Diversity Day

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The Office episode
"Diversity Day"

Michael takes a question from Dwight on "Diversity Day".
Episode No. 2
Prod. Code 101
Airdate March 29, 2005
Writer(s) B.J. Novak
Director Ken Kwapis
Guest star(s) Larry Wilmore

The Office Season 1
March 2005 - April 2005
  1. Pilot
  2. Diversity Day
  3. Health Care
  4. The Alliance
  5. Basketball
  6. Hot Girl
List of all The Office episodes...
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"Diversity Day" is the second episode of the first season of The Office (U.S. version). It was written by B.J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis. It first aired on March 29, 2005.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

After a controversial retelling of a famous Chris Rock stand-up routine, Michael and the rest of Dunder-Mifflin Scranton are subjected to a Diversity seminar from corporate. However, the actual assembly helps the situation very little, and Michael takes matters into his own hands.

Under the name Diversity Tomorrow, Michael attempts to work out racial issues in his own way. He assigns each member of the office an index card with a race or religion on it, causing tempers to slowly simmer until they finally snap.

Meanwhile, Jim desperately tries to close on an important annual sale that makes up about 25% of his commission. He even buys a miniature bottle of champagne to celebrate the occasion. In the midst of the chaos of the day, it is Dwight who rings up the sale for himself. Despite the disappointment, when Pam falls asleep on Jim's shoulder at the end of the day, he concludes that it was "not a bad day."

[edit] Deleted scenes

The Season One DVD contains a number of deleted scenes from this episode. Notable cut scenes include:

  • At the meeting, Michael and Mr. Brown discuss erasing racism.
  • At the meeting, Michael creates his own acronym for sensitivity, which spells I.N.C.E.S.T.. After Pam exposes his gaffe, he tries to explain how the term works in context.
  • Ryan gets kicked out of the meeting for sharing what Michael sees as irrelevant information.
  • In a talking head interview, Pam begins, "Yeah, there's good things about Michael," but can't think of an example.
  • Extension of the talking head interview where Michael reveals that he signed "Daffy Duck" to the pledge.
  • Jim helps Pam play computer solitaire, but Dwight tries to stop them as the game should only be played alone.
  • Dwight films Michael's sensitivity video.
  • Michael runs the diversity exercise. In a talking head interview, Michael talks about his political accomplishments as if he were Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • Devon ("West Nile") smokes alone on the balcony.
  • Jim changes Dwight's forehead card from "Asian" to "Dwight", and Dwight still tries to guess what he is.
  • Extended scene of reactions after Kelly slaps Michael.

[edit] Trivia

  • Originally, producer Greg Daniels wasn't sure where to use Mindy Kaling on screen in the series until the point came in this episode's script when Michael needed to be slapped by a minority. "Since then, I've been on the show," Kaling says.[1]
  • Daniels loves the scene where Pam falls asleep on Jim's shoulder.[2]
  • Larry Wilmore, who plays the sensitivity trainer Mr. Brown, is actually a writer for the show. At the table-read for this show, they hadn't cast the part yet and Daniels just had Wilmore read for the role to fill in. After the read, Daniels thought he was perfect for the role.[3] However, because of stipulations with the Screen Actors Guild, producers still had to have Wilmore formally audition with other actors for the role.[4]
  • Michael's attempts to upstage Brown echoes David's treatment of a visiting consultant in Episode Four, Series One of the British Office.
  • The diversity training company's name (and Michael's response to it) went through a number of changes before Diversity Today was settled on, because the names they chose turned out to be names of real companies. Names they tried included Diversity 360 (Michael: Diversity 365), Diversity 2000 (Michael: Diversity 3000).[4][5]
  • The routine Michael imitates is "Niggas vs. Black People" from Chris Rock's 1996 HBO special Bring the Pain.[5]
  • Michael's diversity exercise with the index cards is similar to one sometimes done in actual diversity-training programs.
  • This episode was nominated for the Writers Guild of America Award for "Best Episodic Comedy".
  • These are the roles played by the Dunder Mifflin employees in Michael's diversity exercise:
Character Race/nationality
Michael Martin Luther King Jr.
Dwight Asian (also "Dwight" in a deleted scene)
Stanley Black
Angela Jamaican
Kevin Italian
Meredith Brazilian
Pam Jewish
Oscar Eskimo
Devon West Nile (deleted scene)
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about future episodes follow.
  • Wilmore would appear as Mr. Brown once again in the season three episode "Gay Witch Hunt", giving the Stamford branch the Diversity Today sensitivity training; it is implied that the Stamford branch had to sit through it because of events in Scranton.
  • B.J. Novak's character references The Chappelle Show in the episode, talking of a cute character in a sketch. In reality, Rashida Jones - future Office cast member "Karen" from the Stamford Branch - appeared in an episode of Chappelle's Show, in which she was asked by Dave Chappelle to sign the "Love Contract," and later, the "Confidentiality Agreement."
Spoilers end here.

[edit] Expletives

Due to the strong language, part of the Chris Rock routine is bleeped in the episode.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details about future episodes follow.

Other episodes where words have been bleeped:

  • In "Gay Witch Hunt", Michael misstates the name of the program Queer as Folk as "Queer as —".
  • In "A Benihana Christmas", Michael utters an expletive when he rides his bicycle into a potted plant.
  • In "Phyllis' Wedding", Michael utters an expletive after Phyllis's father stands and walks down the aisle during her wedding, taking the spotlight off his wheelchair valet.
  • In a deleted scene from "Business School", Meredith tells a dirty joke that is nearly entirely bleeped out.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Wolk, Josh. "The Drudge Report: A Visit With 7 More 'Office' Mates." Entertainment Weekly February 24, 2006: 24-25.
  2. ^ Ryan, Maureen (February 23, 2006). "'Office' promotions pay off in a big way", Chicago Tribune
  3. ^ Carell, Steve (Actor). 2005. "Diversity Day" [Commentary track], The Office Season One (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.
  4. ^ a b Daniels, Greg (Producer). 2005. "Diversity Day" [Commentary track], The Office Season One (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.
  5. ^ a b Novak, B.J. (Actor). 2005. "Diversity Day" [Commentary track], The Office Season One (US/NBC Version) [DVD], Los Angeles, CA: Universal.

[edit] External links

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