Sex Ed with Nancy Walls Carell

I used to have this idea of what home security was.

I thought it was like an alarm that goes off after someone tries to break in and that scares off the intruder.

Maybe it gets your neighbor's attention.

But what I learned is that's really a reactive approach.

By the time the intruder's in your home, it's too late.

And you know, that's one of the things I really love about Simply Safe because their system is designed to be proactive, not reactive.

And here are ways that they are proactive.

They use smart, AI-powered cameras to identify threats lurking outside your home and immediately alert SimplySafe's professional monitoring agents.

You also might be wondering, how do I design my home security system?

And I can tell you from personal experience, their website is so easy to use.

They literally have a toggle that says build my system.

And you click on it and you go through all the different features that they offer.

And there are so many.

I've found that really helpful.

Some of the cameras they offer are like the outdoor cameras, the video doorbell pro, which that one I really like because you can see who's coming right up to your front door.

Visit simplysafe.com slash office ladies to claim 50% off a new system.

That's simplysafe.com slash office ladies.

There's no safe like simply safe.

So one of the hardest parts about business to business marketing is reaching the right audience.

And when you want to reach the right professionals, you need to use LinkedIn ads.

LinkedIn has grown to a network of over 1 billion professionals, and that's where it stands apart from other ad buys.

You can target your buyers by job title, industry, company, role, seniority, skills, company revenue, all in one place to reach the professionals you want to reach.

So you can stop wasting budget on the wrong audience and start targeting the right professionals only on LinkedIn ads.

You know how sometimes you get an ad and you're like, was this for me?

Who is sending this to me?

Well, with LinkedIn ads, that's never going to happen.

LinkedIn will even give you an extra $250 credit on your next campaign so you can try it yourself.

Just go to linkedin.com slash office.

That's linkedin.com slash office.

Terms and conditions apply only on LinkedIn ads.

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, everybody.

Hi.

Today we're going to be talking about Sex Ed.

It is season seven, episode four, written and directed by Paul Lieberstein.

To be clear, Jenna and I aren't going to give you a sex ed lesson.

How do you know what's in my document?

You might be getting

a little bit of a sex ed breakdown.

Okay.

Possible.

Hit me with a summary.

Here it is.

Michael has a herpes scare, which prompts him to contact all of his ex-girlfriends and examine each relationship and its ending.

I mean, that is a great pitch for an episode right there.

I would have loved to have seen that card.

Like, what'd that card say?

Herpes, dot, dot, dot.

Michael contacts his ex-lovers.

Meanwhile, Andy is going to take it upon himself to teach the importance of safe sex to his coworkers, which is really a gesture motivated by his feelings for Erin.

And we learn another thing about Andy's backstory.

He was the RA in college.

He has such a rich life.

Well, today, instead of fast facts, we have a special guest.

We're very, very excited.

We adore her.

You guys, we have Nancy Walls Corel today.

That's right.

It's Carol Stills, Stills, real estate agent and former lover of Michael Scott.

She's with us today.

We're going to ask her all about her time on the office.

Here it is.

Hello, no.

Hello, everybody.

Yay!

This is exciting.

We are here with Nancy Walls-Carell,

otherwise known as Carol Stills, the real estate agent.

That's right.

Nancy, in anticipation of this interview, I went back and watched every single Carol Stills scene.

So did I.

The entire series.

We watched all of your episodes.

Not only did we watch all of your episodes, we did a little outline.

So we have a whole outline of Carol Stills.

Oh my God.

Cause you know what?

I think there are a few I haven't seen.

Really?

Well, if you have any questions,

we are experts.

Yeah.

On your series.

We're Carol experts now.

Okay.

I remember doing them, but I don't know if I've actually seen a few.

Well, they were so much much fun to re-watch.

They're so delicious.

Here's the first question we always ask our guests.

How did you get your role on the office?

Now, we know Steve pitched you for the role of Carol, but did you know he was going to do that?

Like, how did it come up?

You know, I think I remember when you guys were shooting the pilot, talking to Greg Daniels.

And he just said, you know, if anything ever came up, would you be interested in doing it?

And I said, sure, yeah.

You know, I was, I was open to it.

And then I think Carol came up.

Steve thought it would be good and Greg thought it would be good.

So that's how it happened.

Because before this, you had been a cast member on Saturday Night Live.

Yeah.

You'd been on the daily show.

Yeah.

You studied improv at Second City in Chicago.

With my teacher, Steve Carell.

Oh,

Mazalus.

That is awesome.

I didn't realize he was your teacher there.

I knew you were there at the same time.

Yeah.

Oh, no, no.

I mean, Steve was sort of a, he was on the main stage.

He was a big shot, but a lot of time the actors on the main stage would teach classes at the training center.

So he taught one of my levels.

You take five levels at the training center.

So he was one of my teachers.

We did not date until after.

Respectable.

Respectable.

So how did your experience on the office compare to some of those other things?

Well, certainly with Saturday Night Live, I mean, that's a live shot.

You know, you're shooting it live.

And a lot of times with the daily show, that was in the studio in front of an audience.

So,

you know, the office is pretty much my only experience with,

I mean, I guess, would you call it a sitcom?

I don't even know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I had very little experience with that.

So it was.

you know, it was funny because I knew all you guys.

So that was kind of nerve-wracking coming into that.

Like, I mean, and I know you were all so incredibly nice.

So I wasn't worried about, you know, people being mean or anything, but,

um, but I just, you know, I was worried about, you know, doing a good job for everyone, I guess.

Oh, you did such a great job.

And we as a cast would get so excited when you came to visit.

Nancy, I remember this time.

I don't know if you remember, but you were in here in makeup at the exact same time I was and we were seated next to each other.

And I was so excited.

I just talked your ear off.

I couldn't stop talking so much so that my makeup artist said, Angela, I'm going to need you to face me and not Nancy.

Nancy.

Because he could only do like one side of my face because I was so excited to be talking to you.

Oh, well, I was always excited to be there.

And you know what?

I want to say too, I brought a lot of family members and friends through that set for tours.

And you guys were the nicest people.

Always.

You always took time to say hi and take pictures.

And I really appreciated that.

I want you to know that.

Aw, thank you.

That's so nice.

I know.

We got excited when people came i know out in the booties yeah we've shared this before to our listeners we weren't on some big fancy lot where you came across other people it was just us and a warehouse near like train station basically yeah no we'd be like oh my gosh people we've never met or seen it's like you know yeah i feel like we were like a puppy and a new person came into the house and you just were so excited you were giddy

well it was always really fun so we know how you and steve met and that you were at Second City together.

What was it like acting with him on the office, being his scene partner?

Yeah.

So that was,

well, it was very fun, but it was nerve-wracking, you know, because even, you know, because this is your established show.

He's so good.

I was just trying to

maintain.

You know what I mean?

Like, I just didn't want to screw up royally.

That was my mindset.

So if you see that character, it's very,

she's pretty subdued.

Yeah, she is very, she's the straight man, right?

Yeah.

And Jenna and I were talking about there are a few looks that Carol gives Michael throughout these seven episodes that are so priceless.

They're so honest because he'll say the most ridiculous things to you.

I was telling Jenna in Michael's birthday when he sees you at the ice skating rink and he's like, You sell ice skating rinks?

And you're like, no, I'm not a real estate all the time.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

But you just played it so honest.

