Michael has to spend the office surplus by they end of the day, but he can't decide between a copier or new chairs. Dwight plays a dirty trick on Angela as they prepare for Andy and Angela's wedding on the beet farm.
WAR
63.7
Wins Above Replacement
“The Surplus” ranks #143 of 183 The Office episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 85.1 — Elite. The episode packs 61 scored jokes at 2.9 per minute, averaging 7.2 on craft and 6.9 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 · Oscar: Michael interrupts the lemonade stand analogy to say 'I'll be six.'
Andy: Andy's confessional: 'I have looked at 12 venues, I have lost eight deposits and I've seen Angela naked zero times. I am not losing another deposit.'
Andy Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Dwight · Angela · Andy: The mock ceremony: Andy is unknowingly signing the actual marriage certificate while Dwight presents the twine ring exchange as a 'rehearsal'
Michael: Michael's third lesson: 'Some people think it's cool to throw buckets of fake blood on you as you are walking out of Burlington Coat Factory.'
Michael Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Kevin: Kevin's confessional: 'How is it possible that in five years I've had two engagement rings and only one chair?'
Kevin Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Standout Moments
Michael · Oscar: Michael interrupts the lemonade stand analogy to say 'I'll be six.'
Andy: Andy's confessional: 'I have looked at 12 venues, I have lost eight deposits and I've seen Angela naked zero times. I am not losing another deposit.'
Andy Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Dwight · Angela · Andy: The mock ceremony: Andy is unknowingly signing the actual marriage certificate while Dwight presents the twine ring exchange as a 'rehearsal'
All Jokes — 61 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Michael: Michael asks Oscar to explain the surplus 'like I'm five' after already asking for it 'like I'm eight'
Michael Character Comedy Escalation Callback Michael · Oscar: Michael: 'Okay. Break it down in terms of... Okay, I think I'm getting you.' — then a long silent beat before the next scene
Michael · Office Staff: Michael announces the surplus with 'Christmas has come early' and a drum roll, then reveals: a new copier — to near-silence, then immediately offers to change the decision.
Pam · Oscar: Pam argues that having to make too many copies is evidence the chairs are terrible: 'Exactly. That should tell you how terrible the chairs are.'
Toby · Michael: Toby suggests using the surplus to test air quality for radon and asbestos. Michael replies: 'You are the silent killer. Go back to the annex.'
Jim: Jim explains he switched to the copier side because since dating Pam, he feels weird asking her to make copies for him — 'so I make my own copies. And that copier sucks. Let me tell you.'
Jim Character Comedy Observational Michael · Jim: Michael commends Jim: 'Jim, good for you standing up to Pam like that. The balls on you, man.'
Michael: Michael says he's going to 'digest' everyone's ideas and 'see what comes out the other end.'
Michael Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Dwight · Andy: Dwight's wedding venue directions include '156 paces from the light red mailbox, make a left. Walk until you hear the bee hive.'
Dwight · Andy: Dwight's solution to having only one bathroom: 'We'll dig a trench. As long as it's downhill from the well, we should be fine.'
Andy · Dwight: Andy: 'Nana Mimi cannot squat over some trench.' Dwight: 'We're going to put out stumps.'
Pam · Jim: Pam tells Jim he is 'on very dangerous ground' regarding the chair/copier vote, while calmly insisting she loves him.
Pam Jim Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Angela · Dwight: Angela asks about the manure smell at Schrute Farms. Dwight: 'Manure covers up the smell of the slaughterhouse.'
Angela · Dwight: Angela: 'Do you have to slaughter on our wedding day?' Dwight: 'You want to eat, don't you?'
Andy · Dwight: Andy negotiates with Dwight to slaughter the entrées the day before the wedding, treating it as a reasonable compromise.
Dwight · Andy: Dwight steps in something off-camera. 'Darn!' 'There's a hose out back.'
Kevin · Michael: Kevin asks Michael about the old chair Michael was going to give him — 'that never happened' — while Michael dodges by inviting him to lunch.
Pam · Oscar: After the lunch exodus, Pam and Oscar exchange looks and the confessional reveals: 'So I guess that's how they're going to play this. It is on. It is so on.'
Kevin: Kevin's confessional: 'How is it possible that in five years I've had two engagement rings and only one chair?'
Kevin Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Michael · Oscar · Jim: Michael returns from lunch with 'egg on his face' — both factions have been lobbying him and he plays them both — cutting to: 'Great food. Great friends. Thank you, Michael.'
Jim · Pam: Jim gives Pam tiramisu: 'I got you some tiramisu, so no hard feelings.'
Jim Pam Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Michael: Michael compliments a staff member's appearance, then segues into bragging about his $4 T.J. Maxx tie and $9 boys' department pants, concluding with 'Look at the ass. Check out the ass.'
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Pam · Michael: Pam lobbies Michael on chairs: 'Everyone sits on a chair every day. But not everyone...' Michael completes her sentence: 'Sits on a copier.' Pam: 'Or even uses the copier every day.'
Angela · Dwight: Angela demands a 'cow-butter sculpture of a cat' for the wedding. Dwight: 'Cats don't make butter.' Angela: 'I would like a cow-butter sculpture of a cat.' Dwight: 'It doesn't make any sense.'
Angela · Dwight: Angela's wedding planning demands: 'Have you made a decision on the butter sculpture? No. Cow, goat or sheep. It's not that hard. I would like a cat.'
