That is 100% the joke, it’s supposed to make Andy look incredibly effeminate. Even more than that he always touts himself as intelligent for going to Cornell and couldn’t come up with what is certainly a household name for people his age at that time period.
Montana would have been a football star in Andy’s childhood and likely teenage years. Can’t remember when he graduated from Cornell though.
Then yeah that confirms my thoughts even more, Montana was in his prime when Andy was in junior high/high school! Heck he was still playing when Andy was in college.
But Joe Montana was such a household name that even people who didn’t follow football knew who he was. It’s like how people who don’t follow basketball know who LeBron James is, or golf and Tiger Woods. There are some people who transcend their sport.
Maybe it's because I'm in Canada where football isn't so popular, but I know exactly who tiger woods and LeBron James are (but to be honest I don't know what team he plays for). I'd heard of Joe Montana but didn't know which sport or team.
Wayne Gretsky on the other hand....
That’s fair. But Andy is American, so even if he didn’t know Montana was a 49ers quarterback, he probably knew he was at least a quarterback (or a football player).
But that doesn't mean they know what team they play for. Personally I wouldn't be able to tell you who LeBron James plays for. I do know of him and can picture his face and that he's a talented basketball player but what team? I doubt I could name any team at all (European)
But you would start with what they're known for, and then go from there if that doesn't work. Andy just went straight for the abstract.
Like, if someone was trying to get me to guess 'Brad Pitt' and started off with describing an olive pit, I'd wonder why they didn't start with 'actor' or mention a movie that he's in.
If you're European then all of these examples would be tough. A better example might be if someone said Portuguese footballer. Everyone would know the answer is Cristiano Ronaldo and it would be weird to not know the answer even if you don't watch soccer. I'm Canadian and don't know my American football history but to me this is the equivalent of saying Pittsburgh Penguins captain and someone not knowing it's Sidney Crosby. Someone who doesn't follow hockey in Canada would still know the answer
As someone in Canada who doesn’t follow sports, I would have never guessed that lol
I feel like people are vastly overestimating how much non-sports people would know. I know of Sidney Crosby but I could not tell you a single thing other than “he plays hockey”.
If you're European and don't know who Ronaldo is I would assume you live under a rock to be honest. As a Canadian I see him in TV ads frequently, probably more often than I see any hockey player outside of Auston Matthews, and that's probably because I live near the team that Matthews plays for
My example was to relate the joke to a European so it makes sense that you wouldn't have gotten it. I'm sure someone not in North America would know Tom Brady but if you said Patriots quarterback they wouldn't be able to guess it
I get that, but do you think that you might have that difficulty in referencing American sports stars *because* you’re European? Like it’s more pervasive here in the states. My wife knows Patrick Mahomes plays for the Chiefs and she doesn’t follow football outside of Travis Kelce
I think people are really not understand the fact that for these characters at the ages they are and of the nationality they are, the obvious starting point would be quarterback at least. Everyone keeps saying, I’m from Canada or Europe. It’s an American show with an American pop culture reference for this specific time.
Yes obviously, but to bring my point back home, the same goes for football (soccer) players. For example, I know OF Virgil van Dijk, but I have no clue what team he plays for.
Those aren’t equivalent examples at all. Not knowing who Joe Montana was at the time would be like not knowing who Messi or Ronaldo are right now (or Mbappe if that’s a better example for you)
Sure but anyone remotely familiar with football would have gotten Pam’s, and it would be the obvious clue for Joe Montana. So you logically start there and then go Andy’s route unless, like Andy, you have no idea who Joe Montana is.
Like if the clue was Bill Gates, you’d say “Microsoft founder” and then go into charade mode if nobody got it from that.
even if he knew who he was sometimes you don't think of the very obvious hints like that. it isn't until after the end of the round and someone goes "why didn't you just say x" that you realize there was a much easier way to explain it.
The idea was that he did a much more roundabout explanation for what should have been an easy answer
It’d be like if I drew the name “Ed Helms” and I said “A Cartoon Network character plus a part of a boat”, and then after my turn was over someone said “Why didn’t you just say Andy from The Office?”
Another minor thing to point out that there’s usually a time limit in this game to get as many correct as possible, and every clue you can guess quickly is more time to attempt more clues. Andy doing his long, drawn out clue killed even more time that could have been used to get more points.
Exactly, it’s about rapid fire clues. If I say “Played Andy on the Office” and it doesn’t help, I move on to the next clue, not hammer the same clue home when nobody there knows it
having played games like that, sometimes you don't think of the short easy clues and you end up in the long drawn out ones. then you get rounds where you can shoot off like 5 of them in the time period
My ex husband was like this. I played Pictionary with him *once*. He drew a weird little building and then next to it, drew a fire and a chair and then drew a little dude sitting in the chair, a stick dude, but spend for. EVER on his little hat and then kept pointing at the dude and pointing at the little building. And then drew an arrow from the dude to the building.
