‘The Staircase’ Powerpoint Presentation Is The Funniest True Crime Moment Ever

Documentaries, especially true crime documentaries, are known for being somber affairs. But there’s one moment in the true crime docuseries The Staircase that’s filled with so much frustrating incompetence, it’s morphed into one of the most unintentionally funny moments on Netflix. I’m talking about defense attorney David Rudolf, and his battle with PowerPoint.

The Staircase follows the case of Michael Peterson, a man who was convicted of killing his wife Kathleen Peterson. Over the course of 13 hourlong episodes, the series recounts Peterson’s trial and the bizarre turn of events that eventually led to Peterson’s freedom. All true crime documentaries contain some degree of darkness and solemnity, but The Staircase is a more sober and dense documentary than most. Very few of the documentary’s subjects make jokes, and even the more lighthearted moments in the docuseries are characterized by pain and regret. It’s a bleak binge… until you get to Episode 4.

“A Prosecution Trickery” follows Peterson and his defense attorney David Rudolf as they prepare for the next day’s trial. The episode is as tense as the rest of the series until around the 25-minute mark. That’s when a stressed out and tired Rudolf tries to battle the gods of PowerPoint and an apathetic member of his defense team and fails miserably.

Have you ever wanted to accomplish one simple thing but life itself is working against you? That’s what’s going on with Rudolf in this episode. He just wants this PowerPoint to coordinate with his opening speech, and it will not.

The first obstacle standing in his way is a black and red bar. Will it be gone before the trial, Redolf asks repeatedly. Absolutely, his supposed teammate / comedy partner promises him. Rudolf begrudgingly trusts the man, and over the next few minutes we learn why Rudolf doesn’t take this guy at his word. During this brief scene, PowerPoint guy’s cell loudly vibrates multiple times, he messes up the order of the slides, and a random woman interrupts Rudolf’s opening statement to tell him she’s leaving. By the time all of these distractions have concluded, we’ve heard the same fragment of Rudolf’s speech at least three times. Then to add insult to injury when Rudolf is reciting his opening speech yet again, a cop with the best comedic timing on his force interrupts Rudolf. Why? Because here’s smoke downstairs and they may have to evacuate everyone.

That’s when Rudolf snaps.

Rudolf doesn’t yell or scold. Instead he does something with his voice that sounds like a restrained scream as he goes after apathetic PowerPoint guy and says “I don’t give a shit if we’re here all fucking night!”

Seeing a man fully break down over a PowerPoint is funny in and of itself. The contrast between Rudolf’s anger and his speech about how happy the Petersons were is even funnier while adding a dark edge to the moment. It’s cringe comedy to the max.

Why did director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade include this scene? Was it to prove that Rudolf was stressed out by this case, something that he acknowledges and shows multiple times? Does he find the idea of a Clippy-era PowerPoint besting a legal expert as hilarious as I do? Who knows. What I do know is that this is a joke with a three and a half hour buildup, and it pays off.

Stream The Staircase on Netflix