Mose Schrute

“	Mose is my cousin and he lives here. He will always be my best friend. Unless things go well with Ryan today in which case, I won’t hang out with Mose so much anymore.	”
—Dwight K. Schrute, Initiation

Mose Schrute
Biographical Information
Gender	Male
Alias(es)	Fear
Personal Information
Siblings	Zeke Schrute (brother)
Others	Dwight Schrute (cousin) Jeb Schrute (cousin) Fannie Schrute (cousin)
Professional Information
Occupation	Beet Farmer
Production Information
First	Office Olympics
Last	Finale
Seasons	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Portrayed by	Michael Schur

Moses "Mose" Schrute is a character played by Michael Schur on the television series The Office.

Season 2

Mose is Dwight's cousin. Together they own and operate a beet farm.

In a deleted scene from the "The Injury", Michael describes Mose as a "weirdo": "Twenty-seven years old, never left the beet farm."

In a deleted scene from the episode "The Carpet", Michael advises Dwight to tell a joke as part of his sales pitch. Dwight phones a customer and tells a joke he heard from Mose: "What is black and white and red and can't think? A nun who has a beet for a head." The person on the other end apparently gets offended, and Dwight says, "I'm Catholic too."

Season 3

In the episode "Initiation", Mose assists Dwight in initiating Ryan as a salesman, but Ryan decides that he has had enough once Mose appears ready for a wrestling match with him.

When Dwight yells "You must vanquish your fear!", Mose emerges with a tan thermal underwear long sleeve shirt, with the word "FEAR" emblazoned on the shirt in red duct tape. Ryan jumps out of the chair and leaves the farm. After Ryan departs, Dwight asks "Where are the animals?" Dwight then gives Ryan apology gifts from Mose: a basket of eggs, fat-back bacon, and "something [Mose] whittled" that resembles a Venus figurine. Ryan and Dwight launch the eggs at the office of their failed sales attempt.

Season 4

In the episode "Money", when Jim and Pam decide to spend a night at Schrute Farms, they have a series of unusual encounters with Dwight's cousin Mose.

• Mose runs alongside their car as it drives up. It should be noted that Mose runs in a pretty rigid and funny manner, every time we see him run (his arms to the side as he waves them)
• Dwight jokes that Mose took and hid all of the wires on the farm, leaving them without power, and that the farm is now "wireless".
• While in the beet field, Mose grabs some chunks of manure from the wheelbarrow, and begins throwing them at Dwight and Dwight yells, "No Mose, put the manure down. Do not throw it!"
• Mose rocks back and forth while staring at Pam in Jurassic Park pajamas while Dwight reads a bedtime excerpt from Harry Potter to him, Jim, and Pam.
• In the middle of the night, Pam wanders out to a window in the hallway and sees Mose in the outhouse with the door swinging violently in the wind.
• Later that night, Jim ventures to Dwight's bedroom while investigating a strange wailing (later determined to be Dwight himself, crying over Angela). Dwight assumes it is Mose in the hall outside his bedroom and inquires, "are you having nightmares again?" When Jim asks if Mose really has nightmares, Dwight spookily comments "Oh yes, ever since 'the storm'."
• In a deleted scene, Mose attempts to entertain Jim and Pam with his trampoline tricks.
• In a deleted scene, Mose demonstrates little knowledge of the outside world. When Dwight leaves, he says that he has gone to "his day place" and is confused when Jim mentions the office.
• In a deleted scene, Mose cooks Jim and Pam massive amounts of bacon, sausages, and presumably boiled eggs for breakfast.
• In the same scene, when Mose is done serving breakfast, he says to Jim and Pam, "Everybody poops," to which Jim replies, "Yes... they do."

In "The Deposition", Dwight brings Mose to the warehouse to play ping-pong. If Michael is to be believed, this is the first time Mose has left the farm.

In "Goodbye, Toby", Mose delivers a raccoon to the office via bicycle in order to help Dwight with the 'playful hazing' of the branch's new HR representative Holly Flax.

Season 6

Mose makes an appearance in the episode "Koi Pond", dressed in an Amish attire and standing still like a wax figurine.

In St. Patrick's Day, Dwight mentions that he did not see his father for the first 2 years of his life. He believes that he turned out fine but Mose was scarred by this.

Season 7

Mose appears in Dwight's daycare center in the episode "Counseling", painting the walls in the dark whilst wearing a baby carrier.

In the episode "WUPHF.com", Dwight explains that Mose was always crowned Hay King at Hay Place/Hay World when they were younger.

