Ray Burmiston/HBO
Actor/creator Ricky Gervais in the HBO comedy, "Extras."
TA threatened by weekend warrior Gareth
David Brent's odious sidekick is finally being taken seriously by the British Army.
Gareth Keenan, the part-time soldier and full-time sociopath from the hit comedy The Office, is being used in Ministry of Defence briefings as an example of how not to behave.
Keenan, known for his mobile phone shoulder holster and predilection for discussing close quarters combat, is even considered a potential threat to Territorial Army recruitment.
The TA - which has suffered four deaths in Iraq - is more under-strength than it has been any time since 1999, with more than 5,400 places in the force unfilled.
While a number of factors are playing a part - not least the Iraq War - some within the MoD feel Mackenzie Crook's portrayal of weekend warrior Keenan hasn't exactly helped.
An army insider admitted: "It's not going to be as major an effect on recruitment as Iraq and the prospect of getting killed, but it certainly doesn't help at all.
"There is a problem with the TA. Some of the regulars are dismissive and civilians don't view them with the same respect as they do the full-timers.
"Of course the TA have always been a vital part of the team, and they are very good and reliable.
"But you do wonder whether there are a few of them - and the Gareth image isn't that far off the mark - who do go back to their girlfriends after a weekend with the TA and talk about it as if they had done two years in 'Nam."
Scotland on Sunday decided to test this view by asking, under the Freedom of Information Act, whether Keenan was indeed impacting on TA retention and recruitment.
A spokesman for the MoD was somewhat tight-lipped, but did concede: "The Gareth character from The Office comedy has featured in an internal presentation for officials as an example of public perceptions of the TA."
The MoD added, however, that officials had not complained to the BBC or MPs.
Alongside Brent, The Office's tubby, goatee-bearded imbecile, played by Ricky Gervais, Keenan is one of the least sympathetic of the hit BBC show's characters.
He attempts to suck up to Brent and rule the roost over fellow employees.
In addition to his bumbling and crude way with women, he courts ridicule by talking up his role in the TA and overblowing his military experience. "People look at me, they say he's tough, he was in the army, he's going to be hard, by the book.
"But I am caring and sensitive. Isn't Schindler's List a brilliant film?" Keenan says in a typical exchange.
One episode saw him come to work with a mobile phone holder similar to a shoulder holster for holding handguns, only to be mocked by colleagues.
Rebutting jibes about the TA, he said, earnestly: "We are well-trained, highly disciplined fighting machines ready for war. We're just not available during the week."
The Office is not the first time the media's portrayal of the military and those with army connections has caused controversy.
Last month, a leading expert on the First World War claimed that the BBC's 1989 Blackadder Goes Forth comedy series was a serious distortion of the reality of life on the Western Front because of its portrayal of senior commanders as gung-ho.
By Murdo MacLeod
Scotland on Sunday
December 4, 2005
Ricky's Hero Show
By Cameron Robertson
Mirror.co.uk
November 10, 2005
Ricky Gervais is making a series of TV documentaries in which he interviews his comedy heroes.
The star of BBC2's The Office and Extras will be returning to Channel 4, which gave him his first TV break in 1998, for Ricky Gervais Meets...
The first hour-long special, to be shown in the New Year, will see Ricky interview Larry David, creator of US comedy Seinfeld. In the second show, he meets Christopher Guest, star of rock spoof This Is Spinal Tap.
Ricky, 44, said: "Larry never gives interviews but he loves Extras. This is the upside to fame - meeting your heroes and finding out they're fans."
Channel 4's Andrew Mackenzie said: "This project is a real coup."
Extras in the running for five awards
By Allan Laing
The Herald
November 7, 2005
EXTRAS, Ricky Gervais's follow-up to The Office, has earned itself five nominations at this year's British Comedy Awards, two of them for Ashley Jensen, the Scots actress.
The show, which stars Gervais and Jensen as frustrated bit-part actors who envy the A-list stars with whom they rub shoulders, has nominations for best comedy, new comedy, TV comedy actor, comedy actress, and comedy newcomer.
For the second year running, Gervais is up against David Walliams and Matt Lucas for the best TV comedy actor accolade. Last year, he and The Office were left in the shade by the comedy duo and their Little Britain series.
This time round, Extras, Little Britain and the Catherine Tate Show – all BBC comedy series – are competing for best TV comedy.
The nominations for Extras are as much a triumph for Jensen as they are for Gervais. The Scot, who plays Maggie in Extras, has been shortlisted for best TV comedy actress with Catherine Tate and the Green Wing's Tamsin Greig. She is also up against Chris Addison (of BBC4's The Thick of It) and David Mitchell (of Channel 4's Peep Show) for the best TV comedy newcomer award.
Annan-born Jensen, 36, has previously worked at the National Theatre, appeared in a Mike Leigh film, and starred in BBC drama series Roughnecks and Central City.
Extras is up for Best New TV Comedy of 2005, against Help (BBC2) and The Thick of It.
Gervais's shows have now had a record 10 nominations, beating the previous nine held by Steve Coogan. Like The Office before it, Extras was created and written by Gervais and his professional partner Stephen Merchant.
Elsewhere, Simon Cowell might not find it funny but talent show The X Factor is up for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme, against Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway and Friday Night with Jonathan Ross. Paul O'Grady will be hoping to beat both in the Best Comedy Entertainment Personality category.
Michael Hurll, the awards' executive producer and deviser, said: "This year's comedy output on television is probably the strongest ever in the 16 years of the awards."
The awards, hosted by Jonathan Ross, will be screened live on ITV1 on December 14 at 9pm.
Cruise to star in Extras
DeHavilland Information Services
November 6, 2005
Tom Cruise will be the next Hollywood star to take the mick out of himself in Ricky Gervais' hit show Extras.
The comedian has confirmed that Cruise will be appearing in the next series, and has also hinted that celebrities such as Madonna and Brad Pitt may also star in their own episodes.
"As far as Brad Pitt, David Bowie and Madonna are concerned, they are fans but the only one we have signed up is Tom Cruise so far," Gervais told itv.com.
"Anything could happen so I'm not counting my chickens."
When asked why so many Hollywood stars are prepared to sign up for the show, he replied, "I don't know, maybe they're masochists."
The announcement by the TV funnyman comes at the same time as actress Kate Winslet appealed for the chance to star in another episode of the comedy series.
The Titanic star praised Gervais' use of British humour and said she loved satirising her public persona for the first series of the show.
"It was fun taking the p**s out of myself," she said. "That's something that truly reminds you that you're British. When you can laugh at yourself it's very healthy. I'd beg to be in the next series if they'd have me."
