Line #25 Series/Corporate


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/corporate_series.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:From left to right: Jake, Grace, Matt.]]
3
4	->'''Matt''': Am I a weak person?\
5	'''Jake''': Well, you're definitely weak. I don't know if you're a person.
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7	A darkly satirical WorkCom created by Pat Bishop, Matt Ingebretson, and Jake Weisman, ''Corporate'' aired for three seasons (2018–20) on Creator/ComedyCentral.
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9	Ingebretson and Weisman starred respectively as Matt Engelbertson and Jake Levinson, two Junior Executives in Training at an EvilInc MegaCorp known as Hampton [=DeVille=]. Also in the main cast were their {{Jerkass}} supervisors, Kate Glass (Creator/AnneDudek) and John Strickland (Creator/AdamLustick); jaded Human Resources rep Grace Ramaswamy (Creator/AparnaNancherla); and iron-fisted CEO Christian [=DeVille=] (Creator/LanceReddick).
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11	The show was known for its BlackComedy and ComedicSociopathy, exploring depressingly bleak topics with a detached mundanity as it portrayed the struggle to survive in a soul-deadening office job.
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13	----
14	!!''Corporate'' contains examples of:
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16	* BadBoss:
17	** Christian [=DeVille=] is a CardCarryingVillain who has no morals and rules the company through fear.
18	** John and Kate, who serve as Matt and Jake's direct supervisors, are fickle, cruel and completely self-centered.
19	* BaldOfAuthority: Creator/LanceReddick is on familiar territory as Christian [=DeVille=], a bald, black, stern authority figure.
20	* BerserkButton: For Jake this is any unkind remark about his cat Pebbles, no matter how flippant:
21	** When Matt suggests Jake would eat Pebbles in an apocalypse, Jake angrily insists that he would starve to death and let Pebbles eat ''him'' first.
22	** Jake manages to trigger this ''himself'' in "The Black Dog". He spends most of the episode paying too much attention to his inner critic and meekly taking all of its cruel and demotivating comments on board. Until it crosses a line with "Even your cat doesn't love you"...
23	* TheBigBoard: The conference room's whiteboard is used in "The Long Meeting" to list "ideas that could help the company," despite no one having further instructions. The ensuing "brainstorm hole" leads to things like "racism" and "this is a nightmare" being listed on the board.
24	* BilingualBonus: In "Vacation" Matt takes a holiday to an eerily generic European city. Its name, "Trabalho", is the Spanish word for "work"- which is exactly what his employers still expect him to do there.
25	* BizarroUniverse: Stockheed Barton's executives from "The Powerpoint of Death" are GenderBender versions of Kate and John, leading seemingly parallel lives at Hampton [=DeVille=]'s competitor.
26	* BottleEpisode: "The Long Meeting" takes place entirely in the conference room, over the span of several hours.
27	* BrickJoke:
28	** [[spoiler: In "The One Who's There" Christian gives a speech demanding more toothpaste be sold, throwing out the idea of adding nicotine to toothpaste. A few episodes later in "Natural Beauty," after shooting down Kate and Jake's idea for male make-up, John's successful pitch is for nicotine toothpaste, which Christian notes as being unoriginal.]]
29	** [[spoiler:Not to mention the Hurricane Machine, which is mentioned in the very first episode, and isn't brought up again until the very last.]]
30	* BriefcaseFullOfMoney: Matt and Jake are tasked with delivering one of these to Christian [=DeVille=]'s former business partner and ArchNemesis. {{Subverted}} in that [[spoiler:Mr Hampton is blind and the case actually turns out to contain a single business card embossed with "FUCK YOU" in braille]].
31	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Walter Sabo, the company's top litigator... who comes into work ''shirtless'' on Casual Friday.
32	* ButtMonkey: Matt, the most optimistic and naive character on the show, is frequently abused by the other characters for not having given into the bleak outlook the rest of the show presents.
33	* ChildHater: In "The Importance of Talking Shit" Grace briefly strikes up a friendship with Christian [=DeVille=] but they drift apart when she sees how much he loathes children.
