Second Drink: Customer Survey with Stephen Merchant

And not to toot our own horse. But here I go. Toot toot toot. This is a fantastic episode, ladies! It is. It really actually is. Yes. Stephen Merchant joins us on the podcast. It's such a fun interview. He shares how we met Ricky Gervais and then how they came to co-create the UK version of the office. And then we, of course, ask him all about directing this hilarious episode. And he shares the inspiration for that amazing butt-licker scene.

And when we asked you all what your favorite scene was from this episode, so many of you wrote in to say that it was the buttlicker scene. For example, Miranda D from Australia said, ladies My favorite moment from this episode is the bit where Dwight, Michael, and Jim are in the conference room doing the mock phone call. It is so hilarious seeing Michael and Dwight get so lost in the bit, especially because Michael is showing his love of improv.

Yes, and Arena E from Los Angeles says, Office ladies, I have been a listener since the beginning and I love everything about the show. Thank you, Arena. She goes on to say, I finally decided to go back to the first drinks. Is that a thing? Of the show so I could submit all the questions I'm always thinking of when I listen. I have been waiting for this episode to get to second drink so I could tell you this.

My husband and I find the line, butt liquor, our prices have never been lower. So funny. So you know how sometimes a dog will just decide. To lick their butt at the most inappropriate time. Every time our dog does this, we say to him, Rusty, have your prices never been lower? Thank you. Very confusing to anyone who doesn't get the reference, but hilarious to us every time. Love, love, love the podcast and your incredible camaraderie with one another.

Well, Rebecca L from Maryland wrote in to say that first of all, Rebecca also loved this scene. But Rebecca has a background catch. Rebecca said, ladies, did you catch rain almost breaking in this scene? I can see him start to laugh at 8 minutes 44 seconds in the original version. It is right after he has to yell that the prices have never been low. Power. Lady, I went and re-watched it and I totally saw it.

Rain is so clearly about to laugh, and he's trying to hide his smile. He sort of covers his mouth by like leaning onto his fist on the table. Yes, he's doing the Mindy. That's the Mindy move. Yeah. Well, everyone, we pulled a clip of the moment where rain almost breaks. We didn't play this in our first breakdown, and it's just so hilarious, we thought we should hear it. Hello. Hello, this is Dwight Schroute from the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. Bye. Well that's great,'cause I need paper.

Excellent, then you are in luck because we are having a limited time offer only on everything. Well, this is my lucky day. his name. What is your name, sir? I am Bill Butlicker. Amen. That's your real name? How? How dare you? My family built this country, by the way. Be respectful, Dwayne. Yes, Michael. Could you hold on one second? That's my other line. What? Hello? Yeah. Ha ha. No, I'm just on the phone with this stupid salesman. He's so dumb.

Probably just gonna keep them on the line forever and not buy anything. Okay. It's up to you to change his mind. Sorry. Oh no, what's wrong? You know what? That's private. Boundaries. I'm sorry, Mr. Butlicker. As I was saying, we're having a limited.

Okay. Okay. Our prices have never been So you have to talk louder. Louder, son! But licker! Our prices have never been louder! HEET! That is totally inappropriate. Never yell at the client. You listen to me, sir. So good. So good. Well. Rebecca, we love that background catch and the journey it took us on. And I have another background catch, but this one is actually from the cold open scene.

You know when everyone gathers around to ask Michael how we propose to Holly and then Michael spins this crazy yarn. Yes. We actually played the clip in our breakdown because it's so funny. But Dylan Q from Annapolis, Maryland pointed out something really interesting. Quote, in the cold open, Michael says that he gave his girlfriend the Heimlich maneuver because he's CPR trained.

But a few episodes later, the whole office receives CPR training, and Michael clearly has no idea how this training works. Was this because customer survey was supposed to come after stress relief? Or do you ladies think it was just a mistake? I've been listening since day one. Your breakdowns used to make me feel like I was watching the office while I was at work. Well, first of all, Dylan, this is a very, very good catch. Like a plus catch. Yeah. I went back, I looked at the

dates on our shooting drafts for both customer survey and stress relief. For customer survey, it was September 10th. For stress relief, it was December 17th. So the answer is no. Stress relief was never going to come out before customer survey. Yeah, I think it was just a blip, you know? They just missed it. They missed it, but Dylan didn't miss it. Dylan's paying attention.

Well, thanks you guys so much for writing in. We really love this episode, and we think you will too. So here's our breakdown of customer survey with Stephen Merchant.

And I'm Angela Kinson. We were on the office together. We're best. And now 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. Oh boy, this is a good episode of Office Ladies today. I'm so excited for you guys to hear it. I'm excited to listen to it. I'm gonna listen to it over and over and over again. We're listening to ourselves right now.

Today we're going to be talking about customer survey. It is season five, episode seven. It was written by Lester Lewis and directed by Steven Merchant. The Stephen Merchant. Come on, you guys listening, you know who Stephen Merchant is. Yeah, creator of the British office. Come on. We got to talk to him, you guys. I was supposed to wait until fastback two, but I can't wait. I can't wait. We tried really hard to keep it together. We can do it!

All right, we'll still go through the motions. Summary. Jim and Dwight received poor customer surveys and they joined forces to uncover why. Were they really bad? Is something going on? Yeah, a little bit of a who done it. Done it. Meanwhile, Pam and Jim communicate all day long via teeny tiny Bluetooth earpieces. And Andy and Angela make some wedding plan decisions. Oh yes, they do. They get the best tentist in all the land. I do. I loved that so much. We got'em. We got'em. You got him!

Alright, fast fact number one. We shot this episode the week of September 8th, 2008. It was our seventy ninth episode overall, and I got curious like how many episodes of Office Ladies have we done? Oh my gosh, how many have we done? This is our eighty third. You're kidding.

That's bonkers, right? Wow. We're like zeroing in on the big one hundred in both cases. Can we have a party? Sam, can we have a party? We sure can. Thank you, Sam. Ha ha. Sam, you can be head of the PPC for office ladies. I mean you got the coolest Christmas tree this year. Come on. Yeah. Very true. You're head of the P P C. You had to ask Sam if we could have a party because

He's like the one person who's gonna come. We don't have very many people that work on office ladies. If he's if Sam's not down, then we don't Pretty much it's Sam and Cassie. Cody, will you stop by? Maybe Colin. Yeah. We gotta get Iliana in. Oh

and Marissa. Yeah. Those are our peeps. And we still need to have Take Your Kid to Work Day because my kids really want to come in the studio. We were We were just talking about it on the drive to school today, about how they want to come'cause summer break. Oh, let's get'em in here. Yeah. Okay, wait, this is a big episode. Well chitty chat later.

All right, we'll figure that out later. Fast fact number two, Steven Merchant directed this episode. So he and Ricky Gervais created the British office. It ran on BBC Two for two seasons. They were six episodes each, and then they did a two-part Christmas special. They wrote and directed all of the episodes themselves. Yeah. They would sit together with a dictaphone, right? And they would talk out scenes and then transcribe'em. They wrote the whole series, just the two of them.

And then they let us make an American version. And then Steven directed this episode. And then he agreed to come on our podcast. Yes, lady. Yeah. Oh my goodness. I mean, wow. To prep us, before we listen to the interview, I thought we should go over a few facts about the British office and the American office. Oh I like it.

Okay, so the British office was set at a paper company called Wurnham Hog. Mm-hmm. And it was located in Slough. Mm-hmm. The building that they used for the exterior of their show. It was located on Slough Trading Estate and it was called the Crossbow House, but they tore it down in 2013. Aww. So you can't visit it. When we do our England tour of office locations. We're not going to be able to see that one. Well we might just have to go to the spot. Point to the spot. Okay.

You know what? I'll put it in our scrapbook. Dunder Mifflin, on the other hand, was located in Scranton, and the exterior of our building was and still is located at Chandler Valley Studios on Satakoy Street in Van Ice, California. You can take a picture with that one. You can. But as a nod to the British series, the address of Dunder Mifflin is listed as seventeen twenty five Slough Avenue. No, I always love that. That's so sweet. So sweet. It's even on like the faky business card. Oh yeah.

Yeah, like Michael Scott had business cards. I might have taken one. I might have stolen one. It has that address. Well we will talk more about these two companies when we speak with Steven. Should we get to it? Oh my lord, okay. I know, I know. So excited.

