Ricky Gervais and the Original Office

Over the course of the summer, I’ll be writing about several TV shows, and my blogs will include discussions about the Office(s). Having been a huge fan of the original Office as well as an enthusiastic watcher of the “Carrell version,” I have decided to run two separate entries, retracing the British version, while recapping the American one.

By CC Staff

The similarities are clear – both shows are hinged upon making their viewer simultaneously cringe and laugh. This comedic form is not for the faint of heart, and that applies to the creators and their viewers. Incidentally, this type of laugh-out-loud-cringe-inducing tenor is remarkably similar to the HBO hit series, Curb your Enthusiasm, by none other than the Seinfeld master, Larry David (set in L.A., David plays himself, and the show is a much dirtier version of the sorts of shenanigans and meaningless of everyday life moments that was so artfully and humorously portrayed in Seinfeld).

Such parodic artistry takes a special, if not mentally twisted, type of creator. Ricky Gervais and David are equal contenders when it comes to shocking their viewers’ sensibilities. Steve Carrell has also proven that he’s is in that same elite comedic ring. But long before Carrell was able to shine as the idiotic Michael Scott in Scranton, PA’s office, there was Gervais’s David Brent in Slough, England.

While TV critics (and connoisseurs) in Britian wilt at the mere mentioning of Gervais’s name, he is not a household name here. Most Americans would neither recognize his name nor know that he was, along with Stephen Merchant, the creator of the Office. (That may soon change, as David Koepp’s Ghost Town, coming out this summer, is already getting a lot of press, and Gervais stars as the leading male actor). Nevertheless, it’s high time that this enormously talented writer and actor receive his due credit in Hollywood.

Briefly, Gervais (b. 1961) attended University College of London in 1979, where he first studied biology, but later switched to pursuing a degree in philosophy. As a college student, he was involved with music, and created his own band, called New Romantic Duo. Later, Gervais would go onto manage two bands (Suede and a Queen tribute band). Gervais, who needed an assistant after he was hired to work for XFM London, a hit radio station in the UK, eventually met up with Merchant. Merchant was hired to be Gervais’s assistant at XFM, and this was the start of their relationship. After Gervais was laid off, he ended up being hired as a music adviser for BBC, at which point he and Merchant also worked on radio pieces together.

It was the Office, which aired on BBC in 2001, where Gervais’s acting and writing abilities were recognized as nothing short of brilliant. One New Yorker critic gushed, “Nobody who has seen the [British show] has anything bad to say about it, and there’s a reason for that: it’s perfect.” Coming from the mouth of a critic, such a simple sentence is a precious, rarely stated remark. As I mentioned, Gervais plays David Brent, an inept, needy, painfully insecure manager of a paper company in Slough, London. The show ran its course from 2001 – 2003, a total of three seasons, and its creators won several prestigious prizes. (Gervais himself won 6 BAFTAs and two Golden Globes for his performances).

Like the American version, the show is depicted as a documentary, and many critics have compared this filmic, (intentionally) faux style to the classic “Rocumentary,” This is Spinal Tap. That film was created by yet another heavyweight contender in the comedic boxing ring, Christopher Guest.

Shortly after the Office came to an end, Gervais proved that he was just getting warmed up, as he began writing and acting in Extras, which started shooting in 2005 and ended after its third season in 2007. Incidentally, Merchant wrote and directed this show, too. He also shows up as, Darren Lamb, Gervais’s incompetent manager. While Extras is as equally uncomfortable as the Office, Gervais’s character – Andy Millman – an “actor” in L.A., is quite different from Brent. (No tiresome “character recycling” here, thankfully).

In later blogs, I’ll delve into the episodes of the British Office.

To be continued!