well this is it the British office versus the American office I don't think there's ever been a larger argument when it comes to British versus American comedy both of these shows have a large dedicated fan base that aren't exclusive for the country either version originated from I've spoken to people who love the American version and people who love the British original unlike The Inbetweeners the American office managed to change itself and move away from the conventions of the original everything after season two is much different only and pretty much completely original and it's one of
the reasons that it ran for nine whole seasons now of course the pilot episode remains pretty much a word-for-word adaptation and trust me we'll be taking a look at that later but for now let's explore the differences between the British office and the American office first of all British comedy has a significantly different tone to American comedy putting it bluntly British comedy tends to be much more pessimistic and tragic in tone whereas American comedy is generally lighter and more hopeful this different is evident with the two versions of the office and can even be seen
right away in the opening titles the opening theme for the British office roles in painting a rather drab and depressing feeling to everything this is complemented by cinematic shots of Oakley grey buildings traffic filled roundabouts and road signs there's a juxtaposition between the attractive camerawork and the dreary colourless scenery is a sombre opening that Clues you into the kind of world you are about to enter compare that to the American opening it's far more positive from the music to the cinematography you only need those first three notes of the theme to instantly let you know
that you're watching something that is more lighthearted the American opening is also far more Americanized you have these shots of the main characters with the actors names appearing over them people smiling the pace is much quicker and it's extremely similar to the other typical sitcom openings you see now this isn't a bad thing at all it just highlights the overall difference between the two and this is almost the first step to the American office carving out its own identity now another key thing to look at would be cinematography the documentary style of the British office
was decided upon initially because it was far cheaper and easier to produce remember at this time Ricky and Steve were pretty much nobody so the BBC weren't going to hand them a large chunk of money to make the show with however the British office used this to its advantage it made sure to always stick to the documentary format with mostly single camera shots bleak realistic lighting and by avoiding film and any scenes or cuts that were to improv for a cheap documentary this slow and dull style of the cinematography helped shape the overall tone of
the series working in an office is mundane and depressing and they show that perfectly the American version started out looking a lot more like the British show they even styled Michael Scott's hair to look like he was kind of boarding and sleazy but by the time season two rode around the cinematography had changed the image was much brighter and more colorful almost representative of the tonal shift that the series had I also noticed that there tend to be far more cuts and edits within the American office as well as more camera angles the hand-held documentary
style is kept but the oval focus on it is significantly reduced to the point of it being basically unbelievable if you told someone that the British office was a real documentary then the chances are that they would believe you but I doubt anyone would be convinced by the American office the layout and lighting of some scenes looks so much like the part of a regular sitcom once again this isn't really a floor with the American office since the shooting style complements the type of humour they're trying to deliver it's fast and often sharp so the
heavy cutting in some scenes is justified now a big area for comparison is obviously the humor and both shows almost perfectly sort of the styles of comedy that their respective country is known for I think Stephen Fry makes a fantastic analysis of both countries comedic stars as well as the origins of these styles if you go to an American bookshop by far the biggest section is self-help and improvement yeah you know the idea that that life is refined a ball and improvable comedy is the microcosm that allows us to examine the entire difference between our
two cultures ours is bathed in failure but we make a glory of our failure we celebrated one thing noticeable about the British office is how much quiet of it is it's rare that a joke or funny moment is presented on our plate for you to enjoy it's often far more subtle or requires you to put yourself in the situation if you walk into the British office expecting a flat-out comedy then you're likely going to be disappointed any comedy within the series tends to be weaved into several layers of characters story and more often than not
is part of something awkward or cringe inducing when you look into Ricky and Steve's comments on making the show you can really see how much care and attention was put into it they wanted to make sure they made something that was realistic and grounded the British office has its wacky moments but it's never to the point of being unrealistic by contrast the American office is far less serious in tone it embraces its wacky moments and goes far further with this jokes than would ever be mystic the characters are all larger-than-life and hilariously eccentric when showing
either version to an average viewer especially a younger one it's likely that the American office will succeed and making them laugh more frequently its managed to make me laugh several times but for different reasons than the British one there's a scene in which Dwight is being taught how to show he's listening to other people I hear you but Dwight being the person he is takes it way too far and the outcome is hilarious children of the world coming together cutting down trees to make paper but not in a child library way however it would probably
