Even without words, The Office has one of the most instantly recognizable theme songs in television history, but have you ever wondered what it would have sounded like with lyrics? While hosting the newest episode of Saturday Night Live this weekend, John Krasinski satisfied that curiosity by singing the “long-lost lyrics” to the original Office theme song, which he “wrote himself.” The sketch is rather amusing for fans of The Office, and people are sharing the footage on social media.
“Scranton, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton, Scranton,” Krasinski sings to the opening notes of the song.
The rest of the theme goes, “That’s where we all live and work. That’s a calculator. There’s Dwight, he’s the bad guy. And the hero’s name is Jim. Highlighting! That’s his girlfriend (Pam). That guy (Ryan) is on the phone. Tie flip! Then there’s me again. Then Carell does the trophy thing. The Office!”
In his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live, Krasinski joked more about the show. While trying to speak to the audience, SNL cast members playing fans of The Office continuously disrupted his monologue, unwilling to let the actor move away from his role as Jim Halpert. This includes Alex Moffat pointing out that Krasinski plays Jim on the series, and asks him to “do The Office” and “where’s Pam?”
Also interrupting the monologue, Ego Nwodim also tells Krasinski to stop working out, because “Jim is soft” from sitting all day and shouldn’t be in such good shape. Another fan played by Kenan Thompson demans Krasinski “kiss Pam,” prompting Krasinski to explain that Jim and Pam are fictional characters who aren’t married in real life. By the end of the segment, Krasinski ends up kissing Pete Davidson on the stage with the SNL cast member standing in for Jenna Fischer.
John Krasinski has found great success since moving on from The Office, taking on much more serious roles. He plays the title character in the spy thriller series Jack Ryan, which is about as far away from a 9-to-5 paper salesman as you can get. He also co-wrote, directed, and starred in the hit 2018 horror movie A Quiet Place alongside his wife Emily Blunt, and he directed the upcoming sequel as well.
Still, it’s nice to see that Krasinski still has love for The Office and Jim Halpert. As for whether we’ll ever actually see him back in the role again remains to be seen. Series creator Greg Daniels has said that he’s open to filming new episodes with the original cast, which would hypothetically be set during the earlier years of the show when Jim and Pam were still working at Dunder Mifflin. Krasinski has also said that he’d be up for reprising the role if a reunion special or something similar were to happen.
“The Office was absolutely everything to me,” Krasinski told Esquire last year. “I mean it is my beginning and my end. I’m pretty sure at the end of my career I’ll still be known for Jim. That was my first experience with Hollywood. It was the first creative family I’ve ever had. In many ways, they will always be the most important people in that most important experience in my career. So yeah, if they did a reunion, I would absolutely love to do it.”
Every episode of both The Office and Saturday Night Live are currently streaming on Peacock.