A Look Back on Sabre

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I'm Jenna Fisher.

And I'm Angela Kinsey.

We were on The Office together.

And we're best friends.

And now we're doing

the Ultimate Office Rewatch Podcast just for you.

Each week, we will break down an episode of The Office

and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories

that only two people who were there can tell you.

We're The Office ladies.

Hello.

Hello, everyone.

Welcome to sob ray.

Yes, it is season six, episode 15,

written by Jennifer Salata, known to us as Jen Salata,

and directed by John Krasinski.

Yes, known to us as JK.

Oh my gosh.

John.

Great job.

I loved this episode.

I did too.

It was one of those sleeper ones

that I hadn't watched in years.

That I had forgotten about.

Yeah, and I was cracking up.

Oh my gosh.

So many memories flooded back for me.

All those daycare scenes.

Oh, they were so good.

Oh my gosh.

I can't wait to talk about them.

I can't wait to talk about them.

And there's even more in the shooting draft

that didn't make it in.

So we're gonna share it all with you.

Here's a summary.

Dunder Mifflin has officially been bought by a new company.

Sabre.

Gabe Lewis, the new director of sales,

arrives in Scranton and brings with him

a list of changes and new company policies

that do not sit well with Michael.

Michael seeks advice from a very unemployed David Wallace.

Meanwhile, Pam and Jim tour a daycare center

and Erin and Andy wait for the other to make a move.

It is the most awkward courtship of two people.

I was yelling at the TV screen.

I was like, one of you just ask the other one out.

They're making me crazy.

We have so much stuff to share in this episode.

I mean, I hope we can get through it all.

We better get to it.

But before we do, folks, I want you to know

Jenna's wearing a poofy flower on her lapel today.

Okay, I'm trying this.

This is your book look.

Oh, and our book is coming out in two weeks.

In two weeks, our book is launching into the world

and we need a bunch of outfits, Angela.

You know I've been spending weeks and weeks

curating outfits because I am not

naturally gifted in that area.

I never want you to stop trying to put together outfits

because now every day, and I'm talking,

I mean, almost every day, I get a picture of you

in front of your closet and you're like, what about this?

I know, and so here's the problem I'm having.

I declared that I was gonna wear fakie flowers.

You sure did, you made a big declaration.

And it's not working.

I'm wearing one today because I wanted you to see.

Hear me out, I'm gonna stand up.

Well, I want you to see what I think is happening here.

And I know it's the striped shirt,

but I think it's the fakie flower too.

Are you ready? Yeah.

What does this remind you of?

Oh, yeah, you look like a French mime.

I look like a Parisian mime.

You do, wait, I need a picture of you doing that.

Oh my gosh, all right, well, we're very excited.

Our book is coming out in two weeks, we can't believe it.

I can't promise I'm gonna wear a fakie flower, everyone.

I'm sorry to disappoint, I'm still trying.

You gotta have one, Jenna, just one.

I'll work on it.

All right, let's get into fast facts.

Fast facts.

Fast fact number one,

John Krasinski directed this episode.

Oh my gosh.

We had a fan question from Alice R. in Italy.

No.

How was it seeing John Krasinski

on the other side of the camera as director?

He did an amazing job.

He sure did, he was just like a natural.

He really was.

It was a total pleasure.

It was always tricky what was it gonna be like

when one of our castmates stepped into directing.

Particularly because they had to be

on both sides of the camera.

Like logistically, how does that work?

Right, and John was your major scene partner.

He was.

It was so crazy how we could do scenes together

and he would be completely in character as Jim.

I felt like I was talking to Jim,

but then we would cut

and he would have simultaneously observed things

and would have notes.

I don't know how he did,

I don't know how your brain does that.

My brain doesn't do that.

Some people have that brain though.

They just compartmentalize it

and then they know how to like,

I'm sort of a one trick pony.

I know, I like to be doing the one thing artistically.

I'm real good at the one thing at one time.

Well, we reached out to John

and he's off right now filming season three of Jack Ryan,

but he sent in some audio clips

and we're so excited to share them with you.

First off, he talked about what it was like

to direct the show.

Hi guys.

Wait a minute, how are you on Saber already?

That means that it is season six?

You're into season six?

No, slow down.

We need more of this podcast.

The world needs more of this podcast for the love of Pete.

That's all I have to say about that.

What was it like directing Saber?

It was a dream.

It was absolutely everything you would wish

directing a show like this would be.

I personally was terrified

because I had to direct all of you.

I remember being really, really nervous about that,

that you were my coworkers,

but you were my closest friends, you were my family.

And here I was thinking I had the audacity

to tell you what to do,

which incidentally, I don't think I did once.

I'm not sure I gave one acting note to any of you

because I was just in awe watching,

sitting back and watching,

which really was one of the most special parts

about directing the show

was getting to see through a totally unique lens

of being behind these monitors

the magic that every single one of you

brought to each and every moment,

whether it was a joke or whether it was an emotional beat,

everyone was just so good at what they did.

