Exclusive: Will Ricky Gervais Visit American Office?

• Nov 7, 2008 05:11 PM ET
• by Erin Fox

Ricky Gervais

Is a merger in store for The Office? Ricky Gervais, the brilliant mind behind the British original, tells TVGuide.com he'd like to appear in NBC's Americanized version.

Gervais even has an idea for how he could appear: as himself, playing struggling actor Andy Melman on HBO's Extras.

"I'd quite like them to maybe be watching an episode of Extras, and Michael Scott comes along and goes, 'This guy is no good. If they ever do a remake, I think I should do that part."

Of course, Gervais and American Office star Steve Carrell worked together before in an Emmys routine about Carrell picking up Gervais' Emmy for Extras. They also appeared in a Saturday Night Live routine about a Japanese version of The Office, though not together.

Gervais spoke to TVGuide.com at the World Premiere of HBO's Ricky Gervais: Out of England — The Stand-up Special at the Paley Center for Media on Thursday. (Watch the video below!) He said he wanted to do a stand-up special for the challenge, and because he felt a little guilty that other comedians have had to do stand-up for 20 years before landing sitcoms.

Gervais wrote, directed and stars in his next project, This Side of the Truth, which costars 30 Rock's Tina Fey. He calls Fey "the most famous woman in America."

Would you like to see Gervais pop up on The Office? Who do you think he should play?