Employees Get Revenge on Bad Bosses in Whitten & Lublin Spots

​Dear Friend director Grayson Whitehurst brings humour and precision to the workplace in Bad Bosses, a new series of ads for employment law firm Whitten & Lublin, created in partnership with agency ONE23WEST and produced by Dear Friend.

Bad Bosses takes the universally awkward, often infuriating experience of being fired and spins it into comedy of errors. Across three 15 second spots, employees attempt petty acts of revenge - tossing coffee, flipping tables, throwing a phone - only to have each effort collapse into slapstick chaos. A coffee throw misses its target, a table refuses to budge, a phone cord stretches endlessly. The result is a deadpan, rhythmically choreographed dance of frustration, failure, and hilarity.

Grayson leaned into both the sting and the silliness of the scenario, rewriting dialogue and shaping performances to heighten the absurd. “The humour comes from timing and inevitability,” says Grayson. “We’ve all imagined these tiny victories in our heads, but they’re usually funnier when they fall apart.”

The campaign balances empathy and ridicule, letting audiences laugh at the futility of retaliation while connecting with the relatable tension of workplace power struggles. With sharp choreography and fearless storytelling, Bad Bosses transforms the office into a stage for absurdist comedy.