Clark Green

Clark Green is a fictional character on the U.S. comedy television series The Office. Clark is portrayed by Clark Duke. He is an original character and has no counterpart in the British version of the series. Clark, along with Pete Miller, is one of two staff members hired as customer service representatives at the Scranton branch of fictitious paper distributor Dunder Mifflin, replacing the outgoing Kelly Kapoor at the start of the show's ninth and final season.^[1]

Biography

Little has been established about Clark's backstory, apart from his admitting he had "gigantic inner ears" which prove useful when keeping balance when slacklining. His and Pete's vague resemblance to salesmen Dwight Schrute and Jim Halpert led to several office staff members initially referring to them as "New Jim" and "Dwight Jr.", respectively,^[2] though Clark would prove to have little in common with Dwight.

Season 9

Clark and Pete are introduced in "New Guys" as the new Customer Service Representatives. Several co-workers note their resemblance to Jim and Dwight, dubbing them "New Jim" and "New Dwight". Dwight initially took to Clark as a surrogate son (due to his disappointment at apparently not being the father of Angela Martin's baby), but when Clark attempted to use this to persuade Dwight to give Clark some of his sale leads, Dwight came to see Clark as a threat (a fear Jim would stoke for his own amusement). Clark later upstaged Dwight by managing to balance on a slackline, something Dwight was unable to do.^[2]

In "Roy's Wedding", Clark attempted to trick receptionist Erin Hannon into recording herself on camera in a series of revealing outfits, supposedly for a news anchor audition. Though Erin's then-boyfriend and Clark's boss Andy Bernard quickly found out, he too was fooled and even gave Clark his credit card and instructed Clark to take Erin shopping for outfits. Pete, however, quickly saw through the ruse, and, not wanting to see Erin exploited, convinced Andy to come along to read along with her, ruining Clark's plans. To add insult to injury, Andy had Pete take Erin out to eat, leaving him alone to "audition" more.^[3]

In "Andy's Ancestry", Pete and Clark immediately applaud at the news that Andy may be distantly related to Michelle Obama, having learned that Andy appreciates enthusiasm, and therefore have learned to clap for almost any action or announcement.^[4]

In "Work Bus" the entire staff is confined to work on a bus rented by Dwight while the office undergoes renovations. When the staff take the bus out to get pies, Clark and Darryl Philbin are left behind, something which doesn't bother either of them. In a deleted scene, Darryl then bothers Clark with questions about operating computers.^[5]

In "Here Comes Treble", Clark applauds enthusiastically when the a cappella group from Andy's alma mater of Cornell performs "Car Wash". In a deleted scene^[6]

Clark did not appear in "The Boat". In "The Whale" he grows a mustache with Pete and several other male co-workers for "Movember" at the suggestion of Toby Flenderson. Clark is later summoned by Dwight to the office of Jan Levinson at the Scranton White Page, to help Dwight make a sale. Clark is eager to become a salesman, but in fact Dwight intended to set him up with Jan, knowing she had a taste for younger men. The two apparently then traveled to Europe for several weeks, leaving him absent for the next three episodes.^[7]

Clark returns to Scranton in "Suit Warehouse". He compares his sexual encounter with Jan to "a swarm of bees... bees that find something wrong with every hotel room". He also presents the office with an espresso machine from Jan, something which causes hyperactivity among most of the staff after they try the various flavors. Clark, meanwhile, accompanies Dwight on a sales call to Stone and Sons Suit Warehouse, posing as father and son.^[8]

In "Customer Loyalty", Dwight, attempting to prevent Darryl from leaving to work at Athlead, instructs Clark to bring up any complaint files on Darryl by keyword. Clark tells Dwight he's "kinda dreaming", pointing out the computers run on Windows 95, with dot matrix printers.^[9]

In "Junior Salesman", Clark hears that Dwight will be hiring a junior sales associate to cover for Jim and urges Dwight to choose him, reminding him he helped Dwight get accounts with Stone and Sons and the Scranton White Pages. Dwight agrees to give him an interview, but has no intention of giving him the job, intending to give the job to one of his various friends. Jim, not wanting Pam to have to sit with one of Dwight's friends, helps him give an excellent interview (which is made easier by the fact that even Dwight acknowledges that none of his friend he brought in to interview were qualified). Dwight ultimately chooses Clark.^[10]

In "Vandalism", Dwight and Pam Beesly send Clark down to the warehouse as a spy to find something to use against warehouse worker Frank who had vandalized Pam's mural. Clark is certain no one will believe him and is proven right when he's stripped and tied up with duct tape by the warehouse workers.^[10]

In "Couples Discount" the entire staff skips work to go to the mall on Valentine's Day, with Clark and Nellie Bertram posing as a couple to get a couples' discount. When Nellie teases him in front of women at a salon, however, an irritated Clark drops the ruse.^[11]

