In the first episode of "The Office," Jim encased Dwight’s stapler in Jell-O. The prank immediately establishes Jim Halpert’s playful antagonism toward his desk mate, Dwight Schrute.
The scene appears in the American series’ pilot, which introduces the employees of Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch. Dwight opens his desk drawer and discovers his black stapler suspended inside a mound of gelatin. Jim watches the reaction with obvious amusement, while Michael Scott treats the prank as evidence of Jim’s entertaining personality.
The joke was adapted from the British version of "The Office," created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. In the British pilot, Tim Canterbury places Gareth Keenan’s stapler in jelly. The American adaptation transferred the same basic gag to Jim and Dwight, helping preserve the original show’s workplace-comedy DNA while introducing American characters and settings.
The pilot aired on NBC on March 24, 2005. The show later built Jim and Dwight’s rivalry into one of its central comic relationships, with increasingly elaborate pranks, retaliations, and occasional moments of genuine friendship.