(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Ricky Gervais saw it as his "job" to sabotage filming during his hit show The Office.

The 50-year-old British actor-and-comedian created and starred in the hit comedy about a boss from hell alongside his good friend Stephen Merchant, and he has recalled how infuriated the latter sometime got with him.

Ricky loved to make his co-stars laugh onset and it had a detrimental effect on his castmates.

"Oh yeah, I saw that as my job," he smiled when ShortList asked if he was always making his colleagues chuckle.

"I remember Steve saying to me, It's not enough for you to just have your own show, you have to try and ruin it as well.'"

Ricky, who played boss David Brent, admits one of his colleagues Martin Freeman, who portrayed kind-hearted Tim Canterbury in the show, was especially irritated. Martin - who will star as Bilbo Baggins in Peter Jackson's forthcoming two-part adaptation of The Hobbit - is serious when it comes to shooting.

"The record for a number of takes for one scene was 74. It was in the second series, where Brent is giving Tim his assessment, I changed the way I did it for every take and Martin just couldn't cope with it," he laughed.

"He's such an actor', too he loves his craft. He was probably sat there thinking, Who's this f**king fat buffoon who's never acted before? Why is he in charge?"

The Office has been adapted across the globe with versions in the US as well as France and Germany. (C) Cover Media