With 188 episodes under its belt, each one featuring multiple laugh-out-loud moments, selecting the funniest overall episodes of The Office is no small task. But despite its wild hijinks and implausible scenarios, The Office was always about the characters first, meaning that some of its most memorable episodes weren’t necessarily its funniest. Episodes such as “Goodbye Michael,” “Niagra,” and “Finale” each had their share of ridiculousness—Dwight and Angela (Angela Kinsey) getting married in their own graves comes to mind—but many of The Office’s most significant episodes were more about big moments for the characters than big laughs. Conversely, some of the funniest episodes of the series didn’t really do much to move the needle on the plot, and that was okay. One of the reasons The Office was so endearing was because of how well it balanced comedy with sincere emotion, telling heartfelt stories of friendship, family, and romance through a lens of everyday absurdity. Yet over the course of nine seasons, there were some episodes that stood out from the pack, making us laugh even harder than usual at and with the Scranton-based ensemble. The next time you’re ready to take your job and shove it, have a laugh instead with our best picks for the 35 funniest episodes of TheOffice, presented here in chronological order.
35 Best and Funniest Episodes of The Office
“Diversity Day” The Office Season 1, Episode 2
It took the American version The Office a little while to find its footing, trying to find its own identity apart from the British series that inspired it, but it still had glimmers of brilliance even in that first season. In “Diversity Day,” the ever-bumbling Michael takes a corporate mandated diversity training session into his own incompetent hands, and as would later become a recurring theme with Michael, takes it way too far in his efforts to prove his own sincerity. As cringeworthy as Michael’s diversity training is, in which he requires everyone in the office to guess randomly assigned ethnicities based on what stereotypes they experience, it’s an early opportunity to laugh sympathetically with the entire Dunder Mifflin crew as they try their best to show sensitivity in spite of their absurd circumstances
“The Alliance” The Office Season 1, Episode 4
Fearing rumors of impending layoffs, “The Alliance” sees office nemeses Dwight and Jim agreeing to work together in order to collect information and safeguard their jobs. Unbeknownst to Dwight, though, their alliance is just an elaborate prank by Jim, who convinces Dwight to spend most of the episode hiding in a cardboard box in the warehouse in order to spy on their coworkers. The episode has plenty of other funny moments as well, but knowing Dwight is in a box for most of them just makes each one that much funnier.
“The Dundies” The Office Season 2, Episode 1
Season 2 is when The Office finally hit its stride, with many of the episodes standing out as some of the series’ best overall. In “The Dundies,” Michael takes his employees to a local Chili’s restaurant to present them with office awards, which they secretly dread. The episode is a comedy goldmine, from Dwight’s investigation of the bathroom graffiti (Pam did it) to Pam receiving a lifelong ban from Chili’s for public intoxication.
“Office Olympics” The Office Season 2, Episode 3
Despite what Dwight would probably say, most of the Dunder Mifflin employees’ jobs are not particularly demanding, leaving them with a lot of downtime on their hands. In “Office Olympics,” Jim and Pam take advantage of Dwight and Michael’s absence to close on Michael’s new condo in order to put on a series of ridiculous office games—such as running while carrying full mugs of coffee and a “Flonkerton race,” in which participants speed around the workplace with full boxes of paper attached to their feet. Meanwhile, Michael starts hilariously suffering from buyers’ remorse when he realizes he completely misunderstood the terms of his mortgage.
“The Fight” The Office Season 2, Episode 6
When Dwight wears his newly earned purple belt to work, tensions between him and Michael begin to escalate—culminating in a fight between the Regional Manager and the Assistant to the Regional Manager over lunch at Dwight’s dojo. It’s hard to pick a funniest moment in an episode that includes Jim moving Dwight’s desk into the bathroom, Jim snapping on his way to their confrontation, West Side Story-style, and Michael pinning Dwight to the mats during their fight and threatening to spit in his mouth.
