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Episode: Finale, Pt 1
Author: Audacy & Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey
Duration: 01:47:16
Episode Shownotes
This week we’re breaking down “Finale, Pt 1”. A year has passed since the release of the documentary and the Dunder Mifflin employees reunite for a panel discussion and throw bachelor and bachelorette parties for Dwight and Angela Martin. The ladies talk about how fun it was to film Angela
Martin’s bachelorette party, point out cameos and fun callbacks, and also Office Ladies fans send in a song. So let’s all meet at Kevin’s bar to enjoy this episode! Check out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestion Follow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPod To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Summary
In this episode of 'Office Ladies', Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey reflect on the reunion panel and celebrations for Dwight and Angela's upcoming wedding while discussing the unique filming experiences of 'Finale, Pt 1'. They touch on emotional moments from filming, including heartfelt interactions among the cast and crew. Insights include significant gifts exchanged, the challenges of shooting the finale, and the essence of their connection with fans, emphasizing the legacy of 'The Office' and their gratitude towards its audience. The episode features nostalgia, comedic elements, and a celebration of the show's impact over the years.
Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (Finale, Pt 1) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.
Full Transcript
00:00:00 Speaker_04
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00:01:52 Speaker_04
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00:02:39 Speaker_04
Make Whole Foods Market your holiday headquarters. 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 re-watch podcast just for you.
00:02:54 Speaker_06
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.
00:03:02 Speaker_04
We're The Office Ladies. Hello, everyone. Hi. It's the finale part one. Five years. I'm already emotional. Five years we've been doing this. Yeah, and here we are. The second to last episode of the rewatch.
00:03:22 Speaker_04
Season 9, episode 26, written by Greg Daniels, directed by Ken Quapis. Before I give a summary and get into these fast facts, we have to share what we walked into today, courtesy of our party planning committee, Sam and Cassie.
00:03:40 Speaker_06
Sam and Cassie, I love you guys so much. We got here, there is a streamer entrance as you come into the studio that we had to walk through. There are balloons that spell out, congrats. There's beautiful roses in a package. Something's wrapped up here.
00:03:58 Speaker_04
There is a sign on the table that says, it is your milestone, and there's some scotch and Splenda. Well played. We love you guys. That's so great. What is this package, Sam?
00:04:10 Speaker_06
This is from you?
00:04:10 Speaker_17
That is for me, Cassie. You have one too.
00:04:13 Speaker_06
Aw. Wait, should we open at the same time? Yes. Okay, wait. Ready?
00:04:16 Speaker_17
I love you guys.
00:04:18 Speaker_06
Oh, Sam. I haven't even opened it yet. already just making me teary. What is it? Wait, wait, wait. Oh, amazing. This is amazing. It's us with Keanu. It's the four of us with Keanu.
00:04:38 Speaker_04
It's a sketch though.
00:04:39 Speaker_06
It's a sketch. How did you have this made?
00:04:42 Speaker_17
It was drawn by a guy who does some of my tattoos.
00:04:45 Speaker_06
Oh my gosh, it's so cool. It is so cool. This might make me cool with my kids. Sam, what is the name of your friend who drew this?
00:04:56 Speaker_17
Christopher is his name.
00:04:57 Speaker_06
Well, we will be sharing because this is amazing. This is epic.
00:05:03 Speaker_17
Congrats on five years, guys.
00:05:04 Speaker_06
Thank you, Sam. Thank you, guys. And thank you for the flowers and for everything and just who you are to us. Oh, man. Yeah, yeah. Get the tissue box out, lady. Get the tissue box. Is it, where is it? It needs to be on the table. It's not even in here.
00:05:22 Speaker_06
Oh wait, here it is. Good. I did bring a little something, but it has to be refrigerated. Okay. And I'll bring it out during our break and then we can share about it. Okay, I love it. Well, listen, I brought a summary. Do you want to hear it?
00:05:36 Speaker_06
I love your summaries. Five years. And I love your summaries. Never stop giving me a summary, lady. Here it is.
00:05:45 Speaker_04
A year has passed since the documentary aired, and Dwight is catching us up on the many changes that have occurred. Dwight and Angela will have their respective bachelor and bachelorette parties in anticipation of their upcoming wedding.
00:06:00 Speaker_04
And some old friends return for a documentary reunion panel. Pam takes a lot of heat from the public. And Erin is reunited with someone she's been waiting a long time to meet. All right, fast fact number one. This episode aired on May 16, 2013.
00:06:21 Speaker_04
I looked it up, the pilot episode aired on March 24th, 2005, so nine seasons of The Office aired over an eight-year time period. The script for the finale was 75 pages long with a 40-page candy bag.
00:06:40 Speaker_04
We were only supposed to spend nine days filming this episode, but we ran over and we actually filmed 10 days. We were supposed to finish filming on a Friday, but we had to add a day and film on a Saturday. There was this huge wrap party.
00:06:56 Speaker_04
I'm sure you remember this, Angela. Planned for Saturday night at this fancy location. And we were like, it'll be fine. We'll shoot till about three o'clock. Then we'll go get ready for this wrap party.
00:07:09 Speaker_06
There was a red carpet. It was like going to a big fancy movie premiere, but it was a wrap party for our show.
00:07:16 Speaker_04
We ended up shooting until 10 p.m.
00:07:18 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:07:19 Speaker_04
The wrap party was on the other side of town. It was like 45 minutes away. It started without us. Yeah. The wrap party started without the cast and crew of The Office.
00:07:32 Speaker_06
It's kind of perfect. I remember when I arrived, they were packing up the red carpet.
00:07:38 Speaker_04
Me, John, and Rain were the last people to walk the red carpet, and I wore a blouse that Pam had worn in the episode on the red carpet because I didn't have clothes. I thought I was going home first. To change.
00:07:52 Speaker_04
So I borrowed clothes from the costume trailer. The few things they hadn't packed up yet.
00:07:57 Speaker_06
Yeah. I think I got there right before you because the photographers had packed up. And so me and Ellie and Brian, I remember we took selfies on the red carpet. Yeah.
00:08:06 Speaker_04
So we could have a picture. Just so you know, we're going to be breaking down the episode that originally aired. There's kind of two versions out there now.
00:08:16 Speaker_06
Yes, the one that aired originally in 2013 is on the DVD. It also plays on Netflix. But there is an iTunes version that's a two-parter that is different. It's a more trimmed version. In fact, it's missing about 7 minutes and 76 seconds of footage.
00:08:34 Speaker_04
It's also in a slightly different order. Yes. Some of the scenes. So if you are watching with us, know that we are going to be breaking down today and next week the episode as it originally aired.
00:08:47 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:08:47 Speaker_04
That was important to us because it's the finale. Mm-hmm. Well, are we ready for Fast Fact Number 2? We are. We kind of talked about this last week.
00:08:56 Speaker_04
In AARM Part 2, we talked about how we did our table read for the finale all together, and they filmed it. And before we read the episode, Greg Daniels gave a speech to the cast and crew.
00:09:08 Speaker_04
And I rewatched that, and I thought it would be really fun to listen to that speech.
00:09:13 Speaker_06
Yes, it is so good. We mentioned it in our book, even, because it's just really special.
00:09:19 Speaker_04
Mm-hmm. So here you go.
00:09:22 Speaker_24
All right, guys, I think everybody's here, so we'll get started. I want to make some last remarks, is what this says. I'll tell you just little personal remarks on my part.
00:09:36 Speaker_24
Ten years ago, my agent gave me a tape to watch, VHS tape, of the British office. I showed it to my wife. I said, do you think I should adapt this for the U.S.? She said, absolutely not.
00:09:50 Speaker_24
But lucky for me, I didn't listen I've done Not much else for 10 years.
00:09:55 Speaker_24
The show has been my passion and my family literally in many cases And it's been a privilege to be a part of it sad to see it end The best part of it all was that it brought me together with the most passionate talented and
00:10:12 Speaker_24
funny, dedicated, wonderful group of people, people in this room, from Ben and Howard and Terry at the beginning, and Allison and Phyllis and Ken.
00:10:26 Speaker_24
and the pilot, and the cast assembling, and the writers assembling, and the crew assembling, and everything just assembled into this fantastic community of like-minded artists who loved combining comedy, and poignancy, and realism into what became the show.
00:10:41 Speaker_24
And you guys are the best. Thank you all.
00:10:46 Speaker_24
I'll say I love you all without falling apart so let's start our last table reading right now the script is called finale because we ran out of creativity when we got to the last word it was written by me with the enormous contributions of your writing staff this season and I'm going to read them Paul Lieberstein
00:11:09 Speaker_24
Brent Forrester, Dan Sterling, Allison Silverman, should I slow down? Lauren Lieberstein, Halstead Sullivan, Gabe Miller, Jonathan Green, Dan Draney, Graham Wagner, Carrie Kemper, Nikki Schwartzright, Charlie Grandy, Steve Healy,
00:11:40 Speaker_24
Robert Padnick, Owen Alexan, Justin Spitzer. That's it, right? Ably assisted by Jay Falk, Jared Ashton, Chris Wood, and Jeff Remsburg. This show, like this season, will be produced to the highest level of quality by Steve Burgess.
00:12:11 Speaker_24
And it will be put together by the geniuses in post, Dave Rogers, Claire Scanlon, Rob Burnett, and Eric Colgen, among others.
00:12:23 Speaker_24
I want to name all of our outstanding crew, but for now, let's get one big round of applause and thanks as one championship team. I'm happy to welcome our NBC guests, Bob Greenblatt, Jen Salke, and everybody from the network. Thank you for coming.
00:12:51 Speaker_24
And finally, I'm very happy and proud to have Ken Kuapas back to direct our finale. Ken was the country vet who birthed this puppy, and now he's going to put it down.
00:13:13 Speaker_24
Really looking forward to spending the next eight or nine days on the set with you all. No one I'd rather have there than Ken. OK, brace yourselves. It's going to get very sentimental in here.
00:13:23 Speaker_04
Well, I love listening to that again. Me too. Actually, I watched the whole table read.
00:13:29 Speaker_06
You did? I did. Oh, my goodness. I mean, I'm glad I did. It was really special. We were a mess.
00:13:39 Speaker_04
Well, one of the things I love in listening to that is hearing Greg acknowledge everybody. That was always very important to him, to give everybody their moment of acknowledgement. And he went on after that to then name every single cast member.
00:13:53 Speaker_04
That's right. And people applauded. He's a special person. Yeah. Well, Steve Burgess told me that after this table read, We did not have a locked script until the fourth day of shooting.
00:14:09 Speaker_04
He said for the first three or four days, Greg would turn in pages late at night the night before. We used both of our first ADs on this one. Kelly would figure out how to schedule the next day and Rusty would run the set.
00:14:23 Speaker_04
It wasn't until about that fourth day that Greg finally turned over a whole script. I think he was, and he said he was having a hard time calling it finished. Yeah. You know? All right. So now, Angela, you have our Fast Fact 3.
00:14:36 Speaker_06
I do. Y'all, I've got some good digital clutter for this time while we were filming. I have a few things I want to share in this Fast Fact and some more for next week. Oh, my goodness.
00:14:48 Speaker_04
Angela has a little smile on her face because I think I don't know what's coming. You know one thing but not the other.
00:14:54 Speaker_06
OK. I'm going to start with the thing you don't know. I found an email that I wrote to Steve Carell. during this time. And I want to read it to you. Okay. Then Jenna teared up at the table read.
