"You don't have to be mad to work here, in fact we ask you to complete a medical questionnaire to ensure that you are not."
The University of Stirling team said soft and feminine features, typified by Ricky Gervais, were more likely to make people laugh.
Ricky Gervais said: "All these years I assumed my global success as a comedian was down to my acute observations, expert directorial rendering and consummate skills as a performer.
"Turns out it's because I've got a fat girly face."
Gervais-Penned 'Office' Ready to Go - NBC schedules episode for Nov. 30
LOS ANGELES -- "The Office" will go back to its British roots, at least behind the camera, with an episode set for the end of November.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who created the BBC series on which the NBC Emmy winner is based, wrote the episode scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 30. It's their first original script for the series, although the pilot was based on the first episode of the British version.
The episode, titled "The Convict," has Michael (Steve Carell) trying to be supportive when he finds out one of his new employees -- presumably someone from the Stamford branch -- has a prison record. Given the way Michael's attempts at empathy usually work out, we're guessing the results are less than ideal.
The newly returned Jim (John Krasinski) also gives Andy (Ed Helms) some dubious coaching when Andy decides to make a move on Pam (Jenna Fischer).
NBC announced early this year that Gervais and Merchant, who are also behind the BBC/HBO series "Extras," would be writing an episode of "The Office." Speaking to reporters in late February, Gervais said he and his partner were nearly finished with the script.
"It was remarkably fast," he said then. "I suppose that's because we'd been away from those characters for two or three years. It's one of our favorite shows, the American 'Office.'"
The Gervais and Merchant episode of "The Office" will be the show's 38th -- which is nearly three times as many as the duo produced for the Beeb. The British "Office" ran for two six-episode seasons and wrapped things up with a two-part Christmas special in December 2003.
Now you can see
For years he was content to be the quiet man behind co-writer Ricky Gervais as The Office conquered the world. Now, having upstaged Winslet, De Niro and Barry from EastEnders, he's blinked his way into the spotlight - as the undisputed star of Extras. So, at 32, where does Stephen Merchant go from here? Barbara Ellen meets the 6ft 7in comedy giant with the world at his feet
For all Stephen Merchant's success as co-writer and director of The Office and Extras, when you meet him, there is something deliciously unstarry about the 32-year-old - something of the eternal student. Looking at his life, the evidence piles up. He chose his flat in Hampstead 'based on closest to the tube, closest to the supermarket'. There are the legendary (hilarious, circular, bonkers) conversations he enjoyed with Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington, captured on pod-casts of The Ricky Gervais Show, and now collected in the book, The World of Karl Pilkington. And when he's not working, he spends vast amounts of time lolling around his flat, watching DVDs, scouring the internet for trivia, and pursuing his obsessions of film, comedy and music. 'I could happily potter for hours on end,' he says. 'I kill days.'
So, is Merchant the eternal student? 'I suppose I'm trying to avoid adulthood,' he says. 'I've been fighting adulthood the whole time. I don't like the responsibilities of adulthood, the idea of having to be grown up. I think I've got - what's it called, when I'm partially living like a 21-year-old?' Arrested development? 'Yes.' Merchant feels that this is partly because he worked so hard when he was a real student at Warwick university. 'They weren't wild, troubled years, and they probably should have been more so.' What does he feel he missed out on? 'The problem for a long time was that I wished I could live life more like a film. With a beginning, middle, and end. And adventure.' Merchant smiles. 'But you know, I like the fact that I can live like a student, but with nicer carpets. That's a lovely position to be in.'
We meet at the London offices of Little, Brown (who are publishing the Extras scripts) and walk down to a cafe in a nearby park, which is an experience in itself. Merchant is famously tall (6ft 7in), and so thin he seems even taller, a bit like a telegraph pole with a head. Not wanting him to feel self-conscious, I'd put on my highest heels, but it doesn't make any difference - trotting alongside Merchant through the park, in my red mac, I still end up feeling like the killer-dwarf in Don't Look Now. People are staring over - maybe because of his height ('People have always looked at me,' he says stoically), but most probably because, although Merchant has long been well known in comedy and television circles, his public profile has rocketed since he started appearing in Extras.
