Editing David Brent (section)

== Character ==
{{More references|date=December 2024}}
Gervais came up with the basic idea of Brent several years before ''The Office''<nowiki/>'s debut in 2001. "David Brent was like a [[Frankenstein]] of all the people I'd met in my adult life. He was just a guy who wanted to be loved." Gervais based the filming format on [[Reality television|reality-television]] series such as ''[[Airport (TV series)|Airport]]''. He had also worked in an office environment for almost ten years.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?si=SiquJxm-48pmBYP4&t=897&v=99mDleOf46I&feature=youtu.be |title=Ricky Gervais: Comedy, Football and Brotherly Bonds With Roy Keane {{!}} Stick to Football 59 |date=2024-11-27 |last=The Overlap |access-date=2024-12-02 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

Brent is presented as an employer who wholeheartedly believes that his employees love him, whereas in fact, apart from [[Gareth Keenan]], they actually resent him. This is best noticed in the Series 1 finale, where Brent betrays his staff and accepts a promotion to higher management, saving his own skin from the inevitable downsizing that will befall the Slough branch as a consequence. Brent is later forced to turn the position down after failing a medical examination, but he insists to his employees that he failed it on purpose to save the branch.

Despite being the manager, Brent is totally spineless when it comes to confrontation. This is best seen through the character of Chris Finch, who Brent views unconditionally as his best friend despite his appalling attitude towards women and his many chances at ridiculing Brent as well as his staff. Brent's inability to stand up for himself or his staff members properly and professionally often results in him lashing out at his employees, pointing out their weight or age if his own is brought to ridicule.

In the second series, Neil Godwin, manager of the Swindon branch, is given Brent's promotion. Neil is shown to be everything that Brent is not, which provokes Brent's insecurity and jealousy. Neil effortlessly bonds with Brent's staff and earns their trust, perhaps best shown when a payroll issue is brought to Neil's attention, essentially going over Brent's head. Brent's dismissive attitude to key issues such as this culminates in a later confrontation with Neil and Jennifer when Brent fails to produce a report he promised to do. When given an official warning, Brent recklessly challenges Neil in an effort motivated by his hurt pride, stating that his removal from managing the Slough branch would result in a staff uprising. This, however, proves to be totally baseless, as when Neil and Jennifer announce that Brent will be made redundant, his staff are shown to be completely unconcerned and even relieved by the news.

Despite his unlikeable nature, Brent is not wholly perceived as insufferable. Instead, Brent is shown as the increasingly tragic figure of the series: a lonely man without any friends, goals or achievements who would rather please everybody around him even if it is met at his own expense. Of these key moments where sympathy is garnered for Brent, perhaps one of the most crucial scenes is when Brent begs Neil and Jennifer to reconsider their decision to make him redundant, after a secondary role as a motivational speaker falls through.

In the Christmas special, Brent is working as a travelling salesman following his dismissal from Wernham Hogg, but he remains emotionally attached to his old workplace and constantly visits the office during working hours, eventually resulting in Neil banning him from the premises. He earns additional income on the side from Z-list celebrity appearances at various club nights trading on the minor fame the documentary series has given him, but he is frequently met with heckles and abuse from the crowds and gradually hits an emotional low. He is allowed to attend the Wernham Hogg Christmas party that ends the special, at which he meets a blind date who genuinely enjoys his company and says she would go out with him again. In higher spirits, Brent is later shown bonding with his former colleagues and finally succeeds in making them laugh when they take a group photo together.