I’m having trouble with this one. Scotty has broken me down. With an Apple iSight, cell phone camera and “an ancient point and shoot that takes MPEG4 video”, he has taken office subversion to a level that no matter what I’m about to say I feel institutionalized. As though he will find a way to incorporate this very review into his irreverence and show me just how meaningless it all is. Thanks, Scotty.
Thanks also for making me laugh at the absurdity of office life. Thanks for being out there, fighting the good fight against office regimen. Thanks for working in the most generic office space possible to create one of the funniest web series in this millennium, Scotty Got An Office Job.
I challenge anyone out there to watch this show, at least three of them (at about a minute or so each, you’re looking at three minutes of your life) and tell me you are more productive than Scotty, the most-slash-least productive office employee on the planet. This, dare I say, reality web series is not only funny, but tense, entertaining and deeply creative as its creator Scotty Iseri walks the tightrope of employment by way of rapping, office synchronized swimming, office chair ballet and personal grooming, among other things, all while in the office and on the clock at work. No joke.
With 26 episodes in the first season (plus a couple of extras), and basically one a week starting with the first on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 (they’re all dated), and 10 more eps so far in season 2, Scotty has managed to keep this one-man show fresh by coming up with a new idea each week. With three settings, his cubicle, the office kitchen and the conference room Scotty offers up a couple of dance numbers, a few songs – please please please watch episode 9, Monday August 11, 2008 for a great ballad to a late file he’s waiting to upload – and several other themes ranging from one horror show to one action show to, so far, two unbelievable Q and A sessions. These sessions, it must be noted, literally take place in the conference room while a staff meeting is happening as he discreetly and creatively answers questions previously sent to him by viewers. If only you had the balls to do what he does, you’d be so much more interesting.
And that’s the thing, we’ve all kind of wanted to do it on some level, but Scotty’s beaten us to the punch. He’s carrying out our fantasies and it’s all too relatable. I mean, how many of us surf the web, Facebook, twitter, fall asleep, take unnecessary bathroom or kitchen breaks at work? All of which are skewered in Scotty’s own absurd way and taken to the next level. He even has the audacity to record a Facebooking intern that he doesn’t like, as though he’s going to rat on her…while he’s making his show!
And therein lies the tension. There are real stakes to this series. He could get caught and he could certainly be fired (in this wacky economy no less). As he describes it, “I started innocently for shits and giggles and will do it as long as it’s still fun or until my boss finds out about it and I get fired.” And that’s getting closer to a possibility as people are beginning to share his videos on laughingsquid (in one week he went from a hundred views to four thousand) and his Twitter audience is growing. How long is it before someone inadvertently sends a “funny video” link to his boss, and there’s Scotty? Adding to the tension of the show is the fact that if he does get fired, there goes the show…that’s pretty deep. As for close calls, in one episode he tries to see how much personal grooming he can do at his desk and manages to only get a third of his beard shaved before getting caught. We don’t see the getting caught, but we do see the missing third and the twinge of shame in his smile as he tells us what happened.
Be aware though this is not to be tried at home, or work as it were, folks, a lot of what he does is very calculated. His songs are not sung out loud at work, but lip-synched to pre- or post-recorded music – a little of both it seems. And his talking is below a whisper and subtitled. But all of this adds to the tension, the inevitability that he will be caught at some point, or at least the feeling of it. There is even a snippet at the end of season one in which it appears he is being reprimanded for bad behavior by his superior, for reals.
Bottom line is that you should watch this show. Every Monday on Vimeo, MySpace, YouTube, Blip.tv or iTunes. I think it’ll be a good way to start your work week and maybe inspire you to do something productive with your time at the office, even if it doesn’t have anything to do with your job. Where do you think I’m writing this review?
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Comments
I find this webseries to be in very poor taste. Seriously. Scotty Got An Office Job needs to go away. It’s completely disrespectful to his co-workers and to the organization that he works for. He has a good job. There are plenty of talented people without jobs who would devote 100% of their time at work promoting the mission of the small nonprofit that employs him. Instead he takes their money to promote himself. Obviously his boss hasn’t ever entered his name into google. Do you think she would be a fan?
Are you serious when you wrote you’re serious, Scotty? Your complaint pretty much sums up the premise of this series. Albeit, it’s not brainiac material created to save the world. But it’s typical to popular irreverent entertainment you might find in a Judd Apatow flick. It’s a viral series appropriate for the cubicle drone.
People Call Me Scott – I think what you’re describing is the movie “Office Space.” That was irreverent entertainment. It was fiction, not reality web tv. Scotty’s actions (or inaction) at work affect the people he works with. When people are losing their jobs left and right, I find it offensive that he’s so callous with his own. Doesn’t he realize how bad this makes his organization look? It’s not hard for members (i.e. the people who contribute to his company and pay his salary) to discover the crap that Scotty’s putting out there. Would you give money to this company if you found out their employees were doing this? Google Scotty Iseri. You won’t have any trouble figuring out where he works.
Wow… First of all, someone who puts Scotty’s level of editing and production value on their online series probably spends a lot of their OWN time working on it. I’d be SHOCKED if very much of this series was even filmed during work hours. He’s not hurting anyone, and he’s making something that is a lot of fun. I really don’t see the problem here. Sure, if you go hunting, you could find out what company he works for, but he’s not maligning them. He’s poking fun at office culture in general, not any specific organization and not the non-profit sector. And I think we all get that. Except you.
I agree that misbehaving in the office adversely affects productivity and employee interrelation. Who wants to see their coworkers “horsing around” when there is work to be done and deadlines are approaching? Seeing my coworkers leave the office to get a breath of fresh air or eat their lunches disgusts me. Do you know there are two days every week when most people don’t even come into the office? I do, because I come in to work every day! I find that by pushing myself as hard as I can, never checking my email, or glancing at headlines, I have not only gained the respect of my peers and superiors, but I have developed a sense of righteous superiority which extends to all aspects of my life.
I think Scotty speaks to an experience of office life to which many of us can relate. His series is an irreverent but harmless reaction to the politics of professionalism and the isolation of cubicles. I have been watching Scotty’s series for some months now and it’s clear to me that he is able to create his series without interfering with his work or actively distracting his coworkers. Much of the footage is obviously filmed outside of his work hours (like the incredible synchronized swimming bit) and all of his production work is done on his own time. The footage that he does film during his work hours amounts to about 5 minutes a week, if that, which is equivalent to having an occasional cigarette break. The footage which is “disrespectful to his co-workers” is essential to ground his series in “reality” and provides the overarching dramatic tension that keeps us watching. (And I do keep watching, because it’s quality material) The scenes which are arguably transgressive (like making faces behind someone’s back) are made in jest and are minor compared to the actual exploitations and abuses to which we office workers are vulnerable. (Raise your hand if you are fully insured) Scotty seems to be the sort of prankster or clown which exist in many offices, except that his jokes are funny and innocuous…and he has a video camera.
Keep up the good work, Scotty!
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