Who is Creed Bratton in The Office?

Show

The Office

Played by

Creed Bratton

First episode

“Pilot”Season 1, Episode 1, aired March 24, 2005

Role

Main cast

Network

NBC

Occupation

Quality assurance representative

Show run

2005 to 2013

Also known as

William Charles Schneider, William Schneider

Creed Bratton works in quality assurance at Dunder Mifflin Scranton, though he is not entirely sure what that means. Played by musician Creed Bratton, a former member of the Grass Roots, the character turns every brief appearance into a strange glimpse of a life nobody in the office fully understands.

On The Office, Creed Bratton's story runs through Michael Scott (Boss), Meredith Palmer (Coworker), Ryan Howard (Coworker), Dwight Schrute (Coworker), and Jim Halpert.

Who is Creed Bratton?

Creed is the oldest employee at the Scranton branch and its quality assurance representative, a job he cannot name when new HR rep Holly Flax asks about it in "Goodbye, Toby." He forgets his coworkers' names, gives wildly different answers about his age, and keeps a blog that is really a Word document Ryan set up to protect the internet from his thoughts.

In the early seasons Creed is mostly in the background, but the writers kept handing him short, bizarre lines, and he became one of the show's great cult characters. Every few episodes he lets slip another detail about his past, and none of them are reassuring.

Personality and comedy

Creed's comedy lives in the non sequitur. He drops calm, cheerful remarks about cults, prison, fake identities, and stolen goods, then goes right back to his desk. He admits to stealing all the time, pockets poker chips at "Casino Night," lists the office equipment on Craigslist when the branch looks like it is closing, and admits he runs a fake ID business out of the trunk of his car.

He is also a survivor. When Michael is ordered to fire someone in "Halloween" and picks Creed, Creed talks him into firing Devon instead. When his skipped inspections let an obscene watermark onto company paper in "Product Recall," he quietly makes sure someone else takes the blame.

Key storylines

Creed rarely gets a full storyline, but his small arcs are memorable. In "Dunder Mifflin Infinity" he dyes his hair with printer ink to look younger when he fears Ryan is weeding out older workers. In season five's "Crime Aid" he strongly implies that he took the name Creed Bratton from a man who stole from him and then disappeared, and his real name is later given as William Schneider.

After Dwight fires a gun in the office at the end of season seven, CEO Jo Bennett puts the most senior employee in charge, which turns out to be Creed, who briefly serves as acting manager. In the finale, the documentary has aired and Creed has faked his death, but his old coworkers find him secretly living at the office. He sings them a song he wrote before the police take him away.

Behind the scenes and legacy

The real Creed Bratton played guitar with the rock band the Grass Roots in the late 1960s, and the character borrows that history. He started as a background performer in the first season and became a credited series regular from season four onward. His song in the finale, "All the Faces," is one he wrote himself.

Creed has become a beloved cult figure, and his music has stayed part of the show's afterlife: his song "Rubber Tree" is the opening theme of the rewatch podcast Office Ladies.

Creed Bratton: frequently asked questions

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