Suit Warehouse
2024-04-17 01:20:35
The Office co-stars and best friends, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, are doing the ultimate The Office re-watch podcast for you. Each week Jenna and Angela will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind the scene stories that only two people who were there, can tell you.
I'm Jenna Fischer.
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, hey good morning. Did this episode make you want to buy a new suit?
No, it did not.
Did it make you want to throw a basketball into a fish tank and electrocute a bunch of fish?
No.
Of course not.
Did it make you want a lot of coffee?
It did not.
I did laugh at this episode.
I laughed a whole bunch.
Yeah, it is. Suit Warehouse season 9, episode 11, written by Dan Graney and directed by Matt Sohn, here's your summary. With Jim working out of town, Dwight enlists Clark's help to help play a father and son. In order to land a new client, Daryl heads to Philly to interview with Jim's new company, and Pam tags along.
And finally, the arrival of a new Nespresso machine throws the entire office into a caffeinated state of chaos.
I mean, it was mayhem, they started taking the place apart, literally.
Mm-hmm, all right, fast. Fact number one Like I said, this episode was directed by our very own Matt Sohn.
Yes, you guys have heard us talk about Matt Sohn for years on the show.
Oh yeah, he's been with us since the beginning.
Matt was also the one that knew you were pregnant when you thought you were fooling everyone.
Yeah, he said, Jenna, I look at you through a camera all day long. I could see all of it happening.
Yes, and he's also a father of two. Yes, so he knew, he knew the signs. So I actually reconnected with Matt recently and he, you know, Jenna, he hikes.
He goes on all these hikes.
I know he recently went on a hike with Chris Haston, who is Kate Flannery's longtime boyfriend, and our NBC photographer. And David Denman. The three of them went on a big old hike recently.
Oh, yeah. So he said to me, Ann, I should want to go for a hike, and I was like, Yes, no, but-.
You don't want that.
He goes so fast, he's like, sporty. And as it came time for the hike, I really lucked out because we got all that rain. Remember, L.A. just got like a downpour of rain, yeah, and so I was like, how are those hiking trails looking?
With my fingers crossed, he goes pretty muddy and he said, Want to do a neighborhood walk?
I said, Yes.
Yes.
Oh, you lucked out.
I lucked out and you know, we're neighbors, so we live in the same neighborhood. Yeah, so we just went on this wonderful walk. And he let me point out flowers and different like awnings I liked.
He didn't go too fast.
He didn't go too fast, it was a stroll.
Nice.
Anyway, Matt is wonderful and on this walk, we were talking about the podcast and he was saying how much he's enjoying it, he said. You know, when you get to Suit Warehouse, I would love to share with you some behind the scenes details. And I said, Matt, we will 100 hit you up for that, and he was so gracious, he said. To send a ton of audio clips for this episode.
He did, and they're great, he has some good details, so buckle in for that, all right, fast fact number two building athlete.
Yes.
This was a big episode in so many ways, but one of the biggest things in this episode is that we revealed Jim's new business for the first time.
His swanky new office.
I know, and it's really impressive, Steve Burgess said. We spent a very long time designing it and it was expensive, he said, But we were able to spread the cost over a bunch of different episodes.
Some sneaky budgeting, I guess.
We also asked Matt Sohn about being an athlete for the first time and having to direct this new space, and here's what he had to say.
This episode established the athlete offices. They were built on our lot in our warehouse set. I believe Matt Flynn was the production designer at this time. He had taken over for Michael Gallenberg. Athlete was built to look just the opposite of the Dunder Mifflin set.
It had high ceilings, lots of windows and nice views, it had exposed brick, and the set design was also much hipper. There were cool desks, chairs and artwork. It was an alluring place for both Jim and Daryl. I feel like the crew only had a few weeks to build this set. And I think they were a little bit behind. Because we ended up having to shoot the scenes there at the end of our episode, you know, to make it fit within our schedule.
You know, it didn't really occur to me how kind of not great the Dunder Mifflin office space is, until Matt started describing the athlete of high ceilings, lots of windows.
I was like, Oh yeah, well, Jenna. Matt Sohn mentioned Matt Flynn, and, you know, I had reached out to Matt Flynn when we broke down. Pool Party to get all the details about Robert, California's swanky pool house.
Yes.
And that's two swankies, Dr. Thibodeau. I've already said swanky twice, but anyway, so Matt Flynn told me, when you get to the fancy athlete offices, I want to share about it. And so here's what he had to say about building that set.
Oh, I'm very excited, I'm leaning in.
All right, I quote. This story arc gave the art department a great opportunity to show how many changes had occurred in the workplace since the office first aired. Slick and with much less clutter, textured with a completely different color palette, no stacks of file boxes in the corners, a reliance of laptops rather than clunky old equipment like fax machines, for example. And we were able to show the athlete office space in a couple of episodes, where it was being converted. From a raw, unfinished, and maybe even a little spooky environment. Allowing us to get a grip on Jim's anxiety about making such a big career change, wow.
I know I love all this detail. Oh, there's more. Matt Flynn goes on to say A couple of things stand out as this set came together. Early discussions had found the need for a separate conference room unnecessary, keeping the space more open and less cubicle-like. Another contrast from Dunder Mifflin.
Then there were changes in the script that did indeed require for a separate space for meetings and more private encounters. Well, there was no such space in this now almost finished and decorated space. Wow, they built the whole thing without a conference room.
So all these scenes that happened with Daryl at the interview were kind of like a late-breaking idea.
