Michael stages an elaborate plan to finally get Pam and Jim over to his and Jan's place for a dinner party. Jim gets trapped into it and agrees to go. Dwight overhears and wants his invitation, too. Michael says he only has six wine glasses and with Andy and Angela going too, there's not enough room for Dwight.
WAR
93.1
Wins Above Replacement
“Dinner Party” ranks #36 of 183 The Office episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 91.2 — Elite. The episode packs 69 scored jokes at 3.3 per minute, averaging 7.3 on craft and 7.4 on impact, with Michael landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
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Top Jokes
Michael · Jan: Jan escalates the vasectomy argument: Michael wanted kids, Jan didn't, Michael got a vasectomy, then reversed it, then reversed it back — 'Snip, snap! Snip, snap! Snip, snap!'
Michael: Michael swirls and tastes the wine, describing it as 'A sort of an oaky afterbirth'
Michael Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Pam · Michael: Pam: 'What a cute bench.' Michael: 'Thanks. That's my bed.'
Pam Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jan: Jan throws a Dundie at Michael's small plasma TV, destroying it
Jan Physical/Slapstick Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight: Dwight: 'Babe, I should have told you, but... I did something bad. I stole this. For you, babe.'
Dwight Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Standout Moments
Pam · Michael: Pam: 'What a cute bench.' Michael: 'Thanks. That's my bed.'
Pam Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael swirls and tastes the wine, describing it as 'A sort of an oaky afterbirth'
Michael Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Michael · Jan: Jan escalates the vasectomy argument: Michael wanted kids, Jan didn't, Michael got a vasectomy, then reversed it, then reversed it back — 'Snip, snap! Snip, snap! Snip, snap!'
All Jokes — 69 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Michael · Jim: Michael pretends there is a corporate overtime assignment to trap Jim and Pam into dinner, revealed via Jim's talking head
Michael: Michael: 'Go enjoy your F'riday.' / 'Happy F'riday.'
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jim: Jim's talking head: 'Michael has asked Pam and me to dinner at least nine times. And every time, we've been able to get out of it. But I've got to give him credit. He got me.'
Jim Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael · Dwight: Michael: 'Dwight, it's couples only. And besides, I only have six wine glasses.'
Michael · Jim: Michael asks Jim what he's been up to since he saw him an hour ago
Jan: Jan thanks Pam for the wine and says 'This will be great to cook with.' — a passive-aggressive slight on the gift's quality
Jan Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael shows off his 'office' — a room he describes as 'never been used' — followed immediately by his separate 'work space'
Michael · Pam: Michael: 'I cannot create in the same space that I conduct business. I'm sure that you're the same with your doodles.'
Michael: Michael presents 'James Bond-fire' candle — 'I am Bond-fire... James Bond-fire'
Michael Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy Michael: Michael: 'When I get frustrated, or irritated, or angry, I come up here and I just smell all my candles! And it just... Poof! Goes away.'
Michael · Jan: Michael painted bedroom walls 'eggshell white' to make them softer — 'Guess what? White and eggshell white are exactly the same color.'
Jan · Michael: Jan to Michael in front of guests: 'I thought you said you were gonna tidy things up... Shame on you.'
Jim · Michael: Jim's reaction: 'It seems pretty narrow and short' about Michael's bench-bed; Michael insists 'It's actually a lot bigger than it seems'
Jim Michael Reaction Beat Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Michael's tiny plasma TV mounted on the wall — 'Sometimes I will just stand here and watch television for hours'
Michael Visual Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael: Sometimes I will just stand here and watch television for hours. I love it. I love this TV.
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Callback Michael · Jim: Michael identifies his handmade table as possibly pine, nordic cherry, then 'It's pine. Yeah.' — but then mentions he failed at setting up Jim's TiVo, leaving him without audio for a week
Jan: Jan's response to Michael offering tech help: 'I bet you are.'
Jan Deadpan/Understatement Irony/Sarcasm Michael · Jan: Michael says Jan chose the neon beer sign over the Dundies for the living room; Jan: 'I said, honey, keep the trophies.' Michael: 'Oh honey, I have the best trophy right here.'
Andy · Angela: Andy brings a single flower for the group and gives one to Angela: 'Except for one flower, which is for my flower.'
Jan · Pam: The Osso Buco hasn't started braising yet — dinner is 3 hours away
Jan Pam Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Jan · Michael: Jan: 'You know, Pam, in Spain, they often don't even start eating until midnight.' Michael: 'When in Rome.'
Jim · Pam · Angela · Andy: Beat after 'oaky afterbirth' — guests' silent, horrified reaction
Jan · Michael: Jan plays Hunter's CD at the dinner party — the song appears to be about a sexual relationship ('the night', intimate lyrics)
Michael: Michael: 'You know what? Hunter was a terrible assistant. That is why Ryan fired him.'
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jan: Jan: 'I think he's probably just about as reliable as Pam, being that it usually takes you an afternoon to get back to me. Sometimes I think she holds on to faxes.'
Jan Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Jim: Jim's talking head: 'I don't care what they say about me. I just want to eat. Which I realize is a lot to ask for at a dinner party.'
Jim Deadpan/Understatement Observational Michael · Jan · Jim · Pam: Charades game — 'Joe Camel!' / first name of animal + capital state = 'Joe Montana'
Jan · Michael: Babe, can you just, like, really... You're just, like, really... Could you just simmer down? Seriously. I'm just making people laugh. No. Yes, I was watching Jim's face. I was watching Jim. And he was laughing. No smile. Look at him. He's laughing.
Jan Michael Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Jim: Jim's talking head: 'Michael and Jan seem to be playing their own separate game. And it's called, "Let's see how uncomfortable we can make our guests." And they're both winning.'
