Steve Carell might have a decent shot at Oscar gold this year with his dramatic turn as the father of an addict in Beautiful Boy, or his serio-comic portrayal of former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld in the Dick Cheney biopic Vice. But to audiences, he’ll forever be best-known for his comedy days, and to last night’s Saturday Night Live crowd in particular, it seems Michael Scott from The Office is the role he’ll never shake.
Generally, when a guest-host monologue turns into Q&A format, you know a surprise cameo or two are likely to happen, and in this case, we got three, as some former costars tried to pressure Carell into a sitcom reboot so they could collect a big payday.
Notably absent: new Jack Ryan actor John Krasinski, and Star Trek‘s latest Harry Mudd, Rainn Wilson. They’re clearly too busy rebooting other properties at the moment.
Carell also asked the question we always want to know when SNL goes this route with the monologue: are the regulars supposed to be playing random commenters, or themselves? In this case, Kenan Thompson’s answer, combined with a reference to the reboot he would be “honored” to make, has our nostalgia-senses tingling.
Could an American Office reboot work? In the U.K. version, Ricky Gervais’ David Brent got an entire movie based upon his attempt to live the dream of being a rock star. Carell could easily do a version of that, but it might not include the other actors who are looking to return. If you think it’s a good idea, or even if you don’t, let us know what you’d think about more Office hijinks in comments below.
Image: NBC
