Lotto with Mark Proksch

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I'm Jenna Fisher and I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on The Office together and we're best friends.

And now we're doing the Ultimate Office Rewatch podcast just for you.

Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you.

We're the office ladies.

Hello.

Hi.

Welcome, everyone, to a breakdown of Lotto.

Yes.

Are you guys ready to get lucky?

It's season eight, episode three.

It was written by Charlie Grandi, directed by John Krasinski, and was an episode that received a solid B rating from reviewer Miles McNutt.

Way to go.

Would you like a summary?

You know, I would.

When the warehouse crew win the lottery and quit their jobs, the upstairs employees are left to pick up the slack until a new crew can be hired.

Aaron, Jim, Dwight, and Kevin can't seem to figure out how to load boxes of paper into a delivery truck.

It takes them all day, and then they don't even finish.

All day.

And not just all day, but they become like Wiley E.

Coyote trying to build some kind of device to load them.

It's just, it's bonkers.

In the meantime, a very depressed Daryl issues an ultimatum to Andy.

He says, fire me or make me manager.

Yeah.

And then the rest of the gang fantasize about what they would do if they had win the lottery, which causes a little friction between Pam and Jim.

They have dueling fantasies.

Yeah, they don't get along in their fantasy lives.

They don't.

Which normally you would think that your marriage is even better and stronger in your fantasy life, but not so.

Or in your fantasy life, is it more clear because you have options?

Oh.

Oh.

That's a very like therapist-y thing to say, Angela.

I like that.

I love that thought.

Journal on that, everybody.

Well, listen, we don't have any fast facts today because instead we have an amazing interview with Mark Brooks, who plays Nate,

who is featured in this episode, but who also appears in 19 episodes of The Office spanning three seasons.

We can't be more excited for you to hear this interview.

He's an absolute delight of a person.

Yes, we have wanted to talk to him for a while.

And this is not the last time we're talking to him because we have more, more to ask Mark about as the seasons progress.

And I know that we always say that everybody is so nice and amazing, but I think you're going to hear in this interview that Mark is like at the top.

Yeah.

He's the best.

He's 100% real deal.

And here you go.

Here's our conversation with Mark.

Mark, hello.

Welcome to Office Ladies.

Thank you guys for having me.

I really appreciate it.

Well, we are so excited to talk to you.

We are really enjoying Nate and Nate has some real fun stuff coming up.

And we just know the fans can't wait to hear from you.

Well, that's exciting.

I've been waiting a long time to get my chance to talk on Office Ladies.

So here we go.

Well, Mark, when your character was introduced, we told a little bit of your origin story, but I just want you to tell it again in your own words from the beginning.

This is our favorite question to ask our guests.

How did you get your job on the office?

I

quite honestly backed into it.

I was unemployed living in Wisconsin in Milwaukee

and

I

had this idea to make my friends laugh which was go on morning news shows as a character and

a character that would be inept and clumsy.

But the main thing was that the anchors and the the news station had no idea i was in character now i had never taken acting classes or anything like that i just thought it would be funny and so i would go on these morning shows as this um yo-yo master which

is funny

the yo-yo master who was not a master of the yo-yo no because i can't yo-yo uh i'm not even a big fan of yo-yoing um

And so I would get on and start rambling about my chaotic personal life.

And

finally, they would ask me to do a demonstration, and that would go horribly wrong.

The idea was to do 10 or 11 or 12 of these.

And if you watch them all in a row, you would get this kind of strange story arc about this guy's life, all told through two-minute, one-minute segments on morning shows.

Now, I have to stop you because you're saying you never took any acting classes.

Did you take like improv or sketch comedy?

No?

No.

What about like a writing class?

Because there is a real story arc there.

Yeah, it's no, you know, all that was just

myself wanting to do this.

I'm so fascinated by this.

I always have been.

I've made you tell me this story so many times because every time it just blows my mind.

Okay, so I'll let you go on.

Okay, so I did these appearances.

And

like I said, the idea was to do 10, 11, 12 and to get a story arc.

And what I didn't expect was for people to start posting them on YouTube.

And this was back in 2010.

And so there were still videos that could really catch fire and become viral.

And the K-Stross morning show appearances became viral.

And

at first I was really annoyed because I was like, well, they've ruined my opportunity here to tell like this story arc I want to tell.

Cause I had no idea of, you know, coming to LA, coming to Hollywood.

And

oddly enough,

A friend of mine got a text message from one of the writers on the show

and she figured out

who I was

through computer sleuthing and what have you.

And

she asked if I, you know, would I want to talk to Paul Lieberstein and who was running the show?

And I was like, yeah, of course I would.

A few minutes later, Paul calls me.

Oh my God.

And all of a sudden, I'm talking to Toby from the office.

And

a month later,

they flew me out.

I met with the writers.

And a month after that, I was on the show.

I mean,

that's crazy.

The real crazy thing here.

Yeah.

The writer that reached out was my now wife, Amelie Gillette, who had just started writing on the show a couple weeks before all this blew up.

So you got.

an arc on the office and a wife out of this the yo-yo the yo-yo idea that was just meant to entertain your friends.

It's an incredible story.

You know, it's, you don't hear too many stories like this anymore.

You know, it's usually, oh, I was working for 12, 15 years.

Yeah.

You know, I started in commercials and what have you.

And I feel kind of guilty because it was kind of overnight almost.

But

I'm so grateful that it all happened.

I got so much out of just making a jackass of myself on morning news.

So you had seen the office before you got cast, obviously.

Oh, yeah.

What was it like to walk on to the set?

You know, the first person I met from the cast was Rain.

And

I'm sorry.

I'm so sorry.

I can't imagine what that was like.

Now, you guys can say that because he is the sweetest, nicest, most genuine person.

I know.

He's just a good, good soul.

Exactly.

And so,

you know, it could have gone to one of two ways.

And after now, I've been acting for, you know, quite a few years now, and I've, as a guest star, have gone on many shows.

The cast is either welcoming or they can be a little cold and a little distance because here comes a new face and that's time away from you as an actor and your character.

Or you can just, you know, a high tide lifts all boats type scenario where they're happy that there's fresh people coming in.

And you guys were so nice and welcoming to me.

I really got spoiled coming into the show because of that, because you guys were so nice and welcoming.

And what a first show to cut your teeth on as an actor.

I mean, everyone was so generous and encouraging from the top down.

It was,

I look back on it and I was so lucky, so very, very fortunate.

Well, you know, this episode we're breaking down is the lotto, but we all felt like we won the lottery ticket, you know, the minute we were cast.

Yeah.

So I love hearing that because that's how we felt on set.

We were just really happy to be there and counted ourselves lucky every day.

But Mark, we wanted to ask you if you have any favorite memories or behind the scene moment or anything you would want to share from your time on the show.

Gosh, there are so many.

You know, anytime I could get one of you guys to break,

I was a feather in my cap, especially as,

you know, a person just starting out in acting.

I felt like, you know,

there was a scene I remember with Jenna where she's grilling me.

And

I think it was in season nine, vandalism.

We're down in the warehouse.

