Paul Giamatti was the first actor to come to mind when NBC decided to try to replicate the success of the British sitcom The Office. But acclaimed film actor nixed the idea.

Steve Carell, at the time best known as a "correspondent" on the Daily Show With Jon Stewart, took the role instead.

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I never liked Howard Stern, but I loved the movie "Private Parts". When I see this actor, I equate him with "Pig Vomit".

He would have been good in the Michael Scott role, but he is more of a movie actor and does a lot of what I call Indie pictures, which is what I usually watch for films from Hollywood. The best film I saw him was "American Splendor" where he played a guy named Harvey Pakar who lived in Cleveland working in a government office shuffling files who became a successful writer in underground comics.