Rainn Wilson has spoken about the viral moment he caught the person sitting next to him on a flight watching The Office.
The comedian and actor played Dwight Schrute in all nine seasons of the US version of The Office before it ended in 2013. Steve Carell played workplace boss Michael Scott.
Wilson posted a video on Instagram stories showing him on a Delta Airlines flight sitting beside a man watching the popular comedy show.
In the viral video, Wilson is seen wearing a mask and slowly shaking his head, before turning the camera to film his fellow passenger who appears to be engrossed in the series, unaware that the Dwight star is sitting right next to him.
Wilson was also sporting a cap and headphones at the time, which partially obscured his identity.
On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Wilson explained how he eventually revealed his identity to the fan.
“I nudged him towards the end and I was like, ‘So, you seem to like that show a lot. I heard it kinda sucks,’” the actor recalled.
“And he’s like, ‘Yeah well, it kinda starts slow in season one, you’ve gotta get used to it but you’ll warm into it.’”
Wilson said he then “slowly” began lowering his mask to reveal his identity as The Office star.
“It took him like 47 seconds of talking to me and then all of a sudden it was like one of those face-melting brain explosions,” he said. “And we bonded and it was beautiful.”
Wilson, who is currently promoting his new book Soul Boom: Why We Need a Spiritual Revolution, recently made headlines for accusing HBO’s The Last of Us of perpetuating “anti-Christian bias in Hollywood”.
The Office star took issue with the hit video game adaptation’s eighth episode, which featured a cannibalistic pastor named David (Scott Shepherd).
Wilson later followed up on the comment clarifying that he is “not even a Christian” and mocked the conservative US broadcaster Fox News for covering his view.
