That's probably why it was in my brain.

I'm like, I know I have seen them eating these pretzels.

Yes, they are bonding and eating pretzels together.

Here's a clip.

What makes them so good?

I do not know.

I mean, they're just

dough twisted up with some candy.

They taste so good in my mouth.

That's what she said.

All right.

364 days till the next pretzel day.

Isn't that great?

Yeah.

So great.

So Leslie actually said that that is one of his favorite deleted scenes because he got to do a that's what she said joke and then laugh with Michael.

I mean, that's an iconic office moment.

If your character has that moment with Michael.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Ginny S.

from Pennsylvania wrote in and said, I would like to know what toppings Leslie would put on his pretzel on pretzel day.

and thank you well we got the answer Leslie said he would like anything with chocolate caramel and pecans

that sounds pretty tasty yes very different from Stanley's pretzel order very different more sweet not so salty

Allison Kay from Orange County and Megan E from Indianapolis said what would be our pretzel order Oh, I love the cinnamon sugar pretzels.

You know, you talked about pretzels, pretzels earlier.

I actually love the bites.

Oh, yeah.

When you walk through the mall and they have that gal with the samples, oh, forget about it.

Sam, what's your favorite pretzel topping?

I don't know that I've ever had anything on a pretzel.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

This whole concept is foreign to me.

Well, just salt.

You can just love a salted pretzel.

I do love dipping them in cheese, in melted cheese.

Oh, shit.

There's your topping.

There you go.

I'm going to take Stanley's order.

Oh, you like the little mustard?

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Do you like just a regular yellow mustard or a spicy mustard?

I mean, if I could get a flight of different mustards,

that would be awesome.

I feel like I'm learning so much about you today.

I really relate to Stanley.

I like to keep it simple.

I like just the salt.

Okay.

Yeah.

But I like it more in the pretzel shape than in the bite.

And I'll tell you why.

Tell me.

Tell me why.

Because when you get the full pretzel, some of it is soft and some of it's a little crunchy.

And you get both.

And I like both.

I like having a bite that's more soft and one that's crunchy.

Whereas when you get the pretzel bites, they're great for size.

They're great for travel, great for kids, but you don't get the crunchy.

You just get the soft.

There were so many.

That's what she said.

I know.

I know.

I know.

But you never paused.

So you couldn't interject one.

Yeah.

Okay.

I hear you.

The thing I like about the pretzel bites is that my favorite part of the pretzel is more of the sort of the soft part.

No, the crunchy part, the hard exterior.

And you think you get those more in the pretzel bite?

I do.

Because it's more

like it's.

The soft dough is just in the middle, and I feel like it's more encased in the.

I think you get more of an even bake, but I think with the big pretzel, like

the outer red, the outer

edge of it sometimes is a lot harder than the little middle skinny part of it.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think I like the same thing I like about string cheese is I just can just eat it like I pull it like a stick and I can eat it like a stick.

I can walk around the mall with it.

Anyway, I've thought way too much about

this.

I did a little deep dive on what your favorite pretzel shape says about you.

Oh, no.

Well, you know mine.

I do.

Here are your choices.

So remember how I revealed what your favorite cupcake says about you?

Listen up, everyone.

Here are your choices.

Now, this applies to both a hard or a soft pretzel.

Okay.

Because soft pretzels don't come in all of these different sizes.

So do you like a twist, a stick, a Bavarian, a ring, or a nugget?

What does the Bavarian look like?

I think that's the traditional pretzel shape that you're thinking of with the skinny bits and then the outer bit.

Yes, that's what I thought.

Okay.

I'm Bavarian.

Okay, Sam Cassie?

I think Bavarian.

I'll go twist.

Twist, okay.

I am clearly nugget.

Yes.

I even like a hard nugget, you know, like the kind they sell at Trader Joe's with the peanut butter butter inside.

Yes.

That's a nugget.

Yes.

And I like them soft as well.

All right.

Our Bavarians, you are indoorsy and laid back, yet social.

And you might be a romantic.

Oh, Sam.

Okay.

We're indoorsy.

I would not pick that for us.

Twists, you are energetic, outdoorsy, and social.

Dare I say, Angela, you might want to try a pretzel twist.

Nuggets love being indoors, are laid back, and enjoy socializing, and like to engage others in lengthy conversations.

That is not you.

Are you kidding me?

