Vandalism with Lee Kirk
2024-05-22 01:35:07
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 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, hi there. Oh, we have an exciting episode today. Jenna has a real cute smile on her face, you guys.
Well, today we're talking about vandalism. It is season 9, episode 14, written by Owen Ellickson and directed by my husband, Lee Kirk, who's here today.
Hey Lee, Hey yes, I am hello there ladies hey.
It's so fun to have you in our studio.
Yeah, this is pretty. It's, you know, it's pretty crazy to be at season 9, you know? I mean, I'd known for so long that this was coming. Yeah, yeah. When you guys started the podcast, I figured someday I'm going to be on there talking about vandalism. And it's crazy that we're here, so.
It kind of is, it kind of went by just like that, didn't it?
It really did.
Well, Lee, before we jump into our questions for you, would you like to hear a summary of your episode?
I would, Yes, okay.
It's my favorite thing.
Okay, let's get into it. It's my favorite thing.
When Jenna goes, Would you like to hear a summary? she asks me every week, and every week, I'm like, Yes, I would.
I don't know why all right here it is. Someone in the warehouse has vandalized Pam's mural. Pam enlists Nellie and Dwight's help to find and punish the vandal. Meanwhile, Angela and Oscar compete for the senator's affection at a donor party. And we get a glimpse of what life is like for Jim and Daryl as roommates in Philly.
That's a lot of storylines to manage, Lee.
A lot of story going on there.
Yeah, you were busy that week.
I had a busy week, yeah.
Well, listen, we always like to ask everyone, How did you get your job directing the office?
Well, it started, I think, with a conversation that you had right with Greg.
Yeah, you want me to tell that part.
Well, you might as well, I guess so.
It started there, right?
I think, so, yeah.
Okay, so Greg called me into his office one day and he had watched your movie that you wrote and directed that I starred in, The Giant Mechanical Man. And he just was going on and on about how much he loved it. He was really impressed and he was so complimentary, it was just making me so proud. And then, at the end of the conversation, he said, Do you think Lee would like to direct an episode of The Office?
And then you pooped your pants because you're like, how fun.
Yeah, and then you told me and I pooped my pants, Yeah, exactly. That was so cool of Greg to watch the movie first of all, and then to make that offer. And then I don't know if you remember what happened, but Ron Howard was slated to direct this episode. Vandalism and I think a couple weeks before he had to drop out.
I did not know that.
Yeah, yeah, oh my gosh. so sorry you didn't get to work with Ron Howard ladies, but you got me.
So you filled in for Ron Howard.
I filled in for Ron Howard, Oh my goodness.
I'm so glad that worked out because it was such a fun week. I took a picture that I just love and I know it was really special for Jenna. But we were in the conference room and you were directing and Jenna's kind of standing off to the side. It's when Pam has her big meeting and I took a picture of you and her in the conference room. And I'll share it in our stories. Because I just loved that you were on set, it was so fun.
It was a really fun week, I had a blast.
Okay, so here's question number two for you. How was your experience directing on the show?
I mean, okay, first of all, when I've been asked that question before, I usually say something like. It's as if Greg Daniels handed me the keys to a Rolls Royce and said, you want to drive it down for a week? But actually, a better analogy is, I'm going to give you guys a golf analogy.
Oh, I love a golf analogy.
Probably the first golf analogy that's been on the office, ladies, right? I think so.
I think it might be, yeah.
So about 10 years ago, I don't know if you remember Jenna. I went on a golf trip to this place called Bandon Dunes. It's in Oregon. It's an incredible golf course on the ocean. It's a link style golf course. So it looks like Scotland and it feels like Scotland. It's a very difficult course, right?
I'm in.
I don't play golf, but I'm in.
It was amazing, it was an amazing trip. Every golfer out there, it's probably on their bucket list to go there anyway. I shot the best round of my life at Bandon Dunes, the hard golf course.
The hard golf course I broke 80, which for me is a huge accomplishment now. The reason I did that is because at Bandon Dunes, you don't ride in golf carts. You walk the course and you have a caddy who walks with you and sort of hands you your clubs, but also gives you advice. These caddies know every corner of this golf course, right?
This is like old school.
Old school golf, right? Well, I had this caddy. okay, this guy knew every nook and cranny of this course. okay, so we'd walk up to the ball.
He would pull out a club, he'd hand me the club. He'd say, just swing 75 on this club, right? And he'd say, see that sand trap up there, there's a tree on the left side of it.
Aim at that tree, and I'm thinking, the green's way over the right. He's like, just do it, so I do, I do 75 at the tree.
Ball goes up, flies in there, turns a little bit, lands right before the green rolls up, maybe 10 feet from the cup, right. Incredible, incredible shot. I'm shocked.
We walk up on the green, same thing. it's a difficult green, really fast, hard to read, he tells me. Just tap it 30 right here, you know, and just right to the spot.
I do it, it rolls, it goes in, right? Yeah, I'm feeling great.
I shoot the best round of my life. Okay, now, that is what it was like to be in the office, because the office I basically had like a hundred caddies. You know what I mean, I had the incredible cast, the incredible crew, and all I had to do was swing 75, you know what I mean?
I had to have a little bit, like with the golf, I had to have a little bit of knack for golf.
Right, like you have skill.
Had to have a little skill.
Right?
Director I had to have some skill as a director, I had to know what I wanted to do. I had to have made some decisions. But then everybody else made it so easy, you know? So it was a good time.
I loved everything about that answer, and now I want to pick up golf, so.
You do.
Not really.
Only at that course, that course is pretty special.
That course is pretty sweet. Now I can't mess up my tennis game. Let's be real.
Yeah, stick with tennis, you know.
I just want you to make a golf movie. now, I'm like, you should make a golf movie.
Maybe that's my next movie.
Yeah, maybe it should be.
Yeah, call it the caddy, the caddy. So Lee, I mean, you had been on the set many times, you had been around us shooting.
You even had a role?
That's right.
You were the lactation consultant, I was Clark Clark, that's right.
So did you gain any new insights from being on the set from the perspective as a director?
