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TAYLORSVILLE — When you’re stir crazy in self-isolation, don’t watch "The Office," be "The Office."
At least, that’s the conclusion that a Utah couple came to recently while self-isolating during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Chelsea Hull and Michael Haycock are both teachers, doing the best they can to stay home and update all their lesson plans for teaching virtually. But going from the highly social job of being a teacher to staying home all day hasn’t been an easy transition.
"After being told we had to work from home, we were feeling down and already missing our students. We tried lifting our spirits by reworking and decorating our home office," Hull said via online message. "The earthquake was also very stressful for us," she continued, referring to Utah’s 5.7 magnitude earthquake on March 18.
But when your husband is also missing his comedy performances, getting feng shui with your home office to put a little pep in your step isn’t quite going to cut it.
"Michael does improv comedy with Quick Wits (in Midvale), and with all shows on pause due to COVID-19, he was looking for an outlet to have fun. We both needed ‘a little silly’ to take away some stress," Hull said.
And that’s how "The Home Office" was born.
The couple took their inspiration (and opening theme song) from the mockumentary sitcom "The Office" (2005) and made it their own.
"We had been joking all week about our home office compared to the show, so we already had lots of ideas," Hull said.
The video took the couple about an hour to make and includes visual gags aplenty that find the delight and humor in the not-so delightfulness of what’s going on in Utah and the world today. Aside from Hull and Haycock, the parody also stars three other office mates — two dogs and a bird.
"We are so grateful for our animals, Lucy, Taco and Robirdo during this crazy time, Hull concluded. "They did a great job and really brought the video together!"
If NBC is looking for a spinoff of "The Office," they have at least one vote for "The Home Office."
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