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Office Ladies

Second Drink: Goodbye Toby, Part 1

02 Mar 2026

Transcription

Chapter 1: What is the significance of Toby's last day at Dunder Mifflin?

3.052 - 10.2 Angela Kinsey

Welcome to our second drink of Goodbye Toby Part 1. This episode kicks off the end of Season 4 of The Office.

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10.521 - 10.681 Jenna Fischer

Wow.

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10.981 - 22.334 Angela Kinsey

Yeah. We had a lot of fun folks from our office family sharing behind-the-scenes details with us for this two-parter. So thank you once again to Jen Salata, Paul Lieberstein, Kit Zbornak, and Creed Bratton.

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22.574 - 49.216 Jenna Fischer

Angela, this is also the episode where we got into a debate about what the phrase hot to trot means. Yes, I know. People wrote in. Maria F. said, I first heard hot to trot on happy days. Richie was going to a dinner at a divorcee's house. His friends say, you know what they say about divorcees. They're hot to trot. Jenna is correct. Because I said hot to trot means you're— Hooking up.

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49.516 - 51.54 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, and you said it means you're mad.

51.74 - 55.266 Angela Kinsey

Yeah, you're coming in hot to trot. You're ticked off about something. Yeah.

55.246 - 65.851 Jenna Fischer

Well, Raquel G. says, Angela, I have also used hot to trot in the same way you did. And Linda G. wants us to know that it has two meanings and we are both correct.

66.533 - 73.93 Angela Kinsey

Thank you, Linda. I do remember a few people DMing me saying, I think you meant like hot under the collar, Angela.

73.96 - 79.589 Jenna Fischer

Yes, hot under the collar. I'm hot under the collar. This definitely means you're getting mad.

Chapter 2: How does Michael plan the going-away party for Toby?

95.132 - 111.201 Jenna Fischer

And he thinks you're mad, but really you mean it the other way? No, I've never said it. I've never said it. Because he probably had to learn in your relationship. If you said, I am hot to trot, it's not what you think. No, it means you're mad about something.

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113.043 - 134.963 Angela Kinsey

I like to keep it interesting. You never know how I'm going to interpret something. Okay, we also got a great background catch. Louisa C. said, ladies, at exactly two minutes, I noticed something shiny on Steve's hand. I stopped and I saw that Steve had his wedding ring on. All right, Louisa, I went and I looked. You are absolutely right.

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135.003 - 153.445 Angela Kinsey

It's in the cold open when Michael is dancing through the office. It's part of a montage. It's Toby's last day. Michael is very excited. And he's sort of doing this scissor move with his arms, like as he's dancing through the office. And when he sort of like slides his arm across the screen, you see his wedding ring.

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153.425 - 161.372 Angela Kinsey

He must have forgotten to take it off, but clearly someone caught it because then immediately right after, he has a talking head to camera and it's gone.

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161.692 - 181.971 Jenna Fischer

Wow, that's a good catch. Do you remember that week that Steve jammed his finger playing hockey and he couldn't get his wedding ring off, so we had to cover it with a Band-Aid? Yes, oh my gosh, I forgot about that. Yeah, because he was like, you're not cutting this off my finger, obviously. So there's, I can't remember what episode it is, but I think it's in season three.

182.131 - 198.973 Jenna Fischer

We talked about it on the podcast. We also got this observation from James L. in Arizona, who said, Hi, ladies. This is my second listen to the podcast. I have a long commute and decided to go all the way back to the beginning and listen through again. And I wanted to point out that Pam is wearing a pink

Chapter 3: What role does Holly Flax play in this episode?

198.953 - 216.608 Jenna Fischer

sweater in this episode. It's not the same one that you discuss in a later episode as in Pam's sex sweater theory, but I want to throw this out there. Maybe Pam just wears pink when she's feeling extra happy. Loving the second drinks, James.

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216.588 - 239.182 Angela Kinsey

I love that. She is wearing pink. Yeah. I mean, it's not her sex sweater. No, but she does get good news. She learns about the Pratt Institute, and then she's super flirty and gives Jim a little kiss. She's happy. True. Yeah. Well, I love that question. Well, when we first broke down this episode, I shared that there were some awesome Phyllis deleted scenes.

