Ricky Gervais on The Office's Tenth Anniversary

Ricky Gervais:

The Office was not about media in any way. It reflected some of the symptoms of a society fascinated by celebrity, but it was truly about real, everyday people. I resisted saying normal people because I feel it wouldn’t be interesting watching a program about “normal” people. Particularly in Britain. We love the peculiar. The Office, like many other sitcoms before it, finds humour in a dysfunctional family. The reason why we find this both funny and comforting is that we all belong to a dysfunctional family. If you don’t, there’s something wrong with you.

The dysfunctional family in The Office had a lot of children. Namely the men. Men as boys and women as adults was a recurring theme. This is funny because it’s true. Men don’t really grow up. And a man who is meant to be in charge and a role model acting like a big kid is even more ridiculous. This is why it was important to always keep Brent in the work environment. He should know better. If he’s on holiday or at home he can do what he wants. But when he’s meant to be leading by example and he acts like a twat, it’s pathetic. This is the ‘sit’ in sitcom. It’s all about the situation.