Andy Bernard

Andy Bernard
The Office character
Ed Helms as Andy Bernard
First appearance	"Gay Witch Hunt"
Last appearance	"Finale"
Created by	Greg Daniels
Portrayed by	Ed Helms
Information
Nickname(s)	"The 'Nard-Dog" "The 'Nard-Puppy" (as a child) "Drew" "The Penguin" "Hubble" "El Guapo" "Boner Champ" "Puke" "Buzz" "Ace" "Baskin Robbins" "St. Bernard" "Pat the Mechanic" "King Butt" "Baby Wawa"
Gender	Male
Occupation	Sales Associate at Abercrombie Regional Director in Charge of Sales, Dunder Mifflin, Stamford CT Regional Director in Charge of Sales, Dunder Mifflin, Scranton PA Regional Manager, Dunder Mifflin Sabre, Scranton PA Founder, Big Red Paper Company Admissions office employee at Cornell University
Family	Walter Bernard, Sr. (Father) ("The Nard-Man") Ellen Bernard (Mother) Walter Bernard, Jr. (Brother) Unnamed Sister Ruth (Grandmother) Unnamed Cousin
Significant other(s)	Erin Hannon (ex-girlfriend) Jessica (ex-girlfriend) Angela Martin (ex-fiancee)

Andrew Baines "Andy" Bernard (born in 1973; Walter Bernard, Jr.) is a fictional character from the U.S. comedy television series, The Office. Andy is portrayed by Ed Helms. He has no counterpart in the original British version of the series. He is introduced as the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford branch of paper distribution company Dunder Mifflin in the third season premiere when Jim Halpert transfers, ultimately merging with the Scranton branch in the episode "The Merger" later in the season. He becomes Regional Manager at the Scranton branch courtesy of Robert California in the eighth season premiere following the departure of Michael Scott and Deangelo Vickers, although temporarily is fired and replaced by Nellie Bertram before his reinstatement by new CEO David Wallace. Although throughout the ninth season, Andy's relationship with Wallace deteriorates from Andy's lack of focus and professionalism, eventually culminating in Andy's voluntary resignation, to his reinstatement as a salesman to his eventual firing again, after Andy begs David Wallace to fire him in order to pursue a singing career. This all happens over the course of one day in "Livin' the Dream".

His character is insecure, seemingly due to a strained parental relationship, yet demonstrates self-centered and arrogant attitudes. He often references his education at Cornell University, where he was a part of an a cappella group, which contributed to his love for theatrical singing. Andy demonstrates a sycophantic attitude toward his superiors as well as severe anger management issues. He becomes involved in a long-term but failed relationship with accountant Angela Martin, but later finds a deeper connection with receptionist Erin Hannon. However, the relationship starts to sour throughout the ninth season and finally ends in "Couples Discount" when Erin gets fed up with Andy's neglect and selfishness.

His character was named one of the most annoying TV characters of 2011 by Vulture magazine.^[1] He was also considered one of the show's funniest characters, according to a list made by Nerve in the same year, ranking #2 in the “Least funny to funniest characters on The Office”, losing just to Steve Carell's lead character, Michael Scott^[2]

Biography

Andy claims to have been born and raised in Simsbury, Connecticut.^[3] His birth name was Walter Bernard Jr., but after his younger brother was born, his parents decided that the new baby better embodied that name and should be named after his father instead. Thus, the original Walter was renamed Andrew, a name taken from a book of baby names. He claims to have been an obese child, though he never talks about it. It can be assumed that Andy's family was considerably wealthy growing up, as he admits that whenever anybody wanted something they would write it on a list for the housekeeper to get.^[4]

Andy is a 1995 alumnus of Cornell University, which he will often brag about to his peers, and minored in History. In a talking-head interview, he brags that he graduated in four years, having never studied once, been drunk the whole time, and sung in the a cappella group "Here Comes Treble", which he mentions often. Andy is descended from a well-heeled line of WASPs, that he claims "goes all the way back to Moses". Andy often refers to himself by his nickname, "the 'Nard Dog". Within "Here Comes Treble", his nickname is "Boner Champ," which he earned after engaging in coitus with a snowman to completion.^[5] He enjoys singing in a high falsetto voice, occasionally to the accompaniment of his banjo. He has experimented with the sitar, eventually learning to play "Deck the Halls".^[6] He also plays piano and guitar.

Andy has worked at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, AIG, and Enron. It is also revealed that Andy suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.^[7]

Andy was the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Dunder Mifflin Stamford branch. Andy worked with fellow salesmen Jim and Karen, under the direction of Josh Porter. Upon the branch's closure, Andy transferred to the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch.

Andy is shown to enjoy inventing nicknames for his colleagues. He nicknamed Jim "Big Tuna", because he ate a tuna sandwich on his first day at the Stamford branch, and once called Ryan Howard "Big Turkey," presumably for a similar reason.^[8]

Prior to his Anger Management training, Andy had severe anger problems. Upon finding his calculator embedded in Jell-O, a trademark prank of Jim's, he screams and kicks a trash can across the office.^[9] After punching a hole in the wall of the office, in frustration over his hidden cellphone, Andy is sent to Anger Management training, which he claims is still "Management Training."^[8]

Andy regularly dresses in a distinctive, over-the-top preppy style, usually consisting of bright colored pants (some embroidered with animals and tennis racquets), d-ring belts, tattersall shirts, sweater vests, striped ties, a tie clip, or sometimes even a bowtie. In various episodes, Andy wears clothes of the style found at the stores Brooks Brothers and J. Crew. In various episodes, Andy is seen wearing a blue, thick woven bracelet on his right wrist, despite that it will, at times, clash with his overall appearance.

During the summer of 2011, Andy is promoted to Regional Manager of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch.^[10] However, when he returns to Scranton after a trip to Florida and discovers that Nellie Bertram has replaced him, he goes into a fit of rage.^[11] After the incident, he refuses to be demoted, which ultimately leads to Robert California firing him. However, after persuading David Wallace to re-purchase the company, Andy is reinstated as manager. Andy then tells David Wallace that he is going to quit his job, only having second thoughts almost immediately, gets temporarily re hired as a salesman. Then, he quits again to pursue his dream of being an entertainer.

After embarrassing himself at a singing competition show audition, Andy lands a job in the admissions office at Cornell. Not long after, he meets and falls in love with a woman whom he marries.

Relationships

Despite being considered irritating by some of his co-workers, Andy is well-intentioned, and typically shows a rapport with his colleagues, as well as a desire to confirm that they are enjoying themselves.

