today might have been the best day of my life

so many good things happened to me today, not the least of which was the premiere of new episodes of my favorite half hour shows: 30 rock and the office. i just watched them and laughed my pants off. please pardon me while i gush.



there is a fine line between discomfort and comedy. and i know that although many shows walk that line well (seinfeld, curb your enthusiasm, arrested development to name a few) i think that no show on tv right now masters the art of milking comedy from discomfort better than the office. and tonight's episode was one of the best.

picture this: our favorite couple jim and pam are tricked into attending a dinner party at their boss michael's condo, where they are subject to the dysfunctional -- yet hilarious -- antics of michael and his live-in freeloading girlfriend jan. the hilarity starts right off the bat, with michael and jan calling each other "babe" as they give jim and pam a tour of the condo, complete with jan's "workspace" where she makes scented candles (that smell awful if jim's face is any indication). they also witness a completely inappropriately placed camera in the bedroom. yuck.

throughout the night, it becomes obvious that as much as jan and michael fight and seemingly hate each other, they actually complement each other perfectly. at one point in the evening, jan puts on a cd and starts awkwardly dancing while everyone else looks on. who else but michael would ever do such a weird thing? the two of them have no censors or tact, and jim, pam and the other dinner party guests are subjected to the spectacle of it all. thankfully, we get to watch, too, without actually having to sit in that condo with them.

several times during the show i found myself cackling with laughter, particularly when the camera just lingered a little too long on jim's looks of sheer terror. at one point, jim takes a break from the night's horrible parlor games to visit the bathroom, where he confesses his own feelings of discomfort.

"michael and jan seem to be playing their own game, and its called 'lets see how uncomfortable we can make our guests,'" jim says. "and they're both winning."

michael consistently makes his employees uncomfortable, but very rarely does jan get to join in the fun. turns out, two michaels means twice the laughs. i'm all for it. bring on the jan, babe.