Enervate sells products made out of paper. So that might be office supplies; that might be janitorial paper, which is toilet tissue, toilet seat protectors; and local newspapers. And that is in order of quality.” Ken Davies, played by British comedian-of-the-moment Tim Key, says this with a self-satisfied smirk in the opening episode of The Paper – a new sitcom from the team behind the US version of The Office that exists in the same universe as fictional paper company Dunder Mifflin.
The show’s credits feature newspapers being used for all manner of purposes: wrapped around food or rubbish, stacked to form a platform for seeing over a fence, folded to make an impromptu sunhat. Anything, really, aside from being actually read. It’s a neat encapsulation of that old adage about today’s news becoming tomorrow’s chip paper – and a potent visual of how journalism is viewed by many in 2025.
