Dwight is tasked with hiring a part-time salesman to be Jim's substitute, so he rounds up a supergroup of his cronies, including his oddball beet-farmer cousin, Mose. Pam is left wondering who her new deskmate will be. Erin seeks her birth parents with help from Pete.
WAR
79
Wins Above Replacement
“Junior Salesman” ranks #87 of 183 The Office episodes on the Humor Index, scoring 88.1 — Elite. The episode packs 65 scored jokes at 2.7 per minute, averaging 7.3 on craft and 7.1 on impact, with Dwight landing the most laughs. Every joke is ranked below with its individual craft and impact scores.
Get weekly comedy rankings
Join comedy fans getting new analyses, score drops, and the funniest moments each week. Free, no spam.
Top Jokes
Dwight: Dwight's talking head about X-Men school: A conman copied Charles Xavier's school for gifted youngsters from the comics. 'Took me years to figure out it was a con. Some people never figured it out.' 'Oh, I have a few powers. Night hearing. Dogs understand where I point.'
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight: 'Trevor's next, and he's a real professional. You say jump, and he says on who? He loves to jump on people, that Trevor.'
Dwight Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight: 'Your friends are like Spiderman, if he had gotten bitten by a spider and then got really into masturbating.'
Dwight Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight's talking head about Mose: 'Mose could make a great paper salesman. He's got a natural fear of paper, which would motivate him to get as much of it out of this office as possible. I've got big expectations, Mose-wise.'
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist Dwight · Gabor: After Wolf's paper demo, Gabor reveals 8 years selling electronics in Tokyo, a medical degree, and a business degree from Tokyo University. Dwight: 'This isn't gonna work out.'
Standout Moments
Dwight: Dwight: 'Trevor's next, and he's a real professional. You say jump, and he says on who? He loves to jump on people, that Trevor.'
Dwight Character Comedy Misdirection ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight's talking head about X-Men school: A conman copied Charles Xavier's school for gifted youngsters from the comics. 'Took me years to figure out it was a con. Some people never figured it out.' 'Oh, I have a few powers. Night hearing. Dogs understand where I point.'
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight: 'Your friends are like Spiderman, if he had gotten bitten by a spider and then got really into masturbating.'
Dwight Dark/Subversive Absurdist ★ Rewatch All Jokes — 65 analyzed
Show all ↓ Hide ↑ Brian · Pam: Brian the boom operator tells Pam it was his 'first slipup in nine years of miking you' — implying years of silent intimacy with her life
Brian Pam Irony/Sarcasm Observational ★ Rewatch Meredith · Brian: Meredith to Brian: 'When are you gonna boom me?'
Dwight · Clark: Dwight: 'Ballers only. Must be this cool to ride.' Then raises the invisible bar height himself.
Dwight: Dwight: 'It's like, really Jim? You don't understand the difference between a slaughterhouse and a rendering plant? Remind me not to lend you any dead cows or horses.'
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist Clark: Clark: 'I went above and beyond — and under' when describing his work with Jan
Clark Wordplay/Pun Dark/Subversive Callback Dwight: Dwight's talking head: 'Guy goes fishing with hand grenades. And Trevor — he'll make you laugh so hard, you'll puke your pants.'
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist ★ Rewatch Clark: Clark: 'You put in 12 grueling weeks at a company, and what do they do? They make you compete for a promotion like an animal. I thought this was an office, not the Thunderdome.'
Clark Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Pam · Dwight: Pam to Dwight: 'You could've just called that an alliance too, right?' Dwight: 'I chose my words very carefully.'
Pam Dwight Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Jim: Jim's talking head: 'If my working in Philly is gonna end up doubling the Dwight in her life, that's only gonna make things worse.'
Jim Deadpan/Understatement Observational Clark: Clark: 'I mean, I've been working here 12 weeks. That's a full season of Homeland. A ton of things can happen in that amount of time, as we've seen.'
Clark Irony/Sarcasm Character Comedy Rolf · Clark: Rolf: 'Rolf Ahl.' Clark: 'Sounds kinda like Roald Dahl.' Rolf: 'Go to hell.'
Rolf Clark Wordplay/Pun Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight: 'When you're with the R-O-L-F, you're literally rolling on the laughing floor.'
Dwight Character Comedy Wordplay/Pun ★ Rewatch Callback Jim: Jim's talking head: 'Luckily, my partners have a fix — me asking the boss of the company I'm abandoning to give us a gigantic influx of cash. So... problem solved.'
Jim Irony/Sarcasm Deadpan/Understatement Rolf: Rolf slams a Norwegian black metal CD down at Jim's desk: 'I hope you like Norwegian black metal, because I don't do earbuds. No earbuds!'
Rolf Character Comedy Escalation Pam: Pam talking head: 'I'm sure he's just nervous. It's fine. It's just a seating arrangement. Doesn't matter.'