It was so good.

Yes.

Well, I would have this experience, particularly with Brian Baumgartner when he was playing Kevin.

I would find Kevin and especially his attitude toward Pam so off-putting.

But I love Brian Baumgartner.

He and I are very close friends, but Kevin would just irritate me.

And I'm like, curious, what was it like for you as Nancy, who loves Steve, having to then relate to him as Michael Scott?

Was it so weird to like even see him as this other character and then you're relating with him?

I don't know.

Yeah, it was, it was weird because I mean, I had to also be somebody who was attracted to him enough to date him.

So I was thinking like, what?

How bad was my marriage that I thought this was a good guy to date?

Yeah, what happened to Carol?

I don't know.

All I can think is her husband had to be the worst person on earth.

And then she, you know, she met Michael at the,

they were at the rink and she sees him with kids, right?

Like relating.

So I think that sort of, you know, warmed her heart a little bit.

And maybe she had a really neglectful husband who didn't even like spend any time with her kids.

There had to be something there because otherwise, I mean, definitely he, he was a quirky quirky person that you wonder why she would date him well you know the years post-divorce can sometimes be a slippery slope as you regroup your life

yeah i mean at dewale when you walk in in the cheerleading outfit oh my god because he told me it was a costume party right yes yes and he could take his head off and then he was just in a suit and then while you're in this outfit, which I'm sure you do not want highlighted, he takes the microphone and proposes to you in front of a huge crowd of people.

Yes.

Amazing.

Do you have a favorite episode or a favorite scene that you did?

You know, I have to say they were all so much fun, like for very different reasons.

Diwali was so much fun to shoot because they had to teach me how to dance, you know, or I, you know, I had to be dancing.

And I remember it was Mindy's parents who played her parents on that yes and they were the sweetest people so that was so great i loved um i think benny hanna christmas was um the christmas card yeah the christmas card but i think that was harold rames directed that it was who directed that so that was i mean he was like one of my idols and just the nicest guy too so you know i love that one i love the last one jenna when i think when we sold your house i sold your house and the couple i had to shoot with all day i mean we just we were standing there for the entire day just laughing we had i don't know i can't even pick one it was so much fun well i personally love casino night the scene between you and malora oh at the bar with jan and carol at the bar is so good

steve wrote that one casino night he did I mean, along with everybody else, of course, all the other writers, of course.

Oh, we have a question for you.

this is really random we both in our hearts hope that you still have the christmas card where michael photoshopped his face over your extra god

i would wish i had that because i would make it into an ornament for my tree for sure yeah that is such a great idea we will do it for you we are gonna do that yes we're gonna thank you guests for being on office ladies you will be getting that christmas card as an ornament i would love that because i remember i do remember this very distinctly when i'm kind of confronting him about doing that.

And I'm like, that's just so weird.

Like, it's just so weird that you did that.

That's it.

She can't, she's done.

And he's like, you walk out that door.

It's over.

And you say, I know, I know.

And then I think that's when he takes Jan on vacation, right?

Doesn't he take her to like?

Yes, to Jamaica.

Yeah.

Well, you played Carol Stills in seven episodes of The Office.

It ranged from season two all the way to the finale.

Do you ever get recognized when you're out and about?

Do people call you Carol?

When I'm alone,

not very often, but when I'm with Steve.

Oh, my goodness.

It's always like every day I come across.

I was today years old when I realized Steve was married to Carol, the real estate.

So, or like if somebody recognizes Steve, and then, you know, I've certainly, I take a lot of pictures in my life of people with Steve.

And then they'll hand me the camera and they'll say, I know who you are too.

Oh, like, oh, thanks.

Thanks so much.

Nancy, you and my husband Lee needed to have drinks sometimes because, you know, he was the lactation consultant.

Clark.

Clark.

In an episode of The Office.

And it happens to him.

Same thing all the time.

I was today years old when I realized Jenna fisher married her lactation consultant yes well all my husband gets is you're not dwight

well it's just crazy that the show still

is in the zeitgeist i mean we probably could have never imagined that no that all these years later you'd still be out to dinner and people would be like carol

I know.

Who would have thought that?

And then, you know, we were talking to this man last week and he was with his third grade son.

He's like, and he's just started watching it.

I'm like, I don't think he was born when it went off the air.

And yeah, he's watched.

Like,

it's, it's insane, isn't it?

Yeah.

Yeah.

It really is.

My husband was like, Ange, you guys are now like an I Love Lucy.

Yeah.

Generations are going to watch this show.

I know.

And what a.

What an amazing thing, though, huh?

Yeah.

I mean, when you, when you think about it, like that is just mind-blowing yeah just it's very fortunate but just amazing it was really like a lightning in a bottle kind of show wasn't it like just every element came together so beautifully yeah sort of that once in a lifetime well no hopefully you'll have more

i don't know i think it would be very hard to i know another show we've both worked on other shows and you're right it was lightning in a bottle we'll all go on to do other things but this was a magical time for sure it really was yeah steve feels feels the same way for sure.

And that's why there's third graders with, you know, Dunder Mifflin shirts on.

That's right.

Well, I have one last question for you.

We always ask everyone if they took anything from the set before they left the show.

Now, I don't know collectively if you and Steve have something from the set.

I mean, Jen and I obviously, we've shared this.

We took a lot of things.

I so want you to say that you took like the for sale sign from the lawn, the finale, but I'm sure that would be a very odd thing if you're just pulling it out of the ground.

Be like, I'm taking this.

Just throwing it in my car.

You know what?

No.

I don't think Steve took one thing.

Wow.

We're going to follow up.

Guess what?

You're going to have you're going to have a Christmas ornament of that postcard.

That'll be your little nod.

Yeah, no, I don't think he took anything.

I remember do you remember his last day i mean i just remember crying a lot yeah the big party and then they made him a huge coffee cup uh cake that said world's best boss i do remember that and then you guys all signed a

hockey jersey yeah for him like so we have all that stuff you know we have that framed and we have that up but not the coffee cup cake

yeah yeah we

but so we have stuff like that but no he never took like you know his anything.

Wow.

I would think he would have like his Dundee from his desk or something.

I don't know.

You know what?

I don't even know.

He's too classy.

He's too classy, Jenny.

He didn't rob the set on his way out like the rest of us hurligans.

We're like, is that nailed down?

It's going with me.

Well, maybe he thought he wasn't, he probably wasn't sure if like anybody was going to need it again.

Well, that's true, right?

Because the show kept going.

Yeah.

So you kind of couldn't.

Could you imagine?

We're like, where'd the Dundra Mifflin sign go?

Steve?

No one's seen it.

Steve left.

Where'd the desk go in Michael's office?

Huh.

He stole everything.

Oh, Nancy, thank you so much for coming on and talking with us.

You were such a big part of the show, both on camera and behind the scenes.

We just have the best memories of.

you coming to set either with your family or as Carol.

This was so great.

Thanks, you guys.

I too have the best memories.

That was that show was a joy, and everybody involved with it was just incredible.

And it was a real privilege to be on that show and to know you guys.

We feel the same way.

You know, BJ Novak said something to me recently.

He was like, Angela, it's Office Family Forever.

We're Family Forever.

It's true.

It's like, it's so true.

We love you.

We love you.

I love you too.

This podcast is sponsored by Squarespace.

