A Look Back on Business Ethics with Amy Ryan

Hello everybody, today we are rerunning the third episode in Season 5. Business Ethics. This is the episode where Michael and Holly have lunch at Cooper's Seafood.

Yes, and we went into our mailbag and found this fun catch from Seth H. and several others, Seth wrote in and said this, I have a continuity catch from this episode at Cooper's. Holly says she's from Des Moines, but when she and Michael get engaged in a later season, she needs to move. Quote home to Boulder, Colorado.

Well, you know, I love any chance to get out of the show. Bible.

I know you do.

So I checked it and it said Holly is quote originally from Des Moines. There is nothing about Colorado in the whole show. Bible for Holly, that's correct. However, the show Bible stops at the end of Season 5..

Really, mm-hmm.

And now this was the show Bible that they gave me in Season 9 when I became a producer, so they clearly would still reference it. But it had not been updated since the end of season 5. And I was wondering, could this be why there are so many continuity issues in later seasons?

Yeah, no one was updating the show. Bible not anymore.

Now I do want to say that where you are quote from, or what you consider your hometown can be two different places.

That's true.

For me, I was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, so I would probably say that I'm from St. Louis.

I get that.

I consider St. Louis my hometown, but it could still be accurate for me to say, Oh, I'm from Fort Wayne, Indiana, but my hometown was St. Louis. I don't know, so maybe. Holly was born in Des Moines, but she grew up in Boulder.

I get it when people ask me where you're from, I sometimes am perplexed because I'm like, Well. I was born in Lafayette, Louisiana, but then I lived 12 years from 2 to 14 in Jakarta, Indonesia. Then we moved to Texas, and my parents are from there, but then I moved to New York, then I moved to Los Angeles. I don't know.

Yeah, I mean, I've now lived in L.A. longer than I ever lived in St. Louis. So it's like, what is my hometown? is this my hometown now?

And then I still say, when I go to see my mom, I'm going home, right, right.

Yeah, all right.

Well before we get to our rerun of business ethics, a little office ladies update to say that we have been working on our upcoming episodes. We are super excited to announce that, in addition to continuing the rewatch, we also have an interview with Katherine Tate coming up.

It was so good, she was in studio with us and it is funny and she is delightful, and she had so many memories. We can't wait for you to hear it.

Oh, I loved her, all right.

Now, our rerun of business ethics, which includes an interview with another amazing woman, Amy Ryan, Enjoy.

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.

Hi everyone, hey guys.

What's up, Ange?

What's up with you and your cute pants?

Thank you for saying that. I noticed them right away. Here's the thing I hit a wall with sweatpants, what?

Like a jersey.

They're bamboo, okay, made by the same company that makes my sheets.

Listen, if I can have pants made by people that make bedding.

That's what I thought, it's like, I'm just wearing my bed around all day. I thought I'd hit the jackpot, okay, so after 409 days of this, I hit a wall and I was like, I need to wear pants.

I'm going to describe them to you, I'm going to take a picture. They kind of look like camouflage, but like very sassy, cargo kind of pants.

Yeah, that's what I was going for.

Sassy Cargo Yeah.

I love a sassy cargo, okay?

All right.

So here's the thing I think I'm so used to wearing sweatpants, I'm in the dressing room and I don't know which size of pants to buy.

Because you've been wearing the baggy breeches, that's right.

I went back and forth and back and forth, and I went with the bigger size. And now I've been wearing them for what, I don't know, an hour, uh-huh. Now they're all stretched out.

Oh, I see it.

You have long crotch gals, you know what we're talking about?

What do I do?

When the seam of your pants is halfway between your thigh and your knees, that's long crotch.

So what do I do? I've worn them, I can't take them back and get the smaller size. I think I could get someone to alter it in the back.

My mom could do that in two seconds, I know.

And the thing is is I just I'm trying to re-enter.

You're trying to re-enter the world, you know? I like the sassy cargo minus the long crotch. What are we doing today?

All right, let me tell you.

For those of you guys wanting to know what we're doing today, it is business ethics.

Season 5, Episode 3.

Oh yeah, mm-hmm.

It is written by Ryan Coe and directed by Jeffrey Blitz.

Love it.

Here is a summary. Jim reluctantly reveals him and Pam's engagement to the office. Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm, we'll discuss.

