Baumgartner played Kevin Malone for nine seasons straight in 'The Office'
Credit: Mitchell Haaseth/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- Brian Baumgartner reflected on how rare it was for actors to give input on their characters in The Office
- He was upset when a joke he loved was cut from the season 5 episode “Baby Shower”
- The joke has since been restored in streaming versions, which Baumgartner sees as vindication for his argument
Even on a series as collaborative as The Office, not every joke survives the editing room. But for Brian Baumgartner, one particular cut crossed the line — and he didn’t stay quiet about it.
Baumgartner, who portrayed Kevin Malone and appeared in every episode of the long-running comedy, recently reflected on how rare it was for actors to have a voice in shaping their characters in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
"What I remember as being unique about the show from the beginning through the end, was we were able to give input — pitch stories, talk to the writers about what we wanted to see come over a certain episode or arc of episodes," Baumgartner told the outlet. "There were certainly some ideas that I had that they incorporated, and some that they did not."
Credit: Peacock
One rejected idea, however, didn’t sit well with Baumgartner. "One time, I got really mad at the editors. There was a joke — and now they have put it back in, so most people have seen it," he explained to Entertainment Weekly.
The moment came during the season 5 episode “Baby Shower,” when Kevin awkwardly questions Melora Hardin's Jan about her sperm donor while she was romantically linked to Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.
"She says some version of like, 'Oh, you know, it's a very exclusive place,' and Kevin knowingly says, 'The place behind the IHOP?'" Baumgartner recalled. The punchline lands with a suggestive reference that the donated sperm came from Kevin, leaving Jan visibly unsettled.
"I just thought it was pound-for-pound an amazing joke,” he admitted. “It was a great joke, and they cut it."
Credit: Peacock
At the time, however, Baumgartner remembers NBC saying to him: “‘We don't really have a storyline about this, or we don't want to confuse people to think that it might set something up with Kevin's baby.'"
Baumgartner, however, disagreed and believed that they were “overthinking” the scene and that the joke didn’t “have to go anywhere.”
Though he “lost the argument” at the time, the scene has since been restored in streaming versions.
"I got really mad about that one, and I lost the argument, but now they have put it back in,” Baumgartner told the outlet. “It's interesting, you can't watch that episode now and not see that moment happen. So it's a little bit of vindication for me.”
Read the full article here