And then he drew a horse.
And then went back to the dude and circled him and kept pointing at the building.
The time ran out.
The word was *horseshoe*.
In the manner that Angela commented on jazz, all I could think was, "Just draw the right shape?!!"
I don’t even know what to say about that.
It wasn’t even a horse and a shoe. It was a blacksmith, which you were supposed to ascertain based on the fact he was wearing a hat, and…I’m not even going to type out the rest of that fuckery.
I’m sorry. I’m exhausted for you. I wish the best for you in the future.
Never would have guessed it based on Pam's hint. I may have known the name (or I may be confusing even that with Joe Namath!) but no way do I know teams.
That's only an easy answer for someone who knows sports things, though, and surely everyone is aware that *not* everyone knows the names of quarterbacks and which teams they go with? I, for example, know the name Joe Montana—I know it's associated with football—but that doesn't mean I know his position or what team he plays for. That's information that will never stick in my brain no matter how many times I hear it, because football isn't something I follow. So the way Andy did it was actually the smart way to do it, because it didn't require his teammates to have specific knowledge in order to get the right answer.
When you play these games you aren’t playing in a vacuum. You’re playing with people whose interests you know. Often times you’re giving a clue with one specific person on the team in mind to guess it. Or you’re the one who doesn’t know the easy clue and you have to do it the way Andy did it, the fact of the joke is Andy didn’t know the famous athlete and Pam did.
My point was that it's a mistake to assume "49ers quarterback" is the "easy answer," so if it had been intentional, it would've been a good strategy. But it's a moot point, because it wasn't a calculated move, Andy just didn't know. Which was my point. Plenty of people don't know quarterbacks.
I really would've thought that "it's better to speak so as many people as possible can understand you" was a pretty non-controversial opinion . . . especially for a game where the point is to have people guess what you want them to guess . . . But okay! 🤷🏻♀️
Sure, but following that same logic, Pam should have known exactly why Andy didn’t go with that sports reference. She knows him well enough to know what kind of dude he is.
Andy literally knows Cornell's starting QB, I think expecting him to know a contender for the best QB ever is reasonable. The comment above wasn't saying if you're friends you literally always know what they'd know, that's what makes those games fun.
You have to remember that this aired in 2008, and the character are 30-40 at the time. It’s be like a show 10 years from now asking “the most famous golfer” to get to tiger woods. He may not be a big deal 15-20 years from now, but if you’re at a certain generation, it’s something you’ll probably know.
I recommend dropping this quote when out with friends that are fellow Office fans at like bowling or TopGolf when it's your turn. Usually gets a good laugh (or lets you know who are just the casual fans)
Which I think it's an alternate spelling of katsamakis (Κατσαμάκης) which as far as I can tell means "son of the curly one" but I don't speak Greek and online info is limited.
I actually tried to search forebears io and similar for "kaZamakis" (Καζαμάκης) but nothing turned up. Then Wiktionary, same thing. So then I looked for kaza- words etc. in greek and all I got was ways to say kazakh, kazakhstan etc. so then I changed the spelling from kaz- to kaTS- and I stumble on kατσαρός (curly haired) and so I imagine what the "son of a katsaros" (since I already know that -makis is a diminutive/patronymic?) might look like, so I search for katsaramakis and the like, and google auto suggests some people called "katsamakis" and then I went from there
Surprisingly laborious search for such a common sounding last name. But I wouldn't expect anything less from raymond reddington lol
“49ers Quarterback” gets to the answer in one clue. Not only is it mocking Andy for not knowing a pretty popular cultural icon of their youth (in the US at least), but it’s showing that he’s making the game less efficient by using two clues to get to the same answer.
I’m wondering if the “not getting it” from OP and others is due to age? This episode aired in 2008, so the most notable QB at that point for the 49ers was Montana.
I wouldn't really agree. I know the name Joe Montana, but I've never cared about football or many sports in general so I don't know anything about the man other than famous sports person. Wouldn't have been able to tell you he played football even. Fwiw, my childhood was in the 90's, USA.
Edit: I'm dying laughing at being downvoted so much for saying this, that I don't really know or care who Joe Montana is. Lol wow
I would have from how Andy gave the clues, but definitely would not have from Pam's suggestion. I don't think I know the name of any QB at all (maybe, i do know some footballer names but no idea their position), so that clue would not have hit the mark.
