Steve Carell's Favorite Episode Of The Office Is A Fan-Favorite

More than a decade later, the American remake of "The Office" endures thanks to its popularity on streaming services, the vast amount of memes and GIFs from the show you can find, and the upcoming spin-off about a Midwestern newspaper set in the world of the show and featuring (at least) Oscar Nunez as his character from Dunder-Mifflin Scranton. Add to that the "Office Ladies" podcast, hosted by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, and the idea of people within the show having preferred episodes makes a lot of sense. Although some people can debate the quality of the show's final two seasons, it's at least safe to say that when Steve Carell departed near the end of its seventh season to pursue his film career and leave the star-making role of Michael Scott behind, the show changed quite a lot. 

Carell, as you might expect, has a personal favorite episode of the show from his tenure as the paper-company boss. The episode in question, "A Benihana Christmas," is a notable installment for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's more than mildly controversial nearly twenty years after it aired on NBC. What's more, the episode boasted a pretty amazing director behind the camera and also marked a serious first for the show and its long-term future. 

There was once a time that "The Office" seemed fated to be a failure. Hard to believe if you didn't live through the show's run starting in the spring of 2005, but it's true. The first episode, in particular, was not well-received by audiences or critics; though the show's American showrunner Greg Daniels was trying to respect the British series by essentially copying it word for word in the pilot episode, the style of pitch-black humor from British creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant didn't translate well, and Carell's take on Michael Scott was so noxious as to be off-putting. A number of outside factors helped change the show's trajectory, from the smash hit "The 40-Year Old Virgin," which arrived in theaters between the show's first and second seasons and helped audiences accept Carell in a nicer role, to the advent of video iPods, one of which was featured heavily in the series' first Christmas episode.

"A Benihana Christmas" was the second Christmas episode for "The Office," and it's notable for a couple reasons. First, the episode was directed by former Ghostbuster and comedy icon Harold Ramis; and second, it was the series' first hour-long installment. Both of these speak to how quickly "The Office" had turned around its own fortunes, from downbeat flop to crowd-pleasing hit (to the point that the second season won the Best Comedy Series Emmy). And "A Benihana Christmas" is more than just a flashy episode with a big-name director, but a key driver in the show's character arcs. 

When the episode begins, Michael is prepared to bring his realtor girlfriend Carol (Carell's real-life wife Nancy Carell) to Beaches in Jamaica, only for her to break up with him for being too insensitive. He soon drags Jim Halpert, Dwight Schrute, and Andy Bernard to the famous restaurant chain Benihana for an extended business lunch, which leads to him and Andy bringing back two waitresses as their dates. But because Michael is Michael, he doesn't realize A) that the waitresses he and Andy have brought to the office are not the waitresses who served them and B) which of the waitresses is "his" date, making him mark one of them to help him out. For Michael, the episode concludes with him, on a whim, inviting his boss Jan (Melora Hardin) to Beaches and being shocked that she agrees, starting a hilariously damaging romance for the two over the next few seasons.

That last bit — the jaw-dropping, awkward, yet funny moment in which Michael has to mark his date because he can't tell the two waitresses apart due to their nationality — is part of why Carell loves the episode so much. As he shared in a 2015 Screen Actors Guild Foundation interview (roughly 56 minutes into the broader retrospective of his filmography), when posed with the question of what his favorite episode was and why, Carell notes "the grossest thing," referring to Michael marking his date. "The Office," even once it became more popular, thrived on cringe humor, as in the infamous "Scott's Tots" episode where Michael has to reveal to teenagers that the promise he made to them as little kids about paying their way to college is one he has to break. So it tracks that one of the standouts here for Carell wouldn't be a more heartwarming episode, but something with a bit more edge and bite to it. It's also telling that Carell follows up his comment about "A Benihana Christmas" with an explanation of "the specific ability" actors had to have in interacting with the faux-documentary crew, speaking to how carefully the show built that aspect of the show up over nearly a decade.

After nine seasons and 201 episodes, "The Office" continues to have a huge hold on audiences. It didn't just spawn shows like "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" or "St. Denis Medical" or "Superstore," but it offered something for just about everyone. For Carell and other fans, what may stand the test of time are the more uncomfortable moments or episodes, instead of the sweet moments with characters like Jim and Pam. Moreover, getting the chance to work with a comedy legend would stand out to most fans of the genre, too, so it makes sense that "A Benihana Christmas," even though it features a moment that likely couldn't pass the smell test today if it was part of a network TV show, is Steve Carell's favorite.