Ricky Gervais reprises David Brent role for US Office

Ricky Gervais has filmed a cameo appearance for the US 'Office'.

The 49-year-old comedian will reprise his role as David Brent from the original British version of the programme - depicting the everyday lives of employees at a paper company - and will be shown meeting with Steve Carrell's Michael Scott in an episode to be shown next Thursday (27.01.11) in the US.

Executive producer Paul Lieberstein - who also plays beleaguered Human Resources representative Toby Flenderson - told NYMag.com: "It's a little more than if you blink, you'll miss it, but if you don't set your TiVo right, you'll miss it.

"Ricky had wanted to do something with 'The US Office' and it felt like we shouldn't go the whole series without them connecting. But we had some issues to work out, like how does David Brent live in the world of Michael Scott."

Ricky filmed the scene with Steve - who will leave the show after this season - in September and Paul revealed it was so secret even the network NBC, which airs 'The Office' in the US, didn't know about it.

He said: "It's outside of the office, and it's just the two of them interacting. It's just a little nod to Steve and his final year.

"We didn't even tell NBC at first. So Ricky worked for free. But don't print that - it might get him in trouble with the INS."

The news of Ricky's cameo will come as a surprise to people after he branded 48-year-old Steve at the Golden Globe Awards as "ungrateful" for quitting 'The Office' but it has now been reported his controversial hosting of the ceremony, where he insulted many celebrities, was all part of his comedy show.

A source commented: "Ricky new exactly what he was doing. He's planning a new satire on Hollywood and his performance at the Golden Globes was a big part of it."