2ND UPDATE: Charlie Sheen Fired Selma Blair From … 
Jonah Hill Signs For Management With LBI 
TOLDJA! ‘Dumb And Dumber To’ Proves No-Brainer … 
Salma Hayek’s Animated Passion Project ‘The … 
Relativity Moves Scott Cooper’s ‘Out Of The … 
Russell Crowe Sets ‘The Water Diviner’ For … 
Comedy ‘I Didn’t Do It’ Gets Series Order … 
CNN’s ‘New Day’ Debut Up In Demo But … 
Liv Tyler To Co-Star In Damon Lindelof’s HBO Pilot … 
DreamWorks Animation Launches Effort To Re-Position Itself … 
‘Pacific Rim’ Sequel In Planning Stages, … 
Legendary “Down To Handful” Of Studio Suitors: … 
UPDATE: Dan Harmon Apologizes For Comments Slamming … 
Paramount- Montecito Set Black List Scribes Eyal Podell … 
‘Bioshock’ Creator Ken Levine Takes On … 
Deadline Expands: Hires Washington Post Journalist Lisa De … 
Ratings Rat Race: ‘The Voice’ Rises, … 
Angelina Jolie Stunt Double Files First U.S. Phone-Hacking … 
MGM & BermanBraun Sign TV Production Deal, First-Look … 
‘Venus And Serena’ Producer Calls Tennis … 
Kim Basinger In ‘Petit’ Lead For Danish Helmer … 
With Michael Scott counting the days until his retirement from Dunder-Mifflin, he will finally meet David Brent. TVLine’s Michael Ausiello scoops that news the Ricky Gervais will finally make a guest appearance on NBC’s The Office this season as David Brent. Gervais, of course, co-created the original Office series where he played Brent, the character that Steve Carell’s Michael Scott was based on. Gervais previously wrote an episode of NBC’s The Office and he is also executive producing the show, which Carell is leaving at the end of the season. That’s probably why Gervais had some “harsh” words in his comedic introduction of Office star/producer Carell at Sunday’s Golden Globes: “He is leaving, killing a cash cow for both of us – the ungrateful Steve Carell.” Of course, Carell was not the only actor skewered by Gervais during his much talked-about Globes hosting gig.
UPDATE: Today, Gervais took to his blog to thank fans who supported him in the aftermath of the Golden Globes. “It was heartwarming to realise I wasn’t losing my mind,” he wrote. “Some reactions nearly had me believing I’d gone too far too. Nearly. Can’t wait for the people who thought it was over the top to see my stand-up shows. Fuck me, they will shit themselves.”
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
Loading ...
Interesting timing. Sounds like someone is in need of some good press.
Way to blink, Ricky.
This has been planned for months.
Way to overreact, Renee.
Seriously.
I’m sure this has been in the works for a while now and was just announced today. This didn’t happen yesterday.
Thank you Karen and Officer. This was filmed several months ago and they were planning on making it a surprise appearance but someone leaked that he would be coming on so they just made the official announcement anyway.
I like Gervais, just not as much as he likes himself. Which is a lot.
The clock is ticking Ricky. For a better understanding of where you’re career is headed, just ask Chevy Chase. Biting the hand will get you nowhere but the Dog Pound, sir. And you’ve left teeth marks everywhere.
Except that, unlike Chase, 1) Gervais created an already classic show that has been rebranded into a hit sitcom in many different countries in several different incarnations, making Gervais so rich that he can afford to BUY the hand he bites that feeds him, and 2) even if Hollywood were to completely shut him out, he could always go home to the UK and continue to make new shows, which would then be remade by Hollywood, thus making him even richer…if it’s even possible to make more money than, oh, $INFINITY.
It’s Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s world. We all just live in it.
Um, Chevy Chase was an American institution. Caddyshack, Vacation, Fletch… he was building quite a legacy before his ego and mouth (not to mention his extra-curricular habits, which fueled the former two) led him down the path to self-destruction.
I’m not talking about money. I’m talking about opportunities in the realm of American cinema and, to a lesser degree, television. He obviously has aspired to be an icon in the eyes of Americans, which is evident, and he shot himself in the foot this past Sunday.
