Interview: Brian Baumgartner and Patton Oswalt Discuss ‘Suits: L.A.’

NBC’s Suits: L.A. follows Ted Black (Arrow’s Stephen Amell), a former federal prosecutor from New York, who has reinvented himself, representing the most powerful clients in Los Angeles. But his firm is at a crisis point, and in order to survive, he must embrace a role he held in contempt his entire career. The series is a spin-off of the hit series Suits, which ran for nine seasons on USA. 

The March 9 episode of Suits: L.A. featured guest appearances from Brian Baumgartner and Patton Oswalt (who previously spoke to Joey here), portraying fictionalized versions of themselves. Baumgartner, best known as the dim-witted but lovable Kevin Malone on NBC’s The Office, arranges a meeting with partner Erica Rollins (Lex Scott Davis), who heads the entertainment division at Black Lane Law, demanding to speak with fellow client Tom Hanks in hopes to get advice on how to make the pivot from comedy to drama. Stepping in to help is actor/comedian Oswalt, though the meeting doesn’t go quite as planned. 

We spoke with Baumgartner and Oswalt about their appearances on NBC’s freshman drama. 

Awards Radar: First of all, thank you for taking the time to speak with me. 

Patton Oswalt: Thanks for having us, man.

Awards Radar: What was your experience like working on the show? 

Patton Oswalt: It was a blast. Playing this kind of mutant, angrier version of myself was such a treat. Couldn’t be happier. I wish I could give you a more articulate answer, but it was just a really fun blast. Yeah.

Brian Baumgartner: You know, like the script,  Patton and I didn’t know each other very well before the episode. I had a couple of days working with [showrunner] Aaron [Korsh] and Lex [Scott Davis] and some of the other cast members there, and we’d had a great time, but when Patton showed up, it was just immediately like, “This is going to be an awesome day.”  His ability to play, and us playing together was just a lot of fun. I can’t say enough about it.

Awards Radar: It’s a relatively lighter storyline in an otherwise serious episode, in a show that you probably weren’t that familiar with since it’s early in its first season. Did you find that you had to find the right tone for your performances? 

Patton Oswalt: I fell right into it. It wasn’t like a lot of searching to figure out exactly because the tone was so in the writing, it was so in the script.

Brian Baumgartner: I agree with that. I had asked for the pilot,  but I was told that they did not want to show it to me. They said that I could go back and see some of the tone from the original series if I wanted to, but they really wanted this story to be lighter. They wanted us to sort of lean into some of the comedy aspects or lighter storyline aspects like they had done in the original series. So they didn’t want me to focus on tone. The short answer is what Patton said; just what’s there. Just play that and don’t concern yourself with what’s happening around the show.

Awards Radar: Were either of you hesitant at all to play versions of yourselves?

Patton Oswalt: I had done something like this before in other films and TV shows. I wasn’t hesitant at all because it’s really fun. It’s fun to play this more amplified, even angrier version of yourself. You can really just go off and I love doing it.

Brian Baumgartner:  I wasn’t concerned about that. The only real conversations we had, and maybe I’m overthinking it again, sensitive to The Office fans, fans of Kevin Malone, was just making sure that within the storyline, we tread lightly and that it does sort of represent my true feelings and appreciation and knowledge for how much the show and the character means to people, which I felt like they did a great job of making that very clear, but that there was something else that I was looking for within the story. So, I thought they did a good job of that.

Awards Radar: I’m curious if either of you had similar conversations with your representation about getting dramatic work, as you do in this episode, Brian. 

Brian Baumgartner: You know, it’s interesting, unlike Patton, I started in drama, I did theater, like real drama, drama, drama; Ibsen and Shakespeare, like that stuff. So, I don’t consciously think about that in terms of what I’m looking for. I think the truth for me is that I’m always looking for something different, whatever that means. It doesn’t have to be drama or it doesn’t have to lean this specific way, but that I find roles that are varied and different from project to project. At least I try. 

Awards Radar: How about yourself, Patton? You made the transition, and you’ve done some pretty heavy stuff in the past. 

Patton Oswalt: I’ve never really had those kinds of conversations with my representation, but I have had those conversations about, “Why is this low happening, or why is it six projects at the same time? Why can’t this stuff happen evenly?” And the answer is always, “That’s the business you’re in dude. You just roll with it that way.” So, those are the kinds of conversations I have. 

Awards Radar: You’ve both worked in drama, and obviously in comedy, you’ve both done stage work, you’ve hosted podcasts, and done voice work. Would you say that you’re flexing different muscles, or is it all kind of falling under the same umbrella of performance? 

Patton Oswalt: Everything’s different. Standup is different. Voiceover, acting in both TV and films are completely different. Drama, comedy, horror, they’re all different muscles. I approach it that way. Each project is its own thing. I don’t try to relate it to anything else. I don’t try to worry about putting in any kind of larger context. Serve whatever the project is. That’s always the best approach. 

Brian Baumgartner: That’s totally true. And so much so that there’s, there’s a line of demarcation, spoiler alert, it’s about when The Office started, that I refer to it as a career change, even though all I ever did initially was be an actor. But when I moved from stage to film and television, I viewed it so differently that I almost considered it, and do consider it, sort of a career change for me. But yeah, exactly what Patton said. Everything is different. It requires different muscles. But for merit makes it fun. 

Awards Radar: One last question, gentlemen. In what medium would you say you’re both most comfortable performing?

Patton Oswalt: For me, it’s standup, because that’s what I started as that’s what brought me to the dance. I’m happy to get TV and film work, or theater work, but standup is always going to be the thing that I do. 

Brian Baumgartner:  For me, I think it’s television now. I think that’s where I feel the most at home. I mean, I was doing it for so long on such a consistent basis. I enjoy everything that I do, but after Suits L.A., I did have a conversation with my reputation, It becomes hard to focus sometimes when there are so many different things that are happening. I said that I really wanted us to maybe refocus and do this because I had so much fun with Patton. I had so much fun just being back there. Of course, it being in L.A. is incredibly helpful as well, because that’s where I’m based. I would say [television] is probably where I feel the most at home. 

You can watch our full interview with Brian Baumgartner and Patton Oswalt below.

Suits: L.A. airs Sundays at 9 pm on NBC, and streams the following day on Peacock.