Following Ryan's recent actions, Corporate has required Holly to conduct a seminar on business ethics. Michael offers immunity to anyone willing to confess to dishonesty at work.

What are we like? An episode of Survivor?

I know you get immunity, everything you say.

And then we're going to light the torch for you.

Well, some things are revealed again. We will discuss, and it's going to cause a rift between Michael and Holly, Yeah. Meanwhile, Jim makes Dwight observe the company's time theft policy, and Meredith provides outback steakhouse takeout to the entire office.

I really would all right.

NEW WRITER Alert Oh, writer Ryan Coe has joined the staff for season five. Hello Ryan, welcome.

Oh, we knew lots of folks on Cougar Town.

We sure did busy Phillips.

Oh yeah.

He is also a writer and co-executive producer of The Simpsons. Welcome Ryan, Welcome Fast. Fact number two No Pam.

But there was Pam, there was you guys.

There was.

I filmed a bunch of scenes at art school and they all got cut out. I know I saw in the deleted scenes there's like, three, well, I'm going to talk about them, okay?

And also Jenna. There was an amazing Ryan Kevin Runner that got deleted for time and it's great and I'm going to bring that up.

You guys, we're bringing it all back today in business ethics. Fast fact number three Amy Ryan.

Holly is here today.

We interviewed Amy Ryan all about this episode and her time on the office. Let's hear it.

Hi office ladies, I'm so glad to be here and to see your beautiful faces and the interior of your closets.

Yeah, I was going to say, welcome to our closets.

Hollis, We found out your name is Hollis. Is that right? It's on your little name placard? yes.

I don't know if I ever knew that. That's a really good tip.

Would you have played the character differently?

Totally. I feel like I would have been much more refined, I feel like Hollis is much more refined, and maybe I would have had an accent.

I think if your character had been a Supreme Court judge, you might have gone by Hollis, but you ended up in H.R. and so you went with the less formal Holly, maybe.

That's correct, yeah. When you run HR, you really want to be more approachable, kind of a warm, fuzzy character.

That makes sense.

Holly was a warm, fuzzy character and we're in love with her. I am so enamored by Holly and Michael. Jenna and I have cried because Michael is like, finally, with someone that cares about him, she does.

Well, in watching it, episode by episode. And just four years of Michael not having a partner. To suddenly see a woman partner with him and joke with him, and, like his jokes, I cried.

In preparation for meeting you both today. I re-watched the episode and I hadn't watched the show in a long time. Save for, like, popping in the room when my daughter was on her third pass of the series. But it is so moving, I think all the characters are so moving. I know everyone's talked about this before. But that element of the family, you know, it's not a workplace, it's actually a family and that really comes through so beautifully. But Holly and Michael, I mean, I've always said, you know, there's a lid for every pot. So they finally found each other. But she has a high tolerance, I suppose, for that kind of guy.

Well, we always like to ask people, Amy, how did you come to be on the show? And we did a little research. Paul Lieberstein told us that they came to you, they were huge fans, but that you had simultaneously mentioned to your agent you might like to do our show.

Yes.

So what was that process? Yeah.

How did it go down?

That is true, and the timing was eerie because I did say that to my agent. It was soon after the Oscars and I was like, you know, I'm doing a lot of dramas and if I have any kind of cachet right now. At this moment, I want to do a comedy and I want to do a comedy like The Office. Because I was never good at the four camera sitcom. I just felt too much pressure and it wasn't like I always feel like characters weren't really rooted in a reality the way the office was.

And did they pitch the character of Holly to you, or did you, like, have a script to read or anything?

I don't remember reading a script, I remember hearing it was a one episode only and potential love interest, which obviously I knew was code for. We'll see how you do, kid, if we have you back. I remember also because I was a big fan of the British series. David finally gets a woman who likes him too. So it was loosely based, I think, on her, for the first episode, and then our group took it to a different level.

What was it like to walk onto the set for the first time?

Really weird, it was really weird. It's also then. Now I'm a fan of the American version. And you start to know the set, obviously from the comfort of your couch or your tablet, or whatever it is. You know, when you get there, it's like, Oh, everything's smaller. And then there. You all were so warm and welcoming.

Well, you said you rewatched business ethics, and one of my favorite parts is when you and Michael do the Let's get physical.

Yes, that's so funny. I watched that with my daughter and we watched that scene like two times in a row. Just him reaching in, trying to hit the play button. And then the two of you running in with those headbands and your dance number. How? How did you guys come up with all that?

