Snake eats its own tail with viral Office video based on an Office scene based on a viral video
One of The Office’s worst scenes came during the show’s sixth season. In it, Jim and Pam finally have their wedding, inexplicably inviting a bunch of coworkers they’ve been shown not to like very much for years prior. At the time it aired, all the way back in 2009, a viral video was going around that was popular enough to force wedding parties the world over to embarrass themselves by dancing to singer/domestic assault scumbag Chris Brown’s “Forever.” The Office, unable to escape this cultural vortex, recreated it for Pam and Jim’s wedding, too. It was and is horribly unfunny. In our review from ‘09, Nathan Rabin referred to the dance as “an already embarrassingly-dated YouTube meme.”
Now, more than a decade later, the cast of The Office has returned with a video inspired by that scene, popping up on a Zoom call to ensure that not even a couple getting married in the year 2020 are able to escape the curse of having a day of love marked by a late ‘00s dance trend and, for Christ’s sakes, Chris Brown.
The above clip comes from conservative action hero and CIA fanboy John Krasinksi’s new YouTube-based, frighteningly efficient viral clip generator, Some Good News. Yesterday’s episode included Krasinski bringing on a couple—Susan and John—who showed how much they like The Office by recreating the way Jim proposed to Pam outside of a gas station. Krasinski tells the two that he’s been ordained, adds their parents, friends, and, well, Jenna Fischer and musician Zac Brown to the conference call, and officiates a virtual wedding.
This is all legitimately nice. But then, once the ceremony is done, Krasinski pops on the Chris Brown track and adds the majority of The Office’s cast to the call to do the terrible dance again. We see Steve Carell, Mindy Kaling, Ellie Kemper, Ed Helms, and Rainn Wilson all jumping around in quarantine. We see Phyllis Smith, Creed Bratton, Angela Kinsey, B.J. Novak, Brian Baumgartner, Oscar Nunez, and Kate Flannery all waving their arms in celebration.
We’re happy that the newlywed Susan and John seem so happy with the result. But, Krasinksi and The Office’s cast have done us all great harm by completing the horrible ouroboros of a bad ‘00s meme. If we’re not vigilant, it won’t be long until the world’s weddings are again filled with wedding parties in sunglasses, dancing awkwardly to corny top 40 jams because the couple getting married were reminded by Krasinski’s YouTube show of that Office scene inspired by a viral video.
[via Variety]
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