B.J. Novak concludes 2014 MSE Symposium

Actor and author B.J. Novak delivered a stand-up comedy performance and discussed his career in Shriver Hall on Wednesday, concluding this year’s Milton S. Eisenhower  (MSE) Symposium.

Novak is known for his role in NBC’s series The Office, for which he also served as a writer, as well as his roles in Inglorious Basterds, Knocked Up and Saving Mr. Banks. He attended high school with Jim Krasinski, one of his co-stars on The Office. Novak, a Bostonian, attended Harvard University.

Novak’s presentation began with a short sketch ridiculing Google Maps, which suggested that it takes eight minutes to get from BWI Airport to Hopkins. According to Novak, this miscommunication caused his relationship with OnStar to deteriorate.

Novak also read stories from some of his books, including One More Thing: Stories and other Stories.  When reading a so-called “mystery” story, Novak requested that the lights be dimmed. With one spotlight focused on him, he read his story, evoking many laughs from the audience.

“I always watched B.J. on The Office, and I’ve read all of his books, so it was really awesome to see him in person,” freshman Melissa Rosen said.

Novak also made some suggestions about writing techniques. He emphasized that he likes his voice to come through in his works so that each work is recognizable as his own. He also suggested that prospective writers should look for topics that they think their friends would be interested in reading about.

Another segment of his performance was a joke session, in which he drew humorous material from a briefcase, which he referred to as his “briefcase full of jokes.” In one of his jokes, Novak said he was a double major in college, yet he learned nothing. The tagline was that his double major was psychology and reverse psychology.

Students appreciated the lightheartedness of the act.

“I didn’t go to any of the [other MSE speakers], but I heard they were more lecture-based, spewing out life advice, and I was glad that this was more personal and made us laugh,” freshman Meena Chatrathi said.

During the Q&A session, a member of the audience asked him about his favorite quotation from The Office. Novak replied with a quote from Michael Scott: “Would I rather be loved or feared? Easy — both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.”

Overall, the event received positive feedback from members of the audience.

“I loved listening to [Novak]. He was so funny, and it was so incredible to see him in person,” freshman Olivia Davies said.

Connor Kenehan, MSE’s programming co-chair, discussed how this year’s committee selected Novak as one of its speakers.

“I sat down with [someone on the Hopkins Organization for Programming (HOP)], and I gave them a list of comedians,” Kenehan said. “We kind of bounced ideas off of each other and saw who we’d want. The name within our price range who we were most interested in was B.J. Novak.”

The theme of this year’s MSE Symposium was “The Generation Electric — Recharging the Promise of Tomorrow.” The series aimed to highlight the stories of successful individuals in order to inspire Hopkins students who are facing difficult pressures both in the classroom and outside of it.

“We live in a culture with heavy cynicism where we all hear the job market is harder than ever; school’s harder than ever; you’ve got to do better than ever to succeed,” Kenehan said. “Our hope was to create a symposium this year that... gives people something to remind us that we are all smart kids, we are all hardworking and we’re stronger than these obstacles that we face.”