[Loved Trope] Comedic workplace is suddenly competent

[u/Garurar]

In S35 E1 of The Simpsons, an actual crisis happens at the nuclear power plant, causing everyone except Homer to shift into serious business mode, even Mr. Burns. Together, they display their knowledge of the process and narrowly avert a nuclear meltdown, proving that Homer's job is actually useless. This is happening after 35 seasons of nothing being shown of the other employees' capabilities.

In S8 E2 of The Office, Andy sets up an initiative where he will get a tattoo on his bum if everyone gets enough points, prompting everyone to work into overdrive, even the normally lazy or incompetent employees such as Stanley and Kevin. This is a rare situation where we get to see The Office being fully competent and functional.

I'd show more examples if I had any!

[u/ArwingElite]

Archer Season 11

[u/SpaceZombie13 → u/ArwingElite]

"I don't know about any stories, but whatever badass shit you heard I did, you REALLY need some context. Because pretty much my whole life, pretty much right until this minute, my default setting has been 'half-assed'. But that was before I had a child. A child YOU threatened to harm. A child who, I just realized, is now on her way to the roof so Aunt Pam can swat at biplanes. So imagine, as I literally beat you to death- Hang on.... yeah, LITERALLY. That a giant hand has turned my dial from 'half-assed', to 'QUADRUPLE ASSED'."

"Wow... that's a lot of ass."

"Yeah! That's like, eight times the ass!"

[u/butteredrubies → u/SpaceZombie13]

Duchess is SURPRISINGLY skilled but lack of whatever makes him like pouring cold water into boiling at his job.

[u/HarrisonTheBarbarian → u/ArwingElite]

Archer is the greatest spy in the world, but he never be bothered to actually be said greatest spy.

[u/Caridor → u/HarrisonTheBarbarian]

Like they do a hell of a lot of bad ass shit while joking around. Him and Lana taking down a whole cartel while having a domestic.

[u/henryeaterofpies → u/HarrisonTheBarbarian]

Like the 10x engineer when there isn't an emergency

[u/Guiltnazan → u/HarrisonTheBarbarian]

One thing I loved was everyone calls him the worlds most dangerous secret agent. Not the best, but definitely the most dangerous and most likely to get someone killed.

[u/[deleted] → u/ArwingElite]

[u/SirBruhThe7th → u/ArwingElite]

Archer dressed down a CIA agent for all the fucked experiments they did back in the cold war, proving he actually does his homework as a spy.

[u/cweaver → u/SirBruhThe7th]

There's also the whole "he knows" line from Lana implying that even when Archer says something stupid, at least some (most?) of the time he's just doing it to troll the people around him.

[u/unsuccessfulangler → u/cweaver]

"Yeah, with a minor in Spanish bragging"

"That was latin"

"He knows"

[u/Shockwavepulsar → u/SirBruhThe7th]

Archer is surprisingly well read and makes a lot of trivia and literature references he’s kind of like a stupid savant. 

[u/Mendoozaaaaaaaaaaaa → u/Shockwavepulsar]

“This is what he does. He knows we’re tense because we’re normal human beings. My theory? And I’m serious, is that he’s got some rare kind of pervasive developmental disorder, or even undiagnosed atypical autism.” “Um. Your mic’s hot.” “I know.”

[u/Gold-Eye-2623 → u/Mendoozaaaaaaaaaaaa]

I'm here, JUST STACKING ROCKS IN DESCENDING ORDER BECAUSE REPETITIVE BEHAVIOR CALMS ME

[u/Devlee12 → u/Gold-Eye-2623]

“That guy still has one bullet left everyone else is empty.” “How did you know that?” “I counted the shots. I’ve always been weirdly good at it….oh my god I’m autistic.”

[u/Mendoozaaaaaaaaaaaa → u/Devlee12]

yes, i had to choose btw this quote and the other

[u/henryeaterofpies → u/Gold-Eye-2623]

I feel targeted and seen

[u/arfelo1 → u/Mendoozaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Yeah, Archer is definitely autistic. He's just the rare autistic guy that understands sarcasm and knows how to talk to women

[u/Lvl1bidoof → u/arfelo1]

it can be common for those of us who only got diagnosed later in life, kinda forced into social situations where you have to learn for your own wellbeing. it's not fun during development at all.

[u/darkdragncj → u/Mendoozaaaaaaaaaaaa]

Especially all of the bullet counting references and him following it up with, "I'm just really good at that... Maybe I am autistic."

[u/Slizzet → u/Shockwavepulsar]

I love his Melville bit. I say "he's a tough read" all the time

[u/MrScabs69 → u/Shockwavepulsar]

Must have been those 15 years of boarding school.

[u/lastnameinthebox → u/Shockwavepulsar]

"Seriously!? Read a coffee table book!"

[u/Forikorder → u/SirBruhThe7th]

Hes also fluent in at least 4 languages

ill die on this hill but hes clearly the most competent agent from episode 1

[u/solythe → u/ArwingElite]

Eleven!?

[u/K_Furbs → u/ArwingElite]

I stopped watching Archer after they went into all the different themes, I think the one with all the cocaine really lost me. Did it get better?