Stephen Merchant appears in 24 -- year of the cameo?

Alright, so the newest season of 24 is off to a great start, sure you can scoff whenever Jack Bauer says "Dammit" and you can keep on guessing who's going to turn out to be a traitor and whatnot, but it looks like season six is off to a good start... (spoilers ahead)... how amazing was it that Jack ripped the throat out of a terrorist WITH HIS TEETH. Oh man.

But besides that, did anyone else catch Stephen Merchant's cameo? He was one of the masterminds behind the original office (even appeared in a couple of episodes) along with the newest Gervais show, "Extras." (Here's a reference guide from a few days ago). Somebody at CTU handed him a paper and he kind of grinned. Weird.

It looks like RickyGervais.com had the lowdown on the appearance all along.. here's the writing from his website, with a hilarious sounding Gervais spoof.

RICKY Gervais, the U.K. comic who created and starred in the original edition of "The Office," recently filmed a throw-away scene with the cast and producers of "24."

His pal, Stephen Merchant - who co-created "The Office" - took his "24" fanaticism one step further and actually landed a cameo in January's season-six debut. "Ricky was just too recognizable to put in the show," "24" executive producer Jon Cassar told The Post. "But Stephen actually walks up to someone at CTU and hands them a piece of paper." Cassar said he hopes Gervais agrees to let the scene he filmed be included as a DVD extra. In the scene, a group of White House brass meet to discuss an impending terrorist threat. Gervais, dressed like a presidential advisor, keeps whispering under his breath to give the mission to Jack Bauer - and then acts incredulous when someone else says it aloud and takes credit for the idea.

Also, another actor that showed up on 24 to note was actor Scott Winters as the sinister FBI agent, a former OZ actor living out life on the networks... see his brother Dean's sleazy run as the "Beeper King " on 30 Rock for another great performance. But really, a non-childish speaking performance by Scott always freaks me out just a little.

So here's to tomorrow night's episode, which will be Canadian Shaun Majumder's appearance on 24 as a.... wait for it.... evil villainous type character. I know, it looks hilarious to me too.