‘The Office’ Editor Thinks AI Can Make Comedy Funnier

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When British comedy titans like Ricky Gervais want to make their material funnier, there’s usually one man near the top of their wishlist: Nigel Williams.

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The respected TV comedy editor has made a career out of fine-tuning series like The Office and Derry Girls, meaning collaborators usually listen to his wisdom when it comes to luring every last laugh out of filmed footage.

One of his recent innovations fell on deaf ears, however. Williams was experimenting with artificial intelligence to ensure that the punchline in a scene could land with maximum impact.

The editor turned to Flawless, AI dubbing technology deployed on films like Fall, to drop automated dialogue replacement (ADR) into the mouth of an actor while they were facing the camera, thus avoiding the need to cut to the back of a head or a wide shot. “It’s always better to stay on faces for zinger lines,” he tells Deadline.

Williams was amazed by the results. His producers were astounded, but horrified that it had been achieved using AI. The fix was eventually ditched because of a common industry condition: AI ickiness.

Williams went public, penning a letter to Insiders: The TV Podcast, in which he recounted the conundrum. He has not named the production out of respect to his employers, but says his letter sparked an animated dialogue among his contemporaries.

In an interview, Williams says AI should be embraced if it makes comedy funnier. He is not advocating for AI-generated scenes, like the viral clip of Michael Scott introducing Dunder Mifflin to Claude. He thinks permission from performers is essential, as well as…

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