. ♪ >> bj novak is here. you might know him as a writer or actor on "the office."was also executive producer. asappeared in movies such quentin tarantino's "inglorious basterds." i am pleased to have him at this table for the first time. >> it is good to be here. start ind all this terms of deciding to write a book? >> i was a writer on the office for its run and we were in the writers room which was very all-encompassing. every idea you had in your life when into these characters in the room. i have collected a lot of ideas over the years that had not found any outlet on the show. i love them but made no sense for jim and pam and dw ight. i wanted to clear my head and write something that was clearly my own and not have the other riders voices in my head which they had been very trying way -- very charmingly but i wanted to know what i sounded like when i wrote on my own. i didn't know how these ideas fit together so after a couple of months of not knowing what to write -- it isf an idea lives fr only half a page -- jaggedd the book to be a feeling book where some

. >>> conan o'brien, bj novak, colin joes.ay night live" and the office. these kings of comedy all share something in comedy. they all spent their bright college years within the ivy gates of harvard university. in fact, their commonalities go one step farther. each one of these comedic powerhouses once honed their craft at the harvard lampoon. the lampoon is an undergraduate humor magazine that is quite different from the university's other student-run publications. now it's true, alumni from publications like, say, the harvard crimson and harvard law review also brought their knack for words and leadership to the national stage. take this former law review president, for instance. he looks good. but lampoon writers focus less on campus news and scholarship than on the laugh inciting short stories. it's now sparking national buzz because of its history making editorial board since february. alexis wilkinson has been leading as the first black female president in its publication's 138-year-old history. as it happens, alexis wa