00:15:21 Speaker_06
And then I was filming this emotional scene where I confide to Oscar that I love Dwight. I cried a little each take. And then Jeff Blitz walks up to me and whispers in my ear, pretend to say goodbye to the whole show in this take.
00:15:32 Speaker_06
Holy crap, bring on the waterworks! Exclamation point. I cried and cried throughout the take. I could barely say my lines. We're just all feeling so raw right now.
00:15:43 Speaker_06
Oh, also, I've been working on a scrapbook for everyone and going through all of these old photos from the last nine years and getting so nostalgic. Today on set, John talked about his last scene with you when Jim walks into Michael's office.
00:16:00 Speaker_06
He said he just broke down. I mean, we've all been so incredibly fortunate to be together and truly care about each other all these years. I think about you and how difficult those last few weeks must have been from your perspective.
00:16:12 Speaker_06
I comprehend it on a whole different level now. And of course, I cannot email you without including some family updates, so here are some pictures. The first one is of Isabel and Jenna's little boy. We ran into each other at Target, go figure.
00:16:28 Speaker_06
I love that our kids are growing up together. I told Jenna maybe they'll get married and then we'll be related. Ha ha. Oh, and Jenna booked a play in New York City. So she'll be there this spring and summer. I am so excited for her.
00:16:44 Speaker_06
The second picture is of Isabelle and our dog, Biscuit. Isabelle is such a big girl now. I can't believe she'll be five in May. She is my favorite person to be with always. Her latest craze is hip hop class. She didn't like ballet, but she loves hip hop.
00:17:00 Speaker_06
And the last picture is of Oscar and Ursula's sweet little girl. She is five months old and came to visit on set. Being a dad really suits Oscar. He is exhausted but happy. Oh, and Rain's son came to our table read this week.
00:17:13 Speaker_06
He is such an amazing combination of Rain and Holly. And oh my God, so tall. He is almost my height. I know that's not saying much, but he's only nine. Okay, that's it for now. I miss you and Nancy.
00:17:28 Speaker_06
I went through so many pictures of you guys in my scrapbook and I smiled a lot. At some point, we need to all get together for a dinner or get the kids together for a hangout. Love ya, Ang.
00:17:38 Speaker_04
So here's what I'm thinking as you're reading that. You are writing him this email and you have no idea that he is going to come surprise you on set. I know. So you're like, I better bring him in. Like, this is so your personality.
00:17:53 Speaker_04
You're like, well, I don't want Steve to feel left out of this finale moment. I'm going to write him this great email. It's such a beautiful email. And he's reading that and he's thinking, Ang, I'm going to see you in a few days. I know.
00:18:05 Speaker_04
And of course he didn't give it away.
00:18:07 Speaker_06
He wrote me back a lovely response, you know, and said, oh, I bet it's really tough right now. I remember that. Yeah. But he was going to see me in a few days. That's so funny. You guys were so good at keeping that secret. Yeah.
00:18:21 Speaker_04
I'll tell more stories about that when we get to it in the breakdown.
00:18:25 Speaker_06
OK. It was a whole thing. I bet that I didn't know about. It's OK. It's all right. I'm kidding. Well, lady, my second share you know about. This is something that was really important to us.
00:18:38 Speaker_06
We want to say thank you to our fans, because without the awesome fans of The Office, there would be no The Office. We wouldn't be on the air. You guys were our biggest champions from the very beginning. And Jenna and I are so very thankful for you all.
00:18:55 Speaker_06
So we could not start this finale breakdown without saying thank you from the bottom of our hearts. And preserved in real time on The Office, a look back is all of us talking about how grateful we are.
00:19:08 Speaker_11
One of the most special things about this show was when you would meet fans of the show and they would tell you about a time of hardship and how the show lifted their spirits.
00:19:21 Speaker_13
And the fact that people allowed you in their homes and allowed you to be with them through all these moments. I mean our fans are the greatest people because they had to fight for us.
00:19:33 Speaker_11
Our fans are incredible. They are so loyal and so loving of the show and they so understand these characters and get behind them. I just, I love you guys.
00:19:44 Speaker_16
That's crazy. I was like, I expected all the rest of them to get emotional. That was like obvious choices, not me. I've been gone for years. But when you think about it in those big terms, it has affected my life forever, you know?
00:19:59 Speaker_02
I feel like everybody has had the idea that the show is more important than they are individually. I really think that that is very, very rare. We journeyed through it together.
00:20:08 Speaker_10
Nine and a half years. It's a long time. It's just an overwhelming feeling that I think is tied to just how much this has changed my life. And I'm so tremendously proud of it and that that will be ending.
00:20:28 Speaker_15
Let's say it never even aired on TV. We'd still have this epic, epic experience that we shared and that shaped our lives.
00:20:38 Speaker_23
The office is family, an incredible place to go to work to every day.
00:20:42 Speaker_13
I can't even think about saying goodbye to this show. There's no way to begin to say goodbye or to say thank you. which is really what I think we all want to say is thank you to the fans.
00:20:59 Speaker_00
It was very meaningful to all of us that people watched the show and engaged with it and wrote stuff on the internet about it. That was very meaningful to all the writers early on, so thank you.
00:21:09 Speaker_12
Thanks for letting me come in here for the last year. This is the best thing I've been a part of.
00:21:17 Speaker_01
To the office, I would like to say thank you for all the years as a viewer and the one year as a cast member.
00:21:22 Speaker_23
Thank you to the fans for loving the show as much as I do because I think we all understand what a special show it is. So thank you for watching it for nine years.
00:21:32 Speaker_18
And I want to thank Greg and all the writers and everyone, all my cast members for being so gracious. I know how lucky I have been. Thank you all so much. I love each and every one of you. Bye.
00:21:46 Speaker_19
Thank you for a fantastic experience. I won't forget it and I won't forget you.
00:21:52 Speaker_22
Thank you fans and thank you co-workers and crew and writers and everyone.
00:21:57 Speaker_19
It's just been such a great ride. Wonderful nine years. Not enough words to describe how wonderful the crew is. So, love you.
00:22:09 Speaker_03
Goodbye. It has been 100% the best thing in my life, working with you guys every day. Thank you to everybody out there that was part of this ride with us.
00:22:20 Speaker_13
But also a thank you to each other for being everything we were to each other, which was friends.
00:22:29 Speaker_02
I hope that all of you will keep a place in your heart for all of us. Bye.
00:22:39 Speaker_11
Goodbye, office. Goodbye, cast.
00:22:45 Speaker_15
I bid thee farewell and a final rid-di-di-di-do.
00:22:52 Speaker_04
One of our directors, Dave Rogers, said it best. Thank you for this. Thank you.
00:23:02 Speaker_05
And I thought that summed it up. Thank you.
00:23:05 Speaker_04
Oh my goodness. I know. You can hear the emotion in all our voices, but it's just because it's true. The office did change all of our lives. It created a community. And I think I want to say
00:23:22 Speaker_04
Thank you to our office ladies, fans, because this podcast has afforded me the opportunity to live in the space again of the office and of the joy that it brings to people and the joy that it brings to me once again.
00:23:40 Speaker_04
We're all talking about how, how do we say goodbye? This podcast has meant that I didn't really have to because we got to relive it again. with all the great fans of the show. Here's what I'm going to say.
00:23:52 Speaker_06
OK. I just can't thank everyone enough who have re-watched the show with us and shared their lives with us, not just about The Office, but about all kinds of other things. They've been with us for five years.
00:24:06 Speaker_06
And to you all out there listening right now, This has just been such a gift for Jenna and I to get to know you all and talk to you every week and hear from you. We just love you. We love this Office Ladies community. So here's what I'm going to say.
00:24:23 Speaker_06
We don't have to say goodbye. We don't. We don't, and we're not going to. We are not leaving. We like it here. We love you guys, and we want to stay here.
00:24:34 Speaker_04
So when our rewatch is done, we'll still be here plugging away at Office Ladies 6.0. I mean, the way that the office changed our lives, Angela, and changed our careers, so has Office Ladies.
00:24:49 Speaker_04
in the sense that The Office, the show, took us so many places in the world. Office Ladies brought us home. It literally brought us back to our homes. We work from our homes. We are with our families and our children.
00:25:04 Speaker_04
It has been such a beautiful season of my life, and I'm so grateful.
00:25:08 Speaker_05
Do you know what Office Ladies is? What? A podcast? What is it? It's hope in a frame. It's the hope.
00:25:22 Speaker_06
It's joy. It's the promise of new things, but also familiar things. I love that. Well, thank you to our fans so much. Thank you so much, Office Ladies family. We love you. Well, maybe we should take a break.
00:25:38 Speaker_04
OK. And when we come back, we'll break down finale part one.
00:25:42 Speaker_25
Oh, before we go to break, the fans have a gift for you. Oh, wow. Yes. What? It's an original arrangement of the fans from all over singing Creed's All of the Faces.
00:25:56 Speaker_08
Aww. What?
00:25:57 Speaker_25
Yeah, and the fans, they're singing, they're playing instruments, holding up signs, and you can see it in this video.
00:26:03 Speaker_06
The music too?
00:26:04 Speaker_25
Yeah, they're doing the music and everything.
00:26:07 Speaker_04
With a video? Yes. What? How do we watch it? Can we watch that? We have a fancy studio. There's a television behind your head, Ange. You've got one behind your head too. Well, let's turn them on. Let's do it. We've never turned them on.
00:26:20 Speaker_25
Oh, this is so cool. You have to see it. It's amazing.
00:26:24 Speaker_06
Oh, I can't wait.
00:26:53 Speaker_07
I saw a friend today, it happened a while And we forgot each other's names But it didn't matter, cause deep inside The feelings still remain the same You thought you had known one before you met And how he loves you more than you see
00:27:19 Speaker_08
And other worlds that lie in spaces in between, and angels you can see. And all the pieces I know, held us in brilliant glow. I think I must have known that somewhere once before.
00:27:55 Speaker_07
When I get home at night You're the face I need And then my mind's absorbed in a kind of little scream I'm on a plane to see the final night I hear a voice reminding me across the street What's old forgotten remains We don't have to say a word
00:28:26 Speaker_09
It's really better left unsaid Just like the lies that we recognize All the places that I've gone All the places that I've gone All the places You're the face I need in my life You're the face I need
00:29:30 Speaker_04
Um, that was very visual. And just wow.
00:29:37 Speaker_06
I'm really overwhelmed by how many people participated and took the time to make that for us. It's very humbling to just watch it. It's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. Thank you so much.
00:29:51 Speaker_04
Yeah. Thank you so much. We will post that so that everyone can see what we just saw. But what a community. I wish I could meet every single one of you and give every single one of you a hug. And thank you.
00:30:06 Speaker_06
I can't wait to watch it again. I can't wait to show it to my family. Same.
00:30:11 Speaker_04
Thank you so much. All right, we're gonna take a break and pull ourselves together. We'll be back to break down the finale. Part one. Part one.
00:30:30 Speaker_06
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00:31:37 Speaker_20
Hey, I'm Kelli Corrigan. You probably haven't heard of me, although maybe. I did write a few New York Times bestsellers. I gave a TED Talk. But the reason I'm in your ear today is to invite you to listen to my podcast, Kelli Corrigan Wonders.
00:31:50 Speaker_20
We talk about purpose and creativity and well-being and really what makes life worth living with people like Bono and Amy Schumer, Spike Lee and Rainn Wilson, Krista Tippett and Bryan Stevenson.