What do we do? Well, I get the headbands I have to give credit for, wardrobe. I mean, that was pretty wonderful and ridiculous, just that having that visual, the dance, honestly, that's me just following Steve, anything, you know, I always anything that I was lucky enough to be partnered, paired with Steve. I was smart enough to get in the sidecar of that motorcycle ride. I'm not going to leave this here.

Well, I wasn't there because my character was at art school, so I'm super bummed that I did not get to see that done live. Did you guys do like, tons of takes of it? You were there and do you guys remember?

It was so hard not to laugh, like from the minute it started and when I was rewatching it. Oscar's face says it all. He's in the front and I was like, I don't want to be in the front, please don't put me in the front because I knew I was going to get so tickled.

First of all, being in that conference, you know, that's kind of the most famous part of the set. Right here we go and someone gets to present something. And it's better when, again, you're paired with someone next to you. But those scenes where I'm alone, giving the conference, my hands are like white knuckled.

Absolutely.

Yeah, and then, and in that, I just think it was again. Like, you guys are so in tune with each other and no one trying to beat anyone to the punchline. It was just a constant setup and it was, I thought it was just so perfect. And I think that's why people can't really tell between the scripted and when it goes to improv.

I wanted to ask you about those restaurant scenes. Oh yeah, the Coopers. There's that whole runner about the Chastity Belt, where he's trying to explain what a Chastity belt is.

Oh my god.

And you're like a chastity belt.

I think like the really fun part of their relationship is that it's always a surprise when, like, Holly's on board with him with some joke. And then those moments like the Chastity belt, where she's so horrified and yet so forgiving. You know, here she is this, you know? She's still flirty with this guy and she likes him. And not sure where it's going to go, but she's going to give that a pass, you know, always with Steve, it was so hard not to laugh, it was also like a thrill that sets in. Look, I remember when I was 25, I went skydiving.

Yeah, did you know Steve before?

Yeah, you know, in a very. I have this minuscule part in Dan in real life that Steve starred in. It was this big extended family comedy. We all, it was a whole group of us there on location in Rhode Island, and so we all became friends. And then I think it was about, like, six months after that film is when the office came up.

Well, we always ask everyone if they have any like favorite memories from their time on the show. Like any kind of behind the scenes moment or just something that you remember that stood out to you during your time on the office?

Oh my gosh, there's so so much. I mean, just in a general note, I would, honestly, no exaggeration. I would go home feeling like I worked out a series of sit-ups because my stomach muscles were always in play for laughing so hard. And I just go home exhausted but happy, and that was a nice feeling. But there's, and speaking of that, like, kind of the uncontrollable laughter. There's the episode where Daryl helps me move and he comes in the car ride, the truck ride.

Yes, yeah.

Me, Steve and Craig, like, hold up in that truck all day, kind of probably. We had a little bit of lack of oxygen, but we couldn't. We just we were in hysterics and could barely get through the scenes.

I remember that too, and I remember my agents asking me if I wanted to do dramas in my downtime. You mentioned you were like, I've done a lot of dramas, I want to do a comedy, yeah.

My only request was if I could ever have a scene where I didn't frown.

That's true, you had to frown your way through this comedy.

Well, do you get recognized as Holly Flax, like when you're out and about?

Oh, I do, I do, and it's interesting, I'm sure. I'm sure you guys have noticed that there's being being recognized when the show was on the air, and then the whole streaming version of the show. That has kind of taken it to a whole new level and everyone's getting younger.

Oh my gosh.

And I go, Oh, no, no, no, you guys, no, I'm pretty, I mean, I don't get harassed being, you know, but I I'm pretty shy. If someone comes up to me on the street, I say, hello and thank you. But but I also have a lot of privacy, people don't always recognize me. But I was like, Hell, no, we are not going into Cooper's, I am polly from the office.

Well, when people hear this podcast and they realize they might've been at Coopers with Holly Flax and didn't know it, they're going to be like, what day, what day?

Oh my god.

It's part of like a whole Scranton The Office Fan tour. Now, you know they have, they have like a whole tour, and you can go around Scranton and go to all the spots. So maybe maybe don't go back, because maybe it will be the Beatles experience.

