Michael Scott (The Office)
Encyclopedia
Michael Gary Scott is a fictional character on NBC
's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell
, and based on David Brent
from the original British version
. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager (formerly co-manager) of the Scranton
branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc. Prior to being co-manager, he was the regional manager of the branch, but in the season 6 episode "The Meeting
", he was made co-manager with Jim Halpert
; however, they returned to their original roles in "The Manager and the Salesman". In the fifth season, Michael Scott briefly left his position to start his own company, The Michael Scott Paper Company. Dunder Mifflin purchased the Michael Scott Paper Company
and as part of the agreement rehired Scott as the regional manager. In the seventh season, Michael decided to move with his fiancée Holly Flax
to Colorado to help her take care of her aging parents, thus preparing to begin a new chapter of his life and end his ties with Dunder Mifflin. He officially left Scranton in Goodbye, Michael
.
During the summer, he was permanently replaced as Regional Manager by Andy Bernard
.
In many instances in the show it is heavily implied that Michael tries to use his subordinates as a substitute for a family, which he does not have. Michael insists everyone in the office think of him as a friend first, a boss second, and "probably an entertainer third", as did David Brent
in the British version. Michael holds inflated views of himself and considers himself an office comedian, but his attempts at humor tend to fail. Often, he says things that are inappropriate, offensive or unwittingly mean in the hopes of getting a laugh. He lacks maturity and self-awareness, has few friends and is quite lonely, made worse because his efforts to make friends with people usually backfire. Michael will resort to any means possible to make himself the center of attention and often takes credit for the successes of others. His subordinates, with the exception of Dwight Schrute
, think of him as inept and several of them remark that they get their work done whenever Michael is distracted or away.
Michael wasn't always an incompetent employee at Dunder Mifflin. Before he was promoted to regional manager, he was a great salesman, able to relate well with clients and use his personable attitude to his advantage. However, his promotion put him into a position above his level of competence, making him an embodiment of the Peter Principle
. However, when needed, Michael springs to the help of his employees in landing or maintaining sales relationships for his employees. He has, on occasion, shown a powerful business acumen, particularly when negotiating on behalf of his employees. Over time, Michael has evolved from a wholly inept leader and unlikable person to a decent, if flawed, individual who is capable of rising to the occasion and doing a good job.
to producer Ben Silverman
for the role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Martin Short
, Hank Azaria
, and Bob Odenkirk
were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety
reported Steve Carell of the popular Comedy Central
program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy, Come to Papa, but the series was quickly canceled, leaving him fully committed to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations.
Two supporting roles in films helped get the attention of audiences: Bruce Almighty
, in which Carell plays Evan Baxter (an arrogant rival to Jim Carrey
's character), who gets a humorous comeuppance while co-anchoring the news. In Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
, Carell plays another news personality, as slow-witted weatherman Brick Tamland. Although the series premiered to mediocre ratings, NBC
renewed it for another season because of the anticipated success of Carell's movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin
, and the show subsequently became a ratings success. Carell won a Golden Globe and Television Critics Association
award in 2006 for his role. He also received Emmy nominations in 2006 and 2007 for his work in the series. He played the lead role in the 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin
, which he developed and co-wrote. Although the film was a surprise success, Carell revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly
that he had no plans to leave The Office. However, on the BBC Radio 5 Live
Film Review show he stated in an interview that his time on the show will probably come to an end when his contract runs out after Season 7. This was later confirmed on June 28, 2010, when Steve Carell
confirmed that the seventh season of the show will be his last when his contract expires. However, rumors have been circulating that the writers want to hire Ricky Gervais to reprise his role as David Brent, an office manager imported from the UK. Many believe that the addition of Gervais could provide a wider base in attracting fans from the original Office sitcom to the U.S. version. According to the Vancouver Sun, Michael Scott's successor will not be decided upon until the beginning of the 8th season.
Producer Randy Cordray has said that it's possible that Steve Carell will make guest appearances on the show.
", Michael claims to be of English
, Irish
, German and Scottish
ancestry. He also claims that he is 2/15 Native American. He has mentioned an unseen brother, and on a number of occasions mentioned his stepfather, Jeff, whom he hates. In "Nepotism
", it is revealed that Michael had a half-sister, from whom he was estranged from 1995 through 2010. As a consequence of their reunion, Michael hires his nephew Luke as an intern for the office, but eventually confronts the incompetent and rude Luke and ends up spanking him in front of the office, leading Luke to burst into tears and quit.
In the episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", it is revealed that Michael was a child star on a kids' show called Fundle Bundle and spoke touchingly about what he wanted when he grew up: get married, have "100 kids" so he could then have "100 friends". Michael did not attend college, having lost all his tuition money in a pyramid scheme
. In the season 5 premiere episode "Weight Loss
", Michael says he once went twenty eight years without having sex
, implying he was a virgin until his late twenties. He rose to his manager position by being a superstar in the Sales Department, winning consecutive awards for best salesman; in a deleted scene from The Coup
, Dwight Schrute says that he will never be able to approach the numbers Michael rang up during his sales days.
Michael is shown to be an incompetent manager, who injects a lot of his personal feelings into the work environment. He seems to have few relationships outside the office. In his interactions with other characters, he is shallow, callous, ignorant and unaware of basic social norms. He tends to overestimate his own importance in the eyes of his co-workers and cannot understand why they do not seem to have much fun at work, as he believes an office to be the "place where dreams come true." However, Michael is somewhat loyal to the company and honestly tries to help his employees when he thinks they are having a problem. Michael has been at Dunder Mifflin (as of "Michael's Last Dundies") 9,986,000 minutes, meaning he would have been working at Dunder Mifflin since May 6, 1992.
Michael's constant desire to be the center of attention often manifests itself in selfish behavior. For example, when he burns his foot in "The Injury
", he expects Pam Beesly
and Ryan to tend to his needs, despite Dwight's much more serious concussion. When invited to be an usher in "Phyllis's Wedding", he assumes that his participation will be the high point of the ceremony and pouts when he is upstaged by Phyllis' elderly father, eventually giving an insulting and overly-familiar toast that gets him banned from the reception altogether. Michael appears to emphasize moments of sympathy or civility directed at him by his co-workers (mostly Jim) and inflates their importance in order to compensate for his loneliness.
Due to his overall lack of common sense, Michael can withstand significant abuse from his peers and is often the butt of jokes. He is quick to take offense when he realizes he is being wronged and his response is often disproportionate to the harm suffered. Even though he is generally oblivious to criticism, derision and sarcasm, Michael has some limits to his patience, and leaves to question the extent of offense that he can actually acknowledge (demanding professional respect from Stanley Hudson
in "Did I Stutter?
" or standing up to the employees in favor of Holly in "Business Ethics
").
In "The Meeting
", it is shown that Michael does not aim for his employees' betterment or his own, thinking that this would put his job at jeopardy; he unwittingly turns down a promotion that would put Jim in his position, choosing the status quo
over his employees' ambitions, and sabotaging Jim with a bad recommendation because he mistakenly believes that Jim's promotion to his job would lead to his firing. He is eventually forced to budge, having to co-manage the branch with Jim.
even in the most inappropriate circumstances, including business meetings and legal depositions. Michael finds uttering the phrase so irresistible that in "Sexual Harassment" he is goaded into saying it just seconds after Jan Levenson and a lawyer from Corporate specifically ask him not to do so.
Michael enjoys writing song parodies. In "Goodbye, Toby
", it is said that he had written songs such as "Beers in Heaven"
(which he tells Holly is "very sexual") and "Total Eclipse of the Fart"
. In "Diwali
", Michael performs his own parody of Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song
", replacing the Jewish-themed lyrics with Hindu
ones.
He also appears to have a history of playing ice hockey
and is, as Jan once noted when trying to find a compliment to give him, a very talented ice skater. In Dream Team
, Michael tells Pam that in high school, after his math teacher told him he was going to flunk out, he went out the next day and "scored more goals than anyone in the history of the hockey team." On multiple occasions, Michael has also expressed interest in basketball
even though he is terrible at it (in "The Fire" and "Basketball"). He also once stated that he is a Pittsburgh Pirates
fan.
Michael loves Meryl Streep
. In "The Job
", Michael states that Meryl Streep is "The best actor around." In "Money
", Michael watches The Devil Wears Prada
and begins to order Pam around. Pam then tells the cameras that Michael is "a big Meryl Streep fan."
Michael attends classes in improvisational comedy and although he believes his skills are among the best in the world, he is shown in "E-mail Surveillance
" to be a frustrating and unpopular presence in the class. He is also the screenwriter of such scripts as Threat Level: Midnight (a planned movie which was discovered by Pam and read by the entire office without Michael's knowledge), celebrating Michael's main character alter-ego Michael Scarn. He constantly compliments his own performances, from joke-telling to impressions to videotape skits that he creates for presentation in the office. Michael spent a total of 10 years filming, editing, screening and re-editing "Threat Level Midnight" into a movie that he shows the office; he's initially in denial that it's a bad movie, but ends up making peace with the fact that everyone finds it amusing and enjoyable in its lack of quality.
Michael loves wearing jeans, in particular a pair of Levi's he refers to as his "Fun Jeans" ("The Convention"). He is so fond of his jeans that he gets them dry cleaned; Pam surmises that he instituted Casual Friday
just to show off his jeans ("The Client").
Michael treasures his "World's Best Boss" mug, even though he bought it for himself at Spencer Gifts and has multiple replacements. The audience knows that he has purchased at least two, because Dwight precariously places one of them on Michael's desk, and Michael accidentally knocks it off with a golf putter that he was using to practice with in his office. This is also proven in "The Promotion", when Michael presents Jim with his own "World's Best Boss" mug at the end of the episode that they share gin with each other.
Michael is a passionate fan of YouTube
, although he may not be entirely clear about what it is and seems to believe that it is a news media organization, ordering Dwight to call the website so they can cover his employees' roast in Stress Relief
. Michael is also fond of Wikipedia, at one point calling it "the best thing ever" (a claim which is continually mocked by Jim). He is a fan of the HBO television series, Entourage
. It is also established that Michael tends to be a bit "behind" when it comes to pop culture references, particularly in music. This is mainly shown through his cellphone ringtones, such as "My Humps" early on in the show, or "Salt N Pepa" in "The Lover".
Michael likes Chrysler
cars. For the first three seasons, he drove a silver 2004 Sebring convertible
, until the season four episode "Money
" in which he mentions he traded it in (along with Jan's car) for a Porsche Boxster
. After breaking up with Jan, he buys a red PT Cruiser convertible
. He drives the PT Cruiser until the season 5 episode "Broke
" in which he asks for a new Sebring convertible as part of his agreement to return to Dunder Mifflin.
Michael's PIN is YMCA (9622) as illustrated in the season 6 episode "Secret Santa
".
Michael also seems to be a fan of the 1970s classic "Welcome Back, Kotter", as seen in "E-mail Surveillance" when he raised his hand, shouting Arnold Horshack's famous "Oh, Oh" and blurting out "Mr. Kot-ter" like Freddie 'Boom Boom' Washington. He also has shown to enjoy the 2004 cult classic "Mean Girls
" as he was seen calling his employees "Mean Girls" in reference to the movie in "Christening".