Fast fact number three. This episode was written by Lester Lewis. Oh yes. And I found an interview with Lester where he talked a little bit about what it was like knowing that an episode he had written was gonna be directed by Steven Merchant. Oh I love it. Can I hear it? Yes. So he said that the story for this episode was already in place before Steven was attached to direct. So as he was writing it, luckily he had no idea that like one of them Yes.

I wouldn't want that in my head. I would just wanna like write what I was gonna write without any pressure. Yes. But then he was so nervous when he found out. Because you know, the writer gets to walk around with the director for the whole week. They're together the whole time. Like a very close relationship. Yeah. I mean I would be pooping my pants. Yeah, a little bit.

But he said any nervousness that he felt totally disappeared when he met Steven and that Steven participated in the final rewrites of the script, he wished that Stephen Merchant could be with us for every single episode. Oh, that's so sweet. Well I couldn't agree more with that. I know, I know. His energy is just fantastic. So smart, so funny, and so kind. Yeah.

Well, Jenna, later when we break down the episode, I have a little story I want to share about Lester because he rescued me in a scene. Oh. He really did. But now we're gonna take a break. And when we come back. Stephen Merchant. I can't believe it. I can't follow that. Steven! Hello! Hello. I well, I should s I feel like I should say hello, office ladies. Oh hi. I love that.

I am I don't know if you've noticed, in honor of both the British and the UK versions of the office, I am wearing my my Wurnham Hog Uh baseball cap, which is um which is the Dunder Mifflin of the UK. And then but I have my Dunder Mifflin mug, which I believe was a crew gift. For my cup of tea. So um, you know, I'm just trying to pay homage to both both sides of the Atlantic and both shows. You're awesome. You are so awesome. We love that so much.

Well, let's see. To kick things off I thought that, and I'm sure you've been asked this a million times, Steven, about meeting Ricky for the first time. But the reason I bring it up is because you mentioned Angela and I, we're rocking a duo. You're part of this duo with Ricky. But there are these people who when we meet them, they just change the course of our lives. I I think back to you know, Lennon meets McCartney, right? Like what is that?

Wow, I'm already an amazing company. This is exciting. Jenna, as you said that I'm like, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I wow wow when we sat next to each other in the basketball episode, I didn't realize the impact I was gonna That was our Lendon McCartney moment, Angela. So Steven, I know that you went in to interview for a job to be Ricky's assistant at a radio station. You walk in the door You meet this man. Did you feel it? Was there a sparkling? Was there a shift in the universe? Yeah.

Heh heh. Well, it was interesting because we d as as you say, I did indeed go into a building to meet him, but he very quickly said, Let's go to the pub for a pint of beer. Oh my god. And there aren't many bosses that do that. He was hiring me for the job. So I was immediately charmed by that. I thought that sort of seemed like the right approach.

And we went down the road and had a pint and we got chatting and we seem to have a lot of sort of common loves of things like music and comedy and stuff. So we hit it off. in that regard. But then he said something to me which I I think was revealing. He said, Listen, I this was a radio station where we were both gonna work. And he said, Listen, I don't know anything about radio.

I've sweet talked my way into this job. I don't know what I'm doing and and you seem to have a little radio experience. If you do all the work, I'll make sure you have fun. And I, n in need of a job, thought that sounds like a fair deal. And uh so I joined the station with Ricky as essentially my boss, and true to his word, he did not know what he was doing.

Ha ha Um but uh we managed to find a sort of working relationship and and after a little while we were behind the scenes guys, but after a little while they realized that our better asset was being on the radio.

And once we went on the radio and we started talking and being and being kind of presenters, kinda like you guys, that was when I think where it all started to make more sense. And I think that was where our, if you like, our sense of humor and our relationship with each other and our rapport, I think that's where it really began to develop.

sort of on the radio and and um and then from then it was sort of you know it was plain sailing really. You know, and we just and so much of what we our experience so much of sort of getting to know someone that you end up working with in that way is I think just

As I'm sure you guys discovered, it's just finding all the things you have in common. And I suppose the things you don't like, you know, and and and sort of deciding that these are the movies we like, these are the comedy we like, this is what we don't. And I think that's so much of the initial sort of partnering was that, was was finding that stuff, that common ground. Oh man, that is such a great story.

And also I feel like something Angela and I have discovered in working together is like our strengths and weaknesses and how they and our differences and our in our work. We both have strong work ethics, but we work differently. What do you think were some of those things that made you and Ricky a good duo? Well, I think I was a little younger than Ricky, um, and so I had a sort of youthful

ambition and a kind of get up and go sort of dynamism. I mean, at the time we were working at this radio show and then I would go off and do stand up comedy in the evenings and things, whereas Ricky would sort of be home eating cheese with his girlfriend by sort of, you know, six PM.

And I think, you know, he was older and he th f he'd sort of settled into a certain groove. And I think I had this kind of eagerness to sort of make my stamp on the world. And I think but at the same time I think what Ricky had was just a sort of untapped kind of explosive brilliance that was just sort of waiting to be to be sort of mined, you know? And I think I had this slightly more kind of

structured, slightly more rigid approach to things. And I think it was his sort of his wild spontaneity and my kind of slightly more, you know, um, by the book approach. I think kind of bringing those two things together. sort of work well, you know, and I was able to kind of chaperone him through some of the more boring bits of writing, if you like, the working of the plots and all those sort of things. Whereas at the but at the same time he had a kind of

He was just sort of um smart. He was just wise about people and about you know, he'd he just he was just older and so there was a big brother quality to him that that he could bring to it as well. So it was just a really

Interesting dynamic. We sort of supported each other and we kind of I think sparked each other's creativity in different ways. It was just a very exhilarating sort of time in both our lives. Stephen, you're my Jenna. That's what I was gonna say. I'm you, Steven. I'm I'm the structure and the the tasks and the and Angela's the boo boo. Boom, boom. I'm like, let's go grab a pint. Let's let's bounce some ideas off. And I'm like, I'll get a pint with you, but I'm bringing a notebook. Yeah.

Right, exactly. Yeah. Exactly. I remember meeting you for the first time when you came to the set of the office. Early early. Jenna, where was that? Where did where did you guys meet? Was it the original Culver City set? Wasn't it, Stephen? Do you remember? I definitely think it was it was a season one. Yeah, and we weren't on those sound stages yet, right? I think it was a real that's right. It was a real a real office above a real factory, is that right? Or a a real warehouse?

Above a real warehouse. Yeah. And didn't you guys, Stephen, when you filmed the BBC version, weren't you in an actual office building as well? Weren't they like people working on the other side of the wall? That's very r that's absolutely true. Although bizarrely, we were we we were within a studio complex, a small British T V studio, but we were not in the studio. We were in an actual office

in in the studio complex. And yes, you as you say, there were there were people sort of who were kind of annoyed by the noise we were making and were trying to get on with a job of work and we were there kind of, you know, running around and making noise and doing funny dances and whatever else. So, um Yeah, so it was definitely very much a real office and it had all of the the um

the sort of pros and cons of that I suppose, that it was it felt real and it we wanted it to feel very lived in and we wanted it to f we always wanted our version of the office to feel like a documentary that had sort of been made And then everyone forgot about it and it was just on a shelf somewhere at the BBC for like ten years and someone dusted it off and was like, Put this on TV. So we wanted the whole thing to feel tired. The office should feel tired. The people

the clothes. We always were very excited when the the plants that they had on the set were slightly dying. We like that idea. You know, it's the British that British approach. You know, you reflect the weather by just making shows that are depressing. And um and that was what that office had. It had a slightly tired feel because it had been a real place.

Um and it's somehow slightly harder to create that artificially when you build a set. You know, you're always striving for that. So it had that nice lived in quality. But but obviously also restrictive to shoot in and a little bit difficult and you know, and it's not much elbow room and um You know, so it it was pros and cons.

