‘The Office’: Steve Carell Once Defended Michael Scott Pranks: ‘He’s Not Mean-Spirited’

Despite being a very bad manager, The Office kept Michael Scott (Steve Carell) around for seven seasons. To be fair, it wouldn’t have been very funny if Dunder Mifflin had a good boss. Michael was different from David Brent (Ricky Gervais) on the original British series. Despite his flaws, Carell insisted Michael was not a malicious person.

Carell was on a Television Critics Association panel for The Office in 2005. When reporters were first getting to know Michael, they wondered about some of his behavior. Carell was quick to clarify. The Office is now streaming on Peacock.

Steve Carell did not play ‘The Office’ manager Michael Scott as a bad guy

Especially in the early seasons of The Office, Michael’s poor decisions and behavior caused most of the employees’ conflicts. However, Carell recognized that it was a “road to hell paved with good intentions” situation. 

“I don’t perceive the character as being unlikable or mean,” Carell said. “I think he’s someone in need of a giant hug underneath it all.  He’s a good guy at heart, and I think he’s not mean-spirited.  He does things that are inappropriate and hurts people’s feelings all the time, but I think there is a difference between that and being mean.  I could bring my brother in to use him as an example.”

Michael Scott did not learn very quickly

By the time of Carell’s departure, Michael did receive a warm-ish send-off. He did endear himself to his staff. The issue was he did not learn from any of his mistakes. 

“He does not have a good learning curve,” Carell said. “I thought more of a blank slate approach would be best for me. And then just do what I thought would be funny as that archetype of this boss. For me, the key to the character is the fact that he has no self-awareness and he can’t perceive how other people view him. And, occasionally throughout the series, we’re hoping, and in the first six we’ve tried, he gets little glimpses of how other people actually see him, and it’s horrifying to him.”

Because Michael so wants to be liked, he can’t totally find out what his staff thinks of him. That would destroy him.

“His head would explode if he was actually filled with the self-knowledge of who he was,” Carell said. “He kind of tempers it, and it exists just below his brain line essentially.”

Jenna Fischer agreed with Steve Carell about ‘The Office’

Jenna Fischer was also on the panel and she lept to Michael’s defense. And her character, Pam, was the victim of an especially misguided joke where Michael pretends to fire her. 

“He had good intentions,” Fischer said. “He thought he and Pam were going to share a huge laugh over that ‘firing me’ joke. I mean, he could not wait. We were going to tell that story at office Christmas parties for the next three years about that time he fired Pam.”

Michael just didn’t understand how horrifying it is to think you’re losing your job.

“He is very well-intentioned, and I don’t think he is a cruel person,” Carell said. “I think he’s actually a very sweet person underneath it all.”