Michael apparently takes Propecia as mentioned if Jan ever handled it while she was pregnant in the episode "Goodbye Toby".
once made a color graph of how Michael spends his time: 80% "distracting others," 19% "procrastination," and 1% "critical thinking", and added that he inflated the "critical thinking" percentage so people could actually see it on the graph. His laid-back approach more often results in lower than expected workplace productivity, particularly when Michael places his personal interests as a priority over work (such as his birthday, someone else's birthday, or his various seminars). To avoid being disciplined for his foolish actions, Michael often resorts to scapegoating employees to cover himself. Although his actions often lead to more problems for his employees, Michael believes that Scranton is "the cool, fun branch", and is genuinely upset when the top salesman from the Utica office trashes Scranton in a phone call by saying it's "worse than Camden
".
Although his position as Regional Manager gives him broad decision-making authority on branch operations, he often places those responsibilities secondary to his desire to be friends with his employees. On the other hand, he also oversteps his authority by hosting events that Corporate disapproves of such as "The Dundies
", and a "Booze Cruise".
It is revealed in the episode "The Duel
" that, despite Michael's incompetence, the Scranton branch is the best-performing company branch, well ahead of Utica and Nashua. Michael is called to Corporate to answer the question, "What are you doing right?" After several minutes of Michael's inarticulate babble, his superiors concede that while Michael is definitely doing something right, they will probably never know exactly what. They send him on a lecture tour for Michael to spread his wisdom; instead, he wastes time and annoys the workers who have to listen to his drivel.
Despite his apparent ineptitude, Michael is prone to brief bouts of surprising insight and is shown to have a kind heart as he shows deep, family-like affection towards most of the people working for him in the Scranton branch. In the episode "Broke
", Michael displays self-awareness of his inability to keep secrets when he, Pam and Ryan all agree not to let Dunder Mifflin know that the Michael Scott Paper Company is broke, yet moments later he is seen bent over and in a near panic when he admits that he's afraid he won't be able to keep himself from letting the truth slip. Later in the same episode, he displays a remarkable ability to negotiate with Dunder Mifflin and convince the company to hire himself as well as Pam and Ryan back with full benefits.
In the episode "Business School
", Michael is one of the few Dunder Mifflin employees to show up to Pam's gallery showing. Unlike Oscar and Gil, who had shown up and heavily criticized Pam's drawings (which Pam overheard), Michael immediately marvels at her work and asks to buy Pam's drawing of their office building. In a moment of sincere kindness, Michael tells Pam that he is very proud of her. Pam begins to tear up and hugs Michael, who also seems touched by Pam's reaction. During "The Seminar", Michael advises a fledgling Andy Bernard
to step up and begin selling at a seminar Andy's hosting, in order to boost his sagging sales.
While it seems clear that Michael loves Dunder Mifflin very much, he has also shown signs that he sometimes feels under appreciated given his long history with the company. In the episode "The Negotiation
", Michael discovers that he is making only slightly more money than Darryl, the warehouse manager, even though at that point he had worked for the company for 14 years and was in a management position. Later in the episode he drives to New York and demands a raise from Jan at corporate headquarters.
In the episode "New Boss", after Dunder Mifflin's CFO David Wallace ducks Michael's calls throughout the day and Michael's 15-year anniversary party is cancelled by Michael's new superior, Charles Miner, Michael drives to New York to confront Wallace. Citing his long history of service with the company and his many sacrifices for Dunder Mifflin, Michael asks that he be treated more respectfully. Wallace, seeing Michael's heartfelt openness, promises Michael his party and pledges to attend, as well. But Michael surprisingly recognizes that the CFO is just humoring him, and stuns Wallace by quitting his job.
Oscar to the entire office without his permission.
Michael's relationship with the company warehouse employees is tense. He has a tendency to disrupt their daily work flow, and in a talking head interview, warehouse supervisor Darryl Philbin
(Craig Robinson) explains that they have never been able to make a full year accident-free because of Michael's antics. CFO David Wallace
tolerates Michael's antics because his branch is the best in the company, but Michael offends CEO Allan Brand and the rest of the executives during his only meeting with them with his lunk-headed comments and claims he can't back up.
" of Season 5, Dwight steals Michael's Rolodex
and finds his own business card, on the back of which, Michael had written (before leaving Dunder Mifflin): "Dwight Schrute, tall, beets". Michael also cares how Dwight feels about him. After Michael beats Dwight at his own dojo, Michael finds out that Dwight no longer wanted Michael as his primary contact in case of an emergency which causes Michael to promote him from "Assistant to the Regional Manager" to "Assistant Regional Manager", with a three month probational period. Dwight told Michael in Season 6 that Michael's pathetic career path hurt Dwight and he regretted working for him instead of taking a fast-track job at Home Depot, but they buried their differences later on. When Deangelo Vickers arrives to be the new Branch Manager, Dwight is depressed that he didn't get the job after Michael recommended him, only to learn from Gabe that Michael didn't recommend him after all. At first Dwight is angry with Michael, but they make amends when Michael gives him a letter of recommendation on his final day at Dunder Mifflin. They end the day with a paintball fight behind the building.
for the staff's Christmas Secret Santa exchange, despite an agreed upon office limit of $20 per person, and when in "The Dundies
", Michael gives Ryan the "Hottest in the Office" award. Michael appears to view Ryan both as an idolized friend, such as when he grew a goatee just because Ryan also grew one, or as a son, which he says he views Ryan as in "Secret Santa
". In "The Deposition
", a page from Michael's diary reveals he describes Ryan as being "just as hot as Jan, but in a different way." He is horrified when he finds out about Ryan's arrest for fraud, and much to the dismay of David Wallace, he re-hires Ryan despite the fact that he was fired by corporate office for his crime. He later earns Ryan's respect when Ryan sees Michael's talents as a salesman over the phone. In "Prince Family Paper
", Michael acknowledges that his heart has led him astray before, stating "Jan [and] Ryan" as examples of this. In Season 7, Michael shows the full gamut of his ties to Ryan: he heavily invests in WUPHF.com and won't agree to sell his majority shares when it's clear Ryan is incapable of saving the venture from bankruptcy, although Ryan exploits Michael's goodwill in their friendship to keep his venture going. But Ryan is later stunned when Michael later calls out his negative qualities and makes it clear Ryan only has nine days with no wiggle room before he fails everyone. Michael is later relieved when Ryan sells the project and everyone gets their money back. Ryan later appears as part of the group to help Michael brainstorm a perfect proposal to Holly.
" Michael mistakenly thinks that he and Pam have a connection, and is rejected when he tries to kiss her. Their relationship comes to a rocky point when he begins dating her mother Helene. This is only repaired after he breaks up with Helene and allows Pam to slap him in the face in the parking lot. He trusts and respects Jim, although when they were co-managers they clashed due to their polar-opposite management styles. In "Secret Santa
", Michael mentions that in a future vision he sees himself and his future wife living next door to Jim and Pam and that their children will play together. He often also refers to Jim as his best friend in the office. Michael attempts unsuccessfully to have Jim and Pam over for dinner on many occasions, though he finally succeeds in the episode "Dinner Party
"; the entire evening is a disaster. In a Season 5 episode, Michael also shows his admiration for Jim, when Jim wears a tuxedo to work and goes on and on about having a 'classy party' for the party planning committee, and frequently suggests all of the ideas Dwight had offered that Michael had then rejected, only to bother Dwight by having Michael accept the same ideas from him. He is hurt when Pam tells him he won't be Cece Halpert's godfather (moreso when she tells him the godparents are a couple she and Jim have only known for a few months), but the Halperts lend him a genuine hand when he plans his ultimately-successful proposal for Holly. In "Goodbye, Michael
" it is revealed that Michael is secretly planning to leave for Colorado at the end of his penultimate work day, thereby avoiding having to say goodbye to everyone. Jim figures this out and goes along with it, telling Michael that he will tell him what a great boss he was the following day at lunch, which they both know Michael will not be around for. Pam, who spent the better part of the day away from the office finds Michael at the airport and says goodbye just as he's about to board his plane for Colorado. She watches from the window as his plane flies off. In a deleted scene of "The Inner Circle
", it is revealed that Michael named his new dog after Pam, named "Pamela Beagsley".
", Michael is thrilled when Toby decides to move to Costa Rica
and gives as his going away present a rock with a note that reads "Suck on this". The next season, after Toby's replacement Holly is transferred, Michael is horrified when Toby returns to Dunder Mifflin. In "Frame Toby
", he goes to great lengths to get him fired, trying to frame him for possession of marijuana (which turns out to be salad).In "The Chump", Michael says if he had a gun with two bullets and was in a room with Adolf Hitler
, Osama bin Laden
, and Toby, he would shoot Toby twice (which disgusts the rest of the office). During "Nepotism
", Toby is able to deduce that Luke, the surly, universally disliked intern is Michael's nephew. When Michael makes an example of Luke by spanking him in front of the staff, it's perceived as assault on a company employee. To avoid termination, Sabre employee Gabe Lewis suggests Michael's spanking of Luke as a stress-related outburst, which can be addressed as therapy with Toby, the certified HR rep. Obviously displeased but with no other options, Michael reluctantly agrees. In "Counseling
" Toby tricks Michael into telling him about his life which upsets Michael but at the end, Michael and Toby share a laugh together. In "Classy Christmas
", Michael is happy to hear the news that Toby is going to be on a leave of absence for jury duty and that Holly will be taking his place. In "Michael's Last Dundies
", Michael eggs Toby's house in the cold open while yelling, "you suck", while he and Deangelo are handing out Dundie nominations. Ironically, Michael is shown to have befriended Toby's daughter Sasha in "Take Your Daughter to Work Day". In "Goodbye, Michael
", Michael is seen saying goodbye to Toby without insulting him, possibly indicating that he will miss Toby on some level.
as his secretary after she was hired by Charles Miner. She treats Michael with respect as he is her boss, to which Michael generally enjoys. Michael is unkind towards Erin because he misses Pam (now working as a salesperson) and tries to get Pam to go with him during his disastrous school visit in "Scott's Tots
". After Pam pushes Michael to take Erin along with him, the two end up bonding and Michael foresees a great future in store for Erin. Once Dunder Mifflin was bought by Sabre and Jim is manager while Michael returns to sales, Erin walks into Jims office and says "Who's hungry??!". Jim asks what that is and Erin tells him that Michael would have her come in every day at 2:30 pm to say "Who's hungry??!" with a plate of "Ants on a log". However his dismissive feelings for Erin still continue until "Secretary's Day
", to the point where he insults her by calling her a rube to Andy, who is dating her at the time. Andy pushes Michael to bond with Erin, who is delighted he wants to spend time with her. However Michael finds Erin awkward. After Michael inadvertently reveals Andy's past relationship with Angela, Erin is extremely upset and breaks up with Andy. Michael ends up feeling guilty and manages to cheer Erin up. In "Viewing Party
", Erin throws a Glee
party with her new boyfriend, Gabe Lewis. Through the night, she attempts to unsuccessfully get Michael and Gabe to bond. Michael is jealous that the office looks to Gabe as the boss and attempts to sabotage the party. After being confronted by Erin in private, Michael questions why his opinion matters so much to her as he is not her father. In a moment of insight, Michael realizes that Erin, who was raised in foster care, looks to him as a father figure and jokes around with her. Later Michael warns Gabe to never break Erin's heart and comes to view Erin as a daughter. Erin becomes protective of Michael to the point where she is very hostile towards Holly Flax for a while as well. Erin later mentions in a talking head interview that she doesn't understand what Michael sees in her, until The Search
when she, Dwight and Holly go searching for a missing Michael. Erin sees that Holly is able to sense where Michael is, and when she sees them reconcile, she smiles. Later in "Goodbye, Michael
", Erin talks to Michael about her love life and wishes that she knew her birth mother so she could tell Erin what to do. Michael advises Erin that she shouldn't rush things and that she'll know what to do when the right guy comes along. Michael then tells her that she won't need her mother for advice, because she will always have his personal phone number when she needs advice, before kissing her on the head and walking away.