Amy Before you were going to come on the podcast, I admit, Um, I. I googled you, which is a weird thing to do. It's weird to google someone, you know, it's so weird. And I, you know, had never done that before, googled you. But I did, and I saw all of your stage work and stage experience, which I. I knew that you did theater, but I didn't know that. You got your first touring job right out of school, that you toured with Biloxi Blues right out of high school.

Yeah.

So did you ever have like that day job? Did you ever have, or were you able to work pretty consistently as an actress right out of school?

Yeah, so I went to a performing arts high school in New York, and then, um, a month or so after graduation. I was cast in the touring company of Biloxi Blues. And I toured for nine months and thought, Well, that's easy, I'll work all the time. I guess I didn't work for a long time afterwards, but but I after the tour, you know, I was still only like 18, 19..

That's amazing.

It's kind of weird, but I, you know, I. I do think of how any young actor, artist moves to L.A. moves to New York from other places, or, you know, to Chicago with. I always think of that person like suitcase in hand, and, you know, room share list. Like, my hat just goes off to them. Because it's so hard, it's so hard, I don't know how people do it. Um, you know, I was lucky that I already lived in New York and could go home for home cooked meals and all that kind of stuff. But um, but I'm glad they're doing it somehow.

Are you working on anything now, Amy?

I just finished this new, first season of this Hulu series called Only Murders in the Building with Steve Martin and Martin Short. And, um, Selena Gomez. And it was again like it was, it was a throwback to like, again, Jenna, like you say, like, doing the comedy, like, Oh, this feels fun. I'm in a good mood and certainly shooting through a pandemic. You know, it was. I wouldn't want to be on a heavy drama right now. It's just too intense. But it was, uh, it was a joy to be around those people, um, during this time, and so, but that's it.

Well, Amy, thank you so much for coming on office, ladies and sharing your memories of being on the show. It was so cool to be back in touch with you and see you again.

Oh, same here. I really miss you guys and I hope all's well with your families and, um, hope to see you in person.

Yes, that would be amazing. Jenna and I have said we want to do like a like an office ladies lunch, like Call up all the gals.

That would be amazing.

Have a lunch Wouldn't that be so fun?

Yeah, oh gosh. Well, let's do it.

Let's do it.

Thank you so much, Amy.

Thanks for having me on your show. I miss you all and um, let's hope to see you soon.

That was so great.

I love her, I love her, you know? When we got finished with that interview, you guys? I asked her what color were her walls? because her room it was like painted all this like kind of dark blue gray color.

Kind of a navy blue.

Very cozy looking, I know.

And she was in a red dress and her hair was perfect. I kind of want to get that bob, I don't know if I can pull it off.

It was such a cute bob.

It was, well, you know, obviously we're going to put photos from our Zoomy Zoom in the Instagram, yeah.

So you can see it all, the wall, the bob, it's coming at you.

Okay, before we get into this episode, I need to share with you who was on the DVD. Commentary. Oh, but I'm going to let BJ tell you.

What?

Welcome to the commentary on business ethics, This is B.J. Novak speaking, and this is a very special commentary. Because I have with me here four of the most beloved crew members on the office to give us a behind the scenes look at how things go. Not just with this episode, but every day for the past hundred episodes. So seated with me, why don't we make introductions from my left? Barton Chikurian, Peter Evangelatos, Sergio Zuccombe, Alan Mork.

I know.

Oh my god.

I know, I know, I had the same reaction.

And their voices are on the whole thing.

Yes.

Oh my goodness, I did not expect this.

I know, I know.

I texted BJ, I said BJ, I have teared up, I have laughed, I've had every emotion.

Okay, okay, we should say who they are.

Okay, so Peter and Barton, they did our craft services. They provided the cast and crew with stacks, drinks, meals, anything that you could want and fed us in overtime. We called them the snack masters. Peter was so beloved to us.

No, you're crazy.

But he was like, you know, like they are like our sustenance, they took such good care of us.

We should say Sergio and Alan yes, they were big time catering and they fed us lunch and breakfast.

They did our big main meals, yeah, breakfast and lunch, and Peter and Barton did everything in between. And I really want to share with you what all they talked about on the DVD commentary.

You got to say, you have to share, okay?

Okay, here we go, and then I promise we will get to business ethics, you guys, okay?

Yeah.

Average cast call time started at 5 a.

Wow.

So they would go to bed at 7 p.

