Jen Celotta answers ‘Goodbye, Toby’ questions

Q. I remember hearing something about a green screen being used? Was that rumor true, and if so, what scene(s) was it used for? | Helena

Jen: There was no green screen. But there were deep fried Twinkies! Not really related at all to your question, but I really wanted to talk about the deep fried Twinkies –

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_Twinkie

According to Wikipedia who says according to the New York Times, “something magical occurs when the pastry hits the hot oil …” — we got to try them on set and I can confirm that the first bite is magical but then by the third bite it’s questionable, and by the fifth bite you are definitely ready to be done.

Q. Knowing how the Schrutes love wildlife, how did you guys come up with the idea to use a raccoon for the car prank? | Tiffany

Jen: When we were breaking the story for this episode, it was actually a badger instead of a raccoon. But apparently there are not a lot of “working” badgers in LA. So it switched to a raccoon. It seemed easy enough to believe that Dwight and Mose would have access to a raccoon.

In the script, the raccoon was supposed to attack Meredith, but it quickly became clear that this would need to be a special effect (even “trained” raccoons are wild animals and we like working with Kate!).

Mostly the raccoon just walked around inside the car during the takes — but in one early take, it turned on the windshield wipers and it was very cute.

from tanster: here is what Kate Flannery had to say:

Kate: I dealt more with the raccoon handler who was wearing a yellow raccoon tshirt and in my opinion, much like a dog owner, bore a great resemblance to Reggie. Yes, Reggie the Raccoon — who is also in a Honda ad. That animal works more than I do!

Rainn and I had fun tapping the glass and trying to connect with Reggie. And although my stunt double was there, we did not use her because we were going to use CGI for the possible Meredith-Raccoon attack.

That obviously was cut and my red streaky scratch marks were almost never seen (there is one shot of me that I noticed the marks — I think it was in the scene where Andy proposes to Angela). See if you can find them and if you do — have a drink to celebrate! Thanks for asking.

from tanster: I asked Mike Schur if he had anything to add, but I received an answer from Mose instead:

Mose: I love the raccoon. The raccoon’s name is Chair, because when I found him he was eating a chair. He has a brother named Trampoline Leg. Chair is very nice. I made sure Chair got home safely. Chair would never hurt anyone except once Chair bit my cheek when I was feeding him a lemon.

Q. Just wondering why you all decided it was Meredith that would open the car, why not our favorite criminal Creed? | Pieter

Jen: There were a couple of scenes that were cut for time that would explain this. When Holly first meets Meredith, Meredith is super friendly — offering to tell Holly where she can get her nails done in the area, etc. … And then we cut to a talking head of Meredith saying she hates her.

Dwight overhears this and asks Meredith to join him in hazing Holly — the two of them come up with the idea of telling Holly that Kevin is mentally challenged and they orchestrate the raccoon bit.

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49 comments

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1. 
   49. from himself, from the future  Mon. Jun. 2, 2008 | 3:28pm

   WOW. I promised myself I would not obsess about anything related to The Office until after my final exams…and it was a very rough few weeks, but OFFICETALLY MAKES IT ALL WORTH IT!!! It is so great to have such devoted fans (tanster) who will set up discussions with such amazing and talented writers. We are indeed very lucky fans : )
   Thanks again for all your willingness to share with us, and for giving me a nice happy light at the end of the tunnel of exam-taking!

2. 
   48. That's What She Said  Sun. Jun. 1, 2008 | 9:26pm

   Ahaha, that chair and trampoline leg made me laugh so hard!

3. 
   47. d.j.  Sat. May. 31, 2008 | 5:02pm

   Wow, I want to see the 73 minute rough cut! It’d be like a feature length version of The Office!

4. 
   46. chilistonite  Sat. May. 31, 2008 | 7:39am

   I have to admit that after the finale I was bitter about the lack of JAM nuptials - but reading Moses’ account of chair and trampoline leg just make me fall in love all over again. Thank you SO much Mike Schur!

5. 
   45. Brown Bear  Sat. May. 31, 2008 | 7:35am

   I do not normally laugh at stuff I read(I’m the type who finds the delivery of lines to be more amusing than the actual dialogue.) But wow, the “Chair” story definitely had me LOLing. Possibly even LMAOing.

6. 
   44. Lisa  Sat. May. 31, 2008 | 5:03am

   I am so excited and grateful that Jen answered my question. Thanks so much for doing all of this Tanster!

7. 
   43. Jessica  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 9:48pm

   Wow the full finale was 70+ minutes long? I wonder what else we missed? DVD extra maybe??

8. 
   42. kat  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 9:00pm

   holy gosh! Tanster, this is sooo awesome! I love how you put other tidbits from different castmembers!
   Thanks for all the effort you put into this website that satisfy my office craving!

9. 
   41. Jamey  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 7:05pm

   Thanks Tanster for submitting my question! Thank you to Jen and Jenna for the response. It feels great to contribute.

10. 
    40. StephanieC  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 6:50pm

    What great insight into the episode. Thanks for taking our questions Tanster, and thank you to the writers for answering them. :)

11. 
    39. MNFan  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 6:35pm

    Thanks once again, Tanster, for putting this together. Also, BIG thanks to the awesome Jen Celotta (and guest contributors) for answering my question and all the rest! Craig, I think your band needs to book a gig in Minneapolis. ;)

    I have to agree with the earlier comment “It sounds silly, but this show brings a lot of joy to my life.” :)

12. 
    38. what's the dealio?  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 5:49pm

    Goodbye Toby was so much fun to watch and rewatch, and it’s wonderful to learn about the making of it. These Q&As are so generous and just golden. Thanks so much! Jen Celotta can even make me laugh when she’s answering questions about an episode! No wonder the talking heads are always so great. The effort and care that goes into them is amazing.

13. 
    37. I like beets  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 4:22pm

    Hahahahaha….”Chair”

14. 
    36. Tiffany  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 2:51pm

    Thanks to the awesome input from Jen and the Office gang! And a special thanks to Tanster for organizing the Q&A! Office fans are so spoiled :)

    I was glad that they originally chose a badger… Go Wisconsin Badgers!!!

15. 
    35. jkfan9989  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 2:06pm

    Big thanks to Tanster and Jen for these answers. It is so great that the writers do this for us fans.

    I literally do not know how I’m going to make it until Sept. 25th…

16. 
    34. spontaneous/dental/hydroplosion  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 1:43pm

    Thank you so much everybody for a fantastic season finale and Q&A! This is one of my favorite features on the site and I have been eagerly awaiting these answers.

    I also enjoyed the recognition of Pam’s mad note taking skills - I started laughing so hard when she started writing after Toby’s answer to “Who do you think you are?”

17. 
    33. oaky afterbirth  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 1:39pm

    THANK YOU!! i literally came to this site 10 times a day for this Q&A! you rock, TANSTER!!!

    btw, i hope they include the extended rough cut version of goodbye, toby on the DVD

18. 
    32. BlueJeanBaby  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 1:19pm

    Jen, I feel the exact same way about deep fried Twinkies.

    Thanks Jen and Tanster. I absolutely love these Q&A’s!!

19. 
    31. Michelle  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 12:59pm

    These Q&A’s are awesome! Thank you so much to Tanster, Jen, and all of the previous writers for doing this!

20. 
    30. nv  Fri. May. 30, 2008 | 12:42pm

    Thanks tanster, and also kudos to the Tallyheads for all these great questions (I haven’t been able to think of one yet!)

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