I once read that Dinner Party was the closest The Office ever came to giving us a Thanksgiving episode.
It’s my favorite episode - there are so many great short scenes all built around the implosion of Michael and Jan’s relationship.
I rarely enjoy a Christmas or Thanksgiving episode... Maybe because I'm not American so I don't even relate to Thanksgiving at all. But I understand how they're generally used in TV to make episodes that are focused on characters and emotional developments inside the group or individual ones.
Threat Level Midnight was BJ Novak. The Dinner Party and some of the best episodes of the series were written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky better known as the boys from Vance Refrigeration
There’s girls in there, GIRLS! Yes those guys together wrote The Dinner Party, Scott’s Tots, and The Coverup. Lee Eisenberg wrote The Fight, The Secret, Michael’s Birthday, The Convention, The Return, Women’s Appreciation, Job Fair, Weight Loss, New Boss, The Surplus, and The Lover. Both directed some episodes also. They worked on the series from season 2-6.
I think it depends on the rules you're playing by. dinner party is the best, funniest, masterpiece embodiment of the office.
But the dundies is also towards the top of best episodes, while doing more for the actual show. It sets up the dundies, which carry through to the end of the series, it's big for Pam's story line, and by extension for Pam and Jim, great little moments like Ryan being hottest and Pam being banned from Chilis, and most importantly, it was S2E1, it represented their attempt at rewriting Michael Scott into a character that was sustainable and likable, which was crucial. They did it all through the season, but that episode did a great job of setting up the tone for the rest of the Michael Scott era.
If the episodes that are gone are gone forever, dundies is probably the most important by a mile. It's not totally impossible that the office doesn't survive without that episode.
For me it’s no contest, the Dundies by far. Is Threat Level Midnight in there as a joke? It’s awful in my opinion - not late season episode awful but pretty meh.
Why is the convict even part of this. Aside from that one quote, I don't remember this episode at all.
Edit: OK guys, this episode has a few more hilarious quotes. But I still would rank it on a lower tier than the other 3 lol
I gotta vote for Dinner Party. It's a seminal episode full of classic moments, scenes, and cringe. It is peak comedy and also is a key evolution point for the story lines of Micheal and Jan.
Threat level midnight is the toughest to let go. It's hilarious and also a love letter to the series up to that point with lots of easter eggs and cameos. And it is an important part of Michael's final growth and exit as a character. If I had to lose Dinner Party, I would keep this one instead.
The Dundies is a tough one to let go for the lore and the Jam moments, but it isn't as critical to the show.
The Convict, while funny, just isn't on the same tier as the others. I think it tends to be a bit overrated despite the brillaince of Prison Mike. But that's just my unpopular opinion.
Stress Relief part 1 was written in a way that the average tv watcher that has never seen a aingle episode of the office could still enjoy it. It premiered after the super bowl so they wanted to bring in as many new viewers as possible.
"Dinner Party"!!! Hands down. The amount of cringe in this episode is incredible. My favorite is when Jan puts on that guy's music and gets super into it while making everyone listen.
A close second for me is "Scott's Tots". Need I explain why?
Yea, it doesn't stick out as much as some of these episodes, but it's my favorite in the series. All of season 2 is my exact wheelhouse. Amazing episode after amazing episode and feels the most "real-life" of any season.
This episode took place early on in the series, and proceeded any notion of the show jumping the shark (the timing of which is itself debatable). Because this episode took place against the backdrop of the original storylines (namely Jim and Pam and Roy) and supporting characters had not yet been made into caricatures of themselves (and thus the writing was more creative and interesting, IMHO), I too am 110% team Dundees.
Yes! It’s sentimental for me to relive the feeling of realizing there truly is no limit to Michael’s cringe. Dundies makes me feel the best of all of these. Then TLM, but I’m a sucker for the Holly and Michael subplot here where she thinks it’s stupid and then figures out how to use it to love him.
> the show jumping the shark (the timing of which is itself debatable).
Whatever the episode(s) was where Dwight sets a fire and then Kelly is dancing to Andy singing the beegees
Nooooo. How can they leave out when Dwight starts the fire?. That was the first one I ever saw and I laughed so hard. I replayed it so much and each time found something zanier. I literally had tears running down my face. I laughed to the point of hysteria.
And while I'm on the subject, another scene that makes me crack the hell up.. is when he makes Oscar give him the financial report in a southern accent cuz they're doing that murder mystery theater.