Hollywood actors including Ben Stiller, Samuel L Jackson and Patrick Stewart have all made guest appearances on the show.
Prince to Star in ‘Extras’?
By WENN
Hollywood.com
Sunday, November 06, 2005
HOLLYWOOD - Pop superstar Prince is the latest celebrity being lined up to appear in the second series of Ricky Gervais' hit comedy show Extras.
The British funnyman and co-writer Stephen Merchant are confident they will reach an agreement with the "Purple Rain" hitmaker, after already securing fellow music stars David Bowie and Chris Martin for cameo appearances.
Merchant says, "The person I would really like to get on it is Prince.
"I was thinking the other day that I have no idea what he is like in real life."
Hollywood actors Ben Stiller, Samuel L. Jackson and Kate Winslet all made guest appearances in the first series of the BBC comedy.
Ricky Gervais is out of The Office
The Guardian
October 31, 2005
As hit comedy Extras comes out on DVD, its star tells Owen Gibson why he is different from most British comics and won't appear in cheap spinoffs or bad films.
If you are planning to stock up on Lou and Andy dolls as stocking fillers this Christmas, do not expect to see a David Brent dancing model or an Andy Millman board game stacked alongside them on the shelf. And if you're one of the thousands trooping along to see Matt Lucas and David Walliams take Dafydd and the rest to the stage this autumn, you are equally unlikely to see Ricky Gervais ahead of you in the queue.
For the creator of The Office and Extras, these accoutrements are symptomatic of a malaise that takes hold of successful British comedians once they have a hit. While he does not mention Little Britain by name, his scathing assessment of some of his peers leaves you in no doubt that he feels little kinship with the British comedy fraternity.
"If you look at it as a career, it's foolish to go all out. You've got to hold out. We resisted putting out loads of rubbish from The Office for years and years. There was a dancing toy they wanted us to put out," he laughs. "It might be funny to have a tacky Brent doll and it'll probably sell well. But it's a con. It's a piece of tat that you don't need," he says passionately.
Gervais is sprawled behind a desk in his sparsely furnished West End office, which is dominated by a huge cutout of Homer Simpson, a store display for the new Extras DVD and piles of his More Flanimals children's book.
These spinoffs fall into a quite different category, he argues, because they are labours of love in themselves.
Given the extent to which scenes from The Office have already lodged themselves in the collective consciousness, destined to be forever repeated on list shows alongside the late Ronnie Barker's fork handles confusion and Basil Fawlty thrashing his car with a branch, it is initially hard not to feel momentarily disconcerted when he slips in the odd Brentish mannerism or aside.
But while his jokey demeanour is contagious, Gervais clearly takes the business of comedy extremely seriously. Since he and Stephen Merchant embarked on The Office, Gervais has been mapping out his future. He returns again and again to the reason they do it: "We're very conscious about the legacy. We're very conscious about it being timeless and universal." And that means, he says, concentrating on "what's important" and blocking out everything else.
"After the second episode of The Office I was offered the lead role in a film. I hate it when a British comedian [becomes popular], the first thing they do is appear in four films and they're all terrible, lottery-funded, tacky shit."
His almost visceral hatred of the world of celebrity magazines and the false chumminess of the showbiz fraternity is well known. At the MediaGuardian Edinburgh Television Festival, at which he and Merchant talked about Extras, the pair went and "hid in a room" because they felt so out of place among their industry colleagues.
"It was just the worst place in the world for me. I haven't got anything in common with other comedians here and other programme makers. We have different ambitions. I've got a lot more sympathy with my American peers," he says. And much of that is down to the parochial world in which British comics operate.
"I get angry when I see people selling their soul, selling their arse," he says, a point of view that clearly informed Extras, with its take on the flipside of fame. "So many people will try and get in the paper. The first thing they do is go and link arms with some D-list rapper. Why do you need to see yourself in the paper? It gives me the creeps."
It has become fashionable again to put comedy at the top of the agenda. The BBC spends much of BBC3's £97m a year budget looking for new talent, BBC1 controller Peter Fincham has declared it a top priority to persuade the likes of Gervais to ply their trade in prime time, Channel 4 is casting its net wider in the hope of unearthing the new Spaced or Green Wing and even Five is dabbling in new homegrown comedy. Lamenting the demise of British comedy is almost as cliched and muddled as wondering why England cannot win the World Cup. But many in the industry believe that a serious spell of underinvestment in recent years, when commissioners concentrated instead on reality and popular factual programmes, has left a worrying vacuum.
"There's something very parochial about a lot of British comedians. Their ambition is to get on a chat show, or have This is Your Life or a South Bank Show made about them. All the things I don't want to do because it's about me as opposed to the work," says Gervais. But when challenged, he will admit that there are certain things you "have to do" - his irregular bouts of verbal sparring with Jonathan Ross on radio and TV, for example.
Occasional gems like The Office made it through despite the system, rather than because of it. "We maintained control in every aspect. They know I don't want to do adverts or do my autobiography - you know, 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to The Office'."
And the trend for successful standups to be rushed on to screen and on to a million panel shows, quiz shows and sitcom pilots has tended to leave them overexposed before they have barely started.
"They're not historians of fame. It's an ego thing. The same reason actors take bad films. They know it's a bad film but deep down they think it'll be a good film if they're in it. It's a slippery slope. They make hay while the sun shines. But you want a few summers," he says, reasoning that because he came to television fairly late in life it has given him a bit more perspective. That was part of the rationale behind trying to "sneak out" Extras during the summer on BBC2 - an impossibility given the huge expectations, the inevitable rash of magazine covers and the fact that it had a full complement of A-list cameos. He believes that his comedy has found the "four million or so" people in the country who "get it" and that it will never attract a bigger audience.
Gervais is keenly aware of the second-album syndrome that affected Extras. Brandishing a BBC press release that has been sent over for approval, he points out that The Office has sold 4 million DVDs around the world, been sold to 80 countries ("What's the Chinese for Brent-meister general?" he muses) and won two Golden Globes. How do you follow that?
In the event, he and Merchant did it by locking themselves away and coming up with a series that, for all the initial hype surrounding celebrity cameos from the likes of Ben Stiller and Samuel L Jackson, was as carefully crafted and character-based as their first. If it lacked a comic icon to rival Brent, the writing was, if anything, more subtle and multi-layered. Chiming with the trend for DVD comedy sales outstripping initial viewing, Gervais says they make shows that are designed to be better on the second or third viewing. "All the things I love I didn't like immediately. I either resisted them or wasn't knocked out. The Simpsons, Radiohead, The Sopranos". When watching the series again, he hopes people will appreciate the main characters more than the cameos.
