University Challenged

S1E3 — ‘The Quiz’, Chris Finch, and the insecurity of quick-wit

This piece is part of a series on The Office (UK), running up to the 20th anniversary of its finale this Christmas. Don’t miss out by following me on Medium.

David Brent in the third episode of The Office describes for the cameras how he thinks he appears on them: Half a supreme comedy duo with sales rep Chris Finch, better than Morecambe and Wise “because there’s no straight man, no dead wood.” Simultaneously ahead of their time — “people watching go, ‘Why’s that funny?’” — and confirmed geniuses: “We tell them why and they go, ‘Yeah. You are the best.’” Edgy — he warns the documentary crew “You’ll only be able to use 20% of it when you get me and [Finch] together” — and politically correct: he’d never laugh at “a little handicapped.”

Then there’s how he can’t help but appear: Puerile, brimming with prop-comedy ways to use an inflatable cock. Jealous, telling off Gareth for snatching said cock without having a joke ready, and for snatching such catchphrases of ‘his’ as “Same shit, different day.” Corny at coining his own catchphrases, like “I’m not saying he’s unlucky, but if he fell in a barrel full of tits, he’d come up sucking his own thumb.” (By the end of the episode he himself will have been bested by Tits: the team-name of the winners of the…