Yeah.

It's one of my strongest memories of breaking.

And we just had so much fun.

And it's such a fond memory for me, that moment.

You know, the first day on the show, or my first time ever in front of a set, in front of a crew filming,

I had to knock down a beehive that was in front of the office.

And that was the first time I had ever acted in my life professionally or in front of a crew.

And all of a sudden, you're in front of 35 people, 40 people, all looking at you.

And I just remember thinking to myself, well, either you can do this or you can't, but there's no real going back.

So you might as well give it your all.

And I had

It's one of those moments where you're both terrified, but having so much fun.

And it just felt right.

And I had never had a moment like that in

my life.

Wow.

Well, I just remember all of us being very enamored with you in scenes.

You were this character and you had this way about you that was so unique and so deeply funny.

It was so deeply funny to me, Mark, the way you did Nate.

It was so earnest.

Yes.

So earnest.

And you had this.

And real.

And yes,

would do this thing that Steve did.

That was really hard for me.

You have a look that comes across your face.

I can't really explain it, but Steve has it as well.

And if I catch your eye, when you kind of do this, it's this expression of like, huh?

I'm a goner.

I am a goner.

And so there were a few actors on set that I couldn't make eye contact with really directly.

And you and Steve are like top two.

Well, good Lord, that's high praise.

Yeah, I, you know, it may just meet be my dumbface, but

I'll take the compliment.

Thank you.

It just, I believed everything you were saying.

That's what it is.

In re-watching the show, another scene that I remember that was just insane that I got to be in with you as well was the toilet paper machine scenes where you had to unply and reply the toilet paper.

Do you remember that thing?

Oh, absolutely.

That's one of the most reference scenes I get when people come up to me.

But yeah, that

I just remember being shown the contraption and how to work it.

And I just thought, wow, this is...

This is a lot of work for a quick joke.

And that's why I loved the office.

A lot of times there would be a lot of

groundwork ahead of the joke, especially for these physical jokes like the replying and unplying of the toilet paper machine.

Yeah, that honestly, it's the most referenced scene that I get.

I believe it.

We have people like wrote in that asked us how it was built.

Like they're just fascinated by all of it.

And Phil Shea in the props department.

Yeah.

You know, it's one of those things that I look back on and I, again, I think, gosh, what a show to just come in on that.

Everyone's loving what they're doing.

Every department was in love with the show.

And you don't realize how rare that is until you start working on other stuff.

And they didn't look at it as just a nine to five.

They really loved everyone involved and loved what they were doing.

And

it shows on the screen, I think, today.

When people ask you about your time on the office, what are some of the most frequently asked questions?

Like, what do people want to know?

People would often ask, did you guys break all the time?

Was it always

really fun to be on set?

And

I also get a lot of,

you know, are the characters like that in real life?

Are the actors like their characters?

Which is still fascinating today that we get these types of questions because, you know, you hear of stories of people writing into I Love Lucy, being mad at Ricky for treating his wife that way, and you're like, gosh, that was such a quaint, naive time.

But it still happens.

People are like, you know, is Angela really uptight?

And it's like, no, not really at all.

You know,

and you know, is Mindy really like that?

No, Mindy's not really like that.

Maybe a little.

Maybe a little.

Is Brian dumb?

It's like, no, Brian's a very smart guy.

That's usually what I get asked.

Do you still get recognized as Nate?

I do, which is crazy to me because I'm, you know, 10 years heavier and doughier than I was back then.

The really surprising thing is the age, and I'm sure you guys are getting this as well, probably far more than I am.

Younger people that come up to me, teenagers, and people in their early 20s who love the show.

We were in Italy just last week, and I went into a wine shop there, and it was a young guy behind the counter, and he knew me as Nate from the office.

Wow.

And that blew my mind because,

you know,

I've done stuff since then, but the office still is so relevant to this day.

What luck and what a blessing that we got to be on that show.

It's just amazing.

Well, you have some fun episodes coming up.

So we are going to keep pestering you because there's one or two, I don't want to give it away, but Dwight Angela wedding moments that I want to ask you about.

I guess I did just give it away

if you're watching it for the first time.

Yeah, some of those episodes.

Nate, I thank you so much for coming on Office Ladies and sharing your story with us.

You know, in my book that I wrote, which is The Actor's Life, a Survival Guide, it's like advice for aspiring actors.

You were kind enough to let me share your story in that book as well, because I think like there's a lot of people who are anywhere in the world and they have these artistic things inside of them that they want to express.

And I think you're such a great example of just doing it, just expressing it for

no even known goal, goal, just because the world needs laughter and artists and creativity.

And then it completely transformed your life.

But I just love your story so much.

I think it's so inspiring.

Well, thank you.

I really appreciate that.

I truly, truly believe that if you do

good work,

if you have a point of view and you're truly interested and passionate about

your take on comedy or drama or anything or in acting,

I wholeheartedly believe that the cream rises to the top and that people will take notice, especially nowadays.

There's so many

different

ways to show your talent out there and show your creativity.

Don't get disheartened by all the phloxum and jutsum that is out there.

Just keep doing what you find to be interesting and unique.

And hopefully others will find that to be the case.

Yeah, I so agree.

I so agree.

It's not just the idea, but it's a call to action if you have it to try it, you know, and put it out there.

Absolutely.

Mark, is there anything that you're working on now that we could share with our listeners where they could see you doing more stuff?

Yeah, I'm currently on a show called What We Do in the Shadows.

We're going into our

fifth,

well, the fifth season is about to drop on FX, and we're going to be filming the sixth season in the fall.

So that's what I've been working on.

Well, Mark, we just absolutely adore you.

We definitely want you back on office, ladies.

And if there's ever anything we can give a shout out to or uplift, we're here for you.

Well, I really appreciate you guys having me on.

This has been fun to reminisce, but also just has been so great to get to see you two.

Yeah.

Will you tell Amelie we said hello as well?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

She was excited I is doing this.

So.

Yay.

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We are back.

Let's jump right in.

It looks like everybody...

has gone to get coffee?

Not at Dwight's Caffeine Corner?

Where did they go?

Where are they coming back from?

I have questions.

Why isn't Dwight annoyed that people shop somewhere other than the Caffeine Corner?

Huh?

Angela, I love how they're walking up with these drinks as if there is some business around the corner where they purchase these items when we know that the only thing around that hedge is a junkyard.

Yeah, and a train track.

Yes.

But you're right.

They have come back with these, I guess, blended drinks.

And they're going to come upon Oscar, who has noticed that there is a dog inside of a car, and he is outraged.

He is ready to just go off.

I mean, what?

Classic snowboarder move?

Leave your dog in the car with the windows up.

Yeah, probably didn't leave his weed in the car.

Nope.

Well, Oscar ends up smashing the window, but then not letting the dog out and then taping up the window.

Oh, he's also smashed the taillight of the car.

For good measure.

Let's just pump the brakes for one second dwight pours his milkshake through the sunroof this means the sunroof is open this means you know not great that the dog's in the car but there's an open sunroof the dog is not in fact enclosed with no air oscar did not need to bash out a window there's an open sunroof We got a fan mail flurry about that, Angela.

