| “ | YOU'RE FIRED! | „ |
| ~ Benson Dunwoody's famous catchphrase. |
| “ | YOU IDIOTS! | „ |
| ~ Benson towards Mordecai and Rigby if they screw something up. |
Benson Dunwoody is the anti-heroic deuteragonist of the 2010-2017 Cartoon Network series Regular Show. He's not really a villain at all in the series but he does act as an antagonist in multiple episodes early on in the series. He serves as the main antagonist of the first three seasons until becoming kinder if still sometimes unreasonable.
He was voiced by Sam Marin, who also voiced Pops and Muscle Man in the same series.
Appearance
Benson is a gumball machine (standing at 5'4” and about 150 pounds) with pinkish-purple gumballs enclosed by a glass dome, sunken eyes and a large, straight nose that just about overlaps his mouth. As seen many times, his gumballs and thus his face turn red whenever he is angered.
During the time montage following the final events of "A Regular Epic Final Battle" and at the 25-year park reunion, Benson has grown grey hair, although still bald on the top of his head, that is tied in a ponytail under a blue hat.
Personality
Benson's short temper is usually attributed to the continuous lack of productivity from Mordecai and Rigby on work time, thus he would scream and yell at them in an ear-bleeding way whenever the duo is doing something off-task, often threatening to fire them or at the very least, assign more work and/or refusing to let them have fun. He and Skips are the only serious workers of the park, although he still seems to have a sense of humor as he sometimes shows amusement towards the duo's antics after he calms down. He also joins in on his worker's zany antics off the clock if they do not take things too far. Furthermore, he does show a more generous side by buying dinner for his co-workers.
Although he is often angry at Mordecai and Rigby, he still considerably likes them, as he has invited them to special celebrations, and most notably in the episode Stick Hockey, he risked himself to help the two. He also admitted the two were cool in Cool Bikes, as he helped saving them from the cool police, and in Eggscellent after Benson down talks Rigby at the hospital only to get punched by Mordecai. Benson later apologizes to him and then started training Mordecai for the omelet challenge. Afterwards, Mordecai tells Benson that despite acting like a jerk, he is still a true friend.
In Think Positive, while he was yelling at Mordecai and Rigby after Pops finally allows him to with the anger that was held up for days and released in an ear-deafening way, he mentions he is trying to teach them responsibility. From that point, he also promised to yell less of the time. He, for the most part, kept this promise as while he still screams at the duo whenever they go too far, he generally only does it when they cross the line like when they ruined the Thanksgiving Feast. Even then, he usually forgives them after cooling off. Furthermore, while he mostly targets the duo, he is willing to call out the other workers (except for Pops who he at most, expresses mild annoyance with) such as when Skips damaged Mordecai and Rigby's console once the latter kept bragging after beating him at arm-wrestling.
In later seasons, Benson becomes much kinder and more tolerant aside from a few episodes where he reverts to his former ways. He treats Mordecai and Rigby with much more respect than before, even letting some things slide. His friendship with the latter grows even more as they find out that they relate to each other, and because Rigby eventfully earns Benson's respect after his maturity.
Villainous Acts
Since he had to handle Mordecai and Rigby's antics, he often downs talks and usually screams at them and sometimes planned to get revenge on them out of frustration by any means necessary. Not only that, but he also sometimes antagonizes others as well.
- Just Set Up the Chairs: Got mad and angrily blamed Mordecai and Rigby for making a mess at the birthday party. He also assigned them the task of setting up the chairs in the first place. In the end, he furiously threatens to fire them unless they clean up the mess.
- Grilled Cheese Deluxe: When Rigby steals his Grilled Cheese Deluxe and eats it alongside Mordecai, Benson forces them to buy him a replacement sandwich, thus ruining their day off. Rigby eating the first sandwich also kick-started the plot in the first place. Furthermore, he got upset with Rigby when he tried telling him why it took them so long because he thought they were lying again.
