Happy Spring Break and a Look Back on "Chair Model"

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.

Hello from my Airbnb.

I am

staying in an Airbnb while I'm in Chicago doing my play.

That's right.

You said it was great because your family was joining you for part of that time and you wanted a home.

I did because we're going to be here for a little while.

But you know, I have used Airbnb for shorter trips as well.

Yeah.

Are you ready for this?

What?

So one of my mom friends at the school,

she went to Iceland with her kids and they got an Airbnb.

In Iceland?

In Iceland.

Wow.

I was like, okay, you're going to have to tell me which one that is because that looked amazing.

Some trips are better in an Airbnb if you're traveling with a big group of friends, maybe a larger extended family.

If you want to get into a more local experience, I like it for this reason.

And here's the thing.

Also, if you've got a great space that you know people would love, you can Airbnb your home while you go and stay somewhere else.

Yes, and who knows?

Maybe I'll come stay in your place.

Your home might be worth more than you think.

Find out how much at airbnb.com host.

Hi, everyone.

Howdy.

It is spring.

It is.

It is springtime.

It's springtime.

And you guys, before we head out on spring break with our families, we wanted to pop in and say hi.

That's right.

We are going to give a re-listen to Chair Model this week because coming up in a few weeks, we're going to be breaking down Scott's Tots, which is considered the cringiest episode of The Office.

But

another episode that was on that cringe list is Chair Model.

Yeah, and we thought maybe to prep for the cringe factor of Scott's Tots, we should take a moment and re-listen to Chair Model.

You know, that's the episode where Michael falls immediately and deeply in love with a woman sitting in a chair in a magazine.

She's in a catalog.

Yeah.

But before we do that, you guys, there was a deleted scene that I didn't share when we originally broke this episode down.

And, you know, it really shows you where Michael is at in his quest for true love.

He's asking his coworkers to set him up.

Here is his criteria.

Family.

I don't have anybody.

You don't have one single girlfriend?

No.

I'm not looking for a perfect 10 here.

Just somebody to hang out with.

Just fun, healthy young woman.

Sorry.

A kindergarten teacher who's great with kids, maybe an ex-model, and now she wants wants to do something with her brain.

No, I don't.

How about a professional volleyball player who models on the side?

Just a fun...

Look,

it doesn't have to be a model.

I'm not, don't rule out model, but just in terms of models, there are like 20 different categories.

There's face models, hand models, body models.

Pretty much just a model.

Yeah, that's his criteria.

Well, you know, I think maybe he has fallen in love with a chair model and so he's real stuck on the model part real stuck my favorite part of that was when he said i mean it doesn't have to be a model but don't rule out a model yeah don't don't take that as permission to not consider models right

ah

well buckle in because there is more cringe in store for you here is chair model and next week we will be back with an all new episode shareholder meeting that's right you guys have a great week.

We'll see you after spring break.

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.

Hi, everybody.

Hello from our closets.

Still here.

Still in our closets.

Still surrounded by Josh's many, many hats.

So many baseball hats.

So many.

Does he have a favorite?

Can we get him on the pod to ask him to give us a breakdown of these hats?

Are they significant emotionally in some way?

Do they represent a team he loves?

I mean, no, I think Josh is all about the fit, and it looks like he loves the Patagonia kind of trucker-looking hat.

It does with the adjustable band thing, the little plastic snappies.

Josh, I hope you are excited that we shared.

Listen, there's other things in the closet.

Right over my shoulder, I notice all the time that there's the, what's the stuff they spray in their shoes, Jenna?

The breeze?

No.

All dudes do this.

They spray that stuff in their shoes.

Odor eaters?

Yes, yes.

Anyway, oh, now, Josh, you're really happy.

I've shared with everyone that you spray your shoes.

Well, because we need to talk about this longer, I am really curious about the very bright red pair of shoes over your shoulder in the shoe cubby.

Whose are those?

Oh, those are my red converse.

Okay, so here's the thing.

Yes, this is Josh's closet, but I occupy most of the shoe space.

I have lots of shoes.

You have overflow that goes into his closet.

Yeah, he's real happy about it.

Well, guys, it's what you're here for.

A breakdown of Angela's closet.

Next week, we'll do my closet.

But this week, we are talking about chair model.

It's so good.

Season four, episode 14, written by BJ Novak, directed by Jeffrey Blitz.

With a duo like that, you know it's going to be good.

I love the simple idea that Michael has a thing for the model in a chair catalog.

I just love how simple and perfect that is.

Yes.

Let me give you a summary.

Do it.

Michael is unable to pick a new chair for his office after he becomes infatuated with a woman modeling office chairs in a catalog.

He decides he's ready to rejoin the dating pool.

He's inspired by his love of the chair model.

Meanwhile, the Dunder Mifflin parking spaces are being used by a construction crew doing work for W.B.

Jones.

And the staff of Dunder Mifflin has to park in a satellite lot.

Kevin and Andy join forces to confront the other bosses of the Scranton Business Park to reclaim their places in the main lot.

Simple storylines, absolute perfection.

Also, absolutely true.

Yeah.

You know, I had to park in a satellite lot when I had my admin job.

If you were an executive, you could park in the parking lot of the building, this high rise in downtown Los Angeles.

Yeah.

I did not get a parking space.

I had to park in a satellite lot that was about a half a mile away, and it wasn't a big deal, except for on days that it rained.

Well, here's the thing: you know where you rank in a company by where you park.

Oh, yeah.

Well, Michael has a spot right up front, he's not concerned.

Well, later he's going to try to imagine what it would be like if he didn't have that spot.

But it takes two employees angrily confronting him for him to get there.

What are our fast facts, Jenna?

Fast fact number one: the original title of this episode was Michael Dating.

Hmm.

But they realized that they would have to release the name of the episode before Dinner Party had aired.

Oh, and they didn't want that.

They didn't want to ruin the surprise about Jan and Michael's breakup, right?

Yes.

So they changed the name of the episode to parking.

But then they felt, well, while it's a big part of the episode, it's not the main storyline of the episode.

So they eventually settled on chair model, which I personally love.

I mean,

when you see that, aren't you intrigued?

I'm so intrigued.

What is this episode going to be about?

Chair Model.

I'm more intrigued than parking.

I'll say that.

They picked the right one.

All right, fast fact number two.

I think we need to do a little breakdown of the Scranton Business Park five families.

I mean, it's like good fellas.

It is.

All right, here are the bosses of the five families.

Michael Scott, of course.

Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration.

Then there is W.B.

Jones from W.B.

Jones Heating and Air.

He was played by Barry Sigismundi.

Bill Kress of Kress Tool and Die, who was played by Terrence Beeser.

And finally, Paul Faust of Disaster Kits Limited, who was played by Paul Faust.

This is an amazing story.

And it all starts when an actual man named Paul Faust came to visit the set of the office.

Yes, so I have known Paul Faust for years.