Right. Our our camera guys have talked about that where we filmed the original, you know, set in Culver City was an actual office so no walls moved and you couldn't pop anything out and and that really just added to the authenticity. But that's that's where you guys met. You guys met for the pilot maybe, Jenna, or the table read? I remember doing a reading for you guys. Oh gosh, I mean and then I remember we ordered some food and had some lunch. And just

But I think you were maybe shooting by then. I think we were maybe shooting. I have a photo from that time which feels like you're on the set and everybody's kind of I'm sure you're maybe working and we were up and running by the time we actually visited. I felt like a lot of what we did initially was remote. I know that Greg Daniels came and visited us in England and we sat with him for a couple of days and we sort of chewed the fat.

and try to talk about how you know, try to give him a better insight into why we had chosen certain things for the British version and how they might translate to America and what the versions w what the equivalents would be in America. And it was fascinating to me because there were things which we assumed would be the same all over the world. For instance, the the idea of an office, a group of people in an office going to a pub quiz.

is quite a traditional idea here. You'd go to a trivia night, you know, as a group. And that I remember at the time it felt like Greg, that wasn't as familiar to Greg, the idea of kind of the trivia night or the quiz night. And I guess maybe they are more common now, but I don't know that that was as and it's interesting,'cause when they did a version in France, it turns out that apparently on Friday night, um at the end of the day working day on a Friday, the champagne comes out in an office.

You know, where I guess in France I think champagne is just like water in France. It's just everywhere. And I just thought it was fun that you know, just these interesting you know, variations. Yeah, how many different countries is the office in now? There was a French version, there was a French Canadian version. There was an Israeli version. There was, I believe, a I think there might have been an Indian version.

Uh and I think there's a South American version, but I forget where exactly in South America. But um but it was frustrating'cause they would send us copies of these, but of course none of them had subtitles. So it was just speaking in in their local languages and I have no idea whether it was good or bad. Ha ha ha. Huh. It's gotta just be so amazing.

Stephen, when you take a moment and sit in that that you went and gr grabbed a pint with this guy and all these years later, this idea that y the two of you had is everywhere. It's everywhere. It's gotta be just COVID nineteen. Oh no! Ha ha ha. Um yeah, no, it's uh no I know what you mean, but I think it yes, but I think also what's exciting about that and I think particularly one when you guys began your version was that

You know, we always were a fan of our show, but we could never watch it as an audience watches it'cause we were too immersed in it. We we were there, we we we'd written it and we were just too involved and we couldn't get any distance from it.

Whereas I remember when they would send the ep the seasons of your show, the episodes of your show, I could watch it like a fan. It was like I was like I'm just enjoying it as a fan and not as a creator in the same way. You know what I mean? It's very, very pleasurable. It was like you get to design your ideal show and then go off and make have talented people make it and send it to you.

You know what I mean? It's like sort of a weird, like an amazing kind of like you won a competition. You design a show and then talented people make it for many, many years. One of my um favorite experiences was after we filmed the pilot. I was in London and you and Ricky grabbed drinks with me at is it called the Groucho Club? That's right, yeah. Okay. And that was just so exciting. But then I was on the tube and I picked up what was like your version of T V guide.

And I looked in there and there was an article about how America was gonna ruin the office. And there was a little picture of my face in a bubble comparing me to Lucy Davis. And there were bubbles of all our faces. Talking about how we it specifically outlining how we were each going to ruin the show. Yeah, I still have it. I put it in a scrapbook. Let me tell you right now, Jenna, what really happened was Ricky and I had that manufactured specially and placed on the tube.

planted on the tube in order to um really make you buck up your ideas and do a good job. Ha ha ha. But it's funny you should say that because because I remember that when that when it was first uh being discussed that as you say, there were a lot of things about oh, America gonna ruin the show and then there was um when the show your show started airing in the UK it was kind of

Oh, it's not as good as the British version. And then over time, it's become the American version is far superior to the British version. This is the British. This is the way we do things here. You know what I mean? We're like we we kind of build you up and then we knock you down. And um and so yeah, now very much the American version is kind of the the much loved version, even by the British the British press. And Ricky and I are seen as kind of oh, those guys were tired of it.

It's amazing. It's amazing. Maybe it'll come full circle. Well, I remember meeting you guys um on the the new set when we moved, you know, way deep in the valley, Chandler Valley Studios. And I'll never forget because you guys were coming for lunch and we were all super excited. And I think by now the supporting cast we were we were actually um we had real contracts.

So I think I was a little braver to like come up and say hi'cause maybe no one would fire me now'cause I was locked in. Um and you guys we were going through the food line. And um the the assistant director came up to me and said, Angela, you're the first talking head up after lunch and um Ricky and Steven will be here and I just went

Like I was like, Oh no No, I just got the courage to say hi. Please don't make me do a talking head in front of them And Ricky said, Oh, don't worry, I don't tisk too loudly and he did his finger. Ha ha ha. And I was like, uh ha ha ha and then sort of broke into a cold sweat. But um it was I hope though that we I hope ultimately you you know, I I I I I think we we always ultimately tried to be supportive.

when we could. We were kind of aware that it was like there was this il I think just because we had British accents and we'd come from a long way away, it was like it was like the Queen had come to visit. Yes. And we were aware of that. And I think trying to kind of, you know, make sure people realised we weren't here to judge or be mean.

Oh no, you guys were great. We were we were just a buzz about having you guys on the set. And then when you came I guess, you know, we're talking about customer survey this week. When you came to the set I read that you were in the writer's room for weeks before we actually shot. Yes, yes, absolutely. Yeah, and we always ask people how they got their job on the office. I think we know you started by creating, but how did you end up directing this particular episode? Do you remember?

Well, I think w whenever I had visited'cause I used to kind of visit whenever I was in LA, sometimes with Ricky and sometimes without and I and I tried to come, you know, once a season and stop by. And I was always very um

I just loved being in the writer's room. Um Because in you've got to remember in the UK, you know, Ricky and I wrote the show together and it was just us and we didn't do a lot of episodes, but you know, it felt like a lot of hard work and it was, you know, it was just the two of us in this sort of cold

London little o tiny office. And whereas when you come to an American writing room, you know, there's so many people and it's just it's just a really buzzy, exciting uh atmosphere. You're just you're just with a lot of very talented, very smart people. ideas are sort of pinging around and it's it's a very different experience to the to the um British experience. And and I always loved that. I was just always a fan of being in that environment. And so I think there have been conversations with

Greg um about sort of directing an episode and it just never worked out schedule wise, or I was always doing something with Ricky, or I was doing some uh something else in the UK. And for whatever reason I had that little window of time, and I think so I think in a sense that particular episode was the one that was up.

and and and when I could slot it in. And but I had those few weeks ahead of it and I just wanted I just thought, well, I really I love being in the writing room. I love being in that that sort of environment. Let me come over and just absorb And I'm sort of really glad I did because I felt like um I was able to contribute to the script of that episode and and again, like I say, just I just really had a blast just seeing how it worked and seeing the ideas.

you bouncing around the room and seeing how one idea becomes another and how jokes are improved and um like I say, not something I'd really experienced in the UK. And so it was it was a it was a learning curve for me as much as it was a as much as it was a job, if you like. And do you remember any pitches from the room? I know there's one scene the mister Butlicker scene. Right. That was was loosely based off a a situation you had at a job where you had to do the the train up, right?

That's right, that's right. I was working at a call center, um, answering phones and we had to have training. for a week beforehand. And one of the things we had to do was one person went in one room and called another trainee and one was the customer and one was the the person working at the call center. And I figured the

In order to maximize this and and and kind of get the most out of it, I thought it would be useful to be sort of a challenging customer. You know, a little bit difficult or a little or ask difficult questions or go quiet sometimes just because that's what I wanted to learn because It's figured, you know, you're never gonna be able to just follow a script that someone always is gonna be kind of difficult. So I started playing difficult customers. Yeah.

for the other trainee. So I would be a little angry or whatever it would be. And eventually the guy in charge of the training took me aside and said, I can't have you do this anymore because you're upsetting the other trainees with your with your characters and with your questions and with your attitude. And anyway, so th I'd always been very amused by that idea that that in the course of that sort of training you'd so you'd get so into the role.

That you'd sort of it would overtake the training? So I I raised that as an idea and it just seemed like a funny idea to have Jim kind of deliberately needling Dwight in that way. And um I some some of the writers went off and kind of and came back with that scene and I and I really was so happy with that. I thought it was Absolutely fantastic. I thought it was a really funny spin on that idea. I thought the when we shot it, I thought the three guys were just fantastic. I loved the fact that.

it was sort of longer than a lot of scenes are traditionally in in the show that it just it could just we could just sit in that moment and I think it's in a way it sort of escalates and and I just I thought everyone kinda knocked out of the park and I'm sure there was a version of that That we shot where either Steve or or uh I forget, I think it was Steve at the end just said, We got the buttnicker account.