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240.043 - 255.082 Angela Kinsey

One of my favorites that we discussed was put back in the superfan version. I really want us to hear it. Okay, to set the scene for you guys, Phyllis is super stressed about planning the party, and Jim walks in. This is so great. I'm so glad it's back in. You got to hear it.

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255.903 - 270.319 Phyllis Smith

Well, who can do a party of this size? But you're in the business. You must surely know of some other businesses. Okay, well, I just want a damn dance floor. I'm sorry. So sorry. I shouldn't have sworn. I'm so sorry. Thanks for your time.

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Chapter 4: What are the behind-the-scenes insights shared by Paul Lieberstein?

271.701 - 277.331 Phyllis Smith

What? Sorry, I shouldn't have said what like that. It was really rude.

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277.351 - 280.016 Unknown

Scared me. How's the party planning going?

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280.537 - 282.24 Phyllis Smith

Jim, I am so f***ed.

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282.26 - 283.602 Unknown

So it's going great, sounds like.

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283.75 - 287.357 Phyllis Smith

I don't know. I'm not used to this dress. That's so funny.

287.397 - 294.772 Angela Kinsey

I should say the top of the scene, she's pacing on the phone. She's with some type of like event, you know, party rental place.

294.832 - 295.133 Jenna Fischer

Yes.

295.514 - 296.255 Angela Kinsey

Oh my gosh.

296.456 - 314.871 Jenna Fischer

I loved it. Well, that was all amazing, everyone. Now here is your second drink of Goodbye Toby, part one. 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.

Chapter 5: How do Angela and Jenna debate the meaning of 'hot to trot'?

339.031 - 353.27 Jenna Fischer

I'm excited, though. This is such a good episode. Oh, I loved it. Beyond loved it. It is season four, episode 18, written by Jen Salata and Paul Lieberstein and directed by Paul Feig.

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353.751 - 355.894 Angela Kinsey

Hashtag beyond loved.

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356.414 - 358.316 Jenna Fischer

Yeah, beyond bluffed.

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359.278 - 364.344 Angela Kinsey

Well, I know you've got a great summary and some fast facts. I can't wait to hear them. Let's get started.

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364.404 - 379.884 Jenna Fischer

Toby is moving to Costa Rica. Finally, his lifelong dream is coming true. Michael insists the party planning committee plan a huge going-away party, and when Angela balks, he puts Phyllis in charge.

380.485 - 380.565

Ugh.

381.608 - 385.132 Jenna Fischer

You believe it? I mean, she does a really good job.

385.532 - 386.974 Angela Kinsey

You know what? I don't need to hear it.

387.294 - 405.234 Jenna Fischer

Well, I'm going to talk about it more later. Okay. There is a new HR representative coming in, Holly Flax. She will be taking over for Toby, and this is her first day at Dunder Mifflin. Michael assumes he will hate her, but he is quickly smitten. Very quickly.

Chapter 6: What is the significance of Pam's acceptance to the Pratt School of Design?

418.266 - 422.71 Jenna Fischer

Fast fact number one, I thought you were going to like tip your hand a little bit.

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422.731 - 425.313 Angela Kinsey

Is it tip your hand or tip your hat? It's tip your hat.

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425.653 - 430.919 Jenna Fischer

No, I think it's your hand because you're playing poker and you tip it and people see your cards. Right.

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431.019 - 441.611 Angela Kinsey

But you tip your hat for something else. A hello? Maybe. But I thought you were going to hint at what Pam's... Big news was. But no, let's get into some fast facts. All right.

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441.792 - 451.226 Jenna Fischer

Let's not tip anything. We're tipping nothing right now. Tip nothing. Fast fact number one. I find it very funny that Paul had to write himself out of the show.

451.246 - 457.515 Angela Kinsey

I thought it was funny too. But knowing Paul, because he's very practical, it was probably like, well, it needs to be done.

457.495 - 472.055 Jenna Fischer

There is a very practical reason for why he wrote himself out of the show that we know. Paul and Jen are going to take over as the showrunners of The Office starting in season five because Greg was going to be working on Parks and Recreation.

472.416 - 472.737 Angela Kinsey

Yep.

472.717 - 490.706 Jenna Fischer

Now, Greg was still around. He had a foot in both worlds. Yeah, he'd pop by, but he wasn't going to be there day to day. That was Jen and Paul. So they teamed up to write this episode, and they were really trying to set themselves up for next season. Paul needed a break from the acting. He wanted to concentrate on writing the show.