34	* ComedicSociopathy: The show's trademark. Often delivered by Jake, such as when he says, "Look. They're having a good time. They're young and dumb, so they still think this is what fun is. They have no idea they're actually having a terrible time. It's honestly tragic."
35	* ContinuityNod: The Obelisk appears in several episodes after its introduction, and ''Society Tomorrow'' pops up every now and again as well.
36	* CorruptCorporateExecutive: Most of the characters on the show fit this trope, but most notably the CEO Christian [=DeVille=] as well as John and Kate.
37	* CrapsackWorld: The world at large is shown to be gullible and helpless as corporations like Hampton [=DeVille=] take advantage of them. The internal culture of the company is just as bad, taking pride in literally declaring itself as a confrontational work environment.
38	* CrazyCatLady: Jake describes himself as a "single cat mom" and his cat Pebbles as "my cat daughter".
39	* CutenessProximity: When Lloyd starts bringing his dog Edie to work everyone goes completely soppy for her and regresses into using baby talk. Everyone except Jake, naturally.
40	* DeadpanSnarker: Jake never misses an opportunity to insult someone. In one episode, he says, "Matt, there's so many things I never got the chance to say to you, but they're pretty mean, so I won't."
41	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The series finale, "The Wind of God", ends with the head of Hampton [=DeVille=]'s [[WeatherControlMachine hurricane machine]] development team (who were all dismissed at the start of the episode, due to news of said machine being leaked to the media) breaking into the lab and activating the device.]]
42	* EvilInc: Hampton [=DeVille=]. "The Powerpoint of Doom" opens with Christian excitedly declaring that he's heard the country is going to war, because the company will have a chance to secure a contract with the military and profit off the destruction.
43	* EvilTowerOfOminousness: Hampton [=DeVille=]'s headquarters is a tall black skyscraper looming over a city.
44	* ExtremeDoormat: Matt is seemingly incapable of asserting himself when it counts. "Corporate Retreat" sees him try to grow a spine, but [[spoiler: instead he ends up getting sexually assaulted by the retreat organizers.]]
45	* FeelingTheirAge: The episode "The Concert" is all about this trope. Matt meets up with an old college buddy who it transpires is now a drug dealer with "connections" in the music industry. Matt struggles to keep up with him on a night of drinking before getting invited to see a band called Honeyscratch with him. The next day Matt finds his hangover almost unbearable and Honeyscratch's unlistenable "noise-rock" music only makes it worse. Despite this he pretends he loves it and is determined to make it to the concert, if only to prove to a smug Jake that he isn't too old for all of this. [[spoiler:Naturally he eventually gives in and decides to have an early night and masturbate instead]].
46	-->'''Paige''':"After work I have cardio bar then a sample sale, three art gallery openings, dinner at this brand new pop-up, a sort-of friend's half-birthday party, then a catch-up with a real friend at a new speakeasy, then Honeyscratch"
47	-->'''Jake:'''"Whoa, how do you have the energy to do all that?"
48	-->'''Paige''':"I'm 24."
49	* FictionalCounterpart:
50	** Stockheed Barton is a [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Lawyer-Friendly]] version of Lockheed Martin, an American military contractor.
51	** Smiley Juice, a smoothie chain owned by Hampton [=DeVille=], inspired by chains like Jamba Juice.
52	** The Obelisk, a comically large iPad counterpart.
53	** ''Society Tomorrow'', a cultural phenomenon streaming series, clearly inspired by Netflix's big hits like ''Series/StrangerThings'' and ''Series/BlackMirror''. The disappointment most viewers experience at the show's finale also appears to be a nod to ''Series/GameOfThrones''.
54	* FictionalHoliday: The season 1 finale "Remember Day" takes place on the eponymous holiday... September 11. Hampton [=DeVille=] has manipulated the media to turn the tragedy into a Christmas-esque holiday that they can profit from.
55	* FreezeFrameBonus: Plenty of these, mainly on computer screens showing the employees' email inboxes and calendars, laying bare their sociopathic plans for the week. Also on TV screens streaming content from Hampton [=DeVille=]'s streaming service, Hampton [=DeView=], where if you hit pause you can see listings for their morally dubious programming.