“The Injury” The Office Season 2, Episode 12
As Michael irritatedly explains to the documentary crew in “The Injury,” he likes waking up to the smell of cooking bacon, and well, one thing leads to another, he winds up getting his foot trapped one morning in his George Foreman grill and burning it. The rest of the episode revolves around Michael trying to navigate his workday (most of which gets derailed so that he can “educate” them on his “disability”), but ends with him having to accompany Dwight to the hospital to be treated for a concussion. It’s the nature of Michael’s injury, accompanied by his demands to have it taken seriously, that pushes this episode into truly side-splitting (and foot-burning) territory.
“Booze Cruise” The Office Season 2, Episode 11
Some shows struggle when they venture outside their typical setting, but The Office is not one of those. In “Booze Cruise,” Michael books a chilly January booze cruise as a leadership training trip for his staff, and is promptly threatened by the idea that he will not be the captain because, well, the ship already has a captain. Everything about the episode is memorably hilarious, including the ship’s actual captain tasking Dwight with “steering the ship” using a fake wheel, Meredith (Kate Flannery) surprisingly hooking up with the captain, and Michael inciting a panic that the ship is sinking when it is, in fact, not.
“Valentine’s Day” The Office Season 2, Episode 16
Holidays at Dunder Mifflin are always an interesting affair, and one particularly amusing festivity was the “Valentine’s Day” episode in Season 2. While Michael is away at a meeting with the corporate headquarters in New York City, the staff remaining at the office occupy themselves trading gifts and moving their various romantic plotlines forward. Phyllis (Phyllis Smith) gets showered with presents – including a gigantic stuffed bear bigger than she is – while Angela gives Dwight the best gift he’s ever received in the form of a bobblehead doll in his own likeness.
“Conflict Resolution” TheOffice Season 2, Episode 21
Kicked off by a dispute in which Oscar (Oscar Nuñez) is irritated by a poster displayed by Angela, “Conflict Resolution” follows Michael as he attempts to resolve every festering inner-office dispute within the same day. Oscar and Angela are simple (Michael decrees that Oscar should wear a t-shirt of the poster, so that Angela can see it but Oscar can’t), but others aren’t quite so easy, especially after Michael decides to publicly read every confidential complaint that’s been turned in to HR. Obviously, this is a horrible way to actually resolve office conflicts, but it’s a great way to create a riotous episode of The Office.
“Casino Night,” The Office Season 2, Episode 22
While “Casino Night” is most well known as the episode of The Office where Jim finally declares his love for Pam and the two share a (complicated) kiss, it’s also a super funny episode all on its own. When the Dunder Mifflin warehouse is converted into a casino for the business park’s casino night, all sorts of wild hijinks ensue. Michael finds himself with two dates, Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) is revealed to be the frontman of a Police cover band, Phyllis turns out to be a surprise card shark, and Creed (Creed Bratton) steals everything that isn’t nailed down.
“The Convention” TheOffice Season 3, Episode 2
After Jim transfers to Stamford in response to Pam rejecting his romantic overtures at the end of Season 2 (twice), he’s reunited with Michael and Dwight at the Northeastern Mid-Market Office Supply Convention. At first, an obviously hurt Michael sets Jim’s new boss in his crosshairs, determined to dig up any dirt he can find in an effort to win Jim back, culminating in Michael throwing a hilariously over-the-top hotel room party that no one attends. Elsewhere in the episode, Pam goes on a cringe-worthy double date with Kelly (Mindy Kaling), Ryan (B.J. Novak), and Kelly’s boring neighbor after breaking up with her fiance, and Jim mistakes Angela for a prostitute.
“The Convict” TheOffice Season 3, Episode 9
After the Scranton and Stamford branches of Dunder Mifflin merge, bringing all the Stamford employees to Scranton, Michael is surprised to realize one of his new employees was hired through a federal reformed convict employment program. The news quickly gets around, and soon the previously incarcerated employee is getting grilled on what prison is like. To Michael’s consternation, his employees seem intrigued with some of prison’s “perks,” prompting him to call an emergency meeting where he adopts the persona of “Prison Mike,” a convict character he has invented to scare the employees of Dunder Mifflin straight. It’s a silly premise that spirals into complete absurdity, providing some of The Office’s funniest scenes.
