That's What They Said: Penn Gets A Shout Out On 'The Office'

Penn's Ivy cousin Cornell gets namedropped left and right on The Office, but because this blog is called Under The Button (as opposed to "Inside The Gorge" or something Ithaca-y like that), it doesn't usually warrant a post.  On Thursday night's episode, however, Penn finally got a mention!  And it wasn't a lame joke at Penn's expense, as many Penn pop cultural references tend to be, so double hooray!

So here's the backstory:  Andy (Ed Helms) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) are bitter rivals: both of them really want to be the boss's pet and they also share a bizarre ardor for Angela, the uptight accountant.  Andy's main bragging right is the fact that he went to Cornell, which he mentions as frequently as possible.  One day a fed-up Dwight comes into the office clad in a Cornell sweatshirt--Andy is pissed that Dwight's mocking the "sacred colors," but Dwight says it's ok, because he's actually applying to Cornell.  Later in the break room, Dwight asks a fuming Andy, "So, how do you think we're gonna do against Penn this year?"  We loved that Penn got mentioned, and we especially loved how well-placed it was--as a Scrantonite, Dwight would definitely be familiar with Penn, the closest Ivy.

Check out the scene, which comes about six minutes into the episode:

Edit:  Ahem.  A pedantic reader writes in to set the record straight: "actually, cornell is the closet ivy to scranton. followed by princeton. columbia and penn are exactly tied for third place at 126 miles from scranton. check it on google maps."