The Office's Creed Bratton on The Grass Roots, Mic, Dgs and Deprsn</tle><meta name="tle" ntent="The Office's Creed Bratton on The Grass Roots, Mic, Dgs and Deprsn" /><meta name="scriptn" ntent="Creed Bratton left The Grass Roots ’69 and showed up on 'The Office' ’05. What the hell happened  between? 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Has a Story to Tell</span></a><meta emProp="posn" ntent="3" /></li></ol></nav><style data-emotn="css g4r5va">{font-fay:Glanz,Glanz-fallback,Tim,Serif;font-weight:normal;grid-lumn:1/-1;marg-bottom:0.9375rem;marg-top:0.9375rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:2rem;le-height:1.25;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{font-size:2.625rem;le-height:1.1;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{font-size:3.125rem;le-height:1.1;}}@media(m-width: 73.75rem){{font-size:3.37499rem;le-height:1.1;}}</style><h1 class="css-g4r5va exadjwu10"><span aria-hidn="te" class="css-0 eagam8p0"></span>Creed Bratton Has a Story to Tell<span aria-hidn="te" class="css-0 eagam8p1"></span></h1><style data-emotn="css 2qf7xf">{lor:#515150;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;marg-bottom:0.625rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:1.0625rem;le-height:1.2;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{font-size:1.3125rem;le-height:1.2;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{font-size:1.3125rem;le-height:1.3;}} a{-webk-text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn-thickns:0.0625rem;text-ratn-lor:#FF3A30;text-unrle-offset:0.25rem;lor:#000000;-webk-transn:all 0.3s ease--out;transn:all 0.3s ease--out;} a:hover{lor:#595959;text-ratn-lor:borr-lk-body-hover;}</style><div class="css-2qf7xf exadjwu8"><p>He left The Grass Roots ’69 and showed up on <em>The Office</em> ’05. What the hell happened between? Some highs, some lows, a ltle mic, and a lot of pa.</p></div><style data-emotn="css d04ng2">{lor:#161616;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacg:0.02rem;marg-bottom:0.625rem;paddg-right:0.3125rem;text-transform:upperse;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.3;}} span{font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacg:0rem;text-transform:palize;}@media(max-width: 48rem){ span{font-size:0.875rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){ span{font-size:0.875rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){ span{font-size:0.875rem;le-height:1.4;}}</style><div class="css-d04ng2 exadjwu7"><style data-emotn="css 1eqkg5m">{lor:#161616;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-style:normal;letter-spacg:0.02rem;paddg-right:0.3125rem;text-transform:upperse;-webk-text-stroke:0.005rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.3;}}</style><addrs class="css-1eqkg5m ehvvd9m2"><style data-emotn="css 19e0noj">{lor:#161616;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacg:0.02rem;paddg-right:0.3125rem;text-transform:upperse;-webk-text-stroke:0.005rem;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.3;}}</style><span class="css-19e0noj ehvvd9m1"><style data-emotn="css 1sa04t">{borr-radi:50%;vertil-align:middle;marg-right:0.3125rem;object-f:ver;}</style><img src="" alt="Headshot of John Tyler Allen" tle="Headshot of John Tyler Allen" width="40" height="40" dg="async" fetchPrry="high" class=" css-1sa04t ehvvd9m0" />By <style data-emotn="css 7l5upj">{-webk-text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn-thickns:0.0625rem;text-ratn-lor:her;text-unrle-offset:0.25rem;lor:her;-webk-transn:all 0.3s ease--out;transn:all 0.3s ease--out;}{lor:#595959;text-ratn-lor:borr-lk-body-hover;}</style><a href="/thor/243504/john-tyler-allen/" class="css-7l5upj e1c1bym14">John Tyler Allen</a></span><style data-emotn="css 1bcsdhu">{display:le-block;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;marg-left:0.625rem;text-transform:upperse;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.75rem;le-height:1.3;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.75rem;le-height:1.3;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{font-size:0.75rem;le-height:1.3;}}</style><time class="css-1bcsdhu exadjwu6">Published: Apr 27, 2022</time></addrs></div><style data-emotn="css wkpw2c">{display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webk-flex-directn:lumn;-ms-flex-directn:lumn;flex-directn:lumn;-webk-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webk-jtify-ntent:center;jtify-ntent:center;-webk-align-ems:center;-webk-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-ems:center;}</style><div class="no-prt css-wkpw2c exadjwu15"><style data-emotn="css 1hpjtwr">{display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;posn:relative;marg-top:0.9375rem;}</style><div class="ntent-hear-actns css-1hpjtwr exadjwu14"><style data-emotn="css eg9z">{background-lor:#FF3A30;lor:#000000;borr:th solid #FF3A30;display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webk-flex-directn:row;-ms-flex-directn:row;flex-directn:row;-webk-align-ems:center;-webk-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-ems:center;paddg:0.625rem 1.25rem;marg-top:0rem;marg-bottom:0rem;-webk-text-ratn:none;text-ratn:none;text-transform:upperse;-webk-transn:all 0.3s ease--out;transn:all 0.3s ease--out;-webk-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webk-jtify-ntent:center;jtify-ntent:center;paddg-top:0.85rem;background:#FF3A30;borr-radi:2rem;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.875rem;le-height:1.3;letter-spacg:0.04rem;width:to;}{background-lor:#ffffff;lor:#000;cursor:poter;borr:th solid #FF3A30;} svg{fill:#000000;} svg>path{fill:#000000;}{marg-left:1rem;} svg{fill:#000000;} svg>path{fill:#000000;}</style><button data-tooltip-id="article-hear-save" class="ntentSaveButton css-eg9z e12nq69g1"><style data-emotn="css p7o3tf">{width:1rem;height:1rem;marg-right:0.625rem;} path{fill:#ffffff;} path{fill:#ffffff;}</style><svg xmlns=" fill="none" viewBox="0 0 48 62" class="css-p7o3tf e10k4xbi2"><path fill="#000" fill-le="evenodd" d="M24 46.52 48 61V0H0v61.44l24-14.92ZM5.67 50.9 24 39.5l18.33 11.4V5.7H5.67v45.2Z" clip-le="evenodd"></path></svg>Save Article</button><style data-emotn="css gulrqe">{width:160px;text-align:left;lor:#595959;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.70284rem;le-height:1.1;font-weight:normal;letter-spacg:0.045rem;text-transform:none;}</style></div></div></div></div></hear><style data-emotn="css 149neno">{marg-left:to;marg-right:to;marg-bottom:0.9375rem;max-width:m(lc(20.625rem * 2 - 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I fact-checked, reported out, and cross-referenced what was possible to verify, what hadn’t been erod by 65 years and e. I tracked down and emailed ld an old flame. "<em>This might seem like an odd qutn," </em>I wrote to her. <em>Did you have a brief affair the Greek islands wh a man named Chuck Ertmoed around 1965? </em>Y, she said, she had. Why was I askg about Chuck? And why did I also ll him Creed? She had no ia. The few nsistenci I found amounted to misremembered tails. I have no reason to doubt anythg Creed’s told me, but I’ve also not fotten the time he stopped me durg a le of qutng and said, “We don’t want the tth to get the way of a good story, do we?” </em></p><style data-emotn="css 18pb4rg">{borr:0;borr-bottom:th solid black;marg:1.875rem 0;clear:both;}</style><hr data-no-id="2" class="css-18pb4rg et3p2gv0" /><style data-emotn="css 1736von">{--data-embed-display:flex;-webk-align-ems:center;-webk-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-ems:center;clear:both;display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;marg-bottom:0.9375rem;marg-left:to;marg-right:to;width:100%;}@media(m-width: 20rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 30rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 73.75rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 75rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}}@media(m-width: 90rem){{width:100%;marg:0 to 0.9375rem;}} a span{right:1rem;} img{width:to;height:85vh;} a{display:-webk-le-box;display:-webk-le-flex;display:-ms-le-flexbox;display:le-flex;posn:var(--posn, relative);} img:not(.ewcw41w1){display:block;width:100%;height:to;-webk-align-self:flex-start;-ms-flex-em-align:flex-start;align-self:flex-start;}</style><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="3" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="572" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><style data-emotn="css swqnqv">@media(m-width: 20rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 30rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 73.75rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 75rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}@media(m-width: 90rem){{paddg-left:0rem;}}</style><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"></div></div></div><style data-emotn="css 1nhwtgm">{font-fay:Charter,Geia,Tim,Serif;font-size:1.1875rem;le-height:1.6;}{float:left;text-transform:upperse;font-weight:bold;marg-right:0.9375rem;marg-bottom:-0.625rem;marg-top:0;}{font-fay:Glanz,Glanz-fallback,Tim,Serif;font-size:6.25rem;font-weight:normal;le-height:0.75;marg-right:0;paddg:0.6rem 0.75rem 0 0;}@-moz-document url-prefix(){{marg-top:0.625rem;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){{marg-right:0.3125rem;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{le-height:0.75;}} em{font-fay:Charter,Geia,Tim,Serif;font-style:alic;} strong{font-fay:Charter,Geia,Tim,Serif;font-weight:bold;}</style><p data-no-id="4" class="body-dropp css-1nhwtgm et3p2gv0">Creed Bratton is a troubadour. If you’ll listen, he’d like to tell you a story. It’s his, and ’s plited. There’s so much of , so much you need to know no matter where he begs. He’s lived three liv, had five nam. At least. He’s most well-known, of urse, for playg the seedy, schemg octogenarian, wh whom he shar a name, on the Amerin versn of the televisn show <em>The Office</em>. He turned a non-speakg background role to a cult-favore character on one of the most succsful edi of all time, but that’s not the story. So much me before that. Like when he hched his way, pennils, around the globe, formed a band Germany, played gigs for oil mps the Sahara, a brothel full of sheikhs Beit, smoked the most potent pot imagable Lebanon, chilled wh Kirk Douglas Israel, played some more mic, me home, still pennils, formed another band, and then sred two certified gold sgl and a gold album–all by the age of 26. Those are jt highlights of the highlights, and anyway, that's not the story, eher. Not to Creed. </p><p data-no-id="5" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">We started talkg via FaceTime June of 2020 (he’s L.A.; I’m New York). COVID still felt as unpredictable as did adly and Creed, then 77, had nfed himself to his townhoe. He was a month away om droppg his nth solo album, <em>Slightly Altered</em>, and the ia was to pair a profile–Did you know Creed Bratton is a sger-songwrer?–wh the release. But as we dug to his past, beme evint he was tellg me a story much bigger than a phy hidn--pla-sight piece. </p><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="6" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="3031" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"><figptn class="css-1am3yn9 enfs9c50"><span class="css-1mcfn5x e6iqd2">Andrew Hreha</span></figptn></div></div></div><p data-no-id="7" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He’s a performer to his re and I often got the sense that, havg been locked si, he was grateful for the opportuny to enterta–both me and himself. He’s spry nversatn, wh the energy of an adolcent and a madng abily to veer imperceptibly to improvised bs. As I terviewed his iends and llaborators, several people utned me, unprompted, no joke, Word. For. Word., the same way: Creed fucks wh you. But I’d already learned. Thirty mut to our first terview, offhand, he mentned he’d hidn a cryptic msage about COVID one of his songs. </p><p data-no-id="8" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Was that a joke? I psed before askg about , jt long enough to betray my uncertaty. He ckled. Have you ever heard someone actually ckle? It’s startlg. </p><p data-no-id="9" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Also, no matter how heartfelt his plea seems, don’t buy if he ever tells you he wants the group Fland to stop sacrificg small animals his name. I actually spent hours fact-checkg before askg about aga months later. He loved that one.</p><p data-no-id="10" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">What else? I don’t have space here for all of his antics. One day his iPhone’s Siri kept terptg, “givg me sh,” he said. Soon after, she beeped and began playg J. Cole’s “False Prophets.” <em>Somebody shoulda told me would be like this…</em> “Siri!” he yelled. “Stop breakg my balls!” </p><p data-no-id="11" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">When <em>Office</em> st-mate Kate Flannery lls while we’re talkg: “It’s jt Meredh tryg to hook up.”</p><p data-no-id="12" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">On his work ethic: “I have to adm I’m really one of those people. I’m not happy if I’m not workg. Like right now talkg to you, I’m jt a miserable piece of sh.”</p><p data-no-id="13" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">I once asked what name was on his passport (William Charl Schneir–<style data-emotn="css umdwtv">{-webk-text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn-thickns:.0625rem;text-ratn-lor:#FF3A30;text-unrle-offset:0.25rem;lor:her;-webk-transn:background 0.4s;transn:background 0.4s;background:lear-gradient(#ffffff, #ffffff 50%, #d5dbe3 50%, #d5dbe3);-webk-background-size:100% 200%;background-size:100% 200%;}{lor:#000000;text-ratn-lor:borr-lk-body-hover;-webk-background-posn:100% 100%;background-posn:100% 100%;}</style><a href=" data-vars-ga-outbound-lk=" data-vars-ga-ux-element="Hyperlk" data-vars-ga-ll-to-actn="y" class="body-lk css-umdwtv et3p2gv0">y</a>) and, after tellg me, he lnched to an angry five-mute rant about the digny, when flyg, of beg forced to close proximy wh charisma-rrodg regular people who soak up all the “betiful fuckg light” he’s puttg out. He lghed, lled himself a ragg vole. </p><p data-no-id="14" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“This is good stuff,” he said. “This is good stuff. When I read ,” he said, referrg to this article, “ better be as funny as this, too.” (Happy, Creed?)</p><div size="large" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="15" class="align-center size-large embed css-d9wkvk e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="1663" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-1gccgwy e1xqj1sx2"><figptn class="css-1am3yn9 enfs9c50"><span class="css-1mcfn5x e6iqd2">Andrew Hreha</span></figptn></div></div></div><p data-no-id="16" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">We spoke weekly, sometim daily, for months. Usually an hour or two at a time. Most often, he was scere, mted to gettg at the story, and apologetic when he uldn’t remember some tail. He sometim lled jt to check or to talk, cludg on my birthday, when he lled to sg to me. He’s an earnt guy and, still, now 79, termed to fd himself. He recently started therapy hop of treatg his earlit trmas. A lucid dreamg class is helpg him accs his subnsc. He’s micro-dosg mhrooms. (Creed Bratton searchg for his inty–irony, right?) </p><p data-no-id="17" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He sgs about this search for himself on his most recent album, <em>Slightly Altered</em>, a llectn of folk-adjacent songs ultimately unncerned wh genre and, stead, stng together by the humble lyril honty of a man longg for love and purpose. “Not Comfortable,” a gentle atic ballad wh a naked secury that unfolds over four short vers, begs: “I’m not fortable where you lead/It’s your se I don’t believe/And not knowg que for sure/that I have what you need.” On “Bubble & Squeak,” a jazzy nfsnal, he sgs, “An ad hoc angel took my soul/Said she’d keep safe for me/I keep hopg I’ll wd up/Where I’m supposed to be.”