If I like you, buckle in.

You're going to get a lengthy conversation.

Socializing?

You love socializing?

Oh, yeah, that part's a no.

Okay, it's a combo for you.

All right.

Well, just in case you're one of these others, I'll read them.

If you like pretzel sticks, you are.

Oh, no, there's one more I missed.

Rods.

Anybody like a rod?

That's what she said.

That's a big long rod.

What's the difference between a rod and a stick?

I think sticks are tiny and skinny and the rods are long and thicker.

Oh, okay.

It's hard to know to both.

So many TWSSs.

Okay, well, anyway, if you like a pretzel stick, you are laid back yet confident and prefer to be by yourself.

You might be a sleepy.

I need to start eating some pretzel sticks.

If you're a pretzel rod person, you are laid back and outdoorsy.

A party is not your idea of a good time.

Instead, you would prefer to go camping or hiking with some good friends.

Finally, if you love a pretzel ring, you are health conscious, upbeat.

You're a happy person, but you're concerned with your appearance.

And finally, rings.

If you're a pretzel ring person, you are health conscious, upbeat.

You're a happy person concerned with their appearance.

What?

I don't know.

Those two things don't seem to go together for me.

If I'm concerned about my appearance, I'm stressed.

All right.

I saw a theme, and what does your pretzel say about you?

What is it?

Most of us are laid back.

Sorry.

I know.

I know.

We are laid back.

If you like a pretzel, period, you're laid back.

You're laid back.

You're right.

The only person who's not laid back is a twist or a ring.

Yeah.

All right, everyone, back to Stanley.

Another very memorable thing about Stanley is his basketball dribble.

Oh, his basketball skills, man.

Mm-hmm.

I went back to the shooting draft, and I found the description of that moment.

This is right at the start of the game, right?

When Michael grabs the ball after Pam throws it in and the script says, quote, Michael fires the ball off to Stanley.

Stanley takes off clumsily downfield.

Michael is surprised at how bad he is, end quote.

I always found it very amusing that it says he goes down a field instead of down the court.

Like,

who wrote that description?

But that was all Leslie had to go off of, clumsily.

Yes.

And then he came up with this whole physicality of how Stanley dribbles, and it is hilarious.

Phyllis and I were reminiscing about this because,

and you know, you, me, and Phyllis were all all seated together in the background of the basketball episode.

Yes, we were on that bench with a front row seat.

And Phyllis was like,

that

is still so funny to her.

She said that is her first memory of realizing the brilliance of Leslie David Baker.

And I remember that too.

I remember we all were just like, what?

What is happening?

That is amazing.

So Leslie gets this question all the time.

He's always asked, how did you come up with that?

People want to know, is that how he really dribbles?

And the answer is no.

Leslie shared that that style of dribbling is modeled after someone he went to high school with.

Oh.

But that's all he'll say.

He can't name names.

No.

Oh, that's so good.

I wonder if that person, though, knows.

They know they went to high school with Leslie and they've probably seen the office.

Do they know?

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know.

I mean, if you dribble like that, it's pretty distinct.

I know.

We also got this question about Leslie's background work.

Fan question from Jane in Woodstock, Georgia.

She said, in talking heads that had the window facing the bullpen, I noticed that sometimes Stanley's head was completely still and sometimes you would see his head moving slightly as if he was actually doing work.

Did Leslie have to be in the background for every single talking head?

Or was there a green screen for times Leslie couldn't make it to set?

Emily R wrote in from Calgary to also say did Leslie make overtime or bonuses for being in the background of talking heads all the time?

Well you guys

no he did not make overtime for that or get a bonus.

He was amazing and steadfast and such a trooper for years and years.

There was no green screen.

That was always him.

Always.

Always.

And here's the thing, everyone.

We would do our talking heads in a clump either first thing in the morning or at the very end of the day.

And then the sort of middle of the day was our group work.

But if you weren't in the talking heads, you got to come in late or you got to leave early after the group work.

But not Leslie.

No.

There were times when Leslie came in at five in the morning and he just sat in the background for two hours or he had to stay later at the end of the day

to wrap out the talking heads.

And he never complained about it.

No.

And I think about that when they were deciding where we would all sit, we had no idea

what shots we would be in the background of.

I really lucked out because I was behind that big partition.

Yeah.

So

I was often not seen.