In The Office, Merchant appeared only once, in the Comic Relief episode, as the 'Oggmonster', but in Extras he's been playing Ricky Gervais's merrily inept showbiz agent. And after a shaky start (he had to find his acting legs), his scenes, particularly with 'Barry from EastEnders', have been widely acknowledged as the highlights of the series. As we sit down with our cappuccinos, I ask if Merchant was frustrated before, with Gervais so much the public face of The Office? 'Not at all,' he says. 'Ricky was always very generous in interviews, always quick to say it was a collaborative thing.' For Merchant, who'd always enjoyed drama at school, appearing in Extras was just about having fun. 'Like dressing up when you're a kid, or playing cowboys and indians.' Are the rumours true that they're stopping Extras after two series, like they did with The Office? 'Well,' says Merchant. 'We haven't officially stopped it. We've only just finished, so we haven't even sat down to talk about it.'
That sounds like a 'Yes'. If so, what a shame - with series two, Extras really seemed to hit its stride. I ask Merchant, were the show's darker themes (racism, homophobia, a terminally ill child-fan in the last episode) their way of pushing it as hard as they could? 'These subjects were amusing to us, not because they were taboos in comedy, but because they were uncomfortable in real life,' he says. 'We used to joke about the fact that whenever somebody's lost a relative, people always say, "Is there anything I can do?" And we love the idea of someone going: "Well, there is actually. I would love £5,000, and could you help me decorate my back bedroom? And actually I've always fancied you - do you want a shag?"' Merchant beams. 'It's this idea that there's an accepted way of behaving in these areas, and, if you fail to act in that way, like with people of race or colour, then it becomes hilarious.'
According to Merchant, it was always the intention for Extras to be 'sillier, more vaudeville' than The Office. 'It's just a series of double acts really, quite lazy - Ashley [Jensen] and Ricky, me and Ricky, me and "Barry",' he says. 'It never really occurred to us at first that we could get celebrities. And then we thought - wouldn't it be funny if there were just celebs in the background, who never said anything? We could fly them over at great expense and they'd never say any lines. And then we realised, that would be silly. If you've got Kate Winslet, then you should maybe give her some lines.'
Stephen Merchant has always said that he likes the guest stars to feel as if they're 'having a fun day at Alton Towers', but, the fact is, Extras was always at its best when it was edgier, even slightly cruel. Though one couldn't help but notice that they were a lot crueller to people like Les Dennis and Keith Chegwin than to the big Hollywood stars such as Kate Winslet, Orlando Bloom or Robert De Niro. 'I don't think we were cruel,' says Merchant, alarmed. He explains the intention was always to play with the 'media construct' of their guests. 'But it's also like old Morecambe and Wise shows - get Andre Previn, and have a bit of a laugh, and then go home again.' Merchant smiles. 'It really wasn't supposed to be this great attack on celebrity.'
Talking to me on the phone later, Shaun Williamson (aka 'Barry from EastEnders') agrees with Merchant that it wasn't cruel to actors: 'Nobody's going to suffer from being in Extras.' Williamson says that when he was first approached, 'They explained the situation, and that my ego could be in for a bruising'. Actually, since leaving EastEnders, Williamson had been working non-stop ('What I did on Extras was a sort of apocalyptic version of what might have been'), but since appearing on the show he's been offered films, The Secret Policeman's Ball - 'stuff I would never have been offered before'.
'I wouldn't change it for the world. It's the best thing I've ever done,' he says. 'I don't think anyone who comes into their orbit suffers for it - look at Martin Freeman, Lucy Davis, and Mackenzie Crook - they've all gone into the stratosphere.' And Merchant and Gervais? Williamson laughs: 'They remind me of two big kids having fun. They've struck the jackpot, and they're enjoying it.'