Well, good.

Also, the sunroof is clearly letting in more air air than Oscar's cardboard window with holes in it yeah

you know Jenna I had an alternate pitch for the title of this episode oh what is it so much sass

so much sass yeah it starts with Oscar it's gonna continue and I'm gonna point out the sass the whole way through I will look forward to that

So in addition to the fan mail flurry about the sunroof being open, we got a lot of fan questions about this cold open, and I'm happy to say that Steve Burgess gave us all the answers.

Are you ready?

Yes, go, Steve.

Our first question comes from Maddie in College Station, Texas, who wanted to know how hot was it on the day that the dog was in the car?

And how was the stunt done to ensure that the dog did not get overheated in real life?

Steve told me that the weather that day was a sunny 88 degrees.

However, we shot first thing in the morning, so it was a bit cooler.

Oh, yeah.

It probably would have been like in the 60s.

Yes, that's how the days go here in LA.

They start out cool, jacket weather, then it's shorts and t-shirt, and then by evening, you're putting that jacket back on again.

Steve said that the dog was only in the car for the shots that we see him, that he actually did not spend very much time in the car at all.

Same thing goes for Brian, who gets in his own car.

Yeah.

Kevin.

He wasn't sure if we had pointed this out on a previous podcast, but Kevin's car was Veda's car in real life.

Oh, really?

Our script supervisor.

Yes.

Steve also said that we used, of course, Bob Dunn's animal trainers for this stunt.

The trainers were Rick and Benita, and the dog's real name was Tango.

Tango.

Mm-hmm.

Now, next fan question, Cameron C.

from California wanted to know how messy did the car get from from Dwight pouring his slushy in and also wanted to know whose car was it?

Well, this car was not a crew member's car.

This was a rented car, right?

I know.

Could you imagine?

No.

This was a rented car from Cinema Vehicles.

Steve said the car did get pretty messy.

They had to clean it up.

They also had a glass guy.

who was standing by to put new glass windows in, but they were the faky glass windows.

He said, We were able to do the glass breaking in only two takes.

And if you look really closely, you will see that when Oscar breaks the window, there is no dog in the car.

Like he's not in the car anywhere.

I think they were hoping you'd think maybe he jumped in the front seat or maybe into the back.

Over to the other side.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But at one minute, two seconds, it's very clear that there is no dog in there.

And then, you know, even though it was tempered glass that didn't have any sharp edges, they cleaned all that out and then put the dog back into the car for the rest of the scene.

And that's how we did it.

There you go.

Ultimately, you know, no one wants to adopt the dog.

So they do leave the dog in the car with an open sunroof and the cardboard hole punchy things.

And I just want to know whose car was that?

And who walked back to that car?

Wouldn't you come in the building and complain or file a police report i mean it's not going to be that difficult to figure out who vandalized this car first thing i would do is be like well first of all i would go into the you know the building and say hank whose car is that there's a dog in it that's what i would do first of all um no not

you wouldn't smash the window open with a tire iron angela No, no, I'd find who it was and then shame them.

That would have worked well for your episode, So Much Sass.

I know.

So much shame could be another episode.

So much shame.

Back in the bullpen, we're going to find out that the warehouse has won the lottery.

I mean, they won $950,000.

It's about $100,000 a person, and they all quit.

Well, $100,000 before taxes.

Well, that's true.

That's true.

But they quit.

They're like, we're out of here.

I mean, they come up and celebrate.

There's dancing.

Someone moons everybody.

Yeah, we got a fan question from Eli and Avery W.

from Lake County, BC.

At the very beginning, when the warehouse people win the lottery, they pick up Meredith.

Was that scripted?

You know what?

It was scripted.

Here is what it said in the shooting draft: B-roll.

The warehouse guys burst into the office, cheering and hugging.

One of them moons Andy.

Meredith jumps on Glenn.

Oh, yeah, he didn't pick her up.

Meredith just wanted to join in the party.

Well, Daryl's ex, Justine, is going to call him and congratulate him on his lotto win.

But Daryl has to explain he wasn't part of the lottery pool anymore because of his promotion.

He doesn't participate.

So now she would like Glenn's number.

He's like, oh, I have it right here.

Click.

This starts Daryl down a dark road.

This is where he explains that they won playing his birthday.

Could you even imagine?

No, that would sting.

That would sting a little bit.

You know, this cracked me up, Jenna, because there's been time to time that, you know, we'll go and get a lottery ticket.

You know, like it hits a big number and the kids are like, this is kind of fun.

And we just get one.

And we always play our birthdays or our anniversary.

It's so common.

It's very common.

We never win.

And I was really curious, do most people play birthdays and anniversaries and special numbers?

And I started Googling.

And oh my goodness, what?

Lady, just the world of lottery and the numbers.

It is fascinating.

It is fascinating.

You could do a whole podcast called lottery, really.

It's just so cool.

I found out that there are websites that track the lottery numbers that are pulled the most.

And You got to hear this.

According to an article written by Emily D'Anuzo for Reader's Digest magazine in February of this year, this article talked about lotteries that you can play anywhere in the U.S., you know, because there's also state lotteries.

That's a whole other thing.

But according to USA Mega, here are the numbers most commonly drawn in the mega million.

Ready?

Wait, these are the most common winning numbers that are drawn.

Yeah.

Not necessarily all together, but these are the numbers that hit the most.

Ready?

I'm going to get a pen and some paper.

I'm going to write these down.

Look, I wrote them down for us.

And after this podcast today, I'm going to go get us a lottery ticket.

This is awesome.

Okay.

Ready?

Yes.

22, 11, 9, 10, 4, and 19.

22 was drawn 26 times and 11 was drawn 24 times.

Now, this is a survey over an extended period of time, over a few years, right?

Okay.

Several other of the most common megamillion numbers were drawn 18 times.

These numbers are 13, 14, 17, 18, 24, and 25.

13, 17, and 24 are numbers I always play.

And the mega million.

Those were like my favorite numbers.

Remember them for the mega.

Meanwhile, stay clear of 21, 45, 55, and 51 when choosing your first five numbers.

Why?

Because they never get picked.

They're not as popular.

This This is so weird because it's obviously totally random.

Every number has an equal opportunity to pop up.

So it is fascinating to me that there are certain numbers that pop up so much more than others.

Yes.

And listen, most people that win, 70% of people that win the lottery did were the computer picks for you.

Do you know what I mean?

Really?

Yes, 70% of winners didn't even pick their own numbers.

So it is incredibly random, but this is what some data is showing, and I'm sharing it.

This is fascinating to me.

It's making me think that there's something in the balls.

You know, there's like a, like maybe a little the way the balls were made, you know, the 69 balls.

I don't know that there's a conspiracy, but I'm not saying anybody planned it.

I'm just saying maybe it happened.

Maybe.

Maybe they're slightly, slightly just ever so, like a

millimeter smaller or something.

I don't know, or bigger.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Has anyone measured them?

I don't know.

Jenna, have you ever known anyone that's won the lottery?

