With Greg Daniels and Michael Koman releasing their new show, “The Paper,” we wanted to take a trip down memory lane and revisit all the hilarious episodes of “The Office.”
Can you really blame us? Ever since “The Office” hit NBC, Netflix screens and now Peacock, fans of the O.G. series still can’t get enough of that wild and kooky cast and their hilarious shenanigans. As we celebrate the first week of “The Paper’s” arrival (and that Season 2 renewal), we thought it’d be nice to shine light on “The Office” episodes that made us crack up the most.
Check out our top 10, which are in no particular order.
“Stress Relief” (Season 5, Episode 14)
Truly, what makes this episode so funny is its cold open where Dwight tries to teach his coworkers how to react in the event of a fire by literally starting a fire in the office because “nobody paid attention” to his seminar from last week. While he blames himself for putting on a “boring” Power Point presentation, he wants to ensure they are fully informed.
“Today, smoking is going to save lives,” Dwight says before tossing a lit cigarette into a full trash can. As everyone panics, smoke fills the room and it’s revealed that Angela’s been hiding one of her cats in one of the office drawers, Dwight continues to annoyingly question the staff on next steps. By the time Dwight finally announces that it was all just a simulation, Stanley suffers a heart attack.
“Scott’s Tots” (Season 6, Episode 12)
Later on in “The Office,” fans get a good laugh with the show’s infamous “Scott’s Tots” episode. Michael Scott is a man of many mistakes, but his biggest screw up was when he promised to pay for a group of underprivileged third graders’ college tuitions if they graduated from high school. Ten years after Michael had forgotten all about his Michael Scott Foundation initiative Scott’s Tots, the memory hits him when the school reaches out to him to receive the funding.
With receptionist Erin by his side, Michael is forced to confront the decade-lie he told, which crushes the future the students thought they had.
“Christmas Party” (Season 2, Episode 10)
While some folks think “The Office” took a bit of time to get into its groove, some of the best episodes truly are in those earlier seasons of the show. Case in point: the Emmy-nominated “Christmas Party” episode. Though the company has experienced some financial setbacks and layoffs, Michael is still hellbent on his staff enjoying the holiday by throwing a festive-filled Christmas party. However, as always, he takes it a bit too far with a Secret Santa gift exchange that throws Jim’s very thought out present to Pam out of sync.
“Dundies” (Season 2, Episode 1)
The “Dundies” awards became an annual event at the Scranton branch, a ceremony held at the local Chili’s, where Michael awards his staff with the strangest honors. The very first Dundies takes place in Season 2. Michael makes for a wild host, Dwight serves as DJ and Pam gets sloppy drunk and wins the Whitest Sneakers award.
“The Convict” (Season 3, Episode 9)
Once again, Michael shows how dense he can be when the company hires a new employee, who also happens to be a convicted felon. After the office starts up jokes about how prison sounds more fun than working at Dunder Mifflin, Michael tries to prove them wrong by creating the persona “Prison Mike,” a bandana-wearing fake convict he performs in an attempt to scare the office straight.
“Goodbye Toby” (Season 4, Episode 14)
There was nothing more hilarious, and kind of sad, than seeing Michael’s unwarranted bullying of Toby, whom he hates because he works in human resources and has to set rules for the office. Lucky for Michael, Toby picked up some work in Costa Rica and had to leave. To bid him farewell, Michael threw an entire “Goodbye Toby” party and sent him off with a musical parody performance of Supertramp’s “Goodbye Stranger.”
“Money” (Season 4, Episode 7)
Even though Michael managed the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, he always seemed to be dealing with some sort of financial issue. He hits a new low when he’s forced to pick up a second job as a telemarketer. That portion of the episode will crack open your sides, but the real gut-buster is Jim and Pam’s visit to Dwight’s Schrute Farms, where his odd cousin Mose works and lives. During their overnight stay, the pair realizes just how much weirder their coworker actually is.
“Surplus” (Season 5, Episode 10)
As Michael Scott said in the episode, “Christmas has come early this year” for the office, in the form of an extra $4,300 Oscar found in the branch’s budget. Initially, Michael decided to put that money toward a new copy machine, but when Pam voiced a need for new chairs, the battle over the surplus began. That’s when Michael gave the office until the end of the day to come to an agreement on the surplus, and part of that is just the staff kissing up to Michael and finding ways to convince him their option is the best.
“Diversity Day” (Season 1, Episode 2)
While it remains as one of the most problematic episodes of “The Office” as it was literally pulled from syndication over its content, the cringe many folks had watching “Diversity Day” was more or less the point of the episode.
After Michael Scott’s offensive behavior — a reenactment of a culturally-centered Chris Rock routine — gets reported, specialist Mr. Brown, played by former “The Office” writer-consultant Larry Wilmore, is brought in to facilitate a diversity training seminar. In a true Michael Scott move, he then hosts his own diversity event where he instructs his staff to play a game that involves them using racial/ethnic stereotypes to guess the races their coworkers have been labeled with.
What makes this episode particularly hilarious is how it smartly shines a light on the real life negative impacts of racial ignorance in the workplace.
“Dinner Party” (Season 4, Episode 13)
There’s absolutely no question that the “Dinner Party” episode of “The Office” is by far the most hilarious. After years of keeping their relationship under wraps, Michael Scott and his former boss Jan Levinson fell into a hilarious but so dysfunctional partnership that eventually leads to them living together. There’s no A and B story in this episode, all the gags and silliness take place in the pair’s home after Michael tricked some of the Scranton Branch into joining them for a couples-only dinner party. Between Michael’s tiny plasma TV, Jan gently bullying Pam because she thinks Pam has a secret crush on Michael, to that strange song from Jan’s ex-assistant Hunter, the episode is really just one laugh after the other.
