The Boat

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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.

Hey, look at you lady.

Look at me.

Yes, I'm looking at you, I'm happy to see your face.

I'm wearing a new shirt.

You are.

I'm getting into the button downs.

Finally, can I just say, finally, why? because I love a button down, and now you're in the button down club I am.

Well, today we're gonna talk about the boat. It is season nine, episode six, written by Dan Sterling and directed by John Krasinski. Do you know what the alternate title for this episode was?

I'm gonna guess, Okay, I don't know, I'm gonna guess ahoy.

No.

No, not okay.

It was Andy's exit. Oh, you know, cause he leaves. Yes, he goes away in this episode.

Once again, Andy just leaves without giving any notice. He did this when he went to Florida. What the heck?

Yes, and yet he's still the best candidate for manager. I just wanna say Daryl's never gone anywhere. No, Daryl has been there, he hasn't started a business with a friend on the side.

And time and time again, he has great ideas.

Yep, well, here is your summary for the boat. Following a series of poor decisions by Mr. Bernard, the Bernard family finances are in ruin. Andy attempts to salvage things by selling the family boat.

Kevin of all people.

I loved this particular storyline.

I loved it so much.

All right, fast. Fact number one is a location breakdown. We got a fan question from Abby V in Knoxville, Tennessee, who said, Where did you film the scenes with Erin and Andy on the boat? whose boat was it?

I do.

She said that we scouted a few available boats and we had a very specific criteria. We needed a boat that was big enough where we could shoot down below, but also small enough that Ed could actually sail it by himself. That it would be realistic.

Yeah.

We also needed it to look luxurious enough for the Bernard family to have owned it, she said. We rented a boat from a yacht broker and this boat technically could not have been in Andy's family since before he was born. But it was a pretty good match for ones of that time, so I guess a little bit of a cheat there. I wonder if there's some boat people out there who saw that. When they saw the episode, they were like, there's no way that's been in their family that long.

100, because if you're a boat person, you know everything about boats.

Kind of like you and trains.

I don't know everything about trains, I just like trains. But let me tell you, the fun person to sit at a dinner party is someone that loves boats or trains.

Oh, I beg to differ.

Are perhaps hummingbirds? I want to sit next to those people, I want to hear all your boat stories.

Okay.

Jenna does not.

I mean, maybe, maybe, maybe not.

You know what Jenna would do? The nod? It's coming up in the whale in the next episode.

It's true, Kelly said. This was not the only boat. We were a little bit like speed here. it's not that we had a bunch of different, like main picture boats, we only had that one.

We didn't have 13 boats.

We did not, but we had a lot of support boats, she said. We had, Yeah, I know there's support boats, don't you tweet?

Yeah, it was like the main boat and his buddies.

Exactly, lady, and you know, of course, there were a ton of safety meetings.

Oh, yes.

There was a full page safety memo that went out to the cast and crew. It was extensive.

It was so detailed, you and I both read it, and some of the things on there cracked me up.

Oh, it's very funny.

Wait, I wanna share a few, okay, and then you share some, okay? So some of these safety measures, Jenna, just the way they were listed and phrased, cracked me up because it reminded me of a memo. We might get from, like a second grade school teacher, on what to do on a field trip.

Yes, so much.

Ready? Here were the three that really made me chuckle number one, number one on the list. Use a lot of sunblock.

Mm-hmm.

Number two, If you are feeling seasick, please let the medic know. Number three, if you need to throw up, please do so over the side of the boat and not in the boat.

Yes.

There were so many instructions for what to do should you might vomit.

Well, what was interesting is it was very clear to me from this memo how protective they were of the boat. There were like three different ways that they told you not to ruin the boat. It was like, if you have to throw up, don't throw up in the boat, throw up on the side of the boat, and then a lot of mention of don't scratch the boat.

Protect the boat at all costs, but also wear your sunblock.

All right, those are your boat facts folks. Are you ready for fast fact number two?

Yeah.

Okay, there was a super amazing thing that was happening the week. They were scouting this location, so they're out at the dock, they're looking at boats.

Mm-hmm.

And do you remember this moment in history? Angela, This is like Los Angeles history. The space shuttle endeavor, Oh yeah, which they put on top of a 747 airplane. Because they were transporting it from Florida to the Los Angeles Science Center. Where it was gonna be on display.

Of course, everyone in Los Angeles was abuzz about this, you know? The part I remember is how, once it landed at the airport, they then had to get it all the way through the busy, narrow streets of Los Angeles. To the giant, I don't know what you call it, the giant aircraft hangar where it now sits, where you can go with your kids. I was a chaperone for the year my daughter's school went. It was their trip in first grade, and we went and saw the space shuttle and I was a chaperone. It's so, so amazing.

