Revisited with Carey Bennett

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 SimplySafe.

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 HydroScience, 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 code Office Ladies at liquidiv.com.

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.

Do not turn off this podcast.

Keep listening to this.

This is a good one.

I know we're not breaking down an episode this week, but oh my gosh, this is so good.

It is a delicious second drink.

We have uncovered some fun stuff.

This is a season four revisited, and we are going to kick things off with an interview.

We got to talk with Carrie Bennett, our wardrobe designer for seasons one through four.

She is a badass woman.

She is one of the original visionaries for the show.

She helped create the show.

You're going to hear all about it.

She's amazing.

Let's get to it.

it.

Let's get to it.

Hey, hello, Carrie.

Hi, Carrie.

Welcome to Office Ladies.

Oh, I'm so happy to be here.

This is so fun.

Carrie, I have been so excited for you to come on the podcast because I know that you have like literally the most awesome stuff to share.

I know your story, and I can't wait for everyone to hear it.

Oh, good.

Yes, it is fantastic.

And for the true office fan, Carrie really helped shape the look of the show in maybe the biggest way.

Yeah.

But let's start at the beginning.

We always like to ask people, how did you get your job on the office?

I was designing the TV show Scrubs.

So I was doing a lot of work with NBC at the time.

You know, it's all kind of foggy to me.

Somehow I ended up on the pilot of the office.

And it was in between, it was like on a hiatus from Scrubs.

Like I just squeezed it in.

It was just a little pilot.

90% never go anywhere.

That's right.

You were like, it's a good summer job.

Right.

I'm on a break from my regular job designing a whole TV show, Scrubs.

So I'll just do this as a little summer break gig.

Right.

Well, you just, you know, you don't know.

You don't like put too many eggs in that basket.

It was actually a really long time before it went somewhere, I think, wasn't it?

It was.

A year, maybe, I feel like.

It was.

Okay, so here's the story I'm dying for you to tell, Carrie, which is you agree to do the pilot for the office, office, and now you have to create the wardrobe design.

What do you wear at a paper company in Scranton?

Right.

Well, you know, research is the king of the whole deal.

And I never assume that I know what I'm talking about.

Like, I always try to go to the source and see something in real life because real life is always way more nuanced and

amazing than anything you can think up in your head.

Like it just is.

I always find things that astound me and are like the little seed that kind of like sets the fire off in me.

Yeah.

So, how did you do that?

How did you like find the real life of this?

Yeah, well, so I was like, I've never worked in an office.

I have no idea.

So I literally opened the phone book and I looked for paper companies.

And there happened to be one in Glendale, the next town over from me.

And I just kind of like called them up.

I talked to the owner and I invited myself over there

to a Glendale paper company.

Yeah.

And the owner was so darling.

And I just went in there and was very respectful and was like, this is what I'm doing.

I'm just trying to get a vibe and see what goes on here and see if I can kind of glean some details that maybe I wouldn't have normally known.

But once I got in there, I was like, oh my God.

I mean, having watched the English version of it, it couldn't have been more perfect.

I mean, there was like inspirational posters that they had printed off their printer.

So they were like super long and they went all the way down the hallway of like inspirational things.

Just, you know, funny things posted, really personal things posted.

There was a moose head in the, or

maybe it was a deer, a deer head in the

warehouse.

Like just

amazing details.

So I took a million pictures and I took pictures of all the people.

They were so kind to let me do that.

Yeah, literally all the characters were there in different iterations.

Even Dwight was there.

Although he was this guy that wore like a wolf t-shirt.

Uh-huh.

That is very Dwight.

So did you take all those pictures and show them to Greg?

Yeah, so I made a little slideshow and I put the little music, Welcome to the Working Week, and I brought it in from my first meeting with everybody.

And I was like, you know, it's like playing and it's showing all these guys.

Greg was like,

what is this?

Where is this?

And you will take us there.

Who all did you take there?

So then we all went back and we took the, we took Greg.

I think possibly Ken Kwapis came with us.

We took our production designer, who was Donald Lee Harris at the time.

I think our DP came and we just all trundled back over there.

And this time we brought video cameras and we videotaped everything.

What were these people thinking?

They're like, I am selling paper in Glendale for years and now all of a sudden, all of a sudden, people want photos of my wolf shirt.

What's happening?

I took pictures of them out like smoking outside the warehouse and just all that stuff.

All the little details.

I still have that.

I still use it as a slideshow sometimes when I teach costume design.

Like, you know, I'm like, you got to, you can't just go on Wikipedia and do your research.

You have to go and see real people doing this.

But I just think that's so fantastic, Carrie, that you're like, no, I'm going to go see what this looks like.

And then use that information to inform you about how to create Dunder Mifflin.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, the thing is, this trip to this Glendale paper company, it did not just inform the wardrobe of our show.

It informed the entire look of our show.

When you took those guys over to film, I know that they used that in the production design.

They used it in so much of creating the world of Dunder Mifflin.

And that was all initiated by you.

We have you to thank.

Yes, we have you to thank for Dwight's mustard shirt.

Like, how did you do that?

How did you come up with these looks for the different characters?

Oh my gosh.

Well, I mean, it really, literally, the jumping off point was that office and just that vibe.

Like, that's what I'm saying.

Like, I have to feel immersed in that world.

Otherwise, I can't do it justice.

It will always feel a little bit fake.

And, you know, the thing about what I saw there was that, and I think maybe in a lot of offices, is that the looks are slightly dated.

Like everybody's a little dated.

So like I kind of was having this, we did this like in the early 2000s, right?

It was 2005, I think.

So it was kind of like, I sort of was like early 90s was kind of where, or like almost even 80s, like a little bit of that clunkiness, like just kind of,

you know, not real polished was what I was after, which was actually.

the hardest line to hold with y'all.

Keeping it not too polished, you know, like that's, I I think that that gives it this

vulnerability and sweetness is what makes the characters really, you know,

attractive.

Um, well, Carrie, I remember working in a real office and I didn't want to invest a whole lot of money in my office wear because I didn't super love my office job.

Right.

So

I thought of that with Pam.

I remember thinking, I know she has to dress for work and I had to dress for work, but I want to put my money into my cute non-work clothes more than I want to spend a bunch of money on like expensive pants for work.

No, exactly.

Expensive shoes, right?

And so that's, that's reality.

That's real life.

And you were trying to create a real life office environment.

And that was 100% my idea with Jim, because obviously, I mean, he's like this super handsome Hollywood guy.

And I always imagined that he was probably borrowing his dad's stuff like maybe he grabbed a couple ties from his dad's closet and that's why he always had those kind of woolly ties you know which I had great ones for the pilot and then it was really hard to keep finding those we actually ended up making them but that kind of clunkiness the sort of softness of them really helped bring him down you know make him just really sort of a real guy but I always imagine that that's maybe where he got his closet from like he didn't necessarily shop for it you have shared with Jen and I that you had a tie story for all the fellas.

So so that would be Jim's, right?

That he was borrowing his dad's old ties.

What were some of the other ones?

Michael's was just that he, I think they were ties that he thought were cool, but they were just kind of staticky.

They just kind of looked like static.

And of course, like Dwight's, his whole muddy

story, his the mustard and the olives, actually that that mustard shirt is kind kind of like a good luck thing that I do on my projects.

And that has a backstory.

That was from Scrubs, the wonderful director that pulled me onto that project, Adam Bernstein.

He has a thing about mustard shirts, and he was like, We just need a mustard shirt.

It's just important.

And now, and of course, then that show took off.

And so now I try to put a mustard shirt.

Like, it's just my thing.

Mustard shirt.

So, wait, the mustard shirt is the good luck charm for you?

Yes.

That, and I discovered, like, when I was shopping for this I did a lot of shopping at Mervyn's at JC Penny and at the time in the men's section you could buy a whole outfit the suit the shirt the tie and the belt all for like a hundred dollars and they had all of his all of Dwight's colors they had there and I just it was just I just you blew my mind I'm like who's wearing these colors?

