Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’

Steve Carell is leaving “The Office” tonight in a special extended episode. As you brace yourself for the tears, remember the laughs he brought us. Here are my favorite Michael Scott moments from the past 7 seasons:

20. The Golden Ticket Idea
Michael adopts a little Willy Wonka ingenuity and hides “golden tickets” in random paper shipments. One company received all of them, getting 40% off their purchase, causing everyone in Scranton to freak out about the consequences.

19. Michael speaks to Ryan’s business school
In the middle of every speech, a speaker should throw out candy bars.

18. Dunder Mifflin’s local ad: The Michael Scott Director’s Cut
Great Scott!

17. Stanley and Michael LOVE Pretzel Day
“Can I get one with everything on it?” The pretzel with the works sends Michael into a sugar coma.

16. Scott’s Tots
Apparently, Michael promised a bunch of students 10 years ago that he would pay for all of their college educations. They’re so pleased when they finally graduate high school that they put on a big production to thank him — until they discover he can’t afford it.

15. “Lazy Scranton”
Michael welcomes his new employees from the merger with an introduction to Scranton – what! – the Electric City.

14. “Hug it out, bitch.”
Michael busts Dwight’s attempt to overthrow the position of office manager after his appointment with a dentist named Crentist… after his hilarious dude hug, he later forces Schrute to wear a sign that says “Liar.”
>> Watch the clip on NBC.com

13. Michael starts a Cafe Disco
After leaving the Michael Scott Paper Company to return to Dunder Mifflin, he used his old office space to be a combination dance party venue and coffeehouse for him to escape work once in a while.

12. “I… declare… bankruptcy!”

11. Michael kisses Oscar after his gay witch hunt
This scene was improvised — Carell wasn’t supposed to kiss his outed employee, but he did and it’s easily one of the 10 most unforgettable moments on the show.

10. Which Asian girl is Michael’s date?
After picking up two girls at a Japanese restaurant, Michael marks one of their arms with a pen so he can remember which one is supposed to be his date.

9. The Dundies
Best. Awards. Show. Ever.

8. “Booze Cruise” Motivational Dance
It’s a toss-up between this and his speech about how the ship is sinking for best moment of the episode. Okay, maybe it’s a three-way tie with “I’m king of the world!”

7. Michael vs. Toby
“I hate so much about everything you choose to be.” He just wanted to have a kickass Casino Night, yo.

6. Scott cooks his foot on a Foreman Grill
“I like to wake up in the morning to the smell of bacon.”

5. Threat Level Midnight
The Michael Scarn movie is finally realized, and it was even funnier than I imagined. Extra thumbs up to Jim playing “Goldenface.”

4. Michael hits Meredith with his car
It’s okay, it actually ended up saving her from the “incurable” disease of rabies. Of every season-opener, this was by far the single best moment.

3. Prison Mike
In Season 3, Michael got a little jealous of the attention that one of his new employees from the Stamford branch was getting when they found out he had a prison record. Scott’s solution? To scare people straight with his own prison experiences.

2. “That’s what she said!”
There are countless TWSS moments on the show, but the best one had to have been when Scott told his employees he was retiring from comedy over concerns of sexual harassment. Jim made it hard. (That’s what she said.)

1. Michael Scott vs. Michael Scott
When he waited to find out if Holly was engaged to her New Hampshire branch boyfriend, he recorded two videos to help him get through the result. One was a sad Michael to talk him out of killing himself. The other, the one we got to see, was a happy Michael that talked back at himself and danced along in a ridiculously awesome moment. Two Michaels are better than one.

By the way, Steve Carell grew up in Acton, Massachusetts — my hometown — and attended school in Concord, the next town over. (Sigh.) I’m going to miss him, but I’m still optimistic the show will be good after he leaves. But, as the 20 clips above show, it’s hard to imagine life at Dunder Mifflin without Michael Scott.

