There's a lot to love about The Office: John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer's Jim and Pam, Dwight Schrute's constant hijinks, and the fact the series gave us Mindy Kaling & B.J. Novak's IRL friendship. The duo met during the writer's room for the NBC TV show, and have been in each other's lives ever since — and honestly, I can't imagine a world where they're *not* in each other's lives. Here's a timeline of their full friendship next time you're in the mood to rewatch the best episodes of The Office.
Mindy Kaling &B.J.Novak's Full Friendship Timeline
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2004 — Mindy Kaling & B.J. Novak Meet During The Office
Mindy and B.J. hit it off while writing The Office, just like their characters Kelly Kapoor and Ryan Howard! Ryan and Kelly have an on-again-off-again relationship throughout the whole series, and turns out, Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak actually dated too...kind of.
“No one, including us, ever really knew, ‘Is this dating? Is this not dating?’" B.J. tells Vulture. "All you’d know for sure as that you’d always find one of us next to the other, even if we weren’t getting along."
"It’s the kind of friendship you have when you are embedded with someone, that you can only get by putting in that insane amount of time with people," Mindy adds.
In a 2014 interview with Howard Stern, Mindy continues that when they broke up, "I was so sad, not angry, sad...I love him, and I think he's a great person, but I'm not holding a candle for B.J."
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November 9, 2011 — B.J. Novak Shows Up To Mindy Kaling's Book Tour
When Mindy Kaling published her book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), B.J. Novak showed up in support. He sat beside her at the table while she signed books, and you can just tell from this picture how proud he is of her. I love this friendship!
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January 29, 2013 — B.J. Novak And Mindy Kaling Are "Inseparable" After The Office
When Mindy Kaling created her own Fox series The Mindy Project, B.J. Novak ended up guest starring in season 1, 3, and 5. B.J.'s first two episodes, titled "Harry & Sally" and "Harry & Mindy," hint at the iconic Meg Ryan movieWhen Harry Met Sally, which is all about exploring whether men and women can be friends without sex getting in the way.
"[The arc] is definitely inspired by our relationship," B.J. tells Entertainment Weekly. "We are pretty inseparable best friends with a lot of chemistry ourselves, and we’re not dating. Whenever we date anyone else, I think there’s a period where the person is very skeptical of our friendship...It’s such a common thing to have that platonic best friend that becomes a little weird when you start dating someone."
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May 6, 2013 — Mindy Kaling And B.J. Novak Attend The Met Gala
Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak showed up in style to the 2013 "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" Met Gala red carpet. Mindy wore a deep purple textured gown paired with a turquoise clutch, edgy jewelry, and dark lipstick. "He's my date tonight," Mindy said (via Us Weekly). "We were listening to Nirvana and we drank a little."
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May 2015 — Mindy Kaling Jokes Her Friendship With B.J. Novak Is "Weird As Hell"
Friendships are always complicated, and even more so when your friends become more than friends. "I will freely admit: My relationship with B.J. Novak is weird as hell...He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend," the actress tells InStyle (via Business Insider). "I guess you could describe our relationship as a 'romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments,' but I don’t think Facebook would accept this as a new status."
The duo also announced they plan on writing a book about their relationship!
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June 8, 2017 — Mindy Kaling And B.J. Novak Celebrate National Best Friends Day
National Best Friend Day is the perfect excuse to celebrate your BFF, and Mindy took the opportunity to talk about how much she loves B.J. on social media. "Best friend isn't a person, it's a tier," Mindy wrote in an Instagram post at the time (via People).
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December 15, 2017 — Mindy Kaling Names B.J. Novak Her Daughter's Godfather
After giving birth to her first child Katherine at the end of 2017, Mindy revealed B.J. is basically a part of the family. "The truth is that B.J. is so much more like family now than a platonic friend. He's the godfather to my daughter," Kaling tells Good Housekeeping. "He comes over like once a week. Sometimes he'll come over just to hang out with her."
Mindy has kept the identity of both her daughter and her son's father a secret, leading some fans to wonder whether B.J. is the father of Mindy's kids — but the actress says the rumors don't bother her. “He’s the godparent to both my kids — and they have such a great relationship," she tells Marie Claire.
