SNL Digital Short | <strong>The Japanese version of <em>The Office</em></strong> at Schema : more than ethnic

SNL Digital Short | The Japanese version of The Office

Yeah, it's a bit dated but it needed to be resurrected for those who didn't catch it...because it's awesome.

In this Saturday Night Live digital short, Ricky Gervais, the creator of the British version of The Office, tries to convince us that idea for the show actually came from a Japanese TV show. Watch the Japanese version of The Office HERE.

Steve Carroll stars as the "Japanese" counterpart to the character he portrays on the US version of The Office. The actors in the skit are speaking surprisingly passable Japanese (with "Pam" giggling a lot, while she covers her mouth in the modest -- and stereotypical -- way).

The little Japanese touches are hilarious -- Hello Kitty, robot dog, karaoke, kampai!, incessant bowing. The scene where the boss begins taiso (morning exercise) is giggle-worthy simply because this is how they actually begin the day at some companies in Japan (and they use the exact music you hear in the skit)!

Oh, yes, Ricky's last line and its delivery is pure brilliance.

More: via Wired | Watch the Japanese version of The Office @ www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live

By the way, halfway through "Regis" interrupts with a commercial promoting Ohimesama tampons ("Princess Tampons") which is amusing since it takes a magnifying class to find tampons in any Japanese pharmacy. Pads are de rigeur, and tampons are not very common because they are seen as a slutty and unclean. Okay, that's made up, hee, but tampons are not the preferred device for women on those not-so-fresh days. Thank you very much.