It was so crazy and I completely remember it. I looked it up. They had to temporarily remove or raise up traffic lights.

Yes.

They had to remove 400 trees along the side of the road to make room, but they pledged to replace each removed tree with four new trees. So I guess we got 1,600 trees in the end. But the thing that I remember is that at the time, my family was living up in the hills. And we had a big kitchen window and we had made a makeshift changing station for my son in the kitchen. So if we were upstairs in the house, which is where the kitchen was, we could change him easily. You know, you do that.

That's so wild.

And I went and I tried to grab my phone, but I didn't get it in time to take a picture. But I was like, Oh, my God.

And then, of course, it was crazy.

Because a couple of years later, I took him there so that he could see it.

Yeah, it's a really great visit, if you're in Los Angeles, you know. The other thing is, if you go to see the space shuttle, they have this great. I don't know what you call it. Like a mini documentary of getting it to the big aircraft hangar, what all it took, and then how people, like, line the streets to see it.

Yeah.

And I remember it was like the evening news, like every day, I'd be like, Where is it now? you're on the TV, where is it now?

I totally remember it.

Wow, and that was going on.

During the prep of this episode, all right, moving on to fast fact number three fan question from Logan B. In North Carolina, and many other people wrote in about this as well, Logan said. I noticed that Andrew Santino is in this episode, his podcast is so funny and I would love to hear about his time on the show. Yes, everybody.

In the big sweater.

Yes is actor and comedian Andrew Santino. He actually has two podcasts, he has Whiskey Ginger, where he interviews friends while they sip whiskey. Hello, Yes.

Hello, give us a call.

Yeah, up for it. And he also has the podcast Bad Friends, which he co-hosts with Bobby Lee, who was my co-star on Splitting Up together. What? We have a Splitting Up Together crossover.

We do.

So I slid into Andrew's DMS, we haven't done that in a while, Ange did a little DM slide.

I know, I know.

And he was kind enough to respond, He sent us audio clips.

They're very funny, I can't wait for you to share them.

Of course, we had to ask him, how did he get his job on the office and was he a fan of the show? Here's what he had to say.

Alison Jones was the casting director. Became a huge fan of mine from all my other failed auditions that I did for her. And she was like, I think I've got something perfect for you. It's a minimal amount of lines, but you have to look like a sloppy sailor in an oversized sweater. And I said, Sign me up, that's perfect.

Good old Alison Jones, once again finding us great people.

I know mm-hmm.

So I had to ask him, since this was one of his first jobs, what was it like for him? To show up on set and be directed by John Krasinski and then be in a scene with this group of actors? Here's what he said.

He was extremely mean and rude. He would throw stuff at us in between takes. If you messed up, he would yell at you, he would give you intense stare. Downs. A very, very mean, rude man and I will never work with him again.

So cool the Grobster, yeah.

That's awesome. Is it just me or does it sound like Andrew is driving down the freeway?

It does sound like he's in motion.

Like, I feel like he's running errands, answering our questions. I love it, I love it so much.

Well, that's all I got. Lady, do you want to take a break?

I do, and when we come back, I have something to share about, some ice cream.

Oh, okay, I love an ice cream share.

We are back and the first scene is Oscar. He's getting out of his car, it's early in the morning, and he asks the camera crew to follow him around back. He says to them, Look, I know you saw me with the senator, and you know, I think I'm in love, possibly for the first time. And he really hopes that he can count on everyone's discretion.

Yes.

Guess who wanders up behind him?

It's Kevin and he's having his, I guess, morning ice cream behind the dumpster.

His morning mint chocolate chip, which falls on the ground. When he hears this news and instantly Oscar's like, Oh crap, he's like, why?

Why are you here?

Well, of course, this made me curious about ice cream in the morning, you know, it did, and I've got a according to the internet for you.

Oh, and according to the whole internet, I can't wait.

You love these? A study from Curin University in Tokyo found that eating ice cream in the morning may improve alertness and mental performance.

Wait, we need to let that land, because you have basically just given everyone permission to start their day with ice cream, okay?

I know, ready, so. A professor and his team analyzed the results of multiple clinical trials that measured brain activity after eating various foods in the morning. And, according to the study, frozen foods, particularly ice cream, had an awakening effect on the brain. As a result, study subjects showed higher alertness.

And quicker response.

At the same time, ice cream stimulated high-frequency alpha waves that serve as connectors between conscious thinking and subconscious mind, and is responsible for calmness and relaxation. Consequently, the study subjects showed less mental irritability.