Born in 1974, Merchant was brought up in Bristol by parents Ron and Elaine, in what appears to be a textbook happy childhood. 'Its embarrassing,' he says. 'I've always wished I had more neuroses. Some kind of religious upbringing I could rebel against, or that my father was a drunk.' Irony aside, there was always his height - it can't have been easy being a 6ft 7in teenager. 'I wasn't emotionally scarred, but I was quite self-conscious about it when I was younger,' says Merchant. On the other hand, he found it a spur: 'Because I was so tall, people's heads would be turning and looking at me and I'd think - well, if they're going to look at me, it may as well be because I've been on telly, and I'm a comedian.'
Obsessed with comedy from a young age, one person Merchant admired was John Cleese, also tall, and from nearby Weston-Super-Mare. It was because of Cleese that Merchant wanted to go to Cambridge and join Footlights. However, in retrospect, he feels 'lucky' that Footlights didn't work out. 'I would probably have tried to be something I wasn't - arch, erudite, wordy, pretentious, in a way I'm not.' At Warwick, Merchant worked on student radio; afterwards, he returned to Bristol, where he tried a bit of stand-up, but felt frustrated because he couldn't find his 'voice'. 'It was like, "Where's my angle, why am I doing this? If I can't be as good as Chris Rock, why would I bother?"'
During this time, there seems to have been rather a dearth of female companionship. (In fact, generally, there seems to be little mention of women or relationships in Merchant's press cuttings.) Looking on websites, I can see that Merchant is a major heart-throb with comedy fans, but does he do relationships? 'Yes, I have done relationships,' he says. It transpires that he's 'quite romantic'. So, 'Consequently it would have to be right to give it a lot of time.' Does he consider himself a bit of a catch? 'No, I don't consider myself a catch,' says Merchant sternly. 'I don't feel like I'm running away from relationships,' he says. 'It's just that I feel I need to meet the right person.' Fair enough. I just wondered if it dovetailed into that stuff about not wanting things to get too 'grown-up'. 'Maybe.' Merchant throws me a shrewd amused look. 'I would hope you put that in, certainly - what I like about these sorts of articles is that there's always a bit of cod psychology thrown in. I would hope I would get an insight into my personality.' (Having listened to this bit of the tape back several times, I'm still not sure if Merchant is egging me on or telling me off, though the only bit of 'cod psychology' I can muster is that he's really not keen on nosey questions about his personal life.) 'It's a private thing,' he says. 'I'm not worried or embarrassed, it's just not my place to talk about other people.'
Anyway, in 1997, Merchant applied for a job as Ricky Gervais's assistant at the then-fledgling alternative radio station XFM. As legend has it, Gervais rang him and said, 'I don't know what I'm doing - if you promise to do all the work you've got the job.' These days, Merchant describes his friendship with Gervais as 'alchemy, luck, one of those amazing pieces of good fortune'. (Gervais says that he's physically unable to look at Merchant without cracking up.) Are they co-dependent in the nicest possible way? 'I do feel a kind of security with Ricky,' says Merchant. 'Because of his talent, and because he's so wise in many ways, he knows how things work.'
Considering their 14-year age gap, you'd have thought that maybe Gervais was some sort of big brother figure for Merchant, but not according to Gervais. 'In the early days, Steve took on quite a parental role, particularly during the writing process,' Gervais tells me. 'He'd say things like, "Rick, don't eat too much if you want to sleep" and "Can we start a bit earlier tomorrow?" Believe it or not this brought out my creative side - being annoying until he laughed. When he laughs I've won.'
Claire Sturgess, an XFM DJ who knew them both in those days, describes their relationship as 'Polar opposites, but it works.' During their time at XFM, she recalls racing up to their office every morning, and staying for hours. 'Just to be entertained by their ridiculous banter, just to see what was being spouted. They were a double act even then.' All of which makes you wonder why Merchant upped and left XFM for a BBC producers' course. It seems that his cautious career-minded side took over, and he felt he couldn't pass up the opportunity. 'I've always been cautious,' says Merchant. 'I wouldn't walk on a bridge for a dare. Even when I was young, I didn't do dangerous things like stage dive. I'd watch it and think, "That looks fun", but I'd also be thinking, "If I jumped off a stage at a rock concert, I'd lose my glasses, and how would I get home?"'