Season 8

Mose is the valet during Andy's garden party at Schrute Farms. He pries the keys from a reluctant Toby and then slams on the accelerator and plows Toby's car through a cornfield with a nervous-looking Toby watching. Mose lines up everyone's cars and attempts to drive over them with a moped, but he changes his mind at the last moment and runs across them. ("Garden Party")

When Dwight is in a high-speed chase with Angela as Dwight has taken a sample of her baby's DNA to determine if he is the father of her child rather than the Senator, Dwight calls Mose telling him to initiate "Operation Phoenix". Mose is evidently confused so Dwight replies "Just get the car ready!" The plan involves Mose dressed up like Dwight and waiting in a car that looks like Dwight's. Mose then drives off and Angela believes him to be Dwight and follows him. After realizing that he was a decoy, Angela slaps Mose and demands Mose tell her where Dwight went. Mose proceeds to run away in his usual manner, running with his arms swinging no higher than his waist. ("Free Family Portrait Studio")

Season 9

Mose is one of the candidates that Dwight picks to interview for the job as a junior salesman at the company. As they all wait in the conference room, Mose stares at the office through the blinds. Dwight talks about his confidence in Mose and says that as Mose is terrified of paper, he will try to sell it out of the building as fast as he can. During the interview, Dwight notices that on his resume, Mose claims he has worked for a company called Dow Chemicals for 15 years. Dwight points out that as they live together, he knows that is not true. Mose proceeds to stand up, run out of the office, out the building, across the parking lot and down the street as fast as he can. ("Junior Salesman")

As Dwight waits on the porch for his cousin Zeke to get there, Mose runs around the yard. When Zeke arrives, he tells Mose that his mom says "hello" and Mose tells him to tell her "hello" back. ("The Farm")

As Angela has her bachelorette party at Schrute Farms, Mose watches from the window and eventually kidnaps her. Dwight reveals that this is a tradition in which he must buy the group a beer for Mose to return his bride. Mose reveals that he had her in his trunk and runs off as Angela curses him out. Mose can be seen at Dwight and Angela's wedding, longingly looking at a scarecrow dressed up as a woman. ("Finale")

Trivia

• Dwight claims that Mose does not know how to use a phone. ("Lecture Circuit")
• Mose is one of Dwight's 70 cousins.
• As Dwight discovers that Angela's baby could be a Schrute, he says that Mose does not know anything about sex, so the baby could only be from Dwight himself.
• Mose has no girlfriend but is apparently quite enamored with a lady scarecrow on the farm.

Behind the scenes

• Mose is named after Mose from the reality television show Amish in the City. Writer Michael Schur (who portrays Mose Schrute) watched the show, and the name stuck with him. When Schur mentioned this in the writers room, Greg Daniels pointed at him and announced, "You're going to play Mose." Schur did not expect Mose to become a recurring character. He assumed he would be used in a photo and forgotten. Schur donates to charity all of the money he makes from portraying Mose. "The whole thing was so absurd I felt I couldn't keep the money."
• It took Michael Schur several months to grow the beard for his appearance in "Initiation". Greg Daniels insisted that it had to be a real beard because a fake beard would look bad on screen. During that time, Schur had to attended a number of industry events because the show had been nominated for an Emmy, all while wearing a scraggly Mose beard. Even worse, "Initiation" was supposed to be the first episode of the third season, but it got delayed three months, so he had to keep the beard even longer.
• Michael Schur did not enjoy playing Mose because his character because he had to wear uncomfortable wool clothing and heavy boots, and his character was always being abused. He would have lines, but they would all end up cut during editing because it was funnier if Mose never spoke. In retrospect, however, Schur is happy that he played Mose, even if he didn't enjoy it in the moment.
• In 2020, Michael Schur did a fundraiser for the L.A. Regional Food Bank, and he offered to shave his head if donations reached $50,000, which it did within an hour. He realized that the key to fundraising is humiliation, so he created a poll asking if people would rather he shave his head or grow the Mose beard. The Mose beard won in a landslide. He spent three months regrowing the beard, during which time he was recognized on the street (even when wearing a mask during the COVID-19 pandemic). Video.

Appearances

Episodes	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28
Season 1	—	—	—	—	—	—
Season 2	—	—	✔	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	M*	—	M*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Season 3	—	—	—	—	✔	—	—	—	—	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Season 4	—		M		—		✔		—	—	—	✔	—	—	—	—	—	✔
Season 5	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	✔	—	—	—	—		M		—	—	—	—	—	—	M	—	—	—	—
Season 6	—	—	—	—		—	—	*	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—		M	—	—	—	—	—	—	—
Season 7	—	✔	—	—	—	—	—	—	M	—	—		—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	M	V	—
Season 8	—	—	—	✔	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	M	—	M	—	—	M	—	—	—	—	—	✔
Season 9	—	—	—	—	M	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	✔	—	—	M	✔	—	—	—	—	—		✔
* - deleted scene • V - voice only • M - mentioned only • C - credit only • P - photo only • A - archive footage

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