Erin Hannon

In season 6, Andy takes an interest in receptionist Erin Hannon, who has mutual affections, but due to miscommunication, there was a long period where the two waited for the other to make a move. However, Andy eventually asks Erin out on a date, and she graciously accepts.^[12] A few months later, after Erin discovers, through Michael Scott, of Andy's former engagement to accountant Angela Martin, she throws cake in Andy's face, and decides that they need to take a break from one another.^[13] Over a year later, Erin, after breaking up with Gabe Lewis, asks Andy out on a date, but he dismisses her advances, because of his lingering issues with her leaving him for Gabe.^[14] When Andy introduces his girlfriend Jessica to the Office at a Christmas party, Erin initially appears friendly to her, but she becomes drunk, and confesses to Andy that she wishes Jessica was deceased. Greatly offended, Andy informs Erin that she needs to get over their break-up, and briskly leaves.^[15] Upon learning that Erin wishes to live in Tallahassee, Florida, Andy drives to Tallahassee to get back together with Erin. At first he is unsuccessful, but ultimately gets her back, and they make up and kiss in the middle of the street.^[16] When Andy discovers his job is stolen by Nellie when he and Erin return to the office, he is demoted to salesman again and holds back his anger. The day seems to get worse when their sex life becomes the subject of a staff meeting, embarrassing them. When Nellie makes another quip, Erin snaps and in turn, encourages Andy to finally let his anger loose on Nellie, which later helps Andy get his confidence back and improves their sex life. However, during season 9, their relationship starts to show cracks as Andy comes back from a training seminar that has made him more confident, but seemingly more selfish to Erin. When Andy takes his parents boat to Bermuda for three weeks, he leaves Erin behind, who looks on disappointed. Erin later goes out with Pete, a new co-worker for drinks. Three weeks later becomes three months, which makes Erin increasingly unhappy after Andy neglects her by being unsociable. Erin later tries to dump Andy in "Couples Discount", until he convinces her that they can fake love each other like his parents did. Erin initially agrees to this until she talks to Pete, who only wants her to be happy. This prompts Erin to finally break up with Andy by citing both his neglect for her and that he was irresponsible for being gone for three months from work. During "Moving On", Andy's distraught behavior affects his professional relationship with Erin and the staff, and has him confiding some of the staff, including Pete, whom Erin is dating in secrecy from Andy. When Andy learns of their relationship, he acts irrationally to where Erin and Pete lecture him that he needs to move on. Vengeful, Andy hires both Gabe and Alice (Collette Wolfe), who is Pete's ex-girlfriend and a marketing professional, with the intent of making Erin and Pete uncomfortable. The ploy works to the point where arguments break out between the parties in the conference room, as Erin and Pete's issues with their past relationships surface. Andy smugly says to the camera that making the new couple unhappy, has made him feel better. In the episode Livin' the Dream, Andy and Erin are seen speaking pleasantly to each other and Erin even admits her concern for his well being saying she's worried he'll "be homeless or even starve." Later on during Andy's goodbye song Erin can be seen watching Andy with a serious look of affection, making it unclear whether or not the two still have romantic feelings for each other. In the Finale Andy, Erin, and even Pete are all shown to be getting along well and spending time together during the after party in the warehouse, indicating the tensions from earlier have vanished (though it is unclear if Erin and Pete are still a couple at that point, as the episode doesn't provide any evidence in either direction).

Angela Martin

In the fourth season, Andy begins a relationship with accountant Angela Martin, who half-heartedly began dating him on the rebound, after she had broken up with Dwight Schrute (whose relationship with her had been unknown to the majority of the staff).^[17] After dating for about seven months, Andy proposes to Angela, during Toby Flenderson's farewell party, and she solemnly accepts.^[18] However, during their engagement, she resumes her affair with Dwight. Andy endures tremendous effort in order to prepare Angela's dream wedding. Upon learning about the affair, both he and Dwight break up with her, and Andy is initially crushed.^[19] When Andy is leaving the office for good after he quits to seek fame, Angela tries to talk him out of it; Andy wrongly assumes she regrets ending their relationship, and says he does think about her often, but Angela is able to choke back her disgust and she and Andy part ways with a hug.

Dwight Schrute

Since his arrival, Andy and Dwight had a competitive professional relationship; he and Dwight argued over which title, Assistant Regional Manager (Dwight) or Regional Director in Charge of Sales (Andy), was higher in command. Eventually the two duel over Angela when it is found she is cheating on Andy with Dwight.^[19] After the fight, both relationships end and Angela is left heartbroken and alone. A few months later, the two soon begin competing for the attention of Erin, but Dwight ultimately decides to cease pursuing her in order to maintain a good relationship with Andy.^[20] However, after Andy is hired as Regional Manager, Andy makes Dwight his "Enforcer", in order to stay on good terms, but Dwight later states, in a talking-head interview, that he will simply "wait for Andy's inevitable demise". During "Couples Discount", Dwight is unable to get Andy's sign off on prices with a major sale that Dwight landed, although when Andy suddenly reappears, he chastises Dwight over not having his approval on the prices. When Dwight informs him that Andy was on a boat and unreachable, Andy tries again to maintain his authority. But that backfires when Andy decides to renege on the prices with Dwight's client, thus voiding both a major sale for the company and wrecks Dwight's sales record. Dwight later tells false stories to Andy when the manager is in need of being caught up on his branch, in hopes of sabotaging Andy. When Dwight learns he's in line to become the permanent branch manager and Andy asks if his plan to quit and seek stardom is a good idea, Dwight kindly but firmly tells Andy that he would benefit greatly from Andy's departure but, having seen Andy perform, he thinks Andy should NOT quit his day job. Andy later returns to Scranton to attend Dwight's wedding to Angela.

Jim and Pam Halpert

Andy has been the subject of many pranks by Jim and Pam, some of which have caused for his anger issues to unfold. Andy also had a romantic interest in Pam,^[21] but due to intentionally misleading advice given to him by Jim, it did not develop into a relationship. Although the two will, at times, act considerably mean to Andy, Jim and Pam are often pleasant to him, and even give him advice when he needs it. When Andy goes through a rough breakup, he gives Jim wildly bad advice when he suspects Pam of controlling him. However Jim uses it as an opportunity to prank Andy throughout the day before he sees through the ruse, prompting Jim to comfort him about finding someone else. Jim is also supportive of both Andy and Darryl when they interview for the position of Regional Manager.^[14] After Jim is sent to Tallahassee along with Dwight, Cathy Simms, Erin, Stanley Hudson, and Ryan Howard, Pam and Andy are primarily seen hanging out with each other, with him defending her from a group of young girls leading him to a blackened eye and persistent mocking from the rest of the office.^[22]

Darryl Philbin

Initially, Darryl and Andy were foes. Darryl states that Andy once used him as a scapegoat, nearly getting him terminated from his job, for a mistake that Andy had made.^[23] Andy also attempts to order Darryl around when Sabre's "Sales is King" policy greatly affects the sales staff's egos.^[24] However, over time, the two develop a strong friendship. When Darryl confides in Andy that he wished he had remained a member of the warehouse staff, Andy convinces him to make the most of his position and continue rising in the company.^[25] When Darryl is depressed over not winning a lottery that the warehouse staff won and shared, he demands that Andy either terminate him or give him the Manager position. Andy is blunt, but kind, as he informs Darryl the truth about his shortcomings, and Darryl subsequently rededicates himself to his job.^[26] When he meets Andy's family, Darryl overhears Andy's father berate him over his status in life, and finally understands why Andy needs to please others, and later participates in cheering Andy up, along with the rest of the staff.^[27] Darryl is also one of the few people in the office, along with Jim, Pam and Erin, who did not accept Nellie Bertram's attempt at usurping Andy's job. Darryl is not impressed with Andy's acting ability, to the point of bluntly saying Andy needs to have a job that will tolerate his inevitable and chronic mistakes (Andy cluelessly thinks Darryl is expressing strong covert support for Andy's dreams) and later avoiding him during the Finale's reunion and other events, but he is visibly impressed with Andy's speech at Cornell and gives him a hug.