Like, really, one, not like just like $2

or something?

No.

Okay.

Are you ready for this?

Do you?

I know that I bring up 1-800 dentists a lot.

I know.

But guess what?

A lot happened there.

And after I left being an operator, one of the operators that was still there that I knew won the lottery.

How much?

$120 million.

What?

What?

What?

$120 million?

Yes.

Yes, Jenna.

She was an inspiring actress working at 1-800 Dennis, like so many of us, because they had good hours.

If you wanted to audition, she played the lottery, and her and another person who she didn't know won.

So they split it.

They each got $60 million,

which I guess after taxes is $30 million, but oh my gosh and i saw her a few years ago we have mutual friends from our time working as operators and they had a halloween party i was at their halloween party and there she was and i was like oh my gosh how are you doing she's doing great she bought a farm she has like a i don't know i think she grows avocados or avocado oil yeah can you imagine no I wouldn't want to win that amount of money.

I don't want that responsibility.

Yeah.

Well, you know, we have an office crossover to the lottery, kind of, which is Jeff Blitz, our director who we love, did a documentary about lotto winners.

It's so good.

It's called Lucky.

It came out in 2010.

I started re-watching it.

You can find it on Amazon Prime.

It is so fascinating.

It follows different people, winners of the lottery, losers of the lottery, people that play numbers all the time.

It's very good.

It is an amazing, amazing documentary.

Yeah.

But kind of like what you were saying, there's some people that are like, the pressure of winning that,

you know, it

completely can derail their life.

And some people know, but it's just very fascinating, all of it.

Well, here's the thing.

I did a whole deep dive on the lottery as well.

I hate to bog everybody down with more lottery facts, but in this next scene, everybody starts discussing kind of what they would do if they won the lottery.

Everybody's fantasizing about it.

Everybody wishes it was them.

Yeah, I called this the scene of sass and belly itching.

Please explain.

Well, at three minutes and 21 seconds, I'm standing behind Dwight and I just am scratching that fake Preker belly because it was so itchy.

And I am futzing with it through the whole scene.

Well, we had a fan catch from Kaylee Ian in Indianapolis who had a wardrobe catch for this scene.

Everyone is in purple.

Phyllis, Phyllis, Angela, Kelly, Oscar, Aaron, and Meredith are all wearing purple in this scene.

So you can add purple to your sass belly scratch observation.

Okay.

Well, the sass starts with Pam.

She says to Jim, you know, he's explaining what he would do.

He would, you know, live in Maine and bike or kayak to work or work at a bike shop and kayak.

Anyway, lots of biking and kayaking.

And Pam says, and then on the weekends, would you hacky sack back to reality and spend time with your wife and kids?

Ding, second sass.

Next sass, Jim sass.

He says, whoa, saucy.

And then we have some good old Ryan sass because Pam says she wants to live in a townhouse in Soho.

And Ryan says, Soho's mostly lofts, but okay.

I loved that line.

I also noticed how it's Pam's dream to one day live in New York, and it's my dream, too.

I wrote that down.

I wrote that down.

I said, Jenna, this is you and Pam are aligned in this moment.

Although Pam brings back her dream of having a terrace.

She does.

She needs to have like a balcony off of her townhouse slash loft apartment in New York.

Yeah.

That's remember in boys and girls, she wanted the terrace.

Yes.

Well, what's really funny about this is that I did not have the dream of retiring in New York when we shot this episode.

So I have only later in life had this in common with Pam.

Yeah.

Well, there's still more SAS to come because now Meredith is going to say, good, oh, divorce, good, oh, divorce.

Yes.

Well, here's the thing I got curious about.

And it was a little bit because I remembered that documentary that you mentioned that Jeff Blitz did.

Is winning the lottery really a good thing for your life?

Hmm.

Yeah.

And according to an article on moneymarshmallow.com titled, Why Do Lottery Winners Go Broke?

winning the lottery does not sound great.

It's been reported that 70% of lottery winners lose all of their money, all of their money, their winnings, plus all the money they already had within five years of winning.

Wow.

So many of them go bankrupt,

and they believe it's for the following reasons.

One, lack of money management skills.

Two, treating your lottery winnings as, quote, free money.

And so rather than spend it on things like paying off your debt or other bills, you do sort of like lavish, spontaneous spending

on vacations, cars.

Yeah, exactly.

Also, and the warehouse workers should listen to this one.

The most common reason people go broke in five years after winning the lottery is because they quit their job without a new plan.

Also, making bad investments and not properly accounting for taxes.

Taxes, that's a big one.

Yeah.

All right.

That's it.

That's what I learned about the lottery.

And also, can I give a shout out to my son who helped me deep dive the lottery and he typed it all into my document for me because of my broken shoulder and because I can't type.

He was so supportive.

It was so sweet.

He sat at my table.

How adorable.

How adorable is that?

Andy is really getting frustrated because no one is working.

They can't focus because of this warehouse crew winning the lottery.

And Daryl is totally checked out.

He hasn't hired any new warehouse workers.

And Phyllis, get ready for some Phyllis sass and a little bit of St.

Louis.

It's going to hit you.

Go to five minutes, 13 seconds to five minutes, 16 seconds, because Phyllis is going to say ardour.

Angela, we had a fan catch from Miranda B in Florida who said the same thing.

Yes.

Andy, this is a seriously big ardour.

Yes, it's so strong.

Well, Phyllis says, Daryl, I sent you an email about it.

And he says, I haven't read it Four Hour Workweek.

Do you know what that is?

That is a reference to a real book by Tim Ferriss called The Four Hour Workweek.

Where you only work four hours for a whole entire week?

Yes.

How?

All right, I'll tell you.

I read it.

I read this book, Angela, when we were

daydreaming about reinventing our lives and creating new careers for ourselves where we worked the hours we wanted when we wanted.

Yeah.

So, here is a one-sentence summary of the book.

This is from an online review: quote: The four-hour work week is the step-by-step blueprint to free yourself from the shackles of a corporate job, create a business to fund the lifestyle of your dreams, and live like a millionaire without actually having to be one.

Okay.

So, in the book, he encourages you to first think about the life you want, not the job you want.

What life do you want?

Do you want to be a person who can travel all the time?

Do you want to be a person who lives in, you know, a little town in Italy?

And then once you figure out what you want your life to look like, then he says, here's how you fund your life by doing as little work as possible so that life is first and then job is second.

Interesting.

And that's sort of his come from.

Okay.

I really really enjoyed the book, but one of the things that he has in the book is that you only answer your emails for like a scheduled period of time.

You don't check your email all day.

It's like a little minutiae thing.

And that is why Daryl has not read his email from Phyllis is because he's following the advice in this book.

Wow.

However, Daryl would have quit his job first.

Like you can't do his

concepts in a corporate job because obviously they're going to need you to work more than four hours a week.

I recommend the book.

I really liked it.

You know, he also has a podcast and he did an interview with Jerry Seinfeld that is one of my favorite Jerry Seinfeld interviews I've ever listened to.

So really.

Yeah.

If you're looking to kind of reinvent your life or even just muse on the idea of reinventing your life, it's a good place to start.