- The Unicorns Have Got to Go: After helping Mordecai and Rigby get rid of the Unicorns, Benson hoses them down while angrily berating them for bringing the Unicorns to the house and remind Mordecai to stop spraying that Cologne because that not got to attract any ladies. He then, like most episodes, makes them clean up the mess and threatens to kill them. This is the first time he is shown abusing the two.
- Prank Callers: After Mordecai and Rigby foolishly prank-called him, he mercilessly destroyed one of the park phones.
- Don: Fires Muscle Man angrily just for telling a my mom joke, then forces Mordecai and Rigby to call Rigby's brother Don to stop an audit, despite Rigby's objections because Don steals his (Rigby's) popularity all the time, and when Rigby refuses to respect Don in order to stop the audit, Benson immediately threatens to fire Rigby if he is not nice to Don, thus, abusing his power. On the other hand, he was mostly upset because Rigby kept putting his petty feud against his brother over The Park.
- Appreciation Day: Refused to give Mordecai and Rigby appreciation plagues angrily, instead giving Muscle Man and Hi Five Ghost the credit for stuff Mordecai and Rigby did, causing the duo to write lies in the Park Records to make Benson like them.
- Peeps: He is so obsessed with making Mordecai and Rigby do work all day that he installed surveillance cameras called Peeps to spy on them, even when they were on break and went to the bathroom. This was the only one episode to portray him as a villain until the arrival of the more sinister Peeps. This shows that he has absolutely no respect for Mordecai and Rigby's privacy whatsoever.
- My Mom: Calling Muscle Man angrily to supervise Mordecai and Rigby for no reason other than them ruining his lemon tree.
- High Score: He never respects Mordecai and Rigby at all and refuses to give them checks. This is another time he abuses them both. Even when he was about to give them their paycheck, he immediately changed his mind and ripped it up furiously.
- Temp Check: After Mordecai and Rigby mow the lawn at an Ultimate Frisbee field, Benson angrily tells them to mow it all over again JUST because the grass was only an inch too tall. Rigby justifiably complains, but Benson responds by smugly threatening to fire Rigby. Rigby decides to hire Doug (the episode's main antagonist) to do all his work for him. In the end, Benson angrily punishes Rigby with three months of toilet duty with the threat of firing him yet again. The problem is that Rigby would not have hired Doug to do all his work for him had Benson not been needlessly unfair in the first place.
- More Smarter: Threatened to kill Mordecai and Rigby angrily if they didn't clean up their equations.
- Karaoke Video: Forces Mordecai and Rigby to go to Carrey O'Key's karaoke bar with the rest of the park workers, and angrily refuses their suggestions for another place. This indirectly leads them to accidentally start a bar fight, ruining karaoke night. Mordecai and Rigby later sincerely apologize, but Benson furiously rejects them instead and drives off without them.
- Stick Hockey: Promises not to give away a stick hockey table if Mordecai and Rigby do their work. Despite that the two finished their work, Benson doesn't keep his word and gives away the table as he assumed that they were not going to do their work, leading them to grow upset with him. However, he later discovers that they are in danger for trying to win it back against Chong. Benson risks his own safety to fix his mistake and retrieve the stick hockey table, making this one of few instances where Benson does something nice for Mordecai and Rigby in first few seasons.
- Eggscellent: Down talks Rigby furiously, blaming him and Mordecai not working for his condition. Mordecai responds by violently punching Benson and angrily storming out of Rigby's hospital room. Later in the episode, Benson apologizes to Mordecai and corrects his mistake by helping him train for the challenge. He also forgives Mordecai for punching him and does not fire him as he knew he deserved it.
- Weekend at Benson's: Mordecai and Rigby accidentally knock Benson unconscious by making him fall off a ladder. They take him to a party where he was supposed to meet his date, Audrey. They go up against her ex-boyfriend Chuck in a spicy food contest. Benson wakes up and makes Mordecai and Rigby participate in the contest. Afterward, when they wake up in the park, Benson nearly fires Mordecai and Rigby, but changes his mind when he discovers Audrey's phone number written on his chest.