It's like, better than a cup of coffee in the morning. It sounds like, get up, have your bowl of ice cream. It's gonna wake you up, it's gonna put you in a good mood.

Mm-hmm, it's gonna make you alert.

I'm so sorry. Why has this study not been more widely publicized?

And who knew that Kevin was onto something?

This is making me wanna go eat some ice cream.

I know.

Thank you for that, according to the internet. Angela, I absolutely loved it. You're welcome.

You're welcome.

Well, this episode is gonna open with Andy. He's in a meeting with some financial advisors, they're dealing with his family's financial crisis.

Yeah, and he's doing a good job, he's sort of giving them orders, he's very direct, very focused. This cuts to a Jim and Pam talking head, where they share that Andy's family is kind of in a meltdown. His dad spent all their money, fled to Argentina with a younger woman.

Yeah, Andy has a talking head where he says, Yeah, the nards are hurting, the family is shattered. He's doing damage control.

Only thing is he wishes dad could see him, but you know what his dad caused this, so f him.

Yeah, that's right.

Nards are hurting is such a great phrase, like, I feel like I wanna say it, like, when I get up in the morning and I'm feeling a little creaky, like my nards are hurting.

Can I say that? Yeah, it works.

It works, right.

You can just go have a bowl of ice cream and then your nards would be better.

Yeah, my nards are hurting, I need some ice cream. I thought this might be a good time to give you a weather report.

Sure, there's never a bad time.

I'm just, I'm on fire today, I'm like, according to the internet weather report, all right. The week we filmed this episode, the high on set, which you know, was in Van Nuys, California, was 100 degrees for multiple days in a row. Triple digits.

Wow.

But the day we filmed the boat scenes in Santa Monica and Marina del Rey, the high was 77 degrees.

That's why people live by the beach.

I know, for reference from our set door to door, I did a Google map, okay, from Van Nuys to Marina del Rey, it's only 21.9 miles, but look at that temperature drop.

I know.

Yeah, I know also a little something from the call sheet, remember when we did work bus and they put the little bus-like graphics on all the little call sheets.

Yeah.

On these call sheets, we have a little sailboat and some whales.

See, I love when they did that stuff on the call sheet.

I do, too.

Just getting creative, getting a little crafty.

Yeah.

Giving some little icons, what do you call those little cartoons? little cartoons?

Everybody loves a cartoon.

And these were in color, what?

Yeah, just the cartoon was in color, the bus was black and white, but these guys were in color. Little blue whale, little sailboat. I'll have to put them in stories.

Well, now we're gonna go to our secret stairwell. This is where all of our most private conversations occur. Mm-hmm.

It's the secret stairwell.

The Secret Stairwell, It's where we talk about secrets. I loved Oscar in this scene.

Oscar is phenomenal in this whole episode, he's so good, Brian too, so good the two of them, yeah.

I love this pairing, mm-hmm. Oscar is just pleading with Kevin, trying to reason with Kevin about this new knowledge that he has about the affair. Please, please keep it to yourself, Kevin, he says. I'm in love with the senator.

And I need time to sort this out in a responsible matter. And he says, it means the world to me. Okay, and then I loved Brian's performance as Kevin, he says, That's beautiful.

Yeah, I love all of these little pairings that we're gonna be getting in these episodes coming up. Yeah, it had a little Office Olympics to it, maybe.

Yes, yes, exactly. So what's going on is Pam is gonna get a phone call from the local radio station stating that Iris Black, host of the show Biz Whiz, wants to interview someone from Dunder Mifflin on air today. Dwight is so excited because Pam's like, Who wants to talk to Iris? Here's what Dwight says. I want you to hear it because hear me out, folks, I think it could be a great ringtone.

I do, i do, i do, i do i do.

I do, I do, I do, I do such a great like deep cut office fan ringtone, right? 100%.

If I'm like, at the grocery store and all of a sudden my phone goes off and you just hear, I do, I do, I do, come on.

Well, Dwight has a talking head where he explains that he's volunteering because this radio appearance could make him famous. And it's a lot easier to sell paper when you're famous. That's what's motivating him.

Imagine all the paper Brad Pitt could sell?

Yeah, hi, it's Brad Pitt. Do you want some paper? Yes, I do, yes.

I mean, you know, if Keanu Reeves sold paper, I'd buy it.

Well, there's your number one paper salesman right there.

Come on, come on, number one paper salesman.

And then Meredith starts to flirt with Andy.

And Andy's like, We're done here.

Yeah.

Meredith is trying to hit people when they're at their lowest.

