It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it's not what we're used to thinking of as funny. Most of the fervently devoted fan base that the programme acquired watched with a discomfortingly thrilling combination of identification and mortification. The paradox is that its best moments are almost physically unwatchable.

Set in the offices of a fictional Slough paper merchant, The Office is filmed in the style of a reality television programme. The writing is subtle and deft, the acting wonderful and the characters beautifully drawn: the cadaverous team leader Gareth, a paradigm of Andy McNab's readership; the monstrous sales rep, Chris Finch; and the decent but long-suffering everyman Tim, whose ambition and imagination have been crushed out of him by the banality of the life he dreams uselessly of escaping. The show is stolen, as it was intended to be, by insufferable office manager David Brent, played by cowriter Ricky Gervais. Brent will become a name as emblematic for a particular kind of British grotesque as Alan Partridge or Basil Fawlty, but he is a deeper character than either. Partridge and Fawlty are exaggerations of reality, and therefore safely comic figures. Brent is as appalling as only reality can be. --Andrew Mueller

On the DVD The Office, Series 1 is tastefully packaged as a two-disc set appropriately adorned with John Betjeman's poem "Slough". The special features occupy the second disc and consist of a laid-back 39-minute documentary entitled "How I Made The Office by Ricky Gervais", with co-writer Stephen Merchant and the cast contributing. Here we discover that Gervais spends his time on set "mucking around and annoying people", and that actress Lucy Davis (Dawn) is the daughter of Jasper Carrott; as well as seeing parts of the original short film and the original BBC pilot episode; plus we get to enjoy many examples of the cast corpsing throughout endless retakes. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, none of which were deleted because they weren't funny. --Mark Walker

Some people still don't get this. I'm amazed how many people still give me that perplexed glare when I compare the genius of `The Office' with that `Faulty Towers'. `The Office?' they say, as if their long-standing respect for my opinion is suddenly in jeopardy, `but why is it funny? It's just people in an office'. An worthy reflection and pr??cis, no doubt! I'm increasing convinced that people just don't WANT to get it! People just don't want to give undivided attention, absorb every aspect, and conclude for themselves (.e., without the assistance of a studio audience or laughter track) precisely what is and is not funny. Yes, the lack of a `laughter prompt' is a hindrance for some. I can't help but wonder how many past sitcoms would have been so superior if the laughter track been dropped: `I'm Alan Partridge', `Father Ted', `The Young Ones'..... but the dim reality is that they would not have been half as successful!

Thankfully, Merchant and Gervais managed it! In fact, they used this concept to attract the audience they desired: an audience who appreciated their art. Indeed, in this fast-paced day and age, many simply do not have the time they wish to emerge themselves in book, classics and culture, but are completely aggravated with the monotonous so-called entertainment that the `box' offers.

`The Office', in this sense, is perfect! That is not to say that it is for the elite. Actually, I fail to comprehend what is NOT to get or what is NOT funny. Gervais sets up the exasperatingly over-confident tactless idiocy of character David Brent right from the opening shot. As Brent interviews and promises to employ someone who is plainly under-qualified for a job as forklift diver, he `bigs up' the candidate to Sammy (who gives jobs in the warehouse) complete with fibs, comical hand gestures, and knowing glances at the candidate and camera that are the staple traits of this main character. The complex relationship between Tim (Martin Freeman) and Dawn (Lucy Davis) is performed outstandingly by the actors and produces the main thread of the plot that links all the episodes. In turn, their light-hearted harassment of Team Leader Garrath (Mackenzie Crook) is also great entertainment for the viewer. The highlight of the series is probably episode 4, when an outside trainer visits the team for a day's workshop. Having an outsider among the chaos enforces the ridiculousness and unprofessional nature of the whole set up, and what a real fool Brent really is, as his reaction to potentially being slightly out of control is played brilliantly by Gervais.

So, some people cannot understand what IS funny about `The Office', personally, I simply cannot see what IS NOT funny about it. Pure genius in fact.

If you crossed "Office Space" with "Spinal Tap," you might end up with something like "The Office." This hit British comedy defies the usual sitcom rules, and brings us into the cringingly dull world of a paper corporation, all delivered with straight-faced wit and hilarity.

Wernham Hogg is a suburban paper corporation, a stunningly dull place to work. And presiding over it is David Brent (Ricky Gervais), a wannabe comic who claims to be a pal to all the people under him, despite driving them all up the wall. There's also his partner in crime, vaguely corpse-like Gareth (Mackenzie Crook), the downtrodden everyman Tim (Martin Freeman), and the beautiful Dawn (Lucy Davis), whom Tim hopelessly longs for.

In the first season, David is informed that either his branch or another branch are going to be eliminated. If his branch is eliminated, some people will be downsized, and others relocated. The employees -- including Tim and Dawn -- reexamine their lives as they struggle to survive in the day-to-day chaos, including a Web porn scandal, a quiz competition, giant inflatable genitals, drunken carousing, inter-office romances, and Gareth playing detective.

Don't expect a typical sitcom in "The Office." No laughtracks. No punch lines. No gag humor... well, not much. And no episode has a clear-cut ending. Instead, we have the format seen in "This is Spinal Tap" and the Christopher Guest mockumentaries -- hidden cameras watching the madness. And what those cameras see is enough to make the world's cubicle-dwellers cry.

The series gets off to a slightly bumpy start -- at first, the jokes are a bit too thinly-spread. But soon "The Office" gets its footing and the humor steadies itself ("Tim's put my stapler inside a jelly again. That's the third time he's done it!" Gareth complains, displaying the stapler in a Jell-O mold). And a lot of the humor is a subversive, subtle kind -- it creeps into your mind, and by episode two you'll be laughing your head off at David's bad jokes and veiled prejudices.

Ricky Gervais is brilliant. David is every bit as annoying and obnoxious as the immortal Basil Fawlty, but hides it under a genial mask and stupid jokes. Mackenzie Crook is wonderful as the obsequious boot-licker. Tim, like Dilbert, is a lovable loser who can't get himself out of his soul-sucking job. And Dawn is mired in a relationship with an obnoxious cheapskate.

More subtle and yet goofier than American sitcoms, "The Office" is a unique slice of British humor. Funny, witty, and horrifyingly true to life, this is a brilliant series.

Beginning with a stapler, an incredibly big jelly mould, some tortuous schoolboy jokes - you don't expect a comedy programme to be sophisticated and gripping. But there you go, it works so don't trifle with it...

"The Office" has now reached an iconic status among British comedies ranking alongside the likes of "Fawlty Towers", "Blackadder" and "I'm Alan Partridge" in quality. It's comedy is based on strong characterisation and an achingly accurate observation of everyday office life,highlighting it's banality and mundanity while tapping a rich vein of humour in the process.Characters like David Brent, Finchy, Gareth, Tim and Dawn are all memorable ones and although there are few hilarious, side splitting scenes involving them , their interrelationships are constantly amusing and entertaining. Highlights of this first series for me would be the Training Day and the night out at Chasers Nightclub.

The first season of the office is hard to watch in a couple of ways. Sometimes rickys character (David Brent) makes you so uncomfortable that you cant watch the screen.Othertimes i cant make out whats happening on the screen through the tears of laughter freely flowing down my face. The supporting cast are all exellent and stephen merchant is a genius in the making.
Long live Ricky Gervais