10 Great Moments In The Office That Were Totally Improvised
The Office is known for its stellar comedy, and one of the components that makes the show's humor truly special is the freedom the actors were given to improvise. Many members of The Office's cast came from a background that involved improv, which meant they were perfectly suited to take advantage of that opportunity.
In some cases, the actors might have just thrown in an extra little line that they felt was in character, while in others, the director may have asked them to improvise because something about a scene wasn't working. Some of The Office's improvised moments are even long bits that the actors ran with that made it into the episode, while other last-minute changes had a large impact on The Office and became crucial parts of the show's various storylines.
10 Jim & Pam's Narration As Dwight Buys A Purse
Season 1, Episode 6: "Hot Girl"
When Dwight goes to buy a purse from Katy in "Hot Girl," making for Amy Adams' cameo The Office role, Jim and Pam awkwardly start narrating the scene as they watch it happen. John Krasinski was actually the one to suggest that they do this, and they told Rainn Wilson beforehand. Since Wilson knew they were going to do it, he purposefully started doing crazy things with the purses in order to give them things to talk about.
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Dwight Schrute's comedic character and his passion for Dunder Mifflin are just a few reasons that he's so important to The Office and is the glue.
Krasinski's idea led to the improvised narration by him as Jim and Jenna Fischer as Pam, but that's also the reason why Dwight does things like slamming purses on the desk.All three actors were improvising during this scene, and the way they worked together to create the moment certainly made it a great one.
9 Dwight On The Keyboard During Michael's Speeches
Season 2, Episode 1: "The Dundies"
In the Office Ladies episode focused on "The Dundies," Fischer and Angela Kinsey mention that Wilson got very into the sound effects on the keyboard he was given. Rather than being told anything specific about how and when to use the keyboard, Wilson was given the freedom to play it whenever he wanted during Michael's (Steve Carell) speeches. Thus, Wilson's improvisation helped add to the comedy as people won Dundie Awards.
When describing the scene, Kinsey described Wilson's access to the keyboard as "like handing a child like a keyboard or even when you give Rainn a microphone. Get ready because he's gonna have a lot of bits." Throughout the run of The Office, actors having access to musical instruments provides many great moments, whether improvised or scripted.
8 Michael's Animal Hybrid Combinations
Season 4, Episode 1: "Fun Run"
In "Fun Run Part 1," Michael Scott explains during a conference room meeting that he thinks the office is cursed. Michael suggests sacrificing some sort of creature and starts listing out animal hybrids, including ridiculous combinations such as "an animal that has the body of a walrus and the head of a sea lion," or "one that has the head of a monkey with the antlers of a reindeer and the body of a porcupine."
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The best version of a “That’s what she said” joke is made by Michael in the first episode the joke is referenced, and it’s all Jim’s fault.
During the corresponding episode of the Office Ladies podcast, Fischer and Kinsey explain that Steve Carell was also just running with it, improvising animal combinations on the spot. He said them all very seriously and took his time coming up with them, adding to the comedic moment. This scene caused many of the other actors to break, and Kinsey wasn't in any background shots because she was laughing. While the episode tries to hide The Office's actors all laughing, Darryl (Craig Robinson) can be seen covering his face.
7 Michael's "Snip Snap" Monologue
Season 4, Episode 13: "Dinner Party"
The "Dinner Party" episode of the Office Ladies podcast revealed that the season 4 episode was purposefully designed to make viewers uncomfortable. After the writers finished the script, the network was concerned about how dark the episode was, but they let them proceed. However, one moment in The Office's "Dinner Party" felt too dark even to the writers.
"Dinner Party" turns out to be one of the leading examples of how much careful thought was put into the funny background details of The Office.
When filming the scene where Michael monologs about having had three vasectomies, director Paul Feig realized that it was too seriously dramatic. He wanted to handle the subject with the weight that it deserves, but he also wanted it to have more humor. After talking to Carell about this, the actor added in the "snip, snap, snip, snap, snip, snap" part during the following take, helping to balance one of the most tragic facts about Michael Scott with a completely ridiculous moment.
6 Jan's Devil Horns
Season 4, Episode 13: "Dinner Party"
"Dinner Party" turns out to be one of the leading examples of how much careful thought was put into the funny background details of The Office. The set and costume design are meant to make it look like Michael is in Hell and Jan (Melora Hardin) is the Devil, as shown through Michael being surrounded by Jan's candles, red decor around the apartment, Jan being positioned in front of a roaring fire, and Jan's red outfit.
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"Dinner Party" is remembered as one of The Office's best & cringiest episodes, with a tiny detail making the dinner even torturous for the characters.
At one moment in the episode, Jan actually proclaims herself to be the Devil, making the comparison even more explicit. During that moment, she lifts her hands up to make devil horns. However, the devil horns gesture was completely improvised by Melora Hardin, adding both to the hellish atmosphere of the episode and the humor of the moment.