You know, and I just thought that was so hilarious.

I'm like, that's what you would do.

You would just buy the suit kit.

Right.

Especially Dwight, because he's so efficient, right?

He'd be like, well, there, done.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, Carrie, I remember when I had to do an episode, it was the email surveillance episode where I had to wear casual clothes finally.

I was going to get to wear jeans instead of a pencil skirt and hose.

And when I came into my fitting, you had a whole bunch of jeans from old Navy, I think, and maybe the gap.

And there was not one pair of designer jeans on the rack.

And I noticed it because I had done other projects where I wore jeans and they would always put me in designer jeans.

And so I mentioned that.

I said, I'm noticing you didn't buy any designer jeans.

And you said, well, Jenna, Pam can't afford designer jeans.

Pam has to only wear clothes that she can afford.

And we picked out totally cute jeans, but I just was like, yes.

I hate it when I watch TV and somebody is like a struggling pediatric nurse in $200 jeans.

It drives me nuts.

And so

I just loved your integrity.

Well, that episode in particular was Jim's barbecue, right?

And we really got to see everybody as their true selves.

And really and truly, the one that stood out to Jen and I was Meredith.

Like that was a very revealing outfit into Meredith's life.

So yes, we'd love to hear more about that.

I mean, those are the kind of episodes that

totally throw me for a loop because you get in this rhythm of making these sort of you know we have our iconic looks like we know we know all the characters but then will we still know them when they're in their everyday clothes like that always takes a lot of brain power you know that episode in particular

you guys were so

invested in your characters by then and i i feel like that was it's something kind of of an era like i don't always see that nowadays when i design stuff that the actors

have thought through who they're being, but you guys were there, and I always took my cue from anything.

I mean, Rain always would call me and be like, I have this idea, this hat.

I've got this hat on my mind, you know, and

it was the same with Meredith's outfit.

Like, she was like, I just feel like I should wear this biker jacket.

Like, I think it just, it's like this whole side of me that nobody knows.

I was like,

okay, let's figure that out.

Let's work that in.

I always say that as the costume designer, I'm sort of the filter.

I'm reading the script.

I'm hearing from producers.

I'm hearing from the actors.

And then I'm putting my own spin on it too.

But it's just all that information gels together somehow.

And that's the magic.

Well, I have a question for you.

Dwight and Angela bumped some Birkenstocks in that episode.

And I remember, Carrie, we had several like Birkenstocks for me to try on.

Like, I feel like you sort of also shaped that moment, like those two Birkenstocks.

Do you remember that?

You know what?

That's that's such a perfect example of like that Kismet that just kind of all the magic that all happens.

Like we had those Birkenstocks because that was a product placement thing that we had.

But the people that were offering us product placement because it was like an office show, it was all these really comfortable brands.

Like there, I think we had Earth shoes and we had Birkenstocks, and you know, but that free stuff was integral to costuming everybody because our budget was so tiny.

I mean, just to give you an idea, I had, let's see, seven regulars on scrubs.

I had 16 regulars on the office that I had to dress every, every show.

And I had $5,000 less a week to spend.

Wow.

So we were just always scraping, scraping, scraping.

So, so, yeah, so I had, so we had a big box of Birkenstocks, but it fit.

Like, you know, I thought it was a nice way to sort of, like, have show that connection.

And also, like, there's a, there's a foreshadowing of that moment moment in the episode.

Like you show, you're like, I stepped in something with your Birkenstock.

So you see your Birkenstocks and then somehow he, he mentions his too, and you see his.

So I thought it was kind of great.

It was like this moment where,

oh, they both wear utilitarian shoes.

So anyways, it's just like one of those costume things.

Like it just all like

matched up into that beautiful moment.

Well, I noticed in re-watching a few episodes that like my pants would be a little bit too long, like mentioning seeing my feet in the Birkenstocks.

Like, I, nothing was altered.

Like, very rarely did we alter anything.

And I know that goes along with the budget you had, but I went on to do a show after the office, and I have never been so altered in my life.

You know, the little seam on your shoulder?

I realized all my shirts on the office, like, the seam hit me like halfway down my arm.

It was like all of a sudden, every little thing was altered.

And in re-watching like this episode in particular, I was like, oh, look how long my pants are.

Right.

Well, but on purpose, though, because I mean, that was the thing.

It's, you know, it's so funny.

Somewhere along the way, Ricky Gervais came to our set and he's like, how's it going?

And I'm like, well, my biggest challenge is sort of holding the line and making everybody look really pedestrian because here they are, these incredible Hollywood actors coming to work and they all look chic in their cute little designer jeans.

And I got to take them down a notch.

That like that's my job.

And he was like, oh my God, tell me about it.

He was like, after the first season of the English office, like everybody came back, they were tan, they had their teeth were all fixed and white.

And I was like, oh my god, thank you for feeling my pain.

Like,

I know.

We had outfits.

I remember fittings.

And Carrie, I'm like, oh, no, I feel like I should apologize.

Where you would put something on me and I would go to like the cuter thing.

And I'd be like, what about that?

And you'd be like, Angela, no,

no.

You don't get to do that on this show.

I'd be like, I know.

It was really hard.

It was really hard.

But I think that that

is what makes the character so endearing.

Like that's because that's how real people are.

Like they don't have everything tailored.

It's off the rack.

Well, sometimes you had to create wardrobe from scratch.

Like in the fire episode, you had to create the uniforms that the fire department wore.

And I remember you wanted it to be authentic to Scranton.

Will you tell us that story?

Okay, so there was no way to see what the fire department in Scranton looked like on the internet.

So I figured out the Chamber of Commerce in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and I called them up.

And amazingly, the amazing Mari answered the phone.

And I was like, I just explained everything.

I'm like, I'm working on this TV show.

I'm trying to recreate your fire department.

Is there anybody who could go over there and take a picture of

the patch for me?

And she did it.

She actually did it.

And she sent me this picture.

So this woman you had never met got in her car, drove to the fire department, took a photo.

That's so great.

And then she subsequently became the liaison between our show and Scranton, Pennsylvania.

And I called on her for everything that we ever needed.

Then Phil Shay, our prop guy, also got in on the action.

And we would just...

We would just be like, hey, is there a flower shop that would like to donate their

aprons?

Or how about the radio station?

Could they send us some stickers?

And then we started to get more savvy about it.

Like Phil and I would coordinate and we'd be like, okay, we're going to need all these kind of things, like delivery people, pizza guys, you know, and we just wanted it to be authentic.

And she was willing to help us.

Bless her soul.

Like she was, she was

Mari, you guys.

Applause from Marley for Mari in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

So she just, she just kept on with it.

And over the years, we ended up doing a thing in the mall there.

she hosted a thing the radio station there and phil went out there and businesses came and saw him people were lined up out of the mall and they brought their stuff from their businesses i remember this carrie i remember like walking into the kitchen yeah after phil had gone the the set kitchen and all of a sudden there were all of these scranton menus from local restaurants yeah all the magnets on the fridge like every little detail you could imagine amazing i mean he said that he said he was there for like five hours and he left to go to the bathroom once.

People followed him into the bathroom.

I mean, it was, people brought the sweetest, funniest, most ridiculous things, like cupcakes with your pictures on them.

And I mean, it was amazing.

I gave him the job to take pictures of every single person you see.

If you can, ask their permission, take pictures.

I need.

people in uniform.

I need kids.

I need people on the street.

And he did that, which was amazing.

I had another opportunity to do that too.

One of the PAs on Scrubs was from there.

And when he went back for

Christmas vacation, I sent him with a camera.

And I was just like, if you could just take pictures of everybody you see, that would be awesome.

He came back with a thousand pictures.

Oh, my gosh.

