By Dom Romeo & Erin Free
“I could always just do comedy,” Ricky Gervais, told FilmInk in 2009. “I could write a script, and I could write a sketch. Give me a subject, give me two people, and give me ten minutes, and I can just do it. It comes easy to me. Everything that I’ve done is 80-90% there, the first time. The fun is getting that 10%, and searching for that excellence. That’s the real fun, and that’s the grind as well. That was a long time coming.”
An honest-to-god comic genius, Ricky Gervais really hit that aspired-to excellence with his BBC TV series, The Office, which had an obvious forebear in a much loved American sitcom. The late, lamented, and much loved comedy of manners that was Seinfeld fobbed itself off as a show about nothing, but it was actually about a multitude of somethings, as we were forever having “Seinfeld moments” in its wake: obsessing over “double dipping” and all the “whatever-Nazis” that make up our lives. The true comedy-about-nothing trend (which has become increasingly omnipotent in Seinfeld’s wake) actually involves everyday life, and instead of melodrama, the lines are delivered deadpan and the scenes played seriously. For a time, the most obvious examples of the slice-of-life sub-genre were acclaimed Britcoms like People Like Us and The Royle Family.
The comedy-about-nothing mantle, however, was undoubtedly taken over in 2001 by The Office, which served as the launching pad for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and now stands as a true classic of British television. Like People Like Us, The Office uitlised the documentary format, and honed in on the Slough office staff of the Wernham Hogg paper company, who are threatened with redundancy – or, even worse, continued employment in the most boring job in the world. If you didn’t recognise yourself amongst the characters – David Brent, the spineless, wanna-be-loved clown of a boss (played with extraordinary comic timing by Ricky Gervais, and now a meme-inspiring icon of awkwardness); Gareth (the ingeniously dry Mackenzie Crook), the office suck-up; Dawn (the funny and occasionally heartbreaking Lucy Davis), the indifferent secretary; and Tim (Martin Freeman, who steals all of his scenes with his acerbic brand of self-awareness), the time-serving pen-pusher who has a crush on her – then you will certainly recognise mates and colleagues… and rest assured, they’ll certainly recognise you!
The Office (which, of course, inspired the equally popular US comedy of the same name starring Steve Carell) is now a well-deserved TV titan, but appropriately enough, that makes Ricky Gervais a little uncomfortable. “The first big pay cheque that I got was for the DVD sales of The Office, and that scared me,” he told FilmInk in 2009. “It made me feel guilty, and I felt a bit weird, because it ruined it, you know? I couldn’t have been prouder of The Office, but then the cheque for the DVDs came. I worried that it was too much…I can’t explain why.”
David Brent: Life On The Road is released in cinemas on August 25. The Office is available now on DVD and Blu-ray.