Today, I had lunch with Ileana, who does our website, and we talked about the shop feature on our Squarespace website.

We can't wait!

We have some new merch coming, and we're going to have a new little drop-down feature.

But this is the great thing about Squarespace.

We have been using it for years and it continues to grow with our business.

There are so many great templates and tools on Squarespace that you can design the perfect website for your business.

It's really an all-in-one platform for entrepreneurs to stand out and succeed online.

Whether you're just starting out, which we were years ago, or as you start to evolve your brand and add more things to your website, Squarespace is there for you.

They make it easy to create a beautiful website, engage with your audience, and sell anything from products to content to time, all in one place.

And you know, every dream needs a domain.

Squarespace Domains makes it easy to find the best name for your business at one fair, all-inclusive price.

No hidden fees or add-ons required.

Head to squarespace.com slash office ladies for a free trial.

And when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com slash office ladies to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain.

We want to talk to you guys a little bit about the new Ego Protein Waffles.

It's really good, tastes great.

Plus, it's going to give you 20% of your daily protein.

Yes, Ego Protein Plus waffles provide the same great taste of Ego that you know and love, plus 10 grams of protein per serving.

I made the new Eggo protein waffles for my kids the other day.

They didn't even know that they were protein waffles.

They're just the ego waffles that you know and love.

I know they have protein.

They're just yummy waffles.

Yes.

I mean, listen, I know we're talking about breakfast, but I have shared this before.

I like them as an afternoon treat.

And when your teenagers come home hungry, guess what's real easy to give them?

A little protein waffle.

They say you can fuel your morning, but you can also fuel your afternoon.

Sure can.

Head to your local grocery store to fuel your morning with Ego protein waffles and pancakes available at retailers nationwide.

I just kind of need Nancy to be another office lady and hang out with us all the time.

I agree.

Can we make that happen?

How much texting to her is too much?

No.

I feel like we blew up her phone lately.

Well, let's get into this episode.

Let's do that, lady.

Is anyone else out there watching the DVDs?

Anyone?

Let me know.

Because did you notice this disc is full of so many ads?

It is?

You have to sit through all these commercials for other things done by Universal Studios.

And I'm just like, I can quote the Big Lebowski to you now.

The Big Lebowski, the movie, was being promoted on the Office DVD?

Yes.

Especially on this disc.

Especially on this disc for season seven.

You guys know, you folks out there watching it, it's like Parks and Wreck.

And then all of a sudden the Big Lebowski.

That's crazy.

Anyway, I'm just saying, a lot of ads on this one.

Let's talk about this cold open because Dwight has gone up to some kind of hardware store where there's day laborers, they're looking for a job, and he's pulled up and he's asking someone to come with him to work.

Yes, but.

No one will go.

And we find out why.

An older worker explains that no one goes with this man,

this man being Dwight.

That's right.

Because when they go with him, they never come back.

Yeah.

It's a mystery.

So they're not going with him anymore.

No.

The man who's explaining all of this to us in Spanish is Abraham Chadez.

And the boy who is interpreting is Oscar Blanco.

Neither of them have been on Monk or House.

Oh, you don't get to do your house pun.

I don't.

Guests are in the house.

I mean, spoiler alert, I'm not going to get to do it all episode.

I'm bummed, but it's okay.

Well, in this cold open, we are going to meet Nate.

He approaches Dwight's car.

They speak terrible Spanish to one another.

Yes.

And Dwight is like, all right, you can work for me today.

Hop in.

Yeah, he's going to bring him to our parking lot where he asks him to, I guess, get a hornet's nest out of a tree.

Mm-hmm.

He's going to give him a few ways to do that.

Blowtorch.

bow and arrow, bat.

There's a few options.

Yeah, it's kind of a test.

He ultimately chooses the bat.

Yeah,

bad idea.

The whole bullpen has gathered around to watch this.

They're very invested, worried.

There's highs, there's lows.

It's a really high energy moment for the group.

And Randy shared with us that at a minute seven seconds, when you see that establishing shot of Nate in the parking lot,

all of those shots were from Greg Daniels' office window.

That's right.

Yeah.

But the cast was actually in our conference room set.

And I remember when we were shooting that, that our first AD was calling out the Nate action.

We couldn't actually see him.

We were looking at nothing.

We were looking at a scrim.

Yeah.

Just a screen.

A painted backdrop.

And we were pretending to react to all the different things they were saying.

I think it went together very well.

I think we sold it.

We really did.

We sold someone in the wings yelling, okay, blowtorch.

Now a bat.

Randy also shared that Phil Shea had...

three fake hornets nests made out of paper-mâché.

He got them from the hand prop room prop house.

Try saying that fast.

Hand prop room prop house.

Do it again.

Hand prop room prop house, hand prop room, prop house, hand prop.

Oh my God,

you're like a tongue twister genius.

Just that one.

Don't, don't, give me a turn.

Can you say, I'm a sheep slitter, I slit sheep.

I'm the slickest sheep slitter to ever slit a sheep.

I'm a, I don't, I'm a what?

Sheep slitter.

I'm a sheep slitter.

I slit sheep.

I slit sheep.

I'm the best sheep.

I'm the slickest.

Oh, I'm the slickest sheep.

Sheep slitter that ever slit

sheep sheets.

Sheep.

It's not easy.

Why am I slitting sheets?

I don't know.

It's so violent.

I don't know.

One of my gods.

Can't we just go back to Peter Piper?

One of my like old relatives in Texas taught me that one night.

I was like a little kid going, like, I'm a sheep slitter.

I slit sheep.

When you did your like acting training, did you have to do those?

Did you do those to like warm up your mouth?

No, I didn't.

I just showed up to work.

Oh my gosh, when I did that play in New York, me and Leslie Bibb, that's who

did the play with me, we would get to the theater early and we would do all of these vocal exercises.

You must have been so happy.

Oh my God.

Leslie Bibb was such an acting nerd.

She had her vocal coach come in and lead the cast in vocal exercises.

She was like, Mowbray.

for projection in the theater.

I am too much of a smartass to make it through that class.

I took it 100% seriously.

I know you did.

I know you did.

But that's why I would like you, Angela, because

you need someone who's a little bit of a smart ass.

Everyone can't take it too seriously.

Every once in a while, you need someone to check you.

You do.

All of the hornets were fake, you guys.

There were no real hornets, and they were added in post-production by Encore VFX.

I once thought I had a swarm of bees.

I related to Nate in this moment.

I was like terrified.

I was like, what are we doing?

A swarm of bees?

What?

You had a swarm of bees following you?

Not following me.

Okay, so I'm in my house and I keep hearing a buzzing.

And I'm like, what is this buzzing?

And I keep hearing it and hearing it.

And it's always on this one wall side.

And I'm like, what is this?

And then, in addition to the buzzing, I started hearing like this, like.

Tink, tink, tink, tink, tink.

And I'm like, what is the buzzing and the tinking?

I'm crawling around the house looking for this.

And then I realize, I look in the fireplace.

There's all of these bees in the fireplace.

And they're hitting the glass doors of the fireplace.

What?

And there's like a lot of them.

They had come down your chimney?

Yes.

So I was like, well, crap, what do you do?

A friend of mine referred me to a beekeeper removal and relocation company.

Wait, I love it.

Yes.

They relocate them.

Yes.

They don't exterminate.

No, no, no.

Because you know we need the bees.