Gabe Lewis

While initially having a neutral relationship with Corporate liaison Gabe Lewis, after he began dating Erin in the summer of 2010, Andy has since developed a dislike for him. In the episode, Nepotism, Andy imagines Gabe being eaten by a whale.^[28] Gabe becomes irritated with Andy, because Andy holds a work meeting that is a thinly veiled attempt to learn whether Gabe and Erin are having sex or not. He bluntly tells Andy that he asked for his permission before pursuing Erin, and says that Andy needs to accept the situation and move on.^[29] After Erin breaks up with Gabe, Gabe begins to heavily resent Andy, and threatens him not to make any advances on Erin.^[30][31] When Andy interviews for the Regional Manager position, Gabe displays a negative, biased opinion of him. Later, he unsuccessfully attempts to convince the CEO of Sabre, Jo Bennett, not to hire Andy as Manager.^[14] For the next year (until Gabe is written out of the series), Andy and Gabe are generally rivals, often making snide remarks to one another.

Phyllis Lapin-Vance

In earlier interactions, Andy and Phyllis Lapin-Vance were shown to have a hostile relationship. After Jim hides Andy's cellphone from him, Andy attempts to search for it in Phyllis's desk drawer. She harshly closes it, and Andy loudly exclaims "I don't trust you, Phyllis!".^[8] When Andy finds himself attracted to potential client Julia, he questions Phyllis on who she is. Phyllis immediately answers that Julia is "Out of [Andy's] league". An offended Andy attempts to rebuff her opinion, stating that he has been with a numerous amount of beautiful women, leading Phyllis to knowingly ask "Sexually?", to which Andy abruptly ends the conversation.^[32] When Gabe and Jo are interviewing the staff to find the potential employee that leaked to the press that Sabre's printers catch on fire, Phyllis quietly tells Andy "Put your hand up, Norma Rae". Andy then tells her that if she says anything incriminating about him, he will "Break off the temples of [her] glasses and stick them in [her] eye sockets". Later, when Nick, the IT guy, reveals that Andy was, indeed, the whistleblower, Phyllis hides Andy's carry-on bag in the ceiling, coldly telling him "You deserve it".^[33] Throughout the seventh season, however, Andy and Phyllis grow closer, and it is shown that Phyllis truly cares for Andy, wanting the best for him. When Andy is upset about Gabe and Erin's possible sex life, Phyllis agrees to ask Erin leading questions to learn the truth.^[34]

Robert California

After becoming the new CEO of Sabre, Robert California appointed Andy as Regional Manager of the Scranton branch.^[10] Since then, Andy has developed an awkward relationship with Robert, who he is eager to impress, and highly intimidated by. Robert states that the reason he chose Andy for the Manager position, is because he is "All surface... Uncomplicated, what you see is what you get".^[35] Andy and Robert's contentious relationship climaxes when Robert allows Nellie Bertram to usurp Andy's Regional Manager position, and Andy is fired for refusing to accept Nellie as manager,^[11] only able to reclaim his managerial role by convincing David Wallace to purchase Dunder Mifflin away from Sabre and Robert.

Character history

Season 3

Andy is introduced in the season 3 premiere as the Regional Director in Charge of Sales at the Stamford branch, where Jim has transferred to.^[9] Early season episodes reveal his anger issues, displayed when he finds his calculator encased in Jell-O and when he performs poorly due to Jim's inexperience at Call of Duty.^[36]

After the closure of Stamford and merger with Scranton, Andy attempts to gain favor with manager Michael Scott through his quoted tactics of "name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake". There is rivalry with Dwight Schrute over whether his title is higher than that of Dwight's Assistant Regional Manager, fueling an intense power struggle. However, Michael becomes agitated at Andy's sycophantic attitude and poor salesmanship, as does the office at his obnoxious singing. Jim hides Andy's mobile phone that rings with Andy's rendition of "Rockin' Robin" in the ceiling, enraging him into punching a hole in the office wall. A producer's cut of the episode explains Andy's departure from subsequent episodes as due to being sent to anger management training.^[8]

Andy returns a few months later to a short-lived "three-year" shunning courtesy of Dwight.^[37] He accompanies Jim to meet with clients from a local high school following an obscene watermark being vandalized onto Dunder Mifflin paper. This unexpected trip leads Andy to the discovery that his girlfriend is a high school student.^[38]

At the Beach Games, Andy captains a team alongside Jim, Dwight and Stanley Hudson in a competition for Michael's selection of the next Regional Manager of the Scranton branch, as Michael believes he is a shoo-in for a position at corporate. However, he falls plight to the sabotage of Angela Martin, who favors Dwight, and ends up in a sumo wrestler costume drifting away into Lake Scranton.^[39] However, when Dwight is pre-emptively named Regional Manager by Michael (who is confident that he will receive a promotion), Andy is named Assistant Regional Manager, although never actually becomes ARM as Michael does not receive the corporate promotion.^[40]

Season 4

With the departure of Karen after Jim dumping her off-screen, Andy becomes the only salesman from Stamford aside from Jim to stay on at the Scranton branch. A preview clip for the fourth season features Andy taking up inner-tubing. The fourth season premiere, "Fun Run", has Andy competitively participating in Michael's superfluously named run for rabies prevention through strategically drafting Kevin, although he falls prey to "nipple chafing."^[41]

Andy develops a friendship with Dwight in the second episode "Launch Party", in which he supports Dwight in beating the online sales of the company website Dunder Mifflin Infinity using a bear horn, much to the irritation of the office. He also develops a relationship with Angela, not being aware of Dwight and Angela's previous romantic interludes. He steals an elaborate ice sculpture for Angela's launch party, and serenades her later in the same episode with a rendition of the ABBA song "Take a Chance on Me", receiving a rare, yet quickly suppressed smile in return.^[42] He moonwalks in "Money" by her desk to impress her, although it takes the gift of the cat Garbage (from the previous episode) and a sentimental note to finally win her.^[43][44] Angela and Andy continue to date into "Local Ad", in which Andy consults Dwight on how to pursue more intimacy with Angela. Andy discusses the exclamation of "Oh, D!" Angela exclaims during intimate moments, unaware that Angela may be referring to a nickname for Dwight and not him.^[45]

