Ryan Howard (The Office)

Ryan Bailey Howard, played by B. J. Novak, is a fictional character on the US television sitcom The Office. He is based upon Ricky Howard from the original version of The Office, but his role is significantly expanded. In addition, his role in season four as corporate manager is similar to the character of Neil Godwin from the original series.

Overview

At the beginning of the series, Ryan Howard is a temporary employee at the Scranton branch of the fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin. He joined the staff in the first episode and is unsure of what to make of the antics that take place in the office. As of "The Job" he has taken Jan's widely sought after job at Dunder Mifflin's corporate office in New York. This position seems to have boosted his confidence and infused his overall style with a great deal of arrogance. Ryan has never made a sale, and he started a fire in the office's kitchenette while trying to make a cheesy pita in "The Fire".

Characteristics

Ryan was a member of a fraternity in college and holds an MBA from the University of Scranton's Kania School of Management, which he earned during the second and third seasons. His dream is to ultimately own his own business one day, which he confesses to Michael who derides it as "a terrible idea". Ryan does not wish to stay at Dunder Mifflin long or even be remembered when he leaves, citing that his ultimate fear is that he will gain a nickname around the office (being "the something guy"). This fear came to pass in an episode penned by Novak when Ryan activated a smoke alarm by accidentally overcooking a cheese pita in the break room, earning him the nickname "The Fire Guy." Underscoring his lack of enthusiasm for working at Dunder Mifflin, Ryan mentions that he could clean out his desk in five seconds and everyone (including himself) would forget that he ever worked there. During Ryan's term as a temporary employee (and even for a few months after his promotion to full-time status), Dwight frequently addresses him as "Temp" instead of his real name; Michael also called him "Temp" occasionally. Ryan is often the victim of Michael's antics, usually resigning to requests without complaint. This has given way to frequent use of sarcasm and general disinterest towards his co-workers, as he remains dissatisfied and unproven with his position. By the third season opener "Gay Witch Hunt", Ryan becomes a full-time employee and inherits the job (and desk) vacated by Jim Halpert, who transferred to Dunder Mifflin's Stamford branch. Despite the promotion, Michael treats Ryan as his personal assistant, assigning him menial tasks such as taking inventory of Michael's possessions for his trip to the convention in Philadelphia or organizing paperwork in his office. Upon Jim's return to Scranton as a result of the branch merger, there is a moment of awkwardness when Jim casually sets up at his former desk, only to learn that it now belongs to Ryan--who refuses to give the desk back to Jim. Ryan goes to his first sales call in "Initiation", where he is subjected to a series of tests by Dwight, including being stranded on Dwight's beet farm and sitting in a barn answering questions regarding the company. Dwight later admits to an angry Ryan that he wants to get along with him and be a team, since he and Jim were always at odds. He also points out Ryan's problem, which is that he will not accept that other people can teach him things. Despite his superior book learning, Ryan is not a good salesman—his first client tells him flat out that he does not like him. A sales call with Stanley in "Traveling Salesmen" is also disastrous, where Stanley laughs uproariously at Ryan's stammering ineptitude. In "The Return", he mocks Jim's query as to whether he will help plan a prank on Andy, making Jim say that he liked him better as "the temp". Ryan replies, "Me too." When Michael visits Ryan's "Business School", Ryan criticizes Dunder Mifflin's failure to adapt in an increasingly paperless society. Though the comments were made with the assumption that Michael, being outside the room, would never hear them, a classmate eventually revealed what Ryan had said. As punishment, Michael relocates Ryan to a new desk in the back of the office, where he would be forced to sit next to Kelly Kapoor, much to her delight. At the very end of "The Job", Ryan is called and offered the titular position (the New York-based management job vacated by Jan Levinson), making him Michael's immediate superior.^[1][2] After he hangs up, Kelly asks who was on the phone. Ryan replies "Nobody. You and I are done," much to Kelly's shock. In the fourth season opener "Fun Run", he is seen in his new office, now with a beard and more sharply dressed. He says that he has a new life with new friends, just barely hiding the fact that he has become a far more confident and cocky individual. He also says that he does not remember much of Scranton, and vaguely remembers dating a "black girl" referencing Kelly. During the "talking head" interviews, Ryan speaks almost exclusively in business buzzwords. In the following episode "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Ryan presents his concept of Dunder Mifflin Infinity to the Scranton Branch, and gives a BlackBerry to all of the key employees. He also seems to take advantage of his new authority by flattering Pam about her drawings in attempting to get a date with her, though to no success. He also brags to Kevin Malone and Andy Bernard that he met actor Vince Vaughn in New York. The only thing that's more of a suprise to them in the scene is Jim's negative view towards his cocky new attitude. He appears to be anxious to show off his newfound wealth, such as when he insinuates to the camera that his haircut "cost more than these guys would ever guess" before specifying that it cost $200. His relationship with Kelly remains tense.