96 thoughts on “Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’

  1. Prison Mike is my all-time favorite. The image of Steve Carell wearing that bandana on his head as a do-rag … it kills me! I’d make a case that Michael following the GPS and driving the car into the lake deserves a spot on here. I also love the part where he realizes he’s in huge debt and runs away to sit on that train, singing “Runaway Train” (which he clearly does not know all the lyrics too). Or the bird funeral … OK, I’ll stop there. Scout’s honor.

  2. What a fabulous recap … he is absolutely one of the most unusual characters in TV history, and you’ve captured his idiosyncrasies perfectly in this list!

    I had no idea the kiss with Oscar was improvised — I’m so going back to watch that one again!

    :)

    • I forget where I found out the Oscar kiss was improvised — it might’ve been in an interview, but the DVDs have a ton of great bonus content, including commentary and deleted scenes. The deleted scenes are just as funny as the stuff that airs, definitely check it out!

  3. I LOOOOVE The Office and am so glad that you posted the best of Michael Scott! The show will never be the same without Steve Carell, though. He’s just brilliant. It was a very sad day yesterday, and not even Will Farrell could make me feel better about it.

    Awesome post and congrats on being FP!

  4. This is great, thanks for the post and the memories! #6 gets my vote – I had to rewind several times, I was laughing so hard at Michael grilling his foot and Dwight racing to save him.

  5. I wish I could like this post more than once! Such good memories! I’m not gonna lie, I almost cried at last night’s episode, I just don’t see how the Office is going to survive without him, Steve Carell completely made that show and he will be dearly missed! I just love the Office so much!

  6. I love it! You really did well with the top twenty. Another one of my favorites is when Micahel Scott decides to fake committing suicide to show the danger of depression in the workplace by jumping off the building onto a moon bounce. Classic!

  7. Thanks for the re-cap. Even though I am a fan of The Office, I think I may have missed some of your faves. I will definately re-visit them when I am not at work and can watch at my leisure. Congrats at being FP!

  8. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ (via Geoff “DeafGeoff” Herbert) | Best Humor Yet

  9. Gosh, don’t you feel sorry for the guy coming in as the new boss. Those are some big shoes to fill. What a week, Carell leaves “The Office” a Royal Wedding and a horrific weather disaster…oh! and the NFL football draft! I think that covered every topic in the news.

  10. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ (via Geoff “DeafGeoff” Herbert) | kingbhat

  11. Great list. Very emotional watching Michael leave last night but I believe the writers know what they’re doing. I’m so excited that Jim Carrey is gonna make an appearance

  12. the best michael moment is when he drives his rental car into the lake because the gps told him to. should of been in the top 20

  13. So right! Unlike some people, although I hate that Steve left the show, I’m still a faithful viewer. I’m definitely excited to see the pains that our Office friends go through finding the “right” manager. Awesome picks, btw!

  14. My favorite of the above moments has to be the kiss. The facial expressions are priceless.

    Alas, I fear that without Steve Carell the show will sink into sitcom oblivion, coming to rest beside “Scrubs” after Zach Braff departed.

  15. A wonderful character, and a wonderful show. I’m glad Michael Scott has moved on to greener-albeit still fictional-pastures. Don’t know how the show’s going to go on without him!

  16. Very funny! My partner’s not really into blogs but he’s loves the office. We watched it together and had a great laugh! I personally Liked the sneeze in number 10! lol
    Great post. :D

  17. Carell has been brilliant in this, he will be missed. I still think the show wont survive his exit, and his temporary replacement Will Ferrell hasn’t had a single funny scene yet.

  18. I really am heartbroken.
    We watched it last night and I bawled my eyes out.
    there goes the best willy loman that ever “lived”.
    But what about customer survey episode!
    “Jim halpert is arrogant and smudge.”
    ” I think its smug”
    “there is the arrrogance.”
    “no, michael…”
    “And there is the smudgeness.”
    oh I could go on and on…
    Love Live Michael Scott!

  19. My favorite Office moment to date is when Meredith took advantage of casual Friday and wore a dress that was too small. If she pulled it up her hooha was showing and if she pulled it down, her boobs popped out. Hysterical!

