Steve Carell didn’t think he was funny, but the Dinner Party episode proves he’s the undisputed king of comedy – even if he doesn’t know it!
The Office has some of the most hilarious moments ever produced by the sitcom industry but the thirteenth episode of season 4 takes the cake for it all – Dinner Party. When Steve Carell’s Michael Scott invited Jim & Pam and Andy & Angela to his place for dinner with Jan, a glimpse into their hilariously dysfunctional life had all of us in splits.
Whether it’s because of the tiniest plasma screen that Michael showed off or Jan’s awkward dance to her assistant’s song, Dinner Party remains gold throughout the years. As it turns out, the cast had a tough time filming the scenes thanks to Steve Carell who, surprisingly, didn’t think he was as funny as his coworkers thought he was.
The Office Scene that had John Krasinski in Splits
One look at the bloopers of Dinner Party will make you realize the power Steve Carell held over his co-stars. Honestly, we cannot decide if the episode itself was more hilarious or the outtakes.
The cast of The Office got together to discuss possibly the most brilliant episode of the entire series for its tenth anniversary (via Rolling Stone). Talking about the scene where Steve Carell’s Michael proudly showed off his plasma-screen television to his guests, John Krasinski (Jim Halpert) stated that it was the one scene that made him laugh the hardest across all nine seasons.
Krasinski stated,
I think that’s probably the hardest I’ve laughed during the entire run of the show, and it’s very evident. I was not professional enough in those scenes because I cracked every time one of those jokes happened. One of the funniest things I’ve witnessed in my life was Steve showing us that flatscreen TV and saying, ‘When . . . when people are over you can just do this.’ [pulling the screen out from the wall]. The TV only moved, like, a half an inch.
You can check out Krasinski and the others absolutely losing it below:
Honestly, who can blame him?
In the bloopers, Carell can be heard saying that they will never be “finishing this episode,” and it really is a miracle how Dinner Party made it to the show.
Steve Carell Was Ignorant of his Brilliant Humor
During the discussion, Krasinski revealed that when actors couldn’t keep it professional when the cameras were rolling and would lose their cool because of Carell, Carell would find it absolutely frustrating.
Carell’s a natural comedian, meaning that those around him will be falling left and right thanks to his brilliant comic timing. Thus, it makes sense that The Office actors found it difficult to keep their laughter in control.
So why did this frustrate Carell? Well, because surprisingly, he didn’t think he was as funny as others painted him to be. Krasinski stated,
Sometimes Steve would get frustrated when we couldn’t keep it together because he didn’t think he was as funny as we thought he was and also he’s more professional than all of us. But on that one, he couldn’t come back. There was something in the room there that was like an untamed animal, and we were just getting demolished by laughter.
Even Ed Helms (Andy Bernard) had a tough time maintaining a poker face in front of Carell. In fact, he had to look at Carell’s ear, chin, or somewhere behind him just to make sure he didn’t laugh. In his opinion, eye contact with the actor was harmful to the scene.
It’s hard to believe that someone as hilarious as Carell would doubt his talents. But then again, the man is so natural that he’s probably used to it by now.
