Diversity Day (The Office)
| "Diversity Day" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 2 |
| Directed by | Ken Kwapis |
| Written by | B. J. Novak |
| Production code | 1002 |
| Original air date | March 29, 2005 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
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"Diversity Day" is the second episode of the first season of the American comedy television series The Office, and the show's second episode overall. Written by B. J. Novak and directed by Ken Kwapis, it first aired in the United States on March 29, 2005, on NBC. The episode guest stars Office consulting producer Larry Wilmore as Mr. Brown.
In this episode, Michael's (Steve Carell) controversial imitation of a Chris Rock routine forces the staff to undergo a racial diversity seminar. A consultant (Larry Wilmore) arrives to teach the staff about tolerance and diversity, but Michael insists on imparting his own knowledge—aggravating both the consultant and the entire office staff—and creates his own diversity seminar. He eventually assigns each staff member an index card with a different race on it, causing tempers to slowly simmer until they finally snap. Meanwhile, Jim struggles to keep hold of a lucrative contract extension, but Dwight makes the sale for himself.
"Diversity Day" was the first episode of The Office to feature original writing, as the "Pilot" contained many jokes from the British series pilot. The episode guest starred Larry Wilmore, who plays the sensitivity trainer Mr. Brown. Wilmore, a writer for the show, had to formally audition with other actors because of stipulations with the Screen Actors Guild. The episode received a 2.7/6 in the Nielsen ratings among people aged 18–49 garnered 6.0 million viewers overall, losing almost half of its audience from the previous week. Despite this setback, the episode received positive reviews from television critics. NBC webcast this episode on March 16, 2005 on MySpace to promote the show's then-upcoming premiere. This was NBC's first-ever online debut of a complete episode of a network series, and also included a trimmed-down webisode version of the episode for on-demand viewing on MySpace the following day.
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