(Amy Ryan
), Toby's replacement as HR Representative, who appears for a while to be Michael's best chance at love, with the two sharing a similar sense of humor and social awkwardness. However, after David Wallace witnesses them kissing, Holly is transferred to the Nashua
branch and she and Michael break up after choosing not to pursue a long-distance relationship. Even despite the breakup and Holly's new relationship with another man, their affection for each other doesn't go away, as it's shown that Holly had been writing a note for Michael on her work computer, as well as their subtle romantic glances at one another during the summer company picnic. Throughout her absence in Season 5 (excluding Company Picnic) and carrying on into Season 7, Michael hooks up with a few other women, but ultimately he realizes that they're nothing compared to her. Around Christmas in Season 7, Toby is forced to leave the office due to being selected as part of the jury duty for a local murder case, resulting in Holly returning as the temporary HR replacement. There's initial tension between the two of them and hesitation on her side (mostly after her sudden break-up with A.J.), but Holly finally reunites with Michael after realizing they're both soulmates. The two continue dating for a few weeks (even going so far as to move in together on Valentine's Day), and, with her time at the Scranton branch almost up and the recent knowledge that her aging parents need to be taken care of, they ultimately become fiancees. Holly later moves back to Colorado and Michael follows her soon after.
(Melora Hardin
), his original-then-former boss from Corporate. Starting with a one-night stand after they closed their business deal at Chilli's in The Client
guest star (Tim Meadows), Michael and Jan begin awkward dating, become an official couple, and eventually move in together after Jan is fired from her job, though Jan usually treats Michael with contempt. After Michael fails to defend Jan in her Wrongful Dismissal suit
against Dunder Mifflin, they remain together for a short while but end up blowing up at each other during an ill-fated dinner party and eventually break up. He also dated Carol (played by Carell's wife Nancy Walls), a real estate agent from whom Michael bought his condominium. Michael was much more interested in Carol than vice versa, and after he made an unwanted and rejected impromptu public marriage proposal, Michael's decision to Photoshop pictures of himself over Carol's ex-husband in her family pictures resulted in their breakup. On a business trip to Winnipeg, Michael & "Concierge Marie" become close, and Michael does not wish to leave her after they are caught necking in her suite. After Jim and Pam's wedding, Michael begins dating Pam's mother Helene (much to Pam's horror), but he breaks up with her after discovering she is 58. Near the end of season six, Michael begins dating Donna (Amy Pietz
), the manager of a local bar, but later finds out that she's married and he is, as he puts it, "the mistress". He continues seeing her until the disgust of his employees drives him to listen to his conscience and break things off with her. In Season 7's "Sex Ed
", Michael reunites (in person or by telephone) with all of his aforementioned past girlfriends when he believes that he has contracted Herpes. In doing so, he realizes that Holly was the only one he truly loved.
A thinly-veiled portrayal of himself, Michael also adopts the persona in one session of his improv comedy class, ignoring the rule to base his dialogue on his scene partners, and ultimately shooting everyone in the room, regardless of their participation in the scene. He also uses the alias in another episode to go undercover in a local paper competitor to attain information from it. ("Prince Family Paper
")
sketch on SNL. In the original BBC version of The Office, Ricky Gervais's character David Brent
frequently used the similar phrase "as the actress said to the bishop" as an inappropriate joke. Michael inserts the phrase as a sexually suggestive double entendre
even in the most inappropriate circumstances, including business meetings and legal depositions. Michael finds uttering the phrase so irresistible that in "Sexual Harassment" he is goaded into saying it just seconds after Jan Levenson and a lawyer from Corporate specifically ask him not to do so.
The phrase has become so associated with the character that the television show 30 Rock
in the episode "TGS Hates Women
" there was a scene in which one character became infuriated at another's use of 'TWSS' because "Steve Carell
owns 'That's What She Said,' okay? He owns it!" In the episode, "Goodbye, Michael
", "that's what she said" was Steve Carell's final (inaudible) line as a series regular.
, Scott has developed into a significantly different character than his British counterpart. Whereas Brent is shown to be irredeemably incompetent, Scott is portrayed as an outstanding salesman who is unwisely promoted to a management role to which he appears completely ill-suited making him an apt example of the Peter Principle
. A scathing performance review written by Jan Levenson stated that he should be removed from the Branch Manager position and put into a more suitable position in Sales. However, Scott has been oddly successful as regional manager. This is, in part, attributed to his weakness of procrastination wherein he typically forfeits a bad choice by seeking the advice of his subordinates (such as Jim, Oscar, or Darryl) and uses their recommendations, while also partly attributed to his main strength: genuinely caring about the well-being of the office and treating his employees like family. When he took over the Scranton Branch he decreased costs by 17%, without firing any personnel. After the merger of the two branches Scott does not lose a single client despite a great deal of employee turnover (much of which he was directly responsible for). He received a $3,000 bonus for firing Devon, most likely because his doing so saved the company around $50,000. Although it is suggested that Brent has had similar success, such claims only ever come from Brent himself, thus making them unreliable.
Scott's social immaturity and inability to cope with responsibility is balanced with a personality that is much more caring than Brent's, even if both make unwise comments in the heat of the moment. Unlike Brent, who pretends to be friendly with many of his employees purely for the benefit of the cameras, Scott seems to genuinely like his colleagues, with the exception of Human Resources Director Toby Flenderson
. Scott's need to be liked by his staff and his belief that people see him as a genuine friend leads him to become very hurt when he realizes this is not the case. Most, if not all, of Scott's managerial blunders can be directly correlated with the degree to which he desires to be liked by his employees or jealously seeks their approval.
The DVD commentary to the pilot episode suggests that Scott's character continues a process begun in the second UK series, in which Gervais and Merchant intentionally made Brent less nasty, and more of a buffoon. It is said in the commentary that Gervais and Merchant suggested that this be applied to Scott. This also reflects a general change in the US version's attitude, which is more sympathetic to the characters, and tones down the cruel humor of the original. The commentary also says that Steve Carell had not seen more than a few minutes of the original UK series when he was offered the role of Scott, and has since made a conscious decision not to watch it in case it influences his own performance.
The show's writers have said that the 2005 hit movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin
provided very useful guidance as they refined the character along with Steve Carell between the 1st and 2nd seasons. Michael Scott wore a large amount of hair gel and dressed sloppily in Season 1, but by Season 2 he had a more conventional haircut and dressed much more neatly. Also, while Michael is often rude and nasty in Season 1, he is generally nicer and less hard-edged in subsequent seasons.
In the seventh season episode The Seminar
, Michael in fact briefly meets David Brent in the lobby and they establish an immediate rapport, joking together and generally signalling that they would have been good friends.
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Office, portrayed by Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
, and based on David Brent
David Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
from the original British version
The Office (UK TV series)
The Office is a British sitcom television series that was first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 9 July 2001. Created, written, and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the programme is about the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of the fictitious...
. Michael, the central character of the series, was the manager (formerly co-manager) of the Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
branch of paper and printer distribution company Dunder Mifflin Inc. Prior to being co-manager, he was the regional manager of the branch, but in the season 6 episode "The Meeting
The Meeting (The Office)
"The Meeting" is the second episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 102nd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 24, 2009....
", he was made co-manager with Jim Halpert
Jim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
; however, they returned to their original roles in "The Manager and the Salesman". In the fifth season, Michael Scott briefly left his position to start his own company, The Michael Scott Paper Company. Dunder Mifflin purchased the Michael Scott Paper Company
Michael Scott Paper Company
"Michael Scott Paper Company" is the twenty-third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 95th overall episode of the series...
and as part of the agreement rehired Scott as the regional manager. In the seventh season, Michael decided to move with his fiancée Holly Flax
Holly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
to Colorado to help her take care of her aging parents, thus preparing to begin a new chapter of his life and end his ties with Dunder Mifflin. He officially left Scranton in Goodbye, Michael
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
.
During the summer, he was permanently replaced as Regional Manager by Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
.
In many instances in the show it is heavily implied that Michael tries to use his subordinates as a substitute for a family, which he does not have. Michael insists everyone in the office think of him as a friend first, a boss second, and "probably an entertainer third", as did David Brent
David Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
in the British version. Michael holds inflated views of himself and considers himself an office comedian, but his attempts at humor tend to fail. Often, he says things that are inappropriate, offensive or unwittingly mean in the hopes of getting a laugh. He lacks maturity and self-awareness, has few friends and is quite lonely, made worse because his efforts to make friends with people usually backfire. Michael will resort to any means possible to make himself the center of attention and often takes credit for the successes of others. His subordinates, with the exception of Dwight Schrute
Dwight Schrute
Dwight Kurt Schrute III is a character on NBC's The Office portrayed by Rainn Wilson. He originally exactly resembled Gareth Keenan from the original UK version of The Office. Dwight is the top salesman and former acting manager for the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and has won numerous awards for...
, think of him as inept and several of them remark that they get their work done whenever Michael is distracted or away.
Michael wasn't always an incompetent employee at Dunder Mifflin. Before he was promoted to regional manager, he was a great salesman, able to relate well with clients and use his personable attitude to his advantage. However, his promotion put him into a position above his level of competence, making him an embodiment of the Peter Principle
Peter Principle
The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J...
. However, when needed, Michael springs to the help of his employees in landing or maintaining sales relationships for his employees. He has, on occasion, shown a powerful business acumen, particularly when negotiating on behalf of his employees. Over time, Michael has evolved from a wholly inept leader and unlikable person to a decent, if flawed, individual who is capable of rising to the occasion and doing a good job.
Casting
All original series characters were adapted for the U.S. version. NBC programmer Tracy McLaughlin suggested Paul GiamattiPaul Giamatti
Paul Edward Valentine Giamatti is an American actor. Giamatti began his career as a supporting actor in several films produced during the 1990s including Private Parts, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, The Negotiator, and Man on the Moon, before earning lead roles in several projects in the...
to producer Ben Silverman
Ben Silverman
Benjamin Noah "Ben" Silverman is the founder and CEO of Electus, a next generation entertainment studio staked by IAC's Barry Diller....
for the role of Michael Scott, but the actor declined. Martin Short
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short, CM is a Canadian actor, comedian, writer, singer and producer. He is best-known for his comedy work, particularly on the TV programs SCTV and Saturday Night Live...
, Hank Azaria
Hank Azaria
Henry Albert "Hank" Azaria is an American film, television and stage actor, director, voice actor, and comedian. He is noted for being one of the principal voice actors on the animated television series The Simpsons , on which he performs the voices of Moe Szyslak, Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, Chief...
