‘We didn’t know the rules we were rebelling against’: how The Office changed comedy

As Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's sitcom turns 20, top comics and people behind the scenes explain how it rewired British humour

It wasn't the first painstakingly naturalistic sitcom on British TV (see: The Royle Family). It wasn't the first comedy to revolve around the cringeworthy antics of a delusional, middle-aged entertainer" (see: I'm Alan Partridge). It wasn't even the first mockumentary about the banalities of work (see: People Like Us). Yet by marrying all those things together - and so much more - The Office managed to raze the comedy landscape, establishing a whole new language and style for the British sitcom. Twenty years after it debuted, the influence of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's series about the long-suffering employees at a regional paper merchants and their incredibly unprofessional boss, David Brent, is still everywhere; nothing since has had a comparable impact. How did a sitcom that prioritised footage of photocopiers over proper jokes remake comedy in its image?

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