The Office

The office as it appears in Sam & Max Hit the Road.

The Office is the headquarters from which Sam & Max conduct their Freelance Police business. They don't live in it, but they spend a lot of time hanging around it waiting for The Commissioner to call with a new assignment. In the comics (and Hit the Road), they usually get a call just after entering the office; in the Telltale episodes, they usually get interrupted by the phone while passing their time doing something-or-other.

The layout of the office varies between incarnations and is subject to redecoration between stories as well. Still, a number of elements are seen throughout.

• The door says "Sam & Max: Freelance Police" (with "Freelance Police" below "Sam & Max").
• There are a classic-looking phone and answering machine on a small table next to the door.
• There is at least one window.
• Sam's desk faces away from the window.
• There is a small tv on Sam's desk; it has a clothes hanger for an antenna.
• There is a dartboard with a number of weapons (other than darts) sticking out of it.
• There are pictures on some of the walls.
• The office is littered and generally soiled.
• The office is next door from Flint Paper's.

In the comics

In Monkeys Violating the Heavenly Temple.

In Sam & Max Hit the Road

Messages on the message machine

If you check the message machine, Sam and Max would say:
Sam: "Oh boy! We've got a message!"
Max: "Gee, I hope it's something eerily provocative."
Then a random message would play (with a comment from Sam). Here are the outcomes:

Angry Man: "Hey! You're the one who cut me off on highway 364! You're a jerk! ...um... so there!"

Sam's mom: "Sam, it's your mother calling to wish you a good morning. Be careful, honey and try not to get shot today, okay?"
Sam: "Doesn't she know I'm old enough to make my own decisions about getting shot?"

Calm Man: "Hi. I'm calling about your upcoming auction of confiscated automatic weapons. Do you sell to convicted felons?"
Sam: "Hey, who are we to discriminate?"

Angry Man 2: "Hey! You're the jerk who sideswiped me on the Queensborough Bridge! Don't think I didn't get a good look at your long fluffy ears! See you in court!"
Sam: "We may have to go over there and terrify the righteous indignity out of that little fellow."

Dull Guy: "Hello, is this Saint Francis Pie Shop? I'd like to order 200 lemon meringue pies and a small diet cola. Hea, hea, hea."
Sam: "I wonder if the pie shop gets calls reporting machete-wielding intruders?"

In the animated series

In the animated series.

The key notes on this version's office include the door's location directly across the windows, the closet serving as storage space for Sam and Max's stockpile of weapons, and the "Brovinington" typewriter (seen in the foreground in Sam & Max Hit the Road), which Sam actually puts to use in The Invaders.

The office is otherwise much like in the other incarnations, but is complemented by the Sub-Basement of Solitude, located below the office building. Maintained by The Geek, the Sub-Basement contains several huge computers, a laboratory, an armory and a garage for the DeSoto (none of which Sam and Max have or need in the other incarnations). Episodes often start with The Geek having Sam & Max come over to the Sub-Basement, instead of The Commissioner calling.

In the Telltale episodes

In the Telltale episodes. The door is off-screen on the left wall, the closet is on the right.

This incarnation is similar to the design of the office that would have appeared in Freelance Police, differing in that the door is no longer opposite to the windows. The closet is filled with cheese in Culture Shock, and afterward contains souvenirs from the previous episodes. The rest of the office also picks up increasingly many souvenirs, especially in Season 2.

In Season 1, Jimmy Two-Teeth, Hubert and Mr Spatula live in the office. In Season 2, Flint Paper can be reached through a hole in the wall opposite the windows. Since the rest of the building hasn't been seen yet, neither has Flint Paper's door nor office. In The Devil's Playhouse, the office is undergoing renovations and is closed off, so Sam and Max operate out of the back of the DeSoto. The end of The Penal Zone and the entirety of The Tomb of Sammun-Mak take place in the boiler room underneath the building, and in The Tomb of Sammun-Mak, Sam's great-grandfather, Sameth, comments on the "Room for Rent" sign in the office's window, saying that someone would have to be pretty desperate to get a room in that part of town. Other then that, the office makes no real appearence (for the first time) in the game.

See also

Sam & Max's House