Jimmy: "But I’ll need help…How about three employees?" Johnny Johnson: "How about one employee?" Jimmy: "How about two employees?" Johnny: "How about one employee and Matthew?" Jimmy: "How about one employee?" ("Clash of the Titans" [5-8]) "I have itchy red welts on my buttocks" – Matthew ("Award Show" [3-6])

The best way to describe Andy Dick’s Matthew Brock is "childlike." For evidence of his being childlike we can take his fascination with toys, for example, the goofy ball in "Goofy Ball" [2-2] and the toy car in "Beep, Beep" [4-16], and the fact that his birthday parties typically feature party hats ("Beep, Beep") or a clown and pony (mentioned in "Towers" [5-13]). As all those references to The Hobbit, Dungeons & Dragons, wizards and pegasi indicated, fantasy remained a very active part of Matthew’s life, and he often had trouble separating fantasy from reality. Two examples are his recollection of his dream sequence from "Catherine Moves On" [4-7] and the following scene from "Pure Evil" [4-6].

The corollary to his being childlike was his being childish. Stunted emotional development underlies the extremism of Matthew’s Bill-worship as well as the extreme overcompensation that occurs when freed of it (in "Led Zeppelin Boxed Set" [3-13] he becomes a bullying terror to the staff). Similarly, immaturity was the reason for his difficulty in all relationships, including incessant clinging in his friendships with Joe ("The Cane" [2-9], "Clash of the Titans") and Dave (virtually all of season five). In fact, the Matthew-Bill relationship was essentially replaced by the Matthew-Dave relationship in season five.

Matthew’s entrenched existence as a perpetual incompetent was also a direct extension of his childishness. As time went on, this aspect of Matthew became so well developed that from season four onwards it was commonplace to make direct jokes about it, such as "building a terrarium for Matthew" and Matthew falling off the monkey bars in "Security Door" [4-14] or Joe joking about building a box to keep him in ("Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show" [4-8]). "Big Brother" [4-15] even went so far as to give Matthew a mentoring "big brother" and a "big sister" in Beth.

Andy Dick’s comedy style is a physical one (although admittedly a much broader one than that of Maura Tierney, Joe Rogan, Stephen Root, and even Vicki Lewis). The broadness of his physical acting became increasingly appropriate for his character as they pushed Matthew to deeper levels of incompetence and childishness. Unless one is aiming to imitate The Three Stooges the general rule is that in the cinema comedy should be played straight. All the other actors on the cast played comedy straight, but Andy Dick delightfully functioned as the show’s sole resident clown. It was John Grierson who once wrote that "Clowns are the world’s incompetents," and no statement is more apt to Dick’s case.

Having more than one Matthew would have been too much (and it was also fortunate that his broad comedic style could be diffused within the ensemble cast), but as the show’s clown he could take the comedy to places most shows could not go. Two moments stand out for me as illustrations of this. Firstly, I recall the scene at Petey the Pirate’s in "The Secret of Management" [4-9] where Matthew is in the playroom; from under the pile of colored balls in succession up pop the heads of Cadbury (Bill’s valet), Dave, Bill and the waitress. This is just the type of comedy that could only be accomplished through the involvement of a character like Matthew. Secondly, there is the gag that ends the opening sequence of "Bitch Session" [2-12]. Bill tries to get Matthew to spill his coffee by surprising him with his high-pitched voice over the loudspeaker. Matthew does not fall for it, but when Beth comes along to ask him the time he spills his coffee all over himself when he looks at his watch. This is an old gag, but what is surprising is not only how elegantly it is executed but that they could even use it at all, a feat that most comedies would find impossible. This is the value of having a clown.

With his broad physical comedy, Matthew possessed the vital role of providing the change-ups for the show. When the show needed to change gears from one scene to the next, a Matthew Brock pratfall was often called for, and the most frequent way of ending the opening sequence of an episode was with a Matthew Brock pratfall. (There was even an in-joke in "Bitch Session" [2-12] wherein after an acting performance mercilessly parodying Dave, Bill says, "I try to stay away from the broad physical stuff, no offence Matthew.") It is a tribute to the show’s accomplishment that they could integrate such diverse comedic talents, including Andy Dick’s comedic style.