The Office Created An Idris Elba Paradox With One Throwaway Line

Sitcoms can often find themselves in a paradoxical spot when they reference a movie or TV show featuring one of their own celebrity guest stars. In Friends, Ross, Chandler, and Joey all watch Die Hard and debate whether to watch Die Hard 2 or start the first film over again, and none of them comment on the fact that John McClane is identical to Rachel’s ex-boyfriend Paul.

The Office found itself in a similar jam when Michael started dating a married woman toward the end of season 6. In season 6, episode 25, “The Chump,” Andy sets out to show Michael the error of his ways. Everyone in the office is disgusted by Michael’s behavior, but Andy takes it personally, because he was made a cuckold during his engagement to Angela; he’s been on the other side of this. When Andy is explaining to Michael that it’s wrong for him to sleep with a married woman, he uses the movie Obsessed as an example.

Andy tells Michael, “In any cheating movie, the person getting cheated on is the hero. You’re Ali Larter, I’m Beyoncé.” This sets up one of Michael’s best one-liners — “I am Beyoncé, always” — but it also created a weird paradox in the Office universe.

Released in 2009, Obsessed stars Ali Larter as a seductive office temp and Beyoncé as her boss’ wife. As she pursues her boss, the wife grows suspicious that her husband is having an affair. It’s a forgettable movie, but a notable reference. The husband in Obsessed was played by Idris Elba, who also played Charles Miner in The Office, so Idris Elba exists in the Office universe and Charles happens to look just like him.

This isn’t The Office’s only Idris Elba paradox, either. After his night out with a coked-up Ryan, Michael said he’d been watching The Wire, but he didn’t notice that his new boss looked just like Stringer Bell.

Idris Elba Is One Of The Office's Most Underrated Guest Stars

The Office had a ton of great guest stars throughout its run, and some that were massively underutilized. Josh Groban was surprisingly hilarious as Andy’s brother, but Stephen Colbert’s late-season cameo as Andy’s college friend Broccoli Rob felt gratuitous (the running gag of Andy’s college stories worked better when we didn’t know what to believe). Will Ferrell is one of the funniest stars in Hollywood, but he was given pretty unfunny material to work with as Steve Carell’s temporary Office replacement — Jim Carrey got more laughs with less than a minute of screen time.

Idris Elba is one of The Office’s most underrated guest stars, because people hate his character, but that’s a testament to Elba’s performance. The character is infuriating, but that’s because Elba is playing it so well. Charles arrives as the new corporate middleman between Michael and David Wallace, and his humorless oversight drives Michael right out of the company.

Elba proved to be the perfect foil — the perfect straight man — for the absurdity of this office. The straight man doesn’t always get his due credit, because it looks easy (especially when it’s done well), but Elba’s stern, stony-faced deadpan made the comedy of a character like Michael or Kevin or Dwight land even more effectively. Like David himself, Charles is a real human being planted in the middle of this wacky world. If Michael Scott is an unstoppable force, Charles Miner is an immovable object.

And it’s not just Michael; Elba formed hilarious on-screen dynamics with a few of The Office’s main cast members. Any scene featuring Charles and Jim is bound to be cringe comedy gold. Charles is the one person who isn’t charmed or amused by Jim’s antics, so Jim flails whenever he’s around him. John Krasinski plays it beautifully, and Elba doesn’t give him an inch.

Release Date 2005 - 2013-00-00

Showrunner Greg Daniels

Directors Greg Daniels, Paul Lieberstein, Paul Feig, Randall Einhorn, Ken Kwapis