feel out of place in the UK version since most various characters are inept they're inept in much more realistic and subtle ways than Dwight if anything the American office is the sitcom Ricky and Steve never wanted to make there's a scene from the unaired test pilot in which gareth is trying to speak to david after hearing about the redundancies in the office however people keep entering the room after also hear in the news and ruin what gareth hoped would be a private meeting a personally thought this scene was quite funny but for Ricky and Steve
it was a step too far but we look back at the pilot it just felt a bit too much like it become a sitcom with a beginning middle and end I was genuinely panicked it was the sitcom that we always said we wouldn't make they wanted to keep every scenario ground is enough for it to be realistic and on top of that respect the idea of it being a documentary it's not a bad thing that the American version is outlandish it just shows the clear different visions and goals that each version had you were in
the parking lot earlier that's how I know you okay here's a big comparison to be Mays David Brent vs. Michael Scott's David for me is one of the ultimate comedic tragedies with David you have a man who thinks he's the life and soul of the party to him his comedy is the best his impressions of the best he's everyone's friends but in reality he has pretty much none of that David wants to please everyone and manages to please absolutely no one he wants to be best mates with all of the workers in the office but
only manages to create an awkward disconnect between him and his colleagues he also fancies himself as a bit of a blue-collar working man but is clearly rejected from their circle Tuffy Tuffy clean he likes to appeal to the higher-ups but gets the whole business Ward stamping on him through his actions David also spends a lot of time trying to show how caring and aware he is by pointing out things that are racist or sexist or even making comments that he believes will prove he is without prejudice ironically these actions nearly always expose some sort of
ignorance or preconception within him if I had my way the place would be full of them and if anyone ever appears to be in a better position to David he will nearly always try to find some way to undermine their success David is ultimately a complete arse but he's not unlikable he steps over the line frequently and yet there were just enough scenes they're able to redeem him a scene I particularly enjoys when he's working through the employee survey with Keith and at this one moment in time he's not joking around he's not trying to
make anyone laugh nor is he playing up to the camera he's simply doing his job and it's unbelievably refreshing and a weaknesses he's put eczema another moment that displaces for me is when David plays his guitar Joe and the staff training episode you see it would have been really easy to make David terrible at playing guitar and all just conjure up the same sort of awkward comedies when he danced but instead they made him actually quite good came down he's amazing or anything but he's surprisingly competent not only that but the moment she is up
dawn and entertains EV wondering what would have been a very boring training seminar this moment shows that dave is not a completely incompetent buffoon at all and even makes me a little sad for him David has a genuine skill and yet here he is cooped up as a manager for a paper merchants Moore's David would have you believe that he has many skills and things it's just comedy or dancing it's clear that he doesn't but here is one thing that he is somewhat good at and it's mostly buried as part of his past it makes
you think that if David drops his act picked up his guitar and I had a really good go he might be able to turn his life around but ultimately his flawed character an image of himself won't allow that one I cringe at David Brent I also cringe for him you want him to do well in this situation because in the he's not really a bad person a truly bad person does exist but we'll touch on them later now with Michael Scott I have a very different reaction Michael to me comes across as someone who's living
entirely inside his own head well Steve it seems somewhat grounded Michael comes across as blissfully ignorant and almost socially incompetent he's a much more extreme and ludicrous character than David and I believe that is what makes him easier to watch my sister who is watched far more of the American office than me said this about Michael Michael's character is so over the top and ridiculous that watching him is no longer painful instead it's just entertaining with David Brent his almost too realistic and it makes every interaction far more painful and awkward David feels like some
of the people I know whereas Michael is too absurd for that I think the general consensus is that Michael is more likable he has more redeemable moments than Bryan and also manages to maintain a sort of childlike innocence in many ways he's like a sort of Homer Simpson he might seem ignorant or mean-spirited at times but really he's just doing what he thinks is right Michael is a guy just trying to fit in he's been put in a very boring and mundane environment that doesn't really connect well with him he's an excitable person with a
very on excite in life so whenever he sees an opportunity to have fun then he will take it in the end he wants to have his own group of friends and for people to actually want him often though he doesn't know how to get the things he wants and tends to bumble his way through situations it's clear that he cares about the people he works with he's just not too clued in on the actual feelings of those around him however one big character I can comment on is Chris Finch in his American equivalent Todd Packer
I feel like Finch's addition to the original series was to show exactly how unlikable someone could be it gave a viewer perspective for David and allowed you to see just how small it was next to Finch in many scenes Brent seemed like just a tag-along whereas Finch's stealing the show on top of that I get a sense of fear from David's as I watch him in these scenes and I'm certain this was intentional David seems to both admire Finch and be intimidated by him he wants to be part of Finch's gang and spend time hanging