Image via B.J. Novak/X/Twitter
March 9, 2018 — B.J. Novak Celebrates Mindy Kaling's A Wrinkle In Time
The 2018 reboot of A Wrinkle In Time is *such* a magical movie, and it was just as special for B.J. as it was for fans of the story. “When I met @mindykaling she lived in a small apartment on Fairfax Ave,” he posted in March 2018. “This is what’s in front of that building today. Congrats Mindy and a future congrats to all those who see you in it and are inspired to do great things."
"When I was coming up there was no one who looked like me on TV or film, and it was such a nice thing that he remembered that," Mindy later told the Today show. "I was so moved by that. No, it's true — if you dream big, you can get whatever you want."
Image via B.J. Novak/Instagram
February 9, 2020 — Mindy Kaling And B.J. Novak Attend The Vanity Fair Oscar After Party Together
Parties become infinitely more fun when you go with a friend, and Mindy and B.J. prove it! After the 2020 Oscars, the duo spent time in a photo booth and took a hilarious quartet of photos. "Great party," B.J. captions the photos on Instagram.
Image via B.J. Novak/Instagram
September 13, 2021 — B.J. Novak And Mindy Kaling Take A Fun Selfie
We all have countless selfies with our best friends, and it turns out that celebrities are no different. After an evening hanging out together, B.J. Novak posted a selfie with Mindy Kaling. "I don’t usually ask for selfies with celebrities but saw my favorite star last night and just had to," he jokes on Instagram.
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July 25, 2022 — Mindy Kaling Supports B.J. Novak's Vengeance
Mindy Kaling showed up to support B.J. Novak at the red carpet premiere of his mystery comedy Vengeance. The Never Have I Ever creator wore a beautiful, chic black dress that complemented B.J.'s maroon suit perfectly! (BTW, if you haven't seen this flick, it's the *perfect* summer movie).
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September 12, 2022 — Mindy Kaling & B.J. Novak Present At The Emmy Awards
I've missed seeing Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak onscreen, but thankfully, the duo appeared onstage together to present the 2022 Emmy for writing for a limited or anthology series or movie.
"To all the nominees we want to say, congratulations you lazy sons of bitches," Mindy jokes. "How are you getting away with it? We [did] 22 episodes a year."
"And that show, that would take up your whole life. No time for other projects," B.J. adds, and Mindy agrees. "No time for a social life," she says. "You had no choice but to form insanely complicated relationships with your costars."
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February 25, 2023 — B.J. Novak Presents Mindy Kaling With The Norman Lear Achievement Award
During 2023 Producers Guild Awards, B.J. presented Mindy Kaling with the Norman Lear Achievement Award, and talked about how much their friendship means to him. “The first thing I noticed about Mindy in that writers room is that she cared so much about everything,” he says in his speech. “It would be tempting to tie all this together by saying how much Mindy grew up or changed since those early days. But what’s more important is how much she didn’t change. No matter how much pressure she felt, how silly or self-conscious she could have been to care so much about so many things, especially when some of those things had never been on television before. She knows a lot about producing now, but she was great at it even before she did because she’s a great producer for the same reason that many people, including her, are great parents right away. She cares so much that she either knows what to do or finds out fast.”
Mindy was blown away by his words, and says in her own speech, “He's seen all the ups and downs and it just means the world to me that he's giving me this award today...I am so lucky that my favorite writer is also my best friend, I love you."
Image via B.J. Novak/Instagram
March 26, 2024 — Mindy Kaling Jokes About Her Friendship With B.J. Novak
At the end of March 2024, anonymous gossip account DeuxMoi posted a reel about the duo's current relationship status (and whether they'd had a falling out), to which Mindy commented, "Omg I haaate him so much." Of course, I can't confirm their current friendship status, but this is definitely the kind of sarcasm I use with my best friends!
What's your favorite moment from Mindy Kaling & B.J. Novak's friendship? Would you be down for a The Office reunion? Check out more celebrity news, including the latest on your favorite celeb relationships.
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