</p><p data-no-id="18" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The album was produced by Grammy-wng producer/mixer Dave Way (Michael Jackson, Fna Apple, Echo the Canyon) and producer/songwrer Dillon O’Brian. “Creed has this jazzy si to him,” Way said. “He has a love of untry mic. He lov to rock out. He lov the psychelic stuff. He lov a sweet, down-home ballad. We n ver all this ground. And some ways they shouldn’t exist on the same album, but jt bee ’s Creed at the center, he pulls all . He’s never fake. It might be all the different styl, but he’s always himself the middle of .”</p><style data-emotn="css 1virogq">{marg-left:to;marg-right:to;width:100%;}@media(m-width: 20rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 30rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 73.75rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 75rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}@media(m-width: 90rem){{marg:to lc(50% - 50vw) 0.9375rem;width:100vw;}}</style><div data-embed="loop" data-no-id="19" class="css-1virogq e1a0jkxd0"><style data-emotn="css 8atqhb">{width:100%;}</style><style data-emotn="css 1e3dj7m">{display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;-webk-flex-directn:row-reverse;-ms-flex-directn:row-reverse;flex-directn:row-reverse;-webk-align-ems:flex-end;-webk-box-align:flex-end;-ms-flex-align:flex-end;align-ems:flex-end;posn:relative;width:100%;marg-bottom:0.9375rem;width:100%;} {visibily:hidn;opacy:0;-webk-transn:visibily 0s .3s,opacy .3s lear;transn:visibily 0s .3s,opacy .3s lear;}</style><div class="align-center size-large embed e1a0jkxd1 css-1e3dj7m ejku7p04"><style data-emotn="css 5mi43p">{marg-bottom:0.9375rem;--aspect-rat:100%;width:100%;}</style><div class="__rp-ntaer css-5mi43p e6l0f0"><img width="540" height="540" alt="This is an image" tle="This is an image" fetchprry="to" dg="async" src=" size="to" srcSet=" loadg="lazy" class="lqip lazyload css-0 e1lki9i00" /></div></div></div><p data-no-id="20" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The album is his nth. The eight before bear the same transparency. I walked him through the earlit albums, wrten primarily the late ’70s and early ’80s, as a way of exhumg 40-year-old memori. <em>Where were you livg when you rerd this? Who is this you're sgg about?</em> In nearly all of them, he’s longg for somethg, ually love. “I’m always lookg for, and maybe ’s unrealistic, that kismet, that soul mate,” he said. “Until I die I’m probably gog to look for that.” And those few the ’80s, aggrsive wh drivg bass and yakky sax, the on that “really ok,” Creed said, those are pure e. </p><p data-no-id="21" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Consirg the songs back-to-back for the first time, he regnized a thread of spair nng through them. He gave up everythg—money, fay, even fame—to be the artist he wanted to be. He’d seen early succs as a member of the h band The Grass Roots (“La la la la la la live for today…”), but left the group search of creative eedom, to pursue a ter artistic sty he felt awaed. He never found his footg, though, and stead beme a failg artist fallg to his vic. Those were dark years. Dark, but fg. Not the pa and not the dgs, what others want to glamorize, but that he worked his way out of both. He fought, hard, to hold onto his belief that somethg great waed his future.<br /></p><p data-no-id="22" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“There’s a lot of tragedy the songs,” he said. “But, there’s also a wistfulns, a yearng for to be better.” His mic is what is bee he’s hont. “I’m not jt tryg to enterta,” he said. “I’m openg myself up and sayg, ‘Here’s my fuck’ hurt heart.’”</p><p data-no-id="23" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He’s a troubadour. What’s not clear is whether his persistently young dience, which seems tent on prervg him as his <em>Office</em> character, n hear the story he’s tellg.</p><p data-no-id="24" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0"> I haven’t yet seen Creed’s show live. COVID prsed his tour to a few dat late last fall and the show I uld make happen, L.A. January, was ncelled durg the Omicron surge. A bootlegged vio of a show he played San Anton 2019 ma to YouTube. I was grateful to fd , but he’s not thrilled ’s out there. He said feels dated, the material unfished, that don’t pture all the show’s bee. But he’ll let live. In the vio, he riffs out the endg of “Spn’ N Reel’,” a poppy love song he wrote when he was longg for pannship the ’80s. A few whoops sound om the dience, he stms the fal chord, the dience cheers. And then a voice shouts, “Boboddy!,” quotg om an <em>Office</em> sk that se his character leadg his -workers through an exercise which they mt create an acronym (about what and why is unclear) om “BOBODDY,” a word he ostensibly had jt vented. On stage, Creed s and offers a quiet, “Boboddy, boboddy.” The dience screams. Others lob phras, but ’s hard to make them out. Someone tri to keep the joke rollg: “B is for bs!” But Creed is already movg on.</p><p data-no-id="25" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">After jog <em>The Office</em>, he relied more on material om the show between songs; ls so the days, though he feels dienc pullg him that directn. He’ll give them a b of that character and then he’ll sg his songs about heartbreak and lonels and addictn and self-doubt. He and his tour manager, Mark Evans, recently wrote a b to break this tensn. “I know you’re all here to lgh and joke about <em>The Office</em>, and I really appreciate that,” he’ll tell the crowd. “So, here’s another song about a ad dg aler.” </p><hr data-no-id="26" class="css-18pb4rg et3p2gv0" /><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="27" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="978" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"></div></div></div><p data-no-id="28" class="body-dropp css-1nhwtgm et3p2gv0">Creed was born William Charl Schneir and raised Coarsegold, California, a small mg outpost on the road between Frno and Yoseme Natnal Park. He was close wh his mother, Cozzette, who he summarized as ol and betiful, wh vlet ey and the exprsive charisma of Lucille Ball. She married a firefightg fort ranger named Frank and moved to his tent up the mountas borrg Yoseme, and then nvced several of her iends to marry Frank’s iends and do the same. Two years after Creed—or Chuck Schneir—was born, his father died while servg on a naval base Hawaii. “She was never the same after my father died,” Creed said of his mother; he wouldn’t say how exactly, jt that he’d heard stori om her younger years. She eventually remarried a man named Sam Ertmoed and Chuck assumed the Ertmoed moniker (though not legally, he learned years later durg another name change). Creed refed to say anythg more about this time, cg some trma. </p><p data-no-id="29" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The mic Creed’s bon om his fay. He spent summers wh his grandparents, who played a lol untry and wtern band, The Happy Timers, around Los Angel. “When they rehearsed,” Creed said. “I remember fallg asleep behd this old Gibson amplifier hearg all this old wtern swg, and I jt loved .” His grandfather tght him his first chords. “As soon as I heard that first E chord e out, that was ,” he said. “I was hooked.” </p><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="30" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="3031" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"><figptn class="css-1am3yn9 enfs9c50"><span