Cautious or not, Merchant soon regretted his decision. 'I had to do proper work instead of dossing around with Ricky. I'd phone him up from BBC Pebble Mill doing some daytime Watchdog-type show and he'd be boating on Regent's Park. You'd think: "What have I done?"' However, it was while Merchant was on the course that the pair made a short of a Gervais idea, Sleazy Boss, which found its way to Jane Root, eventually becoming The Office, eventually becoming one of the greatest comedy success stories of all time, winning six Baftas, and two Golden Globes. When The Office finished, Gervais and Merchant promptly realised that they wouldn't be able to do anything like it again.
'It became a Frankenstein's monster,' says Merchant. 'When people start referring to Tony Blair as "acting like David Brent" in the Commons, and Ricky becomes a symbol for every news article about office life, you realise - you couldn't chase that, you couldn't manufacture it if you tried.' At the time, Merchant, still only in his late twenties, remembers feeling strangely lost: 'Ever since I was a kid I always wanted to write a sitcom that people would talk about in the same breath as Fawlty Towers. With the success we had with The Office, I felt I'd fulfilled my childhood ambition. It was like, now what? What do I do now?' The answer of course was Extras.
Unsurprisingly, Merchant turns out to have reservations about celebrity culture per se. 'The theory is that they're giving the public what they want, but I don't think the public would be knocking down doors if they stopped printing it. They wouldn't be shouting, "I want to see pictures of Liz Hurley shopping!"' Didn't Merchant once say that fame was a 'devalued commodity'? 'I don't think it ever had any intrinsic value, but now too many of the wrong people get too much attention. I've said it before, you're not going to see Dr Jonathan Miller on the beach in Heat magazine, you're going to see Jade Goody, despite the fact that he's a much more interesting and profound man.'
Merchant is a bit of a celebrity himself these days - doesn't he get to go to all the showbiz dos? 'I don't get asked,' he says, deadpan. 'Which angers and frustrates me.' Seconds later Merchant admits that he does get asked ('sometimes') but he's not interested. 'I love films, but I wouldn't want to go to film premieres.' He looks baffled. 'I mean, why would I want to walk up a red carpet with Liberty X, when I could just wait until the next day and go to see the film then?'
Indeed, Merchant seems very aware of the perils of celebrity, and how to avoid them. 'It's not brain surgery,' he says. 'Just don't assume that because you've been on telly that makes you better than everybody else. Don't assume that because people see you on the street and shake your hand that you're some kind of genius.' Merchant considers for a moment: 'That's what's so easy, so dangerous, about this business - you start to think that people really care about what you're doing, and they don't. They might enjoy the show, but no one's sitting at home obsessing "What is Stephen Merchant's next project?" and that's healthy.'
Actually, what is Stephen Merchant's next project? When I speak to Merchant, there doesn't seem to be one as such, though on the internet there's a reference to him having a part (Lieutenant Hooper) in the new television version of Brideshead Revisited. Rather nicely, Merchant seems most excited at the moment about the success people such as Jensen, Williamson and Pilkington are enjoying. 'I love it,' he says. 'It's just so exciting to think we played some small part in it.' Apart from that, although there's bound to be something happening eventually with Gervais, Merchant is looking forward to 'a bit of a break'. Ultimately, he says he would love to make a film, 'but if you're going to make a film, make a great one, at least aim for a great one'. He'd also like to have another go at stand-up if he can find his 'voice'.