And of course, as an actor,

I always used to love watching everybody

play in these scenes,

but there were so many scenes that I wasn't a part of.

So, you know, getting to in Saber,

getting to be a part of the hot tub scene

with Michael and David Wallace.

At the end of the day,

I think that directing that episode

was a much bigger deal than I even understood

or imagined then in that moment,

because the truth is directing is terrifying.

As I told you, I was very nervous to do it on this show.

And honestly, if it hadn't been for this episode

being such an amazing experience

surrounded by such hugely supportive crew members,

cast members, producers, everyone,

I don't know that I ever would have done it again, truly.

I mean, I think it was something

that I was really excited to experiment with on our show,

but never thought that I'd go much further than that

in trying to direct anything else.

Can you imagine?

Oh man.

Could you imagine if he didn't keep directing?

He's so good.

I know.

I just love that John got to have this experience

on our show for the first time,

because you and I know

how loving and supportive everyone was.

This was true for other people as well.

I mean, our editor, Claire Scanlon,

has a very successful directing career in television.

That started with The Office.

That was because Greg was very encouraging

of having different department heads

step into that role of director

to step out of what they were doing

and try this new thing in a really supportive environment.

I feel like it launched the directing careers

of many people.

Randall Einhorn, our cinematographer.

Matt Soane.

Yes.

So many.

And by the way, the writer of this episode,

Jen Salata.

Yeah.

I was just watching television the other day.

I was watching Abbott Elementary

and she directed the episode.

I was like, oh my gosh.

Yeah.

Jen.

So many people.

Well, listen, speaking of Jen Salata,

there is a great interview with her and John

over on officetelly.com for this episode.

I'll share some of what they talked about as we go along,

but one of the things that it included

were interviews with cast members about John's directing.

Oh, really?

Yes.

So I'm gonna tell you what people said.

All right.

Ellie said, John made me feel confident yet calm

and also made me laugh throughout the entire week.

If it isn't too weird a thing to say,

I feel like he took very good care of us.

Brian said he was bold, which I thought was cool.

He wanted characters to try new things.

Kate said, John was a very thoughtful director

who created a great tone on set.

He really did his homework on all levels.

He took his job very seriously, but not himself.

Like he didn't take himself too seriously.

That's John.

And then Creed said, which one's John?

Oh my gosh, Creed.

Creed with the button.

So perfect.

All right, fast fact number two,

I'll have you know, this was not John's directorial debut.

What was?

So this might've been the thing

that inspired him to keep directing,

but it was not his debut.

He had written, produced, and directed the film,

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men,

based on the short story collection by David Foster Wallace.

I remember this.

From the time we did the pilot, John loved this book.

And I guess he purchased the rights to the book

with his first paycheck from the office.

He had always wanted to adapt it.

He's so smart like that.

I know.

He's such a forward thinker.

He is.

Originally, he was just gonna write and produce the film.

Did you know John majored in screenwriting

at Brown University?

I didn't know that.

No.

Yeah, so he majored in screenwriting, not acting.

Writing was really his first love.

So anyway, he had the rights,

but he couldn't find a director.

And I guess it was Rainn Wilson who said to him

on set one day, why don't you just direct it yourself?

That sounds like Rainn too.

Rainn is very much the person that's like,

why don't you just do it?

And you're like, oh, okay.

Yeah, so I guess Rainn Wilson

kind of kickstarted John's directing career.

The next thing he directed was this episode of The Office.

Then he directed two more episodes of The Office,

so three total.

Then when The Office was over,

he directed a movie called The Hollers,

and of course, A Quiet Place.

Which I watched on the plane.

Oh, lady.

Was I crazy?

Oh, lady.

Did you yell out?

Yes, I was like, ah!

Like, I'm sure people thought I was crazy.

Oh my gosh.

Well, you know, his next directorial project

is a film called If,

and he's reuniting with Steve Carell.

Steve's gonna be in it.

Oh my gosh, we have to go see that together.

Let's do it.

So one more thing I wanna point out

before we move on to fast fact number three,

because fast fact number three is all Angela.

Oh no.

So I'm squeezing a little extra information

into my fast fact two.

Squeeze it.

Which is that we need to point out

what a very big deal it was

for John to direct this particular episode,

because he had to establish

two new major characters in the show,

Kathy Bates as Joe Bennett,

and Zach Woods as Gabe Lewis.

And he directed Christian Slater.

So this was not just a regular episode of The Office.

That's right, he had to do the whole Saber video.

Oh my gosh, I didn't even think about that.

He had to start a whole new company.

He had to, like, establish Saber.

That's a big episode to make your directorial debut,

my lord.

Well, John talked a little bit about it.

Here we go.