- Think Positive: When Pops threatens to fire Benson if he continues to yell at Mordecai and Rigby, Benson tries to hold his anger, eventually destroying most of the park and nearly exploding in the likeness of a Super-Saiyan. Pops then allows Benson to let out his anger, causing Benson to yell so loud at Mordecai and Rigby that he accidentally deafens them.
- The Best Burger in the World: After Mordecai and Rigby failed to finish their work for an entire week, Benson forces them to finish all of their work before they can go to a food truck to get the "best burger in the world," a burger that only comes out every 100 years. This is by far Benson's cruelest role in the show by the fact he wouldn't let them even go to near the truck until they finished the work; he even beat them down and ate their burgers when they finally managed to buy them. He arguably crosses the Moral Event Horizon with this act. On the other hand, he did have the right to be angry with them considering that they slacked off for an entire week (though one may question why didn't Benson inform them immediately upon missing their first shore that week, yet it may be possible that he did warn them but the duo didn't care).
- Replaced: Briefly replaces Mordecai and Rigby with Jeremy and Chad, unfairly fires them and flashes a camera at them repeatedly. He then gets his well-deserved punishment when Jeremy and Chad decide to quit the job, and Mordecai and Rigby take the job and flash the camera at him in revenge.
- Trash Boat: He, along with Mordecai, Muscle Man, Hi Five Ghost, Pops and Skips made fun of Rigby when he changed his name to "Trash Boat". He also threatened to fire Rigby if he didn't wear his nametag so he could make fun of him, showing how much of a jerk he is.
- Exit 9b: Although he was brainwashed by Garrett Bobby Ferguson Jr., in this scenario he was close to angrily killing Mordecai and Rigby when they attempt to reason with him before regaining his memory when Mordecai and Rigby annoy him with his antics. This redeems him, as he signs the document as well.
- Muscle Mentor: Humiliates Rigby by forcing him to stay attached to Muscle Man for eight hours, then allowed Muscle Man to almost kill Rigby, despite Mordecai's pleads to stop him. He even threatened to do the same to Mordecai. Unlike most episodes, aside from Mordecai getting upset with him, no one holds him accountable for putting two employees in danger. He did this all because he wanted to get back at Rigby for badmouthing him and not taking him seriously. This shows how truly cruel he can be.
- A Bunch of Full-Grown Geese: He angrily forces Mordecai and Rigby to get rid of the geese, then at the end of the episode, Benson angrily yells at Mordecai, Rigby and the baby ducks for destroying the park rather than thanking them for getting rid of the Geese. This time, however, he finally gets his karma when the baby ducks' mother scolds him for his actions. He apologizes and walks away, humbled from getting rebuked for being ungrateful.
- Sandwich of Death: He attempted to angrily punish Mordecai and Rigby eating his own grilled cheese deluxe sandwich by stealing their sandwich and eating it, unaware that it was the Sandwich of Death, which kills those who do not eat it in the correct way. Benson falls ill and almost gets himself killed because of this. He is cured by the end of the episode and survives. However, despite of that, it served as a karma for Benson for eating Mordecai and Rigby's burgers.
- Dodge This: He is devastated; eleven years losing in a row. Meanwhile, he is kneeling on the ground, sobbing over his defeat. That said, the chicken wings made him act more depressed than he normally would. He also angrily scolds Mordecai for letting his crush on CJ distract him.
- Return of the Mordecai and the Rigbys: When they leave, they find out that Benson overheard them and was extremely mad and called them "backstabbers" and left the band. When they are told it was a lie, Mordecai messes with Benson's drum kit. They angrily argue messing with each other’s stuff and then every begins destroying their instruments.
- Paint Job: When his car gets destroyed, he decides to blame Mordecai and Rigby for and refuses to pay them for 6 months, which is illegal.
- Take the Cake: He storms into Pops's house with Thomas just as Skips finishes patching up the teleporter, launching into an angry tirade about the failed plan. Mordecai and Rigby quickly try to explain themselves, but Benson would have none of it and snatches the teleporter. The three wrestles over the device which finally goes off and teleports the cake and everyone else with it out of the room.