"We are proud of these people wanting to be in a little British sitcom. Kate Winslet talking dirty to a Nazi, that didn't happen in Terry and June. But we're prouder of the characters," he says.
It is this microscopic attention to detail and characterisation that he believes is missing from much British comedy and is the reason why he feels more affinity with Matt Groening's Simpsons and Larry David's Seinfeld. Objectionable people "I see programmes in England and think 'you're aiming low there', 'you're selling out there', 'you got a laugh last time so you've done it again'. Sometimes I think 'shame on you', from a production point of view. People get promoted because they got something on the telly. It's awful, it's tat," he rails.
Gervais has already written an episode of The Simpsons, which will go out in the US next March, and will appear with David in a forthcoming Channel 4 special. "Seinfeld was incredible because it was a completely new type of sitcom, almost eating itself and all that postmodern stuff. But they didn't forsake the characters. I think George Costanza might be the best sitcom character of all time. These are objectionable people but you love them for it because it's so well done," he says.
It was an approach that clearly informed The Office. "It looked parochial on the face of it, but it wasn't. It was about making a difference, doing a decent job at work, it was boy meets girl. Which is rare in England. America's been doing that for ages, it always has a human interest and a romance from I Love Lucy to Friends," he says.
"Whereas we always do a catchphrase comedy or a central character who is a buffoon and always ends up back at square one," he adds. Another influence is Christopher Guest, the Spinal Tap and Best in Show director who recently cast Gervais in his next film.
As if to prove that Hollywood has not gone to his head, he shuffles off to find us a pair of chipped coffee mugs from which to drink. After the second series of Extras, which he and Merchant are starting to write now, they plan to make their first film. His work with Merchant is, he says, "the day job", the thing that gets him out of bed in the morning. The rest - the children's books, the standup tours (of which there will be another, Science, next year), the occasional acting gig - he fits in around that.
"We want to do something that no one else can do. Or improve on something that has been done before. You're allowed to tell the same old stories, as long as you tell it better. Boy meets girl is pretty much as good as it gets. Redemption, overcoming a struggle. These are stories that have been told a million times before. It's whether you do them well or badly. Or worse, indifferently."
Perhaps aware that he is in danger of coming across a bit po-faced in deconstructing himself and his art, he sighs: "Sometimes I do think I take it too seriously. I'm passionate about doing it and it's precious to me. But it's not a matter of life and death."
Tongue firmly back in cheek, he concludes that his success is mainly down to a trait he shares with the yellow cardboard cutout in the corner of the room.
"My laziness has really helped me out. Because I've only got so much energy I channel it into things that I know are important. It ends up looking like integrity. It's great. There's only so much time in a day, so I just do one thing and I do it well."
To order this DVD call the Guardian film and music service on 0870 836 0712.
Ricky Gervais is making a movie about, well, something!
By Martha Fischer
Cinematical
October 31, 2005
This much we know: Ricky Gervais and his writing partner Stephen Merchant will be making a movie. We also know that they'll start writing it soon, presumably whenever the schedule of the second season of Extras allows. Beyond that, though, things get a little murky. In an interview with Media Guardian, Gervais gleefully spewed movie cliches while pretending to give details about the movie. To wit: "We want to do something no one else can do. Or improve on something that has been done before." Ah. So that narrows the subject down to...pretty much anything. Be honest here, Ricky - you and Merchant haven't had a single meeting about this yet, have you?
Among the few concrete details Gervais did offer was that he plans to make movies out of both of his Flanimals children's books. That something, at least. The actor will make his Hollywood debut next year in Christopher Guest's For Your Consideration.
Whip Round For Ricky
Sky Showbiz
October 3, 2005
Ricky Gervais is to appear in cult US comedy Arrested Development after the cast said they'd have a whip round to pay for his flight to the States.
The Office and Extras star wanted to play a cameo in the comedy, but producers refused to pay for him to come to the US.
The cast were upset when they heard the news and offered to pay for Ricky's travel themselves. The TV bosses finally agreed to bring Ricky over.
Actor Jason Bateman, who plays Michael Bluth in the series, said: "The network said they weren't going to fly him out there, so we as a cast got together and said 'Well, why don't we pay for it out of our pockets?'
"As soon as the studio heard about that, they said they'd do it after all.
"Hopefully his schedule will work out this year and the studio are now on record saying that this time they will definitely pay his fare."
Ricky has become a huge star in the US after the success of The Office. The show won two Golden Globes in 2004.
He has since announced he is writing an episode of hit US animated comedy The Simpsons.
Ray Burmiston/HBO
Actor/creator Ricky Gervais in the HBO comedy, "Extras."
Gervais lurks in background for 'Extras'
By Frazier Moore
Associated Press
September 29, 2005
NEW YORK - Ricky Gervais is fascinated by how a camera can skew the flow of ordinary life.
On "The Office," his hilarious British "mockumentary" series, he explored the effect of a film crew on David Brent, the fame-lusting office manager who clowns it up as cameras occupy his dreary workplace for a TV reality show.
Now, on his new comedy "Extras," Gervais has turned his attention to actor manque Andy Millman and the show-biz obscurity of being an extra. Portrayed by Gervais (who also played Brent), Andy is what is called "background talent." His workdays are spent on London film shoots helping fill the frame with his unnoted presence - and laboring to justify his marginal status.
Extras, as Gervais explains, "are just bodies. They're pushed in and told where to stand. It's like hanging drapes." He chortles with delight. "We try to show how Andy is desperate for respect."
On the next episode (10:30 p.m. EDT Sunday on HBO) Andy's role is that of a nameless prisoner in a film about modern-day genocide directed by, of all people, Ben Stiller.
"If I find a little orphan child in a war zone, how do I help him?" poses Stiller, who's afflicted by severe high-pretension. His lofty solution: "Make this movie. Make people think. Change attitudes."
Meanwhile, Andy tries to wangle from Stiller a line or two of dialogue by approaching the bereaved war victim whose story Stiller is filming. Then he anxiously waits.
"I can't push it," Andy frets to Maggie, his chum and fellow extra. "I can't go up to him and remind him, `Sorry to interrupt you again while you're thinking about your slaughtered loved ones, but that line - you done anything about it?'"
"It might seem a wee bit insensitive, eh?" allows Maggie. Not that Andy can hold off bugging him very long.
Ashley Jensen is perfect as the dimwitted Maggie, while Stephen Merchant is a whiz as agent Darren Lamb who, after five years, has failed to score Andy a single speaking role. ("I'm as annoyed as you are," he assures Andy pleasantly.)