That's a good question, you know, the thing is okay. So I had directed indie films up to this point, right? So an indie film, you're making the movie, you guys know this, but for your listeners, you have 20 days or 21 days to shoot 110 pages. You're moving really fast, you know, and usually the first time it's kind of messy.
And then you start. The job of the director is to kind of shape it, you know, like, maybe don't take your jacket off and maybe take a breath before you stand up to go, you know? And slowly, you kind of form this scene, you know, but at the same time you're rushing too, you know, you're like holding your breath.
So take that and then I walk on the office, right? And so here's the experience. We would set up a shot, you know? And I'd kind of tell Matt Sohn, who was the DP, who was just an incredible person to work with. I'd say, you know, I want to have.
Maybe they come in over here and we play this scene at the reception and you know, he's like, great, we light the scene. You guys come on set and it's like you guys are walking on with, like a cup of coffee, and you're like, what are we seeing?
What are we doing, you know? And then you get your sides and you like, look them over. And I'm thinking, I'm not sure they've read this scene since the table read, you know, you might have been right.
By season nine, we would just truly we would like be like, what are we doing right now? Like sitting down, wondering what is the scene?
Especially if we didn't have huge chunks of dialogue. If you're just going to, like, cruise through a reception and Angela goes, excuse me, like, that's all I say, I'm going to wait and just like, figure it out on set.
But the funny thing is, so that's what happens, and then everybody in their place, I tell you guys, Oh, you're going to come in here, do this scene here at the reception, blah, blah, blah. Okay, let's try one action.
And then a perfectly executed scene happens, like everything, like every moment's perfect, every joke's perfect, every nuance perfect, okay?
Cut. Everybody looks at me and it's like, I got to have something to say. You know what I mean, besides, just we could move on, you know what I mean?
So that was a challenge like that was a challenge to find. And of course, there was a number of spots where, like, I had to actually do some directing, but a lot of it was that, a lot of it. My job was having a vision for how the scene should work. And then just kind of keeping everybody's spirits up, being in a good mood, keeping everybody loose, you know, and trying different takes and trying to have fun. But it was so much different than doing an indie film. Where you're just constantly you're looking at your watch, you know, and you're stressing, and you're just trying to get, you know, shape.
Just a hustle, hustle, hustle, yeah.
And you're worried that you're not going to get it, you know? There was no worry, we weren't going to get it, we got it on. Take one every time I felt like.
Well, Lee, I remember you telling me that you did have a few ideas that you wanted to throw in there that you talked to Matt Sohn about. Oh, yeah, and he kind of had to let you down gently.
Well, he was awesome, so when we first walked through. So you get your script and then, like, a week before you're shooting. The DP and the director are going to walk through the set and kind of look at it and kind of form an idea of what the shoot's going to be like. And so I said to Matt, I had this idea because I always loved on those old episodes, especially on the British Office. But they did it, I think I did it on the American too. Just in a transition that you just cut to a copy machine, just making copies, or like, just someone, like walking across, like delivering a piece of paper to someone's desk.
Just that little quiet shot that, like, reminds you, this is a documentary, right? So I thought I'd be fun to put one of those in, you know, that would be my little easter egg that I'm going to put in this episode. So I said to Matt, I'd love to do one of these like little shots.
And he said, Well, we can shoot whatever you want, but I can promise you that won't go in the episode. Because he was like, and he was right. I mean, there was no time for it. And at the end of the day, you know, Claire and I, who was the editor? We were doing everything we could to keep every piece of that episode in there. And of course, that was impossible, right?
And there's a whole storyline, there's a whole not a storyline. But there's a whole sequence that was cut, which was, I don't know if you remember, we did a whole driving sequence. Do you remember that?
I do it's in deleted scenes.
Is it in deleted scenes? Okay?
Yeah, and there's a whole runner with Toby that's hilarious in deleted scenes.
Oh yeah.
That I want to share. When we get to it, he's trying to impress Nellie when he questions Frank.
Yes, of course, it's really funny.
I remember that, I remember that, yeah.
That was fun, though.
Well, I absolutely loved episodes where Pam and Dwight got to team up, and on this episode, I remember in the crafting of it. Because I was in the writer's room. I was saying, Could we please have a scene where Pam and Dwight have, like, a stakeout? I wanted them. I don't know Angela, if this is part of Early Mom Detectives. I wanted to have this moment where they were spying on everybody in the warehouse. And I just remember we had so much fun doing all those scenes, all the Pam Dwight scenes.
Yeah, those were a lot of fun, and you guys is just your chemistry and the Pam and Dwight. Seeing those two team up was just a lot of fun. Yeah, and there was a lot of fun stuff.
The one thing I remember about that was in terms of directing was before the scene. There's a scene where you guys are spying on the warehouse. And Dwight has a pair of binoculars he's looking through. So moments before Phil Shea, the prop guy, he comes up to me and he shows me two different binoculars. It's the truth. Which ones would Dwight be using?
This is very phil.
One was very small, very small, tiny binoculars, and one was very big. Okay, and I'm thinking, Oh man, this is a real test, you know, this is a real test.
I thought the small ones would be funny because I thought it would be funny. He whips something out and then it's ridiculously small.
Yeah.
So I said, Oh, these? So rain walks on set, he looks at the binoculars, he goes, Is there another set of binoculars? and Phil goes, I got these big ones, He's like, Yeah, I want the big ones. So I failed that test.
Oh, no.
Well, you should know, I nicknamed Rain on Set Carrot Top because he loved a trunk full of props. I was like, the man loved a lot of props. It's no surprise to me that he wanted the big, over-the-top binoculars.
Amazing, amazing. It made sense, too. When we shot it, I was like, Oh, yeah, okay, I see the big ones, that's funny.
All right, well, Jenna and I weren't there when you shot all of those scenes with Craig and John as horrible roommates like Jim and Daryl were such bad roommates, but Jim is such a slob. I just loved all of these scenes.
I loved thinking about how two people live together on the show. We never got to see that, we never even go into Pam and Jim's home and see how they live together.
