Entertainment

21 Hilarious 'The Office' Moments That Prove The Final Season Wasn't Really THAT Bad

by Caitlin Gallagher
NBC

A last season of a beloved show that pleases everyone is a tricky thing to accomplish — especially when a significant portion of the cast has already left. That's the dilemma the final season of The Office was faced with when it aired back in 2012 and 2013. It was the second season without Steve Carell as Michael Scott, and for Season 9, Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak also exited the show. Beyond these absent core characters, fans found plenty of other reasons not to approve of — or even actively hate — the end of The Office. Yet with talks of a reboot and five years of hindsight, you should now be able to accept some of the truly hilarious moments from the last season of The Office.

If you take a look at Twitter in the years since the last season of The Office aired, you can find plenty of fans that are outraged by certain Season 9 plot points. Like that Andy Bernard morphed into an entirely unlikable human being. Or the addition of new employees Clark and Pete. Or that Jim and Pam have major marital problems. And don't even mention Pam's dalliance with Brian, the boom mic operator. And in very recent history, some fans have found yet another reason to dislike Season 9 since Roseanne Barr, whose racist tweet led to the cancellation of her own reboot show, appears for a couple of episodes as Andy's agent. (Barr has since deleted and apologized for the tweet mentioned.)

Basically, most fans could do without the last installment of the Dunder Mifflin-based series.

If some of these storylines still enrage you, the creator of the American version of The Office Greg Daniels explained many of these choices to Fast Company before the finale aired, so you may find solace in that. But another way to cope is to remember these 21 moments from the final season that were actually very funny.

1Asian Jim

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In "Andy's Ancestry," Jim and Pam prank Dwight by pretending that Jim has been Asian the whole time. They use their actor friend Steve (portrayed by Randall Park) to play Jim, and even retook Halpert family photos with Pam, Cece, Philip, and Steve.

2Dwight's Pumpkin Head

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For the last Halloween episode, "Here Comes Treble," Dwight gets into the spirit of the holiday by putting his head into a pumpkin. Yet he underestimates how hard it will be to remove his head, which leads him to do his talking head interview like the Headless Horseman.

3Movember

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Toby encourages the men in the office to grow mustaches for Movember in "The Whale." And Toby's facial hair takes the creepy cake since he's "got really fertile hair glands."

4Jan's Return

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Melora Hardin's Jan comes back to The Office to torment Pam one last time in "The Whale." She forces Pam to watch a video slideshow of Astrid. In true Jan fashion, it features Jan singing about herself from the perspective of her daughter and she, of course, can't help but mouth the bizarre lyrics.

5Drunk Darryl

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Darryl gets extremely drunk as a way to deal with his anger toward Jim in "Dwight Christmas." He becomes so intoxicated that he starts to think that Meredith looks like Emma Stone and passes out on the food table during the office party.

6Pam & Meredith Sing Karaoke

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Meredith gets blamed for bringing lice into the office when Pam was the real source in "Lice." Once the truth is revealed, Meredith makes Pam buy her a beer and the women bond over karaoke.

7Clark Learns About Jan's Lovemaking

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Newcomer Clark is a divisive character, but even if you hate Dwight Jr., you gotta admit that his commentary on what it's like to have sex with Jan is pretty great. "It was like making love with a wild animal — but not like a cougar like you might think. It was like a swarm of bees," Clark explains in "Suit Warehouse."

8Toby & Nellie's Relationship

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Nellie kisses Toby in "Dwight Christmas" to get him to stop talking about the Scranton Strangler. But Toby thinks their relationship is much deeper than one drunken kiss, as he displays three episodes later in "Customer Loyalty."

9Dwight Brings His Buddies To Work

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In the words of Stanley, Dwight bringing all of his strange associates into the office to interview for a job in "Junior Salesman" was "not natural." But it was certainly funny seeing Mose, Zeke, Melvina, Rolf, Trevor, Nate, Gabor, Sensei Ira, Troy, and Wolf all gathered in one place.

10The Real Estate Version Of Michael Scott

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Pam experiences déjà vu in "Moving On" when she meets a potential manager in Philly, who is the "real estate version of Michael Scott." While Odenkirk couldn't replace Carell, he does elevate everything he's in and he gives fans a dose of the insensitive, pop culture-quoting manager they've been missing.

11The Aftermath Of The Laced Cupcakes

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Todd Packer antagonizes the crew one last time in "The Farm" when he gives everybody cupcakes laced with drugs. Kevin and Andy have the best trip and Kevin unfathomably goes back for seconds the next day.

12The Danish Promo

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When The Office came to an end, the show-within-the-show — the documentary — also had to end. In "Promos," the office sees the first trailers for the documentary of their lives at Dunder Mifflin, including one promo in Danish. Oscar translates phrases to reveal that Kevin is referred to as "dumpster man" and Angela as "3 p.m. girl," which makes the group realize just how much of their lives have been secretly documented.

13Angela & Oscar's Love Triangle With The Senator

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When Angela found out that Oscar was having an affair with her husband, the coworkers kept the situation secret in order to protect the Senator's political career. Angela and Oscar's amusingly bonded over the infidelity, but the arrangement ends when the Senator comes out publicly in "Stairmageddon" — and it turns out he had been cheating on both Angela and Oscar.

14Angela's Studio Apartment

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Once Angela no longer has to protect the Senator, she and Philip are left to fend for themselves in "Paper Airplane." And there isn't enough room for Angela, her child, and all her cats — Tinkie, Crinklepuss, Bandit Two, Pawlick Baggins, Lady Aragorn, and the 10 kittens — since the cats end up sitting on baby Philip.

15Dwight's Karate

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In "Livin' the Dream," Dwight faux attacks members of the office in an extended karate sequence that leads David Wallace to finally make him regional manager. The moment was absurd yet somehow sweet — just like Dwight.

16Andy Poops On David Wallace's Car

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Andy wants to follow his performance dreams in "Livin' the Dream." So in order to fully burn his bridges at Dunder Mifflin, Andy poops on David Wallace's car and the above photo really speaks for itself.

17The Final Dance Party

Darryl's dancing sendoff may have been a bit hokey in the penultimate episode, "A.A.R.M.," but it was worth it to see the gang all show off their dance moves in the office one last time.

18The Final "That's What She Said" Joke

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Carell returns in "Finale" to be the best man (aka "bestest mensch") at Dwight and Angela's wedding. And Michael certainly can't pass on the opportunity to make one final "that's what she said" joke when Dwight says, "I can't believe you came."

19Mose's Lady Scarecrow

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Anytime Mose appears, it's hilarious. And producer Michael Schur gave Office fans one last epic Mose moment when he stares longingly at the female scarecrow during Dwight and Angela's wedding. After all, Aunt Shirley said before she died that Mose and his lady scarecrow were more than just friends.

20Kelly & Ryan Run Off Into The Sunset Together

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Like Carell, Kaling and Novak come back for the finale. Ryan gives his son Drake an allergic reaction to distract Kelly's husband and the two finally get their messed-up happy ending together. (And don't worry, Nellie adopts baby Drake.)

21Creed Lives In The Office

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After the documentary aired, Creed faked his own death because it turned out he was wanted by the police. Except he never strayed far since the finale has Creed making himself weirdly at home in the office — just as he always did.

Even if you found the final season of The Office below the standards of the earlier seasons, these jokes will hopefully remind you that Season 9 wasn't just full of tears as you said farewell to one of your favorite shows; it was full of laughs too.