Okay.

Number one New York Times bestseller.

I'm going to check it out.

I'm not done with my SAS tracker.

Oh, I'm so sorry.

I didn't mean to get us off on that channel.

Please don't interrupt my important SAS tracker.

You know, Andy says we're going to need a crew in the warehouse because Phyllis has got to feel her ardor.

And Aaron volunteers.

No one else is volunteering, but Andy volunteers.

Kevin, and we're going to have some Kevin SAS.

Kevin says, good old Kevin, he'll do anything.

Guess what?

I will not do a good job.

So that's who's headed down to the warehouse, along with Dwight and Jim.

And then we've got some classic Angela sass and maybe, maybe top 10 biggest smiles Angela's had in the whole series.

You mean when she goes up to Pam at reception with the old clipboard?

Uh-huh.

She's pranking Pam, you know, her big Prague's little Prague's prank.

Pam's like, oh, come on, this is a lottery pool.

This isn't about guessing my baby's weight.

And Angela just walks away and goes, again, I'm sorry.

It's my mistake.

So much, Angela sass.

Yes, Angela had written down on the lottery pool that she thought Pam was going to have a 14-pound baby.

Yeah.

You know what?

In real life,

my son, who was inside my belly for this scene, when he was born, he was almost 10 pounds.

He was two ounces shy of 10 pounds.

He did not fit into newborn clothing.

I know.

The nurses brought him in and they were like,

is this a three-month-old or a newborn?

I was like, I don't know why he's so large.

One of my favorite pictures is a picture of your son as a baby next to my daughter as a toddler.

And

he's her size.

I know.

That's so cute.

We put that in our book.

I know.

I love it.

Well, next up, Andy's going to go into Daryl's office.

And

Daryl is very despondent.

He has a monologue about tacos, how his basement still smells like tacos, and you can't get taco smell out of the air in a basement.

It's a very heavy smell.

I probably should not have wanted a taco during this speech.

It makes them not sound very,

I don't know, appetizing.

Something appetizing, but after this speech, I just wanted a taco.

That's all I wanted to do.

Did you get one?

No, no.

And I've been thinking about it, and

pretty sure I'm going to have a taco today.

Well,

I know it's such a random thing.

All I could think about was tacos.

Well, don't eat it in an enclosed space.

Okay.

I don't want you to have a taco smell that lingers.

Okay.

But Andy is going to say, why don't we look at some applicants?

I mean, we need warehouse crew.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But

I don't know.

Daryl is just despondent.

Yeah.

he's not being Daryl.

Well, speaking of warehouse crew, our new warehouse crew of Jim and Dwight and Aaron and Kevin is going to get off to

a real start,

I guess, a jolt?

A jolt?

I have to call bullshit on this scene.

I'm calling bullshit.

I'm playing the card.

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

What is why such strong feelings?

Because I think Dwight, who owns a farm and probably has multiple tractors and other kind of big farm machinery would know how to drive a forklift and wouldn't drive it straight into a wall so there you go i don't play it very often but i'm playing my bullshit card we got a lot of fan mail about this scene did anyone else call bullshit no one else called bullshit and and i have to say angela i accept your bullshit card thank you i have no retort I played it fairly.

You did.

You played it well.

What was the fan mail flurry about?

Well, first of all, Stephen M.

from Ann Arbor, Michigan noticed that Dwight fastened his seatbelt on the forklift

and said,

why would a forklift need a seatbelt?

How fast do forklifts go?

Well, guess what, Stephen?

Forklifts always come equipped with seatbelts because they are considered a vehicle.

Now, while forklifts tend to only go 10 miles an hour or less, and many businesses actually set their forklifts at 5 miles an hour, many injuries and fatalities occur when forklift operators get crushed between the vehicle and the ground.

Oh.

If it falls over because they try to jump out.

Like the forklift is falling over and they try to jump out and then they get crushed.

So if you're wearing a seat belt, the idea is that it makes it harder for you to jump out of the forklift and therefore it keeps you safer in the event that it should tip over.

So, if it tips over, you're strapped in.

Yes, you might be awkwardly on your side, but then you can unstrap and crawl out once it's done crashing.

Moral of the story: if you're ever in a forklift that's tipping over, don't try to jump out.

Like, your chance of injury is much higher.

But that is why they have seat belts.

And then we had a a couple of questions.

These are some folks that write in almost every week.

Harm Jen V from the Netherlands.

Harmjen.

Yes.

Yes.

Wanted to know, in order to drive the forklift, did Rain Wilson have to get certified first or was it a stunt driver?

Well, Steve Burgess said Rain and all of the warehouse worker actors who drove the forklift had to be certified to drive it.

Universal was very safety conscious and they would not allow anyone to drive the forklift who had not taken and passed a certification class.

And also, that is not a stunt driver.

Rain actually drove the forklift into the door.

Faky door.

It's a fakey door.

Well, now you're leading me perfectly into a fan question from Cameron C.

in California, who we hear from a lot.

Hi, Cameron.

Hi.

Cameron would like to know, how did the forklift go through the door so easily?

Can I guess what it was made of?

Yes.

Like a type of styrofoam?

It was balsa wood.

Hmm.

Steve Burgess said that rain really drove the forklift into the door, and just the bottom part had been replaced with balsa wood.

That way the top part would still like clang like a heavy door.

We were prepared to do two takes, but we only needed to do one.

There you go.

Dwight gets off the machine after he crashes it into the door and just calmly walks over and starts carrying the boxes by hand.

Yes.

I was very curious about what a box of 10 reams of paper weighs, which is about the size boxes it looked like to me, the standard box you see, you know.

And I looked up a box of 10 reams of paper and it says it weighs 20 pounds.

So picking up a 20-pound box is the thing that they've been avoiding

this whole episode.

They're sliding across the floor, 20-pound boxes.

I mean, I could see how after carrying several of those,

it gets trying.

And none of them are wearing those belts that the warehouse crew usually wears.

Yeah, yeah, the lift, the belt lifting.

Yeah, the thing that helps your back.

Protects your back, yeah.

Well, lady, Andy and Daryl are going to meet with a group of potential new warehouse workers, but maybe we should take a break because I have some really

fun finds about all these people we're about to meet.

Oh, good.

Let's take a break.

And when we come back, let's meet the applicants.

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It's time to do some back-to-school shopping.

And you know what that means, lady.

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It sure does.

I always get my kids a new pair of sneakers to start the new school year.

Same.

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Well, you guys,

before we meet everyone interviewing for this new warehouse, I needed to share with you a text exchange I had with Oscar Nunez.

Okay.

So you guys know to sort of commemorate the release of John Wick 4, Jenna, you and I both posted the Zoom video of you and I podcasting from our closets where I told you I had watched the John Wick movies and you said, what are you talking about?

Even though you had told me to watch them.

We're not going to rehash it.

We won't.

We won't.

But you won't.

But when I called on Sam to be my backup, anyway, Oscar saw our Instagram post.

You know, he's rarely on social media.

He saw our Instagram post.