True.
We saw a snippet of how Dwight and Moe's live together, but I loved seeing Jim and Daryl. Can you tell us about shooting those apartment scenes?
Man shooting with John and Craig, we had such a blast.
I bet.
We had so much fun, we couldn't get through takes, we were just laughing and goofing off and having so much fun. I remember the first scene we shot in that apartment was when Daryl comes back on his lunch break and Jim is sitting there and Daryl's got that little cooler.
Yeah, he opens it up, he opens it up.
There was something about that cooler man, something about the way he was holding that thing that we couldn't get through it. I mean, they couldn't get through it, they were laughing so hard. I would be like, Okay, cut.
We'll try it again. It wasn't working. So finally, I just let them go, you know what? I mean? Yeah, I let them just laugh and laugh and laugh, and kind of laugh it out of themselves.
Man, that was so fun. that was just a total blast. Those guys were so fun together, they were really working off each other. Same with you and Rain, Jenna.
You guys were just like, there's such a fun chemistry going on there.
Well, I remember you coming home from that shoot day and it was very clear to me that you had just spent the entire day bro-ing out with those guys. Yeah, you were like, they're so funny, we just kept laughing. But then also I remember you coming home from when you shot at the Senator's house with Angela Bryan and Oscar.
You had a lot of fun at that, too. But I remember you told me a story from that one where you said was one of the most challenging moments of the shoot, which took me by surprise.
Well, yeah, you're talking about the baby.
The baby.
Okay, yeah, actually, this is a good example of more independent filmmaking, right? Because we weren't on the set, we were in a house.
When you're shooting on the set, it was kind of obvious how scenes would be blocked out because everyone kind of had their spot. If it was Angela's scene, you knew you'd probably be over in accounting, and that's how you were going to. But shooting in a house, it's like no one's ever been here before, right?
And we had a ton of extras, so there was this element of, like, okay, I really have to direct this stuff. So that scene with the baby in the little white communion outfit, I remember staging that and I thought, Okay, we'll put it in the living room. And then you guys would kind of appear as if you're kind of almost presenting yourself, standing up a little higher than everybody and have this moment. And so let's try it.
So we did it and it worked. It was fine, it was good. I was like, great, let's do another one.
And around that time, that baby decided I'm not doing another one of these things. And it started squirming at first, and then just crying and having a fit. And I was like, Oh, no, no, let's try. Can we fix this?
Is there another baby? what are we going to do? And there wasn't another baby and we couldn't fix it. But then Rusty, who was, you guys know, Rusty? The first ad?
He said to me, we got one take and I was like, Yeah, but is that good? and he's like, I think it was pretty good anyway. That is the take that's in the show, the first take.
The only one, that's the only one we got, yeah.
I remember breaking quite a bit when we took the group photo because I was looking back. And none of our dialogue, me and Oscar's dialogue, is scripted.
I didn't think so, I had a suspicion.
It's not scripted, and so literally, what the script says is that Angela elbows Oscar, Oscar says out, that's it, that's it. So everything else you see is us.
And when I watched it, I see myself breaking. I looked down, I'm like, because that was so fun.
Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, that was really fun. that was really funny, yeah.
I'm surprised we got through that.
I know me too well. Speaking of being surprised we got through things, I know that there were two other scenes that were very challenging to shoot. Yeah, Lee, do you want to share?
Well, we had the Brian character and he had a couple of big moments, so we had the fight. For example, yeah, that took some choreography to figure out, and we had that actor Brad, who played Frank, who was such a big, imposing figure.
So just trying to figure that out was a little bit of a challenge, and also Brian had that equipment.
Oh, he had the boom.
He had the boom and stuff, he couldn't just throw it on the ground, he had to kind of gently set it down. Oh yes, I remember that whole conversation.
And then fight. So there was this weird moment of he had to gently put his stuff down, so that was a little tricky. But the trickiest scene was definitely the reveal of you guys in that closet.
Yes.
Right, yes, and in the script, I don't remember exactly how it was worded, but somehow it alluded to. Like, we have a scene in the closet and then you guys leave the closet and we realize the closet is right in the-.
It was the opposite. I went back and I read the script. It was that we're walking through somewhere. It described it as like a hallway into this little room, and then at the end we walk out.
Kind of what you're saying. At the end, we were to walk out and reveal that it was the closet.
That's right. Yes, yeah, yeah.
But I remember doing that scene, Lee, and the whole conversation with Brian, doing it like on the move, like walking and talking. And me saying, I'm really sorry they shouldn't have fired you. It was like you couldn't get any tension, you couldn't get any of the emotion of the scene. By doing it as a walk and talk, and then getting in and out of there, it just was very awkward.
Yeah.
And we spent, oh my God, I don't even know how much time trying to figure that out.
Trying to figure it out. And it was Owen, the writer, Owen, who had the brilliant idea of how we ended up shooting it. Which is that we shot it sort of as a spy shot. And we pushed in so that you couldn't tell where we were. As a viewer, you would just see where. And then, as you left, we pulled back and revealed where this closet was.
I loved that because, of course, that door has been a mystery for us. Everyone's like, What's behind that door?
Yeah.
But it's also the door where Jim and Pam hook up, where they made Phillip. Yes, and then also it's the door where we wanted to escape during the fire drill. Which does not make sense.
Yes, we got some fan mail about that, actually, the people noted. Why would they be trying to run into a closet during this fire?
Yeah.
So yeah, yeah, so when we sat down kind of over the summer and the beginning of the year with the writers to talk about. What things do we want to tie up and what things do we want to reveal in this final season? I can't remember who pitched it, I wish I did, but someone said we should finally find out what's behind that dang door.
I love that.
That's amazing.
Yeah, so we let you know, and you were there, I was there, you made the door reveal.
You made it happen.
I did the door reveal, yeah.
Well, Lee, before we wrap up our interview, Josh made lemon madelines for us.
Oh, Josh. Hey Josh, you're such a good baker.
And I can't not bring them out. So there you go, everyone gets lemon madelines today, this is nice.
