The Office co-creator Stephen Merchant marked the show's 20th anniversary over the weekend by sharing his handwritten notes from the very first episode.

Among the observations written down by Merchant, who co-wrote and co-directed the influential British sitcom with Ricky Gervais, were that a shot of Lucy Davis's character Dawn reacting to a bad joke should be given the chop.

"Found my edit notes for episode one of The Office, which I can’t believe debuted 20 years ago," Merchant wrote as he shared the notes on Twitter.

The very first episode of The Office premiered on BBC Two in the U.K. on July 9, 2001. The mockumentary sitcom set in the headquarters of fictional paper merchants Wernham Hogg would run for 14 episodes, airing in the U.S. on BBC America, and won numerous awards including a couple Golden Globes.

It also inspired, of course, the long-running U.S. sitcom of the same name starring Steve Carell. Recalling the genesis of the show, a spoof of numerous British fly-on-the-wall documentary series that were popular at the time, Merchant told The Independent: "It wasn’t some big plan to do a takedown of documentaries, but when we did the show, we realized we’d hit on something quite zeitgeisty. At the time, there were lots of reality shows which were taking regular Joes and making them famous.

"I remember talking to Ricky about Big Brother and Driving School," Merchant added. "What was interesting was the gap in how people wanted to present themselves and how they were really coming across. David Brent presenting himself one way and coming across in another was tantalizing."

You can check out some classic moments from The Office below, courtesy of BritBox.

Are you a fan of the U.K. version of The Office?