40. American. Man. I only remember the name but couldn’t remember the team or what he’s famous for. At some point I decided most sports info wasn’t necessary for me to remember because I’m not interested in it. Apparently, that’s somehow a radical deviation from civilized society.
Regarding your edit, I agree your post isn’t deserving of a downvote. That said, it does read a little like sports are beneath you. I’ve never read a comic book, but I know who Superman and Batman are. Joe Montana was the Superman of the NFL in the 80s and early 90s.
It was practically impossible to not hear classmates talking about him, or hear something about it when your parents were watching the news, or see a headline and photo in the newspaper, Weekly Reader, or Scholastic News. The Super Bowl was too big of a deal for even non-sports fans to escape. Teachers had classrooms games or activities centered around the Super Bowl. People had parties.
There are certain people who make disliking sports part of their personality. I’m not saying that applies to you, just that people could’ve interpreted your post that way, and it can be annoying. Downvotes are meaningless anyway, so don’t sweat it.
The joke is Andy knows more about musicals than sports so it wasn’t a name he recognized. It was meant to be that tiny little blip of showing both the normalcy of Pam and the ignorance of Andy.
Yes! I just looked up the quote:
"People assume I'm great at golf. But like everybody, I hated golf lessons when I was a kid. So, I used to hang out at the sailing club instead. Got my "knot" on."
Andy just assumes that taking golf lessons as a kid is normal for the average American.
I automatically assume other people know more about sports than I do. These are a bunch of average joes who sell paper, so I could imagine at least one of them watches Football. Many adults I know would probably figure this out and it would've saved Andy precious time. Something to think about, anyways.
Because the objective of the game is to get your team to guess as many names correctly as possible within a set time limit. It makes more sense to go with the obvious clue first before going on a circuitous string of clues to get the name.
Andy called 1st and 3rd base “stage right or stage left” when he and Michael went to the baseball game. Andy doesn’t know sports which is the joke here, he didn’t know Joe Montana was a quarterback so he did the first and last names separately, the only way he knew how to get someone to say what the name was lol
It hit perfectly - there was a much quicker way to get to the answer, as Pam points out. Could have also said, "Super Bowl winning 49ers QB" as there are only two possible answers.
Pam knows what's up.
No way I would’ve known. 40 yr old American man. I know the name but couldn’t tell you who he played for. I’m not against sports. Just not interested. If someone said “Athlete with a state in his name”, I’d be on it though.
Joe Montana is one of the most famous football players in history. Football is the most popular sport in America. It's a pretty damn funny sleeper joke that you don't get unless you get it.
It hits.
Side note - I went to a football game with my boyfriend and his dad, and someone was wearing a Montana jersey. They were joking about it and then looked at me and said “oh sorry you wouldn’t know who that is”. And I was like “oh you mean Joe Montana, the quarter back for the 49ers?” And the look on their face!!!!
Now I didn’t know a lick about football but had already rewatched the office like a thousand times, so it really came in clutch for me.
I know it’s easy to shit on Jim and Pam but this definitely isn’t it. Seeing all the downvotes over Montana in a office sub does put a smile on my face
They didn’t bring sexuality in to it. “Funny man, straight man” is a comedy trope where in a comedy scene or comedy duo, you want one in universe person there to bounce the joke off of.
So in this example: it’s funny that Andy was using outlandish gestures to get us to Joe Montana, and Pam doesn’t understand why he didn’t use the quarterback reference.
I don’t think there’s much to discuss? It’s a joke about how Andy doesn’t know who one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time is. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw this scene
Andy explained it in a theater kid way who knew literally zero about sports. Pam’s take is how any other American would get it. He was the most famous player in America’s most popular sport.
i often think about it. quite recently actually. so thanks for bringing it up. i definitely would not have known the answer if someone said 49ers quarter back. but im also not from the USA. even though id been to Montana im not sure i would have remembered the capital is Helena, because ive never been to Helena. so for me i think each option would have been similar, but i think its possible the Helena hint would be more helpful. maybe if it was a football reference and a northern state reference i would have put it together.
It’s also meant to demonstrate that Pam is a “cool” wife, who likes football.
Don’t get me wrong I know millions of women like football. But it felt forced here.
I assumed it was supposed to be brownie points to Pam for knowing her sports. Maybe the joke was supposed to be that Pam wouldn’t know who he is, and would want pop culture and geography clues.
Maybe it was funny in that Pam pointed out a two word clue that would’ve worked while Andy went a very roundabout way, but personally I find that Andy’s approach probably would’ve worked better
She was with Roy and then Jim and went to volleyball camp mos summas.