“Traveling Salesmen” The Office Season 3, Episode 13
When Michael gets the idea to pair up his top salespeople in teams of two to go on the road and do sales calls, the exercise results in some interesting and hilarious scenarios. Yet despite some of the funny preparations the teams engage in prior to their sales calls – Dwight’s air guitar, Phyllis’ horrible makeovers for herself and Karen (Rashida Jones) – the Dunder Mifflin folks turn out to be surprisingly good at their jobs, landing a number of large sales. Sadly, the episode ends with Dwight dramatically quitting his job rather than reveal his secret relationship with Angela, but the sales call scenes featuring pairings we don’t typically get to see still make “Traveling Salesmen” comedic gold.
“Business School” The Office Season 3, Episode 17
Hired to work at Dunder Mifflin as a temp while he attends business school, Ryan invites Michael to come speak to his class (revealing to the documentary crew that he’s doing it for a bump in his grade). But Ryan’s gamble proves to have disastrous results when Michael’s attempt at an inspirational speech flies completely off the rails, beginning with him destroying a student’s expensive economics textbook and ending with him storming out of the classroom and yelling at the students to “suck on that!” Meanwhile, after finding a bat in the office, Jim and Karen convince Dwight that Jim has been bitten and is turning into a vampire, the latest in a long line of Jim vs. Dwight pranks that never cease to make us laugh.
“The Negotiation” The Office Season 3, Episode 19
“The Negotiation ’’ kicks off in a rather explosive way, with Dwight saving Jim from an attack by Pam’s ex-fiance Roy (David Denman) using a well-aimed spritz of pepper spray. The Assistant to the Regional Manager then spends the rest of the episode sidestepping Jim’s sincere attempts to thank him, insisting that he’s not a hero because superheroes – and Bono – are the real heroes. Meanwhile, after Roy is fired, warehouse manager Daryl (Craig Robinson) believes he should get a raise, which then leads to Michael attempting to negotiate his own raise with Corporate. Despite Michael’s negotiation tactics being about as weirdly disastrous as you’d expect, he does eventually manage to land himself a decent pay bump, making the comedy of the episode more good-natured than sad.
“Safety Training” The Office Season 3, Episode 20
Coming on the heels of Daryl’s newly negotiated raise, “Safety Training” gives us a glimpse at why he deserves every penny of his increased paycheck. After Daryl gives a presentation on warehouse safety – undermined by a determinedly immature Michael at every turn – Michael takes it upon himself to prove that office work is just as dangerous as warehouse work, due to the high stress environment leading to increased risk for depression and suicide. What sounds like a heavy premise, though, becomes extremely silly in Michael’s inept hands, culminating in a dramatic and ridiculous rooftop confrontation where Michael very nearly throws himself off the roof onto a bouncy castle, but is thankfully talked down by Daryl.
“Product Recall” The Office Season 3, Episode 21
Bookended by hilarious scenes in which Jim impersonates Dwight, and then Dwight impersonates Jim, “Product Recall” centers around a paper shipment that has accidentally been distributed to customers with an obscene watermark on it. The resulting customer outrage turns out to be a public relations nightmare, which Michael and his staff are woefully unprepared to deal with. From Michael’s theatrical yet wholly ineffective apology tactics to Creed’s determination to avoid taking the fall for the error (despite working in Quality Assurance), “Product Recall” is full of humor as everyone scrambles to avoid becoming the “escape goat.”
“Women’s Appreciation” The Office Season 3, Episode 22
After Phyllis is flashed in the parking lot, Michael initially tries to shrug off the upsetting situation by joking about it. However, upon realizing that he’s making things even worse, he swings wildly in the other direction, shuttling employees into an impromptu Women’s Appreciation seminar run by – who else? – himself. When that is unsuccessful, Michael offers to take the female employees to the mall, which they find condescending, but still preferable to work. The outing culminates in the women actually helping Michael realize it’s time to end his relationship with his girlfriend, and Michael in turn making the bizarre offer to buy them anything they want from Victoria’s Secret as a thank you. Pam settles on a bathrobe, intending to cut it up into towels. Meanwhile, Dwight and Andy (Ed Helms) work together to try to catch the predator, working off a sketch that they fail to realize is actually of Dwight.