That's why I would have to walk out to the copier so many times.

Yeah.

But Leslie was right in the middle of the bullpen, but what he didn't realize is he was right behind that chair where they would end up having the conference room scenes.

And no one could have known that.

No, that was sort of found as the show went.

And most of the time, they could frame out Phyllis or they could frame out Creed, who sort of sits in that same corridor,

but they couldn't frame out Stanley.

No, his desk is right there.

Right there.

Next, we have a fan question from Sarah B, who is originally from Sweden but lives in Salt Lake City.

Sarah said, Leslie did a fabulous job at Stanley, and as the most viewed background actor, I'm assuming he must have gotten quite bored.

What did he do to entertain himself during all those shots?

Well, Sarah, Leslie said he did a lot of online shopping.

Once he even helped Phyllis shop for her Emmy dress.

Yes.

I remember him saying how thankful he was when we got internet.

That was a game changer for him.

But he would often look things up for us.

If you said, just even in passing, like, oh, I need to get new bedding and I've been trying to look for like, you know, a blue comforter, he would look up things for you.

I remember the year that Phyllis wanted to get Christmas stockings and he searched so many Christmas stockings for her.

She had a very specific thing she wanted.

I remember it being a whole conversation.

Well, you know, we also got another fan mail flurry, and it's about the relationship between the characters of Stanley and Phyllis.

There are so many fan theories about them.

There are articles, YouTube compilations, Reddit threads all about Phyllis and Stanley.

Some say they were the true office BFFs.

One of them said that they were each other's work spouse, and that really cracked me up.

I think that's true.

I found two examples that I loved.

There are many, but I want to share two of Phyllis and Stanley being each other's work spouse.

My absolute favorite is A Very Small Moment.

It's from the episode Blood Drive, and they're trying to get free cookies from the Blood Mobile.

Stanley goes in first, and Phyllis is lurking outside the Blood Mobile, like waiting.

Let's hear it.

Pardon me, me, I have a chocolate chip cookie.

I gave blood earlier, and I'm still feeling woozy.

Of course,

that's weird.

You've got a cotton ball and tape, and we've been using band-aids.

Oh, I feel so wounded.

I just

band-aids.

Oh, dear.

So they both put a cotton ball and tape, and then when they went in, they found out that that particular blood mobile doesn't do it like that.

It's very weird.

And it's so funny.

Phyllis is like, damn it.

Anyway, it just cracked me up.

I love the two of them.

But there is one fan theory that we got a ton of mail about.

We're going to get to the bottom of it today.

Several of you wrote in, like Rocco from Canada and many others, saying, did Stanley and Phyllis ever hook up?

Is Stanley the person Phyllis is talking about when she said she hooked up with someone in the office?

Angela, I know you're very excited about this because I got a very excited message from you yesterday saying you have an answer.

I do.

This was like your mom detective moment about what does Stanley have on his pretzel.

Yes, that was my obsessive moment this week.

Well, first of all, there's an article on Looper based off a fan theory.

The fan theory was on Reddit.

The user was Joey H595, who started a thread that suggested the two could have had a sexual relationship before the series was filmed.

So this would have been a hookup that even predates the pilot.

They didn't hook up.

during any part of the show we're watching.

Yes, according to theory.

According to this fan theory.

Yes.

One piece of evidence to support this is in season two's sexual harassment.

Toby reminds the staff that they must disclose any romantic relationships people have with coworkers.

And then Phyllis promptly says, does that include a one-night stand?

Suggesting that she had a tryst with someone working close by.

The show never reveals who it could be, but a lot of people think it might be Stanley because one, They say, well, they both have a history of adultery.

Stanley famously cheats on his wife several times.

And then some people pointed out that in the episode The Chump, Michael says, why is it okay for Phyllis to cheat

on her diet?

And he makes this pause and he pivots.

And they think that abrupt pivot means that Michael knew that Phyllis cheated on Bob Vance, but then had to pivot to cover it.

I don't think Phyllis cheated on Bob Vance.

I absolutely don't think Phyllis cheated on Bob Vance at all.

So this leads me to my mom detective moment, because not only is this fan theory, but Leslie shared that one of his favorite scenes that he did with Phyllis ever on the whole show was unfortunately deleted.

And he said it's where Stanley and Phyllis are having cocktails at their desk.

Yes, Angela, and I remember you said, oh, I want to find that.

