Steve Carell's Career-Defining Gamble

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Steve Carell recently shared a fun story from early in his career on Amy Poller's Good Hang Podcast.

The 63-year-old actor revealed that his friend Paul Rudd strongly advised him against auditioning for the role of Michael Scott in the US.

Version of the office. Despite the warning, Carell went for it and ended up anchoring the hit comedy from 2005 to 2011.

That hesitation made sense at the time.

The original UK series, created by Ricky Jervais, had already been a massive success.

Carell admitted he felt nervous about following in those footsteps and Rudd pulled him aside to say there was no way it could work.

Everyone around him echoed that advice.

Fellow comedians and friends told Carell to steer clear, calling it a 10-foot pole situation.

Still, he pushed ahead with the audition and landed the part that would define his career.

To make it his own, Carell barely watched a British show.

He caught just a minute of one episode and stopped.

Worried it would influence him too much.

The series didn't catch on right away either, with early viewers actively disliking it.

Over time, though, the office found its huge audience and became a comedy landmark.

Carell's Michael Scott turned into an iconic figure in what we now call, cringe TV.

Proving those early doubters wrong.