Local Actor Has Us Giggling About SA's Remake of The Office!

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First, it was Ricky Gervais. Then it was Steve Carell. Now it’s Albert Pretorius. South Africa’s remake of The Office already has us in stitches. The first episode is out very soon!

South Africa (13 January 2025) – Last year, we shared the news. South Africa is getting its own version of The Office. It’s called Die Kantoor.

The cast is golden. Albert Pretorius as Flip. Schalk Bezuidenhout as Tjaart. Lida Botha as Tannie Miems. Then there’s Carl Beukes as Kayle, Ilse Oppelt as Jo-Anne, Daniah de Villiers as Emma, Mehboob Bawa as Bhai, Sipumziwe Lucwaba as Nqobani and Gert du Plessis as Joubert.

This week, Showmax released the first trailer for the local remake. It’s hilarious, and quite cheeky.

On Sunday 18 January, kykNET will preview the first episode at 8pm. On Tuesday 20 January, Showmax will release a double-bill premiere, followed by an episode a week on both platforms.

One of the leading roles in this series has famously been office manager. First it was Ricky Gervais. Then it was Steve Carell. Now, it’s Albert Pretorius. He’s ruling the roost at polony distributors company, Deluxe Processed Meats.

Albert, a Fleur du Cap and Woordfees winner, says the pressure was real in bringing the role to life. He’d be measuring up to a role that earned Gervais and Carell their first Golden Globes!

“It’s a scary one; this is one of the dream ones. Very few people ever get to play a role this big,” says Albert, about playing Flip.

“Flip thinks of himself as the Rassie Erasmus of polony; in his mind, the documentary crew is making his Chasing the Sun, about how he’s taking this team to the next level. He grew up watching Leon Schuster, so he also loves candid camera pranks and is trying to bring those into the documentary too. He’s grappling with what it means to be a man – an Afrikaans man – but he doesn’t realise that a lot of the qualities he aspires to are archaic. Or that he actually has very few of these qualities. That’s where the comedy lies, because he tries so bloody hard just to be liked. Isn’t that what cringe is? People trying their best by being the absolute worst.”
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At first, Albert was dubious about the script. When it came into full view, it all made sense.

“I was sent one monologue first, without context, and my immediate reaction was ‘We cannot say any of this.’ When I read the full scripts, I realised there’s a lot of idiocy, but there’s also a lot of heart and relatability.” he says.

In real life, Albert is the sweetest guy. On screen, Flip has no filter.

“There’s some inappropriate stuff. On the first day, [director Bennie Fourie] actually said to the cast and crew, ‘Listen, Flip has no filter but Albert is the sweetest man. Whatever comes out of his mouth over the next seven weeks, don’t be offended.’ But when Flip says something rough, there’s usually a glance to the camera, or he catches himself or one of the other characters is flabbergasted. So there’s commentary on the inappropriateness too.”

Albert first watched the original version of The Office in drama school. The UK version. Years later, when the pandemic hit, he got through the US remake. He loved both. The UK one for how cringey it was, the US version for its heart.

“They’re very different but both brilliant,” shares Albert. “We have our own sense of humour, so ours is different from both. It’s not quite the UK cringe or as over-the-top as the American humour. It’s something else again.”

It’s going to be such a treat, friends. Grab the popcorn. While you wait for Die Kantoor’s release in a few days, you could binge the American version of The Office S1-9 and its spinoff The Paper on Showmax. Watch-list for the week sorted.