That's right, Matt goes on to say. Our wonderful art director, Yvonne, knew every square inch of Stage two, having drafted and laid out numerous configurations of scenery over several seasons. And she realized that behind one wall of the newly built athlete office was 12 feet of unused space.
Wow.
So if we pushed that wall back and added some sliding glass doors, we could maybe now accommodate a conference room. And with the great construction crew and scenic artists we relied on, it could be camera-ready in under 48 hours.
You know, what blows my mind is that most of the scenes at Athlete end up taking place in this little room. That they added in 48 hours.
Yeah.
This extra little 12 feet of space.
Thanks to Yvonne for knowing every square inch of that space.
Yeah.
Matt goes on to say. Another addition to the set, which we were mindful of keeping on budget, was a steel stairway leading to an unseen upper floor of athlete office space. Late in the process, my construction coordinator, Tim James, crunched the numbers. And yes, we could afford to add that element in the background, significantly, helping increase the sense of scale to the space. And we added some animation as employees were able to come down the stairs. It might seem an insignificant element, but we took great pleasure when it was installed again in about less than 48 hours.
Okay, I completely noticed that staircase.
Same.
I loved it and it did feel like I don't know everything. It felt bigger, it felt more important, it felt more energized.
Yeah.
Wow.
Thank you, Matt Flynn. We love those behind the scenes details.
I loved them. Thank you Matt and Matt.
Thank you Matt and Matt.
All right, moving on to fast fact number three. I want to give a big shout out to Ed Lauter, who played Mr. Stone of Stone and Son Suit Warehouse.
He was fantastic.
He is a film and television legend, he is a prolific character actor. We were so lucky to have him on our show. He passed away in 2013, and the office was one of the last things he worked on. He was also a recurring character on Shameless at the time, and he had filmed a couple of movies that came out after he had passed away.
He worked as a standup comedian before getting into film. He appeared in more than 200 film and television episodes over his 40-year career. He was in four films with Charles Bronson, he was in Death Wish 3, Death Hunt, The White Buffalo and Breakheart Pass.
He was also in an Alfred Hitchcock film called Family Plot, and he appeared in three films that were nominated for best picture. He was in Born on the Fourth of July, Seabiscuit and the artist. And I found this interview that he did in 2003, and it had a quote that I was completely charmed by, he said. Quote Someone said to me, Eddie, you're a turn actor.
That's when a story is going along and your character shows up and the story suddenly takes a major turn. I love that, I love that term turn actor.
I've never heard that before. And you know, exactly that moment when you watch a movie, when everything shifts. Like someone comes to town and there's information dropped and you're like, uh-oh, that's a great term.
I love it. Well, I just wanted to honor him, his body of work and he was great on our episode.
Yeah, all right.
Well, that's all I've got for Fast facts.
Well, why don't we take a break, because when we get back, Dwight is going to get a new instant message, old tech alert.
It is the oldest instant message I've ever seen, I know.
We are back and like you said, this episode is going to start with some old tech.
Dwight is at his computer and a bright red message box pops up in the lower right-hand corner. It says New instant message. It's from David Wallace and that Stone Son suit warehouse contract with their paper supplier expired. David Wallace is like, Go get it.
Dwight has a talking head, where he explains that he and Jim had a tradition whenever they were pitching to family-owned businesses. They would pretend to be brothers. And they did this for a law firm, they did it for a construction company, for a motorcycle store. I have a costume breakdown. Oh yes, because they would dress the part.
They sure did for their family-owned law firm. They both wore very nice suits, much nicer than they normally wear, and they slicked back their hair.
Yeah.
A little bit of a Gordon Gekko Wall Street moment happening then. When they were a family construction company, they wore flannel t-shirts, they wore flannel button-downs. Dwight wore a hard hat, Jim carried his hard hat, but then had like a messy hair look.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because when you're a paper salesman selling to a construction company, it makes sense that you bring a hard hat.
None of it makes sense, none of it makes sense, then, for a family-owned motorcycle store, and this is the most elaborate costume. They wore black leather pants, black jackets, boots and helmets, and they had a motorcycle. Dwight also goes on to say that their names were Jim and Dwight Shrewpert. Mm-hmm.
And Dwight says I was the dynamic, likable winner that was doted on by Mom and Jim was the closeted foot fetish pretending to belong. Of course, the client never knew any of that, but I knew it. And lady.
What?
Oh my God, is Dwight doing that actory thing where he gives himself a backstory to motivate his sales character?
Sounds like it.
Sounds like he did a little Jenna acting journal.
He did sounds like he had a little document for himself.
That cracked me up.
I love how the backstory of their brotherhood can travel from scenario to scenario.
Oh yeah, the shrewperts.
Mm-hmm.
Well, Dwight is giddy, he calls Jim, and I loved this whole exchange.
It was great.
He says I hope you've been paying your wig storage bills. Jimbo, How many wigs? How many costumes do they have?
Well, we know Dwight has a lot because he pretended to be people in the office.
That's true, that's true.
Well, Jim reminds him, I am not there, I'm in. Philly, I'm not going to drive to you and go on the sales call, get someone else. Maybe Phyllis can pretend to be your sister.
And Dwight says, Phyllis, my sister, more like my dead great-great-grandmother who died of stupidity. And Phyllis goes, I have ears, Dwight. And then Dwight's response to me is like an 11-year-old boy on the playground, he goes, Oh, really, Phyllis.
You have ears like all human beings.
Well, we asked Matt Sohn about this cold open, and here is what he had to say.