He got so tickled by it that it led to this text exchange.

Are you ready?

Yes.

Good morning, Angela.

On Instagram, you and Jenna did a funny bit about watching John Wick.

I want to comment on it, but I can't find it now.

How do I find it?

So I texted him back and I said, You just go to Instagram and type in Angela Kinsey and you'll find it.

And then he wrote back, okay.

So then I gave it a few minutes and I went to see what he posted.

Okay.

This is what he commented on our John Wick video.

Ready?

Angela Kinsey, hashtag flashback Friday to Miss Jenna Fisher.

It is his pitch for John Wick 5.

John Wick Five, Healing and Forgiveness, written and directed by Jenna Fisher.

The movie takes place on Nantucket, where John Wick is a proprietor of a small shop that sells porcelain coffee mugs and towels.

It's called Drink and Dry.

John Wick changes the dressing on his mini wounds, visiting the doctor to make sure his stitches are removed properly and scarring is at a minimal.

He learns to write in beautiful, cursive old English.

He mails poems and coffee-related items to the Russian mafia.

They open his quiet, thoughtful gifts in their loud, garish raves and toss them in the garbage.

Pearls to swine.

One time, John Wicks stumbles on a stair, but quickly catches himself.

Oh, thank goodness.

He walks along the beach and meets a woman wrapped in a cardigan with long white hair.

She doesn't dye it because she doesn't play games.

They kiss ever so gingerly.

He pulls back because his lip is still a little busted up.

They laugh quietly as they cradle piping mugs of coffee.

The end.

Keanu Reeves' stunt double is Angela Kinsey.

I got so tickled.

So then I texted him and I said, oh my gosh, Oscar, your comments are hilarious.

And he said, well, you ladies made me laugh so much, I just ran with it.

I need that movie.

After seeing John Wick 4, I need a whole two hours where he just heals and sips warm coffee.

I love it.

And falls in love.

Yes.

I love this idea.

Thank you, Oscar.

All right.

Should we get back to this episode?

Yes.

Let's meet the warehouse interviewees.

Well, they're in the conference room.

And immediately, Daryl tells everybody in the room that the last warehouse workers won the lottery and quit.

Yeah, he's not pitching working at Dundra Mifflin like at all.

Like he's like, you know what?

Think long and hard about it because, you know, you're going to get here, then you're going to get stuck, then you're going to, you know, your life is over.

And what, what do you have to show for it?

Well, we got some fan questions.

Allie from Topeka, Kansas, wrote in to say, during the conference room interview at eight minutes and 30 seconds, Mike E.

Winfield is in the scene.

He is now a stand-up comedian and my fiancé and I saw a couple of his shows on a cruise last January.

He is so funny.

And I am curious if The Office was one of his first gigs.

I would really love a Mom Detective's deep dive on him.

Well, yes, Ellie, that is Mike E.

Winfield.

He has been a stand-up comedian for over 20 years or so.

And he became really famous because he was a finalist on America's Got Talent in 2022.

But he did not win.

And he was super crushed.

But then he got to go on to be an all-star finalist in 2023.

I went to his website.

He's so funny, so charming.

And according to his IMDb page, he had done one project before the office.

It was the Bobby Lee project, which I believe was a pilot.

And that was a few years before he got his role in the office.

And guess what?

He's going to be back.

He does another episode coming up.

That's a good deep dive.

I thought it was pretty good.

Thanks.

Well, you know who else is in the room?

Amina.

Yes.

Amina Kaplan.

She's the one woman in the conference room.

And you do not realize it from this episode, but Amina is going to have quite the art coming up in season eight.

She's going to appear in 14 episodes.

Yep.

As Val.

Spoiler

have Amina on.

We do.

Because romance is brewing.

I know.

She was the loveliest.

So sweet.

Yeah.

Well, as her storyline develops, we'll get her on the pod.

I have such fond memories of being on set with her.

Well, Daryl doesn't know that romance is in his future.

He's still very much down in the dumps.

And he has a a talking head where he says he's never been lucky.

And he doesn't just mean the lottery.

He developed a soy allergy at 35.

Yes.

Why is soy in everything?

Yeah.

I looked it up.

You looked up why soy is in everything?

Yeah.

It's in everything because it helps keep food moist.

Oh.

Yeah.

It's like a moistening agent.

We had a fan question from Teresa M in London, Ontario, Canada, who said, I am curious, is there a story behind this soy allergy at the age of 35?

As someone who developed a soy allergy at 25, it has always made me laugh.

I was curious too.

I was really curious.

I was like, did one of the writers develop a soy allergy?

Did you find this out, Jenna?

Well, I reached out to Charlie Grandi, who wrote this episode, and he said it's not based on his personal experience.

In fact, he's pretty sure that it was Paul who pitched that joke.

Does Paul have a soy allergy?

I didn't get a chance to reach reach out to him.

Well, I have some more sass for you.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah, we're at reception.

Pam is behind the desk, and Ryan says, nice, right back where I like you.

Ryan, so much sass.

He might win the sassiest of the episode.

Well, Pam's going to give him some sass back.

She's not going to take that.

No.

Ryan notices that Pam is trying to maybe buy a lottery ticket online.

And he's like, oh, yeah, everyone wants to be rich without working for it.

And that's when Pam sasses and reminds him that he got to work at 10.30 this morning.

And he drops it.

He's like, retreat, retreat.

I personally loved getting to sit behind the reception desk again.

Aw, it was so fun.

Oh, I didn't even think about that.

Be back at my old haunt.

Did you feel like you were back home a little bit?

A little bit.

Yeah.

The desk still hit my knees in an awkward way.

Yeah, just how you liked it.

It was an awkward height, that desk.

Well, back in the conference room, Andy is now in charge doing the interview process with the warehouse people because Daryl bailed and it's a hot mess.

He wants to know if they have a degree or in warehouse sciences, possibly.

And

Val is like, are you serious?

Listen.

Speaking of a hot mess down in the warehouse, these guys cannot move paper.

I mean, it's really ridiculous.

But Kevin's going to come up with this idea.

He remembered how his sisters used to butter him up and slide him across the floor.

Yeah, the linoleum.

Yes.

But Jim and Dwight kind of shoot this idea down.

And then Aaron, oh my gosh.

Oh my gosh.

I laughed so hard when she grabs him by the arm and says, drop it.

Drop it.

They don't like it.

I like it, but they don't like it.

So drop it.

So funny.

Where did that come from?

I don't know.

She's so funny in this episode, though.

I know.

Well, you know, all of those potential warehouse workers upstairs, they have left.

So now Andy has to find a whole new crew of applicants.

He's going to start by asking Oscar, who is the strongest person in Scranton.

And Oscar immediately says, Bruce Kenward works out at Planet Fitness.

Well, I liked his first thing is bulk or definition.

Yeah.

like what do you want?

I looked up to see if there was a Planet Fitness in Scranton, and there is.

Yes, but there is not a Gold's Gym.

There was, but it's closed.

Oh, okay.

There you go.

Well, Andy's going to find three new fellas to interview.

And one of them is Nate.

One of them is Gideon.