We used to be related by marriage and I reached out to him and he is just such a hoot and he sent in all of these fantastic audio clips about his day on set.

They are amazing and in this first one he explains exactly how he got the role on the show.

Sam, you got to play this clip.

Hey, office ladies and office fans, this is Paul Faust, aka cool guy, Paul.

I want to tell you how how I got a part of the show.

So I was out in L.A.

on business and decided to visit the set because my cousins are part of the office.

And when I was out there, I met the writers and I kind of told them one of my companies and what I did, which was a company that sells disaster kits.

And Greg had said, this is my cousin.

He's a little nuts.

Tell him what you do.

I told him about the company.

And when I walked out of the room, unbeknownst to me, BJ Novak said, that guy's got to be a character on the show.

So he wrote a part based on me and the day before they shot the scene they hadn't found an actor to play the part so i got a call asking me if i wanted to audition to play the part and long story short i got the part got to fly out and be part of the awesome show and play myself so that's how i got to be on the uh on the show it's really a story only can happen in hollywood i mean that's bonkers i know He's literally playing himself.

But what's bonkers to me about it was that they did hold auditions.

They held auditions for this role.

And the night before, they just had not found someone who could play Paul Faust.

So they're like, how about Paul Faust?

Paul really sells disaster kits.

That's real.

That is his company.

Oh, yeah.

And Angela, he talked about that in this next clip.

I think one of the most unique things about me being in the office was that I actually played myself.

When I went out to LA and I was visiting and I went to the set, I talked about one of the businesses I run, which is a company called 1-800 Prepare, 1-800PREIR.com, where we actually sell disaster kits and preparedness kits.

So I talked about it, and that's what DJ

had picked up on.

And so he wrote a part called about cool guy Paul, the owner of Disaster Kits Limited.

And yes, I still own that company.

We still sell disaster kits.

So I think I'm one of the few people who played himself on TV.

with his real name in a real business that he runs, which was kind of cool.

So we asked Paul, how did he prepare, you know, to have these scenes?

He's not an actor.

He's not used to learning lines or where to sit, you know, how to navigate a set and all that kind of stuff.

And here's what he had to say.

So I got this part, let's say on a Thursday, and I had, we were shooting Friday morning.

So I had about a good 10 hours to learn my five or six lines.

So I'm studying, studying.

I'm on the plane.

I'm reading them.

I didn't sleep.

I studied them.

So we go there and this whole experience happens and you're nervous, and there's a lot of people around.

And I, but I had 10 hours to learn a bunch of lines.

So I was able to do it.

And we knocked it out.

And I got it done.

And I was like, great, I finished.

And then all of a sudden, somebody came in and they threw these new scripts down.

They said, okay, here's the alternate ending.

Let's take a five-minute break, learn our lines, and come back at you.

And I'm like, wait, wait, wait a minute, five minutes, what?

I had 10 hours to learn my lines.

Five minutes, I'm not learning new lines.

So I raced out the hallway,

had to study, learn all the lines, learn when I came in and whatever.

I wound up doing it, knocking it out, getting it done right.

And again, life experience with amazing people who were just so supportive.

And I was glad that I was able to be a tiny part of this amazing family.

Well, Angela, I found an interview with Paul, and he said that he landed in L.A.

at 1.30 in the morning.

The airline lost his luggage.

So he had no luggage.

He got to his hotel and went to sleep about 3.15 in the morning and he had to be up at 5 a.m.

for work.

So after all of that, I'm kind of amazed.

I would have been loopy.

I wouldn't have been able to learn new lines.

No.

And I think of Paul just like he's had no sleep.

He's probably in the same underwear because they lost his bag.

And he, you know, and now he's like, he thought he reached the finish line and then they hand him this whole new task.

Well, Paul sent a few more clips about his experience just being on set.

They're so delightful.

We're going to sprinkle those in throughout the episode.

All right.

Fast fact number three, Angela.

I'm titling this, Am I the Inspiration for This Episode?

I'm sorry.

What?

Were you a chair model?

No,

but in season one of the show, I wanted a new chair

at reception.

And I had to lobby for it.

So I'm sure I'm not the inspiration for this episode, but in season one, they gave me a chair at Reception Without Arms.

It was an armless chair.

And I really, really wanted a chair with arms.

And so I attempted to try to sort of move the chairs or find a chair maybe that hadn't been claimed or used.

It wasn't working.

And big shout out to our set dresser, Steve Rosteen, because he is one of the guys who headed up the team that picked out all our furniture on the office.

And he got me a chair with arms.

Oh, lady.

And I was so excited.

Well, I have a chair story for you.

I've been holding on to this, but I'm going to go ahead and tell you now.

The chair I'm sitting in right now, ready?

I'm going to pan down.

Do you see this chair?

I do.

It's a blue chair with mesh.

Do you recognize it?

I don't recognize it, but it has no arms.

Phil Shea gave me this chair.

It was a leftover chair from Workbus.

Oh my gosh, you've been sitting in a Workbus chair this whole time for a year in my closet.

I have been sitting in my Workbus chair and I was going to save it for Workbus, but we're having all this chair talk.

I couldn't hold it in anymore.

Well, I just have to say this is why our show is so great because getting a chair is a very relatable, big deal moment when you are in an office job or any job, your chair, you sit in it all day.

And they created this amazing wonderful storyline out of it

yes and thank you phil shea because i had gotten a desk you know i had in the corner of my guest room a little desk where i would sit and do work and i didn't have a proper desk chair i was using one of the kitchen chairs and i was sort of talking about it on set and phil shea was like ange i have some extra chairs from workbus do you want one i was like yes this is making me happy I know.

We all have a chair story.

And I have been sitting in it for a year with you and haven't told you because I was going to to try to work it into Workbus.

But there you go.

Let's take a break and when we get back, we'll get into it.

All right.

This show is sponsored by BetterHelp.

You know, sometimes we turn to some funny places for support.

Maybe a hairdresser, a barista, maybe a random stranger in the bathroom for life advice, but not everyone is a therapist.

You can find your right match with BetterHelp.

BetterHelp therapists are clinically trained and credentialed.

They work according to a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the U.S.

And BetterHelp does the initial matching work for you.

So you can focus on your therapy goals.

You'll get a short questionnaire that helps identify your needs and preferences, and then they will match you with a licensed therapist.

As the largest online therapy provider in the world, BetterHelp can provide access to mental health professionals with a diverse variety of expertise.

Find the one with BetterHelp.

Our listeners get 10% off their first month at betterhelp.com slash office ladies.

That's betterhelp, h-e-l-p.com slash office ladies.

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 remember when I left home and I had graduated college and I was getting my own apartment.

And I remember so clearly my dad saying, Ange, you won't be able to do this every month the same, but every month, make a commitment, save a little every month, and just try to make that a life goal.

That's something that Acorns does for you.

Acorns makes it easy to give your money a chance to grow.

Here's what it is.

It's a financial wellness app that helps you invest for your future, save for tomorrow, and spend smarter today.