150 people, yeah, because the crew got a hot breakfast as well.

Everybody, everybody, cast and crew, Sergio and Alan. Like BJ, would just mention someone's name and they knew their breakfast order.

Oh, say.

Okay, ready?

Yeah.

Steve would have mushrooms, ground turkey, egg, white scramble with a side of ketchup.

Okay.

Rain would have a veggie scramble with egg whites and one piece of wheat toast. Jenna.

Yes.

Would have two egg whites scrambled with a little bit of cheese.

That's true.

Paul Lieberstein would have an egg white scramble with onions and peppers, with Sergio's famous homemade salsa on the side.

We were very into egg whites as a cast, I'm discovering.

Keep it coming. Kate had egg white scramble with turkey, bacon, Oscar curve Ball, grilled cheese with tomato. Amy Ryan, who's our guest this week? Spinach and egg scramble now. Some cast members had their breakfast order become classics because they became so popular.

All right, that's a rashida.

It was the most popular.

Okay.

Okay, the Rashida special.

Rashida inventing the most popular breakfast.

In fact, it was like one of Mindy's regular orders was the Rashida. Okay, the Johnny K, invented by John Krasinski. Tomatoes and broccoli with egg whites and a little cheddar cheese.

Hmm.

Sounds right, I know.

Kind of gross. I don't want to eat broccoli first thing in the morning, I don't know.

I'm not going to lie, there were, you know, a few times I would cross over here and make up with John. It didn't smell good.

It's coming back to me now.

It didn't smell good, okay? The Creed special I learned Something Creed is apparently a big goat cheese fan.

In the morning.

Oh yeah, so they said that he would have goat cheese, spinach, onions and egg whites with green tea, Oh.

Mm-hmm.

They also shared the two cast members who were always there the earliest.

Oh, let me guess.

Okay.

Kate and Phyllis.

Leslie and Phyllis.

Okay.

And, you know, I looked at the call sheets, Leslie, Phyllis, me and Kate were always called in at 5 a.m. Mm-hmm. Okay, the four of us.

Wow, yeah.

Sergio and Alan also did a huge lunch with multiple meat, fish, veggie choices, salad bar, dessert bar. But they said there was one item they featured just on a whim at the dessert table, and it became incredibly popular. And if they wouldn't have it, people would like get like, annoyed, they'd be like, where is it?

Can I guess?

Yeah.

Was it the warm chocolate chip cookie bar thing? yes.

Yes, it was the chocolate chip cookie cake.

And they served it like hot and melted and kind of gooey. mm-hmm. it was so good.

You guys, the chocolate chip cookie cake was Steve Carell's like kryptonite? Yes, I don't know.

But literally, they said they didn't think much about it. They made it one time and then everyone was like, where is it, where is it? They had to make it like every day. So now I have to talk about Peter and Vartan.

Because you would never eat an egg in the morning.

Because Peter and Vartan got donuts every morning, so I would go get a donut from Peter and Vartan. Also, BJ liked the Porto's coffee cake, and then Peter said, Sometimes he would make you and I sandwiches.

He would.

And he said he loved doing it and he would put them on a porcelain plate and bring them to us.

I'm crying again.

I know, I know he took such good care of us.

I can't explain to you. Like the care with which he would make us a sandwich, it's so silly and simple. But he would, he would put it on a porcelain plate, and he'd always like. Garnish it with some cute little like fruit. Or like, a little.

Like, he'd cut into a shape. Yeah, it really was.

It was like your grandpa made you a sandwich.

It really was.

And you felt so loved.

He was so happy to do it.

Yeah.

He said that he would make you a tuna fish sandwich and he'd make me ham and cheese. I cried through this commentary. Jenna, I laughed so hard because Peter and Vartan give each other like such a hard time. Lovingly, Yeah.

Hot snack.

Oh my gosh, Peter said. They like to mix it up every day, he said. On Mondays, for example, there'd be tacos and burritos. One of the most popular hot snack items was.

Almondaga Soup.

Well, they talked about that, they said they're Turkey Chili. Oh, they said, they're turkey Chili. They had to serve twice a week.

What is it?

Ed You know, they had garnishes on the side for the chili, they had shredded cheese, and they had onions. Ed would put the raw onions at the bottom of his bowl. Add the hot turkey chili on top, and the heat from the chili would caramelize the onions at the bottom.