As it happens, Merchant is not only Gervais' co-star, but also his behind-the-scenes partner, having co-written and co-directed "The Office" and now "Extras."
They met eight years ago when Gervais, working at an alternative radio station in London, took him on as an assistant.
Gervais must have needed help. The Reading, England, native was already a self-confessed sloth and budding late bloomer. After graduating from college in philosophy, he had performed in one rock band, managed another, and been a talent booker for a student union. Once they got around to it, he and Merchant created "The Office."
Wildly successful in Britain, "The Office" turned Gervais (pronounced jer-VAZE) into an unsuspecting star.
And as a cult sensation in the United States, it spawned an Americanized version for NBC last season that currently airs Tuesdays at 9:30 p.m. With Steve Carell playing a Yank equivalent of Brent, the U.S. edition operates independently of Gervais - who has been plenty busy with his new series.
At first glance, "Extras" may seem overly similar to "The Office." But first impressions can deceive.
"Brent was essentially an idiot who wasn't that bad but just wanted to be popular," says Gervais, "whereas Andy has a different theme: The world owes him a living."
David Brent was a doughy bloke with a goatee and a cajoling grin. Andy Millman shares that gift of glib, often loutish, gab. But he has lost the foppish goatee and gained a measure of unrealized ambition. He craves stardom, and thinks he's entitled. Comparing Robert De Niro to himself, he thinks: not better, just luckier.
In short, he's ripe to be taken down a few pegs, and is, with regularity.
"He was born smart, and he can't let it go," says Gervais. "He'd rather make a joke than listen. He's clever, but he hasn't applied it as well as some other people."
Making matters even worse, Andy has a conscience. For instance, he just can't bring himself to fire that pitiable agent.
Preparing to move Andy forward for a second season of six more episodes, Gervais remains fascinated by fame and how so many people chase it. But he disavows his own.
"It's the one thing I actively don't like: just being recognized," says Gervais, a 44-year-old chap who, casually dressed for this interview in slacks and sports shirt (shirttail out), gives the strong impression he is on no star trip.
"What I love is the work," he insists. "I get excited by the creativity, not because I think I have the best ideas in the world. I'm excited, because they're MY ideas."
But having said that, Gervais, who is often given to reflective comic riffs, confides his fear that the sum of creativity allotted him might fail to be in synch with his lifespan.
"It's like Keats: `When I have fears that I may cease to be, before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain...' You don't want to die before you've got out all your ideas. But you don't want to run out of ideas before you die.
"You've got to time it right," he goes on. "It's like the perfect meal: You don't want to have toast left over, with no bacon. You've got to time it JUST right: `The End,'" whereupon he plops his head on an imaginary writing desk. Then he cackles with laughter. No end in sight for his funny ideas.
Ricky's finger of fun
Gervais backs cancer campaign
chortle.co.uk
September 27, 2005
Ricky Gervais has launched an anti-cancer campaign, following a run-un with Jonathan Ross.
The Office comic has written and stars in a new radio advert urging men to look out for signs of prostate cancer.
He plays a doctor carrying out a rectal examination on a terrified patient, played by his XFM radio sidekick Karl Pilkington.
Gervais agreed after appearing on pal Jonathan Ross's BBC chat show.
He aid: ‘During one of our usual exchanges of insults, I'd called Britain's favourite cockney fop an idiot for pronouncing prostate as “prostrate”.
‘He can't pronounce his R’s at the best of times - why introduce one where it isn't needed?
‘The Prostate Cancer Charity thanked me for putting Wossy in his place and asked if I would be interested in voicing a radio campaign.
‘I said yes, if I could write and produce it - It's a power thing. So I roped in Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington, and got to work.
‘Karl had expressed his horror in the past at the thought of a rectal examination, and I thought this "fear" was a nice theme. I'd heard that you stand a greater chance of beating cancer if you catch it early enough and the thought of someone dying for the sake of three seconds mild embarrassment is a ripe comedy passage.
‘I don't do adverts as a rule but this was great fun and it's nice to keep your hand in. No pun intended.’
He also joked: ‘Doctor Fox is not sanctioned by any medical body to perform such examinations. I only wish I’d known this earlier.’
Charity chief executive, John Neate, said: ‘We cannot thank Ricky enough for making this brilliant advertisement for us. Humour makes it easier, especially for men, to approach and discuss serious health issues.’
To listen to Ricky’s ad visit the charity’s website:
US critics praise Gervais' Extras
BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio
September 27, 2005
Extras, Ricky Gervais' follow-up to hit sitcom The Office, has received a warm response from critics in America. Variety called the programme "genuinely clever throughout", while Newsday said it was "hugely entertaining".
The six-part comedy made its US debut on the HBO channel on Sunday night in a double bill with Curb Your Enthusiasm.
But where the UK run started with an episode featuring Hollywood star Ben Stiller, the US series began with the show featuring Britain's Kate Winslet.
Not every American reviewer was won over, with the Miami Herald describing it as "droll and slow-moving".
However, as the following excerpts suggest, the general response was a positive one, further boosting Gervais' profile across the Atlantic.
LOS ANGELES TIMES - ROBERT LLOYD
"Extras is at once more modest and more ambitious than The Office, more focused on detail and yet more expansive.
It is also excruciatingly funny, with an emphasis on excruciating.
Ashley Jensen's performance as Maggie is astonishingly deep and true; you can hardly believe it's on a sitcom.
But the series itself is deeper than you expect."
NEWSDAY - VERNE GAY
"Starring Ricky Gervais as an extra with larger ambitions, Extras is hugely entertaining.
The Office czar's new show is hilarious and officially forms the back end of the best new comedy block on television.
It perfectly clarifies why Gervais is one of television's most sought-after talents.
A personal guarantee: This show gets better and better."
VARIETY - BRIAN LOWRY
"Drenched in mortifying moments courtesy of The Office creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, Extras is a painfully funny tribute to wannabes everywhere.
Gervais and Merchant excel at capturing scenes of quiet discomfort as well as palpable desperation in the face of near-constant rejection.
Although perhaps too dry to be everyone's cup of tea, Extras remains genuinely clever throughout.
For those with a taste for Gervais' brand of comedy, that alone should be cause for enthusiasm that's difficult to curb.
NEW YORK TIMES - ALESSANDRA STANLEY
"The BBC-made comedy Extras is a worthy and exhilarating companion to Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Building on the loathsome boss he played on The Office, Ricky Gervais has created another character who is self-centred, tactless and impossible not to like.
