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The Morning Show 9
Peter Maldonado
Peter Maldonado
Portrayed by: Tyler Alvarez
Co-anchor of Hanover High's Morning Show, and the writer and director of true-crime documentary American Vandal.
- Amateur Sleuth: His reasoning and detective work allows Dylan to be proved innocent. In season 2, he shows Kevin innocent of being The Turd Burglar, if not of causing the Brownout.
- Attention Whore: The opinion of Mackenzie, as well as several others, who claim that he is only using the documentary as a way to gain notoriety in the school.
- On the other hand, all these people, especially Mackenzie had their sketchy behaviour revealed by the documentary, and Sara's slut-shaming was probably the only case where the consequences were undeserved.
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Sports a pretty thick pair.
- Character Development: Initially, he's pretty much only concerned with finding the truth and has no qualms about exposing a person's deepest secrets to further his case, but his experience documenting the case slowly changes him, and he ultimately becomes more empathetic by the end.
- This is especially true with Sara Pearson; he leaves her "The Reason You Suck" Speech to him in the documentary, and admits in his voiceover that she was right to give it to him. It's his way of owning his callous behavior.
- The Comically Serious: Much of the show's humor comes from how seriously he takes his investigation into who spray-painted a bunch of dicks.
- Dark Secret: He apparently masturbates to American Apparel catalogues. Huh.
- Determinator: He will not stop until he uncovers the truth.
- For Great Justice: His stated motivation. Just about everyone, especially Mackenzie and Sara, suspect otherwise.
- Graceful Loser: Although he can be kind of a dick, he leaves Mackenzie and Sara's attacks at him in the documentary, and he genuinely seems like he wouldn't have minded if Sam had been harsher on him.
- Hidden Depths: sort of. Peter and Sam actually show some very good investigative reporting and deductive skills at times during the show, especially in the latter half.
- Insists on Being Suspected: He asks Sam to write the case against him for diligence.
- Intrepid Reporter: He's determined to uncover the truth of who spray-painted the dicks on the teachers' cars.
- Kid Detective: Along with Sam.
- Nerd Glasses: Wears these.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Sam. It only takes a hit when Peter suggests Sam might be the dick-drawer and brings his crush with Gabi into it.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: Although a downplayed example, Peter is the abrasive, unpopular, and self-absorbed the "rude hero" to Sam's "nice sidekick".
- Serious Business: Everything is this to him, but especially anything investigation-related.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Played with. Peter is often pretty accurate about what they're dealing with, but he behaves like a real detective or documentarian.
Sam Ecklund
Sam Ecklund
Portrayed by: Griffin Gluck
Peter's closest friend and co-producer of American Vandal.
- Childhood Friend Romance: A one-sided variant with Gabi Granger.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Peter portrays him as one of these in building a case against him. Sam is not amused.
- Deadpan Snarker: Provides a lot of comic foil to Peter's seriousness.
- Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Gabi as Sam and Peter's viewers notice. While Sam is a genuine Nice Guy, unlike most examples of this trope, he gets called out for thinking he could throw her boyfriend's cheating in her face as a way of saving her, and he genuinely accepts he was wrong.
- Everyone Can See It: Numerous fans of American Vandal comment on how he and Gabi should get together. Even Mr. Rafferty gets in on it.
- Girl Friday: A Rare Male Example to Peter, although they are co-producers, due to Sam being Closer to Earth.
- Hidden Depths: Sort of. Peter and Sam actually show some very good investigative reporting and deductive skills at times during the show, especially in the latter half.
- Kid Detective: With Peter.
- Platonic Life-Partners: With Peter. It only takes a hit when Peter suggests he might be the dick-drawer and brings his crush with Gabi into it.
- Rude Hero, Nice Sidekick: The "nice sidekick" to Peter's "rude hero", Sam is genuinely kind to everyone and only snaps at Peter once he exposes his crush with Gabi and makes him look like a stalker.
- String Theory: Sam does the string theory board.Peter: He's really into string.
- Unlucky Childhood Friend: He views himself as being this, though it's heavily implied he would've been on much stronger ground if he hadn't mocked Gabi's boyfriend.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Somewhat. Gabi forgives him for his insensitive comments, but it's made clear from her body language that she still regards him as just a friend. Poor Sam.
