After years in celebrity orbit, Owen Thiele is taking center stage.
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Its a Sunday afternoon, and Owen Thiele is buying me a Power Card at Dave & Busters.
Im down for any games.
My moms texting me abouta fraud alert, Thiele says.
He explains that he never checks his account, so he has his credit-card alerts sent to his mom.
Shes very involved in my life.
So its a disaster but also my favorite thing in the world, he says.
My friends and other family members would say its a disaster.
Thiele is from Beverly Hills and was adopted at birth by a well-connected Jewish family.
(His father, the music producer Bob Thiele Jr., helped create the theme song ofThe Office.)
Im not giving this up.
I call it a month; my parents call it a week, he says.
Thiele played her funny best friend, Owen.
Cazzie was always the mean, scary older sister, he says of their friendship.
And I was always vying for her attention.
And then finally she gave it to me andI was like, Ill do anything you want.
So she cast me in her web series, and it was really fun.
Eighty-Sixedonly made him more certain he wanted to act.
I call myself a nepo friend, he says, shrugging.
Knock on wood, Thiele says, actually knocking on an adjacent table.
But then I did something bad.
I FaceTimed Hailey Bieber four times thinking she was my dear friend Haley Daniels.
Four times, probably 1 a.m., one night.
Can you imagine?!)
His friendship with Cazzie landed him in not one but two Taylor Swift music videos.
He has a theory for why celebrities take to him.
I approach them like a fan, he says.
When I met Hailey, I was like, Im obsessed with Rhode.
I wear it every single day.
I eat it for lunch.
I mean, you cant just be like, Hey, girl.
Youre not their peer.
Despite the bit part, a lot of the reviews focused on his performance.
As he assembled the writers room, he began to call Glazer his comedy mommy.
Thiele is not lacking for comedy mommies.
He generally has no one to talk to when everyone else is sleeping.
This gave Cooper an idea what if he podcast for her during those hours he was up?
People were like, Who the fuck is this?
And what drama is he involved in?
And I was like, Nothing.
But his intro onCall Her Daddykilled.
He was quippy and quick, an on-camera version of the funniest person in the friend group.
Ill be honest, idk who this Owen person is … but Im OBSESSED now, commented one woman.
Others recognized him from their own parasocial relationships.
(Does anybody know anything about him, wrote someone in a Reddit thread about Thieles new podcast.
Good friends with Cazzie David, replied one.
Emma Chamberlains best friend, wrote another.
Dating Jared Ellner, a third.)
Someone has to do it that should be in my bio.
(It sort of is, actually: His Instagram bio reads diversity hire .)
I ask if his life has changed since the podcast came out and his autobiographical show was announced.
Not really, he says.
Hes still basically a nobody, for now.
Theres nothing about me online, he adds.
Theres nothing really about me on that Reddit InfluencerSnark.
Actually, Im waiting.
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