Extras is as British as Marmite or warm beer.
The humour is cold-blooded and unsqueamish, revelling in boorish behaviour and cringing embarrassment."
HBO's 'Extras' a real riot on the set
By David Bianculli
New York Daily News
September 23, 2005
EXTRAS. Sunday night at 10:30, HBO.
In television, it's a rarity for someone to come up with two different, brilliant series.
Larry David did it by co-creating "Seinfeld" and creating and starring in "Curb Your Enthusiasm" - and now it's Ricky Gervais' turn.
Sunday night at 10:30, following the season premiere of "Curb," HBO unveils "Extras," the newest series starring, and co-created by, Gervais.
With his writing and directing partner Stephen Merchant, Gervais concocted "The Office" - the original, superb British version, not the diluted, tone-deaf NBC American version.
If you loved "The Office" you may have grave doubts that any followup comedy could be as good and as quote-the-dialogue funny. "Extras" is that - another triumph, and a perfect Sunday-night companion piece for "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
Both shows look at show business from the inside out - David by playing a skewed version of himself, Gervais by playing Andy Millman. Unlike David Brent, whom Gervais played in "The Office," Andy isn't clueless, just luckless. He's got a rapid-fire sense of humor, and a desperate desire to graduate from being one of the costumed background extras on TV and movie sets, to landing an actual line of dialogue.
One reason he hasn't succeeded in this quest, after five years, is due to his own habit of saying or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time; if there's a trait Andy shares with David Brent, it's the ability to attract embarrassment like a magnet.
The other reason is his agent, who's so cartoonishly clueless he can't even manage to answer his own cell phone before it stops ringing. He's played by Merchant, who emerges after "The Office," just as Larry David did after "Seinfeld," to go from behind-the-scenes force to on-screen scene-stealer.
When Merchant and Gervais share the screen, filling some hilariously awkward silences, it's hard to say which man is funnier. It's a big compliment, and a true partnership.
But "Extras" doesn't rely on them alone - not at all. Andy's best friend in the extra game is Maggie Jacobs, a shy but man-hungry young woman played by Ashley Jensen. She gets lots of laughs and is put in plenty of horrifying social situations, as well - and the show's secret weapon is its fabulous premise, which puts Andy and Maggie on the set of a new film, and in the orbit of a new star, each episode.
For Sunday's opener, that star is Kate Winslet, playing a nun hiding refugees in a World War II movie.
Andy is dressed as a Nazi, Maggie as a refugee, and they end up talking to Winslet - who's playing a nasty version of herself - and complimenting her for choosing to star in such a serious project.
She did it for the chance to win an Oscar, she tells them, insisting that all films about the Holocaust do. Otherwise, she whispers to them in confidence, "I don't think we need another film about the Holocaust, do we? I mean, how many have there been? We get it. It was grim. Move on."
Now that's black comedy. And coming from Winslet, in a nun's habit no less, it comes close to comic sacrilege. But that's the kind of full-power potency "Extras" contains in every episode.
'Office' alumni bring the funny with 'Extras'
By Nate Buchik
Arizona Daily Wildcat
September 22, 2005
How do you follow up what is arguably the funniest show in the history of television? Just add celebrities.
"Extras," the new comedy from Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the creators of "The Office," is almost as funny as its predecessor and has the added bonus of having a celebrity guest star in every episode.
Kate Winslet appears in the opener and proceeds to give advice to the characters on how to talk dirty. It's disgusting, hilarious and perfect for HBO.
The show originally aired on the BBC, and its six episodes were picked up stateside by America's best channel, HBO.
Gervais once again stars in his own show, this time as Andy, a "proper actor" who can only get roles as an extra because he's 40, overweight and has an inept agent (played by Merchant).
Each episode tells the story of a new production, with Andy and his friend Maggie running around the set as extras. Their personal lives sometimes come into play, but you'll always see Maggie trying to find someone on set to date, and Andy usually begging the star of the film to get him a line.
While Gervais is a different character in this show, shades of David Brent still shine through in the show's themes. His slight prejudices are once again always exposed and his longing for recognition is there, but in an understandably desperate way. This is a kinder, more lovable Gervais. Brent was the antagonist in "The Office," but the audience definitely roots for Andy in "Extras."
The reason "Extras" isn't better than "The Office" is because of the supporting cast. While Merchant is good as Andy's agent, Maggie's character is lacking. And unlike its predecessor, "Extras" doesn't have five other supporting characters to pick up the ones that aren't as strong.
But the celebrities certainly help.
Ben Stiller appears in an episode directing a movie about a war-torn Bosnian family. The way Stiller lampoons his box office success and acts the part of the jerk is great, much like it was during the fourth season of "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
Patrick Stewart and Samuel L. Jackson also guest star, along with a couple British celebrities who don't ring any bells.
This leads to one of the main themes of the show: the idea of celebrity. Andy and Maggie run around the set without being noticed or respected, while the stars get all the attention. But Gervais and Merchant try to make fun of celebrities, with each star being neurotic but still normal.
But what sets apart "Extras" from most sitcoms is the emotional pull the characters have on you. "Friends" took 150 episodes before anyone really cared about Ross and Rachel, but Gervais and Merchant have managed to work their magic again in only a few episodes, balancing comedy and drama the way very few sitcoms are able to do.
By the end of the season, Andy is moving into an interesting direction with his career. Make sure you find someone with HBO so you can see what happens.
Items pertaining to the movie Valiant can be found here:
Article relating to Lucy Davis....
Rag Tale to riches?
By Claire Prentice
Scotsman.com News - Features
August 22, 2005
IT'S FUNNY THE things you miss in LA; British tea, Marmite, even The Archers. But Lucy Davis has a special reason to feel homesick for Ambridge. After ten years as feisty Hayley Tucker in the popular Radio 4 drama, she's leaving the role because she can't fit it in around a burgeoning Hollywood career.
"It was always such a joy going down the M40 to do my stint on The Archers. They were like a second family to me," says Davis, relaxing in her plush West Hollywood apartment at the start of a hectic day of costume fittings. "I'm really gutted I can't do it anymore. We looked in to me recording here in LA but the cost of the studios was just ridiculous. I'm really sad to let it go."
Davis relocated to Los Angeles in June on the back of the massive success enjoyed by The Office, which surprised everyone by winning two Golden Globes last year, and already the offers are flooding in. She couldn't make it to the world premiere of her film, Rag Tale, at the Edinburgh International Film Festival yesterday because she was filming The TV Set with Sigourney Weaver and David Duchovny (whom Davis refers to as "David Do-shag-me").
