B.J. Novak To Speak at Cornell

By JULIA SENZON Sun News Editor

B.J. Novak, executive producer, writer and star of NBC’s The Office, is coming to Cornell as part of the Cornell University Program Board and Cornell Hillel’s event, “An Evening with B.J. Novak.”

The event will take place on Sunday, March 19 at 7 p.m. in Barton Hall and will consist of a question and answer session.

Novak is a Jewish-American actor, writer and director best known for his role as Ryan Howard in “The Office.” His acting career also includes roles in Saving Mr. Banks, Knocked Up, Punk’d, The Internship, Inglourious Basterds and Reign Over Me. In 2022, Novak made his directorial debut with the film Vengeance, a comedy-thriller that he also wrote and starred in.

Novak is also an accomplished comedian, performing on Comedy Central and Late Night with Conan O’Brien and placed on Variety’s “Ten Comics to Watch.” In addition to Cornell, Novak has performed at several colleges, theaters and comedy clubs.

Novak noted the influence of his Jewish upbringing on his comedy.

“I think looking at things with an outsider’s eye is very Jewish,” Novak told the Jewish Boston in 2022. “I think, ‘How can I somehow outsmart this bad hand I’ve been dealt?’ is the root of a lot of Jewish humor, and I think my favorite type of Jewish humor.”

According to Novak, his connection to Jewish humor stemmed from his father, who co-edited The Big Book of Jewish Humor. Published in 1985, the iconic novel poked fun at the Jewish experience while commemorating Jewish ancestry.

“I think it was just that [Jewish humor] became even more a part of my language,” Novak told the Jewish Boston. “The Jewish humor was just around us all the time.”

When reflecting on his career success, Novak said that establishing a career as an actor is attainable, but that it takes luck.

“A ton of creative people, myself included, came [to Los Angeles] to make their dreams come true,” Novak told GQ in 2022. “How can you fault the city you go to for that to happen? It does happen! Maybe that sounds like I’m praising the lottery because sometimes there’s a winner.”

“Ithaca is blessed by the strength of its economy,” Colbert said. “Having two anchors of the educational institutions helps a lot because they are very resilient. When they came back, that helped.”

But the return in passenger demand resulted in a dire nationwide pilot shortage. Training to become a pilot costs around $100,000 when starting with no prior experience, while the starting airline pilot salary was around $25,000 prior to the pandemic, according to Colbert. Training also became more extensive in 2013, decreasing the overall desirability of becoming an airline pilot.

“When COVID happened, airlines got billions and billions of government money and they didn’t know how long COVID — that real intense drop off in demand — would last, so they cut costs,” Colbert said. “They couldn’t do layoffs legally, so they offered the most senior pilots, the most highly paid pilots… buyouts.”

Fewer pilots have been entering the industry over the past few decades, and most senior pilots retired during the pandemic, exacerbating the pilot shortage. Airlines took measures to increase pilot pay and make the career choice more attractive, but according to Colbert, airlines are prioritizing large planes since there aren’t enough pilots to fly smaller jets. This is where the effect on Ithaca is felt the most.

Colbert noted that American Airlines left Ithaca — despite being profitable here — because they didn’t have the pilots to operate smaller flights, like the popular Charlotte route. However, he assured the public that they shouldn’t expect to see more airline losses in the near future.

“Because of the strength of the economy in Ithaca, Delta and United are committed to the market,” Colbert said about the remaining two airlines that service ITH. “As long as it maintains profitability, it’s appealing to them.”

Airport Deputy Director Josh Nalley said that leadership is working each day to secure more airline service to the Ithaca airport.