Someone Just Collated Every Pop Culture Reference In ‘The Office’ Into The Greatest Website Ever

Pop culture references were extremely important in defining The Office‘s nutty, deluded but lovable cast of characters — you learned more about Michael Scott from a well-delivered Ace Ventura impression and Kelly Kapoor from an Avril Lavigne recital than you would have from any lengthy D&M. Recognising the importance of these details to the show, some time-free crazy person in the States has just made the ultimate Office companion guide: ‘The Office Time Machine‘.

Joe Sabia, a digital director from NYC, spent a year-and-a-half painstakingly combing through all the dialogue, sight gags and soundtrack cues in all 189 episodes of The Office, maniacally jotted down all the pop culture references, and cut them into a series of year-specific YouTube videos. All in all, he ended up recording 1,300 references over The Office‘s nine-season run, and he’s collated them all into an incredible database that’ll make you waste the rest of your day. But it’s informative, too!

For example, let’s take a quick trip to that historical belle epoque that was 1986, via Office references:

Or how about the cultural high-point that was 1993?

Maybe you’d rather get biblical?

For Sabia, the website has a greater purpose than just being a nutcase curiosity where we can all waste countless hours. “I created this project to advocate for copyright reform and highlight the importance of fair use in protecting creators and their art,” he says on the website. “To prove culture is not only everywhere, but that certain references to films, songs, and works of art are critical for our collective understanding of comedy and to the importance of relating to content, I found every cultural, real-life reference from every episode of The Office.”

A worthy cause, made even worthier by the fact that we can all travel to 1979 and watch Kevin sing ‘Message In A Bottle’. This should be a mandatory school research resource now.