How Reality TV Inspired ‘The Office’s Best Jokes
The Office paved the way for many other “documentary style” TV comedies. It was based on the British format, and shows like Trailer Park Boys predate the American Office too. But, the success of The Office meant shows like Parks and Recreation or Modern Family could get away with it on broadcast. The creators of the American The Office said they were inspired by reality TV.
Ben Silverman and Greg Daniels were on a Television Critics Association panel in 2005 for The Office. They shared what the comedy got from reality TV. People still binge The Office on Peacock thanks to jokes like these.
‘The Office’ was more reality TV than sitcom
The premise of The Office was that a documentary crew was making a film about the employees of Dunder Mifflin. Silverman referred to reality TV shows that found drama in ordinary people, be it The Real World or the future Below Deck.
“It was part of a birth of a whole movement that we’re seeing, the American television of the kind of docu-soap,” Silverman said. “This idea that anybody could be famous and you’re actually watching these shows like Airline and many others that are following ongoing real people.”
‘The Office’ jokes that came from reality TV
A joke on The Office could be as simple as Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) looking into the camera during a scene. Daniels said The Office emphasized the comedy of behavior rather than setup/punchline.
“This is really a reality show,” Daniels said. “I think what we’re taking from the reality show genre is like the fact that we’re looking at behavior as more than jokes. We’re kind of not saying that it’s a comedy show and we’re out there to make you laugh. We’re kind of taking a more deadpan approach. And I think it’s just a style of comedy, and, in fact, I think it’s a style of comedy that’s pretty rare on television, so we kind of have a lot of fresh snow to jump around in, I think. We could be on the air for longer, I think, because we’re not retreading jokes.”
Filming like ‘Survivor’
The Office was scripted, of course. But, they were able to capture some of the spontaneity of reality TV. Survivor camera operator Randall Einhorn was the director of photography for The Office and brought a
What we did on a lot of the scenes was the actors would kind of block themselves and just act naturally. And the cameramen would try and follow it as if they were reality show cameramen trying to just follow what was interesting. It wasn’t the same each time. And it was like another way to try and get some unpredictability and life into a comedy, because a lot of the things that I think people find less exciting about comedies is how predictable most TV comedies are is that you know a joke is coming every three sentences or whatever. And we tried to kind of give the sense of ‘I don’t know where it’s happening next.’
Greg Daniels, Television Critics Association panel, 2005