class="css-1mcfn5x e6iqd2">Andrew Hreha</span></figptn></div></div></div><p data-no-id="31" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">If Creed’s grandfather tght him to play mic, his mother showed him how to love . “To see her on that mandol wh her ey up, beg transported spirual rhapsody, a spirual phoria. Her mouth would open. And I would be playg my guar and watchg her gog, ‘She is jt amazg.’” Durg a later, unrelated nversatn, Creed pated the same image of himself performg “Boxer a Club,” one of his most mournful songs: “The dience was right there wh me,” he said. “I got lost . I put my head back: ‘Oh Lord, you send me.’” </p><p data-no-id="32" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Teenage Ertmoed began actg by chance when, high school, a speech therapist remend performg on stage to overe a stutter. He joed a play, got some attentn for , and joed another; by the time he arrived at Sacramento State College (now California State Universy, Sacramento), he was majorg drama. Before he uld graduate, one of his ach pulled him asi and told him he had the chops to act, but that he need some life experience om which he uld draw. It was the bt actg advice he would ever be given. Ertmoed dropped out of school soon after and nvced a iend to hchhike wh him to New Orleans, where the two then board a eighter for Venice. </p><p data-no-id="33" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">What begs here are the stori Creed is tired of tellg. The shortt possible versn go like this: Chuck Ertmoed arrived to Venice wh 25 dollars his pocket. He met two other Amerins bkg Munich and formed a band, The Young Californians. They stng together gigs that took them throughout Ai, Portugal, Spa, back to Europe, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. The tr land Israel and worked on the set of the Melville Shavelson film <em>Cast a Giant Shadow</em>, and then Ertmoed ran off to the Greek islands wh Shavelson’s dghter. He played a few more shows Europe and then returned to L.A., 55 pounds lighter and llg himself Creed Bratton (a better name for rock and roll, he cid one dnken night). </p><div data-embed="loop" data-no-id="34" class="css-1virogq e1a0jkxd0"><div class="align-center size-large embed e1a0jkxd1 css-1e3dj7m ejku7p04"><div class="__rp-ntaer css-5mi43p e6l0f0"><img width="540" height="540" alt="This is an image" tle="This is an image" fetchprry="to" dg="async" src=" size="to" srcSet=" loadg="lazy" class="lqip lazyload css-0 e1lki9i00" /></div></div></div><p data-no-id="35" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Lookg for his next band, Creed lled Warren Entner, whom he’d met Israel, and the two me together wh Rick Coonce and Kenny Fomoto (who soon left the band) to form The 13^th Floor. At the same time, Dunhill Rerds producers Steve Barri and P.F. Sloan charted a mo, “Where Were You When I Need You,” for The Grass Roots, a band that didn’t exist. No matter–fdg fac for the ver of <em>Tiger Beat </em>was easy, said Kent Hartman, whose book <em>The Wreckg Crew</em> tells the story of the stud micians who sat to rerd the mic for most of the mic produced the ’60s, cludg the early Grass Roots albums. “This was very much a formula,” he said. When The 13th Floor, three good-lookg kids petent on their stments, walked to the Dunhill offic lookg for a rerdg ntract, the producers untered wh the optn to assume the Grass Roots name and tour an album. “Our visn was to be a self-ntaed wrg group,” Entner told me. “But The Grass Roots really did turn to a vehicle for a uple of songwrers.”</p><p data-no-id="36" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Creed’s acceptance of this arrangement endured through this group’s first three albums together. “I mean, image,” he said. “We were on the road. We had h rerds. I’m makg money. I get to fly around the Uned Stat and play for people. This is the bt.” But by 1968, Creed was feelg creatively stifled. “Can you image beg Creed Bratton and stuck that teenie-bopper world?” Hartman said. Creed remembers breakg down a limo, makg a tearful plea that the group start wrg and rerdg their own mic. He’d been listeng to the The Band, notably, their album <em>Mic om Big Pk</em>, the product of a songwrg retreat a small town near Woodstock. He had a romantic visn of The Grass Roots dog somethg siar. The group didn’t agree and, by fall 1969, Creed was out. </p><hr data-no-id="37" class="css-18pb4rg et3p2gv0" /><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="38" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="951" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"></div></div></div><p data-no-id="39" class="body-dropp css-1nhwtgm et3p2gv0">Here, fally, is the story Creed is keen to tell. It begs 1970. Freed om Dunhill’s ntrol, he opened himself up to whatever artistic sty the “powers that be” had wag for him, the same powers that had led him to future bandmat Munich and aga Israel. “I didn’t have a plan,” he said. “I was jt stg there watchg happen, you know. I always knew, though, when the opportuny arose, I would be told, bee that’s how my life had been.” He read and medated on Shakti Gawa’s book <em>Creative Visualizatn</em>. He had a visn, vague but persistent, of a room filled wh love, a stage, an award his hand. The trophy didn’t matter; uld be an award for beg old for all he red. He clung to the knowledge that somethg more, <em>somethg</em>, awaed. </p><p data-no-id="40" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He spent his days woodsheddg wh his guars a small stud outsi his hoe Malibu. He started actg aga. Or, he tried. He land an dn for a Shakpeare play wh a proment director, but he only glanced over the l before showg up. “I drive there and I’m my rock and roll gear, and I’m thkg <em>ta-da, here I am.</em>” He bombed and begged his way off stage.</p><p data-no-id="41" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Wh no other prospects L.A., Creed sold his Porsche and, wh his wife, Joanna, and young dghter, Amie, left for Europe. Eight months later, after a b of gallivantg, a ltle pot, and a lot of we, they returned to L.A., broke. He and Joanna separated two years later and Creed said was for the bt when mother and dghter eventually moved to New York. He uld barely take re of himself. “I wasn’t able to be the dad and study actg and work and provi,” he said. He sent Amie to New York. “It helped me that Joanna took Amie at that time. I was able to foc more on my dgs.”</p><div data-embed="loop" data-no-id="42" class="css-1virogq e1a0jkxd0"><div class="align-center size-large embed e1a0jkxd1 css-1e3dj7m ejku7p04"><div class="__rp-ntaer css-5mi43p e6l0f0"><img width="540" height="540" alt="This is an image" tle="This is an image" fetchprry="to" dg="async" src=" size="to" srcSet=" loadg="lazy" class="lqip lazyload css-0 e1lki9i00" /></div></div></div><p data-no-id="43" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Two years prr, 1968, he’d played the legendary Miami Pop Ftival and shared the bill wh The Grateful Dead, Canned Heat, Fleetwood Mac. He’d toured wh The Doors. Now, he took any gig he uld fd. He land a spot a band backg an Elvis impersonator at a hotel lounge Bakersfield, but was fired after a sgle show when he was ught lghg as Elvis took the stage drsed like Liberace, wh his microphone tucked to his pants. As a memory, still proved a rt. “Is that your microphone or are you jt glad to see me?” </p><p data-no-id="44" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The fallout was ls amg. What ltle of him that was still tact cmbled. “I was on my own and thought this is pretty much over,” he said. Failure surprised him. “The Grass Roots happened really fast and at a really young age,” he said. “And then you thk when thgs happen fast they’re gog to ntue happeng fast. Well, my se they certaly didn’t.” In the ’60s, var substanc had aid his genue spirual qut by providg a shortcut to the other si of the veil, a glimpse at an alternate nscns. Fog the md to stir the soul. Now, a few years later, the dgs that had once served his self-exploratn beme an pe. He slid to hero. “Basilly, my e guy was out of e,” he said. “But I never put a needle my arm. Never my life. I was always snortg.” He lghed at the jtifitn. “Hero is fe, jt don’t e the needle, kids!”