00:32:02 Speaker_20
Kelly Corrigan Wonders will leave you optimistic, informed, and maybe a little bit more ready for the next big day in your life.
00:32:10 Speaker_20
So follow and listen to Kelly Corrigan Wonders, an original podcast available now for free on the Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts.
00:32:22 Speaker_06
So I want to share with you something that I have started doing every year. I take a picture from our year, like a special family memory, and I make it into an ornament.
00:32:31 Speaker_04
I do that! Ah! You do? Yes! I've been doing it for years. How have we never talked about this? I don't know! I've always used Shutterfly to do my Christmas cards. Same. But I also use Shutterfly to do my photo gifts. Yes. Especially during the holidays.
00:32:47 Speaker_06
Well, it couldn't be easier. You upload photos from your phone to the Shutterfly app and you can start making your personalized item right then and there.
00:32:55 Speaker_04
You can design a Shutterfly calendar for your extended family or friend group. You can add in all the birthdays, all the anniversaries, and other special holidays. I made my mom a calendar. All her grandkids are each month.
00:33:08 Speaker_04
Explore gifts like blankets, mugs, photo books, and calendars at Shutterfly.com, all easy to customize in minutes with your favorite photos.
00:33:17 Speaker_06
Enjoy 40% off your Shutterfly order with code OFFICELADIES and make something meaningful this year. Get free shipping on qualified orders. See site for more details. Now we're going to get into this episode, the finale.
00:33:36 Speaker_06
I thought you guys would like to know how our series finale ranked amongst critics and fans. Sure. Entertainment Weekly listed the 25 best TV series finales ever.
00:33:48 Speaker_06
They said, quote, the gold standard in TV farewells from Friends to Mary Tyler Moore by the Entertainment Weekly staff. It was actually published May 3rd, 2024. OK. Of this year. Very recent. Guess where we ranked. Are we in the top 10?
00:34:05 Speaker_06
We did not make the list. What? We're not even on it? We're not even on the damn list. OK. Next up, best TV finales ranked by IMDb from best to worst. OK. The Office is number 34. Well, that's OK. Out of 124. Not too shabby. OK.
00:34:27 Speaker_06
I also looked at the 30 best TV finales ranked by TV line. Well, how'd we do there? We're number 21. Okay. I stopped looking there because we didn't really make the top of any lists. I love our finale. I do too. I thought it was just wonderful.
00:34:45 Speaker_06
Guess who's not a fan?
00:34:47 Speaker_04
Entertainment Weekly. I guess not. Well, let's get into it. We open on Dwight driving in his car. He's speaking to a documentary crew member, and he's explaining that the documentary series finished airing about a year ago.
00:35:06 Speaker_04
And he's kind of like, why are you sending another crew? Why are you filming us? Yeah, why are you here? This is done. And the documentary person says, we're getting bonus footage for the DVD.
00:35:16 Speaker_06
And then Dwight says, oh, nobody buys DVDs anymore.
00:35:20 Speaker_04
And of course, I'm like, this lady's watched it on a DVD. That's right. The voice you hear is our longtime camera operator and sometimes director, Matt Sohn.
00:35:30 Speaker_04
He just did these lines temporarily because he was the person sitting in the car with Rain, and the plan was always that we were going to replace his voice with Dave Rogers, who has been the documentary person.
00:35:42 Speaker_04
But Greg really liked having Matt's voice on the show, so they kept it.
00:35:46 Speaker_06
Love it. Well, let's just talk a second about the new car Dwight has. He has traded in his 1987 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am to a 2012 Header Orange Dodge Challenger SRT8. I guess this is his manager car. Yeah, spicy.
00:36:06 Speaker_06
As he's driving, we notice a couple signs along the way. They're election signs. Yes, and one of them says Oscar Martinez is running for state senator.
00:36:16 Speaker_04
Dwight explains that they have regained a number of lost clients, including the White Pages. He says he's getting married tomorrow afternoon. They're doing a little mini reunion in the morning. And this is when we find out that he's fired Kevin.
00:36:33 Speaker_06
Yeah, he hasn't seen Kevin since he let him go. This flashes back to the conference room and Dwight wheels in a trolley of three big cakes and some blue icing.
00:36:45 Speaker_06
And I guess the way you get fired now is you get your name on a cake, or if you're Toby, you just get a squiggle. Yes, exactly. Oh, and also, retired. You get a cake.
00:36:56 Speaker_04
Yes, we find out that Stanley is leaving as well. He's been looking forward to this day since he was 18 years old.
00:37:03 Speaker_06
Is that how long he's been at Dunder Mifflin?
00:37:06 Speaker_04
No. No. I think he's just saying that he's been a working man since he was 18 years old.
00:37:13 Speaker_06
Yeah. I would like to point out something for my background catchfolks. When Dwight starts to fire Kevin, if you watch my face, I played it as if I knew this was coming, that maybe Dwight had told me this was happening today.
00:37:27 Speaker_06
And there's a little bit of pleasure. There's a little bit of happiness on my face. Well, it makes sense.
00:37:34 Speaker_04
I mean, I think you've been redoing Kevin's work for a long time. Years.
00:37:38 Speaker_06
Before we leave the conference room, I did want to just revisit this painting that's behind Dwight. I was wondering if anyone out there knows how many paintings of Dwight there are in the series.
00:37:51 Speaker_06
I know there's one in Dwight K. Schrute, acting manager. It's a different one. A portrait. A portrait by reception. Then there's the one of him and Moes that hangs in his office. Then there's this one. And I think we should all note.
00:38:04 Speaker_06
that Angela and Dwight both love giant portraits of themselves, because she had one in her house with the senator. So I like to believe now in their home together, lady, that they have a massive painting of the two of them. Yes. As you walk in.
00:38:18 Speaker_04
With baby Philip, I'm sure. Oh, yeah. Will be in it.
00:38:22 Speaker_06
Yeah. Maybe some angels flying over.
00:38:26 Speaker_04
Have you ever gone to the mall and seen where they'll do sort of like a portrait of your family? I think they do it as a picture, but then they make it look like a painting. They make it look like a painting. Yes.
00:38:38 Speaker_06
I mean, I have a very good friend of my mom's that if you go in her house, she's got a big one of her family. But they all look a little, it's like a Monet. The further away you are, the more they look like themselves.
00:38:57 Speaker_06
And then the closer you get, it's a bunch of dots.
00:38:59 Speaker_04
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I wonder if there would ever be a time in my life when I would feel comfortable having a giant portrait of myself hanging in my home. Is it something I should work toward? Or is it something to be avoided? Cassie's shaking her head.
00:39:19 Speaker_04
She's like, do not work toward this goal.
00:39:23 Speaker_06
Well, we are going to have a portrait of ourselves as John Wick, thanks to Sam. This is true.
00:39:27 Speaker_04
These are the portraits we want.
00:39:29 Speaker_06
This is what we want.
00:39:31 Speaker_04
We did it. Well, now we're going to cut to present day, and Jim is biking into work, and he's going to join the rest of us who are following Dwight in some form of Tai Chi. We got a fan mail flurry about this. Where do I begin?
00:39:47 Speaker_04
Connor H. from Fishers, Indiana, and many others. Also Angela Kaysen in a bull**** card. Oh! So include that in your list. Well, Connor said in the finale, Jim says he now rides his bike to work.
00:40:01 Speaker_04
First of all, did he get over his sweatiness from when he biked to work in Stanford? Second, He says that it saves on gas, but it appears that Pam drove to work before him, so does it really save on gas?
00:40:15 Speaker_04
And then Rebecca E. from Sugarland says, I guess Pam is entirely in charge of dropping their kids off at school or daycare? It really makes me question what Jim means by saving on gas.
00:40:27 Speaker_06
I had so many questions about this. I would have loved to see them ride in together on a tandem bike. What? That's ridiculous. No, because if they're going to commit to bike riding, they need to do it together. They really want to help save money on gas.
00:40:44 Speaker_06
Also, my bullshit card is that Pam has to do all these Tai Chi, yoga moves in high heels.
00:40:51 Speaker_04
Oh, I see. That's not cool. Your bull**** car was not about the bike riding, it was about the exercise.
00:40:56 Speaker_06
No, it's a combo. Oh, it's a combo. Combo bull**** card. I see. It's a new bull**** card.
00:41:01 Speaker_04
It like folds out. Okay. Well, Jim has a talking head now. He says he and Pam are great. And she just recently finished her mural for the Irish Cultural Center.
00:41:13 Speaker_06
Yeah, and then we flash to that moment. There's a bunch of people gathered around. Her children are there.
00:41:19 Speaker_04
Let me tell you where we shot that. The far side of the Dunder Mifflin parking lot. Against the bushes. They put a big mural up. They put me on a scaffold. They put some background actors down in the parking lot looking up.
00:41:33 Speaker_04
Like on the side where the warehouse door was? No, the other side. Like, as if you're walking to our set from one building to another. Oh, that was true parking lot. Total parking lot.
00:41:44 Speaker_04
I'll never forget it because I was slightly terrified standing up there. I don't know why. It was very wobbly. I would say the two characters that spent the most time up in the air are you and Dwight. And you know what? I don't care for it.
00:41:56 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:41:57 Speaker_04
It just makes me squeamish. Yeah. I prefer being on the ground. Yeah, same.
00:42:04 Speaker_06
Now there's a scene between Pam and Angela. They're doing their movements together. And Pam was like, Angela, are you ready for the wedding? And you think for a minute that Angela has really turned a corner with her snarkiness.
00:42:17 Speaker_06
She says, oh, my heart is so open. I'm so at peace. And then she goes, ugh, look at Meredith. She's disgusting.
00:42:24 Speaker_04
Like just instant snark. But then we cut to Meredith and she looks completely different. Her hair is different. It's like longer, it's brown. She is not wearing her usual kind of crazy jumper.
00:42:39 Speaker_06
Yeah.
00:42:40 Speaker_04
Yeah.
00:42:41 Speaker_06
And there's a talking head that explains why. That's right. It's in deleted scenes. Let's hear it.
00:42:46 Speaker_02
I was at a dog fight this summer and I thought we should not be eating these things. Animals. So I went vegan. One thing led to another.
00:42:55 Speaker_06
Now I'm in these yoga pants. If you watch it when she says, now I'm in these yoga pants, Kate, like, kicks her leg up way out. Like, she's so bendy. But I love that Meredith is now a vegan. She's doing yoga. Yeah.
00:43:11 Speaker_06
She looks like she might go to a tanning bed.
00:43:14 Speaker_04
That sort of goes against her new healthy lifestyle though, huh? Maybe so, yeah. Maybe she's just spending more time outdoors. Vitamin D. Yeah, fitness. Fitness. Now there's a very sweet moment between Dwight and Angela.
00:43:27 Speaker_06
Yes. Angela is going to run up and give him a kiss. And she's just so excited about their wedding. And he feels a little sad because some of the old gang aren't there. And she's like, you know what? It's going to be perfect. Just me and you.
00:43:39 Speaker_06
That's all we need. And then he brings up this man that's been, I guess, growing cheese for him since the day of his birth. And he's going to feed them cheese. Growing cheese? Fermenting cheese. Yeah. What? What shrewd custom is this?
00:43:57 Speaker_06
Okay, I do have one little story, though, about this scene. Okay. For my background catch people, when we're doing the morning stretches... Yep. Angela's wearing jeans.
00:44:07 Speaker_04
Mm-hmm.
