Saturday, August 28, 2010

Sir John Betjeman: A Rebuttal by David Brent



Actually, that's Ricky Gervais as David Brent, from BBC2's smash hit sitcom The Office, offering a typically naff rebuttal to Sir John Betjeman's immortal poem Slough. Oddly enough, The Office holds a couple of unique distinctions here at the Pop Culture Institute; not only is it one of the few Britcoms I can't abide, it's also one of the rare shows whose American version I like better. The main reason for this is that I've worked for people like David Brent, and so each episode is like a queasy trip back in time for me, to a place where my work life was dominated by a ghastly twat.

To be fair, Slough only came 42 out of 50 in the book Crap Towns, meaning places like Oxford, Brighton, and even London rated worse.
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2 comments:

tankmontreal said...

Sorry, Master PCI, but we're of different minds when it comes to The *original* Office. I re-watch it again and again and still can't get enough. Mind you, my boss of the past decade is the polar opposite of David Brent.

michael sean morris said...

You're lucky. I've had a David Brent for a boss on a couple of occasions, and watching the show made me physically queasy.

It's been a couple of years, and I may have been in a weird head space when I watched it. Maybe I'll give it another try.