'I have to think, because I'm not Richard Pryor, because I didn't get raised in a brothel or beaten, what are the areas that are interesting to me?' muses Merchant. 'And I think those are the areas where people don't get to live out their dreams, the people in the wrong jobs, or in the wrong relationships.' The 'lives of quiet desperation'? 'Yes,' he says, enthusiastically. 'It's one of the most heartbreaking and fascinating of areas. I'm not a big fan of science fiction or fantasy, I don't see why they're more interesting than the stories that are probably in this cafe right now.' Merchant looks around the tables thoughtfully. 'I'm sure if you scratched the surface they'd all have fascinating stories.'
A little later we say goodbye, and I leave the very tall, very interesting, perhaps a wee bit 'studenty' Stephen Merchant standing in the drizzle talking to the photographer. 'Bye,' he calls, with a grin. 'And don't forget to put in the cod psychology.'
Extras - The Scripts: Series One and Two (Little, Brown. £14.99) is published 23 November. A CD of The Ricky Gervais Show podcast is out on 13 November.
Ricky Gervais podcasts back on Guardian website
The Ricky Gervais podcast is returning to Guardian Unlimited.
The Office and Extras writer is to produce three seasonal specials for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The podcasts feature new material from Gervais with screenwriting partner Stephen Merchant and oddball Karl Pilkington and will be available for free on Guardian Unlimited on October 31, November 23 and December 25.
"The free podcasts are a thank you to the people who continued to download the drivel even when we started charging for it," said Gervais.
"FYI, I bought a place in Manhattan with my share, Steve bought a new Mercedes with his and Karl had his water boiler replaced."
Guardian Unlimited launched season one of The Ricky Gervais Show podcast in December 2005, achieving a Guinness World Record for recording more than 3m downloads in three months.
Gervais then moved the show to audio downloads site Audible.co.uk for seasons two and three, charging 95p per episode or £3.75 for a full season.
Neil McIntosh, the head of editorial development at Guardian Unlimited said: "It's a delight to have Ricky back on the site."
"Our recent 'Digination' research revealed that content is king when it comes to podcasts, with comedy the most popular genre, so we are confident this series will be another success."
Book review: Ricky Gervais, The Story So Far
For all his vocal dislike of the cult of celebrity, Ricky Gervais has never been shy about giving interviews. Not, admittedly, too many of the vacuous Heat-style dissections of every minute scrap of trivia in his life – but he’s always been happy to talk about his comedy and his now well-documented early working life.
What, then, can a biographer offer? Especially one producing an unauthorised account, who clearly has no access to Gervais - nor indeed, anyone who knew him at all.
Michael Heatley’s new offering is obviously a cuttings job. But at least it’s a readable and very well researched cuttings job. All the interviews may be second-hand, but he’s been meticulous in missing nothing out – right down to the fact that 23 per cent of London Evening Standard readers considered Gervais to be ‘the celebrity you would most like to tuck into turkey with on Christmas Day’. How could you possibly enjoy Extras without knowing that vital fact about its creator?
There’s not much here about Gervais’s career that even the casual fan probably doesn’t already know, from being entertainments manager at University Of London Union, a brief career as pop manager when even Suede came fleetingly under his wing, and an ever briefer one as a minor pop star. Then the bizarre title of ‘head of speech’ at the music radio station XFM, the 11 O’Clock Show, Meet Ricky Gervais, The Office and Extras.
Heatley has, however, found some coverage of his early life, living modestly in Reading and holidaying in two-berth in Bognor (‘You have not known pleasure until you have woken up in the middle of the night to the sound of your nan peeing in a tin bucket,’ he recalled.)
There wasn’t much indication of a future career in comedy, with schoolfriend Ricky Bell recalling: ‘He was very academic. He didn’t make everyone laugh that much at school – that humour came out later.’ Really the best he did was playing childhood pranks, recording a message on his new cassette player and hiding it in his five-year-old nephew’s wardrobe: ‘Let me out of here, I’m running out of air,..’
But somewhere along the way, joking became a way of life. At ULU colleagues remember his ‘blurring of megalomaniac fantasy and deadpan humour’, but it reached its peak at XFM, where he forged his successful writing partnership with Stephen Merchant.