- The Watson: To Peter. He's much more levelheaded and calm, unless Gabi is involved.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gives Peter one of these after Peter exposes his crush on Gabi.
- Your Mom: Makes a number of jokes about Peter's mom.
Dylan Maxwell
Dylan Maxwell
Portrayed by: Jimmy Tatro
The primary suspect in the case, Dylan has already been expelled for drawing twenty-seven dicks on twenty-seven staff members' cars at the outset of the series. Peter creates American Vandal in a quest to prove his innocence.
- Asshole Victim: Dylan is railroaded and expelled for a crime he didn't commit. However, he really is kind of an unlikable prick, someone who tends to treat people like crap and engage in childish, mean-spirited pranks like knocking over a porta potty with someone locked inside.
- Bad Liar: How his mother claims she knows he's innocent. He lies to her all the time, but she can always tell because Parents Know Their Children.
- Book Dumb: Dylan himself admits he's not book-smart — or street-smart either.Dylan: I'm not, like, book smart or fucking street smart or whatever, but, like, I'm not dumb.
- Break the Haughty: Although somewhat less serious than other examples, he's really incredibly dumb, impulsive, and immature. He matures a lot over the course of Season 1, which leaves him a much sadder, more introspective character.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Dylan maintains he didn't spray-paint the dicks, but he keeps saying how funny it was and that sure makes him look guilty. Although subverted, because he really didn't spray-paint the dicks.
- Convicted by Public Opinion: Dylan's case had circumstantial evidence and one dubious eye witness. He gets expelled mostly because his reputation as a Delinquent makes everyone assume he did it.Peter: Disruptive, disrespectful, a history of poor decisions. You can see why the school board was convinced that Dylan was the type of person to do the dicks. The label fit.
- Digging Yourself Deeper: His rudeness to Mrs Shapiro and his insistence that the dick drawing was super funny does this for him.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Mackenzie and Dylan argue that he's too stupid to have deleted footage from the server. Sam and Peter admit that this is actually very good evidence of his innocence.Mackenzie: School's talking about Dylan like he's some criminal mastermind. Like, ok, they say he deleted the the security footage. Dude, Dylan's too dumb to delete footage.
Dylan: Yeah, true. I'd never think to do that. - Dumbass Teenage Son: To his long-suffering parents, especially his stepfather, who just seems to want the best for him. It doesn't stop Dylan being an asshole to them.
- Jerkass: Guilty or not, he isn't the most pleasant guy. Especially to Ms. Shapiro.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dylan's not a bad person deep down. He's just kinda dumb. And rude.
- Love Martyr: Dylan keeps going back to Mackenzie, no matter how many times she dumps and manipulates him. It's implied he would've gotten back together with her even after finding out that she cheated on him and withheld evidence that could exonerate him, if she hadn't broken it off herself.Lucas: Dylan is whipped as fuck, dude. It's like problematic.
- The Prankster: He and the Wayback Boys make terrible prank videos for YouTube.
- Sad Clown: He's a goofy, laid-back guy, but by the end of the series he's hiding a lot of sadness.
- The Slacker: Hard work isn't really Dylan's thing.
- The Stoner: Smokes a lot of weed.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: He didn't spray-paint the dicks on the faculty's cars — but in the final episode he does spray-paint a dick on Ms. Shapiro's driveway after she refuses to apologize to him. He has no prospects for the future, and everyone's pigeonholed him into being an idiot, so he decides to fulfill that role.
Christa Carlyle
Christa Carlyle
Portrayed by: G Hannelius
Student Body President and a member of the Morning Show, as well as numerous other school clubs and teams. Known for her good grades and political activism. Was receiving a CPR certification at the time of the incident, and also on crutches from a broken foot.
- Ambiguously Evil: May have been responsible for the dicks, with her boyfriend Van Delorey.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: If she drew the dicks with Van Deloney, they would be this.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Was receiving a CPR certification at the time of the incident. Except she wasn't. She doesn't even know CPR.
- Although you can have CPR certification and still freeze, panic, or be too unsure in your skill to come forward in an emergency—especially if you're, say, at a party and had too much to drink. Having a certificate in something doesn't mean you have the skill.
- Expy: Christa shares a lot of traits with Election's Tracy Flick, including possibly being more sinister than she seems.
