The Moment In The Office That Genuinely Shocked Steve Carell

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The U.S. version of the British series "The Office" brought nine seasons of laughs to millions of viewers, but one particular episode brought on the tears as well. Michael Scott, manager of Dunder Mifflin's Scranton branch, wasn't one of "The Office" characters to appear in every episode; Steve Carell, who brought the character to life, left after Season 7. His sendoff in the episode "Goodbye, Michael" featured a final staff meeting in the conference room, not to mention a surprise that shocked Carell.

As seen on YouTube, Michael gives Andy Bernard the final Dundee Award of the year, after which Andy leads the staff in a rendition of "Seasons of Love" from the musical "Rent," with the lyrics slightly altered. ("Nine million, nine hundred-eighty-six thousand minutes/We actually sat down and did the math.") By the time everyone is on their feet harmonizing "Remember to call," loyal viewers have already been reduced to a puddle.

As for Carell himself, his brimming eyes said it all — but this was no act. As real-life best friends Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey revealed in their book, "Office BFFs: Tales of The Office From Two Best Friends Who Were There," the show's writers had the cast rehearse the number without Carell's knowledge. "People often ask if Steve knew we were going to sing to him, because the emotion on his face is so genuine," Fischer wrote (via Screen Rant). "We'd all been given the lyrics and practiced the song in secret. Steve told me that as he was being led into the conference room, he knew something was up. But he did not know we were going to sing, and the whole thing was very moving."

John Krasinski has admitted that filming Jim and Pam's iconic kiss scene in "The Office" was "insane," as he told co-stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey on their "Office Ladies" podcast. However, even that paled in comparison to working on the "Goodbye, Michael" episode. Fans will recall that the normally spotlight-seeking Michael leaves Scranton for Colorado a day earlier than expected, to avoid having big emotional scenes with his colleagues. Perceptive Jim figures it out and stops by Michael's office to thank him for being a good boss.

Krasinski recounted that day in an interview with Capital Radio (per TikTok), explaining that the scene was shot on Steve Carell's last day on the set. "And we went in there, and we looked at each other, and it was this weird moment where we knew the reality of what we were doing. We were going to pretend to say goodbye when we were really saying goodbye," he said. "And it took 17 takes before a word was uttered, because they'd go, 'And action!', and we'd go [crying noise]. It was just so much emotion, and I think it was 17 or 19 takes before we even got a word out." As for the "obliterating" conference room singing scene, Krasinski confirmed that it was kept secret from Carell right up until the cameras rolled.

During his own time as a guest on "Office Ladies," Carell also cited "Goodbye, Michael" as one of his favorite episodes: "It was that — the culmination, the sort of showing the growth that he didn't need the big sendoff," the actor recalled. "He didn't need the big party. He could say goodbye to all of his friends on his own terms without any of the ... fanfare."