Every Episode Of The Office Is Being Recreated On Slack

A lot of people have recently transitioned into working from home with the use of online tools like Zoom and Slack. Now imagine, by some bizarre coincidence, that the characters from the comedy The Office were doing the same.

Well, thanks to people at the creative collective MSCHF, that's what's happening. They are converting all 201 episodes of The Office into conversations over the work organization app slack. MSCHF started working on this ambitious project before stay-at-home orders were in place due to COVID-19, but the timing of the current situation couldn't be more uncanny.

"Since The Office aired, the nature of work and office culture has changed drastically, a lot of which is centered around the way we use technologies," Daniel Greenberg, head of strategy at MSCHF, told The Verge in an interview. "This is a live experience by real people Mondays through Fridays, nine-to-five."

People can join the Slack and watch episodes unfold in real-time while engaging with other viewers in the watercooler and smoke break chatrooms. Since the production is live, sometimes non-employee members do pop up in the middle of an episode. Still, the moderators for MSCHF are diligently kicking out unwanted guests during showtime.

MSCHF has found innovative ways to use memes to convey the dry humor and visual gags of The Office for audiences accustomed to the show. They even use actual Office memes when appropriate. Even if viewers are not familiar with The Office, the community interaction and live production are both highly entertaining.

Ironically, two executive producers of The Office are also teaming up for a new show about working remotely. Ben Silverman and Paul Lieberstein (Toby Flenderson from The Office) have come together to tackle the challenges and humor that come with working in a digital space.

"Everybody's attempt to keep themselves private from work no longer applies," Lieberstein told NPR. "And this kind of integration between home and work brought all these new ideas and stories and characters into play."

Until the premiere of Silverman and Lieberstein production MSCHF has you covered every weekday from 9 to 5, and since every episode takes two weeks to finish, there will be plenty of content in the coming months.