00:00The finger of the devil is poking through the foam.
00:02Cry, Ezekiel, cry, cry it out.
00:05And the slide to hell goes all the way down.
00:08Cry, Ezekiel, cry, cry it out.
00:10Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks
00:14for the best improvised moments on NBC's Superstore.
00:18I pray for you, Dina.
00:19I pray for you too, Glenn.
00:20I'm praying right now.
00:21You're praying so hard.
00:23I'm praying harder than you. I know how.
00:24While there is no doubt a wealth of ad-libbed lines
00:28and spontaneous ideas that made the final cut,
00:31we'll only be including ones confirmed
00:33by the Superstore cast and crew.
00:36Number five, the cold open.
00:38In many interviews, the cast of Superstore
00:41shared how welcome improvisation was on set.
00:44With ad-libbing legends like Garrett's Colton Dunn on screen,
00:48the producers would have been remissed
00:50to decline any on-the-spot ideas after all.
00:53Gotta round up those doggies, yee-haw.
00:56That's the saddest yee-haw I've ever heard.
00:58Yeah, I bailed on it.
01:00During a chat at the Paley Center in 2019,
01:03America Ferreira, who plays Amy,
01:06revealed that in the episode screened for the audience,
01:09the cold open was actually supposed to end in a different way.
01:12We were crunched for time,
01:14and we ultimately ended up on Marcus clapping at Sandra,
01:19which wasn't on the page.
01:20That was just something that we did on the day.
01:22And then it's like, oh, that's where you cut
01:24to the Superstore song.
01:25On the page, the ending required more of a setup
01:28they didn't have time for.
01:30So instead, we got Marcus's little show of encouragement
01:34to Sandra after her speech,
01:36a reaction that is both perfectly in-character for Marcus
01:39and a cute way to end the scene.
01:42Managers can't give us polygraph tests.
01:44I wasn't planning on giving anyone a polygraph test.
01:46Well, good.
01:47Because we ain't taking one, Amy.
01:50Stay strong, people.
01:52Woo!
01:53Clap, clap, clap, clap.
01:56Number 4.
01:57Ice Cream Soothes All
01:59Um, I don't know.
02:01I'll say something mean about Beyoncé.
02:03I'd rather be deported.
02:05Mateo's undocumented status was introduced early on in the show,
02:09and by the season four finale, it had come to a head.
02:13With talk of forming a union ramping up in the store,
02:16corporate tries to slow down the momentum
02:18by running background checks and sending in ice.
02:22At the same time, free ice cream is offered to employees,
02:26also with the goal of slowing down union momentum.
02:29All of our associates are getting free ice cream.
02:31So if you're wondering why everything's sticky,
02:33that's one of the reasons.
02:35Mateo, Cheyenne, and a few others are eating during their shift
02:39when Amy bursts onto the scene,
02:41announcing immigration is coming.
02:43Mateo!
02:45Mateo!
02:46Ice is coming!
02:47Isn't it winter is coming?
02:49And not a moment too soon.
02:51The agents come through the door seconds later,
02:53leaving Mateo to flee in a panic.
02:56Of course, it wouldn't be Superstore without a little levity,
02:59and Cheyenne's actress closes out the scene
03:02by ad-libbing an adorable offer.
03:04Wake up. Wake up.
03:06I gotta go.
03:11Dude, do you want your ice cream, Mateo?
03:13Number 3. Jerry Proposes
03:16Also confirmed to be a spur-of-the-moment decision
03:18in the Season 4 finale was Jerry's proposal.
03:21Thank you for coming.
03:22Of course. I'm always gonna be here for you.
03:26You're the best.
03:27You're the best.
03:29No, you are the best.
03:31As revealed at a Comic-Con panel in 2019,
03:34Jerry was actually set to propose at the end of Season 3,
03:37but it was ultimately cut.
03:39When the end of Season 4 came around,
03:41the plot point wasn't in the script at all.
03:44But Justin Spitzer, the creator of the show,
03:47asked for a take during shooting.
03:49So everyone knows now?
03:51Everyone knows.
03:53Do you want to get married?
03:58Okay.
04:00According to Sandra's actress, Kaliko Kawaii,
04:03she was surprised to see that the big scene
04:05had actually made it in the second time around.
04:08Yeah, I found out when I actually watched the episode
04:12that that was kept.