For someone on the brink of major stardom, Davis is refreshingly down to earth, which must make her something of an oddity in California. "When I saw [Rag Tale] I thought 'I'm in a film. Oh my goodness, how did this happen?'," says the 31-year-old.
A savagely funny satire set in a London tabloid newspaper, Rag Tale stars Malcolm McDowell, Rupert Graves, Jennifer Jason Leigh, John Sessions, Simon Callow and Ian Hart. Director Mary McGuckian supplied the cast with descriptions of their characters and a basic plot and then it was up to them to improvise. "I was petrified every single day," says Davis, adding, "but that is good, it means I'm being challenged."
The company she now keeps on screen is dazzling but Davis hasn't had to abandon everything about her life in Britain. This week, before she starts work on her first Hollywood film, she is making a visit to the US set of The Office. "I can't wait but it'll be a bit strange," says Davis. "The first episode was so close to the British version that I found it difficult to watch. But now it's doing its own thing, it's a very different show. I love it."
She is visiting the set with Jenna Fisher, who plays the American version of Dawn, the doleful receptionist who made Davis a star and a very British sex symbol to a whole generation of men who empathised with the plight of lovelorn Tim. Davis and her US counterpart have become close friends after meeting at Davis's first LA casting. "I've had to promise Jenna that I'll behave and not get in the way," adds Davis, laughing.
In Rag Tale Davis plays Debbs, the editor's secretary who can't resist spreading office gossip.
Isn't she afraid of being typecast? "I did say to myself after The Office, 'Do not play another secretary for a very long time.' But the fact that it was with such a fabulous cast and it was improvised made it such an amazing challenge that I couldn't turn it down. Even if Mary [McGuckian] had said your name is Dawn and you are in love with a character called Tim I'd have still done it."
Davis is full of stories about her new life and talks with awe about the strangeness of living in movieland.
"I went to the 7/11 store the other day and this guy with greasy hair, no teeth and tattoos all over his body leant in the car and asked for money. I gave him a few dollars but then he started asking for drugs and telling me that he had killed nine men. I was terrified, I ended up giving him two Solpadeine just to get rid of him. He had a gash on his head so it probably did him some good."
But if the actress famous for playing ordinary English girls is having a hard time adjusting to the crack dealers, Jesus freaks and hustling wannabes of West Hollywood, she isn't showing it. "Everyone has been so friendly," she enthuses in a refined Solihull accent. "I'm forever being invited to dinner by people I've just met. I feel a lot more settled now, although I still haven't found a cafe serving good English tea."
The UK version of The Office had a cult following in the US and, much to her surprise and delight, Davis is often recognised in the bars, clubs and cinemas of LA.
Yet the actress can't resist telling a funny story against herself; she was at a film premiere recently when someone recognised her walking up the red carpet "in a $40 dress from a market" and screamed out, "Lucy". The photographers spotted that she was causing a stir and began snapping. "They were all shouting, 'Lisa, Lisa, look this way.' As I walked past I heard them saying, 'Who was that?' It was hysterical. If you didn't know better you might have mistaken me for this amazing A-list star."
Which is exactly what she will be when The TV Set is released. Made by Ben Stiller's production company, the film is set in the bitchy, back-stabbing world of the pilot season in LA, when hundreds of pilots are shot for new television series, of which only a handful are ever made. Davis plays Chloe, the wife of a film producer, who is bitter about being uprooted from her home in England to go to LA.
Having filmed a number of pilots herself, Davis has experienced first hand just how bitchy it can be. "Once I was waiting for an audition and this actress came out shrieking, saying that we had to audition five scenes that we hadn't been told to rehearse. It threw us all into a panic. It turned out she was lying to put us all off just before the audition. It's an absolute cattle market and fabulous material for a film."
After The TV Set, she moves straight on to Garfield 2 with Billy Connolly and Jennifer Love Hewitt, before going to New Mexico to shoot Funny Farm, the second part in McGuckian's trilogy (Rag Tale is part one) with Kathy Bates, Malcolm McDowell and Rupert Graves. As in Rag Tale, the film, which is set in a celebrity drug rehabilitation clinic, will be improvised by the cast. Davis plays a detox nurse.
Emboldened by her foray into improvisation, she has been invited to perform at the famous LA comedy improv club, The Groundlings, where Friends star Lisa Kudrow got her big break. And on Thursday she had an audition for a 26-part animated TV series.
But Davis shows no sign of letting imminent global stardom go to her head. Despite being warned by her prickly Hollywood agency that "Miss Davis" could give me 15 minutes of her time, she is still happily giggling and gossiping after an hour, and making herself late for her first appointment. If Hollywood is a place which is supposed to make you hard and superficial, then it seems to be failing; Lucy Davis is as likable and ordinary as you hoped she would be.
So, even though she's recently split up with her boyfriend of 13 years, the actor-cum-writer, Richard Manson, and Hollywood is full of buffed, available young hunks, she's really looking forward to visits from her family. One of her two younger sisters is coming next month, followed by her brother and her parents in October. And she is already counting the days until she flies back home for a traditional family Christmas. "I miss my family more than I could say," she sighs.
It's a tribute to the ordinariness of her family life that when, aged 18, she enrolled at the Italia Conti stage school, she was determined no-one should find out that her father was the comedian and actor, Jasper Carrott. "My childhood wasn't in the least bit showbizzy. Dad always kept us very separate from his work and it has always been important to me to know that I've done it off my own bat," says Davis.
Within a year of leaving stage school, she landed a part in the BBC's acclaimed 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, which made Colin Firth a household name.
Davis stresses that she has no intention of staying permanently in Hollywood and is keen to continue doing British films (before Rag Tale she appeared in the flop The Sex Lives of the Potato Men and critical hit Shaun of the Dead). "I have no major plan," she says. "I'll just go wherever the work is and, for now, there seems to be a lot of work for me here."
She has not seen Ricky Gervais's new show, Extras, which has yet to start screening in America, but has heard good reports from friends back home. Is she ever afraid that she will always be remembered for The Office? "Even if I'm 60 and someone shouts, 'Hey, Dawn' in the street, then I'll think how amazing to have made that impact. I'll never be bitter about something that was so much fun to do."
Second series of Extras planned
BBC Two has commissioned a second series of the Ricky Gervais hit comedy Extras
bbc.co.uk
August 17, 2005
Extras, which stars Gervais as a frustrated bit-part actor who envies the A-list stars, has attracted an average of 3.9m viewers an episode.
It is Gervais' second sitcom, along with co-creator Stephen Merchant, and follows their success with The Office.
