Ryan Howard

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Ryan Howard

Gender

Male

Job

Temp Receptionist; Former Vice President, N.E. Region Director of New Media; Former Jr. Sales Representative; Former Temp, Salesman Michael Scott Paper Company

Actor

B.J. Novak

Ryan Bailey Howard is a fictional character played by B.J. Novak in the television series The Office.

[edit] Biography

Ryan grew up in Scranton (Diversity Day*).

[edit] Season 1:

Ryan first appears in "Pilot", when he is introduced to the office. Michael immediately takes a liking to him, which develops into a man-crush in Season 2, though Ryan quickly realizes how tactless and absent-minded his boss is. He is nicknamed "Temp", and, as a running joke, is almost always called such by Dwight, even after he becomes a full time employee in Season 3.

Ryan isn't part of any major storylines during the first season. The large bag Ryan holds up during the opening credits contains his basketball clothes for the game against the warehouse guys.

[edit] Season 2:

Ryan is still a temp and Michael seems to have developed a man crush on him. In "The Dundies", Michael names him 'The Hottest in the Office' and in 'The Fire' when playing "who would you do?" Michael names Ryan.

Ryan begins attending business school at night, identified in a fictitious press release as the Kania School of Management at the University of Scranton.

Ryan's goal in attending business school is to escape Dunder Mifflin and someday run a business of his own. He tries not to get involved in the goings-on at Dunder Mifflin Scranton, viewing his stint there as a temporary stop and not as a career. During Spring Cleaning (The Secret), Ryan notes that he could clean out his desk in five seconds and nobody would know he was ever there. "And I'd forget too."

Ryan inadvertently started the fire in the episode The Fire, leading to the nickname "Fire Guy" which would follow him for years.

Ryan winds up in a relationship with Kelly Kapoor against his better judgment. He would like to get out of it but for reasons unknown even to him he can't bring himself to put an end to it.

[edit] Season 3:

Most of Ryan’s shyness has diminished and he's a lot more assertive and often naughty. Ryan is now a junior sales rep and seems to be happy about the idea of the Scranton Branch closing since he now has an excuse to end his relationship with Kelly, and he is confident that Michael will write a letter of recommendation on his behalf to be one of the employees retained and transferred to Stamford. However, the Scranton branch stays open, and Ryan and Kelly's relationship drags on. The relationship eventually ends however, when Ryan is promoted to Corporate Manager (replacing Jan Levinson), making the former temp Michael's boss.

As a sales representative, Ryan tries to develop his sales skills but fails miserably at every opportunity. In Initiation, the client reportedly said that he did not like Ryan to his face. In Traveling Salesmen, Ryan is unable to say anything beyond "Hi."

[edit] Season 4:

Ryan is now Vice President of Regional Sales and Michael's direct superior. He has overseen a bottom-to-top streamlining of the entire company to help compete with other businesses. Among these is a new website called Dunder Mifflin Infinity.

Ryan is trying to be a "fun boss", as shown when he arrives to Scranton and energetically says "Hey, everyone! What's happening? How's my favorite branch doing?"

Ryan speaks in business cliches, talking about "convergence," "viral marketing" and "takin' it to the streets." He also uses other business platitudes, like responding to suggestions with empty phrases like "I can tell you thought about this a lot" and "That is a great observation."

Ryan is enamored of his new life in New York City, bragging about late night clubbing, meeting beautiful women, and getting a sandwich at 2am. He has let his meteoric rise go to his head, having bought a fancy sports car and fallen into a cocaine habit. Belying his attempt to maintain a hip facade, Ryan's apartment is a tiny unkempt studio.

Ryan's business efforts have met with disaster. The social networking section of Dunder Mifflin Infinity has been infiltrated by sexual predators, and the paper sales are such a disappointment that he made the Scranton staff come to work on a Saturday to falsify data, entering their own sales into the computer system to make the Web site appear more successful than it really is.

Ryan sees Jim as his rival and in the episode Did I Stutter? actively takes steps to discredit him with the intent of possibly firing him. However, his attempts backfire and Ryan is eventually arrested for fraud.

[edit] Season 5:

After getting arrested and promptly fired, Michael brings back Ryan and gives him his old job as a Temp. Ryan pledges to climb back up the letter and attempts to make amends with the co-workers who he alienated when he was at Corporate.

Ryan convinces Kelly to dump Darryl (which Darryl accepts quite easily) and gets back together with her. This doesn't last long as Ryan suddenly announces his intentions to take a break and go to Thailand.

Ryan reappears in the episode "The Dream Team" , with bleached hair, working at a bowling alley. Michael convinces Ryan to join him and Pam at the Michael Scott Paper Company. Before quitting Ryan steals a pair of shoes. Initially Pam and Ryan bicker back and forth when the Michael Scott Paper Company begins but the situation gets better when the company begins to make sales and take clients away from Dunder Mifflin.

When it is revealed that the Michael Scott Paper Company is broke, the trio ponder their future. Ryan also admits that he went to Fort Lauderdale and not Thailand. Michael manages to negotiate a deal that would end the Michael Scott Paper Company and return Dunder Mifflin's clients (Dunder Mifflin unaware that their new rival is broke) and in return give Michael and Pam their jobs back. Ryan is also brought back as a Salesman.

After a tense feud amongst the Sales Team, Ryan loses his job as a Salesman and is instantly hired back as a Temp again.

