NPR Podcast Assignment

 The son of well known author William Novak, BJ Novak found writing to came naturally to him. 

Often parents cringe at the idea of their children going into such a difficult industry, but for young Novak it was no different from becoming a plumber, a firefighter, a lawyer, or a doctor. Growing up in suburban Boston, his father's access to elite circles of celebrities made his career choice seem all the more likely and realistic. 

“Growing up my father would go upstairs and write and then come back down for dinner. [His connections] were like a portal to another world, and it made it seem like crossing over was possible.”

Best known for his acting and writing on the hit show “The Office,” Novak discussed His current project, “The Premise,” where he pushes the limits of a television show and frequently creates extremely humorous and interesting scenarios for his characters.

“I always felt that the bigger swing you take the better it has to be,” said Novak. “You need to do these things at the highest level. It’s a risk, if you fail with something like that it’s bad. But I still think we should all be going for that [risk].”

The signature of BJ Novak's comedic ability Is his ability to successfully take risks and to the line of what is acceptable to society. “Fresh Air’s” Terry Gross asked him about episodes of “The Office” that were extremely controversial and recently left off of Comedy Central's rerun of the television series. One such episode: “Diversity Day,” the second episode of their first season.

“The second episode of [The Office] had half of the viewers of the first episode,” said Gross, who then proceeded to push Novak on that particular episode. 

To cap off that portion of the interview, Novak gave a bit of writer’s wisdom saying, “audiences are not afraid of [controversial topics]. They like if someone takes a risk in comedy, they understand it, they get it. These [controversial episodes] are fine with people, it is the gatekeepers that are often very nervous on behalf of an audience.”

And at the end of the day, BJ Novak draws a pretty big crowd.