Gervais a hit with The Simpsons

The Simpsons bosses were so thrilled with Ricky Gervais' appearance on the cult animation comedy, they want him to join the cast permanently.

The Emmy-winning The Office creator, who wrote and starred in the episode to be screened in the US this year, grasped The Simpsons' tone perfectly, and successfully introduced his own special brand of humour.

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening says: "Ricky's episode is fantastic. Actually he should be a regular character.

"He caught our tone exactly and then added his own Ricky Gervais/David Brent 'patheticness'."