  20. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ (via Geoff “DeafGeoff” Herbert) « A Bit of Everything

  21. You forgot the “diversity day” episode, when he makes everyone wear cards on their foreheads with a different nationality written on each and tells them to say something stereotypical about the other person’s nationality. That was ridiculous.

  22. I am so late the The Office scene, but very happily getting caught up via TV38 reruns at night. Psyched, though, to know that I’ve at least scene the Golden Face episode, and I agree it was tops. Congrats to you on being Freshly Pressed!

  23. LOL! Such funny clips… I was giggling throughout. Love the Cafe Disco… but I have to say the booze cruise dance pales majorly in comparison to the original David Brent throwing some shapes in the office…

  24. Good posts on the Office. I have Deaf parents and Deaf daughters. My blog with asl stuff is at squidoo.com/asldan. I also do a solar blog at wordpress at dansolar.wordpress.com with some stories related to ASL and my Deaf friends. We had a Deaf Chat nite last Friday near Riverside. Thanks for your blog.

  25. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ | Travel to Kelantan

  26. I just watched Michael’s last episode yesterday, and I miss him already! Dunder-Mifflin just won’t be the same without him. So many classic Michael moments…whittling it down to twenty must have been a tough job, but these are a pretty representative lot.

  27. this was a great assortment of clips, it really shows how diverse the show is. when writing your own videos, you take what you’ve grown up watching into account. Michael is an essential character to the office, but i think they did him good in how he departs. Plus, the possible replacements were excellently chosen.

  28. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ | Travel to Johor

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  30. I really think the final episode was excellent. I’ve worked at my current job for 20 years and while watching the show I felt that if I were to leave, no matter for what oh-so-good reason, my emotions would be just like Michael’s.

    Steve Carrel has played one of the greatest sitcom parts of all time, maybe the best since Archie Bunker.

    Kudos and Godspeed to actor and character!

  31. There are so many more good ones…

    “Abraham Lincoln said, ‘If you are a racist…I will attack you with the North.’”

    Michael shows up for his interview at corporate a day early: “Pam, I’m going to be about three hours late. I drove to New York by mistake.”

    Michael at improv class.

  32. i love how his character has developed over the seasons. in the beginning, i couldn’t stand michael scott because he was such a jerk. in more recent seasons he has become much more like-able, just in time for him to leave! :(

  33. Great stuff, I loved every one of those moments for sure. I personally thought the episode on Thursday was very disappointing. It could have been much funnier and emotional. Michael Scott deserved better and the show will never be the same.

    I’m from Acton too! Why do such great things come out of that place!

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  35. Frankly, I do not like Michael Scott…but I was still crying when he left. They gave him a perfect ending! But The Office will be weird without him.

  36. The Scott’s Tots episode made me cringe so hard when he was trying to think of a way to tell the students that he can’t afford it.

    Local Dunder Mifflin ad was wonderful.

    Gotta love his ‘hating’ moments with Toby. Poor Toby.

    And yes, I’m one of the people who are also sad about Michael’s departure. I also can’t imagine the show without him. Let’s see how Deangelo runs it.

  37. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ (via Geoff “DeafGeoff” Herbert) « Random Musings

  38. Pingback: Goodbye, Michael Scott: The top 20 Steve Carell moments on ‘The Office’ (via Geoff “DeafGeoff” Herbert) « The Musings Of A Black Man

  39. I am going to miss Michael Scott in The Office. I have a hard time imagining the show without him. My two older kids and I have had many a night laughing together over this show. I don’t know how long Will Ferrell will be on, but I plan on still watching.

    The Cafe Disco episode is one of my favorites, and I even named a little corner of our own office “Cafe Disco” whenever my co-worker and I need a little pick me up with music. She cranks it up, and I yell out, “It’s Cafe Disco everybody!” :)

  40. Oh, and I also like the episode where Pam and Jim are going to be married and everyone goes to the hotel and they’re having a party in one of the rooms and Andy falls on his car keys in a “delicate” spot and Pam has to drive him to the hospital.

  41. Pingback: Acton, Massachusetts: Fun facts about my hometown | Geoff "DeafGeoff" Herbert

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