A mysterious person in the office has made a huge mess in the microwave and will not clean it up. Meanwhile, Michael has to come to terms with the fact that there have been certain personnel changes in his staff without his knowing.
WAR
91.8
Wins Above Replacement
“Frame Toby” ranks #55 of 183 The Office episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 90.1 — Elite. The episode packs 74 scored jokes at 3.4 per minute, averaging 7.3 on craft and 7.2 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 · Dwight: I've never framed a man before. Have you? / I've framed animals before. I framed a raccoon for opening a Christmas present. And I framed a bear for eating out of the garbage.
Dwight: 30 years later, I get a post card. I have a son, and he's the chief of police. This is where the story gets interesting.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight: I tell her to meet me in Mexico, but I go to Canada. I don't trust her. Besides, I like the cold.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Toby: Hi, Mi-- / No! God! No, God, please no! No! No! Nooo!
Ryan: Let's be adults about this. Let's have sex one more time, and if you have any extra cash, that would be amazing.
Ryan Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Standout Moments
Michael · Dwight: I've never framed a man before. Have you? / I've framed animals before. I framed a raccoon for opening a Christmas present. And I framed a bear for eating out of the garbage.
Dwight: I tell her to meet me in Mexico, but I go to Canada. I don't trust her. Besides, I like the cold.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight: 30 years later, I get a post card. I have a son, and he's the chief of police. This is where the story gets interesting.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist Escalation ★ Rewatch Callback All Jokes — 74 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Dwight: Are you swallowing them whole? You're eating them so fast, are they even touching your tongue?
Dwight Character Comedy Observational Dwight: Pastry cubes made of sugar and fat? No, thank you. I'll stick with my jerky.
Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Kevin: I'm taking two so I can parcel them up and eat them at my leisure later on. Much healthier.
Kevin Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Pam · Michael: One of them is for Toby. / Yeah. Why don't you send that to him in Costa Rica?
Michael · Pam · Jim · Kevin: The slow dawning reveal that Toby has returned, with the office coaxing Michael to 'meander back there' and 'dare I?' buildup
Michael: Great practical joke, Jim. Got me to go to the annex.
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Michael · Toby: Hi, Mi-- / No! God! No, God, please no! No! No! Nooo!
Michael: Look at him. With his stupid face. Stupid... tan.
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jim · Michael: He looks great. Well-rested. / No. He looks worse.
David Wallace · Michael: I don't understand. Is anyone hurt? / Not on the surface, no. But I can tell... People are disturbed, David.
Michael: I learned a while back that if I don't text 911, people will not return my calls. Um... but now people always return my calls, because they think that something horrible has happened.
Michael Character Comedy Observational ★ Rewatch Michael · David Wallace: I did not want to go back to the annex because that is where Holly worked, whom I loved. Also it's icky back there. / That's true. People say it's icky.
Michael · David Wallace: Is there no way we can get rid of him? / Not without cause, Michael. / I have cause. It is because I hate him.
David Wallace: Don't do that. [Michael hanging up on David Wallace]
Michael: Oh, come on! Do you see this? Disgusting. [Michael reacting to seeing Toby at his desk]
Michael Character Comedy Reaction Beat Dwight: I got peepers of an eagle.
Dwight Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun Kevin: So Jim, you're gonna live in the same house that you used to pee the bed in?
Kevin Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Jim: Jim's talking head about buying the house without telling Pam, justified by shag carpets and 'a painting of some creepy clowns that is apparently crucial to the structural integrity of the building'
Jim Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Andy · Dwight: You're in for a spanking, my friend. / Myself and my lady — no secrets.
Phyllis · Kevin: Oh, it's on Linden Ave., by the Quarry. / Cool beans, man. I live by the Quarry. We should hang out by the Quarry and throw things down there.
Oscar · Kevin · Meredith: The microwave note debate — 'The note is way more obnoxious than the mess. / Get off your high horse, richy. / Just because someone likes things clean doesn't mean they're rich. / Nah. They're rich.'
Michael: You wanna see some real high-caliber acting? Well, Mr. Kurt Russell, you are about to be served.
Michael Character Comedy Meta/Self-Referential Michael · Toby: Nice peaches? / Pristine beaches? / Yeah...
Michael: Why didn't you get an air conditioner? Should have gotten an air conditioner for yourself.
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Michael: I tried to talk to Toby and be his friend, but that is like trying to be friends with an evil... snail.
Michael Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Michael: I feel like Neve Campbell in Scream 2. She thinks she can go off to college and be happy, and then the murder comes back and starts killing off all of her friends.
Michael Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Michael: Learned a lot of lessons from that movie. This is just one of 'em.
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Michael · Dwight: That's why I always whip open doors. / Me too.
Dwight: I am the bait. / For what? / Men find me desirable.
Dwight Character Comedy Setup/Punchline Dwight: Oh, it's a good day too. I'm wearing my mustard shirt.
Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: For one thing, he's not gay. And if somebody were to be bait, it would be Jim or Ryan, or me.
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Pam · Ryan: Why aren't you as mad or interested in this as me? / Oh, totally. / Sorry, are we talking about the microwave still?