Now both our husbands are here. Thank you, Josh.
They are, thank you, Josh.
Josh threw his madelines and Lee, literally here, literally sitting here, yeah.
Eating a madeline?
Yes, exactly. Well, Lee, to wrap things up before you go. How did you like directing television versus movies? You have not directed any more television since? Is that because you hated it? No.
Well, actually, I loved it. well, I don't know if you remember what happened, but yeah, so I directed this episode and I loved it. I loved it. it was so fun.
And I thought, Oh, I want to maybe do some more of this.
Maybe you don't want to be attached to your stressful watch doing the independent films.
Yeah, I want to do more of these where you just kind of keep it on the rails. Yeah, you know. And so I remember I had some meetings about maybe doing New Girl, maybe doing Brooklyn Nine-nine, but they weren't shooting then.
And so that was on the horizon. But then I went off and made a film, mm-hmm, and then after I made the film, we moved to London, remember?
Yes.
I did a series there, and you edited the film in London.
In London. So by the time I finally came back to L.A. it was like, a year later, you know, yeah, and the office wasn't on the air anymore. That's crazy.
Think about, and those execs weren't at Fox anymore, and I kind of missed my moment. It's a very hard job to get like a TV directing job, just to be that TV director.
Yeah, it's a regret, you know, it's a regret. So I guess if anyone out there, if you've got Ron Howard tapped up and he can't do it, you know who to call? We sure do.
Well, let me tell you something.
If Mom Detectives ever happens-.
There we go.
You're our director.
Okay, very good.
Yes, for sure.
Right?
That's right, we'd have so much fun, I would love that. Well, we know he's good at shooting stakeouts, and there are a lot of those in Mom Detectives, exactly.
Exactly, Oh yeah, I've experienced picking binoculars and everything.
Uh-huh.
Well, you did just confess you didn't pick the right ones, so we will take that into consideration. Let's delete that.
We'll take that part out.
Aw Lee, thank you for coming in.
It was so fun to have you here, so fun y'all. thank you for having me. What a blast. It's so fun to sit in this little room with you guys.
Thank you so much Lee. I love you buddy. I'm coming in for a hug.
Aw, yeah.
All right, well, we'll take a break and we'll say goodbye to Lee. I might give him a smooch on the way out the door, all right. And then we'll be back to break down the rest of vandalism.
I'm going to eat a madeline.
How fun was that?
I did linger in the parking lot. You were gone for a bit. He's very handsome as well, everyone.
He's a cutie he is.
And it was like, you get to bring your lover to work.
Oh, gosh.
I don't know why I did it.
Now you're Toby, now you're Toby.
Oh, no, I'm sorry.
Oh, you Toby'd us. Well, let's start this episode. It's going to begin with a cold open. Nellie can't seem to find Daryl and Erin's like, You know what?
He's around here somewhere, just a regular Thursday. Erin is giddy. She's acting kind of stranger than normal, and we find out that in her mind, she's helping Daryl pull off his whole secret other job.
Yes, it's their big sneaky sneak.
Sneaky, sneaks.
Part of this ruse involves a giant bear named Beryl. It wears a shirt and she sets it in his chair in his office.
Yes, I want to point out that we did have a secret conversation in the place where all secret conversations happen the super secret stairwell.
That's right, the super secret stairwell for sneaky sneaks.
There it is, yeah.
We had a fan question from Lee M in San Jose, who said it looks like there's a piece of Painter's tape on the back of Daryl's jacket. In the scene in the stairwell, What is this, Lee M? I looked at it and you know what it is, it's actually a blue strap guard for his shoulder bag.
Oh yeah.
I zoomed in. It's just a little something I like to do for people. This maybe has been bothering Lee M for a while.
Yeah, you do the zoom in, I did.
We also had a fan catch from Patrick K. in Spring, Texas, and Catherine H. in Somerset, UK. I think maybe they did a zoom in because they said around the 30 second mark, Erin is doing jumping jacks to distract everyone around the reception area, I know.
I know.
I know, I know what is it, I'm quoting Dwight, I know.
I know, I know.
It's your uggs.
Well before that, what? There's a double catch.
What was the other one? Uggs was one of them, I saw uggs.
Okay, they said. Pam clearly isn't at her desk in those shots, but then at 35 seconds, Pam is at her desk and is wearing Uggs.
Oh.
So maybe we didn't think I would be in the frame and I was maybe I was late to set.
Or maybe they added You last minute, true, so many options here, but they all end in the fact that you had on your uggs.
Yes, I clearly didn't have time to put on my shoes. So, Angela, you reached out to the writer of this episode, Owen Ellickson.
I did, you know, Owen is such a wonderful person, and we reconnected at Phil Shea's Memorial and got to talk for a while. And I told him this episode was coming up for us and he said he'd love to contribute. So we sent Owen a few questions and we're going to share some of his answers throughout the episode. Jenna, you want to kick us off?
Sure, one of the first things he said was how much he loved shooting Daryl's talking head in this cold open.
Yeah.
He said that saying sneaky sneaks would just crack them up that every time, Craig said, sneaky sneaks.
He even said in his email Just typing out Sneaky sneaks is making me laugh.
And you know what, now? I kind of love saying it me too. Finally, for this cold Open, we got a fan question from Alexandra T. in Los Angeles, California, who wanted to know How did we get Beryl to slowly fall off the chair?
The timing was amazing, you know, that shot through the blinds.
Oh yeah.
I'll tell you, Alexandra, we had a crew member sitting on the floor and they were pulling on the bear. With one of those like filament wires, one of those little, invisible strings that magicians use, that's how Beryl fell over.
It was perfect. Before we dive into the meat of the episode, the meat of the episode, sure, why not the meat of the episode?
I have a call sheet, tidbit and a quote of the day from my digital clutter.
Whoa, okay.
Uh-huh, I've been real excited. you are real excited. I am real excited. First of all, per the call sheet, we filmed this episode the week of December 10, 2012..
And here's your weather report. The week started with partly cloudy skies and a high of 72, and halfway through production, we were dealing with rain and highs in the 50s.