Merchant recalls a typical day in the office. ‘Somebody came with a balloon filled with Rice Krispies, which I put above my desk. So one day I’m doing some work and Ricky was rolling around on his chair (which had wheels). I’m working to try to keep both our heads above water, I hear a pop, and he’s just covered in Rice Krispies. There was no one else in the room, it was just the two of us. It wasn’t like he was doing that to entertain anyone else.’
It’s obvious that in David Brent, Gervais didn’t have to look too far for inspiration as the frustrated entertainer stuck in an office. (For Gareth, incidentally, the suggestion is that he was modelled on the bassist in tribute act Killer Queen, which Gervais managed, who was ‘extremely aloof and serious’ and also called Gareth).
Much more interesting than Gervais’s CV is the chapter dedicated to Merchant – simply because these facts aren’t so often repeated. Not everyone knows he was once on Blockbusters, or that he started as a stand-up, making his debut at Bristol’s Comedy Box (‘The first week I did really well,’ he remembers. ‘The second week I died on my arse. I realised that stand-up was not that easy after all’.) Still, he got to be a finalist at the 1998 Daily Telegraph Open Mic awards before joining Radio Caroline as a breakfast DJ. From there he went to XFM – and Gervais.
Together, they made Golden Years, a Comedy Lab pilot for Channel 4 about a manager with a mid-life crisis who decides to go on Stars In Your Eyes as David Bowie, a hero of Gervais’s. The show wasn’t a hit, but with the benefit of hindsight the seeds for The Office were apparently sown here. Nonetheless, it was enough to bring Gervais a slot on the 11 O’Clock Show – and the rest of his history has been televised.
It’s at this point that Heatley’s book runs out of steam almost completely, reduced to running tedious blow-by-blow episode guides of The Office and Extras series 1 (the second not having aired by the time he wrote this). If you’re already familiar with the shows – and it’s a fair guess anyone who buys a Ricky Gervais biography is – you’ll find yourself skipping through these unenlightening chapters.
That’s not to say there are no interesting anecdotes from this period of Gervais’s life, just not enough of them reported here. A favourite, however, reveals that he is not above a bit of Brentish foot-in-mouth embarrassment. He was preparing a glossary of British terms for the US release of The Office. ‘I had to explain the word bender,’ he said. ‘I was at this serious meeting and I was like, “Bender is a derogatory term for a gay man. It’s derived… probably because gay men bend over “ And then a gay guy there said, “No, actually it’s from the Eighties’ “gender bender’.” I wanted to crawl into a hole and die.’
Question time with Hannah Pool: Stephen Merchant | Arts features | Guardian Unlimited Arts
Comedian Stephen Merchant on Ricky Gervais, his 'obscene' wealth, and teenagers shouting 'Oi, Office!' at him in the street
Hannah Pool: Do you get mobbed on the streets?
Stephen Merchant: I wouldn't call it mobbed, but it's surprising how noticeable you become having been on the telly just for a few weeks.
HP: Do people come up to you in the supermarket?
SM: It tends to be on the street, and it tends to be younger people. It's teenagers who recognise me, and they heckle me. A couple of teenage girls saw me and they went: "Oi, Office!" That's strange, like I'm supposed to be embarrassed. And as I got off the tube they went, "See you, Office." It was like they were sneering at me and I don't know why.
HP: Have you had any women throwing themselves at you?
SM: That's why I got into the business, but it's not happening. I don't know what to do.
HP: Not even a little bit?
SM: It's not happening enough. For my money, if your readers see me on the street and they assume I've only got one thing on my mind, they'd probably be right.
HP: Are you one of those people who got into comedy to stop being bullied?
SM: No, I've never really been bullied or suffered bullying.
HP: Did you try to be funny to get girls?
SM: I was trying for years to woo people through humour, but it seems flash cars are much easier.
HP: Go on, woo me with humour.