I'd love to play Leslie's favorite scene with Phyllis.

And so you went down this road.

You're looking for it.

What episode was that?

Yeah, because I'm like, if they're drinking after hours together, does that support this theory that they have a relationship?

Well, I couldn't find it anywhere.

I could not find this deleted scene.

So I reached out to Dave Rogers.

He immediately, of course, was like, Angela, that was a tag written for doomsday.

It's not.

I can't believe that.

I can't believe he was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Deleted Stanley Phillips having cocktails at their desk.

Doomsday tag.

Yeah, doomsday tag.

He said, it's not in deleted scenes.

It's probably in the shooting draft.

So I go to the shooting draft.

It's not there.

I go to the candy bag alts.

It's not there.

Finally, I go to an early table draft that we had.

And there it is.

There is the tag.

And I guess they actually shot it.

Wow.

And here is what happens in the tag.

Are you ready?

Yes.

And this is going to reveal if they have ever hooked up.

Yes.

Oh, my gosh.

So in the doomsday episode, if you remember, Stanley pulls out a bottle of brandy that he he says he's been saving just for a day like this.

Okay.

Okay.

Stanley's telling Phyllis a story.

They're a little tipsy.

He's saying, you know, the recruiter told me my eyes were too bad to enlist.

Phyllis is like, I'm sorry.

It sounds like you really wanted to go to Vietnam.

Can I have some more of that brandy?

This is a ridiculous conversation.

Stanley says, sure can, and don't call me brandy.

And then they start laughing.

And then Stanley goes to pour Phyllis a drink and it overflows.

He says, whoopsa daisy, Stanley's drunk.

And he looks at the spill and says, have you ever seen anything so sad?

And they laugh.

And then Phyllis dabs a little bit of brandy behind her ear.

Where's this going?

She says, this drives Bob crazy.

Then she starts wincing and goes, ow, ow, ow, my eczema.

Ow.

It says, okay, it's better.

Stanley goes, you okay?

And Phyllis says, yes, thank you for asking.

Stanley says, you are welcome.

I'm on the edge of my seat right now.

Then there is a long pause.

What?

And then here's something they say at the same time.

Overlapping dialogue.

Overlapping dialogue after a long pause and drinking brandy.

Stanley says, How's Bob doing?

Phyllis says, I've never been with a black man before.

What?

What?

Wow.

And then there is a long beat.

And Stanley says, good night.

and he leaves feeling a little awkward and exits oh my gosh there's so much to unpack there is so much to unpack okay so first of all it answers the question they have not hooked up before they've never hooked up but I feel like it sort of teases that in this moment Phyllis might have might have been up for it yes is this her I knew what I was doing Pam moment I think maybe so.

And you know, so many fan theories point to these moments where there was tenderness between them, even though they got on each other's nerves.

Yes.

You know, I mean, Stanley whittled that whole thing for her.

Phyllis.

Yeah.

As a chicken.

Yes.

Or whatever.

As a bird person in the finale.

I mean, he clearly cares for her.

Yeah.

But yeah, I'm telling you, the long pause is where everything happens.

Oh my gosh.

Put that on a mug.

So there was my mom detective moment.

I loved it.

Thank you, Dave, for pointing me in the right direction.

But yeah, I mean,

a little bit of brandy, dot, dot, dot, but nothing happened.

Dot, dot.

But nothing happened.

And I think that settles it that they had never hooked up.

Well, in real life, Leslie and Phyllis were very good friends.

They are still good friends.

In fact, Leslie said his favorite person to do scenes with is Phyllis because she's an amazing actress and because they are friends in real life.

And we reached out to Phyllis to ask her about working with Leslie.

And she said this.

Leslie is a real stand-up guy with character and principles and a sense of humor that just adds charm and wit when being with him.

She confirmed that they did a lot of online shopping together.

And she said they would also run to Walmart and do errands together if there was ever a long break in filming.

Could you imagine?

I know.

I know.

Like if they weren't in a couple of scenes in the afternoon, they'd just go hop over to Walmart together.

It's so adorable.

And they also would show up for each other at their premieres and things.

I mean, I saw a picture that Leslie went with Phyllis for her, the OA, the show on Netflix, her premiere.

Yeah.

He did the red carpet with her.

But we all used to get paired up to do press on the show.

