The Office stars B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling reunited on Dec. 15 before Christmas, with Kaling making a reference to the classic episode “A Benihana Christmas” in the caption. The two actors played on-again, off-again couple Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor on the NBC series and have remained close friends. Kaling later shared another Office joke on Instagram Saturday.
Kaling’s selfie with Novack showed the two looking surprisingly serious before heading to a friend’s house for a party. “Benihana was closed so we had to head out to a Christmas party at a friend’s house,” Kaling wrote in the caption.
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On Saturday, Kaling shared a hilarious scene from an Office episode with Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.
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“Presents are the best way to show someone who much you care,” Michael said in the scene. “It’s like this tangible thing that you can point to and say, ‘Hey man, I love you this many dollars-worth.’”
Kaling’s reference to Benihana was a nod to the classic hour-long Season 3 episode “A Benihana Christmas,” which was directed by the late Harold Ramis. In the episode, Michael takes Andy (Ed Helms), Jim (John Krasinski) and Dwight (Rainn Wilson) to a Benhiana, which he considers the “Asian Hooters.”
Since The Office ended, Kaling and Novak have remained close friends. In fact, Kaling told Us Weekly earlier this month that he babysits her daughter, Katherine.
“He comes over at least once or twice a week to just hang out with my daughter,” Kaling told the magazine. “When he does that, I can go take a shower or go work out… He’s great.”
Kaling said Novak will also be at Katherine’s second birthday.
“I’m going to leave and say I have to go to work and then B.J.’s going to say, ‘And now special friend Elmo is going to arrive,’” the Late Night star said. “I’m going to dress up as Elmo. I have a costume that I ordered from China. I’m going to come in and dance to a couple of songs with her.”
Novak even plans on going to Kaling’s house for Christmas.
Katherine was born in December 2017 and Kaling has never publicly discussed who her daughter’s father is. “My feeling is that, until I speak to my daughter about that, I’m not going to talk to anyone else about is,” the actress previously told The New York Times.
Novak released his latest book, My Book With No Pictures, in November. He was last seen on TV in an episode of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend last year.
As for Kaling, she starred in Amazon’s Late Night, which she also wrote. She also has a recurring role on Apple TV+’s The Morning Show.
Photo credit: Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic/Getty Images
