The Office ended over a decade ago, but it remains one of the best sitcoms of all time. The NBC comedy is known for its hilarious jokes and running gags, and even some pretty intense spittle during some scenes. While there was some cringe, overall it was pretty funny. There were some great jokes throughout the show’s nine-season run, but there were a lot that didn’t make the cut. And Kevin actor Brian Baumgartner was pretty upset when a wild joke he made was cut.
With a show like The Office, jokes make up 90% of it. Unfortunately, that also means that a lot of jokes that were pitched didn’t weren’t able to make the final cut. While talking with Entertainment Weekly, Baumgartner recalled how a joke he made during the filming of one of the episodes was initially left on the cutting room floor, and not surprisingly, he was not happy with the end result:
One time, I got really mad at the editors. There was a joke — and now they have put it back in, so most people have seen it. I just thought it was pound-for-pound an amazing joke. It was a great joke, and they cut it.
It’s understandable why Baumgartner was upset about the joke being cut, especially since he thought it was pretty good. Luckily, since airing, the joke has found its way to streaming and can be watched with a Peacock subscription in the Season 5 episode, “Baby Shower.” But thinking that initially, no one would see the joke, I can see why he’d be mad over it.
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The episode in question centered on Dwight and Michael preparing for Jan to give birth to her first child, via sperm donor, while romantically involved with Michael. Chaos ensues around the office, and after Jan brings baby Astrid around, she gets into a very interesting conversation with Kevin, and it was pretty perfect:
Kevin begins asking her about where she got the sperm donated for the baby. She says some version of like, 'Oh, you know, it's a very exclusive place,' and Kevin knowingly says, 'The place behind the IHOP?'
Baumgartner went on to explain that the joke on one of the best NBC sitcoms comes from the look on Melora Hardin’s face, “thinking that possibly the donated sperm came from Kevin, and what that would mean for Michael.” It’s a pretty genius joke, and it seems to be self-explanatory when you don’t really overthink it. However, NBC didn’t really see the vision. Not at first, anyway:
When it first aired on NBC, they came to me, and they were like, 'Sorry.' I was like, 'What are you talking about?' We don't really have a storyline about this, or we don't want to confuse people to think that it might set something up with Kevin's baby.' I was like, 'No, you're overthinking this. This is just a great joke. Yeah, this is a great joke. That doesn't have to go anywhere.'
In hindsight, it’s understandable why NBC wanted to cut the joke because it could be confusing, but that’s the beauty of the joke. It’s funny, it makes people second guess everything, and it’s not really that serious. At the very least, the joke is finally back in its rightful place on The Office on Peacock, and even though Baumgartner lost the war back then, he finally won this round:
When it first aired on NBC, they came to me, and they were like, 'Sorry.' I was like, 'What are you talking about?' We don't really have a storyline about this, or we don't want to confuse people to think that it might set something up with Kevin's baby.' I was like, 'No, you're overthinking this. This is just a great joke. Yeah, this is a great joke. That doesn't have to go anywhere.'
That’s what’s so great about streaming. Not only are fans able to watch their favorite shows, but some have deleted scenes that are added in. In The Office’s case, the “Super Fan” episodes really come in handy. But now it makes me wonder what other jokes were cut that didn’t get the same treatment.
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