Um which I don't think we could ever squeeze into the finished cut. But there was a lot of sort of fun little improvs around the the edges and Yeah, I just think when there's a sort of when there's three great performers and a really funny idea like that, sort of given free reign, it's so thrilling to be there as a director and watch it happen. And that was I just thought I was so satisfied with that, with that scene.

It's so great. It's so great. So good. Well, Jenna, do you remember I remember Steven when you were on set, we did rehearse scenes and we had sort of been rehearsing for technical, for camera. But I felt like when you were there, we rehearsed really sort of the meat of the scene and walked through the scene and I loved it.

Um, I had a few scenes with Andy and and I had that scene with Dwight, you know, where basically we're gonna get married on Shroot Farms and I'm so happy and we're flirting and it's very weird. But we rehearsed and I I wish that we had done more of that and and was that part of your routine when you guys filmed in England were you rehearsing scenes before you shot them?

We were and I think also what I think I probably brought with me, which was perhaps a bit unnecessary, was I I think I was still slightly hung up with the

this obsession with the kind of realism of of what we're trying to do in in and not that your show wasn't realistic, but um I think we you know, Ricky and I became very obsessed about realism and naturalism and what was real and what might happen and what might not happen. And and I think actually it was a sort of unnecessary obsession because in the end it's a T V show and and you know it's just you just sort of do what's the the s funniest uh and smartest thing to do and

So I guess I was bringing with me this sort of this we must we must get to the truth of it you know and it's kind of like, wait a minute, aren't they wearing tiny little Bluetooth headsets that don't exist? Like why am I so hung up on on the realism of this? You know, and and so I think

I was probably bringing an unnecessary uh obsession with that, which I tr transposed from our version. And e it's funny because even when I look back at our version, it's not it's not realistic. And there's lots of completely absurd moments. But for whatever reason we got that in our head. So I think probably I was bringing a bit of that to it. And I think what I hadn't anticipated is just that you guys were so in a groove by that point that you didn't need

rehearsed. So you didn't need directing. You know, you could do it just standing on your head. You knew the characters way better than me. And you were just you could just slip in and out of it so kind of effortlessly that you just didn't need that.

that sort of that that uh rehearsal or that kind of, you know, attention to detail or whatever it is, you you know, you could just I could have just left you to do it and come back after lunch and, you know. So I think it was just like I say, it was again, I think it's just slight naivety in a way about

having not done, you know, American shows, particularly long-running shows, where at some point the cast are just so in in in sync with the show and the characters, they don't really need directing. Well, I I don't I I agree with you that we were sort of like we were a machine at this time, season five, but for for me and and Jenna and I and the cast have talked about this, when we did rehearse with you

It it sort of grounded us back down and got us back into character and not that we would step out of character because we could, like you said, we could go right to Angela Martin. I I know her, right? Yeah. But I don't know, for for us as actors, we got really into it because it it allowed us to

You know, like not to sound too actory, but have the moment. That's the craft, right? And feel like you're really part of a production and kind of remind ourselves, Oh yeah, we're here to to do this really cool show that's a mockumentary and I don't know. I I had geeked out about it, Jenna. No, I agree with you, Angela, because by this time it was season five and you know, at a certain point it it can feel like a comedy factory, a comedy TV show factory. And we never wanted that and we

We did always try to come back to that place of authenticity. And and when you came in in this season. and really reminded us of that. I thought there was such value in it. Mm-hmm. And then also I was so grateful that you directed this episode, Steven, because it ends with this big Jim Pam Alex art school guy scene. You talked about the tiny Bluetooth that actually did not work. They They didn't exist at the time. They they were like completely like made up, right? Yeah.

But it's funny, isn't it, now? Because you know, now with the the airpods and these other things, you know, they're kind of standard issue, aren't they, really? But at the time that just seemed such a kind of crazy that was probably uh something I was probably hung up on at the time. I was like, what is this th is this a thing? Yeah. And not only that, they probably would have been really expensive'cause no Yeah. No one had them. Yes. And and so we're we would be shooting these scenes.

And it would either be like uh an A D reading the lines. So you'd be shooting John's side and I'm either off camera saying my lines so he can hear me, or it was an A D reading the lines. But in that last scene in particular, when Alex comes in to Pam at corporate and Jim can hear him giving her this pitch that she should not leave New York. I I we spent hours on that. I mean it felt like a whole day we spent on that. And the the script had like seven alternates to that scene. It was bonkers.

Didn't didn't one all Jenna, wasn't he like professing that he actually wanted to be in a relationship with you? Didn't wasn't like there a huge spectrum of like what Alex was gonna say to you? Yes, it was that either the plea was he actually had a line where he said, It's always been you, Pam. Oof. I mean, that's heavy. And um and then there was this whole other version where he had no feelings for me. He was just really invested in my artistic life. And we were just

But did we shoot different versions? I can't rcause I remember the discussion about that and I and I feel like I was it seemed odd to me the kind of big declaration of love. I I for for some reason I was uncomfortable with that. But what you gotta remember as well is I wasn't entirely up to speed on what had already been being built within the season because obviously I'd only come in for that one episode. So

But I just there was something for me that d disquieted me about the declaration of love. I think partly because I d I I I think it was something whenever the kind of Jim and Pam relationship is threatened, particularly once you've got together

I kind of it just makes me uncomfortable. It's like it's like knowing that it's like your parents, kinda the idea that your parents like it might get a divorce. It's sort of I'm not I just it makes me sad. The kind of threat to the threat to the relationship just makes me sad. And so The idea I don't know I was worried that it was a sort of

artificial jeopardy. Like it didn't really count because there was no way that you were gonna leave Jim. And so therefore we were sort of creating a phony drama. But it but I but that might be my m mis memory. I don't remember I don't was it was it was it was it nailed down by the time we filmed it, do you remember? I do remember the version where he professes his love was in the script.

And John and I felt like you did. We thought, where is this coming from? We don't need this obstacle. And the one that appears in the show was an alternate. And so when we got to set, we were so excited that you were on our side. And we could be like, guys. Stephen Merchant, creator of the whole world. Thanks worth. You're right.

And but it was still like this discussion and I feel like for a while we tried to do this Frankenstein version where there was a little bit of his feelings and a little bit of art school, but ultimately um I'm so glad that we picked the one that was picked. But it's a I uh having watched the show again in in anticipation of this, it's a little odd that he declares, like you say, his he's so invested in your art school

It feels like when he comes into the office. That's right. He comes into your wherever you're working in order to to kind of have a word with you. And that definitely feels like he's gonna declare his stuff because probably we filmed it thinking that was what what was gonna happen. And then by the time he gets into the little side room with you, he's like, You man, you gotta stick with that art And it's kind of Yeah, so it's a it's a little odd. It's still probably a little Frankensteiny.

Well it's also it it's also slightly out of the blue because we ended up cutting so much of my art school, which at the time when we filmed this, we didn't know that scenes with Alex and you know, he had given me a couple of art pep talks already, but they never made it. So it is a little jarring, but it sets up a really nice story for Pam and Jim, which is that, you know, what does the art really mean to her? What did this New York experience mean to her?

And you know, and this is gonna kinda haunt her for a while. And that that that part I like about the scene. Yeah, you're right. And I I you agree and I and I think yes, it's that idea of do you you know, of ha of do you pursue a particular dream or do you be with the person you love and w and the two things pulling at each other is an interesting idea. Yeah.

Well, I watched this episode again last night with my tweens, my thirteen year olds, and just when Alex says, Hey, can I talk to you? Just that, like the fact that he went to Dunder Mifflin Corporate and sought her out to have a private conversation, they were like, whoa. So it's it to me it was a reminder that you don't have to do much to really convey emotion.

And yes, Alex is saying you've gotta give your art a shot. You can't do New York in three months, but it's clearly about so much more. And Jim can hear that. Jim knows. It's that that dude thing where you're when he's like, Oh, he's into you. And so for me it was everything we needed. We didn't need anything more. There was something in the script that um didn't make it in that made me laugh. Which is that while Alex is talking, Jim says, Cough if you still love me and I cough. Ha ha ha.

