"It's a stretch," Ricky Gervais says of playing the "pompous, narrow-minded Englishman" he plays in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. Actually, it's the archetype that's made his career, in the original British version of The Office and his recent foray into feature film stardom, Ghost Town.  We had the chance to talk to the actor at the Smithsonian premiere last week. "Honestly, for a comedian or an upcoming actor, there's no better role than to play a man without a sense of humor," Gervais says. "It's intrinsically funny. I did it with David Brent [from The Office] and a little bit with Ghost Town. I missed it with Andy Millman in Extras, because he's a bit wiser, and a bit cooler, and he knows his lot. Whereas I love playing that blind spot -- a man who thinks the world sees him differently than the way it does. That's the fun bit. "They're not bad people. They're just twerps. They're quite sweet, really." Gervais, as in the first Night at the Museum movie, plays the somewhat oblivious director of New York City's Museum of Natural History. Turns out his entire involvement in the franchise is thanks to some very gentle coercion. "The first time, Ben [Stiller] e-mailed me, he said, 'I've got this part, in a film, do you want to return the favor for me doing Extras? No pressure.' That was the actual e-mail. So I went, yeah, I came over, I did a couple of days." Battle of the Smithsonian proved surprisingly trickier. Gervais has written and was about to direct his first movie, This Side of the Truth (which has since been re-titled The Invention of Lying). Shooting for the two movies ended up being scheduled in the same month. "[My role] was about a ten-day shoot, but I was filming my own movie, The Invention of Lying, so I had to go and shoot everything in a weekend," he says. "And they had to change around the schedule -- for me! I was thinking, I'm not worth it. But I'm so glad I did." He's already making plans for a third Night at the Museum. "I wouldn't miss it for the world. If they do a third one, I'm going to block out at least two weeks, and be on the screen for at least five minutes." In addition to his own projects and popping up in random movies like Stardust and For Your Consideration, Gervais is also known for his brief appearances on various awards shows (watch him kill at the Emmys). Since he always seems to bring the house down, we ask him if he'd ever consider actually hosting one of them. "I think I'm best in small doses. I could present one award [for every awards show] around the world. That'd be a great job. 'Award number two...'" Someone suggests he could do it, but then leave halfway through. "Yeah! I'd just start crying. I'd go out there, do a fun little song, and then stop and go 'I can't do this anymore,' and have a little breakdown. That'd be great. I'm going to do it."