Dilbert (character)

Dilbert
Dilbert character
A signed "Scott Adams" Dilbert animation cel
Created by	Scott Adams
Voiced by	Kelly Connell (Dilbert's Desktop Games) Daniel Stern (TV series)
Information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Family	Dilmom (mother), Dadbert (father)
Nationality	American

Dilbert is a fictional character and the main character and protagonist of the Dilbert comic strip. He is a white collar office worker who has a rare medical condition characterized by an extreme intuition about all things mechanical and electrical (and utter social ineptitude), an idea that an animated television episode explored and is titled "The Knack". He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Although his ideas typically are sensible and occasionally even revolutionary, seldom does anyone pursue them because he is powerless. He finds himself easily frustrated by the incompetence and/or malevolence of his co-workers (most often the Pointy-Haired Boss) and often is sarcastic and snide. Dilbert's unusual name was suggested to Scott Adams by a co-worker; Adams later found that the name likely came from a cartoon character used by the United States Navy during World War II.

In an interview with The New York Times Adams said that he based Dilbert's character on someone he knew, saying: "I worked around engineers for most of my 16 years of corporate life. Dilbert is actually designed after one person in particular. Interestingly, that person is not aware that he is the model for Dilbert. I didn’t know him well and never mentioned it to him."

Dilbert lives with his pets, Dogbert and Ratbert, and the three dinosaurs Bob, Rex, and Dawn, in an unnamed American suburb, probably in Iowa (though in the TV series, during Dilbert's pregnancy saga, aliens on the highway following Dilbert along with a host of others crash into a sign that says "Townbert", and in episode 3, Lena's car has a licence plate with Minnesota on it), although only Dogbert is regularly seen (as well as Ratbert to a lesser degree). Dilbert often interacts with his co-workers, most commonly including Alice, Wally and Asok (and in the TV series, Loud Howard). He is single and has few friends as a result of his poor social skills, although he has been on many dates and was in a relationship with a woman named Liz for two years between 1994 and 1996, and appears to be on decent-enough terms with most of the aforementioned co-workers. Dilbert also had a girlfriend named Amber for a short stretch in 2001, after Amber stated that she wanted to date a "homely," smart man. However, they broke up quickly after she presented Dilbert with unrealistic required changes to his appearance and evaded his attempt to make out by turning off the lights and allowing Dilbert to kiss Bob instead. While he is frequently seen having dates with eligible women, the dates almost invariably end in disaster, usually in surreal and bizarre ways. Dilbert has only two notable friends, Dogbert and Wally, though Wally once told him "don't flatter yourself" when Dilbert referred to him as a friend and Dogbert has alluded to staying around Dilbert out of amusement concerning Dilbert's suffering (and because the coffee is good). Dogbert will play jokes on and even be cruel to Dilbert, but like all faithful dogs, he will not tolerate anyone else doing this to him. Dilbert treats the Pointy-Haired Boss like the plague and has very little loyalty towards him or the company for obvious reasons. Dilbert can often predict exactly how and when the boss will doom the current assignment. Dilbert loves computers and technology, and will spend much of his free time playing with such things. Most of his relationships with his co-workers and family are affected by his extreme sincerity, his endless but justifiable complaining, and his humorless dry wit. Although he is an excellent worker, and does not stop trying, he acknowledges that this will get him nowhere.