The Office: 13 Facts And Recent Revelations

13 Jim’s Proposal Was Divisive Behind The Scenes

According to Andy Greene's oral history book, The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s Jim and Pam’s proposal scene sparked a massive debate between writers as to whether the scene should have sound or no sound. Series editor Dean Holland said, “I showed a version where you're hearing the traffic and everything and he pulls up," Holland said, "And what I did is, I just took all their dialogue out. It was as if they didn't have their mic packs on." The scene would have implied that Jim took his mic pack off to keep the moment private between him and Pam. Series directing regular Randall Einhorn said that what you imagine Jim said could be more romantic than what he actually says. In the end, however, the team decided to go with hearing every juicy word.

12 Dwight Had A Whole Song About Canada That Was Cut For Time

A deleted scene from The Office has gone more viral in Canada than the Moose Flu. The scene takes place in the breakroom where Pam references the upcoming 2010 Winter Olympics, prompting Dwight to sing a song about all the provinces of Canada. A great backup option in case Canada ever wants to get rid of their current national anthem.

11 Randall Park Forgot He Was On The Office

Jim’s doppelganger, AKA Randall Park, revealed that he did the shoot for The Office so quickly that he completely forgot that he was even on the show. Park told Conan O’Brien, “I was in and out in an hour, and I thought that was really fun, and then I just kind of completely forgot about it. And then several years later, I'm walking down the street, and this car drives by and a guy yells ‘Asian Jim’ and drives off. And I'm thinking, ‘Is this some racist thing that I don't know about?’ ... I thought it was a hate crime because I had forgotten about my appearance on The Office. You know, people be walking up to me like, ‘What's up, Asian Jim?’ and I'd be like ‘f*** you.” Probably a good idea to avoid yelling “Asian” anything at someone on the street.

10 Jenna Fischer Called This One Of Her Worst Acting Moments

An episode of Office Ladies recently pointed out the strangeness of a certain scene in the episode “Fun Run Part 1.” Angela Kinsey brought attention to the final scene in which Pam drives her car down the block, to wait for Jim to climb inside “in secret.” Kinsey joked, "Pam, do better, you drove like four car lengths and then pulled over, and then what, are you just going to leave your car there? Because it's not that far from work." Jenna Fischer added about herself, "I'm going to say when I watched that back, it's one of my worst acting moments on the show. The idea was that I was sort of like, 'Oh, what a day.' I needed to pull over because, oh, what a day this has been. I need a moment to collect myself. I mean, it didn't work. I don't think it worked."

9 The Who vs Whom Runner Was Nearly Cut

On Office Ladies, Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey revealed that the “Whom vs Who” debate in the conference room was almost completely scrapped, but Paul Leiberstein fought to keep it in. Fischer said, "There was a lot of pressure on him to cut that runner. And he really felt like it should stay in. And he's really glad he did because that's the clip they ended up playing at the SAG Awards when we were nominated that year." Leiberstein also received an Emmy nomination for outstanding directing for the episode. Angela Kinsey added, "I just feel like these kinds of scenes were never allowed to breathe on other shows. They would succumb to network pressure or whatever. And this huge long scene where we talk about whomever and whoever, it just wouldn't have happened on another show. I believe that." 

8 Creed’s Role Was A Total Accident

Creed Bratton was originally cast for The Office as just a background office worker, but ended up sticking around in the background until his first speaking role in the Season 1 episode “Halloween.” The story revolves around Michael having to fire one of his employees for corporate, but he can’t decide between Creed or Devon Abner. This firing on the show would also lead to a real-life firing as one of the actors was about to be written out of the show. The directors and writers had such a hard time figuring it out that they filmed two alternate endings with both getting fired. In the end, Devon signed a theater contract and left the show voluntarily, giving Creed the opportunity to become one of the weirdest characters on TV.

7 Steve Carrell Predicted The Show's Success From Day One

Rain Wilson told the story in The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s of how Steve Carell predicted the success of The Office immediately after shooting the pilot. Wilson wrote, "After shooting the pilot, John , Jenna , Steve , and I went out for a sandwich, down the road in Culver City from that crappy little studio we were at to this crappy little sandwich shop. Steve was like, 'I think this thing could be really special, and I'm betting that these are the roles that will define us for the rest of our lives. No matter what we do for the rest of our lives, this is what we'll be known for.'" Could this mean Carell is clairvoyant?

6 Jan May Have Tried To Murder Michael

One Redditor went viral for posing that in the episode “Dinner Party” Michael's assertion that Jan may be trying to poison him, might have actually been true. The theory claims that because Jan’s life had gone down in shambles all starting from her relationship with Michael, she may very well have been planning to kill him. The Superfan episode on Peacock of “Dinner Party” reveals an even more sinister side of Jan, revealing that she shaved and spray painted the neighbor's dog, showing a lack of empathy toward animals, a true sign of a future murderer. 

5 Pam And Jim Were Nearly An Interracial Couple

Greg Daniels told Yahoo Entertainment that early on he considered making Jim and Pam an interracial couple, with Erica Vittina Phillips being an early casting favorite. However, Daniels said it all went out the window the first time he saw Jenna Fischer audition, saying “It didn't seem like an actress. It just seemed like, 'Oh, there's the character brought to life. We can stop looking there."

4 A Deleted Scene Reveals Why Michael Hates Toby

The Office Ladies recounted an interview they had found with Paul Leiberstein in which he detailed the exact moment he realized Michael hates Toby. He said in the episode “The Alliance” a scene had been shot where Toby slowly writes something in Meredith’s birthday card. Fischer elaborated, “Paul said, ‘I could just feel him watching me and I could feel this hatred burning.’ And he said that Steve told him afterward that it was in that moment that he decided as Michael to hate Toby so much. That was when they ran with it, that Paul went to the writers and said, ‘Michael hates Toby.’ Because, you know, if Jim took a long time to write a message, he would have all the patience in the world.”

3 How Carrell Makes Sense Of Michael Scott’s Most Problematic Moments

There is a reason clips from The Office are shown in so many HR meetings around the world. Michael Scott was not the most appropriate boss and said some things that would get him in big trouble today, but Steve Carell recently reminded everyone that that was kind of the whole point. Carrell said about Michael Scott, “He's a person with an enormously good, kind heart who lacked a great deal of information about the world around him. ... trying his best! There's a difference between being intolerant and being ignorant. Sometimes intolerance and ignorance go hand in hand, for sure. But I think he was a very earnest and decent human being. He just didn't... get it all the time, you know?"

2 Horrific Fan Art Turns Dwight Into Wolverine

The purchase of Marvel by Disney and the new re-casting of classic Marvel roles like Wolverine, The Fantastic Four, and Spiderman, has led fans to speculate just who will take on the mantle of these heroes. John Krasinski is already in the MCU, with his quick appearance as Mr. Fantastic in Multiverse Of Madness, but one Twitter user envisions an even greater casting decision for the new Wolverine. Dwight K. Schrute.

1 Brian Baumgartner’s Chili Repercussions

Brain Baumgartner revealed on The Rich Eisen Show that when filming the chili scene, he had gotten completely covered in the dollar store chili, and was stained orange from head to toe. He added that he went to dinner that night with Oscar Nunez and Angela Kinzie, only to lose his appetite because his orange fingers still smelled so much like chili.

For exclusive ComedyNerd content and more, subscribe to our spiffy newsletter:

Sign up for the Cracked Newsletter

Get the best of Cracked sent directly to your inbox!

SIGN ME UP

Top Image: NBC