David Brent
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| David Brent | |
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| First appearance | Series 1, Episode 1 |
| Last appearance | Christmas Special Pt. 2 |
| Created by | Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant |
| Portrayed by | Ricky Gervais |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 39 |
| Occupation | General Manager |
David Brent is a fictional white-collar office middle-manager and one of the principal characters from the BBC television comedy The Office, played by co-writer and director Ricky Gervais. He is the general manager of the Slough branch of the Wernham-Hogg paper merchants, and the boss to most of the other characters present in the series. Much of the comedy and pathos of the series centres on Brent's many idiosyncrasies, hypocrisies, self-delusions and shameless self-promoting (including, but not limited to, playing up to the 'documentary' cameras present in his workplace).
Brent was adapted for the American version of the show, and became Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell. He was later adapted to become Gilles Triquet in the French version; Bernd Stromberg in the German version, and David Gervais (an obvious amalgamation of the names David Brent and Ricky Gervais) in the Québécois version.
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[edit] Character
David Brent is the type of boss who wants to be everyone's friend and mentor. He imagines that everyone finds him very funny and loves being around him, yet still respects him and looks up to him as a boss and even a father figure. He is, of course, spectacularly wrong — his employees find him tolerable at best and often irritating.
One key aspect of Brent's character is his complete obliviousness to how other people actually see him, and he lashes out strongly whenever his carefully-built veil of ignorance and vanity is pierced. For example, Brent will often ask people how old they think he is, only to be dismayed and offended when the age they guess -- even when accurate (39 in Series 1) -- is older than he'd like it to be. He has a relentless need to be acknowledged as a renaissance man and to be recognised as exceptionally skilled at his multitude of desired accomplishments. This almost child-like wishful-thinking includes writing poetry and lyrics, composing and playing music, being a rock star, managing his adoring team, dancing, and even dating and marriage. He especially believes himself to be a remarkably talented stand-up comedian, and rarely misses an opportunity to play up to the cameras. His cherished 'material', however, is invariably unoriginal to the point of hackneyed tedium, as it consists almost entirely of stale impressions and banal, second-hand routines taken from British comedy shows such as Fawlty Towers and The Two Ronnies. He also revealed that he was in a rock band called Foregone Conclusion, and claimed that they were once supported by Texas.
Brent has a tendency to promote himself as a well-informed and politically-correct modern man but too often demonstrates an unwittingly offensive attitude towards ethnic minorities, disabled people and to women. However, his various attitudes and faux-pas- cringeworthy and insulting though they may seem - are rarely maliciously intended. Instead, the invariably regrettable consequences are more frequently the unfortunate result of Brent's breath-taking ignorance and self-delusion, combined with an unfortunate tendency to say the wrong thing at the wrong time - and then to make matters worse for himself when trying to repair or atone for the insults by his equally clumsy efforts to backpedal.
Similarly, while wanting to be regarded by his staff as "A friend first, and a boss second", he displays a chronic lack of awareness of and regard for others' feelings. At the end of series 1, a not-unexpected restructuring of Wernham-Hogg sees Brent's boss posit an option which poses Brent an unattractive choice: he is offered a promotion to a corporate job but, should he accept, his Slough branch will close, with many of his staff losing their jobs and the others compulsorily transferring to the Swindon branch. Brent, failing to see any dilemma or conflict of loyalty, immediately and delightedly accepts the job and is later bewildered when those who will be made redundant reject his cheery invitation to be pleased for him. However, he later fails the medical and the plan for the branch merger is reworked, with Brent's Swindon counterpart moving to Slough as David's superior and bringing with him several of his own genuinely loyal personnel.
In series two, Brent thus has to deal with the arrival of Neil Godwin in a role immediately above his own. Neil is everything that Brent isn't: funny, respected, capable, and secure in himself. Brent, recognizing this in Neil, quickly grows to despise him, and spends most of series two trying to one-up his nemesis at every point, most memorably with his jaw-droppingly bad dance routine in episode five (which he describes with typical false modesty (and awe-inspiring inaccuracy) as "...a fusion of Flashdance and MC Hammer shit").
Brent would argue that the documentary crew "stitched him up" and portrayed him as the "boss from hell".[1] Although depicted on-screen as incompetent, it is suggested that he has been successful in the past. In the first episode he lists achievements (e.g. raising profitability without losing staff), and in the second series, he is both interviewed for a trade magazine, and invited to be a motivational speaker, suggesting that his reputation is not as bad as viewers are led to expect. This is presumably done to counteract criticism that such an ineffective man would never be promoted to the role Brent has. In the Christmas specials, he is heard complaining that the “documentary” (which The Office supposedly is) made him look stupid - an observation which also demonstrates some rather unexpected self-awareness.
For all his many unlikeable and contemptible characteristics, he is not without redeeming merit, and is largely depicted as a tragic figure, and this is increasingly so as the show progresses: a lonely and somewhat forlorn man who places more value in his unrewarding job than he probably should. At several points, the audience is actually prompted to feel sympathetic towards Brent. This is especially true in the final episode of the second series, as he faces redundancy, and in parts of the Christmas special where he is struggling with life after losing his job and his fifteen minutes of fame (thus acknowledging that the supposed "documentary" filmed at Wernham-Hogg has been shown on television). These are the few times when we see David Brent actually face the bleak reality of his situation and try desperately to hold on. But things start to look up for David at the end of the Christmas special, when his lively and attractive blind-date genuinely enjoys his idiosyncratic company. In the final scene, Brent also succeeds in achieving what he has tried and failed for the whole series to do: he makes the staff laugh.
It has been acknowledged that Brent's character was deliberately made more sympathetic as the show progressed. In the DVD commentary in the pilot US episode of The Office, writer B.J. Novak recalls Gervais and Merchant saying that they deliberately altered Brent to become more of a "buffoon" in the second series, and thus more likable. This subtle mingling of great comedy and genuine pathos in a superficially grotesque character is characteristic of some of the classics of British comedy, such as Hancock and Steptoe and Son. It is said that the duo advised that Brent's US equivalent, Michael Scott, be the same from the beginning. Scott's character loses much of Brent's nastier traits, and concentrates on his failed and often desperate attempts at humour. Also, more obvious emphasis is placed on Scott's loneliness. Also, while Brent is never shown to possess any business skills whatsoever, Scott is portrayed as a great salesman who was unwisely promoted and became a hopeless manager. Due to the popularity of the show, Brent's persona has entered British office-life culture as the epitome of the "bad boss". He is frequently ranked alongside many classic characters of British comedy, including Basil Fawlty, Captain George Mainwaring and Alan Partridge. He arguably has a more recent precursor in Gordon Brittas.
[edit] Appearances outside of The Office
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This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (April 2007) |
Microsoft UK and Ricky Gervais put together two videos entitled "the office values" where David Brent is brought in as a motivational speaker. These were leaked online during August 2006. Reportedly, those at Microsoft were unhappy about the leak, and Gervais hadn't wanted them publicly released because it would suggest he was bringing back the character on a longer-term basis.
In Capcom's video game Resident Evil 4, a character listed in the game's credits as "Manic Brent" appears in two scenes driving a truck. Ricky Gervais' laugh was recorded to be used in these scenes.
At Wembley Stadium on the 1 July 2007, Ricky Gervais performed as David Brent at the Concert for Diana. Alongside Mackenzie Crook as Gareth, Gervais performed a rendition of the song "Freelove Freeway" from The Office.
[edit] References
- ^ BBC; The office/character guide/ David Retrieved: 27 January 2008.
[edit] External links
- david brent: renaissance man clips (requires RealPlayer)
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