Poker Face’s Surprise The Office Connection - and B.J. Novak’s Trippy Cameo - Explained
Two of Peacock's biggest properties have found a way to work together. Well, kinda.
Rian Johnson’s Poker Face already streams on Peacock, the exclusive home of The Office, so it makes some sense the hit murder mystery series would find a hilarious and clever connection to the iconic comedy in its second season.
We even get a wildly unexpected cameo from a beloved The Office star before it’s all over!
RELATED: Are Meth Gators Real? Can Gators Get a Taste for Human Blood? Poker Face Explained
Poker Face’s The Office connection explained
The fifth installment of Poker Face’s second season, “Hometown Hero,” finds Charlie (Natasha Lyonne) drifting into a boring office job — and feuding with a prickly printer — as the episode begins. What inspired her newfound interest in cubicle life?
Charlie reveals to her CB radio friend “Good Buddy” that she’d recently gotten into a binge watch of The Office, which led her to test out an office job since it’s one avenue during her travels she hadn’t really given much of a chance. Sadly, her gig doesn’t offer much in the way of human interaction, as she’s the only actual employee in the office.
But as it often does in Charlie’s travels, fate intervenes to show her where to head next, in the form of a baseball (literally) right to the head. Charlie is knocked out by a rogue home run from the neighboring minor league ball park, and after meeting with the team’s owner, soon finds herself embracing the sense of community a small town baseball team can provide as she joins up as the team’s new ball girl. It’s a job that mostly requires her to kick back beyond the foul line, eat hot dogs, and grab the occasional foul tip when it comes her way.
Like most of Charlie’s adventures, though, a mysterious death finds a way to break up the peace she has found. In this case, a handful of players for the team — led by Simon Rex (Red Rocket, Blink Twice) as the team’s washed-up former star pitcher who has lost his fastball — decide to bet against themselves for a massive payout, throwing a five-game stretch to make sure they lose for a multimillion dollar payout.
The only problem? The team’s new rookie pitcher is actually pretty good, even after his Big League Chew bubble gum is spiked with acid, so the players kill him with a fastball to the back of the head when he puts together their scheme. They set up the scene to make it all look like a pitching machine accident, but of course Charlie’s knack for sniffing out suspicious circumstances sees through the ruse pretty quickly.
B.J. Novak’s Poker Face cameo explained
But before she solves the case, Charlie takes a piece of his bubble gum and accidentally goes on a partially-animated acid trip herself. Along the way, she imagines she meets the long-dead original owner of the minor league team, the Montgomery Cheesemongers. At first, the team owner is animated, though the voice sounds immediately familiar to any fan of The Office.
Then, the perspective shifts to live action, and the character is revealed to be played by The Office alum B.J. Novak, who played Ryan Howard on the beloved NBC comedy. He gives her some sage advice, and encourages her to save the team and the found family she’s discovered along the way.
Despite Charlie having recently binged The Office, the cameo from Novak isn’t explicitly called out — though it is a hilariously clever nod to Charlie’s recent viewing habits as she works her way through the acid trip before passing out in the press box for the night.
Catch new episodes of Poker Face Season 2 on Thursdays, streaming exclusively on Peacock! Plus catch up on all of Season 1’s mysteries.