Oh that would have been great. Again, I don't want to take credit for things that weren't mine, but I feel like I maybe I'm wrong about this, but I my instinct is that th the little sort of tag on that when when Dwight recognizes the brand of Bluetooth in Jim's ear. I feel like I had some contribution to that'cause I felt like I felt like the scene originally maybe just ended with the sort of the kind of dot dot dot and the drama of it. And I felt like it needed a little

conclusion or something to just kind of take away from the from the sort of emotion of it or the drama of it or something. And also sort of slightly resolve the Bluetooth. Yeah, that wasn't in the script, Stephen. Oh, it wasn't. It was not. So that was clearly like an on the day thing, yeah.

A pitch, yeah. I also loved the reveal of the coffee mugs and how in fact they had not gone to Kelly's party and how that this had built within the episode. And you talked a little bit on the DVD commentary how you were so invested in shooting this coffee mug reveal. I was quite excited'cause there was a sort of there was a sort of mystery element. And I quite like that.

Um, it's funny, the project I'm working on the min at the moment has a sort of thrillery element to it. It's the first time I've done that. And that that little taster on the office of just sort of

Jim as the detective kind of piecing things together was very pleasing to me and sort of and sort of seeing the Columbo, you know, seeing the evidence in the kind of the mind working. I don't know why I find that very, very uh fun and sort of yes up sort of seeding the cups early on and the and then the kind of the sort of when Jim looks around the room and he sees the mugs on the different desks and then he rushes to the off you know, just the idea of it having a little bit of a a sort of

You know, uh like a kind of little bit of a sort of thrillery Um N C I S quality to it or whatever. I just find that that was fun. It was a kind of nice, it was a different kind of energy, which I which I found very pleasing to do, I remember. I took my mug. Yeah. I have it. Smart. Well, I would hope that you've got all of your memorabilia from the show and it's just in a giant warehouse somewhere. I didn't get a mug. It's gone. Well yeah, you were at art school.

Oh well. Uh Steven, this was so great to reminisce about this episode with you and just reminisce with you in general. Is there anything else that you would want to share? The only thing that occurred to me as I was watching it

the other night, the thing that I was suddenly reminded of and I'm sure this was a trick that was used a great deal in your show, and I and I certainly we'd used it in our version. But I remembered there's a moment where uh Michael calls Jim in for his kind of uh customer, you know, survey appraisal and

And um the camera kind of whips from Jim at his desk to uh Michael in the uh in the in his office doorway, and then it whips back again to Jim at his desk. And I remembered watching it again, I was suddenly reminded that those were those were shot on two different days. And that Steve had to leave for whatever reason and we didn't have him for that following day. And so we shot him in the doorway and we whipped the camera off him. And then the following day we whipped back onto

um to what John at his desk and then tied the two together in the in the editing room so it looks like it's happening for in real time. And um and I was just watching it kind of and I was very pleased at how effective it was when I watched it again because I realized hopefully only me and the editor know that's what happened. Yeah. Yeah. It was very it was a very satisfying little trick.

I remember Randall Talking about the whip cut that this was their trick.'Cause because of you couldn't so much of our footage is like a one or docustyle camera work. It was really hard to cut, but if you did a whip, you could cut in a whip. And that was the way that they would be able to use two versions of a scene or something.

That's right, absolutely right. And and it's it was it's very satisfying to do it because it's sort of somehow you're playing a little trick on the audience and they don't realise I don't know why that's so satisfying. Well, I was just gonna say over the course of the whole series, you were such a champion for Jim and Pam, and I remember that so much. It was you know, s we talked about how that was true in this episode, but all the way to the end.

You were always so invested in them. Um, and I just say thank you because um your voice in the writer's room was really meaningful. So thank you. Well thank you and thank you for, you know, such an amazing job and congratulations with your podcast. And I also I wouldn't mind just saying a final

thought which um was just about Lester who wrote that episode who Yes you know Lester Lewis who so tragically died a few years after that. And I I only, you know, knew him for that for that one episode and that was the only time I'd worked with him. But he was such a lovely man and I just You know, and there's sort of whenever I think of that episode it's kind of tinged with that bit of sweet um you know, that bit of sweet aftertaste, if you like. So um yeah, a little reminder to him.

Yeah. We loved Lester so much.

Well, Steven, I I just wanna say thank you. I mean, I I feel like everyone in our cast was just like humbled that we got this job. We all felt like we won the lottery ticket. And you gave us that lottery ticket. you know, you and Ricky and you forever changed our lives. Like I I I'm like I'm the person that's quick to laugh and quick to tear up. And and it what you gave us and how you changed our lives and our families just from having this idea

I I I don't know, I will never be able to say thank you enough. So thank you.

Well, that's very sweet of you. But again, I I you know, it's it's i i I think Ricky and I feel very proud of of our version, but also of the American version. I think for me, I grew up watching and loving American shows and I was hooked on you know, Mash and then Cheers and then Roseanne and and then the idea of sort of having my fingerprints on a show like yours, which which stands in the lineage of those shows and is now as beloved

By audiences, as that, as those shows. It's just incredible. And that's a testament to you guys and all the cast and all the crew and all the righteous. It's far it's gone way beyond what. Ricky and I did. It's like you mentioned about Frankenstein earlier, but the you know, to us we've always thought of the office as it's like Frankenstein's monster and we kind of created this thing in the lab and it went off and rampaged around the world in it on its own, you know, without us.

And um and the idea that the show is having this kind of s this sort of s whole second life and, you know, audiences finding it again, I just think it's it's such a thrill and an honour to be to be associated with it. So, um, thank you. And will you tell us a little bit about the show that you're working on now, The Offenders? Yeah. No, no, goodbye. Oh dear. No, I'm well, it's interesting'cause it was a it's a show that um uh is about people doing

community service. You know, when you get like a DOI or some minor crime and instead of sending you to jail, they give you a hundred and twenty hours of picking up garbage at the side of the road or whatever. And my parents used to be my parents didn't they did not do DOIs. They they were people that were in charge of

of offenders that did these uh did these days. And I just thought it was always an interesting idea, a good way of bringing a completely disparate group of people together. And interestingly it has parallels with the office in that regard because

You know, like with an office, those people only know each other because they work in that same environment and they fall in love and they hate each other and they fight and argue. And it's the only thing that kind of keeps them together is because of that job and those four walls.

And this was sort of a similar I you know, idea in a way is that although it has a bit more of a of a dramatic, thrillery spine, the I the j jumping off point is again, how do you bring an interesting bunch of characters together that wouldn't otherwise meet and sort of watch the The sparks fly. And so um so it shares some DNA with the office in that regard. But um but yes, we're we're sort of in the middle of filming it now and uh hopefully it will be out later in the uh in the year.

And where can we find it? BBC and Amazon Studios, is that right? Amazon Prime and BBC, yes, that's right. And it may its name may change at some point. Who knows? Uh maybe its cast will change. I don't know. But uh at the moment it's called The Offenders and um yeah, and it's it's shaping up really w nicely. I'm I'm excited. Well, I wanna throw something out there too, because I'm a big fan of your film, Fighting with My Family. Thank you.

It came out in twenty nineteen. I discovered it during the pandemic. It is so, so good. You wrote and directed it. So while you're waiting for the offenders, check out Fighting with My Family. Thank you so much. I'm very proud of that film. I think it it turned out really nicely, so I appreciate that. Well, Stephen, this was a just a joy. Thank you.

It's so great to reminisce. It's l it's really nice to talk about it. If I hadn't rewatched it, I I realised I just completely forgotten so much of that and so much of the fun of shooting it. It was really pleasing to kind of go back and look at it again. Well, thank you so much, Stephen. Thank you so much for today. Thank you guys.

Why do we go from there? That was so great. I don't know Angela, but I have to tell you I was on a high for days after we did that interview. I know. Here's all you need to know about Steven Merchant, by the way. Just the warmth and heart of this man. He really was the champion of Tim and Dawn on the British show. And of Jim and Pam on our show. And if you need an example of that, just look at how he wore his Wurnham Hog hat for a podcast. The broadest coffee mug is Dunder Mifflin coffee mug.