And you don't need to be a finance whiz.

Acorns puts money into an expert-built portfolio to make sure you're investing wisely, not wildly.

Sign up now and Acorns will boost your new account with a $5 bonus investment.

Join the over 14 million all-time customers who have already saved and invested over $25 billion with Acorns.

Head to acorns.com slash Office Ladies or download the Acorns app to get started.

Paid non-client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns.

Tier 2 Compensation Provided Investing Involves Risk Acorns Advisors LLC and sec registered investment advisor view important disclosures at acorns.com slash office ladies

we are back we open on a jim and pam talking head they are standing outside of the dunder mifflin office and they are explaining that due to some renovations in the building all of their parking spots are being taken up and they have to park in a satellite lot and walk to work.

They're being really positive about it, though.

Yeah, they saw a junkyard dog eating, you know, some of a chicken.

Yeah, eating the bones of a rotisserie chicken, Angela, which was based on a real story.

Yeah, it was.

There was a junkyard next to our real office building, and there was a junkyard dog who they would throw like old rotisserie chicken bones to.

We've talked about this junkyard and the dog.

We got very invested in this dog's life that lived over there.

We did.

And it made it into an episode.

So then we have Oscar and Andy, who are less positive.

And then there's Kevin, who is just downright angry.

Kevin is going to have a breakdown over this satellite parking lot.

He is.

Well, Andy says he's so bummed because he lost a penny out of his penny loafers.

Yeah.

Jenna, I don't understand penny loafers, so I looked him up.

Oh, you could have asked me.

I wore penny loafers all through high school as part of my school uniform.

Okay, well, why did you put a penny in your penny loafer?

I don't know because there was a slot there for it.

Okay, well, I'll tell you.

I'll tell you why.

Oh my God.

Well, you have put me in my place.

You told me I could know about penny loafers.

You told me I could have asked you.

Well, you're not answering my question.

Why a penny in your loafers?

So, according to the internets, back in the 1930s, the payphone in the phone booth cost two cents.

The new loafer design allowed just enough space for a penny in each shoe, equaling the cost of an emergency phone call.

Thus, the penny and the loafer were united.

But only men could make emergency phone calls.

If you were a woman, so sorry.

You don't even get a pocket to put your pennies in.

Good luck, lady.

You're just going to die on the street.

But for the men, we have have pockets.

You can hide money in your shoes.

Where else can we make life easy for you, gentlemen?

That took a turn, but

point taken.

So now the episode starts, and Jenna, it would have started with a deleted scene with Michael checking out of shroop farms.

What?

Yeah.

Oh, because he's been staying with Dwight?

Yes.

So there was an alternate beginning where Michael is leaving the farm and he's like, it's moving day.

You know, I've been here about a month.

I let Jan have the condo and I'm moving out of shroot farms.

And as he's leaving, Dwight goes hold up and hands him a bill.

And Michael's like, wait, you were charging me this whole time?

And Dwight was like, yeah.

And then they have this funny back and forth about it.

Oh my gosh, my mind is blown by the backstory that Michael lived with Dwight for a month.

And it does sort of show why maybe now he's looking at the chair model like he is because he's a month past his breakup.

And

I don't know, maybe he's ready for something new.

Yeah.

Oh, can we see this deleted scene somewhere?

Yes, it's on the DVDs.

Amazing.

So the scene they went with is this one in his office.

He's looking through the catalog and really just gazing at this lady in this chair.

Well, we had some fan mail about it.

Carly D., Jenna A, Mariah K, and Charlotte S.

all wrote in to ask who played the chair model in the picture.

The chair model was played by April Eden.

She would go on to play Trish, aka Miss Pawnee, in two episodes of Parks and Recreation.

Well, I have a little background catch.

At a minute nine seconds, there's a wonderful shot of the chair model, but the magazine is sitting on top of some message slips oh

and i zoomed in on the message slip the message that was written down said andrea oofer or ooder guys i don't know i couldn't make it out from dunder lewisville called and asked michael to please call as soon as he returns and the number was 307-555-4438

So I called it.

Well, that's a fake number.

Well, yeah, it rang fast busy, but I wasn't sure, so I called it.

No, you know that thing where in movies, they always start phone numbers with 555 because nobody has that as a prefix.

Jenna, I know that, but we've had a phone number and it ended up being a sex hotline.

So I decided to do my due diligence.

It is a phony baloney number, but the area code 307 is a Wyoming area code, but there is no Louisville in Wyoming.

There you have it.

Boom.

Everything you needed to know about this message slip next to the catalog.

Angela, I admire you.

I do.

I really love that detail.

Pam just needs Michael to pick a chair so that she can get his chair.

But he is now obsessed with the chair model and Pam is very sad.

But then Michael has a talking head where he says he really likes being single because he can start start off each day with a sense of possibility.

And this was my favorite part when this talking head takes a turn.

He says, and each day becomes more desperate and desperate situations yield the quickest results.

Which is kind of true.

It is true.

There was an alt talking head here

that.

was pretty amazing.

Jenna, you know the nursery rhyme where it's like, Pam and Jim sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G.

You know that one?

Yes.

So he sort of used this nursery rhyme as a template for how to find your perfect match.

And Sam, can you play it?

Love, marriage,

baby carriage.

Those have been my goals ever since I heard that song.

Jan and I had love.

We did not have marriage.

We did have a baby carriage, which I got her for bringing groceries home after she got a DUI.

Oh my God.

It's just so messed up.

And I have to say, Jenna, in this scene with you, when he says, remember after my dinner party when I said that I was swearing off women, the way you said, I definitely remember your dinner party was so good.

You just crushed it.

I love doing that scene with Steve.

I remembered when I was watching it how much we were laughing.

It was just so fun.

That was a good memory.

It's a very subtle, like, reminder to the audience what just came before this.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, now, Jenna, we have a Creed talking head that is phenomenal.

It is phenomenal.

He says, when Pam gets Michael's old chair, he gets Pam's old chair, which will bring him to two chairs, only one more to go.

Why does he need so many chairs?

You're not the only person who's wondering.

We got a lot of mail about it, so I texted Creed.

Oh, no.

And he had a lot of answers for why he needed three chairs, and I'm going to share them all.

Wait, wait, is this sort of like Creed, the actor giving Creed the character backstory?

Yes.

Oh, I love it.

All right.

Option number one.

He was growing weed in the ceiling.

It was the same place where Angela threw her cat.

Now, he had access through a crawl space outside, but he needed to get in there at night by his desk.

So after finally getting his three chairs and climbing into the ceiling, they collapsed one night and he was stranded in the ceiling.

He wants you to know that's a whole thing that could have happened.

Creed, what the hell are you talking about?

You're going to stack three office chairs?

I think all three of them had wheels.

Yeah.

Well, here's option number two.

He said Creed stole many things from the office and he needed the extra chairs for a set because he was selling it to a competitive paper company.

That I believe.

Yes.

