Gervais: The Office vs Extras. Which was better.

Andrewf20

I prefered Extras. I got much more laughs out of it. Darren Lamb and Maggie are great characters. The offices feels long in the tooth now for me for some reason. Would love to hear some thoughts on this.

endplate

Where's the humour oh yeah saying Gervais is funny now that's funny. Don't watched either as I never rated Gervais as a comedian

Hagar

Not really a Humour thread moving to TV.

Mr E

The Office, by a mile.
Extras got very good in its second season though.

kmick

Extras for me. The office was just about David there was no crazy plot. Extras is more like curb your enthusiasm in that it goes from bad to worse as the 30 minutes progresses. Plus he managed to get loads of celebs to take the mick out of themselves. The one with Kate Winslet talking about phonesex is brilliant.

Saruman

extras for me!! I can even empathise since i did it for a month on the King arthur movie

Mossy Monk

The Office

Morgans

The Office by quite some distance. Extras was ok in parts, but only in parts. The Office was groundbreaking, but it did run out of steam by the end. Gervais probably got a little too successful and loved himself a little too much. Even Extras appears to be one big vehicle for his own ego, but it does have its moments.

Dodge

Enjoyed both of them, but The Office was genius.

The Office for me. I could never get into Extras, but the one with Patrick Stewart was funny though.

humanji

I prefer Extras. The characters in it are better and the way it uses real stars is hilarious (as said above, the Patrick Stewart one was class ). I was never mad about the Office, although it did have it's moments. But I think the American version is better. It seems less forced. Maybe I'm just tired of Ricky Gervais. He's the same person (ie himself) in everything from The Office, to the cameos in the Simpson and that Stardust film. It's just not as funny anymore.

sweetie

american office here too

Basq

Dodge wrote:

Enjoyed both of them, but The Office was genius.

Same!

aequinoctium

extras

Sandwich

The Office, without any doubt. Finest TV ever.

Extras was very good tho, especially the first series (2nd only so so). To come up with such a high quality show after such a hit as The Office was quite remarkable even if it didnt reach the heights of genius.

40coats

Office here too, by a mile (love the US one also). I thought the second season of Extras was quite weak actually, they took the Maggie character way too far. That said, i must watch it again as the first season was much better on a second viewing.

Andrewf20

Looks like the office wins 10/5 so far anyway. The pain of laughter I felt in the 2nd series of Extras when Andy hoses the floor with the bottle of fizzy water while trying to ask some woman what time she finishes work. Absolute best bit in Extra's along with Darren & Barry chatting up the 2 women in the Bowie episode. Best bit in the office was during the Christmas specials when some punter throws a bottle at Gervais while he's on stage handing out soft toys. Textbook.

hot fuss

Definitely the Office, although Extras had some cracking episodes such as the Daniel Radcliffe one, and Andy playing a gay character in the play directed by Ian McKellan. Extras was more hit and miss I think, whereas the Office was all pure gold. David Brent is just such a great character..

silvine

As a whole, The Office is funnier and has stronger characters (Gareth and his mates!) but Extras has some real life out loud moments.

David Bowie singing a song about the fat man who sold his soul was hilarious as was Ben Stiller (who I normally hate) and the Dodgeball 2 line.

Agree with the above poster though, who said "Where's the humour oh yeah saying Gervais is funny now that's funny. Don't watched either as I never rated Gervais as a comedian."

He is a little hyped.

flogen

The Office by a mile for me - much more rounded, crafted and enjoyable. Ended superbly too.

Extras S1 was good - sometimes it was hilarious. S2 fell down in many places for me though, and while it wasn't terrible I remember regularly watching it without too many laughs.

Basq

The final episode of the second series of 'Extras' sorta ruined it for me... yer man from 'My Family' (Robert Lindsay.. that's it!) was pretty woeful and the humour was overshadowed by Bobby DeNiro's appearance!

Hopefully the Christmas special this year will give us some well needed giggles over a typically useless TV period.

silvine

De Niro's appearance was a load of hyped up nonsense. It seemed more like Gervais fulfilling a movie-fan's dream.

It wasn't even funny.

Shane St.

The Office hands down. both great shows though.

Bawnmore

Has to be extras!

Newjellyboxer

Tough one. On a first watch basis I enjoyed The Office more but Extras has some quality moments. Will go with the Office in that it was more ground breaking.

Sidenote ; Cant watch the American version for some reason.

paddylonglegs

Morgans wrote: »

The Office by quite some distance. Extras was ok in parts, but only in parts. The Office was groundbreaking, but it did run out of steam by the end. Gervais probably got a little too successful and loved himself a little too much. Even Extras appears to be one big vehicle for his own ego, but it does have its moments.

Have to agree here, Office is so intelligent, well-written, and funny. It does so well to capture the attitudes and personalities in an office and everyday life. We will be watching this in forty years time like we do Fawlty Towers.

Extras defo showed Gervais' egotistical side, which also came out in his second stand up show "Politics".

JonathanAnon

The office was more consistently funny. Extras episodes depended a lot on the guest star. I loved Barry (Shaun Williamson) and Stephen Merchant when they were in it. And Ashley Jensen. Some of the stars were great: Vinny Jones & Ross Kemp, Kate Winslet, Les Dennis (though a bit surreal in parts, as it was hard to discern truth from fiction), Orlando Bloom. Some of the stars were not so great: Robert Lindsay, De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson.

Office wins by a length.

Six of One

Extras!

amacachi

Extras. Fondly remembered The Office but seeing the whole first season the other night I didn't laugh out loud even once.

yenraek

I was watching the last few episodes of Office over the weekend and although I saw them all before I never really noticed what a miserable bunch they are.

Having worked in offices most of my life I found most of the episodes very believable. I'm not saying the show was crap....it was anything but!

Sheer genius the way they captured the atmosphere...so typical of office life!!
(Well some anyway!)

greendom

It's a difficult one they were both brilliant and I can't decide between them.

I think my funniest scene from either came in Extras though when the Ricky Gervais character was at the grave explaining how his Jewish mother was well into retirement when he was born. I'm laughing now just thinking about it

Cris Jones

amacachi wrote: »

Extras. Fondly remembered The Office but seeing the whole first season the other night I didn't laugh out loud even once.

I didn't find it as funny as I once did, either...

Crash

Having started to watch the office again, I have to say the office. I hated it at one stage, then I realised that the stars who steal the show are Tim and Gareth by far. Quality show.

slave1

The Office is better, although some episodes of the US Office are as good as the UK ones

mink_man

the office

lightning_saa

Office

Cris Jones

Crash wrote: »

Having started to watch the office again, I have to say the office. I hated it at one stage, then I realised that the stars who steal the show are Tim and Gareth by far. Quality show.

Why did you hate it at one stage, though?

Borneo Fnctn

Chances are, if you hate the office you need to watch it again without prejudice.

keano_afc

Hard to choose. The Office was so groundbreaking its hard not to choose it over Extras. But then Extras did manage to get high profile actors making fools of themselves (Patrick Stewart and Kate Winslet most memorably).

I'd mention the Comic Relief Extras special this year too, was very funny. Link below if anyone hasnt seen it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO-8S57Rxmc

LovetohateTV

The Office wins for me.

AssaultedPeanut

The Orifice

JP Liz

Extras for me was better

I do like the US version of The Office better than the UK one