Roly Keating, controller of BBC Two, praised the show's "brilliant scripts and superb observation".
CAMEO ROLES
He added: "I'm thrilled that Ricky and Stephen will be making a second series and that the audience will be able to share more of Andy and Maggie's excruciating experiences in the world of showbiz.
"We've discussed ideas for the new series and the potential is huge."
Episodes of the comedy so far have featured cameo appearances from actor Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Les Dennis and Ross Kemp.
Hollywood actor Samuel L Jackson will star in the penultimate episode of the series on Thursday.
'GOOD JOB'
Gervais, who plays Andy Millman in the comedy, will return in the new series next year along with Merchant, who plays his agent, and Ashley Jensen, who plays friend Maggie.
He said: "It's a good job the BBC offered us a second series, Stephen and I had already booked the studio and promised about 30 actors a job.
"Mind you, we'd done that before the first series had been commissioned too.
"The BBC has never interfered on any level. We know how rare that is and thank them for always 'giving us enough rope'."
The first series of Extras is also due to transmit in the US on HBO from 25 September.
Merchant of mirth’s extra time winner
Hampstead and Highgate Express
editorial@islingtonexpress.co.uk
August 15, 2005
Stephen Merchant is taking a Hitchcock-style cameo in his new sitcom Extras, as acting agent to his writing partner Ricky Gervais's character.
The gag is that Darren Lamb is as hopeless as his client Andy Millman, a man who has yet to get his lucky break after years as a walk-on.
"I'm clearly the worst man for the job," says Merchant, who retains an appealing trace of his Bristolian accent. "He would be better off having his gran doing it."
The six-parter (episode four was on last night) is the long anticipated follow-up to the pair's stratospherically successful award-laden BBC2 comedy The Office.
Keen to depart from The Office's hyper-real TV documentary pastiche, they came up with a looser sitcom format that offered dramatic scene changes - and juicy parts for their celebrity fans, including Ben Stiller and Kate Winslet.
More importantly, says Merchant, who lives in Frognal, Hampstead: "It gives us an excuse for some old fashioned-style fun."
He adds: "We wanted to throw off the shackles of The Office. We were very scrupulous to be accurate with The Office but this show's not trying to be a truthful depiction of the life of extras. We don't know what it's like to be an extra but neither do most people. It was really an excuse to have some fun in that world of film."
Merchant says he and Gervais were once again drawn to explore power dynamics as a source of comedy.
"Ricky and I are interested in the way your personality can change depending on who you are talking to in the power chain - how a little bit of power can drive you mad. In The Office everyone has to treat the boss in a certain way and when you become a boss it changes you. Extras are at the bottom of a massive chain. The power structures on a movie are rigid, everyone's got their role. That was appealing."
As co-director with Gervais, Merchant, who is amazingly still only 28, was on set but didn't enjoy the practicalities of filming.
"I find the process quite stressful. I am quite a lazy person at heart and I find the making of TV a terrible battle with the weather, schedules and availability."
But he and Gervais, who met in 1997 while working in the speech department of fledgling radio station XFM, were amused to discover the idiosyncrasies of extra work.
"There's some weird rule that you can't speak directly to the extras to direct them or you have to pay them more, so we had to find elaborate ways of offering direction like explain it loudly to someone else and hope they heard.
"Ricky and I would (verbally) throw something at one of them, and their eyes would light up because they would get an extra 70p."
Merchant says the extras on Extras were called upon to do a lot more than usual because instead of their usual function to be unnoticed, they were the focus of the show.
"We had a couple of instances when Ben Stiller asked them to ad lib and they were brilliant, they didn't overact."
As for Stiller, who gamely sent himself up in the first episode as an egomaniac directing a vanity project about a Balkans-style war, Merchant says he did not have the Hollywood treatment on set.
"He didn't have a Winnebago. He didn't ask for one. All the celebrities had to muck in with everyone else and they weren't being paid huge bucks."
Finding their celebs was a question of approaching people who were fans of The Office.
"It wasn't an ad in The Stage - only superstars need apply," jokes Merchant.
"The Office had a cult following among the Hollywood media world. They knew what it was and they were all people we already had a strong idea for. We told them mainly face-to-face then sent them the script and strangely none of them said no."
In Extras, Merchant and Gervais have replicated their by now trademark cringe-making black comedy that explores the taboo-laden gap between what we think and what we say.
"There is a particular style of humour we enjoy doing that makes us laugh and we didn't want to change it. It's comedy of social embarrassment and excruciating moments. We knew people would accuse Ricky of being like (his The Office character) David Brent. We foresaw what the complaints would be. But Ricky has his comedy style.
"We are fans of people who have a distinctive comic style, a shtick - like Woody Allen. We are less fans of chameleon comedy like Peter Sellers. Trying on different wigs moustaches and voices didn't really appeal to us."
Merchant, whose other comedy heroes include the Pythons and Laurel and Hardy, says he's interested in our "learned social rules and breaking them" - how our socialised political correctness creates a division between the jokes we make in public and in private.
In episode one there was a wrenchingly embarrassing moment involving a man with a club foot.
“We all know in our liberal minds that someone with one foot bigger than the other should be accepted, but the moment you see it you react to it. It’s playing between what we know to be the truth and our impulsive reactions,” says Merchant.
“When a kid stares at a disabled person they are told not to stare however much they might want to. If we are all truthful we say those things privately but we don’t go on TV and say them. Most people have had conversations like those in the show between friends but there is a different dynamic in public.”
However he admits that if he’s watching the same style of “agonising” humour, he finds it unbearable.
“I can’t watch it but I think it’s like if you are making a horror film you know everything’s prosthetic and done with special effects and you pile on more blood, more gore, but it’s only when you see it with an audience you realise how frightening it is.”
Merchant left XFM – where Gervais was his boss – after just a few months to train as a BBC producer. He later filmed Gervais doing his comedy character “seedy boss” for a training exercise and the tape led to the commissioning of The Office.
Merchant, who also took a small role as Gareth’s friend Oggy in The Office, agrees it is appealing to have the success without the intrusive fame of his co-writer.
But although he says he doesn’t crave having his face known, he is “always surprised” at the number of people who recognise him.
“They have probably seen me standing behind Ricky at an awards ceremony,” he quips.
He and Gervais wrote Extras by renting a featureless office for “however long it took”.
He said: “It can’t have anything interesting in it or we get horrifically distracted. Ricky is like a monkey who sees something shiny and goes after it.”
They improvised scenes and acted them out into a Dictaphone.
“We sat there thinking what absurd situation might we actually persuade Ben Stiller or Kate Winslet to be in?”
