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In S2E3 of Monk, Mr. Monk Goes to the Ballgame, the killer is a character played by Rainn Wilson, who also plays Dwight Schrute in the US TV series The Office. There are (at least) three clues that relate this character to Dwight Schrute:

  1. The actor is the same.
  2. The character in Monk has a dog named Toby, and Toby is a character that Dwight doesn’t like in The Office.
  3. The character speaks German (he says “Achtung” to his dog) without any explicit reason, and Dwight Schrute is notoriously proud of his German ancestors.

My first reaction was: Monk’s showrunners wanted to make a nod to The Office, by turning one of its most important and hated/loved characters into a killer. However, the Monk episode aired before The Office even started! On the other side, I don’t think it is plausible that The Office writers decided to make a nod to Monk by naming Toby’s character after a dog that is only seen for a few seconds.

I would like to have an explanation. Are these just mere coincidences?

EDIT: Judging from the comments, an answer would be: it’s probably a mix of coincidences and the fact that Rainn Wilson’s acting may have looked the characters similar (in my opinion).

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    "The character in Monk has a dog named Toby, and Toby is a character that Dwight doesn’t like in The Office." I'm gonna go with "coincidence" on that one.
    – Kyralessa
    Commented Sep 30 at 10:39
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    Characters are often embellished a little by the actors, so it’s more likely that Rainn Wilson brought similar elements to each character. The core of Dwight is an Americanized version of Gareth from the original BBC series. Dwight was primarily inspired by Gareth.
    – Todd Wilcox
    Commented Sep 30 at 11:31
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    "he says “Achtung” to his dog" — isn't it common to train dogs in foreign language, to prevent them to misinterpret common human talking with commands. Neither trainer or dog may not know that foreign language comletely, just a dozen or so words that are needed for common commands.
    – user28434
    Commented Oct 7 at 14:01
  • Hahaha yeah, sure. I wasn’t saying that all this was compelling evidence for a link between the characters. Imagine that one day, a new TV series airs, depicting people running a beetroot farm: you might (I would) think: « oh, this is a reference to Dwight in The Office ». Even if no pun was intended. For the present matter, I tend to agree with Todd Wilcox when he says that Wilson may have brought similar elements to each character.
    – Plop
    Commented Oct 7 at 15:05

1 Answer 1

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The character of Dwight is based on Gareth Keenan character from the original The Office UK (2001).

According to an interview to People Magazine:

Eventually he realized he "needed to be myself," he shares. "I'm an ungainly, weird and wonderful guy and I wear glasses and I get my clothes at thrift stores and I need to be true to who Rainn Wilson is," he jokes.

Wilson adds that he believes that he would have never been able to "successfully" take on his iconic character on The Office, if it weren't for the "really miserable experience" he had on Broadway.

But for a much closer character portrayal I'd have to point out Rainn's role as Arthur Martin on Six Feet Under:

  • Arthur's innocence and cluelessness mirror Dwight's later portrayal as socially unaware and overly earnest.

  • The odd relationship between Arthur and Ruth Fisher echoes Dwight's uncomfortable romance with Angela in The Office, featuring a similar lack of chemistry and comedic discomfort.

  • Arthur's desire to gain approval from his bosses in Six Feet Under foreshadows Dwight's relentless ambition and desire to impress Michael Scott.

  • Arthur's panic over his mistakes is a trait that reappears in Dwight's over-the-top reactions in high-stress situations at Dunder Mifflin.

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    wow so quick to garner a downvote without explanation! :O
    – Luciano
    Commented Sep 30 at 12:59
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    I'm not the downvoter, but everything except the note about Gareth (which wasn't in the original revision) seems to be irrelevant to the actual question.
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Sep 30 at 13:05
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    Thank you for the information. I did not know Six Feet Under.
    – Plop
    Commented Sep 30 at 13:07
  • @F1Krazy Question is: is it inspired by Monk? my answer: no, inspired by Six Feet Under. Not relevant?
    – Luciano
    Commented Sep 30 at 13:08
  • The People Magazine interview certainly doesn't seem to be relevant.
    – F1Krazy
    Commented Sep 30 at 13:09

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