The One Jim Prank From The Office That Actually Helped Dwight
There are so many things we know to be true about the employees of Dunder Mifflin on "The Office." Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) loves a cappella, Stanley Hudson (Leslie David Baker) loves Pretzel Day, and Angela Martin (Angela Kinsey) really loves cats. However, one love reigns supreme at the Scranton branch, and it's Jim Halpert's (John Krasinski) love of pranking Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson).
The back and forth between Jim and Dwight is absolutely priceless, with both Krasinski and Wilson nailing their roles. Jim's pranks begin in the first episode of the series when he puts Dwight's stapler in Jell-O. He serves his last prank in the finale when he tells Dwight — now his close friend — that he can no longer be his Bestest Mench at his wedding. He surprises him with a replacement, who happens to be Michael Scott (Steve Carell), who had left the series two seasons prior.
Dwight had to suffer from Jim's elaborate pranks that often made him look like a fool throughout nine long seasons. However, in Season 2, one of Jim's set-ups actually helped Dwight and made him look like a hero.
Jim's Season 2 prank backfired and made Dwight a superstar
In Season 2 Episode 17 ("Dwight's Speech"), Dwight is recognized as the Northeastern Pennsylvania Salesman of the Year and must give a speech at an association meeting. As part of his prank, Jim gives Dwight some pointers on how to give a good speech, claiming he majored in public speaking. He tells Dwight that his speech needs to be full of passion, suggesting he wave his arms and pound his fists on the podium.
Shortly after, in a talking head interview, Jim tells us that he didn't major in public speaking, but he did print off some speeches from famous dictators like Benito Mussolini. As Dwight goes to leave, Jim hands him some talking points he had written down. Once he gets to the meeting, Dwight panics and cannot get on stage, so Michael kills some time by delivering terrible jokes to an unimpressed crowd. Eventually, Dwight works up the courage and goes on stage and starts reading what Jim had written down for him word-for-word with passion.
We find out that Jim has written down excerpts of various Mussolini speeches and one from Vladimir Lenin. Dwight's speech has absolutely nothing to do with being a salesman, but he delivers each line as he pounds down on the podium and yells into the microphone, looking like a dictator himself. Surprisingly, the audience is taken with Dwight's speech, and they begin roaring in applause. He even gets them to repeat after him when he shouts, "it is together that we prevail!" Jim's prank completely backfires as Dwight comes out looking like a total superstar as he walks off the stage to more applause. Unfortunately, Jim never finds out about how well Dwight did and how his plan had the opposite effect of what he intended. You can't win them all, Jimbo.