World’s best boss—more like the world’s best holiday book! The Office’s Brian Baumgartner—best known for playing Kevin Malone in the hit series—and the iconic TV show’s producer Ben Silverman recently teamed up to release a holiday-themed book titled The Night Before Christmas at Dunder Mifflin, featuring all your favorite employees from the beloved paper company.
First for Women recently caught up with Baumgartner and Silverman to discuss why they decided to return to The Office’s world, how they really feel about the show’s ever-growing success and the surprising things they took from the set. All that and more below.
First for Women: Congratulations on The Night Before Christmas at Dunder Mifflin. What led you two to write this holiday-themed book?
Brian Baumgartner: I can’t think of another show in the history of television that truly became more popular once it was done. And I’m not talking about it in a cult way. When we were on NBC, The Office was the number one show at the time, but we were never treated like Friends.
I remember a conversation that I had with Rainn Wilson at one point. We were talking, and I said, “It feels like the show is as big as it was when it was on.” And Rainn was, like, “Oh no, it’s bigger, like something is happening.”
So, Ben and I were talking and our first major collaboration was the oral history of The Office, where we examined the question of why. How did this happen? What was it about the show that has led people back to watching it more? And so we had a great time with that. We turned that into our first book, Welcome to Dunder Mifflin, and people just seem to really enjoy it.
This is more of a light-hearted take. One of the things that Ben and I kept hearing repeatedly is that The Office Christmas episodes have become required viewing at Christmas. The illustrations are just beautiful, and it’s something that The Office fans are really going to enjoy.
Ben Silverman: The humor, the sweetness and the relationships inside the show really appeal to people of all ages. So we also thought it’d be great to deliver something that the whole family could enjoy, and really treasure, to that audience.
FFW: So, as you mentioned, this is your second book. Was there anything different about writing the second one compared to the first?
BS: It definitely was different because it’s a little more fictional. We have stuck with the same publisher, and so that’s made the process a little more straightforward, but this was very different from how the book came together. In terms of creating it and where it will be in the bookstore, it is going to be different.
FFW: Is there anything you hope people take away from this book?
BB: Because there are pictures in it—which, by the way, I like pictures in any book that I read—people ask if it’s a kid’s book. I don’t think it is. I don’t really view The Night Before Christmas as a children’s book either. It’s a story about spending time with family and reading it together.
FFW: The book is centered around The Office. What are your memories from the show, and do you still keep in touch with the rest of the cast?
BS: I have happily found moments of collaboration and connectivity with some of our actors, including Steve Carrell, John Krasinski and Oscar Nuñez.
Specifically, I think winning the Emmy lit a fire under all of us. Our relationships with each other and our joy in working together were that much louder because we were now sharing in success, not just hard work.
But at that moment, you don’t quite realize how special it is, and you assume it’s always like that. So much of culture and content is impermanent, especially in the age of social media, and to actually be part of something that can carry the permanence of some of the greatest shows, books and cultural milestones of the 20th and 21st centuries is spectacularly exciting and affirming.
BB: The unique thing about the show was that we were always there, especially for the first Christmas episode. Everybody had an active part in the gift exchange, the party and the booze. We had an incredible director [Charles McDougall] who was very exacting about what he wanted to accomplish during that episode. And while it was very difficult to do, we were all in there together, which brought a certain joy.
I think this might be year 20 of The Office fantasy football league, which John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Andy Buckley, some writers, crew members and a director are in. I talk to Jenna [Fischer] a lot about business. Angela [Kinsey] and I went to a party together a couple of weeks ago. So yeah, we are all in pretty close communication.
FFW: Speaking of The Office, Brian, we obviously have to talk about Kevin’s infamous chili. How did it feel to film that scene?
BB: The fact that we’re still talking about it and that I’ve built another business around it is crazy.
The one thing I will tell you is in the final episode of the show, the question, obviously, is, “Why did they make a documentary about this paper company?” And Jenna Fischer says, “I think it’s a good subject. There’s beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”
I do think, if I may be so bold, that was the chili spill, an amazing act of physical comedy by an amazing actor, by the way. But what that moment really is about is an ordinary guy who does one thing in an extraordinary way and wants to be celebrated for it.
It’s just making chili; it’s something that a lot of people do. But I think that moment is, in some ways, an embodiment of the idea that Jenna talks about at the end: the show is a celebration of ordinary people doing ordinary things, but it can be beautiful.
Also, it was a mess and went everywhere. I think I showered that night with more people than I ever have in my life, trying to clean it off of me.
FFW: Finally, did you take anything from the set?
BS: I have the World’s Greatest Boss mug sitting in my Office shrine.
BB: I took the first-ever prop that I was holding on the show. It was never used after that, but it was a giant fat pencil.
Secondly, I had a nameplate on my desk that I took. But here’s what I realized recently. For 9 seasons, Kevin sat at his desk with his nameplate facing him, which is exactly the opposite of why you have a nameplate.
Then, the final thing I took was the jar of M&M’s.
