The Office is already starting to feel dated—not necessarily because of its humor or characters, but because it involves a bunch of people working together in the same building. Even before COVID-19 hit, more and more employees were working from home. Now that businesses are learning firsthand that many of us can still be productive in sweatpants, it feels like that could become the norm even when the pandemic has come to an end. But does that mean classic workplace comedies will also become relics? Would Dunder Mifflin still be as funny if all its characters worked remotely? Well, we can now find out! Instead of rewatching the series for the umpteenth time, you can relive every episode of The Office in Slack form.
The MSCHF creative agency has created an all-new, unofficial version of The Office (which we learned about at The Next Web) that moves the entire series to Slack. Users can join the group and “watch” all 201 episodes of the show as they take place entirely on the online business communication platform. For nearly the full month of May, the episodes will “run” every day from 9 am to 5 pm ET, all in text, emoji, and GIF form.
There are numerous channels, but members are directed not to post in show channels. (We’re not adding new “characters” to old episodes.) They can discuss the series and this innovative remake in the #water_cooler and #smoke_break channels.
The Office Slack
The Office Slack is not only clever, it’s genuinely fun. A big reason why is that we already know the characters and situations. How hilarious would this really be if we couldn’t hear Michael Scott’s voice in our head while we’re reading him yell at Toby? And how can anyone even commit a “flagrant personal intentional foul” via a computer? That’s why it remains to be seen if an original take on a modern “workplace” could be funny.
Fortunately, even if it’s not, we can always just rewatch The Office again. The show will always make us laugh even when the idea of having coworkers in the same building feels like a distant memory.
Featured Image: NBC