- Foil: By the end, Christa and Dylan are the major suspects of the crime. Their opposite reputations as Go-Getter Girl and The Slacker heavily influence matters.
- Go-Getter Girl: Christa is smart, friendly, pretty, high-achieving, Student Body President, and part of a ton of school clubs and sports. The case against her is quickly discounted because she has such a good reputation.Peter: Christa does it all. Star athlete, star mathlete. She thrives within the system but ironically, isn't afraid to speak out against it.
- Granola Girl: A vegan, and once attempted to force the school to change its mascot from humpback whales, on the grounds that humpbacks are endangered.
- Jerkass Has a Point: Coach Rafferty might consider her a jerk for contributing to the football team's loss (of one game), but Christa is absolutely correct in her main point: religious and gender equality is more important than high school football.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Pre-series. In one of her protests, Christa pours laundry detergent down the stairs to illustrate the corruption in the school system note . She slips on the detergent herself, and breaks her foot. She's on crutches during the "incident", and during her early interviews for the show.
- Nice Girl: Christa is generally kind to all and liked by all in return. Even if she was responsible for the dicks, she still led the campaign to have Dylan exonerated, rather than let him take the rap for her actions.
- Soapbox Sadie: Christa constantly interrupts school to make political statements. When American Vandal goes viral, she leads the campaign to have Dylan returned to school.
- The Strategist: She's a member of the Strategy Club, though no one has any idea what that is.
- Also: her boyfriend Van Delorey is with her at Nana's party, but doesn't appear in any prom photos (the only one of Christa is in a limo with several friends) or the after-party. Van might not be at the prom because he's not a Hanover student, and he might just have a commitment elsewhere during the party. But it's more likely that Christa decided not to take Van to anymore school events, in case someone noticed how easy it was to mistake him for Dylan from behind.
- Straw Feminist: Deconstructed. Everyone is annoyed at her Soapbox Sadie ways, and her attempt to get on the football team is played as this. But it gets a whole darker and more sympathetic look once we find out that Rafferty bullied, humiliated, and physically injured her just to punish her. Given that she made the team even with Coach Rafferty's attitude to and resulting treatment of her, she must be a fantastic sportswoman.
- Villain with Good Publicity: If she was responsible for the dicks, then she's definitely this.
Madison Kaplan
Madison Kaplan
Portrayed by: Aylin Bayramoglu
Co-anchor on the Morning Show. Was shopping with her mom at the time of the incident.
- Always Someone Better: Peter freely admits she's much better at the anchor job than he is.
- The Generic Girl:Kraz: She seems fine. She seems like a nice enough student. Just uh, yeah... super, super boring.
- Male Gaze: Dylan earns her ire by zooming in on her boobs whenever he's filming her for the Morning Show.
- Put on a Bus: Or, rather, most of the other protagonists go on the bus to the other school, and she doesn't. She was a senior is season 1, so presumably she graduated and went off to college.
Ming Zhang
Portrayed by: Cody Wai-Ho Lee
The only member of the Morning Show to have no alibi for the day of the incident.
- Asian and Nerdy: Textbook case, though he's actually extremely popular.
- Beneath Suspicion: He's just too lovable to be the culprit.Peter: Ming is the only member of the Morning Show Nine without an alibi. But when looking at him as a suspect, I think Sam captures my thoughts pretty succinctly:
Sam: Dude, it's Ming. - Cop Hater: When law enforcement arrives to break up the party at Rachel Balducci's grandmother's house, a drunk Ming makes his dislike of the police very clear.Partygoer: Oh, shit, the cops are here!
Ming: Fuck the police! - Courteous Canadian: Despite Dylan believing him to be Chinese, he's actually from Toronto. He's a Loved by All Nice Guy.Peter: During the third-period food fight last December, Ming didn't throw a single thing. If fact, he actually helped clean up the mess afterwards. And two months ago, Randell Snyder caught Ming returning a $20 bill to the lost-and-found.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: In-Universe. Comments on American Vandal have a lot of love for Ming
- Foreign Exchange Student: Ming is from Toronto, Canada.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: He goes absolutely nuts at both Nana's party and the post-graduation party.
- Inscrutable Oriental: Subverted Trope. His name, appearance, and status as a Foreign Exchange Student imply he's Chinese. Dylan brings this up to cast suspicion on him. But then it's quickly revealed Ming is actually Chinese-Canadian from Toronto, and fulfils a very different national stereotype.
- Loved by All: Everyone loves Ming. The only person who ever seriously questions his innocence is Dylan, and it's on purely racist grounds.
- Nice Guy: His defining characteristic.Peter: A lot of people would agree that Ming is the nicest kid in school. In many ways, he's a sort of anti-Dylan.
Randall Snyder & Phil Huang
Randall portrayed by: Tucker Albrizzi
Two members of the Morning Show who are ruled out as suspects due to both being hospitalized at the time. Randall is also credited with "Additional Photography" for American Vandal.- Ambiguously Gay: Sam notes how unusual it is for them both to have been hospitalized with Mono—aka "the kissing disease"—at the same time.
- Bit Character: Neither of them receive much characterization.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Randall never speaks a line, but it's revealed in 1.04 that he has been the cameraman whenever Peter and Sam are both on screen.
Emily Hershey
A member of the Morning Show who is quickly ruled out as a suspect, as she was in Pheonix at the time of the incident.
- Bit Character: The only one of the Morning Show 9 to receive no characterization at all.
Other Hanover High School Students
Gabi Granger
Portrayed by: Camille Hyde
A childhood friend of Sam Ecklund's, she gets credit as a co-producer on American Vandal because she knows a lot of the seniors, and is credited as "Transpo Captain" because she has a car.
- Childhood Friend Romance: She's a childhood friend of Sam's, and he nurses a crush on her for a long time without acting on it. At the end he finally makes a move.
- The Driver: Played with. Gabi seems to be driving Pete and Sam everywhere in the investigation except for school, but subverts the trope by being a fully realized character.
- Dude, Not Funny!: She does not appreciate Sam making light of Brandon cheating on her.
- Nice Girl: Comes off as an extremely likable person.
- Twofer Token Minority: At times the most prominent female member of the team, while also being black.
- What Does She See in Him?: Both in- and out-universe. Sam is not the only person to wonder this about Gabi and Brandon even before it's revealed he cheated on her with Sara Pearson. Many of the viewers did, too.
Mackenzie Wagner
Portrayed by: Camille Ramsey
Dylan's on-again, off-again girlfriend, who claims he was at her house at the time of the incident.
- All Take and No Give: Her relationship with Dylan, in a nutshell.
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Towards Dylan in general, and more specifically when it turns out she had a good reason to trash the gym teacher's.
- Attention Whore: She craves attention from Dylan, and stages break-ups with him so that he'll do elaborate things to win her back.
- Berserk Button: She's known to go nuts whenever her parents are having problems.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She stood by and let her boyfriend of four years be expelled from school, have his future plans (including college applications) ruined, be left open to felony criminal charges and possible jail time, as well as incurring possibly ruinous debt for his low-income family, rather than admit to cheating on him.
- Cold Sniper: Her preferred style of gaming.
- Dark Action Girl: Although she did trash the Coach's office, she prefers to demonstrate it via video games.
- Dirty Coward: Revealed to be this in the finale, having had video evidence that would have exonerated Dylan the entire time, only showing this when she becomes a suspect.
- Femme Fatale: A downplayed and realistic example, but she plays on this trope, being Dylan's girlfriend who he can't resist.
- Gamer Chick: Has a popular Twitch stream.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She let Dylan potentially go to prison, but she's got a point when she tells Peter he's acting out of petty jealousy towards people more popular than him.
- Idiot Ball: Mackenzie has time-stamped video evidence of Dylan's alibi, but doesn't use it because it reveals that she's cheating on him. It never occurs to her to edit the footage so it starts when she's walking to the bedroom door? All she needs is twenty seconds of time-stamped footage that clearly identifies her, Dylan, and her bedroom as the location. If she didn't already have the skills to edit the footage (unlikely), she could have just asked the Twitch helpdesk, or looked up instruction videos on YouTube, and where to find free software she could use to do editing. If someone asks her why she's topless from the back? She's already telling Dylan she was changing—just say that she spilled her between-rounds drink on her top, and she intended to change out of view of the camera.