Relationships

Kelly

Ryan has an on-again, off-again relationship with office chatterbox Kelly. The relationship has been troubled from the outset, for Ryan desires a very sexual relationship, whereas the overbearing Kelly wants to get married and have children as soon as possible. The two "hooked up" on the eve of Valentine's Day, although Ryan was cold to her the following day. Things seemed to be starting up between the two again during the office "Casino Night". Ryan and Kelly are later seen dating in "The Convention". Ryan met Kelly's parents during Diwali, but they were not impressed by his low income, desire to travel and saving up money to buy an Xbox, rather than start a family. Ryan has more than once tried unsuccessfully to break up with Kelly, with one of the more notable occurrences in the wake of the "The Merger" when the Scranton branch absorbs the Stamford branch instead of the other way around, once again putting the two of them back together. Even though Ryan and Kelly continue to bicker, he is sweet to her in the episode "Safety Training" after he kisses her on the forehead while winning a bet. B.J. Novak has stated that Ryan and Kelly are going strong, well into the third season: "I think Ryan and Kelly is a relationship that everyone has been in. It's a puzzle as to why they're still together, but I think Ryan loves being loved--even though he won't admit it. He lost Michael's love so he has to take in more love from Kelly." After accepting a promotion to Corporate over the phone in "The Job", an elated Ryan immediately breaks up with Kelly, telling her "You and I are done," with a smile. In Dunder Mifflin Infinity, Kelly tries to rekindle their relationship by feigning pregnancy, a lie which she later reveals. This only upsets Ryan more and leads to him attempting to have her job outsourced to India. Ryan is visibly upset in later episodes when Kelly later flirts with and kisses Darryl in front of him.

Michael

Michael also seems to have a bit of a man-crush on Ryan, which frightens him at times. Ryan was also inconveniently stuck in the position of being personal assistant to Michael, who immediately summons him to all menial tasks, such as picking up a video for Michael at his mother's house and helping him clean out his car, although in the end of the episode "The Job", Ryan becomes Michael's boss. In "The Dundies", Michael gives Ryan the "Hottest in the Office" award, describing him as "someone who really lights up the office" and "someone we all can't keep from checkin' out". In a complaint filed on him in "Conflict Resolution", Kelly complains to Toby that Ryan doesn't return her calls. Michael reads the complaint aloud to the office, and joins Kelly in the same complaint, as Ryan does not return his calls either. Ryan replies that his voicemail is rather spotty. In the third season, Ryan begins correcting Michael for embarrassing him as evident by "The Convict", when one of Michael's latest seminars involving prison life has Michael referring to Ryan as "da belle of da ball" if he were in prison. He has a list of excuses he programmed into his cell phone to use if Michael summons him into any of his antics. Along with Stanley Hudson and Phyllis Lapin, Ryan counsels the new employees from the Stamford branch on how Michael operates as manager of their branch. In "The Job", Michael comes back from his interview in New York and asks Ryan to get him a cup of coffee, but Ryan firmly says "I don't do that stuff anymore." A clueless Michael says it's not for Ryan and later says he's still waiting for his coffee, unaware that Ryan has just become his direct supervisor. Perhaps in retaliation, Ryan pointedly makes Michael get bottled water for him when Ryan returns to Scranton during Dunder Mifflin Infinity. Ryan's seemingly low position with the Scranton branch and Michael as its manager has taken on a new turn however, as Ryan accepted the position Jan Levinson was fired from, thus making him Michael's superior. Thus, this has created considerable tension between the two when Ryan tries to implement his authority and introduce new company procedures to the Scranton branch. Ryan has also asserted his authority by forcing Michael to quit his second job as a telemarketer and by pointedly not inviting him on a wilderness retreat that other D-M Branch Managers--and Michael's bete noir Toby--participated in. In spite of this, Michael seems upset that Ryan keeps rejecting his friendship; during "Branch Wars" he tells Dwight that he is more likely to hang out with Ryan (or Darryl) than with Dwight when he "plays hooky" from the office. He also refers to Ryan as his best friend when his diary entries are read during "The Deposition".