Like merch. Yeah. Okay. All right. Well should we break down this episode? Yes, let's get to it. This episode opens with a very funny cold open. Dwight bursts into Michael's office to congratulate him on his engagement. Congratulations, Michael! And like punches him hard. I know. I feel like this is how my kids would congratulate you. Be like, you aced your test. Pow Like Dwight is such a kid.

Yeah, no, it's true. Daryl has a talking head. He just wants to make sure we all know that what we saw last week was true, that Michael is definitely not engaged. Yeah no in fact he would help support his therapy. Might need a little help. Well, there is a deleted scene where the gang asked Michael to tell him about the proposal moment. Oh.

And Michael just starts doing that thing, you know, where he just gets deeper and deeper into like a ridiculous lie. And it's so funny. Sam, can you play it? We wasted How did I propose? Let me see. Well, I drove her up to Nashua and I had the ring, big ten karat diamond, was beautiful. And I got down on my hands and knees and uh shooting star. crossed overhead and it just lit up the diamond like a shooting star. And we were in a restaurant and I put the diamond into a cheeseburger.

Ooh. Take a bite. Start to chop. I exceed PR training, go around, start doing high. The ring, 10 carat diamond, pops out of her mouth. hits her shrimp cocktail right onto her finger. Million to one shot. All of the Greek people in the restaurant start screaming Which means congratulations. So What is this restaurant where they have ordered a cheeseburger and shrimp cocktail? And they're outside with a shooting star. And it's green. And it's Greek. No, that famous Greek shrimp cocktail.

out under the shooting stars with a great cheeseburger. I mean, I just you could just if you get a chance, watch this deleted scene because you see him being like, Yeah, and then this happened and uh you know Ten carat diamond. Yeah, I know. Wow. Wowzers. What was left in the episode is that everyone makes him call his mom and tell her the news. And she's like, she thinks he's lying again. And he's like, Why, Mom, come on.

A couple of things. I don't know if you noticed. The entire time he's on the phone with his mom, Mindy is hiding behind Phyllis' shoulder. You can only see her forehead. This is totally because Mindy was left. Yeah, she's laughing. Exactly. We also had some fan questions from Sabrina, Hannah, and Paul who would like to know who voiced Michael's mom in the cold open. This was June Squibb, who is an amazing character actress.

She was actually nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2014 for her role in the movie Nebraska. Oh my god. She also played Jack Nicholson's wife in the movie about Schmidt. She's so good as she She's so good. Yeah. Oh, we were so lucky. That's Michael's mom.

Well now we're getting into the episode. It's customer survey time. Yeah. Kelly brings Michael all the customer survey files and also a receipt to her bridesmaid's dress that she had bought. That whole bit made me laugh. Well he'll take care of it. Oh, yeah. He's got it. He just crumples it up and throws it in.

It's in the trash. So the whole premise of the story is that Dwight, Jim, all the salespeople, they have these customer surveys, and if they do well, then they get bonuses and things like that. That right? Right. So stakes are high. Jen, I have a question for you. Okay. Do you do the customer surveys? Like if you get a prompt on an app or an email or a receipt or if someone calls you'cause you've purchased something, do you do the customer surveys?

Very rarely, but occasionally if I have a really great interaction with a salesperson, I want to give them like a kudos. So I will actually go home with my receipt. You know, they usually circle it. Right. And then I go take the survey and I say how great they were. This This is totally why we're BFFs,'cause I do that. I do the surveys, you guys. Every time? I try to. It's very time consuming. Really?

I was once on the phone with this guy. We had gotten an appliance delivery and then they do the setup and then they called to see how you liked their service. Right. I was on the phone with the guy for forty five minutes. Saying what? Well, I did his survey and then we just had a heart tart.

Josh came in and was like, Are you still on the phone with the dishwasher guy? I said, I am. I did the survey and he told me a lot of people don't do them. Sometimes they hang up on him, or sometimes they yell at him, or sometimes they get very offended by the questions he asked. Hmm. And they're just sort of standard questions. And I said he was a really nice guy. I talked to him, you know, he'd had a tough few months and

Like this is so you. Let me say I do the customer surveys that are online. Oh yeah. So I don't do like a phone call customer survey. Oh I love a phone call customer. Yeah, that's you. I wanna get to know you. And Anyway, this whole episode made me think about that and I was like I wonder if Jenna does them too. I do. Because I worked in that line of work and I know how like a good review boosts you up the ladder. It does, and I did as well. And so I think about that.

Well the other storyline going on here, Jim's gonna have a talking head where it is revealed that he and Pam are wearing teeny tiny Bluetooth earpieces. Yeah, and this technology did not exist. No, the Mitsuwashi B400 is not a real thing. This is a faky tech alert. Fakey tech alert. Yeah. We talked a little bit about this with Steven, how they were totally fake. So the way we did this was we shot John's side of these conversations first. And I would be off camera reading my lines.

And then at the end of the week, we went to the corporate set and we shot my side of it. And then John was off camera. And Veda, our script supervisor, would have to take diligent notes. Because if there was an improvisation that we did, she would have to write it down so that we could remember to shoot my half of it when we moved over to corporate. Oh man.

So it was really complicated. It wasn't like there was a camera on him and a camera on me. Right. So that's how we did it. And by the way, I found out that this whole Bluetooth storyline was pitched by BJ Novak. Hmm, I of course had to Google what is actually the smallest headphone ever made. Oh.

Yeah. According to the internet, you guys, and I don't know why I find this stuff interesting. This is like what's happened with us with office ladies. We talk about it. We see something, we're like, I wanna know what is the smallest headphone. According to the internet, Swedish headphone maker ERN kicked off its consumer electronic show in twenty twenty one by revealing the A3 True Wireless Earbuds, and according to ERN, they are the smallest and lightest headphones ever made. Um sorry Apple.

Are they expensive? Do you know? I looked. What? What? For the smallest? the smallest. But are they the best? Don't know that. Don't know that guys. Mm-hmm. Just telling you. Erin claims to have the smallest.

Now it's time for Dwight to find out how he did on his survey. And I have what I'd like to call a new catchphrase alert. What is it? Sam, can you play it? Alrighty, Dwighty. Alrighty Dwighty. It's my new catchphrase. I love it. I'm gonna say it. All righty, Dwighty. What you got, Jinnah? Well, I'll tell you, Dwight doesn't do well on his survey. No. And Michael's not joking. Even though Dwight has that queasy feeling that he gets when he sometimes is hearing a joke.

Joke. Yeah. But he's not laughing. He can't be sure because he can't see himself. But yeah, it's very upsetting. But guess who else doesn't get a good review? That's right. He is arrogant and smudge. Yeah. Yeah, now Jim turns off his little Bluetooth. Yeah. And then he has a talking head where he reveals some pretty big news that he was counting on this bonus because he's gonna buy his parents' house. Pam doesn't know this.

And also clearly it's gonna put him in debt'cause he says, you know, he's gonna buy something he can't really afford. But he's also retiring his parents. Yeah. I guess they need the money from the house sale to retire. Then he gets on the phone with Pam, he tells her about the bad review. But not about the house. How do we feel about that? Am I opening a can of worms? I mean you have that look on your face where you know exactly how you feel about it. I don't know why you're asking me.

You just turn red. I know, I know, because this is gonna play out and Well you feel like a home purchase is a two hander, not a one hander. It's a big life moment. And not just because they're gonna live in it together and I think that people should pick out their living space. if they're gonna live in it, but also because it's a financial burden. Jim has just revealed. This is going to burden him and then also Pam.

And I think that something of that gravity you should speak about with your partner before you do it. I personally don't find large financial purchases that I then have to live in to be a romantic gesture. I probably shouldn't have bought you that RV. I do love the RV, Angela. It's I wouldn't have had the table be exactly where it is, but I can live with it. I loved it. Thank you. I put the title in your name. How are those payments? We're kidding. I didn't buy her an R V.

I didn't buy her an R V. But yeah, I think this kind of moment is what we call the two hander, guys. It's a two hander life moment. Yeah, and I think this sort of speaks a little bit to where, you know, Pam was so heavily criticized.

For Alex's attention on her that she never reciprocated, right? Mm-hmm. In this art school story. But there's not a lot of criticism of like how Jim is partnering and that's sort of where I don't know, he gets a pass, maybe'cause he's so like Charming and it's seen as like romantic. Well some people might see it as romantic that he's gonna provide a home, but I think Not really because it's a financial burden. Well I said but I had a but coming.