You know, I would get paired up with Brian or Rain.

You would get paired up with John quite a bit.

Usually.

And Phyllis and Leslie were always paired up together.

I found an interview of the two of them on the red carpet for the BAF de T years ago.

They were very excited about things that were coming up for their characters on the show.

And I watched the whole interview.

It just warmed my heart because you could just, I don't know, you could hear their love for the show.

You could hear their familiarity and friendship.

And I thought I'd share it.

Hello, sir.

How are you doing?

A huge office freak.

Right.

Yes.

It's one of my favorite shows.

Okay, what can we expect this year?

Well, we know.

Wait, wait, no, spoilers.

Well, you already saw Thursday night what happened.

I have issues.

I know he's showing up.

I'm cheating and tearing up cars and just, you know,

I'm having a midlife man crisis.

I don't know.

Are you happy with that storyline?

I am

because it was so much fun to do and it was unexpected and unpredictable and it surprised me, it surprised the other cast members and it was fun to do.

It's always nice because he keeps it fresh.

Absolutely.

Fresh, yeah.

You know, get to stretch your active jobs.

You guys actually stick to the script more than we assume you do, right?

Well usually we lay the script out.

It depends on the director and his style of directing, but they would like for us to lay it down as written and then they say, okay, play with it.

And then we're allowed to play it.

And then it goes places.

You never dreamed that.

Did you see any deleted scenes?

Oh, I loved that.

You got to share that, Angela, so that people can watch the whole thing.

That was just a little snippet.

I will.

I think I just love that you hear Leslie's laugh.

And, you know, he's just full of joy and so not like his Stanley character.

And I thought it was nice to hear that.

Well, Phyllis reminded me of another thing about Leslie.

She said, whenever they were at a work party and he would meet someone for the first time, without missing a beat, if he saw them at the next work party, he could remember their name.

That's amazing.

Yes.

That's a talent.

I remember that about him.

It was pretty incredible, actually, because we would meet a lot of people at those events.

And he would remember everybody.

Yeah.

Well, all right, everyone, we're getting to the end here, but we did get a fan question from Matt T in Allendale, Michigan, who said, do we know how many crossword puzzles Leslie/slash Stanley worked on over the years?

Well, first of all, Leslie said he really did do the crossword puzzles and he did lots of them.

Mm-hmm.

Yes.

One time he was asked this and he sort of did the math.

He said, okay, over a nine-year period, about five a year,

over, hmm, i think 60 books we went through 60 books that's what he said

that's what he said

well leslie also shared that he actually fell asleep at his desk just like stanley did i mean can you blame him coming in at five in the morning sitting back there he said when he had the mask on for the halloween episode he fell asleep And also once after a Christmas party, he fell asleep on the couch.

I kind of remember that.

I I do too.

Yeah.

We just tiptoed around him while he napped.

I do too.

I remember that.

Well, you know, as we talk about the character Stanley, I always love to know what episodes or scenes our castmates hold dear or have great memories of their time filming The Office.

And Leslie said his favorite Stanley-focused scene was when Michael Scott tried reviving Stanley from his heart attack.

And his favorite non-focused Stanley episode was Phyllis and and Bob Vance's wedding.

He said he also really enjoyed the episode where Dwight and Clark roll him in bubble wrap.

Yes, he talked about that in his Stair Mageddon interview.

He did.

And then we talked to Clark and it was also one of his favorite episodes.

Finally, I thought we could end with Stanley's Where Are They Now?

You know, there's a lot of theories about where each of the characters are.

Yes.

And pretty unanimously, everyone thinks Stanley's very happy in Florida.

And I think Stanley answers it the best in the finale.

He says, yes, I'm living in Florida now, a little town called Florida City, just on the edge of the Everglades.

The man who delivered my divorce papers came by fanboat, which was kind of fun.

I sit on my porch all day, carving birds.

Well, there you have it.

That's all about Stanley Hudson in honor of Pretzel Day this Saturday.

Make sure you get yourself some free pretzels.

It'll mean you're laid back.

That's right.

A laid back Saturday.

A laid back Saturday.

Thanks so much for writing in, you guys.

And thanks so much to Leslie for telling us about his audition and sharing with us about his time on the show.

We love you guys and we hope you have a good one.

See you next time.

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 audio engineer is Sam Kiefer and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbico.

Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Rhys-Dennis.

Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

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