</p><p data-no-id="45" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">At his lowt, he said, he was laid out on the floor of his livg room ont of the fireplace, alone and high on hero. He’d been tryg to wre but his lyrics were stale, fake. “I’d read and say, ‘I don’t know what the fuck this stuff is.’” He snapped, pulled out everythg he’d wrten the last five years, looked over all of , said, “Fuck this, man,” and threw to the fire. “It was a five moment when I knew I was burng bridg,” he said. “I was lettg go of the past. I was tryg to make a new start.”</p><p data-no-id="46" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">I asked about this time Creed’s life, and this scene specifilly, more often than he wanted, I uld tell. He lled me after a sleepls night about a month to our nversatns. His md, he said, had been fixated on the picture his dgged-out stori had pated. “Do sound like I’m a guy who jt did a lot of fuck’ dgs and ran around and jt…” And aga two weeks later: “I hope that they [the kids] know that this is jt somethg that happened and I certaly don’t advote…” And the week followg: “I am, a sense, a grandfatherly role mol for the young kids now. I don’t want them to ever see that I thk that’s a good thg to do.” He’d never ny the dg e. “I n’t sugar-at , I did ,” he said. “They’ve got to know Creed is Creed bee of this stuff, too.” Context is important. “At the time, was required,” he said. “In a rock band, you were worthls if you didn’t smoke dope. Who would want to hang wh you? That’s how we looked at .” Mick said so. <em>He n’t be a man ‘e he don’t smoke the same cigarett as me.</em> “I didn’t really want to do ,” he joked. “I was reluctant, but was my job. ‘Oh, damn, I’ve got to do dgs, today.’” </p><p data-no-id="47" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">By the early ’80s, he’d stopped g hero. No rehab necsary; he was never addicted, he said. He backed off his other vic, too. “I saw very clear that I had a choice to make,” he said. “I had a sty that I had to fulfill, or I uld pe.” He foced on fdg work. He met and married his send wife, Cldia, and they had a son, Be. The were good tim, more stable tim, but, as wh his first, the marriage lasted only a few years. He moved wh a iend, the thor Jam Rrdan, and scrapped for sh. Rrdan knew a cleaned-up versn of Creed, a daily grr wh a sense his work would pay off. “He knew to get ahead the arts you had to htle and make bs lls and get your work out there,” Rrdan said. “I’d be like, ‘You're gog to drive to Culver Cy to maybe see this guy to maybe give him your rume that maybe uld get you a shot at gettg this agent that would help you dog this? Fuck, I wouldn’t do that.’” </p><p data-no-id="48" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Creed met the actor Be Bridg 1972 when Bridg st him a mil staged his parents’ livg room. The play closed, but the two beme iends. For years, Bridg hired Creed as his stand- whenever possible. Film sets were unfaiar plac wh unfaiar people, Bridg told me, and Creed (Bridg lls him “Charl”) was a “posive beg” wh a great sense of humor. “He was my hook to realy,” he said. Creed did earn a few small rol several of Bridg’s films. Remember the 1985 Peter Bogdanovich film <em>Mask? </em>The asshole ticket taker at the rnival—“You n ri, kid, but I n't take the blame for what happens to the r----d here.”—that’s Creed.</p><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="49" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="2810" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"><figptn class="css-1am3yn9 enfs9c50"><span class="css-1mcfn5x e6iqd2">Andrew Hreha</span></figptn></div></div></div><p data-no-id="50" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He had other moneymakg schem. “Very much like Creed the character,” he said. Where his character might sell fake IDs om his r or hawk the office’s electronics, Creed, when short on sh, would ll a iend om his Grass Roots days, a producer at Amerin Bandstand, and ask him to clu one of his songs the Rate-A-Rerd portn of the show. “<em>Ka-chg</em>,” Creed said. “Money when airs. I n live another month.” Another scheme: beg a stone fox. “I was kd of a handsome guy back the day,” he said. (This wasn’t vany; after hearg so many others wax poetic about young Creed Bratton’s charm and good looks, now seems more like mosty.) “There were so many women’s uch I was livg on and nng out the middle of the night wh my guar and my bag sayg, ‘Uh, uh, I n’t stay…’” He wasn’t proud; he was scribg survival. “I felt bad at tim,” he said. “But I also realized this was my rd that I had to play.”</p><p data-no-id="51" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">It wasn’t always a romantic dalliance that earned him a bed. Peter Whe, a iend who produced some of Creed’s early mic, once opened his door to fd Creed standg wh nothg but a guar and a paper bag. Both remember the ocsn, neher have plete nfince Creed had anythg more his r. </p><p data-no-id="52" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Creed held down a terg job for somethg like eight years the late ’90s, got his own place, a dilapidated half-garage apartment Beverly Hills wh a leaky roof, a mattrs leang agast a wall, and a view. The work, mostly craft servic at B, C, and D movi, gave him stabily, but nearly broke him. The physily was bad enough, draggg tabl and chairs om a ty van, and then crammg them back , workg his ass off jt to live, but the py was worse. “People would see me that knew The Grass Roots and there I was servg food,” he said. </p><p data-no-id="53" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The swagger that rried him to his first dn fad. He grew to hate the way people looked at him. He’d be troduced at parti: “Creed ed to be The Grass Roots,” they’d say, 30 years later. “After a while, that wears real th,” he said. Too many tim, people had good tentns but no tact. “Well, at least you had The Grass Roots.” He grimac, the memory disgted him. “You’d hear that,” he said. “‘At least you had that one. More than most people.’ But I never bought to . I would not accept that was over.” </p><p data-no-id="54" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">His visn staed him. He saw what others uldn’t. That room. The overwhelmg of love.</p><div data-embed="loop" data-no-id="55" class="css-1virogq e1a0jkxd0"><div class="align-center size-large embed e1a0jkxd1 css-1e3dj7m ejku7p04"><div class="__rp-ntaer css-5mi43p e6l0f0"><img width="540" height="540" alt="This is an image" tle="This is an image" fetchprry="to" dg="async" src=" size="to" srcSet=" loadg="lazy" class="lqip lazyload css-0 e1lki9i00" /></div></div></div><p data-no-id="56" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He never missed actg class. He land a few small rol, a guard the film <em>Neon Cy</em>, a gas statn worker Bridg’s <em>Secret Ss of the Father</em>—enuragement enough to keep gog. Clippgs om lol newspapers show him poppg up to play mic, brief rinci at L.A. f ’89 and ’95. He rerd enough songs to self-publish three albums 2001 and 2002. A few bands formed and dissolved. Nothg stuck. More than once, was suggted that he let go of actg and mic, get a straight job. He’d say, “I don’t have a plan B.”