SM: Er ... [a pause, some spluttering] It's too intense. Remember that film Sliding Doors, when John Hannah woos Gwyneth Paltrow by reciting Monty Python sketches? I can tell you now that doesn't work, so that film's wrong.
HP: Are you self-conscious about being forced to be funny?
SM: I like doing it as a job, but I would rather sit and listen to other people telling funny stories than be the one telling them.
HP: And what about that other cliche, that all comedians are secretly hugely depressed?
SM: I don't have any hidden depths, I'm a very superficial person. It's a constant frustration to me. You've got great comedians like Richard Pryor - he was raised in a brothel, his mother was a prostitute, he suffered prejudice and everything. All those comedy demons he had - that's why I think he was so brilliant. Whereas I'm just middle class, I had a cosy upbringing. I wish I'd had a bit more misery.
HP: Has success changed you?
SM: I'd like to say it had, I'd like to say I was better dressed or something, but no, I don't think so. I've tried to insulate myself against that consciously, and I'm sure my butler would agree.
HP: Are you filthy rich?
SM: [laughs] Oh yes, it's obscene. It's a disgrace.
HP: Has success changed the relationship between you and Ricky Gervais?
SM: I don't think so, no. What's frustrating is that we can't sit and observe people like we used to. When we started we used to just sit in pubs and cafes and listen in on conversations and watch the world go by. Now people are aware that we might be up to that and they are much more self-conscious, or they'll say things like, "Ooh, you should put me in your show."
HP: Do you think there has been an Extras backlash?
SM: Possibly. When we did The Office, no one knew who we were, so it was easy to champion us, you could own us. Once you become successful, people don't have that any more, so it becomes more polarised. Some people want to champion you and others want to slag you off. It doesn't concern me. My feeling is, we make the shows and we think they're funny, and if people do, great, and if they don't, that's cool.
HP: Do you and Ricky get sick of each other?
SM: It's important that we have time apart. We don't live in each other's pockets - we don't live in a big house like the Monkees.
HP: What infuriates him about you?
SM: He's frustrated by my impeccable dress sense, wit, charm and punctuality. The things that infuriate me about him are his appalling appetite - he's got this most bizarre appetite, he's like one of those kids on Jamie's Kitchens, or whatever, who will only eat Turkey Twizzlers. It drives me mad. I think we should eat anything and he wants to eat McDonald's. That does annoy me.
HP: Are you planning another series of Extras?
SM: At the moment we haven't because we've only just finished this one. It's hard work for people who don't really want to work. So we'll have a little break.
Ricky won't shut up : News 2006 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide
Ricky Gervais has announced that he’s making more podcasts – just a month after he said he was quitting for good.
In September, the comic said he was pulling the plug on his record-breaking internet broadcasts ‘before everyone hates us’.
But now he is to release three more shows to coincide with October, American Thanksgiving and Christmas, free on the Guardian website.
The new ‘Podfather’ shows are described as ‘a “thank you” to everyone who's supported the first three series of podcasts’.
But last month, Gervais said: ‘It's getting ridiculous and somebody has to make it stop. That somebody will be me. I'm not saying we'll never do any more, but I think we should knock it on the head for a while before every one hates us. We may already be too late.’
Gervais releases his first series of podcasts on a triple CD on November 13 – plus yet another new hour-long show.
Ricky Gervais snaps up £2.5m home
Ricky Gervais is moving into a new house - a huge £2.5 million luxury property in one of London's most exclusive areas.
The comedian is taking a leap up the property ladder after making millions from The Office and Extras both here and in the US. He is moving into the new north London property early next year with long-term partner, television producer Jane Fallon.
According to The Sun the home is stylishly decorated, has underfloor heating, balconies, a large garden and a room dedicated to watching television. Gervais told the paper he was looking forward to living close to friend and broadcaster Jonathan Ross.
“It’s near Jonathan’s," he commented. "I’ve got a pool planned and he’s got a miniature golf course — so we’re both well sorted.”