Andy and Kevin successfully team up in the season to take back lost parking spaces taken in the first place by renovators of another company in the business park in a meeting of the building tenants, referred to as the "The Five Families".^[46] He is rebuffed from clubbing in "Night Out" with Michael and Dwight in New York with the newly promoted Ryan by Dwight, who has a rekindled dislike for Andy considering his relationship with Angela. This is evidenced later in "Did I Stutter?" when Dwight uses pressuring negotiation tactics in order to buy Andy's Nissan Xterra at a reduced price, only to flip it for profit on eBay much to Andy's protest.^[47]

In "Job Fair", Andy is invited to accompany Jim on a major sales call. However, in a deleted scene, Jim reveals Andy was invited in order to benefit Jim, as Andy's pride for Cornell would push the client- a graduate of Dartmouth- toward him. The scheme plays out as intended when the client invites Kevin to play golf with him again but denies Andy's request to join them.^[48]

In "Goodbye, Toby", Andy proposes to Angela (unbeknownst to him, at the same moment Jim had been preparing to propose to Pam) with a ring that he has carried in his wallet for six years, because "You never know when you'll meet the right girl". Angela accepts his proposal with a somewhat irritated "Okay"; shortly thereafter, though, she rekindled her intimate relationship with her former lover, Dwight, which is witnessed by Phyllis and the camera crew, who walk in on them making love by her desk.

Season 5

Between season four and five, Andy plans his wedding with Angela, although his ideas are often rejected by her. Unknown to him is the continual affairs between his fiancee and Dwight. It takes until "Customer Survey" to convince her on a wedding concept, although Angela has manipulated Andy into having the only option to satisfy her demands being Dwight's farm. However, Andy has already placed many non-refundable deposits on other wedding ideas and lost them to Angelia's indecisiveness.^[49] The NBC/Office website contains a feature where Andy reveals all the details of his and Angela's wedding ^[50]

In "Business Trip", Andy and Oscar bond over Andy's failed attempt to set Oscar up, drunkenly calling Angela and asking why they haven't consummated their relationship. Andy does admit Angela makes him a "better man" during his talks with Oscar, although he fails to hear Dwight in the background of the call. In the morning, Angela pushes him back to first base, although Andy feels better from the closer relationship he's gained with Oscar.^[51] Angela and Andy later go on a tour of Schrute Farms in "The Surplus", unfortunately for Andy, who continually steps in manure on the grounds of the farm. During a tour of the wedding chapel, Andy portrays Angela's father and Dwight as Andy in a wedding rehearsal that Andy is unaware to be a real wedding whose marriage license Angela later voids. This forward act by Dwight pushes Angela toward committing toward Andy in the long run.^[52]

In "Moroccan Christmas", Andy takes up playing the sitar, and brings it to the office Christmas party. While he is in another room, Phyllis reveals that Dwight is having an affair with Angela. Andy then returns, unaware of what the rest of the staff knows and decides not to reveal, and goes home with Angela.^[53]

In "The Duel", Michael informs him of Angela and Dwight's affair, and Andy responds to this by confronting Dwight and challenging him to a duel. They meet out in the parking lot, where Dwight realizes that Angela has had sex with Andy, as well, despite telling Dwight that she had only been sleeping with him. Realizing that they have both been lied to, Andy cancels his wedding cake, and Dwight throws out the bobble head in his likeness, implying the men's relationships with Angela are now over. Andy refers to Angela on his registry as "The maid of DIS-honor".^[54]

In the beginning of "Stress Relief", the staff is trapped in the office, while under the impression that it is on fire. Everyone panics, and Andy attempts to escape out one of the doors, but burns his hand, as Dwight had previously heated it with a propane torch. When Dwight sets off firecrackers, Andy believes that "The fire's shooting at [them]!". He then teams up with Jim, and they attempt to use the copier as a battering ram, against one of the locked doors. Later, at Michael's Roast, Andy writes a song about how unintelligent Michael is, aptly called "What I Hate About You".^[55]

In a deleted scene from "Lecture Circuit", Andy is shown to have a McCain-Palin bumper sticker on his car, which he scrapes off because he is romantically interested in Julia, an African-American, potential client, who he presumably assumes voted for Barack Obama (although, it is also possible that he only had the sticker to appease Angela, who is a Conservative).^[56] He later attempts to kiss Julia, and she politely, but firmly rebuffs him. Later, he miserably notes that Dunder Mifflin also lost the account.^[57]

In "Blood Drive", when Michael holds a meeting for the Lonely Hearts Club party, he inquires as to Andy's whereabouts, since he is nowhere to be seen. Oscar informs the other staff that Andy is attending one of his honeymoons, which puzzles Michael. Oscar then explains that when Andy was making plans for the wedding, he put down non-refundable deposits at multiple destinations, and ended up going to all of them, to fulfill the deposit. Andy is later referred to as "That new jackass" by Bob Vance, when he and Phyllis are having lunch with Jim and Pam.^[58]

In "Golden Ticket", Andy gives Kevin romantic advice that appears to reflect his own experiences with Angela: he tells him to never give his date compliments, push for physical contact, and be assertive to the point of rudeness.^[59] In a deleted scene, Andy refers to Angela as "Satan".^[60]

In "New Boss", he is one of the observers of Michael's immature antics when he starts repeating everything that the new boss, Charles Miner, says. With the rest of the staff, Andy insists that Michael stop before he makes things worse for himself and for everyone else.^[61]

In "Two Weeks", Andy gives Michael a bottle of wine as a farewell gift, and Michael indirectly insults him. Later, in the Break Room, when Michael decides to start his own paper company, he offers him a job, to which a visibly uncomfortable Andy is about to reject Michael, when Dwight enters the room, and Andy refers Michael to Dwight, before leaving.^[62]

In "Heavy Competition", Andy offers bargain deals on wedding plans to Pam and Jim. However, he mistakes Pam's rejection of Jim's ideas as Pam controlling him. Andy assumes the role as Jim's emotional rock, which Jim goes along with, as a prank. When Andy makes an announcement to the office for them to respect Jim's emotional needs, Phyllis informs him that Jim is just messing with him. When he goes to confront Jim over the matter, Jim tells Andy that he is very happy with Pam, and assures Andy that, while his breakup with Angela was "A bummer", he will find someone else.^[63]

In the episode "Cafe Disco", Andy and Kelly compete in a dance-off, and he proves himself to be as enthusiastic about dancing, as he is about music. In the last scene of the episode, Kelly and Andy are seen in the men's bathroom, where she is about to give him an ear piercing, something that he fears the pain of, as well as worrying that he will be pierced on the "Gay ear".^[64]

Season 6

Andy continues to develop a friendship and an attraction to Erin, which began late in the fifth season. However, the pair are both too timid to reveal their feelings for one another. In "Murder", Andy asks Erin out on a date while playing a game called Belles, Bourbon, and Bullets, but is confused whether she was just playing along with the game. When she implies that she said yes as Naughty Nellie, he says that he also asked her out in character, leaving both disappointed.^[65] It is also revealed in "Koi Pond", that Andy is currently the second-worst Salesman of the branch, along with Pam, and they are forced to make fruitless efforts at "cold call" selling.^[66]

In "Gossip", Michael spreads the rumour that Andy is actually homosexual, which causes Andy to question his own sexuality throughout the episode.^[67]

In "Secret Santa", Andy requests to be Erin's secret Santa. He then proceeds to give Erin the Twelve Days of Christmas. Subsequently, Erin becomes injured by the geese, terrorized by the other gifts of birds, and angered at whomever is her secret Santa. Michael, disgruntled by the fact that Phyllis was made office Santa that year instead of him, reveals to the entire office that Andy is Erin's secret Santa. Unfazed, Andy hires 12 professional drummers to perform for Erin and the rest of the staff at the end of the episode, which Erin enjoys.^[68]

In "Niagara", the night before Jim and Pam's wedding, Andy rips his scrotum on his car keys while in the midst of a dance-off competition with his co-workers. Andy confesses that he had never done the splits before, but he is motivated to perform this dance move to impress Erin. Pam takes Andy to the hospital the night before her wedding as everyone else is too drunk to drive.

