While there may be more central characters to the beloved series, The Office, no one can capture a befuddled laugh like Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling), the customer service representative. While Kelly may seem emotionally on edge at all times, she ironically has moments of lucid competence at her job, which is what makes her so charming. Kelly’s mix of extreme drama in the grounded reality of a boring office is what makes her hilarity a standout.
This list will explore the top seven moments when Kelly was her most over-the-top, authentic self.
1. "How Dare You?" (Season 4, Episode 11)
You cannot describe the character Kelly Kapoor without mentioning her on-again, off-again, toxic boyfriend Ryan “the temp” Howard (B.J. Novak). When Ryan returns to the office newly in charge, Kelly asks the one question that sums up her whole character and their relationship — “How dare you?” It was the statement disguised as a question heard round the world, as every person who has ever “dipped their pen in the company ink” could definitely relate.
2. Kelly Wears White to Phyllis's wedding (Season 3, Episode 16)
The major plot point of Phyllis’s wedding episode may have been the fact that she copied Pam Beesly’s (Jenna Fischer) recently canceled wedding aesthetic to a tee. But do not sleep on the glory that is Kelly wearing a bias cut white dress to a wedding because it was an emergency. The emergency being she looks "really good" in white.
3. Kelly Does the "Master Cleanse" (Season 5, Episode 1-2)
When the office has a weight loss competition, Kelly, always on trend, tries the Master Cleanse. The Master Cleanse was a mid-aughts popular diet that consisted of drinking lemon water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper — and ingesting nothing else. Kelly continues this diet, despite her ragged look with dark circles under eyes and spontaneous retching. Kelly reached peak hilarity/drama upon their final weigh-in, where it was discovered that the office had actually gained some weight, and within that discovery, the camera pans to Kelly having fully fainted.
4. Kelly Describes the Very Important Difference Between Smack Talk and Trash Talk (Season 4, Episode 12)
There is a very large distinction between talking smack and talking trash, according to Kelly Kapoor. So if there remains any confusion, to quote the words of Kelly herself; “I don't talk trash, I talk smack. They're totally different. Trash talk is hypothetical, like: 'Your mom is so fat she can eat the internet.' But smack talk is happening like right now. Like: 'You're ugly, and I know it for a fact 'cause I got the evidence right there.'”
Hopefully this description will never allow anyone to confuse the two again.
5. Faking a Pregnancy with Ryan (Season 4, Episode 4)
When a disgraced Ryan returns to the office in season 4 after a failed attempt at management, Kelly wants him back. And what is the most logical Kelly thing to do when wanting someone back? Fake a pregnancy, of course. The only flaw in this plan is she’s very much not pregnant and literally everyone in the office — except Ryan — knows she’s lying.
6. Kelly Branded Herself "The Business Bitch" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Kelly, ever the business savvy mind, during a business seminar held by Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) introduces her new persona, “The Business Bitch.” But just in case you were worried that being a “Business Bitch” was all Kelly had to offer, she also had “The Diet Bitch," "The Shopping Bitch" and "The Etiquette Bitch” on the back burner because as Kelly insists, "it's important to know your brand."
7. Kelly Explains Netflix to Ryan (Season 3, Episode 20)
Back when we were all still renting movies from Blockbuster, Kelly Kapoor was already on that Netflix tip. In the following quote, Kelly easily explains how the original form of “Netflix” works: “So then the next movie moves to the top of the queue. So number five becomes number four, number six becomes number five, number three becomes number two, etcetera, etcetera. And let's just say that I just sent back Love Actually, which was awesome. And they sent me Uptown Girls, which is also awesome. But guess what, now I want to see Love Actually again, but it's at the bottom of the queue. Oh, no, what do I do? What I do is this. I go online, I go click, click, click, and I change the order of the queue so that I can see Love Actually as soon as I want to. It's so easy, Ryan. Do you really not know how Netflix works?”
It is quite apparent that Kelly was ahead of her time both in her taste of movies and her chosen viewing method.