The 50-year-old, along with partner Stephen Merchant, is preparing for a new BBC series, Life's Too Short, but he recalled how infuriated Stephen and the rest of the cast got when he made them laugh on set.
Asked if he spent time trying to make other actors laugh during filming, he told British ShortList magazine: 'Oh yeah, I saw that as my job.??
'I remember Steve saying to me, 'It's not enough for you to just have your own show, you have to try and ruin it as well.''
Gervais, who played boss David Brent, admits one of his colleagues Martin Freeman, who plays the character Tim Canterbury in the hit comedy, was especially irritated.
The star added: 'The record for a number of takes for one scene was 74. It was in the second series, where Brent is giving Tim his assessment, I changed the way I did it for every take and Martin just couldn't cope with it.??
'He's such an 'actor', too - he loves his craft. He was probably sat there thinking, 'Who's this f***ing fat buffoon who's never acted before? Why is he in charge?''
Life's Too Short is set to air in the UK later this year.