I have a handful of funny memories from the episode. The run at the beginning of the show that has Jim and Dwight in the different outfits. Playing Brothers was great when they're walking out of the front of Dunder Mifflin. But the one that had us laughing the most was when Rain and John are both in full leather apparel and on the back of the motorcycle.
Something I noted from that moment was that they never take off.
Oh yeah.
They just rev it, he's just revving it, you never see that motorcycle move.
I'm sure Steve Burgess was like, we're not paying insurance for these guys to be on a motorcycle together.
ANGELA We got a very interesting fan question from this cold open from Sean K. in Lisbon, Wisconsin, Sean says. At 1 minute 23 seconds. When Dwight is mocking Phyllis, you can clearly see Angela yawning a huge yawn long day, sitting at the desk in the background. Or just life? I saw it.
Sean, did you see it?
Yes, I saw it. I was so embarrassed. I was so embarrassed. I clearly was just really tired. Because it's a really big yawn.
Yeah, 1 minute, 23 seconds, everyone.
It was an early morning.
I missed it the first time, all right. So now this episode is going to begin. And Daryl enters the bullpen. He's dressed up real spiffy, and we find out he is heading to Philly for his interview with Athlead.
Pam wishes him good luck. And then Daryl says, Why don't you just come with me?
And she realizes that their office has no manager and there are absolutely no consequences to her leaving for the entire day.
Yeah, I thought about this too. Because I don't think normally, when you're at a job that you would announce to everyone that you're going to look for another job.
I know.
Like, could you imagine, like, coming in in like a suit and whatever in here and being like, guys, I'm looking for another podcast bye or something?
Yeah, exactly on that note, Angela. In the next scene, a taxi is going to pull into the parking lot and Clark gets out. He's carrying a duffel bag, he's arriving back to work after being away with Jan.
Yeah, so I have two questions for you. Okay, number one, why did Daryl even come into the office today? Why did he stop by just to leave?
And second, why does everybody come to the office after returning for a trip?
From a huge trip with their luggage.
With their luggage, he didn't want to stop at home.
Yeah, I know.
And also, like, Daryl didn't want to just leave from home.
Daryl is the only one I can wrap my brain around. Because what if he was like, Okay, I've got to do a few last minute things in the office, then I'm hitting the road.
Sure, okay.
But coming back from the plane straight to Dundermifflin in the morning, yeah.
What was this flight?
I don't know.
A red eye?
Yes, it was a red eye.
But yes, Angela, you're right. Maybe Daryl stopped in. He did like an hour of emails, yes, and then he took off.
Then he left, but anyway, Pam is going to go with him, yeah.
This is going to be fun.
Speaking of Clark, everyone is really happy to see him back.
Yeah.
Dwight says, Oh, Dwight Jr.
's back and Kevin wants to know how it went down with Jan.
This talking head is so funny to me.
It's so brilliant, I had to put in all caps. Oh my gosh, Clark Duke crushes this talking head. I went to the candy bag Alts, there were none.
This was it. Don't need them.
Don't need them.
It's perfect.
This is what he says A gentleman doesn't discuss such matters, especially when the feelings of a lady are involved. Women reached their sexual peak at whatever age. Jan was last week.
It's such a funny line, I know that is such a funny line.
I mean, it was like making love with a wild animal, but not like a cougar like you might think. It was like a swarm of bees, and then this line got me bees. That just find something wrong with every hotel room.
That is such good writing.
That is such good writing.
Oh my gosh.
Like, as an actor, when you get handed that piece of writing, you are giddy. Yeah, you cannot wait to do that. Talking head, yeah.
And Clark does such a great job. Meredith is going to chime in and say, talk classy, act nasty.
That's what her mom used to say, that's right.
Motherly advice. And this is when Clark clocks that her hair is totally different and asks her if she has a wig on. And Meredith is like, Oh, is it on backwards?
And then she lifts it up and adjusts it. You can see the bald cap underneath for that three-second joke. Maybe it's two seconds. Kate had to come in at 330 in the morning and get that bald cap put on.
Three hours to get that on.
Yep.
And yes, Meredith is a brunette this week.
Guess what, Clark has a gift for the office. It's from Jan.
Yeah, apparently. On the Amalfi coast, Jan and Clark drank a lot of espresso. They became fond of it.
So Jan has sent Clark back to the office with a new Nespresso machine as a gift.
Oscar is so delighted, mm-hmm.
We got a fan question from Maddie R in Dallas, Texas, who said. The way Phyllis and Oscar talk about the Nespresso machine and the way the box is perfectly facing the camera makes me think that this was a paid product placement, was it?
And, if so, how did this come about? Well, we asked Matt Sohn about this, and here's what he had to say.
On a fun side note, Phil Shea, our prop master, again scored for us. He was able to get Nespresso to sign off and let us use one of their actual machines and their name, which is surprisingly more rare than not. Usually, you have to make up a name for a product. But they were excited about the script and they loved the episode.
Yes, Angela. Steve Burgess said that once Phil got permission from Nespresso, they still had to get NBC sales to sign off on it, because we were basically giving Nespresso a free commercial. This was not paid product placement, this was us writing an episode and just asking permission to use their machine.
And Steve Burgess said they were a little reluctant because, you know, it was just like free advertising, but they did say okay.
Oh yeah, NBC, I'm sure, was like, show me the money, because it is. It's like an amazing ad forever, I know.
It's true.
And Maddie is right. That box is placed perfectly on reception and we see this machine throughout the whole episode.
Well, it sounds like they were office fans, and I just think it's great. I'm glad that they said yes.