[edit] Season 6:

Ryan is once again a temp and seems to be in an on-off relationship with Kelly once again and works in the annex with Kelly and Toby.

In the episode "Gossip" after Pam announces that she is pregnant, Ryan yells out, "Don't get it vaccinated."

In the episode "The Meeting" he tells Pam that he will go to her wedding.

In the episode "The Promotion" Ryan tells Pam that she could either have one-hundred dollars now or five-thousand dollars later. After hesitation, Pam takes the five-thousand dollars that Ryan claims he will have a year from that day.  Pam gives Ryan money to put towards a basketball betting scheme as part of the deal.

In the episode "Niagara" Ryan comes to Pam and Jim's wedding and is seen dancing with Kelly at an office party in Andy's room. Later in the same episode, he questions Jim and Pam after they left for a while to be married on the Maid of the Mist in Niagara Falls.

In the episode "The Lover" after Pam says sarcastically that Michael should be allowed to date everyone's mom, Ryan yells to her, "That's my mom you're talking about."

In the episode "Double Date" Ryan seemed to be getting into photography and showed Erin pictures that he took, telling her about how he takes pictures of places where beauty is unlikely. He then shows her a nude picture of Kelly working at her desk in the annex, and Ryan tells her that he is working on a photography series called "Exposure in the Workplace."

[edit] Trivia

• Ryan shares his name with Ryan Howard, first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies. The similarity was intentional, as at the time, the baseball player was a slugging first baseman for the Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre Red Barons. The character Ryan Howard tries to exploit this concidence in the episode Night Out, telling the club bouncer, "Check again. Ryan Howard, the baseball player."

• In the episode Christmas Party, Ryan was a member of the Party Planning Committee. He has not been a member since except in a deleted scene from Take Your Daughter to Work Day.
• Ryan considers Scranton his hometown. (Launch Party)
• In "Night Out" it is implied that Ryan has taken to using cocaine. This is evidenced by his hyper-activity, drastic personality change(he was glad to see Michael and Dwight), frequenty use of the washroom and twitching fingers. Additionally, his co-worker Troy, when leaving the club, tells Dwight and Michael not to take Ryan to the hospital. At his apartment, Ryan asks Michael and Dwight what he should do if one of his friends has a drug problem. This is again referenced in the episode "Did I Stutter?," when Ryan arrives at the Scranton Branch, he checks his nose in his car's make-up mirror.
• B.J. Novak notes that it is the incompetent people who use the most jargon. Ryan as an executive "is so far over his head, and he wears it so poorly." Novak concedes that he personally acts the most like a jerk when he's not confident, and he brings that trait to Ryan.^[1]
• Ryan returns in Weight Loss, and explains he helps the community. He writes down a "list" of people who he now hates, such as Jim and Kevin.

[edit] Recurring jokes

• Ryan started a fire (in the episode "The Fire").
  • In Email Surveillance, Kevin cautions Ryan from getting too close to the barbecue. "Not so fast... Fire Guy."
  • In Business School, Michael tells the class, "And he started a fire trying to make a cheesy pita."
  • In Dunder Mifflin Infinity, Michael kids, "Don't start any fires, Ryan." Kevin and Andy join in the taunting. Kevin quickly reminds Andy that he was not present for that incident
  • In Launch Party, Dwight, mockingly pretending to be Ryan, says, "I started a fire with my cheese pita." Michael joins in the taunting.
  • In Goodbye, Toby*, Jim complains that all Ryan ever did was start a fire and grow a beard.
  • In Weight Loss*, Kevin calls Ryan Fire-d Guy.
  • In "Business Ethics"*, Kevin calls Ryan Hire-d Guy.

• In his time as a sales representative, Ryan has never made a sale.
  • In the episode "Initiation", Dwight mentions that Ryan hasn't made a sale yet. In the episode, Ryan goes on a sales call with Dwight and fails miserably. The client said that he didn't like Ryan. Dwight adds, "They didn't have to say it to your face."
  • In the episode "Traveling Salesmen", Ryan goes on a sales call with Stanley, and Ryan can only manage to say, "Hi."
  • In the episode "Business School", Michael tells the class, "Ryan has never made a sale."
  • In the episode "Product Recall", Michael rejects Ryan's offer of help. "No, sweet cheeks. We need someone who's actually made a sale."
  • In the episode "Local Ad", Ryan admits that he was a bad salesman. "Look, I wasn't good at sales, right?"

[edit] Nicknames for Ryan

[edit] Appearances

Ryan appears and has lines in all episodes with the following exceptions:

• The Coup - speaks only in a deleted scene
• Back From Vacation - speaks only in a deleted scene
• Phyllis' Wedding - no lines
• Branch Wars - does not appear
• Survivor Man - does not appear
• Dinner Party - does not appear
• Chair Model - does not appear
• "The Surplus"- does not appear
• "Moroccan Christmas"- does not appear
• "The Duel"- does not appear
• "Prince Family Paper"- does not appear
• "Stress Relief"- does not appear
• "Lecture Circuit, Part 1"- does not appear
• "Lecture Circuit, Part 2"- does not appear
• "Blood Drive"- does not appear
• "Golden Ticket"- does not appear
• "New Boss"- does not appear
• "Two Weeks"- does not appear
• "Mafia"- does not appear

* Deleted scene.