Yeah. Meanwhile, Dwight is annoying everyone with his preparation for his interview. He's doing his speech exercises, his tongue twisters.

Mm-hmm, I think we should hear it.

Brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr, brr.

Greta, the tittle tattle, prattled on about the little metal bottle. She spat a bit of spittle on the mother brittle tattle in a bitter battle.

So I remember when we did the table read for this, this tongue twister was in the table read. And Rain nailed it, and then when we did it, when we were shooting it, he nailed it and I was like, Rain, how are you doing that so well?

That's why I wanted to play the clip, because rain is so good at these tongue twisters.

He said Jenna, we did these in like, theater school. He's like, I know all of them, I can do all of them.

Not only does Rain say the one that we just heard, but as he's walking out, he says. Trisky Siskel flicked a biscuit in Nikki Six's sticky whiskers.

Yeah, and he says it perfectly.

Yeah, as if it's nothing.

I know.

Well, this, of course, made me curious about tongue twisters y'all.

Does the internet have something to say about them?

Yeah, the internet does. I'm calling these wait for it tongue twister tidbits.

I can't wait.

Come on, who was on a roll?

I don't know, but that's what she said, okay?

Okay, did you know that? Every year, on the second Sunday in November, it is International Tongue Twister Day?

I did not. How do you celebrate?

I'm glad you said that because they encourage you to celebrate this day and try some new tongue twisters. Oh, and let me tell you, there's lots of them on the internet.

Mm-hmm.

Here's another tongue twister tidbit. They were very popular in the 19th century, and the first book of Tongue Twisters was titled, Are you ready for it?

Okay.

Peter Piper's practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation Oh my God, I couldn't do it. I bet Ray could do it. Peter Okay, Peter Piper's practical principles of plain and perfect pronunciation.

Wow.

It was published by John Harris in 1813.

Like, what are these words? I can't do it, damn it.

The sixth sheik's, the sixth sick sheik's. I'm gonna, you get to say it, you know what, you get to say this one.

Okay, the sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick. Hey, you're so good. So the sheik.

Sick.

Sick, and so is his sixth sheep. They're both sick.

They're both sick. And then, more recently, in 2013, according to speech communication scientists from MIT, the most difficult tongue twister is pad kid poured curd pulled cod, which that one I have no problem with, which is interesting.

I don't even know what that means.

I don't know what it means either. So that tongue twister wasn't difficult for me to say, and I was curious why was one harder for me than the other? And that led me to an interesting study on the science of why tongue twisters are difficult to say.

I'm sorry before you go on, I just have to say it.

What?

Is this a study that we needed? Like, you know, like in the world, in the world, like of all the studies we can do and listen, I am super interested in studies, I love a study.

Okay.

But I guess I'm just wondering, you know what I mean, like, could you get rid of my cat allergy first?

Okay, fine, the part of it that was interesting to me is that. They studied the neural codes and how your brain identifies speech and the muscles that need to move your mouth and jaw to form words. And, basically, tongue twisters are hard because the representations in your brain greatly overlap. And I thought that was interesting.

I take it back, everything I just said about the study. This sounds very important in the world of like speech, speech impediments, speech development.

Yes, and just learning how your brain translates speech, it's fascinating, actually, Jenna, but there you go, those are my tongue twister tidbits for you.

Well, Angela, I actually, I take it back. Everything about that study, it seems very important. It's about speech, it's about how speech works in your brain. I stand corrected.

I was riveted by it, Jenna riveted.

I'm sorry I poo-pooed the study.

It's okay, you can un-poo-poo it.

I un-poo-poo it.

Okay, now Andy is in the conference room with Erin, Oscar and Daryl. They were reviewing all of the assets that his father couldn't steal and are trying to figure out what to sell to take care of his mom. Yeah, and you know what?

Yeah, what if we sold everything but the boat?

Right?

But that would only give her about six months of income.

Andy did have a speech about the boat that was deleted. It's in the shooting draft, and we learned the boat's name. Oh, I thought I would share it.

Yeah, please.

Andy says It's our sailboat. The Fancy Free, a historic Boston Whaler L-class.

Well, it's very interesting that he says the name of the boat is the fancy Free, because at the end of the episode, when it's sailing away, it has a completely different name. Yeah, it's called the Aspire 2..

Probably because that was the actual boat name and we couldn't touch it.

Well, Andy says in this scene that the boat is a 43-foot tartan sloop. We rented this exact boat, a 43-foot tartan sloop. I didn't know what that was, so I looked it up. It is considered a medium-sized yacht, it's just barely medium.

Holy Moly.