I believe Creed had many side hustles.

Well, here's his final answer.

After perfecting his cartwheel, he wanted to use the three chairs as part of an obstacle course to really challenge himself.

Well, that could have been very true.

Oh, Creed, you're so fun.

Thank you for humoring us time and time again.

Well, Michael tells everyone in the bullpen, get out your catalogs, open them to page 85, and take a look at the woman in the catalog.

Yeah, use that as a template for who you're going to set me up with.

Jenna, this was an announcement.

He came out of his office to address his employees.

Could you imagine working with a boss that made a huge announcement about how you should go about setting him up.

No, later he says if you don't provide him a name by the end of the hour, you're going to be fired.

We'll get there, but it's crazy.

So now, here's what I noticed.

We all do get out these catalogs and we start opening up to page 85.

And I remember these catalogs, Angela.

Do you remember them?

Yes.

So we got mail about this too.

Mariah, Charlotte, and Christina all wanted to know: did the props department have to make an entire entire magazine just for these scenes with the catalog?

No.

So what they did was they had like an actual, I don't remember what it was, Angela, do you, I think it was Staples or Office Depot or something?

And they glued a new cover on it.

Yes.

So it was like a Dunder Mifflin cover.

Yeah.

And then on the inside on page 85, they glued this two pages so that when we opened it up,

we could show those two pages.

But the rest of it was an actual office catalog.

That's right.

And they just had to print basically the cover and then the two insert pages that we would all turn to.

Right.

Jenna, you might notice there's not a lot of reaction shots of me in this because my belly was so big.

I'm Peak Preger's here.

That is why I'm not anyone that walked in, you know, like from the satellite parking lot.

So, Jenna, I don't know if you remember, but this week on our set, Chris Hastings, our NBC set photographer, was there and he took a picture of me at my desk.

I'm I'm completely out of character and I'm pointing at my belly.

Look, Jenna, here it is.

Oh my God, you're huge.

I know.

Anyway, I'll put that in stories, but yeah, it was getting really hard to hide my belly.

Well, there were enough shots of you, Angela, and I noticed that they were all very close up.

They're like shoulders and up, but it's enough for me to notice that you were wearing a blouse with tiny keys on it.

Little, like skeleton keys.

What was it?

Lady, look at this picture.

It's not a blouse.

It's a freaking dress.

It was a whole dress of it.

It was a turtleneck dress.

I mean, it looked like a Moo Moo.

It was very comfortable, but we were starting to struggle with what could fit me over my belly and look like business attire of someone who was not pregnant.

Yeah.

I have a question for you.

What is it?

At three minutes, 35 seconds, you'll notice that Kevin and Michael are sitting on the sofa by front reception.

Michael's wanting Kevin to set him up.

He's asking him about Stacey.

Do you know why they're sitting on the sofa and why Michael isn't in accounting talking to Kevin?

Well, I know that Kevin's feet are in a foot bath.

Is that why, though?

Yes, Jenna, there's a whole deleted scene where you're trying to answer the phone, but Kevin's foot bath, it's so loud.

It sounds like a ginormous hot tub, but it's a little foot bath.

So for the majority of this episode, Kevin is sitting there next to front reception.

Yes, he is is soaking his feet in his foot bath that he bought himself for the Christmas party episode, that very first episode.

And it's such a wonderful callback, but since they cut that scene at reception, you can't even really see it.

I tried to even find a time code where you could see the foot bath and you can't.

You can't.

You can see just like Kevin's pants are hiked up, and you're like, why are they hiked up?

Why am I seeing Kevin's bare ankles?

But it's because they're resting in a foot bath and that's in the deleted scenes.

Well, now Michael's going to walk around the office.

He's going to try to make pleas to various people in the office to see if they have any single friends that they can set him up with, which leads to a very funny runner with Phyllis about her friend Sandy.

Phyllis is so good in this scene.

So good.

And the way Steve fires off his questions about Sandy.

I mean, Phyllis says, look, she's gorgeous with a feisty personality.

And Michael's like,

so wait, jolly jolly or sassy?

Right.

And Phyllis is like, no.

And he's like, well, what does she do for a living?

And Phyllis is like, she's a professional softball player.

And Michael's like,

catch her or infield?

And she's like, I don't know.

Oh, and then he asks her if she could fit in a rowboat, in a standard size rowboat.

And Phyllis gets so angry with him.

She's like, fine, no, Michael.

No, she can't fit in a rowboat.

Ah, it's really amazing writing.

Michael really loses it now, Angela.

And he gives this impassioned speech where he says he wants to play ball with his kids before he's too old.

But first, he needs to get laid.

And that means he needs to be in love.

Oh, that kind of made me love Michael for saying that.

He just wants the picket fence and the kids and the two-car garage.

And he, he just,

Michael is one of these people.

And I, and anyone out there that's had children you know how you have one of your kids who just wants a family yes and Michael was that kid since he was a little boy all he wanted was a family I mean if you and not to be a downer but I don't think Michael had a great family experience as a child and he's still longing for it as an adult of course that's like part of his whole driving force yeah is to find family whether it be at work or with a partner he wants family yes Well, this is now Angela, where Michael says, everybody, I want you to give me the name of someone that he can go on a date with within the hour or they're fired.

And Dwight is going to hand out index cards that he's already written prompts for.

Did you see that?

Yeah, he's ready.

He's ready.

Well, listen, let's take a break.

And when we come back, we will find out how this goes.

Guess what?

Not well.

Should, maybe, but short.

That's right.

Fall is in full swing.

I am in Chicago, and I just had a costume fitting for my play, Ashland Avenue.

The costume designer gave me a pair of the most amazing corduroy pants.

I'm going to wear them in the play.

Guess where they are from?

Quince.

I couldn't believe it.

I told her, I love Quince.

She said, I love Quince.

And right now, Quince has all of the elevated essentials for fall.

You have to check out these corduroy pants.

They also have 100% Mongolian cashmere.

Starting at 50 bucks, you can give your wardrobe an upgrade that feels smart, stylish, and effortless.

Keep it classy and cozy this fall with long-lasting staples from Quince.

Go to quince.com/slash office ladies for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

That's q-u-in-ce-e.com slash office ladies to get free shipping and 365-day returns.

Quince.com slash office ladies.

This show is sponsored by Liquid IV.

So you guys know I play a lot of tennis.

I love it.

And it gets pretty hot here in the summer and it gets really hot on that tennis court.

So one of the things I always bring with me are my packets of Liquid IV.

New Liquid IV's Energy Multiplier, Sugar-Free Hydrating Energy.

It is scientifically formulated to support physical energy, hydration, focus, mood, and social stamina.

How about that?

Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone.

Powered by LIV Hydro Science, an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins, and clinically tested nutrients that turn ordinary water into extraordinary hydration.

Here are two of my favorite flavors I've got in my tennis bag right now, guava and lemon lime.

Hot tip for me: get the variety pack because then you get a lot of different flavors.