</p><p data-no-id="57" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Deprsn set aga. His ego hurt. His old vic started to take another hold. His body hurt. He drank more. He saw where this was gog. He’d been here before. He realized, aga, he had to make a choice. He threw his hands the air and ma a plea. To whom? God? The universe? Those powers that be? It’s unclear. He qu his terg job and accepted a iend’s offer for stand- work on <em>The Bernie Mac Show</em>. He didn’t want the gig, but was at least closer to the actn than the buffet. On set, director Ken Kwapis overheard Creed entertag another stand- wh tal om the road. “There were ltle bs of that were so tantalizg,” Kwapis said. “I remember him sayg somethg like, ‘When we opened for The Doors at The Whiskey….’ And I thought, what the hell is gog on here?” He fally turned to the nversatn right as Creed started playg air guar. “This is a lick that Hendrix tght me,” he heard Creed say. Kwapis, a rock and roll fan, knew The Grass Roots, and the two beme iends. </p><p data-no-id="58" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">When Kwapis was tapped to direct the <em>Office</em> pilot, Creed, a fan of the Brish versn, asked if they need stand-s. Instead, Kwapis offered a week’s pay for a non-speakg role stg at a sk the background of the pilot. This put Bratton on screen, but wasn’t an obv break—this Amerinized knockoff was a risk.</p><p data-no-id="59" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">NBC ma a tentative six-episo orr for a first season and, wh the show sufferg risive reviews and stgglg to fd an dience, parceled out small orrs for season two. “We were always livg on the edge of whether we were gog to get ncelled,” said Kent Zbornak, producer and, later, -executive producer, for the seri. Still, Creed stayed on as a weekly background player week after week. He felt certa this productn and this st were a rare opportuny to be part of somethg special. </p><p data-no-id="60" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">A few episos to filmg season two, he approached Zbornak wh a sort of dn tape, a six-and-a-half mute nfsnal-style talkg head, like those ed the show, previewg his ia for a character. On another productn, Zbornak said, he would have rerouted Creed to the stg director and the standard dng procs, but the show’s slow and uncerta start, paired wh executive producer Greg Daniels’s uniquely llaborative productn style, had fed a tight muny. Zbornak agreed to watch and share wh the other producers.</p><div data-embed="loop" data-no-id="61" class="css-1virogq e1a0jkxd0"><div class="align-center size-large embed e1a0jkxd1 css-1e3dj7m ejku7p04"><div class="__rp-ntaer css-5mi43p e6l0f0"><img width="540" height="540" alt="This is an image" tle="This is an image" fetchprry="to" dg="async" src=" size="to" srcSet=" loadg="lazy" class="lqip lazyload css-0 e1lki9i00" /></div></div></div><p data-no-id="62" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The germ of the character is there, notably his mystery, the adpan referenc to exotic dgs and illic behavr. “It was typil Creed,” Zbornak said. “It was unique, was quirky, was sane, was vulgar, but was absolutely funny.” Zbornak took the vio to the wrers’ room and showed Daniels and a group of wrers and producers. “They were all, of urse, enraptured by ,” he said. “They thought was funny, and they appld Creed for gog the extra e to try and pch himself.”</p><p data-no-id="63" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Meanwhile, the wrers were pre-productn on a script that would see office manager, Michael Stt, played by Steve Carell, firg a non-speakg background character, eher Creed or Devon, played by Devon Abner. Creed had no ia. Daniels took the qutn to the prciple st members to solic their opns. “Greg would go down to [the st members] and jt ask, ‘This is the story le for Halloween, we haven’t cid how ’s gog to end. Who do you thk Michael would fire?’” Zbornak said. </p><p data-no-id="64" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“We all kd of weighed on that cisn,” Ran Wilson, who played Dwight Schte on the show, said. “I remember Greg pullg asi ‘So, I’m gog to fire one of the two actors. What do you thk? Who do you thk?’ I was like, ‘Oh my god. Don’t foist that rponsibily on me.’” Wilson did have a gut feelg, though. “‘I thk Creed is someone we’re gog to want to have around,’” he remembered tellg Daniels. </p><p data-no-id="65" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The wrers veloped a rough endg that kept Creed on the show. Zbornak prted the script, found Creed stg at his sk on set, and dropped the pag ont of him. “I said, ‘Here you go, you’ve got a huge role this episo; start mtg to memory,’” he said. “‘This is your shot.’”</p><p data-no-id="66" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0"><em>Six-and-a-half pag oppose Steve Carell.</em> Creed marveled at the script: Michael, forced by rporate to downsize and tortured by prospect of makg someone dislike him, mak a wafflg attempt to fire Creed, who rolutely ref his fate (“Undo !”) and, stead, redirects at Devon. “It was an enormo role of the dice,” Daniels said. And bee productn was flexible, nothg was guaranteed. “The amount of risk that Creed was nng that scene was very siar to what the character was dog. If he hadn’t done a good job, we would have re-shot wh Devon playg that role. And Creed would have been out of a job.”</p><p data-no-id="67" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Did Creed know that? Did this scene feel like his shot? </p><p data-no-id="68" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Y.</p><p data-no-id="69" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Was he sred? </p><p data-no-id="70" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">No. </p><p data-no-id="71" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He was prepared. He learned his l forward and backward. He rerd them and listened to them while he slept. He felt them his bon. And then he walked onto set and learned the wrers had tweaked the scene. They gave him new l. He found a seclud rner near the green room and panic-prayed to those powers that be. I’ll get out of the way and let you gui me. “And then I went there and played hardball wh one of the bt edic actors the world,” he said. </p><p data-no-id="72" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“It was like he stepped up to bat and h the game-wng home n, but he’d never picked up a bat before,” Daniels said. “It was an extraordary thg that he did. And then everybody loved wrg for him.”</p><p data-no-id="73" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Creed was promoted to weekly gut star and, an outtake a few episos later, the wrers merged his past wh his character’s when, on a booze cise, his character reveals he played the band The Grass Roots the ’60s. “As you n image, dgs played a part,” he says, matter-of-fact, a talkg head. As the character veloped, the wrers often med Creed’s past for spiratn. “The thg that mak him so fun to thk about,” Daniels said of Creed’s life, “there’s almost nothg I wouldn’t believe is possible to have happened.”</p><p data-no-id="74" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The wrers began to dulge this unfettered plsibily the very next season. “We found his character to be so lightful and so zany, that every time we went to him for jt a quick pop,” Zbornak said, “ was so distctly crazy and funny, we realized we had to make him a seri regular.” And they did.