Which is also that, you know, when you're partnering with someone in life, the the word is partner, right? Yeah. It's not soloing. I'm not soloing with you. I'm partnering with you. And Pam might have said, you know what? Why don't we live in one of our apartments and save money for a bit? Or she might have said, listen, I get it. I love your parents. I want your parents to be able to retire. I agree to take on this financial burden to provide your parents with a great retirement. I'm in.

But she She never got the chance. 'Cause there was some solo wing and not some partner ink. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about what Andy's up to. He goes to get some coffee. Uh-huh. But he can't find his mug'cause Jim's using it. It's his face. But is it I mean smile. Smile like the mud. That was so funny. That made me laugh so hard. Jenna, what do I have here in my hand? You guys, Angela has her mug with the star and her little severe face. I took it.

At the end of the week. Am I like the office klepto? I full on took it. It has sat on my desk at home for fifteen years and I keep my pencils and stuff in it. And I washed it out and brought it here today so I could drink out of it. In honor of the episode. Sam, do you see it? You're head of the PPC, you need a clock things like that. Okay. I don't have one. I don't have one. That is not wonderful. Thank you. You do have a mug though, with the edge on it.

I do have that. Thanks to you, Angela. I don't think we talked about that on the pod. We haven't cried. Alright, I'll share. Angela got me a mug. From the Edge, my favorite movie. I made it guys. I went on a website and I made It took you months. It has a picture of Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, and then it has a picture of the bear and then it has the quote, What one man can do, another can do. Mm-hmm. And I gave it to her as a birthday gift.

Yes. And that is the actual quote from the movie. Yeah. Even though I say what one man has done another can do. I looked it up. No, you got it right. Got it right. And now Jenna can drink her mug with either the bear facing her or Anthony Hopkins and uh Alec Baldwin. one. And I use it on days when I need to get fired up. You know, when I like when we're writing our book and I know like I have a tough day of writing ahead and I maybe I just I'm not, oh, I just can't get into it.

I'll get that mug, Angela, and I'll pour coffee in it and I'll look at that bear and I'll be like, I'm gonna slay this bear today You know, the quote from the movie is, We're gonna kill a mother fing bear today. The bear is the book. The bear is the book, the bear is whatever you need to conquer in the day. Not today. And it stares at me. Not today, Bear. Today. I love my mother. Or not today, Anthony. Anthony Hopkins. Charles!Charles!You mean Char- Charles.

Well Jim says why don't you use the Snoopy mug? And Pam's like No, that's my mug. But it's not even her mug. Her mug is the pink mug. I know, so I wrote here in my notes Wait, did Pam bring her pink mug to art school? Maybe Pam brought her pink mug to art school. Snoopy is her backup mug. Yeah, I buy that. This is more mug talk than you ever thought you might hear.

There's gonna be more too, so just buckle in for that later. Also, Andy would like you to know about landing the greatest tentist for the wedding. Do you mean the Shangri? to celebrate your wedding with excellence. I screen grabbed it. That's what the website says. And let me just tell you a little bit about this tint, you guys. It's two stories and heated and it has a bridal suite for his bridal suite. It's really simple and tasteful. A two story tent.

You know, it's the same tentus that Giuliani used for his first and third weddings. But Nana Mamie can't be in Canvas that long. Angela's not having it. No, no, no, no, no. Well I have to share with you guys this scene between Angela and Andy. I couldn't do it. I literally couldn't do it. It's at ten minutes, ten seconds. Angela Martin has to say to Andy, You can have your tent, but only if it's in a field, a hand teeled field. I still can't say it. I tried my hardest.

Just now you said hand tealed feeling. No I didn't. You said tealed. Did I say tealed? Like tealed like the cup. Okay, well. It's supposed to be tilled, hand-tilled feeling. So here's This is what Angela could not do on the day. What I just read to you guys was what was exactly in the script. Right. Right? And if you watch the show, you know that's not what I say. Because I think we did like thirteen takes.

My southern kryptonite is a vowel in front of an L. You might remember filthy emails. Couldn't say those. So I kept saying a hand-tiled field. Hand healed field. So many times that Lester came over to me, who's so sweet, and he said, Angela, it's Hann Teldfield Tilde. Hand tail. Till like until Hun hundred. I can't say that. What happens to me? I cannot say this word. Yeah.

And I said and I looked at him and I like looked at his lips as he said it. I was trying so hard. Stephen Merchant is the director. I'm sweating bullets here. So I was like, okay, okay, I got it. I got it. And Haldfeld. And so I said you can have your tent, but only in if it's in a field, a handheld feld. Huntheldfeld, Handheldfeld. And it was like a disaster. Lester came over. I'll never forget. He sort of crouched down by my desk and whispered to me.

Angela, why don't you just say a hand plowed field? And I said, Oh, Lester, thank you. Thank you so much. And that's what made it in the episode. Cause I can't say hand tailed fields. You can't do it. I can't do it. Can you say And until field. Hand on tail filled. Ha ha. Anyway, that is how Lester rescued me in this scene. That's beautiful. I know. He saved me with hand ploughed. Bless his heart.

He did. We need to talk about this scene, which we did talk about with Steven, the role play scene. William Butlicker? Yeah. We basically covered this with Steven, but we did have a fan question from Danielle, Allison, Stella, and Allison who wanted to know how much of this scene was improv and how much was scripted. So I went and looked in the script. Thank you, James Pedia. Yes. Thank you, Jamesopedia. The scene is entirely scripted. That is such good writing. It is such good writing.

I was sure that Steve's little asides were improvised. His delivery is so spontaneous. Mm-hmm. Like when he says it's up to you to change his mind. Yes, I thought that was an improv too. Two. Beautiful. So, so good. What wasn't in the script was I am irate right now. That was not in the script. And there were a couple of other little lines, but they were always just like a play on what was already there. Right. But yeah, that scene is just beautiful.

Next is a scene that we didn't talk about with Steven and I wish we had. It's that moment Moment. when Dwight peels his car out and tells Jim to get in. Jim I know. I meant to ask him about it. So he talked about it in the DVD commentary that he loved how absurd it was that Dwight was like, get in and then peels out and you really think they're gonna just tear out of the parking lot and go somewhere. And then they go nowhere.

And then he wanted him to make like a hard left and just go into his parking spot. And Jim's like, what? And Steven said he wanted it to be even bigger. He was like, can we do an even bigger peel out? But there just wasn't the space.

Well, I found this interview with Lester where he said that originally they were just gonna have them meet, that Dwight was just gonna have him meet down in the parking lot and they were gonna have this conversation and that Stephen Pitch Oh guys, let's make it more interesting and do this crazy car maneuver. It's so funny. So, so so funny. I did get a fan catch from Madeline R. She is pretty sure that Pam's car is in the parking lot. Oh that's a good cat.

the scene. So I looked for it and it's so fast I couldn't register it. But I bet, you know, they just would leave our cars there. Yeah. So I think there's a good chance it's there. Oh, for sure. I bet. Well, you know, one of the things I loved about this scene was Dwight is, you know, convinced someone might be listening into their conversation. So he plays Jay Giles band, the song Centerfold. Yeah. It's really loud.

It just took me back. I'm like, where are my roller skates? Like I went and listened to the album last night. And you guys, if you haven't watched music videos from this time Go back! They're pretty special. They're real special. They're delightful. My kids were like, What are they doing? I'm like, you guys, this is a music video. Oh my gosh. I remember watching music videos on MTV. And then do you remember the VH one pop-up thing? Yeah. Where they would pop up little facts on the screen. Yeah.

I loved those. Me too. Our whole generation grew up watching music videos. It's wild. So now we're back in the office and Dwight is on a sales call, but he becomes increasingly convinced. that someone is listening to him. He's talking to a guy on the phone who, by the way, I found out was played by actor Steve Zissis.

who, if you don't know who he is, he is amazing. He is one of the stars of the movie Baghead, which he made with the Duplas brothers. Then he went on to create the T V comedy Togetherness with them. And he has a story by credit on the new film Cruella. I mean, he's part of that whole like mumble core movement. the best actors just to be voices on the phone. What the hell? What the heck? Dwight is positive. It's Kelly and he charges back there, right? Yeah.