Yeah, so I guess that would be a condo and some living expenses, according to RightBoat..com, the price of the boat-.

Oh, wait, wait, is this an according to the internet moment for you?

Well, no, this is according to a literal website. See, that's the difference, Angela. You often just attribute your facts to the internet without giving like a specific. It would be like if you wrote a bibliography for a school report and you just said, according to the library.

Well, I often go to multiple websites and I get the consensus, but like the tongue twister thing was Nature.com, that was one spot.

Yes, it just it tickles me that you say, according to the internet.

According to the internet.

Yes, this is according to Rightboat.com. See, I didn't look up multiple websites, so I want you to know if you disagree, this is not an internet consensus, this is Rightboat.com.

Okay, that's it.

They said that the price of this boat can vary depending on the model, the finish, the engines, and they can actually cost as much as a million dollars. You know, geez, yeah, if you've done it up real nice inside, maybe it's a million.

Wowzers.

But this website took me down a little bit of a rabbit hole because it listed what is the largest sailing yacht ever in the world? The largest one.

Okay, I certainly don't know.

It is called sailing yacht A, that's the name of it.

They couldn't come up with a better name for the biggest boat, the biggest yacht.

Sailing Yacht A. I know it's very.

Wah-wah.

Bland. It cost $600 million. Get out, mm-hmm.

Does it come with a plane?

No.

What?

Not that I saw. It's very secretive. There are very, very few photos of this yacht. There are a few of it from the exterior and almost no interior photos. It's a very secret yacht.

Yeah, like, what's inside it? why aren't there pictures of the inside?

What's running up that ticket number?

That's on the inside, that's what I wanna know.

I know.

We should mom detective this.

We should, mom Detective. We'll take a little dinghy out in the ocean.

Right, it's gonna take a little bit of a road trip for this one.

How will we board this yacht? I don't know? will we drop in from the air? will we try to dinghy it? What do we do?

It's very large and it's expensive. I bet it has some anti-theft devices that we don't wanna encounter.

So it's also like the outside of it, there's very little outdoor area when I was looking at the pictures of it, you're very inside if you're in this boat. And it also like it kind of looks like a skyscraper, like it's very smooth, it's like a metal building.

It's a boat bunker.

Kind of, it has an underwater observation deck, so while you're in it, you can see stuff, I guess, and here's the thing it's. Top speed is 21 knots, which is just over 25 miles per hour.

That's like a pontoon boat.

You're going so slow in it.

My uncle, Sonny, used to get a pontoon boat and we'd all get on it.

We had a pontoon boat growing up.

Yeah, we would rent this one and you go like three miles an hour, it feels like.

I love a pontoon boat.

I love a pontoon. Next vacation, you and I.

A pontoon boat, I would be up for it.

Let me tell you if we, like, had a little cooler, some snacks, maybe, you know, we're not driving an adult beverage on a pontoon boat on the lake. Get out so fun.

So fun. My final fact about this boat the sailing yacht a. So, it costs $600 million to buy it, but it also costs $60 million per year to operate it, like it's operating costs.

Just stupid, that's stupid, sorry boat owner.

Sorry, andre.

Sorry, Andre, this seems very frivolous to me.

I don't know why that tickled me, but it is. It's so unnecessary. What do you need this boat for?

I don't understand it, I don't understand anything about it.

I don't understand yachting in general.

We've talked about this, I know we've talked about this.

I don't get what's fun about it.

I like to be on a boat like a speedboat, or on the lake, or a pontoon boat.

Yes, all those things I get, I like boating, but I just don't need to like yacht.

Yeah.

And you know what, it's a good thing because I can't afford it, so there we go.

Geez Louise at those prices.

Shall we move on to the next scene?

Yes, we are out in the bullpen. Oscar can see Angela and Kevin talking by the copy machine. It's jammed. Angela wonders if the day could get any worse, and Kevin's like, Oh, it could.

Mm-hmm.

And Kevin pivots, Yeah, Kevin does okay.

ANGELA We got a fan question from Shaylee D. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it is for you.

Okay, Shaylee, what's up?

Shaylee says Angela, your hair looks so pretty in this episode, with the half up, half down side braid. Did you like this hairstyle and was it hard for Kim Ferry to do?

Oh, Shaylee, I love this question. We got very excited this season. About my hair, basically, I just told Kim, I wanna look pretty. I don't want any severe ponytails. If possible, because I had this fun love triangle story between the senator and Oscar and Kim was great. I know I've shared this before, but Shaylee Kim is a fantastic braider.

I also think she invented some braids, like, she's so good.