A source said the star was moving out of central London into an exclusive area populated by the rich and famous. He said: “Ricky has been living right in the heart of London’s West End for years.
“He’s often spotted out jogging in the morning. But he wanted to get a place which is a little more secluded and not so hectic," continued the source. “So he’s moving in to the heart of the celebrity belt.”
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais puts a stop to podcasts
Ricky Gervais is to stop making his comedy podcasts, saying he wants to "knock it on the head for a while before everyone hates us".
The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts, which also featured The Office co-writer Stephen Merchant and producer Karl Pilkington, were downloaded nearly eight million times.
The first 12 shows were available free but fans had to pay for the second 12.
"It's getting ridiculous and someone has to make it stop," Gervais said.
"I was trying something out. I wanted to see if I could cut out the middle man and make podcasting a commercial concern. Karl never has to work again and I believe that maybe he won't," he added.
The show largely consisted of Gervais and Merchant teasing Pilkington for his idiotic ideas, including his regular Monkey News bulletin of stories about apes.
The comic's second series of Extras is currently showing on BBC Two.
He recently signed a deal with ITV to televise his best-selling children's book Flanimals.
Gervais pulls plug on 'Extras'
The second season of "Extras" premieres on British television Thursday, and it's looking like there won't be a third.
As he did with his previous series, "The Office," creator Ricky Gervais would like to end "Extras" after just two seasons. The idea, he says, is not to wear out his welcome in people's living rooms.
"At the moment, I don't think there will be another one. (Co-creator Stephen Merchant) and I have always had this thing where we only like to do two series," Gervais said. "It's like 'The Office' -- people are always asking why we didn't do any more, but we just wanted to leave people wanting more."
The second season of "Extras" -- which will feature cameos by Orlando Bloom, David Bowie and "Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe, among others -- debuts Thursday on BBC2 in the U.K. (HBO, which airs the show in the United States, hasn't set an airdate for the new episodes yet). It will pick up where the first run ended, with Andy Millman (Gervais) selling a sitcom to the BBC.
Unlike Gervais' own experience, where he's been given full creative control over his shows, Andy's show quickly gets away from him.
"Andy tries to put up a fight, but in the end he backs down as he craves fame so badly," Gervais said. "It really is a case of 'Be careful what you wish for.' "
Gervais, an unabashed fan of American TV drama, thinks he might like to try writing his own dramatic series next.
"I've got so many ideas in my head," he said. "I think I could appear in a drama. I know people may say I couldn't be taken seriously, but I think it just depends on how strong and well-written it is."
The Sun Online - News: ITV grabs US Office from BBC
BEEB bosses have been dealt a blow by ITV pinching the next two series of the hit US version of The Office.
The BBC, which made Ricky Gervais’ original show, screened the first series on BBC3.
Insiders said BBC planned to buy the next two series of the award-winning comedy.
But cheeky ITV bosses outbid them to grab it from under their noses.
An ITV source said: “It’s a great coup for us as The Office is always associated with the BBC — even the American one.
“They will be furious that we’ve done this.”
ITV plans to air the show on its spin-off channel ITV2 from the end of the month.
The Office: An American Workplace has been a huge success for US broadcaster NBC.
The comedy, which like the UK version revolves around life at a boring paper company, recently won a prestigious Emmy.
Office Gossip
The British aren't coming! The British aren't coming! Despite reports that The Office's U.K. counterparts were getting ready to invade the American remake this season, co-creator (and star) of the Brit version Ricky Gervais insists, "That wasn't true." But behind the scenes, the two shows will stage a crossover: Gervais and writing partner Stephen Merchant have penned an episode of the Emmy-winning U.S. comedy to air in the spring. "It's Michael desperately trying to be PC, as usual, and failing miserably," Gervais reveals. "And Jim and Pam send Dwight on a wild-goose chase.... The strange thing was, I wasn't thinking of (my character) David Brent. I was thinking of (his Yank incarnation, Steve Carell's) Michael Scott. We were totally writing for the American version."
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