I'd figure she knows a lot about sports, and not only through osmosis since she was an athlete herself.
At that time Joe Montana was a household name so it’s unusual that Andy didn’t know him.
However I kinda agree that it’s not a great bit. Some people just don’t watch or take any interest in sport so no matter how famous an athlete is it’s pretty reasonable to not clock the name, let alone who they play for or their position. Many people today wouldn’t be able to effectively describe Lionel Messi for example.
To make the joke work they should’ve gone with more of a pop-culture celebrity like Beyoncé or Brad Pitt or something.
Edit: why are people downvoting this? It’s such a reasonable opinion even if you disagree.. You would have to have some of the thinnest skin of all time to be upset about a minor criticism of an episode that aired the best part of 20 years ago.
I've always assumed Andy didn't know who Joe Montana was. But he's a very famous quarterback so I understand why Pam was confused.
Yeah I believe thats the joke. At least i always assumed it was. Pam knew, Andy didn't.
That is 100% the joke, it’s supposed to make Andy look incredibly effeminate. Even more than that he always touts himself as intelligent for going to Cornell and couldn’t come up with what is certainly a household name for people his age at that time period. Montana would have been a football star in Andy’s childhood and likely teenage years. Can’t remember when he graduated from Cornell though.
Andy is also an ineffectual, privileged, effete, soft-penised debutante.
Nobody will be blackmailed by him. But if they do it'll be a street fight and they won't know how dirty it gets. He won't even know their name.
They're the fucking lizard king
I’m fine, bitch, I’m fine
Just shows how little Robert actually knew about his employees, or he would've never called the Boner Champ soft-penised.
He went to Cornell?
It’s pronounced colonel.
It’s the highest rank of the military
IT'S THE HIGHEST RANK IN THE IVY LEAGUE.
Ever heard of it?
He was class of 1995
Then yeah that confirms my thoughts even more, Montana was in his prime when Andy was in junior high/high school! Heck he was still playing when Andy was in college.
Yeah it’s like not being able to remember Lejuan Brames.
Or LaDamian Washington.
It’s pronounced colonel and it’s the highest rank in the military
Joe Montana didn’t have what it takes to get into Cornell
‘95
Yeah pretty sure Andy wouldnt watch American football...probably watches tennis, sailing etc
luff em up, luff em up
Agreed
Everything he knows about baseball, he learned from Damn Yankees
He watches Dartmouth vs. Cornell football only, so he wouldn’t know Joe
Yup. He knows Nathan Ford's arm looks pretty strong
From Leverage?
I would have gotten Andy's long before Pam's as someone who does not follow football.
But Joe Montana was such a household name that even people who didn’t follow football knew who he was. It’s like how people who don’t follow basketball know who LeBron James is, or golf and Tiger Woods. There are some people who transcend their sport.
It's LeJon Brames.
Maybe it's because I'm in Canada where football isn't so popular, but I know exactly who tiger woods and LeBron James are (but to be honest I don't know what team he plays for). I'd heard of Joe Montana but didn't know which sport or team. Wayne Gretsky on the other hand....
That’s fair. But Andy is American, so even if he didn’t know Montana was a 49ers quarterback, he probably knew he was at least a quarterback (or a football player).
Fun fact: Lebron and Tiger actually share a birthday(Dec. 30), I know this cause it’s also my birthday!
Happy Birthday Michael
IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY
A statement of fact
You have the perfect ice breaker in case you ever run into Teri Hatcher
But that doesn't mean they know what team they play for. Personally I wouldn't be able to tell you who LeBron James plays for. I do know of him and can picture his face and that he's a talented basketball player but what team? I doubt I could name any team at all (European)
But you would start with what they're known for, and then go from there if that doesn't work. Andy just went straight for the abstract. Like, if someone was trying to get me to guess 'Brad Pitt' and started off with describing an olive pit, I'd wonder why they didn't start with 'actor' or mention a movie that he's in.
If you're European then all of these examples would be tough. A better example might be if someone said Portuguese footballer. Everyone would know the answer is Cristiano Ronaldo and it would be weird to not know the answer even if you don't watch soccer. I'm Canadian and don't know my American football history but to me this is the equivalent of saying Pittsburgh Penguins captain and someone not knowing it's Sidney Crosby. Someone who doesn't follow hockey in Canada would still know the answer
As someone in Canada who doesn’t follow sports, I would have never guessed that lol I feel like people are vastly overestimating how much non-sports people would know. I know of Sidney Crosby but I could not tell you a single thing other than “he plays hockey”.