No, as my mom says, we bless them and move them along.

That's right.

That's right.

So they show up and they quickly tell me, I don't have a swarm of bees, that I have scouting bees.

Do you know what scouting bees are?

No.

They're so cool.

Okay, scouting bees are female worker bees and their primary task is to find and locate a new place for the colony to build a hive.

Oh.

So they go out looking, they go really far, and it usually happens because the hive has gotten overcrowded.

And once the scouting bees have found a suitable location, they'll they'll go back to the hive and they'll perform a dance, which is communicated to the rest of the hive.

The dance gives information on the location that the scout has found.

So basically, the scouts were like, we found a place, guys, and it's Angela's chimney.

Okay, I don't know where to begin.

First of all, I'm hanging on every word.

I need to see a documentary of this bee dance.

But my other thought is like, they did a terrible job.

They did a terrible job if they scouted your chimney as a new place to live.

They don't know we're ever going to light it up.

For them, it's like a little cozy spot.

I guess.

And the thing I love is that the scouting bees, they go, they send out the information and then other scouting bees come.

And if they all agree that the location is a good one, they'll go back to the hive and get the entire colony to come.

I'm fascinated by scouting bees, you guys.

Well, what happens if the company comes and then they relocate the scouting bees and the scouting bees never come back and dance for the rest of the people?

That rest of the bee friends?

I've, I've like anthropomorphized.

What is that?

You know what it is.

Yeah.

They're a company.

They're people now.

They're not scouting.

They're a whole industry.

Yeah.

So they got the scouting bees to leave.

Like scouting bees, this is not a nice place.

And then they told me I needed to fix the top of my fireplace, that there's like this little special mesh thing you can get so they don't come in.

So I did that.

Can you imagine if the scouting bees, they went back, they did the dance.

They're like, we found a new place.

And then more came and they're like, what are you talking about?

We can't even get in.

Yeah.

And then, and then they all had to go back.

And then the queen was like to the one scouting bee, like, what the hell, man?

I know.

And then that first scouting group is just they're humiliated.

They never live it down.

They never live it down.

Remember that time you went to that chimney?

Yeah, and we all went.

We all packed up.

We went to look at the chimney.

Wait, I couldn't even get in.

in nice job

we're putting you back on pollen

you don't get to scout anymore there's a lot of videos about bees out there you guys they're fascinating i'm i'm just gonna tell you go watch a few i love bees

well we got a fan mail flurry over this cold open Valerie W from Colorado and Megan W.

from Farmville, North Carolina and many others all said, I have to know more about Nate.

He's one of my all-time favorite recurring characters.

What was his audition process like?

How did you find him?

Well, this is one of my favorite office stories of all time, How We Found Nate.

I love it so much, and I became such good friends with Nate that I actually interviewed him for my book, The Actor's Life, a Survival Guide, because his story of how he got on the office is all based on him making up his own work, his own character, all the way back in his hometown.

Nate was played by Mark Prooks.

And the writers of the office discovered Mark from a series of prank videos that he did that were uploaded to YouTube.

He didn't even upload them to YouTube.

Other people did.

Here's what he did.

He created a character called K-Stross, who was a yo-yo expert.

Yes.

Who goes into schools.

Yes, and he does yo-yo shows.

Yeah.

This was the premise.

He never actually did this, but his premise was that he was a yo-yo expert who did yo-yo tricks for elementary kids while also teaching them about environmentalism.

And he would book himself on local news stations as this yo-yo expert.

I'm sorry, I'm laughing because I'm remembering these videos and they are so funny.

They are so brilliant because once he gets on the news show,

he slowly starts to break down and then can't do any tricks at all.

I I have a clip.

It's so good.

We can listen.

We have a yo-yo champion on Hometown History.

Kate Strass.

Good morning.

Thanks for coming on.

Thank you.

How are you?

Good.

And you go around to schools with yo-yo's and show demonstrations and you have a goal behind all this.

Yeah, you know, I go around, I've been teaching kids about the environment.

Actually, I've only been in one school so far,

and I'll be honest, it didn't go so hot.

In fact, it was literally a major disaster.

Oh, no.

Because

basically, the kids didn't like my stories.

And it's no surprise because they were running around all the time.

And I'm sorry, I think there's something to be said about how kids are brought up these days.

And I come from a home that believed in spanking.

Okay.

And so when I was being bad, you know, Daddy would get a switch or a belt and I would get it and I would get it good.

And I am literally terrified you know to this day.

Well hopefully you can you know try another school.

I mean it was your first time so maybe you can see for the next time but basically you go around and you talk about nature I mean going green the whole going green event is that basically the whole point behind your message what you're going to try to spread

well yeah and but I got I kind of have breaking news.

This may literally be the last time you see me in this shirt.

They are going in a different direction and it's a direction without me.

And am I angry about this guy?

Yes, I am.

Well, let's let's how about you show us some yo-yo demonstrations.

I mean you are the yo-yo champ.

You brought a yo-yo with you, right?

I asked, actually last night what I did was I came up with one named after the station.

Really?

Oh really?

Yes.

So it's called the KQTV.

KQTU TU.

KQTV.

Or two.

KQ2.

There you go.

I can watch the screen part.

We go by two different things.

We'll go ahead and show the KQ2 yo-yo move.

Okay, so here's, it's longer.

Here's what happens.

He starts by doing just a simple up and down move.

Yeah.

And he's fine.

He does it.

But then he tries to do his special move and he hits himself in the face with the yo-yo.

Like hard.

He can clearly do no tricks.

The anchors are then like flinching.

every time he attempts to do it because they're like, what is it's amazing.

He did this several times the writers saw these videos and they called him in for a meeting they created this character for him his story is really so amazing we're definitely going to have him on the podcast i don't even want to tell the whole story because i want him to tell it yeah exactly but check out these videos of k-stra

they're fantastic mark we can't wait to have you on

The news anchor trying to pivot.

I know.

Like trying so hard.

Well, maybe next time will be better why don't you show us one of your tricks ah just amazing well this episode is going to start with michael arriving wearing a fake mustache a giant fake mustache erin is so tickled by it yes yeah she likes it he then has a talking head where while he's doing the talking head he's spinning his chair and

I mean, everything he's saying is hilarious to me, but I could hear his chair go,

and that just made me laugh.

He says there's many reasons a man might wear a fake mustache to work.

He's a fan of the outrageous.

He loves to surprise.

He also loves other things.

Well, Michael goes to get some coffee and his giant mustache falls off into his mug, revealing something very large on his lip.

Phyllis notices.

People gasp.

That's what I said in the shooting draft.

I said, people gasp.

I was like, that's kind of harsh.

Michael says it's a big pimple.

And he says, you know what?

Who cares?

Avril Levine has pimples and she rocks harder than anyone else.

Jenna, do you remember at this time Avril Levine had a proactive campaign?

Lady, do I?

I know why you remember because someone else was part of that campaign.

It was Avril Levine, Katy Perry, and you!

I know.

It was me.

That was so cool.

Yeah, that was my first big campaign.

So I feel like all of our writers knew that.

I wondered when I saw it if that's how that line made it in there.

Do you have like photos from that?

Do you have like a photo of you with a proactive box?

You can find the commercial of me.

You know, when you get asked about doing the proactive campaign, you have to have really used it.

Yeah.

I really liked that.

And I have really used it.

