High School Musical

Long before their successes in Here Comes Treble and Scrantonicity, Kevin and Andy honed their vocal skills in high school.

Seriously, this is an actual photo of Brian Baumgartner and Ed Helms from their days in their high school chorale group. Yes, just like John Krasinski and B.J. Novak, Brian and Ed attended the same high school!

Brian told me the photo is “hardly cute,” but I beg to differ. (Can you spot them?)

Tipster: EB

Brian Baumgartner Ed Helms


Click the photo to view the full-sized version.

Do you realize how many Office cast members that makes that have a singing background? — Kate, Craig, Creed, Melora, Rashida, Ed, and Brian.

If this doesn’t beg for a Dunder Mifflin talent show somewhere down the line, I don’t know what does.

53 comments

  1. I can see Brian at the top left (Nice hair, man!), but I don’t think I’m seeing Ed… is he just to Brian’s right?

  2. haha i recognized brian immediately. how can you miss that smile? ed looks really different. he’s kinda cute.

  3. Too cute! It’s things like this that make me glad I’m not famous though… some of my high school photos are so dorky. :)

  4. Nope…Ed is in front of Brian, to the extreme left (second row from the top, extreme left side)…You can see it if you download it and magnify the photo…Okay — that’s 2 minutes of my life I’m not getting back…

  5. Brian is very noticable. he still looks the same.
    I can’t find Ed though.

  6. doesn’t the guy in the lower left look like john?

    and the old man opposite him looks like james cameron.

  7. I thought Ed Helms was the fourth guy from the bottom on the right? His hair is lighter, but I think he’s grinned that vaguely creepy grin a lot on The Daily Show.

  8. Thats awesome!
    Go Atlantans! Atlanta is awesome, and this just proves it!!!

  9. Re: My #20

    I mean the fourth kid from the bottom, which makes him third from the top. The one that Healthypanda more articulately pointed out.

  10. My vote goes to Ed being the guy on the right third from the top. I think its the light hair that is throwing everyone off.

  11. Ed is definitely the third from the top on the right. He still has the same smile!

  12. !!!

    How CUTE are they?? Also, Mindy and Brenda were in their college acapella group, so you can add them to the list of Office cast members with singing backgrounds!

  13. dang Brian Baumgartner looks pretty much the same as he did in high school.

  14. 14 – Pretty high, I’d say. The show is filled with people who knew each other beforehand. Including of course Angela, Toby and Greg all being related by marriage.

  15. How are angela, toby and greg related by marriage?

    That’s definitely Ed on the right, he was the first person I spotted. Where did you find this picture?

  16. I think it’s so bizarre that John and BJ went to HS together and then Ed and Brian. What are the chances…honestly.

  17. 30 – Angela is married to Warren Lieberstein, brother of Paul Lieberstein. Greg Daniels is married to a sister of theirs.

    That’s my understanding. If someone has a correction, go for it.

  18. That’s not Ed on the left of Brian. Ed is in the (third?) row from the top. He has a girl with wavy hair on his left, and a tall blonde guy standing above him. You can’t miss that smile!

  19. I didnt know that they both went to Westminster together. I played that school in basketball for four years. I guess I got some ties with people from the show after all haha

  20. This is so crazy – that’s great! Thanks for sharing this, Jennie. Brian definitely looks the same but Ed does look pretty different with the lighter hair color. I also think it’s a really crazy coincidence that Ed & Brian went to high school together AND that BJ & John did. Plus the fact that Angela and Paul are in-laws… no wonder everyone seems so close to one another in the cast!

  21. I think Ed is third from the top on the right, and he’s possibly gotten a nosejob. So he can hit the high notes.

  22. Oh wow, that’s neat. I always thought Brian was a lot older than Ed. And yes, that does look like James Cameron!

    This photo took me back to when I sang in the Chamber Choir in college in the early 90’s. We wore the same type dresses and the hair styles were the same! Yikes!

    I went to high school with the guy that played Bill (the Condo Owners Assn. President) on “Office Olympics”.

  23. Cute photo. Ed is definitely the guy on the right (#2). Can we assume from this that Brian can sing, even if Kevin can’t? :-D

  24. Ahaha! 80s fashion. Gotta love it. I think the old guy looks like the dad on Family Ties. His name escapes me right now.

  25. ahahha ! the guy on the left down the bottom does look like John!
    check out those sleeves on those dresses..ha ha!

  26. awww.. and now i miss my old high school choir with the ugly dresses too…

  27. tanster – I noticed the tipster is EB and you made a smiley face in #31 when you said it was sent to you.

    Any chance that means EB stands for Ed & Brian? ;-)

  28. Ed is on the left of the picture next to Brian’s right on the next row. I think?

  29. that looks like john k down in the bottom left. if not, that kid is cute!

  30. The boy in the third row on the far right looks like “young Jim” from the photo in Traveling Salesman.

    “Oh young Jim. There is just so much I need to warn you about. And yet, tragically, I cannot.”

  31. I spotted Ed right away. Ed’s head is touching the bottom of the window on the far right. He’s got awesome, thick (sandy-colored) hair. Cutie-patootie!

  32. OH MY GOD. My high school choir had the same hideous dresses…in puce. Wait, we had the same columns & stairs too. Scary.

  33. Ah, the Westminster Schools. Circa 1991. They were great. Brian played Bottom in Midsummer Night’s Dream and was gut-splittingly funny. Brian, you rock. Ed was quieter. A lifeguard at Brookwood Hills. A terrific wit, always. So glad they’ve made it. Great job, guys.

  34. Great shot. I remember that building, those stairs. I’m sure I must have other pics in my Westminster yearbooks. I didn’t really know them, but I was in Ed’s grade. I think I left the year after he started, in middle school, to go to Woodward. Recognize Shepp D. and Wimberley S. in the front row, with the music teacher, can’t recall his name. If you need any vos, I’m in Studio City, guys. :)

  35. To the left of Brian is (not Ed, as some guessed)with Van (VIZ III), who I was pretty good friends with. Anyway, fantastic work all around!

  36. brian was just on a talkshow, on fox, but i don’t know what it’s called, they showed an awesome clip of him singing opera.. it was hilarious!

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