Who is Michael Scott in The Office?

Show

The Office

Played by

Steve Carell

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired March 24, 2005

Role

Lead

Network

NBC

Occupation

Regional manager, Dunder Mifflin Scranton

Show run

2005 to 2013

Also known as

Michael Gary Scott, Prison Mike, Date Mike

Michael Scott runs the Scranton branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and is sure he is the funniest, best-loved boss in America. Played by Steve Carell, he is often cringeworthy and sometimes unexpectedly wise, and his search for love and approval drives the first seven seasons of The Office.

On The Office, Michael Scott's story runs through Holly Flax (Wife), Jan Levinson (Ex-girlfriend), Dwight Schrute (Number two), Jim Halpert (Salesman), Pam Beesly (Receptionist), and Toby Flenderson (Nemesis).

Who is Michael Scott?

Michael is the regional manager of Dunder Mifflin's branch in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He started out as a salesman, and he is genuinely gifted at it, but as a manager he spends his days staging meetings, pranks, and performances for an audience that mostly wants to get back to work. The documentary crew filming the office gives him the spotlight he has always wanted.

He treats his staff as family because, for long stretches, they are the closest thing he has to one. That need for affection makes him tactless, petty, and childish, and it also makes him fiercely loyal. When an employee is in real trouble, Michael is often the first to show up.

Personality and comedy

Much of Michael's comedy comes from the gap between how he sees himself and how everyone else sees him. He believes he is a gifted improviser, a sensitive mentor, and a natural leader, and he will explain all of this to the camera while the room behind him winces. His running "That's what she said" joke, his celebrity impressions, and his habit of making every meeting about himself became signatures of the show.

The writers softened him after the first season, which followed the British original closely. From season two on, Michael is still oblivious, but he is also kinder and more vulnerable, and the show lets him win often enough that viewers root for him.

Key storylines

Early on, Michael's love life centers on Jan Levinson, his boss at corporate. Their relationship begins after a client dinner and turns into a tense, unhappy shared life in Jan's condo, which comes apart at a famously uncomfortable dinner party.

In season five, after clashing with a new corporate vice president, Michael quits and starts the Michael Scott Paper Company out of a cramped office park with Pam and Ryan. The tiny business steals enough clients that Dunder Mifflin buys it back, and Michael negotiates his old job back as part of the deal. It is one of the clearest examples of his sales talent.

The great love of his life is Holly Flax, the HR representative who arrives to replace Toby and shares his goofy sense of humor. After a long separation, Holly returns to Scranton in season seven, and Michael proposes in an elaborate candlelit surprise in the office.

Leaving Scranton and legacy

Michael leaves Dunder Mifflin late in season seven to move to Colorado with Holly. In "Goodbye, Michael," he spends his final day saying private farewells without telling most of the staff he is leaving for good, then slips away to the airport. Steve Carell's departure reshaped the rest of the series, and Michael returns only once more, as Dwight's best man in the finale.

Michael Scott is widely regarded as one of the great sitcom characters of the 2000s. Carell received several Emmy nominations for the role, and the character's quotes, mugs, and Dundie awards remain fixtures of internet culture long after the show ended.

Michael Scott: frequently asked questions

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