She's so crafty with the hair.

Yeah, yeah.

But we were talking about some kind of half up, half down situation. And she was like, what if I do the braids, you know, on the side and then clip it in the back? And I was like, let's do it. And I love this look. I recently did the same hairstyle for my daughter for a friend's wedding.

I love it, I think that this is so perfect. Because, like you said, Angela is now married to the senator. And so I could see her wanting to bump it up a little bit. But then the braid is still a nod to the Angela. we know Angela loves these braids.

Yeah.

It's such a great, great hairstyle, and I noticed your hair in this episode too. It's so cute.

Well, thank you Shaylee. thank you Jenna. Well, ultimately, Andy decides, you know what, we have to sell the boat. He's a little teary about it, but he decides to do it.

Yeah, and meanwhile, the radio station calls Pam back and cancels the interview. There's actually this new cupcake place that's opening up at Steamtown Mall, and they're gonna go cover that instead. So Nellie's gonna go tell Dwight that the interview is off, but Jim gets a little idea.

Mm-hmm. A little bit of old Jim happening here, especially with Pam as his accomplice. They're gonna prank Dwight.

Yeah, Jim is working on a prank, and Erin is working up a way to try and cheer up Andy. By putting watermelon teeth, she has, I guess, carved teeth out of, like a watermelon rind or something. Is this something people do? I looked it up, I'm like, what is this?

No, no, I think this is special for Erin.

Okay, all right.

She goes on to explain that a girlfriend needs to know how to cheer up her man. And Andy is seriously juvenile. And then Pete has a really funny line where he's like, But he's like, 40, right?

Yeah, and Erin doesn't know how old he is, She's not sure. Well, unfortunately, when she walks into Andy's office, he is not amused. No reaction.

Yes, because when we come back, I have a fun moment between Dwight and Stanley and a deleted Stanley talking head, Woo-hoo.

Iris Black has not responded to one of my fan letters, but I know that she reads them. If you're watching this, Iris, I'm your number one fan.

Yeah.

I remember it got a big laugh at the table, read, Yeah. And Leslie really commits, he leans in, he's like, I'm your number one fan anyway. It just tickled me and I wanted to share it. Because I love when we peel back a little layer on a character. And now we all know that Stanley loves Iris Black.

Well, in the conference room, we have our little Fakie radio show going, Daryl is on his keyboard, and Nellie and Pam and Jim are all around the conference table. And it's time.

It's show time.

Iris Black welcomes Dwight to Biz Whiz.

And Catherine Tate does such a great job as this character, Miss Black.

I wanted to point out at five minutes and 51 seconds, I do not have my pink coffee mug anymore. Remember, I said it broke during season nine?

Oh.

I think it was this episode and I'm gonna start having this new purple coffee mug.

We're gonna have to track it, mm-hmm.

We got a fan question from Alyssa H. in Mountain Home, Arkansas, who said. This is hands down one of my favorite scenes in the whole show. And I'd love to hear about how this scene came out and everything about it. And Juliana S. from Tallahassee, Florida, said in the group Prank on Dwight Were you guys having phone calls off camera or strictly filming one side of the conversation? Well, I'll tell you guys, this was so complicated to shoot because we shot these scenes at the same time.

It was so complicated, but so smart because this allowed you guys to react in the moment to anything spontaneous. Nothing felt contrived. It's all feeling so organic and fun, and it's one of the things I love about our show.

Same agree. So, skipping ahead a little bit. As this radio interview continues, Iris Black manages to get Dwight to start throwing some shade at David Wallace, the CEO Dwight doesn't mean to.

And then they have a very funny bit where Steve, aka Jim, the sound engineer, says, You know what? We hear this clinking sound. I think it's from the buttons on your shirt. You're gonna have to take that off.

Yeah, and then they say, Are you wearing pants with a metal zipper? Maybe you should take those off? And Dwight, of course, being Dwight, doesn't question it. Now he's removing his clothing for this interview.

Yeah.

I want you to know there's a lot of gesturing and whispering between us during this scene where we're pranking Dwight. All of those little moments were scripted. Everything like Pam, looking at Jim and being like, No, it's too much. No, or the thumbs up, or the thumbs down, all of that was meticulously listed in the script.

You guys, though, crush it because it feels just so in the moment. Well, back in accounting, Kevin failed to order more 1188 forms, which really disappoints Angela. And she says, I don't know why. I'm surprised nothing he could do could ever surprise me anymore.

Yeah, Oscar explains, That's actually not a bad cover story. You'd be surprised how often Kevin rushes out of the room to go to the bathroom.

