“The Office” is back and right out of the gate it re-established itself as the best comedy on TV. All due respect to “30 Rock,” “South Park,” “Reno 911” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” nothing beats Michael Scott and his gang of misfits. Exhibit A: the dinner party.

Only Michael would (and would have to) trick his employees into committing to a late night of (fake) work just to ensure that they didn’t make any plans and would be free to attend a dinner party at his place. Once the setup was in place – Michael, Jan, Pam, Jim, Angela and Andy, all at the Scott residence for a night of good food and good company - I knew we were in for a treat.

The list of funny moments is simply too long to mention all of them. It’s like the writers came back from the strike with a million great ideas that they tried to stuff into the episode’s 22 minutes. The jokes were coming fast and furious, but I managed to scribble down a few of my favorites: Jim’s face as he first smelled Jan’s candle room, the video camera in the bedroom, Michael’s plasma TV, Hunter’s CD, Jim’s flooded apartment (along with Pam’s smile when she accepts his brilliance and ensuing shock when she realizes that he’s prepared to leave her there), and last but not least…

“You have no idea the physical toll that three vasectomies has on a person!”

Jan and Michael were great as the constantly bickering couple who seem to despise each other but are, in fact, so dependent on each other that they’ll probably never split. I nearly wet myself when Michael screamed, “That is a $200 plasma TV!”

Great stuff.

Welcome back, people. We missed ya.

What were your favorite moments?