, and Bob Odenkirk
Bob Odenkirk
Robert "Bob" Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director and producer. He is best known as the co-creator and co-star of the HBO sketch comedy series Mr...
were also reported to be interested. In January 2004, Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
reported Steve Carell of the popular Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, was in talks to play the role. At the time, he was already committed to another NBC midseason replacement comedy, Come to Papa, but the series was quickly canceled, leaving him fully committed to The Office. Carell later stated he had only seen about half of the original pilot episode of the British series before he auditioned. He did not continue watching for fear that he would start copying Gervais' characterizations.
Two supporting roles in films helped get the attention of audiences: Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty
Bruce Almighty is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Tom Shadyac and written by Steve Koren, Mark O'Keefe and Steve Oedekerk. It stars Jim Carrey as Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck TV reporter who complains to God that He isn't doing His job correctly, and is then offered the chance to try...
, in which Carell plays Evan Baxter (an arrogant rival to Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey
James Eugene "Jim" Carrey is a Canadian-American actor and comedian. He has received two Golden Globe Awards and has also been nominated on four occasions. Carrey began comedy in 1979, performing at Yuk Yuk's in Toronto, Ontario...
's character), who gets a humorous comeuppance while co-anchoring the news. In Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, or simply Anchorman, is a 2004 American comedy film, directed by Adam McKay and starring Will Ferrell. The film, which was also written by Ferrell and McKay, is a tongue-in-cheek take on the culture of the 1970s, particularly the then-new Action News format...
, Carell plays another news personality, as slow-witted weatherman Brick Tamland. Although the series premiered to mediocre ratings, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
renewed it for another season because of the anticipated success of Carell's movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...
, and the show subsequently became a ratings success. Carell won a Golden Globe and Television Critics Association
Television Critics Association
The Television Critics Association is a group of approximately 200 United States and Canadian journalists and columnists who cover television programming...
award in 2006 for his role. He also received Emmy nominations in 2006 and 2007 for his work in the series. He played the lead role in the 2005 film The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...
, which he developed and co-wrote. Although the film was a surprise success, Carell revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
that he had no plans to leave The Office. However, on the BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
Film Review show he stated in an interview that his time on the show will probably come to an end when his contract runs out after Season 7. This was later confirmed on June 28, 2010, when Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
confirmed that the seventh season of the show will be his last when his contract expires. However, rumors have been circulating that the writers want to hire Ricky Gervais to reprise his role as David Brent, an office manager imported from the UK. Many believe that the addition of Gervais could provide a wider base in attracting fans from the original Office sitcom to the U.S. version. According to the Vancouver Sun, Michael Scott's successor will not be decided upon until the beginning of the 8th season.
Producer Randy Cordray has said that it's possible that Steve Carell will make guest appearances on the show.
Character information
Biography
Michael was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania on March 15, 1964 (Stating his birthday in Season 2 "Michael's Birthday" and his age in Season 5 "Dream Team"). He came from a broken home and has talked about his loneliness as a child, explicitly telling Jan's sperm-bank baby Astrid that she will be able to survive not having a father figure around because he was in that position as a child. In "Diversity DayDiversity Day
"Diversity Day" is the second episode of the first season of the American version of The Office. Written by B. J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis, it first aired in the United States on March 29, 2005, on NBC. The episode guest stars Office consulting producer Larry Wilmore as Mr...
", Michael claims to be of English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, German and Scottish
Scottish people
The Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
ancestry. He also claims that he is 2/15 Native American. He has mentioned an unseen brother, and on a number of occasions mentioned his stepfather, Jeff, whom he hates. In "Nepotism
Nepotism (The Office)
"Nepotism" is the seventh season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 127th episode overall. Written by Daniel Chun and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on September 23, 2010...
", it is revealed that Michael had a half-sister, from whom he was estranged from 1995 through 2010. As a consequence of their reunion, Michael hires his nephew Luke as an intern for the office, but eventually confronts the incompetent and rude Luke and ends up spanking him in front of the office, leading Luke to burst into tears and quit.
In the episode "Take Your Daughter to Work Day", it is revealed that Michael was a child star on a kids' show called Fundle Bundle and spoke touchingly about what he wanted when he grew up: get married, have "100 kids" so he could then have "100 friends". Michael did not attend college, having lost all his tuition money in a pyramid scheme
Pyramid scheme
A pyramid scheme is a non-sustainable business model that involves promising participants payment or services, primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, rather than supplying any real investment or sale of products or services to the public...
. In the season 5 premiere episode "Weight Loss
Weight Loss (The Office)
"Weight Loss" is the fifth season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's seventy-third episode overall. Written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and directed by Paul Feig, the episode first aired as a single 60 minute show in the United States on...
", Michael says he once went twenty eight years without having sex
Sex
In biology, sex is a process of combining and mixing genetic traits, often resulting in the specialization of organisms into a male or female variety . Sexual reproduction involves combining specialized cells to form offspring that inherit traits from both parents...
, implying he was a virgin until his late twenties. He rose to his manager position by being a superstar in the Sales Department, winning consecutive awards for best salesman; in a deleted scene from The Coup
The Coup
The Coup is a political hip hop group based in Oakland, California. It formed as a three-member group in 1992 with emcees Raymond "Boots" Riley and E-Roc along with DJ Pam the Funkstress. E-Roc left on amicable terms after the group's second album but appears on the track "Breathing Apparatus" on...
, Dwight Schrute says that he will never be able to approach the numbers Michael rang up during his sales days.
Michael is shown to be an incompetent manager, who injects a lot of his personal feelings into the work environment. He seems to have few relationships outside the office. In his interactions with other characters, he is shallow, callous, ignorant and unaware of basic social norms. He tends to overestimate his own importance in the eyes of his co-workers and cannot understand why they do not seem to have much fun at work, as he believes an office to be the "place where dreams come true." However, Michael is somewhat loyal to the company and honestly tries to help his employees when he thinks they are having a problem. Michael has been at Dunder Mifflin (as of "Michael's Last Dundies") 9,986,000 minutes, meaning he would have been working at Dunder Mifflin since May 6, 1992.
Michael's constant desire to be the center of attention often manifests itself in selfish behavior. For example, when he burns his foot in "The Injury
The Injury
"The Injury" is the twelfth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's eighteenth episode overall...
", he expects Pam Beesly
Pam Beesly
Pamela Morgan "Pam" Halpert is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom The Office, played by Jenna Fischer. Her counterpart in the original UK series of The Office is Dawn Tinsley....
and Ryan to tend to his needs, despite Dwight's much more serious concussion. When invited to be an usher in "Phyllis's Wedding", he assumes that his participation will be the high point of the ceremony and pouts when he is upstaged by Phyllis' elderly father, eventually giving an insulting and overly-familiar toast that gets him banned from the reception altogether. Michael appears to emphasize moments of sympathy or civility directed at him by his co-workers (mostly Jim) and inflates their importance in order to compensate for his loneliness.
Due to his overall lack of common sense, Michael can withstand significant abuse from his peers and is often the butt of jokes. He is quick to take offense when he realizes he is being wronged and his response is often disproportionate to the harm suffered. Even though he is generally oblivious to criticism, derision and sarcasm, Michael has some limits to his patience, and leaves to question the extent of offense that he can actually acknowledge (demanding professional respect from Stanley Hudson
Stanley Hudson
Stanley James Hudson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Leslie David Baker. Stanley's counterpart in the UK series is Malcolm.-Overview:...
in "Did I Stutter?
Did I Stutter?
"Did I Stutter?" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixty-ninth episode overall...
" or standing up to the employees in favor of Holly in "Business Ethics
Business Ethics (The Office)
"Business Ethics" is the third episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's seventy-fifth episode overall...
").
In "The Meeting
The Meeting (The Office)
"The Meeting" is the second episode of the sixth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the 102nd overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on September 24, 2009....
", it is shown that Michael does not aim for his employees' betterment or his own, thinking that this would put his job at jeopardy; he unwittingly turns down a promotion that would put Jim in his position, choosing the status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
over his employees' ambitions, and sabotaging Jim with a bad recommendation because he mistakenly believes that Jim's promotion to his job would lead to his firing. He is eventually forced to budge, having to co-manage the branch with Jim.
Interests
Michael's favorite catchphrase is "That's what she said!" inserted as a sexually suggestive double entendreDouble entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
even in the most inappropriate circumstances, including business meetings and legal depositions. Michael finds uttering the phrase so irresistible that in "Sexual Harassment" he is goaded into saying it just seconds after Jan Levenson and a lawyer from Corporate specifically ask him not to do so.
Michael enjoys writing song parodies. In "Goodbye, Toby
Goodbye, Toby
"Goodbye, Toby" is the fourth season hour-long finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's seventy-first episode overall...
", it is said that he had written songs such as "Beers in Heaven"
Tears in Heaven
"Tears in Heaven" is a ballad written by Eric Clapton and Will Jennings about the pain and loss Clapton felt following the death of his four-year-old son, Conor. Conor fell from a window of the 53rd-floor New York apartment of his mother's friend on March 20, 1991. Clapton, who arrived at the...
(which he tells Holly is "very sexual") and "Total Eclipse of the Fart"
Total Eclipse of the Heart
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" is a song written and produced by Jim Steinman and recorded by Welsh singer Bonnie Tyler for her fifth studio album, Faster Than the Speed of Night...
. In "Diwali
Diwali (The Office)
"Diwali" is the sixth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's 34th overall. Written by Mindy Kaling, who also acts in the show as Kelly Kapoor, and directed by Miguel Arteta, the episode first aired on November 2, 2006 on NBC, twelve days after the...
", Michael performs his own parody of Adam Sandler's "The Chanukah Song
The Chanukah Song
"The Chanukah Song" is a humorous song written by comedian Adam Sandler with Saturday Night Live writers Lewis Morton and Ian Maxtone-Graham and originally performed by Sandler on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update on December 3, 1994. Sandler subsequently performed the song as part of his...
", replacing the Jewish-themed lyrics with Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
ones.
He also appears to have a history of playing ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and is, as Jan once noted when trying to find a compliment to give him, a very talented ice skater. In Dream Team
Dream Team (The Office)
"Dream Team" is the twenty-second episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 94th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 9, 2009. In the episode, Pam and Michael try to keep each other motivated as the two form their new...
, Michael tells Pam that in high school, after his math teacher told him he was going to flunk out, he went out the next day and "scored more goals than anyone in the history of the hockey team." On multiple occasions, Michael has also expressed interest in basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
even though he is terrible at it (in "The Fire" and "Basketball"). He also once stated that he is a Pittsburgh Pirates
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a Major League Baseball club based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They play in the Central Division of the National League, and are five-time World Series Champions...
fan.
Michael loves Meryl Streep
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television and film.Streep made her professional stage debut in 1971's The Playboy of Seville, before her screen debut in the television movie The Deadliest Season in 1977. In that same year, she made her film debut with...
. In "The Job
The Job (The Office)
"The Job" is the third season finale of the U.S. version of The Office, and the show's 52nd and 53rd episode overall. It aired in the United States on April 19, 2007 on NBC. It is the season's second hour-long episode...
", Michael states that Meryl Streep is "The best actor around." In "Money
Money (The Office)
"Money" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixtieth episode overall. It first aired on October 18, 2007, on NBC, and was the last of four consecutive hour long episodes that opened the fourth season...