And then there's a very funny montage where Kevin is just rushing to the bathroom in the middle of a conference room when the elevator doors open. My favorite is when he's running through the parking lot, kind of holding his tush. It just reminds me of a toddler.

These montages are very funny and we do them sometimes on the show. They are so tedious. Because every one of those little pops is a different wardrobe change, it's maybe a different hairstyle. Yes, like that little four seconds of montage took half a day. Yep.

While all of this is going on, Erin is still trying to cheer up Andy, and there was a scene between Erin and Pete. It's very cute and flirty, and it sort of sets up Erin's motivation to go. Invite Andy to go visit the boat and have lunch. Was this Pete's idea?

Okay.

Hey, I need to tell you a secret.

My job is not very demanding.

Damn.

Listen, if you ever have an emergency or you need to take a depressed boyfriend out to lunch or something, let me know. I'll cover the phones for you.

It was really sweet. When he says, Oh, yeah, I got this. He picks up the wrong phone, is writing on the wrong thing, and then she is showing him how to write a note. But then there's an actual person calling, and on the phone. But it's really cute.

Well, unfortunately, Andy's not interested, yeah, but then Erin has an idea he is interested in. Why don't we go sail that boat one time before you give it up? I don't care that.

Andy is so excited.

I think it's a sweet idea.

I do, too.

To go say goodbye to the boat, yeah, that's an important ritual.

I think so, well, the next scene might be the final straw for Kevin. Angela gets off the phone with the senator and says, Oh, the senator's exhausted from the campaign. He's up against a man who's so dirty, and the senator keeps pushing back as hard as he can. Kevin's like, you have to stop.

I thought this scene was very funny, but I was a little bit distracted. ANGELa We have a new local mug report.

Oh.

Kevin has a mug on his desk from Acker Drill Company. It was founded in 1916, and they're one of North America's largest manufacturers of drilling equipment worldwide. New local mug report.

There you go.

I had my eyes open for the mugs on this episode.

Clearly, they were speaking to you.

Yep.

Well, right after Kevin rushes off, Oscar has a talking head where he says, I'm in big trouble, and then Kevin has a talking head where he says, Oscar's in big trouble.

And Oscar's going to do something very unethical. He's got this folder.

A sabotage folder.

Yes, it has, I guess, information about Kevin not doing his job well. He's going to take it back to Toby, and we had a fan question from Jasmine B. in Southern Manitoba, Jasmine said. Why does Toby start wearing glasses?

Paul had always had glasses and I think he just decided to start wearing them.

Yeah, I think it kind of tracks, though. I could see Toby as a character suddenly coming into the office with glasses and not a single person mentioning it.

Yeah.

So I think it's very realistic that we never refer to these sudden glasses.

Well, as Toby analyzes this Kevin folder, he's like, Wow, Kevin's gambling problem has resurfaced, you know what? I'm going to have to send Kevin home until I can investigate further, so Toby summons Kevin. Kevin's actually excited.

I know, I know Oscar feels bad.

Yeah.

We had a fan catch from Ashley S in California who said At 11 minutes and 14 seconds. Oscar has a yellow sunburst sticker on his side of the partition between Kevin and Angela's desks. It's right above a framed portrait of a dog. Is that sticker from Tobin James Cellars? It is a winery in Paso Robles, California, and it looks identical to their logo.

Oh, I love a side-by-side.

I know I love a side-by-side as well. ANGELA I think Ashley is correct. What do you think? Oh, yeah, right.

My theory is that Oscar Nunez put that there.

That me too, me too.

That is a framed photo of his dog, and maybe he went wine tasting. He just put the sticker there when he got to work.

Great catch, Ashley. When Toby is speaking to Kevin, he is quickly interrupted by Oscar, who gives Kevin some money to go get something out of the vending machine. And he fesses up to Toby. That it's not true, it's just not true. He falsified the numbers and he did it, He set him up because he was annoyed.

It doesn't even matter what Oscar's saying to Toby about Kevin, because all Toby's doing is thinking back to that case. With the Scranton Strangler, he's like, Oh no, I suspected this all along a few years ago when I was on the Scranton Strangler jury.

I thought he had been set up.

I felt pressured to convict.

I put away an innocent man. He's not even really listening to what Oscar is saying.

No, he heard the word set up, and it triggered. It, just triggered this fear that the Scranton strangler was actually set up. And that he convicted the wrong person. And here he almost did it again, right? he almost convicted Kevin of a false crime.

Yeah.

He can't let this keep happening in his life. Listen, lady, if you thought I was only gonna track two mugs in this episode, I've got news for you.

Another mug.