- The Lad-ette: She has elements of this, like her love of gaming and more masculine way of dressing, but this borders on being an Informed Attribute.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In 1.07, she gives a very harsh one of these to Peter after he accuses her of being the vandal with a very convincing and personal theory. While she brings up a good point—that Peter aired everyone's dirty laundry in public just to make his documentary—it's mostly said out of spite due to her realizing that the only way to clear her name would be to send the Twitch Stream that shows her cheating on Dylan before he arrives, proving both of their alibis that she's had the entire time.
- Red Herring: The biggest one in the series. 1.07 makes a solid case that she and Dylan worked together to spray-paint the dicks as a way to get back at Mr. Rafferty. But her Twitch stream exonerates her. And Dylan.
- Yoko Oh No: How the Wayback Boys perceive her.Dylan: Here's the thing: I don't talk about Mack in front of my boys. And I don't talk about my boys in front of Mack. [...] If I told them I was with Mack, they'd be like... just giving me a bunch of shit. [...]
Ganj: Mackenzie fucking sucks.
Lucas: Dylan is whipped as fuck, dude. It's like problematic.
The Wayback Boys
Spencer portrayed by: Eduardo Franco
Lucas portrayed by: Lou Wilson
Brianna portrayed by: Jessica Juarez
Lucas portrayed by: Lou Wilson
Brianna portrayed by: Jessica Juarez
Comprised of Spencer Diaz, Lucas Wiley, and Brianna "Ganj" Gagne, the Wayback Boys are Dylan Maxwell's closest friends, so named because they go "way back". They have an unpopular YouTube channel where they make unfunny, mean-spirted prank videos.
- Book Dumb: Like Dylan himself, none of them are very bright.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: All of them, but especially Spencer.
- Idiotic Partner Confession: To try and play up the Wayback Boys' reliability, Peter asks them if they would cover for Dylan lying. Their answer is less than helpful.Peter: Okay, if Dylan cheated on a test in school and this teacher was suspicious that somebody had cheated, would you lie and say that Dylan did not cheat?
Spender: Yeah.
Dylan: Dude, don't say that. That doesn't help. Say no. Say no.
Spencer: What? Well, I mean, I ain't no rat. Why?
Lucas: I would also say yeah. - The Lad-ette / The Smurfette Principle: Ganj is the only girl in the group.
- Non-Indicative Name: The Wayback Boys include a girl.
- The Prankster: Their M.O.. Unfortunately, they're not very good at it.
- The Stoner: All of them.
Alex Trimboli
Portrayed by: Calum Worthy
The only witness to the crime, who insists that he saw Dylan spray-painting the dicks.
- Character Tics: He says "One hundred percent" when he is lying through his teeth.
- The Conspiracy: May have been part of one with Ms. Shapiro to frame Dylan.
- Consummate Liar: He claimed to be best friends with a dead student. (He wasn't.) He claimed he drank 11 beers at Nana's party. (He drank 1.) He claimed Sarah Pearson gave him a handjob. (She didn't.) And he claimed he saw Dylan Maxwell spray-painting the dicks on the faculty cars. (He didn't, but this may have been a genuine mistake and later misinterpretation, instead of an outright lie.)Peter: That day, Alex earned huge points when he gave an inspirational speech at the mess hall. He told his red team to "know yourself, and know your worth." But a quick google search would suggest he just took lyrics from a popular Drake song and changed the N-word to "red team". [Beat] Not sure how I feel about that.
- Glory Hound: It's implied that he may have lied about seeing Dylan so he could take the credit for saving lunch.
- Have I Mentioned I Am Sexually Active Today?: He totally got a handjob from Sarah Pearson. He didn't.
- Karma Houdini: Despite Dylan constantly saying that he's going to kick Alex's ass the next time he sees him, the worst he actually does is shake up Alex's soda and drop his pizza on the ground. It's intentional, to show Dylan's Character Development and how he's actively trying to make a better name for himself.
- The Stool Pigeon: Tells the school board that he saw Dylan Maxwell spray-painting the dicks.
Sara Pearson
Portrayed by: Saxon Sharbino
One of the hottest girls in school. Whether or not she gave Alex Trimboli a handjob somehow becomes crucial to proving Dylan's innocence.
