Read @ Joe’s

Title: Werk (2025) Release Date: September 2025 (Season 1) Creator: Ruby Lee Dove, TribeRu Media Network: YouTube IMDb Plot: A comedic look inside a modern marketing agency, exploring the generational clashes and collaborations that happen behind the scenes of today’s workplace. Joe Says: Each bite-sized episode is perfect for lunch-break streaming. Tailor-made for anyone who’s ever silently judged a coworker on a Zoom call.

Werk is a breezy series of YouTube shorts that takes a humorous—sometimes sharp, sometimes soft—look at the everyday absurdities of office life, presented in the ever-reliable mockumentary format. Created, written, and directed by Ruby Lee Dove, Werk wears its influences proudly, tipping its hat to workplace icons like Parks and Rec, Taxi, and yes, The Office, which unmistakably serves as the show’s comedic compass. While Werk seldom lands in full belly-laugh territory, the episodes deliver a steady stream of relatable chaos tailor-made for anyone who’s ever silently judged a coworker on a Zoom call. Each bite-sized episode is perfect for lunch-break streaming—short enough to finish your tuna wrap, long enough to make you grateful you don’t actually work at this place.

Season One—fully available on YouTube—focuses on the antics and dynamics of the Digital Creative Group, a mid-size marketing team project managed by Mi’Kael (Adam Chisnall), whose clip-on ties conceal delusions of grandeur big enough to fill the conference room. The office is populated with characters who are stunning, stupid, electric, and eclectic in all the ways a real workplace accidentally is. From messy desks to a frazzled new office manager to a corporate shakeup that no one’s remotely prepared for, the series bounces from mishap to meltdown with frenetic energy. Misheard conversations become disasters, minor tasks become wars, and a half-hearted food fight makes its debut. Werk leans into over-the-top silliness without ever losing its baseline relatability.

Ruby Lee Dove, serving as showrunner and co-star, anchors the series as Lee, the grounded, anxious counterbalance to Mi’Kael’s floppy buffoonery. Dove commits to the mockumentary formula with fearlessness, though the handheld camerawork and aggressive zooming technique occasionally veer into ADHD territory instead of NYPD Blue swagger. Dove makes a stylistic swing that is sometimes too bold, sometimes too caffeinated, but absolutely matches the vibe of this chaotic office ecosystem. The supporting cast adds texture: Chisnall’s nervous energy is pitch-perfect (however, his David Brent deification, occasionally turned up to eleven, feels more pantomime than parody), while Sabrina Orro’s exasperated office manager and Sean Buckingham’s laid-back ease help keep the show grounded.

Werk aims to be morally centered without relying on heavy-handed lessons or forced confessional drama. Dove walks a careful line between the absurd and the achingly real, capturing the emotional wear-and-tear of office life while still delivering jokes with a subtle wink. Even as the season finale introduces a C-suite shakeup, the show leans into optimism. Characters evolve and relationships shift, as the series itself levels up. Dove brings a skewed but affectionate realism to the screen, avoiding hollow parody in favor of something more human and more observant.

That, ultimately, is the real work of Werk: showing that office comedy still has fresh oxygen when it comes from creators who actually care about character, connection, and craft. Ruby Lee Dove is building something here and it’ll be fun to watch her keep going.