I’ll make a prediction that he never succeeds as an American film star, which is obviously a dream of his. Sure, he’ll make BBC comedies and the occasional walk-on in America (ala his appearence as the great David Brent), but he’ll never branch out beyond that. He’s a one trick pony. Albeit a very wealthy one.
here’s a little secret… it’s infinitely better to create a single hit tv series than it is to star in 50 hit films.
i’m guessing ricky could give a shit about the american film industry, considering he spawned the most successful comedy of the decade.
for a one trick pony, he certainly picked the right trick.
Yawn.
Of course he cares. Don’t be naive. The man is built of pure ego. Yes, The Office is a cash cow that will go down in history as one of the funniest series ever. I never said it wasn’t good.
The fact remains, Gervais is going to slide downward from here on out. I could care less if his slide is made of gold.
Zzzzzzz….
I don’t think Ricky Gervais eats out of too many hands. His career is largely self made.
Chevy Chase didn’t write, wasn’t great at standup, wasn’t really that funny without a good script and cast. Gervais doesn’t rely on studios & screenwriters to make him funny. If they all shut him out, he’d still be hilarious and he’d still find an outlet.
Way to blink? Oi!
Good comedians never apologize for their jokes. Once in a while this town needs to be reminded that its too full of itself.
Um… he was joking. They have had a running “joke” rift for years. Watch last years broadcast and at least one of the Emmys.
Apparently you don’t understand how ratings and stunt casting works when a main lead leaves a show. He’s capitalizing, not blinking. Media 101.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
The only thing better would be if David Brent took over for Michael Scott for at least a 2-episode run, if not a whole season. But, like Gervais, I thank god for making me an atheist so I know that this miracle will never happen.
I refuse to watch a single episode of the American version of the Office, even though the British version is one of my favorite ‘series’. It literally makes me nauseous to watch NBC shows they all suck even their over rated comedy shows that are just blah at best.
But I will DVR or at least download on bittorrent a Ricky Gervais episode on the American version of the office.
wow, this would have been so much funnier and clever if mindy kaling wrote it.
And conversely… I never watched more than an episode or two of the UK Office — hated every second of it, but love the US one. It was well-written, but I find Gervais intolerable on screen. He can’t act all. Brent was smug, slimy and nasty (much like Gervais himself) and lacked all the warmth that Carell brought to his counterpart. The rest of the UK cast was ugly, and the camerawork was the usual godawful BBC standard, overexposed and badly lit.
So yeah, count me among those who thinks having Gervais on the US show could well be a jumping-the-shark moment.
I think it must be a cultural thing. The BBC Office was ground breaking. It was so realistic that when watching the first episode I wasn’t sure if it was a documentary or a show. Either way I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was like being in, well… an Office. There has not been a single thing that has ever come close to it. Even the Christmas special, which typical on the BBC are terrible, was FANTASTIC.
Sorry that it is not a CBS comedy with good looking people, fake studio laughter and boring pathetic plots. Why does every US show have to have good looking people with a quirk?
“Why does every US show have to have good looking people with a quirk”
I would assume it’s because no one wants to see ugly people with quirks.And I don’t really disagree with that sentiment.I mean, why would I want to see people on my television that I can see at the local bar?
This is downright blasphemous.
The first episode of the American Office was almost an identical script to one of the episodes in the British Office. There are also practically shared characters, Tim and Dawn=Jim and Pam, Keith=Kevin, Garreth=Dwight, Finchy=Packer… Eventually these characters branched out, but the first season had them doing the same things with the same storylines. To have those parallel worlds collide feels very wrong in my opinion. And as much as I loved the British Office, one of the best things about it was having it end as a perfect and complete story. I don’t want to revisit David Brent. I liked assuming he’d started to grow as a better person even if we’d never see it play out ultimately.
why do people always project how they feel about a show, and want it to end (or not end) and then are for the most part, disappointed with everything. i’m sure none of the previous episodes you’ve viewed will be sullied and i’m certain that even if david brent does appear, somehow, life will go on.
Interesting point — but you have to admit, it’ll be great to see David Brent again.
If you don’t want to revisit David Brent it’s simple, don’t watch.
In the world of the BBC Office the documentary that was being filmed eventually came out and David Brent reacted to it on camera.
Interesting how that bit of “reality” will effect his being in another documentary. Will he be self-aware of how he comes off?
And yes, also interesting to see how he reacts to finding an office that has so much in common with the one he used to work at.