00:44:08 Speaker_06
This is like, what, two times in the whole series she wore jeans? Shocking. Shocking. And you can't really see, but I have on three and a half inch platform shoes. You do? Sandals, yes.
00:44:21 Speaker_06
Because Angela has to run up and kiss Dwight, but Dwight is six foot three. And Angela is 5'1", and I barely make it. Wow. I needed all the lift I could get. So that was our sneaky way to give me some height.
00:44:35 Speaker_04
Well, now Dwight is going to have a talking head, and he is taking us into the bullpen now, finally. Yes. And he explains he's hired some new faces and one old one. And the person he's talking about is Devin. Yeah, we see Devin cross in the background.
00:44:51 Speaker_04
I love that we brought Devin back for this moment. You guys remember, Devin is the person that Michael fired in the first Halloween episode. Both Creed and Devin were our stand-ins, starting with the pilot.
00:45:06 Speaker_04
And the plot of the Halloween episode required that someone be fired. And it was between Creed or Devin, these two people, neither of whom had ever had lines. And because Devin was leaving to do a play, Greg decided to fire Devin.
00:45:24 Speaker_04
But get this, when they called Devin to ask him if he would come back for the finale, he was in New York doing another play. It was like so full circle.
00:45:38 Speaker_06
But he was able to come back for it. He was. And here's something you guys should know. This was Creed's request. We've talked about this before that Greg brought us all in to say what is something you would want for your character as the show wraps up.
00:45:52 Speaker_06
And Creed said that he would love to see Devon come back. I thought that was so sweet. So sweet. And you know what? This is just one of the many little Easter eggs that's throughout the finale that are callbacks to the beginning of the show.
00:46:06 Speaker_06
I'm going to point out a few. And if you see any, let us know, because I love finding them.
00:46:11 Speaker_04
Well, this is also when Creed is going to become himself. Yes. It's going to be revealed that Creed is Creed Bratton from the band The Grassroots in the 60s, which is true.
00:46:24 Speaker_06
Which is true, although the rest of it is not true.
00:46:27 Speaker_04
Correct.
00:46:27 Speaker_06
He is not trafficking endangered species meat or has weapon-grade LSD. Correct.
00:46:35 Speaker_04
But he's on the run now. The police are looking for him, and so that's why he left Dunder Mifflin, we learn.
00:46:41 Speaker_06
Yeah. Big exodus from Dunder Mifflin. Kevin's gone, now Toby, now Stanley, Creed, Daryl, Nellie.
00:46:52 Speaker_04
So big, big changes. Yeah. Well, we're gonna see that Phyllis has a new coworker. It's Malcolm. And he loves her homemade fudge.
00:47:02 Speaker_04
Yes, she has a great talking head where she says, after 16 years, it's strange sitting across from somebody who isn't Stanley, but he'll get there. One piece of fudge at a time.
00:47:15 Speaker_06
Well, Malcolm was played by Malcolm Barrett. I have known Malcolm for a long time because after The Office aired, I did a pilot with him called The 46 Percenters, and we played husband and wife. That's amazing. He went to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.
00:47:29 Speaker_06
He's so talented. He's a playwright. He's an actor. He does it all.
00:47:32 Speaker_04
Yes, he's very well known for playing Rufus Carlin in Timeless, and he was also on Monk. Oh, Monk crossover.
00:47:40 Speaker_04
Well, I just love that you see him sitting in the background of Phyllis's talking head, and then you see him again in Jim's talking head, sitting there just like Leslie David Baker did for nine years. Yep. He's taken over.
00:47:54 Speaker_04
We also reveal another new face in the bullpen during Dwight's Talking Head, guest star alert Dakota Johnson, who plays Dakota. We're going to find out her name a little later on. You might know Dakota from the Fifty Shades of Grey movies.
00:48:08 Speaker_04
She's also the star of Madam Web. Now, she originally had some scenes with the character of Clark, but they ended up being cut for time, so we don't see quite as much of her as was intended.
00:48:20 Speaker_06
You know, they do live on the deleted scenes on the DVD, and they're cute. Clark and Dakota have this little flirty thing going. you can kind of see that they're like maybe the new next relationship if the show had kept going.
00:48:32 Speaker_04
I see. Well, now we're going to move to the conference room, and we are going to find out some very big news. Jim is sitting at the conference room table with a bunch of the other guys from the office and Dwight's cousin, Zeke, played by Matt Jones.
00:48:47 Speaker_04
Jim's going to tell us he has been made bestest mensch, best man.
00:48:52 Speaker_06
Yeah. Well, I guess his party planning committee skills are going to come in handy. Well, he doesn't have the best skills. He'll do better this time.
00:49:01 Speaker_04
He's planned a night full of pranks, but all guten pranks.
00:49:07 Speaker_06
Yes. He says after 12 years of tricking and pranking Dwight, tonight it's only going to be good surprises. Very sweet. The one person missing from this bachelor crew is Mose. Jim says to Dwight, are you sure Mose isn't going to come?
00:49:20 Speaker_06
And Dwight's like, nope. He got weird ever since Angela moved in. He had to stop sleeping at the foot of my bed. And I don't know how he's feeling about this whole wedding thing.
00:49:28 Speaker_09
Mm-hmm.
00:49:29 Speaker_06
Is this a callback to dinner party? Sleeping at the end of the bed. Is it a little Easter egg?
00:49:35 Speaker_04
I wonder. Yeah. Could be. All right, now we're going to go to the airport. That was not really an airport. What? Yeah. Was it something else? It was a bus terminal. Do you have a location marked off? Yeah.
00:49:51 Speaker_04
We dressed a bus terminal to look like the Wilkes-Barre International Airport. When you see Daryl walking out and then you see Andy standing next to a taxi sign, we made all that signage.
00:50:03 Speaker_04
We used the real logo from the Wilkes-Barre International Airport. It's a little like green and white airplane. Oh, I thought we did a really nice job.
00:50:12 Speaker_06
I do, too. Andy has a talking head here where he's like, you know what? Sure, I'll talk about it. Why not? His audition for America's Next Acapella Sensation went viral, and they made it into one of those autotune songs. Yeah, and he has a nickname now.
00:50:28 Speaker_06
It's Baby Wawa. Baby Wawa. Even the late night comedy guys had a field day with it.
00:50:34 Speaker_04
And then we see a clip from Weekend Update at Saturday Night Live. Bill Hader is playing Baby Wawa. We got a fan question from Karen T in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, who said, I'm dying to know, did Seth Meyers write this bit?
00:50:49 Speaker_04
I know he usually wrote the bits when he was still there. No, Karen, Greg wrote this. It was in the script. And you know, Greg had worked at SNL. He knew all those guys. Steve Burgess thinks he probably reached out to Lorne Michaels.
00:51:03 Speaker_04
And then Seth Meyers and Bill Hader recorded it from the set, and they sent it on over to us.
00:51:08 Speaker_06
So cool. So cool that Greg can just like pick up the phone and be like, hey, Lauren, can you just do me a quick little favor? OK, thanks. Bye.
00:51:15 Speaker_04
You know, it's funny. One time when I was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, after we finish doing our interviews, this is the thing they do.
00:51:24 Speaker_04
after the show is wrapped, you walk out with Jay and the other guests and you make promos for like that episode and you like wave and stuff like that. It's like part of the experience.
00:51:36 Speaker_04
But one time before we did the promos, Jay did a little bit and I can't remember what it was for, but it was like one of these. They were like, Jay, you have to do that funny fake thing and we're going to put it in a movie.
00:51:50 Speaker_04
And like you're making a joke about some character and it's like it went viral. So I like watched one of these happen.
00:51:57 Speaker_06
I bet those guys do stuff like that all the time. You know what? I do have a lot of late night talk show stories that I want to share on Office Lady 6.0.
00:52:08 Speaker_04
I know some of them. Some of them might belong on Burn It to the Ground. I know.
00:52:15 Speaker_06
Well, save it. Save it. We're back in the bullpen now, and we're going to see Dakota. She's walking from accounting over to Oscar's new office, which appears to be Daryl's old office. And you can overhear this funny bit of dialogue.
00:52:30 Speaker_06
Oscar's on the phone, and he's saying, years ago, the senator promised a left turn lane by the Arby's, so I want to know where in the name of horsey sauce is it?
00:52:40 Speaker_04
I think he's doing some state senator election business. I think it's his campaign headquarters. Well, there's tons of campaign signs in this office.
00:52:49 Speaker_06
There are. Here's a little breakdown of what you'll see inside. There is a nameplate that says Oscar Martinez, head accountant. So he's got in this little office. And Angela is no longer head accountant.
00:53:01 Speaker_06
He also has a Yankees coffee mug with pins in it and some plants and some artwork. This makes you wonder.
00:53:09 Speaker_04
Who took over Daryl's job as, like, head of the warehouse? Are they back down in the warehouse? We don't need them up in the bullpen anymore. We don't know.
00:53:18 Speaker_06
We also know that there's now probably two empty seats over at accounting. Two?
00:53:23 Speaker_04
Oh, yeah. Hmm. Well, this is the scene that reveals why Kevin was fired. It's because he invented a number called Kelevin. And it was a magic number that would sort of magically balance all accounts.
00:53:41 Speaker_06
Back at the airport, Nellie is arriving. She says she lives in Poland now, and they flew her out for the weekend to do the reunion panel. Interestingly enough, though, she is not on the panel.
00:53:53 Speaker_06
She is not, although I did find in the shooting draft that she answers a question on the panel.
00:53:58 Speaker_04
Well, she's not there. I looked for her. Something happened. Yeah. Maybe this was part of Greg's writing of the finale as we went along. And maybe she was unavailable the day they actually did the panel. That's very likely. Well, she's not on that stage.
00:54:16 Speaker_04
Nope. Now Toby is going to see her at the airport, and he runs up. He's so excited. He says hello. She is not thrilled. No. They have a very awkward exchange. He asks her if she's still dating Piotr.
00:54:30 Speaker_06
Yeah. She says, no. And I thought I unfriended you. Mm-hmm. Toby then asks her if she would like to share a cab. She says no. I would like to point out that Toby, Nellie, and Andy all had to take a cab. Daryl had a limo.
00:54:45 Speaker_06
And in the shooting draft, it said that Daryl also had on a Rolex. So they really wanted to highlight the fact that he has made this big career successful move.
00:54:55 Speaker_04
Yeah. Yeah. Well, Toby has a talking head here where we're going to find out what he's been up to. He has moved to New York to write the great American novel.
00:55:06 Speaker_04
He has six roommates, which he says are better than friends because they have to give you one month's notice before they leave.
00:55:13 Speaker_06
Womp womp. Still sad, Toby.
00:55:20 Speaker_04
This next scene was really fun because we got Ed Helms and Craig Robinson back into the bullpen. Andy arrives to the office and is greeted with, I guess, a lot of pity.
00:55:33 Speaker_06
I mean, Phyllis gives him the bear hug of all bear hugs.
00:55:36 Speaker_06
I want you guys to know in the shooting draft, it said that Phyllis gives Andy a big hug and he is supposed to, and I quote, delicately work his way out of it, but Phyllis doesn't stop hugging him. This moment is in the bloopers. It is so funny.
00:55:52 Speaker_06
Ed really lost it. You got to hear it.
00:55:54 Speaker_09
How are you?
00:55:56 Speaker_15
I'm good. Very good. A little warm, actually. Thank you. Aw, thanks. Thank you. Thank you, Phyllis.