And one is Bruce Kinward, the buff guy.

Yes.

We start with Gideon.

Gideon was played by Barrick Hardley.

He's a comedic actor.

He's been in a ton of stuff, studied at UCB.

He has a website called BarrickHardley.com.

I spent so much time on this website, Angela.

Really?

In addition to being a performer, he is also an artist, and he makes and sells these handmade vintage light boxes.

So like a little wooden box,

and then it has a little button button and a light turns on, and it'll say, like, on air,

or it'll say, like, meeting in progress.

You can get them custom-made, they'll say anything you want.

We need one.

We need one that says awesome.

I know.

I want to order one.

His work is beautiful.

He also has like amazing sculpted art.

He's so talented.

He also.

wrote a movie that he stars in called Spell.

I watched a trailer for it.

The lead character that he plays goes to Iceland and Lady.

Lady.

What?

He goes to the Icelandic Penis Museum.

No.

You see it.

Yes.

No.

He must have shot at the Penis Museum.

I mean, you know, I imagine them being accommodating.

They sound very friendly on their website.

Well, Barrick, we are going to be placing an order for an office lady's handmade light box.

But seriously, guys, check out this website.

I am so

inspired, impressed, and charmed by it.

Barrick, it's B-A-R-A-K,

last name hardly, H-A-R-D-L-E-Y dot com.

I'll put it in our stories too.

Perfect.

Barrick, also, hear me out here.

Maybe you could come on and tell us all about the Penis Museum.

Right?

Yes,

firsthand account.

We want to hear about it.

All right.

So the other person in the room who isn't nate is bruce kenward he is the uh guy in the tank top yeah we got a fan question from dottie d in san francisco california who wants to know what does the guy's shirt say in the group interview it's been driving me crazy for years yes he's wearing a shirt and it's like pixelated

Yeah, he made it, you guys.

He made it himself.

Yeah, Steve Burgess said it was scripted.

And we made that shirt for him to wear.

And it was always from the very beginning intended to be blurred.

Angela, I believe you pulled the character description from the script, which includes the notation for the t-shirt.

Yes.

This is exactly how it was written in the script.

Andy interviews his new candidates, Nate, a bearded hipster, Gideon, and Bruce Kinward, a buff-built, beautiful man wearing a tank top and flip-flops.

His tank top is pixelated on the front.

It reads, my balls have biceps and my biceps have balls.

There you go, Dottie.

This isn't the only time we're going to talk about balls in this episode.

I thought about naming it Sass and Balls, but I went with so much sass.

We talk about balls again in this episode?

Yes, we do.

I will wait for it.

Mm-hmm.

That's my ball tracker.

I have a sass tracker and a ball tracker.

It was a busy episode for me.

What is your life?

What is your life what is my life

well bruce kenward was played by jason walsh and according to his imdb he was born in missouri awhile and this is his only on-camera credit he is a trainer and he has trained some very big name actors for very big name movie roles he has worked with matt damon several times for example on the jason bourne movie as well as the great wall but But he was also a trainer for Brie Larson on Captain Marvel and was one of Bradley Cooper's trainers for American Sniper.

Bradley Cooper had more than one trainer.

Okay, this is a total tangent, but since you brought up the Great Wall that Matt Damon was in,

I just saw him interviewed, and he was saying his teenage daughter likes to kind of mess with him.

She doesn't want to watch any of his movies that are considered really, really great, fine movies.

She only wants to watch the stinkers.

I saw this interview.

And she was talking about the wall and saying that she had seen the wall.

And he says it's, it's the great wall.

And she was like, no, dad, dad, there's nothing great about that movie.

I just, as someone who has teenagers now and the teen sass, I really appreciated it.

That story cracked me up.

Well, listen, the final person in the room is Nate, and he is going to explain to us that while he does not technically have a hearing problem, he does have trouble understanding certain sounds in certain situations.

And we got a lot of mail about this.

Is this a real thing?

Yes, it is.

Well, as you know, my sister is hearing impaired.

She wears hearing aids in both ears.

And one of the issues that she has is in deciphering and understanding individual words in large group situations or like at restaurants.

So if she's sitting at a big table in a restaurant and there's a lot of background noise, noise, it's really hard for her to focus on the speaker.

Now, if she's in your house and she's sitting at a table for dinner, it's a lot easier because the problem with hearing aids is that they amplify all sound at once.

They don't just amplify a speaker.

They amplify everything.

And so it just becomes a big bunch of noise.

Right.

Now, that is not.

what we think Nate has a problem with, but we did get some mail from Dr.

Jack Hitchens in Dalton, Georgia, who says, I'm an audiologist.

And every time I see this episode, I try to diagnose Nate's hearing problem.

He said, I believe Nate might have an auditory processing disorder.

It is a condition where someone can detect sounds normally on a basic hearing test, but have difficulty combining and making sense out of certain sounds at the level of the brain.

He said, Nate might also have hearing loss without knowing it.

And that would sort of kind of lump into what I was saying about my sister.

But we got another letter from Carol P.

in Denver, colorado who said i believe what nate is describing is a disorder called auditory processing disorder which i have it's not commonly known which made me so surprised to see it represented in a tv show and i actually have a friend whose daughter has this same disorder yeah so listen people out there if you are ever in these situations where you're having this problem that Nate is describing, go get checked out.

And it's not just your hearing because you can take a hearing test and pass the hearing test,

but you might still have this auditory processing disorder, which makes it hard for your brain to process what it is hearing.

And there's exercises you can do to improve this and make life a lot easier for yourself, throwing it out there.

I find this all very interesting and something I wouldn't have thought about until you started sharing it.

Well, I really appreciate all the mail we got from people.

And I always like it when people see themselves represented.

Yeah.

This is a real disorder.

And so I thought it would be cool to bring it up.

Yeah.

I'm so glad you did.

Back in the warehouse, they've finally decided to go with Kevin's plan, I guess.

They're going to grease the floor and slide boxes to the truck.

There was a deleted scene where Jim says, I can't believe in all the years the warehouse was here, they didn't just simply back the truck up into the warehouse and then you could just easily load it.

So he's like, let's do this.

And he has Dwight back it up.

But what you realize really quickly is the truck is too big.

The driveway is too narrow to turn in.

You can't make the turn.

Dwight clips the side of the warehouse building and gets the truck stuck.

And then that's what leads Jim and Dwight to be like, okay, let's try the slide method.

And that's why in the shots, you can see now the truck is closer.

It's kind of wedged into.

Well, Steve Burgess had mentioned in his breakdown that deleted scene you just mentioned.

Rain really did drive the truck into the wall.

Rain did all his own stunts for this episode.

It's a big truck.

He was very Keanu in this episode.

Yes, he was.

Well, Angela, in this scene, at around 16 minutes, a bunch of boxes look like they careen into the camera operator.

Yeah, I clocked it at 16 minutes, 43 seconds.

Looks like it takes out the camera guy.

Well, Allie G from Topeka, Kansas would like to know if this was scripted or just an actual accident.

Well, Allie, I was very curious as well.

I went to the shooting draft.

