Andy Bernard

Andy Bernard
File:TheOffice Andy.png
First appearance	"Gay Witch Hunt"
Created by	Greg Daniels
Portrayed by	Ed Helms
In-universe information
Nickname	"The 'Nard-Dog" "Drew" "The Penguin"
Gender	Male
Title	Regional Director in Charge of Sales
Occupation	Sales, Dunder-Mifflin
Spouse	Angela Martin (fiancee)

Andrew Bernard is a fictional character from the U.S. television series The Office. He is played by Ed Helms.

Overview

When the character is introduced at the beginning of the third season of The Office, Andy Bernard is the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford branch of Dunder Mifflin. He is an overconfident sycophant with anger management problems. Like Jim Halpert, the character is named after a childhood friend of executive producer Greg Daniels. The real Andrew Bernard is an economics professor.

Biography

Andy Bernard is currently the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at Dunder Mifflin Paper Company at the Scranton branch. Andy worked with Jim Halpert and Karen Filippelli under the direction of Josh Porter, at Dunder-Mifflin Stamford. Upon the branch's closure, Andy transferred to Dunder-Mifflin Scranton. Andy fancies himself a ladies' man with a "rollercoaster friendship" with coworker Karen. A 1995 alumnus of Cornell University, Andy brags that he never studied, got drunk every night, and still graduated in four years. In a deleted scene from "Launch Party", Andy states that he was initially wait-listed and then literally "sang his way into Cornell". A deleted scene from "Branch Wars" reveals that Andy's father donated a building to Cornell (which implied that this is the actual reason he was accepted). Andy was a member of the fictional a cappella group "Here Comes Treble" to which he pays homage with his screen name in Call of Duty and to an a cappella group from Oberlin College (the actor's alma mater) named Nothing But Treble (in real life, an all-female ensemble) whose premiere album is Here Comes Treble. Andy comes from a well-heeled line of WASPs that he claims "goes all the way back to Moses".

Andy likes to make up nicknames for his colleagues. He named Jim "Big Tuna" because he ate a tuna sandwich on his first day at Stamford ("Gay Witch Hunt"). He once called Ryan "Big Turkey", presumably for a similar reason ("The Return"). After Jim gets a haircut, Andy announces that Jim's new nickname is "Big Haircut", and not "Big Tuna" ("The Job").

A frolf nut, he organized the first-ever Frisbee Golf group at his college alma mater Cornell, and retains his love for "throwing the disc." He likes to sing in a high falsetto voice, occasionally to the tune of his banjo. He is a fan of music from the 1990s as he has sung both the song "Zombie" by The Cranberries and "Lovefool" by The Cardigans. He also enjoys the TV show Lost ("The Return"). Andy has also proven that he is a master of Pig Latin.

Andy enjoys a drink at Benihana he calls "Nog-a-sake" (a combination of 1 part eggnog and 3 parts sake, and a pun on the city of Nagasaki), but has trouble getting it because "eggnog is seasonal." ("A Benihana Christmas").

He has mentioned shooting an 80 pound shark with a rifle near his father's home in Montauk, New York, and the fact that he once worked for Abercrombie & Fitch ("Traveling Salesmen").

Andy has severe anger management problems. He screams and kicks a trash can across the office upon finding his calculator embedded in Jell-O, a trademark prank of Jim Halpert ("Gay Witch Hunt"). He threatens to kill Jim over a video game ("The Coup") and throws a tantrum when he learns that the Stamford branch is closing ("Branch Closing"). After punching a hole in the wall in frustration over a hidden phone ("The Return"), Andy is sent to anger management training, which he claims is still "Management Material". The anger management training seems to have worked, as Andy has been in several aggravating situations without losing his temper. Andy previously drove a Nissan Xterra, which he once described as "luxurious yet rugged" (Andy is mocked by Dwight because he drives "an X-Earth"). Following his return to Dunder Mifflin Scranton from anger management class, he now drives a Toyota Prius, a purchase he explains in a deleted scene on the Season 3 DVD.

Andy's dress attire may be termed as "fratty" or "preppy". Clothing consists pants of bright colors (some with critters/symbols), d-ring belts, tattersall shirts, and striped ties. Andy is seen to be wearing Brooks Brothers and J. Crew in various episodes, and in the commentary for "The Return", Ed Helms remarks that Andy has good color sense, if not "color taste."