- All Love Is Unrequited: After being rejected by Van Delorey for Christa, she consoles herself with Gabi's boyfriend Brandon.
- Alpha Bitch: Subverted. She comes off this way at first, but proves herself a decent person.
- Big Damn Heroes: Saves Ming with CPR at the graduation party.
- CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable: Uses an egregious version of this to save Ming at the graduation party. It doesn't even look like she's touching him.
- Head-Turning Beauty: Kraz describes her as "distracting."
- Hidden Depths: She knows CPR.
- Give Geeks a Chance: How else do you explain her hooking up with Pat Micklewaite?
- Really Gets Around: Has hooked up with 14 people, including Michael Polowski, Brad Cormack, Scott Winter, Pat Micklewaite, and Brandon Galloway. But not Alex Trimboli.
- Slut-Shaming: Implied to have been a victim of this after American Vandal reveals her hookup list.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Gives a well-deserved one to Peter in the final episode.
Brandon Galloway
Portrayed by: Lukas Gage
Captain of the football team, and Gabi's boyfriend.
- Jerk Jock: Fits to a T.
- Laser-Guided Karma: During the scene at the prom after-party when Sam and Gabi make up, it pans past Brandon and his date—who isn't Gabi. She dumped his ass for cheating.
Pat Micklewaite
Portrayed by: Jacob Houston
An inexplicably popular student, who Peter views as a rival.
- Gonk: How Peter perceives him.
- Kavorka Man: He's not conventionally attractive by any means, but somehow he's hooked up with both Sara Pearson and Paige Davidson. He was also invited to the party.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: To Peter, who is consistently baffled as to how Pat is more popular than he is.
- The Strategist: He's the only other member of the Strategy Club with Christa. Not that anyone knows what the Strategy Club is.
Hanover High School Faculty
Vice Principal Keene
Portrayed by: Matt Miller
Hanover High's vice principal.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: If Kraz can be trusted, then he plays the Bad Cop to Ms. Shapiro's Good Cop when he cancels off-campus lunch.
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: Tries to hamper Peter's investigation, when Peter gets too close to the faculty complaint records.
- Turn in Your Badge: A non-police version of this, when he bans Peter from filming American Vandal on school property.
Ms. Shapiro
Erin Anne Shapiro
Portrayed by: Karly Rothenberg
Dylan Maxwell's Spanish teacher, and the presumed target of the vandalism.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Dylan and Kraz certainly think so, but neither are entirely trustworthy.
- The Chessmaster: According to Kraz, who compares her to Lord Varys from Game of Thrones.
- The Conspiracy: May have been part of one with Alex Trimboli to frame Dylan. It's never made clear.
- Cool Teacher: Most students view her as this. It's only Dylan and his friends who see her as an:
- Evil Teacher: To Dylan, and possibly to other students she dislikes.
- Familial Foe: While Dylan certainly earned her ire in his own right, it didn't start with him. Dylan's big brother Cooper was a pain in Ms Shapiro's ass first, and so by the time Dylan came along, she was already suspicious of him before he even did anything.
- Framing the Guilty Party: Possibly what she believes she is doing by framing Dylan, as well as strong-arming a student into claiming another student cheated on a test.
- Good Cop/Bad Cop: According to Kraz, she plays the Good Cop to Vice Principal Keene's Bad Cop in the plot to expose the culprit behind the vandalism. She came up with the plan to cancel off-campus lunch, then he carried it out, and she promised to intercede with him if a student came forward with the vandal's identity. That is, if anything Kraz says can be trusted.
- Jerkass Has a Point: For a debatable value of "jerkass". Dylan's own (and other) social media footage proves that his bad reputation, particularly in Ms Shapiro's class, was thoroughly earned. Peter points out in 1.01 that Dylan's past behavior—which has been properly documented—is one of the factors in the strong case against him.Dylan: I mean, yeah, I draw a penis from time to time.
Admin: Time to time. Once a week?
Dylan: Four times a week? - Never My Fault: After Dylan's innocence is proven and he is reinstated at school, she admits she was wrong about him spraying the cars, but flatly refuses to accept responsibility for her mistake, instead claiming that Dylan's own actions made him look guilty.
- Stern Teacher: The most generous interpretation of her behavior.