I used it like all through college.

And so I was like, yes.

And you also have to send in photos of yourself with like pimples.

you have to like a before and after kind of thing yeah and then they use those in your testimonial oh i so want to see that so that was like that was the whole thing sam is actively looking for the commercial i see you sam

oh my gosh there it is yeah

You know, when you have acne, there's so much more time that you spend getting ready in the morning.

The time of trying to cover up the cracky zit or the oozy zit.

You know, that's 20 minutes that I don't have in the morning.

When I'm using proactive, I don't have to worry about that stuff.

And that's nice.

You look so cute.

Well, you know what's funny?

They also make you write your own testimonial.

So it makes sense to me that I wrote about how I don't have time for this shit.

Like that was my come from.

I was like, you know what?

I don't have time to cover this shit up.

That was

my take.

Well, you look adorable.

Well, the group is not convinced that this is a pimple.

No.

And they have to start debating it.

The word cancer is thrown out there.

It sure is.

Meredith is like, I know what it is.

It's a cold sore.

It's herpes.

I have it.

And everyone's like, this is so much information.

Well, then they asked Michael, when was the last time he was tested for STDs?

And he said, well, he had his last physical when he was 40.

Jim is shocked.

That's like 10 years ago, right?

Michael's like, no, it's four years ago.

And in the shooting draft, there was an extra Phyllis line.

It's the same bit that Phyllis always has when Michael states his age.

I live for it every time.

It didn't make it into the episode, but I want to read it.

Kevin says, Michael, you're at least 46.

Michael says, why at least?

If 46 is your guess, just say 46.

Phyllis would have said, you're 47.

We were in the same class.

And Michael gets so mad.

He goes, were you held back a decade?

And then he storms out.

Oh my gosh.

Oh, I love it.

I love it so much.

We should let you know our head makeup artist Laverne made the cold sore for Michael's lip.

She did a very good job.

Always.

Michael is going to end up covering his cold sore with a bandage.

Yeah.

And the reason they did that was so that Laverne wouldn't have to try and match that same cold sore makeup.

Every day.

Yeah, it would have been very difficult.

Well, the next scene should be labeled Snark in the Break Room because there's some snarkiness.

Yeah.

Everyone is in there and they're discussing Meredith's herpes, basically.

They're kind of trashing her.

But Andy is going to stand up for her.

He's going to say everyone should chill out on the herp talk.

This is when we learn he was an RA in college and that the number one STD is ignorance.

Aaron is impressed.

I have a fan catch lady from Riley M in Nashville, Tennessee.

I just want want to say, Riley, I'm very impressed.

What is it?

This is a very quick catch, but it is there.

There is a continuity error.

They're all in the break room, and around four minutes, you can see the back of Meredith's head.

But then later, she enters.

Oh, good catch.

Yeah.

So there's this reaction shot of Andy.

It sweeps over to Erin and Gabe listening in.

This was clearly a shot that they borrowed from later in the scene and moved it up earlier because they liked it because it is a hundred percent the back of Meredith's head.

Riley applause.

I know I was so impressed.

I mean blink and you'll miss it.

Lady this scene ends with one of my favorite moments which is Angela storming out and once she's out of the break room you see that she's been holding her breath.

Oh yeah, that was 100% scripted.

This is how it read in the shooting draft.

Meredith sits at a table with Angela and Kevin.

Angela quickly packs up her lunch and exits the room.

As soon as she leaves the room, she inhales deeply, revealing she'd been holding her breath.

Meredith takes out a sandwich.

Amazing.

While Michael and Dwight are researching the possible cause of herpes on his office computer,

Dwight is going to tell Michael, you need to reach out to all of your lovers and tell them you have herpes.

Yeah.

Michael says he feels like an old-timey sailor with VD.

What port?

Did he get his herpes?

Was it the Jan port?

Was it the Holly port?

Oh, don't go there.

Don't go to to the Holly port.

Do not.

Dwight, in fact, says that if Michael doesn't contact all of his ex-lovers and tell them what's going on, he'll do it for him.

Yeah.

I love how Dwight just goes zero to 60.

He always does.

He says, you need to call Holly and tell her she's crawling with herpes.

Yes, exactly.

Crawling.

Well, this is the time when I thought we could have our sex education.

Oh, lordy.

This is courtesy of Courtney B in Georgia.

Buckle in.

Who said, I know y'all's browser history must be crazy, so I did a little deep dive for you.

Thank you, Courtney.

Saving our search engine.

Courtney says, for background, I'm in nursing school and we actually just learned about the herpes viruses.

Oh.

There are two main categories of the herpes virus.

Herpes simplex, which is type 1, and herpes simplex virus type 2.

Type 1 is the one associated with cold sores, also known as oral herpes.

It can be spread to others by saliva and kissing, but it can also be transmitted to the genitals.

Something as simple as touching your lips and then using the bathroom can transmit the virus to your genitals, although it will not be as severe as if you actually had genital herpes, which is the official type 2.

Type 2 is spread through sexual contact or to a newborn baby via the birth canal.

So if you're a woman who has genital herpes, you have to get a C-section.

Both types are lifelong infections, but you can control the symptoms with antiviral medications.

Most of herpes 1, which are the oral herpes,

most of those transmissions actually occur in childhood.

Or you can kiss someone with a cold sore.

Yeah.

So Courtney went on to say, as a student nurse, it was hilarious to watch this episode knowing that Michael was causing an unnecessary panic by revealing his herpes infection to his past lovers without any context.

Courtney says, thank you for listening to my PSA.

Jenna, Angela, if you have any other questions about either of the herpes viruses, I am sending you a great website with accurate information.

Thank you, Courtney.

Yes.

We will share that in our stories.

Yes.

I appreciate you sharing this information, Courtney, because herpes infections are very common and nothing to be ashamed about.

And really, the important thing is that people are informed, which is something that Michael is clearly not.

And Courtney, I agree with you.

Why didn't anyone else in the office say anything about it being oral herpes?

I thought the same thing.

But also, many people say, Pam says it.

Carol later says, Michael, have you had it looked at by a doctor?

Carol actually went on to say it's in the shooting draft, but it didn't make it in the episode.

She says, Michael, you know the difference between between genital and oral herpes, right?

Oral is no big deal.

It's a different virus.

She says that, but it didn't make it in.

But I guess if Michael had really clued in, we wouldn't have an episode.

For some reason, I remembered that Michael finds out that it wasn't herpes all along.

I went to the shooting draft.

I couldn't find that, but I swear, Angela, that was a button that it turns out it was like an ingrown hair.

They reference it at the very final scene.

With Oscar, Dwight says, we're pretty sure it's an ingrown hair.

Maybe that's what I'm thinking of.

And this was all unnecessary, basically.

Well, really, what this episode is, is a journey for Michael to face the fact that he blows relationships out of proportion, except not with Holly.

And that's the real like heart of this whole episode.

First, there's going to be a lot of shenanigans we have to cover.

Well, the first person he's going to call is Donna.

I think, you know, this is a good place to to start.

This was his last lover.

I know.

And Michael's like, do you or your stupid husband have herpes?

But first he says that he has a sexually transmitted disease and he spells it H

I.

I know.

And she's like, oh my God.

He's like, R.

I know.

She's like spelling herpes wrong.

I know.

Guys, Amy Peets really came in for that phone call.