Others

Ryan also knows for sure that there is a definite "more than just friends" relationship between Dwight Schrute and Angela Martin. He discovered the relationship when the two were arguing about what to do about Michael's birthday in the break room. Ryan asked out Karen Filippelli by email, but she turned him down saying she isn't ready for an office relationship but likes him "as a friend" ("Women's Appreciation"). Karen was seeing Jim at the time, so her explanation was a cover, presumably to avoid hurting Ryan's feelings. In the episode "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" he lied to Kelly about the email, saying that Karen sent him an email asking him out which Ryan turned down because he was already seeing Kelly and was "committed to their relationship." Stanley's teenage daughter, Melissa, appears to have developed a crush on Ryan. When she shows interest in Ryan, Stanley (tipped off by a jealous Kelly) intercedes to berate and browbeat Ryan. In the episode "Dunder Mifflin Infinity", Ryan asks Pam Beesly to draw some logos for the new website. After drawing a few, Ryan asks her out to dinner to "discuss the drawings". She denies him though because she is dating Jim Halpert, much to his shock and embarrassment after which he covers his face from the camera. Jim then has a talking head interview in which he is enjoying the moment and mocking Ryan by saying, "I guess he can't get any woman he wants." This was a joke alluding to his conversation earlier in the episode with Kevin and Andy, in which they said with his new wealth Ryan could have any girl he wants.

Trivia

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• Ryan is partly named after Philadelphia Phillies star Ryan Howard.
• Ryan's car was a blue Honda Civic sedan. It is now a blue Chevrolet Cobalt sedan.
• Ryan uses a Palm Treo PDA/Cell Phone, as seen in "A Benihana Christmas".
• Ryan shares a name with Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, who played on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons in 2004 and 2005. This is a coincidence; there is no connection.^[3]
• Ryan rarely smiles. B.J. Novak quips that he was hired because of his ability to express emotions by staring.^[4]
• In an interview with Yahoo! TV, that was released before the episode "Business School", B.J. Novak describes Ryan and Kelly as "the worst relationship that all of us have been in." He adds, "The bad news is that that's what a lot of people have actually experienced, something that just doesn't work on any level, and they just keep going for some weird reason." Mindy Kaling (Kelly) adds, "It seems like Ryan has just adjusted to the fact that he is the boyfriend of this crazy girl."^[5]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Ryan Howard (The Office)

• Ryan likes indie rock music, as revealed in a deleted scene from "Hot Girl" when Michael asks him for music to play in order to impress purse saleswoman Katy. He mentions bands such as The Strokes and The Hives. The same scene also implies that he likes hip-hop.
• It was suggested that Ryan was for a time interested in women of different ethnicity, specifically Kelly, Karen, and, to a lesser extent, Stanley's daughter. B.J. Novak noted this in the commentary of an episode, and it is more directly implied in a deleted scene from Ben Franklin, in which Ryan says that the stripper looked too "pale". This seems to have changed after his promotion to corporate management, as he asked out Pam in the episode Dunder Mifflin Infinity.

Behind the scenes

• Writer B. J. Novak explains that in the fourth season, "We wanted him to dress as obnoxious as possible. As much black as possible."^[3]. Novak also said that it was originally planned for Ryan to have a goatee, but Greg Daniels vetoed that idea because it would have made Ryan "a flat-out chump".

References