It’s a normal Halloween at the office. People are dressed up, and an older man looks innocent enough wearing a costume of blood splattered all over his white dress shirt. He stands around nonchalant, but when the camera takes him aside, he confides: “It’s Halloween. That is really really good timing.”
Evidently, the blood was part of no costume, but that should come as no surprise to any consummate Creed Bratton fan, who knows all about (and therefore least about) this innocent-looking geriatric’s vaguely and not-so-vaguely clandestine antics beyond his role as quality assurance representative for Dunder Mifflin Paper Company, Inc.
And in his constant evasion of the police, this elusive figure that nonetheless became a fixture throughout the nine seasons of The Office is coming to perform at Legends at 10 p.m. on Saturday, sponsored by SUB. But many fans of the show will be surprised to find that his performance will be not so much centred on Bratton the TV series character, but rather on Bratton the musician.
Indeed, not many know that before Bratton began his long run on The Office, his entertainment career began as a professional musician, a pursuit he continues today. Born into a family of musicians, in his early years during the ’60s he was a member of folk rock band The Grass Roots, who were no mere bedroom band but a nationally-acclaimed group with two gold albums and several chart-topping singles during the height of their fame. He was very active during those years, and certainly a part of the television character’s eccentricity is based on Bratton’s actual life: During those early years he traveled around the world, playing guitar at festivals from San Francisco to Israel.
He left The Grass Roots just as the decade came to a close, and it was not long after his departure from the band that Bratton began his acting career in earnest. He made appearances in movies and television shows alike during the subsequent decades, but his musical output stagnated. Interestingly enough, it was at the turn of the century, not long before his first appearance on The Office, that Bratton began to release music again, this time as a solo artist. Since then he has been quite prolific, having released several albums in the past decade, even as he doubled as Creed Bratton the television character and worked several other roles, even performing as a voice actor for popular cartoon program Adventure Time.
Admirably, though he has acknowledged his influence and popularity as an actor and skill as a comedian, he remains true to his roots as a musician, and has not neglected this passion in recent years. This, in fact, seems to be why he chooses now to perform shows in which these distinct sides of him blend. And thank goodness, because as much as we may all have enjoyed his role in The Office and the beloved (or feared) fictional character of Creed Bratton, it is certainly exciting that we will be able to experience his talent in a different way that represents who this peculiar man really is.
The event starts Friday at 10 p.m. at Legends. Admission is free for students with a Notre Dame, Saint Mary's or Holy Cross I.D.