And that just became my catalog.

Like I literally had a catalog of people and it was so amazing.

So every time we had a new person on the show, it would be like, well, what kind of vibe do we want?

Let's look at our people catalog.

But, you know, that really also informed like how people wear things and how people combine outfits and, you know, just all of that.

That is so fascinating to me.

And I just really respect it.

I really respect the amount of research you did and how it just went on to continue over the years inform the show.

Yeah.

I

just have to say it again.

Your trip to the Glendale Paper Company informed the look of our show.

And then your idea to call the Chamber of Commerce set off a chain of events that like further specified our show.

You are the boss lady.

You are behind Dunder Mifflin.

You are.

You are the Dunder Mifflin like secret superpower.

100%.

It just stems from like,

I don't want to be audacious enough to think I know.

I'm the end all.

Like, I just think that real life is,

what's that quote?

If you can't see God and all, you can't see God at all.

Like, I think of that.

Like, I think, like, if you, if you're not looking at real life and noticing what makes it weird and wonderful,

then you're missing out.

You're really missing on those beautiful details that make something really special and really resonate.

You know, I feel like there's so many TV shows that are kind of,

you know, that all look the same, right?

Well, they're all, they're all, and I totally get it.

You're moving fast and furious.

It's so hard to get through those production schedules.

There's so much work and you're doing so much, but, and, and, you know, and also here in Hollywood, there's so many, there's so many resources for us.

There's prop shops, there's costume shops, there's all that stuff.

But

if, if there's no little spark, little like,

I don't know, the glitter, the little like, whatever that is, that's the, I don't know, just the spark.

Like, that's what I always, I need to find that for myself.

Otherwise, I kind of can't do the work.

I think the office was unique in the sense, too, that it was trying to present a real slice of life.

It was trying to find the beauty in the ordinary things.

I mean, that's, yeah, that's what the point of the show was.

And a lot of television shows, they are presenting a heightened version of reality,

an idealized version of how a mom actually dresses, right?

Like super fashionable and put together at drop off as opposed to how I look at drop-off.

Right.

And so, you know, I think like our show was begging for the kind of work that you did on it.

And it's what it needed.

Yeah.

All right.

Well, we, we are, we just love every single ounce of this information.

Like, it's just so wonderful.

But, Carrie, do you have any memories that you would want to share about your time on the office?

Something maybe we haven't covered here?

Oh, my gosh.

For me, it was like kind of this undoing of everything I knew,

you know, in the sense that,

and actually, really, this started, I have a great story, this started really from the pilot because as you do, you know, you do, when you're trying to get a show off the ground, you do a lot of fittings.

We have a lot of fitting pictures and you're kind of looking at what works and then you're sort of,

you know, each scene is like a painting, really.

And like all the all the players have to work together.

And for me, it's kind of just visually sort of putting the pictures together and making it all work color-wise,

if there's a pattern or anything.

So on the pilot, we were all bustling around.

You know,

we were trying to get that first shot, and there was all this, you know,

hemming and hand about stuff.

And some costumes got changed

kind of at the last minute.

We were like, oh, no, this would be better.

This would be better.

So when everybody appeared on set and we were doing the last looks, which, you know,

the special thing about the office, and

this is a big part of my undoing, was that there was no, you can't stand there and watch and fix.

We weren't allowed on the set.

Hair makeup wardrobe was not allowed.

The set was closed.

We would see you, put you in there, and hope for the best.

And that was huge because we're usually standing when you see things on TV, we're usually standing right there, like getting, fixing it.

So everybody had to come to the set, and Ken Kwapis, our director, was there.

And I'm standing next to him.

I'm just kind of observing, and I go, Oh my god, there are three people, three guys are wearing white shirts.

Like, I never in my career with that, you always kind of you know mix mix up the colors.

I'm like, oh my god,

wait, hold on, I gotta just, I gotta, I need to fix something.

There's three people wearing white shirts, it's crazy.

I would never do that.

And Ken literally stopped me.

He goes,

Because this bothers you, it's correct.

And I was like,

okay

but every

it's perfect right and that was like

that was so huge for me that carried me through the whole thing because I would

from there on out I would

set the racks you know like say there was three days in the script so I would set these huge racks everybody's costumes and I would sort of have like as you do as a trained designer you would kind of be like well this is sort of the blue show, the blue day, and this is kind of the green day.

Just kind of the things like would work together and everybody would look harmonious.

And I would set those three racks, and then I would literally just take like Angela's costumes and just go and mix them.

Just flip them, just mix it.

And even though it still to this day makes me feel a little sweaty.

So you would like, you would do your design, and it would be perfect, and it would have the color harmony, and then you would purposely just mess it up.

Yes.

And you would be like, and now we have the office.

And here we are.

So good.

Well, you know, I think what our listeners, one of the things we would want to share with you guys is on normal shows between scenes, everyone comes flooding in to the actor, hair and makeup.

You have like five set of hands on you.

Maybe there's someone adjusting your mic.

Maybe wardrobe is fixing the bow on your shirt.

And then hair and makeup is getting rid of a weird little flyaway hair and powdering your nose.

And this all happens instantly.

It's like it's like the pit car at a race, right?

You bring the car in and like all these people surround it, push it up, and then they hop out.

And then you're back on camera.

That never happened on the office.

Never.

And so I remember one time we were like broken for lunch and I was leaving and I guess a few of my buttons, I had one of those shirts.

Oh my God, that had 32 buttons.

And I guess a few at the the neck had come open and you were like, how long were those open?

I was like, I don't know.

And you're like, no gay.

I guess that's what that's going to look like.

I wish I knew your process all those years ago.

I think I wouldn't have bugged you for a cuter blouse.

But it's just so wonderful to hear how you shaped the show.

You are so smart.

You're so good at your job.

And the world of the office has a lot to thank you for.

Yeah.

You were one of the original visionaries of the show.

And

it's pretty damn cool.

Yeah.

Well, I think so.

I mean, I, you know, it's so funny because I was so young back then.

That was just my process.

And

thank you for honoring it and recognizing it.

All these, you know, all these years later, I just kind of did my, did my job.

We all did.

We were all just so into it.

And now we're all old and jaded.

No, but we talked talked about that, Carrie, and I actually talked about it with Phil as well because, you know, Phil Shea approached props the way you approached wardrobe, just detail, detail, authenticity, authenticity.

And we were saying, you know, back then we could all just like,

you know, eat and breathe our work.

And our lives are more complicated now and they're filled out in other ways.

And, you know, it's hard to keep up a pace like that.

So there was also like a perfect storm where we were all brought together at exactly the right time in exactly the right way.

Our lives, right?

We were all sort of just starting out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Super cool.

Super cool.

Well, thank you so much, Carrie.

Thank you, Carrie.

Is there anything else we can share with people before you go?

Where can we find you?

Are you okay with people finding you?

Can we tell them anything you're working on?

Sure.

Yeah.

You can find me.

My Instagram is at Carrie Bennett Costumes.

And I try to put some old pictures up there and keep people up to date on what I'm doing.

I'm just about to start head of the class, the reboot of head of the class.

So we'll see how that goes.

What network is head of the class?

Head of the class is going to be on HBO Max.

Okay, so there you go.

That's where you can find Carrie.

You guys go follow and support her.

We adore her.

And Carrie, thank you so much.

Thanks, Carrie.

Thank you, ladies.

It's so nice to be with you again, just be in your presence.

It just brings back all the good memories.

It was so much such good days back then.

I know.

Jenna and I say we want to have a big office ladies' lunch and like call in all the office ladies.

Not that we don't want the fellas there, but maybe

I don't want them there.

I know.

I was like trying to be nice.

All right.

I'm not going to try.

I'm going to say my truth.

Ladies only.

I'm going to say my truth.

The ladies were really special on that for sure.

For sure.

Kept the whole world running.