She was off stage.

She was at a phone that was hardwired in to Michael's office so they could speak live, but they recorded her on a separate microphone so that, you know, they would get clean sound for the final edit.

Michael's next phone call is going to be Holly.

This is the cutest thing.

It's such a great scene.

Hi, this is Holly.

No, this is Holly.

No, this is Michael Scott.

What are you calling about?

There's been a horrible accident.

Did any nuns die?

Two.

It's like, Dwight is so confused.

I love everything Rain does in this scene.

He's like pointing to his lip, like trying to remind Michael.

Bring it up.

Mm-hmm.

We had a fan question from Kathleen B in Sydney, Australia, and many others, actually,

who said, is it just me or does the voice of Holly on the phone sound nothing like Amy Ryan?

Well,

it was Amy Ryan.

Yeah, it sounded like it to me.

But she was not in the studio.

A fan catch from Eric L.

in Colorado is going to explain that Holly's phone number is shown with a 212 area code, not a Nashua area code.

That's right.

She was in New York.

And the number that they show on the phone was a real phone number.

It was Amy Ryan's agent in New York.

Did her agent start getting lots of phone calls?

I mean,

I called it.

Did you really?

I got voicemail.

Did you really?

They should change their number.

I don't want to say the number because it's still a working number.

But guess what?

Jenna just shared that it is a real number and you can zoom in and call it.

Sorry, person who has that number, you're going to want to change that real soon.

Yeah.

So Amy was really in New York.

They had a sound recordist named Adam Sanchez who was in New York with her recording her half of the dialogue.

But her and Steve could really hear one another and they could react off one another.

In real time.

And they went off script a little bit.

Because they're all good together.

I know.

Well, in this conversation with Holly, Michael is going to get nostalgic and he's going to say, do you ever wonder what it would have been like if you hadn't been transferred?

Michael says they'd be married.

They'd have kids.

Kids.

Yeah.

We were so the same person right there.

I know.

And that's when Holly says to Michael, I think you romanticize things.

Like, I think you blow them up to be bigger than what they really were.

Yeah.

She goes, you know what?

We had a fling a long time ago.

Well, this is crushing to Michael.

Oh, breaks his heart.

He gets off the phone.

He didn't even mention the herpes.

No, it didn't come up organically.

And this idea that he blows things out of proportion, this is going to stick with him.

It's going to be a big part of his conversations for the rest of the day.

Mm-hmm.

Why don't we take a quick break?

Because when we come back, Andy is going to have pizzas.

If anyone wants to have an honest discussion about the sexual mores and taboos of society, you can have a slice.

We'll be right back.

Well, we're back and I hope you're hungry because Andy has a lot of pizza and he wants you to come in the conference room to talk about sex.

Mm-hmm.

Not everyone is happy about the pizza.

Oh, yeah.

In fact, Ryan is ticked off.

It's in the shooting draft.

It's even in deleted scenes.

He starts flipping the pizza lids open with this dramatic effect.

Here's how it read in the script.

Ryan, flipping.

Pepperoni, meatball, Hawaiian pizza, veggie delight, artichoke.

He's furious.

People are on Ryan's side now.

They're eating the pizza, but they're complaining.

Andy says, just pick the stuff off.

Phyllis says, then the cheese comes off.

Andy says, you know that's not true.

There's a way to do it carefully.

Now I'm going to show you a picture of Genitalia.

And that's how the scene in the conference room starts.

Well, lady, I remember shooting that.

I remember BJ flipping the pizza lids.

Mm-hmm.

And also, I noted in the conference room that everybody's pizza has some form of meat on it or topping.

It's pepperoni.

Almost all of them are pepperoni.

He didn't get any, just plain cheese pizza.

Mm-hmm.

Not one.

Well, Jenna, I noticed something else besides a lot of pepperoni.

What's that?

Jim and Pam are not sitting next to each other.

And

if you go to 10 minutes, 24 seconds, you see Pam wave Jim off.

Hmm.

What's happening?

Oh, lady, I'm sure you uncovered this.

In your research, there was a huge deleted Jim Pam storyline from this episode.

It's bonkers.

It's really weird.

I have it all from the shooting draft.

I can share it, and then you can share about shooting it.

Please.

All right.

It read like this.

At the top of the episode, Pam walks in and puts her stuff down.

A few beats later, Jim walks in and puts his stuff down.

They avoid each other's gazes.

The camera sort of notices it, but then gets distracted by Michael and his fake mustache.

This continues.

Later in the kitchen, Pam and Toby are talking and Jim walks in.

The script read, Pam looks at Jim.

He's surprised that she's in there.

Toby says, hey, Jim.

Jim says, hi, Toby.

Jim looks at Pam.

Pam walks out.

Jim watches her go.

He seems tense.

Toby looks to camera like, yikes.

Then there's a Jim and Pam joint talking head where Jim says no, not at all.

And then he puts his hand on her forearm to show affection and she removes it.

Then Toby has a talking head where he seems ecstatic and he just says yikes.

The next beat involves Kelly in the kitchen.

Pam is making herself coffee.

Kelly is at the counter.

She's struggling to open a jar of, and it says, I quote, marshmallow fluff.

Ooh, just making a a fluffer nutter, guys.

Jim comes out of the men's room, and Kelly asks him to help open the jar.

He can't open it.

He really struggles with it.

Kelly uses this as an opportunity to try to get Ryan dating advice, and Jim seems miserable.

And he hands the jar back to her, unable to open it.

And Pam smiles slightly.

She's kind of enjoyed watching Jim struggle with Kelly.

Mm-hmm.

Then in the conference room, as we just talked about, Jim walks in.

Pam is already seated.

And Daryl offers to get up so Jim can sit next to his wife.

And Pam is waving Daryl off, not Jim.

Like, no, no, no, stay, Daryl, stay.

Yeah.

Well, this whole thing was because the writers were trying to come up with conflict for Jim and Pam.

Storylines for Jim and Pam now that they were married.

And they thought, how about they're in a fight one day at work?

where they're not talking to each other.

Non-serious conflict.

Yes.

But like, it's one of those things.

Yeah.

And, you know, they're having that day.

The way it was explained to me was that if they had gone to different jobs, they wouldn't have like texted and called all day.

They just would have had their little time out and they probably would have been fine when they got home.

They did not want this to be like a big serious disagreement.

But they work at the same place.

So they had to go to work together.

And they're just kind of each giving the other the silent treatment.

Yeah, they're just annoyed.

And the idea was that it would all play out in silences and little moments and that the camera would kind of catch it.

We had huge discussions over what this fight would be.

We ultimately, we thought this was kind of a fun little thing.

We came up with our own reason.

Oh, and we didn't tell the other person.

Oh, because we thought that would add a layer.

to this silent play that we were doing.

It all got cut out.

Well, it actually does resolve itself in the shooting draft, which you never see.

The very last Jim and Pam scene is the end of the workday.

In the script, it read like this.

As Michael and Dwight head inside, they pass Jim and Pam leaving for the day.

We follow Jim and Pam in a spy shot.

Jim says, hey, you know, I don't even remember what we were fighting about.

Pam says, I do.

And then Jim says, I do too.

I'm sorry.

He holds out his hand.

She takes it.

She says, me too.

And they continue walking.

I mean, ultimately, I thought it was a really realistic sort of marital couple-y thing.

Yeah.