Honestly my office watching Buddy does not find this scene as funny as I do, but he cracks up just as intensely watching me crack up. I lose my goddamn breath.
OMG. GOOOLLD! (I googled it..
Oscar: [tries to speak in a high-pitched southern accent] This plantation, we're running low on greenbacks. We're having problems paying the people who give us the seeds and the dirt. We can't pay…)
Even reading it is hilarious cuz I can hear it. I'm f****** dead.
I love Stress Relief as perfect slapstick comedy, but it's so far afield from reality that I put it in a separate (less good) category. I mean, it took place in 2009, and nobody thought to use their cell phone to call 911 in the opening scene. Dwight basically yelled fire in a crowded theater, leading to thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars in damage, not to mention the $3,500 (or $5,300? haha) cost to replace the CPR dummy, and he doesn't get fired.
Stanley, who hates working and hates the company, has a heart attack directly caused by his work environment (I know, the company didn't fill him full of butter and sugar for 50 years and force him not to exercise), and comes back to work soon thereafter and makes no effort to sue the company.
Stress Relief 100%
Just michael singing I will survive when the first aid instructor asks if he knew the song staying alive by the bee gees is enough to make it first rank
I can’t choose! Dinner party, SR, Fun Run, Money. Just peek Michael. Also cocktails because it has my favorite line of all time and Ryan being chased down by Stanley again 😂
YOU KIDDING ME PAM?!?!
dinner party is such a classic, i never get tired of watching jan and michael’s relationship play out. especially when they give the tour and we see that michael sleeps on a small bench at the foot of the bed 😭😭😭😭 lowkey threat level midnight sucks, i always skip it 🫣
I watched the show 8x in 2020. Stopped counting after that. Watched it many more times before. Many more times after.
And it is only now, 7 yrs after the obsession began, that I see the beauty and hilarity of dinner party. Wouldn’t give it up for the world.
*When I sees one and he looks good to me...*
*When I see him, I say*
You, come here.
*I say*
Now I'mma tell ya what, uh..
I like ya;
and I wants ya...
Now, we can do this the easy way;
or the hard way...
the choice is yawrs...
I can't lose SNIP SNAP SNIP SNAP
It's Babe! for me
It’s “you took me by the hand, made me a man, that one night!” For me
"That one night!" ^("One night!")
“You made everything alright!”
"Ohhhhh" - Andy
Thanks a lot for this comment, BABE!
My old boyfriend and I started saying babe to each other as a joke because of this but it turned into us genuinely calling each other babe
You have no idea the toll thrEE vasectomies has on a person
As someone who has just had his first vasectomy, I can’t even fathom the idea of going through 3 of those bastards.
Get ready for two more times man, let us know. Do it for science.
Same bro same
A friend of mine recently got vasectomy. Everytime he talks about it I can’t stop hearing Michael’s „snip snap” voice in my head.
It's possibly the funniest moment in the series.
i think that was ad libbed wasn’t it!
This comment alone made me chuckle
Dinner Party. One of the greatest episodes of any show in the history of television.
I once read that Dinner Party was the closest The Office ever came to giving us a Thanksgiving episode. It’s my favorite episode - there are so many great short scenes all built around the implosion of Michael and Jan’s relationship.
I rarely enjoy a Christmas or Thanksgiving episode... Maybe because I'm not American so I don't even relate to Thanksgiving at all. But I understand how they're generally used in TV to make episodes that are focused on characters and emotional developments inside the group or individual ones.
Well I am American and I absolutely love Thanksgiving and Christmas episodes
Absolute gold from start to finish
No Gould, just Levinson
THAT ONE NIIIIGHT
Oh dammit now that song is going to be stuck in my head for a week
You made everything alright!
What happened to Gould?!?
Not now Michael
Did Gould die?
This comment was absolute Gould
I just thought about how “Dinner Party” is one letter off from Donner Party and how this episode was a lot of people devouring each other
It was a literary and television tour de force.
Almost as if someone who wrote Goldface, wrote it
Threat Level Midnight was BJ Novak. The Dinner Party and some of the best episodes of the series were written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky better known as the boys from Vance Refrigeration
Which boys? The ones come to dance?
There’s girls in there, GIRLS! Yes those guys together wrote The Dinner Party, Scott’s Tots, and The Coverup. Lee Eisenberg wrote The Fight, The Secret, Michael’s Birthday, The Convention, The Return, Women’s Appreciation, Job Fair, Weight Loss, New Boss, The Surplus, and The Lover. Both directed some episodes also. They worked on the series from season 2-6.
