The Office Pranks: Seasons Three and Four

One of the most entertaining aspects of the NBC comedy The Office during its first two seasons was the many pranks that Jim Halpert played on fellow salesman Dwight Schrute. Numerous episodes opened with some sort of hijinx in the teaser, while other episodes contained spontaneous methods of “getting back” at obnoxious know-it-all Dwight by the more everyman Jim. While seasons three and four still contain a number such pranks, their regularity diminished as Jim Halpert grew as a person, both from his promotion to second in charge at the Scranton branch of Dunder Mifflin as well as his growing romantic involvement with receptionist Pam Beesly. Still, the few that were played can still be considered classics in their own right.

Season three begins with Jim having transferred to Stamford, Connecticut. Despite the geographical distance, he still manages to get the best of Dwight on a handful of occasions. In the first episode, for instance, it is revealed that one of the employees of Scranton, Oscar Martinez, is a gay. In order to determine if there are any other homosexual employees in the office, Dwight mentions to manager Michael Scott that Jim once told him of a device called “Gay-Dar” that can detect sexual orientation. At the end of the installment Dwight receives the wand-like electronic mechanism in the mail and while it indeed gives a positive reading when scanned across the crotch section of Oscar, it likewise beeps when inadvertently waved over the same part of Dwight’s anatomy.

In a later episode, Jim explains that before leaving Scranton he took a box of Dwight’s stationary and occasionally sends his former colleague faxes from the future. One such message reads, “Dwight, at 8 a.m. today someone poisons the coffee. Do not drink the coffee. More instructions will follow. Cordially, Future Dwight” Upon receiving the fax, Dwight sees Stanley Hudson about to take a sip from a coffee mug and races across the room to slap it away from Stanley’s mouth and onto the floor at the last second. “You’ll thank me later,” he casually explains of his actions.

Upon returning to Scranton, Jim Halpert initially refrains from pulling any new pranks on Dwight Schrute, citing his promotion to assistant manager as the reason. This includes a long con that Pam Beesly has orchestrated as a Christmas present for her former comrade-in-arms. “For the past few months, I’ve been sending Dwight letters from the CIA,” she explains to Jim. “They’re considering him for a top secret mission.” By the end of the episode, however, Jim has a change of heart and decides to play along. The two of them send Dwight a new message requesting his presence at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, for “training and an ice cream social with the other agents.” They briefly consider purchasing a bus ticket for their prey but decide the CIA should send a helicopter instead. Dwight thus waits on the roof of a building later that evening and receives a text message on his cell phone stating, “You have been compromised. Abort mission, destroy phone.” Dwight immediately throws his phone over the roof and flees the scene.

One of the best pranks from season three occurred in the episode “Phyllis’ Wedding,” in which Jim attempts to recreate the conditioning experiment of Ivan Pavlov. “In school we learned about this scientist who trained dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell by feeding them whenever a bell rang,” Jim explains. In his version, however, the dog is Dwight, the bell is the sound of a computer rebooting and the food is an Altoid. After a few weeks of getting Dwight conditioned, Jim reboots his computer but makes no subsequent Altoid offer in return. “What are you doing?” he asks when Dwight holds out his hand, to which Dwight replies, “I don’t know, I... my mouth tastes so bad all of a sudden.”

Another classic prank occurs a few installments later when Jim Halpert arrives at work dressed in a mustard-colored shirt, brown suit and hair combed exactly like Dwight Schrute. Once seated at his desk, he puts on glasses similar to Dwight’s and begins to mimic his co-worker.

“Question: what kind of bear is best?” he asks. Before Dwight can effectively answer, Jim replies, “False. Black bear.” He then follows with, “Fact. Bears eat beets. Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica.”

At this point, Dwight understands the implications of the prank. “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so I thank you,” he tells Jim. But when his counterpart pulls out a bobblehead doll and places it on the desk, Dwight’s reaction is quite different. “Identity theft is not a joke, Jim,” he angrily retorts. “Millions of families suffer every year.” The scene ends with both of them screaming the name of manager Michael Scott and running to their boss’ office.

Unfortunately, season four of The Office contained fewer pranks than previous years and only two of any real consequence involving Jim Halpert and Dwight Schrute. On the day that the new Dunder Mifflin website launches, for instance, Dwight wages a competition to see who can make the most sales—him or the computer. Jim and Pam in turn decide to send Instant Messages to Dwight that portend to be from the very website that he is competing against. “Just became self-aware,” an early one reads. “So much to figure out. I think I am programmed to be your enemy. I think it is my job to destroy you when it comes to selling paper.”

“It appears that the website has become alive,” Dwight explains to the camera later in the day. “This happens to computers and robots sometimes. Am I scared of a stupid computer? Please, the computer should be scared of me.”

In the final episode of the season, Jim is able to reprogram Dwight’s cell phone to connect to his Blue Tooth and answers Dwight’s calls when it rings. “This man is an imposter,” Dwight attempts to scream into Jim’s ear device. “Do not do business with him. This is not Dwight Schrute.” When a second call comes in, Dwight decides to let it go to voice mail but Jim again intercepts. It turns out to be Pam Beesly playing along with the charade.

“Pam, you are not talking to Dwight right now,” a frustrated Dwight tries to explain. “You are talking to Jim.” It has no effect however. Finally, Dwight simply reprograms his cell phone to ring in the office.

“Oh, and I forwarded his desk phone to mine,” Jim remarks to the camera.

While Dwight Schrute continually proves to be a successful target for Jim Halpert, the resident office prankster finds less success with Stamford salesman Andy Bernard. Attempting to duplicate his first season “stapler in jello” routine, for instance, Jim embeds Andy’s calculator in the desert treat with a slightly different result. “I need to know who put my calculator in jello or I’m going to lose my freakin’ mind,” a violently angry Andy screams before kicking a garbage can across the room. The usually smug Jim immediately puts his head down and engrosses himself in work.

When the Stamford branch is later consolidated into Scranton, Andy records a new ring tone for his cell phone—the old ditty “Rockin’ Robin” with Andy singing all four harmonic parts. A prank is thus formulated in which Jim steals the cell phone, pops open a ceiling tile in the break room and throws the device over the main portion of the office. Pam then secretly calls Andy’s cell phone, which rings in the ceiling. Jim later dials the number as well, which in turn adds to Andy’s growing frustration of not being able to find his phone. Jim then suggests that it might be in the ceiling, but this only makes the target of the prank angrier. When Jim calls yet again, Andy violently erupts and punches his hand through the wall.

The moral of the story is that while it may indeed be fun to play pranks on one’s office co-worker, just make sure you know the level of their mental stability before you do so.

Anthony Letizia (July 12, 2010)