Television
ByMichileen Martin
If you recognize B.J. Novak, there's a good chance you know him as Ryan Howard, a.k.a. "The Temp" from the U.S. version ofThe Office. Ryan starts as a disillusioned twenty-something office worker, wins a shocking promotion to become one of Dunder Mifflin's top executives, loses his job for defrauding the company, and eventually returns to the Scranton office through the good graces of Michael Scott (Steve Carell), whose fixation on the younger worker borders on the creepy. Throughout the series he has on-again/off-again flings with the bubbly Kelly (Mindy Kaling), who he eventually runs away with in the series finale.
Novak wore a lot of hats onThe Office. Along with portraying Ryan Howard in front of the camera, Novak wrote for the series, directed episodes, and was co-executive producer on over 60 episodes.
Since the series shuttered in 2013, Novak's probably seemed a lot less visible to Officefans. But the truth is he hasn't been sitting on his hands since leaving Dunder Mifflin behind. Keeping reading to find out what's happened to B.J. Novak since the conclusion ofThe Office.
B.J. Novak never left the small screen
While he definitely isn't appearing on TV quite as much (unless you count yourOfficebinges), B.J. Novak never left television. The year afterThe Officeended, Novak had a cameo on the comedyCommunity and a recurring role on Aaron Sorkin'sThe Newsroom. Novak played Lucas Pruitt in four episodes ofThe Newsroom — the owner of the company airing News Night. Along with a bit of voice work for the animated show Arthur, Novak enjoyed a recurring role as Mindy Lahiri's (Mindy Kaling) ex-boyfriend Jamie onThe Mindy Project for three years and played a satirical version of himself on two episodes of the musical romantic comedy seriesCrazy Ex-Girlfriend.
Novak is also doing a lot more work behind the camera, particularly in terms of his work onThe Mindy Project. Just as he did for The Office, Novak has worked as writer, director, and producer onThe Mindy Project– which isn't surprising considering his long history with the show's creator and star, Mindy Kaling.
B.J. Novak, budding film star
B.J. Novak was showing interest in more film work long beforeThe Officeshut its doors — winning small roles in 2007's comedyKnocked Up,the buddy dramaReign Over Mereleased the same year, the 2012 political satireThe Dictator, and most visibly as one of the few lucky survivors of Quentin Tarantino's 2009 bloodbathInglourious Basterds.
With the exception of the series finale, Novak wasn't around forThe Office's last season, and his film credits are probably a big clue as to why. Novak was busy in 2013 –The Office''s final year — doing more work on the big screen. He reprised his role as Baker Smurf in 2013'sThe Smurfs 2. That year he also had a small role in the comedyThe Internship and a meatier role in the comedy-dramaSaving Mr. Banks. The latter film revolves around the development of 1964's classicMary Poppins; Novak plays songwriter Robert Sherman who — with brother Richard Sherman (Jason Schwartzman) — co-wrote the film's songs.
The following year Novak played Alistair Smythe inAmazing Spider-Man 2, a character who may have eventually gotten some spotlight if that franchise hadn't died — Smythe is the supervillain called the Spider Slayer in the comics. More recently, he appeared in 2017'sThe Founder, about the creation of McDonald's, as Harry J. Sonneborn, the McDonald's Corporation's first president and CEO.
B.J. Novak is also an author
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In 2013, B.J. Novak signed a two-book deal with publisher Alfred A. Knopf, and the following year his literary career premiered with the short story collectionOne More Thing: Stories and Other Stories. The book enjoyed a six-week stay onNew York Times'Hardcover FictionBestseller List.
One More Thingis imaginative, playful, occasionally emotionally crushing, and often hysterically funny.The Washington Post's Jen Chaney described Novak's writing as being gifted with a style "part Steven Wright and part Charlie Kaufman, married with a sharp ear for (and satire of) contemporary pop culture." Many of the stories have hilarious premises like "The Man Who Invented the Calendar," which appears as diary entries from exactly who you'd expect. Then there's "No One Goes to Heaven to See Dan Fogelberg," when the narrator dies, goes to Heaven, and is shocked to find his grandmother spending her afterlife as Frank Sinatra's groupie. Many stories are only a few sentences long, and those tend to be some of the funniest.
While many critics point to screenwriters and comedians as Novak's influences, he proves his literary chops with "One of These Days, We Have to Do Something About Willie" — which proves to be a nod to the postmodernist writer Donald Barthelme, whose short story "Some of Us Had Been Threatening Our Friend Colby" is about a group of friends deciding that one of their number needed to be hanged and working out the minutiae of the hanging.
B.J. Novak's Book with No Pictures
The next book B.J. Novak wrote targeted an entirely different audience. Released afterOne More Thing: Stories and Other Storiesin 2014,his children's bookThe Book With No Pictures spent 55 consecutive weeks on theNew York TimesPicture Book Bestseller List.
If you're wondering how a children's book that advertises it doesn't have pictures might appeal to children, a video from the Waterstones book chain may help. In the video, Novak reads from the book to a group of children, and he doesn't have any trouble keeping their attention. The beginning of the book explains "Everything the words say, the person reading the bookhas to say. No matter what." The rest of the book, in large colored letters, then forces the presumably adult reader to say ridiculous things that get the kids laughing like "BLUURF," "Iam a monkey who taught myself to read," or "my head is made of blueberry pizza."