Ditch the glitch with zero sugar and zero crash from Liquid IV.

Tear, poor, live more.

Go to liquidiv.com and get 20% off your first order with code Office Ladies at checkout.

That's 20% off your first order with codeofficeladies at liquidiv.com.

Well, we're back.

We're in Michael's office.

Andy and Kevin are really making a passionate plea to Michael to please do something about these parking spots that the construction guys are blocking.

Michael says, you know what?

He's gotten assigned parking spots, so not really affecting him.

And there is a couplet of dialogue, Jenna, that just cracked me up.

Seven minutes, four seconds.

Michael says, I wish I could, but I can't.

Well, can, but won't.

Should, maybe short.

And Kevin's like, Michael, please.

And then Michael says, what part of short?

Don't you understand, Kevin?

What part of Short?

Don't you understand?

They're on their own.

He's not going to help them.

No, but he does give them permission to fix the problem themselves.

Yeah.

Right?

He thinks this will be a good thing for them to figure this out.

Right.

An exercise.

Meanwhile, In the break room, I don't even know what title to give this.

Everyone is sitting trying to come come up with a name to put on their card for Michael.

We had a fan question from Stephanie, Emily, Laura, and Ann.

When giving Michael names of single women he should ask out, Jim writes down Pam's mom.

I know.

Right?

Was this an intentional foreshadowing or just a coincidence?

Well, guys, spoiler alert.

In future seasons, Michael is going to date Pam's mom.

It was a very controversial storyline.

We'll get to it.

I think this was the first time the writers had ever even thought of this idea.

And it was just a funny joke in the moment, but I have to believe that it stayed in their brains.

It planted a seed.

Well, there's a deleted scene between Michael and Kelly where Michael's like, Kelly, who are you going to set me up with?

And she's like, well, I have a friend who's 23.

And he's like, yeah.

And she's like, oh, you know, I actually have the perfect group to set you up with.

My friend's parents who've gotten divorced.

And Michael's like, ah, and he walks off disgusted.

So there is sort of this running joke in this episode that didn't fully make it in that like Kelly is going to set Michael up with this whole older group of people.

Right.

The divorcee.

I guess I'll say the writers at this time didn't know yet that they were going to write that storyline, but I think this was the beginning of something.

It's the group mind, lady.

There it is in action.

I love that Michael calls Wendy.

It's so funny.

Do you know who the voice of Wendy was?

We got a lot of mail about it, and I wrote to Kent Zabornak, and he did not remember who we cast, but one of the finalists for the role was Lindsay Broad, who ends up playing an ARC on the show.

Yeah.

Now, I don't think she got the role.

I really listened to the voice, and I think it was someone else.

So I don't have the answer, but I thought it was very interesting that Lindsay had auditioned for just this voice role.

Right.

Well, you know who's on the case.

Who's always on the case?

Dwight.

Dwight, he's on the case.

He's going to find Michael, the chair model.

Yeah.

And he says, I will find her and I will bring her to you.

And as God is my witness, she shall bear your fruit.

This is such good writing, in my opinion, that we set up that Dwight is going to go on this quest.

And the quest literally lasts one scene.

Like, I think the expectation in writing is that we're now going to watch Dwight go on a search for the chair model, but then he sums it all up in one talking head.

Yeah, he basically only had to make two phone calls.

So the furniture company put him in touch with the advertising agency, who put him in touch with the photographer, who put him in touch with the modeling agency.

And the modeling agency told him that she died in a car accident.

Case closed.

Case closed.

Investigation over.

And by the way, he's super proud of his investigation, and it's not really landing on him that this is horrible news.

Michael takes the news really hard.

He has to sit down in Dwight's chair.

Yeah.

And Jim says, Michael, you didn't even know her.

Gasp.

Even Pam shakes her head at Jim.

Like, Jim, not now.

Michael's like, try not to be so hurtful, Jim.

Dwight's like, how dare you?

And one of my favorite lines of this whole episode is coming up.

What is it?

Pam says, okay, Michael, you know what?

I might have someone for you.

And Michael says, oh, really?

What's her name?

Burger King.

Yeah, that made me laugh out loud too.

Made me laugh so hard.

Pam, for whatever reason, decides to give Michael the phone number of her landlady.

Margaret.

Mm-hmm.

She says she's really nice and I think you might get along.

I mean, Michael's jazzed.

He's excited.

He starts brushing his teeth in the kitchen sink.

Why can't he do that in the men's room?

Well, don't worry, Angela.

He's not going to spit it out.

He swallows it.

Did you notice that?

Yes.

So disgusting.

Also, electric toothbrush.

Also, remember when we were wondering in local ad, does he have a toothbrush in the office?

He does.

So now the five families are going to be assembled.

Andy and Kevin are doing it.

Kevin has a talking head where he breaks down the five families, how they rarely ever meet.

Yeah, and they have this great footage of each member of the five families.

It's pretty amazing.

I have two little fun facts from this.

Okay.

So now when they show W.B.

Jones,

they kind of show a clip of what looks like a commercial that he's in where he's selling his air conditioners, right?

Right.

There's a 1-800 number in that commercial on the screen.

Did you call it?

I didn't need to call it because it's the exact same number that was on the flyer in Women's Appreciation, which we know is a sex hotline.

Why do we keep recycling this number?

I think we must have bought this number because after this this episode came out, they put an outgoing message for W.B.

Jones.

So if you called it, you got that message.

Yeah, we must have owned it for a bit and we clearly don't own it anymore.

We really don't.

Well, the other fun fact I have about this little montage is that at 10 minutes, 55 seconds, we see a photo of cool guy Paul sitting on a motorcycle.

And there's a very interesting story here.

Sam, will you play this clip from Paul?

Hey, so quick story about that motorcycle picture because a lot of people ask me, is that your motorcycle?

And no, it's actually, we were shooting the scenes and we were supposed to shoot somewhere on some guy's house in the back deck overlooking the ocean, but it got late in the day and they didn't want to move the whole crew and the cameras and the lighting and all that stuff.

So right behind the lot where they shoot.

all the scenes where the office is is a residential neighborhood.

So we went through the fence and it was some guy's house And we just set up on the front lawn.

I believe it was the motorcycle of one of the camera guys.

He happens to ride motorcycles, so he brought his motorcycle around.

I sat on it, we took a bunch of pictures, and that just became the shot associated with Cool Guy Paul.

And it saved having to move everybody to another location and spend hours doing it.

So it's people always ask me, is that your motorcycle?

How'd you get the motorcycle?

But nope, it was just a quick shot of one of the crew members' motorcycles.

Well, Jenna, I reached out to Kenneth Paul, who did my makeup on the show, because he rode a Harley, right?

To set.

Every day to work.

And I sent him the picture and I said, Kenneth Paul, is this your motorcycle?

And he said, no, Angela, that's not a Harley.

It's not mine.

So we don't know whose motorcycle it was, but I think that was Tom Melby's yard.

