Ricky Gervais’ ‘Office’ Boss Returns With Britpop Ballad ‘Slough’
Ricky Gervais recently revealed that he was resurrecting the British version of The Office‘s bumbling boss character David Brent for a new mockumentary called Life on the Road. One of the ongoing subplots during The Office‘s original run was Brent’s brush with one-hit wonderdom thanks to “Free Love Freeway,” which Brent performed with his band Foregone Conclusion years before he became the regional manager of the Wernham Hogg Paper Company. Following the announcement of Life on the Road, The A.V. Club reports that Gervais has unveiled another Brent original titled “Slough,” his tribute to the U.K. town where the series’ paper company was based. (Essentially, Slough is the British equivalent of Scranton, Pennsylvania.)
“Don’t believe what the critics say / That’s it’s soulless and it’s boring and grey / See for yourself, what are you waiting for,” Gervais/Brent sings on the Britpop-sounding ballad that’s equally indebted to David Bowie, the man responsible for one of the funniest Extras scenes. “And you know just where you’re heading / It’s equidistant ‘tween London and Reading. Oh Slough, my kind of town / I don’t know how anyone can put you down.”
According to The A.V. Club, Life on the Road will begin filming in 2015 and will focus on Brent’s U.K. tour (which also fits neatly with Brent’s current occupation as a door-to-door salesman). Gervais’ last appeared as Brent briefly during the final seasons of the U.S. version of The Office, randomly meeting Steve Carell’s Michael Scott in a hotel. Gervais also brought back Brent and hinted at his return to music in a 10-minute segment for the 2013 Comic Relief special: