Sometimes it’s tough for a parent to describe exactly what they do for a living to their children. For John Krasinski, this has been an extra difficult task. Even though he’s explained he is an actor and director, his two daughters Hazel, 8, and Violet, 6, whom he shares with wife Emily Blunt, his kids are convinced he isn’t exactly telling the truth.

“The reason I think that is because I was walking them to school one day, and this guy came up, and he was very nice, he went, ‘John! From The Office!,’ ” he explained on The Late Show witht Stephen Colbert. “I went ‘Yeah,’ and he said, ‘Oh my God, it’s so good to see you,’ and I said, ‘Thanks’ and he kept walking.”

After the exchange, one of his daughters said, “ ‘So, you work with him?’ I went, ‘No.’ And she goes, ‘Why are you lying to me?’ I went, ‘I’m not lying to you.’ She goes, ‘No, he just said he knows you from the office.’ “

At the time, Krasinski’s daughters had only seen one episode of the show, and given how young they are, it’s easy to understand all of the confusion on their part.

“Their actual quote — we were driving — and said, ‘So what’s the deal with this Office thing?’ ” he recalled. “I was like ‘OK, that’s a big question, we’ll cut it down in bite-sized morsels.’ ” That’s when Blunt suggested letting their daughters watch the pilot, which led to some more initial confusion.

“They were watching the first episode and my oldest, it turns out she’s a screen talker-atter, so she’s talking to the screen,” he noted. “When Steve fired Jenna, she goes, ‘What are you doing?,’ then she goes ‘You’re a horrible person.’ “

Violet wasn’t wholly sold, either. “My 6-year-old kept asking, ‘Is that you?’ And she says, ‘You look very different.’ I was like, ‘I’ll try not to take that as a hurtful thing,’ but sure, I say, ‘No, that’s me, I was just playing a character, and she went ‘Pfff, that’s not you.’ Then we watched two more episodes, and she goes, ‘That’s not you. That guy looks a lot like you though!’ “

Funnily enough, the two girls didn’t need any convincing that their mom was a superstar. After they saw her in Mary Poppins Returns, they were apparently wildly impressed.

“I think my kids thought she had married me out of charity, like, ‘You’re so nice to marry an accountant’ because they don’t know what I do,” he laughed. Maybe once they are in their teens and ready to handle scary movies, mom and dad can show them A Quiet Place, the horror film Krasinski co-wrote and directed and stars Blunt.

Watch the entire Late Show clip below: