BS: 'The Office'

Subject: BS: 'The Office'
From: harvey andrews
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 04:38 AM

I see "The Office" has won best comedy award and best comedy actor in the Golden Globes in the U.S. Considering the differences in perceptions of what's funny and what's not between us, have any of you from across the Atlantic seen the series? And what do you think?
Personally, I feel it's as near perfection as the form can get and a work of near genius.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 04:59 AM

As a Brit I do not find it at all funny.
Differences in perception are not just transatlantic.
Quack!
Geoff the Duck.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 05:04 AM

I enjoyed it but did not find it particularly funny. The portrayals of the 'typical' office characters were very good indeed but for me it was lacking that 'spark'. Of that ilk, ie office interplay between characters, I found 'Drop the dead donkey' far funnier. That series however did have current events overplaying it as well which will make it date. Something that will not happen to the Office.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Linda Kelly
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 05:14 AM

I a with Geoff on this one-I just didn't get it-although I have to say the qality of acting was superb.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,c.sparra
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 05:26 AM

I'm in Harvey's camp on this one. IMHO def the best comedy I have ever seen. Well done Ricky. Humour is very personal.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 06:30 AM

I'm in the Duck camp, I watched a bit of it once, and found the humour juvenile, and patronising.
John

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Morticia
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 06:59 AM

I couldn't be having with it either although I accept it was well written and well done......too well perhaps, I found myself cringing with embarrasment for the Ricky Gervais character, too realistic to find funny perhaps? Still, jolly well done to all of them for their Golden doo-dahs or whatever they are.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: harvey andrews
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 08:00 AM

Yes, I know a couple of people who found it too real to be funny. That's what I loved about it. It was like a Vin Garbutt gig,laughing one minute, crying the next.It asked something more of the audience than just passive laughter. It was subtle and intelligent, unlike most brit comedy these days which is crude and dumbed down.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 08:13 AM

Humour may well indeed be personal, but I cannot imagine enjoying a pint with somebody who didn't find "The Office " funny.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Amos
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 08:27 AM

Was it a series on television? Or a fillum?

A

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,Sooz(at work)
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 08:35 AM

I'm in complete agreement with Dave the Gnome! My other half thinks it is too real to be amusing but as I don't work in an office I can only say it makes me cringe. Bring back the team from Globelink!

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Daithi
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 08:58 AM

Oh Bugger...I thought it was a documentary... sigh..

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 08:58 AM

Congratulations to "The Office" team, the awards are well deserved.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,Den
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 09:06 AM

Very, very funny. A great collection of characters. Ricky Gervais is painfully credible as David Brent, what a prat I loved him. Amos it is a TV series. It was shown on BBC America and BBC Canada on this side of the shough.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 09:31 AM

Is it a generation gap thing or what? I can't stand Alan Partridge, Mrs Merton, or The Royle Family, all "reality" based humour. It seems that we all know people like these. But do we laugh at those who are actually like that? No, most of us are too polite. So why do we find it funny when people mock these poor inadequates?
As B.H.Calcutta[Failed] famously said, "It are wicked to mock the afflicted"
John

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 09:33 AM

A couple of notably unfunny ommisions from my list.
Dennis Pennis & Ali G.
John

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Peg
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 11:29 AM

I wish I had cable, I would love to see this...is it available on DVD yet?

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 12:24 PM

'Humour' has nothing to do with how funny something is, merely your ability to perceive it. So while some may not find 'The Office' funny, it is none the less humorous.

(I had to study this stuff in university ... how funny is that?

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Sooz
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 12:38 PM

Good grief John - I'd almost forgotten B.H.Calcutta(Failed). Mind you, that great intellectual work of literature did not translate well to the TV. It needed to be read, and preferably in the omnibus editions of which I have close to a full set. (For the confused we mean the Perishers strip cartoon from the Daily Mirror at its best in the early 70's.)

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 01:23 PM

I never took to the office and like Giok also disliked Alan Partridge and Mrs Merton although I did enjoy the Royle Family. Not sure why Murray Macleod thinks that this makes us unacceptable drinking partners unless the office is his only topic of conversation!

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Eugene Judge
Date: 26 Jan 04 - 02:24 PM

I didn't find "The Office" funny. I think I'm always in the pub when it's on so I've never watched it! Murray, I must have been enjoying my pint with others who also didn't find it funny, but I never noticed.

Never mind, well done the Brits.

I love the "Fast Show" and all the repeats!


Eugene

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Mudlark
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 02:34 AM

I agree, rationally, with all the nay-sayers, yet I can't help it, I find this show so painfully funny as to be mesmerising. I've seen Ricky G. interviewed and he is indeed a very funny man, even leaving David Brent behind. On the other hand, I don't find this a great candidate for repeats...once is enough (whereas I've watched F. Towers many, many times).

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 03:40 AM

Excellent excellent excellent excellent - oh and I quite liked it

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: okthen
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 03:45 AM

I really don't see the humour in this series, perhaps it's my loss, perhaps I should have tried to watch for a bit longer. However congrats to the team for their awards.
Series 1 is available on DVD (Peg) from Amazon, suggest you check to see if it's available from your library first.
As for US v Brit humour, I never could understand how Benny Hill got such recognition in the States, oh well.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: greg stephens
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 04:04 AM

Well, there's no accounting for tastes. But just for the record I would say the Office is the best TV comedy I've ever seen.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: mooman
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 04:25 AM

Excellent!...and thoroughly well-deserved recognition. As much of the humour is in what is not said and in expressions as in the dialogue.

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Jeanie
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 05:01 AM

I agree, mooman - that is what I enjoy about watching "The Office" - that low-key, understated style of acting appeals to me very much, whether comedy or straight. "An ounce of behaviour is worth a ton of words" - a very difficult art to master, and I take off my hat to them, *especially* if they were working to a script.

It all looked to me like perfect improvisation. Does anybody know - did they start off from a basic outline and improvise around it, then shoot a scene continuously ? I know that the scripts are now available, but I wonder if they are "scripts after the event" - rather like the way that Mike Leigh works with his actors.

As far as its appeal - I think it is a matter of taste in acting style, as much as taste in humour. Some people are not happy unless they see "actors ACTING". Compare "The Office" style with the high farce accentuated style of "Fawlty Towers" - just as skilfully executed, but totally opposite end of the "actors acting" scale.

- jeanie

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,Hugh Jampton
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 07:41 AM

Anyone who cannot appreciate the humour in this excruciating, embarrassing, yet totally credible circumstance is in need of counselling!

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 07:55 AM

I just can't believe that the Yanks actually get it. No gross over-acting, no shouting, no blatant obscenity, no silly voices or over-done accents, no hugely exaggerated gestures. What did they find in it to like so much? Scares me - are we becoming like them or are they getting more like us? Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!
JB

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,Desdemona
Date: 27 Jan 04 - 08:53 AM

I'm American (albeit 1st generation, with an English mother), and I think it's hilarious. Ricky Gervais' ability to behave like such a complete and utter prat, with apparently *no* threshold for embarrassment (resulting in laughter and cringing in equal proportion for the audience), qualifies him as an absolute genius in my opinion.

That said, I do think that by & large there are some significant differences in what people consider funny either side of the pond. I was particularly struck by this when the show won a Golden Globe the other night & Gervais made his remarks essentially in character, only to be met with relative silence from the Hollywood audience. Alas, I think that that sort of low-key, tongue-in-cheek, politically incorrect humour is largely lost on American culture, which on the whole has a sad tendency to take many things too seriously.

D.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Mudlark
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 03:08 AM

I'm an American and for me the sublime understatedness and off-hand documentary style is what makes all the characters so excruciatingly funny. When I saw gervais interviewed on parkinson i think he said the show was largely unscripted.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 04:24 AM

Ah Hugh Jampton, that's what we like on the Mudcat, people who are tolerant, and open to other peoples' thoughts and ideas.
John

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,Strollin' Johnny
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 05:45 AM

Well Desdemona and Mudlark, I guess you're getting more like us! You're so lucky!
Johnny
:0)

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 05:53 AM

I think we all have worked with people that we can associate with this show. Great stuff!

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Sooz
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 06:09 AM

OK so I'll have another go at watching a whole episode - but it may have to be from behind the sofa!

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 19 Mar 04 - 07:30 AM

I reckon its one of the funniest things i've ever seen,
for Uk people-it's currently on offer at MVC buy 1 DVD get one free.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Ellenpoly
Date: 19 Mar 04 - 08:00 AM

I'm a BIG fan.

I just talked with a friend in the States (I'm a yank abroad..no cheap shots, please) and she said it was too embarrassing to watch. I knew what she meant as there were a few times I could only see it through my fingers, and kind of squinched down in my chair.

But then Ricky and Co are simply following a long and wonderful tradition of these kind of cringe-making characters. Some of you pointed out a few above-Basil Faulty, Mrs Bucket (Bouquet??), Mrs Merton, Alan Partridge,...the list is a brilliant one and I do think it speaks to something more in the British character than the American...though my friend said she had the same trouble with Archie Bunker (a character that was stolen from the Brits as well).

In my opinion, the British are usually more able to see this side of themselves than many (not all, thankfully) Irony Deficient Americans. They also accept that not Everyone is born with perfect teeth...it's part of a pattern.

If nothing else, just to see all the faces of those people at the awards show as Ricky G came up and spoke was worth it. Most of them hadn't a clue who he was, and if they have any smarts at all, I hope they went home and found out.

The last episode had me cheering...xx..e

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST
Date: 19 Mar 04 - 08:02 AM

Used to listen to Ricky Gervais on the radio a few years ago. Can't remember the show...GLR maybe? He was as side splitting then as now. Love his humour.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: GUEST,ivor bigginin
Date: 19 Mar 04 - 10:16 AM

Reading through some of the pathetic comments on this thread only justifies my earlier remarks in earlier threads. You lot have about as much imagination as a weasels pecker."The Office" has to be the most refreshing piece of imaganitive comedy in the last twenty years.

There, I have agreed with john the oaf.

Any one who doesn't "Get it" as some moron earlier said, must go around with his/her head up his/her arse, or each others arses.

This only goes to show, with one exception - people like you - simple is always the best format for comedy.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 04 Apr 04 - 10:47 PM

whats a "weasel specker"?

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Blackcatter
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 12:45 AM

The DVD is available at Blockbuster.

I thought it was funny, but not that funny. Too realistic. I've worked in a museum that was nearly that screwed up.

The acting was good - and the funniest part was the episode with the trainer - the whole band thing and the songs - that was good. Liked the flirtining/tension between the receptionist and the main worker. Like said before - I enjoyed it, but have little desire to watch it again.

An those of you who have a problem with that F-off and go work for the Bush campaign. They need more intollerant idiots to drive this country into the stone age.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: gnomad
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 03:11 PM

Too close to being a documentary for me. I have daily contact with people who could join the cast without requiring a script (no acting required).

I can appreciate the humour, but can't watch an episode, it's too real.

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Amos
Date: 05 Apr 04 - 03:16 PM

In my opinion, the British are usually more able to see this side of themselves than many (not all, thankfully) Irony Deficient Americans.

Well, gee, Ellenpoly -- maybe it's 'cuz they invest so much more effort in that side of themselves!! :>))

(Duck and flee stage right).


A

Subject: RE: BS: 'The Office'
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Apr 04 - 06:14 AM

jOhn: I suspect "weasel specker" is the opposite of the above named guest "Hugh Jampton"

Hugh Jampton= huge hampton (boasting about penis size)
Weasel specker= weasel's pecker (berating small penis size)

Some people find it hilarious getting names like these read out on national radio. Although I must admit Bart Simpson does it well with his phone calls to "Moe's"

Nigel