Season 3

Andy first appears in the season 3 premiere, "Gay Witch Hunt", occupying the desk at Stamford directly in front of Jim. He plays Call of Duty with his office-mates, a game at which he is ferociously competitive to the extent that he threatens to "kill Big Tuna for real" during a planning session for the game. (Jim had been killing Germans, not realizing that he, Andy and Josh are together on the German team.) The first time we experience Andy's hair-trigger temper is his eruption when he finds his calculator encased in Jell-O as a prank. Andy shows a liking toward Jim, offering to share his "roomy twin" air mattress in the episode "Diwali". However, both men are drunk at the time, having spent the evening taking shots of Jägermeister.

After the closure of the Stamford branch, Andy transfers to the Scranton branch, where he attempts to gain Michael Scott's favor by the use of his trademark tactics: "Name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake." Andy (Regional Director in Charge of Sales) and Dwight (Assistant Regional Manager) immediately engage in a struggle for power within the office, and Andy quickly replaces Dwight as Michael's favorite.

In "Traveling Salesmen", Andy's scheming against Dwight goes into overdrive. His antics begin to annoy Michael, but Andy is able to capitalize on Michael's insecurity by framing Dwight for being disloyal by "finding a toll booth receipt on Dwight's desk from New York" (Andy actually stole Dwight's keys and found the receipt in Dwight's car). Though Dwight was only turning in late tax forms for his secret girlfriend Angela, Andy successfully convinces Michael that Dwight was making an attempt to have Michael demoted, forcing Dwight's resignation. Andy's success is short-lived, however, when his blatant obnoxiousness starts to get on the staff's nerves (which prompts Jim to state about his nemesis, "I miss Dwight... Congratulations, universe. You win." and later pull the aforementioned hidden phone prank on Andy). Soon, Michael becomes disturbed by Andy's "creepy" behavior and re-hires Dwight when he discovers the truth behind the events that led to Dwight's resignation. Michael is also made aware of Andy's shortcomings as a salesman when Andy undermines Michael's attempt to find common ground with a potential client by boasting, losing the sale.

In "The Return" Jim resolves to prank Andy. With Pam's help, he steals Andy's mobile phone (on which the ringtone is Andy alone singing 4-part harmony of "Rockin' Robin") and hides it above one of the ceiling tiles. He and Pam then proceed to dial Andy's number, aggravating him to the point of insanity. Eventually, Andy completely loses it and punches a hole in the wall. It is revealed in the producers cut of the episode that Andy was sent to a 10 week long anger management camp. Andy plans to be done with this in just five weeks by using "name repetition, personality mirroring and positive reinforcement through nods and smiles," the same skills he implemented to rise to success in the Scranton office.

True to his word, Andy returns five weeks later in "Safety Training", asking people to call him "Drew" while Dwight begins a three year shun (which he unshuns at times and drops entirely in later episodes).

In "Product Recall", Andy accompanies Jim to a local high school which received a shipment of obscenely vandalized stationery from Dunder-Mifflin. Andy sees his girlfriend at a locker, "the one with the green hoodie". While he holds out the hope that she may be a teacher or tutor, Jim forces him to face the fact that she's a student, which invariably sends Andy into a depressive tailspin during their talk with one of their clients. Jim later manages to cheer Andy up in the car by singing a rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", to which Andy joins in.

In "Women's Appreciation", Andy attempts to get on Dwight's good side by assisting him in catching Phyllis' flasher. Dwight however mocks Andy's attempts, calling him a "preppy freak" and "the office pariah", and that no one in the office likes him. Upon seeing the sketch of the flasher, which is really a drawing of Dwight by Pam without glasses and with a mustache, Andy plays along with the prank and happily hangs the posters all around the office and offers to post them around his neighborhood. Dwight eventually comes to accept Andy and thaws a little bit towards him, saying that he is not a "total ass."

In "Beach Games" where Dwight and Andy are captains of opposing teams, Angela agrees to sabotage the game by intentionally screwing up as she's on Andy's team. However, this is short lived when Andy falls into the lake in a sumo wrestler costume and floats away, pleading for Angela, the only witness, to get help, which she ignores.

Andy somehow gets out of the river and manages to return in "The Job". When Michael leaves to interview for a position in corporate, Dwight takes over and makes Andy his number two (because Andy was the only one who signed up to interview for the position). Michael doesn't get the job and when he discovers that Dwight painted his office black, Dwight tries to blame it on Andy. Michael states that Dwight taking his advice is an example of bad management.

Season 4

In a preview for Season 4, he states that during the summer, he inner-tubed "starting in Scranton, down the Lackawanna River, to the Susquehanna, all the way to the Chesapeake Bay (and back)".

With the departure of Karen, Andy is now the only member from Stamford, besides Jim, who is left at the Scranton branch.

Andy has not entirely lost his competitive side, as seen in "Fun Run", where Andy strategically runs close behind Kevin to gain the advantage of drafting the larger man. Despite taking the precaution of bandaging his sensitive nipples, Andy suffers "nipple chafing" during the race, and his discomfort is exacerbated when he runs into Kevin, who has stopped suddenly.

As the season progresses, it seems that Andy and Dwight, although they have a history of disputing, have become closer friends. In the episode Launch Party, Andy helps in counting the sales of Dunder Mifflin Infinity and Dwight, using a bear horn to commemorate each of Dwight's sales. However, much to Dwight's dislike, Andy also develops an attraction to Angela, unaware of her previous relationship and breakup with Dwight. In "Launch Party", he assists a beleaguered Angela with her party planning, procuring, by theft, "something made of ice" (an elaborate ice sculpture for the party) . Later, accompanied by two backup singers on speaker phones, he serenades Angela with "Take a Chance on Me", receiving a rare smile (quickly suppressed) in return.

In the episode "Money", Angela decides to go out with Andy, tersely issuing him her permission to ask her out and her dietary preferences. Earlier in the episode, he complains that she doesn't notice him, despite his having moon-walked past her desk ten times. He finally wins her over with a gift of a cat, which he says he found near the building, because it particularly wanted to be adopted by her. This is most likely Garbage, the cat which Dwight gave Angela in a previous Season 4 episode. Andy and Angela's relationship seems to have progressed from the first date, as he reveals to Dwight in the episode Local Ad that he and Angela are now "necking: just rubbing our necks together" on a fairly regular basis (but nothing more). However, it would appear that Angela is not as over Dwight as she would like him to believe, as she says "Oh D!" while in intimate situations with Andy, "D" being a nickname she used for Dwight, but Andy thinks it stands for "Andy".

In the episode "Chair Model", Andy and Kevin team up to get the parking lot back for the staff when the building's renovation has the construction workers taking up its space. They pull this off with much success after meeting the other tenants in the park, which they refer to as "The Five Families". In the episode Night Out Michael, intent on getting back into the dating scene, takes a spontaneous road trip with Dwight to New York City to go clubbing with Ryan and offers anybody else the chance to go. Andy jumps at the chance and refers to Angela as "the ole ball and chain" with her standing right there. Andy's attempts to join are rebuffed by Dwight when he says it's for singles only and that three is an unlucky number, and they leave. Dwight's rekindled dislike for Andy is center stage during Did I Stutter?, when Dwight finds out Andy is selling his old Nissan Xterra car. Dwight points out all of the car's problems and uses high-pressure sales techniques to get Andy to sell it to him at a bargain price, after which he cleans the car up and is able to flip it for a nice profit on eBay. Andy protests but Dwight ignores him and later says Andy is "stupid".

In the episode Job Fair, Andy is invited to join Jim on a major sales call. However, in a deleted scene Jim reveals that he invited Andy because he expected Andy to make a fool of himself by talking endlessly about Cornell, which would benefit Jim because the client hates Cornell. When the client invites Kevin to come golfing again with him in the future, he shoots down Andy's request to also play later on.

In the episode "Goodbye, Toby," Andy proposes to Angela (at the same moment Jim had been preparing to propose to Pam) with a ring he has carried in his wallet for six years, because "you never know when you'll meet the right girl." Angela responds with a somewhat annoyed "OK"; shortly thereafter, though, she rekindled her intimate relationship with former lover, Dwight when Phyllis and the camera crew walk in on them having sex on a desk.

External links

• Entertainment Weekly- Ed Helms No Longer an 'Office' Temp
• Andy Bernard Screencaps
• Ed Helms Fansite