A couple years ago, Sarah Michelle Gellar revealed that she crossed a parenting milestone: She let her kids watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It went well! Not only did they not mind watching their mother as a young woman fighting supernatural creatures; they actually got “so into it.” If it worked out so well for Gellar, could the same happen to other actor parents when they showed their older work to them? For John Krasinski, it was more of a mixed bag.
During a recent appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, the erstwhile Jim Halpert said that his two young daughters “literally just started watching” the American version of The Office, the show that made him a star. They had expressed curiosity in the beloved program, and at the request of their mother, Emily Blunt, he put on the pilot. It went…well, interestingly.
“They were watching the first episode, and my oldest, it turns out she’s a screen talker-atter,” Krasinki explained. “She’s talking to the screen. So when Steve [Carell] fired Jenna [Fischer], she goes, ‘What are you doing? What are you doing?’ And then she goes,’”You’re a horrible person!’ And I said, ‘You should meet Steve Carell.’”
His younger daughter then had something to say about how he looks on the show, which debuted 18 years ago. “And then my six-year-old kept asking, ‘Is that you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah, it is,’” he recalled. “She said, ‘You look very different.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll try to not take that as a hurtful thing. But sure.’ And she goes, ‘You look very different.’ And I said, ‘No, that’s me. I’m just playing a character.’ And she went, ‘[Scoffs] That’s not you.’ And watched two more episodes being like, ‘That’s not you. Guy looks a lot like you, though.’”
The Office wrapped nearly a decade ago, but its cast continues to be involved with it some fashion. There’s a podcast, and the alum are constantly being asked about it. Krasinski himself last year revealed that there was only one time he refused to do a scene, namely on where Jim was supposed to make out with someone who wasn’t Pam while she was out on maternity leave.
You can watch Krasinski’s Late Show appearance in the video below.