Warren Buffet's Appearance on The Office, Explained

It's not every day that one of the richest people in the world shows up at the Scranton, Pennsylvania branch of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company looking for a job. But that's what happened when multi-billionaire Warren Buffett made a cameo in a Season 7 episode of The Office (now streaming on Peacock).

Buffett, the business magnate and chairman and CEO of holding company Berkshire Hathaway, appeared in that season's finale, titled "Search Committee," playing a candidate for the regional manager position after Deangelo Vickers (Will Ferrell) falls into a coma. Deangelo had briefly replaced Michael Scott (Steve Carell) as branch manager after Michael left the company to follow his fiancée to Colorado. 

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Playing off the notion of Buffett being frugal in his personal life, his character fires off a series of questions about how much he'd earn for the gig. "Can you do any better on salary?," Buffett's character asks the hiring committee of Jim (John Krasinski), Toby (Paul Lieberstein) and Gabe (Zach Woods). "Unfortunately, that range is set at corporate," Jim responds.

"What about mileage when I use my car? I mean — gas ain't cheap, you know?," Buffett then asks. This prompts an exasperated laugh from Jim, who says, "We think that 25 cents a mile is pretty generous." Not satisfied, Buffett says, "How about 27, and uh, when I make long distance calls, will they be monitored or is it on the honor system?" All three members of the hiring committee just stare at him blankly. 

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Needless to say, he didn't get the job. He was in good company though, as some other high-profile guest stars up for the gig also didn't get it. Jim Carrey, Will Arnett, and Ray Romano also made cameos in this episode as hopefuls trying to get Michael's old job. Even Ricky Gervais appeared as David Brent — his character from the original version of The Office that aired in the UK — to apply to replace Michael, the U.S. show's counterpart to David.

How Did Warren Buffett Land His Cameo on The Office?

Before he was on The Office proper, Buffett starred in an elaborate, five-minute spoof of the hit NBC series for a scripted intro to Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting, viewed by around 40,000 back in 2011. The production crew with The Office played along for the special Berkshire Hathaway video, with Buffett visiting the Scranton branch and getting some gentle roasting from the TV series' stars in-character. Michael Scott reportedly acknowledges Buffett as being "at least 90 years old and runs a company called Berkshire Hathaway that produces all of Anne Hathaway's movies."

Sadly, the video sketch itself was never released to the public, but it was apparently a hit at the shareholder meeting. But, Buffett had so much fun making his sketch, they decided to give him a little cameo on the series proper, thus his fictional role was born.

All nine seasons of The Office are now streaming on Peacock.