Nothing about Andy is supposed to be directly entertaining. He creates entertaining situations by giving the other characters something to bounce off of. He's also not at all over the top -- he's the workplace psycho, and the actor is pulling it off well.

There was a scene early on of Michael arriving at work and he couldn't get the top to go back up. Then, if you recall, in the background windows during the episode you could see snow falling, plus there was the conversation between Dwight and his coworker at Staples about how bad the roads were going to be on the drive home. When Michael is leaving the office to get Dwight, as he arrives at his car he (and we) see that it snowed about 6 to 8 inches that day. The disheveled look can certainly be inferred from the drive he took once he shoveled out his car.

"Each file is password-protected with a different mythical creature." <-- I loved that bit. Classic Dwight!

Oh, I get this fine. Like Ryan, I graduated from a temp position to a full time office job where I work now. And even though I'm not exactly happy in my job and it's not where I saw my life going, I don't act like I'm better than my position or my co-workers like he does (check his flip "Ask me ten years ago." line from last night).
I guess after running into too many "Ryans" at work, it gets kinda grating to see one on TV.

In the extended producers cut:

The biggest laugh is in the Producer's Cut, involving Creed. Hilarious.

Does all that producers cut stuff make it onto the dvds? I haven't bought any yet, but I would assume so.

Didn't he also end it with "it's your funeral"?

Ryan's "Why don't you ask me 10 years ago?" - I know I've worked with that kinda guy. That's the purpose he serves, to be that guy.

I thought the Karen/Jim convo came too quick. Jim & Pam pulled a prank and, unless I missed it, they didn't really have a "moment". Y'know, where their hands touched or an awkward glance that Karen should have reacted in that way to. Sure, they were comfortable with each other, buth they've known each other for years. I thought they acted like 2 old friends who were having a good time with their prank. No big deal.

Of course he went to Cornell. He was a member of Here Comes Treble.

When Jim passed Pam the cell phone, they were walking past Karen and she definitely noticed. The impression I got though was that she didn't know about the cell phone prank and just saw them touching hands on the sly and mistook that for something else.

I just watched the entire producer's cut and I wish NBC would have aired it in it's entirety last night. Bump 30 Rock off and have super-sized episodes of MNIE, The Office and Scrubs!

Yes, that is very true as well. He got sloshed, slept there and made sure Jim was drunk as heck too. I think that may have just been his answer to the mundane task of inventory though, get trashed while Karen does the actual work. I could completely see some type of tradition like that starting w/ their old boss Josh.

I would assume so, as well.

Ryan pisses me off because he apparently thinks having a Treo (where he has his excuses to get out of the Benihana trip) or going to b-school (numerous references) is going to further him in his career more than selling paper, which he utterly sucks at (from what we've seen).

Yes, in the form of deleted scenes. It would be nice to either have them integrated back into the episodes, or have an original/extended edition option for each ep.

too much shilling for Staples. first the shredder (and ad for Staples) and now having Dwight work at Staples. I realize they're in a paper company and all that but it almost seems as if Staples has a hand in this. thoughts?

The problem with that is that 30 Rock is at this point either the funniest or second funniest of the shows. I couldn't support this at all. Now, if you wanted to air the 4 shows during the whole 3 hour prime time block with some extra content added in to make it work out, I can go for it.

On iTunes, all of the extended cut versions are available for purchase.

I thought this episode was hilarious. My favorite scene was probably Andy's snap and subsequent "That was an overreaction" comment. Everyone's reactions were hysterical. It reminded me of his other snap which we witnessed while he and Jim were still in Stamford and Andy's calculator ended up in jello.

I'm just hoping they have a play all button for the extras this year.

haha...mine too. "uh...that was an overreaction." haha

Didn't bother me. Perhaps I've just gotten used to such product/company insertions in tv/movies. But did you find the Staples usage more overt than such others as Chili's, Benihana, Hooters, the video iPod, the Seabring, et cetera? Heck, you could even include having Creed Bratton sing one of his own songs on karaoke durring the Christmas show this year.

Plus in the ep last night having Dwigt end up at Staples after the montage of him going out on interviews was pretty funny.

Possibly, but we already have the characters of Michael and Dwight to create that dynamic. Andy is just plain overkill.

^ Don't forget getting the Hammermill deal. That was pretty blatant as well.

Andy turns the Michael/Dwight dynamic on its head, allowing Michael to be the guy recoiling in horror at how little self awareness somebody has and allowing Dwight to seem to Jim like a half-decent guy. Changing things up like this is how you keep a show from going stale. They can't go to Chili's 5 times a season.