In "Sabre," he believes that after hiring professional drummers for Erin, she should ask him out. However, she believes that he will ask her out and she can't wait to see how he "tops [the drummers]."

In "The Delivery," after Michael arranges a date between Erin and Kevin, this incites Andy to finally and successfully ask Erin out, although initially his ploy to ask her out backfires.

In "New Leads," after Michael distributes the sales leads to rest of the staff, Erin hides Andy's leads. The Hot & Cold game she plays with him in the reception area turns into an uncomfortable situation where Andy almost fondles Erin's chest. At the end of episode, a "hot-blooded" Erin offers a cold Andy her jacket in a landfill where they share their first kiss. Earlier in the episode, Andy lets the new sales leads get to his head and greatly offends Darryl. He, along with the rest of the sales staff, is convinced by Jim that their poor attitudes have alienated everyone else, and agrees to Jim's proposal to smooth things over with the staff.

During "Happy Hour," Andy and Erin's attempts to keep their relationship under wraps, backfires constantly when they're too overzealous about hiding it. Finally sick of hiding the truth, Andy declares their relationship during the company's happy hour gathering.

In "Secretary's Day", Andy pulls out all stops in making sure that Erin has a memorable Secretary's Day, even asking Michael to treat Erin out to lunch, which the boss reluctantly agrees to do. However, when Michael reveals that Andy was engaged to Angela, Erin reacts badly. She even throws cake in Andy's face when he tries to serenade her with one of his songs, and wants to take a break from their relationship. Michael does smooth things over a bit with Erin, but Erin does not change her mind about breaking up with him, and Andy remains distraught.

During "The Cover-Up", one of his clients informs him that their Sabre printer catches fire, which worries Andy. When he decides to investigate the matter, he enlists Darryl to assist him. However, Darryl wants to get revenge on Andy for almost getting him fired a while back over mistaken shipments, and goes along with the ploy by playing up his fears. But when Andy video tapes the printer that catches on fire, it confirms his suspicions. This prompts Darryl to call off his prank, when he realizes it could get himself in trouble.

When Michael is revealed to be dating a married woman in "The Chump", Andy is furious because of his own cuckolding at Angela's hands, and is driven to make Michael realize the error of his ways. Andy drives Michael to a high school baseball game that the woman's husband is coaching and makes the two meet, making it uncomfortable for Michael and eventually leading to him ending the affair.

In "Whistleblower", the press gets word of Sabre's printers catching fire, the company's CEO Jo Bennett (Kathy Bates) goes out of her way to find the culprit. Andy initially denies it, even though he is accused of this. But he eventually comes clean with the truth by admitting to submitting a letter to a news editor and the video he recorded of a printer catching fire. Andy admits this as he doesn't want to see the printer fire cause a catastrophe to a school or hospital, but finds himself harassed throughout the day by the sales staff when they all suspect he did it. However as he leaves at the end of the day, Andy is commended by Erin for his bravery, and he leaves smiling.

Season 7

In "Andy's Play", he plays the part of Anthony in Scranton's production of Sweeney Todd. He invites the entire office to come and is particularly hopeful to impress Erin with his performance—but when Erin agrees to babysit for Pam and Jim's daughter Cece so that they can attend, Andy nearly blows the performance checking his phone for word from her on stage. Erin ultimately is revealed to have been watching from the back, Cece in tow, to Andy's delight and to Jim and Pam's chagrin. Andy is sad once again when Erin leaves quickly to attend to a cold-suffering Gabe, but he then sings for the delighted office crew and finishes his evening on a happy note.

In "Costume Contest", he mentions in a conversation with Darryl that he wrote daily op-ed columns for his college newspaper, "The Cornell Daily Sun." After realizing that he did not want to become editor of the paper, he walked right out of Walter Bernard Hall, which is the name of his father.

In "Sex Ed", he holds a sex education seminar for the office because people are insulting Meredith, but is really only doing so to find out if Erin and Gabe are sleeping together (the answer is "Yes"). When the employees make fun of him, he gets angry and throws a pizza box at the wall. Later Gabe bluntly tells Andy to never behave like that again, especially after Andy gave Gabe permission to ask Erin out over the previous summer, but Darryl cheers him up.

In "The Sting", Andy gets jealous over hearing of a former Here Comes Treble member's musical success, and forms an underwhelming but enjoyable office band with Darryl and Kevin.

In "Christening", Andy joins Michael Scott's plan to travel with the church group to Mexico, as both men are deeply unhappy with their personal lives in Scranton, but they quickly realize their mistake and return to their regular lives.

In "Viewing Party", Andy isn't happy to be attending a "Glee" viewing party at Gabe's apartment, and takes so much of the obscure Asian potency items Gabe had collected that he becomes visibly ill.

In "Ultimatum", Andy reveals that his New Year's resolution is to "learn how to cook for one", since his regular cooking leaves him with twice as much food as he needs. He flatly tells Pam that he's not going to meet anyone, and that "some people are destined to be alone". He later goes with Darryl and Dwight on a trip to a bookstore, and they later have fun at a local roller skating rink.

In "The Seminar", Andy holds a small business seminar in the office with some special guests because he needs to overcome his pathetic sales figures. At the end of the seminar, Andy is able to sell three packages, thanks to the advice of Michael.

In "PDA", Erin asks Andy to tag along on a romantic treasure hunt Gabe has made for her, despite the fact that Andy is now dating a friend of Darryl's named Rachel. Andy is at first reluctant but relents at Erin's friendly urging. The hunt starts with a puzzle picture, which leads to Gabe's stereo in Darryl's office, which leads to glow in the dark stars in Ryan's closet, leading to sparkling cider with Hank the security guard, and finally to a Valentine's cookie in the break room. When the cookie tells her to enjoy her Valentine's kiss, Erin thinks she's supposed to kiss Andy. Andy points out Gabe blowing a kiss through the window and leaves awkwardly.

When the staff gathers in the Conference Room to see the screening of Michael's movie "Threat Level Midnight" in the episode of the same name, Andy is shown playing a character with a New Jersey accent named Billy the Bartender. Jim starts laughing uncontrollably at a particular scene, causing everyone else to laugh with him. Michael angrily stops the movie and takes it away, to which everyone protests, including Andy, who says that some people are doing a superb job in the movie.