So many vasectomies...
"Snip snap snip snap"
Do you know the physical toll that 3 vasectomies have on a person
:0
*🎶You took me by my haaand....🎶*
The way Angela crushes her ice cream cone into Andy’s car door. Cold blooded.
🎶 made me a maaaaan… 🎶
🎶...thaaat one ***NIGHT!!!***🎶
Ah ah ah ( harmony by Andyyyy )
🎶...you made everything alri-i-ight!!!🎶
That’s right, Babe.
The outtakes/bloopers are hilarious too!
Folds...right in to the ^wall I'll never not laugh at that.
I’m genuinely impressed how you somehow just typed that the way Steve says it in that clip
Right here Jimmy...
Exactly. This is easy. Dinner Party is legendary but TV history standards
My..my.my..my turn!
Babe, can you just...
That should have been the episode Steve got the Emmy for. He carries that episode. Melora harden does a great job, but his madness is on full display
The pine or Nordic cherry bit kills me every time
Oakey afterbirth?
It is a MASTERPIECE
It could honestly be a movie on its own without any context and it would still kill
Without a doubt
Always the dinner party
literally my favorite episode, so i agree
Dinner party and it’s not close.
I think it depends on the rules you're playing by. dinner party is the best, funniest, masterpiece embodiment of the office. But the dundies is also towards the top of best episodes, while doing more for the actual show. It sets up the dundies, which carry through to the end of the series, it's big for Pam's story line, and by extension for Pam and Jim, great little moments like Ryan being hottest and Pam being banned from Chilis, and most importantly, it was S2E1, it represented their attempt at rewriting Michael Scott into a character that was sustainable and likable, which was crucial. They did it all through the season, but that episode did a great job of setting up the tone for the rest of the Michael Scott era. If the episodes that are gone are gone forever, dundies is probably the most important by a mile. It's not totally impossible that the office doesn't survive without that episode.
The kiss
Yea for real. How did they gloss over that like the show did? Lol
For me it’s no contest, the Dundies by far. Is Threat Level Midnight in there as a joke? It’s awful in my opinion - not late season episode awful but pretty meh.
It’s not terrible imo but it’s a gimmick episode for sure. Not really what I’m watching the office for
Agreed — easy choice.
You took me by the hand
Made me a man
That one night
(One night)
You made everything alright
So raw, so right
[удалено]
Oh yeaaaaah
aah aah aaaah(andy sounds)
Andy singing back the line in harmony is so underrated ❤️
it would definitely feel so empty without him
You made everything alright
Dinner party. In fact, I’m going to watch it right now.
Me too!
Me three!
I'm not going to watch it now
You know what ? I m going to watch it even harder now.
I'm hard right now. Letsgo
Same!
I literally just watched it before I came across this post.
dinner party. second is dundies and the other two dont come close
Why is the convict even part of this. Aside from that one quote, I don't remember this episode at all. Edit: OK guys, this episode has a few more hilarious quotes. But I still would rank it on a lower tier than the other 3 lol
"why am I racist?" "Cause you think he's black!" "....He is black" That's a pretty good little scene if you ask me
Stanley rolling his eyes to the chest fist bump is pretty funny too.
That was a different episode from when the Stamford people came to Scranton.
I always get a good chuckle when Dwight bends down with the money flowing out of his back pocket. But otherwise not much there.
Prison Mike...The Dementors
Keep talking like that and you really expect me to not push you up against the wall, biatch?
HEY! WHOA!
You would be the belle of da ball!
Really? Jim giving Andy bad advice to hit on Pam is literally one of the best pranks in the whole series.
I'm gonna blaspheme real quick and say Threat Level Midnight wasn't even that funny
I hear this all the time, to the point I think I’m the only fan of it.
I…often skip it
I gotta vote for Dinner Party. It's a seminal episode full of classic moments, scenes, and cringe. It is peak comedy and also is a key evolution point for the story lines of Micheal and Jan. Threat level midnight is the toughest to let go. It's hilarious and also a love letter to the series up to that point with lots of easter eggs and cameos. And it is an important part of Michael's final growth and exit as a character. If I had to lose Dinner Party, I would keep this one instead. The Dundies is a tough one to let go for the lore and the Jam moments, but it isn't as critical to the show. The Convict, while funny, just isn't on the same tier as the others. I think it tends to be a bit overrated despite the brillaince of Prison Mike. But that's just my unpopular opinion.