But I mean, it didn't end up totally working.

I think you can see some of it in deleted scenes.

Oh, yeah, you can.

Yeah, yeah.

But I mean, you can't play it because it's just silent.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like, I was going to play the scene between Jim and Kelly and Pam in the kitchen, but it's just Kelly talking and the two of you looking awkwardly.

Like,

yeah.

Well, while while Jim and Pam are sitting with Daryl between them,

sort of picking at their pizza, Andy is going to start showing pictures of genitalia,

some of which have herpes.

Yeah.

My favorite line coming from John Krasinski as Jim, am I blocking anyone?

Can everyone see?

Yeah.

I loved it.

We had a fan question from Kyle T in Houston, Texas.

What was actually on the pictures of blurred out genitalia?

This required some real detective work, lady, because Randy Cordre, knower of all things, is on vacation.

I know.

We traded a bunch of emails about this episode, and then he went on vacation.

And we said, have a great vacation.

We're not going to bug you about possible genitalia.

We're not.

We're not.

Not on your vacation.

Not on your vacation.

No.

But I had a late-breaking question, which was, what was on the pictures of the genitalia?

I was like, I have to figure it out.

Well, I had a call sheet from this episode, thanks to James Carey.

Way to go, James.

And it said we had a still photographer on set on this day, the day we were shooting conference room scenes with pictures of genitalia.

Guess what?

What?

There are photos of this scene and they are not blurred.

The first one that Andy holds up, the picture of the man with the ripped abs, that man is wearing underwear.

The second one, the picture itself is pixelated.

Right.

And then we further blurred it.

We saw no genitalia on this day.

We did not.

We did not.

We had another question about this scene from Levi A.

in Northampton, Massachusetts, who wanted to know, was there a reason that we are sitting in the conference room along the wall?

Because I don't think you've ever sat like that before.

No table in the middle.

We're also not in rows.

Yeah, I feel like there's a few times we were like that, like for Jan's baby shower.

You know, know, there's every once in a while, but it's not the usual.

The writers were looking for ways to put other characters in charge of the office to see how those dynamics would play out.

And this was part of that experimenting that they were doing, you know, because the character of Michael was leaving.

And the reason we're sitting this way was because they wanted to differentiate.

between Michael leading a conference room meeting and another character.

And Andy.

And they even put Andy in the back corner rather than the front of the room.

So this was just a choice.

And like you said, it was also sort of presented as an informal pizza party.

Yeah.

And so this was how Andy runs a conference room meeting.

We sit around the wall like we're in the dorm because that's how he ran his meetings as an RA.

Probably so.

Next up is one of my favorite scenes of this whole episode.

Because we get to see Michael and Jan in the same room together.

Melora and Steve are just so incredible as these two people.

They bring out the worst in each other always.

Michael and Dwight have arrived to the lobby of Jan's new office building.

Listen, she'll be with them shortly.

Mm-hmm.

She's busy.

She is.

How does she work?

As the director of office purchasing for this hospital while raising a daughter and releasing an album of Doris Stay covers on her own label.

If she knew, she'd tell you.

Yeah.

I have a location breakdown for you.

Okay.

The exterior establishing shot of this hospital was Kaiser Permanente in Panorama City, but the entire interior was shot on our warehouse stage.

We did not build this set.

Randy Cordre, before leaving for vacation, told me that it was a rental.

We rented it from 20th Century Fox.

They had a recently canceled series called Tax Man.

And they had kind of taken the set and put it in a warehouse.

They were willing to rent it out.

So we rented it.

That's how we got it.

Well, Jan is a supermom.

If she does say so herself, exactly.

Apparently, Jan can bring home the bacon and fry it up in the pan.

Mm-hmm.

She's like, remember that commercial?

Dwight's like, I don't know what you're talking about.

Jan had to sing immediately.

She had to sing right away.

Within 15 seconds.

Yeah.

Jan is going to have one of my favorite moments in this episode.

I love Malora as this character so much.

Michael wants to know if he's the kind of guy who misremembers the nature of relationships.

And Jan looks at him with such intensity and says, Michael Scott, you are here for a post-mortem.

Michael's like, what?

And Jan says, you want to dig into our relationship, go over it, see what killed it.

Okay.

I'm in.

At that point, just leave because it's only going to get weirder from there.

Yes, they're going over it.

And Michael's not getting any of her analogies her analogy where she is a princess dating below her station but she's also the queen she's both michael's like am i at the guy at the station exactly so now astrid comes in she's with her nanny who was played by marilyn zach baby astrid was played by molly burke cutest little kid

And Malora made the choice to sing to Astrid about her day.

This was not in the script.

None of this dialogue.

She was just going to say, How was your day?

And then she starts singing to her.

Oh, we have to hear it because it's amazing.

And it's the last time we're going to hear Jan sing on the office.

Hey, Aussie.

Oh, how was school?

You welcome.

What did you learn?

What did I learn?

You might have learned shapes or blocks or clocks or colors or you might have learned that we're all sisters and brothers.

I have herpes.

But Michael just sees Jan for truly who she is as she's singing to her daughter.

And he has a talking head where he says he thought she was the one.

or a the one

and if he was wrong about that yeah was he wrong about Holly?

Yeah.

Back in the conference room, Andy wants to make a list of pros and cons to having sex.

And the first con is risk of STDs.

Can anybody come up with any more?

No.

All of the things being shouted out by Kevin, even Phyllis, are like amazing, magical.

Creed says the feeling of pure risk.

And Andy's like, well,

I had that in the con column, but okay, fine.

You know, I'll put it in the pro column Erin suggests a con unplanned pregnancy

Kelly and Kevin say like Cece was a mistake oh boy

Jim and Pam are gonna get fired up on that one she was a surprise yeah a welcome surprise yeah so now Andy has to put unplanned pregnancy in the pro column

We had a fan question from Sarah S.

in Chico, California, who said, I heard that this episode is the first time that Oscar broke.

Is this true and can you tell us more about it?

Definitely the first time he broke and was busted.

Yeah, it's actually on the blooper reel for season seven.

I pulled a clip to paint a picture.

Ed Helms as Andy is standing up at his whiteboard and he's doing this crazy thing with his fingers where he's got like two fingers in front of his mouth.

Yeah, he clasps his hands together and put two fingers kind of on his lips.

Like, hmm.

He's like, who can tell me some cons?

And this gesture really got Oscar.

Take a listen.

Okay, who can tell me?

I'm sorry.

Did you laugh?

Oscar Bros.

Oscar Bros.

Listen to how tickled we all are.

Yeah.

The man never broke.

He was a statue.

And this was like a little thing.

You know, it wasn't a big thing that got him.

It was just this little funny gesture that Ed was doing.

And the whole cast and crew started to cheer.

Next stop on Michael's herpes tour is Helene, Pam's mom.

They find her at the park.

Yes, they do.

She seems confused.

Michael's like, don't you remember me?

We were lovers.

He's speaking to a totally different woman.

This woman was played by Brady Rubin.

This is when Helene is going to be like, Michael?

She's sitting there with baby Cece.

We had a fan question from Molly C.

in Rochester, New York.

How did Michael know to go to the park to find Helene?

She seemed surprised to see him, so it doesn't seem like he called ahead and asked her where she was.

Well, I'll tell you.

