Talk:David Brent

Alcoholism?

Should there be sentences in the article about how much the Brent character likes to drink, goes out drinking, talks about drinking, and is recalled by others as being a drunk? 69.178.120.127 (talk) 22:48, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

i dont know but his lack of tact reminds me of a certain alcoholics, as well as his insecurity and vuneribilty to criticism which causes him to overreact to what he views as criticism (like when people say that he doesnt look as young as he thinks he does). Hoginford (talk) 15:33, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Father and Salesmanship

Worth noting that his father is alive with dementia(?) and one of Brents nastier moments was when he didnt come to his father's aid in order to stay at the quiz. Also, may be worth noting that Brent is depicted as a convincing salesman at the beginning of the Xmas special. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.179.205.151 (talk) 03:56, 27 March 2012 (UTC)

Anonymous props

Good work on this article, 81.174.241.227.

Football

The bit about Ricky Gervais supporting Reading FC is contradicted by the main Ricky Gervais article.

Don't know about Gervais but Brent does indeed support Reading FC. In the Christmas Special he mocks Finchy for supporting Leeds United but then admits "I support Reading, so what do I know about football?" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.33.188 (talk) 12:22, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

Quote

"Funny and true, the essential genius behind 'The Office'."

I'm not sure what you mean by this? Do you mean you agree with the quote? Or is this explaining the context?

Bogus quotes

I don't know who first ascribed quotes like "You have to be 100% behind someone before you can stab them in the back" [1] and "Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines" to David Brent (e.g. [2]), but they're all bogus. chocolateboy 06:54, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The first quote is attributable to Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Prime Minister. Sebastian789 15:27, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

Asperger's syndrome

Hi, I added this into the see also section because this is something David Brent has, isn't it? Along with Alan Partridge, and various other comical fictional characters. Let me know if I'm wrong about this! :-s --Rebroad 23:40, 14 Feb 2005 (UTC)

You're wrong about this! :-) chocolateboy 12:38, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

WTF?????!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Has the OP ever seen the show?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 203.14.208.190 (talk) 11:27, 10 April 2007 (UTC).

Neither Brent or Partridge have Asperger's; they both appear to have narcissistic personality disorder. 109.249.255.68 (talk) 20:58, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

In his 40s?

IIRC, doesn't he kind of admit to being 39 in one of the episodes? --Dingbats 19:41, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes - a couple of times. One time he points out to Tim that they are both in their 30s, and Tim says, "I'm only just 30, and you're... what? 39?" Brent responds "Doesn't matter - both in out 30s is the fact" (and he draws a rectangle in the air with his fingers, to put the fact in a 'box'). —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.96.164.105 (talk) 22:00, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Boss from hell?

To add to the bit about David Brent not being as bad a manager as he was portrayed, the fact that he was offered promotion at the end of series 1 (but failed the medical) would seem to suggest that he couldn't have been that incompetent... Paul-b4 10:00, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Please see The Peter Principle, Brendt was supposed to be an example of a competent salesman who was promoted too quickly to a position he was unsuited for, namely management. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.185.1.100 (talk) 17:37, 9 July 2008 (UTC)

Spaced

This paragraph is interesting but is original research and is compromised by weasel words:

Ricky Gervais' cameo appearance in the sitcom Spaced may have been intended as a reference to the David Brent character or a portrayal of David Brent in his younger, office junior days before he has become employed by Wernham Hogg and made manager. Obvious signs include him working in an office, his name "Dave" being spoken by his colleague and the way he bites his bottom lip. His cocky swagger also foreshadows the future David Brent. However, Ricky Gervais and Spaced creators Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Jessica Stevenson have never commented on the cameo.

Brad (talk) 14:00, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

Drawings

In the list of attributes Brent think he excells in, I removed drawing. Can't remember a single time when this came up in the series. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.96.164.105 (talk) 22:02, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

What about the time when he mentions the ear he drew while at school shattering due to all the excessive noise around it? IndieSinger (talk) 22:05, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

British comedy - character development/comparison

This paragraph seems to have been removed almost wholesale by a replacement block describing him in relation to his latter-day US counterpart. Both have room in the article, so I'm restoring the original scetion as cited (nb. no, I didn't author it, so no WP:OWN moan) Plutonium27 (talk) 19:24, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

I removed this bit of original research, but didn't actually replace it with anything. (The verifiable information about foreign adaptations already existed.) So do you propose any kind of timeframe for sources to be found or anything? Thanks for the note on my talk page. --TM 22:54, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

No arguing about the foreign adaptations' relevence etc - just noticed the place-in-text swap is all. Anyway, give me, say, a week - until (23 July) - and I'll show what I've got/found (though may need some help with formatting/citing them here). How's that? FWIW, I thought the usual way is to put a tag (WP:OR) next to the text in question first (unless the claim is inflammatory, a decided one or plain ridiculous) rather than a unilateral decision to excise. Plutonium27 (talk) 09:24, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

If by swap you mean the fact that when you delete text, other text takes its place then I suppose it's a swap, but I assure I wasn't attempting any sleight of hand. Well you know us North Americans, unilateral decisions are all we're capable of. But for the record, someone else had tagged it as OR, I agreed and was bold in attempting to improve the article. And, if anything, you acted unilaterally by bringing back unsourced claims tagged by one user, and removed by another, without any attempt to discuss it beforehand or find supporting citations. A week is pretty short, but it's not like I'm in any position to set a mandate. I've tagged the paragraph as best as I could. --TM 11:45, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

So any progress with sources? It's been about three weeks. --TM 00:24, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

The goatee

I've long been under the impression that David Brent's goatee was a reference to real-life docusoap irritant Jeremy Spake - whose own goatee was very similar, as with his mockery of a "showbiz career" in the Christmas episodes. Does anyone know if I have held that impression mistakenly? MultipleTom (talk) 00:10, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Making the staff laugh

"In the final scene, Brent also succeeds in achieving what he failed to do for the whole series up to that point: he makes the staff laugh."

I'm 99% sure he acheives this pretty early in the series. Not just at him, but at one of his jokes (we only hear the very end, and the staff laughing). I /think/ it was just before he introduced Donna to the rest of the staff. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.72.248.121 (talk) 15:34, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

Indeed he does. All we hear of the joke is "... it worked for the turtle" but all the staff present laugh. I'd love to know what the joke was... IndieSinger (talk) 08:34, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Illiterate and unsourced

This entire thing needs to be rewritten. 86.158.122.82 (talk) 19:14, 14 September 2023 (UTC)