Jim Deadpan/Understatement Meta/Self-Referential ★ Rewatch Jim: Jim's fake flooding escape attempt — 'My landlord says my apartment flooded... something with the sprinkler'
Jim Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Jim · Michael: Jim: 'I don't know, because everything I own is there.' Michael: 'You can buy new stuff, but you can't buy a new party.'
Michael · Jim · Jan: First name is blank, and he goes on a cruise. He goes on a Caribbean cruise. I don't know. Katie Holmes. No, but he's married to her! Oh, Dawson's Creek. No, it has to be a real person, Jim. Come on!
Michael: Michael's Tom Cruise charades attempt: 'Rhymes with Parnold Sportsanegger'
Michael Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Michael: Michael: 'God! Does anybody read the paper?' — after nobody guessed Tom Cruise from his clues
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jan · Michael: Michael announces the sliding glass door shattered 'because he thought he heard the ice cream truck'
Jan Michael Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael: 'I shouldn't say that jokingly, because she will sue me. She loves to sue. She loves lawsuits.'
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Michael · Jan: You know, honey, that door was extremely clean, and it looked invisible. You are so right! Because before I lived here, the glass was always covered in smudges. And I moved in and I cleaned it, so I guess that makes me the devil.
Jan · Michael: Jan: 'Before I lived here, the glass was always covered in smudges. So I moved in and I cleaned it, so I guess that makes me the devil.' Michael: 'You are! She is! She is the devil! I'm in hell!'
Jan · Angela · Pam: Jan to Angela in the kitchen: 'You should see our bathroom after Michael takes a bath. But I don't have to tell you, Pam.'
Jan · Pam: Jan insists Pam and Michael used to date and she 'sees the way Pam looks at him'
Jan Pam Cringe/Discomfort Character Comedy Pam: Pam: 'I have never, ever dated or wanted to do anything resembling dating Michael, ever. Not ever, not now, not then, not now, not ever, ever.'
Pam Character Comedy Escalation Michael · Jim: Michael to Jim: 'I noticed you checking out Jan's candles... candles are the number-one fastest-growing product in the scent-aroma market. $2 billion a year industry. And for only $10,000, you could become a co-owner of Serenity by Jan.'
Michael · Jim: Jim, I noticed you checking out Jan's candles. Oh, no, she just put it in front of my face.
Michael: Did you know that candles are the number-one fastest-growing product in the scent-aroma market? $2 billion a year industry. And for only $10,000, you could become a co-owner of 'Serenity by Jan.'
Jim: Jim: 'Thought about it. I'm in.' (immediately, without pause)
Jim Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Pam: Pam: 'I'm sorry, are you really trying to get us to invest in Jan's company?'
Pam Reaction Beat Deadpan/Understatement Dwight · Michael: Dwight arrives with his former babysitter as his date, crashing the couples-only dinner
Michael: Michael, citing the wine glasses excuse: 'You said that I could not invite Dwight because he was not part of a couple, and because we didn't have enough wine glasses. Dwight brought glasses and a person.'
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Callback Jan · Michael: Michael/Jan argument: 'When I wanted to see Stomp and you wanted to see Wicked, what did we see? We saw Wicked.'
Michael · Jan: Jan: 'Do you mean it? You want to have a kid?' / Michael (quietly): 'I hate my life.'
Michael Jan Deadpan/Understatement Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight: Dwight eating a turkey leg at the dinner party while everyone else is awaiting Osso Buco
Dwight Visual Gag Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Angela · Dwight's date: Angela to Dwight's date offering beet salad: 'The thought of popping one of your beets into my mouth makes me want to vomit.'
Pam: Pam's talking head: 'I know Jan didn't poison the food. I know that. But if she was going to poison the food of someone at that table, wouldn't it be me? Michael's former lover.'
Pam Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Jan · Michael: Jan to Michael: 'Can you not do that? It's disgusting.' Michael: 'You know I have soft teeth. How could you say that?'
Dwight · Jim: Dwight about his date: 'I was his babysitter. And now you guys are dating? Purely carnal, that's all you need to know.' / 'Would you write down your e-mail? Because I have so many questions.'
Michael · Jan: Michael wants to keep the neon beer sign up over Jan's objection: 'I think it ties the whole room together.'
Michael · Jan: Michael and Jan fight about Hunter: 'At least he's an artist.' / 'BFD, I'm a screenwriter.' / 'And I'm a candle maker, but you don't hear me bragging about it!'
Michael · Jan: Michael: 'Man, I would love to burn your candles!' Jan: 'You burn it, you buy it!' Michael: 'Oh good, I'll be your first customer!' Jan: 'You're hardly my first.' Michael: 'That's what she said!'
Jan: Jan throws a Dundie at Michael's small plasma TV, destroying it
Jan Physical/Slapstick Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Michael: 'That is a $200 plasma screen TV that you just killed! Good luck paying me back on your zero-dollars-a-year salary plus benefits, babe!'
Michael Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Michael to police: 'My girlfriend threw a Dundie at my TV, plasma.' / 'Would she get into trouble?' / 'I will take the fall. I did it.'
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Police · Michael: You want to press charges? Would she get into trouble? Yeah, she'd be charged. I will take the fall. I did it.
Jim · Pam: Michael asks if he can stay with Jim and Pam; Jim: 'My apartment's on fire.' Pam: 'Flooded.'
Jim Pam Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight · Michael: Dwight to Michael: 'Come on, you're sleeping with me.' Michael: 'No.'
Michael · Dwight: Dwight takes Michael to a Waylan's burger place; Michael: 'This is the best burger I've ever had, babe.'
Dwight: Dwight: 'Babe, I should have told you, but... I did something bad. I stole this. For you, babe.'
Dwight Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Top Episodes — The Office