00:56:11 Speaker_10
I can't tell you not to like it. I'm sorry. It just dawned on me, like, I'm not getting out of this.
00:56:21 Speaker_06
He could not get out of her hug. He was trying to delicately like weasel his way out of it. And she had him in that hug.
00:56:29 Speaker_04
He was like, I'm not going anywhere. It was so funny. Now Daryl arrives and Dwight comes out of his office and he's so surprised to see these guys, he thought they couldn't come to the wedding.
00:56:42 Speaker_04
Yeah, they clearly haven't factored them into their guest list. Lady, we got so much mail about this, about wedding etiquette. Yeah. It was like, People were saying, I do not understand this wedding guest list.
00:56:57 Speaker_04
I do not understand how this wedding is going to absorb these surprise guests. Angela must not be thrilled about this.
00:57:04 Speaker_06
Yeah, I thought about it, too. I thought, OK, well, we know the wedding, everyone just sits on a hay bale. So maybe they're not worried about the actual ceremony. But what about the dinner at the reception?
00:57:14 Speaker_04
The food. Do we have enough food for all these surprise people? Yeah.
00:57:19 Speaker_04
Well, Dwight is thrilled, and it is revealed that they're really there for the panel, that the documentary crew paid to fly them in, and it was just sort of kismet that it was the same weekend as the wedding. So now they can go to both.
00:57:32 Speaker_06
Jim is like, kismet my ass. I came up with excuses to make sure that these two things happened on the same weekend so that they could be here for the wedding. Guten prank number one.
00:57:42 Speaker_04
Exactly. So now Pam enters, and she is so excited to see Daryl. She wants to hear all about Austin and the Athlead merger. Daryl says it's Athleap now. Still lame.
00:57:55 Speaker_06
Still lame. It didn't get better. Didn't get better. Athleap? I think Athleap is harder to say. I think it's worse. I think it's worse. It's the P. Athleap. Athleap. Athlead is better. Yeah. Anyway.
00:58:11 Speaker_04
I need to point something out here. At 5 minutes and 37 seconds, when Pam is entering this scene, she's kind of entering from that mystery hallway, the one behind the conference room. The one where Dwight put firecrackers in the trash can? Yeah.
00:58:26 Speaker_04
What is this place? Okay, well, it was scripted that I'm entering from the kitchen, but for whatever reason, I don't. It was probably a camera angle thing.
00:58:35 Speaker_04
And I'm watching this, and here we are, it's the finale episode, and I'm like, where does that hallway go? What is it? We're at the finale, and I was on the show, and I still don't know what that is for.
00:58:51 Speaker_06
Not for purposes of the show. Now, in real life, we knew it was how you got to the stage from the hair and makeup tables. Right. But it had no purpose in the world of the show.
00:59:01 Speaker_04
I sent Dave Rogers an email about it. I was like, Dave Rogers will tell me where this hallway goes.
00:59:08 Speaker_06
Yes, he will.
00:59:09 Speaker_04
He sent me a massive email. I mean, it was like, I don't even know how many pages long, with charts and blueprints. It was all about all of the hallways of Dunder Mifflin. Honestly, it could be its own episode. Here's what he said.
00:59:27 Speaker_04
There is a deleted scene from Hot Girl that really explains a lot about these hallways. I'm going to save it for Office Lady 6.0. Oh, fantastic. But let me just say this. Even with Dave's dissertation on hallways, we may never know where this one went.
00:59:47 Speaker_04
But I do want to do a full hallway breakdown on 6.0 because it's really amazing.
00:59:54 Speaker_06
I'm all in. I'm all in. Great. Well, why don't we take a break? And when we come back, I have a little treat for all of us.
01:00:01 Speaker_04
Ooh, I've been waiting for this treat. Do you know a website I can get completely lost on in the best way? I do. Wayfair. I know. There is so much stuff that is so good. I like to get a bowl of my mini cheese crackers and pick out new stuff on Wayfair.
01:00:24 Speaker_04
I know.
01:00:25 Speaker_06
You can walk through every room of my house and there's one item from Wayfair in each room. This is so true.
01:00:31 Speaker_04
I feel like we're not telling people anything they don't already know, but Wayfair is the place to shop for all things home. Literally everything from sofas to spatulas. You name it, they have it.
01:00:43 Speaker_04
Here are a few items from Wayfair in my house right now.
01:00:46 Speaker_06
OK. A cozy chair.
01:00:48 Speaker_09
Mm-hmm.
01:00:48 Speaker_06
Two kids' desks in their bedroom. Mm-hmm. Two nightstands.
01:00:54 Speaker_04
and two bed frames. Everything you need for your living room, outdoor areas, we didn't even talk about that, bedroom and more. Wayfair makes it easy with fast and free shipping even on the big stuff and they'll even help you set it up.
01:01:08 Speaker_04
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01:01:24 Speaker_04
That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com.
01:01:29 Speaker_06
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01:01:41 Speaker_04
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01:02:39 Speaker_06
You know, it's that time of year where you reflect and you look back and sometimes you want to just mark what you've been through with something beautiful, something just for yourself, something maybe even sparkly.
01:02:52 Speaker_06
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01:03:00 Speaker_04
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01:03:08 Speaker_06
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01:03:16 Speaker_06
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01:03:22 Speaker_04
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01:03:33 Speaker_04
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01:03:38 Speaker_06
Go to BlueNile.com to shop Blue Nile, the original online jeweler since 1999. That's BlueNile.com, BlueNile.com. They really have such beautiful things.
01:03:57 Speaker_04
Well, we're back from break and we still haven't had our treat, Angela.
01:04:01 Speaker_06
Okay, you know how you have a hard time with the cereal bag? Yeah. This thing is in a box and I can't get it open. So I've kind of direct the box. Here it is. I wanted it to look prettier.
01:04:10 Speaker_04
Isn't it the cutest thing ever? I love it so much. And it's very on theme of the office, the ice cream cake. It is, it's an ice cream cake.
01:04:18 Speaker_06
It's a picture of Sam and Cassie and me and Jenna. And it simply says, we did it.
01:04:25 Speaker_04
That's one of our inside jokes here at Office Ladies.
01:04:28 Speaker_06
Is that if we make it through a big work week, there was one time we were super tired and at the end of the day, Jenna just sort of like, kind of just in that super exhausted state goes, we did it.
01:04:40 Speaker_17
She was completely deflated.
01:04:43 Speaker_06
That became something we said to each other all the time when we would hit a big milestone. You don't say it like joyously. You don't say we did it. You go, we did it. So happy five years, you guys. I love you so much.
01:04:59 Speaker_06
And we had to have a sweet treat to celebrate. Of course. It's perfect. It's perfect.
01:05:05 Speaker_04
We're gonna let it thaw for about five, 10 minutes, and then let's have a slice. For sure. I would like to point out something that I'm very charmed by is that we have also, all four of us, worn shades of plum today without talking about it.
01:05:20 Speaker_04
Without planning, we're dressing alike. All right, where were we in this breakdown? I think the limo is arriving.
01:05:29 Speaker_06
Yes, it's party time. Oscar has a super funny talking head. It's a great callback, and I think we need to hear it, and then I'm going to play the callback clip. Love it.
01:05:41 Speaker_21
They wanted me to go to the bachelor party with the girls. Really? Such a cliche. I'm a man, so I'm going to the bachelor party with the boys. I just have to remember how I acted before I came out.
01:05:55 Speaker_09
What's up?
01:06:00 Speaker_06
It cuts to the limo and Oscar does the, what's up? And everyone just looks at him like, what are you doing? Lady, what a perfect callback to the pilot episode. I know. To this moment.
01:06:14 Speaker_07
What's up? What's up?
01:06:17 Speaker_13
I still love that after seven years.
01:06:19 Speaker_07
What's up? What's up?
01:06:32 Speaker_06
We got it like that in the finale.
01:06:34 Speaker_04
I love it. Well, listen, this limo is going to stop in the middle of nowhere. And Jim pushes Dwight out the door where he is greeted by a man in fatigues who then hands him a bazooka.
01:06:52 Speaker_06
Dwight is so moved. He looks at Jim. They're smoking cigars, by the way. And he says, you remembered. And Jim goes, of course I did. And then Dwight says to the man in fatigues, get out of my way.
01:07:04 Speaker_04
He takes the bazooka, he blows up some oil drums. We had a question from Lena H and many others who said, I know Rain got to work with a lot of real props, but surely he did not actually shoot off a real bazooka, right? No, no, no, no. He did not.
01:07:22 Speaker_04
That was a real bazooka. He held it, but he did not fire it. There was nothing in it. It was an empty bazooka. Correct. Special effects triggered a very small explosion when he pointed at the oil drums, but most of that was added in post.
01:07:39 Speaker_04
It was special effects. I think if you look closely at the fire, you can tell that it wasn't really there. But I texted with Rain about it, and Rain was very funny.
01:07:50 Speaker_04
He said, I have a notably horrible memory, but I think I would remember firing a real bazooka. He was like, it was all acting. He did not. He did not.
01:07:59 Speaker_06
Well, Jim looks at camera and says, guten prank number two. Yeah. If you did notice the landscape behind them and how beautiful it is, this is where the wedding takes place as well.
01:08:09 Speaker_06
And we'll get to that location breakdown, but it's truly a beautiful, beautiful place. Now it looks like the guys have arrived to a good old-fashioned steakhouse. They have a private room.
01:08:20 Speaker_06
I want to point out that Oscar, still trying to fit in, says, yeah, Broseph. Mm-hmm.
01:08:26 Speaker_04
We got a question from Whitney T. in Atlanta, Georgia, who said, could you please discuss the location of this dinner? It is the Tam O'Shanter Restaurant on Los Feliz Boulevard. It was a favorite of a lot of celebrities, but especially Walt Disney.
01:08:43 Speaker_04
Whitney said, I am a Disney history nerd.
01:08:45 Speaker_04
And when my husband and I were in LA in early 2023, we had to stop by and they got to eat at Walt's table, where there are actually etchings in the table from some lunches that he would have with his animators.
01:08:59 Speaker_04
Whitney said, it's an adorable place with so much history and charm. I've driven past it so many times. Same. It looks so cute, but I've never been inside. Well, it's a Scottish steakhouse.
01:09:10 Speaker_04
It's been there over a hundred years and has been owned by the same family ever since it opened. It was opened by Lawrence Frank and Walter Van de Kamp, who incidentally are the founders of Van de Kamp's Holland Dutch Bakeries.
01:09:25 Speaker_04
Then they went on to found Lowry's restaurant chain and seasoning company. No way. Yes. We love Lowry's. Remember, they sent us our own seasoning with our faces on it. Yes.
01:09:36 Speaker_04
And if you look at the tables in the restaurant, they have a little Lowry's seasoning spices on the table. Well, this place sounds too cute.
01:09:45 Speaker_06
I want to finally go. We should. As the guys are walking into their private room, Andy is made fun of once again. And you can tell Daryl is starting to really sympathize. Yeah. With how much Andy has had to put up with this.
01:09:57 Speaker_06
But Andy has such a great life outlook. He says, you know what? Things are actually going really well. I spoke at the Cornell commencement, and I guess the seniors invited me as a joke, but it was a huge success. And now I've been hired there.
01:10:10 Speaker_06
I work in admissions. That is definitely Andy's dream job, to work at Cornell. It's perfect. Yes. And it seems like Oscar and Daryl still feel bad for him. And I'm like, stop feeling bad for him. He's happy.
01:10:23 Speaker_04
He's happy. Well, now the ladies are going to arrive for Angela's bachelorette. They're doing something at Schrute Farms, and we are going to meet Angela's sister, Rachel.
01:10:34 Speaker_06
We sure are. There is a trend here that everyone just kept their same names, Malcolm, Dakota, and Rachel. Yes. Greg was too tired to name people at this point.
01:10:44 Speaker_04
Yes.
01:10:46 Speaker_06
Well, Rachel was played by Rachel Harris. I have known her for a really long time. Warren and I knew her from our days at the Groundlings. She is hilarious, incredibly talented. I mean, she's been in everything, you name it.
01:11:01 Speaker_06
She was in Suits, and right now it's having a whole resurgence on Netflix. She was also in Lucifer and just a ton, a ton of movies and television shows. She's a really funny gal.
01:11:11 Speaker_04
And you know, she was in the Hangover movie with Ed Holmes. That's right. Well, we got a fan mail flurry about this, Angela, and several bulls**t cards. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Here's what they said.
01:11:24 Speaker_04
In a previous episode, Angela said she hasn't spoken to her sister in 16 years. That's true. But in this episode, she mentions how close they are. Is this the same sister or a different one? I think it's a different sister.
01:11:36 Speaker_04
Oh, so there's a sister who was not invited to the wedding, and then there's this sister. Absolutely. That you have a special language with.
01:11:41 Speaker_06
Exactly.
01:11:42 Speaker_04
Okay. Well, I'd like to say that this was one of my pitches to Greg as we were discussing wrapping up the show. I didn't pitch the idea for a bachelorette party or anything like that.
01:11:52 Speaker_04
All I said was, before this show is over, I would like a scene of all the women together just like we had in Boys and Girls or when we went to the mall with Michael. I just wanted one more moment of gals before the show ended.
01:12:10 Speaker_04
And so I absolutely loved this night of shooting. It was maybe one of my favorite of the finale. I'll get to the other one. But it felt like a slumber party.
01:12:23 Speaker_06
It was so fun. When you watch this and you see us laughing, we're just laughing in real life. We were cracking up the whole night.
01:12:32 Speaker_04
I remember the snack table. There were these Trader Joe's rosemary crackers. You and Ellie were obsessed with them. We ate like three boxes of those crackers. And then later for my birthday, she surprised me with a giant jar of them.
01:12:50 Speaker_04
I also had a sweater in this scene. You never see me wearing it, but it was part of my wardrobe. And it was a little chilly at this location, and I would put it on.
01:13:00 Speaker_04
I don't know why I didn't end up wearing it in the scene, but I had it, and I would put it on in between takes, and I kept it. Aw. I still have it. It's the sweater that I keep on the back of my office chair at home. Well, I kept those Uggs.
01:13:17 Speaker_04
Oh, Angela, we got a question about your Uggs. People wanted to know if those were the Uggs that you would wear at your desk when your feet were cold. Absolutely. This was my happiest scene because I was wearing my cozy, warm Uggs.
01:13:31 Speaker_04
I kept my Uggs as well, and I don't know about you, but on the sole of my Ugg, in the very back, written in teeny tiny black marker, it says, Pam. Yes, mine says my name.
01:13:42 Speaker_06
I guess, there you go. I would like to point out a fantastic look to camera by Phyllis. It's at 12 minutes and 42 seconds. It is so funny.
01:13:52 Speaker_06
So Rachel and Angela are speaking their made-up language, and in the shooting draft it said this, Rachel glances at Phyllis. Angela starts cracking up. Phyllis looks to camera, pissed. It's a pretty great look. It's a great look.
01:14:06 Speaker_06
One other thing I want to point out is Phyllis is seriously Maybe who you want to invite to a party because she shows up with a blender under her arm.
01:14:19 Speaker_04
Back at the bachelor party, guess who walks in the door?
01:14:25 Speaker_06
It's Elizabeth the stripper. Yes, not the waitress, which Dwight is hoping for. He really wants to get his food. I have another Easter egg here, another callback.
01:14:36 Speaker_06
Per the shooting draft, it says a stripper in a trashy waitress outfit that looks like the St. Polly girl comes in with a boombox. St.
01:14:45 Speaker_04
Polly girl. St. Polly girl from Dinner Party. Guys, this is the return of the very funny Jackie DeBottin. She was in Ben Franklin. She was in Fun Run. Here she is in Finale. I just love the idea that there's just one stripper in Scranton. And it's Elizabeth.
01:15:02 Speaker_06
That's right. She's cornered the market. You know, I ran into Jackie at the office convention in Miami.
01:15:07 Speaker_04
Yes.
01:15:08 Speaker_06
And she would love to talk to us about her time on the show. And I feel like she's got to come on for Office Lady 6.0. I would love it.
01:15:16 Speaker_04
Well, Elizabeth is not the only stripper in Scranton. There is a male stripper as well, and he's going to show up to Angela's bachelorette party.
01:15:25 Speaker_06
Yeah, he does. And right away, Meredith goes, Jakey? And he's like, Mom? And Pam's like, wait, wait, wait, what? And then Meredith's like, no, no, no, just do your work. Pretend Mom's not here.
01:15:40 Speaker_04
But this is craziness. Lady, I remember when we read this in the table read and it was revealed that Meredith's son was going to strip at Angela's bachelor party. It was so funny. It was the funniest thing to me.
01:15:53 Speaker_06
People were cracking up. I remember in particular at your line when you go, woohoo, go Meredith's stripper son.
01:16:01 Speaker_04
It's like so ridiculous. So awkward. Meredith's son, Jake, was played by Spencer Daniels, the same person who played him in Take Your Daughter to Work Day, which is when we met Meredith's son for the first time.
01:16:16 Speaker_06
Yes. He is much older now, and as Meredith says, is a little entrepreneur.
01:16:22 Speaker_04
He's gonna do a strip tease to the song, Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy by Big and Rich. It cost us $48,000 for this song. That's pricey! It's so perfect, though. This dance that he does is so perfectly funny, and when Meredith pushes him out of the way,
01:16:43 Speaker_04
and then is like trying to show him a better way to kind of thrust his pelvis at you. It's just, lady, how did you get through it?
01:16:52 Speaker_06
I covered my face. I saw. I covered my face for many reasons. One, it was so uncomfortable. I'm sure. It was so uncomfortable. I was like legitimately just like, oh no, I feel so like, ah, this is crazy.
01:17:07 Speaker_06
So I covered my face, but I also covered my face because I was laughing. And also, you guys were laughing. Yeah. Ellie was laughing.
01:17:16 Speaker_04
Yeah. It was so absurd. You can see it in a few shots. You know to never get me a stripper for a party, right? You know I don't want that. I would never. Why would I do that? I don't know, I'm just, I mean, we know this, right? This is not for me.
01:17:31 Speaker_06
I can't do it.
01:17:32 Speaker_04
I can't do it.
01:17:33 Speaker_06
I would never do it for you. I have too much backstory. I wanna know like, okay, why did you pick this outfit? Why did you pick this song? That's why you can't have a stripper is because- Where have you studied dance class?
01:17:44 Speaker_06
This is what keeps you from- What is your process?
01:17:47 Speaker_04
Okay, this is very different. Well, what is your thing? I don't want people dancing up on me who are a stranger. Oh, I just don't want that. That doesn't bother me as much.
01:17:59 Speaker_04
Oh, I mean, it's why I never went clubbing, because I don't want anyone to dance up on me. Right. I just want to dance with people I already know.
01:18:07 Speaker_06
I would say I don't mind dancing, having fun on the dance floor, but I don't want crotch in my face. No one needs that.
01:18:17 Speaker_04
Yeah, that's sort of what I'm saying. I don't want foreign crotch in my face.
01:18:21 Speaker_06
That's it. I'm all about let's have fun on the dance floor, but I don't need random schmingling in my face. Correct. Well, where does that take us?
01:18:36 Speaker_04
I think it's time for cake. It's sweating. All right, Angela, while you're slicing up this cake, I'll keep the podcast going here. Angela's going to hear a noise outside. Yeah. She assumes that it's just the wind.
01:18:50 Speaker_06
She asks Phyllis specifically, will you lock the door? Phyllis doesn't. She just opens it wide open and says, it's just the wind, see? So Angela gets up to lock the door. 15 minutes, 26 seconds, did anyone catch the enormous ring of keys?
01:19:06 Speaker_06
It's like a huge metal ring of probably like 50 keys. I thought that was such an interesting background catch. But as Angela approaches the door, Mose grabs her and runs off with her. Yeah. This was a very choreographed moment. I bet.
01:19:23 Speaker_04
OK, Angela, let me take over the slicing here. I'm getting too distracted. I can't slice cake and talk about this. Well, this is a big moment. And I was there. And I want you to tell everybody about it because a lot went into getting this shot.
01:19:35 Speaker_06
Yes. Here's the thing. They wanted to make sure that Angela and the bachelorette party did not see Mose, but that camera saw Mose for a few reasons. One, so you weren't really worried about Angela. Correct.
01:19:49 Speaker_06
So they established Mose in the window in the background of the stripping scene. Then when the door is open, they still don't want Angela to see Moe's because she wouldn't willingly go with him. Right.
01:20:01 Speaker_06
So I had to do this thing where I go to the door and then I turn around and put my back to the door and then he swoops his arm around me and slings me out.
01:20:09 Speaker_04
Yes, I remember this whole discussion and If I remember correctly, I feel like I remember Ken telling you that the reason you would put your back to the door was because you so needed to shame Phyllis for being so stupid for opening the door.
01:20:24 Speaker_04
That's so funny. That you would be distracted in your life having to lay into her.
01:20:30 Speaker_06
Angela's very put out about it. Yes. Oh, the other thing I remember is that they told Mike Schur that he had to be really quick about it. It had to be a really fast moment. So he really runs in and like grabs me.
01:20:42 Speaker_06
And my reaction is real because it always sort of takes you off guard. Sure. I will point out that once again, Ellie is breaking.
01:20:50 Speaker_04
Kelly ever kept a straight face in this whole scene.
01:20:55 Speaker_06
The guys are now in the limo. They're going to their next destination when Jim gets a call from Pam that Angela has been kidnapped. Phyllis left the door open and some freak came and grabbed her. Dwight starts to laugh. He's like, ah, good old Moe's.
01:21:10 Speaker_04
Yeah, he's not concerned at all. Apparently, this is a special tradition.
01:21:14 Speaker_06
Yeah, it's a ceremonial bridal kidnapping. Dwight says he's going to take the bride and hide her at a local pub, and then when he finds the place, he has to buy everyone drinks. And Dwight's happy.
01:21:25 Speaker_06
He's like, Moses is finally getting into the spirit of it. So they're going to drive to a pub in search for most. Yeah. Jim says to Dwight, what's the last pub you would ever set foot in in this town? That's where we'll go. Dwight says, you're right.
01:21:40 Speaker_06
Pick that one. And Jim says, driver, take us to 3030 Adams. I looked it up. There's nothing there.
01:21:46 Speaker_04
Fakie address. Well, when they go inside, they spot a table. Sure enough, there is Mose, Rolf, Gabor, and Nate. Everyone starts chanting, if you want your bride, buy us a drink. If you want your bride, buy us a drink.
01:22:00 Speaker_06
I love that we see some other familiar faces from our writing staff in this scene.
01:22:05 Speaker_04
Yes, there is Jen Salata, who told Greg, I mean, for years. Years. That it was her dream to somehow play a shrew. Yes. And then there was also Graham Wagner. That's right. They're sitting in the bar in the booth.
