Richard Riehle: Guest column honors the 'Office Space' actor

TVS News AI, editorially supervised, presents Richard Riehle: Guest column honors the 'Office Space' actor.

Variety has published a guest column honoring the actor Richard Riehle – a performer who became known to a wider audience through "Office Space". If you're interested in character actors beyond the Hollywood stars, you'll get a very personal insider view here: The author recounts how he first met Riehle on one of his very first own projects, a video for the Funny-or-Die platform. The punchline is already tucked into a single sentence that an acquaintance gave him at the time – and it tells you a great deal about how approachable some actors actually are outside of their roles.

The Anecdote from the Column

At the center of the excerpt published so far is the guest author's memory of his first encounter with Richard Riehle. As he recounts, his project was one of the first things he'd actually produced on his own. Together with his friend Tanner Thomason, he had been thinking about how to land "an actual actor" for the video.

An acquaintance then recommended Richard – with the unusually plain advice that today reads like a motto hovering over the entire column:

Just offer it to him.

This recommendation – to approach Riehle directly and without detours – frames the piece as a story about the accessibility of an actor who simultaneously enjoys the highest respect in the industry. How Riehle responded and what the encounter meant to the author is told in the remainder of the piece.

Who Is Richard Riehle?

The Variety editors describe him in the headline as a "quintessential actor's actor" – a performer who is especially valued by colleagues, without carrying A-list star status. The column's title also references his role in "Office Space," which is likely familiar to many film fans.

What makes the short anecdote special: It shows you how a then-still-unknown author reached an actor who had long held an established place in the industry – entirely without a formal recommendation, without an agency referral, just with a direct ask. That fits the picture of a performer who enjoys high standing in the business but still goes along with such a simple idea.

What a Guest Column at Variety Is

The piece is what's known as a Guest Column – an opinion or remembrance piece that does not originate with the Variety newsroom, but is penned by an outside voice. The format is particularly well suited to personal tributes and stories beyond classic news reporting. If you've ever been interested in a report from Hollywood directly from someone involved, this section is made for exactly that.

Where to Find the Original

You can read the full piece on variety.com under the path /2026/film/people-news/. There, the guest author also details how he assesses Richard Riehle's career and personality – beyond the opening anecdote quoted here.