“Beach Games” The Office Season 3, Episode 23
When Michael is presented with an opportunity to interview for a higher-level position in New York City, he decides to choose his possible successor not through a normal application and interview process, but through a series of Survivor-like games conducted on the beach at Lake Scranton. He wants the outing to serve both as an opportunity for the most worthy Regional Manager to emerge, and to create one last fond memory of him for his employees. The games are fittingly silly, including mock sumo wrestling (Andy ends up floating off into the lake in a sumo costume), a hot dog eating contest (Creed caught and ate a raw fish, not realizing food was provided), and a hot coal walk that Dwight barely escapes alive.
“Fun Run” The Office Season 4, Episodes 1-2
Kicked off by Michael accidentally hitting Meredith with his car and sending her to the hospital, where she receives a precautionary rabies shot, Michael decides to host “Michael Scott’s Dunder Mifflin Scranton Meredith Palmer Memorial Celebrity Rabies Awareness Pro-Am Fun Run Race for the Cure.” His cause du jour doesn’t raise much money (and Michael blows nearly a third of it on a gigantic novelty check), but it leads to some especially funny storylines, including Dwight mercy killing Angela’s cat (trust us, it’s funnier in the context of the show), Michael carb-loading on fettuccine alfredo (and refusing to drink any water because “people with rabies have to live every day with an irrational fear of water”), and Jim and Pam secretly dating after finally going on their first date at the end of Season 3.
“Dunder Mifflin Infinity” The Office Season 4, Episodes 3-4
At the end of Season 3, former temp Ryan secretly swoops in to interview for and ultimately win the corporate job Michael, Karen, and Jim were all angling for. In “Dunder Mifflin Infinity,” he returns to Scranton unveiling his initiative to update the company’s technology, a plan that Michael is firmly against. As part of Michael’s vendetta against technology, he goes on a road trip to win back lost customers (their number one complaint? Outdated technology), and ultimately follows the prompts of “technology” (by misunderstanding his rental car’s GPS) to drive straight into a lake, leading to his conclusion that “computers are about trying to murder you in a lake.” Meanwhile, back at the office, Kelly attempts to win Ryan back with an announcement of a (fake) pregnancy, but fortunately the truth comes out before it spirals too far out of control.
“Money” The Office Season 4, Episodes 7-8
You know you’re in for a fun episode when it involves a one-night stay at Dwight’s beet farm bed and breakfast, which he runs with his cousin Mose (writer and producer Michael Schur). Even Jim and Pam weren’t prepared for just how bizarre it would be to participate in Dwight’s version of fun escapist activities, including watching Mose make wine from beets, and reading the couple Harry Potter as a bedtime story. Meanwhile, Michael’s frivolous spending habits, along with his unemployed girlfriend, Jan (Melora Hardin), are bleeding him dry, causing him to literally declare bankruptcy by yelling “I DECLARE BANKRUPTCY” in the middle of the office.
“Local Ad” The Office Season 4, Episode 9
If you think the employees of Dunder Mifflin are a lot to deal with within the confines of their own office, just wait until you see them vying with Corporate to come up with the perfect television commercial to advertise their company. “Local Ad” sees the Scranton crew working to come up with an ad that bests the one created by the marketing consultants Corporate has hired, teaming up to create their own jingle and pulling out all the stops to come up with a truly compelling commercial. Of course, they can’t beat the professional spot that Corporate has already commissioned, but the process of the Scranton employees all working together toward a common goal is both heartwarming and, of course, incredibly funny.
