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Inside Job's Clark Duke Reveals The Biggest Lesson He Learned From The Office - Exclusive

Fans can't get enough of workplace comedies — whether they occur in the real world like "The Office" or an animated satirization of conspiracy theories like the new Netflix show, "Inside Job." We just love all of the stereotypical archetypes that come along with the workplace, and incompetent bosses make everything much more entertaining (when they're on your screen and not real life). 

While "The Office" fans watched a group of primarily disgruntled and incompetent Dunder Mifflin Paper Company workers, "Inside Job" throws in a little bit of world domination on top of the typical incompetence. Paper may be a pretty innocuous job (except when someone prints sexualized cartoons on a batch). Still, the Cognito workers in "Inside Job" run the cabal that ensures that the general public doesn't discover the truth about the show's very real conspiracies. Yes, Taylor Swift is obviously a lizard person. Starring Christian Slater (Randy Ridley), Lizzy Caplan (Reagan Ridley), and Clark Duke (Brett Hand), the series has a whole lot of top-tier talent at its helm.

During an exclusive interview with Looper, Clark Duke dished on his biggest takeaway from "The Office" and what fans of the series will love about "Inside Job." He also revealed what it was like getting away from some of his more traditional roles with the allowances of voice acting.

Dunder Mifflin meets Cognito

There's no denying that J.R., the head of Cognito, gives off some majorly incompetent Michael Scott vibe. Still, given that Duke came onto "The Office" well after Steve Carell's departure, it makes sense that those similarities wouldn't be completely obvious to the actor. "I'm sure there are similarities, and they're probably just subconscious on my part," he said.

There's no doubt that "The Office" fans will up the office hijinx that "Inside Job" offers. After all, "The Office" never had a sentient mushroom. "I think fans of "The Office" would definitely like the show because, at the end of the day, it is an office sitcom about this group of people that work in this office," Duke concurred. "The office is just very off the wall. But it's still got that similar dynamic. You've got the guy in the office that's a loudmouth, and somebody's a know-it-all, and it's like ... the dynamics are still there. So yeah, I think anybody that liked 'The Office' would like the show."

Ditching the nerdy persona

On whether or not Duke brought anything from "The Office" into his experience playing Brett on "Inside Job," he said, "Nothing specific. I definitely learned a lot, being on 'The Office,' about how you can have really outlandish dialogue scenarios, whatever, but as long as it's grounded in that style, you can get away with a lot." 

Well, as wild as "The Office" manages to be, "Inside Job" takes it up 15 notches. Duke added, "And I think that holds true for this as well because like I said, even though it is about the deep state and the world ending every week, it's still really about the relationships, at the end of the day, and that grounds the material in a good way, so probably that was the thing I picked up most from being on 'The Office.'"

Duke's "Inside Job" character and his status as a 'popular jock' is a far cry from his common nerdy roles like Clark in "The Office." Duke remarked on the freedom voice acting gives actors. "I mean, that's the beautiful thing about animation — you're not limited by your usual typecasting type of stuff, he said. "You can stretch out a little, so it's been really fun. I will add that I also am always really sweaty afterwards, from the home recordings."

The first ten episodes of "Inside Job" are now available on Netflix