The Funniest Sitcom Cold Open Is More Than a Meme

No sitcom cold open will ever top The Office’s fire drill cold open. The sequence kicked off the two-part Season 5 episode titled “Stress Relief,” which would become the series most watched episode by a landslide. Creator Greg Daniels and the writers at the show pulled out all the stops to make sure it would be a scene audiences would never forget, and it’s pretty safe to say they succeeded. The pandemonium of the scene blossomed into a timeless moment of television, branching off into an infinite number of memes. Leaving fans with a motherload of iconic lines, from “The fire’s shooting at us!” to “You are Black, Stanley,” the fire drill cold open has solidified its place in sitcom history.

What Happened in ‘The Office’s Fire Drill Cold Open?

Sour that no one has been paying his safety seminars any mind, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) creates a simulated building fire to test his coworkers’ emergency preparedness. After setting the mousetrap, so to speak, he nudges them to notice a billowing cloud of smoke coming from under a door. But what starts as a reasonable alarm from office members rapidly escalates to a frenzy of desperate panic across the entire office. At first, the group tries to heed Dwight’s strategically scripted advice, but when they discover their exits aren’t safe, everyone takes matters into their own hands to escape. Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) immediately starts looting the vending machine. Michael (Steve Carell) busts open a window with an overhead projector to call for help. Some of the men try ramming the doors open with the copier, a cameraman is trampled (which was actually unplanned), and cats and Oscars (Oscar Nuñez) fall through the ceiling. All the while, Dwight pedantically recites methods that might be useful if everyone would simply remain calm. Finally, Dwight sounds an airhorn announcing that it’s all been a training simulation, to which Stanley (Leslie David Baker) responds by collapsing from a heart attack.

People say the darndest things out of distress during this fire drill. “Don’t run,” Michael shouts after his scampering employees. “Leave it, woman,” Stanley cries to Phyllis (Phyllis Smith), who left her purse unattended. Dwight, with the most composure in the room, adds, “Have you ever seen a burn victim?” Angela (Angela Kinsey) hastily informs Oscar, “I only weigh 82 pounds!” Poor Michael lets out a resounding “Help!” from the conference room window. At the end, Dwight annoyedly says to an actively collapsing Stanley, “Don’t have a heart attack.”

Even though the situation called for a group effort from the Office ensemble, the fire drill was a certified “elevator test” for individual characters. What would these beloved, distinct characters do in a crisis? Everyone’s priorities became clear as soon as Michael instructed, “Everyone for himself.” The most rational members lost all reason and composure, while the less logically oriented characters were driven to their least majestic moments as individuals. For fans familiar with the characters by this point in the season, it was an entirely entertaining mess. For viewers who had never seen the show until this episode, the fire drill made for an impressive introduction.

The Fire Drill Cold Open on ‘The Office’ Was Built To Be Unforgettable

NBC had slotted The Office as the follow-up broadcast to the February 1, 2009, Super Bowl XLIII. The Office producers took advantage of the fact that viewers would be riding the coattails of the 43rd Super Bowl – the most popular event in television out of the whole year – and they crafted something truly unforgettable that would set up the hour-long story to follow. Opening credits were even elongated to recognize supporting cast members instead of only the leading stars of the series. Then, in their fifth season, they needed something to hook new viewers into the show, something fresh for seasoned fans, and a scene so unbridled it would almost be blasphemy to change the channel. “Stress Relief” became the most watched episode in Office history, raking in 22.9 million views the day the episode aired, doubling their viewership for any episode prior (the Pilot coming in at 11.2 million) and remaining on top of all those to follow in its time.

For the chaos of the scene to pay off, the sequence had to be executed carefully (more or less), which meant planning, rehearsal, and a lot of continuity checks. Special effects coordinators, safety officers, and a fire marshal were present during the shoot to ensure that the practical effects of taking a blowtorch to door handles and setting a trash can ablaze with a cigarette were monitored. Shooting the cold open took much longer than usual, lasting a full day on December 11, 2008. Stunt performers (and cat doubles) were brought in to sell Oscar’s ceiling flop and the iconic “Save Bandit!” bit. Altogether, this was one of the most elaborately written and deliberately performed cold opens in the show’s repertoire.

The Office is available to stream on Peacock in the U.S.

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