", Michael watches The Devil Wears Prada
The Devil Wears Prada (film)
The Devil Wears Prada is a 2006 comedy-drama film, a loose screen adaptation of Lauren Weisberger's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars Anne Hathaway as Andrea Sachs, a recent college graduate who goes to New York City and gets a job as a co-assistant to powerful and demanding fashion magazine...
and begins to order Pam around. Pam then tells the cameras that Michael is "a big Meryl Streep fan."
Michael attends classes in improvisational comedy and although he believes his skills are among the best in the world, he is shown in "E-mail Surveillance
E-mail Surveillance
"E-mail Surveillance" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifteenth episode overall...
" to be a frustrating and unpopular presence in the class. He is also the screenwriter of such scripts as Threat Level: Midnight (a planned movie which was discovered by Pam and read by the entire office without Michael's knowledge), celebrating Michael's main character alter-ego Michael Scarn. He constantly compliments his own performances, from joke-telling to impressions to videotape skits that he creates for presentation in the office. Michael spent a total of 10 years filming, editing, screening and re-editing "Threat Level Midnight" into a movie that he shows the office; he's initially in denial that it's a bad movie, but ends up making peace with the fact that everyone finds it amusing and enjoyable in its lack of quality.
Michael loves wearing jeans, in particular a pair of Levi's he refers to as his "Fun Jeans" ("The Convention"). He is so fond of his jeans that he gets them dry cleaned; Pam surmises that he instituted Casual Friday
Casual Friday
Casual Friday along with dressing casually during the week became very prevalent during the Dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000s rooted in a relaxed California-based business culture...
just to show off his jeans ("The Client").
Michael treasures his "World's Best Boss" mug, even though he bought it for himself at Spencer Gifts and has multiple replacements. The audience knows that he has purchased at least two, because Dwight precariously places one of them on Michael's desk, and Michael accidentally knocks it off with a golf putter that he was using to practice with in his office. This is also proven in "The Promotion", when Michael presents Jim with his own "World's Best Boss" mug at the end of the episode that they share gin with each other.
Michael is a passionate fan of YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, although he may not be entirely clear about what it is and seems to believe that it is a news media organization, ordering Dwight to call the website so they can cover his employees' roast in Stress Relief
Stress Relief
"Stress Relief" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the fourteenth and fifteenth episode of the fifth season, and the 86th and 87th overall episodes of the series...
. Michael is also fond of Wikipedia, at one point calling it "the best thing ever" (a claim which is continually mocked by Jim). He is a fan of the HBO television series, Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...
. It is also established that Michael tends to be a bit "behind" when it comes to pop culture references, particularly in music. This is mainly shown through his cellphone ringtones, such as "My Humps" early on in the show, or "Salt N Pepa" in "The Lover".
Michael likes Chrysler
Chrysler
Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....
cars. For the first three seasons, he drove a silver 2004 Sebring convertible
Chrysler Sebring
The Chrysler Sebring is a line of mid-size cars that was sold by Chrysler from 1995 to 2010.The Sebring came in three generations. The first, from 1995 to 2000, was available first only as a coupe and starting in 1996 as a convertible. The two body designs did not share many components nor any...
, until the season four episode "Money
Money (The Office)
"Money" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixtieth episode overall. It first aired on October 18, 2007, on NBC, and was the last of four consecutive hour long episodes that opened the fourth season...
" in which he mentions he traded it in (along with Jan's car) for a Porsche Boxster
Porsche Boxster
The Porsche Boxster is a mid-engined roadster built by Porsche. The Boxster is Porsche's first road vehicle to be originally designed as a roadster since the 550 Spyder....
. After breaking up with Jan, he buys a red PT Cruiser convertible
Chrysler PT Cruiser
The Chrysler PT Cruiser is a retro styled compact automobile launched by Chrysler as a 5-door hatchback in early 2000 and as a 2-door convertible in early 2005 ....
. He drives the PT Cruiser until the season 5 episode "Broke
Broke (The Office)
"Broke" is the 25th episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 97th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 23, 2009...
" in which he asks for a new Sebring convertible as part of his agreement to return to Dunder Mifflin.
Michael's PIN is YMCA (9622) as illustrated in the season 6 episode "Secret Santa
Secret Santa (The Office)
"Secret Santa" is the 13th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 113th episode overall. It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Randall Einhorn...
".
Michael also seems to be a fan of the 1970s classic "Welcome Back, Kotter", as seen in "E-mail Surveillance" when he raised his hand, shouting Arnold Horshack's famous "Oh, Oh" and blurting out "Mr. Kot-ter" like Freddie 'Boom Boom' Washington. He also has shown to enjoy the 2004 cult classic "Mean Girls
Mean Girls
Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen comedy-drama film directed by Mark Waters. The screenplay was written by Tina Fey and is based in part on the non-fiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman, which describes how female high school social cliques operate and the effect they can have...
" as he was seen calling his employees "Mean Girls" in reference to the movie in "Christening".
Michael apparently takes Propecia as mentioned if Jan ever handled it while she was pregnant in the episode "Goodbye Toby".
Personality and management style
Michael is almost inexplicably lacking in any skills, management or otherwise. Co-manager Jim HalpertJim Halpert
James Duncan "Jim" Halpert is a fictional character in the United States version of the television sitcom The Office, played by John Krasinski. The character is based on Tim Canterbury from the original version of The Office...
once made a color graph of how Michael spends his time: 80% "distracting others," 19% "procrastination," and 1% "critical thinking", and added that he inflated the "critical thinking" percentage so people could actually see it on the graph. His laid-back approach more often results in lower than expected workplace productivity, particularly when Michael places his personal interests as a priority over work (such as his birthday, someone else's birthday, or his various seminars). To avoid being disciplined for his foolish actions, Michael often resorts to scapegoating employees to cover himself. Although his actions often lead to more problems for his employees, Michael believes that Scranton is "the cool, fun branch", and is genuinely upset when the top salesman from the Utica office trashes Scranton in a phone call by saying it's "worse than Camden
Camden, New Jersey
The city of Camden is the county seat of Camden County, New Jersey. It is located across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 77,344...
".
Although his position as Regional Manager gives him broad decision-making authority on branch operations, he often places those responsibilities secondary to his desire to be friends with his employees. On the other hand, he also oversteps his authority by hosting events that Corporate disapproves of such as "The Dundies
The Dundies
"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
", and a "Booze Cruise".
It is revealed in the episode "The Duel
The Duel (The Office)
"The Duel" is the twelfth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 84th overall episode. In the episode, Andy learns his fiancee Angela is having an affair with Dwight, and the two challenge each other to a physical fight to win her affections...
" that, despite Michael's incompetence, the Scranton branch is the best-performing company branch, well ahead of Utica and Nashua. Michael is called to Corporate to answer the question, "What are you doing right?" After several minutes of Michael's inarticulate babble, his superiors concede that while Michael is definitely doing something right, they will probably never know exactly what. They send him on a lecture tour for Michael to spread his wisdom; instead, he wastes time and annoys the workers who have to listen to his drivel.
Despite his apparent ineptitude, Michael is prone to brief bouts of surprising insight and is shown to have a kind heart as he shows deep, family-like affection towards most of the people working for him in the Scranton branch. In the episode "Broke
Broke (The Office)
"Broke" is the 25th episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 97th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 23, 2009...
", Michael displays self-awareness of his inability to keep secrets when he, Pam and Ryan all agree not to let Dunder Mifflin know that the Michael Scott Paper Company is broke, yet moments later he is seen bent over and in a near panic when he admits that he's afraid he won't be able to keep himself from letting the truth slip. Later in the same episode, he displays a remarkable ability to negotiate with Dunder Mifflin and convince the company to hire himself as well as Pam and Ryan back with full benefits.
In the episode "Business School
Business School (The Office)
"Business School" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's forty-fifth episode overall...
", Michael is one of the few Dunder Mifflin employees to show up to Pam's gallery showing. Unlike Oscar and Gil, who had shown up and heavily criticized Pam's drawings (which Pam overheard), Michael immediately marvels at her work and asks to buy Pam's drawing of their office building. In a moment of sincere kindness, Michael tells Pam that he is very proud of her. Pam begins to tear up and hugs Michael, who also seems touched by Pam's reaction. During "The Seminar", Michael advises a fledgling Andy Bernard
Andy Bernard
Andrew "Andy" Baines Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. The character is highly insecure, yet egotistical, constantly mentioning his education at Cornell University...
to step up and begin selling at a seminar Andy's hosting, in order to boost his sagging sales.
While it seems clear that Michael loves Dunder Mifflin very much, he has also shown signs that he sometimes feels under appreciated given his long history with the company. In the episode "The Negotiation
The Negotiation
"The Negotiation" is the nineteenth episode of the third season of the U.S. version of The Office, aired on April 5, 2007 on NBC...
", Michael discovers that he is making only slightly more money than Darryl, the warehouse manager, even though at that point he had worked for the company for 14 years and was in a management position. Later in the episode he drives to New York and demands a raise from Jan at corporate headquarters.
In the episode "New Boss", after Dunder Mifflin's CFO David Wallace ducks Michael's calls throughout the day and Michael's 15-year anniversary party is cancelled by Michael's new superior, Charles Miner, Michael drives to New York to confront Wallace. Citing his long history of service with the company and his many sacrifices for Dunder Mifflin, Michael asks that he be treated more respectfully. Wallace, seeing Michael's heartfelt openness, promises Michael his party and pledges to attend, as well. But Michael surprisingly recognizes that the CFO is just humoring him, and stuns Wallace by quitting his job.
Relationships
Michael tends to overestimate his importance to his employees, and, despite constantly demeaning and offending some of them, has a close bond with them. Most of the employees have been the focus of Michael's jokes at one point or another, usually in reference to their race, sex, size, attractiveness, or sexual orientation. Examples of Michael's difficult relationship with his staff include getting slapped by Kelly for being racist, hitting Meredith with his car, getting kicked out of Phyllis and Bob's wedding, and outingOuting
Outing is the act of disclosing a gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person's true sexual orientation or gender identity without that person's consent. Outing gives rise to issues of privacy, choice, hypocrisy, and harm in addition to sparking debate on what constitutes common good in efforts...
Oscar to the entire office without his permission.
Michael's relationship with the company warehouse employees is tense. He has a tendency to disrupt their daily work flow, and in a talking head interview, warehouse supervisor Darryl Philbin
Darryl Philbin
Darryl Mathias Philbin is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Craig Robinson.-Overview:Darryl Philbin is the foreman of the warehouse of the Scranton branch of fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin....
(Craig Robinson) explains that they have never been able to make a full year accident-free because of Michael's antics. CFO David Wallace
David Wallace (The Office)
David Wallace is a character in the American television show The Office and was the chief financial officer of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, before being fired in late 2009 after the company was bought by Sabre. He is portrayed by Andy Buckley.- Character history :David Wallace was...
tolerates Michael's antics because his branch is the best in the company, but Michael offends CEO Allan Brand and the rest of the executives during his only meeting with them with his lunk-headed comments and claims he can't back up.
Dwight
Dwight's character is originally based on the character 'Gareth Keenan' from the original British version of The Office. Dwight has the most respect for Michael, viewing him as a model for success, and is thrilled when asked to handle any task given to him however ill-conceived it may be. Although on the surface, Michael usually appears dismissive of Dwight and generally views him as a suck-up, he is genuinely hurt and angry at the few times when Dwight has deceived him, such as when Dwight went over Michael's head to vie for the manager's job or when Dwight refused to reveal office secrets to Michael's new company, the Michael Scott Paper Company. In the episode "Heavy CompetitionHeavy Competition
"Heavy Competition" is the 24th episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the 96th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on April 16, 2009. In the episode, Michael enlists the help of Dwight in getting Michael's new paper company...