Based on the video and the sales, the lack of pictures hasn't slowed down the book's success. Though it's a shame Novak published it after his time withThe Office. It's easy to imagine how easily Ryan could've entertained Michael Scott with the book.
B.J. Novak helped out on The Mindy Project
AfterThe Office, the show B.J. Novak has worked on the most behind the scenes isThe Mindy Project. Premiering on Fox in 2012, moving to Hulu partway through its run, and ending in 2017,The Mindy Projectwas created by and starred Mindy Kaling, who played Kelly Kapoor onThe Officeand has a long friendship with Novak. Along with appearing onscreen as Mindy's ex-boyfriend Jaime in five episodes, Novak was a producer on almost 30 episodes, directed two, and co-wrote 2013's "Harry & Sally," the 2013 episode in which his character first appears.
The day "Harry & Sally " aired, Novak spoke toEntertainment Weekly. In terms of how it differed from working onThe Office, Novak said Kaling's higher level of responsibility onThe Mindy Projectmade it a lot less volatile. "We would fight constantly atThe Office," Novak toldEW."We would have friendship-ending fights about four times a day, and start the next day as best friends again." In comparison, Novak said onThe Mindy Project,Kaling was so busy that "we really could not afford a fight."
He also doesn't thinkThe Office's Ryan Howard would get along withThe Mindy Project's protagonist. Asked what Mindy Lahiri would think of Ryan Howard, Novak said she "would have absolutely no patience" for the temp. He described both Kaling's and his characters as more mature than theirOfficecounterparts, adding that it felt like "that was our Muppet Babies relationship, and this is us as real Muppets."
B.J. Novak, app developer
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In the season six finale ofThe Office, B.J. Novak's character Ryan Howard gets his co-workers involved in his website WUPHF.com. He convinces most of them to invest in the venture, and in the seventh season, we learn Ryan is being less than honest about WUPHF's profitability.
Novak eventually proved himself to be a much savvier entrepreneur than Ryan Howard. In 2015, he released an app initially called the List, which invited users to "[s]hare your experiences, opinions, and expertise and enjoy lists from friends" as well as from celebrities. The app initially did well and was nominated for a 2016 Webby Award. That year the app changed its name to li.st and expanded its availability to Android users.
Unfortunately, like the fictional WUPHF, li.st didn't have long to live. In September 2017, li.st users received a message that the app was shutting down, citing a lack of sufficient growth. But unlike Ryan with WUPHF, as far as we know, Novak never lied to his coworkers about an "Investors ski weekend," nor did the app email you, fax you, tweet you and a bunch of other things all at the same time.
Ryan & Kelly
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In May 2015,news broke that B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling were going to collaborate on yet another project, and this one wasn't going to be on television.The same monthThe Mindy Projectwas canceled by Fox and subsequently picked up by Hulu, theNew York Daily Newsreported that Novak and Kaling had signed a $7.5 million deal to write a book "about their off-and-on romance."
The following month, Kaling talking toVanity Fairabout the deal, saying that she and Novak didn't "know all that much about it" yet, explaining that they were still in the early stages with the book and that they weren't completely sure where they were going with it yet. "I think it's going to be great and funny, though," she clarified. In spite of what some may have assumed for theNew York Daily Newsstory, however, Kaling said that while she and Novak would be talking about their romantic relationships as well as their friendship, that the book "won't be a tell-all."
So far, nothing has materialized as a result of the deal, but keep your eyes on your local bookstore.
B.J. Novak's growing meat
You might argue that it's unfair to compare Novak's work on the li.st app with Ryan Howard's fictional and ridiculous WUPHF.com venture. However, there is at least one thing about Novak's post-Officecareer that, at first, sounds soveryRyan Howard — specifically, a business move he made after appearingas McDonald's first president and CEO Harry J. Sonneborn in 2017'sThe Founder. While speaking to different members of the cast during a screening of the film,WWD'sKristen Tauerlearned that once again Novak was working to make life imitate art. Just like hisFoundercharacter, Novak is hoping to become an innovation supporter... of meat.
"This sounds sci-fi," Novak told Tauer. "Do you know about the companies that are using meat stem cells to clone meat in a lab?" Novak went on to describe the process, saying it was possible to take the cell of an animal "and grow and grow and grow it." Meaning that, as opposed to the high numbers of animals butchered for meat now, "you could just get one unlucky cow and feed the world forever."Novak said he supports a number of companies doing the work and singled out Memphis Meats as one of them.
It honestly sounds like an incredible idea. It's just... you know. He played Ryan and now he's growing meat. Actually, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) would besojealous...
B.J. Novak, meat thief
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In February 2019,Us Magazinereported on the most scandalous of celebrity scandals. B.J. Novak is apparently not just growing meat — he's stealing it too.
Invited to the 2019Vanity Fairpost-Oscars party, Mindy Kaling brought Novak along as her plus-one. Unfortunately, in spite of their long friendship, Kaling was soon taking to her Instagramto report a crime. Talking about their post-Oscars party dinner, Kaling told her Instagram followers, "[Novak] ordered broccoli and I ordered a chicken burger and french fries." Kaling turned to Novak and asked "And what did you eat for dinner?" Novak, laughing, said, "I ate your chicken burger for dinner."
It's hard not to wonder a few things in light of this news. First, did Dwight — in his capacity as volunteer Sheriff's Deputy — follow up on this report? Second, if he is a chicken thief, does having an interest in meat companies represent some kind of conflict of interest for Novak? Third and finally, he just said he ate the burger. What happened to the fries?