We sure did

you know those mornings where everything feels like it's moving a hundred miles an hour emails are flying in you're trying to hit your protein goals and somehow you're already running late yeah same that's exactly when i hit pause and head to tropical smoothie cafe because nothing flips the vibe quite like tropic time whether i'm craving something bold and fruity or warm and savory tropical smoothie cafe makes it easy breezy.

I'll grab a peanut paradise smoothie, 22 grams of smooth, peanut buttery protein, or mix it up with a PB protein crunch bowl, packing a punch at 32 grams of protein.

And when I'm in a breakfast sandwich mood, their sausage egg and cheese dia or the all-American wrap are always hot, toasty, and packed with the protein I need to actually power through my day, not just survive it.

The best part?

I order a head in the app, swing by, and grab it on the go.

No waiting, no stress, just me, my smoothie, and a much-needed mental getaway.

Every smoothie, bowl, and wrap is made to order, filled with better-for-you ingredients and serious good vibes.

So go ahead, manifest a more refreshing morning, Tropical Smoothie Cafe.

You're on Tropic Time now.

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's 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.

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 dot com slash office ladies.

All right, we are back.

We are back.

That was awesome.

I'm still loving Carrie Bennett.

I know, man.

So hard crushing on her.

Hardcore love for Carrie Bennett.

Should we get in to some good season four revisited stuff?

Jenna, I can't wait.

I know you have something and I have a little something and we haven't shared so that we would both hear it for the first time with you guys.

You go first.

All right.

All right.

I decided to do a title sequence breakdown because we haven't done it.

We haven't talked about the credits.

Oh, at the beginning of every show.

At the beginning of every show.

And I want to say there's a reason why it's perfectly timed because the credits at the beginning of the show stayed the same.

all the way through season four.

But as we move into season five, there are going to be changes.

And now I'll be able to point them out because we will have done this breakdown.

Okay.

I'm going to start with the theme song.

Do it.

The very famous office theme song, Da Na Na Na Na Na Na.

You know that one.

That was created by composer James Ferguson.

He has done music for tons of shows like NCIS Los Angeles,

Women's Murder Club,

Melrose Place,

Erie, Indiana.

No.

He's done a lot.

He's also composed music for films like The Terminator, Charlie's Angels Full Throttle, and This Is 40.

He's the real deal.

We got him.

We got him for our theme song.

But we almost didn't got them.

What?

There were three other options for songs.

Oh, I remember this.

Is it coming back to you?

Yeah.

So Greg first thought, I'm going to use a song.

Like, rather than use an original composition, he was going to use a song.

And he whittled it down to three choices.

And he created title sequences to all three songs.

And he gave DVDs out to the whole cast.

And we got to vote on these songs.

Voted.

Let me tell you what the songs were, and we're going to play them so you can imagine the titles of Dunder Mifflin.

Imagine Pam with her whiteout,

Kevin with his adding machine, Dwight flipping his tie.

Start with Better Things by the Kinks.

Okay.

Okay.

That was one option.

All right.

I'm feeling it a little bit.

Okay.

I mean, it's hard now to imagine anything but what we chose, but okay, I see it.

All right.

This is the second choice.

I know a few people suggested this.

John, Angela, yes.

Float on by Modest Mouse.

That's right.

All right.

There you go.

Yes, I was a big fan of that one.

Final choice was Mr.

Blue Sky by ELO.

I mean, I love that song.

I love that one too.

So here's what we decided, you guys.

It was Mr.

Blue Sky.

That won.

It won.

When we did a viewing party at my house of the pilot, Greg Greg brought over a DVD and our credit sequence was ELO's Mr.

Blue Sky.

I still have the DVD.

Do you really?

Yes.

Of the credits cut to Mr.

Blue Sky.

I want to see that.

Well, we were waiting for our show to come out.

We had to wait a while.

While we were waiting, another show came out.

It was called LAX.

It starred Heather Locklear.

and Blair Underwood.

It was also on NBC.

And it was about the LAX airport?

Yes.

Okay.

They used Mr.

Blue Sky as their theme song.

But we had picked it.

I know.

Well, matter.

What happened?

I know what happened.

I'm kidding.

We couldn't use it.

So Greg had to change it.

And that is when Greg hired James Ferguson, or as his friends call him, Jay, to write our theme song.

Wow.

So if Blue Sky was available, that would have been our thing.

Yeah.

Our song.

Isn't that crazy?

Crazy.

So we did not record the theme song, the famous office theme song, until one week before our first episode aired.

Oh my gosh, they must have been sweating it.

They were scrambling.

So Greg kind of talked about this on Boost Cruise.

He had a musician friend, Bob Thiel,

who went in with his friends and they recorded James's composition.

And after they recorded it, they formed a band.

They called themselves the Scrand Tones.

And then that is the band that appears in Boost Cruise.

That's right.

Oh, lady, I don't want to give anything away, but I feel like sometimes we get same brain.

Why?

No, no, you'll see.

This is nothing related, but connected, all the same.

Oh, all right.

My nugget is like, there's a thread.

You'll see.

I'll see.

Well, I want to tell you some more things about our opening credits, and this is specific to season four.

It was during season four that we started playing the theme song at the end credits.

You might notice that in the first three seasons, it's silent credits.

Oh, lady, I didn't realize that.

That's such a good catch.

Yeah, and so starting in season four, we started playing the theme song at the end as well.

As you all know, there are no lyrics to our theme song.

It was just musical.

But Creed Bratton wrote some lyrics.

He did.

And you guys, they are so fun.

I talked to him about it and he said that when he would go out and go on tour, he would always riff on the theme song.

They would play it, and he started throwing out little lyrics here and there just for fun.

Right.

He was like improvising.

Yeah, yeah.

But this got him thinking, what if I sat down and I did write lyrics?

What would they be?

And so he ended up writing a whole song and it is so cool.

He plays it at every show.

And we're going to play a little bit of it for you now.

Let's start at the top with Michael Scott played by Steve Carell and he's pretty swell.

We got Rain Wilson and he played shrewd.

He got militant in his mustard suit.

We love Jim and which one's Pam played by John Krasinski and Jenna Fishy.

We moved to accounting with Oscar, but he's not really gay and Brian with his number 11 and Angela Kinsey who's 3'11.

1 2 3 2 5

Phyllis Smith was married to a fancy Stanley with his eyes at half mast.

And BJ and Mindy fought all the time that David Denman who played Roy just that one night with Jim if I recall Cody.

We got Ed Helms with his banjo and Holly Flats wearing sandals and Toby and the

minor chord, bad guy.

Scrambled Strangler.

Oh, you guys, it goes on.

Yeah.

He ends up naming everybody in the office and It is so cool.

You guys, you have to go see Creed Live.

He is an amazing musician.

His shows are so fun.

I've been fortunate to go to three.

And I have to tell you guys, when he played this song, several of the cast members that were attending, we all walked out on stage when he sang about us.

And you know, he always texts me and he's like, Ange, sorry, I throw you under the bus because you're short.

But we all walked out on stage and we locked arms.

And then the whole crowd is locking arms and swaying to the la la la la la part.

Yeah.

It's so sweet.

It's such a wonderful, fun show.

Guess what?

Yeah.

He is going back on tour.

Oh, awesome.

And here's where you can find him.

In September of 2021, he's going to be in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, and California on a two-week tour.

Then he goes to Australia in October of 2021.

And in February of 2022, he's going to be in Ireland and England.

You can find his whole tour schedule at creedbratton.com.

That's right.

And a bunch of us, you guys, whenever he does shows in California, if we can, we show up.

We do.

We never know what the schedule is going to be or whatever, but I've managed to make a few and I love it.

I love that he wrote those lyrics.

I do too.

He's not the only person who's written lyrics.

What?

John Krasinski hosted Saturday Night Live and he did a song version of our theme song as well.

Oh, you did some digging.

