The Office
Published February 05, 2005
Just (re-)watched all three seasons of "The Office", Ricky Gervais' and Stephen Merchant's amazing comedy. The show is a mockumentary about a nondescript paper merchant in Slough, and it's spot-on about the levels of jealousy that occur when the stakes are small, as they are in office politics - all these petite fiefdoms and petty jealousies and puffed-up self-important egos ruling over empires of cubicles and staplers. (Question: when Scott Adams - of Dilbert fame - watches "The Office", does he feel a deep sense of being owned? Not that Dilbert is bad. But "The Office" is that good.)
"The Office" is strongly reminiscent of the classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap in that it undercuts the very people it purports to depict, except that "The Office" makes one a lot more uncomfortable. That discomfort is rooted in its office setting - anyone who's worked in an office would have found moments in the show that hit a bit close to home. And therein lies its genius. "The Office" is painful enough to be funny, but not enough to revulse, a style of comedy of discomfort that's really hard to achieve.
That painfulness comes from countering a lot of television comedy conventions: "The Office" derives much of its humour from awkward silences, particularly following yet another David Brent (Gervais) faux pas, and from actors glancing away instead of facing the camera. Which is why we never get the sense that these are actors inhibiting roles - their uncomfortable responses are what you'd expect from regular people: long pauses, comic mistiming.
The titular office is populated by Brent, the boss and self-styled entertainer (after his sacking, he releases a hilarious soft-focus music video of "If You Don't Know Me By Now"); Gareth, the Territorial Army man who's utterly devoid of irony or the ability to read sarcasm; Tim, the wry voice of knowing weariness (his droll rolling of eyes into the camera is a comedic treat); and Dawn, the receptionist who Tim clearly is in love with, but who has a jerk of a fiance. Other characters, notably Keith the dry accountant, round up the supporting cast, but the show focuses mostly on these four leads.
Much of the humour of "The Office" comes from the contrast between Brent's image of himself as the ideal boss, and the pathetic leader he really is. Hence we see numerous self-aggrandising claims undercut by wry B-roll shots, and we have hilarious moments such as Brent singing his own composition ("Freelove Freeway") at a motivational talk. Yet, as noted in the commentary, while Gervais' blowhard character is the ostensible focus of the show, the relationship between Tim and Dawn (Lucy Davis) are the true heart of the show, driving its plot. Perhaps the classic example of this would be the last episode of season 2, where Tim rips off of the mike and runs in for one last chance to tell Dawn he loves her before she leaves for Florida and there's pure silence, not even the background hum or whirr of the office machinery: breaking out of the knowing satire on the tedium of office life to a moment that actually means something.
- The Office
- Published: February 05, 2005
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- Section: Video
- Writer: Daryl Sng
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I've got the Office Special from netflix sitting on my shelf TBV. set three years after the mockumentary series' second season ending. Ex-office manager David (Ricky Gervais) now barely makes ends meet as a psuedo-celebrity (who can't help but visit the office now and again to see old "friends"). In the interim, Gareth (Mackenzie Crook) has become the new tyrant about town.
Aaman: yup, the review includes the Christmas episodes, which are warm without being soppy. You should definitely watch them, they're great.
Aaron: Thanks for the compliments! Unlike you, I actually like the Alan Partridge show, but I admit I can only take so much of its sneering tone. The Office is clearly in a different league.
Aaman, the christmas special got a lot of flack from some quarters, i thought it was brilliant. Brent's music video, his online dating, the horrible, compulsive "shows", so so good...
"Christopher Guest's classic mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap"
Why single out Guest? It was directed by Reiner, and McKean and Shearer were just as responsible as Guest in its creation.
Good review, Daryl. It's a very innovative show in its sensibility (perhaps taking Curb Your Enthusiasm a step further?) and its dark, dry, and subtle (to American audiences) comedy.
I've seen everything but the specials, which I'd like to check out soon.
Duke: I couldn't agree with you more about the introduction to the new folks by Brent. Whenever I think about The Office, I think about that scene. The entire set-up was spot-on brilliance, culminating in Garreth's aside about the "wanking claw," one of the funniest, most unexpected and out of left field lines I've ever heard. Absolutely uproarious.
Besides the wanking claw climax, which is hilarious, I like how that whole introduction scene is set up too, with Neil talking casually. Clearly this isn't a tough crowd. By the way, on the commentary Merchant and Gervais talk about how they tried to make it so that you sympathise with Brent over Neil even though he's clearly the worse manager.
El Bicho: You're right, it shouldn't be Guest getting all the credit. Will change accordingly.
Daryl - They set it up so that Neil and the previous manager (the woman with dark hair - forget her name) are the only entirely sane / competent people on the show. To boot, Neil is everything David wishes he could be but is not: young, good-looking, suave, competent, and on and on. It's natural that we sympathize with David even as we laugh at him. We all wish we could be "Neil" and we all suspect that we're "David" from time to time: a fraud, basically, playing amongst grown-ups.
At least I do.
Eric - Yeah, but it's more than just setting Neil up to be a superboss. In the commentary they talk about how in the specials they deliberately made Neil fairly close to Finchy, who's clearly irrepairably obnoxious, to make you think that Neil may not be so perfect after all.
I didn't actually see the specials -- only the first two seasons.
I found Finch to be nearly unbearable from what I saw of him, and by the end couldn't wait for him to get out of the picture. The actor's performance, of course, was brilliant: I love how he would repeat his favorite lines like "while you're down there, love."
Hands down, one of my top 5 favorite shows of all time. The fact that it's so nearly impossible to watch at times is what keeps me coming back. I know it's not real, but man does it seem like it. I could watch any of the episodes over and over again and they would always seem fresh. I hope Gervais' new show is just as good.
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great stuff Daryl. The Office is an utterly wonderful creation. My first encounter with Ricky Gervais was when he was a regular on the 11 o'clock show, playing a charcter not that far removed from Brent. I detested him, and so avoided The Office for much of its run. I bought the series one DVD on a drunken whim a couple christmases ago, and fell in love right there. I don't know if your familiar with the Steve Coogan BBC show I'm Alan Partridge. I see it being compared to The Office quite a bit. The difference, though, and one that you picked up on, is that Alan Partridge is a detestable show, completely lacking any humanity, the source of each and every joke being how pathetic partridge is, and how much cooler we all are. I don't feel The Office panders to this mentality at all. There is a genuine compassion in there. As you say, Brent is a good guy, just incredibly misguided and egotistical. And his attempts at being PC are fantastic. When he talks to "the black fella" about how Denzel Washington is such a brilliant actor, i double over, man.
Anyhow, great stuff. And i think my favourite scene, one that best catches that cringe / laugh thingy, is the one in the first ep of s2, when Brent does his introductory talk to the new folks. God almighty.