How excited were you to hear that The Office has been picked up for a third season?
Thrilled. I just thought that they did it so early at the winter press tour and they showed some solidarity with us and with Earl in giving us full seasons. That was just really a shot in the arm in terms of us being able to plan ahead, to look to next year at a really early time, which a lot of shows don't get to do. After how much we have struggled to stay on the air, you have to give NBC nothing but kudos for how much they've stuck by the show. The first year, the audiences were not very large, but I feel like they showed that we had promise. Kevin Riley, specifically, was very excited about the show and they stuck with it.

When you look at shows on other networks that run maybe one time and then go away, the fact that they had the confidence in us is really great. We did six episodes, then they had us come back at the last minute for just six more episodes for season two and then, I think they picked up three more. Then, they picked up a full 13. And then, I think they picked up three more. And then, they finally picked up a full season for this year. Not very long after they had picked up the full season for this year, they picked up a whole other year.

I know early on when you were trying to get the show some recognition, one thing that you and a lot of the other cast members started doing was blogging on MySpace. Why did you start and what made you decide to do it in character?
I will blame or give credit totally to Jenna Fisher. Maybe she wasn't the first, but she got into it fairly early. She signed me up because I'm not very computer savvy. She set up the account, did the whole thing and put it together. I just decided I was going to try it and just see, thinking probably in a week or so, I would be done. The reason I'm doing it for this show, I can't imagine doing it for another show just personally, it's a documentary. The whole experience is we're supposed to be people in Scranton, Pennsylvania who work in an office. For me, coming up with the idea that Kevin would be sitting at his desk as an accountant in Scranton, Pennsylvania, he would probably be on MySpace. The way that the show is shot, we are aware that the camera crews are there, so it allows me to talk about that. We know that it's going to be on television, so I can talk about that. But, for me, it's been fun just to write it the same way that we do the show. It's been a fun writing exercise and experience for me. I feel like I can explore the character. People have really responded, much more that I could have ever imagined.

How often do you get recognized in public? Is that starting to happen more?
Yes, it's happening a lot. I think part of it is, let's just say that I'm distinctive looking. I think that here in Los Angeles, I potentially stand out a little more maybe than some of the other people. People are very kind. It's certainly been an adjustment for me to make.

What do you do when you have some down time on the set in between shoots?
Blog. Chat. It is a working office, so the Internet is available, people can do email and do other business. Again, it's a unique show in that most of us are in the room actually all the time. So there is a lot of downtime. But it allows you to actually work. I may not be working on account receivable for Dunder-Mifflin, but I'm sitting at the desk and just trying to get bills paid or other stuff done. There is a lot of MySpacing and blog writing that happens on the set.

I've also heard about the video game playing that goes on.
John and Rainn and I, we enjoy the John Madden football and various other Playstation 2 games. We rotate actually. We'll play something for a month or so, then we'll go to something else and play only that for a month or so. But John Madden football, that's been the game of choice for quite a while.

Are you guys pretty competitive with it?
(Laughs.) We're pretty competitive with it, yeah. I think it's a release. It's our favorite lunchtime activity. We have a standing arrangement at lunch every day. It's fun, it's a distraction. We enjoy it, childish as it is.

Do you want to talk any trash here? Are you better than the other two?
(Laughs.) I don't think I'm going to talk any trash. Again, just like the games rotate - I don't know why, maybe Playstation is more mental than one might think - whoever's kicking somebody's ass will suddenly without warning or acknowledgment, the other person will start kicking their ass.

What goals do you have set for yourself? Where would you like to see your career go, and who in Hollywood would you like to work with some day?
At this point, I'm just kind of taking it one step at a time. I'm enjoying the show. The show has been great. It is taking up a lot of time. I have a couple of irons in the fire here for the hiatus. I would love to work in films and certainly there are people I would love to work with, but at this point, I'm taking it step by step and enjoying my good fortune.

Tell me something not many people know about you.
Well, I think I already have, actually. That I had a leg surgery when I was a kid.

If you never got into acting, what do you think you'd be doing for a living and where would you be living?
I'd be playing first base for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

I've got one last thing for you here. I'm going to do a word association. I'll just throw out a name and tell me the first thing that comes to your mind.

Hollywood.
The Hollywood sign.

Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Dunder-Mifflin.

Steve Carell.
Coolest guy ever.

69.
My favorite number.

Kevin Malone.
Hipster.

Brian Baumgartner.
The absolute coolest.

The future.
Bright.

Interviewed by Joel Murphy, May 2006. The Office is on NBC Thursday nights at 9:30 PM. You can find out more information about Brian Baumgartner by reading his MySpace blog.