Brian Baumgartner wanted to stay away from is character Kevin Malone. Image Source: IGN
Brian Baumgartner wanted to stay away from Kevin Malone from The Office.
Actor Brian Baumgartner, who played the character of Kevin Malone for nine seasons on The Office, recalls his time on the sets and talks about the characters from the show.
Brian Baumgartner who recently interview Danielle Fishel, a former cast member of Boy Meets World, for his iHeartRadio podcast "Off the Beat" where she revealed about her first kiss and her return to her comedy origins in the 2014 spin-off Girl Meets World, spoke to Entertainment Weekly and talked about his iconic character Kevin Malone from The Office and how it left an impact on his life.
Off the Beat is a continuation of Brian Baumgartner's well-liked The Office Deep Dive podcast and he admitted to Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview that he was loving the dialogues and the framework that they were creating with the podcast, so the intention was always to keep it continuing. Brian talks about cherished on-set events, never-before-told tales, and views on some of their most iconic roles with celebrities, TV personalities, and occasionally athletes on his new podcast.
After The Office ended, Brian Baumgartner appeared in several other shows but said that he was never quite able to move on from the role of Kevin Malone. The actor said he didn't want to live his entire life as Kevin Malone and that he wanted to separate himself from his persona. According to Brian Baumgartner, he had to pass up several possibilities that presented themselves to him following The Office since they were comparable to Kevin Malone in nature or had similar emotions and people.
Brian Baumgartner said that abandoning Kevin Malone and, of course, the famous chili day scene, which the actor defines as emblematic of the show, became untenable for him because the program is now streaming on Netflix and Peacock and the public loves it much too much. He explained that it was a really exciting sequence to shoot since it was just him and kind of unlike anything else and that he would only have said that if he thought the moment would last forever. It is presented as though a whole scenario were taking place while the character is giving a monologue. He stated that he will respond to this differently than he typically does, but he does believe that this is true and added that in a lot of ways the scene became one of the most symbolic scenes of the show.
The actor notes that the scene is about a regular person who excels at one thing, is proud of it, and wants to brag about it to the people who matter to him—in this case, the people who work in his workplace. Like in the play, Brian continued, those moments tend to go wrong, but the important thing is how that thing was made. In the end, Pam Beesly Halpert played by actress Jenna Fischer replies, "It's about beauty in ordinary things," when asked why Dunder Mifflin would make a suitable documentary topic. That sort of is the goal, right?
According to Brian, the chili moment involves a regular person who doesn't do anything well but does chili well. Even when you add some humor, it falls flat. He admits that Kevin knows that it's probably the thing he does best and added that yet you can sense the excitement in his voice as he shares this skill. Brain said that he hope that's why people still speak about that scene, in addition to the fact that it made them laugh.
Brian Baumgartner claimed that everything only served to increase his momentum and that he has finally come to terms with the fact that Kevin Malone would not be able to free him any time soon. In particular, the fans who share how The Office has comforted them and how their program helped them through a trying moment in their lives, Brain Baumgartner said he views it as a blessing. The actor said that listening to people share what the program meant to them is incredible. There have been numerous anecdotes.
In addition, Brian Baumgartner noted that The Office has been running for ten years and nine seasons; he first appeared on the show while he was in his 30s. He also said that to put things in perspective, it is equivalent to going from high school to college and then another few years. The actor acknowledged that it was a protracted era in his life that ultimately led to the development of such tight ties and, unavoidably, a close affinity with those characters. He said that they were producing 30 episodes annually at the time, which is no longer the case. They so put in several weeks of effort and added that he along with the entire cast and crew are very proud and thankful for the show and the fans who love it so much.
For more Brianisms, tune into Off the Beat, which drops new episodes weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