- Villain with Good Publicity: It's a matter of debate how "villainous" she is, but she does at the very least attempt to frame Dylan for slashing her tire. Nonetheless, she is well-loved by most of the school.
Mr. Rafferty
Kyle Joseph Rafferty
Portrayed by: Sean Carrigan
Coach of the football team at Hanover High, and 2016 Teacher of the Year.
- Cool Teacher: How most students see him.
- Creepy Gym Coach: Mr. Rafferty appears to be extremely genial and popular, but it's hinted at that he's abused his position from time to time. Kraz claims "he's roofied people." Rafferty has a suspicious complaint on file for "inappropriate conduct with a student." People seem to think the notion of a Teacher/Student Romance is at least plausible. He possibly put Christa in a position where she would be injured as revenge for her ruining his pep rally, and then there's the matter of what he whispered to her when she was on the ground. It's never really answered.
- Evil Is Petty: He set Christa up for a tackle drill unnecessarily, likely just to get back at her for her Rosh Hashana stunt that ruined one game for the team.
- Evil Teacher: At the very least, he set Christa up to be injured just for a stunt, but it zigzags around the idea that he's had sex with some students.
- Hot Teacher: How some students see him. His age is apparently not a detriment.
- Hyper-Awareness: He immediately catches on to Peter's secret camera.
- Karma Houdini: The footage of Christa's kicker tryout proves a case of teacher bullying at least (there was no reason whatsoever for another player to tackle her—kicker's don't get tackled on the field—and she clearly wasn't warned it was coming, so she didn't brace herself. Not to mention that whatever he said to her while she was recovering from that was bad enough that she made a formal complaint), and not only does the complaint (of "inappropriate conduct with a student") get swept under the rug, but he wins Teacher of the Year.
- Never My Fault: When you look back, it's clear he blames Christa and her Rosh Hashana protest for the football team losing a big game. Her protest disrupted a pep rally, which led to one of the football team's key players being made ineligible to play that game for joining her walkout. First off, as Coach he should have made sure that every player on the team knew the consequences for walking out of school (it's not like this is the first time Christa's done something like this). Secondly, also as Coach, he should be able to adjust his strategy to cover one missing player.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Comes off this way much of the time. He's extremely forthcoming and helpful in interviews, he chooses not to get Peter in trouble for violating Keene's ban, and he seeks out Peter and Sam in order to answer their questions when it seems as though they suspect him of something. He still seems like he's hiding something.
- Riddle for the Ages: What did he say to Christa Carlyle after she got knocked on her back? If she did plan the dick drawings in revenge for him getting away with, even rewarded, for his behavior towards her, as Peter and Sam point out it must have been something really bad for her to be pushed to such extremes.
- Teacher/Parent Romance: Exaggerated Trope. He Has a Type for students' moms, and is describes as a "serial-dater". Most plot-relevant is his dalliance with Mackenzie's mother, which resulted in Mackenzie trashing his office.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Maybe. It's implied that something was covered up by the school, but we never know what.
Kraz
Steven "Kraz" Krazinski
Portrayed by: Ryan O'Flanagan
History teacher at Hanover High. Likes to be called "Kraz."
- Cool Teacher: Invoked and Deconstructed. Kraz really wants to be perceived as cool by his students, but he does so so transparently that most students see though him. He attempts to ingratiate himself just end up making him really bad at his job, saying inappropriate things and deprioritizing actual teaching.Peter: Kraz really wants to be loved by his students, and will say anything to win their affection. With Kraz, there's no filter. He tends to insert himself into places he doesn't belong — like when he put out a twitter poll predicting whether two of his students would break up. Needless to say, he has a bit of a problem with boundaries.
- Didn't Think This Through: Did he really think he could get away with saying what he did on video? Turns out that a teacher who trash talks his colleagues and comments on how hot one of his female student is in an attempt to seem cool won't be employed for very long.Kraz: Honestly, when you were making it, I thought it was gonna be just like—you were just gonna show it to the kids in the school. Between me and you guys, I didn't know it would go viral. Kinda wish I hadn't said some of the stuff that I said. Man that's like—I really wish I hadn't said a lot of that stuff.
- Everyone Has Standards: He suggests that Mrs. Shapiro is a Crazy Cat Lady... but then seems to this is a low blow and backpaddles. He admits that Shapiro is married, her husband is super cool, and cats are actually great.
