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David Brent is a fictional White-collar office middle-manager and one of the primary characters from 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 around 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). 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, and serves as yet another example of a Pointy Haired Boss - his employees tolerate him at best, and are more often than not irritated or nonplussed by him. One of the key aspects of Brent's personality is his complete obliviousness to how other people actually see him, and he lashes out strongly whenever his carefully built veil of ignorance is pierced (often by outright insulting whoever is nearby). He also has a need to be seen as a Renaissance Man who is exceptionally good at everything, including playing music, Drawing , writing Poetry and songs, being a Rock Star , Managing a 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 'material', however, is largely tedious and hackneyed, and mostly consists of impressions and second-hand comedy routines taken from British comedy shows such as '' Fawlty Towers '' and '' The Two Ronnies ''. His ultimate fantasy is to "experience the future" and live on and on as an immortal. He also revealed that he was in a rock band called Foregone Conclusion, and that the Scottish rock band Texas once opened for them at a gig. Brent has a tendency to promote himself as politically-correct modern man, but he usually demonstrates an unwittingly offensive attitude towards ethnic minorities, disabled people and women. His various attitudes, cringeworthy and offensive though they are, are largely not maliciously intended however, but are more frequently the unfortunate result of remarkable 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 backpeddle. In series two Brent is given a counterpart, his own boss '' and MC Hammer shit'). Brent is not 'the boss from Hell', however; for all his many unlikeable and contemptible characteristics, he is not without redeeming merit, and is largely depicted as a tragic figure, a lonely and sad 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 (especially 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 brief fifteen minutes of fame). These are the few times when we see David Brent actually face the bleak reality of his situation, and try desperately to hold on. These rare moments are readily overlooked by the many real-life office workers who draw comparisons between their own boss and Brent. 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 of the classic characters of British comedy, including Basil Fawlty , Captain George Mainwaring and Alan Partridge . EXTERNAL LINKS
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