He was best known for his roles in popular comedy movies, but Will Ferrell also spent some time on NBC's The Office as Deangelo Vickers - so what happened to him? Ferrell played Deangelo Jeremitrius Vickers, the man who replaced Michael Scott (Steve Carell) as the Scranton branch manager. What happened to Deangelo and why was his tenure as the manager so short?
Deangelo was introduced in The Office season 7 in the episode "Training Day". He took over as the Scranton branch manager for Dunder Mifflin Sabre when Michael made the big leap by moving to Colorado with Holly (Amy Ryan). Deangelo got along with most of the employees at first, especially with Andy (Ed Helms), but not so much with Jim and Pam (John Krasinski and Jenna Fischer, respectively).
Before Michael officially left Scranton, he was able to host one last Dundies awards show. He decided to co-host with Deangelo as a way to pass the torch to the new person in charge. Deangelo didn’t handle the hosting duties too well, as the pressure got to him. More red flags arose in the following episode, “Goodbye, Michael”. The longtime branch manager left before his farewell party but the rest of the employees converged to celebrate. Deangelo exhibited odd behavior before attacking the cake with his bare hands.
Deangelo’s questionable behavior took an odd turn in his fourth and finale episode of The Office. He claimed to be a professional juggler, but when he exhibited his skill at the request of his co-workers, he used invisible balls. The Dunder Mifflin employees worried about their boss’ childish behavior and his incompetence as a manager. Jim later challenged Deangelo to a dunk contest in the warehouse. When Deangelo attempted to dunk the basketball, the hoop collapsed and fell on him. This officially put an end to his Dunder Mifflin career.
Deangelo was taken to the hospital, but he later escaped and returned to work. He was speaking gibberish, so the employees immediately had him sent back. Deangelo would never be seen again but his fate was later revealed. It turns out that Deangelo went brain dead after the accident. Darryl (Craig Robinson) mentioned that Deangelo was dead, but Andy clarified that he wasn’t dead, per se, though his brain was.
Ferrell's stint on The Office was short but it was certainly memorable. He introduced a new chapter of the sitcom. Following Michael’s departure, the series had big shoes to fill. Although nobody was able to replace Carell, it was amusing to see special guest stars try at their chance to become the next manager on the series. Following Ferrell, Ray Romano, Jim Carrey, and James Spader appeared to interview for the boss position. Spader went on to become the next branch manager, at least for a short time.