The Rush: Brian Baumgartner on what sports his Office castmates would play professionally
Brian Baumgartner of the hit show “The Office” dishes on which sports his Office castmates would go pro in if they weren’t actors. PLUS: is the only ‘skill’ required to be good at golf: money?
Video Transcript
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: I'm serious about this stuff. I'm up the night before pressing garlic and dicing whole tomatoes. I toast my own ancho chillies. It's a recipe passed down from Malone's for generations. It's probably the thing I do best.
JARED QUAY: I don't know about y'all, but I am still full from Thanksgiving.
- Oh, Hercules, Hercules, Hercules.
JARED QUAY: I also love watching sports and good TV on Thanksgiving. "The Office" is one of my favorites. So I asked Kevin Malone, a.k.a. Brian Baumgartner what his "Office" castmates would play if they were professional athletes instead of actors. Check it out. Steve Carell.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: That's easy. He would be a hockey star. During the time we were shooting the show, he was still playing in, I don't know, a Wednesday night pick up hockey league, which I didn't even know existed.
JARED QUAY: Mindy Kaling.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Mindy, I think I was saying something that didn't exist. I was saying ice dancer. No, is that right? Something like that?
JARED QUAY: I think that's a sport. I'm pretty sure. Yeah.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Yeah, something where you wouldn't have to get too messy.
JARED QUAY: John Krasinski.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: I guess basketball. He's got some skills. He played for a while.
- Whoo.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: He's not as good as me. But yeah, I would say basketball.
JARED QUAY: Ed Helms.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: I play a lot of golf. I don't know if you know that. But I play a lot of golf. And there was a golfing episode of "The Office" where he played and he had not really played much golf.
ED HELM: All right. Race to the next hole.
- Ooh, winner gets 10 bucks. Wait. Wait for me.
ED HELM: Short cut. Short cut. Whoa.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: He and I went to high school together. I don't know if you know that either. But he really got bit by the bug.
JARED QUAY: Leslie David Baker.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Not basketball.
STEVE CARELL: What?
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Anything but basketball. Maybe the National Spelling Bee. That's a sport because it's on ES-- I would give him that.
JARED QUAY: Rainn Wilson.
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Oh man. I would say for Rainn, it would be-- yeah, I would say something like jujitsu. I'll give him that. Yeah.
JARED QUAY: OK. Speaking of golf, I know you said you'd love to play golf too. Please try to convince me. Because I think the only thing you need to really be good at golf is a lot of money. Am I wrong?
BRIAN BAUMGARTNER: Yeah, well it's probably because you lack flexibility. That's probably what I think. It's probably because you lack flexibility. Right now, I can imagine your swing. And I can imagine the lack of fluidity that would occur in your swing. This is just what I'm imagining. I don't know. I could be wrong.
JARED QUAY: You're 100% right.