# Who was Milton from Office Space Based On? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456 "2020-08-06T23:54:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/1 "2020-08-06T23:54:19Z")
Years ago, I had rented a DVD set from the local library of some 50s variety show (could have been 40s or early 60s, I guess). One of the characters in the show was exactly like Milton from Office Space – mumbly voice, thick glasses, the works. It might have been the Jack Benny show, but it also might not have been. Any idea? ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/2 "2020-08-06T23:59:17Z")
Milton used to exist in cartoon form on SNL. https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x7ssiki ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/3 "2020-08-07T00:03:42Z")
No, it was definitely not animated. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/4 "2020-08-07T00:04:48Z")
(ninjaed by Biffster) Mike Judge based _Office Space_ on a series of animated shorts he did, about Milton, which aired on SNL and on MTV’s Liquid Television, in the early 1990s (i.e., before his big break with _Beavis and Butt-Head_). The Milton character in the shorts was also voiced by Stephen Root, who played the character in the movie. Judge says that his inspiration for Milton was a co-worker he had at an office job in Silicon Valley in the the 1980s. [As per Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office_Space#Development): > [@](#): > > Peter Chernin, head of 20th Century Fox, where Judge had a deal, wanted to make a film out of the Milton character, inspired by a former coworker of Judge’s in Silicon Valley who had threatened to quit if the company moved his desk again. Now, whether Judge was _also_ inspired (consciously or not) by a nerdy character on an older TV show is another question. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/5 "2020-08-07T00:08:19Z")
Wrong link earlier. Good explanation Kenobi; you’re my only hope. https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x46oo7n ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/6 "2020-08-07T00:18:45Z")
“I asked for no salt. _No Salt!_” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/7 "2020-08-07T00:21:19Z")
The “sad sack” is a perennial character going back decades if not centuries. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/8 "2020-08-07T00:23:21Z")
Are you possibly thinking of Ernie Kovacs as Percy Dovetonsils? [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OWL_NFyO3BI/hqdefault.jpg "Ernie Kovacs as Percy Dovetonsils - "Autumn"") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWL_NFyO3BI) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/9 "2020-08-07T00:47:54Z")
That’s it! Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/10 "2020-08-07T00:54:51Z")
I wouldn’t have ever thought of Percy Dovetonsils as an inspiration for Milton, as Percy was more of an effete highbrow poet, rather than a sad-sack/nebbish. But, I hadn’t seen/listened to a Percy Dovetonsils skit for years, until I followed @Shoeless’s link, and I do hear a similarity in the voice. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/11 "2020-08-07T01:05:22Z")
Yes, very similar, plus the lisp, plus the glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@Two\_Many\_Cats2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_Many_Cats2)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/12 "2020-08-08T12:54:06Z")
Percy Dovetonsils as a personality is far, far removed from Milton. I don’t see him as an inspiration for the Mike Judge character at all. Plus Judge has never mentioned such. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/13 "2020-08-08T12:56:06Z")
No, but I think was an inspiration for Stephen Root’s portrayal of Milton. Just the mannerisms and way of speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-milton-from-office-space-based-on/917456/14 "2020-08-08T14:29:45Z")
Yeah, when I suggested Percy Dovetonsils I wasn’t thinking so much as an inspiration for Milton, but more as a response to the OP’s question about a character from a 50s/60s TV variety show with thick glasses, talked funny, etc. There’s a similarity but I think it’s probably more coincidence than anything else.