Spoiler Warning: The following article contains spoilers for The Paper Episode 8, called “Church and State.” If you’re not yet caught up, please proceed carefully.
At long last, The Paper has arrived on the 2025 TV schedule, and it’s bringing with it one of the most disgusting things I’ve seen on the small screen all year. The new series, which is currently streaming in full with a Peacock subscription, is right up there with its predecessor, The Office, when it comes to over-the-top moments like the Man Mitt, a “flushable” wiping tool that leads to one of the show’s funniest moments.
I recently spoke with the cast of The Paper to discuss everything from pulling off the signature Office “stare” to being in a spinoff of one of the best NBC sitcoms of all time. But before I let them go, I had to ask them one question: would you ever use a Man Mitt? As expected, this led to some brutally honest and hilarious responses, like this interaction between Chelsea Frei and Sabrina Impacciatore:
- Chelsea Frei: "No. No. They're disgusting."
- Sabrina Impacciatore: "I still don't understand. What's the Man Mitt. What's that?"
- Chelsea Frei: "The Man Mitt. The show when the mitts that are made of like cloth, it's to wipe yourself."
- Sabrina Impacciatore: "Oh my God. No, I don’t want that."
Others, like Ramona Young and Melvin Gregg, joked that they wouldn’t use the fictional product for the intended purpose from The Paper, but there are some uses for the “permeable” product, just as long as you don’t flush it down the toilet:
- Melvin Gregg: "I wouldn't use a Man Mitt to wipe my butt, but I used to like clean the countertop."
- Ramona Young: "Right. And it feels almost so thin. It's permeable. I don't trust the Man Mitt situation."
Regardless of the way they would use the product, everyone I spoke with seemed to be recoiled by the idea of the Man Mitt. Well, with the exception of one member of the Toledo Truth Teller's volunteer staff.
The Origin Story Of The Man Mitt
While I expected to hear everyone from The Paper go on about the Man Mitt being disgusting, I was surprised when Alex Edelman, who was also one of the show’s writers, not only told me he’d use one but also provided the backstory about how it ended up in the show in the first place.
As Edelman told me, the idea of a mass of Man Mitts causing a blockage in a sewer system came from co-star and fellow writer Eric Rahill, who was obsessed with the ideas of Fatbergs (masses of waste and hygiene products) when the writer’s room started last year:
The idea of a Fatberg had stuck – when I got to the writer's room in June of 2024, that was up on an index card on the board, and it lasted. So few comedy ideas last for a very long time because ultimately someone snipes them with logic or something like that. But Fatberg was something that the writers loved and would kick into. So that idea stayed up there for a long time. And I actually think is one of my favorite episodes of the season.
I have to agree with Edelman, as the whole Man Mitt situation leads to some of the funniest moments in The Paper’s first season, as well as a major payoff in the big finale. If Peacock gives the show another season, hopefully, we will see the return of the big stinking mess of “flushable” hygiene products.
All ten episodes of The Paper are currently streaming on Peacock, including those nowhere as disgusting as the whole Man Mitt situation.
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