Live from Scranton, it’s Saturday Night Live!
Well, not really, but it felt that way Saturday night during Steve Carell‘s’ opening monologue at his appearance on SNL. The actor managed to tease the audience into thinking he was going to announce a reboot of The Office during small reunion of its cast members.
During the monologue, Carell opened up a Q&A session to the audience. SNL star Kenan Thompson raised his hand and asked if there was going to be a reboot of the show.
He then compared a return of The Office to a return of Thompson’s Nickelodeon show, Kenan & Kel.
“That would be an honor,” Thompson told the audience.
The Office alum Ellie Kemper asked the next question. She continued to push for the reboot, explaining she “need[s] that money.”
It didn’t stop there.
Ed Helms jumped in next, joking that if Carrell did the reboot he “wouldn’t have to do those sad movies anymore.”
Finally, Jenna Fischer stood up and asked Carell to think back to the words her character Pam whispered to Michael on the show. When he said he couldn’t remember, she said, “Steve, don’t be a dick. Do the reboot.”
Carell went on to explain that the real reason he didn’t want to do the show was that he didn’t want to be away from his wife, Nancy, and kids so long. But they were in the audience, too, and agreed he should just do the reboot.
In the end, Carell invited his former co-workers onstage, building tension for a dramatic announcement.
“I am proud to announce officially…” he said, teasing for a reboot, “that we have a great show tonight!”
Tricky, Carell. Very, very tricky.
Until we get that sweet reboot, we’ll just be binging reruns on Netflix.
Watch the whole monologue here: