When "The Office" first happened, the UK version,
and Ricky and I sort of got well-known,
there were lots of plaudits because it was kind of,
"Where did these guys come from?"
You know, they were sorta new kids on the block,
and we got a lot of plaudits.
And then as time went on
and we became more and more familiar, then it was like,
"It seems like it's overrated that show, these guys."
And then when it went to America and it was like,
"We prefer the American version."
You know what I mean?
And then what happens, you see it with a lot of people,
is eventually you...
Sir Elton John had that,
so through the '80s, he was kind of lambasted,
and then at some point, you become a national treasure
if you live long enough. Yes.
This is what I'm hoping for next,
is to be a national treasure. No, no, you've got it,
you've just...
I mean, trust me, I'm trying for that too,
but I'm told I need to live to be 150.
(Stephen and Sona laughing)
That's right.
I need to be the same age
as someone who fought in the civil war
Yes to be a national treasure.
But there's this thing that happens,
you guys will do two years of a show
and then decide that's enough and-
Well, that's 'cause of the economics
of course. Yes, yes.
There's no money in syndication,
there is no such thing. Right.
So why are you gonna make 150 episodes of something?
It's crazy.
Right, but "Fawlty Towers,"
how many "Fawlty Towers" are there?
12. There were 12.
Yeah. And they're perfect.
Yep. You know, the American style
for many, many years,
and I think it's starting to change.
I think Netflix and the way streaming works now,
it's starting to change it,
but if something works in this country, the mandate was,
grind that thing (Stephen laughs)
until it's completely no longer funny
and then do another 10 years.
(both laughing) That's right, exactly.
And that was our system
so I was always looking at your shows,
and I when I say your, I mean, UK shows,
and thinking that you were the superior minds
and that you had more integrity than we had.
I didn't realize there was just no money in it.
There's just no money in it, (Conan laughs)
what's the point?
You know, your burn out, there's only two of you,
you can't afford a writers' room.
So it's like, "Why am I doing this again?
Why am I doing something..."
Also I think in the case of "The Office,"
we did about 14 episodes in total.
And I think we thought, "Well,
we've cracked TV writing," (Sona laughs)
turns out this is the first thing we've done and look at it.
You know, and we thought,
"Yeah, we can just keep repeating this success forever,"
turns out it's way harder
(Sona laughs) than you think.
The idea of don't quit a hit,
I think I would cling on to now
with dear life. Yeah.
So it sort of looks like it was a great integrity,
it's just a terrible, foolish mistake. (laughs)
And if only we'd just kept on grinding that out,
oh, then I'd have three Bentleys.
(all laughing)
My former writing partner, Greg Daniels,
Yep. we got our start together
and worked together for many years
and we're still close friends.
And so I remembered being worried for him
because he told me the British "Office" is done,
but I'm gonna try and make an American version,
and I was worried for him.
I didn't think it could be done.
I didn't want my good friend Yep.
getting disappointed,
having a hard time,
and good God,
(Sona laughs) I mean,
Wow.
that thing, it was brilliantly done
and brilliantly cast, but-
Thank God he didn't listen to you.
I know, well, trust me- Yeah. (laughing)
'Cause otherwise, I mean, I would just...
I mean,
I'd be still scrapping around (Sona and Conan laughs)
doing stand up in like pubs
instead of just swanning around with celebrity friends
and swimming pools.
I am not kidding.
Someone could fill a book with so...
"Thank God you didn't listen to Conan,"
(Both laughs) because I'm not even kidding,
there have been about five or six times in my life
when I have given people advice which was you know,
like to Mike Myers when he pitched me (laughs)
"Wayne's World" first.
Really?
I've talked about this before,
he was brand new at "Saturday Night Live,"
and he was like, "Kevin got this thing
and this guy's doing cable access in the basement,"
and I said, "You know, cable access,
low rent version of a TV parody.
That's kinda been done."
Yeah. (Sona laughs)
And I thought I talked him out of it,
and then he went and submitted it to read through anyway,
and I was like, "Well, this kid's about
to get his comeuppance." (Stephen laughs)
Oh my God.
'Cause I'm the guy who knows it all.
Well, I think smartly, the one thing...
I, like you, grew up watching a lot of TV
and there was a number of attempts to make British shows,
including "Fawlty Towers,"
into American shows, and they'd often fail.
And one of the things which seemed a recurring problem
was the original Brits had tried to do the adaptation.
Uh-huh. And my advice to Ricky,
I remember thinking was,
"We should not try and do this ourselves.
We don't quite understand America in its DNA."
Yes. Even though we think we do
cuz we've grown up watching American stuff,
and it needs an American show runner to adapt it
and we met with a lot of people,
but Greg was the one who...
The only one I think who seemed to spot
that it was really a romance.
Yeah. At the core of it,
it was a romantic comedy,
that also had this funny boss character.
Yes. And I think he spotted that
that romance, at the core of it, between Jim and Pam
was what was gonna keep people coming back week to week.
To be fair, Greg is always saying
everything's a romance. (Sona laughs)
He just happened to be right
in that meeting. (Stephen laughs)
But he and I once had to do a rewrite
on a Godzilla versus Mothra. (all laughs)
Create your battle and he...
And it became Godzilla hearts Mothra.
Yeah, yeah. (Sona laughs)
He kept saying, "It's a romance.
Godzilla loves Mothra,
and Mothra loves Godzilla." (Stephen laughs)