Wow, mm-hmm.

It became a thing.

Yes.

It was a delight, you guys, I just have to tell you we loved these men so much. I was lucky enough to work with Sergio again when I guest starred on Mindy's show Never Have I Ever. She still wants Sergio on her projects. It was so awesome.

Yeah.

And they took such good care of us. And if you have ever wondered why, the only thing my dad talked about was the food. When he visited set, listen to this commentary.

I loved that.

I loved it too, and I know I went on and on, but I had to share it.

I hope everyone else found it interesting because I loved that trip down memory lane. Thank you, Angela.

You're welcome, all right, shall we get into this episode?

I guess we can. I will pull myself together.

Yes.

This episode starts with Jim and Pam on the phone. Pam is kind of mad because nobody congratulated her on her engagement, and Jim says, Yeah, I didn't tell anyone.

And then he's like, let's tell them, and he puts Pam on speakerphone and it goes. I think exactly how Jim thought it would go.

Yeah, it ends with Michael arriving and hearing the news and tackling Jim to the floor. We got a fan question from Kyle T. and Peyton M. How was the stunt done? Where Michael knocks Jim over with a hug.

Also, John's face is just amazing.

You know, that is a really hard thing to do, to know you're going to be tackled, but keep your body relaxed.

And not like Wince.

Yeah.

Not expect the tackle. Well, I wasn't there.

I was backstage on a phone so I didn't see it go down. AnGELa, Do you remember was there like a mattress or something that they landed on?

There was a big blue, squishy thing, you know what I mean, a big blue square. It looked like a gymnastics kind of mat, right?

Yeah.

But it was so funny.

I have to imagine John lost it because John did not do well in scenes like that, especially with Steve Blake.

I don't.

My memory of it is they didn't do it very many times.

Okay.

So we're going to go to the next episode, it's Ethics Day. Holly has passed out a form everyone has to fill out. She's going to be taking this seriously she is.

She explains that she is going to be running her first meeting. Mm-hmm, but don't worry. We talked about this with Amy. Ryan. Michael's going to help her out and they're going to start it off with their version of Let's get physical.

With headbands and dancing and a boom box, Jenna, I worked in corporate America.

Yep.

I'm telling you, they had skits.

What?

When I watched this, I had such a flood of memories coming back of sitting in a tiny little conference room. When I worked at this company, in our human resources department, there were two people, they would come in and act out skits of what's inappropriate. We had one guy, his name was Tom.

I only had to watch produced videos of weird things. I've never seen a live presentation.

Oh, no.

We had a fan question about this scene, we did from Patricia B, she said. I'm wondering if some of the younger Office fans even know the song that Holly and Michael are performing. She wants to know, Angela, did your kids watch this one with you?

Isabel watched it with me, she didn't ask about the song, She just thought it was funny. She probably thinks we made it up.

Yeah, this was, I guess, for our younger listeners, a very famous song by Olivia Newton-John, Let's Get Physical. And the music video was like her in like an aerobics class, singing and dancing with a headband. Jane Fonda had like these workout videos at the time, too. This was like a little trend.

Oh yeah.

Sexy working out.

But your sexy workout included tights, leg warmers, high tops, leotard, headband, wristband. It was a whole thing.

It was, I remember it well, well. Holly begins her ethics meeting by explaining that there's been some misconduct. She's clearly talking about Ryan.

Who's been hired again? It's so hilarious to me.

I know.

And then she starts going through the results of the quiz.

Yeah, pretty much she's got this binder and she's got to go through the binder.

H.R. Binder We had a fan question from Peyton M. in the conference room scene. Did Creed and Meredith actually break? When Stanley said the meeting was a waste of time, or was it scripted for them to laugh? Well, I looked at the script, it was scripted.

So the meeting isn't going so great. And Michael's like, you're losing them, yeah, so he pulls Holly aside. You are losing them.

Yeah, it's really sweet. He's trying to help her in this meeting because he really wants her to succeed. So he says, let's get rid of the binder. This is your opportunity to speak up without any repercussions. He's like, Guys, what are some things maybe you've done at work to waste time?

It made me laugh so hard.

He said he watched Cookie Monster sings Chocolate Rain about a thousand times.

Did you go watch it?

I had to know, of course, here's the thing.

What?

Chocolate Rain, according to its Wikipedia page, was a song by American singer Tay Zonday.