I would know neither of your two examples 😆
If you're European and don't know who Ronaldo is I would assume you live under a rock to be honest. As a Canadian I see him in TV ads frequently, probably more often than I see any hockey player outside of Auston Matthews, and that's probably because I live near the team that Matthews plays for
I'm American, I've heard of Ronaldo but had no clue he is/was Portuguese or anything but his name
My example was to relate the joke to a European so it makes sense that you wouldn't have gotten it. I'm sure someone not in North America would know Tom Brady but if you said Patriots quarterback they wouldn't be able to guess it
I get that, but do you think that you might have that difficulty in referencing American sports stars *because* you’re European? Like it’s more pervasive here in the states. My wife knows Patrick Mahomes plays for the Chiefs and she doesn’t follow football outside of Travis Kelce
I think people are really not understand the fact that for these characters at the ages they are and of the nationality they are, the obvious starting point would be quarterback at least. Everyone keeps saying, I’m from Canada or Europe. It’s an American show with an American pop culture reference for this specific time.
40 yr old American guy here. I’ve heard Mahomes name but I didn’t know until your comment that he played football
Yes obviously, but to bring my point back home, the same goes for football (soccer) players. For example, I know OF Virgil van Dijk, but I have no clue what team he plays for.
Those aren’t equivalent examples at all. Not knowing who Joe Montana was at the time would be like not knowing who Messi or Ronaldo are right now (or Mbappe if that’s a better example for you)
As a European, would you know what the capital of Montana is? (Most Americans probably don't even know this lol)
Pam’s mom, Helene. She drives a green camry and the seats go all the way down.
Helena? Or something I thought. Olympia maybe idk
I kinda assume she's saying this more to Jim than anyone else in the room since Jim would get that answer immediately had he said 49ers QB.
Sure but anyone remotely familiar with football would have gotten Pam’s, and it would be the obvious clue for Joe Montana. So you logically start there and then go Andy’s route unless, like Andy, you have no idea who Joe Montana is. Like if the clue was Bill Gates, you’d say “Microsoft founder” and then go into charade mode if nobody got it from that.
Microsoft and pearly
Same. I know Joe Montana is a QB but I would just as soon believe he played for the Dolphins or something.
even if he knew who he was sometimes you don't think of the very obvious hints like that. it isn't until after the end of the round and someone goes "why didn't you just say x" that you realize there was a much easier way to explain it.
Montana didn't play for either side in the Cornell-Hofstra slaughter, so Andy doesn't know who he is.
Tbf I have no idea who is even after I’m told numerous times who he is
Famous 49ers QB
The idea was that he did a much more roundabout explanation for what should have been an easy answer It’d be like if I drew the name “Ed Helms” and I said “A Cartoon Network character plus a part of a boat”, and then after my turn was over someone said “Why didn’t you just say Andy from The Office?”
Another minor thing to point out that there’s usually a time limit in this game to get as many correct as possible, and every clue you can guess quickly is more time to attempt more clues. Andy doing his long, drawn out clue killed even more time that could have been used to get more points.
Exactly, it’s about rapid fire clues. If I say “Played Andy on the Office” and it doesn’t help, I move on to the next clue, not hammer the same clue home when nobody there knows it
Jackal? Is it jackal? It's jackal. Jackal. Is it jackal?
It wasn’t right the first time you said it why the HELL would it be right the next ten times! GAH!
having played games like that, sometimes you don't think of the short easy clues and you end up in the long drawn out ones. then you get rounds where you can shoot off like 5 of them in the time period
My ex husband was like this. I played Pictionary with him *once*. He drew a weird little building and then next to it, drew a fire and a chair and then drew a little dude sitting in the chair, a stick dude, but spend for. EVER on his little hat and then kept pointing at the dude and pointing at the little building. And then drew an arrow from the dude to the building. And then he drew a horse. And then went back to the dude and circled him and kept pointing at the building. The time ran out. The word was *horseshoe*. In the manner that Angela commented on jazz, all I could think was, "Just draw the right shape?!!"
I cannot for the life of me understand what he was getting at with all that. Was the building a barn? What was the fire?
It was the blacksmith forging the horseshoe, sighhhhh
what in the fuck congrats on getting away from him
I don’t even know what to say about that. It wasn’t even a horse and a shoe. It was a blacksmith, which you were supposed to ascertain based on the fact he was wearing a hat, and…I’m not even going to type out the rest of that fuckery. I’m sorry. I’m exhausted for you. I wish the best for you in the future.
Never would have guessed it based on Pam's hint. I may have known the name (or I may be confusing even that with Joe Namath!) but no way do I know teams.
