The people make this ‘Office’ work

Outside the Beverly Hilton on Sunday, comedian Ricky Gervais and the entourage from the British show “The Office” walked pretty much straight into the Golden Globes ceremony, largely unrecognized and ignored by the nation’s entertainment media.

Inside, however, it was another story.

The show, a come-from-nowhere hit in Britain, has made Gervais a top star and inspired a U.S. remake tentatively scheduled for this summer on NBC. But few were prepared for what happened on Sunday when “The Office” won best comedy series and Gervais took best comedy actor honors, the first time a foreign show has won in those categories.

Even the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. was apparently taken off guard -- the table for “The Office” was on the ballroom’s second tier, so far from the cameras that it proved difficult to even get a reaction shot of Gervais each time his name was announced. After the show, Hollywood players from “Without a Trace,” “Will and Grace” and “Sex and the City” made the trek to the hinterlands to pay homage to Gervais, co-creator Stephen Merchant and the rest of their ensemble.

Acclaimed by media critics and a small but enthusiastic group of fans, “The Office,” a comedy filmed in mockumentary style about a clueless boss and his resigned but resentful employees, has grown slowly in popularity by word of mouth. Its appreciators like the cringe factor they find among the laughs in the painfully realistic satire.

Slow-paced, even for Britain, it won four British Emmys, two Golden Globe nominations and was the fastest-selling DVD in Britain. Creator Gervais believes the show succeeded because the product had top priority and found its audience slowly.

The biggest challenge of the new show will be casting an equivalent to Gervais, whose character was built out of his own mannerisms, speech patterns and experience as a middle manager for radio and television. Fans of “The Office” are already fretting about how NBC will translate it.

“It will be terrible,” says Ryan K. Johnson, an Internet reviewer of British shows. “It’s a cult show about a man who’s so clueless, it’s like watching a car wreck. Where else do you see a show that makes you cringe and laugh at the same time? Is it ready to be on a network with 17 million viewers?”

Despite its popularity with fans on both sides of the Atlantic (the original airs on BBC America), the show ended in England with two six-episode seasons and a Christmas special and the cast is moving on to other projects.

At the Golden Globes, however, they were showered with adoration. “I loved the show,” gushed Danny DeVito. Producer Joel Surnow caught Freeman next to the men’s room and praised his unpredictability; Freeman looked as confused as his character. Overall, the Brits reacted to the fawning not with the scripted politeness of Hollywood stars, but the disarming, awkward directness of their characters.

“I’m more surprised than I’ve ever been in my life,” said Gervais, shifting his eyes in the manner of David Brent, the middle manager boss he portrays in “The Office.”

His second acceptance speech brought laughs when he called the second trophy necessary to make a pair of “bookends” and vanished from the stage the moment the teleprompter told him to wrap it up. Unlike many “improvised” acceptance speeches, this was the real thing. “Of course it was improv,” he said. “I would have made a better effort if I thought I was going to win. “

Looking dazed, Merchant stood tall and silent, taking it all in through rainbow-framed glasses as the ballroom emptied. “I’m just watching Nicolas Cage and Robin Williams and Clint Eastwood and Bill Murray leaving the room. I’ll probably never get that chance again. So why not suck it in?

“If you’re living in L.A., these are your peers, people you work with,” he added. “But for us, they’re like icons. They’re not real, not three-dimensional. They mean a lot because they’ve given [us] so much over the years.”

Gervais turned down the starring role in the U.S. version. Either there would be the question of why an English boss is in an American office or he’d have to do an accent, which he doesn’t feel up to. “I don’t think I’m an actor as such. I think I’m a comedian,” he said. “I would feel I was second- guessing American life at the beginning of the 21st century rather than experiencing it.”

Gervais and Merchant hand-picked show runner Greg Daniels to translate “The Office” but said their input will be minimal. “This isn’t our baby,” Gervais said. “We sold the rights. It’s like selling a house and then you keep turning up saying, ‘Why are you changing the fireplace?’ I’ve done my bit.”

The two awards signify a “serious step forward” for BBC America, said Chief Executive Paul Lee on Sunday night. “It’s saying quite clearly, we have shows that are every bit as good as NBC and HBO. We spend as much money in prime time as they do.” Lee called “The Office” a show that “defines the brand. It’s so naughty and breaks so many rules.”

The mutual admiration between the Brits and Hollywood reflects the way each has inspired the other, Lee said. “ ‘The Office’ is an influential show. And when you talk to Ricky, his inspiration comes from ‘Larry Sanders’ and ‘Spinal Tap.’ It’s a great example of how great comedy bounces across the Atlantic.”