The Office

Season 1 SABC3 (*193) 22:00 Comedy

Steve Carell isn’t just a funny guy on TV – he’s “the” funny guy and it’s all thanks to a little comedy show called The Office (2005-2013). He plays Michael Scott, the chauvinistic and tactless manager of the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company’s Scranton branch and the 54-year-old isn’t joking when he says, “I want people to be afraid of how much they actually love Michael. He’s the worst but he’s also the best.”

1 Steve’s a devout Roman Catholic

but hates talking about religion. “It’s like politics – it’s not my area of expertise so I rather shut up,” he says.

2 Carell isn’t his real surname but

it’s also not a stage name. Steve’s electrical engineer dad was born Edwin Caroselli but didn’t like it, so he changed it to Carell.

3 He admits that while he’s always

wanted to be in entertainment, he’s had to take odd jobs to get by. Like being a postman, “But that didn’t last long. I was really bad at it.”

4 What Steve has always been good

is improv – he’s been in comedy sketch troupes since high school at Middlesex School in Massachusetts and got his break on The Dana Carvey Show (1996) alongside Dana (Garth in comedy movie Wayne’s World, 1992).

5 Besides making people laugh,

Steve is also pretty handy on the ice hockey rink (he plays in celebrity charity events). But when he needs a break, he goes home and works in his grocery store, adding that “there’s something humbling packing shelves”.

6 His wife Nancy (50) keeps him in

check when he’s not home with daughter Elisabeth (16) and son John (13). She cameos in his shows, like playing estate agent Carol in The Office.