The cold open was initially conceived as a narrative trick to jump into the story of a TV episode before the opening credits rolled. But throughout its nine-season run, The Office didn’t always introduce the premise of an episode in its cold opens.
Instead, the show’s writers specifically avoided relating the cold opens to the plot so that they could use them for short sketches involving the characters. This freed up the cold opens to explore everything from Jim’s elaborate pranks against Dwight to the full extent of Michael’s idiocy. So, here are the 10 funniest cold opens from The Office, ranked.
“Identity Theft Is Not A Joke, Jim!” (Product Recall, S3.E21)
At the beginning of season 3’s “Product Recall,” Jim comes into work dressed exactly like Dwight, sits down at his desk, and starts impersonating him. He baits Dwight with questions about bears and beets, leading Dwight to declare, “Identity theft is not a joke, Jim!”
The joke of the scene — Jim playing an exaggerated version of Dwight — is summed up in one hysterical four-word line: “Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.” Jim storms off and yells, “Michael!,” right before Dwight storms off and says the exact same thing.
“Nobody But Me” Lip Dub (Nepotism, S7.E1)
The season 7 premiere “Nepotism” opens with Toby carrying a camera through the office to capture all his co-workers performing a lip dub of The Human Beinz’s “Nobody But Me.”
The cold opens that involve everyone in the office tend to be the most enjoyable ones, and this lip dub features everyone, from Stanley telling Toby he’s falling behind to Dwight taking things too far by pulling out a knife in the middle of the video.
Asian Jim (Andy’s Ancestry, S9.E3)
In the cold open of season 9’s “Andy’s Ancestry,” Dwight is confused to discover an Asian man sitting at Jim’s desk, claiming to be Jim. Pam kisses him, he knows about Jim’s sales, and he’s in the framed Halpert family portrait on Jim’s desk.
Pam explains that Jim is at the dentist and “Asian Jim” is an actor friend of theirs named Steve. Guest star Randall Park nails the role of Steve, while Rainn Wilson’s portrayal of Dwight’s befuddlement is priceless.
Michael Hits Meredith With His Car (Fun Run, S4.E1)
The season 4 premiere, “Fun Run,” opens like many of The Office’s season premieres, with Michael explaining what he’s been up to over the summer (when the show was on hiatus). Jan has moved into his condo, and as he drives into work, he tells the camera, “I feel very blessed.”
Then, bam! Meredith rolls onto the hood of his car. It arrives so suddenly, and Steve Carell and Kate Flannery’s acting in the scene is brilliantly spontaneous.
Cordially, Future Dwight (Branch Closing, S3.E7)
Jim still managed to prank Dwight after he moved to Stamford as he brought a box of Dwight’s stationery with him and started sending Dwight faxes from his future self.
Back at the Scranton branch, Dwight receives a fax that reads, “Dwight, at 8 a.m. today, someone poisons the coffee. Do not drink the coffee. More instructions will follow. Cordially, Future Dwight.” When he sees Stanley coming out of the kitchen with a cup of coffee, he rushes over and smacks the mug out of his hand, much to Stanley’s dismay.
Michael Reports His Injury To Pam (The Injury, S2.E12)
Perhaps the first great episode of The Office, season 2’s “The Injury” jumps right into the plot as Michael calls Pam to report that he’s burned his foot on a George Foreman grill.
As the scene quickly segues from a normal day at the office to a hysterical crisis situation, the comedy factor goes from zero to eleven in a second.
“NO, GOD, PLEASE, NO! NO! NOOO!” (Frame Toby, S5.E9)
In the season 4 finale, the office had a farewell party for Toby ahead of his move to Costa Rica. By the ninth episode of the fifth season, “Frame Toby,” he had returned.
But Michael didn’t know he was back. Jim told him and Michael didn’t believe him, so he went back to the annex and was horrified to discover Toby working there.
Parkour (Gossip, S6.E1)
The sixth season of The Office got off to a great start when its premiere opened with Michael, Dwight, and Andy doing parkour around the office. Andy ends up inside a Vance Refrigeration box.
Parkour is about getting from point A to point B as creatively as possible, and as Jim points out, that’s what the guys are doing — if point A is delusion and point B is the hospital.
Kevin’s Famous Chili (Casual Friday, S5.E26)
In the cold open of season 5’s “Casual Friday,” Kevin carries a giant pot of chili into the office. In voice-over, he explains that he was up all night making it, and that it’s the thing he does best.
Then, as he gets the pot up the stairs and onto the office floor, he drops it, spilling his chili all over the floor. As he scrambles to salvage as much chili as he can, he ruins reams of documents and falls over.
Dwight’s Fire Drill (Stress Relief, S5.E14)
“Today, smoking is gonna save lives.” This is an example of a cold open being a standalone sketch that also sets up the plot of the proceeding episode — and a two-parter at that — as Dwight’s hands-on fire drill ends up giving Stanley the heart attack that leads Michael to let the office roast him.
The show had a lot of hysterical cold opens, but the sheer carnage of Dwight’s fire drill, and the fact that it has every single character in the office in top form, makes it the undeniable champ.