‘Corporate’ stars on pros, cons of working from home
Comedy Central’s “Corporate,” a hilarious, dark take on office culture, went back to the workplace for its final season (Wednesdays, 10:30 EDT/PDT) during a pandemic that has forced many employees to do their jobs from home.
Matt Ingebretson and Jake Weisman play junior executives in training Matt and Jake, who spend much of their work day plotting petty but psychologically satisfying rebellions against their soulsucking mega-employer Hampton DeVille.
In Season 3’s six episodes, Ingebretson and Weisman, who created the series with Pat Bishop, take on performance reviews, workplace conflicts, business trips, depression and climbing the corporate ladder.
“Corporate,” which also stars Lance Reddick, Aparna Nancherla, Anne Dudek and Adam Lustick, was able to finish filming before the COVID-19 crisis shut down Hollywood production, but editing and other post-production tasks became more cumbersome when Ingebretson, Weisman and their colleagues couldn’t work in the same office.
However, they don’t think slowing down the process is a bad thing.
“I feel like the cult of endless hard work and that being the point of human existence in America needs to change,” Weisman says. “We definitely need to relax a little bit. I don’t know that we will, but ideally the pandemic will do something similar to what we were hoping the show would: Have people reconsider their lives and try not to waste them.”
In a conversation with USA TODAY, Ingebretson and Weisman offer their take, usually tongue in cheek, on how the subversive “Corporate” dynamic transfers from the office to the home in the age of coronavirus.
Question: With so many people working at home for months now, do you think people are starting to look at the office differently?
Jake Weisman: I think so. The grass is always greener is a pretty human thing, but that’s how corporations get you. You don’t want to work there when you’re there. All you want to do is go home. And then when you’re forced to be home, you’re like, “God, I miss work now.” I think corporations caused COVID, so it would make people stop complaining about their jobs. That’s my new theory.
Q: What’s are the best and worst parts of working at home?
Weisman: The best part is I get to spend endless time with my cat. The worst part is that it doesn’t provide structure to your day, unless you’re rigorous about it. When you’re home, and since we’re going to be home probably for the rest of the calendar year, you’re like, “Why am I doing work? I’m here the rest of the (year). I can get it done whenever.” If you go to an office, you at least have the idea that you should be working, even if you’re not.
Matt Ingebretson: The weekends feel very confusing. I work during the day, but when it comes around to the weekend, I don’t know what to do with myself. Because I’m like, “What’s different about today than Tuesday?” It’s like time has become a mystery to me where at some moments I feel incredibly bored and wish something would happen, but then all of a sudden two weeks have passed and I have no way to account for the time.
Q: “Corporate” Matt has been known to nap in his car and in a bathroom stall. Is it easier to grab forty winks working at home?
Ingebretson: I used to do that all the time when I worked in offices. Now, I get cozy in my bed and nap multiple times a day. My life has turned into sort of lazy chaos.
Weisman: Matt, just be honest, you still sleep on the toilet. It’s just at home.
Ingebretson: I just feel safe on the toilet. I didn’t want to lose that part of working in the office. It’s comforting.
Q: Do you think corporations will try to exert more control of workers at home?
Ingebretson: I assume we’re headed toward (where) we’ll all probably wear body cameras and our bosses will monitor and watch our every move, so that they can keep us on track.
Q: You have an upcoming episode in which employees bash fellow workers while chatting with friendly colleagues. Is that tradition hurt by working from home?
Weisman: People will miss (trash) talking more than they realize. I think human beings are happy to not be around people they don’t like, but really happy to be around people they don’t like and (disparage) them to those they do.
Q: Any tips for subverting corporate culture while at home?
Ingebretson: When you’re on Zoom meetings, don’t put your video feed on. Claim that you’re having some technical issue so that you don’t ever have to worry about looking good for your chats. I really just want to look like (garbage) and be in my pajamas while at home.
Q: What if you have to show your face?
Weisman: Don’t do what I do, which is conduct every Zoom meeting in bed. You can always see the pillow. You can see that I’m horizontal. Try to look like you have a desk at home, even if you don’t. Look like you’re upright and you care about it, because the bar is so low you can step right over it.
Q: Any other Zoom advice? Ingebretson:Most Zooms last longer than they need to. Everyone on a Zoom meeting is waiting for somebody to end it, so just jump in and be that person.
Q: One benefit of being at home is there’s so much streaming entertainment available. Can that feel like work, too?
Ingebretson: Any time somebody asks me if I’ve seen a show that I’m supposed to have seen and haven’t, I feel ashamed of myself and then I have to live with that shame until I finally watch it. It’s a new type of social prison.