Here's what it said: B-roll, Jim and Dwight place a box of paper on a garbage can lid and slide it on a finished track, which stops well short of the mark.

They slingshot a box with a rope and it goes flying out the door.

They slingshot another box toward a truck tire, which ricochets off and knocks over a cameraman.

Hey!

Amazing.

It was scripted.

Well, Steve Burgess said that he seems to remember that no matter what we did, they could not get the boxes to really slide very well.

He said it was really, really hard.

They did use like a kind of silicon grease on the ground, but it like there was the friction was too much.

The boxes would not slide.

They had to cheat this so much.

You know, if you really watch carefully, whenever they try to slide them, they don't go very far.

I know.

I know.

Clearly in the script, they imagine that these boxes could just go like flying all the way out the door.

No, they were never going to travel that far.

Jim and Dwight are going to have a joint talking head where they say they have to move these boxes.

So sadly, this has become the best idea.

I mean, I clearly they can't believe they're following Kevin's idea.

But while they're talking about this, Kevin slips on grease behind them and falls down really hard.

Yeah, Steve Burgess said that the stunt coordinators put a big old mattress back there and that Brian really did do that fall himself.

Goodness.

It looks so painful, but he fell on a soft, cushy mattress.

Well, now we're going to find out some new information about Daryl, which is he has decided he would like to be fired.

Yeah.

And he's trying to introduce him to the new warehouse crew down there in Hank's Corner.

What's it called?

Caffeine Corner.

Run by Hank.

Yes.

Owned by Dwight.

Right.

Daryl's like, I don't want to meet these people.

In fact, I just want to be fired.

And Andy kind of pushes back and I guess like re-inspires Daryl to love his job again.

Yeah.

Well, Daryl gives him an ultimatum.

He says, fire me or make me the manager.

I earned it.

And Andy pushes back and says, no, this is my job.

I earned it.

You had a chance for it.

And there are a few things they noted.

I looked in your file.

You hired your friend friend to replace you who wasn't qualified.

They clocked that.

He goes on to list a few things.

And then he says, and what happened to, you know, business school at night?

And he says, well, D'Angelo died.

He goes, he didn't die.

His brain died.

And he said, but I'm manager now.

I would approve you to go to night school, but you haven't asked.

So, you know, what do you want here?

Do you want a job?

Do you want to improve at this company?

What do you want?

And Andy actually inspired someone finally.

Well, listen, can I get out my bullshit card for a second?

Can I play my bullshit card?

Yeah.

I call bullshit on this.

Andy, I could give you the same speech you're giving Daryl.

You are no more qualified for this job than Daryl is.

You are a hot mess.

I mean, you are just the epitome of failing upwards, frankly.

And so I guess they're just two people who felt entitled to this job and one of them got it.

And the truth is that neither of them were maybe the best fit for the job.

But I call bullshit on Andy claiming that he was like the superior candidate.

I call bullshit.

I accept your bullshit card.

I think it is well played.

Thank you.

Next up, we have a ball tracker.

Please, what is it?

Daryl has a talking head where he says, you know what?

My future won't be determined by seven little white balls.

It will be determined by two big black balls because I control my destiny.

You're right.

Ball tracker.

Ball tracker.

Daryl and Andy are going to walk to the warehouse and they're going to see

this

greased pathway.

Erin is going to get loaded on some sort of a, what is it, a slippery disc holding a box of paper and she has a helmet on and they're going to slingshot Aaron.

Why Aaron?

Why does Aaron need to be on it?

Well, you know, when they were doing it just paper, it was flying everywhere.

So maybe they felt like they needed a driver, someone to steer the paper down the path.

Well, I texted Ellie about this.

I wanted to know, what was it like to slide on the grease?

Was it crazy?

Did you fall over?

How was it?

And she texted back, Jenna, is there something wrong with me?

I have no memory of doing that scene.

What?

She said,

I don't remember a thing about it.

She's like, I don't even know basically what you're talking about.

Oh, my gosh.

She's completely blocked it out.

Well, I asked Steve Burgess, and he said there's a good reason for that.

It's because it wasn't her.

It's a stunt person wearing that helmet.

Oh, any wonder she doesn't.

Yeah, it's a really good double for her.

So she never had to do it.

Please tell me you texted her back so she doesn't think she's losing it.

I did.

I texted her back and I told her that.

And she said, oh, thank goodness.

I was really concerned.

Concerned.

Yeah, you'd think you'd remember something like that.

Yeah.

This episode is going to end with a series of talking heads where everyone says what they would do if they won the lottery.

My favorite was Toby's Talking Head because he said he would spend his free time making his true crime podcast, The Flinderson Files.

I would listen to that.

You would?

Yes, Yes, to go to sleep.

That is so crazy.

Because I just imagine Toby's cadence.

Oh, that would put you to sleep.

You're right.

I get it now.

Yes.

The long pauses where he breaks down

what happened.

Yeah.

The episode ends with a Pam and Jim talking head.

They have come to an agreement on their fantasy of what their life will be after they win the lottery.

And I need to point out my hair in this talking head.

Oh, I think I remember this.

If you look at it, it looks like I have those kind of curls, kind of like Nellie Olson from Little House on the Prairie.

They're like big barrel curls

around my head.

Yeah.

I am pretty sure what we would do in the mornings for my hair is we would curl it like that, but then we would leave it.

To let it set.

Yes.

And we would go on on and we would rehearse and then right before we got ready to shoot then kim fairy she would kind of like lightly kind of brush out the curl with her fingertips or something it would be like her or debbie would do it i think we forgot and we shot this talking head and we had not brushed out the curls and i have a memory of this happening once on the show and i think this was it and afterwards we said something we said oh my gosh we forgot to brush out the curls and they were like we don't care we got it it looks fine we don't care But now here it is all these years later.

I'm watching this talking head.

And oh, yep, there it is.

That's the day we forgot.

We didn't brush out the curls.

Yeah.

Check it out.

Well, Jim and Pam, I guess their fantasies are finally meeting up, though.

They're going to have a like a New York type of brownstone, but it's going to be on top of a mountain.

But yet it'll also be a short walk to like bookstores.

It's a short subway stop at the top of the mountain from the best museums.

Jim can fish from Pam's pottery Studio window, you know?

But the schools are terrible.

Not good schools, but what are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

Yeah.

Well, you know, maybe in their fantasy life, they've got to really force it to find common ground.

Here you are again.

Here you are again.

Therapist Angela.

Well, guys, that was Lotto.

A big thank you to Steve Burges for all of his awesome behind the scenes info and also to Charlie Grandi and Ellie Kemper.

And to Mark for helping us kick off this episode and talking to us about playing Nate.

How much fun.

We had such a great time today.

We hope you enjoyed listening and we will see you next week.

See you then.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is produced by Ear Wolf, Jenna Fisher, and Angela Kinsey.

Our show is executive produced by Cody Fisher.

Our producer is Cassie Jerkins.

Our sound engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubico.

Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.

For ad-free versions of Office Ladies, go to StitcherPremium.com.

For a free one-month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code Office.

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