" of Season 5, Dwight steals Michael's Rolodex
Rolodex
A Rolodex is a rotating file device used to store business contact information currently manufactured by Newell Rubbermaid. The Rolodex holds specially shaped index cards; the user writes the contact information for one person or company on each card...
and finds his own business card, on the back of which, Michael had written (before leaving Dunder Mifflin): "Dwight Schrute, tall, beets". Michael also cares how Dwight feels about him. After Michael beats Dwight at his own dojo, Michael finds out that Dwight no longer wanted Michael as his primary contact in case of an emergency which causes Michael to promote him from "Assistant to the Regional Manager" to "Assistant Regional Manager", with a three month probational period. Dwight told Michael in Season 6 that Michael's pathetic career path hurt Dwight and he regretted working for him instead of taking a fast-track job at Home Depot, but they buried their differences later on. When Deangelo Vickers arrives to be the new Branch Manager, Dwight is depressed that he didn't get the job after Michael recommended him, only to learn from Gabe that Michael didn't recommend him after all. At first Dwight is angry with Michael, but they make amends when Michael gives him a letter of recommendation on his final day at Dunder Mifflin. They end the day with a paintball fight behind the building.
Ryan
Michael has a one-sided mancrush on Ryan, which makes Ryan uncomfortable. Examples of this are when Michael gave Ryan a $400 iPodIPod
iPod is a line of portable media players created and marketed by Apple Inc. The product line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod Classic, the touchscreen iPod Touch, the compact iPod Nano, and the ultra-compact iPod Shuffle...
for the staff's Christmas Secret Santa exchange, despite an agreed upon office limit of $20 per person, and when in "The Dundies
The Dundies
"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
", Michael gives Ryan the "Hottest in the Office" award. Michael appears to view Ryan both as an idolized friend, such as when he grew a goatee just because Ryan also grew one, or as a son, which he says he views Ryan as in "Secret Santa
Secret Santa (The Office)
"Secret Santa" is the 13th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 113th episode overall. It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Randall Einhorn...
". In "The Deposition
The Deposition (The Office)
"The Deposition" is the twelfth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixty-fifth episode overall. Written by consulting producer Lester Lewis and directed by Julian Farino, the episode originally aired in the United States on November 15,...
", a page from Michael's diary reveals he describes Ryan as being "just as hot as Jan, but in a different way." He is horrified when he finds out about Ryan's arrest for fraud, and much to the dismay of David Wallace, he re-hires Ryan despite the fact that he was fired by corporate office for his crime. He later earns Ryan's respect when Ryan sees Michael's talents as a salesman over the phone. In "Prince Family Paper
Prince Family Paper
"Prince Family Paper" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 85th overall episode. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 22, 2009...
", Michael acknowledges that his heart has led him astray before, stating "Jan [and] Ryan" as examples of this. In Season 7, Michael shows the full gamut of his ties to Ryan: he heavily invests in WUPHF.com and won't agree to sell his majority shares when it's clear Ryan is incapable of saving the venture from bankruptcy, although Ryan exploits Michael's goodwill in their friendship to keep his venture going. But Ryan is later stunned when Michael later calls out his negative qualities and makes it clear Ryan only has nine days with no wiggle room before he fails everyone. Michael is later relieved when Ryan sells the project and everyone gets their money back. Ryan later appears as part of the group to help Michael brainstorm a perfect proposal to Holly.
Jim and Pam
The characters 'Jim and Pam' are based on the characters 'Tim and Dawn' from the original British version of The Office. Michael doesn't hesitate to compliment or criticize Pam for her looks and he frequently mentions her breasts. In the episode "DiwaliDiwali (The Office)
"Diwali" is the sixth episode of the third season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's 34th overall. Written by Mindy Kaling, who also acts in the show as Kelly Kapoor, and directed by Miguel Arteta, the episode first aired on November 2, 2006 on NBC, twelve days after the...
" Michael mistakenly thinks that he and Pam have a connection, and is rejected when he tries to kiss her. Their relationship comes to a rocky point when he begins dating her mother Helene. This is only repaired after he breaks up with Helene and allows Pam to slap him in the face in the parking lot. He trusts and respects Jim, although when they were co-managers they clashed due to their polar-opposite management styles. In "Secret Santa
Secret Santa (The Office)
"Secret Santa" is the 13th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 113th episode overall. It was written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Randall Einhorn...
", Michael mentions that in a future vision he sees himself and his future wife living next door to Jim and Pam and that their children will play together. He often also refers to Jim as his best friend in the office. Michael attempts unsuccessfully to have Jim and Pam over for dinner on many occasions, though he finally succeeds in the episode "Dinner Party
Dinner Party (The Office)
"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008...
"; the entire evening is a disaster. In a Season 5 episode, Michael also shows his admiration for Jim, when Jim wears a tuxedo to work and goes on and on about having a 'classy party' for the party planning committee, and frequently suggests all of the ideas Dwight had offered that Michael had then rejected, only to bother Dwight by having Michael accept the same ideas from him. He is hurt when Pam tells him he won't be Cece Halpert's godfather (moreso when she tells him the godparents are a couple she and Jim have only known for a few months), but the Halperts lend him a genuine hand when he plans his ultimately-successful proposal for Holly. In "Goodbye, Michael
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
" it is revealed that Michael is secretly planning to leave for Colorado at the end of his penultimate work day, thereby avoiding having to say goodbye to everyone. Jim figures this out and goes along with it, telling Michael that he will tell him what a great boss he was the following day at lunch, which they both know Michael will not be around for. Pam, who spent the better part of the day away from the office finds Michael at the airport and says goodbye just as he's about to board his plane for Colorado. She watches from the window as his plane flies off. In a deleted scene of "The Inner Circle
The Inner Circle (The Office)
"The Inner Circle" is the twenty-third episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 149th episode overall. The episode originally aired on May 5, 2011, on NBC...
", it is revealed that Michael named his new dog after Pam, named "Pamela Beagsley".
Toby
Despite liking most of the staff, Michael fiercely hates Human Resources Manager Toby Flenderson, likely due to Toby's requirement to enforce the rules of proper office behavior that Michael loves to flout. Michael once reasoned that "Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for Corporate. So he’s really not a part of our family. He's also divorced so he's not a part of his family either". His longtime goal is to get rid of Toby and any attempts at reconciliation between the two usually backfire, with Michael resorting to name calling or jokes at Toby's expense. In the episode "Goodbye, TobyGoodbye, Toby
"Goodbye, Toby" is the fourth season hour-long finale of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's seventy-first episode overall...
", Michael is thrilled when Toby decides to move to Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
and gives as his going away present a rock with a note that reads "Suck on this". The next season, after Toby's replacement Holly is transferred, Michael is horrified when Toby returns to Dunder Mifflin. In "Frame Toby
Frame Toby
"Frame Toby" is the ninth episode of the fifth season of the television series The Office, and the show's eighty-first episode overall. The episode aired in the United States on November 20, 2008 on NBC....
", he goes to great lengths to get him fired, trying to frame him for possession of marijuana (which turns out to be salad).In "The Chump", Michael says if he had a gun with two bullets and was in a room with Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
, and Toby, he would shoot Toby twice (which disgusts the rest of the office). During "Nepotism
Nepotism (The Office)
"Nepotism" is the seventh season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 127th episode overall. Written by Daniel Chun and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on September 23, 2010...
", Toby is able to deduce that Luke, the surly, universally disliked intern is Michael's nephew. When Michael makes an example of Luke by spanking him in front of the staff, it's perceived as assault on a company employee. To avoid termination, Sabre employee Gabe Lewis suggests Michael's spanking of Luke as a stress-related outburst, which can be addressed as therapy with Toby, the certified HR rep. Obviously displeased but with no other options, Michael reluctantly agrees. In "Counseling
Counseling (The Office)
"Counseling" is the second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 128th episode overall. Written by B. J...
" Toby tricks Michael into telling him about his life which upsets Michael but at the end, Michael and Toby share a laugh together. In "Classy Christmas
Classy Christmas
"Classy Christmas" is the eleventh and twelfth episodes of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 137th and 138th episodes overall...
", Michael is happy to hear the news that Toby is going to be on a leave of absence for jury duty and that Holly will be taking his place. In "Michael's Last Dundies
Michael's Last Dundies
"Michael's Last Dundies" is the twenty-first episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 147th episode overall. Written and directed by Mindy Kaling, the episode aired on April 21, 2011, on NBC. The episode revolves around Michael training his...
", Michael eggs Toby's house in the cold open while yelling, "you suck", while he and Deangelo are handing out Dundie nominations. Ironically, Michael is shown to have befriended Toby's daughter Sasha in "Take Your Daughter to Work Day". In "Goodbye, Michael
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
", Michael is seen saying goodbye to Toby without insulting him, possibly indicating that he will miss Toby on some level.
Erin
Returning to Dunder-Mifflin after The Michael Scott Paper Company was bought out, Pam moved to the sales division while Michael kept Kelly Erin HannonErin Hannon
Kelly Erin Hannon is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. She is the office receptionist for the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin, a position previously held by Pam Halpert before she left the company. Erin is played by Ellie Kemper...
as his secretary after she was hired by Charles Miner. She treats Michael with respect as he is her boss, to which Michael generally enjoys. Michael is unkind towards Erin because he misses Pam (now working as a salesperson) and tries to get Pam to go with him during his disastrous school visit in "Scott's Tots
Scott's Tots
"Scott's Tots" is the 12th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 112th episode overall. It was written by Gene Stupnitsky & Lee Eisenberg and directed by B. J. Novak, which marks his directorial debut on the network series...
". After Pam pushes Michael to take Erin along with him, the two end up bonding and Michael foresees a great future in store for Erin. Once Dunder Mifflin was bought by Sabre and Jim is manager while Michael returns to sales, Erin walks into Jims office and says "Who's hungry??!". Jim asks what that is and Erin tells him that Michael would have her come in every day at 2:30 pm to say "Who's hungry??!" with a plate of "Ants on a log". However his dismissive feelings for Erin still continue until "Secretary's Day
Secretary's Day (The Office)
"Secretary's Day" is the 22nd episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 122nd episode overall. It aired on April 22, 2010 on NBC. It was written by Mindy Kaling, who portrays Kelly Kapoor on the series, and directed by Steve Carell, who portrays Michael Scott...
", to the point where he insults her by calling her a rube to Andy, who is dating her at the time. Andy pushes Michael to bond with Erin, who is delighted he wants to spend time with her. However Michael finds Erin awkward. After Michael inadvertently reveals Andy's past relationship with Angela, Erin is extremely upset and breaks up with Andy. Michael ends up feeling guilty and manages to cheer Erin up. In "Viewing Party
Viewing Party
"Viewing Party" is the eighth episode of seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 134th episode overall. Written by Jon Vitti and directed by Ken Whittingham, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on November 11, 2010.-Synopsis:The office employees...