- Fired Teacher: He is fired for things said in the documentary, and he completely deserves it.Kraz: But, I mean, was the school just in firing me? [Beat] Honestly, yeah. Yes.
- Gossipy Hens: A Rare Male Example. He spouts all sorts of rumors about his fellow staff members.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kraz is extremely jealous of Ms. Shapiro getting more insurance money to pay for her damaged car than him. He can be seen storming off in a huff when Mr. Rafferty wins Teacher of the Year.
- Totally Radical: His way of trying to come off as cool reeks of this.
- Unreliable Expositor: It's unclear if anything he says about the other teachers can be taken at face value.Peter: As teaches go, Kraz isn't the most reliable. He says a lot of things just to sound cool.
Mr. Maeda
Portrayed by: Aaron Takahashi
Physics teacher at Hanover High.
- Stern Teacher: Has a reputation for this, as he confiscates students' electronics for the entire semester.
- Red Herring: It's hinted that he might have been the target of the vandalism, but the investigation into him only serves to definitively prove that Sarah Pearson did not give Alex Trimboli a handjob.
Mr. Baxter
Portrayed by: P. L. Brown
Teacher in charge of the Morning Show. Credited as executive producer of American Vandal.
- Apathetic Teacher: Shows very little interest in his job.
- Red Herring: A number of fans suggest that he might be the vandal, but Peter dismisses these claims.Peter: Mr Baxter does have access to the security footage, and a potential motive to lash out against the school. It's rumored he's being pushed into early retirement. [...] Could he have deleted the security footage? Yes. But could he have drawn 27 dicks in 8.1 minutes? No. He's too fat.
The Janitor
Portrayed by: Christopher Corbin
Hector Montegro
Hanover High's janitor. Generally considered "creepy AF."
- Crusty Caretaker: For Hanover High.
- Face of a Thug: Definitely looks creepy, but he isn't the vandal.
- Red Herring: Some fans and students suspect that he must be the vandal on the grounds that he is "creepy AF". He may be creepy, but he's not the vandal.
Other Characters
Denise & Greg Kavanagh
Denise portrayed by: Dendrie Taylor
Greg portrayed by: Larry Joe Campbell
Dylan Maxwell's mother and stepfather. Both convinced of his innocence.
- Good Parents: Probably better than Dylan deserves.
- Good Stepfather: Greg is good to Dylan, despite Dylan trying to paint him as a regular Wicked Stepfather.
- Parents Know Their Children: Denise can tell when Dylan lies to her and so she knows he is innocent of drawing the dicks. However, the way she tells it, it comes across more like a mother's bias than real evidence.Denise: When Dylan does something stupid, and he does stupid thing all the time, I mean, he usually'll—he admits it to me. I mean… [Beat] Well, okay, so—he doesn't admit it. He lies to me a lot. But I can tell when he's lying and he knows that I can tell when he's lying, so he knows he can't really lie to me because when he looks at me and he lies and I ask him a question it's like his ears get red on the top, so I know. So I don't think that he did it because… [Beat] I just don't.
- You're Not My Father: Dylan's attitude towards Greg.
Mr. Janson
Portrayed by: Frank Farmer
An elderly man who becomes a target for a prank by the Wayback Boys.
- Conspiracy Theorist: Runs a conspiracy webpage. The Wayback Boys use this trait against him in their prank.
- Scatterbrained Senior: He's not exactly all there.
- Secret-Keeper: He holds the only known evidence that could exonerate Dylan. His daughter destroys it out of anger.
Van Delorey
Portrayed by: Hunter Clowdus
The "hot" counselor at Camp Miniwacka. Boyfriend of Christa Carlyle, and unrequited crush of Sara Pearson.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: It's strongly implied that he is this with Christa.
- Chekhov's Gunman: He's mentioned only a few times in passing. The final episode strongly hints that he drew the dicks.
- Easy Impersonation: A downplayed—if realistic—version.Peter: Van and Dylan are both 5'10" Caucasian males with wide builds. Alex Trimboli claimed he saw Dylan wearing a hoodie, but maybe he didn't get that clear of a look. It's not crazy to think that Trimboli saw Van Delorey instead.
