B.J. Novak Shares Cute Mindy Kaling Nickname At Hollywood Walk ...

Mindy Kaling got a whole lot of support from “Office” co-star and good friend B.J. Novak when she was honored Feb. 18 with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Novak, who played one-half of on-again, off-again dysfunctional couple Ryan Howard-Kelly Kapoor on the beloved NBC series, was on hand to deliver a speech for Kaling, which he wrapped up with a sweet nickname that may have referenced “The Office.”

“Congratulations, my soup snake,” he said at the end of his speech. “You’d be on the walk of talent if they had one. You’d be on the walk of friendship. You’d be on the walk of compassionate parenthood, but let’s face it: All of these would be terrible field trips. So here you are instead, very deservedly, a person who means so much to so many on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

“Soup snake” could refer to a line from a Season 5 episode of “The Office.” In the scene, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) refers to former co-worker Holly Flax (Amy Ryan) and himself as “soup snakes” before he amends his choice of words and says they are “soulmates,” when he says that he’s going to tell her why they should be a couple.

Novak also poked fun at Kaling in his speech.

“In addition to being a brilliant and wildly successful showrunner, an incredible mother of three, a deep and caring daughter, and friend and mentor to so many, Mindy is also in her spare time, I assure you, very superficial,” he joked.

And while his speech did tease Kaling, Novak also kept it sincere while pointing out how much she means to fans.

“It’s impossible to leave a restaurant with her without people wanting not just a picture, but to share a memory or an anecdote about why she matters so much,” he said.

“Mindy, as I look around and see all these people from your life who have believed in you from the beginning, I’m just sorry that none of us doubted you, because I know how much more fun that would make this for you,” he continued while choking up.

Kaling also gushed about Novak when she spoke at the podium.

“He’s such an important and integral part of my family that sometimes I forget the reason that I know him is because we worked together professionally, and I’m as starstruck by him now at age 29 as I was when I first met you — at 24,” she joked about her age. “I love you.”

What Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak have said about their relationship

The pair had previously dated and would argue while they wrote on “The Office.”

“We were in love with each other,” Novak said in 2023 while honoring Kaling with the Norman Lear Achievement Award at the Producers Guild of America Awards. “And we were reckless idiots. And the two of us would argue about all of these things forever, grinding the writers room to a halt until we got too upset, and we’d go to our respective offices and slam the door where we would continue arguing over AOL Instant Messenger.” 

“When the producers realized that our relationship as co-writers had jumped every conceivable boundary and become a tumultuous, romantic, toxic, boundary-less mess, they pulled us aside and said, ‘Hey, you should have scenes together, too. You guys are pretty funny together,’” he continued.

Novak said he had trouble defining their relationship.

“We were never really dating, we were never really not dating. We didn’t know. No one knew,” he told Vulture in 2012. “All you’d know for sure is that you’d always find one of us next to the other, even if we weren’t getting along.”

The two continue to share a deep bond that extends past the bright lights of Hollywood, especially as Kaling is now a mother of three kids, including Katherine, 7, Spencer 4, and Anne, whom she welcomed in late February of 2024.

“B.J. is so much more like family now than a platonic friend,” Kaling told told Good Housekeeping in 2019. “He’s the godfather to my daughter, he comes over like once a week. Sometimes he’ll come over just to hang out with her.”

Novak is the godfather of at least two of Kaling’s two kids, but fans have continued to think they are a couple, which suits Kaling fine.

“It doesn’t bother me,” she told Marie Claire in 2022 about rumors he’s the father of her then two children. “He’s the godparent to both my kids — and they have such a great relationship — and so far (the rumors haven’t) affected my happiness at all, it hasn’t affected my kids or B.J.” 

“If that’s what is going to be titillating to people, I’ll take it,” she added.

Novak wasn't the only alum of "The Office" who honored Kaling. Angela Kinsey, who played uptight accountant Angela Martin, also turned out for the event.

"What a wonderful day celebrating my amazingly talented friend @mindykaling getting her STAR on the @hwdwalkoffame !!" she captioned a series of photos on Instagram. "Mindy, I still remember the first time I met you and how you lit up the room. I knew you were going to do so many great things! Congratulations! So proud of you! Love you!"