I went and watched Tay's last night.

Oh, you did.

I did.

You watched it as well?

Yeah.

Yes, so he wrote this song and he uploaded a video to YouTube. It was four minutes 52 seconds long. He uploaded it. Everyone because I know you want to know. April 22nd, 2007..

Like before, things went viral.

It was ranked the hottest viral video of summer 2007.

Even Cookie Monster.

Not cookie monster. What? we made that up, There was no cookie monster, sings Chocolate Rain. They wrote that, and after the episode aired, people made them.

No way. Yes, I didn't know that isn't that crazy.

That is crazy, you know? I did go to every version you could imagine of this song. I looked it up and I did notice the one where Cookie Monster is singing it. The first comment said Who else is here? because of Michael Scott?

Yeah, exactly.

Well, Michael has opened the door to confession time, and people are just letting it fly.

Yeah, the big confession comes from Meredith, who says that she has been having a six-year affair with the Hammer Mill. Rep. In exchange for discounts on our supplies and also outback Steakhouse gift certificates.

Bruce Myers Bruce Myers and Meredith, Six years.

Now here's something wasn't there in that previous episode. We finally landed the Hammer Mill rep when they went to that big conference and it was only a few. Remember? I think there's a little continuity catch here.

Continuity error.

Yeah, so she's been sleeping with him for six years, but we only just landed him, like two years ago. I don't know, Meredith.

Show Bible, show Bible. Sort it out guys.

Yeah, Holly is troubled.

Oh yeah.

Holly is like, This is a serious ethics violation, I have to report this.

Jenna, there was one other confession that rattled someone else.

What?

Ryan made a confession and Kevin is like, What? This is the beginning of the runner. Sam, can you play it?

Last year, you guys were riding me really hard for the website, and I just peeled out my Z3 and I knocked the mirror off somebody's car. Wait.

What?

Kevin's like, What? And then, immediately after this conference room scene, Kevin approaches Ryan in the kitchen and confronts him.

You knocked the mirror off of my car.

Yeah.

Isn't that messed up? Yeah, that guy did a lot of things I'm not proud of.

Wait.

When you say that guy, do you mean you? I mean the guy I used to be. I'm Ryan 2.0. And if it makes you feel any better, that guy did a lot of messed up stuff to me too. No, you mean that you did a lot of messed up stuff to you.

You know, my love of Ryan, Yeah, in this rewatch, and I am so sad that did not make it in the episode, but I am so glad it exists.

I know I showed it to Sam, and Sam was like, I know these people, I know these people. Yeah, that's a good example of Los Angeles.

Amazing.

Melts them. But that was Kevin 1.0..

Yeah, he can't be responsible for what that guy did, that's right.

So that was the Ryan-Kevin runner that got deleted because we just ran out of time, but I thought it was so great.

It's so good. So now we have the scene where Michael and Holly are going to meet privately with Meredith to discuss her liaison. Yes, you know, Michael is trying very hard to help Meredith say the things she needs to say to get out of trouble. Yeah.

She's not getting it.

At all.

And Kate is so funny in this scene.

So funny.

Well, we do have a classic gym prank, we get a gym prank. Yeah, it's been a bit. And I thought it was so funny. And I can tell that John and Rain were having such a good time just because we know them, yeah.

He's loving that stopwatch.

He's loving it, yeah. Dwight had said in the conference room that he doesn't do anything personal at work.

He wastes no time.

Wastes no time. And so Jim's going to show him he's going to like time every single thing he does.

Well, right about now is when we would have gone to see Pam at art school. Mm-hmm, and I'm going to tell you about it, okay? So Pam and her classmates, they get to class and there's a note on the door No class today.

It's canceled.

Canceled. So her friends are like, let's go get drinks, and Pam's like, I can't. And her friend Alex, who was played by Rich Sommer, says, What do you have to do? You're supposed to be in class right now.

Well, it's like a guy, right? So she's like wanting to text a guy back but not seem like too into him. You know how you have to write the perfect text back to someone you're into, but you don't want to seem too desperate.

Well, Pam is spiraling. Remember, I said in the other episode that we purposely cast people who would seem younger and hipper than Pam. So she would be this fish out of water in art school. Yeah, well, she's kind of spiraling about that, and she has this great, crazy monologue that she blurts out. Sam, will you play the Pam Tiki Bar scene for me?

