Office Olympics - Cultural References

Cultural References

After telling Ryan he can take his pants off an run around the office, Michael makes a direct reference to 1983 teen comedy-drama film Risky Business. Dwight compares his friendship to Michael, using the analogy that Michael is "like Mozart, and I'm like... Mozart's friend. No. I'm like Butch Cassidy and Michael is like... Mozart." When Michael asks Pam if she had his magazine subscriptions changed to his new address, he mentions Small Businessman, American Way, Maxim, Cracked, and the fictitious Fine Arts Aficionado Monthly. When touring his condo, Michael makes a Mr. Bill joke to the head of the condo association, whose name is Mr. Bill. The jokes are a reference to the clay figurine star of a parody of children's shows that was part of Saturday Night Live.

Due to the nature of the episode, several explicit references are made to the Olympic Games. When Jim starts the Office Olympics by lighting the "Torch", he hums "Olympic Fanfare and Theme" by John Williams, one of the themes for the actual Olympic games. When the games are finished, the employees play a recording of "The Star Spangled Banner".