In "Moving On", Clark was one of the few people who initially knew Pete and Erin had begun dating in secret after Erin broke up with Andy. Clark seemed amused at the awkward situation, particularly after Andy, upon finding out, retaliated by hiring Pete's ex-girlfriend Alice to cause him discomfort.^[12]

In "The Farm", Clark and the rest of the staff end up eating cupcakes from Todd Packer laced with laxatives and hallucinogens.^[13]

In "Promos", he assisted Dwight in determining if his new girlfriend Esther was taking advantage of him.^[14]

In "Paper Airplane", Clark competes against Erin in a paper airplane throwing contest. Both Clark and Pete are taken aback when this sets off a highly competitive streak in Erin.^[15]

In "Stairmageddon", Clark reluctantly helps Dwight move an incapacitated Stanley Hudson to help on a sales call.^[16]

In "Livin' the Dream", Clark refuses to give back Jim's seat when he returns. A newly promoted Dwight sends Clark back to the annex, however^[17]

In "A.A.R.M.", Clark, along with the rest of the staff, is dismayed when Darryl (who is quitting to work at Athlead full-time) attempts to leave without saying goodbye. Clark expresses an interest in "recording some of (his) stories... just let the tape roll for six, eight, or ten hours, see what we get." He's later seen dancing with staff after Darryl agrees to one last activity together. He's later seen with the others at Poor Richard's, watching the airing of the documentary.^[18]

Relationships

Pete Miller

Despite being roughly the same age, working in the same department, and being hired at the same time, Pete explicitly states in "Roy's Wedding" that Clark is not his friend, but is merely "the douche that sits next to me at the office". He clearly disapproves of Clark's attempt to exploit Erin with a fake news audition in that episode and successfully foils it.^[3] There has not been any apparent tension between the two since then, however, and the two do agree on several things, such as how to behave around Andy.^[4] The two were seen playing a computer game together in "New Guys".^[2] In "The Whale" the two were seen hanging out with Toby Flenderson, Daryl Philbin, and Kevin Malone, all having grown mustaches for "Movember".^[7]

Clark was apparently aware that Pete and Erin had been dating before anyone else in the office. He appeared somewhat amused at Pete's awkwardness around Andy before Andy found out, and later found it funny when Andy later hired Pete's ex-girlfriend Alice to work with him to get back at him.^[12]

Pete and Clark's relationship has apparently improved over time. When Clark takes Jim's desk, briefly relegating Jim to Clark's desk in the annex, Jim suggests to Pete that he probably missed Clark, which Pete seems to acknowledge. Clark, for his part, sardonically warns Jim "it is very easy to get lost in Pete's beautiful, dead eyes."^[17]

Andy Bernard

Both Pete and Clark are largely deferential to Branch Manager Andy Bernard, not having known him before his promotion, unlike most of the other staff. When Pete is first introduced to Andy in "New Guys", Andy assigns him the nickname "Plop", much to Pete's discomfort, because Andy claims Pete is "always taking dumps". The nickname would persist even after Andy quit.^[2][18] In "Andy's Ancestry", Pete and Clark have taken to applauding nearly any announcement or action by Andy, however mundane, after discovering that Andy appreciates enthusiasm. The two note in a talking head that their applause is beginning to have a reverse effect, causing them to genuinely believe simple actions like making copies or drinking water are impressive.^[4]

Reception

Clark Duke, one of two additions to the cast for the show's final seasons was met with mixed responses at first. Myles McNutt found the storyline in "Roy's Wedding" somewhat awkward. "I raise this point not because I dislike Pete and Clark, but rather because I actually sort of enjoy them, and wonder how the show is going to manage their tenuous position as it relates to the series’ narrative. Clark Duke continues his streak of characters that turn out to be creepy sexual predators, and Jake Lacey is likeable playing the second string Jim, but it feels weird for one part of the show to be invested in exploring characters’ lives when another part of the show is deploying newly introduced characters to play out the kind of stock sitcom fare the show has done a dozen times over."^[19]

Over time, however, responses grew more favorable. Of his performance in "Stairmageddon", Joseph Kratzer said " I contend that the strength of this story was carried most predominantly by Clark Duke. I’ve mentioned on several occasions how talented Duke is at just nailing the odd comedic timing necessary to really reach the full potential of The Office’s writing, and this episode is a perfect example. His reluctance in helping Dwight from the scene in the break room just before Dwight fires off the bull tranquilizers at Stanley (“Can I just get out of here before whatever comes next?”) to trying to load the bubble-wrapped man into Dwight’s car (“Use the vernacular I’m comfortable with!”) was the exact performance needed to offset the all too familiar ludicrous behavior of Dwight. We all know that the ninth season is the final one of the series, but it’s sort of pleasantly bittersweet to know that if in another world NBC did renew the show for at least one more, it would have a suitable heir to John Krasinski’s deadpan throne."^[20]

References

External links

• Clark Duke at NBC.com