In "Todd Packer", when office administrator Pam gets a new computer for the receptionist's desk to replace the current, ancient one, Andy wants a new computer too. Pam states that if she were to get a new computer for one sales rep (Andy), she would have to get one for every sales rep, which leads the entire office into believing that new computers are being freely handed out. Since Pam refuses to give him a new computer, Andy switches his computer with Erin, a trade Erin seems to be fine with. Pam is angry with him, saying that the computer was not meant for Erin personally but for the receptionist's desk in general, and therefore it was not hers to switch. Pam tells Andy that the only way he can get a new computer is if his breaks, which leads to him accepting all cookies, intentionally opening pop-up ads, and placing food in the disc drive. Pam then buys Andy a new computer, which they scratch up so it figures into Pam's fake cover story (finding a spare model in the warehouse), and Pam later doles out some vacation days to Darryl to keep the whole lie nicely bottled up.

In "Garage Sale", Andy, Darryl, and Kevin play and bet on the Dallas board game. As the instruction booklet is not with the game, Andy and Darryl make up the rules as they go along, much to Kevin's objection. Eventually, Kevin notices the money they had bet on the game with is missing, and storms out. As Darryl and Andy look at each other in confusion, Kevin reveals to the cameras that he has the money, stating, "And that... is Dallas", mocking Andy and Darryl's previous statement.

In "Training Day", new branch manager Deangelo Vickers designates Andy as the office "funny guy". Deangelo loves the antics of Andy, who has resorted to physical comedy when his jokes fall flat, getting to the point where he pours hot coffee on his pants and, at Deangelo's urging, eats soap; Andy tells the camera with dazed sadness that "this is my life now".

In "Michael's Last Dundies", after winning the "Doobie Doobie Pothead Stoner of the Year" Dundie Award (since he tried Marijuana in College), Andy leads the employees in serenading the soon-to-depart Michael with an a cappella version of "Seasons of Love" with altered lyrics.

In "Goodbye, Michael", Andy is given Michael's client list as a going away present, and after losing one, requests the help of Deangelo to retain them. Deangelo nearly screws up a relationship with a client, but Andy gains enough confidence to salvage the sale. Meanwhile, Erin confides to Michael over dealing with breaking up with Gabe, that she might be in love with Andy again, while Gabe becomes venomously angry towards Andy because he (wrongly) believes Andy triggered Erin's brutal public breakup with him.

In "The Inner Circle", Andy is shown to want in on Deangelo's "inner circle" of office workers, but changes his mind about Deangelo when the women say he's sexist. However, when Jim brings the rumor of Deangelo being sexist to his boss's attention, he replaces Jim with Andy, who eagerly accepts. While Andy says he going to infiltrate and change from within the circle, as soon as he steps into Deangelo's office, he calls the meeting place "man cave" and barks like a dog before closing the door.

In "Dwight K. Schrute, (Acting) Manager" Gabe makes Andy promise not to date Erin (while crying) to which Andy agrees in order to get Gabe out of the room. When Dwight becomes the interim manager, Andy suffers temporary hearing loss when Dwight accidentally fires a gun near him. Erin runs to his side out of concern. Later, when Andy and Erin are talking, Gabe tells Erin what Andy said about them not dating, but Andy shuts Gabe up by pointing out Gabe's pathetic crying fit, and tells both of them that he's keeping his final view on whether he wants to date Erin or not "between me and my diary".

In "Search Committee" Andy interviews to replace Michael/Deangelo as the regional manager, which Gabe tries to sabotage. Also, Erin asks Andy out on a date and he eventually refuses, claiming that he has gotten over her. However, Andy later tells the camera that he does think Erin is great. Andy also remains a managerial candidate once Gabe's behavior gets him transferred out of Scranton, and tells the office he won't make any changes at all, but his status like everyone else's is left unclear as the episode ends.

Season 8

Robert California, selected by the search committee, declines to become Branch Manager and convinces Jo Bennett to give him her position as CEO, thus giving Robert the authority to appoint Andy as the new manager between the events of "Search Committee" and "The List". Upon discovering a list that divides the office into winners and losers and being moved into the loser division after questioning Robert about it, he retaliates by hosting a pizza party for the losers and publicly confronts Robert with the positive attributes of the losers. This act earns the respect of Robert and the office, in addition to an extended Columbus Day weekend.

In "The Incentive", Robert California urges the doubling of sales growth, which Andy attempts to fulfill with an incentive program. This program spirals out of control when Andy has one of the prizes of the program to be a tattoo on his posterior, worth 5,000 points. In comedic fashion, the office pools their points and succeeds in winning this prize, to which Andy bravely owns up to, only for the office to change the originally more-raunchy tattoo design to one that honors Andy's nickname of "The Nard Dog." Robert, in an aside in the episode, reveals that Andy's selection as the Regional Manager was done because he's a simple underdog whom people will rally behind.

In "Lotto", after six warehouse workers win $950,000 in a lottery pool, and quit in a celebratory fashion of running through the office, Andy has a hard time finding any office workers who will step in for the day and make sure that the day's important orders shipped out. Darryl, depressed from the fact that he didn't win the lottery because he works in the office now, assembles a conference room meeting with several potential new hires, but utters several discouraging remarks about the job and exits, leaving Andy alone to take charge of the process. Andy doesn't know what he's doing and all of the workers simply leave. Darryl blames himself for the failure and asks Andy to fire him, but Andy refuses, thinking/hoping Darryl is speaking in code. Later, Andy finally manages to hire three warehouse workers. Andy steps up when Darryl tells him to give him the manager job, saying he deserves it and wants that or a pink slip, and bluntly tells Darryl he not only isn't going to do that, but Darryl was not the runner-up to Andy in the selection process; as he brings up Darryl's short temper, his hiring of the unqualified Glen, and his loss of interest in taking business education courses, Darryl finally snaps out of his funk and listens to him. Andy tells Darryl that Jo Bennett loved him and saw something in him, and he simply stopped striving after that. He convinces Darryl to stay on board.

During "Garden Party", Andy throws a garden party to impress Robert with his parents Walter (Stephen Collins), Ellen (Dee Wallace) and younger brother Walter, Jr. (Josh Groban) in attendance. However, it's evident that Andy is also trying to prove himself to his parents, who were under the impression that he was CEO of the company until later. He goes to great lengths to try and impress them, even with a toast that gets progressively worse when Andy resents his father and brother performing a duet that Andy tried performing with his father. This indicates that Walter, Jr., who was given his father's name when the Bernards decided that it was better suited to him than soon-to-be-Andy, remains the clear favorite son. When Walter, Sr. later goes to speak with Andy, he insults his job and says Andy needs to stop seeking his approval like a little kid would. This conversation is heard over Jim and Pam's baby monitor, prompting Jim, Pam, Darryl, Oscar and Erin to overhear the conversation and understand why Andy feels the need to get everyone to like him. After his family leaves, Andy is dejected and planning to head home, but Darryl and Oscar cheer him up with food from their impromptu barbecue, and Andy finishes his day smiling as he enjoys good food and company.