01:22:22 Speaker_04
Now, Greg actually wrote a scene for Jen, and she told this story She worked on her lines. She was so nervous. And then they came to her and said, Jen, I'm so sorry. We don't have time to shoot it. We have to move on. We have to go get this shot.
01:22:39 Speaker_04
I think it was of Jim and Pam. And she was like, oh, good. OK. And then they came back and said, Jen, we do have time. And she was like, oh, my gosh. And then they said, Jen, we don't have time. Oh, no. It just kept going back and forth. Oh, no. I know.
01:22:52 Speaker_04
But ultimately, she was just happy that her dream finally came true. She is now officially a shrewd. And she does have lines. She does. That's right. She gets to chant with everybody else.
01:23:03 Speaker_06
And after they're done chanting, if you want your bride, buy us a drink. Dwight says, very well. Drinks on me, bartender. And he turns, and it's Kevin. That's right. It's Kevin's bar. It's Kevin's bar!
01:23:19 Speaker_04
This bar. Dwight's like, Jim, why did you pick this place? You're pranking me again. Well, Jim intentionally picked this bar so that Dwight and Kevin would finally make amends. Yeah.
01:23:32 Speaker_04
I'll have you know the location of this bar was the Black Boar Bar on Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock, and we got a fan mail flurry about this.
01:23:44 Speaker_04
First of all, I loved this note from Sarah F. in Portland, Oregon, who said, one of my absolute favorite moments of The Office is when Kevin is at the bar, Dwight comes in, and Kevin says, well, well, well, well, well. That's six wells.
01:24:01 Speaker_04
Did I get that number right, Dwight? Sarah said, it took me several rewatches to realize that it's only five wells.
01:24:09 Speaker_06
Yes, Sarah, I want you to know that when Jenna and I read that, we were actually having lunch together, rewatching the finale together. And when we got to the scene, we counted on our hands. Well, well, well, well, well. And you are correct.
01:24:25 Speaker_06
It's only five.
01:24:26 Speaker_04
And then our fan mail flurry was lots of people wanting to know, how was Kevin able to afford a bar? Was it embezzlement? Was it insider trading? Was it gambling? Is he a genius? Exactly. What is it?
01:24:43 Speaker_04
We actually talked about this with Brian Baumgartner when he came in for his interview with us all the way back when we broke down the Casual Friday episode. Long time ago.
01:24:54 Speaker_04
And we decided to save this clip until now, because Brian tells us exactly how Kevin got this bar. Yeah, let's listen.
01:25:08 Speaker_04
So fans have conspiracy theories that Kevin is putting on a show at work that he is actually a genius and he is doing some massive insider trading and is very wealthy outside of Dunder Mifflin, that this is why these two things are true.
01:25:30 Speaker_06
That Kevin is so patient that he's doing the long con
01:25:36 Speaker_10
Yes, I have heard this. Well, so the payoff on this, and I don't know if you guys remember this, I know that it'll be a while before you're to this episode and you're in your story, but so there was a storyline that was cut.
01:25:53 Speaker_10
So right, so the reference, the payoff to that theory, as it's always explained to me as well, I've heard it a number of times, is that he ends up with a bar, right? Like how did he, how did he win? How did he, how did he buy this bar?
01:26:08 Speaker_10
He has no money, he's an accountant. How does suddenly he have this bar? Well, there was a storyline that we shot and we shot a lot of scenes of this storyline in or around the finale, right?
01:26:22 Speaker_10
Which was, here's my best recollection, but I have t-shirts from this, is that if you remember Greg Daniels and the writers, they wanted to talk to us about how the characters were gonna unfold and they wanted, you know, they heard some ideas from us or whatever.
01:26:37 Speaker_10
I don't know, at some point we started talking and Greg was aware, that and Angela has been with me a number of times. So she knows all too well. Like I can't walk into a bar. There's something about Kevin and the personality.
01:26:55 Speaker_10
I can't walk into a bar and, and not be bought a number of drugs.
01:27:01 Speaker_06
It's nonstop crazy. It's like everyone wants to have a beer with Kevin Malone. It's Kevin Malone. It makes sense to me.
01:27:09 Speaker_10
Yes, so the idea for the finale, we shot this story, was that when the documentary aired, Kevin became the fan favorite.
01:27:24 Speaker_10
And there were t-shirts, I have some t-shirts here, like that they printed for the show that had like my face, like Kevin, it was like Kevin. We shot all these B-roll shots of me in bars and people buying Kevin Malone drinks.
01:27:38 Speaker_10
And so the story goes that there was a local bar that Kevin would go to, And he had been bought so many drinks and not cashed them in that he used that as leverage to get the bar.
01:27:55 Speaker_10
Like basically they owed me too much money that they had to give me the bar. And that's how Kevin Malone got the bar. Oh, wow. The finale was what like two and a half hours or whatever it was as it was.
01:28:11 Speaker_10
So a lot of some of those stories happened so that I got the bar that was fired, all that stuff. But a lot of those those details about how that happened were cut.
01:28:23 Speaker_04
Well, there you have it.
01:28:24 Speaker_06
That's how Kevin got his bar. And you know what? It's so true in real life. If you travel with Brian, especially in Scranton, everyone's buying you a beer.
01:28:34 Speaker_06
I told him, I was like, Brian, you need to go to Scranton and you need to open a bar called Malone's. Oh, that's brilliant. Right? Yes.
01:28:42 Speaker_06
Oh, and one other thing for you guys that have the DVDs, in deleted scenes, some of the ones Brian talked about are there. There's the talking head where Kevin explains a lot of it.
01:28:53 Speaker_04
Wow. Well, Dwight is going to explain to Kevin that firing him was not personal.
01:28:59 Speaker_05
Yeah.
01:29:00 Speaker_04
It was truly the result of his ineptitude, his lack of personal hygiene, his filthy internet searches. Kevin's like, do you mean it? Really?
01:29:12 Speaker_06
And he's like, oh, buddy. They hug. All is forgiven.
01:29:17 Speaker_04
Guten prank number three. That's right. Well, Dwight wants to see his bride. He's like, yeah, where is she? Mose leads him to the parking lot, to the trunk of his car. Yeah. He opens it up. Angela, you burst out cursing. Cursing like a sailor.
01:29:38 Speaker_06
So this was not scripted. I didn't think it was. In the shooting draft, it only said this. Mose leads Dwight to a car in the parking lot and unlocks the trunk. Angela very stiffly puts her head out, blinking in the light. So we did a few takes of that.
01:29:57 Speaker_06
And it just wasn't popping. So I asked Ken Quapis if I could do one where I'm super ticked off and I have that same kind of energy as when Dwight ran Angela off the road. And Ken said, just go for it. We'll just roll on this one and just go for it.
01:30:12 Speaker_06
So John, playing Jim in the moment, actually didn't know what I was going to say, how many things I was going to say. And I think it's really funny. The camera pushes to Jim and his reaction is like, oh, dear Lord. It's very funny.
01:30:29 Speaker_06
What was it like to be in that trunk? Well, if you zoom in when they open it, they made a little bed for me. Oh, it was nice and soft. Well, it's a good thing I'm tiny. But I was laying on like a comforter with a pillow.
01:30:43 Speaker_06
They just kind of made it look like clothes and junk that Moe's had in there, but they did make a little cushy Area for me, I wasn't in it very long, but it is dark. Okay, yeah, it's a small space. Well, now we are gonna go to this panel.
01:31:00 Speaker_06
Yes, there is a sign that sort of sets up what we're seeing. It says Scranton Cultural Center. What happened to Andy Bernard? Still curious about the office and American workplace? Meet the real local subjects of last year's documentary.
01:31:16 Speaker_06
produced by the Scranton Cultural Center.
01:31:19 Speaker_04
Well, the location of this was not the Scranton Cultural Center. It was the AT&T building on Olive Street in Burbank. And we were there a whole day.
01:31:28 Speaker_04
Now, Dwight says Angela is not attending the panel because it was her wedding day and her legs are still numb from the trunk. Yeah, he said we can't see each other on our wedding day. No. But who is going to arrive finally is Stanley.
01:31:42 Speaker_04
He's coming from Florida.
01:31:44 Speaker_06
He's Florida Stanley. He is. He shares that he's living full-time in Florida now in a little town called Florida City. He loves it. He sits on his porch all day carving birds, and he even brought one. It's so cute. It's really cute.
01:32:00 Speaker_06
So a few of the old group are on stage, but there's no one in the audience. No one's come. And Andy says, I'm sorry. It's probably on me. I got a lot of hate when that auto-tune went viral. He says, you know what? I'll go talk to the manager.
01:32:13 Speaker_06
Maybe we should just all go home. Just bail on this.
01:32:17 Speaker_04
Yeah. Well, he walks out, and there is a huge crowd of people waiting to load into the auditorium. And they are so excited to see him.
01:32:25 Speaker_06
They all start chanting, Nard Dogg, and then clapping and saying, ra-dit-dit-da-doo. It was so sweet. The moment when Andy feels that love from them, and he just can't wait, and he says ra-dit-dit-da-doo back.
01:32:42 Speaker_04
Yeah.
01:32:42 Speaker_06
Ed played it so well. I know. I loved it. The next scene is now a full auditorium. Every seat is taken, and all of the Dunder Mifflin employees are on stage, and there's a moderator taking questions from the crowd.
01:32:57 Speaker_04
I'd like to start with a list of the people who were on the panel. Okay. Clark, Aaron, Toby, Oscar, Meredith, Jim, Pam, Dwight, Daryl, Kevin, Andy, Phyllis, Pete, Stanley, and David Wallace. Now I want to talk about who was not there. Creed.
01:33:21 Speaker_04
He was not on the panel, but he was there. He's in the audience. He's shown at the very end. Here's who else was not there. Michael. The documentary crew did not fly in Michael. Surprising. Well, Greg and Steve did talk about this because as we all know,
01:33:42 Speaker_04
Michael Scott is going to surprise everyone at the wedding. And it was discussed, why would Michael come to the wedding and not come back and be the center of attention?
01:33:53 Speaker_04
Wouldn't you think this is in Michael Scott's personality to want to be on this panel?
01:33:57 Speaker_06
And we've established that it's happening the same weekend. So he is there in Scranton.
01:34:03 Speaker_04
Yes. Well, it was really important to Steve that we see growth from Michael Scott.
01:34:11 Speaker_04
And he really believed in his heart that when Michael left and he married Holly and he started his new life, that he really lost this need for this kind of like public adoration.
01:34:25 Speaker_06
You know, I can follow that because Michael, all he ever wanted was a family. Yes. That's all he wanted. And he got his family. So he doesn't need this other thing anymore.
01:34:36 Speaker_04
Yes. And this is a departure from the British office. In the Christmas special for the British office, their documentary has aired, and David Brent has become kind of a celebrity. And so in that episode, he is just sort of reveling in his new fame.
01:34:54 Speaker_04
And I think there was also a desire to not repeat. Yeah, and I also think that spot was already filled in our story with Andy. Exactly. All right, here's who else was not on the panel. Kelly and Ryan. They do show up at the wedding. They do.
01:35:12 Speaker_04
Now, I 100% think that Kelly would want to be the center of attention on a panel. Unfortunately, Mindy Kaling was not available this day, and neither was BJ Novak. So that's why they weren't on the panel. OK.
