‘The Office’: Ricky Gervais Thinks David Brent Is the Original Reality TV Star
When you think about reality TV stars, your mind probably goes to Survivor or Big Brother competitors. But for The Office creator Ricky Gervais, reality stars were born from his role as David Brent. Gervais believes his character laid the groundwork for the reality TV stars who are popular today.
‘The Office’ is a documentary about wanting to become famous
The Office demonstrates the “beauty in ordinary things.” But in Gervais’ opinion, the comedy series is about one person climbing their way to stardom. That man was the boss — David Brent in the British series and Michael Scott (Steve Carell) in the American version.
“[David Brent] was searching for something — that was a very big part of [the show],” Gervais explained to Office star Brian Baumgartner on The Office Deep Dive podcast. The similarities between Gervias’ role on the British version of the show and Michael Scott are apparent. Both men wanted the same thing — to be loved.
For Gervais, The Office is a “performance piece about behavior.” More specifically, the show is about “a man who was doing stuff to be loved and famous.”
Both David Brent and Michael Scott sought popularity. According to Gervais, both characters “thought being famous would be a shortcut” to attaining popularity and love.
Ricky Gervais thinks reality TV is similar to what the boss wants in ‘The Office’
During his conversation with Baumgartner, Gervais also addressed the similarities between The Office and reality shows like Big Brother. David Brent and Michael Scott desire to be perceived as cool, funny, and sexy, much like today’s reality stars.
“That is comedy at it’s most basic, particularly in sitcoms,” Gervais explained. By making David Brent and Michael Scott two of the most cringe-worthy characters on television, Gervais gave commentary on people who desire fame.
Gervais says it’s common to see people on talent shows like American Idol and Big Brother “crying and saying, ‘I just want this — vote for me.'” Eventually, this evolved into “people [who are] famous for being famous and doing anything to be famous.”
“Or being a [real] housewife,” Baumgartner interjected. Per their discussion, said reality stars are now in on the schemes some producers come up with. Reality stars will exchange drama as currency, in some cases. “People [will] say, ‘Let me go in Big Brother and I promise I’ll cause trouble’ and the producers say ‘OK, you’re in,'” Gervais said.
Ricky Gervais believes David Brent and Michael Scott inspired reality stars
Now, reality stars are a dime a dozen. But when The Office started out in the United Kingdom, reality stars weren’t a thing yet. As Gervais mentioned on the podcast, society has become a “culture of misbehavior” where reality stars get rewarded for sparking drama.
But what Gervais and Carell did in their roles on The Office was the opposite. They may have sparked drama and created uncomfortable situations, but it was authentic. David Brent is “a Frankenstein of guys you meet growing up who should know better.” And that’s what makes The Office so entertaining.
