Rainn Wilson, forever tied to our collective memory as Dwight Schrute from The Office, took to The Last Laugh podcast to reflect on the legacy of the show—and boy, did he have thoughts.
Like so many other liberal Hollywood actors trying to appease the ultra-woke crowds of the present day, Wilson declared the show was “racist and insensitive.”
Wilson singled out as a prime offender “A Benihana Christmas," the infamous scene where Michael and Andy mark one of two Asian waitresses brought back to the office with a Sharpie just to tell them apart.
According to Wilson, that bit was "shockingly horrific" and emblematic of how far the show was willing to go. He described characters like Michael, Dwight, Andy, and even Kevin as "oblivious, insensitive, and often prejudiced"—and made it clear this was deliberate, a mirror to certain American realities.
But here’s the part Wilson just doesn’t quite grasp: that was the joke.
The show’s humor was rooted in cringeworthy awkwardness—using characters so oblivious and tone deaf that their behavior became parody. The audience was always supposed to laugh at their ignorance, not with it.
That’s not racist—unless you’re determined to view all comedy through a 2025 woke filter. The fact that people are even asking if The Office could be made today is not only sad, but shows how the left is destroying comedy and limiting creativity.
ICYMI: Yes, the Left Is Evil, and We Have Receipts
Wilson himself admits things have changed. He called this brand of humor "a tricky conversation,” admitting The Office would have to be "very, very different" if anyone dared revive it now. That’s exactly what's wrong with comedy in the current era: everyone is so terrified of being labeled, shamed, or canceled that they shy away from the biting, uncomfortable laughter that made shows like The Office legendary. The writers poked at real flaws in the American character—not to endorse them, but to expose and ridicule them. Now, it seems, a bunch of people want apologies for old jokes no one blinked at fifteen years ago.
Instead of standing by the satire that made "The Office" a cultural watershed, we get the same tired ritual: an actor goes on a podcast, wrings his hands, and genuflects before the altar of wokeness. Wilson isn’t alone in this—Hollywood is overrun with performers eager to atone for decades-old punchlines. They’re responding to a cultural moment where manufactured outrage and career self-preservation outweigh any defense of artistic intent.
Meanwhile, NBC and Peacock are trying to cash in with The Paper, an earnest spinoff in the same mockmentary format as The Office. It never looked great to me, but I watched a couple episodes out of curiosity, and it’s obvious that the new show just doesn’t have that sharp, human-chaos spark that made The Office a phenomenon.
The Paper tries to recapture the magic but delivers safe, bland comedy, with a painfully forced multicultural cast and jokes afraid to push boundaries or hold up that uncomfortable mirror. It’s all the more striking when you remember how daring and, yes, sometimes shocking The Office was—exactly because it trusted its audience to get the joke. Instead of running from the comedy’s edge, maybe it’s time to remember why that edge mattered in the first place.
When Hollywood bows to the outrage machine, comedy—and America—loses its edge. PJ Media isn't afraid to tell the truth about cultural decay the MSM refuses to cover. Get unfiltered analysis, ad-free, by joining PJ Media VIP. Use code FIGHT for 60% off. Support journalism that refuses to apologize!