‘The Office Ladies’ Podcast Popularized a False Rumor About the Show That Just Won’t Die

Despite supposedly being one of the smarter characters on The Office, Pam Beesly apparently can’t tell the difference between a Chili’s manager and a paid actor — though, to be fair, who among us would be seeing straight after swiping that many Jackberry Margaritas?

Five years ago, The Office stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey started a rewatch podcast centered around their remarkably enduring superhit, fittingly calling it The Office Ladies. Back in 2019, sitcom rewatch shows were a novel genre in the crowded podcasting industry, but before long, every other star of every other nostalgic comedy series had their own Patreon podcast dedicated to dissecting each episode of their magnum opus and adding behind-the-scenes factoids for superfans to bring up in casual conversation on a daily basis.

Earlier today, Fischer and Kinsey announced that The Office Ladies will double their output in November, moving to a twice-weekly format for their cast-and-crew interviews with former Office coworkers and general chats about the good old days. Hopefully, the transition to “The Office Ladies 6.0,” as they call it, will come with a more rigorous level of fact-checking than the previous format, as one of the fun facts they shared on the show is the center of a nearly two-decades-long erasure of one of the most unsung and important performances in Office history. 

During their rewatch of The Office Season Two premiere “The Dundies,” Fischer claimed that the Chili’s manager who explains to the camera crew that he had to ban Pam from ever returning to the business-friendly casual dining chain at the end of the episode was a real Chili’s worker planted by the company to protect their professional image.

In truth, the “Chili’s manager” is actually prolific actor Christopher T. Wood, who is, tragically, too talented and too convincing to ever get his flowers — or his Awesome Blossoms.

To be fair to Fischer, Chili’s corporate did have strongly worded notes for the script of “The Dundies,” and changes had to be made to ensure the company’s collaboration in shooting the episode at an actual Chili’s. In the original script, Pam vomits instead of falling off the stool, and no mention is made of her stealing drinks off of other customers’ tables, but Chili’s insisted that the show must clarify that they neither enable nor condone Pam-level drinking. Thus, Wood’s monologue as the banning manager was, in fact, a product of Chili’s intervention — he just wasn’t on their payroll. 

Additionally, The Office Ladies didn't originate the rumor that Wood was a true company man. The Chili’s manager story seems to be an urban legend that organically arose in the years following the airing of “The Dundies” that even Wood himself has been unsuccessful at squashing. In the 2020 book The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s, Wood spoke to author Andy Greene about the aftermath of his high-profile bit part, saying of The Office episode in question, “I think at least some of the extras were Chili’s employees, and the only reason I say that is because almost everyone assumed that I was actually a Chili’s manager. On Twitter I’ve tried to debunk this any time it flashes up. People will put out, ‘Hey, fun fact, the guy in that episode was actually a Chili’s manager.’ And I’m like, 'No...'” 

While the actor himself denying the rumor should be enough to end the false narrative, Wood found alarming and illogical pushback to his easily verifiable claim of being a prolific and, apparently, too-talented character actor, saying, “I’ve had people say, ‘No, you’re a Chili’s manager.’ I’m like, ‘I kind of promise you I’m not. I don’t know how else to say this.’ But what can you do? I take it as a compliment toward my acting.”

Ultimately, more Office fans listened to the “Dundies” episode of The Office Ladies than read Greene’s book, and the urban legend continues to this day, occasionally popping up in Twitter threads or Reddit posts about the episode. Next thing you know, Office fans are going start claiming that Rob Riggle was actually in the Navy.