Recap / The Office USS 1 E 2 Diversity Day

Michael Scott's offensive recitation of Chris Rock's infamous "'N-words' vs. Black People" routine results in the Dunder Mifflin employees getting a racial tolerance seminar by Mr. Brown. Michael is sick of it and makes up his own.

Airdate: March 29, 2005

Tropes

• Asian Store-Owner: Michael pretends he is an Indian store owner to irritate Kelly Kapoor. He does, to his misfortune.
• Bitch Slap: Michael gets one from Kelly Kapoor as he antagonizes her by saying, "Try my googie-googie!"
• Captain Morgan Pose: Michael strikes this pose in the introductory video for his seminar at one point.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • A case where Michael actually gets the point, but comically misinterprets it in the most self-serving way possible.
    Michael: How come Chris Rock can do a routine and everybody finds it hilarious and groundbreaking and then I go and do the exact same routine, same comedic timing, and people file a complaint to Corporate? Is it because I’m white and Chris is black?
  • Dwight talking to Pam in the conference room exercise.
    Dwight: (wearing the ASIAN card on his head) OK, do me. Something stereotypical so I can get it really quick.
    Pam: OK, I like your food.
    Dwight: Outback Steakhouse. I’m Australian, mate!
    Michael: Pam, come on. “I like your food.” Come on, stir the pot! Stir the melting pot, Pam! Let’s do it. Let’s get ugly. Let’s get real.
    Pam: OK. If I have to do this, based on stereotypes that are totally untrue, that I do not agree with, you would maybe not be a very good driver.
    Dwight: (disappointed) Oh man! Am I a woman?
• Censored for Comedy: The little bit where we see Michael re-enact the Chris Rock routine (complete with an over-the-top Rock impersonation) is loudly bleeped with pixellation on Michael's mouth.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • Kelly's first appearance has her dressed a lot more conservatively and not exhibiting her bubbly person. Word of God is that she was recently hired and trying to make a good impression.
  • Toby is told to get out of the meeting and treated rudely by Michael- but only after he joked about sitting Indian style on the floor and Michael got mad at him for not taking his meeting seriously. This interaction became the basis for their later relationship, though.
  • Also, it is unclear whether Toby has been established as an HR rep working for corporate at this point. Toby from season 2 onwards would be more likely to first take Michael aside and try to convince him to not have his own "sensitivity training", and then after Michael organizes it anyway, not attend.
  • Michael is still a bit of a David Brent-ish Jerkass here, but this episode went a long way toward defining his own unique dysfunctional traits, like his complete lack of self-awareness, his tendency to not think things through before he tries something, and the way he makes a situation worse even when his intentions are good.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Michael kicking Toby out of the conference room set the stage for their dynamic together throughout the series (Michael treating him as a Sitcom Archnemesis and Toby being an Extreme Doormat).
  • Kevin continuing to wear the ITALIAN card on his forehead and saying "maybe some-a spaghetti" even after Michael calls off the exercise, showing that he's not the brightest guy in the office.
• Fun with Acronyms: The acronym for racial tolerance is HERO or Honesty Empathy Respect and Open-mindedness. In a deleted scene, Michael tries to devise another acronym but it inadvertently ends up as INCEST (which Pam points out on Confession Cam could easily have been changed to INSECT, but it wouldn't have made any more sense).
• Innocent Bigot: When Michael wants to show how tolerant he is, he manages to come across as even more demeaning, like when he assumes that the diversity rep is somehow "testing" him by asking to be called Mr. Brown (when it's his real name), and asking Oscar "is there a term besides Mexican that you prefer? Something less offensive?"
• N-Word Privileges: The episode centers around Michael assuming that because Chris Rock said the word in a comedy routine, he has these privileges by extension when he recites it. In a bit of Exposition to present the gist of the Rock routine for viewers who might not be familiar with it, without using the word, Michael's request to re-enact the routine is turned down in favor of Kevin summarizing it a sanitized, mild manner.
• Second Episode Introduction: Toby Flenderson and Kelly Kapoor, played by writers Paul Lieberstein and Mindy Kaling, appear here for the first time, and become recurring characters in following episodes.

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