The Office star Brian Baumgartner has discussed the iconic cold open scene involving his character, Kevin, in which he spills his homemade chili. The Office drew in huge ratings for NBC during its time on the air. The series is in a "mockumentary" style, as a camera crew follows and interviews employees at the fictional Dunder Mifflin Paper Company located in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The employees, led by their boss Michael Scott (Steve Carrell), often found themselves in hilariously awkward and bizarre situations. The show ran for a total of nine seasons, ending in 2013, and had a talented cast that included Carell, John Krasinski, Rainn Wilson, Jenna Fischer, Angela Kinsey, and Ed Helms — to name just a few.
Fischer, who played Pam Beesly, and Kinsey, who played Angela Martin, co-host The Office Ladies podcast. In the show, the stars revisit every episode of the beloved NBC comedy series and give fans some fun facts and insight into the creative processes behind The Office. They occasionally have guests on the podcast, ranging from actors on the show to members of the creative team, and a recent episode featured Baumgartner as the special guest.
On the latest episode of The Office Ladies (via Mashable), Baumgartner has revealed some exciting behind-the-scenes looks into Kevin's famous chili scene. The three former stars of The Office discussed the season 5 episode titled "Casual Friday." The scene in question sees Kevin talking to the camera crew about the care that goes into his chili, only for him to hilariously drop the massive pot on the office floor and spill it everywhere. Baumgartner revealed the entire cringe-worthy scene was filmed in just one take. Check out what he had to say below:
"I'm tremendously proud of this now. The actual main portion was one take. They had done obviously some prep, because this was going to be a mess, there was no question. And we'd rehearsed it. Obviously it was all about the moment of spill — having that look and feel as realistic as possible, and that it happened in generally the correct place for the cameras to be able to pick it up. So [prop master] Phil Shea came to me, kind of like a secret, like, backchannel meeting, and he says, 'Alright, just so you know we only have three pieces of carpet. So we can't do any more [takes] than that.'"
The Office has so many iconic moments, and it's exciting for fans to hear them discussed with behind-the-scenes tidbits by its actual stars. Kevin's chili incident is among the top moments of the entire series, and to hear Baumgartner describe how the iconic sequence was achieved on-screen is a real treat. The actor specifically mentions how messy the scene was, saying that the mere smell of the chili was present "for sure at least 24 hours." Since he was really spilling the chili, Baumgartner worked hard to sell the realism of the scene. In later comments on the podcast the actor talked about the moments in which Kevin attempts to clean up the spilled chili by scooping it up with random office supplies. The Office fans will be delighted to learn this was completely improvised by Baumgartner, saying he "got to play a little bit."
The fact that one of the most iconic and hilarious moments in the history of the show was scripted is a true sign that the writers on The Office were at the top of their game. The episode is definitely one of the more memorable ones amongst a very strong season 5, and it is no doubt that the cold open helped made the season one of The Office's best runs. The Office Ladies is a great way for the fans to get to know more about the show, and particularly to give air time to some often underrated characters, which Kevin certainly could be. However, this snippet proves that Baumgartner was up there with some of the show's best comedic talents.
Source: Office Ladies (via Mashable)