Chapter 7: How does Michael's character evolve in his interactions with Holly?

495.886 - 515.75 Paul Lieberstein

Jen Salata and I were taking over as showrunners for season five, and that was absolutely part of getting rid of me. Give me some time to just showrun and concentrate on that. Did we know for a fact I'd be coming back? No, not for a fact. Didn't really think about it that far in. There was a lot of things started.

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516.05 - 542.582 Paul Lieberstein

Pam's acceptance to art school, that was something we had talked about for a long time. We always knew she liked it, but we were looking for a whole new... complication after doing so much with the romance. And then Angela's engagement to Andy, we always knew that was not a relationship to be. That was a bad relationship, a comedy relationship. But it gave us some fun stuff, obviously.

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543.76 - 556.049 Jenna Fischer

There's so many big storylines that they set up with this finale. I know. I mean, we haven't even talked about Jan. That's part two. But my goodness. Oh, I know. Big, big... What do they call it?

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556.149 - 563.003 Angela Kinsey

The cliffhanger. Big cliffhanger. Why am I having... A hard time with like common phrases today.

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563.704 - 572.176 Jenna Fischer

Buckle in, everybody, because this might be a bumpy ride. Well, I'm here for it. I love when you mangle common phrases. It's one of my favorite things about you.

572.656 - 579.005 Angela Kinsey

I don't know why I almost said it. It's like the cliff's edge. And then in my brain, I was like, no, no, no, that's not right.

Chapter 8: What are the memorable moments from the party planning committee's discussions?

579.105 - 580.247 Angela Kinsey

You'll find it, lady.

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581.527 - 596.667 Jenna Fischer

All right. Are you ready? Fast fact number two. Yeah. Jen Salata said that this script took about five days to write. Five days. That's crazy. How did they do it in five days? It would take me so long to write this. This is a juggernaut. I know.

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596.647 - 617.766 Jenna Fischer

No, she said they had an outline and they divided up the work and they each wrote different parts and then they put it all together and they did a rewrite together. So, I mean, I guess there were two people on it, but still. Also, the original cut of this episode came in at 72 minutes. and they had to cut it down to 40 minutes.

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618.247 - 645.047 Angela Kinsey

Lady, guess who found her shooting draft of Goodbye Toby? You, electronic hoarder. Yes, digital hoarder, Angela Kinsey. All right, Jenna, since I have the shooting draft of Goodbye Toby, I have a little quiz for you. Oh, all right. You're like, I didn't know I was going to get tested today. Okay, can you guess how many pages were in the shooting draft?

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645.382 - 673.816 Jenna Fischer

Oh, well, let me think. If I remember correctly, our standard shooting drafts were usually around 30 pages. Yeah. So since this was a double episode, I'm going to say 60 pages. 75. Oh, my gosh. Well, no wonder the original cut came in at 72 minutes. I know. They always say each page of a script equals one minute of screen time on average, right?

674.477 - 697.9 Angela Kinsey

Well, lady, there was so much on the page that did not make it in this episode. Well, I'm guessing there are a lot of deleted scenes. Oh, there's some wonderful deleted scenes. And then there's even more scenes that aren't in the deleted scenes. I really enjoyed this. I'm going to sprinkle things throughout. And you know what it really made me respect, Jenna? What? Our editors. I'll tell you why.

697.88 - 710.346 Angela Kinsey

I rewatched this episode four times. And one of the times I rewatched it, I just followed along in the script. And the scenes were moved all around in editing. I was fascinated by it.

710.988 - 734.84 Jenna Fischer

And it really just shows you what storytellers are editors are. You know, I remember that, Angela. I remember that they would almost like rewrite the script again in the editing process. Yeah. Because they would do that. They would move scenes around from where they had been placed in the script originally. I love that. Well, are you ready for fast fact number three? Yeah.

735.28 - 765.282 Jenna Fischer

Fast fact number three, Amy Ryan, a.k.a. Holly Flax, a.k.a. Michael's True Love. Aw, I loved Holly Flax. I loved her. We had a fan question from Zianna G. Was Amy Ryan asked to play Holly, or did she have to go through the audition process? Amy did not have to audition for the role of Holly Flax. It was offered to her, and this is why. First of all...

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