Office Staff: An office staff member spots something in the kitchen: 'Why is that in the kitchen?' — implied reaction to the copier being used as a lobbying prop.
Oscar · Michael: Oscar demonstrates the copier to Michael, giving him copies: 'And I have my original. You got it. So suck it.'
Michael · Staff: A staff member brings Michael hot chocolate and another holds the door for him: 'Chivalry is not dead after all.'
Michael: Michael re-encounters his own pants: 'Yeah. There's that ass. Hey! Hey! Yeah! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't take it away.'
Michael Character Comedy Callback Callback Dwight: You pretend to be Angela's father, you will play Angela and I will pretend to be you. That way you can see what it looks like when you're up here.
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Dwight: During the rehearsal, Dwight playing the minister says: 'Although born just minutes from here, he speaks only German. Closed society.'
Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Michael · Hank: Michael calls Hank the security guard to resolve the copier/chair dispute, framing it as a 'security problem.'
Hank · Michael · Office Staff: Hank's deliberation: he inspects the copier, then tries a chair, then says 'Not much lumbar support' — and the office hangs on his every word.
Hank · Michael: Hank can't decide and asks to 'see the copier again.' Michael: 'All right, get out. Get out.'
Angela · Dwight: Angela confesses to Dwight: 'I made a mistake picking Andy.' Dwight: 'I know you did. And that's why I have taken care of everything.'
Dwight · Angela: Dwight reveals he has secretly married Angela using the German Mennonite minister, Andy as an unknowing witness, and the mock ceremony. 'Well, monkey, he's a real minister and you said "I do" and I said "I do" and Andy wasn't signing a receipt. He was signing our marriage certificate as a witness.'
Dwight · Angela: Angela: 'It's not my fault you don't understand German!' — as she denies the marriage is valid.
Michael: Michael is eating tiramisu while on the phone with David Wallace and keeps apologizing for the chocolate powder going down his throat.
Michael Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort Callback Michael · David Wallace: David Wallace reveals branch managers get 15% of budget savings as a bonus. Michael: 'The what now?'
Michael: Michael's confessional on the $645 bonus: 'I hate disappointing just one person. And I really hate disappointing everyone. But I love Burlington Coat Factory. You go in there with $645, you are literally a king.'
Michael Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Michael · Pam: Michael's 'announcement' that the copier is working perfectly — demonstrated by making a copy — ends with him handing Pam 'the original' instead of the copy.
Michael: Michael's speech about not needing anything, using the broken copier as a prop: 'This copier is [long pause] working perfectly.'
Michael Physical/Slapstick Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Michael · Pam: Michael has Pam stand up so he can sit in her chair and declare it 'ergonomically correct' — mispronouncing it as 'erchonomically.'
Michael: Michael: 'You think kids in Africa have chairs? No. They sit in big piles of garbage.'
Michael Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Michael: Michael: 'We are spoiled because we throw out perfectly good tiramisu because it has a little tiny hair on it.'
Michael Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Oscar · Michael · Office Staff: Oscar instantly calculates 15% of 4,300 as '$645' when Michael hints at it — revealing the whole office knows exactly what Michael is doing.
Jim: Jim asks 'What's 394 times 5912?' to mock Michael's fake math display.
Jim Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Michael · Office Staff: The office confronts Michael about giving himself a $645 bonus instead of getting something the office needs. Michael: 'I don't need $645. I already have $645, more or less.'
Michael · Office Staff: Michael's phone 'rings' just as the confrontation peaks. 'And, God, that's my phone.' 'I didn't hear a phone ring.' 'To be continued!'
Michael: Michael's talking head: 'I need to figure out a way to keep this money without having everybody hate me.'
Michael Character Comedy Observational Dwight · Andy: Dwight: 'Hey, Tuna, check it out. Tuna sandwich. Just like you.' — to Andy, showing him a tuna sandwich.
Dwight Andy Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Michael: Michael's confessional: 'It is a classic management tactic. You have two sides, a deadline, you know that neither of them are going to concede, what you do is you put them in a room and you just...' — then he gets interrupted by the office resolving it.
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Michael: Michael's management tactic talking head: 'It is a classic management tactic. You have two sides, a deadline... what you do is put them in a room and you just—' — then immediately cut off by 'Hey. Hey!'
Michael Meta/Self-Referential Character Comedy Oscar · Michael: Oscar capitulates on chairs: 'I just figured I'd rather have new chairs than nothing at all.' Michael: 'Good work. I'm proud of you.'
Michael: Michael's closing confessional: 'What have we learned this week? Well, one, thanks to me, my team is much, much faster at coming to decisions than I thought they would be.'
Michael Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm Callback Michael: Michael's second lesson: 'Never buy a fur coat with a credit card until you absolutely have the money to pay for it.'
Michael Character Comedy Dark/Subversive Michael: Michael's third lesson: 'Some people think it's cool to throw buckets of fake blood on you as you are walking out of Burlington Coat Factory.'
Michael Character Comedy Dark/Subversive ★ Rewatch Callback Pam · Jim: Pam asks Jim for 'three copies of each of these, stapled and collated' — then says 'I'm totally kidding. I'm going to need four.'
Pam Jim Character Comedy Callback ★ Rewatch Callback Top Episodes — The Office
