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This is Fresh Air. I'm David B. and Cooley.

The Office, the long-running NBC comedy series based on a British sitcom, turned 20 years old last week.

The original version, co-created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, premiered in 2001, starring

Gervais as David Brent, the clueless boss of a regional paper supply company.

The show's concept was exported to America,

with executive producer Greg Daniels developing the series for NBC.

He relocated the Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company to Scranton, Pennsylvania,

and renamed and recast all the roles of the office employees.

Steve Carell, then a correspondent for The Daily Show, got to lead role as office manager Michael Scott.

The rest of the office was populated by actors and writers who have become much more famous since the NBC version premiered in March 2005.

That's partly because the office, which retained the documentary format and no-lap-track approach of the original, quickly matured into its

own funny, popular version, and kept maturing much longer than its British counterpart. NBC's The Office ran for nine seasons and broadcast 201 episodes, and it's still popular on streaming

sites. Today, in our Fresh Air Anniversary show about the American version of the Office,

we'll hear from cast members and from Greg Daniels and Ricky Jervais.

Let's start with a taste from one of the earliest

episodes of the NBC version of the office. It's from 20 years ago, but couldn't be more topical.

Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, offended some of his employees by reenacting part of a

...