That sounds like December in L.
A.
It does, but, you know, I always love that. Steve Burgess sends us the call sheets. Jenna and I immediately look at the date that we started filming. And I go to my digital clutter every week, and sometimes there's something there, sometimes there's not. And there was a delicious nugget for this week.
A quote of the day?
A quote of the day on Thursday, December 13, 2012 I had an exchange with Oscar Nunez and I emailed you about it, Jenna.
Okay.
I wrote the following So we are in here in makeup right now, we are talking about movies, et cetera. Oscar recently saw Finding a friend for the End of the World. He said he liked the movie. And then he sighed and said, Steve man, he gets to make out with Keira Knightley and Anne Hathaway.
I get to make out with Jack Coleman and we all burst out laughing.
And you wrote back Ha ha ha.
Oh my goodness, oh, that is very funny.
That's my digital clutter quote of the day. Well, let's get back to the episode.
Let's begin.
We're going to start with a Pam talking head. She says she's putting in a lot of hours on this mural and her boss is okay with it. Because, guess what, he's in the Bahamas.
Yes, this was a talking head on the move. A lot went into this. I remember setting up this scene. There was originally this scene where I was in the parking lot and I was talking on the phone to Jim.
Yeah, it was in deleted scenes. It was kind of like a flirty conversation where Jim's like, you come here this weekend and you're like, I'm busy, you come here, like, Yes, like that.
It was like, who's going to visit who?
Right?
So then we were going to cut to Pam doing this talking head in the warehouse. And it was originally supposed to be Pam standing kind of with her back to the mural, talking about how excited she was to work on it. And then the camera would pan up and we would see the graffiti and Pam would freak out.
Okay.
The problem with that was when we got in place, we realized Pam would have seen the vandalism as soon as she walked into the warehouse. Yeah.
How could you miss it?
How could she miss it? So, Lee said, Why don't we do this talking head on the move? So that when she gets to the end of her talking head? She's just coming around the corner of the warehouse shelves? And then she sees the vandalism and the camera swings up to see it too. And we were like, Yes, that's great, but timing it out exactly perfectly was a little tricky. So what we did was I stood in the spot where I needed to be to realize it, and then I said my lines and we backed up.
And then that was our starting position.
Oh.
I don't know why I remember that so vividly, but I think it's just because it's the first time that me and a whole camera crew went backwards. Yeah.
Well, let's talk about what was on the mural. It's a whole bunch of big old butts.
Yeah, and the words this sucks.
Oh, yeah, there's that.
It's so mean, it's really aggressive. We had a fan question from Bailey H. in Overland Park, Kansas, who said was the shape painted on Pam's mural always scripted to be butts? I feel like a different shape is more common in graffiti. But maybe it wouldn't pass standards and practices without a whole lot of blurs.
Uh-huh.
So, Bailey, this scene really evolved through many drafts in the table read draft. The graffiti was described like this quote. The mural is now covered in splashes of red paint, crude drawings and a few messages like This sucks and he day rules.
Uh-huh.
And then when Pam entered, Val was going to apologize to her and say, I'm just seeing this myself. I think the guys got drunk last night and did it. So that was like the original moment. Then in the original shooting draft, it was described like this quote. The mural now has some obvious striking graffiti on it.
There are a couple of crudely drawn butts and someone has written This sucks. And then they took out that extra part with Val and Bailey. Standards and practices did have notes on this.
I bet.
Here is what they said. They said the crudely painted butts on the wall should not be lifelike in appearance.
Lifelike.
Very cartoony.
It can't be too realistic.
Exactly.
Well, you know, I asked our writer, Owen, was it always the plan for Pam's mural to be vandalized? And here's what he had to say. He said He didn't think it was always the plan. It started as a way for Pam to flex her art muscles at work. But then, when they started the storyline with Brian the Boom Guy, they wanted to create an intense situation for Pam that he could help her with. So the fight over the mural fit right in.
Yes, you know, and it's interesting. I remember being in these discussions because, you know, a big question when we decided on the storyline was, well, who did it?
Right, because whoever did it is going to get fired.
And we kind of thought like, Oh, Hide had been giving Pam grief when she was painting. Maybe it's him.
Can I say in defense of hide? Not so much grief as just like, Hey, get started. He had, like, had critiques, he had thoughts, he did, but it wasn't so much like.
He was not a fan of what she was doing.
He just had a lot of opinions about it, but we didn't want to fire hide. Of course not. So. We did that kind of sneaky sneak thing where we're like, I guess we'll reveal a new warehouse worker who will be responsible for this.
That's how they came up with the character of Frank. But another thing was that later we knew that Frank and Brian were going to fight it out. Yeah, and you know, Brian, the boom guy, was like a kind of big, muscly guy and we didn't want him to beat up. Hide.
Also, Hide didn't seem like a person who would like throw punches over this.
No, Hide's not going to charge Pam. No, I think Hide actually likes Pam. He just has opinions about her art, like I said. But I totally see in casting that you needed someone big who looked intimidating if they were going to run at you.
Exactly, I mean, we'll get to it. We're a little ahead of ourselves.
Yeah, we'll get to it.
But this is everything that went into, like the discussion of this storyline, right?
Speaking of hide, I have the cutest thing to share with you, what is it? So, you know, we just had that eclipse, right? Yeah, and I was talking about it in my Insta stories, about the path of totality and all of that.
Because I love that title, like they said it so many times, the path of totality. Are you in the path of totality? I was like, this should be a movie.
Yeah, right, this should be a rom-com called The Path of Totality. But anyway, I was going on and on about it and then a few people sent me pictures they took of the eclipse.
And Hide sent me a video that he took of the eclipse, Yeah.
And I was like, Hide, this is amazing.
And he was like, Thank you.
Yeah, but he wasn't in the path of totality, right? It was a partial.
He was in partial here in California, we got partial, but he still sent me his video of it. Look here it is.
Oh, it's really good, it's cool, isn't it? I don't even understand how he got that.
All right.