- Gold Watch: He blames Mordecai and Rigby for getting stranded in the desert during a drunken stupor, despite eating the hot wings that intoxicated him on his own accord. Instead of showing concern for the two when he found out they were missing too, he attempts to strangle Mordecai. This act is one of the worst things he did throughout the series.
- Tent Trouble: Showed some sadistic enjoyment out of watching Mordecai and Rigby getting beat up by Starla and her sister Peggy during the wrestling match, demonstrating his hatred for them.
- The Lunch Club: Benson and Rigby are forced to write a letter to Mr. Maellard after the latter ruins Maellard's lunch and are locked in the office and the two eventually decide to have fun and ultimately the two leaves Maellard an insulting letter both deciding to resign.
- Benson's Car: After Benson saw his car get destroyed by a bounty hunter named Jack, he unfairly blames it on Mordecai and Rigby and severely forces them to pay for destruction of the house, his car and bus fare all next month. Fans regard that as the most horrible thing he has done in the entire series.
- Lunch Break: He forces Mordecai and Rigby to eat a very long sub sandwich until the end of the day or he will angrily fire them. Mordecai and Rigby found it difficult because they were already feeling satisfied and had to remember past meal challenges to gain motivation, Benson at one point scares them when he tells that he is going to call the move to take Mordecai and Rigby's things to their respective families since it is very likely that they will not succeed. Although this could be justified at first, given that Benson spent a large amount of money because of that sub sandwich that was ordered by Mordecai and Rigby, this ends up being invalidated since in the end Mordecai and Rigby end up eating the sub sandwich completely , Benson sarcastically congratulates them and as a "reward" they will do 50 laps on the newly repaired basketball court immediately or they get fired.
Quotes
| “ | Maybe if you'd been working like you were suppose to, none of this would've happened. | „ |
| ~ Benson heartlessly blaming Mordecai and Rigby's laziness after the latter landed in a coma. |
| “ | No you don't, you're not getting that chair, but here's what you do get, you get to flip that cart back over. You're throwing that chair away, and then your cleaning up this whole MESS!!!!!! Pops you're coming with me And you two idiots if this isn't cleaned up when I get back, YOUR FIRED!!!!!!! | „ |
| ~ Benson angrily accuses Mordecai and Rigby in the pilot. |
| “ | NOW CLEAN UP THIS MESS OR YOU'RE FIRED!!!!!! | „ |
| ~ Benson tells Mordecai and Rigby to clean up the mess, or otherwise he's going to fire them. |
| “ | YOU IDIOTS! That's the last time I entrust you with something important, LIKE THE CHAIRS!! | „ |
| ~ Benson. |
| “ | I can't believe you idiots let those unicorns in here. You two morons have better get this mess cleaned up or I'll make you wish it was YOU DRIVING THAT CAR!!! | „ |
| ~ Benson yelling at Mordecai and Rigby while spraying the two with a hose. |
| “ | No you won't! You be nice to your brother or YOU'RE FIRED! | „ |
| ~ Benson. |
| “ | No he didn't buy it! Now get off your lazy butts, and GO GET ME ANOTHER GRILLED CHEESE DELUXE!!! | „ |
| ~ Benson after finding out that Rigby took his sandwich. |
| “ | I'm the only one around here who hires and fires! So if you really don't want to do your own job, I'd be glad to accommodate you. Otherwise, you're on toilet duty for the next THREE MONTHS!!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!" | „ |
| ~ Benson. |
| “ | I don't hate you. I just hate some of the things you do! Okay, I really hate some of the things you do. I know you don't mean them, but I'm your boss and it's my job to push you to do better. | „ |
| ~ Benson gets honest with Mordecai and Rigby. |
| “ | Excuses, excuses! How am I supposed to trust you, when all you give me are excuses?! When are you two gonna learn, that your actions have consequences?! Consequences that affect other people! (voice breaking) Like me! Don't you two understand? I'm about to lose my job! You may not care about keeping your jobs, but I care about keeping mine! Cause if I lose my job, I have nothing! Do you hear me? I have nothing! (cries) … Now if you'll excuse me, I need to take my last bathroom break as an employed man. | „ |