Yes, this time, it is with the help of Shelby P. from Louisville, Kentucky, who said When Oscar comes back to Toby's desk, there is a yellow NBC mug on Toby's desk. It's very clearly in the shot. Did Paul leave this there by mistake, or was this an on-purpose nod to NBC? Well, Shelby, it was an NBC mug, but it was for the local Scranton station of NBC WBRE.

I love a local station. Shout out, mm-hmm.

And we also got this tidbit ang. from Jessica J in St. Paul, Minnesota, who said, I just wanna say that. I'm mad at Oscar for being willing to get Kevin fired in order to keep his own betrayal a secret. And when he came clean to Toby, he didn't even get in trouble for it. Jessica I kinda thought the same thing.

Exactly, Toby's in his head about his own stuff, and so Oscar skates free on this one.

Here's my question, and this is, I'm gonna open up a convo about it, a conflab.

Conflab What's a Conflab?

It's like a conversation where you discuss something. It's from that TV show, Glow Up, it's the Makeup Challenge show from England. They have a Conflab.

Oh, a flabby convo, let's go.

Yeah, okay, so here's my conflab. Do you think that Oscar fabricated the numbers in that folder, or do you think that they were real? Because I think he really has been keeping a folder on Kevin? Maybe in case he ever needed to defend himself or the company against some sort of. I don't know, you know what I mean, oh.

He's seen all the discrepancies on Kevin's side of the desk, and he's been keeping tabs to cover his own ass. And has that folder ready to play it when he needs it, but he never thought he would play it for personal reasons.

That's right, okay, good, we agree. Conflab over.

Conflab done.

I think we should go back and take a peek into Dwight's interview. He's nude, he's in the break room, he's, he has on underwear.

He has on, I'm sorry.

He has on his green underwear.

Which is his favorite, his green, tighty whities.

Yes.

Yeah, Dwight is really upset because Iris Black says, You know what? We have found out that this paper is toxic.

Dunder Mifflin Paper is toxic.

And Dwight's like, No, this is slanderous, and he says, I need a credible source. And guess what? Iris just happens to have the New York foreman Sandra Mick on the line. Jenna, this character is hilarious.

Yeah.

How did you come up with her voice? It's so raspy, you sound like you've been chain smoking for years.

This was hilarious.

With the minute you opened your mouth, I forgot, I forgot about Sandra Mick. I hadn't seen this episode since it aired. And when Nellie throws this to you and then you open your mouth and speak, I was like, What?

Lady, I was as surprised as you were by the voice that came out of my mouth. Everybody in the room was shocked.

You look surprised, you kind of do this thing with your hand, where you go like, Oh.

Yes, I got some phlegm stuck in my throat when I went to do this. And it created this weird, raspy voice. The script did not specify any accent, it just said Pam speaks, voice passably disguised.

It was very disguised. I would never know that was you or Pam.

The paper is not toxic.

Yeah.

Unless it's exposed to oxygen, then it's very toxic.

Which, at the same time, I thought, was very quick for Pam. Yes, I was like, Oh, that's a good point. Yes, Dwight would believe that.

Yes.

Jim is gonna barge in and tell Dwight that their stock prices are plummeting.

Yes.

And Jim says, You know, what do we need to get someone who understands the media? And Dwight says, Get out, get out of the room. Their little tussle in the break room cracked me up.

Well, there was a really fun moment while all that was happening in the background. Which was pointed out by Lauren W. from Alberta, Canada, and Emily M, from Brisbane, Australia, who said that they loved that. In this scene, if you look in the background, Kevin is eating a snack and he has also removed all of his clothes. Yes.

I saw that, too, I loved it.

Such a fun detail, I feel like the minute he walked in.

Dwight is like this, like snapping at him, like, take it off, take it off, take it off. If you're gonna be in here, you gotta take all that off.

Yes, exactly exactly. Well, next up, Aaron and Andy, they're going to the marina.

Oh, yes, they are. They had a bunch of driving sequences that we filmed that didn't make it into the episode. In one of them, they sing a song, and it's very clear that Andy has taught the song to Aaron. Let's hear it.

There's New Canaan, New London.

It's where we had our fun done. There's Westport and Southport, a lot to fill your mouthport. And what's that in my day book?

Don't forget old Saybrook.

And those are the towns of Connecticut.

Oh, punch, buggy glue.

No more punch buggy.

Isn't that so funny?

It cracked me up, but that's what they were singing on the way to the marina. And no more punch, buggy lady.

I hated punch Buggy, I don't wanna get punched in the arm, I don't want to.

Aaron really likes it, and she really punches Andy.