Well, next up, Angela enters, simply to announce that she'll be leaving. Yes, basically, you've come to work to tell us you're leaving early. You're so proud.
I'm so proud, I'm so dressed up, I'm ready for a very fancy day. Real quick. At 1 minute 53 seconds, we have a new Meredith wig, it is a dirty blonde.
I would say, a mullet, I think this is a mullet.
It is mullet-like, Yes, yes.
Angela is going to go on to tell everyone that it's Phillip's first birthday and they're hosting a party at their house. Aaron says, Oh cute, so there'll be a bunch of kids, and Angela says, Oh no, no, children. Our house is not kid-friendly, most of our furniture is sharp.
Also, Ooh, it will be mostly campaign donors.
And.
Mm-hmm.
We got a lot of fan mail about your hair.
Oh, really.
Particularly from Hannah H. in Cleveland, Ohio, who said, Angela, your hair is drop-dead gorgeous. In this episode, Hannah would love to hear how this hairstyle was decided upon.
Oh my gosh, Hannah, you just made my day drop-dead gorgeous, you know? This was so fun for Kim and I, Kim Ferry, who did my hair on the show. We knew we wanted a half-up, half-down, but she wanted to do something fancy. Kim is phenomenal with hair.
And so she was like, What about a little swirly thing in the back and then we'll flip it up? This was all Kim's vision, She had a total vision for it. I said, Just go for it, Kim, I'm here.
I am your canvas. And then I got to go have a costume fitting and they paired it with this dress and it just all came together.
You know, I always felt bad for Kim Ferry because she was forced to do this. Just kind of boring everyday hair on all of us.
Oh yeah.
All the time.
Nothing ever fancy. And so when it came along, Oh my gosh.
And because also, she is so good at the fancy hair, yeah, she is so good at an updo, she is so good at event hair. Like, if you need someone to zhuzh you for your wedding, she's your gal.
Or a red carpet like, Oh so for her to just have to do low ponies every week.
I know. Or just a flat iron?
Exactly.
So yeah, that was a lot of fun, Hannah, thank you.
Well, guess what, Oscar has a talking head and he's going to reveal that he will be attending this party.
Yeah.
Oscar says Angela's husband and I are in love. But as a politician in this town, you still need the conventional blonde wife on your lawn signs. And then he's very proud he goes, he is risking everything to have me there today.
Me.
Well, Angela's going to call Robert. Guess where she's at?
The sneaky sneak stairway.
The secret sneaky sneak stairwell. Mm-hmm, she says. Robert, we agreed that you wouldn't be seen with him in public. It's humiliating for me, you know what?
If you get to bring a stud, maybe I do too.
Next, we're going to go to Jim and Daryl's apartment. Jim is eating some cereal in the kitchen. He's just like leaning against the counter, He's not sitting at a table, Daryl's going to enter.
And they have a joint talking head where they say, we're sharing a sublet in Philly, Yeah, their grown, sexy-ass roommate.
And Jim says, You know, I miss Pam and the kids, but I'm really enjoying letting my hair down and living single life. Excuse me, you're not single, Jim.
Oh, you know what, though, Pam's the bad guy, so yeah.
We also find out that Daryl is the clean one and Jim is the messy one.
Yeah, we had a fan question from Clara D in Germany, who asked. I think the storyline of Jim and Daryl sharing the apartment is so funny and relatable. Do you know who came up with it?
Well, you know, of course, we had to ask the writer Owen, and here's what he had to say, he said. I think I may have technically pitched it, but really, the storyline pitched itself. Two of our people are in a different city, they'd probably be crashing together.
And what would that look like? Daryl, being quietly finicky, was always a character quirk that I loved, and John leaned into being the bad roommate in such a wonderful way.
Well, I agree that this was a genius storyline and it generated a lot of fan mail. We have a lot of fan catches based on just this opening scene. Here we go first off from Caitlin C.
In Tyler, Texas, who said I've always found it strange that Jim is so untidy in this episode. Because at the very beginning of the show. During his barbecue, we see that he kept his place and his bedroom very neat and organized.
Yeah, but I think my brain could make the leap that he was having a party, so they cleaned up their apartment for the party.
Sure, sure.
And a girl he liked was coming over.
Yes.
So there might've been extra effort.
This is good. And finally, we had this fan catch from Noah R in Freeport, Illinois, who said, Okay, ladies, this is a weird one and I apologize in advance. Okay, at 3 minutes 27 seconds. When Jim and Daryl are explaining their rooming situation, the camera shows Jim's clothes spread out all over the floor.
In this pile, there are a pair of boxers. However, in Pam's wedding video diary from season six Superfan episodes, Jim is shown in tidy whities. This leads me to my question, When did Jim make the switch? This is not something that needs to be analyzed, but my brain decided to do it anyway, so I thought I would bring it to your attention.
Thank you and I'm sorry.
Yeah, I love that observation, actually, because I remember when we see Jim in the background of Pam's video and we see him in tidy whities. I was shocked because I thought Jim was probably a boxer guy. I don't know why, but that's just what I thought. So that is really funny. Like, yeah, when did he make the switch?
I don't know, but good catch, you cannot change things, people will notice. That is what I've learned with our fan mail and with the catches. And also I have to say we have noticed some things too, Angela.
Yeah, I mean, here's the beauty of this show. Every time you watch it, you discover something new, whether it's a really great line that a character says. There were a few in this episode that I completely forgot about and made me laugh out loud.
Yeah.
I'm going to point them out when we get to it or something in the background. Because this show is such a comfort show that you rewatch it so many times. So, yeah, I could totally see you catching the fact that Jim switched undies.
Well, also in this montage, you see Jim in the background strumming a guitar. Remember, earlier in our breakdown, we had a whole debate about whether or not this proved that Jim really plays the guitar.
Yeah, mm-hmm. I mean, he brought it to Philly with him.
He did.
Back in the warehouse, I love this scene. Pam is now getting on the lift with a megaphone. She's got her hand on her hip, She is pissed off.
Talk about a soapbox.
Yeah, exactly, although I just love the background noise of the lift, like, Meh, I know it's just so funny.
Yes, she's demanding to know who vandalized her mural. And she says, I'm going to stay up here all day if I have to. And then there's a pause and then she's like, Meh, maybe I'll come down if I want to, it's my choice. I remember doing that and it, like, cracked me up doing it.
Pam is now going to have a talking head where she says, You know what? Unlike Angela, who calls a lawyer whenever someone watches a YouTube video of animals doing it, she doesn't demand justice often. But someone should be fired over this. She's like, and I'm just kind of on my own here. And then we see a little flirty moment from Brian, the boom guy, when he bops her on the head with the boom mic.
She's like, Okay, I'm not completely alone. Thank you, Brian. Hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like Brian is really stepping over the line of that documentary film crew now, yeah.
This was a hot debate.
I bet.
Because so far, we have only seen or heard from Brian when Pam brings him in, Yeah, but this episode, Brian will be inserting himself.
Yes, mm-hmm, mm-hmm.
This enraged people, this little boom tap.
It really did.
Next up, we are going to, Wow, I love this storyline, I can't wait to discuss it. Jim and Daryl are at work, and Jim has walked in drinking coffee out of Daryl's to-go coffee mug.
It's clearly labeled with a piece of tape, that, says Daryl.
Yeah.
And Daryl notices I think we should just skip ahead because I can't wait to talk about this.
Okay, let's do it.
So the next beat in the storyline is that Daryl is going to call Jim out for taking his thermos.
Yeah.
His clearly marked thermos.
Yeah, I have an a-hole alert.
This begins a standoff in which Jim spitefully pours his coffee out into the trash. Can. Daryl's like, Man, you don't have to do that, but Jim just looks at him with this snarky look and pours it into the trash.
And then he goes, Do you want me to wash it out as well? And Daryl says, Oh, are you going to wash it? or just let it soak? because now Daryl's had it?
I know.
Jim, then, just like, hands him the thermos and he walks out. But things would have further escalated with two back-to-back talking heads and they were in the shooting draft.
Oh my gosh, please share.
It would have started with a Jim talking head. Jim says, Daryl's being weird. Roommates share stuff, it's not a big deal. I mean, he can use my groceries when I buy some, which I'm gonna.
Okay, then it would go to Daryl. Daryl would say, Messy's one thing. Now he's screwing with my stuff, he holds up the thermos.
You see that?
That's peanut butter, he got peanut butter on my thermos. He shakes his head. You don't do that, you don't go and do that.
Well, Jim's position is like, it's no big deal, really. You're going to make a big deal out of this. I'm using your thermos, so I have to ask the question, Is it a big deal?
If you and I were roommates, yep. And you had a thermos that you liked so much that you took a piece of tape and taped your name to it. I wouldn't use it. I'd be like, clearly, this thermos means a lot to this person. They have gone out of their way to label it.
I wouldn't use it.
But isn't the point that, like Daryl has labeled everything, Daryl doesn't really want to share anything, right?
Well, then that's is he too fussy? maybe, but that's your roommate.
But also, isn't he being forced into some of this fussiness in reaction to Jim's messiness? Like, if he doesn't label his thermos and Jim uses it and doesn't wash it, then he doesn't have a thermos.
Exactly, I support Daryl in this.
I support Daryl. Well, I think. On that note, why don't we take a break?
Yes, and when we come back, Pam is hot to trot in the conference room.
Let's head back to the Dunder Mifflin bullpen. Because Pam is just going to burst into the office and say, conference room meeting.
I had so much fun doing that, I bet, I bet.
That's like the best, that's like iconic office moment. Everyone's like, What do you mean, Pam? Why are you calling this conference room meeting? And she's like, Listen, David Wallace gave me the clearance to do this.
And everyone's like, but then Dwight's like, conference room meeting and kind of gets Pam's back.
That's all he needed to hear. Yeah, he's such a rule follower. Well, everybody gathers in the conference room and Pam is going to explain that her mural has been vandalized. They put paint all over her mural.
So now Erin is like, But wait, didn't you want paint all over your mural? and Pam's like, Yeah, but not that paint. She was so different paints. So it's like, very funny, but the dynamic is so classic.
Office if you're a big fan of the show. I feel like you had to see the parallels of whenever Michael Scott would hold a meeting and everyone would interject and get them off topic.
Yes.
It's so fun, I love that Pam also had this moment.
Well, Meredith is going to throw out that. She's also upset because someone wrote her number on the men's room wall and they got the number wrong. It's 6782, not 6783..
And then Creed has this great line, and it's one of the ones I was talking about. Where you watch these episodes so many times and you discover new things. Yeah, this line made me laugh so hard. He just goes 6783, also a good time.
Less mileage, so good, so good.
And then Oscar is so funny.
Oscar's like, You know, I just don't think anything can be done.
Yeah, and I also love when, Phyllis says. David Wallace called this meeting.
Yeah.
And Pam's like, he sure did. Yes, well, listen, it's clear David Wallace did not call this meeting and nobody cares.
No one cares.
Everyone leaves, except for Dwight and Nellie. They say they will help her.
Yeah, Pam has a talking head where she says, you know what? She wanted this like righteous mob. But instead she ended up with Dwight and Nellie. They do both have mob mentality, though, and she's pretty sure that Dwight has a pitchfork in his car.
And then Dwight pokes his head in and he's like, you need my pitchfork, and he, like, runs out. We had a fan question about this. Angela Antoine, S, from Maryland, said I really hope you both read this and discuss.
This episode has become hard for me to watch, along with Scott's Tots.
Wow.
The vandalism of Pam's work is just downright mean. I know that some of these warehouse guys are newer, but I still can't believe someone would do that. Furthermore, Val really upset me how, as the boss of the warehouse, does she not step in at all? And then what about certain office workers?
Like, how do they not seem to care about Pam's feelings? After all of these years of working together, weddings, baby showers? They are just so indifferent to this situation.
You know, Antoine, this is a really good question. I personally liked the iteration that you shared with us, Jenna. Where they did write that Val comes out and is like, Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I think a bunch of the guys got drunk last night in the warehouse. That's the one that makes the most sense to me.