Well, we got more fan mail about Nespresso from Carrie L. in Stillwater, New Jersey, who said, I don't have the full breakdown of Nespresso. But I do want to tell you that they are big on recycling, and when you're done with your coffee capsules, they come to me. I work at a food waste management warehouse in New Jersey, named AG Choice. Not only that, but my specific job is the manager of our program, Capsule Connections. I work with local high school students with disabilities on gaining job skills.
We have 12 schools and close to 70 students in a work-based learning program who help us recycle these each day, and the coffee then goes to our local compost site to turn into topsoil. It's an amazing job, with some great, hardworking students, plus the perks of coffee, Carrie says. Be sure to use the free recycling bags from Nespresso and it will get shipped to us and be recycled properly and stay out of a landfill. Thank you, Carrie.
Yeah, I love that.
I did a little mini deep dive on this and I watched a bunch of videos. And I was seeing this recycling program and this real attempt to be more environmentally conscious. It was really cool.
So when you get Nespresso, because I don't have one, it comes with the little recycle bag.
Yeah, I guess so. And you send that back, yeah. And so you save your pods and you don't have to clean them out. You don't have to separate them, you don't have to do anything.
You just put them in the bag, I guess, I mean, according to these videos, and then you send it and then it all gets taken care of. They separate it.
Recycle it.
Do all of it.
That's great, I know.
Yeah, I just really liked Carrie's letter because I loved how much she loved her job. I always love when people love their job.
I also love to learn about new jobs. Now that Clark is back, Dwight's wheels are turning, he sees a new opportunity here for a sales team. And he goes back to the annex. And he says, You know what, Clark, you did a great job in helping us land those white pages. How would you like to be Dwight Jr?
And pretend to be my son to help me land a sale.
Clark says If it helps me break into sales, I'll do it.
Yeah, Clark is wanting to climb the old corporate ladder, get out of the annex.
Yeah, meanwhile, in the kitchen, everyone's enjoying the new Nespresso machine, but we have a little awkwardness in the kitchen. Erin and Pete enter, and I think Erin is still kind of reeling from the whole lice thing, from the whole head massaging and all of that.
Well, I think so.
She's very self-conscious.
She's very self-conscious. Also, though, we missed one thing we should bring up, which is, oh, yes. Before Pam left, she said Erin, Just so, you know, we're going to get a shipment of pins today. Erin's like, What do you mean?
Shipment of pins. I haven't been trained for this. She starts to spiral and Pam's like, Ha, okay.
I can't believe we didn't mention it because it's one of my all-time favorite scenes. It's so funny to me.
Yeah, but this detail has completely overwhelmed Erin, the character. Ellie does such a great job with it. Erin's going to have a talking head where she says, You know what? I have a lot going on right now with the PIN shipment and I don't have time to think about Pete. I have a lot of people counting on me and I don't want to break anyone's trust about.
The pins, yeah.
There would have been a Pete talking head that would have come right after Erin's Oh, it's. In the deleted scenes, Pete is basically saying. I thought things were going well, but I don't know, maybe something happened.
Maybe I said something that offended her, but I couldn't have said anything more offensive than anything anyone else says here in the office. And he says he's been playing over the conversations in his head to try to figure it out, I know.
Sweet Pete, Sweet Pete, we love him. Mm-hmm. Well. In the next scene, Daryl and Pam are driving to Philly together and Daryl's nervous.
Yeah, and Pam is going to try to comfort him. She's like, Listen, this is a tiny startup with a bunch of dorky guys like Jim. He can't be scared in a room full of Jims. She's like, I love him, but he's basically gumby with hair and they kind of have a laugh.
And once again, it's clear to me that Pam doesn't know anything about Jim's life in Philadelphia. Wouldn't he have shared with her about the office, photos, anything, how it's coming along?
I mean, you know, I know I joked in the Lice episode that I kind of fall apart if Lee goes out of town. And maybe I don't share completely with him all of my stress of him being gone because I don't want to burden him with that, I don't want him to feel guilty or whatever. But at the same time, I do know what's going on with him, and he knows what's going on with me, He knows I don't do well when he's gone. This is not a secret in our marriage.
And similarly, I can hold that he's off doing an exciting thing while I'm dumping trash on the street. And so it's hard for me to relate to this idea. That Jim hasn't, I don't know, shared photos of the office in an excited way. That he's not sharing his excitement over this opportunity with her.
Yes, and it's been weeks, so I just think about the little home remodel that we did and how. When I had to go out of town, the week that the floors went in, Josh sent me pictures. Floors are going in, it's exciting. Oh my gosh, we got faucets today.
You know what I mean?
And I feel like.
But also, he probably shared the frustrating parts with you, too. Floors went in today, they showed up three hours late and didn't have all the materials. I'm making that up, but I'm saying, sure, the whole process gets shared.
That's what I'm saying, that's what I have a hard time with. They invested $10,000 of their savings. That along the way, over these weeks where construction was happening, that there wasn't like a photo of. Like, hey, look, we now have a logo on the conference room door, we're official.
Are we weird? I mean, that's what we would do. No, I don't think we're weird. I don't know.
Sorry to go off on that, but I just couldn't believe that Pam had no idea what this office looked like.
Well, she's about to walk in and find out, and she is surprised. Should we jump to that? Pam and Daryl arrive? and she is clearly surprised.
I want to read you how the scene was described in the shooting draft. Lady, what? I have the same thing.
You did, yes, because there is a big moment that got cut out of Pam and Daryl's arrival, and I remember having to shoot the whole thing. Go ahead, read the description.