Pam Ryan Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Callback Pam · Ryan: Are you inching away from me? / No. / Reach your arms out. / I'm always this close.
Pam Ryan Cringe/Discomfort Physical/Slapstick Callback Ryan: Camptown lady sing this song doo-dah doo-dah [Ryan humming to escape]
Ryan Character Comedy Reaction Beat Michael · Pam: Michael asks Pam to deliver a sealed note to Toby and to 'react to whatever this note elicits'
Michael Pam Setup/Punchline Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Toby: Hey guys, that's really inappropriate. [Toby reacts to seeing Michael's note being read]
Toby Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat Callback Michael · Dwight · Ryan · Toby: Michael trying to provoke Toby into hitting him — 'You scared? Those are fighting words. You mad? You want to punch me? Hmm? Huh???' while escalating
Ryan: Shoulda hit him, man. Guy was asking for it. Once in a lifetime, man.
Ryan Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Callback Kevin · Dwight: I thought you were gonna parcel those out through the day. / Would you stop it? You haven't done anything helpful all day.
Michael: Frame him for using drugs.
Michael Dark/Subversive Character Comedy Michael: It's illegal, but everything they do on The Shield is illegal.
Michael Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Michael: Just seems awfully mean. / But sometimes, the ends justify the mean.
Michael Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael approaching random warehouse/street workers to buy drugs, being told 'Like a fridge?'
Michael Cringe/Discomfort Setup/Punchline Michael: I'm not wearing a wire, so-- / Why would you even say that?
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Michael: How many pounds is that? / It's... it's two pounds. I'm losing money on this, man.
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Pam · Ryan: Pam confronted by Ryan about the microwave — eventually agrees 'someone's gonna have to just get in there and clean it up' / 'I guess that's why we have a temp, huh?' / 'Oh no, trust me. I would just make it worse.'
Pam Ryan Irony/Sarcasm Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Ryan · Pam: Oh, no, trust me. I would just make it worse. / How would wiping it with a paper towel make it worse? / I-- I would find a way.
Ryan Pam Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Michael: Yes, I repeat: a drug dealer is on the premises of Dunder Mifflin. His name is Toby Flenderson, and he recently turned from a mysterious vacation in Central America.
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Michael: I have risked a great deal to tell you this information. My name is Andy Bernard. Andrew Bernard, that's my name.
Michael Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight Schrute, former volunteer sheriff's deputy. Listen, I may have inside information that someone is hiding drugs in this very office.
Dwight Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Jim: Just pretend like we're talking until the cops leave.
Jim Deadpan/Understatement Reaction Beat Michael: Those are real cops. Real guns.
Michael Character Comedy Reaction Beat Michael · Police Officer: Some basil. And salad dressing, I think. / Salad dressing? / Yeah, it's uh, caprese salad. There's a little bit of uh, mozzarella right there.
Michael: Are you sure you don't want to interrogate him? You have laws that protect you in any kind of interrogation. Why don't you use them?
Toby · Michael: You must feel pretty good about yourself right now. / I didn't put caprese salad in my drawer, Michael. Did you?
Toby Michael Deadpan/Understatement Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Since when is it illegal to put caprese salad anywhere?
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Michael: Welcome back, jerky jerk-face.
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Michael · Toby: You said you were leaving, and you made liars out of all of us. / I did leave. / Yes, you did. And then you came back. Which makes you the biggest liar of history.
Michael: You wanna hear a lie? / What? / I think you're great. You're my best friend.
Michael Setup/Punchline Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Kelly · Ryan: I broke up with Darryl so I could be with you. / That was your choice. Don't put that on me.
Ryan: I'm going to Thailand with some friends from high school. Well, a high school.
Ryan Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Ryan: Let's be adults about this. Let's have sex one more time, and if you have any extra cash, that would be amazing.
Ryan Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Jim · Pam: Jim shows Pam the house: shag carpet, wood paneling, clown painting nailed to the wall
Jim Pam Visual Gag Running Gag ★ Rewatch Callback Pam · Jim: What are we doing at your parents' house? / I have a surprise for you. / All right. Ready? Close your eyes. And now... Open your eyes. Ta-Da!
Pam Jim Setup/Punchline Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Callback Jim: Yeah, I am really sorry about this. I tried to move it, but he is really nailed in there. Worried about art theft, I guess. A lot of art thieves in this neighborhood.
Jim Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Jim: This is the master bedroom. But I'm actually not allowed in here, so.
Jim Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Jim: So I'm still in the process of converting the garage. It's got great light in here. And I was thinking it could be perfect for an art studio.
Jim Character Comedy Setup/Punchline ★ Rewatch Jim · Pam: And if you really hate it, I totally understand. / I love it. / You do? / Yeah, I love it. Really? / You bought me a house.
Jim Pam Character Comedy Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Callback Pam · Jim: Um, do we have to sleep in your parents' bedroom? / No. No. We'll just board that up. It'll be that weird spare room that people ask us about. / And the clown? / Yeah, I can't — really can't move him.
Pam Jim Callback Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight: As I'm taking it down, a woman catches me. She tells me to stop. It's her father's business. She's Tiffany. I say no.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight: We make love all night. In the morning, the cops come, and I escape in one of their uniforms.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Callback Top Episodes — The Office
