| "Michael's Birthday" | |
|---|---|
| The Office episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 19 |
| Directed by | Ken Whittingham |
| Written by | |
| Cinematography by | Randall Einhorn |
| Editing by | Dean Holland |
| Production code | 2019[1] |
| Original air date | March 30, 2006 |
| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Guest appearance | |
"Michael's Birthday" is the nineteenth episode of the second season of the American comedy television series The Office and the show's twenty-fifth episode overall. Written by Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, and directed by Ken Whittingham, the episode first aired in the United States on March 30, 2006 on NBC. The episode guest stars Nancy Carell as Carol Stills.
The series depicts the everyday lives of office employees in the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company. In the episode, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is disappointed when only Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) celebrates his birthday. Meanwhile, Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) spends the day waiting to find out if he has skin cancer.
The ice skating scenes were shot in an actual rink; Carell's talent at hockey was the reason the writers decided to set the episode there. Fischer had also learned to skate in preparation for the movie Blades of Glory, but the writers decided that there was no reason for Pam to be a good skater, so they had Pam lean on Jim. "Michael's Birthday" was watched by 7.8 million viewers and received mostly positive reviews from critics.