", Erin throws a Glee
Glee (TV series)
Glee is an American musical comedy-drama television series that airs on Fox in the United States, and on GlobalTV in Canada. It focuses on the high school glee club New Directions competing on the show choir competition circuit, while its members deal with relationships, sexuality and social issues...
party with her new boyfriend, Gabe Lewis. Through the night, she attempts to unsuccessfully get Michael and Gabe to bond. Michael is jealous that the office looks to Gabe as the boss and attempts to sabotage the party. After being confronted by Erin in private, Michael questions why his opinion matters so much to her as he is not her father. In a moment of insight, Michael realizes that Erin, who was raised in foster care, looks to him as a father figure and jokes around with her. Later Michael warns Gabe to never break Erin's heart and comes to view Erin as a daughter. Erin becomes protective of Michael to the point where she is very hostile towards Holly Flax for a while as well. Erin later mentions in a talking head interview that she doesn't understand what Michael sees in her, until The Search
The Search (The Office)
"The Search" is the fifteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 141st episode overall...
when she, Dwight and Holly go searching for a missing Michael. Erin sees that Holly is able to sense where Michael is, and when she sees them reconcile, she smiles. Later in "Goodbye, Michael
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
", Erin talks to Michael about her love life and wishes that she knew her birth mother so she could tell Erin what to do. Michael advises Erin that she shouldn't rush things and that she'll know what to do when the right guy comes along. Michael then tells her that she won't need her mother for advice, because she will always have his personal phone number when she needs advice, before kissing her on the head and walking away.
Holly
Shortly after the dissolution of his troubled relationship with Jan, Michael found love with Holly FlaxHolly Flax
Hollis "Holly" Partridge Flax is a fictional character from the US television series The Office played by Amy Ryan. She was an original character, and not based on a character from the British version of the show...
(Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan
Amy Ryan is an American actress. She has been nominated for an Academy Award and Golden Globe for her performance in Gone Baby Gone and is also known for her roles in the HBO series The Wire, playing Port Authority Officer Beadie Russell; In Treatment, playing psychiatrist Adele Brousse; and The...
), Toby's replacement as HR Representative, who appears for a while to be Michael's best chance at love, with the two sharing a similar sense of humor and social awkwardness. However, after David Wallace witnesses them kissing, Holly is transferred to the Nashua
Nashua, New Hampshire
-Climate:-Demographics:As of the census of 2010, there were 86,494 people, 35,044 households, and 21,876 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,719.9 people per square mile . There were 37,168 housing units at an average density of 1,202.8 per square mile...
branch and she and Michael break up after choosing not to pursue a long-distance relationship. Even despite the breakup and Holly's new relationship with another man, their affection for each other doesn't go away, as it's shown that Holly had been writing a note for Michael on her work computer, as well as their subtle romantic glances at one another during the summer company picnic. Throughout her absence in Season 5 (excluding Company Picnic) and carrying on into Season 7, Michael hooks up with a few other women, but ultimately he realizes that they're nothing compared to her. Around Christmas in Season 7, Toby is forced to leave the office due to being selected as part of the jury duty for a local murder case, resulting in Holly returning as the temporary HR replacement. There's initial tension between the two of them and hesitation on her side (mostly after her sudden break-up with A.J.), but Holly finally reunites with Michael after realizing they're both soulmates. The two continue dating for a few weeks (even going so far as to move in together on Valentine's Day), and, with her time at the Scranton branch almost up and the recent knowledge that her aging parents need to be taken care of, they ultimately become fiancees. Holly later moves back to Colorado and Michael follows her soon after.
Other romantic relationships
Michael's longest relationship to date has been with Jan LevinsonJan Levinson
Janet "Jan" Levenson is a fictional character from the US television series The Office. Though her last name is commonly misspelled as "Levinson", NBC spells it as "Levenson". Her counterpart in the UK version is Jennifer Taylor-Clarke...
(Melora Hardin
Melora Hardin
Melora Diane Hardin is an American actress, best known for her roles as Jan Levinson on NBC's The Office and Trudy Monk on USA's Monk.-Early life:...
), his original-then-former boss from Corporate. Starting with a one-night stand after they closed their business deal at Chilli's in The Client
The Client
The Client is a legal thriller written by American author John Grisham, set mostly in Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana...
guest star (Tim Meadows), Michael and Jan begin awkward dating, become an official couple, and eventually move in together after Jan is fired from her job, though Jan usually treats Michael with contempt. After Michael fails to defend Jan in her Wrongful Dismissal suit
Wrongful dismissal
Wrongful dismissal, also called wrongful termination or wrongful discharge, is an idiom and legal phrase, describing a situation in which an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer in circumstances where the termination breaches one or more terms of the contract of...
against Dunder Mifflin, they remain together for a short while but end up blowing up at each other during an ill-fated dinner party and eventually break up. He also dated Carol (played by Carell's wife Nancy Walls), a real estate agent from whom Michael bought his condominium. Michael was much more interested in Carol than vice versa, and after he made an unwanted and rejected impromptu public marriage proposal, Michael's decision to Photoshop pictures of himself over Carol's ex-husband in her family pictures resulted in their breakup. On a business trip to Winnipeg, Michael & "Concierge Marie" become close, and Michael does not wish to leave her after they are caught necking in her suite. After Jim and Pam's wedding, Michael begins dating Pam's mother Helene (much to Pam's horror), but he breaks up with her after discovering she is 58. Near the end of season six, Michael begins dating Donna (Amy Pietz
Amy Pietz
Amy Pietz is an American film and television actress.-Early life:Pietz was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the adopted daughter of Nancy, a nurse, and Arnold Pietz, a truck driver. She trained throughout her childhood in ballet and prepared to go professional, but eventually decided not to due to...
), the manager of a local bar, but later finds out that she's married and he is, as he puts it, "the mistress". He continues seeing her until the disgust of his employees drives him to listen to his conscience and break things off with her. In Season 7's "Sex Ed
Sex Ed (The Office)
"Sex Ed" is the fourth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 130th episode overall. Written and directed by Paul Lieberstein, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on October 14, 2010...
", Michael reunites (in person or by telephone) with all of his aforementioned past girlfriends when he believes that he has contracted Herpes. In doing so, he realizes that Holly was the only one he truly loved.
Alter egos of Michael Scott
Given his proclivity of constantly trying to keep his employees entertained (and coupled with his juvenile personality), Michael has created a variety of different alter egos which he uses for both entertainment, and, at times, educational purposes. Often at times he uses these characters names to hide transacting information, and at one point his credit card uses "Michael Scarn", instead of Michael Scott.- Ping ("The DundiesThe Dundies"The Dundies" is the second season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's seventh episode overall. Written by Mindy Kaling and directed by Greg Daniels, who is also a producer for the show, the episode originally aired in the United States on September 20, 2005 on...
", "The SeminarThe Seminar"The Seminar" is the fourteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 140th episode overall. Written by Steve Hely and directed by B. J. Novak, the episode aired January 27, 2011 on NBC....
", "Goodbye, MichaelGoodbye, Michael"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
"), an Asian caricature based on Michael's Chinese food delivery man.
- Agent Michael Scarn ("Threat Level MidnightThreat Level Midnight-Production:This episode was written by executive producer B. J. Novak, who also portrays Ryan Howard on the show. It was directed by Tucker Gates, his fourth directing credit of the series...
", "The Client", "E-mail SurveillanceE-mail Surveillance"E-mail Surveillance" is the ninth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's fifteenth episode overall...
", referenced in "Product RecallProduct recallA product recall is a request to return to the maker a batch or an entire production run of a product, usually due to the discovery of safety issues. The recall is an effort to limit liability for corporate negligence and to improve or avoid damage to publicity...
", "MoneyMoney (The Office)"Money" is the seventh episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's sixtieth episode overall. It first aired on October 18, 2007, on NBC, and was the last of four consecutive hour long episodes that opened the fourth season...
", "Dinner PartyDinner Party (The Office)"Dinner Party" is the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of the American comedy television series The Office—the show's sixty-sixth episode overall. Written by the writing team of Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Paul Feig, the episode originally aired on NBC on April 10, 2008...
", "Prince Family PaperPrince Family Paper"Prince Family Paper" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 85th overall episode. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 22, 2009...
") is the star of Threat Level Midnight, a derivative spy/action hero screenplay written and illustrated by Michael. He had kept it hidden in his desk drawer until it was discovered by Pam without his knowledge and photocopied so the staff could stage a rollicking reading of it while Michael was on a sales call.
A thinly-veiled portrayal of himself, Michael also adopts the persona in one session of his improv comedy class, ignoring the rule to base his dialogue on his scene partners, and ultimately shooting everyone in the room, regardless of their participation in the scene. He also uses the alias in another episode to go undercover in a local paper competitor to attain information from it. ("Prince Family Paper
Prince Family Paper
"Prince Family Paper" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 85th overall episode. It originally aired on NBC in the United States on January 22, 2009...
")
- Prison Mike ("The ConvictThe Convict"The Convict" is ninth episode of the third season of The Office . It aired on November 30, 2006 on NBC. It was written by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant specifically for the U.S. series...
") wears a purple bandanaKerchiefA kerchief is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head or around the neck for protective or decorative purposes...
over his head, speaking in a caricature of New York English, and explains that he is in prison for theft, robbery and kidnapping the president's son for ransom (although he claims, in knee-jerk defensiveness, that he was never caught). He proceeds to paint an awful, and somewhat fanciful, picture of prison life. He states that the scariest part of prison is the Dementors. The character is likely the result of Michael's take on the Scared Straight!Scared Straight!Scared Straight! is a 1978 documentary directed by Arnold Shapiro. Narrated by Peter Falk, the subject of the documentary is a group of juvenile delinquents and their three-hour session with actual convicts...
documentary series.
- Michael the Magic ("CocktailsCocktails (The Office)"Cocktails" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the US version of The Office. It aired on February 22, 2007 on NBC. It is written by Paul Lieberstein and directed by Alias and Lost creator J. J. Abrams....
") attempts to escape from a straitjacketStraitjacketA straitjacket is a garment shaped like a jacket with overlong sleeves and is typically used to restrain a person who may otherwise cause harm to themselves or others. Once the arms are inserted into the straitjacket's sleeves, they are then crossed across the chest...
but fails because of a lost key (actually hidden by Jim). Michael's fondness for magicMagic (illusion)Magic is a performing art that entertains audiences by staging tricks or creating illusions of seemingly impossible or supernatural feats using natural means...
is referenced throughout the series, including an off-screen visit to a children's magic camp. Michael also attempts to utilize a magic prop briefcase (which included a working chainsaw) while speaking at Karen's Utica branch in "Lecture CircuitLecture Circuit"Lecture Circuit" is a two-part episode of the American comedy television series The Office. They constituted the sixteenth and seventeenth episodes of the fifth season, and the 88th and 89th overall episodes of the series...
". In the cold open for "NepotismNepotism (The Office)"Nepotism" is the seventh season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 127th episode overall. Written by Daniel Chun and directed by Jeffrey Blitz, the episode aired on NBC in the United States on September 23, 2010...
", he is seen performing numerous, albeit repetitive, magic tricks.
- Michael Klump ("Weight LossWeight Loss (The Office)"Weight Loss" is the fifth season premiere of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's seventy-third episode overall. Written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky, and directed by Paul Feig, the episode first aired as a single 60 minute show in the United States on...