Okay, Pam and Daryl step out of the elevator and into Aflead. The place is bustling. As they make their way up to the receptionist, who is on the phone, the receptionist smiles and holds up a finger to say, One minute, please.
There are two big leather armchairs and a coat rack. Pam and Daryl look around at the energetic, fashionably hip employees, Pam's old, puffy parka. And then, in parentheses, it says From taking Out the trash episode is super dorky in comparison to their sleek looks. She takes it off and hangs it on the coat rack, where it covers the leather jackets that were already hanging on it. Daryl, making light of the fancy armchairs, bows formally to Pam and gestures for her to have a seat.
They both sit and watch the energy. Pam looks for Jim. ready for this? Jim enters from the back hall with a client. They walk towards reception.
The client is tough and Jim's all business. They approach Daryl and Pam. Pam starts to smile and give a wave, then thinks better of it. Jim winks at her.
Mm-hmm, yeah, so most of all of that got cut, but we got a fan question from Luke M in England, who said at the eight-minute mark. Jim greets Daryl and Pam at Aflead, and he says goodbye to Dennis, who then awkwardly searches for a coat behind Pam and then just disappears. What was that? Well, that was. If you look close, Pam's giant puffer coat is covering all the other coats on the coat rack. Because of this long entrance, that ended up getting cut.
Yes, the script went on to describe that moment, saying that this awkwardness of Pam's coat, covering the sleek coat was all part of making Pam feel like she was out of place.
And I don't know if you noticed my wardrobe in this episode, but it was very intentional that I'm wearing kind of one of my older sweater-shirt combos. One. We said Pam didn't know she was going to take off from work and go visit Jim and two. We really wanted to try to contrast her with the way the people at Aflead were dressed.
That's right.
Well, we should probably go back because Dwight and Clark are over at Stone Son. But before we do, I just want to give a shout-out to guest star Ross McKenzie, who played Dennis. The man looking for his coat. Oh my gosh, what has Ross not been in? He has been in scrubs? Er, new girl Grey's anatomy veep modern family, Mad men arrested development.
And Monk hey monk crossover.
At Stone Son, the owner is delighted to be meeting a father-and-son paper company. Dwight and Clarkie are really trying to bond with Mr. Stone. They're talking about hunting. I want to give a shout-out to Set design because Mr.
Stone's office is perfect.
And so specific.
So specific.
I became obsessed with it.
So many details.
Well, there's one detail that we got a piece of fan mail about. This is from Angela C. in Grove City, Ohio. Angela asked, Is the Mallard on Mr. Stone's desk the same one?
Dwight used to bug Jim's office. Well, Angela, I looked it up, I did a side-by-side.
So did I.
It's not the same.
It's not the same. We'll put it in stories.
But Angela C went on to say I wish I knew someone with a podcast who would want to do a deep dive on Mallard Ducks. I did not do this.
I did this, I did this. ANGELa C. First of all, I just want you guys to know there is a fantastic website called AllaboutBirds..org. I highly recommend it.
Okay.
And they give a great Mallard overview.
So when I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, my parents had, and still have, a cabin at Lake of the Ozarks, tons of Mallard ducks. I know a few things.
Well, last year I had a Mallard that came and stayed with us for about two weeks in our swimming pool.
Did you have a pair or a single?
I had a single, then a lady joined.
Well, you know, here's the thing I know about them. They mate for life.
Well, I have some things that are going to rock you to your core.
Oh my gosh, go ahead.
Okay.
According to AllaboutBirds.
Org mallards are perhaps one of the most familiar of all the ducks in North America and Eurasia.
Their long flanks and black tail make it very distinguishable. And chances are, if you have a pond or marshy area on your property, mallards might be attracted to your backyard. Occasionally, mallards have been known to show up in people's swimming pools. Yes, that is true. Here are some stats for you, though.
Are you ready? Okay? Mallard stats Mallard pairs are generally monogamous, but paired males pursue females other than their mates.
Wait a second.
I will continue. So-called quote extra pair copulations are common among birds and, in many species, are consensual, but male mallards often force these copulations, with several males chasing a single female and then mating with her. Oh my God.
They have their main lady, but then they have this side going down. Oh my gosh.
You're really bumming me out, I know, okay, what else do you have?
Mallard ducks are strong flyers. Migrating flocks of mallards have been estimated traveling at 55 miles per hour.
Wow.
The standard duck's quack is the sound of a female mallard. males don't quack, they make a quieter, raspy sound.
Interesting.
This I know from my two weeks with my mallards.
Is that they make a quieter sound? And then the lady showed up and it was like, quack, quack, quack, she was so loud and super chatty.
She's probably yelling at him about all the side stuff he's up to when he goes out. Yeah, the oldest known Mallard.
Was a male and at least 27 years and seven months old when he was shot in Arkansas in 2008.
Are you ready for this? what?
He was banned as a mallard from the whole entire state. What did they do?
Did they move him? I don't know.
From Louisiana to Arkansas, there was no more information.
How did they check this?
I don't know, I'm sure he was tagged. I was tired, I really wanted to get into the banned Louisiana Mallard.
Lady, you're not leaving that there and moving on.
Yes, you will.
Okay, there will be a part two. Meanwhile, there is a Duck and Waterfowl ID course online. You can get training in identifying waterfowl from all angles and take your bird skills to the next level with Bird Academy.
I don't care at all about Bird Academy, I just want to know.
Why this Mallard was banned?
And then he was shot by a hunter.
He was shot in Arkansas in 2008.
And clearly, I have some more deep diving to do. But Angela C. There you go. Allaboutbirds.org is a site for you to check out.
My childhood Lake of the Ozarks self is devastated.
I'm sorry.
By this new information about the male Mallard duck.
Sorry.
I now see them totally differently.
They're romantic like they mate for life. look at this loving couple like they're going to grow old together. Little duckies. I had no idea.
Yeah, I'm sorry. Even when you and I were trading messages, you were like, Oh, mallards, mate, for life I have stories. I was like, Oh, this isn't going to go over well for her.
Well, there you go, everybody.
All right, mom detectives.
The Louisiana band Mallard.
What have I got? I can give you a little bit about this location of Stone and Son, Yeah, Matt Stone sent in an audio clip, and this was a very unique location. I'll let him tell you why.
To my knowledge, this was the only episode in the entire nine seasons of the show that we shot in Hollywood. The suit warehouse store that we used was a shop on Hollywood Boulevard. We only had one exterior shot. I think that's just Dwight and Clark walking out and down the street. The rest of the shoot was done in the interior of that location.
This story was fun because it gave Clark Duke a meaty story to dig into, and he really had fun with the episode.
Well, I followed up with Matt because I was shocked that Hollywood Boulevard in season nine. They just sent Dwight Schrute walking down the street. I said, What happened? Did this cause a stir?
You guys, Hollywood Boulevard is so congested, there's so many tourists, it's that Walk of fame, the stars, it's so full of people.
Yes, Matt said. They didn't have a problem, they shot that exterior shot in a window.
I had no idea that the office was shooting right there as they were walking by looking at the stars on the street.
Crazy, crazy.
Well, lady, I think we should take a break when we come back. Everyone is trying the nespresso and they are going to make a pact.
Yeah, because you know what, what, Yolo?
We are back and pretty much everybody who is still at Dunder Mifflin is in the kitchen and they are buzzed on this coffee.
Yeah.
Oscar suggests that they try every flavor, because how else are they going to know which one is their favorite?
Everyone's super receptive to this idea.
Everyone is going to agree. They're going to put their hands in the middle and they're going to do that thing where they're like, we agree, we make a pact. Yes, Angela doesn't want to put her hand in the middle.
She's like, Can't I just agree without putting my hand in the middle?
Yeah, she grabs a napkin, she puts the napkin on the pile of hands, and she puts her hand on top. They all say, we all drink them all, we all drink them all.
At the end, Phyllis Ring is missing. Creed has clearly taken it.
He's like, I'm sure it'll turn up.
We got a fan question.
About Angela licking her fingers before grabbing the napkin, scripted or something you came up with, Angela, I thought it was a very Angela thing to do.
I did that. That was not scripted. The only thing in the script was that Angela places a napkin on top of everyone's hands and puts her hand on top of it. That's all that was in the script when we were filming. I had to quickly grab the napkin and walk over, and they were sticking together.
I'd grab one and there'd be a few. I didn't even know that I had done it. I licked my fingers to separate the napkin, that was me.
There's a lot of behavior from Angela around germs that, as we watch it post-pandemic, doesn't seem as odd.
I am very aware of shaking hands now, or putting my hands in a pile.
I think we all are. I have hand sanitizer everywhere, if I go to the grocery store, I get in the car, I spray my little hand sanitizer.
Were you always like that?
No, right.
Angela Martin was ahead of the curve. Back at Suit Warehouse, Dwight sends Clark to go get a brochure from the car. That's when Mr. Stone reveals that he doesn't have such a great relationship with his own son. Yeah.
Dwight's like, Oh no, we've got to change gears here. So when Clark comes back in, he's like, What were you out there smoking pot, you idiot? yeah?
Clark's like.
What is happening? And he kind of whispers. We don't have a good relationship, so they have to pivot.
Yeah, Clark catches on, so now Clark starts giving it back.
Yeah.
This takes a real turn.
It really does, I have to say, in this scene, which was very funny, I couldn't help but notice a detail on Mr. Stone's desk. It was very distracting to me, I think, maybe for personal reasons. Did you see the number of fresh, brand-new pencils with full erasers that were in Mr.
Stone's Pencil Cup.
Yes, I did.
Is that because we have kids who are always doing their homework, looking for pencils with full erasers that are like new pencils? That's my life.
Yeah, I mean, in my house, everyone's searching for that one pencil that still has an eraser.
You know, my mom gave my daughter this gift, it was part of like a Valentine's Day thing. My mom sends little boxes of presents and treats for the kids on the holidays, and she sent one for Valentine's Day this year. And it was a pencil that never needs to be sharpened, it's like an always-ready pencil. I don't know where she got it.
I've never heard of this.
I know my mom goes to like craft fairs and art fairs, and she finds these treasures and it's been wonderful. But what I need now is also a pencil with an eraser that never disappears or pops off or can be chewed off.
Right?
So we've solved the one problem, but now I'm looking for that other thing. So I was really drooling over this. Just cup of.
Beautiful pencils with erasers.
Great pencils. I guess, you know my life now, but I believe there's someone out there listening who can relate deeply.
Yeah, I can relate.
I'm right here, okay?
You're looking at her?
Yeah, back at Athlead, you know, Daryl is really impressed by the offices. And Pam says, Yeah, Jim, you kind of undersold. This, made it sound dinky.
Yeah, Jim says, Hey, listen, it's only a startup. I haven't even gotten a paycheck yet. I mean, these things go down all the time, and that's when Daryl says, Well, I'd like to go down on with it. We got a fan catch from Janelle W.
In Northampton, Pennsylvania. WHO said The look between Pam and Jim seems to imply that Jenna and John are breaking. Was this a scripted line, or did Craig actually have a blooper that made it into the final cut? Janelle This was scripted.
Yep.
Craig just delivered it so well.
So well, back at Dunder Mifflin, Erin now has a big box of pins on her desk. She did it, yeah, the delivery went amazing.
She's not going to unpack them then, or should she unpack them? She's not sure if she should be a busybody or a lazybones.
Her brain is ping-ponging with this question. Also, she's never had espresso before, so she's really amped up.
Well, and fan catch from Maura L in Long Island, New York, who said, I've been waiting the whole podcast to make this catch. Erin says she's never had an espresso before, but Michael makes her an espresso in Cafe Disco.
Great catch, Maura. Mm-hmm. Well, you know. There was more to this pin delivery moment, there was a whole scene where the pins are delivered by a delivery guy named Mike. It's really funny and you can tell how caffeinated Erin is.
Let's hear it.
Hello, I'm here to is this pens? is this the delivery of pens? I don't know.
I don't open the boxes.
Oh my gosh, it is the pens, it's the pens, Mike. Is it? It's the pens, Mike?
We did it. Oh my gosh, wait.
I don't have any cash, how do I? what do I? ...?
It's okay, it's all paid for you, mother lifesaver.
Get your sweet ass out of here before I do something crazy bye.
She says, You mother.
Lifesaver, Oh my gosh.
This is crazy. She did it, she accepted a delivery of a box.
There's a perfect storm happening for Erin, which is this delivery plus caffeine, yeah, and it's just going to keep getting ratcheted up.
I have to ask you a question, Angela, if you were you, not if you were Erin, but if you were you, would you put the pens away or just accept the delivery? Would you be a busybody or a lazybones?
I'd be a busybody. I'd put them away. And then maybe you would come back and be like, That's not where I intended them. And I would be like, Oh well, that's where the other ones were. Hmm, I guess I'd have Sass, too.
You'd be a sassy busybody.
Uh-huh.
I would be a lazybones.
Lazybones just accept the delivery.
That's what I was asked to do, that's what I'm going to do, and it's not because I don't like to go above and beyond. But I assume other people might have their system, and so I'm not going to get in the way of your system.
I hear all of that, I just feel like pens, like. I imagine she has seen PAM restock the supply shelf.
It's you, though.
Oh right, sorry, it's me, it's not Erin. Okay, I would probably be a busybody.
Hmm, uh-huh.
What are you out there? Are you a busybody or a lazybones?
I once had a coworker who called me Angela. Two cents.
Why is that?
I had to put my two cents in everywhere.
How'd that go? You just had a sidebar comment.
I guess I had an opinion about how things were done.
That doesn't even seem like you.
Well, sit next to me in a cubicle all day.
And then you're going to be Angela. Two cents.
And then I turn into Angela. Two cents, hmm, uh-huh.
This might be an interesting flavor to your mom detective's character. Oh yeah, if I'm dropping everything and you're Angela, two cents, Yeah, I'm liking this.
It's growing well. Listen, in the kitchen, the taste test is continuing and energy is very high. This scene is going to end with Kevin lifting you, Angela.
Yeah, like, I'm a barbell.
That was scripted, right?
Yes.
That he's lifting you up.
Mm-hmm, it is. It was hilarious because I had to really make myself rigid, you know, like how you make your arm stiff at your side, sure.
So that he could do that many repetitions.
Oh, uh-huh.
You know what I mean?
Were you jumping a little bit, were you helping him a little?
I was a little okay, can you tell?
No, but I know the tricks of the trade.
Yeah, well, because he had to do so many and so to set me down all the way and get all, so I would just kind of spring down.
When he.
Yeah.
I think it was a real workout for Brian.
Well, Angela, we got a fan question from Shaylee D. from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, about this scene, Shaylee wanted to know. Was everyone actually having shots of different types of espresso? what were you actually drinking?
SHAYLEE No, we were not actually drinking espresso because I think we'd all get sick if we had to drink it all day like that.
Thank goodness.
We were drinking water and if you got close to my cup, mine had iced tea in it.
Oh, could you kind of pick your beverage? yeah.
Or they would like color the water, mm-hmm, but it was mostly just water, we were all drinking water. I do remember having to pee.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, in this scene, Nellie says her favorite so far is Viennese amaretto, and her least favorite is Alpine Select. I looked these flavors up to see if they were real. Mm-hmm. I mean, it's hard to say because I noticed that they do change flavors over the years.
And this has been a long time ago, now it has.
I did find an Italia amaretti, so maybe that's the Viennese amaretto that she likes, and I also found an Alpine espresso martini flavor. Oh, I didn't stop there.
Okay.
I followed a link to Food Wine because they had a ranking of Nespresso pod capsules, and they said that the best overall original capsule is the Ristretto Italiano.
Why is that?
Well, here's a review. For a strong, bold shot of coffee that stands up to milk, the ristretto Italiano is your best bet. The roast works well as a latte, but is also delicious on its own. The roast is medium to dark, with an intensity rating of 10. I don't think I'd like it.
It sounds like it would get you going.
Yeah, I don't want an intensity rating of 10 on my coffee, it doesn't say 10 out of what, 10 out of 100, sure.
10 out of 10.
No, thank you.
That's my sidebar.
You don't even drink coffee.
I don't even drink coffee.
This is a big thumbs down for you.