out with him but feels overpowered by him is one of the occasions where you feel sort of sorry for David as you see the kind of treatment he receives him Finch he's one of those people that when he was where he does say funny things and you laugh and then you it's my turn see when this is compared with Michael and Todd Packer I don't get the same effect Michael seems far too enamored with Todd to the point of idiocy one time we were set of twins one thing led to another and we brought him
back to the motel and then Packer did both of them it was awesome it's still funny in a tragic sort of way and the joke is ultimately on Michael being the loser there's a chance that the character was used differently since Michael didn't really need someone to make him appear more likable his childlike personality did that for him however I believe that it's a very crucial part to the original and it makes this final scene in the Christmas special all the more powerful no dog with you today though this scene is brilliant for so many
reasons first of all in the few seconds leading up to it you see David cracking jokes looking into the camera and trying to play up like he usually does however after Chris makes a dig at his date Brent stops the act looks Finch dead in the eyes and tells him Chris what if [ __ ] off then gives a look to Neil as if to say you too and leaves the frame without looking at the camera once is unbelievably satisfying and is another moment that shows the more grounded and human sight to David I think
both bosses do well in their respective series but when it comes to the British office I found that there's just so much more to explore in Davis character people can be quick to say he has zero redeemable features but I'll argue that that's not true there there you just have to look harder for them I'd love to look into more characters talking about what makes them work what makes them realistic or what makes them funny however I'm going to save that for another time finally though it's time for a good old head-to-head comparison this time
it's the stapler scene now there are a few areas in the scene in which I feel some of the humour was lost in the adaptation ignoring some minor nitpicks my first point would be David Brent's delivery of this line 8 out those people starve in the world which I hi notice how David is always trying to stay within the eye line of the camera he's constantly playing up to it and trying to paint himself in the best light possible he thinks that by delivering this line he's shown the world how aware and thoughtful he is
and part of the humor comes from the completely obvious act he puts on in the American one Michael seems to treat the as an afterthought he's more concerned with what's going on in front of him and only just seems to remember he's been filmed because they're starving people in the world and which I hate and it is a waste I'd say that this is more fitting for Michaels personality later in the series however here it just doesn't connect well with the British writing and misses the entire point of the line another change that creates a
problem is changing Jim's jelly cubes to Jim's jell-o pot and that is the weirdest line I've had to say today the comedy from this original moment comes from Tim a student was intentionally eating the jelly cubes in front of Gareth making it obvious that Tim wants the culprit with Jim the jelly is not only a different colour but it's a form that can't even be used to make the same jelly that Dwight's stapler is in from doing my research it seems that jelly cubes aren't actually a thing in America which surprised me so I guess
they had to do their best to adapt the joke unfortunately though this was also much of the human being lost from the situation the final change I'll comment upon is this one here disciplining alright I believe that the UK version handles the awkwardness of this scene far better after David's inappropriate comment he's left to stare awkwardly from Ricky - Gareth is nobody laughs we get to see David flounder in the failure of his own joke until it gives up and moves the conversation forwards in the American version they cut away to reactionary shot and this
removes much of the awkward tension it's a much more obvious way of showing that an inappropriate comment was made when compared to the lack of reaction in the British version on top of that at the moment moves by much faster and the audience isn't forced to suffer through the pain of the joke falling flats however one thing we can be thankful for is that the producers did notice these issues and started moving the show in its own direction and because of this we now have two iconic shows to enjoy when it comes down to it
each show provides us with a very different tone one is Drive realistic and sometimes hopeless whereas the other one is cheerful cartoony and friendly you'd always want to work it Dunder Mifflin since it feels so colorful and fun at times the American office seemed to recognize that work is an area in which you waste your life away and people don't want to be reminded of that in their entertainment so as a result the show has a more positive and inviting world the British version makes you feel like you're working at Wernham Hogg slogging through the
mundane and boring office life designed to be relatable and true to life for people that have worked in offices in the past with every ray of sunshine there's a thousand things that can go wrong it can be hard to watch even for those who are used the British style of cringe comedy neither is necessarily better than the other since they're both trying to achieve different things so whether you stick with the original or tune into the American you're always assured some quality entertainment weight it's been the entire video and I haven't even stuck in a
reference to Jennifer Connor [Applause] [Music] hey thanks for watching this and putting up with my lack of content there's every chance that the BBC will claim this video like they did with my Black Adder one and won't let up so yeah I could be in some crap with this one I don't know what movements to saying here subscribe if you haven't already the end of the bye bye bye