", referenced in "Garage SaleGarage Sale (The Office)"Garage Sale" is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 145th episode overall. The episode was written by Jon Vitti and was directed by series star Steve Carell...
") attempts to show that overweight people are people too. Michael wears a partially-inflated sumo suit underneath a business suit, and is patterned after the Eddie MurphyEddie MurphyEdward Regan "Eddie" Murphy is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, singer, director, and musician....
character in the Nutty ProfessorThe Nutty Professor (1996 film)The Nutty Professor is a 1996 science fiction-romantic comedy film starring Eddie Murphy. It is a remake of the 1963 film of the same name, starring Jerry Lewis. The original music score was composed by David Newman. The film won an Academy Award for Makeup.Murphy plays benevolent university...
remakes.
- Michael Scotch ("New Boss") was co-created when Michael and Dwight were trying to contact David Wallace to complain when Charles Miner cancelled Michael's fifteenth anniversary party because of budget cuts. Michael Scotch is an overly aggressive character who threatens that he has kidnapped David Wallace's son.
- Blind Guy McSqueezy ("The LoverThe Lover (The Office)"The Lover" is the 7th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 107th episode overall. It was written by Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky and directed by Lee Eisenberg. It originally aired on October 22, 2009 on NBC....
") is a character Michael created at his improvImprovisational theatreImprovisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
class so he could feel up women.
- Caleb Crawdad ("MurderMurder (The Office)"Murder" is the 10th episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 110th episode overall. It was written by Daniel Chun and directed by Greg Daniels...
") is a Southern persona used for the purposes of a murder mystery game.
- Date Mike ("Happy HourHappy Hour (The Office)"Happy Hour" is the 21st episode of the sixth season of the U.S. comedy series The Office and the show's 121st episode overall. It originally aired March 25, 2010 on NBC....
") is a personality Michael takes on when on a date. Michael creates this personality when Jim points out to him that Pam's friend likes him. Up to that point, Michael had been charming and likable, but Date Mike completely ruined things and the friend fled in disgust. Ironically, Michael felt Date Mike was successful because he impressed Donna, while Jim thought Date Mike was a disaster because he didn't know about Donna. Michael says Date Mike is inspired by "the winners of reality dating shows. AND the losers". Date Mike comes off as egotistical and introduces himself with the line "Hi, I'm Date Mike. Nice to meet me."
- Mike Leno is an interview personality that is a parody of Jay LenoJay LenoJames Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
.
- Santa Bond is an obvious parody of James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
that Michael uses to help make Holly Flax notice him sexier in ("Classy ChristmasClassy Christmas"Classy Christmas" is the eleventh and twelfth episodes of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's 137th and 138th episodes overall...
"). However, it only appeared in that episode so far, and was replaced by a Santa Claus outfit later in the episode.
- Reginald Poofter is Michael's English character, briefly mentioned but never actually seen in "The SeminarThe Seminar"The Seminar" is the fourteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 140th episode overall. Written by Steve Hely and directed by B. J. Novak, the episode aired January 27, 2011 on NBC....
". Michael brings up the character after running into David BrentDavid BrentDavid Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
.
- Mykonos (The SeminarThe Seminar"The Seminar" is the fourteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 140th episode overall. Written by Steve Hely and directed by B. J. Novak, the episode aired January 27, 2011 on NBC....
), a Greek character whose persona he develops with the help of Holly, used in order to pretend he is a potential customer interested in Andy's product.
- Orville Tootenbacher is Michael's briefly mentioned "billionaire character that farts popcorn".
- Lord Rupert Everton is Michael's hopeful identity for his dream to be in the United States Federal Witness Protection ProgramUnited States Federal Witness Protection ProgramThe United States Federal Witness Protection Program is a witness protection program administered by the United States Department of Justice and operated by the United States Marshals Service that is designed to protect threatened witnesses before, during, and after a trial.A few states, including...
.
That's What She Said
The show often uses the joke, "that's what she said" which was popularized by the Wayne's WorldWayne's World
Wayne's World was originally a recurring sketch from the NBC television series Saturday Night Live. It evolved from a segment titled "Wayne's Power Minute" on the CBC Television series It's Only Rock & Roll, as the main character first appeared in that show...
sketch on SNL. In the original BBC version of The Office, Ricky Gervais's character David Brent
David Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
frequently used the similar phrase "as the actress said to the bishop" as an inappropriate joke. Michael inserts the phrase as a sexually suggestive double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
even in the most inappropriate circumstances, including business meetings and legal depositions. Michael finds uttering the phrase so irresistible that in "Sexual Harassment" he is goaded into saying it just seconds after Jan Levenson and a lawyer from Corporate specifically ask him not to do so.
The phrase has become so associated with the character that the television show 30 Rock
30 Rock
30 Rock is an American television comedy series created by Tina Fey that airs on NBC. The series is loosely based on Fey's experiences as head writer for Saturday Night Live...
in the episode "TGS Hates Women
TGS Hates Women
"TGS Hates Women" is the sixteenth episode of the fifth season of the American television comedy series 30 Rock, and the 96th overall episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producer Ron Weiner and directed by Beth McCarthy-Miller. The episode originally aired on the National...
" there was a scene in which one character became infuriated at another's use of 'TWSS' because "Steve Carell
Steve Carell
Steven John "Steve" Carell is an American comedian, actor, voice artist, producer, writer, and director. Although Carell is notable for his role on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, he found greater fame in the late 2000s for playing Michael Scott on The Office...
owns 'That's What She Said,' okay? He owns it!" In the episode, "Goodbye, Michael
Goodbye, Michael
"Goodbye, Michael" is the twenty-second episode of the seventh season of the American comedy series The Office and the show's 148th episode overall. The episode was written by series developer and executive producer Greg Daniels and was directed by Paul Feig. The episode originally aired on April...
", "that's what she said" was Steve Carell's final (inaudible) line as a series regular.
Comparison with David Brent
Although originally based on David BrentDavid Brent
David Brent is a fictional character in the BBC television mockumentary The Office, as well as a recurring character in the NBC series of the same name, portrayed by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. Brent is a white-collar office middle-manager and the principal character of the BBC series...
, Scott has developed into a significantly different character than his British counterpart. Whereas Brent is shown to be irredeemably incompetent, Scott is portrayed as an outstanding salesman who is unwisely promoted to a management role to which he appears completely ill-suited making him an apt example of the Peter Principle
Peter Principle
The Peter Principle states that "in a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence", meaning that employees tend to be promoted until they reach a position at which they cannot work competently. It was formulated by Dr. Laurence J...
. A scathing performance review written by Jan Levenson stated that he should be removed from the Branch Manager position and put into a more suitable position in Sales. However, Scott has been oddly successful as regional manager. This is, in part, attributed to his weakness of procrastination wherein he typically forfeits a bad choice by seeking the advice of his subordinates (such as Jim, Oscar, or Darryl) and uses their recommendations, while also partly attributed to his main strength: genuinely caring about the well-being of the office and treating his employees like family. When he took over the Scranton Branch he decreased costs by 17%, without firing any personnel. After the merger of the two branches Scott does not lose a single client despite a great deal of employee turnover (much of which he was directly responsible for). He received a $3,000 bonus for firing Devon, most likely because his doing so saved the company around $50,000. Although it is suggested that Brent has had similar success, such claims only ever come from Brent himself, thus making them unreliable.
Scott's social immaturity and inability to cope with responsibility is balanced with a personality that is much more caring than Brent's, even if both make unwise comments in the heat of the moment. Unlike Brent, who pretends to be friendly with many of his employees purely for the benefit of the cameras, Scott seems to genuinely like his colleagues, with the exception of Human Resources Director Toby Flenderson
Toby Flenderson
Toby Wyatt Flenderson, M.S.W. born 1971 is a character from the US television series The Office. He is played by Paul Lieberstein. He is an original character and has no equivalent in the British version of the show, The Office.-Overview:...
. Scott's need to be liked by his staff and his belief that people see him as a genuine friend leads him to become very hurt when he realizes this is not the case. Most, if not all, of Scott's managerial blunders can be directly correlated with the degree to which he desires to be liked by his employees or jealously seeks their approval.
The DVD commentary to the pilot episode suggests that Scott's character continues a process begun in the second UK series, in which Gervais and Merchant intentionally made Brent less nasty, and more of a buffoon. It is said in the commentary that Gervais and Merchant suggested that this be applied to Scott. This also reflects a general change in the US version's attitude, which is more sympathetic to the characters, and tones down the cruel humor of the original. The commentary also says that Steve Carell had not seen more than a few minutes of the original UK series when he was offered the role of Scott, and has since made a conscious decision not to watch it in case it influences his own performance.
The show's writers have said that the 2005 hit movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The 40-Year-Old Virgin is a 2005 American buddy comedy film about a middle-aged man's journey to finally have sex. The film was written and directed by Judd Apatow and co-written by its lead star, Steve Carell, though the film itself features a great deal of improvised dialogue...
provided very useful guidance as they refined the character along with Steve Carell between the 1st and 2nd seasons. Michael Scott wore a large amount of hair gel and dressed sloppily in Season 1, but by Season 2 he had a more conventional haircut and dressed much more neatly. Also, while Michael is often rude and nasty in Season 1, he is generally nicer and less hard-edged in subsequent seasons.
In the seventh season episode The Seminar
The Seminar
"The Seminar" is the fourteenth episode of seventh season of the American comedytelevision series The Office, and the show's 140th episode overall. Written by Steve Hely and directed by B. J. Novak, the episode aired January 27, 2011 on NBC....
, Michael in fact briefly meets David Brent in the lobby and they establish an immediate rapport, joking together and generally signalling that they would have been good friends.
Behind the scenes
- U.S. Developer Greg DanielsGreg DanielsGregory Martin "Greg" Daniels is an American television comedy writer, producer, and director.-Life and career:...
envisioned Michael Scott behaving as if "I was hoping that the documentary about this would one day be seen by Jennifer AnistonJennifer AnistonJennifer Joanna Aniston is an American actress, film director, and producer, best known for her role as Rachel Green on the television sitcom Friends, a role which earned her an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Aniston has also enjoyed a successful film career,...
, and I was just trying to impress her any way I possibly could" and notes the occasional need to show Michael being competent or even effective, to justify why he is not simply fired. - Writer B. J. NovakB. J. NovakBenjamin Joseph Manaly “B. J.” Novak is an American actor, stand-up comedian, screenwriter, and director. He is best known for being a writer and co-executive producer for and playing the role of Ryan Howard on the US version of The Office, as well as appearing in Inglourious Basterds...
explains that Michael Scott drives a Sebring because it is the most ostentatious car he can afford, opting for a convertible even though the climate in Scranton is cool even in the summer. - After the airing of "Garage SaleGarage Sale (The Office)"Garage Sale" is the nineteenth episode of the seventh season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's 145th episode overall. The episode was written by Jon Vitti and was directed by series star Steve Carell...
", Colorado governor John HickenlooperJohn HickenlooperJohn Wright Hickenlooper is an American politician and current Governor of Colorado. A Democrat, he was previously the Mayor of Denver, Colorado from 2003 to 2011.-Early life, education and career:...
issued a press release appointing Michael Scott to the position of Director of Paper Distribution in the Department of Natural Resources.
See also
- Dunning–Kruger effect - a cognitive bias of an unskilled person whose incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their low competence. (Michael is delusional about his great skills as manager, friend, and comedian.)