TVSquad

Aziz Ansari seems to be the hottest name around Hollywood casting circles. According to Variety, the stand-up comedian, who's also one-third of the MTV's acclaimed sketch team Human Giant, has been cast in the upcoming Office spin-off. He's also signed a one-year talent hold deal with Universal Media Studios.

What's interesting about this news is that Ansari was also tapped to play one of the new interns on the eighth season of Scrubs, which is produced by and will now air on ABC. What I'm guessing is that, since Scrubs will finish shooting in August, this deal will start after his deal with the veteran medical comedy ends. If there happens to be a ninth season of the show, as Bill Lawrence told me might happen, I'd imagine he'd come back after his Universal deal ends or they'll just replace him with someone else.

Either way, the folks behind the Office spin-off are off to a good start. Ansari is a funny stand-up and does a great job on Human Giant, where he's played funny office drones to perfection a few times (anyone who's seen the "Shutterbugs" sketches knows that he works well in an office). He should play well with whoever Greg Daniels and Mike Schur put him together with.

On other Office spin-off fronts, the Variety article mentions that Daniels and Schur have hired a writing staff, but are still unsure how the show is going to be introduced. It's unlikely a character from the original show will be spun off into his/her own show; more likely, either the new characters will be introduced during an episode arc of the original show or the show will be a completely new program with The Office's comic sensibility.

Oh, and Universal also signed Rashida Jones to a talent deal, according to the article. The only thing they'd say about that is that "a return to The Office is not out of the question." Given some of the clinkers Ms. Jones has been in lately, she shouldn't rule out bringing Karen back.

[via Pop Candy]