Nellie Andreeva

UPDATE WEDNESDAY AM: The Office co-creator/original star Ricky Gervais responded to The Ministry trailer on his blog today. “I’m gradually taking over the world,” he wrote. “They found a fat, annoying middle-aged bloke with a beard. That bit was easy. The difficult part was finding a town in Afghanistan as grim as Slough (the setting of the original Office series). Calm down, I’m joking. It’s not quite as grim as Slough obviously.”

PREVIOUS TUESDAY PM: A trailer for an upcoming Afghan comedy series titled The Ministry has been making the rounds online today. First, it is nice to see that country repeatedly ravaged by war returning to some sense of normalcy in the form of a comedy series. And secondly, did the Afghans just remake The Office?! With its mockumentary style and similar title, office setting and bumbling boss at its center, The Ministry, set at “the Ministry of Garbage in Hechland”, does bear similarities to the hit U.S. series and the British original that spawned it. (There is even a female secretary, but, unlike Pam, she hates men.) However, reflecting what’s on people’s minds there, The Ministry pokes fun not only at mundane issues such as co-workers stealing each other’s staplers in an exchange similar to a scene from the British Office series, but also at more serious problems such as widespread corruption. Here is the trailer:

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