The Best Big Keith Moments on ‘The Office’ in Honor of the Late Ewen Macintosh

Rest in peace, Big Keith. Ewen Macintosh, the actor who played Big Keith on the UK version of The Office has passed away at age 50. No cause of death has been revealed. Office creator Ricky Gervais took to Twitter this morning to express his condolences. “Extremely sad news,” Gervais wrote. “The very funny and very lovely Ewen Macintosh, known to many as ‘Big Keith’ from The Office, has passed away. An absolute original. RIP.”

Gervais’s co-creator Stephen Merchant also shared his condolences. “So very sad to hear of Ewen MacIntosh’s passing. A lovely, uniquely funny man who played Keith in The Office. So hilarious when we asked him to improv a voicemail message that we wrote more dialogue for him, and he stole every scene he was in. A total one-off. A tragic loss. RIP”

While Macintosh’s Big Keith was never one of The Office’s main characters, he was certainly one of its funniest around the margins. He didn't need complicated, convoluted punchlines to get huge laughs — or exemplary performance reviews. 

Being a man of few words, Big Keith had plenty of time to observe what was happening in the cubicles around him. With deadpan certainty, the “expert on the ladies” nails Tim’s romantic desires. 

In case you aren’t convinced of Big Keith’s grasp of office romance, here you go. Turns out he’s also an expert on international travel safety.

Here he is. The big man.

Say what you will, but Big Keith can keep a secret, yeah? No. Yeah.

Gervais shared a few other cherished Macintosh moments today, ending with this epitaph: “A day without laughter is a day wasted.”