I forgot about that.

All right, let's listen to that one.

Finally, John Krasinski sings the long-lost lyrics to the the original Office theme song, which he wrote himself.

He's the bad guy,

and the hero's name is Jim High Lighting.

That's his girlfriend.

That guy's on the phone.

Tylb, then there's me again.

Make Corell does the trophy thing.

The office.

Oh my gosh.

John hitting that low note, the all of us.

I know.

I know.

I thought that was so fun.

All right.

That covers the theme song.

I feel like I've covered it.

You've got the theme song.

Now what?

We have to talk about the actual credits on the screen.

Oh, right, right.

The visuals.

I'm going to break it down for you.

The five actors featured in the opening credits with images are Steve, Rain, John, me, and BJ.

And Brian's hand.

And Brian's hand.

And the reason that we were featured was because we were the actors who had regular contracts when the series started.

For all of season one and part of season two, the rest of the supporting cast are listed as guest stars in the end credits.

But later, when you guys became series regulars, your names started to appear after the main titles as the show begins, where the writers and directors are also credited.

That's right.

It was a big deal.

They call it top of show, guys.

Top of show.

If your name gets in the top of show as an actor, that's party time.

The shots of Scranton that you see in the opening credits, those were shot by John Krasinski.

Yep.

John was living in New York when he got the role of Jim Halpert.

And after he was cast on the show, but before we started shooting it, he and his friend decided to drive to Scranton and do a mini documentary on a local paper company there.

They interviewed people.

They interviewed a manager of a paper company in Scranton who was a woman.

And while they were on this trip, they also shot images of Scranton.

And these are the ones that made it into the credits.

That's right.

It's like a driving shot.

And I feel like they had like a handheld camera.

They did.

And his friend had a Jeep, and John was just like hanging out the window.

So the shot of the pen, paper, and supply building, the Scranton Center on Mulberry in Washington, and the Scranton welcome sign were all shot by John.

Here's a little fun fact about that Scranton welcomes you sign:

it is no longer on the side of the road.

Oh, now I've heard two stories about why this is.

One is that they had to take it down because too many people were stopping to take pictures with it and it was unsafe.

Oh, okay.

Well, that makes sense.

I mean, it's on the side of like a highway.

Right.

The other is that it blew over in a windstorm.

Hmm.

That's sort of like the city official story.

Right.

I don't know.

Either way, you can still see it.

It was relocated to the second floor of the Steamtown Mall.

So you can take a picture with it.

It's next to the K-Jewelers.

Yes.

I love that they saved it and it's in the mall.

It's perfect.

Yeah.

Also, while John was there, when he was interviewing the woman who was the manager of the paper company, she had a little stuffed hamster on her desk.

And so I don't know if you noticed, but on Michael's desk, on the the little credenza behind him, there are these little stuffed hamsters.

And when Greg saw them in John's footage, he said, I want to put hamsters on our manager's desk too.

Hamsters and little outfits.

I think one of them is like in a band.

Is he going to play the drums?

I don't know.

I always feel like one of them had a vest on.

Yeah, I guess I'm putting him in a marching band.

Oh.

But I don't know if that's what he's really doing, but he does have on a vest.

I just always thought he was a fancy guy.

A little fancy hamster.

Most of the shots of the actors in the title sequence are from the first season of The Office.

Dwight's shot with the shredder is from Diversity Day.

Jim on the phone is also from Diversity Day.

The shot of me answering the phone is a deleted scene from The Alliance.

Ryan on the phone is from The Pilot.

Dwight flipping his tie and Ryan with his bag of clothes are both from basketball.

And the shot of Jim and Pam is from Hot Girl.

Michael adjusting his Dundee was B-roll footage.

There is one shot that changed in our opening sequence in the first four seasons, and that is the shot of Steve.

The establishing shot of Steve in season one

was from Diversity Day, but they changed it in season two to a shot from sexual harassment because they wanted to match his like updated image.

you know because we changed his look in the second season here's a fun fact yeah people always talk about that that piece of paper that's getting highlighted

because it gets circled with a highlighter rather than highlighted with a highlighter.

That piece of paper is from the Los Angeles Department of City Planning.

Well, I think that's really cool because I didn't realize the opening credits was such a mix of so many different episodes.

You know, the supporting cast is in it just for like a millisecond.

We're like in the conference room.

You know what I mean?

Yes, you're in that shot when Ryan answers his phone.

Right.

We're behind him.

And I guess that was from the pilot.

That was from the pilot.

I did not realize that.

And that would mean that Kate Flannery is not in that shot because she was not in our pilot.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, it's very quick, but that's so cool.

That's kind of what I got going through the credits.

I think I broke it down.

I'm excited as we move into season five because now I'll be able to tell you the changes.

There's change happening.

Stay tuned.

As we were looking back on season four, I really did some digging on the DVDs and I found a commercial that nbc put together to highlight the office to its viewers so here is nbc's commercial of season four it ran during this time

every once in a while a comedy comes along that critics love and audiences cheer for i feel very blessed

Welcome to the office, where you're invited every Thursday night.

Do I care that I wasn't invited to Michael's dinner party?

So grab grab someone you love and settle in.

I have a friend who's single.

Would an average rowboat support her without capsizing?

It bothers me that you're not answering the question.

The office, Thursdays on NBC.

Wait, they ran that at the beginning of season four?

There are spoilers in that.

No, no, no.

They ran it at the end.

You know what I mean?

Like it was like summer reruns and I don't know, Jenna, they ran it at the end of season four.

They ran it.

They ran it.

What we can tell you with great authority is they ran that commercial.

And I love that it is this guy that's like, find someone you love.

Get comfortable.

Watch your favorite office folks.

Like that guy's voice.

I mean, what would be more accurate would be like, start making dinner.

Turn it on in the background.

Have it play while you clean the house.

The office.

We're here for you.

I feel like that's how people watch The Office today.

Right.

Or they should have just gotten rain as Dwight to be like, don't be an idiot.

Watch it.

Bye.

Exactly.

Aw, we should make the commercials for The Office.

Well, I just thought that was a fun thing to stumble across on the DVDs.

And you guys go to season four, disc one,

and you'll see the commercial with Mr.

Announcery Guy.

Now, what else do you have, Angela?

Because

you're smiling and you're shuffling papers.

Okay, this is me shuffling papers.

Here's a little something I did a deep dive on.

All right, I know we talked a little bit about the very first office convention.

Jenna, you weren't able to go.

We talked about that this year.

Yeah.

Well, I decided to deep dive the office convention because it took place during season four.

And you guys, I uncovered something delicious.

I am so glad you did this.

Okay.

So here's what I found.

According to the University of Scranton's Royal News,

the very first The Office Convention in Scranton was October 26th through 28, 2007.

Here's some quick facts.

Oh, they have quick facts, Jenna.

We have fast facts, and the Royal News has quick facts.

All right.

3,000 people greeted Al Roker of the Today Show with members of the cast, including me, for a live broadcast from campus.

The Today Show weekend edition also broadcast from campus.

400 University of Scranton students volunteered for the convention.

10,000 attended the office convention over a three-day period.

3,400 attended a QA with the cast at the University's Long Center.

157 journalists attended the convention, including reporters from the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, USA Today, MTV, VH1, and the Associated Press.

Wow.

All those numbers mean this was a big event.

I mean, if you go to Scranton and see the town itself and then realize 157 press outlets were there, you know, there was like something happening on every street.

There was a street festival, Dunder Mifflin Infinity's Office Olympics.

Food and local vendors selling Scranton-related merchandise, two open-air stages offering a wide assortment of live entertainment.

There was also a Q ⁇ A panel with cast members, a blogger's breakfast, and a writer's block discussion.

But lady, a lot of us from the cast that attended, we had to fly in at different times.

Guess who kicked off the whole The Office Convention weekend?

Who?