04:13Justin just came up to us.
04:14It wasn't in the script,
04:16and he came up to us while we were shooting and was like,
04:17ah, why don't we do one where you derp at poses?
04:22Despite the short notice,
04:23the end product was not only incredibly true to the characters,
04:27but also a sweet, gentle moment during a sequence
04:30that's otherwise full of chaos and distress.
04:33Number 2.
04:34Cry, Ezekiel, Cry.
04:40This little light of mine.
04:44What am I supposed to do about this?
04:45I'll get the battering ram.
04:47We have a battering ram?
04:48Better to have it and not need it,
04:49than need it and not have it.
04:50Glenn has many, and we do mean many quirks,
04:54not least of which is bursting into song.
04:57We don't know exactly how much of it
04:58was courtesy of actor Mark McKinney,
05:00but it's been said that he improvised
05:02quite a bit of Glenn's songs,
05:04including Cry, Ezekiel, Cry.
05:07The performance comes in the cold open
05:08of the season two episode, Spokesman Scandal.
05:11The spokesman for the big box retail store chain,
05:14Kyle the Cloud 9 Cloud,
05:16is revealed to be a deranged serial killer.
05:19The broadcast is being played in the store,
05:22so Amy and Glenn try their best to shut it off,
05:24only to end up increasing the volume for all to hear.
05:28This prompts Glenn into leading a spontaneous chorus
05:31in an attempt to drown out
05:33the horrific details of the news report.
05:35It's not working.
05:36We're gonna have to drown this out.
05:39Everybody sing, okay?
05:41Down in the valley where Ezekiel wept,
05:43Cry, Ezekiel, cry.
05:45According to a tweet put out by America Ferrera,
05:48this was entirely thought up by Mark McKinney,
05:51and it took at least five takes to get it.
05:53Thankfully, the actors were able to get through it,
05:56and it made for the best musical moment
05:58in the entire show.
05:59Eric, give me a beat or something.
06:02Okay, the finger of the devil
06:04is poking through the foam.
06:06Cry, Ezekiel, cry, cry it out.
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06:24Number one, Dina's dad.
06:27Look, my dad, scum of the earth,
06:29human equivalent of a band-aid and a salad,
06:31left me 23 years ago.
06:33He deserves to suffer.
06:34Dina's rocky backstory with her dad
06:37actually became canon thanks to some ad-libbing
06:40from Lauren Ashe all the way back in season one.
06:42Just trust me.
06:44It's just ever since my dad left me
06:45at that gas station, it's so hard to trust.
06:47Okay, here we go.
06:48It might have started as a funny throwaway line,
06:50but the writers kept building upon it
06:52with little tidbits here and there,
06:54until finally, we got to meet Dina's dad in season five.
06:58The episode centers on Myrtle's passing,
07:01which gets Dina thinking about death
07:03and revenge, we guess.
07:05Really been making me think about my dad.
07:06Aw.
07:07Yeah, maybe you should reconnect
07:08before it's too late.
07:09Oh God, no.
07:11I want him to feel this kind of regret.
07:12I want to cause him the pain that he caused me.
07:15I started smiling before I heard what you said.
07:18She has Sandra call up her dad
07:20and tell her his daughter's passed away.
07:22Despite the choice he made all those years ago,
07:25Dina's dad makes the drive up to her work
07:27to seek out some more information.
07:29It's a sweet reunion.
07:31And for a while, Dina's super happy to have him back,
07:34until he makes it clear
07:36he really hasn't changed all that much.
07:38Seeing you today, I'm starting to think
07:41maybe it was a good thing that I left.
07:44Otherwise, you wouldn't be the strong woman you are today.
07:46Breaking Bad fans will recognize Dean Norris in the role,
07:50which makes his appearance that much cooler.
07:52And to think, all that from a little Lauren Ashe improv
07:56way back in the ninth ever episode.
07:59Yeah, it's all part of the job.
08:00I mean, you can be super proud if you want,
08:01but that's your call.
08:02What's your favorite Superstore moment
08:04you think might've been improvised?
08:06Let us know in the comments.
08:08Could I take a couple pins?
08:09Sure.
08:17Hello?
08:19Hi, Lori.
08:20Do you agree with our picks?
08:22Check out this other recent clip from Ms. Mojo,
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