‘The Office’: This Hilarious Moment Is Actually a Cover-up of a Mistake
Though production of The Office wrapped years ago, the show is more popular now than ever before. Thanks to streaming services, the show continues to find and entertain new audiences. Furthermore, long-time fans of the hit NBC show are constantly revisiting its 201 episodes. Today, it is heralded as one of the best comedies of all time.
But what is it that made The Office so funny? Naturally, a ton of credit must be given to the writers of the mockumentary sitcom. They were able to dream up some hysterical situations for the colorful characters of Dunder Mifflin to find themselves in. Hilarious lines of dialogue like “I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious,” also contributed to the humor of the show.
‘The Office’ cast improvised a lot of hilarious moments
Of course, the writers can’t take all the credit for the humor of the show. The actors also took what they were given and were able to elevate it through behavior and delivery. Furthermore, a lot of outstanding moments in the show came from the actors’ ability to improvise in a scene. Perhaps one of the best, and most memorable, improvised moments throughout the nine seasons of The Office came in the Season 3 premiere episode entitled “Gay Witch Hunt.”
Fans of The Office likely know that “Gay Witch Hunt” was the episode where Michael Scott learns that one of his employees, Oscar Martinez, is gay. In a misguided attempt to show his support, Michael kisses Oscar in front of his entire staff. To say the moment is cringeworthy is putting it lightly. Even the members of the cast look shocked by the kiss and that’s likely because they were. In fact, Oscar Nunez (who played Oscar) had absolutely no clue that Steve Carell (who portrayed Michael Scott) was going to plant one on him. Fortunately, Nunez had a reputation for never breaking character, so the hilarious improvised moment actually made it into the episode.
A hilarious moment in ‘The Job’ episode actually covered up a mistake
While some hilarious moments of The Office are improvised, other hysterical moments happened completely by accident. A great example of this comes in the Season 3 finale episode entitled “The Job.” Fans may recall that Jan’s erratic behavior results in her being fired. As she’s carrying a box of her things, she drops them on the floor, and Michael and her assistant, Hunter, scramble to help her pack it back up. The moment is rife with tension, which made it even more hilarious. And Jan’s parting shot of “So long, a–holes,” is made even better because of that tension.
The aforementioned moment seems so real because it actually happened according to IMDb. Melora Hardin, who played Jan brilliantly, actually dropped the box because it was cumbersome. You can actually see her turn her body away from the camera to cover up the fact that she was laughing hysterically. In fact, everything from the time Jan drops the box to the line where Michael asks David Wallace if he’ll let him know about the job is completely improvised to help deal with the mistake.
‘The Office’ cast likley used their faux pas in other clever ways
It’s pretty great how the cast of The Office was able to make magic out of mistakes. We’re sure fans would be interested in learning other moments of their favorite shows that were completely unscripted.