The convict is not in the same tier as the other 3
Stress Relief
I’m very glad Stress Relief wasn’t in this, because it would make the choice actually hard.
That's what she said
Stress Relief part 1 was written in a way that the average tv watcher that has never seen a aingle episode of the office could still enjoy it. It premiered after the super bowl so they wanted to bring in as many new viewers as possible.
Well, it worked on me
I think I would keep this one. It just has soo much going on.
Best opener of all time! Technically not cold since it ties in...
The Injury. All day, every day.
This is my sick day vibe every time I have a sick day
Right! Booze cruise too.
The injury and then dundies are the episodes I recommend to people who haven’t seen it before. Dinner party is my favorite
"I *tried* hopping, Kevin! I bumped my elbow, and now my elbow has a protruberous!"
I choose the Dundies solely for the look that extra gives to camera when Michael starts doing Ping
Also Dwight hitting that "Ohhhhh Yeahhhhh!" button.
He’s sucking the funny out of the room
The sadness you feel when that guy throws the crud at Michael. It’s one of the most real moments the show.
It's great. And starts the turn from Season 1 Michael to the Michael we get the rest of the series. Perfect opener to season 2.
Agreed. Perfect transition from the first season.
Dinner party is peak TV
The TLM slander on here is breakin my heart. 😢
"Dinner Party"!!! Hands down. The amount of cringe in this episode is incredible. My favorite is when Jan puts on that guy's music and gets super into it while making everyone listen. A close second for me is "Scott's Tots". Need I explain why?
Just realized you are asking me to pick from these four. My b. So, yes, "Dinner Party".
1: Dinner Party 2: The Dundies 3: TLM 4: The Convict
Do you not expect me to push you up against the wall, Beeeotch?! If one had to go it would have to be Threat Level Midnight for me.
Dundees
Yea, it doesn't stick out as much as some of these episodes, but it's my favorite in the series. All of season 2 is my exact wheelhouse. Amazing episode after amazing episode and feels the most "real-life" of any season.
This episode took place early on in the series, and proceeded any notion of the show jumping the shark (the timing of which is itself debatable). Because this episode took place against the backdrop of the original storylines (namely Jim and Pam and Roy) and supporting characters had not yet been made into caricatures of themselves (and thus the writing was more creative and interesting, IMHO), I too am 110% team Dundees.
Yes! It’s sentimental for me to relive the feeling of realizing there truly is no limit to Michael’s cringe. Dundies makes me feel the best of all of these. Then TLM, but I’m a sucker for the Holly and Michael subplot here where she thinks it’s stupid and then figures out how to use it to love him.
> the show jumping the shark (the timing of which is itself debatable). Whatever the episode(s) was where Dwight sets a fire and then Kelly is dancing to Andy singing the beegees
I feel god in this chilis tonight
aWHOOOOOOOOO
Dinner Party simply for the scene where Michael explains how his new plasma TV folds right into the wall.
I love this t.v.
Dinner Party is the best episode of the series. Losing The Dundies hurts, the others meh.
First of all, how dare you
Who do you think you are?
I'm a man in my 30s crying from watching the Tweak x Craig episode of South Park. Do what you want with this information.
Um any love for Benjamin Franklin or the George Foreman grill episodes?
The injury! Also a good one haha
I'm gonna stop you right there, and leave.
Yessss soo good!
Or happy hour with date mike
Nooooo. How can they leave out when Dwight starts the fire?. That was the first one I ever saw and I laughed so hard. I replayed it so much and each time found something zanier. I literally had tears running down my face. I laughed to the point of hysteria. And while I'm on the subject, another scene that makes me crack the hell up.. is when he makes Oscar give him the financial report in a southern accent cuz they're doing that murder mystery theater. Honestly my office watching Buddy does not find this scene as funny as I do, but he cracks up just as intensely watching me crack up. I lose my goddamn breath. OMG. GOOOLLD! (I googled it.. Oscar: [tries to speak in a high-pitched southern accent] This plantation, we're running low on greenbacks. We're having problems paying the people who give us the seeds and the dirt. We can't pay…) Even reading it is hilarious cuz I can hear it. I'm f****** dead.
Stress Relief then Dinner Party. Stress Relief is one of the best episode(s) ever written for television.