Introducing Kathy Bates, which was so mind-blowing.

The Kathy Bates was not only on our show,

but I was her first experience as a director,

and for that I will always be apologetic to her.

But I remember introducing that character

and knowing that, I don't know,

feeling a big responsibility

that that character was going to be a big part of the show,

and bringing along with her was Zach Woods,

who I remember from the moment we shot his first stuff,

the whole water bottle storyline,

he was just so unbelievably funny.

He was so reserved in this brand new instrument

that we had to play with on the show,

a totally different character than anybody else.

And yet, whenever he spoke,

you couldn't take your eyes off of him.

He was always so, so funny.

And I just remember with the big story changes

that were happening in the show,

I was so nervous to be the one

to introduce those two characters,

and then in the end, I don't know,

feel somewhat honored to have been a part of it.

I think those guys were lucky to have John as a director.

He's so personable.

He puts you so at ease.

I mean, listen, all of our directors

have a place in my heart.

They're all great.

But John really does have a gift

at walking into a room

and just putting everyone out of their heads.

Do you know what I mean?

He's a good connector.

He is.

He's good at connecting instantly.

All right, Angela, it's you.

It's fast fact three.

What do you got for me?

Okay, here you go.

Fast fact number three is courtesy of Joya Balfour.

Oh.

Who, as you guys know, worked for NBC Digital.

She shared with us that NBC did an entire website for Saber.

The site featured a bio on CEO Joe Bennett,

the full Christian Slater video,

a section with a company overview,

plus it featured all of Sabre's,

Sabre, oh my God, I'm doing it,

plus it featured all of Saber's printer products,

a Q&A with Kelly Kapoor

in an article titled, Print in All Colors.

And my favorite section was an employee blog

by Scranton accountant, Oscar Martinez.

And the blog was titled, There's No Accounting for Taste.

What?

Yeah.

And here were a few of his blogs he posted.

One was titled, Winter Woe.

The next one was titled,

Music Makes the People Come Together

and Annoys Me at the Office.

Oh my gosh.

Lastly, he wrote a blog called, A Different Voice.

Joya found an archive of the website.

The video's not on it,

but some of the different elements are.

I'll share in stories.

It is hilarious.

Oh my gosh.

I know.

I didn't know any of that stuff.

I feel like NBC.com, like we've talked about it,

they were just sort of ahead of the curve.

Yeah.

Another thing happening online at this time

was a lot of people were very sad to see David Wallace go.

And a Save Wallace campaign started online.

There was even a contest on officetally.com

where you could make a Save Wallace icon.

And a bunch of the icons are still up there.

I'll put a few in stories.

No way.

Wow.

But yeah, this was a huge episode.

We're finally seeing Saber.

So NBC really went all out.

They were clearly excited

about their Thursday night lineup this week

because you know our favorite announcer-y guy.

Uh-huh.

He came back and they did a trailer.

Here's the trailer that ran the week Saber aired.

Thursday, we're putting the word out.

Comedy's new on NBC.

Check your email.

I'll mark you as spam.

Who the hell is Pam?

With new community in Parks and Rec.

Look how happy everybody is.

While the office has been taken over

by Kathy Bates and Christian Slater.

Have you ever tasted a rainbow?

You're probably wondering what's going on.

Well, you're not alone.

And here's what to expect when Jen Hooks is on 30 Rock.

This show will have laughter.

Tears.

Infections caused by jacuzzi water.

Yep, the comedy's new this Thursday on NBC.

Yep, the comedy is new.

I want John to do an impression of that guy.

Yeah, right.

Me too.

Ah, well, that was wonderful, Angela.

Oh, you're welcome.

You know, I've said before,

I think you could always do Fast Fact 3 if you wanna.

Okay.

Happy to give it away.

Happy to give away something you created for yourself.

Something I didn't think about on episode one

was that there would be, let's see,

600 fast facts that I'd have to come up with.

But by episode 115.

Not as easy as it used to be.

I am here for you anytime you need a fast fact assist.

Thank you, lady.

You're welcome.

Let's take a break,

and then we'll be back to Breakdown Sabre.

Let's see how Michael opens a box, you guys.

All right, this episode starts with Michael,

who is so excited because they have received

a huge large box from Sabre.

Their new owners.

Uh-huh, and he asked Erin to scissor him.

Right, which means to, I guess,

toss him scissors from across the room.

Throw him scissors.

Throw scissors at him.

Pam is the only one that clocks this as disturbing.

Yes.

We had two fan questions that I loved.

The first is from Cessia Zee in London, Ontario, Canada,

who said,

when Michael says that the box is from Sabre to Sabre us,

Michael says the us

as if he's referring to everyone in the office.

But in reality, the us probably means United States.

I think that's the funniest thing ever.

I loved that.

It didn't occur to me until I read this letter

that that's what he was doing.