The Office (UK)

Ricky Garvis; this guy is hilarious. His dance routine as David Brent (do, do do do, do do) on The Office season 2 has become the thing of which legends are made.

The character of David Brent epitomizes - to me - what tragic comedy represents. And at the same time this show carries powerful class messages. All for the good? well maybe.

(DEBBIE DOWNER ALERT!)

As this show/fake documentary takes place in an office, it is natural to assume the gaze of the white collar middle class worker that inhabits that environment. However, located just below the offices of Windam Hogg is the wharehouse where the blue collar laborers toil. These workers are rarely featured in the series; when they are featured they are depicted as crass, lazy and abusive. All true right? ow!

So, maybe many of the office characters are represented as anywhere from incopetents to straight assholes, but it is only in the office where we find morally redeemable characters - i.e.
Tim, Dawn and Neil. In the cast photo, the wharehouse workers aren't even present.

I could go on, but that's enough for now.

like David Brent. So this show is more of a program n the traditional sense; by watching I was obligated to make a value judgement on the characters' behavior and assimilate myself to those characters which I found appealing. It is easy to do with The Office, as i now work in anThis show is super funny and made me really quite scared to think that I may sometimes act office with other office people.

But enough about me.

The show is awesome. it was so awesome they made an American version tha trecycles many of the old jokes - e.g. stuffed monkey on the coat rack. I was really stoked to watch Steve Corell do his bad boss bit. if fact, I started watching the American version first. I thought it was better. I was wrong. This is nothing against Steve Corell or the rest of the American cast. They are all very funny. Especially Dwight. That guy is a good spin on the British Garath.

It wasn't until I caught a taste of the UK series on PBS that my appetite for the Brit version was first developed. Actually, it took me a couple of episodes to get into the whole British English thing. I really recommend this investment. Just sit through the first episode, even if you think it's too dry or tooo Britishy. Once I got to the second and third episodes, that shit had me rollin.

For the most part this is due to the character of "the boss" David Brent played with an uncanny sense of self annihilation by writer/actor/director Ricky Garvis. Move over Ali G and cheers to Ricky G, you are the new British sensation in the States.

Rating: 895,987/1,000,000. Class matters for this review.