Kal Penn: From “House” to the White House

I just got off the phone from a conference call interview with Kal Penn who played Dr. Laurence Kutner and Executive Producers for House, Katie Jacobs and David Shore. They talked for over an hour and answered so many questions about Kutner’s suicide and Kal Penn’s new opportunity. I will have the entire interview for you as quickly as possible, but I wanted to give you a few of the highlights right away because I know you want answers.

First of all, it’s a sad occasion because a beloved character on our favorite show, House, has committed suicide and will no longer be a part of the show.

But secondly, and even more importantly, it was the way the producers chose to have Kal Penn’s character leave after he gave them the wonderful news that he will be taking a position working for the Obama administration in Washington D.C.

Kal Is very excited to let us all know that he found out in December that he will be joining the Office of the Public Liaison for the White House. He had worked diligently during the Obama campaign and had approached Barack Obama about his desire to be a part of the new administration. He was apparently chosen because of his qualifications, and not because of his celebrity.

Kal is very excited and eager to start his new position in Washington as soon as possible. He’ll be moving to Washington and will have to deal with the same horrible real estate market we all deal with when deciding what to do with his house in Los Angeles, but he feels it is more than worth it.

I want to say first and foremost to him:

And now on with the House-related information I know you are looking for. David Shore was adamant about the fact that the decision to have a character leave would not have happened if Kal had not announced he was leaving to take the new opportunity. There were no budget constraints involved, and we would not have lost a character otherwise.

Katie Jacobs & David Shore told us that now that the tragedy has unfolded, we will see each of the characters on the show react in their own different way, much like the way people react to such an event in real life.

Katie explained that the web site memoriam for Kutner was done so people could have a place to share their thoughts and to know that the event was not planned lightly.

She also wants people to know that suicide is a medical illness and needs to be treated as one. The information about the National Alliance for Mental Illness and the suicide prevention hotline were given in hopes of perhaps preventing anyone in the audience from contemplating suicide themselves.

Now that this has happened, Katie said numerous times that “Kutner is irreplaceable.” They will not be bringing in a new team member to replace him. We will also be seeing Cameron & Chase move more to the forefront on the show. That’s good news for Cameron & Chase fans.

Kal said that he knew of the plans to have Kutner commit a totally unexpected suicide only since the work on the 17th episode this season and had to keep it to himself since then.

David & Katie said that they considered many possible ways that Kutner could leave the show, but that this was the way that would have the most impact on House. He’s the man with all the answers and he does not have any answers about this.

By the way, David Shore was very clear that there was no foreshadowing on the show. There were no hidden clues and anyone who tries to read them into the previous episodes will only be doing what House has done, try to get answers that aren’t there.

Again, I will finish the full episode recap for you as quickly as I can today, and will have the interview posted in its entirety for you as soon as I can.

I have to admit that I feel much less bitter this morning after finding all of this out. I actually didn’t sleep well last night because of the episode.

Stay tuned. There’s still much more information unfolding today and I’ll do my best to get it for you. WOW! What a surprise this all is!!