Writers have revealed that Michael Scott's fall into a koi pond in The Office was actually based on an embarrassing true story. The Office first began airing back in 2005, and quickly became one of the biggest and most influential sitcoms of its decade. The series, based on the British series of the same name created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, was developed for US television by Greg Daniels. Like its British predecessor, The Office follows a group of particularly quirky employees in a mockumentary style, with Steve Carell starring as the boss of the titular office, Dunder Mifflin Paper Company in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
One of the most memorable scenes in The Office comes from the season 6 episode entitled "Koi Pond." The episode centres on the aftermath of an unfortunate incident in which Carell's character, Michael Scott, falls into a koi pond on his way to an important meeting. Throughout the episode, Michael becomes increasingly frustrated as he winds up as the butt of many fish-related jokes, before discovering that Jim (John Krasinski) let him fall into the pond on purpose. While falling into a koi pond is not in itself the most cringe-worthy moment on The Office given Michael's many, many embarrassing antics, viewers may not know that the scene is actually a case of art imitating life.
In a recent episode of the Office Ladies podcast in which The Office co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey discuss their time on the show, the two interviewed writers Warren Lieberstein and Halsted Sullivan, who wrote the "Koi Pond" episode. According to the writers, Lieberstein actually fell into a koi pond directly before his and Sullivan's meeting about joining The Office writing team. When trying to throw some gum into a garbage can in the building's atrium, Lieberstein accidentally fell backwards. Unfortunately for Lieberstein, there happened to be a koi pond right behind him. Apparently, all Lieberstein could do was repeatedly say "oh my god." Read his full quote below:
"So my right foot doesn't find the floor, and I lose my balance, and I'm falling backwards ... At this point, the real concern is that I'm falling to my death, down an open stairwell or whatever. My legs hit first and I have no idea what size tank of water I'm falling into. In this millisecond, I now believe I'm falling into a shark tank and I'm definitely going to die by shark attack. But after a second or so, I realize obviously I'm in a koi pond. I just 'Nestea plunged' into it. I am drenched. And all I can say over and over again is, 'Oh my god.'"
If Liberstein's experience wasn't bad enough, the two The Office writers then detailed how they rushed to a sporting goods store down the street, where the only dry clothes they could find for Lieberstein was a track suit. According to the writer, he eventually showed up to the meeting looking like "a rap star from the 80s." Throughout the Office Ladies episode, Lieberstein and Sullivan speak about how the koi pond incident was the only topic of conversation during their meeting, and the "puns were flying." Clearly, the two made an impression, as they were both brought on to The Office writing team and adapted Lieberstein's unfortunate incident into what is now a classic episode.
While it is likely that Lieberstein's brush with a koi pond was both embarrassing and stressful at this time, he is surely happy that it happened now. The writer has gone on to pen seven The Office episodesand produce (in some capacity) 97 episodes. It seems Liberstein owes this success in part to a trip to the bottom of a koi pond, as well as an uncanny ability to make fish-related jokes. Apparently, some things are simply too funny to be made up. While unlike Michael's koi pond incident in the show, there is no security footage of Lieberstein's fall to watch, but fans can always return to The Office season 6 to get a good idea of how the now-infamous incident unfolded.
Source: Office Ladies