In "Spooked", Andy dresses up as a construction worker. He assigns Erin to set up the Halloween party, as he wants to live up to the expectations set by Robert. When Robert arrives, he notices that the party is more tailored to kids than adults. Andy asks Angela and Phyllis to help take over and re-tailor the party and asks to speak with Erin at the end of the day. Andy and Robert later talk with Erin in his office regarding Erin accidentally ruining the Halloween party by putting on a disturbing movie of Gabe's creation. Erin says she got nervous when Andy asked to have a talk with her and that she thought he was about to fire her over the party. However, Andy tells her he's dating someone, and she is shocked to hear they've been out on 31 dates so far. Erin doesn't speak up and leaves dejectedly, however, at the end of the episode, Erin talks to Andy about her feelings.

In the cold open of "Doomsday", Andy, to commemorate and "bring closure" to the end of each work day, plays "Closing Time", much to the dismay of his visibly annoyed co-workers. Andy, frustrated that no one but him and Erin enjoy the tradition, starts to scold the workers until Stanley comes in happily singing the song alongside him. After it is discovered that an accounting error lead to a client getting a free order, Robert tells Andy to clamp down on the mistakes. In turn, Andy enlists Dwight to implement a system, nicknamed "The Doomsday Device", which can record five errors and generate an automatic email report to Robert, putting fear into the office. Realizing this could jeopardize his staff, Andy along with Erin, Pam and Kevin try to talk Dwight out of sending the email to Robert.

In "Pam's Replacement", Andy, Darryl and Kevin have another jam session in the warehouse where Robert joins them. But they're eventually phased out when Robert's more talented bandmates step in. The three end up having their own jam session outside.^[69]

Andy takes much of the staff to "Gettysburg" as part of a motivational speech, but his attempt to galvanize the staff in relation to the historic war, does little. Fed up, Andy storms off and later argues with Jim, who tells Andy that the staff simply like him as a manager, and that he doesn't have to prove himself to them, putting Andy at comfort.

Andy meets "Mrs. California" and at Robert's hasty instruction, is not supposed to hire his wife Susan, for a job in the office. Although in front of his spouse, Robert contradicts his instruction quite well, leaving Andy and later Jim in a hard place when Andy is trying to not hire her. When Susan is hired and then later quits her job, Andy goes to speak with her and she asks him out on a date, leaving him in shock.

In "Christmas Wishes", Andy dresses up as Santa for the office's annual Christmas party as an effort to makes everyone's holiday wish comes true. He also introduces Jessica, his new girlfriend to the office, much to the confusement and later drunken chagrin of Erin, who resents her. Erin drunkenly tells Andy that her Christmas wish is for Jessica to die, offending and angering Andy. He tells Erin to get over the fact that he turned her down for a date and storms off. Although when he suspects Erin is getting unusually close to Robert when he drives her home, he tails them to her apartment as Meredith's designated driver. But to his relief, he sees Robert hug Erin goodbye with comforting words and instructs her to take care of her hangover.

Desperate to meet the company's sales quota to impress Robert, Andy tries numerous methods to reach the number such as buying up paper stock himself and asking Oscar to "fix" the sales quota number. However, Oscar informs him of a "Trivia" night he's attending in Philadelphia with a $2,000 cash prize. Andy gets the idea to bring the staff with him in an effort to win the prize, only to be surprised that they end up in a gay bar. To Oscar and his trivia team's chagrin, the staff splits off into teams and to Oscar and Andy's surprise, the underdog team of Kevin (whom Andy passive-aggressively rejected for his team), Erin, Kelly and Meredith win the cash prize for the office to meet their quota.

Seemingly despondent over his impending divorce, Robert hosts an impromptu "Pool Party" at his soon-to-be-sold mansion. The staff attends with Andy and his girlfriend, much to Erin's consternation. Andy carries around the engagement ring his parents had, which he claims that his parents fell head over heels in love with Jessica. Desperate for Andy's attention, Erin enlists Dwight and they engage in a series of competitive pool games with Andy and Jessica. Later on, Dwight asks Andy about his love life as he's trying to find out how Andy feels about Erin, which Andy deflects with weak answers, prompting Dwight to tell Andy "you're an idiot" before walking away in disgust. At one point during the night, Andy accidentally loses the ring and goes frantically searching for it but to no avail. However, Erin recovers the ring in the pool and gives it to Andy, knowing the history behind the ring. Andy confides to Erin that he's confused about his relationship with Jessica, which gives Erin hope.

In "Last Day in Florida", Andy learns that Erin isn't coming back to Scranton, and he realizes he still loves her. He decides to go to Florida to win her back and does so during "Get the Girl". However, while he is in Florida, Nellie claims the manager position at Scranton and Andy is demoted to salesman. After one of his anger outbursts ("Angry Andy") he is fired from Dunder Mifllin.

In "Fundraiser", Andy sees David Wallace at the fundraiser and learns that the U.S. military bought the patent for his failed children's toy clean up device "Suck It" for 20 million dollars.

In "Turf War", Andy manages to win a major client and uses it as leverage to get David Wallace to purchase Dunder Mifflin. He also calls Robert and threatens to get him fired if David buys the company.

In "Free Family Portrait Studio", Andy returns to the office and pretends to be hopeless and jobless and begs Nellie for a job. Andy reveals he's faking this to the documentary crew and that David Wallace is going to buy back Dunder Mifflin, fire Nellie and Robert, and reinstate Andy as manager. While Andy is reinstated, Robert swindles his way into getting a million dollars from David and Andy hires Nellie out of guilt and sorrow.

Season 9

In "New Guys", it is revealed that Andy was sent to Outward Bound manager training by David Wallace, which caused him to revert to his cockier and meaner persona from season 3. He wants revenge on Nellie for what happened during the second half of season 8. In the episode, Andy aggressively pushes Nellie off of a slack-line that he set up in the parking lot.

In "Andy's Ancestry", Nellie pranks Andy into believing that he is related to Michelle Obama, which concerns the office and makes them wonder if his family owned slaves. Andy then phones his mother asking whether this is true. He then tells the office that his family did not own slaves, but they did transport them.

In "Work Bus", Andy continues to torment Nellie, especially when she needs an employer's signature to verify her employment to an adoption agency. He refuses in front of the entire office, which upsets her and Erin. Andy later finds Erin crying after this, which prompts him to sign the papers and add in a few kind words in the paper saying how good a mother Nellie could potentially be.

In "Here Comes Treble" and "The Boat", Andy discovers his father has abandoned their family, leaving them nearly penniless. He consults with Oscar and Darryl to sell enough family assets for his mother to live. He resists their urging that he sell off their family boat, which Andy had always wanted to drive, but finally relents to sell it to a dealer in the Bahamas. During this, Erin attempts to cheer him up, though Andy doesn't not appear receptive until she suggests they drive up to Connecticut to see off the boat themselves. Once there, Andy discovers his brother Walter Jr., disheveled and hung over, in one of the cabins. Andy decides to sail the boat to the Bahamas himself, along with Walter Jr., leaving Erin behind. Though grateful to Erin for cheering him up, he doesn't notice how hurt she is at being left behind.