Pam Irony/Sarcasm Reaction Beat Callback Rolf · Dwight: Rolf's interview: 'How do I know you're qualified to evaluate me?' / 'What are your credentials?' then declares 'I think I've heard everything I need to hear' after Dwight's resume
Trevor · Dwight: Trevor's interview: 'Can I take a 20 on that? Maybe we can circle back around to it.' / 'Pass. Next one.' / 'No, no, and no.' to a two-option question
Dwight: Dwight's talking head after Trevor's interview: 'There were only two options. Checkmate. You win this one, my friend.'
Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Callback Trevor · Dwight: Trevor hands Dwight a bus transfer as validation for parking. Dwight: 'This is a bus transfer.' Trevor: 'Nothing gets by this guy.'
Dwight · Clark: Dwight interrogates Clark about smell and earbuds before an interview: 'Do people like sitting next to you? You're clean, right?' / 'You don't listen to it at all because we're at work, not a Florence And The Machine concert.'
Dwight · Clark: Dwight: 'I need you to breathe in my face.' Clark: 'Why?' Dwight: 'I need you to breathe in my face right now.' Then sniffs. 'What are we working with, peppermint or wintergreen?' Clark: 'Wintergreen.' Dwight: 'I knew it, I knew it.'
Dwight: Dwight: 'I can't hire Clark. He looks like a Schrute, but he thinks like a Halpert and he acts like a Beesly.'
Dwight Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Clark · Dwight: Clark Kobayashi Maru's the entire interview process by declaring it over and himself hired. Dwight: 'No.' Clark: 'Yeah. Star Trek rules.' Dwight: 'It does, but still no.'
Dwight: Dwight talking head: 'I've got way more friends than that, and they're all better than the losers who work here.' — followed by a long, uncomfortable pause and Dwight staring into the middle distance.
Dwight Reaction Beat Character Comedy Pam · Meredith: Pam: 'If I ever get that bad, you'd tell me, right?' Meredith: 'Meredith, I tell you all the time.' Pam: 'Walked right into that one.'
Pam · Oscar: Pam: 'Just don't wanna make assumptions based on people's physical appearances.' Oscar: 'Of course not. But does physical appearance include smell?' Pam: 'They smell so bad.'
Dwight: Dwight's talking head about Mose: 'Mose could make a great paper salesman. He's got a natural fear of paper, which would motivate him to get as much of it out of this office as possible. I've got big expectations, Mose-wise.'
Dwight Character Comedy Absurdist Mose · Dwight: Mose's interview: Claims to have been a sales rep for Dow Chemical for 15 years. Dwight: 'You know we live together, right? And I've never seen you go to work, ever.' Mose: 'Okay.' Dwight: 'So why is this on your resume?'
Mose Dwight Character Comedy Cringe/Discomfort ★ Rewatch Dwight · Various candidates: Group interview revelation: one candidate's mom heard about it; another's mom was fighting with him so Dwight called the house not knowing he'd moved out; Mose heard about it in a communal cow shower.
Melvina · Clark: Candidate: Dwight's former babysitter, 'and then we dated for a while. He was a passionate lover and the sweetest little baby.' Clark: 'I knew you looked familiar. You used to pick up Dwight from school.'
Clark · Melvina: Clark to Melvina: 'You went to X-Men school too?'
Kevin · Oscar · Jim · Pam: Office workers reacting to the candidates: 'I said something when they were thinking of hiring Jim. Didn't work then. Now look what he's doing to us.' / 'Jim, this is all your fault.' Jim: 'How is it my fault?'
Oscar · Pam: Office argument: 'We can't blame a weirdo for bringing in weirdos. We can blame a normal for creating a situation where a weirdo was allowed to bring in weirdos.'
Oscar Pam Observational Character Comedy ★ Rewatch Pam: Pam: 'I'm in a position where I'm rooting for Nate, and that just feels wrong.'
Pam Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Angela: Angela: 'Forget it. I need to work on my mural. I have some pointy trees that I need to round off.'
Angela Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Dwight · Jim · David Wallace: Jim calls David Wallace to ask for input on hiring. Dwight picks up the extension: 'This is Dwight Schrute. Who am I speaking to? And don't lie. I can tell if you're lying.'
Dwight · Jim · David Wallace: Dwight leverages the three-way call to get Jim's pay cut to days-worked-only: 'Sounds fair to me, David.' Then immediately engineers a reason to stay on when Jim tries to discuss Athlead.
Jim · David Wallace: Jim pitches Athlead to Wallace. Wallace: 'Jim, I'm gonna have to stop you right there. Yes, okay. Bye.'
Dwight · David Wallace: Dwight: 'I'd love to invest.' Wallace: 'No, thanks.' Dwight: 'I'd like to give you $100 million.' Wallace: 'No, thanks.'