Oh, for sure.

When I heard Paul's clip and he said we went to some guy's yard through a fence, Tom Milby was our, I guess, general general maintenance guy on the show.

He was always fixing things.

When we went on vacations, he was the person who watered the plants and he lived right behind the set in a house.

I loved the idea that cool guy Paul was originally going to be filmed like in a big mansion with the ocean behind him.

It definitely tracks, right?

Yeah.

But then they had to scramble and they're like, what else is cool?

Ooh, a motorcycle.

And I kind of love the motorcycle better, actually.

I do too.

So, Jenna, at 11 minutes 30 seconds, it is time for Michael to go on his date.

He's at the coffee shop.

He's a little early, so he's going to go ahead and get a cup of coffee.

Oh, here's his order: large hot chocolate with caramel and a shot of peppermint.

He's going to pay for it with his, did you notice, bejeweled wallet?

No!

Yeah.

What?

It's really subtle, but if you freeze at 11 minutes, 26 seconds, Michael is paying for his coffee.

Yeah.

And his wallet has an outline of little bedazzled fuchsia gems.

I am so curious why.

Did Jan get bored and bedazzle everything in their whole condo one day?

Perhaps.

I looked at it so closely.

There's no name on it.

It's just an outline.

I need to see that.

Fascinating.

Well, he's looking around and he's trying to figure out where's his date.

He's wearing a rose on his lapel, right?

Because that's how you'll know it's him.

Could you imagine if Michael was in The Bachelor, that reality show?

So crazy.

That would be so good.

I was thinking the other day, what would I be like on The Bachelor?

Oh, God, you wouldn't do it.

You'd say, oh, right, all these women have to kiss the same guy.

F you, patriarchy.

You wouldn't do it.

But then I was sort of like daydreaming about me getting out of the limo in my joggers and a hoodie

and just keeping it super real.

I was like, dude, I'm getting out of the limo how you're going to see me most of the time after we have two kids.

And if you love me now, you're going to love me then.

And I think we should start this way.

That'd be my pitch.

You literally said that with like a snarl in your lip.

You're like, this is.

It's badass.

It's a badass way to start a date.

If you're getting out of a limo on my first date, you've already lost me.

It's so true.

If you want to dial up the douchery, show up in your limo.

Well, Michael sees a woman.

It's such a funny line.

He says, I'm looking for a woman in blue jeans and a black top with brown hair.

And he goes, there she is.

And the camera swings to a blonde, a tall blonde, wearing a skirt, like a floral skirt with a top.

Clearly not the description he was given.

But he says, there she is.

I give her a 10 for looks and a three for describing herself.

Oh, he's so charmed.

Okay, obviously the woman in the dress is not his date since she's dressed nothing as described.

But then Pam's landlady walks in, Margaret, wearing jeans and a black top, and Michael gets one look at her.

He's clearly disappointed, and he tries to get out of it.

Oh, it's so cringy.

And she's really cute and like nice.

Like, what is wrong with Michael?

Michael has such a bad picker.

Yes.

Well, Pam's landlady was played by Brooke Dillman.

She is an improv comedy actress.

She starred in this sketch comedy show called Blue Collar TV.

And by the way, she has voiced several characters on Bob's Burger.

She's amazing.

She's just got the chops.

Brooke is hilarious.

I have just known her through improv circles over the years, and she's so funny.

And, you know, I know her role as Margaret was supposed to be understated.

And I just wish you guys could see the comedy chop she has.

I know you see it in her timing of the scene and all of that, but she is really, really funny.

You know, a lot of times it takes a great comedic performer to play restraint.

Yeah.

To have the patience to play the restraint.

Yes.

And to not try to overload the scene with their own bits.

Yeah.

And she does it perfectly.

Incidentally, she graduated from the University of Missouri's theater program.

Good old Mizzou.

That was about 90 minutes away from the school that I went to in Kirksville, Missouri.

I had to drive through Mizzou, Columbia, Missouri to get to Kirksville.

You and Brooke criss-crossing.

Exactly.

I know.

We're both two gals from theater schools in Missouri who landed on the office.

Go Mo.

The scene between Margaret and Michael is so cringy.

Michael literally is like rubbing his forehead like he's in pain.

He's like, so you get the rent checks every month?

And she's like, yeah.

I mean, it's like, I know.

He's like, and then what do you, what do you do with them?

And she goes, are you really asking me what I do with the checks that people give me?

And he's like, I'm just, I'm trying to make conversation, okay?

Oh, Michael.

And he just talks about like, he goes, well, this is who I was dating before you.

And he shows the photo of Jan.

Oh, and then he calls her by accident.

It's just like layer of layer of cringy.

And then he kind of starts opening up to Margaret about like how it's so hard to find someone.

And he tells her, you know, thanks.

This has been nice.

It's like talking to the old lady on the bus.

And Margaret's had it.

She's like, you're rude.

That was rude.

Well, and then Michael says, well, now you've ruined it.

Michael was such a jerk in this scene.

Listen, if you had any sympathy for him after dinner party, it's evaporated after this scene.

Yeah.

We were very good at taking you on quite the roller coaster as your feelings for Michael are concerned on this show.

But at this scene, I was like, you deserve, Jan.

You deserve to sleep on the bench at the foot of the bed.

You're being such a turd.

Exactly.

It's very complicated.

Well, now we go into this wonderful scene where Andy and Kevin are going to meet with the heads of the five families.

Yeah.

Make their plea.

They're in what looks like to be some kind of conference room at the Scranton Business Park.

I wanted to point out at 14 minutes, 12 seconds, how nice the freaking TV is in this conference room.

Yeah.

It is a true big flat screen TV.

Not like Michael's tiny one.

Nothing like our crazy old tube TV that we roll in on a cart for our conference room scenes.

Yeah, it's like a fancy big flat-screen TV.

Yeah.

Imagine if Michael had seen it, he would have passed out.

Well, we asked Paul about shooting this scene, and I loved what he had to say.

Here it is.

So, being on set, it sort of be careful what you wish for because I'm a huge fan of the show, think they're super funny.

And I remember the first time we're about to shoot,

they say, okay, quiet on the set, cameras rolling, and I will never forget it.

But Brian says, okay, nobody

F up,

Paul.

And he looks at me.

And, you know, he was messing around, but it was so funny.

And then the entire time we shot the scene, I had my lines to say, but we shot it about 20, 30 times.

And every single time, Brian and Ed said different things.

And I happened to think they're super funny.

And it was very hard to keep a straight face.

I never knew what was going to come out of their mouths.

They were making faces at at me, trying to get me to laugh, and I had to sit there and be dead serious.

I didn't want to be the guy to mess up the scene.

So working with people who were literally comic geniuses in their delivery and their timing and having to sit there and being the new guy on set and trying to keep a straight face and not to mess up was a challenge, but such a

life experience and just so funny to do.

And I'm so honored to be a part of a small little part of the office.

I love that Brian and Ed were trying to mess with them.

