Rainn Wilson became a household name after starring as Dwight Schrute on The Office. After nine seasons, the character led him to new opportunities in Dark Winds, Mom, and Utopia. However, it's hard to imagine any new roles topping his time as Dunder Mifflin Scranton's top salesman.
On an episode of Brian Baumgartner's podcast The Office Deep Dive, Wilson told his former colleague that fans go up to him all the time and quote his lines. However, there's one quote that's said the most — and it wasn't even said by him. "People always say, ‘I want you to write Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica’ [when] I’m signing a picture or something like that, or [they want me to] say it. It’s like, Dwight actually never said that. Two hundred episodes, Dwight never says, ‘Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.’ That was Jim..." Nevertheless, fans love reminiscing about Dwight's moments that define his character, and memes are made to prove it.
Dwight's One Moment Of Glory Died As Soon As It Became Alive
Dwight's dream was to become the Regional Manager of Dunder Mifflin Scranton, but with Michael Scott in the way, Dwight had to wait. Eventually, Dwight was given the position for a short time — and it was only temporary because of his doing.
Instead of creating a professional work environment, Dwight wore a gun on his hip to show dominance. Everyone felt uncomfortable with this gun and begged him to leave it home. In a ridiculously meme-worthy scene, Dwight showed off his gun to prove its safety — accidentally firing it in the process. The accident injured Andy's hearing and got him removed as regional manager. But it did create this amazing meme from @Knights_of.the_Night that detailed Dwight's character.
Dwight's Perfect Crime
Michael had some hilarious 'I hate Toby' quotes but he went too far when he tried framing Toby for drugs in 'Frame Toby.' In the meantime, Dwight explained his "perfect crime." Of course, it didn't make much sense to viewers, but it described Dwight's personality perfectly.
In a talking head, Dwight explained that while stealing the chandelier at the famed jeweler Tiffany & Co., he ran into Tiffany herself. The two slept together and years later were supposed to meet in Paris. Dwight ignored the plan and went to Berlin to find the chandelier he had stolen years prior instead. This meme by @OfficeTheMeme poked fun at Dwight's story while also bringing it to life.
Was Dwight Apple's Inspiration!?
Although Dwight and Jim joined forces in a few episodes, there were more scenes where they were at each other's throats.
After Jim impersonated Dwight, Dwight grew upset because "identify theft is not a joke." Later, however, Dwight gave him a taste of his own medicine and acted as Jim. Wearing Jim's typical blue shirt and tie combo, Dwight looked at the camera the same way Jim did. This look hilariously inspired this meme by @DwightSchrutedays. While the facial expression may be Jim's, the essence of the character screamed Dwight.
When Jim, Michael, And Dwight Took Down Utica
There came a time when Jim and Dwight's friendship timeline grew, and they acted more like colleagues than mortal enemies.
In one episode, Dwight and Michael wanted to "burn Utica to the ground" after Karen sniped Stanley for her own sales staff. Without telling Jim where they were going, Michael and Dwight tricked him into taking a road trip to Utica for revenge. Wanting a disguise, the three wore warehouse uniforms and fake mustaches. Funny enough, @OfficeThaMemes showed how similar these jumpers were to the uniforms worn by Dwight and co.
When Angela Stood Him Up...
@Tthe.Officee compared Dwight in his white beater looking for Angela to a dad questioning who turned around in their driveway. Hysterically, if a strange car turned around on Dwight's farm, he too would have stepped outside to see who it was.
In the episode, Dwight and Angela were having an affair while she was engaged to Andy. Whenever she was frustrated by Andy, she and Dwight would sleep together in the warehouse. However, in a rare occurrence, Angela stayed faithful to Andy and stood Dwight up in the warehouse. His confused look in an outfit fans didn't normally see him in instantly turned into a meme.
The Documentary Office Fans Have Been Waiting For
Dwight eventually became a competent manager by season 9, but he was with the company for over a decade before that happened. And since the only reason Dunder Mifflin was being filmed was for a paper documentary, it would make sense for a streaming service like Netflix to create a documentary on Dwight years down the road.
Learning more about Dwight's youth and how he became the future manager would have been an interesting fictional documentary for those inside The Office universe. It's also comical that the poster art for this meme was based on Netflix's Making a Murderer.
The Iconic Teapot
Jim was happy to gift Pam something special during a Secret Santa. Knowing Pam wanted a teapot for her desk, he picked the perfect one. This was an important milestone in Pam and Jim's potential relationship.
Inside the teapot, he placed silly mementos from their friendship. However, when Michael changed the rules of the game, Dwight was the one that walked away with Pam's precious gift. @The.Office.Alliance created a meme of Pam's would-be reaction if she saw what Dwight did to her teapot. As the meme stated, let's hope Pam washed the teapot before she drank from it since it was inside Dwight's nose...
The Original Peaky Blinders
If the series Peaky Blinders was around when The Office was being documented, there's a high possibility that one of Michael's alter egos would have been one of the main characters Thomas Shelby. The series took place around the 1920s and focused on a family-based gang known as the Peaky Blinders.
The gang often worked in pairs and performed sneaky acts to get what they wanted, which was very similar to how Michael and Dwight operated. Dwight and Michael were always scheming ways to find more information or get what they wanted around the office. @TheComplexWorldz nailed it with this comparison for the meme.
Dwight's Version Of Santa
When Dwight was in charge of running that year's Christmas party, he wanted it to be authentic to his childhood. Instead of having a classic, jolly Santa Claus, Dwight insisted he dressed as Belsnickel. Belsnickel was a harsher version of Santa and spread fear to children instead of Christmas cheer.
Acting as a scary version of Santa was supposed to keep kids honest and in line so that Belsnickel wouldn't scar them come Christmastime. While Belsnickel is a real character in German folklore, it's also presented in the Pennsylvania Dutch community, which was why Dwight was so passionate about it. This meme spoke to Dwight's character because he would tell his son to fear Belsnickel and to ignore Santa.
Dwight Would Draw 25
@The_OfficeInstaFans nailed it with this meme. There were multiple times when Dwight was supposed to apologize to the office. Whether it was almost burning the place down, giving Stanley a heart attack, or shooting a gun as the manager, Dwight owed a lot of apologies.
This meme spoke to Dwight's annoying character because he would rather draw 25 cards in a game of Uno than apologize to those he cared for. He was that hard-headed.