And he finds her on the phone and she's like, You can't just come into my nook and call me stupid. Get out of my nook. And then Pam over at the corporate offices goes, That's what she said. That's what she said. Okay, that was an improvised pitch by John Krasinski. Oh cute. So I'm there and John is like, Oh my gosh, it should be a that's what she said, that's what she said. And so we did it, we saved it, and then when I went to the corporate offices, we shot my side of it.

That is so cute. I love that. Well, they're about to really uncover some details here in this little mystery. 'Cause Jim has a conversation with Kelly and she doesn't have anything to say. He literally asks her about Daryl. Like normally she'd be chatty and Pam is like, wait a second. Yeah. Why isn't she talking your ear off? You know, it's a good thing that Pam was in Jim's ear this day because he may have never figured this out without her, truly. Mm-hmm. You know what I mean?

Well, the next scene really cracked me up because Jim goes to Ryan. Ryan's gotta know what's up with Kelly, right? Mm-hmm. And Ryan I fell in love with Ryan in this episode, Jenna. with me. I'm with you. I'm with you. Because Ryan said hit this made me laugh. He says, I don't play the politics game anymore, Jim. Can I tell you something? I played it full on in New York. I played at high stakes for keeps. Made it to the top. Like Who is this guy?

And my favorite thing is he's like, Can I tell you what I learned? as he takes a sip of coffee. So we never end up finding out what he learned. I'm so sad. I would love to know his lessons. But But Jim sees the coffee mug. Yes. This is the Columbo starting to piece it together like Steven talked about.

Yes, he also has a coffee mug with his face and the little star, and that's when it becomes clear that Jim and Dwight did not attend Kelly's America's Got Talent viewing party. These were the party favors. These were the party favors and somewhere in her house. Kelly has A mug with Dwight's face on it, and Jem's. Oh she probably smashed them. I didn't even think about that. Oh yeah.

And so these leftover mugs are sitting there just making her so angry every day. Mm-hmm. And she's finally Oh, revenge is a dish best served cold, Kelly. Well done. I know. Well, I want you to know, Jim figures it out. He rushes over to Dwight and says, Dwight, you were right. And I loved this scene so much. Dwight is finally right about a conspiracy. And then like a ten-year-old boy, he's like, Let's go get her and Jim's like, Wait. But first he does that crazy air.

At Phillips. I know. Well, also in that interview with Lester, he said that Rain improvised that air kick. He only did it one time, but it was so brilliant. That's the take they use. Of course he did, because if you guys watch the show, Dwight does that air kick whenever he gets real excited. He's done it in the stairwell. Yeah. Okay. It's the happy air kick. I'm gonna start using it. Bump it up, air kit. Also in that interview with Lester, he said he was really proud of this mug idea.

And he said that ultimately the writers knew that Kelly was going to sabotage the customer surveys because Dwight and Jim skipped her viewing party, but they couldn't figure out how the guys would realize this fact. They had originally talked about maybe having Dwight tap Kelly's phone and overhear something, or maybe they would find like a secret recording device or something.

But that's when Lester got the party favor mug idea. And it's really so genius. And then paired with the way Steven directed it, it's just so great. Yeah. Two great people working together making a great moment. Yeah. We also got a fan question about this scene from Evan L. Did the cast do a photo shoot for the mugs? And if so, did they ask you guys to make weird faces? Because Oscar looks really bored on his.

I don't remember a special photo shoot. We had done a publicity photo shoot, so maybe they use those images, but I'm looking at my face on the mug right now, and it's also possible that Phil just walked around and snapped pictures of us. It kind of looks like one of your publicity photos that maybe they color enhance.

I still have my publicity photo. Do you want me to do a side by side in stories? Yes. We'll vote, guys. Do you think it's the same picture? Or do you think Phil just took my picture at my desk one day? Because they did do that sometimes. Oh, they would. They would walk around and you'd just be sitting there and they'd snap a picture of you for something. We'll get to the bottom of it. Well Jenna, Kelly's gonna get called into Michael's office and she's busted down. Well she is.

Dwight wants her fired. Yeah. Michael asked them to leave the office. You know, he's like, This is serious. I need you to leave the office. And then Michael says this, and I loved it so much. Michael says, I have an enormous amount of trouble trying to get people to come to my place. And I hate it. I can't tell you how much leftover guacamole I have ended up eating over the years. I don't even know why I make it in such great quantities.

And then he says, Listen, just sit there and pretend to cry, right? Can you do that? Yeah. And then they both end up laughing. And it's a really sweet moment. moment. It really is. And we got a bunch of people writing in to ask if that laugh after Kelly Fate cries, if that was like a fake laugh or if Mindy broke. No, that was scripted. It's scripted that her fake crying made them laugh.

Well, I'll say this, in rewatching this episode like three times, right? Mm-hmm before today, I could hear Mindy's fake laugh and then her real laugh. Yeah. So if you watch it, she fake cries, she fake laughs, then Steve laughs as Michael, and then Mindy laughs as herself. Yeah. Her real laugh definitely comes out. Yeah. So now we're at this scene at corporate, which we talked about a lot with Steven. This scene where Alex comes to Pam's work. He's gonna kidnap her, wants to see this.

Are he he said wine and cheese, okay? That's all you gotta hear. Midday there's an exhibit with wine and cheese. That's not being friends. Yeah, well, thanks to Jamesopedia, I saw all of the candy bag for this. How many were there for Ten alts for this scene. Yes. Oh my word. Yeah, I wanted to count because we kind of talked about it. Mm-hmm. And it was ten. Ten alternate scenes. And I swear we shot so many, so many versions of it. And I remember doing these scenes with Rich. It was so grueling.

And we really bonded. Like Rich and I are great friends today, I think because we went through this moment together. Yeah, you were in the trenches of trying to find this scene. Well we should have Rich on and talk about it. We of shooting this crazy scene. Rich, come on.

So I feel like we really covered this, but we did have a fan write in and I'm so sorry I didn't write down your name because I thought this was a really good observation. They were saying, wasn't Pam's art program three months long? and she went at the beginning of the summer. How was she there for Halloween and how is she still there? Isn't it November now? This art school is a mystery. I guess it's a mystery. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good cat.

I still wanna know if she has parking, you know, these are things we're gonna wonder about art school. Well she's having to go into Manhattan for her corporate job because Pratt's out in Brooklyn.

Well, we end this episode with Andy, Angela, and Dwight. Yeah. Because Andy has found the perfect place for them to get married and it's Shroot Farms. It ticks all of the boxes. Angela gave him a list of what the wedding location had to include. Yeah, and Dwight tells them he thinks they should have the Excalibur package.

Hmm, it's gonna have everything they need. Angela is clearly delighted. Andy is relieved. And Jenna, all I could think of when I watched the scene was Jim and Pam planned Pam's wedding to Roy. And now Angela and Dwight are gonna plan her wedding to Andy. Right? Yeah. It's sort of a callback. It is. You know, there's another little weird callback in this scene. A lot of people wrote in with this fan catch that the funeral homes director in Job Fair yes he's in the album he's

Well, Lester said in his interview that they loved this guy and they used him twice and they also thought it worked because the shroots get married in their own graves. Mm-hmm. So he felt that he would know about Shroot Farm. Yeah. That's a great catch. Well Alrighty, Dwighty. That was customer survey. Thank you so much, James Carey, for sending me those scripts.

I also got in touch with Randy Cordray on this one because I couldn't remember if the Bluetooths were real. I was so convinced. So I wrote Randy and I was like, they weren't real. No, they weren't real. They talked about it quite a bit on the DVD commentary. And of course, a humongous thank you to Steven Merchant. We love you. We love you. Please come back. Yes. And next week we have business trip. Michael's going to Canada, y'all. And Rich, we're gonna call you.

Yes, Rich, you will be in business trip. An episode that your character does not appear. But we have questions for you. We do, and this is our podcast, so we can do that. That's right. Alrighty, Dwighty. You guys have a good week. You are really loving that phrase. I said it one time too many did. Nice. I like that when you attach to something you go for it. Thank you. Alright. We'll see ya next week. That was your extra long goodbye. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies Second Drink.

This episode was initially created in collaboration with Earwolf. Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our senior producer is Matt Beagle. Our second drinks episodes are produced by Molly Nugent. Our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer. Odyssey's executive producer is Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies was mixed and mastered by Bill Scholl. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creative.