| ~ Benson's breakdown after Mordecai and Rigby let him down. |
| “ | RRRAAARHHAAARGHHRRRGHH!! YOU LAZY NO GOOD SLACKERS DRIVE ME NUTS!! CAN'T YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME ONCE IN YOUR WORTHLESS LIVES!? 'CAUSE IF YOU DID YOU'D SEE I'M TRYING TO TEACH YOU SOME SIMPLE RESPONSIBILITY!! SOME PRIDE IN DOING A JOB WELL DONE!! BUT YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A JOB WELL DONE IF YOU PAID SOMEONE TO DO IT FOR YOU!! AND EVEN THEN YOU'D SCREW IT ALL UP ON THE ACCOUNT THAT YOU CAN'T EVEN FOLLOW THE SIMPLEST OF INSTRUCTIONS!! WORRYING MORE ABOUT LOOKING COOL THAN DOING YOUR JOB!! | „ |
| ~ Benson letting out all his destructive anger. |
| “ | YOU! DAMAGE TO THE HOUSE, DAMAGE TO MY CAR! MY BUS FARE FOR THE NEXT MONTH! YOU'RE PAYING FOR ALL OF IT!!! | „ |
| ~ Benson |
Gallery
Videos
Trivia
- Benson, Muscle Man and Hi-Five Ghost were the show's main antagonists in early seasons. In later seasons, he is only an antagonist when he goes too far or briefly reverts back to his old ways.
- Although he didn't appear in the episode Rigby's Body, it appears that he made Mordecai and Rigby work at the Snack Bar to pay off all they ate (because only Pops, the unofficial owner and Benson's other boss, can have free snacks while working there).
- In Stick Hockey, it was shown that he was once a coach, until his student was killed during a tournament. He then implies that the whole sport supposedly lead him to his current job.
- Benson is spoofed in one episode of the TV show, MAD TV. In the episode, Benson appeared in a snippet called "Celebrities Without Their Make-Up", and said that actor Zack Galifianakis "looked like a regular guy" without make-up, and a make-up brush paints Benson's face of Galifianakis' face.
- Sam Marin, Benson's voice actor, almost sounds like the younger version of Doug Lawrence, the voice of Plankton and Edward Platypus.
- Benson is most likely to be in his 30s for most of the series until the finale.
- He is revealed to have a crush on his neighbor, Audrey, who made her debut in the season three episode, "Weekend at Benson's". They started dating and formed a relationship but eventually broke up.
- In Dumptown USA, it was revealed that Benson has been to the town of the same name before and got over multiple break-ups there (including his break-up with Audrey). While he appeared to have enjoyed his time there, it is more than likely his responsibility as park manager was what brought him back.
- In Think Positive, it was revealed that Benson's family angrily told him that he wouldn't get what he wanted in life unless he yelled for it, explaining his personality and anger issues. Part of his character arc involved him losing this mentality.
- Due to his constant anger issues, extreme method of criminal actions, many fans consider Benson to be the most hated character in the show even more so than Rigby however this hatred mostly died down in later seasons after Benson mellowed out and became somewhat nicer. Some people even defend some of Benson's earlier actions; stating that given the amount of trouble the two cause, Mordecai and Rigby are lucky that Benson even lets them keep their jobs let alone not press charges against them for all the times they damaged or destroyed the park.
See also
 Villains
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Code Lyoko TV Movie Villains Crossover Villains Sym-Bionic Titan Villains What A Cartoon! Dexter's Laboratory Cow and Chicken ¡Mucha Lucha! I Am Weasel Ed Edd n' Eddy The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy Edgar & Ellen Krypto The Superdog The Life & Times of Juniper Lee Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi Camp Lazlo My Gym Partner's a Monkey Chowder Johnny Test The Secret Saturdays The Mr. Men Show Hero 108 Mixels We Bare Bears The Looney Tunes Show New Looney Tunes Mighty Magiswords Over the Garden Wall Clarence Uncle Grandpa Generator Rex Annoying Orange Apple & Onion Summer Camp Island We Baby Bears See Also | ||