Phyllis · Mose: Phyllis to Mose about the mural: 'Why you make trees into bushes? You don't make paper from bushes.' Then: 'Hide, they're giving out jobs upstairs. Why don't you go up and get one?' And Mose runs away.
Unknown: Someone describing a candidate: 'It's dense, like bread.'
Unknown Absurdist Deadpan/Understatement Dwight: Dwight on Wolf: 'He has executed me over 100 times at point-blank range. Half of them, we were on the same team. Oh, my God. How I screamed. Ah, that goof.'
Dwight Character Comedy Escalation ★ Rewatch Dwight · Gabor: After Wolf's paper demo, Gabor reveals 8 years selling electronics in Tokyo, a medical degree, and a business degree from Tokyo University. Dwight: 'This isn't gonna work out.'
Dwight: Dwight's talking head evaluating candidates: 'Nate is a proven entity, but not without his handicaps — hearing, vision, basic cognition.'
Dwight Deadpan/Understatement Character Comedy Dwight: Dwight: 'Trevor is great, but I saw no fire in him today. And this is a guy who loves to start fires.'
Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement ★ Rewatch Dwight: Dwight on Troy: 'Troy is literally one of a kind, and he's a goblin, or a hobbit, or a kobold, which is a type of gremlin. And yet I'm hesitant.'
Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Candidate · Jim: One of Dwight's candidates: 'I've been double-parked for five hours.' Jim: 'They tow after about 45 minutes.' Candidate: 'Well, the joke's on them. I live right next to the tow yard. All they did was save me some gas.'
Dwight's candidates · Dwight: Dwight's friends comfort him: 'No matter who you choose, we're still gonna be your friend. Yeah, whether it's me or Troy Underbridge, or Gabor, or Melvina — Or none of you.' Candidate: 'You'd bring us all down here, put us through the wringer, and then choose none of us. Can you imagine how insulting that would be?'
Rolf · Jim: Rolf to Jim: 'Jim, turn around. Jim, turn around. Jim, turn around.' Jim ignores him. 'Ahh, I love staring off in one direction. If I'm not looking south, I'm not livin'. That's what I always say.'
Jim · Dwight: Jim confesses to Dwight that he wouldn't hire any of his friends either. Dwight: 'I guess I just have higher standards for my work colleagues than for my friends.'
Jim · Dwight: Jim confronts Dwight: 'Your friends not turning out to be as great as you thought? Not even Gabor?' Dwight: 'I guess I just have higher standards for my work colleagues than for my friends.'
Jim Dwight Character Comedy Deadpan/Understatement Jim · Dwight: Jim: 'I knew it. You designed a uniform for Dunder Mifflin.' Dwight: 'Summer. Winter. Jungle. Formal.'
Candidate: When candidates are rejected, one says: 'Do we get our resumes back or do you keep them? Because I only have the one, and I have a chili recipe on the back that I really wanna keep.'
Dwight · Candidates: Dwight gives out Jim's home address to the rejected candidates: 'This is Jim Halpert's home address, in case you guys wanna toilet paper his house or whatever.' Candidate: 'That seems inconsiderate.' Others: 'No. We get it.'
Dwight's candidates: After the mass rejection, Dwight's friends immediately plan their afternoon: 'Yeah, it's that weird hour where it's too late to start a slow roast and too early for a Swanson's. I got it. Paintball.' / 'Can we wait till I get off work?' / 'And what are we supposed to do until then?' — then they all just leave.
Dwight: Dwight's talking head: 'All right. I think that went well.'
Dwight Irony/Sarcasm Deadpan/Understatement Dwight · Pam · Clark: Dwight introduces Clark as the new desk mate: 'Trust me, this is the least of all evils. It took me all day to pull this off, so you should be thrilled, considering.'
Pam: Pam: 'I mean, I kinda liked my old desk mate.' [looks at camera]
Pam Reaction Beat Character Comedy Dwight: Dwight's talking head: 'They say that everyone outgrows their friends at some point in their lives. Well, I just outgrew them all in the span of three hours.'
Dwight Character Comedy Irony/Sarcasm ★ Rewatch Callback Dwight · Clark · Pam: Dwight to Clark: 'Hey Pam, I'm going to the kitchen. You want anything?' Pam: 'I'm good.' Clark: 'Oh, hey, I'll take a coffee.' Dwight holds up invisible height bar. 'Oh, I'm sorry. You gotta be this cool for coffee.'
Jim · Dwight · Clark: Jim and Dwight haze Clark by putting something in his chair — Clark sits down and screams. Dwight: 'Welcome to the club, pig!'
Jim: Jim's final talking head: 'I mean, because of where my desk was, I spent all those years looking at Pam, and I fell in love. So, that stuff matters. Definitely does.'
Jim Irony/Sarcasm Reaction Beat ★ Rewatch Callback Top Episodes — The Office