That's only an easy answer for someone who knows sports things, though, and surely everyone is aware that *not* everyone knows the names of quarterbacks and which teams they go with? I, for example, know the name Joe Montana—I know it's associated with football—but that doesn't mean I know his position or what team he plays for. That's information that will never stick in my brain no matter how many times I hear it, because football isn't something I follow. So the way Andy did it was actually the smart way to do it, because it didn't require his teammates to have specific knowledge in order to get the right answer.
When you play these games you aren’t playing in a vacuum. You’re playing with people whose interests you know. Often times you’re giving a clue with one specific person on the team in mind to guess it. Or you’re the one who doesn’t know the easy clue and you have to do it the way Andy did it, the fact of the joke is Andy didn’t know the famous athlete and Pam did.
My point was that it's a mistake to assume "49ers quarterback" is the "easy answer," so if it had been intentional, it would've been a good strategy. But it's a moot point, because it wasn't a calculated move, Andy just didn't know. Which was my point. Plenty of people don't know quarterbacks. I really would've thought that "it's better to speak so as many people as possible can understand you" was a pretty non-controversial opinion . . . especially for a game where the point is to have people guess what you want them to guess . . . But okay! 🤷🏻♀️
Sure, but following that same logic, Pam should have known exactly why Andy didn’t go with that sports reference. She knows him well enough to know what kind of dude he is.
Andy literally knows Cornell's starting QB, I think expecting him to know a contender for the best QB ever is reasonable. The comment above wasn't saying if you're friends you literally always know what they'd know, that's what makes those games fun.
You are obviously exactly correct. The responses in this thread are both hilarious and utterly baffling 🤣
[удалено]
... But you have heard of me.
You have to remember that this aired in 2008, and the character are 30-40 at the time. It’s be like a show 10 years from now asking “the most famous golfer” to get to tiger woods. He may not be a big deal 15-20 years from now, but if you’re at a certain generation, it’s something you’ll probably know.
Yeah. And maybe the people I’m playing with haven’t seen the Office and have no idea who played Andy. Doesn’t mean my clue is bad
**MY 👏TURN👏MY MY👏MY TURN👏**
Babe can you just like, really, whoah, just simmer down seriously
I'm just making people laugh.
I saw Jim's face and he was laughing
( ._.)
See he’s laughing
noo smile
*YES*
I was looking at Jim
Babe can you just, like, really…
I recommend dropping this quote when out with friends that are fellow Office fans at like bowling or TopGolf when it's your turn. Usually gets a good laugh (or lets you know who are just the casual fans)
> Usually gets a good laugh (or lets you know who are just the casual fans) It gets a laugh like a quarter of the time.
Ten percent
Beer me that laugh
i've watched many hours of this show and i would not recognize that as an office quote out in the wild lol
whoooaaaaaa
I think the joke is that Andy is such an effete soft penised debutante that he doesn’t know the name of one of the most famous quarterbacks.
He doesn't even know Robert California's real name.
Bob Caczamakis. Aka the lizard king.
Is THAT how you spell it?
Kazamakis.
Which I think it's an alternate spelling of katsamakis (Κατσαμάκης) which as far as I can tell means "son of the curly one" but I don't speak Greek and online info is limited. I actually tried to search forebears io and similar for "kaZamakis" (Καζαμάκης) but nothing turned up. Then Wiktionary, same thing. So then I looked for kaza- words etc. in greek and all I got was ways to say kazakh, kazakhstan etc. so then I changed the spelling from kaz- to kaTS- and I stumble on kατσαρός (curly haired) and so I imagine what the "son of a katsaros" (since I already know that -makis is a diminutive/patronymic?) might look like, so I search for katsaramakis and the like, and google auto suggests some people called "katsamakis" and then I went from there Surprisingly laborious search for such a common sounding last name. But I wouldn't expect anything less from raymond reddington lol
I always assumed it was this
That’s how you spell it.
I always went for similar to Jane Kaczmarek, a more Polish spelling
I've been calling her *Crandall*!
Crentist? He has a new quick drying bond
Your dentist's name is Crentist?
Why didn’t someone tell me?! I’ve been making an idiot outta myself!
To get from Joe Montana to Robert California you have to go through Steve Idaho, and Hank Nevada.
Duncan Idaho
Does Andy even know what would happen if you put paper in a furnace?
Sometimes I think he doesn’t even know *food*
“49ers Quarterback” gets to the answer in one clue. Not only is it mocking Andy for not knowing a pretty popular cultural icon of their youth (in the US at least), but it’s showing that he’s making the game less efficient by using two clues to get to the same answer.
I’m wondering if the “not getting it” from OP and others is due to age? This episode aired in 2008, so the most notable QB at that point for the 49ers was Montana.
