David Herman gives supporting comic parts their own particular grievances. We rate his Michael Bolton in Office Space: a slight character played precisely enough to make the jokes belong to him, not just to the script.
Fi1m perspective
In Office Space (1999), Michael Bolton has enough to resent at work without having to resent his name. David Herman makes that irritation belong to a particular employee, even in an office where everyone has reasons to complain. We laughed at Bolton's name-related frustration because Herman gives a petty grievance the weight it would acquire after enough repetition. He lets us recognise the man without asking us to stop watching everyone else. This is modest comic work, and we rate it highly.
Herman was an original cast member of MADtv (1995), working in sketches and celebrity impersonations before animation became his main occupation. Voice work on King of the Hill (1997), including Buckley, introduced him to Mike Judge. Judge then wrote Bolton for him, and the role makes room for both an ordinary office worker and his disproportionate irritation. The sketch background is useful here: Herman can establish a comic character quickly, giving Judge someone recognisable without needing much explanation.
Office Space does not give him a fully developed character. Herman and Ajay Naidu, as Samir, nevertheless make shared frustration feel different in each man. Alongside Ron Livingston's restrained Peter and Stephen Root's ill-fitting Milton, Bolton helps the workplace feel populated by people who have acquired their own particular complaints. The story weakens towards the end, and the ensemble cannot mend that. But the jokes work because the actors have made it matter who is saying them.
From 1999 onwards, Herman worked primarily in animation, returning to live action occasionally, including another Judge film, Idiocracy (2006). Futurama (1999) gives him Scruffy the janitor, Roberto and Ogden Wernstrom among his voices; the work has continued through its revivals. The move makes sense for a performer who can distinguish a character within the limited space a supporting part allows. Bolton remains our clearest reason to seek him out, though the voice work accounts for much more of his career. Start with Office Space, allowing for a story that becomes less sure of itself as it goes.
Biography
David Herman is an American actor and comedian. He was an original cast member of the sketch comedy series MADtv (1995–1997) and played Michael Bolton in the 1999 film Office Space.
Herman was born on 20 February 1967 in New York City and raised in Washington Heights, Manhattan. He graduated from the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in 1985 and attended the acting programme at the State University of New York at Purchase.
He has provided voices for hundreds of episodes of animated series including King of the Hill, Futurama, American Dad!, Bob's Burgers and The Simpsons. He has frequently collaborated with Mike Judge.
