If you look back at the American version of The Office, one of the best sitcoms of all time, you’ll find no shortage of great moments from Brian Baumgartner’s Kevin Malone. He may not be one of the Office characters who’s good at their job, but you can count on him providing plenty of laughs while you’re streaming the NBC series with a Peacock subscription or watching some other way. That includes him saying a simple, yet effective line Baumgartner uttered in the Season 5 episode “Broke” that the actor now uses “almost every time” when he’s doing speaking engagements.
Nothing ringing a bell yet? I’m talking about when Kevin gave a delayed “Hi” to Andy Buckley’s David Wallace, and Idris Elba, who played Charles Miner, appeared to nearly break character. Curious about if Baumgartner could shed any light on this underrated moment from The Office, I brought it up to the actor while interviewing him about his guest stint on Suits LA, which saw him performing opposite Patton Oswalt. Here’s what he told me:
It’s funny that you mentioned the ‘hi’ thing. When I go to colleges and so forth and speak, the ‘hi’ joke is one that I use almost every time. Because if there’s any sort of Q&A situation, someone will say, ‘Hi, I’m Michelle, I’m a sophomore or whatever.’ And I’ll wait about 7 seconds and then say hi back in a delayed fashion. To me, having a timing that’s unexpected brings comedy. So I don’t know. I guess that I can take credit for that one.