Ricky Gervais appearing on the U.S. version of The Office is as much a cultural touchstone as Leonard Nimoy’s appearances on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
What is hilarious is that people genuinely believe that what he has done at the GG is going to affect his career. Firstly as somebody mentioned above, he doesn’t give a s… and secondly his opening monologue is already becoming a cultural phenomenon everywhere in the world. Everybody is talking about it, even people who didn’t have a clue about he was before. In 3 days the video has been seen 3.5 million time. So I’m sure he will do just fine. He can carry on biting the hand. That’s what he does best and that’s why people loves him.
Spot on Jeremie. Spot.On.
“a cultural phenomenon everywhere in the world.”
Please. Most of the world don’t a damn about what Ricky Gervais says. The homeless guy with the golden voice got more hits. Lastly he does give a shit or he would not be his blog promoting him next appearance.
He’s got quite a schtick going on huh? That part of him I love. Yet another British entertainer/judge/talkshow host/reality producer/fill in the blank, comes to the US and grabs their share of the piggy. We’re that easy. That Britsh accent works wonders in the US.
However I hope everyone that attends his standup is paid to be there and laughs on cue because if not he will put them asleep. Then fans of his will take to the internet and call those audience members “full of themselves” for not laughing. He’s not funny. That show on HBO? Please. He better stick with them though. Remember when a comedy concert on HBO was an EVENT? Say what you will about him but Chris Albrecht did something right during the heyday of HBO.
It’s funny how the HFPA and various actors reacted to Gervais’ skewering of them at the 2011 GG. It’s funny when you go back and look at what Bob Hope and Johnny Carson did to stars during their stints hosting the Oscars decades ago. Many of their comments were just as biting.
Compare such lines as “I see a lot of new faces, on the same old bodies” with the 3D/Tourist line. The Academy Awards take themselves MUCH more seriously than the Golden Globes, yet they kept inviting Hope and Carson back year after year.
Maybe people don’t like Ricky because of his accent (I doubt that), his chubbiness (I doubt that), or his delivery (maybe?). But look at what he said and compare it with hosts from years past and he didn’t really go over the line.
OK, maybe the “Thank God I’m an atheist” line went too far.
Both Hope and Carson had far too much class to ever do what Gervais did. I watched Carson host the Oscars many years, and yes, he was incredibly funny and sometimes biting — at the industry, not at individuals in a manner designed to cause public humiliation. A “new faces on the same old bodies” line isn’t directed at ONE PERSON, so everyone is therefore able to comfortably laugh at the truth of the remark. But Gervais’s Sex and the City line was directed squarely at the INDIVIDUAL actors in that film, holding them up to ridicule in the presence of their peers. Do you honestly not see the distinction? And neither Carson nor Hope nor anyone of any repute would ever make the crass Scientology “joke” that could only apply to two possible male stars. It crossed the line in a way that was utterly insupportable.
Chevy Chase didn’t write? The Emmy award winning, originally hired as a writer not a cast member for SNL, Chevy Chase? You’re sure about that one?
I was first introduced to the office after series one of the BBC version. I too couldn’t take my eyes off of it. Ricky’s timing is better than Stephen Carrel’s. Also one thing that bothered my about John Kracinski who plays Jim on the American Office was asked how he came up with those pauses when he looks into the camera, he took all the credit. If you watch the original BBC show, Martin Freeman who played Tim, was brilliant at looking at the camera. He deserves the credit, not John. I would have respected him as an actor had he been gracious enough to tell the interviewer that he studied Martin Freeman. The other great thing about the BBC version of the romance between Tim and Dawn (Jim and Pam) is that the chemistry was felt. Tim didn’t need to tell Dawn how he felt about her, you felt it on the screen. In the American version, Jim had to come out and say it. I think that set the BBC version apart from the American version. I do wish there were more episodes of the BBC version. Ricky Gervais is a genius!
I totally agree, Nicky.
I would say this, we have a phrase over here in England that goes like this ‘Quality Is Better Than Quantity’.
There’s something in America’s ‘Consume All’ culture which demands 10 series of a comedy programme before it’s viewed as successful.
If a coomedy is done right, all you need is a dozen or so episodes to last a generation of reviewings and rewatches. Look at The Office, Fawlty Towers, Spaced, Black Books and Porridge for evidence.
@Dave. You clearly didn’t understand the whole premise of The Office. Gervais created a new form of satire which utilised the new mockumentary style which was becoming popular. The actors aren’t meant to bf beautiful, they’re meant to be real.
You can keep your stereotypical glossy American rip off, it will never be regarded in the same league as the real Office.