‘SNL’ Staffers Warned Mike Schur That the American ‘Office’ Remake Would Be A ‘Disaster’

The American remake of The Office was obviously a massive hit, lasting for nine seasons, inspiring an  spin-off, and spawning a baffling kids book set at “Dunder Mifflin Elementary,” presumably so as not to inadvertently promote child labor. 

But The Office’s success was by no means guaranteed. In fact, a lot of people assumed that a U.S. adaptation of the acclaimed British series would go over about as well as previous attempts to Americanize shows from across the pond like Absolutely Fabulous and Fawlty Towers. 

In a recent interview with Variety, writer and producer Mike Schur discussed the early days of The Office, specifically, how taking the sitcom gig meant quitting his writing job at Saturday Night Live, where he had worked for six years. Apparently, Schur’s fellow SNL writers didn’t seem to think that taking The Office was the best career move. “Everybody thought that was a terrible idea,” Schur explained. “Every one of my friends there was like, ‘Oh boy. This is going to be a disaster.’ We were such fans of the British show.”

To be fair, even Schur himself was extremely skeptical about the project at the time. In an episode of the Office Ladies podcast, he revealed that his first reaction to hearing the news that someone named Greg Daniels was remaking the Ricky Gervais-starring series was “he shouldn't do this. No one should do this.”

The SNL writers were also disappointed that Schur was leaving. “It’s no secret Mike is a great writer, but behind the scenes, there has never been a better champion for other writers,” Seth Meyers told Variety. “Be it as a mentor, a collaborator or simply as an audience member with an infectious laugh, everyone is better when he’s in the room.”

But like many others, it doesn’t sound as though Schur had the easiest time at SNL. Last year, he claimed that the show has a “kill or be killed” mentality, and is “a little bit hostile by design.” Worse, during his tenure at SNL, Schur became the Weekend Update producer and was tasked with coming up with fun jokes about current events, which wouldn’t have been so bad if not for the fact that his first episode in this new role aired the week after 9/11.

So clearly Schur made the right decision by leaving SNL and getting in on the ground floor of one of the most successful sitcoms of the 21st century. Plus, had he stayed, it seems pretty unlikely that Lorne Michaels would have ever let him play a deranged Amish beet farmer.