01:35:27 Speaker_04
We talked about Nellie, who shows up at the wedding. We don't know why she wasn't there. Something happened. We have not gotten to the bottom of it. I feel like it was a scheduling thing as well. But here are some other people who I thought
01:35:39 Speaker_04
If I'm tracking this as, like, the documentary bringing people back for fans to talk to, here's who I thought should have been there. Jan. For sure. Roy. Oh, yeah. Todd Packer. He would have loved it. Gabe. Robert California.
01:35:58 Speaker_04
Oh, that would have been delicious. Karen. And there's one more person who's not there. Oh, yeah? It's you, Angela. I know. Do you want to share with everyone why you weren't there?
01:36:08 Speaker_04
I know Dwight says it's because you guys shouldn't see each other before the wedding, but there's a real reason why you weren't there.
01:36:15 Speaker_06
There is. So here's the deal. As we started filming the finale, I was up for a really big role on a new sitcom. It was a big deal for me because it was a lead.
01:36:27 Speaker_06
The show was called The Gabriels, and it would have been me and Rob Riggle playing husband and wife. Tim Meadows was in it. It was really great. The cast was phenomenal.
01:36:36 Speaker_06
And you know, it's just one of those things that happens in life when everything you want to do all happens at the same time. Yes. So they were both going to overlap. The finale in this new pilot, I didn't know what to do.
01:36:48 Speaker_06
And I went to Greg and I said, Greg, what should I do? And you know, Jenna, he was so kind. And he said, listen, I want this opportunity to happen for you, but I honestly don't know how to make it work.
01:36:59 Speaker_06
He said, if Steve Burgess could work his scheduling magic and figure it out, I had his blessing. And creatively, he said he could take me out of this panel, that he could make it make sense for him, for the show, Why Angela Wouldn't Be There. Sure.
01:37:13 Speaker_06
It's the morning of her wedding. He could make that creatively make sense, and that would give me an extra day. But then Steve Burr just rolled up his sleeve. And he's always been such a champion for us.
01:37:25 Speaker_06
And he knew, Jenna, that me playing the lead in something would mean I would get considered for bigger roles after the office wrapped. And I just love this man so much. He got on the phone with the producers at Fox. They worked it all out.
01:37:41 Speaker_06
It included some crazy scheduling. I had to film part of the Fox pilot on a Saturday. On one day, I worked on both shows.
01:37:49 Speaker_06
Steve Burgess sent a van to pick me up on the Fox lot with the office hair and makeup team, and they transformed me into Angela Martin driving down the freeway. Amazing.
01:38:00 Speaker_06
I asked Steve what he remembered about all of this, and this is what he had to say. One of my favorite things was talking with Kim Ferry about how she had to redo your hair on the drive to the set. Kim and I still laugh and talk about that.
01:38:13 Speaker_06
But that was just part of it. I spoke with the pilot people all the time. We worked out a schedule that we thought would work but unfortunately might actually kill you. but you survived. Both schedules had to change a lot during the shooting.
01:38:25 Speaker_06
We ran long, they had to reschedule stuff, but it all worked out. You were amazing shooting two shows, both demanding, and you came through looking great.
01:38:34 Speaker_04
Well, I remember that day that you arrived to set and you had gotten ready in the van. It was so crazy.
01:38:42 Speaker_06
You know, when I watch these scenes, I do get a little emotional because, oh, obviously for so many reasons, but also because Greg and Steve did that for me because they knew it would help my career after the office. And that was such a gift.
01:38:58 Speaker_06
And I did find something really special to me in my digital clutter about it. Okay. I sent two people an email about my new look on the Gabriels, my fancy hair. I emailed you and my dad.
01:39:14 Speaker_06
I sent you both a picture and I said, this is my new look for the Gabriels. You wrote back, lady, you look amazing! Two exclamation points. And my dad wrote, and y'all like it. LOL, which he thought meant lots of love. Yes. Bill Kinsey.
01:39:31 Speaker_04
Hmm. I love that. Well, it was a little bittersweet for me, Angela, that you weren't there. This was my second favorite scene that we shot for the finale. You said it was really moving. It really was.
01:39:47 Speaker_04
It was special because Greg filled this scene with so much of our crew and our office family
01:39:56 Speaker_04
You know, Greg created a type of yearbook for us, and when I was rewatching the finale, and in particular this scene, I saw all those familiar faces, and I was so grateful to him that we have these people on camera.
01:40:12 Speaker_04
So he made our writers and other crew members, he gave them roles asking the questions, and he said it really worked because
01:40:23 Speaker_04
If someone was a little stiff or maybe not the best actor, it's like, well, that's what a real person in the audience would be like.
01:40:30 Speaker_06
Well, you know, I think we should do a breakdown as well of the special guests that are in this scene. Yes, let's talk about it. The moderator is played by Suzanne Daniels, Greg's wife. I thought she did a fantastic job.
01:40:43 Speaker_06
The first question was asked by Brent Forrester. Amelie Gillette asked about Jim giving up athlete. Writer Allison Silverman said Jim could do anything, and I mean anything. She was so funny. So funny.
01:40:57 Speaker_06
But also, I really loved as Pam saying, I'm sorry, was there a question there? Also, writer Dan Sterling asked what was in the teapot letter. Steve Healy asked if our lives felt pointless.
01:41:09 Speaker_06
And Jenny Tan from Office Tally, this fan site that supported us from the very beginning, asked the question about Jim and Pam.
01:41:19 Speaker_04
You know, I think that one was my favorite. Jenny had originally asked Greg if she could just come and watch us film the finale. And she wanted to do like a really nice farewell to the show. And we'd given her kind of inside access before.
01:41:34 Speaker_04
Guys, she truly was just a fan who started a fan site. But it was so good that she became a member of our office family.
01:41:42 Speaker_06
Yes. And you know, her site, Office Tally, It really was the place to go for all the inside tidbits that was happening on the show. Oh, yeah. She did such a good job.
01:41:55 Speaker_04
Writers and directors would do exclusive interviews with her after episodes aired. It's all still there, officetelly.com. I refer to it sometimes for the pod. Yeah. Well, Greg said, yes, come out while we're filming the finale.
01:42:09 Speaker_04
And she said, Greg, could I just be in the background of something? I would just love to be in the background. In the world somehow. He said, no, you can't be in the background. I'm going to give you seven lines. She about pooped her pants.
01:42:24 Speaker_04
She said she was so nervous. She did so great. She did fantastic. But there is one other person who asked us a question, but it got cut. And it is our very own Steve Burgess.
01:42:36 Speaker_06
Yes. And you know what, Steve? It might have been cut, but it's in deleted scenes on the DVD. And I think we need to hear Steve's voice on our podcast. Let's hear it.
01:42:47 Speaker_10
How did being in the documentary change your behavior?
01:42:50 Speaker_06
There you have it. That was our sweet Steve Burgess. Steve, you're on the pod. Although we want to have Steve on for a sit down. For sure. There's so many people we still want to talk to.
01:43:01 Speaker_04
All right. This panel is not over.
01:43:05 Speaker_05
No.
01:43:05 Speaker_04
It is going to end in a very emotional way that gets me every time. The final person to ask a question is a woman who stands up and asks Erin if she hates her mom. She says, you must really hate her. You must be so angry at her.
01:43:20 Speaker_04
And Erin says, well, I don't know if I would hate her. I mean, she has this sweet thing she says.
01:43:26 Speaker_06
Yeah, she says maybe sometimes, but not like, hate, hate. More just like, mom, I hate you. And then she would say, go to your room, young lady. And then I'd stomp my foot, and I'd run upstairs, and I'd have a room, which is really cool.
01:43:40 Speaker_06
And then we'd just have dinner. But I don't know. I'd have to meet her. Thanks.
01:43:46 Speaker_04
And then there's this long pause and... Joan Cusack. I know.
01:43:52 Speaker_06
As Erin is saying her lines, the emotion that comes over Joan's face is so moving. Yeah. I was tearing up watching it. I can't imagine what it was like being there. I saw Phyllis in the background sobbing in real life. Those were real tears.
01:44:11 Speaker_04
Angela, Joan's performance It took our breath away. Yeah. I mean, we were just all on this panel. And from the second she stepped up to the microphone, I got a lump in my throat. I was like, oh, my gosh. Yeah. I knew what was going to happen.
01:44:27 Speaker_04
It was truly emotional. Erin realizes this is her mom. And then, oh, my gosh, you thought you couldn't cry anymore. Ed Begley Jr. stands up and says, same question, but about your dad. Aaron has found her parents! Her parents! We did get a fan mail flurry.
01:44:45 Speaker_04
Are Pete and Aaron still together in the finale? They sat apart during the panel and they don't appear together at the wedding. Please discuss. Well, we asked Jake Lacey this question when we interviewed him and he said he doesn't think they are. Yeah.
01:45:01 Speaker_04
And I looked through the script. There is no real evidence in the script. However, it was scripted for them to be sitting next to each other on the panel, but they're not. Same for the wedding.
01:45:13 Speaker_06
They're not at the same table at the wedding, and there are no scenes with the two of them in deleted scenes.
01:45:19 Speaker_04
That's correct. I think it was decided on the day with Ken Kwapis. And I vaguely remember this as they were telling us where to sit on the panel. Erin's happy ending is finding her parents, not finding a man. And so Ken set them apart from one another.
01:45:38 Speaker_06
So that the focus could be on her reuniting with her mom and dad. That's right. And there are scenes of the three of them talking in deleted scenes. I'm going to bring it up for finale part two. This part ends with the camera panning the audience
01:45:55 Speaker_06
Creed is in the way back. He's got a full beard. He is watching all of it and tearing up.
01:46:01 Speaker_04
Well, Angela, like I said, I was really happy for you because you were off this day. You were getting to pursue this opportunity that was so special.
01:46:11 Speaker_04
But at the end of this scene, when we finished our last shot, I'm getting choked up thinking about it. And I wish you could have been there. But the whole auditorium of people stood up and gave us a standing ovation. for, like, three minutes.
01:46:29 Speaker_04
It was really moving. Like, the cameras were off.
01:46:33 Speaker_05
Yeah.
01:46:34 Speaker_04
The acting was over, and it took us by surprise. We have pictures of it. It was just... It was special. Yeah. It was really special.
01:46:44 Speaker_06
Man, it's been great to rewatch these scenes. The ones I wasn't in, I got to sort of experience them, and I've really loved it.
01:46:52 Speaker_04
Me too. Well, listen, that is finale part one. Oh my goodness. This is a long episode, y'all. That was 50 pages. My document was 50 pages. And we're only halfway through. Next week, it's all about the wedding and all about a very special surprise guest.
01:47:11 Speaker_06
Yes, and I am bringing in some stuff. There's going to be some show and tell. I know it's a podcast, but I have found some real nuggets from way back when, I'll be bringing them in. I'll share them in stories as well.
01:47:25 Speaker_06
What a wonderful, amazing, fantastic ride this rewatch has been. And there'll be more to come of Office Ladies, but I mean, I am just sitting in some gratitude. I just love y'all so much.
01:47:41 Speaker_06
And I love this team of these faces I'm looking at, Sam and Cassie and Jenna. I just want to say thanks. We'll see you all next week. See you next week. Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
01:48:01 Speaker_06
Office Ladies is a presentation of Odyssey and is produced by Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey.
01:48:06 Speaker_04
Our executive producer is Cassie Jerkins, our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbaco. Odyssey's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Reese Dennis. Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
01:48:21 Speaker_06
Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.
01:49:08 Speaker_14
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