There likely aren’t many people who manage to land their dream jobs basically right out of college, but The Office star and writer/producer extraordinaire Mindy Kaling is one who had “such incredible luck.” She was only 24 when she was appointed to the writer’s room for the beloved hit comedy, and ended up becoming long-time best buddies with another writer/cast member, B.J. Novak. However, she just opened up about being “so angry” at him when she started on the series.
What Did Mindy Kaling Say About Being Angry At B.J. Novak When They Started The Office?
I don’t know if there’s a mixed-gender celebrity best friend duo who’s been more discussed over the past few years than Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak. While the two admit to dating on and off early on after meeting on The Office, they’ve been committed best-friends-only for years now (despite the fact that rumors he fathered her kids have persisted).
So, I’m sure it would surprise many to know that Ryan Howard’s portrayer made her kinda mad when the show began. But, as Kaling explained to The Hollywood Reporter recently, the reason actually makes sense, considering what they both did on the long-running comedy. As the big Outlander fan said:
To this day I think that no one has turned in a first draft of an episode better than ‘Diversity Day.’ Now, as a successful comedy writer, I can look back and feel nothing but excitement for my very dear friend B.J. At the time when that episode came out in 2005, I was so angry, and it like filled me with anxiety how good that draft was. I remember it because B.J. turned in like a 30-page draft. It was just so lean and funny. Besides just being a funny episode of TV, because it was the second episode, it was very good for the rest of us, because it sort of was like, ‘Here’s the bar.’
Wow. OK, while I love The Office, I am nowhere near being a scholar of the mockumentary hit (which has a spinoff in the works), so I had no idea that Novak even wrote that episode. However, I can completely imagine getting a job in a writer’s room for a network TV show while still so young, and being absolutely pissed that someone else around your age was already excelling at the job.
“Diversity Day” isn’t just one of the best/most-loved episodes of The Office, it was also one of the most important. Along with being only the second episode, it was also the first one not based on anything from Ricky Gervais’ hit series of the same name. Plus, this was when Running Point’s well-dressed co-creator made her first appearance as Kelly Kapoor, and made quite an impression by slapping Michael.
Kaling is correct that this episode set the bar and let everyone know what kind of comedy we’d be in for as The Office rolled along for nine eventual seasons. Who knows? If it hadn’t been for Novak nailing the second episode, maybe viewers wouldn’t have been able to witness the brilliance of a show with numerous problematic characters and hilarious inside jokes for so long.
