If you were to name a list of the most influential and beloved sitcoms of the 21st century, it wouldn’t take long before you reach “The Office,” both the British and American varieties. The series, originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant in 2001, was a huge hit in the UK when it was released and would spawn an even more successful reboot in the US in 2005 (lasting for 9 seasons). But speaking to Times Radio (listen below), Gervais spoke about the popularity of “The Office” and why he believes the show could never exist today.
For context, it’s important to understand that Gervais has gone from starring in “The Office” and various other comedies to being a stand-up comedian, with a penchant for offending people with jokes about all sorts of social taboos. This type of comedy, combined with his various hosting gigs for the Golden Globes, has put Gervais in the crosshairs of folks trying to “cancel” him for years. So, while he might have a point about the edginess of “The Office,” it’s clear that his past dealings with folks attempting to cancel him likely influence his thoughts.
“I think now [‘The Office’] would suffer because people take things literally,” Gervais said. “There’s these outrage mobs who take things out of context. This was a show about everything. It was about difference, it was about sex, race, all the things that people fear to even be discussed or talked about now in case they say the wrong thing and they’re ‘canceled.’”
He added, “And the BBC have gotten more and more careful and people just want to keep their jobs. So people would worry about some of the subjects and some of the jokes, even though they were clearly ironic and we were laughing at this buffoon being uncomfortable around difference.”
Ultimately, he believes there would be outrage against the series if it was released in 2020 instead of more than a decade ago.
“I think if [‘The Office’] was put out now, I think that some people have lost that sense of irony and context,” he explained. “…It isn’t a case of what’s right or what’s wrong, it’s a case of how many letters do we have to write? I’ve talked people down off the ledge before. Throughout my career I’ve said, ‘Listen, I’ll write the letter.’ I’ve explained it to people and gone, ‘No, no, it’s OK, ’cause this…’ and they go, ‘Oh, OK.’ Sometimes they’re just scared, and they’re even more scared now because people don’t take an explanation for an answer, they just say, ‘Well, I don’t want to see it, so let’s ban it.’”
Obviously, the first thing someone could say to counter Gervais’ opinion about the way current society would greet “The Office” is the fact that the series (the American version, at least) is more popular now as it has ever been before.
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Sure, the American and British versions are very different, though they do share a lot of the same DNA. The major difference, and more towards what Gervais is talking about, is the way the British show handled the Dunder Mifflin boss. In the American version, Michael Scott (Steve Carell) began a bit closer to his British counterpart but quickly grew into a loveable loser, hapless idiot type. Whereas David Brent (Ricky Gervais) was always shown to be a bit more mean-spirited and biting with his narcissistic humor. Brent was viewed more as a loser that you didn’t want to root for and knew would fail, where Scott was a loser that you couldn’t help but adore and hope for the best.
In that sense, there’s an argument that the British ‘Office’ (which is likely all that Gervais was talking about) would be a bit harder to handle in 2020 than a reboot of the American version, as long as they stuck to the way the characters were portrayed originally. That being said, Gervais is also the type of guy that loves to say whatever is on his mind and doesn’t care who he potentially offends, so he is a bit biased with how he views the current culture.
Here are some clips of Gervais as David Brent in “The Office”: