Conan O'Brien admits he was pessimistic when his pal Greg Daniels revealed he was making an American version of The Office

"I remember being worried for him...I didn't think it could be done," Conan told The Office UK co-creator Stephen Merchant on his podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend. Daniels, who created the NBC version of The Office, was writing partners with Conan at SNL after meeting at Harvard. Merchant responded: "Thank god he didn't listen to you." Merchant recalls telling fellow co-creator Ricky Gervais that they needed an American to do the adaptation after seeing British writers fail in adapting their own series' for American audiences. That's how, after a search, they found Daniels.