Exactly, well, there were more moments of everyone being over-caffeinated, and apparently caffeine. Toby gets the courage to call the prison where he put a fella away. Yes, what, yes.
This is hilarious. I laughed so hard I read it in the shooting draft, I immediately went to deleted scenes to see if it was there it is.
You have to hear it.
Is this Waynesburg prison? Yes, I'm calling actually for George Howard Skeb, you may know him as the Scranton Strangler.
Well, just tell him it's someone who believes in second chances. Now, why would you forward a cryptic message like that?
It is Toby Flenderson, juror number eight.
And the guy who held out?
For as long as he could, and then gave to pressure and sent him away for the rest of his life.
Yeah, I can hold.
Yeah, I can hold, imagine you're the person.
On the other line, receiving that insane phone call.
I know, yeah, I can hold. Oh my gosh, that's not all over-caffeinated.
Creed and Meredith are going to start a dance team. You got to hear this. I just watched the show and I'm like, Yeah, I do think I could dance, you know what I mean? We should start a dance team.
Yes, are you a pop and locker or do you do floor work? Oh, I do floor work, all right.
I love it.
Are you a pop and locker?
Or do you do floor work? While all this is going on, Dwight and Clark are continuing to be, I guess, a bickering father and son, yeah.
Yeah, they're both trying to one-up each other on, like, who is the worst person in this duo? And then, out of nowhere, Dwight accuses Clark of eating quote treats from the litter box.
Yeah, it's a very long, very specific share, yeah, and it's right around this time that Mr. Stone's son enters.
Oh yeah.
And this is when we're going to find out that. It's Sam Jr, who Dwight has been insulting ever since he arrived, is the real head of the business that Father Stone has, I guess, maybe retired. He doesn't really work there, and Clark is going to be like, hi, and just starts talking business to the son. Luckily, well, I've got a guest star alert.
Mr. Stone's son was played by Will Greenberg. He is a very successful comedy actor and he can do impressions. Oh, yeah.
Yes, according to his IMDB bio, he can quote, recite Shakespeare as Matthew McConaughey and sell subway sandwiches as Denzel Washington.
That is so specific.
Yes, apparently. He did both of those things in an audition for Saturday Night Live, and his Saturday Night Live audition tape went viral at one point. You can find it on YouTube.
Okay.
I also looked at all of his, you know, filmography and I found a crossover connection. Will Greenberg has been on the Grinder That show with Rob Lowe that came out.
I thought you were saying he was on the webs.
What's it? it's an app.
Oh, on, Grindr.
On Grindr, it's not a website, it's an app, and it's a hookup app, but there's also a TV show.
There was a TV.
Jordan just laughed so hard I could hear her through the wall. What was it, Jordan, that tickled you? Was it Angela's description of the Grindr app? Yeah, it was the description of the hookup app.
They're both in there, laughing so hard at us.
I also thought it was a website, but it's not, it's an app like on your phone.
Definitely not a website.
Okay, okay.
But I thought it was, I thought it was for gay men, it is for...
Oh, okay, didn't we learn that on the podcast? We did, I see?
Someone explained it to us.
Because they shut down.
Oh, oh, the Olympics were happening and Grindr got fried. Whatever. What happens when an app gets overrun with requests, I don't know.
It shut down Grindr because there were so many people out and about, I guess, looking to meet someone.
I think it should be called Fried, I think that's perfect.
Anyway, I think that's when we learned about it a while back.
That does not ring a bell for me. Oh, I feel like we had....
I feel like that's when I heard about it.
A guest came on and told us about Grindr, I don't remember.
I can't remember anyway. Clearly, we didn't retain much of it.
Well, this is not that this is a TV show, okay, I just want to make it known. Will Greenberg was on a TV show called The Grindr.
Was it about?
That has literally nothing to do with hooking up.
Okay, there you go, okay.
It's just a comedy TV show. It was starring Rob Lowe.
Okay.
And it was starring Mary Elizabeth Ellis. It was so funny, I was obsessed with it. And I ran into the cast of The Grindr at some party where we would in our other life, when we used to go to things.
Yeah.
I ran into them and I kind of stalked them and I said, I want to be on your TV show and I came on strong, like, a little too strong you.
I did.
And then I had my manager follow up, and I eventually did get a role on the show. What?
How did I not know about this?
Oh, lady, and the thing was, was that my...?
You were on Grindr.
I was on The Grindr, the Grindr, and my role on the show was of this kind of like, intense stalker woman. Oh, which I think maybe was, because that's how I had....
Of how you approached them.
How I had come on so strong. But the crazy thing about me being on the Grindr was that. It starred Rob Lowe and it was my third project that I had done with Rob Lowe. I have this crazy connection to Rob Lowe. So the first movie I did in L..A. I had three lines in this movie, The movie was starring Rob Lowe.
I had no scenes with him. It was this indie film and I'd actually been cast in a reading of the movie that we did. For a bunch of investors, that's where you get interest. And I had the lead role opposite Rob Lowe in The Readings.
That's how I met him for the first time. But then when they got the money to do the movie, they recast me with a name actress. But they did give me three lines and I got my SAG card.
Okay.
Okay, I saw Rob Lowe on set, he was really nice, he said. I'm sorry you didn't get to be the lead of the movie, but I hope you do well in the business, okay?
So then cut to after we finished doing the office, I got cast in this TV show that shot in London.
Yes.
And Rob Lowe was one of the other leads of the TV show. We had no scenes together. Oh, didn't see him a single day on set.
Okay.
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