Yeah, and they did write that. I don't know how. It didn't ultimately make it into the shooting draft, but I think there was this feeling that it wasn't as serious as it ended up being.
Yeah, I have to say I think this might be one of those times when, like, they wrote this stuff about Val and then they took it out. But we all thought it had been addressed because we knew about it. Does that make sense?
Yeah, but in taking it out, it does make her seem like she's not trying to help. But there is, you know, there was way more in the shooting draft, where Pam goes to Val's office and they have a whole conversation about it. But it was a lot more fleshed out and none of it made it.
I know.
So that, to me, for Val as a character, is a disservice that it didn't make it. The episode was just so big, also from the story perspective, and now we're getting deep into story here. But Val's help would have been the rational help, and for the story to be funny and ultimately end in this scene in the parking lot. Pam needs help from people who aren't good at helping in this moment. That's true.
She needs, like to be doing graffiti on a truck, that's right, Val would not have led her that way. No, right.
That's right, so that's the other reason. And then, Antoine, one last thing you brought up how no one in the office seems to care, and I have to agree with you.
I think there has been a real pattern over the course of all these seasons that no one really supports Pam's art. No one went to her art show. I know only Michael, so I don't know why everyone's being assholes about that.
But yeah.
Well, listen, we know why Angela isn't invested in this, she's got a lot on her mind.
She has a huge party that she is hosting.
And now she has to find her extra plus one because the senator gets an extra plus one.
She gets to find her stud, that's right, he gets his stud. Angela's going to approach Dwight and invite him to Philip's birthday party. He said. He's not interested.
And then Angela's like, But you could pitch your beet salt idea to the state transportation secretary? Okay, okay, come on, guys, I have two things about this moment.
My first one I titled, Hold the Phone.
Okay.
Because you guys remember in the episode New Guys, when Dwight had a talking head, where he shared how his summer was said. He created a new energy drink, made a beet runoff.
Yes.
And then I looked it up and it turns out you can't really drink beet runoff. But then I found that article online about engineers choosing beet runoff. Because they were trying to find alternatives to road salt, so they were using this beet runoff salt. And it's less damage to the environment.
Jenna I remembered all of it. The minute I heard the line, I thought, this is a real thing, yes.
I was like, our writers knew, yes, anyway. I was really tickled by it. clearly, I got very excited. I was like, I know about that.
What was your second thing? what did you title that?
My second thing, I didn't title, it's just that this scene was longer in the shooting draft. And there was an extra beat between Angela and Dwight, where Angela is trying to flirt with Dwight. And it read like this It really made me laugh ready.
Dwight is at his desk. Angela approaches and flirtily sits on his desk, Dwight, what is it? I have vengeance to exact? Oh, Angela. Exciting news.
There's room for one more at my son's birthday event. And I want. And she starts poking him, You dwight, your fingers are like frozen knitting needles, and I'm not interested.
And then it would have gone to the next beat. Where she's like, you could tell the state Transportation secretary about your beet salt. But anyway, I just loved that moment when he was like, your fingers are like frozen knitting needles and I'm not interested.
Well, I had a little catch from this scene.
Okay.
In the moment right before this, Pam's having her talking head, and Dwight says, Do you need a pitchfork? And he runs out the door. The very next scene, he's coming from his desk.
Yes, because I would have just been sitting on his desk, flirting with him.
But he just ran out the door to get his pitchfork.
I know it doesn't add up.
It doesn't add up. Well, I'll tell you, Dwight isn't going to the car and he isn't going to the party. Where he's going is to the warehouse. Mm-hmm. He has a plan.
He is going to have every warehouse employee draw a butt and sign it, and then he's going to compare those drawings to the butts on the mural.
But the folks in the warehouse are onto him, they're like, you're just trying to see if we draw butts like the butt on the mural.
Yeah.
And then Nellie's like, How about drawing big? WS? Yes.
And Dwight says, Or breasts without nipples, all right. This is when we're going to get introduced to Frank, played by Brad William Hanke, who is famous for his roles on October Road. Justified Orange is the new black, and, of course, lost.
Yeah.
Which was noticed by Rochelle M. from Dunville, Ontario, Canada, who said, You know, throughout the series, Dwight makes a lot of lost references. Wouldn't Dwight have recognized him from the show?
I wish he had, I wish he had, I wish he had said, You look a lot like that guy on Lost.
I know, and I thought this was interesting, according to Brad's IMDB Trivia. Prior to beginning his acting career, he played defensive line at the University of Arizona and was drafted by the New York Giants in 1989. Wow. After being cut from the Giants, he played for the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV.
And then he retired from professional football in 1994 following numerous injuries and became an actor.
Wow, how about that?
That's so cool, yeah.
This drawing of the W or the butts, or the boobs, it's not working.
No.
So they switch gears. Dwight's like, Okay, Nate is who's going to crack, and I know just how to get him to crack. I'm going to tell him that his mother died. It usually works.
Poor Nate, I know.
Poor Nate, he's like, Oh, no, not again.
And then Dwight's like, Guess what, she's pulling through, she's going to be fine. He's like, What?
Yeah, they get Nate in Val's office and they are going to get him to say who did it? Who vandalized the mural?
It didn't take much.
ANGELa There was an improv by Mark Brooks, who plays Nate, that was so funny and unexpected. It is my favorite blooper. I can't believe we didn't get it in the episode, clearly we just all broke.
And I don't know why we didn't redo it and make this the new thing. I have to play it for you, it was amazing.
Frank did it, I don't know his last name, it's Frank.
Frank did it.
Did it? sure, Frank, did it, did it.
So good.
I have seen that blooper before, but it is so good. Sure, Frank did it, did it.
Exactly.
So good, he's so funny.
We laughed so hard in that office doing that interrogation. I remember the first time that I slammed my hand down and I said, Who did it? We all laughed. I don't know why, everything about it was just so-.
Over the top, yes.
It was so funny, we just laughed so hard in that room. Oh my gosh.
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