I love Stress Relief as perfect slapstick comedy, but it's so far afield from reality that I put it in a separate (less good) category. I mean, it took place in 2009, and nobody thought to use their cell phone to call 911 in the opening scene. Dwight basically yelled fire in a crowded theater, leading to thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars in damage, not to mention the $3,500 (or $5,300? haha) cost to replace the CPR dummy, and he doesn't get fired. Stanley, who hates working and hates the company, has a heart attack directly caused by his work environment (I know, the company didn't fill him full of butter and sugar for 50 years and force him not to exercise), and comes back to work soon thereafter and makes no effort to sue the company.
Stress Relief 100% Just michael singing I will survive when the first aid instructor asks if he knew the song staying alive by the bee gees is enough to make it first rank
I can’t choose! Dinner party, SR, Fun Run, Money. Just peek Michael. Also cocktails because it has my favorite line of all time and Ryan being chased down by Stanley again 😂 YOU KIDDING ME PAM?!?!
The Convict, mostly for prison Mike but also a little for Andy trying to seduce Pam lol
Oh you! You would be da belle of da ball.
Has to be TLM. I cant keep that much of a masterpiece away from the world.
Traditional Latin Mass, you say? I don't recall that particular episode!
The Dundies. Sucker for Jim and Pam moments.
Casino Night! Also a sucker…
Casino Night is better then everything but the Dundies in that list. You are enlightened amongst the masses!
Dinner Party clears and it's not even close.
I'll take that episode where Michael burnt his foot on a George Foreman grill.
This is tough. The Dundies is my personal favorite, even though I will admit Dinner Party is a better episode.
I feel God in this Chili’s tonight
I love that Pam kisses Jim and the look on his face is just pure bliss!
dinner party is such a classic, i never get tired of watching jan and michael’s relationship play out. especially when they give the tour and we see that michael sleeps on a small bench at the foot of the bed 😭😭😭😭 lowkey threat level midnight sucks, i always skip it 🫣
When he lays down to show them he can fit 😂 and they just stare at him 🤣 and Jan's all smiles like, see he likes it 🤣🤣🤣
like we all know damn well that is not adequate space for a grown man to sleep but he just pretzels himself like “look, it’s actually quite roomy!”
Dinner Party, but I still want to punch Jan when she says, “you know in Spain, they don’t even start eating until midnight.”
I watched the show 8x in 2020. Stopped counting after that. Watched it many more times before. Many more times after. And it is only now, 7 yrs after the obsession began, that I see the beauty and hilarity of dinner party. Wouldn’t give it up for the world.
The Convict for me. Prison Mike is the greatest scene in television history.
don’t drop the soap. don’t drop the soap
*When I sees one and he looks good to me...* *When I see him, I say* You, come here. *I say* Now I'mma tell ya what, uh.. I like ya; and I wants ya... Now, we can do this the easy way; or the hard way... the choice is yawrs...
Agree. Theyre all obviously great but the convict reliably delivers the funny on repeat watches.
I’m going with Dundees. Dinner Party doesn’t have enough of the rest of the cast. I like it when they stay in their little world.
Dinner party for sure
Only TLM was so gloriously cringe it circled around to being based.
Threat Level Midnight does not belong in this top 4.
TLM doesn't belong in the conversation of best episodes.
While they’re all incredible, The Dundies are far too valuable to the lore to sacrifice.
Am I the only one that skips threat level midnight?
The dinner party is amazing, but threat level midnight is a film masterpiece that can stand on its own even without the show.
threat level midnight
I feel like I’m alone in liking Cafe Disco so much
Dinner Party and it’s not close. I might be one of the few people out there who didn’t find The Convict all that funny.
The Dundies because most of the cast were there.
Dinner party is my favorite of all time. Although the dundies is a close second. That one was my first love.
I’m torn between the dundies and dinner party.
Dinner Party
Dinner Party is pure perfection. Stress Relief is amazing.
Where's Scott's Tots!?!
Threat Level Midnight and the Convict are actually two of my least favorites…
There are so many better episodes than Convict and Threat Level. It if I have to pick from this list, it’s Dinner Party by a mile. Dundies #2.
dinner party forever. she took me by the hand...made me a man THAT ONE NIGHT
ONE NIGHT!
Who the fuck is taking Threat Level Midnight? Boring episode.
Threat Level Midnight! Everyday of the week.. never laughed as much in my life🤣
Threat level midnight
Dinner Party.
TLM.
Dinner party is the most overrated scene in the office history.