In "The Whale", Andy, still sailing to the Bahamas, communicates with Erin and several of his co-workers. After three days, he appears badly sunburned, dehydrated, and somewhat affected by the isolation. Their conversation is cut short when Andy's computer falls off the boat into the ocean.

Andy was not seen during the subsequent eight episodes, as Ed Helms was busy filming The Hangover Part III.

In "Dwight Christmas", Andy sends Erin a text message (off-screen) saying he and Walter Jr. have arrived in the Bahamas. Andy decides to stay there for several more weeks to find himself, something that upsets Erin greatly, and causes her to become closer to her friend and co-worker Pete Miller.

Andy returns in "Couples Discount" in a rapidly different appearance as a result of being away from three months in the Bahamas. He surprises the staff by returning a day early and immediately alienates everyone with stupid, tone-deaf behavior: ignorantly expecting the staff to take him seriously as if he never left, voiding a major sale that Dwight had with Jan Levinson, shamelessly collecting his paychecks plus the "merit bonus" he acquired for the staff excelling their sales quota. He holds a meeting with the staff in order to catch up on what he missed, so to meet with David Wallace, who has been under the impression that Andy has been at the office the entire time via phone calls and e-mails. The staff in turn, tell him false stories that he manages to spin when meeting with David and he manages to get through the meeting without repercussions. However Erin, after feeling 3 months of neglect from Andy, plans to break up with him until he convinces him that they can fake love each other like his parents. Although Erin later decides against this, and dumps Andy for mistreating her and for being irresponsible by skipping work, a conversation heard by David Wallace on speakerphone, who asks Andy "What was that about three months?"

Distraught over their breakup in "Moving On", Andy's professional relationship with Erin and the rest of the staff is bad. David Wallace chastises Andy in a closed door meeting but allows him to keep his job, thanking Andy for getting him the company, but warns him that he's on very thin ice for his antics. When he tries imposing his authority over Pam, Dwight and Angela when they leave mid-day, he finds himself subject to insults related to his three months away. Throughout the day, Andy avoids work-related matters such as client messages if they come from Erin. He confides in Clark and Pete, the latter whom is secretly dating Erin and Erin confides that keeping their relationship secret from Andy, has kept the relationship "hot". Andy is suspicious of Erin dating someone else, as he goes through her cell phone, and is later able to figure out that Pete is her new beau. Andy impulsively fires Pete, who turns to Toby, who tells Andy that he can't fire Pete over a personal grudge, even when Andy tries to crush up the relationship agreement form that Erin and Pete signed. Erin and Pete start lecturing Andy that he needs to move on, turning Andy vengeful. He decides to hire their exes such as Alice (Collette Wolfe), a marketing consultant and Gabe to the branch in a bid to make Erin and Pete uncomfortable. The ploy works to the point where arguments break out in the conference room between the parties, as Erin and Pete's past relationship issues surface. Andy smugly says to the camera that seeing Erin and Pete unhappy has made him feel better.

During "The Farm", Andy along with the rest of the staff falls victim to Todd Packer's revenge prank by eating drug-laden cupcakes that Todd gave to the staff. The documentary features footage of both Andy and Kevin engaging in strange antics as a result of hallucinating from drugs.

In '"Stairmageddon", as promos circulate for the documentary series about the branch, Andy comes to realize that he's disillusioned about his job. Inspired to follow his acting dreams, Andy makes a series of calls to talent agencies with no success. However, he ends up meeting real estate/talent agent Carla Fern (Roseanne Barr), who takes Andy on as a client. Andy pays her $5,000 to sign with her agency without headshots included.

Andy books his first job in an industrial film about a chemical lab in "Paper Airplane", where he plays a lab employee. Throughout the shoot, Andy ends up annoying the production crew with frequent suggestions. However, Andy gets cold feet when he has to perform a stunt by pouring cold water in his eyes as to re-enact a chemical burn scenario. Carla sternly warns Andy to get his act together or he won't book any more work. With Darryl's encouragement, Andy does the stunt and at his insistence, does it twice. Carla exclaims "The kid can act!"

Inspired to finally go for his dreams, Andy musters up the courage to quit his job in "Livin' the Dream". Although he was initially going to be fired by David Wallace as Andy's pursuit of his career came at the expense of his job such as auditioning during the work day for student films, buying an expensive photo printer with company money for his head shots and asking David to pay for facial cheek implants during a teleconference. However, Andy hands in his resignation before David can fire him, leaving David relieved. Although when Andy makes the announcement to the office, they all dismiss his dreams as being a giant mistake, which everyone repeatedly tells him throughout the day. Without life savings to support himself, Andy accepts Wallace's offer to stay on as a salesman under the new manager, Dwight. However, after Andy witnesses Dwight proudly proclaim himself as the new manager, he decides to quit again and pursue his dreams. Intending to burn his bridges with Dunder Mifflin, Andy takes drastic measures to get fired. After Toby refuses to enter falsified information into his record, Andy attempts to grope Toby, intentionally loses a major client, and initiates an ugly argument with David Wallace. Initially irritated at his actions, David becomes enraged and fires Andy, who then defecates on his car. After packing up, Andy comes back to the office to say goodbye, by performing a moving rendition of Sarah McLachlan's song "I Will Remember You" with his acoustic guitar. Surprised by Andy's performance, everyone stands up and claps as they all embrace him and say goodbye. The staff is later convinced that Andy may just have some talent after all.

Andy's journey on the show ends in a wildly uneven manner. In "A.A.R.M.", he heads off to an audition for a reality TV show called "America's Next Great A Capella Star". The line to get into the show is so heavy that Andy is told when he's next to audition that they're sending him and everyone else home. Andy bursts into the audition room, demands that the hosts give him a chance, and proceeds to burst into a terrible off-key rendition that has them telling him he's simply not good. Andy then has a full-on crying breakdown that becomes fully evident in the series finale, where he glumly notes that the viral video of him losing it became a heavily viewed YouTube clip (with Andy as "Baby Wawa") that inspired successful parodies and even mocking on "Saturday Night Live". Darryl avoids him at the Scranton airport and his former co-workers awkwardly try to avoid embarrassing him. But Andy tells the guys at Dwight's bachelor party that after he was invited to give a commencement address at Cornell University as a joke, he did so well that he got hired to work in Cornell's Admissions Office. Andy's confidence and ease around everyone increases when he stunningly realizes that most of the crowd at the documentary reunion panel are not only there to see him but are genuine fans of his portrayal on the show. After the wedding when everyone has returned to the office, they watch Andy's Cornell speech and are unanimously impressed by it; Darryl gives his old friend a hug, and Andy nearly breaks into tears as he tells the camera, "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them".

References

External links

• Entertainment Weekly- Ed Helms No Longer an 'Office' Temp