</p><p data-no-id="75" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Take what is arguably his most famo b om the entire seri, his only le the season three premiere, “Gay Wch Hunt.” In the episo, Michael Stt, socially illerate and over-volved, lls a meetg to publicly ve Osr, the closeted gay acuntant played by Osr Nuñez, to stand and “officially e out.” Osr, huiated, do, and jt when you’re crgg so hard you thk you’ll turn si out, the shot cuts to a Creed talkg head: “I'm not offend by homosexualy,” he tells the mera. “In the sixti, I ma love to many, many women, often outdoors the mud and the ra, and ’s possible a man slipped . There would be no way of knowg.” </p><p data-no-id="76" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">It’s unclear what happens to Creed on the show. The last we see him, at the end of the seri fale, two police officers are leadg him out of the office handcuffs. Nearly ne years later, fans still flood the r/dunrmiffl subredd wh pet theori on his past and his whereabouts, and they teract wh him, on social media and person, as if he is the character. L om the show are quoted back to him endlsly; he often turns down offers for dgs and v to llege parti. Creed, for his part, has stoked the mystery by selectively re-rporatg some of the character’s tras—his seedy nature, his aloofns—to his own behavr and bgraphy. Life imatg art imatg life. Like his character, who might have killed someone, or stolen an inty, or is maybe livg unr his sk at the office, he’s shroud himself enough uncertaty and trigue to safeguard the space he’s hollowed out for himself a generatn’s subnsc, a squatter the zegeist.</p><hr data-no-id="77" class="css-18pb4rg et3p2gv0" /><div size="medium" data-embed="body-image" data-no-id="78" class="align-center size-medium embed css-1736von e1xqj1sx4"><div class="css-uwraif e1xqj1sx3"><img alt="d" tle="d" loadg="lazy" width="2500" height="995" dg="async" data-nimg="1" style="lor: transparent; width: 100%; height: to;" siz="100vw" srcSet=" 640w, 980w, 1120w, 1200w, 1920w" src="" class="css-0 exi4f7p0" /><div class="css-swqnqv e1xqj1sx2"></div></div></div><p data-no-id="79" class="body-dropp css-1nhwtgm et3p2gv0">“I<strong> </strong>hope helps somebody,” Creed says about his story. “I hope helps some young actor or some young mician not give up.” Artists dream and they sometim suffer for . Sometim they search for ways to dull the pa. Even the talented on have driven home to the wrong hoe. “I don’t take this as weakns. I jt thk ’s the feathers you wear as an artist. This is what you go through, e out on the other si. Hopefully. I’m one of the lucky on that saw the dark stuff and got through okay.” </p><p data-no-id="80" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">What kept him gog when others would have given up? </p><p data-no-id="81" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“I don’t know,” he says. “Maybe that’s somethg we n addrs. Is there an X factor?” </p><p data-no-id="82" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">I shg. That’s what had drawn me to his story. How had he held onto hope for 35 years? </p><p data-no-id="83" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">No one uld see what he saw, he says. That visn. A room filled wh love, a stage, an award his hand. An award for what? That’s not the pot. “You uldn’t talk me out of that,” he explas. “I wasn’t gog to fail after that.”</p><p data-no-id="84" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He brought up aga a week later. We’d been talkg about medatn and what one might fd on the other si of the th veil that separat om our subnsc. “You sometim thk you see your sty,” he says. “You know and you feel . This sty you have is nng parallel wh your own life. It’s nng right alongsi. It’s jt there. And you feel that if I stepped over, I uld be right there the future wh this thg that I’m supposed to be. When you get glimps of that future, that’s the stuff that keeps you gog. I want to tell kids, the young kids, if they see somethg like that, don’t let anybody talk you out of .” </p><p data-no-id="85" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Here, I see a flash of anger I hadn’t yet experienced om him, the anger he later told me terrorized him as a young man. He’s always lacked patience for doubters.</p><p data-no-id="86" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“They go, ‘You know what the odds are? Blah blah blah.’ They ed to tell me this stuff, too,” he says. “Fuck you, man. Really. Fuck you. I don’t want to hear your bullsh. I’m gog to go this way. Even if ’s mom and dad. I’m sorry, mom and dad. Love you. But I’ve got to do this. And they’ll rpect you. If you do who you’re supposed to be, they’ll rpect you for .” </p><div data-embed="loop" data-no-id="87" class="css-1virogq e1a0jkxd0"><div class="align-center size-large embed e1a0jkxd1 css-1e3dj7m ejku7p04"><div class="__rp-ntaer css-5mi43p e6l0f0"><img width="540" height="540" alt="This is an image" tle="This is an image" fetchprry="to" dg="async" src=" size="to" srcSet=" loadg="lazy" class="lqip lazyload css-0 e1lki9i00" /></div></div></div><p data-no-id="88" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He ps and breath. </p><p data-no-id="89" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“God, we’re really to this stuff today,” he says. </p><p data-no-id="90" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">He don’t like speculatg on how he might have done thgs differently. Like, he hat . I didn’t even brg up. He brought up. The same day he ranted about charisma-rrodg regular people soakg up all his betiful light. “It don’t really matter,” he said, lm at first. “It don’t really matter. If ’s past, ’s past. People always want to go, ‘Well what if you didn’t do that? What if you didn’t leave? What if you had done this? What if you’d taken that movie?’ Why even talk about ? Why even discs ? We n’t change . What good is to blabber this stuff around? For me ’s jt a waste of time. I don’t fd amg,” he said, still lm. And then he shouted: “I DON’T FIND IT FUCKING AMUSING AT ALL!” </p><p data-no-id="91" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">I lghed. He sed, that’s all he’d wanted.</p><p data-no-id="92" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0"> “Maybe the way turned out, maybe this was the script,” he said. “It had to be. Bee you n’t wre songs like ‘Boxer In a Club’ if you haven’t experienced some pa.” </p><p data-no-id="93" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">The boxer is the ad dg aler. He wasn’t jokg. </p><p data-no-id="94" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">“I want the mic to be more than the character,” he said. “But I n’t be a csar for that. If they get the mic, they get the mic. I’m not gog to stop beg funny and givg them that character bee I wouldn’t be there wh my mic if <em>The Office </em>hadn’t slipped me through the door.”</p><p data-no-id="95" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">For another b his show, Bratton’s tour manager giv him a cric’s review of a prev gig, actually wrten by Creed, that has jt e out: “Tonight, Creed played the hs om his long-fotten talog. This almost-aquate show gave phong a new meang. He set the bar jt high enough, wh a lot of si jok that no one got. Yet, throughout the eveng, he always seemed pleased wh himself for no apparent reason. Even though starts out sort of slow, really bogs down at the end. You’ll leave the show like me—nfed and unfulfilled. Which is apparently jt what he wants.” “Yeah, well, all right,” Creed says, rollg up the paper and feigng annoyance.</p><p data-no-id="96" class="css-18vfmjb et3p2gv0">Depretn asi, ’s an tertg moment of self-awarens. Creed’s banter between songs do, at tim, play like an ner monologue. He do seem pleased, sometim wh himself, but mostly wh the moment, as if he were ma for this, lived through hell for this, fought to mata belief this, as if he were sted to be here playg mic, tellg stori, a room filled wh love, a stage, the dience his hand.