Scott's Tots " includes a scene that might just rank atop The Office 's long list and rich history of uncomfortable yet hilarious moments. The episode is obviously still fresh on my mind, but I'm nevertheless hard-pressed to even name a close second. If the scene in question weren't so damn funny, it might have actually been too excruciatingly painful to watch. But that's The Office for you. When it aims for this type of awkward comedy, sometimes it falls flat, but often it nails it right on the head.

As we find out early in the episode, in one of his stupidest blunders ever, Michael once promised a classroom full of under-privileged third graders that he'd pay for each of their college educations if they graduated high school. That was ten years ago, and the kids are now fully grown and ready for their free schooling. Their high school throws one last thank you celebration for Michael, who runs out of excuses to postpone and is forced to come clean by Pam . As Michael gets ready to attend the ceremony with Erin, you can feel the disaster looming like a train wreck waiting to happen. Stanley is actually quite pleased by the situation, and punctuates the foreboding with his uncontrollable laughter.Anyone familiar with this show and the character knows exactly why he would make such a ridiculous promise. Michael has long been driven by a desire to celebrate himself while helping others, and in his mind he had no reason to believe he wouldn't have the money to pay for so many college educations ten years down the road (as we learn, he thought he'd be a millionaire by thirty. When that didn't happen, he figured it would happen at the age of forty. As it turned out, he had less money at forty than he did at thirty).The pay-off of this predicament plays with Michael's delusional tendencies brilliantly. As the students and teachers heap praise onto his shoulders, the kids even busting into a choreographed dance and rap number in his honor, you can sense Michael nearly convincing himself that he's really helping all these kids and that he deserves all the thanks. Steve Carell's facial expressions during this scene are absolutely priceless, and remind you what makes him one of the most gifted comedic actors around. Dread turns into amusement, which turns into pride, which finally turns back into dread when he realizes he's going to have to spill the beans.Which he does in his uniquely absurd and childish way, asking the class if they've ever done something stupid like skip out on study hall or "mix up A gym and B gym." He then goes on to tell them that tuition isn't nearly as important as intuition and the ability to sense when something is about to happen – in other words, being able to tell when your dreams are about to be crushed in front of you.It's hard to explain the emotions I experienced while watching this play out, but I'm sure anyone who watched the episode felt similar. I wanted to change the channel and get away from the cringe-inducing horror of it all, but couldn't because I was laughing too hard. I even half-expected the writers to give Michael a way out of the mess, but I should have known better. Michael's idea of saving face is giving the students free lithium laptop batteries, but only after compounding the insult of this consolation by first making it seem like they'll be getting actual computers. Michael's own consolation prize is the knowledge that most of these kids wouldn't be graduating high school if he hadn't made the promise, which is pointed out by the increasingly good natured Erin. The two actually enjoy a sweet final scene together, but this time such an exchange is hardly enough to make up for Michael's buffoonery.The episode's subplot isn't nearly as entertaining, but still includes some amusing moments. Still hell bent on setting Jim up for a fall, Dwight has Andy convince Jim to institute an Employee of the Month award to raise morale, and then sets it up so Jim wins. My main problem with this bit is that I find it rather difficult to believe Jim would so blindly go along with Dwight's rating system, even if he did tweak it to discount "self defense" and "survival skills." Still, there were some funny moments to be had here. When Michael first hears of the award and that he's not eligible, he for the first time embraces his co-manager title and the fact that he has practically no responsibilities.There were other great moments strewn throughout the twenty-two-minute laugh fest. I howled when, in response to Jim apparently rigging Employee of the Month, Creed stood up and said, "I'm starting to think Pam's not even pregnant." Ditto to the revelation that Kevin initially applied for a job in the warehouse, but was given one in accounting because Michael "saw something in him." And who knew Dwight was so good at impersonations? Scott's Tots " is an instant classic and another phenomenal installment of this season, which hit some rough patches but seems to have recovered brilliantly. With the annual Christmas-themed episode up next, I expect the laughs to keep coming.