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Mr. Bean has a house and a good car, but all he does is funny things and nothing else. How does he get paid to buy food, electricity and clothing?

BrettFromLA
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metron
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    An old Mini wasn't (certainly at the time) considered a, "Good car." – GeoffAtkins Aug 13 '20 at 06:38
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    “all he does is funny things and nothing else” — there are 24 hours in a day, 365 days in a year. You don't know what Mr Bean does most of the time. They don't show his diligent 12-hour working days on TV, they're much less entertaining. – Paul D. Waite Aug 13 '20 at 09:20
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    Mr. Bean is a front. He's actually Johnny English by night, the MI7 pays him well for his services. – Darrel Hoffman Aug 13 '20 at 13:37

5 Answers5

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He works. According to Wikipedia in the first film adaptation he has a job as a guard at an art-gallery in London.

“In the first film adaptation, Bean, ‘Mr.’ appears on his passport in the ‘first name’ field, and he is shown employed as a guard at London’s National Gallery.”

Giacomo1968
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iandotkelly
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    that's was quite of a revelation that he worked at the art-gallery. – metron Aug 12 '20 at 19:03
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    That doesn't answer the question well. The film "Bean" is made and plays in 1997. The "Mr.Bean" TV series was filmed around 1990 until 1995. Long time before the film was even considered to be made. Where did he got his money from in this period of time? – RobertS supports Monica Cellio Aug 13 '20 at 08:25
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    @RobertSsupportsMonicaCellio: and as we know, no-one could possibly have a job for seven years. – Paul D. Waite Aug 13 '20 at 09:21
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    He must surely know Rowan Atkinson quite well; possibly the latter lends him money now and then. – Michael Harvey Aug 13 '20 at 10:37
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    The main point is that the character works. The question postulates that he only does "funny things and nothing else" .... the movie shows that he does indeed (try) to hold down jobs. – iandotkelly Aug 13 '20 at 12:53
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    I know Mr Bean is internationally famous, but I wonder if people realise just how many Brits find him intensely annoying? – Michael Harvey Aug 13 '20 at 13:16
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    @MichaelHarvey. I know. As a brit living the in the USA, I also find it incredible and embarrassing that many people also equate British comedy with the likes of Benny Hill too. – iandotkelly Aug 13 '20 at 13:28
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    @iandotkelly Luckily you have the likes of Monty Python to balance it out. – Barmar Aug 13 '20 at 14:17
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    @BЈовић agree with your last assessment, but i think you missed 'Not the Nine O'Clock News', 'Black Adder', and 'The Thin Blue Line' in your Britcom list. – mcalex Aug 14 '20 at 08:57
  • @mcalex Oh how did I forget the black adder??? I didn't watch the other 2, but have to plan now :) "the it crowd" is also very good. Is it also british? – BЈовић Aug 14 '20 at 09:00
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    @BЈовић Yep, the IT crowd is british, But my point was that while Mr Bean may be errr, shit, Mr Atkinson (of not the 9 o'clock news, blackadder and thin blue line) is generally very funny. Pam Stephenson, Mel Smith, and Griff Rhys-Jones were all 9 o'clockers (a skit based show). Thin blue line is police comedy written by another brit legend, Ben Elton. – mcalex Aug 14 '20 at 09:49
  • Are the films canonical? – Captain Man Aug 14 '20 at 15:05
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    @MichaelHarvey (Re. "He must surely know Rowan Atkinson quite well;") -- I hear Rowan Atkinson could make a lot of money as a Mr. Bean lookalike: https://youtu.be/Mmtgt-xs5Gk?t=539 – CompuChip Aug 14 '20 at 16:00
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We don't know much about his profession and income at the time of where the "Mr. Bean" TV series was recorded (1990-1995).

In the "Bean" film, he has worked as a guard at London's National Gallery (1997). Maybe he already got the job before back in 1990? Maybe.

Currently, he turned a Youtuber where he does some silly things, like making some real strange tutorials and bringing out some new crazy records.

He promote some well-priced merchandise products like T-shirts and also website creation with Wix.

Not to mention the income from the commercials posts blend in at each video.

That's probably enough to make a nice living in his flat in Highbury.

RobertS supports Monica Cellio
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One of the funny things about Bean is that, as weird as he is, he is at times incredibly competent. For example, in this clip he measures a hole in the wall basically by eyeballing it, and later when he cuts a patch, the patch is precisely correct. It fits perfectly.

So while I don't know exactly what his job is (and I imagine it changes from time to time as he screws things up), it appears he does indeed possess useful skills.

Stephen R
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Mr. Bean also had a stint as a politician, once being elected a Member of Parliament for the independent "Bean" party.

A few other sketches hint at other possible jobs - in the first episode, "Mr Bean", he is attending a maths exam, possibly hinting at a need to gain a maths qualification for some reason. In the unaired sketch "The Library" he is copying a page from a rare tome in a library. Of course, these could both be simply other interests of his rather than related to work.

Showsni
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In The Royal Premiere (Episode 2, Act 3), Mister Bean is shown to work at a prestigious cinema. Though it's unlikely he kept that job after headbutting the queen.

Comic Sans Seraphim
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  • Came here to post this after remembering seeing the Q and happen to be rewatching this episode - it’s rather unspecific what his role in the premiere is from the on screen stuff - he might even have worked on the film or been in it! – James Thorpe Sep 06 '20 at 19:36