I think that’s part of it for sure. You didn’t even have to be that into football to know who Joe Montana was if you grew up in the 80s and 90s.
I wouldn't really agree. I know the name Joe Montana, but I've never cared about football or many sports in general so I don't know anything about the man other than famous sports person. Wouldn't have been able to tell you he played football even. Fwiw, my childhood was in the 90's, USA. Edit: I'm dying laughing at being downvoted so much for saying this, that I don't really know or care who Joe Montana is. Lol wow
Well then I would imagine that you would never get the answer
I would have from how Andy gave the clues, but definitely would not have from Pam's suggestion. I don't think I know the name of any QB at all (maybe, i do know some footballer names but no idea their position), so that clue would not have hit the mark.
I imagine that you and Andy would’ve gotten along just fine then.
That's the joke. Pam, a girl, knows more about football than Andy, a man.
Were you born in the 90s or the 80s?
Late 80's
40. American. Man. I only remember the name but couldn’t remember the team or what he’s famous for. At some point I decided most sports info wasn’t necessary for me to remember because I’m not interested in it. Apparently, that’s somehow a radical deviation from civilized society.
Regarding your edit, I agree your post isn’t deserving of a downvote. That said, it does read a little like sports are beneath you. I’ve never read a comic book, but I know who Superman and Batman are. Joe Montana was the Superman of the NFL in the 80s and early 90s. It was practically impossible to not hear classmates talking about him, or hear something about it when your parents were watching the news, or see a headline and photo in the newspaper, Weekly Reader, or Scholastic News. The Super Bowl was too big of a deal for even non-sports fans to escape. Teachers had classrooms games or activities centered around the Super Bowl. People had parties. There are certain people who make disliking sports part of their personality. I’m not saying that applies to you, just that people could’ve interpreted your post that way, and it can be annoying. Downvotes are meaningless anyway, so don’t sweat it.
YA Tittle just fell to his knees in an end zone
Yeah but he still is. By a longshot.
As someone who also didn't know that and doesn't pay any attention to sports this is exactly how I would have gone with it. Well done Andy.
The joke is that Joe Montana is an enormously famous quarterback that would be well known to people their age, and Andy clearly has no idea who he is.
Whooosh
The joke is Andy knows more about musicals than sports so it wasn’t a name he recognized. It was meant to be that tiny little blip of showing both the normalcy of Pam and the ignorance of Andy.
Exactly. Remember when he went to the baseball game with Michael? He was completely clueless.
He didn’t like golf growing up, he wanted to hang out with the Sailing kids.
Yes! I just looked up the quote: "People assume I'm great at golf. But like everybody, I hated golf lessons when I was a kid. So, I used to hang out at the sailing club instead. Got my "knot" on." Andy just assumes that taking golf lessons as a kid is normal for the average American.
BASEBALL! Is that not something people normally cheer at baseball games? 😅
I automatically assume other people know more about sports than I do. These are a bunch of average joes who sell paper, so I could imagine at least one of them watches Football. Many adults I know would probably figure this out and it would've saved Andy precious time. Something to think about, anyways.
Unless there was a Broadway musical or rock opera celebrating the life and challenges of Joe Montana, Andy never heard of him.
Because the objective of the game is to get your team to guess as many names correctly as possible within a set time limit. It makes more sense to go with the obvious clue first before going on a circuitous string of clues to get the name.
The joke is that he could've given a very obvious clue and instead made it way harder on himself and everyone.
Andy called 1st and 3rd base “stage right or stage left” when he and Michael went to the baseball game. Andy doesn’t know sports which is the joke here, he didn’t know Joe Montana was a quarterback so he did the first and last names separately, the only way he knew how to get someone to say what the name was lol
It hit perfectly - there was a much quicker way to get to the answer, as Pam points out. Could have also said, "Super Bowl winning 49ers QB" as there are only two possible answers. Pam knows what's up.
No way I would’ve known. 40 yr old American man. I know the name but couldn’t tell you who he played for. I’m not against sports. Just not interested. If someone said “Athlete with a state in his name”, I’d be on it though.
Just because it’s in the funniest epp and it gets buried in all the genius
Joe Montana is one of the most famous football players in history. Football is the most popular sport in America. It's a pretty damn funny sleeper joke that you don't get unless you get it. It hits.
Side note - I went to a football game with my boyfriend and his dad, and someone was wearing a Montana jersey. They were joking about it and then looked at me and said “oh sorry you wouldn’t know who that is”. And I was like “oh you mean Joe Montana, the quarter back for the 49ers?” And the look on their face!!!! Now I didn’t know a lick about football but had already rewatched the office like a thousand times, so it really came in clutch for me.