Creed Bratton and Kate Flannery performing with the Scrantones.

Yes, I saw footage of this.

Yes, they were asked to perform the Pennsylvania polka.

And I had to call Kate.

I had to call her about it.

I saw a grainy YouTube video of it.

I was like, Kate, please tell me about this.

She said, Angela, this was amazing.

We knew we wouldn't have time to rehearse once we got to Scranton.

So Bob Thiel gathered the Scrantones band.

Bob played guitar.

His friend Dylan played piano.

Brian played drums.

Hal is on bass.

Dave was on bass.

And Scott Schreiner from the band Weezer also played bass.

What?

Yes, but ready for this?

What?

Weird Al Yankovic joined them in the studio to rehearse.

What?

Yes, he is friends with Bob, and he was going to be at the studio that day anyways, so Bob said, hey, can you come over, play the accordion at our rehearsal?

Wait, did Weird Al go to Scranton with them then?

No, no, no.

He was just there the day they rehearsed in the studio in Los Angeles.

Okay.

But he totally helped them out.

And are you ready for this?

Bob recorded the rehearsal and Kate asked him if we could play it on the podcast and he said yes.

So here it is: Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, the Scram Tones, and Weird Al playing the Pennsylvania polka.

Strike up the music, the band has begun.

The Pennsylvania Polka

Polka

Dance Pennsylvania

I'm very moved.

I am emotional.

Isn't that so fun?

Let me tell you why.

You guys, the cast was not paid to attend the convention.

You guys were not paid for this.

They paid your airfare.

Yes.

And your

room and board, but everything else we did was for the love of the show and the love of the fans.

And these guys went into a studio and they rehearsed on their time.

And then they brought this show to the fans and to Scranton.

And this is one of the things that I love about Creed and Kate, especially is that they are like those old school performers.

The show must go on.

We're going to make the best show possible.

They are in it because they love it and they love performing and making people happy.

And when I heard this rehearsal tape, it just gave me all the feels.

Yeah, it really was so amazing.

And if you can find it on YouTube, I found one version of it.

Not only are they singing their hearts out, they're dancing around.

They are fully committed to doing the Pennsylvania polka for the office fans in Scranton.

And I just thought that was so cool that they started off the whole convention.

I love them.

They're awesome.

Awesome.

And thank you to Bob Thiel and the Scrantones and Weird Al.

Yeah.

Well, that's some trivia that I found about the very first The Office convention in Scranton.

I thought it was really fun.

I am loving this.

I think we should take a break because now we have stuff that we discovered about specific episodes.

All right.

I mean, you thought we covered it, you guys.

We found more stuff.

I'm just going to say two words.

Dinner party.

Ooh, yeah.

We'll be right back.

The State Farm Personal Price Plan gives you options to choose from to help you find the right right amount of coverage for you.

And you know what?

Choosing from options?

You know I love options.

They make me happy.

You know why I love many desserts?

It's because I don't want to pick one thing.

Options.

This is what's so cool about State Farm, because they help you make the right choice for you and to help you save for the things you really want.

because of the options.

The State Farm Personal Price Plan can help you create an affordable price when you choose to bundle home and auto insurance.

You have options to choose from to help best fit your needs.

Talk to a State Farm agent today to learn how you can choose to bundle and save with the Personal Price Plan.

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

Prices are based on rating plans that vary by state.

Coverage options are selected by the customer.

Availability, amount of discounts and savings, and eligibility vary by state.

Hey everyone, it's Jenna.

I'm in Chicago.

I'm working on my play, Ashland Avenue, and I'm staying in an Airbnb and I'm loving it.

You know, the play I'm doing is set in Chicago.

And so I wanted to find a place where I could have a really authentic local experience.

That's why I got Airbnb.

I just love it.

And it's especially great because my kids are going to be coming back and forth to visit me and I've got a bedroom just for them.

So we can really spread out.

And I don't know if you've ever stayed in Airbnb, but wouldn't it be cool to give that experience to other people?

You can earn some extra income.

I mean, if you're traveling frequently or have a seasonal home, and then while you're away, you can earn extra income and pay for your vacation.

Or maybe you're saving up for a home renovation.

Your home might be worth more than you think.

Find out how much at airbnb.com/slash host.

All right, we're back.

We are going to talk about some of the episodes from season four and some new stuff, but I thought I'd start with this.

Office Tally, you know our website, our beloved website, We Love Jenny Tan.

That's right.

Every season, they would do rankings of the episodes fans would vote on their favorite episodes from a season.

Oh, are you going to tell me the fan favorite for season four?

Yes.

So of the 14 episodes from season four, according to Office Tally fans, the number one ranked episode was Chair Model.

Really?

Yes.

That was followed by Goodbye Toby in second place and Money in third place.

Dinner Party was ranked ninth out of 14 episodes.

Remember, we talked about that.

We said this was not a fan favorite when it first aired.

No, it is the type of episode that I think caught momentum after many rewatches.

Yes, but on the first watch, number nine.

Nine out of 14.

Should we get started, Angela?

You've got something to tell me about Fun Run, I think.

I do.

So, Whitney Croy and a few other people asked me, Angela, when you and Dwight are having that big argument, right, about sprinkles, we're running and we're fighting.

Michael jogs between us and says something kind of under his breath as he jogs between us while we're fighting.

Okay.

What does Michael say?

People were like, please tell us what he says.

I could not make it out.

I went went back.

I re-watched with subtitles because I didn't know what he said either.

As he runs between Angela and Dwight, as their relationship is basically ending, Michael under his breath says, take bat bite seriously.

Don't get bit.

He's just spreading rabies awareness as he runs.

Right.

So Whitney, thank you for writing in.

A few other people did as well.

I've got a little nugget from Melissa Williams who wants to tell us something about launch party.

Okay.

Launch party is when Meredith comes back with her cast and she wants Jim to sign it.

And we were very confused about how she goes to the bathroom in this cast.

Right.

We were questioning if you need a cast for a broken pelvis.

Right, or if your cast looks like a giant pair of underwear.

Yeah.

Well, Melissa Williams would like us to know that there is a cast that covers the whole pelvis and it's called a spica cast and it is for a broken femur.

It covers your whole pelvis and all of one leg and some of the other leg, but there's like an opening in the crotch and there's a bar going across it and that's how you pee in your full pelvic cast.

Oh my God, that sounds horrible.

Yeah.

Because what if you're not always tidy when you go to the bathroom?

I mean, if it sprays.

Sometimes things don't go according to plan.

Yeah.

But, well, that'd be hard to clean up.

I guess if you're a man, it's easier.

You could put your hand.

We're looking at it from a woman's perspective.

They might could aim it better.

I would think so.

Well, Melissa, thank you for sharing that.

Ladies, don't break your femur because then you might have to have a spica cast.

With a hole in the crotch.

And a bar and maybe some pea spray.

Well, let's hope that's the only spray.

What would the other spray be?

If it's a cast for your whole pelvis.

Oh, you have to go poop to.

I didn't even think of the pooping.

I didn't even think about having to poop in the cast.

Yes.

I didn't think about the poop.

That's the first thing I thought of.

Oh, when you said things don't go as planned, you meant pooping.

Yes.

Oh, wow.

I hadn't.

I mean,

now I feel so horrible.

You just turn bright red.

It's like you just realized something.

Oh, my God.

You're going to get poop on that cast.

I know.

It's unavoidable.

I know.

Or on the bar.

Oh, God.

It's getting worse.

Anyway.

Oh, my God, we shouldn't be laughing about it.

All right, we hope you guys are well and don't ever have to wear one of those.

And Melissa, thank you for sharing.

What do you got, lady?

Well, where do we go?

Okay.

All right.

In the deleted scenes, you guys, I found something I thought was very interesting for Local Ad.

Remember Local Ad?

Everyone is pitching their ideas about what the Dunder Miffling commercial should be?

Yes.