There was a line in the script that was cut as they're entering the park where Dwight said to Michael, according to Pam's emails, Helene should be here with Cece.

What?

They've looked at Pam's email?

I know!

Apparently, they hacked Pam's emails to find Helene's location.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

I didn't even know Michael knew how to open his own email.

Well, this is clearly Dwight's.

It's Dwight.

It's Dwight.

As annoyed as Helene is with Michael, she does tell him his herpes will go away as long as he doesn't touch it.

Mm-hmm.

And then he asks her if she thinks he misremembers relationships.

She tells him he's deluded.

Pretty much everyone is like, yes.

Uh-huh.

He calls her a jerk.

And then he leaves.

That's Pam's mom.

Yeah, you jerk.

Listen, Pam was against this relationship and for good reason.

But she's clearly been like, you know what?

You wanted it.

Y'all enjoy it.

Yeah.

Back in the conference room, Andy wants to know if anyone in the office is practicing abstinence, which he says is the only real form of safe sex.

Daryl takes issue with this logic.

It's becoming very clear that Andy has set up this whole conference room meeting just to find out if Aaron and Gabe are having sex.

Yes, and it's not going to end well.

Andy is starting to spiral.

He's really bummed that nobody, basically Aaron, is abstinent.

So he said, okay, I guess I'm going to have to put a condom onto a pencil.

I mean, he can't use his penis.

It's not exactly hard anyway.

Yeah, and then Meredith is going to say, give it a rest, pencil dick.

Guess what?

Oh no.

Standards and practices.

They allowed pencil dick?

Well, here was their note.

Randy sent it to me.

He said this caused a flurry of notes.

They said,

page 30, scene 36, as previously mentioned, so they've clearly had to mention it a lot, please bleep the word dick

and blur Meredith's lip lip flap when she says it.

As previously mentioned.

As previously mentioned.

Again with the dick.

Can you guys just get on board?

Blur it and bleep it.

Blur it and bleep it.

Cover up that lip flap.

I know.

That's how they described it.

Her lip flap.

Anyway.

Well, Andy's fully going to melt down.

Nobody appreciates his effort.

He's going to throw a pizza at the wall.

Yeah.

This is a subtle callback, or not so subtle callback, to Ryan's pizza rant.

It says in the shooting draft, Andy takes the entire untouched veggie pizza and throws it against the window.

The room goes silent.

Look at the pizza on the wall.

There is no meat.

I looked.

It's all veggies.

But I want you to know, I think Angela would have had a piece of veggie pizza.

Yeah.

Maybe she saved it for the artichoke one, though.

Maybe she did.

I love that you zoomed in to see if there was meat on the pizza.

It looks like veggies to me, guys.

It's commitment to the job.

Mm-hmm.

Gabe is now going to have a sit-down with Andy.

He's going to say, you know what?

I know that that whole meeting was about me and Aaron, and I specifically asked you if it was okay for Aaron and I to go out after you broke up.

Gabe says, I remember it because of how you worded it.

You said, well, good sir, nothing would make me happier than to hand you the hand of the hand that was once in my hand.

Mm-hmm.

In the shooting draft, Andy would have gone on to say, Well, I would like you kindly to unhand that hand.

Oh, yes.

And Gabe was like, You can't unhand a hand once a hand is becoming, it's like ridiculous.

Oh, I wish that was my hand.

It was really funny.

Michael and Dwight are now going to arrive in an open house, and that means only one thing.

It's time for him to speak with Carol Stills.

Mm-hmm.

I have a location alert.

We shot this house on the same day as the Helene park scenes and our locations manager Kyle Alexander found a private residence on Ledge Avenue in Toluca Lake and he found a nearby park.

So we were able to do both on one day and Henry Sane made that realty sign that's out front on the lawn.

Well, Michael is going to say he's here to buy a house.

He's clearly not.

He asks Carol if he romanticizes relationships and she says, yeah, you make a bigger deal of things.

You proposed to me on our fourth date.

I have a continuity catch.

I do as well.

Maria P.

from Miami, Florida and many others, I think, have the same catch, lady.

Yes, in Diwali, when Michael proposes to Carol, Carol says it's only their ninth date.

And here, it's their fourth date.

Well, Maria thought maybe Michael proposed twice.

Has he been proposing and proposing and proposing?

That's hilarious.

This is when Dwight comes down the stairs.

In the shooting draft, he was originally stuck in the bathroom and had been screaming.

And he came down the stairs and said, did no one hear me?

I've been locked in the bathroom.

But in this version, he came downstairs and he said, someone died in that bathroom upstairs.

And I love Nancy as Carol just goes, no.

No,

no.

Mm-mm.

Didn't happen.

The scene with Carol ends Michael's quest, and he's going to go back to his office and he's going to call Holly.

He is.

He gets her voicemail and he leaves her such a great message.

Oh my gosh.

The fact that Holly did not get in her car and drive back to Michael the minute she heard this message.

What do you need, Holly?

What does your heart need?

I know.

He says, you know what, Holly, you're wrong.

You are wrong.

I remember every second of us.

And talking to them today, you know, to the other ladies, he said, I don't feel for them anything like what I feel for you.

I didn't joke with any of them.

I joked with you.

You are the only one who was actually happy to hear from me.

And I don't know why you downgraded what we had, but I did not make us up.

Oh,

wait, you should talk to your doctor because you might have herpes by.

Amazing.

Well, lady, we got a fan question from Danica G in Des Moines, Iowa, who noticed that there was one woman missing from Michael's tour.

Danica would like to know what happened to Concierge Marie.

He hooked up with Concierge Marie.

Was this perhaps a deleted scene?

Yes, it's in deleted scenes.

They call Concierge Marie from the car.

Here, here's the clip.

Concierge desk, how may I help you?

By going to the doctor and getting tested for herpes.

Done.

And in the shooting draft, it went on to say, with an asterisk, for for the super fans, this is clearly a different concierge.

And after they hang up on her, Dwight crosses the Canadian off the list.

Amazing.

Well, now that Michael has confronted all of his former lovers, Dwight's going to see a real opportunity here.

It's in deleted scenes, you guys.

He's really, really pushing his cousin Shirley onto Michael.

Oh.

Have a listen.

Full disclosure, I really was hoping to hook you up with my cousin Shirley.

No, not Shirley.

Dwight just dropped out of the city.

Okay, yeah, like a million.

She's really nice.

Okay, I won't bring up Shirley anymore, but I just want to say that Holly has been holding you back.

If you really put your mind to it, you could date a newscaster.

I appreciate that.

Thanks.

Shirley's a newscaster.

He's just going to keep pushing Shirley.

I am so sad that we do not meet Dwight's cousin Shirley, the newscaster, ever.

I know.

Oh.

My mind is spinning with possibilities.

This episode ends with Dwight and Michael telling Oscar they're pretty sure Michael has an ingrown mustache hair, but they need to ask everyone Michael's kissed if they have had herpes.

They want a list of all of Oscar's lovers.

That's right.

Oscar walks out the room.

And that, my friends, is Sex Ed.

I really enjoyed this episode.

I loved every second of it.

A big thank you to Randy Cordre and James Carey for helping us uncover some fun tidbits for this episode.

Yes, Randy, thanks for the last minute emails before your vacation.

So nice of you.

We hope you guys have a great week and we'll see you next week with the sting.

Oh, it's a good one.

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 Ratton.

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

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