John Krasinski Named His Favorite 'The Office' Episode

The first episode of the American The Office is a near carbon copy of the first episode of the British The Office. It’s… fine. You wouldn’t watch “Pilot” and think this would become one of the funniest comedies ever. But the NBC series quickly found its uproariously uncomfortable voice in the second episode, “Diversity Day.” As we wrote in a recent ranking of The Office‘s best episodes, “[It’s] a genuinely uncomfortable half hour of comedy that follows Michael’s desperate attempts to justify his use of wildly inappropriate humor and encourage the use of stereotypes to get people talking about diversity in the office.” (“Diversity Day,” the only episode on the list from season one, placed at #8. For more on the episode, check out our behind-the-scenes oral history.)

Scripted by B.J. Novak, “Diversity Day” is also John Krasinski’s favorite episode of the entire series. “If I’m honest, I remember the pilot of The Office was word-for-word the British show at the time,” the Jack(ed) Ryan star told Stephen Colbert at a 92Y Talks earlier this week. “It made no sense to any of us because I think there are actually British jokes in there that don’t even apply.” Much better was the next episode, which Krasinski knew was going to be special.

“B.J. Novak wrote ‘Diversity Day.’ I remember that day when [the diversity sensitivity counsellor played by Larry Wilmore] comes in and says, ‘My name is Mr. Brown,’ and Michael says, ‘I’m not gonna call you that.’ It was that moment combo’d with Kelly slapping him [for his impression of a bodega owner] where I said, ‘Oh my God, we’re a part of something totally unique — and I don’t think anyone will watch this.’ But I knew it was really good and I [remember thinking] we were a part of something special.” (Via)

The episode also gave us the first defining Jim and Pam moment.

But the real reason Krasinski named “Diversity Day” as his favorite is because he didn’t have to wear one of those offensive notecards on his forehead.