Ryan Howard
From Dunderpedia: The Office Wiki
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| Ryan Howard | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Job | Vice President, North East Region and Director of New Media;
Former Junior Sales Representative;
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| Played by | B.J. Novak |
Ryan Bailey Howard is a fictional character played by B.J. Novak in the television series The Office.
Contents |
[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:
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] Trivia
- Ryan shares his name with Ryan Howard, first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies. The similarity was unintentional. 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.
- 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]
[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 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." This was because Stanley had set Ryan up. While they were driving, Ryan keep begging Stanley to let him make the pitch to the people at their next stop, so Stanley cleverly agreed, knowing that the company was run by African-American men. Of course, Stanley grinned slyly when Ryan saw the people he had to pitch to.
- 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
| Episode | Nickname | Given by | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Health Care | Temp | Michael | "Oh, hey temp." |
| The Fire | Temp | Dwight | "Was it worth it, Temp?" |
| Halloween | The Temp | Devon | "... or The Temp." |
| The Fight | Mr. Temp | Michael | "There he is, Mr. Temp." |
| Performance Review | Temp | Dwight | "Hey, Temp." |
| Email Surveillance | Temp | Michael | "Here ya go Temp, take my jacket." |
| Email Surveillance | Fire Guy | Kevin | "Not so fast... Fire Guy." |
| The Secret | Temp (3x) | Dwight | "Listen, Temp." "Temp, shouldn't you..." "So, temp..." |
| Michael's Birthday | Temp | Dwight | "Hey, Temp." |
| NBC 2006 Fall Primetime Preview | The Tempinator | Michael | |
| (Beginning in season 3, Ryan is no longer a temp.) | |||
| Initiation | Temp (2x) | Dwight | "Do you know where we are, temp?" "Temp! Temp! Temp!" |
| Diwali | Temp | Dwight | "Temp! Temp!" |
| The Return | Big Turkey | Andy | |
| Beach Games | Temp (2x) | Dwight | "OK, temp." "Damn it, Temp!" |
| (Beginning in season 4, Ryan is a corporate manager.) | |||
| Dunder Mifflin Infinity | Sonny Crockett | Michael | "Hello, Mr. Sonny Crockett. I'm Tubbs." |
| Dunder Mifflin Infinity | Fire Guy | Michael | "Fire guy, don't start any fires!" |
| Dunder Mifflin Infinity | Fire Guy | Andy | "Fire guy!" |
[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
* Deleted scene.
| Characters of The Office |
|---|
|
Main characters |
|
Michael Scott | Dwight Schrute | Jim Halpert | Pam Beesly |Ryan Howard |
|
Recurring characters |
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Accounting:
Angela Martin | Oscar Martinez | Kevin Malone |
|
Other characters |
|
Jan Levinson | Carol Stills | Bob Vance | Mose Schrute | Josh Porter | Katy | Devon | Billy Merchant | Tony Gardner | Martin Nash | Hannah Smoterich-Barr | Ed Truck |