Toby pitches his idea and we find out something about Toby that was not in the show Bible.

What is it?

His previous job.

All right, so anybody else?

No bad ideas.

Everybody, let's keep them coming.

Yeah, God.

Okay, Toby.

Well, you know how everyone fast-forwards through ads these days.

Well, what about an ad in slow motion?

You know, if they fast forward through it, it'll just seem normal and it'll catch your eye.

Plus,

the slogan could be, Dundra Mifflin, we adapt to the pace of your business.

There are no bad ideas, but for an idea, that was really, really bad.

I spent three years in advertising before I came here.

And that is probably why most ads suck.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

Toby worked in advertising for three years.

And that's a really good idea.

I know.

Everybody really liked it.

Oh, my gosh.

That's so good.

Toby wasn't always the HR guy.

He was the adman.

Toby could have been a madman.

There's a crossover.

There's a crossover.

Also, in local ad, a few of you pointed out, ladies, not only does Jim put Dwight's stapler in jello in real life, but that in the deleted scenes for local ad,

in Second Life, Guitar Jim puts Dwight's bazooka in jello.

Oh, yes.

Well, I went back and looked seven minutes, 49 seconds.

You guys are correct.

If you go to the DVDs, or maybe I'll put it in the pod, you'll see it.

Interestingly enough, I have a little Second Life trivia as well.

What have I uncovered?

What?

So we told you that we set up a real Second Life for Dwight and Jim.

Well, Dwight's Second Life, Dwight K.

Shelford was his name, he made an announcement in Second Life to all of the Second Life players on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008.

And it was titled Angela's Baby.

Oh!

And here's what it said.

Attention employees, Dunder Mifflin's Second Life Branch would like to welcome the newest addition to the Dunder Mifflin Infinity family, Miss Isabel Ruby, born on Saturday, May 3rd to her proud parents.

Aw.

Be forewarned.

Ms.

Isabel weighs six pounds, 14 ounces, sleeps on the job, and has no higher math skills.

She also babbles and is capable of projectile vomit.

Thanks, Dwight.

Oh my gosh, I didn't know they did that.

Well, that was just like our crew who was so proud of you, Ange, and so happy for you that they sent out this little announcement to our Second Life account that was still going.

That is so moving to me.

So we also had a lot of people asking about a comment that Jason Reitman made.

in one of his audio clips for local ad.

He said the phrase, cold is comedy, and people were asking if we could explain more of what that meant.

I mean, our set was incredibly cold.

Yes.

Well, I think what it means is there is a tradition, and David Letterman's set was so cold.

Oh, so freezing.

Freezing.

Freezing.

This idea that when you're too hot physically, like if you're too warm, you're not on your toes comedically.

So it's a very famous thing that a lot of comedians and comedic performers like it cold because I don't know, it just keeps you.

Keeps your brain awake.

Yes, that's right.

Because you know what happens when you get hot?

A hot day, you're like sluggish, you start to fall asleep.

You're like,

well, you definitely don't want a warm audience.

You don't want your audience warm.

That's right.

Yeah.

So we kept our set very, very cold.

And that was for two reasons.

One, cold is comedy.

And number two, Steve got really hot in his suits, like especially hot.

And so in order to help him stay cold as comedy, we kept our sets really cold.

Yes.

And I've also heard in theaters and studios that the lights they use to light the stage, to light the set, that equipment gets very, very hot.

And so you're sort of combating that heat as well, keeping all of the instruments cool that help the show go on, so to speak.

My personal feeling is that I can be very funny when I'm warm.

I'm okay with it.

I'm okay being warm and funny.

You know what?

We've never been able to try.

I've never been on a warm set.

I've never walked onto a set and been like, whoo, I'm going to wear a tank top.

No.

I walk on a set in a parka.

Always.

Always.

I'm on four layers right now.

Is warm is drama?

Is it that we haven't done enough dramas?

Dramatic actors, are you warm all the time?

Because maybe I need to switch gears here.

Let's ask, who can we ask?

Kate Winslet?

We don't know her, but let's write her an email.

If we don't know her, how are we going to get her email?

David Dinman is doing that show with her.

Oh my God, you're going to hit up David Dinman for Kate's email.

Kate, I'm calling you by your first name.

And then our first question to Kate Winslet, who we've never spoken to, is, are sets warm for dramas?

When you do dramas, here's what I think we could do.

You're right.

That's ridiculous.

We can't show our ass to Kate Winslet.

The first time we talked to her.

Let's ask David to just ask her.

Or

just be like, bring it up casually, David.

Be like, Kate, I'm curious.

Are all of your sets warm because you're doing dramas?

And she'll be like, that's a weird question, but it'll be on David.

But we'll still get the answer.

But also, David might just say, hey, you buholes, you can ask me.

I am also on the dramatic set.

I know.

I'm standing next to Kate.

I know, but I need someone who's been on like almost exclusively dramatic sets to really give me a real answer.

Okay.

And David really straddles it.

He does both.

Well, maybe actually, now that I think about it, he's the perfect person to ask because he could tell me if there's a temperature shift between comedy and drama.

There it is.

And now we don't have to bug Kate Winslet.

I was looking forward to getting to know her.

I'm sure you guys would have really bonded via email about temperatures on sets.

You never know.

It's true.

You never know.

Why am I being such a snark?

Yeah, like Kate Winslet's going to be your friend, you know.

Just you wait.

You're going to feel real dumb one day when I show up somewhere with Kate Winslet.

When you start podcasting with Kate Winslet, I'm going to be so bummed.

And the name of our podcast is Drama is Warm.

Drama Ladies.

Yeah, there you go.

Should we move on?

What have we got next?

I want to know if you got to the bottom of what Michael was eating in Survivor Man.

Yes, I did.

Okay, good.

You just

were digging.

Okay, this is actually a crossover catch between money and Survivor Man.

Okay.

We were dying to know what were the pellets in the bag.

Yes.

Tom Corey Lewis wrote in, he thinks Michael is eating Dwight's bag of wild oats that he would have received from his parents for courting a woman.

I checked the show Bible.

According to the show Bible, in the money episode, Dwight says there is a shrute family tradition for parents to leave a bag of wild oats on the doorstep after their male child has had sex.

Oh my gosh.

So Tom thinks maybe these are the oats.

These are the sex oats.

And he had them and he gave gave them to Michael.

They're the sex oats.

Oh my gosh,

naughty oats.

Naughty oats.

Naughty oats being eaten in the wilderness.

Oh, now that is a product right there.

Naughty oats.

Naughty oats.

Next oats.

N-A-U-G-H-T-Y.

Naughty Oaks.

What are we making?

Cereal?

Yeah.

I kind of like the name naughty oaks.

Are you saying oaks or oats?

Naughty oats.

Naughty oats.

Naughty oats.

I want to eat that cereal.

But do you want it to be called sex oats or naughty oats?

That's tough.

You can't have a cereal called sex oats.

It's got to be naughty oats.

All right.

I'll eat it.

So your four-year-old could be like, mama, can I have naughty oats?

I don't say that.

That's terrible.

I know.

It's an adult cereal.

Why?

Adults only.

Why?

Because it's naughty.

It makes you have sex.

No, you eat it.

After sex.

What are the shapes?

Are they naughty?

Little shapes.

Penises and boobies.

Oh, Lord.

What has happened to us in this podcast?

I don't know.

I don't know.

All right.

Dinner party, Angela?

Oh, yeah.

Listen, I didn't think there was any way that we would uncover anything.

that we hadn't already covered in dinner party.

I thought that was a pretty thorough episode.

I thought so.

I was very proud of that episode.

Well, let me put my glasses on because Jamesopedia came through.

James shared with me the candy bag talking head alts.

You guys remember what candy bags are, right?

We shared this with you.

Dinner party was 100% scripted.

The script was amazing.

Nothing was changing.

