‘The Office’: 1 Cringey Moment From ‘Dinner Party’ Was Based on Real Life
Considering The Office aired for nine seasons, there is no shortage of episodes for fans to enjoy. However, some episodes of the hit NBC comedy are clear standouts to fans. One fan-favorite episode is undoubtedly the “Dinner Party” episode. But fans aren’t the only ones who found the episode hilarious.
‘The Office’ cast laughed their way through the ‘Dinner Party’ episode
The cast of The Office seemed to have a great time filming “Dinner Party”. However, they have admitted that it was a particularly challenging episode to film. The cast and crew were packed into a small condo in the Valley and contending with a tremendous amount of heat. But weather conditions weren’t the only thing that the actors were contending with. They were constantly breaking character because of how hilarious the episode was. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Jenna Fischer (who plays Pam) recalled a scene that consistently left her in hysterics.
Jenna Fischer recalls a particularly funny moment in the episode
“There’s a scene where they’re giving us a tour of the house, and Steve [Carell] explains that he sleeps on the little chaise longue at the end of the bed, and we could not get through that scene,” The Office alum shared. “Every time he went to explain that that’s where he slept, the way he delivered that was so funny, and then he would, like, curl up. . . . We couldn’t get through it.”
Michael’s makeshift bed was inspired by a real-life experience
Michael sleeping on a small chaise may seem farfetched, but it was actually based on a real-life experience. In the aforementioned interview, Paul Feig (who directed the “Dinner Party” episode of The Office) recalled how he came up with the idea for Michael to be booted from his own bed.
“The thing with the bench on the edge of the bed was based partly on an experience I had when I was an intern working for a producer,” Feig explained. “I became friends with one of the women in the office, and I would go kind of hang out with her occasionally. One day she took me to her house. She was living with a guy, and she was showing me around the house, and we look in the bedroom, and there’s a little cot next to this king-size bed. I was like, ‘What’s that?’ and she was like, ‘Look, you’re a single man. You should learn from this. This man I’m with has issues with someone being in his bed.’ And so basically, after they had sex, she had to roll off onto this cot. I was like, ‘That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.'”
The director of the ‘Dinner Party’ episode of ‘The Office’ knew just how to drive the awkward moment home
It may have been sad for Feig, but he jumped at the opportunity to use the anecdote in “Dinner Party.” The moment was made even funnier by Carell rolling onto the bench and folding himself up so he could fit. To make the moment even cringier, Feig insisted on the editors linger on the moment for as long as possible.
“We stood there with him curled up on that bench way longer than you should Jan was just like, “See, he fits, he’s comfortable,'” The Office director recalled. “That just destroys me.” Clearly, Feig was on to something when he decided to use a real-life experience for “Dinner Party” We’re sure there are a bunch of other cringeworthy moments on the show that are also based in truth.