Fortunately, the BBC, who must have been understandably nervous to get hold of the next Gervais/Merchant offering, did not pressurise them.
“Every so often someone would pop their head around the door and say, ‘How’s it going then?’ We told them, ‘Yeah we’ve been coming up with loads of stuff’, when we’d actually been mucking around – it was great, there was a lot of trust.”
TV: Giving Us a Little 'Extra'
The star of 'The Office' is back for another divine comedy.
By Devin Gordon
Newsweek
Aug. 22, 2005 issue - In the debut episode of "Extras," a new fall comedy series from the makers of the beloved BBC sitcom "The Office," four-time Oscar nominee Kate Winslet guest-stars as Kate Winslet, four-time Oscar nominee and lead actress in a movie about the Holocaust. During a pause in shooting, she explains to a pair of astonished extras why she took the role: to ensure her fifth nomination and, more to the point, her first victory. "The whole world is going 'Why hasn't Winslet won one?' " The extras, played by Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen, just nod politely. " 'Schindler's' bloody 'List,' 'The Pianist'—Oscars coming out their arse." Later in the episode she overhears Jensen's character, Maggie, fretting about phone sex with her boyfriend, so she offers a few pointers. (Winslet recommends the line "I'm fudding myself stupid and I'm bloody loving it.") "The great thing about those scenes," says Gervais, who wrote them especially for Winslet, "is that, not only do we have this quintessentially English actress saying all these awful, dirty things—but she's also dressed as a nun." Sorry, forgot that bit: for her shameless Oscar grab, Winslet plays a Holocaust-era nun. "I mean, come on," he says. "That's funny."
No argument there. The real question, though, is whether it's funny enough. See, Gervais and his partner in comedy, Stephen Merchant, set the bar obscenely high with "The Office," their series about life at a soul-crushing English paper company. Starring Gervais (that's "jer-vaze") as David Brent, the worst boss in England, the show was a feast of cavernous pauses and bewildered-reaction shots. A smash overseas, it migrated here and became the only non-American program ever to win a Golden Globe for best comedy series. Now comes "Extras," which begins a six-episode run on Sept. 25. In a preview clip on his Web site, Gervais describes it as "the show critics are already calling the disappointing follow-up to 'The Office'." But in person he's much more cavalier. "So what if people think 'The Office' is better than 'Extras'? I had to do them in some order."
"The Office" is better than "Extras"—but only just. The HBO series is more of a conventional buddy sitcom, featuring Andy (Gervais) and Maggie as struggling actors who eke out a living by playing disposable scene-fillers in British films. (Ben Stiller and Samuel L. Jackson guest-star in later episodes.) Andy, who fancies himself a thespian, is always trying to score a line of dialogue; the adorably dim Maggie is more keen on scoring a husband. The themes haven't strayed much from "The Office." "All my favorites," says Gervais—"ego, desperation, men behaving like boys. Same blood, different veins." But whereas David was an oblivious twit, Andy is a jaded onlooker. "He thinks the world is full of idiots, but he's burdened with a conscience. He really should fire his agent, but he can't bear to see the look on his stupid little face."
"Extras" arose from years spent working in an environment nearly as dull as that in "The Office": the set of a TV show. As ever, Gervais and Merchant, who met at the London radio station XFM eight years ago, chose the common man's perspective. Asked if he gathered ideas by chatting with extras on "The Office," though, Gervais scoffs, "Oh, God, no. I didn't mix with them. They weren't allowed on my dining bus." He handed HBO the U.S. rights to "Extras" because he wanted the largest audience with the least interference. "And that's exactly what he got," says HBO's Carolyn Strauss. "The hardest thing in television to do is a comedy, so when you get something really fresh, it's irresistible."
Almost as hard: pulling the plug on a great TV show before it starts to slip. Gervais did it with "The Office," which ran just 12 episodes plus a two-hour finale, and he promises that "Extras" won't hang around long, either. "I'm richer than I ever thought I'd be, and I'm slightly embarrassed by it," he says. Despite a tide of offers this year, Gervais has said yes only twice: to writing an episode of "The Simpsons," his favorite TV show, and to acting in a new film by Christopher Guest, author of "This Is Spinal Tap," his favorite movie. "I'm much more interested in a legacy, in a body of work. It's all about batting average." So far, Gervais is a perfect two-for-two.
© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.
Ricky Gervais desperate for female admirers
contactmusic.com
August 3, 2005
British funnyman RICKY GERVAIS fears his female fans are repulsed by him - because he looks like portly actor REG VARNEY from 1970s TV hit ON THE BUSES.
THE OFFICE star and creator is disappointed his international success has failed to win him a bevy of admiring women, despite his 23-year relationship with producer JANE FALLON.
He complains, "You'd think women would come on to me all the time - but it's simply not the case.
"It's because they know I'm in a relationship. Yeah, right. And nothing to do with the fact I look like Reg."
Ricky Gervais lacks female fans
ITN.co.uk
August 3, 2005
Ricky Gervais has been complaining that despite being one of the most famous faces in the UK, he never attracts any female fans.
The Extras star lives with longtime girlfriend Jane Fallon but still reckons he would like to get a few offers.
But the unlucky comedian admits girls only approach him to ask for autographs for their boyfriends.
He said: "You'd think women would come on to me all the time but it's simply not the case.
"It's because they know I'm in a relationship. Yeah, right! And nothing to do with the fact I look like Reg."
Coming attractions: Television: 'The Office' crew is back on the job for 'Extras'
USAToday.com
July 28, 2005
Fans of The Office, rejoice: The Office's Ricky Gervais is coming to TV. He and former co-star Stephen Merchant are starring in The Extras, yet another TV project about showbiz.
Here's the good news about HBO's September sitcom Extras: It comes from Ricky Gervais (who also stars) and Stephen Merchant, who last teamed for The Office. The not-so-good? It's yet another HBO sitcom with a showbiz setting.
But don't say that to Gervais. Show business "really is just a backdrop, rather like The Office wasn't really about selling paper."
As for any similarities between Andy, the bitter aspiring actor in Extras, and the middle-management dope Gervais played in The Office, Gervais says Andy is more self-aware, confident, clever and funny. But he does repeat some "favorite themes."
"Men being boys, being called out, lying, getting your comeuppance, ego, desperation, the social faux pas, excruciating embarrassment."
As for their two Emmy nominations for The Office Special, Gervais says, "This is great. Really, myself and Stephen think the American TV industry is the best and most exciting in the world. To be nominated is great. Losing will be awful."
"And inevitable," Merchant adds.
- Robert Bianco
