Suits LA Saw Patton Oswalt Hate on The Office But Does He Truly Dislike The Show?
Two famous guest stars on Suits LA shed their on-screen personas — or do they?
There’s no shortage of new dramas, but none so enjoyably riveting as Suits LA, a spinoff series about the power lawyers navigating the Hollywood scene. The show follows former federal prosecutor Ted Black (Stephen Amell) as he transitions from the gritty underworld of New York criminals to a different clientele: celebrities and industry A-listers. In Episode 3, fans can look forward to one of those celebrities, Brian Baumgartner from The Office.
Show creator Aaron Korsh hinted at the possibility of several guest stars just after the series premiered on February 23. We've learned the Gabriel Macht and Rick Hoffman will reprise their roles from the original show, but real-life celebrities will also drop in playing versions of themselves. We’re talking about comedian Patton Oswalt (The King of Queens, Secret Life of Pets 2) and Brian Baumgartner (Kevin Malone from The Office). In Episode 3, the pair got up to shenanigans, but not in the way you think.
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In one scene, an argument breaks out between them in the law firm’s boardroom, and Oswalt yells to Baumgartner that The Office is “The dumbest show ever!”
Acting is all about leaving your true self behind, but when you go meta and break down that fourth wall, the line between fiction and reality becomes blurred. When NBC Insider caught up with Oswalt recently, we had to find out the truth. Does he really think The Office is dumb?
“Obviously not, I love that show," he said, prompting a big sigh of relief from fans. "But it’s fun to get to play that mean, you know?”
Turns out the argument between the two actors was all a ruse to get Baumgartner psyched about a career transition. He is sick and tired of being typecast and wants to “kill” Kevin from Accounting once and for all so he can pursue his dreams of winning an Oscar as a leading man.
He meets with attorney Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis), the head of entertainment law the firm, and requests an audience with actor Tom Hanks for advice on making the move from comedy to drama. Instead of Hanks, he gets Oswalt, who hatches a plan to motivate Baumgartner away from comedy by dissing The Office.
With Baumgartner also guest starring as an exaggerated version of himself, it begged the question: does he want to kill off Kevin Malone? Though he did admit to NBC Insider that it “felt freeing” to utter those words, the answer was a resounding no. Quite the opposite, he feels protective of the character.
“The Office does mean a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to other people. I say that with a full heart,” opined the actor.
He continued: “The only concern for me in all this was to make sure that was very clear. I’m playing a fictional version of myself. There may be things I want, but I still very much honor and respect the legacy of that show. That was the only part that was tricky. The rest was just fun.”
The actor credits Korsh for helping him nail the nuances of the scene, saying there were many conversations beforehand to get things just right and ensure neither The Office nor the character he loves was disrespected in the show.
One thing’s for sure: There’s never a dull moment on Suits LA.
Catch new episodes of Suits LA Sundays at 9 p.m ET on NBC. Episodes stream the next day on Peacock.
