Luke Lukert | llukert@wtop.com

Have you ever dreamed about having Dwight Schrute as a co-worker or spending as much time at reception as Jim has? While those dreams may never really come true, you can get close with a new experience in downtown D.C. based on the hit sitcom.

“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy. Both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me,” said the character Michael Scott famously during season three of The Office. 

His wish was granted it is scary how much people love the nearly 20-year-old sitcom.

In 2020 it America logged 57 billion minutes of viewing the show (it was pulled from Netflix in 2021). The show premiered in 2005.

That long-time and rabid fan base gave birth to The Office Experience. 

“I think this is one of those shows where it’s real relatable characters. We all have a quirky co-worker or have had one at some point in our career. So I think that we’re all entertained by that,” said Stacy Moscatelli with the Experience. 

It includes a nearly exact recreation of the titular set, complete with Michael’s office, Pam’s desk and even the annex where the humdrum HR rep, Toby, works. 

Avid fans will have the chance to live out the fantasies of working for the mild-mannered paper company, Dunder Mifflin, and get plenty of photo ops. Dwight’s desk comes complete with his stapler in Jello, and you can sit behind Michael’s desk holding the “World’s Best Boss” mug (and like him, you can buy yourself one in the gift shop.)

Beyond just the single set, The Office Experience lays out some of the show’s most iconic moments. 

Moscatelli said the fans had input. 

“They felt like beach day was just a really big episode so much happened. There are so many celebrated moments and quotes from that episode alone. So that came up a lot. Kevin’s chili spill. I mean, even people who’ve never watched the show know about Kevin spilling the chili.”

Scattered throughout the exhibits are actual props that were used on the show, from Dwight’s mustard colored shirts to Kevin’s pet turtle that he tried to rebuild after running it over. 

And what Office visit is complete without a peak at the warehouse, where the employees played basketball and learned that Stanley was not the secret weapon. This warehouse has been turned into a retail shop where you can get your Dunder Mifflin paraphernalia and even a windshield sunshade with a picture of Meredith colliding into Michael’s car.  

And as any Office fan knows, holidays are extremely important to celebrate, especially Halloween and Christmas. 

“We obviously have a really strong party planning committee,” said Moscatelli. 

Let’s just hope Angela is not heading it up. 

“We’ll definitely have some holiday moments. We’ll have some special programming. We might have some special guests along the way— we’ve got big plans for D.C.,” Moscatelli told WTOP. 

The Office Experience runs until Jan. 16.

Since joining WTOP Luke Lukert has held just about every job in the newsroom from producer to web writer and now he works as a full-time reporter. He is an avid fan of UGA football. Go Dawgs!

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