56	* FunWithAcronyms: "Corporate Retreat" features a seminar encouraging employees to become "Alphas wHo Only Like Excellence," or [=AHOLEs=].
57	* HairTodayGoneTomorrow: A flashback in "Remember Day" reveals that John once had a full head of hair.
58	* HardWorkMontage: Matt gets one in "The Powerpoint of Doom" as he works on a presentation to pitch the company's weapons to the military.
59	* HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood: [[spoiler: Peg Peterson]] from "The Pain of Being Alive." Turns out [[spoiler: when she was a kid, her father set her house on fire, kidnapped her while her mother rescued their dog, kept her for three months, and was then shot in the face by the FBI while Peg watched.]]
60	* InhumanResources: Grace uses her HR powers purely for her own gratification, though she's really no worse than anyone else in the company.
61	* TheInternetIsForPorn: Both Matt and Jake have been shown watching porn at work. Together. Jake watches tentacle porn while Matt watches "apology bukkake," which consists of various ex-girlfriends apologizing for breaking up with him.
62	* LouisCypher: Resident BadBoss Christian [=DeVille=]'s name sounds an awful lot like "Christian devil."
63	* MacGuffin: "Trademarq" centers around people protesting Hampton [=DeVille=] for "superfracking." It's never explained what exactly this ''is'', even when directly asked.
64	* MegaCorp: Hampton [=DeVille=]. Their slogan is "We don't make anything. We make everything."
65	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Subverted in "The Powerpoint of Doom" when Matt is working on the company's presentation. He's working on a rather graphic slide with the heading "INSTANT DEATH GUARANTEED!" when it hits him... his font choice was ''awful.''
66	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The season 3 finale features an investigative journalist called [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronan_Farrow "Bonan Marrow"]].
67	* OncePerEpisode: Jake has a compulsion to randomly caress Matt's chin.
68	* ProductPlacement: In "Pickles 4 Breakfast", the global streaming rights to ''Series/GilmoreGirls'' are sold to Creator/PlutoTV, which is identified as part of Creator/{{Viacom}}, which owned Comedy Central up until its absorption in to Creator/ViacomCBS eight months before the episode's broadcast.
69	* TheReasonYouSuck: Matt is given one such speech by Grace in "Natural Beauty" after asking why women wear makeup.
70	* RedOniBlueOni: Matt is more idealistic, while Jake is more cynical.
71	* TheScrooge: Christian in "Remember Day."
72	* SeinfeldianConversation: Matt and Jake are known to have these, about topics like "Is Bin Laden's widow dating again?"
73	* ShaggyDogStory: [[spoiler: "Natural Beauty" is a good example. The entire episode builds up to a pitch to Christian that is immediately rejected on account of his insecurity.]]
74	* SheCleansUpNicely: Matt in "Natural Beauty."
75	* SitcomArchNemesis: Arthur, the CEO of Stockheed Barton, has a longstanding rivalry with Christian [=DeVille=].
76	* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism: This show could not be further to the "cynicism" side if it tried.
77	* StealthPun: The series finale title "Wind of God" could refer to the hurricane machine Hampton [=DeVille=] is developing... [[spoiler: or it could refer to Christian farting in the conference room.]]
78	* StepfordSmiler: All of the laughing, smiling Hampton [=DeVille=] employees in [[https://youtu.be/2qRbUBCV4mM?t=2m22s the show's intro]].
79	* StockSoundEffects: Several episodes utilise the familiar cry of a red-tailed hawk.
80	* SuddenMusicalEnding: "The Concert."
81	* SuicideAsComedy: The latter half of the pilot episode, "The Void."
82	** And again in season 3. So much so, in fact, that before the episode starts, an onscreen message informs the viewer that the creators "talk about suicide so much", some concerned friends made them call a suicide hotline. They also list the number, just in case any viewers feel the same way. The entire episode surrounds Jake saying so many suicide jokes, it concerns Matt enough to get him on meds.
83	* WeatherControlMachine: "Wind of God", the show's GrandFinale, centers around a hurricane machine.
84	** Which is actually a CallBack to the ''first'' episode, when Christian asks Kate and John if they've "finished that hurricane machine yet".
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Context Series / Corporate