Bio
 Well, you're a craftless, artless thug. Which makes me God's paintbrush...no, I am God which pretty much makes me better than you!
 |
| — Roger DeSalvo to Jeff Winger, "Grifting 101". |
 |
Roger DeSalvo was the name of the Grifting professor at Greendale Community College in 2015. It was possibly one of the many aliases he used as he was a self admitted grifter and confidence man. He orchestrated a scheme to bilk the school of thousands of dollars but was thwarted by the Save Greendale Committee. His first appearance was in the Season Six episode "Grifting 101". He was portrayed by actor/comedian Matt Berry. |
Character history
| In the Fall semester 2015, Roger DeSalvo was newly hired on to the Greendale faculty as the professor of a "Grifting" class. On the first day DeSalvo introduced himself to his students who all had the official grifting briefcases he insisted they purchase from him in the course syllabus. His students were eager to learn until receiving their first class assignment. Roger instructed them to pass their briefcases back and forth to each other and didn't bother to hide his amusement at their naïveté. This bothered a few students who happened to be members of the Save Greendale Committee. They complained to campus leader Jeff Winger about him who coincidentally turned out to be sharing office space with DeSalvo.
|
 |
| The new Grifting professor had made himself at home at Jeff's desk using his phone and drinking his scotch. Jeff politely directed Roger to his own part of the office which he was taking over from Buzz Hickey. DeSalvo took umbrage when Jeff dared to suggest they were similar because he faked being a lawyer for years. Roger arrogantly dismissed him as just a liar while he was an artist which made Jeff determined to beat DeSalvo at his own game. The next day Roger's class was interrupted by a telegram man who told his student Elroy Patashnik he just inherited several million dollars. DeSalvo easily saw through the grift and dismissed the class to confront Elroy on his con.
|
 |
| Roger accused Jeff Winger of orchestrating the scam but Elroy denied his involvement. DeSalvo went to the Teacher's lounge where found his new nemesis and mocked Jeff's feeble attempt at playing his game. Jeff apologized and agreed to stop trying to grift him. Roger went to the local bar The Vatican and found Britta Perry there working as a bartender. He discovered she used to date Jeff and had some animosity towards him. Together they hatched a scheme to swindle Greendale and make Jeff look like a fool. The next day DeSalvo interrupted a clandestine meeting the committee was having. He viciously taunted Jeff's efforts to best him prompting Britta to initiate their prearranged plan and she punched him.
|
 |
| DeSalvo ran out of the room as Britta and the committee followed. When he was out of sight of his pursuers DeSalvo staged a fake accident. He pretended to slip on a floor that was being waxed and made it look like he tumbled down the stair well. Days later DeSalvo was in a wheelchair selling his injuries and the school forked over a settlement for $50,000. After collecting the briefcase full of money he secretly rendezvoused with Britta and gave her a share of the cash. They made out briefly before going their separate ways and agreed to meet up at a hotel afterwards. However, he later realizes that his briefcase was switched and his money is gone.
|
 |
| It's then that Britta, Abed and a number of other students marched past him all carrying a briefcase. He abandoned his wheelchair and gave chase ending up in the cafeteria where Pelton, Frankie, Britta, Abed and Officer Cackowski were waiting for him. DeSalvo told the officer they stole his money but the contents of their briefcases reveal newspaper clippings. The committee feigned ignorance on DeSalvo's claims as he complained to Cackowski. Jeff then appeared and pointed out DeSalvo could say he was outwitted by people he underestimated or lost a briefcase and now owes the school money for fake injuries. Defeated, DeSalvo admitted he was grifted and was summarily fired by Pelton prompting the committee to revel in their victory ("Grifting 101").
|
 |
Trivia
The IT Crowd
| Actor Matt Berry was a cast member of the popular British sitcom "The IT Crowd"playing the character "Douglas Reynholm" alongside his co-star Richard Ayoade. In 2007, Ayoade appeared with Joel McHale in a pilot of the American version of the "IT Crowd" playing the same character "Maurice Moss". The pilot was not picked up by NBC and McHale went on to play Jeff Winger on "Community" two years later. Ayoade would later direct the Season Two "Community" episode "Critical Film Studies". |