He put a wink at the end. Does that mean something? It means he's a dork, so how do I write back, you know, showing him that I'm also a dork?

He knows.

Don't ask me, I don't even know what I'm doing here. I'm like, way older than you guys. I mean, like, I have a fiancé and I have like a tenure plan. And like, is graphic design even art? At this point, I thought that I would be married and running my own art company.

Oh, okay.

Okay, I thought that was so interesting. We just got a window into what Pam thought her life would be, she says. At this point, she thought she would be married and running her own art company.

What does she mean by art company? I don't know. It sounds like something like a fifth grader would say, like a kid would say, yeah, like, someday I'm going to own an art company.

She sells art supplies. Yeah, what does she mean by that? I don't know. I thought it was so it was such a window into Pam.

I did, too, and, you know, it goes on to show that she drank the whole volcano herself, basically.

Yeah, there are more scenes at this bar. She gets really tipsy, but then she has this really peppy talking head where she says. If she were in Scranton right now, she'd be an alcoholic, but she's not.

Loves New York? Yeah.

Well, I was really bummed that these scenes got cut because one of the art students, the guy who you hear, trying to help the girl with her text message was played by one of my very good friends in real life. John Cabrera. You might know him because he was a longtime cast member on Gilmore Girls. He played Brian Fuller, he was the bass player in Lane's band. So we filmed all of these scenes at Pam's art School.

Jenna, have you ever had a volcano?

No.

Have you?

Once.

What?

Once.

I thought we made that up, that's a real thing. Is it on fire?

Yes.

Sam is nodding, like, How many have you had, Sam?

Sorry, that was the most aggressive I've ever.

You are like.

Yeah, it's a staple of the Tiki bar. Yeah, I've had one, that's all you'll ever need to have. I had one at a bar in Manhattan Beach for a friend's birthday. We got the volcano because my friend's birthday, you know, we were like, 25 years old.

Okay.

It comes on fire, okay, all these different straws in it. It's usually a mixture of, like pineapple or grapefruit, or lime juice, maple syrup, several different types of rums.

Okay.

I felt real gross the next day, and what's so funny is I had Pam's experience. Like, you're just all drinking it and you can't tell who's had more or what. Because there's all these straws flopping out of it. And the photos from this evening are real special. We all decided to see if we could do the splits.

Oh, it was one of those nights.

I didn't do the splits. No, you do it, I do it. So volcano guys tread lightly.

Am I too old to have this experience?

I think, so, damn it, you won't feel good the next day.

I missed my chance. I started drinking late in life, I know I really did.

I think it's okay that you navigated your life without having the volcano experience.

I don't know, I'm having some FOMo. Well, now. Michael is going to invite Holly to lunch because it's okay if, like, two attractive people go to lunch, you know, they work together.

It's not an official date, and there was a deleted Michael talking head that if it was an official date, Holly would know because it would go like this.

No, this is not an official date. when it is an official date, she will be aware of it. There will be a rose, there will be music and dancing. Bottle of Red.

Bottle of water.

I've drank more water.

Some whispered conversation.

Some giggling.

Okay, I haven't had a volcano, but I've had that date, you've had that date, I've had that date.

That's a good date. I just want a shirt that says hardcore love.

You do well. He suggests that they go to Cooper's restaurant, and I've got some good information to share about that. So why don't we take a break and we'll come back?

Great.

All right, we are back. Michael and Holly have gone to lunch. We got fan questions from Kelly W. Sammy B. and Carolyn P. What is the restaurant that Holly and Michael went to? Angela? You saw the outside shot of this restaurant?

Yeah, I've been there in real life.

It is a real restaurant in Scranton called Cooper's Seafood House, and we did not go to Cooper's. So we used a shot of the outside, the interior, I got all the scoop.

From Jamesopedia.

Jamesopedia is back, and Amy Ryan said They did an amazing job.

Amazing, right? I looked at pictures online of the real Coopers and I compared them to screenshots. Because that's what I do now, I guess, is that. And we really congratulations to our set designers, they did a great job redressing this.

What did Jamesopedia have?

Jamesopedia said that we shot the interior at Clancy's Crab Broiler in Glendale, California, that we started shooting at 8 a...m that day. And there was a note on the call sheet that said the restaurant will be open for business at 11 a...m. So they had three hours to film all of those restaurant scenes.