Iconic moments on ‘The Office’ that weren’t planned
The actors really broke when Dwight listed a strange health condition on season one’s “Health Care.”
On season one, episode three, Michael (Steve Carell) tasks Dwight (Rainn Wilson) with finding an affordable health-care plan for Dunder Mifflin.
At one point during the episode, Dwight lists off health conditions that his coworkers submitted — including fake ones Pam (Jenna Fischer) and Jim (John Krasinski) listed to prank him.
On the third episode of their “Office Ladies” podcast, Fischer and Angela Kinsey revisited “Health Care” with Wilson.
The Dwight actor shared that the malady “hot dog fingers” was suggested by his friend Kevin Isola during a set visit. It was such a hit with the cast and crew that the joke ended up in the final cut.
“I full on start laughing and then Brian [Baumgartner] breaks character and points to me and starts laughing,” Kinsey said. “And it’s still in the episode.”
Dwight’s anatomy questions on season two’s “Sexual Harassment” weren’t in the script.
On season two, episode two, “Sexual Harassment,” Dwight approaches Toby (Paul Lieberstein) and asks him unsettling questions about basic female anatomy.
Fischer later shared that Dwight’s questions weren’t scripted.
“Steve and Rainn are brilliant improvisers. They often come up with funny alternate jokes within a scene,” the actress wrote in a guest blog for TV Guide in 2006. “… In ‘Sexual Harassment,’ when Dwight is asking Toby about the female body, Rainn improvised that.”
Dwight’s “fitness orb” was supposed to slowly deflate on season two’s “Performance Review.”
During the cold open of “Performance Review,” Dwight annoys Jim by bouncing up and down on his new work chair, which he refers to as a fitness orb.
Episode writer Larry Wilmore originally envisioned Jim taking scissors to the ball and cutting it so it would slowly deflate. For 13 takes, everything went as planned and Dwight discreetly sunk to the ground after Jim stabbed the ball.
On episode 14 of “Office Ladies,” on which Wilmore was a guest, Fischer and Kinsey shared that on the last take, Krasinski punctured the ball right on the seam and it exploded, sending Wilson careening to the ground.
The podcast hosts said Wilmore fought to keep that final take on the show.
“We were all completely shocked,” Fischer said. “We’re like ‘Oh my God!’ And you can totally see John break. You can see his shoulders. And he, he very quickly — oh, he’s such a pro — he turns his back and his face to the camera.”
“He like, dives out of the scene,” Kinsey added.
The ornaments were supposed to break on season two’s “Christmas Party,” so Kinsey had to stomp on them.
On season two, episode 10, “Christmas Party,” the office-wide holiday party spirals out of control.
At the end of the episode, Angela takes out her anger on some Christmas ornaments in the parking lot after Kelly (Mindy Kaling) kisses Dwight and her party plans fall apart.
On episode 16 of “Office Ladies,” Kinsey shared that the scene was difficult to film for multiple reasons. First, the fake snow on the set was made of soap, which kept getting in Kinsey’s eyes, and second, the ornaments kept bouncing instead of breaking.
As the shoot went on, the actress took matters into her own hands and improvised Angela stomping the bulbs with her feet in a fit of anger.
“So I threw them as hard as I could,” she said. “They bounced up higher. I shrieked and I just started stomping on them and shattering them with my feet.”
She added, “I was thinking, if I can’t get them to break, I have to start stomping on them.”
Carell improvised Michael and Oscar’s kiss on season three’s “Gay Witch Hunt.”
On season three, episode one, “Gay Witch Hunt,” Michael puts Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) in an uncomfortable position when he reveals Oscar’s sexuality to his coworkers. Then Michael makes matters worse by kissing him in front of everyone to “prove” he’s not homophobic.
On episode 29 of “Office Ladies,” Nuñez, Fischer, and Kinsey discussed how the scene was originally supposed to end with a hug, but Carell took it a step further.
“He’s coming in and I’m like, oh, he’s gonna, he really caught me off guard,” Nuñez said. “He’s coming in closer and closer. And his nose is getting closer to my nose. And I’m thinking, I’m thinking, well, I don’t know what’s happening.”
He continued, “And then he came in for a sweet, sweet kiss and our lips touch.”
Kinsey and Fischer also shared that the entire cast had no clue where Carell was taking the scene and that the shocked reactions from the rest of the characters were genuine.