“Dinner Party” The Office Season 4, Episode 13
In one of The Office’s most hilariously awkward episodes (a tall claim indeed), Michael and Jan decide to throw a dinner party at their shared condo, inviting Jim, Pam, Andy, and Angela. The condo tour is even odder than any of the guests were prepared for, with Michael revealing that he sleeps on a small bench at the foot of the bed (“Jan has some space issues”), and proudly showing off his absurdly small plasma TV, which folds a whole inch back into the wall if you have a lot of people in the room and need more space. An already strained party becomes even more bizarre when Dwight decides to crash the party accompanied by his former babysitter, and the whole thing comes crashing to a dramatic conclusion when Michael and Jan have a spectacular fight, ending with Michael leaving with Dwight.
“Stress Relief” The Office Season 5, Episodes 14-15
After Dwight takes it upon himself to hold a dangerously extreme fire drill, Michael and Dwight are taken to task by Corporate and are each reminded that their professional responsibilities do not actually include holding employees hostage to gauge their panic response, nor enabling such behavior. Completely missing the point, Michael promptly mandates CPR training, thus adding to his employees’ stress. All of this lends to an extremely tense workplace, which Michael attempts to alleviate with a roast of himself (spoiler: he gets his feelings hurt). In true Michael fashion, he decides to then roast the employees, but the whole situation ultimately becomes so absurd that the characters – and the audience – can’t help but laugh.
“Michael Scott Paper Company” The Office Season 5, Episode 23
After consistently butting heads with Corporate and marching to the beat of his own drum for the entire series, the time was bound to come when Michael Scott would eventually venture out on his own. That time arrives in “Michael Scott Paper Company,” when Michael decides to start his own eponymous company, bringing Pam and Ryan along with him. Unfortunately, none of them really know how to start a paper company, and Pam and Ryan spend most of the episode bickering in their comically small one-room office. Meanwhile, back at Dunder Mifflin, Jim spends the entire day afraid to admit that he doesn’t actually know what any of the terms his new boss is using mean, and Andy and Dwight abruptly become unlikely best friends, much to their mutual ex-girlfriend Angela’s irritation.
“Broke” The Office Season 5, Episode 25
It comes as a shock to Michael and his employees (but probably not anyone else) when Michael Scott Paper Company quickly runs out of money due to their collective inability to understand how their business’ finances work. However, the executives at Dunder Mifflin don’t realize how close Michael Scott Paper Company is to going under, and offer to buy out the company to stop them from stealing their biggest clients. With Jim working as a double agent, Michael negotiates a pretty sweet buy-out package, which includes securing jobs back at Dunder Mifflin for all three of them. Michael Scott Paper Company was probably always doomed to failure, but “Broke” manages to allow them to go out in a sneakily hilarious blaze of glory.
“Casual Friday” The Office Season 5, Episode 26
Although the funniest scene in “Casual Friday” is arguably the cold open, which sees Kevin bringing his famous chili to work, only to spill it all over the floor (and himself), the rest of the episode doesn’t disappoint either. As Michael tries to iron out the tensions between the returning Michael Scott Paper Company employees and those who had always remained at Dunder Mifflin, long-suffering HR rep Toby (Paul Lieberstein) tries to put some guardrails around Casual Friday, which has spiraled out of control, to the point where Meredith keeps accidentally flashing her coworkers.
“Café Disco” The Office Season 5, Episode 27
With the dissolution of the Michael Scott Paper Company, Michael finds himself in possession of office space with no designated purpose, and reveals in Café Disco that he now uses the room to “relieve stress” through dancing. After new receptionist Erin (Ellie Kemper) finds out about the room, the two of them decide to name it the Café Disco and tell everyone to come down and relieve stress through espresso and dancing. It takes some coaxing, and of course some characteristic Michael ridiculousness, but eventually the employees of Dunder Mifflin drift downstairs and all join in on the fun, even causing Jim and Pam to realize that they want a whole cheesy wedding rather than the quiet elopement they were planning.
