David Brent goes to Microsoft

August 12, 2006 12:12 AM

Fans of the BBC version of The Office take note: in 2006, Microsoft hired Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant to make a pair of faux training videos for the UK Microsoft headquarters, with Gervais reprising his David Brent role. Both videos are now up on iFilm, and are pretty damn funny (if you're amused by the Brent schtick, which I am).
posted by lilbrudder (15 comments total)

excellent, thank you.
posted by jimmy at 12:26 AM on August 12, 2006

Having read several articles in the past suggesting that Brent was "retired forever" (e.g. this from the BBC, and this one), I'm a little surprised.

However, I'm not at all in any way disappointed. :)

Thanks for this.
posted by pinespree at 12:30 AM on August 12, 2006

Thanks a lot. Great stuff.
posted by quarsan at 12:34 AM on August 12, 2006

Thanks! Here are links for those of you who might want to save the videos:
download video 1 (.mov)
download video 2 (.mov)
posted by omarr at 2:05 AM on August 12, 2006

These are gems, as is everything I've seen from Gervaise and Merchant.
posted by wsg at 2:24 AM on August 12, 2006

Isn't iFilm dead yet? Makes you appreciate what you get over at YouTube.
posted by reklaw at 4:22 AM on August 12, 2006

Hilarious. Thanks for the links.
posted by Outlawyr at 6:32 AM on August 12, 2006

Very funny. Love the deadpan humour.
posted by invisiblecompany at 7:59 AM on August 12, 2006

Luuuuuvely!
posted by homodigitalis at 8:16 AM on August 12, 2006

Cheers.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 8:24 AM on August 12, 2006

Great stuff, thanks.

Ricky Gervais is genius, but Stephen Merchant is also brilliantly funny. You can tell on the Gervais Show podcasts how influential he is to the pairing. In many ways (though certainly not all) the two remind me a lot of Seinfeld & Larry David.
posted by FlunkedFlank at 9:47 AM on August 12, 2006

So if those were made in 2006, why does Brent refer to Nelson Mandela, who was freed in 1990, as having been freed 13 years ago? Is it intentional David Brenty-ness, or are these videos actually from 2003 somehow?

In any case, BRILLIANT stuff! I have watched the Office Christmas Special maybe 20 times, and it still gets me in the gut every single time, at the end!
posted by newfers at 12:32 PM on August 12, 2006

These are gems, as is everything I've seen from Microsoft.
posted by premiumpolar at 1:48 PM on August 12, 2006

They weren't made in 2006. My friend works at Rare, a MS game studio, and they saw these vids in 2003 as part of their training. I remember asking him to try and smuggle copies out, somehow, but he refused. The bastard.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 8:52 PM on August 12, 2006

Sorry for the tardy reply (if anyone's still reading this thread / I've been out of town). Someone affiliated with Microsoft asked us to remove these videos, so they are no longer available. Sorry about that. Intrepid interwebbers should be able to find links elsewhere.
posted by dhammond at 6:26 PM on August 18, 2006