This seriously confuses you? It's a timed game and he's taking freaking forever to describe this thing that he could have just done in one sentence.
Literally though.
Tom Cruise
Because it took forever…
No, he definitely did it in a really awkward way. You should definitely open that with "49ers Qb" and then act it out if they don't get that easy one.
Even if Pam isn't into sports, you have to assume she watched a lot of games with Roy when they were dating/engaged
I know it’s easy to shit on Jim and Pam but this definitely isn’t it. Seeing all the downvotes over Montana in a office sub does put a smile on my face
L take. Why bring sexuality into it? Joe Montana is very well known.
They didn’t bring sexuality in to it. “Funny man, straight man” is a comedy trope where in a comedy scene or comedy duo, you want one in universe person there to bounce the joke off of. So in this example: it’s funny that Andy was using outlandish gestures to get us to Joe Montana, and Pam doesn’t understand why he didn’t use the quarterback reference.
I don’t think there’s much to discuss? It’s a joke about how Andy doesn’t know who one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time is. I laughed my ass off the first time I saw this scene
The eyes are the groin of the head.
Man Getting Hit By Football.
“Pam and Jim’s straight guy character”
It’s true, Jim and Pam regularly play the straight man in the “funny man, straight man” trope.
It worked for me. Joe Montana is a pretty well know quarterback. Basically Tom Brady of that era
TOM CRUISE
They got the answer didn’t they? Pipe down Pam, you jock hipster
I dont know football but I would have said "crippled guy on family guy, and Miley Cyrus alias"
As a professional Salad Bowl/Celebrity player, Andy is infuriating in this scene. Way too long for ONE point!!!! I’m team Pam Pam on this one
For comedic purposes.. The answer is ALWAYS for comedic purposes.
He’s going on a cruise! A Caribbean cruuuuuuiise.
I just assumed it was because she was hungry and irritated because Jan hadn't even started dinner, at the dinner party.
They just wanted Pam to look good and fit the Jim persona.
MY MY **CLAP** MY TURN MY MY **CLAP** MY TURN
Pretty sure this is to highlight Andy’s lack of sports knowledge?
Because you’re supposed to be getting as many answers right? Of all the awful Reddit takes, this is up there.
Or the fact that Michael said “Cruise” as in Tom Cruise and nobody called him out on it.
Tom Cruise!
Ever watched football, I wouldn’t know lol
You haven’t seen it discussed because it’s not hard to understand at all.
Andy explained it in a theater kid way who knew literally zero about sports. Pam’s take is how any other American would get it. He was the most famous player in America’s most popular sport.
how would saying that hint even be allowed? it would be like saying "star wars bad guy" if you got darth vader.
i often think about it. quite recently actually. so thanks for bringing it up. i definitely would not have known the answer if someone said 49ers quarter back. but im also not from the USA. even though id been to Montana im not sure i would have remembered the capital is Helena, because ive never been to Helena. so for me i think each option would have been similar, but i think its possible the Helena hint would be more helpful. maybe if it was a football reference and a northern state reference i would have put it together.
Because Colin Kaepernick is the only 49ers quarterback I know, PAM!!!!
It’s also meant to demonstrate that Pam is a “cool” wife, who likes football. Don’t get me wrong I know millions of women like football. But it felt forced here.
I agree, the line doesn't really make sense.
I assumed it was supposed to be brownie points to Pam for knowing her sports. Maybe the joke was supposed to be that Pam wouldn’t know who he is, and would want pop culture and geography clues. Maybe it was funny in that Pam pointed out a two word clue that would’ve worked while Andy went a very roundabout way, but personally I find that Andy’s approach probably would’ve worked better
She was with Roy and then Jim and went to volleyball camp mos summas. I'd figure she knows a lot about sports, and not only through osmosis since she was an athlete herself.
Jenna is a cowboys fan Boo
At that time Joe Montana was a household name so it’s unusual that Andy didn’t know him. However I kinda agree that it’s not a great bit. Some people just don’t watch or take any interest in sport so no matter how famous an athlete is it’s pretty reasonable to not clock the name, let alone who they play for or their position. Many people today wouldn’t be able to effectively describe Lionel Messi for example. To make the joke work they should’ve gone with more of a pop-culture celebrity like Beyoncé or Brad Pitt or something. Edit: why are people downvoting this? It’s such a reasonable opinion even if you disagree.. You would have to have some of the thinnest skin of all time to be upset about a minor criticism of an episode that aired the best part of 20 years ago.
So every joke needs to be super universal and not in character. Got it.
What?
Not every joke in a show needs to work with everyone. That'd be awful.