Wear Your Flair: The Cast of Office Space Then and Now

By Niall McArdle

Mike Judge’s classic Office Space is celebrating its 15^th anniversary. The satire about white collar wage-slaves rebelling against the Kafkaesque bureaucracy at work fed into a lot of people’s fantasies about burning down their offices  The cult film spawned catchprases (“someone’s got a case of the Mondays”, “assclown”, “you know the Nazis had pieces of flair they made the Jews wear”) and filled an unknown gap in the market for workplace satire. It’s arguable that without Office Space there would be no The Office or The I.T. Crowd. Fifteen years later, where is the cast now?

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston)

The hero of Office Space had enough of TPS reports and, much like Melville’s Bartleby, decided he would just do nothing. After Office Space, Livingston had a major role in Band of Brothers and a recurring gig on Sex and the City. He was in the cancelled space-set TV drama Defying Gravity. He was most recently seen in Boardwalk Empire and Parkland.

Michael Bolton (David Herman)

No, not that Michael Bolton. The former Madtv funnyman has voiced characters for King of the Hill, American Dad, Moral Orel, and Father of the Pride. Hopefully he has resolved his anger toward printers.

Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu)

Samir couldn’t understand why nobody could pronounce his last name. Naidu has appeared in The Sopranos, Requiem for a Dream, and 30 Rock, as well as in many theatre productions.

Joanna (Jennifer Aniston)

She was already a huge star when she played Joanna, the waitress who wears just enough flair. Ron Livingston says he tried to play it cool around her but found it difficult because he was star-struck. Aniston’s career has had its highs (The Good Girl, Wanderlust, We’re the Millers, Horrible Bosses) and lows (The Switch, Just Go With It, Derailed). Perhaps doomed forever to be tabloid fodder (Pregnant! Miserable! Happy! Engaged! Dumped!), she lost Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie eight years ago, people still want to talk about it.

Lawrence (Diedrich Bader)

Asked what he’d don with a million dollars, Lawrence didn’t hesitate. “Two chicks at the same time.” Bader mostly does voice-work (Tales of Metropolis, Phineas and the Ferb, Kung-Fu Panda). He has also appeared in The Drew Carey Show and Bones.

Milton (Stephen Root)

Office Space was based on Judge’s Milton cartoon; in a sense, the odd, mousy Milton is the real hero of the film. He certainly suffers like a hero (his desk is moved to a broom closet; he never gets any cake). Hard-working Root has appeared in King of the Hill, The West Wing, Leatherheads, Pushing Daisies, Everything Must Go, J. Edgar, The Good Wife, Boardwalk Empire and Justified.

Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole)

Cole’s take on the coffee-slurping petty tyrant Bill “what’s happening?” Lumbergh helped make the role one of the most iconic assholes in the history of film. Since then, Cole has appeared in Desperate Housewifes, Talladega Nights, The Good Wife, Veep, Entourage, The West Wing and Family Guy.

Bob Slydell (John C. McGinley)

Bob Slydell was a huge fan of Michael Bolton (the singer, not the employee). McGinley appeared in Any Given Sunday, Scrubs, Identity, World Trade Centre, Alex Cross, and Burn Notice.

Stan (Mike Judge)

Writer-director Judge played the finicky Chotchkie’s manager. Judge’s follow-up movie Idiocracy flopped, but Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill continued to be successful TV series.

The Red Stapler

Milton’s beloved Swingline stapler (“it didn’t bind up as much”) was a Swingline stapler spreyed red by the prop department because Swingline didn’t make it in red. After bootleg red Swingline staplers started selling on ebay, Swingline decided to make their own red version.