But when we would go to do a talking head, the standard on our set was writers would hand us a bunch of alts.

Yep.

And we called these the candy bags.

You had your talking head that was the quote must shoot from the script.

From the script.

And then we had the candy bags.

I want to share two candy bag alt talking heads, one for Jim and one for Dwight.

I cannot wait.

This is a talking head for Jim that did not obviously make it in dinner party, but it really made me laugh.

Here it is.

If I had known that Michael would make everyone stay late just to trap me and Pam into a couple's only dinner at his condo with Jan, Andy, and Angela.

I would have never asked Pam out in the first place.

And I really like Pam.

Isn't that funny?

That's so good.

Okay, so that was that was a candy bag alt for dinner party.

And then I was texting with Rain because we actually did a Q ⁇ A with University of Scranton.

Yeah, that's right.

Yeah, we had a great time over Zoom.

Anyway, we were texting and I was like, Rain, I just found an alt talking head for Dwight for dinner party.

And Rain read it as Dwight and sent it in as an audio clip.

And you guys remember, this talking head is in reference to, you know, Dwight and Angela's relationship.

A farmer and his plowhorse have a strong bond because they have a shared mission.

But what mission do a man and a woman have?

None, really.

So they're left to just stare at each other blankly, waiting for the other one to flinch or die or say something cute.

Horses never say anything cute, but if they did, it would be a really big deal.

There were several alts for Dwight where he is just comparing Angela and Dwight to like some kind of farming analogy.

But that one made me laugh.

Thank you, Rain.

You know, and Rain is always so supportive of the Office Ladies podcast.

He really shows up for us.

I love you, Rain.

I know.

He's a good friend.

He's like a tall, sweet, crusty friend.

Yes.

And you guys, his podcast, Metaphysical Milkshake, is now available on all platforms where you listen to podcasts.

It's Rain and his friend, Reza Aslin.

They talk about life's big questions.

He's a good person to do that.

I call him when I have big questions.

And I mean it.

I'm not joking.

I know.

So, guys, go give it a listen.

I wish we could have Rain read all of Dwight's candy bag talking heads.

I bet bet all the candy bag talking heads are so good.

Because the thing about the candy bag talking heads was that they would push it.

The writers could swing big.

Yes.

And sometimes they would make it in.

But I think more than anything, those candy bag talking heads were just for their amusement.

They just wanted to hear us say the stuff that was the biggest swing.

Yeah.

I'm going to move us on to chair model.

You know, in chair model, Creed is collecting chairs.

Yeah.

We got a comment from Eve Elizabeth who said that Creed's talking head about needing three chairs could have been a reference to Thoreau, who said this, quote, Henry David Thoreau?

Yeah.

Okay.

He said, I had three chairs in my house, one for solitude, two for company, three for society.

I'm only laughing because of the way you said society.

Society.

Society.

Yeah.

Wow.

Well, I mean, I sort of believe that Creed would like Henry David Thoreau.

Why not?

All right.

Goodbye, Toby.

Remember, we did our show Bible goodbye to Toby.

Yeah.

We promised we would do one for Karen.

Let's do it.

Here it is.

Karen Filipelli speaks French and can also speak some Italian.

She's very into Call of Duty and her favorite chips are hers salt and vinegar.

After getting kicked out of the party planning committee, she creates the committee to plan parties with Pam.

She likes Jim, but she does not love the film Bridget Jones' diary.

She gets a brawn panties when Michael offers to buy her something at the mall.

She dates Jim for about six months, and in the end, she thinks Pam is kind of a bitch.

She's even willing to move to New York if Jim gets a job at corporate, but in the end, when they break up, she takes a job as the regional manager of Utica.

And while this is not the end of Karen Filipelli, we will not be seeing her for a while.

So there you go, Karen Filipelli.

Show Bible goodbye.

That's all I have for episodes, but we got a general question that made me chuckle.

Okay.

Angela, Madeline O.

wrote in to say, when you guys say we got a letter or we got mail, did you actually get a physical letter or is that your mom way of saying we got an email?

I genuinely want to know.

Oh, Madeline, we are such moms.

That's an email.

That's just an email.

But I always think of it as like, well, we got mail.

We got mail.

Yeah.

Cause we're oldies.

We are.

But I do say we got a letter sometimes.

Yeah, because it is a letter.

An email letter.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's mom speak, Madeline.

Yeah.

Lady, are you ready for some shout-outs?

I want shout-outs.

Several of you have shared with us that you would really like for our Insta stories to stay in the highlights on Office Ladies Pod because by the time you get to listen to the episode, they're gone.

I was like trying to figure out how to do this because I'm a dinosaur and I was like, How do I do them every week?

How do we do them, Jenna?

How do we do them?

And then as I was literally trying to figure this out, someone tagged me in a post and it's from an account called Office Lady Stories

on Instagram.

So I reached out to Office Lady's Stories on Instagram and I got in touch with who created it.

And I want to give her a shout out.

Her name is Azu Garcia.

Aizu, thank you so much for setting up Office Ladies Instastory.

It's a highlights account.

Azu shared with me that she recently graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in retailing and consumer science and that the office got her through long nights of studying.

She loves the podcast and she started the Instagram page because she often listens to the podcast after the stories have left.

Yeah.

And she wanted to be able to share them with other people.

So Aizu, thank you so much.

Thank you.

Because now, Angela and I don't have to figure out how to do that.

Exactly.

We would have never figured it out.

I'm pretty sure.

I mean, I just didn't know how to maintain it either.

That too.

Yeah.

We're very grateful.

Thank you.

And lastly, I have wanted to mention this on a revisited a few times.

I often quote scenes.

I have the dialogue.

I like to read it back.

I put it in my document, you know?

And for episodes that we haven't had the scripts for, there is a website that is amazing.

If you want to see the aired version of The Office in written word, it's called officequotes.net.

It is every word ever said on the show.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

I find it a great website, and I have used it as we have prepped episode after episode.

So thank you.

One of my favorite websites is Dunderpedia, and they have a page that is like a Wikipedia page for every single episode of The Office.

And I found something cool.

As I was going back to do additional research for season four, they have started adding things to the pages that we have found

from doing Office Ladies.

Well, that's right.

From doing the podcast.

So extra little nuggets that we've gotten from cast members, things that weren't already out there.

They are still updating those pages.

And that's really cool, too, to look back at a specific episode and see all the fun facts.

Yes.

Well, there you go.

Those are my shout-outs.

I think we revisited it.

I think we took a second drink.

That was season four revisited.

Thank you, Carrie Bennett, for being amazing.

Thank you, Creed, for hopping on the phone with me.

Thank you, Kate and Rain Wilson, and Jamesopedia.

And Bob Thiel for giving us the Pennsylvania Poco rehearsal tape.

You can find Bob at Bob Thiel Jr.

on Instagram.

B-O-B-T-H-I-E-L-E-J-R.

That was so cool.

And you guys, Kate Flannery and Jane Lynch are going to start touring again.

Oh, yes.

So I'll put in stories where you can find their show dates.

They do a fantastic show.

And you know they have that great Christmas album.

I'll put all that in stories.

And Carrie Bennett is at Carrie Bennett Costumes.

And you can find Creed's tour schedule at CreedBretton.com.

There you have it, guys.

Season four.

We'll be back next week to keep breaking down season five.

Five.

Five.

Season five.

I'm going to go eat some naughty oats.

I'm from St.

Louis.

Yeah, 40 far.

I gotta use a spoon, not a fark, for my oats.

For my naughty oats.

My naughty oats.

I think we've moved to Wisconsin now.

I don't know where we are.

I don't know where we are either.

We can't do accents.

Well, you know what?

I have like three I can do, and I don't think Missouri's one.

I can't really do any.

Oh, well.

We're going to end the podcast now.

We'll see you later.

Bye.

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 Euro Up 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.

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 was 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.