Office, The (US) Easter Egg - Homer Doll

The Homer reference is due to the UK version. The reason being is all about the pilot episode of the US version. In the UK version David Brent (UK version of Michael Scott) played by creator Ricky Gervais, points to a puppet known as "Flat Eric" hanging on a coat rack to Ricky Howard the temp employee. In which he gives the temp a ear to ear smile. For the US version, being a total copy of the UK version except for the Americanization to make sense, another well known character would need to be added. Homer Simpson was that character. However this scene was cut out and can be found in deleted scenes in season 1 which Michael points out Homer to Ryan Howard in the same fashion.

Homer Simpson is also an inside joke from Greg Daniels, the developer and creator of the US Version due to his time in production and writing on The Simpsons. Paul Lieberstein (Toby) also wrote and produced with Greg on The Simpsons and King of The Hill.