<br /></p><hr data-no-id="97" class="css-18pb4rg et3p2gv0" /><style data-emotn="css r2zxlg">{font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;marg-bottom:0.625rem;marg-top:0.625rem;text-align:center;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:1.875rem;le-height:1.3;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{font-size:1.875rem;le-height:1.2;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{font-size:2.25rem;le-height:1.2;}} b, strong{font-fay:her;font-weight:bold;} em, i{font-fay:her;font-style:alic;}</style><h2 data-no-id="98" class="body-h3 css-r2zxlg et3p2gv0">Photos by Andrew Hreha<br />Makp by Sarah Kuhl</h2><style data-emotn="css 2ok9l4">{marg-top:1.875rem;borr-top:th solid #595959;}</style><div data-jam-id="thor-b" class="css-2ok9l4 e13rjwo40"><style data-emotn="css f0b5z8">{display:grid;grid-template-lumns:to 1;grid-lumn-gap:0.625rem;paddg-top:1.25rem;paddg-bottom:1.25rem;clear:both;}</style><div class="css-f0b5z8 e19xk9rq8"><style data-emotn="css irehmq">{borr-radi:50%;height:60px;width:60px;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{width:40px;height:40px;}}</style><span class="css-irehmq e19xk9rq1"><style data-emotn="css o0wq4v">{width:100%;height:100%;borr-radi:50%;vertil-align:middle;object-f:ver;}</style><img src="" alt="Headshot of John Tyler Allen" tle="Headshot of John Tyler Allen" width="100%" height="100%" dg="async" loadg="lazy" class="css-o0wq4v e19xk9rq3" /></span><div><style data-emotn="css 3sqxrq">{display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;grid-gap:4px;-webk-align-ems:basele;-webk-box-align:basele;-ms-flex-align:basele;align-ems:basele;-webk-box-flex-wrap:wrap;-webk-flex-wrap:wrap;-ms-flex-wrap:wrap;flex-wrap:wrap;}</style><div class="css-3sqxrq e19xk9rq7"><span class="css-0 e19xk9rq5"><style data-emotn="css 1yunoig">{lor:#161616;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacg:0.02rem;-webk-text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn-lor:her;text-ratn-thickns:0.0625rem;text-transform:upperse;text-unrle-offset:0.25rem;-webk-transn:all 0.3s ease--out;transn:all 0.3s ease--out;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.3;}}{lor:#595959;text-ratn-lor:borr-lk-body-hover;}</style><style data-emotn="css 1kgdfad">{lor:#161616;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacg:0.02rem;text-transform:upperse;lor:#161616;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;letter-spacg:0.02rem;-webk-text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn-lor:her;text-ratn-thickns:0.0625rem;text-transform:upperse;text-unrle-offset:0.25rem;-webk-transn:all 0.3s ease--out;transn:all 0.3s ease--out;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.3;}}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.4;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{font-size:0.70003rem;le-height:1.3;}}{lor:#595959;text-ratn-lor:borr-lk-body-hover;}</style><a href="/thor/243504/john-tyler-allen/" class="e1c1bym13 css-1kgdfad e1c1bym14"><span>John Tyler Allen</span></a></span></div><style data-emotn="css 1b1navg">{display:-webk-box;font-fay:Charter,Geia,Tim,Serif;font-size:1rem;le-height:1.4;overflow:hidn;paddg-top:0.3125rem;-webk-box-orient:vertil;-webk-le-clamp:5;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{-webk-le-clamp:10;}}>*{display:le;} em{font-fay:CharterItalic,Geia,Tim,Serif;font-style:alic;} p{marg:0rem;} p a{-webk-text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn:unrle;text-ratn-thickns:0.0625rem;text-ratn-lor:her;text-unrle-offset:0.25rem;} p a:hover{text-ratn-lor:borr-lk-body-hover;}</style><div class="css-1b1navg e19xk9rq4"><p>John Tyler Allen is a journalist based New York. His work has appeared <em>The Atlantic</em>, <em>Runner’s World</em>, <em>Bedford + Bowery</em>, <em>World Lerature Today</em>, and other publitns.  </p></div></div></div></div><style data-emotn="css ciejky">{clear:both;marg-top:1.25rem;}</style><div id="journey-le" class="css-ciejky e1cslvxz0"></div><style data-emotn="css 79elbk">{posn:relative;}</style><div class="css-79elbk eg8z2o90"><div class="css-79elbk e1tp40ll1"><div data-anchor-id="P0-0" class="css-0 e1tp40ll0"></div></div><style data-emotn="css hi6ssp">{display:block;grid-area:article_body;grid-lumn:article_body-start/article_body-end;grid-row:to;jtify-self:center;marg:1.25rem 0 0;}@media prt{{display:none;}}@media(max-width: 30rem){{width:100%;}}@media(max-width: 61.25rem){{m-height:28rem;}}@media(m-width: 30rem){{width:488px;}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{width:612px;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{max-width:40.25rem;}}</style><div class="css-hi6ssp eg8z2o92"></div></div></div></div><div></div><div data-teractive="WatchNext-1" class="css-0 e10xr3vp6"><style data-emotn="css 1pqv15d">{marg-bottom:1.875rem;marg-top:1.875rem;paddg:0 0.938rem;}@media(m-width: 40.625rem){{paddg:0 2.5rem;}}</style><div data-embed="watch-next" class="css-1pqv15d e10xr3vp5"><style data-emotn="css 604vx7">{text-align:center;marg:0 to;max-width:60rem;borr-top:0.125rem solid #15263D;}</style><div class="css-604vx7 e10xr3vp4"><style data-emotn="css 1sowyjy">{marg-bottom:1.25rem;}</style><div class="css-1sowyjy e10xr3vp3"><style data-emotn="css ju94x7">{marg:0rem;font-weight:normal;background-lor:#ffffff;lor:#000;borr:0.125rem solid #15263D;text-align:left;width:-webk-f-ntent;width:-moz-f-ntent;width:f-ntent;borr-radi:2rem;display:block;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:0.70028rem;le-height:1.2;letter-spacg:0.04rem;marg-top:-1rem;paddg:0.5rem 0.9375rem 0.25rem;text-transform:upperse;}</style><h6 class="css-ju94x7 e10xr3vp2"><span aria-hidn="te" class="css-0 eagam8p0"></span><span class="css-0 e10xr3vp1">Watch Next</span><span aria-hidn="te" class="css-0 eagam8p1"></span></h6><style data-emotn="css un61">{-webk-align-ems:center;-webk-box-align:center;-ms-flex-align:center;align-ems:center;display:-webk-box;display:-webk-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;font-fay:Lsanne,Lsanne-fallback,Arial,sans-serif;font-weight:normal;-webk-box-pack:center;-ms-flex-pack:center;-webk-jtify-ntent:center;jtify-ntent:center;marg:0rem;m-height:to;paddg-top:1rem;text-align:left;}@media(max-width: 48rem){{font-size:1.5rem;le-height:1.1;}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{font-size:1.875rem;le-height:1.3;}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{font-size:2.125rem;le-height:1.2;}}</style><h6 class="css-un61 e10xr3vp0"> </h6></div><style data-emotn="css b3y6x">{marg-bottom:0.9375rem;--aspect-rat:56.25%;} {posn:absolute;marg:0rem;}{ntent:"";display:block;height:0rem;width:100%;}@media(max-width: 30rem){{paddg-bottom:lc((45% / 1.16) + 20px + 1.66em);}}@media(m-width: 30rem) and (max-width: 48rem){{paddg-bottom:lc((45% / 1.43) + 20px + 1.66em);}}@media(m-width: 40.625rem) and (max-width: 64rem){{paddg-bottom:lc((33% / 1.40) + 20px + 1.66em);}}@media(m-width: 48rem){{paddg-bottom:lc((25% / 1.36) + 20px + 1.66em);}}@media(m-width: 64rem){{paddg-bottom:lc((25% / 1.46) + 20px + 1.66em);}}</style><div class="__rp-ntaer css-b3y6x e6l0f0"><style data-emotn="css 1yu8e3d">{marg-bottom:0.9375rem;width:100%;height:100%;} .__rp-ntaer{height:to;}</style><div data-embed="embed-vio" class="vio-player css-1yu8e3d e1ou1fny0"><style data-emotn="css 1uds6oo">{height:100%;width:100%;posn:relative;}</style><div class="css-1uds6oo e1f7ylgd6"><style data-emotn="css 1iiivv4">{background-lor:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4);borr:.1875rem solid whe;borr-radi:50%;lor:#fff;cursor:poter;height:3.75rem;left:50%;posn:absolute;top:50%;-webk-transform:translate(-50%,-50%);-moz-transform:translate(-50%,-50%);-ms-transform:translate(-50%,-50%);transform:translate(-50%,-50%);-webk-transn:all 0.4s;transn:all 0.4s;width:3.75rem;z-x:1;}.e1f7ylgd6:hover {background-lor:rgba(33, 150, 245, 0.8);lor:#ffffff;}@media(m-width: 48rem){{height:5.625rem;width:5.625rem;borr:.28125rem solid whe;}}</style><button aria-label="Play Vio" class="css-1iiivv4 e1f7ylgd1"><style data-emotn="css 1lhf7lq">{fill:#ffffff;height:1.4rem;vertil-align:middle;width:1.45rem;}@media(m-width: 48rem){{width:2.3125rem;height:3rem;}}</style><svg xmlns=" width="24" height="24" viewBox="0 0 24 24" style="fill: var(--primary, #000);" role="img" tle="Play" class="css-1lhf7lq e1f7ylgd2"><tle>play in

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