5 Hank From Security Eating The Candy
Season 5, Episode 10: "The Surplus"
In "The Surplus," the employees of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin are feuding over whether to use the year's surplus to buy a new copier or new chairs, and things get so tense that they call up the building's security guy, Hank Tate, to help make their decision. And Hank stole the show during this scene of The Officethanks to a completely improvised moment, where Hugh Dane decided to grab a few pieces of candy from the reception desk and eat them after being called up to help with the decision.
Fischer said in Office Ladies that she had to lean out of the shot because she was laughing so hard. As noted, this isn't the only example of actors having to move themselves out of frame due to breaking character on set during the filming of The Office. Everyone's improvisational skills were strong enough, but unscripted moments like this still made it difficult for them not to break.
4 Michael's "How The Turntables" Line
Season 5, Episode 23: "Broke"
The Michael Scott Paper Company arc in The Office ended too quickly, as it is one of the show's best. The episodes spanning this arc are full of great comedic bits, such as the special intro used for "Michael Scott Paper Company," but one of the storyline's best moments also wasn't scripted. In the episode "Broke," Michael, Pam, and Ryan (B.J. Novak) realize that their company isn't sustainable, but they soon discover that they are outperforming Dunder Mifflin so much that David Wallace (Andy Buckley) is hoping to buy them out.
As Much As I Love The Office, Even I Have To Skip This Divisive Season 6 Episode When Rewatching The Show
Scott's Tots is one of The Office's most painful episodes because it shows Michael in a miserable situation that's entirely his own fault.
When Michael goes into the meeting, he says, "How the turntables," a twist on the common phrase "How the tables have turned." However, this line was made up by Carell and was not what appeared in the original script for the episode. Michael's line was supposed to be, "Oh, how the meteor's fallen." If Carell hadn't improvised, we wouldn't have one of The Office's most-quoted lines.
3 Andy Drinking Soap
Season 7, Episode 20: "Training Day"
In "Training Day," Deangelo Vickers (Will Ferrell), the Scranton branch's replacement manager, labels Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) as the office's "funny guy." At one point, Deangelo encourages Andy to do something funny, causing Andy to go through increasingly ridiculous levels of physical comedy, including pouring hot coffee on himself and sticking his hand in the toaster. However, Andy's last escalation was completely unscripted.
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For one of Will Ferrell's best quotes in The Office, he decided to tell Andy to drink hand soap, and Ed Helms went for it. Both Ferrell's goading and Helms' response were entirely improvised. As a result, whereas the coffee was probably not actually hot, Helms was pumping real hand soap into his mouth. If the scene had been scripted, they could have swapped it out or used an empty container, but Helms' "yes and" response to Ferrell led to him drinking real soap, making the scene even funnier.
2 Andy Singing "Bad Day"
Season 9, Episode 16: "Moving On"
In season 9's "Moving On," when Andy calls Pete (Jake Lacy) into his office, much of their conversation is unscripted. Helms improvised Andy saying he had contracted chlamydia, causing Lacy to break, as seen in a blooper reel. While Andy might have been at his most unlikeable in season 9 of The Office, it's hard to deny how funny he and Pete both are in this scene. Lacy called one of his own improvisations during the scene his proudest performance in The Office.
Lacy called one of his own improvisations during the scene his proudest performance in The Office.
However, the improvised moment from this scene with the most impact is what Andy does after telling Pete that he's fired. Andy starts a rendition of "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter as Pete tries to protest over his singing. Andy's version completely changes the lyrics to fit the situation, and he ends by breaking into a "Rit dit dit doo." This might have been one of The Office's most expensive improv moments, as they had to get permission to use the song in the episode and to change its lyrics. This ended up costing $20,000.
1 Dwight Saying "I'm A Dad"
Season 9, Episode 22: "A.A.R.M."
Season 9's "A.A.R.M. Part 2" features a key moment in Dwight and Angela's relationship timeline, and it wouldn't have had as much impact without improv. When Wilson and Kinsey first filmed their characters' engagement scene, the director thought they seemed a bit stiff. Due to this, they were encouraged to improvise to make it feel more real. Thus, many of the lines were made up on the spot, including parts of Dwight and Angela's argument, as well as saying that they love each other.
The scene was supposed to end after Dwight says: "Get out!" However, he added onto the line, saying "I'm a dad," letting it come to a close after a moment with a lot of emotional impact. While many of the improvised lines in The Office are quick-witted and humorous, the ones in this scene help give it additional depth.
Source: Office Ladies
The Office
- Release Date
- 2005 - 2013-00-00
- Network
- NBC
- Showrunner
- Greg Daniels
- Directors
- Greg Daniels, Paul Lieberstein, Paul Feig, Randall Einhorn, Ken Kwapis
- Writers
- Mindy Kaling, Paul Lieberstein, Michael Schur, Ricky Gervais, Greg Daniels, B.J. Novak
Cast
Michael Scott
Dwight Schrute
- Franchise(s)
- The Office
- Creator(s)
- Greg Daniels
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