List of The Office (U.S. TV Series) Characters - Scranton Regional Manager Applicants

Scranton Regional Manager Applicants

In the season 7 finale "Search Committee", Jim, Toby and Gabe interview several applicants for the position formerly held by Michael Scott (and briefly filled by Deangelo Vickers). The applicants included Andy, Dwight, Kelly, and Darryl; Nellie Bertram, who was not hired but was later placed in a different position at Sabre; Robert California, who was offered the position and accepted it, only to immediately quit to become CEO of Sabre; and the following others.

• Fred Henry (Will Arnett) is an ex-Navy meteorologist. While being interviewed, he claims that he has a three-step plan to double profits at the branch; however, it becomes clear that he is merely bluffing. However, in an interview with the camera crew, it is shown that he remains confident that he will be hired for the job (even though he does not even remember the name of the company he interviewed at, erroneously believing it is "Vance Refrigeration" after glancing at the building tenants list). Paul Lieberstein said at the time that Arnett would have been a top choice to really take the role, but he had filmed a pilot that was likely to get a pickup at NBC after his appearance was filmed (that pilot being for the television series Up All Night).

• Merv Bronte (Ray Romano) is a sad and somewhat depressed man. When in the lobby, Robert California tries to sabotage him by telling him the office staff act like they are prisoners in a dying industry, leaving Merv to question himself if he even wants the job. While riding in the elevator he has a talking-head interview in which he confides to the cameraman "If I get this job offer, I know I'm gonna take it. And if I take it I know I'm never going to quit, and then 25 years are going to go by and...I'm gonna die here." He sabotages his own interview by acting rude and unpleasant. Confused, Toby asks if they had inadvertently done something to upset him. In another talking-head interview after his job interview, he expresses regret over believing "that weirdo in the lobby" (Robert), saying that the people in the office are the nicest people that he has ever met. He later says he feels like he sabotaged himself because he thinks he's afraid of being happy, and then reveals that he was supposed to start another job on the very day he was interviewed.

• Finger Lakes guy (Jim Carrey) is a nasally-voiced and somewhat strange man, who, according to Jim, was one of the top candidates for the job, along with Darryl and Andy. His real name is never revealed, although he is nicknamed "Finger Lakes guy" because he repeatedly mentioned, during his (unseen) interview, that if he is hired, he will need to have his first two weeks off, in order to travel to the Finger Lakes, because, as he reveals to the documentary film crew, he snuck away from his family while vacationing in the Finger Lakes in order to interview for the job, and needs to return soon, as his family will begin to worry about him, because "People disappear in the Finger Lakes."

• David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is a former office manager for Wernham Hogg Paper in Slough, England (as seen in the original UK version of the series). He appears at the beginning of the seventh season episode "The Seminar", where he meets Michael Scott outside an elevator, trades racist jokes with him, and asks whether there are any openings at Dunder Mifflin. In "Search Committee", he applies for the Regional Manager position via videoconferencing from the UK.

• Miserly Man (Warren Buffett) is an elderly applicant, who, during his interview, displays a very miserly attitude (which is meant to parody the fact that his portrayer is a billionaire investor) and haggles over whether the company would reimburse him for gas costs if he traveled a lot for them.