We would do this.

We would know when someone was going to break and we would have a little fun.

We would.

It's true.

Well, Paul mentioned to us, you know, what it was like to get lines at the last minute, but he also talks to us about what it was like just being on the set and the lingo that they used.

So we're shooting the scene over and over again.

You know, we want to get it right.

And sometimes the lines don't work, but the facial expressions are great.

So one of the guys comes in and says,

when this happens, I forget the word he used.

I want you to do this.

And then he walked out.

And I'm looking around like, I have no idea what that means.

So, the camera guy behind me, he's like, You don't know what that means?

I'm like, No, I've never done this before.

He goes, Okay, I'll tap you on the shoulder when you should say your line.

So, I was literally sitting there, and something was going on.

And I felt the camera guy who was shooting over my shoulder tap me on the shoulder when to say my line.

And it was just sort of indicative of the whole experience because everybody was so friendly and helpful and just wanted to get it done right.

Um, except I think uh, uh, Brian and Ed, who were just trying to make me laugh the whole time.

Can I say, Angela, that when we got these audio clips from Paul, the thing that was so fun for me was

his observations as a non-actor being on a set, because it really took me back to all of those moments in my career as an actor where you just are learning on the fly.

I didn't learn any of this stuff in theater school, and I don't even know if there is any other way to learn it.

You just kind of absorb it in the moment.

But he sent in an audio clip that is my favorite.

Me too.

Because I struggled with this too.

You and I have talked about this, but I don't think we've ever talked about it on the pod.

So this is great.

I love that he had the same, the same observation.

Okay, we'll play it and then we'll talk about it.

So this was a new experience for me.

I kind of, it was my first time being really on the set.

And I'm sitting on my trailer going, what do I do now?

So I decided to get something to eat.

I walk out and I'm like, where can I get some food?

And they pointed me in the direction of where the breakfast was.

And as I started walking, I heard someone in the headset go, Cool guy, Paul's going to breakfast.

And then I come back and I hear them go, Cool guy, Paul's back in his trailer.

Everywhere I went, someone's like, Cool guy, Paul's in the bathroom.

Cool guy, Paul's in it.

Like, someone had to know where I was at all times.

I thought it was really funny.

They had to track me to make sure they knew where I was in case they needed me.

So that was one super funny story from being on the set.

Yeah, you guys, on film and television sets, there is a whole network of production assistants that wear these walkie-talkies and they have little earpieces, kind of like the Secret Service, you know?

But not as fancy, but not as fancy.

Like when they talk into them, you hear it echo.

Well, their job is literally to keep track of all the actors at all times.

And you can hear them tracking you all day as you walk by.

As you walk by.

And sometimes you hear it from the person directly behind you who's actually speaking about you.

And then you hear it in stereo from the other person they're talking to as you walk past them.

And I guess the theory behind it, Jenna, is that production needs to know where we are because if the scene is lit and ready, they need us on that soundstage ready to go.

And they can't have an actor unaccounted for because then that holds everyone up and it costs money, right?

Yeah.

So when they're lighting a scene, they let you go back to your trailer.

You might use the restroom.

You might get a snack.

In our case, maybe we pop over to the writer's building and we're hanging out.

But once the scene is ready, they have no time to lose because a production day is very regimented and if you run out of time that means you probably have to cut something and you don't want that right you don't want to have to cut content right so yeah all day long but my favorite thing angela is that they came up with a code for the bathroom.

I guess maybe it's to be, I don't know, more discreet, but everyone knows what the code is.

The code is 10-1.

Jenna is 10-1.

Everyone knows when you go to the bathroom on a set.

Every single person.

It goes through every walkie-talkie.

Angela 10-1, Jenna 10-1.

And I just want you to know, what if you need to 10-2?

And you're going to be in there for a minute.

Every time they would announce Jenna is 10-1,

I would get a lot of anxiety because I would think, I better make it fast, or they're going to think I'm doing a poop.

Right.

What about when we both started pumping?

And then you would hear in the walkie, Angela's pumping.

Angela's going to pump.

Yeah.

All your business.

All your business through a walkie-talkie.

It's crazy.

And I get why they have to do it, but it is very surreal.

And so that clip from Paul really,

Jenna and I immediately called each other.

We're like, oh, my gosh.

He talked about the thingy with the tracking.

The tracking.

They should warn you in film school.

That you're going to be tracked all day.

They should warn you because it's very jarring at first.

Yeah.

Well, let's just say that this meeting of the five families goes very well.

It also goes very quickly in about three sentences.

W.B.

Jones agrees, fine, you can have your parking spaces back.

It's a triumph.

Listen, it looks like Kevin's about to cry.

And Bill Kress is not here for that.

He can't handle a grown man crying about a parking spot.

And so Paul Faust calls it.

He's like, just give them their spots back.

And it just wraps up so quickly.

It does.

And then Paul has a great line where he says this could have been an email, which is like a meme.

It also speaks to me.

Yeah.

I mean, Paul needs to get out and ride his motorcycle.

He's done.

Kevin's talking head after this scene broke my heart.

Brian did such a good job with it.

He just says that after Stacey broke up with him, it was really a tough time.

And, well, it's just nice to win one.

And he tears up.

It was so sweet.

Yeah.

Guys, we didn't didn't go to the character of Kevin very often for a heartfelt moment on the show.

And it's a shame because Brian Baumgartner is a fantastic actor.

Yeah.

And you can see that in this talking head.

Yeah, I was excited to get to see this performance from him.

Great job, Bea.

Oh, no, Michael has come back from his date and he's very angry.

He gives a big speech.

Angela, here are the things that he's a man of.

Intensity,

cool, youth, and passionately.

He's a man of passionately.

He's a man of youth and passionately.

Well, at 15 minutes, 10 seconds, you might notice I'm writing on the top of my desk.

I have several papers on this very little thin lip of the top of my desk.

I had to do that for camera because when I was staging my writing on the actual desk, they couldn't see my face when Michael entered.

I have to imagine that was a tough reach and very awkward because you're leaning over your desk to write on a tiny ledge.

Well, I'll tell you something.

Pam's desk was very narrow in general.

I couldn't fit more than a keyboard on it.

In order to write on Pam's actual desk, which was made very thin, I think, for production, it was always awkward.

Always.

Yeah.

So I've perched up on that little ledge, which was also awkward.

In this scene, Jenna, it seems like Jim and Pam are just kind of teasing each other.

Like he's like, what were you thinking?

Setting Michael up with your landlord.

Now you have to move out.

That went horribly.

And they're kind of joking.

And she's like, maybe I should move in with my boyfriend.

And then Pam has a moment of vulnerability.

And you see it in your face, Jenna.

where you're going to be an advocate for yourself.

This is something you've been working on.

And she says, you know what?

I'm only going to move in with my boyfriend if I'm engaged.

Yeah.

And Jim doesn't miss a beat.

He's like, oh, it's coming.

Of course.

And then Pam just kind of keeps joking along.

And Jenna, I was like, does Pam, I mean, in the moment, I was positive that Jim was serious.

Does Pam know?

Does Pam know he's doing a bit?

Does it hit her that he's not?

I think this maybe,

in my backstory, was kind of one of the first times that this idea of them getting engaged or married has really come up.

And that was a reason why I chose to kind of hesitate as well when Pam says, oh, I'm not going to move in with anyone until I'm engaged, is because this idea of being engaged, it's not something that I thought they had talked about a lot yet.

No, and

that's how it reads.

As an audience, I loved it because this is how real life stuff comes up.

Sometimes it just seeps in to like a mundane conversation and then you're like, oh, crap, we're here now.

Okay.

Yes.

And so I think Pam isn't totally sure what to do with this conversation.

Was it a bit?

Is he being serious?

Now he has a talking head for the audience where he says, oh, I'm not kidding.

I got this a week after we started dating.

And he shows an engagement ring.

And I'm sorry.

Does he carry it to work with him every day?

I don't know.

Does it live in his pocket?

Is he too worried to leave it at his apartment?

Like,

he has it ready to go.

We had a fan question from Abigail B.

who said, is the ring Jim shows the camera the ring he proposes with later and the one that Pam wears for the rest of the show?

I think it is.

I think that it is.

I remember Phil Shea coming up to me and presenting me with a tray of rings, and he and I had a very long conversation about what kind of ring would Jim buy Pam.

Like, Jim's going to hit it out of the park for Pam.

Remember, Pam was always a little disappointed in her ring from Roy.

That was my backstory.

The cluster.

Yes.

And so Phil was like, what would make Pam's heart sing?

And I remember picking that ring.

So, yeah, I think it is that ring.

It's a pretty bold move, Jim, to buy it the first week you guys started dating.

Yeah.

But I guess he knew he loved her for a long time.

Yeah.

Well, guys, here's a scene that's in Michael's office that I love.

It's shot a little differently.

This was Jeff Blitz.

You know, there's always so many of the same scenes in the same places because we only had one set, and every once in a while, a director would find a fun way to shoot.

And Jeff Blitz had this idea for this scene between Michael and Dwight that he would just lower the camera a little and shoot at an angle and slowly push in as Dwight convinces Michael that what he needs is closure.

And when I watched the scene, there was a brief moment that I thought he meant with Jan.

Same.

He needs closure with Jan, but no.

No.

It's with the chair model.

So they head to the cemetery of a woman he's never met.

That's right.

And they are going to launch into a tribute to her

by singing a version of American Pie.

Bye, bye, Miss Chairmodle Lady.

Oh my gosh.

So, you know, the writers actually had a hard time getting a song cleared for this shocker.

The first song they were going to parody was Elton John's Candle in the Wind, but they could not get the rights because here's an interesting bit of trivia.

He had given permission for the song to be parodied on 30 Rock and he did not care for the results.

So he said no more parodies of Candle in the Wind.

No.

Okay.

They also wrote parodies of Legs by ZZ Top.

She's got legs.

How is that a song you sing at a grave site?

She was a chair model and you really see her legs in the picture.

Oh my gosh.

Okay.

And then also Ruby Tuesday by the Rolling Stones.

Oh, I love Ruby Tuesday.

But the the song that got cleared was American Pie, and I'm so glad it did because I really love them in the dark singing.

Well, we can't wrap up this episode without this adorable scene.

Jenna, I literally wrote adorable and highlighted it

between Jim and Pam as they're walking to the satellite parking lot.

And the sun is setting.

You guys both look like angels.

You both look so flipping adorable.

Well, I remember we had to wait in our trailer for that light.

That's called the magic hour.

Yeah.

In the biz, and there's this little 45 minutes when the sun is truly magical.

Everybody, take your photos at magic hour.

It's when you look the best.

That's right.

If you're planning a wedding, plan for some like magic hour photos.

Yeah.

So we waited for that moment and we could only do a few takes because then we were going to lose the light.

He drops to one knee.

Mm-hmm.

Well, I'll tell you, this moment was promoed like crazy.

Like crazy.

I bet they blasted it out.

Yeah.

Well, you know, we talked about how season four was interrupted by the writer's strike.

The writers originally had this very, very big storyline for Jim and Pam that I think involved them moving in together, if I'm correct.

And instead, because we lost a bunch of episodes, they were like, you know what?

We should skip that and they should just get engaged or we should just skip to the part where we're thinking they might get engaged any minute.

And so that was where this part of the story came from.

I like it.

I like that Pam still had her own place.

I like all of that storyline for her because you sort of feel like Pam lived with Roy for a long time.

And then she finally carved out her own space in the world.

And I really liked that choice.

Well, your reaction when you realize that Jim is faking is so great.

It's so cute.

You're like, I hate you.

And he's like, what?

It's really cute.

Yeah.

I have some bad news.

What?

I mean, spoiler alert: Pam's gonna need to go to art school.

We're gonna frustrate you.

I know.

This proposal is gonna take a little while, but we're planting the seeds.

They have to pull you guys apart to put you back together.

It makes me crazy.

I know.

Well, guys, that is Cher model.

Next up is Night Out.

I'm really enjoying season four, Angela, I have to say.

Me too.

So fun.

And for all of you chair models out there, just know your work is not in vain.

You might be inspiring others to find true love.

And Paul, thank you so much for sending in these audio clips and being so quick to respond when I texted you.

You are just such a delight and I adore you.

And these made our day, Jenna.

And you guys, 1-800-prepare.com, get your preparedness, safety, and survival information there and all the kits you might ever need.

You know, I'm on that.

Oh, I know.

I was like, oh, Paul, there's some good stuff on here.

Christmas gift for me.

Earmark that.

Survival and emergency kits and products, Jenna.

We'll see you next week, everyone.

See you next week.

Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.

Office Ladies is produced by Earwolf, 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.

As a young adult, finding the right path to your future can feel overwhelming.

It starts with Year Up United's tuition-free job training program Career Pathways.

If you're without a bachelor's degree but have a high school diploma or GED, you can get skills-first training to succeed in the industries you're passionate about, all while earning a weekly educational stipend to offset basic expenses.

From there, you'll have access to internships and hands-on experiences with Fortune 500 companies.

And with Europe United's job placement services and personalized coaching and mentorship, you can put your knowledge, skills, and most importantly, confidence into practice.

Apply to Europe United today and take the first step toward achieving the career you want.

Visit Europe.org to learn more.

What kind of programs does this school have?

How are the test scores?

How many kids to a classroom?

Homes.com knows these are all things you ask when you're home shopping as a parent.

That's why each listing on Homes.com includes extensive reports on local schools, including photos, parent reviews, test scores, student-teacher ratio, school rankings, and more.

The information is from multiple trusted sources and curated by Homes.com's dedicated in-house research team.

It's all so you can make the right decision for your family.

Homes.com.

We've done your homework.