“Gossip” The Office Season 6, Episode 1
After a cold open that sees Michael, Dwight, and Andy pathetically attempting to recreate parkour stunts they’d seen on the internet, “Gossip” follows Michael doing damage control after he accidentally spills the beans at the office that Stanley (Leslie David Baker) is having an affair. After spreading Stanley’s secret around, he realizes the potential harm he’s done, and decides that the most effective way to confuse the rumor mill is to spread a bunch of other false rumors… only to accidentally land on the truth yet again when he tells everyone that Pam is pregnant. In real life, it’s the kind of situation that could permanently destroy a friendly workplace dynamic, but on The Office, it’s perfect laughter fuel.
“Murder” The Office Season 6, Episode 10
Instead of telling the staff of the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin what’s really going on when The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is in trouble, Michael decides to distract everyone with a murder mystery game that requires them all to play along in character. Although Oscar still suspects something is actually wrong, the plan works on everyone else, keeping them happily distracted (well, except for Creed, who flees the scene) until Oscar reveals that things are really looking dire for the company. But despite their fear over losing their jobs, most of the staff eventually decides to keep playing, taking the game so seriously that an exhausted Jim eventually has to pull Pam out of a four-way Mexican standoff with so sign of ending.
“Threat Level Midnight” The Office Season 7, Episode 17
The episode “Threat Level Midnight,” which features the long-awaited debut of Michael’s original movie, dates all the way back to the Season 2 episode, “The Client,” in which the employees of Dunder Mifflin discover a screenplay Michael has been working on. In this Season 7 episode, Michael finally has finished his film, and is ready to screen it. The film is a secret agent thriller starring all of the employees of Dunder Mifflin from throughout the run of the show. The film is expectedly absurd and cheesy, but getting to see the entire cast of The Office willing to play along (with varying degrees of enthusiasm) to help Michael achieve his dream is both heartwarming and incredibly funny.
“Garage Sale” The Office Season 7, Episode 19
While the very sweet story of Michael’s proposal to his girlfriend Holly (Amy Ryan) plays out in the office, a public garage sale takes place in the warehouse in “Garage Sale.” Determined to prove his negotiating skills, Dwight brags that he can trade his way up from a red thumbtack to the most expensive item at the sale, and actually nearly pulls it off. However, he’s thwarted right at the end by Jim, who convinces him that he’s selling magic beans, and trades Jim a telescope in exchange for the beans (but at least Jim has the decency to replace the newly planted beans with full-grown plants, in order to keep the illusion going and give Dwight some value for his trades). Meanwhile, Kevin cons his coworkers into betting on a used board game he’s trying to sell that is missing the instructions, only to secretly abscond with all the money.
“Dwight Christmas” The Office Season 9, Episode 9
In The Office’s final season, the ubiquitous party planning committee fails to plan the annual Christmas party, leaving it to Dwight to take matters into his own hands by putting on a traditional Schrute Pennsylvania Dutch Christmas celebration. Unfortunately, Dwight pulls the plug on the party early after having the wind taken out of his sails by Jim’s early departure, but rediscovers his Christmas cheer later in the episode when Jim returns. Still, even though the party has its ups and downs, the episode is still packed full of funny moments, as one would expect in any episode where Dwight gets to run the festivities.
“A.A.R.M.” The Office Season 9, Episodes 22-23
With Dwight finally in the role of Regional Manager, Jim convinces him that the Assistant to the Regional Manager – a position both of them have previously held – actually needs his own assistant, an Assistant to the Assistant to the Regional Manager, or A.A.R.M. However, since Jim is the one who designs the challenges to help determine the best candidate, they eventually realize that the ideal A.A.R.M. is… Dwight himself. Elsewhere in the two-part episode (the penultimate episodes of the series), Dwight suspects Angela’s young son is actually his (he’s right), Jim convinces the documentary crew to cut together a video love letter to Pam and finally reads her the letter he’s been holding onto since the second season. Although the subsequent episode “Finale” is more about big feels than big laughs, “A.A.R.M.” manages to deliver plenty of both. Next, Searching for some more great TV? Here are our picks for the best sitcoms of all time.
