Laughter on the set: Ricky Gervais returns with HBO show-biz spoof Extras
By Frazier Moore
Associated Press
January 11, 2007

NEW YORK - Andy Millman is fed up from all the compromises he’s been forced to make on his new sitcom, “When the Whistle Blows.” All the network meddling, all the dumbing down, the idiotic wig he’s made to wear — enough is enough!

“I want to do something that I’m proud of,” Andy proclaims to the show’s full cast and crew, “and I won’t be proud of shouting out catch phrases in a stupid wig and funny glasses. I want to do what I want to do — otherwise I’ll hate myself for the rest of my life.”

Of course, when told by the producer he can take a hike, Andy swiftly surrenders.

“Th-this can be good!” he stammers sheepishly. “That’s what I’ve been trying to say.”

More than funny, the scene drives home an important issue for Ricky Gervais, who not only plays Andy on “Extras,” but also co-wrote and -created this brilliant comedy series returning for a second season on HBO, Sunday at 10 p.m. EST.

Fortunately, there’s a big difference between Gervais and his “Extras” alter ego.

“It sounds very smug,” says Gervais, not sounding smug at all as he surveys his career, “but I didn’t compromise myself. I would rather work in a bar than do something I wouldn’t be proud of.

“I want everything I do to be successful, but at no cost,” he adds, grinning at his stubbornness. “I don’t want to change one word just to get an extra million people.”

The great thing (for Gervais and his audience alike) is, he gets away with it.

Decidedly not compromising himself, the Reading, England, native leveraged a not terribly promising background as philosophy geek, rock musician, talent booker, fringe radio host and TV gadabout into comic heights six years ago. With his partner Stephen Merchant, Gervais hatched “The Office,” a workplace “mockumentary” that became the most popular sitcom in British TV history before spawning NBC’s Yank edition, which features Steve Carell as the terminally embarrassing office manager played by Gervais in the British original.

Along the way, Gervais, now 45, has followed his comic bliss with other projects, including a role in the new Ben Stiller film “Night at the Museum,” several standup tours, and even an ongoing series of much-downloaded podcasts cleverly titled “The Ricky Gervais Show.”

Called ‘fat’ by David Bowie:

“Extras” is his latest effort for TV, with Merchant on board as both co-writer and as Andy’s agent in a delicious portrayal of a wild-eyed, grinning nincompoop.

During the first season (aired in fall 2005), Andy was stranded in show-biz obscurity as a film extra, his workdays spent on London shoots helping fill the camera frame with his unnoted presence.

Now, in the new cycle of six episodes, Andy is flirting with actual success — yet still feeling marginal. Even scoring with “When the Whistle Blows,” Andy is doomed to be scared, unfulfilled and looked down on.

No wonder. “Andy hasn’t really elevated himself up the ladder,” notes Gervais with a blast of his infectious schoolgirl giggle. “Andy’s just gone to the bottom rung of a different ladder.”

This is wickedly borne out when Andy and his makeshift entourage crash a chic London bar: Another patron, pop superstar David Bowie, takes him down a few rungs with an impromptu musical rebuke.

“Pathetic little fat man!” croons Bowie for the whole room to hear. “He sold his soul for a shot at fame! Catch phrase and wig, and the jokes are lame.”

Mind you, in the real world Gervais isn’t fat, just endowed with a relatable, doughy physique. Also: Glamorous people like David Bowie clamor to work with him. (Orlando Bloom, Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe, Ian McKellen and Robert De Niro are other luminaries popping up as themselves on this season’s “Extras.”)

Meanwhile, other than the purposely lowbrow jokes larding “When the Whistle Blows” (which is glimpsed on “Extras” in fleeting excerpts), Gervais’ waggery is anything but lame.

Again, no compromising. Not even in his collaboration with Merchant.

“We have a simple rule,” says Gervais. “If we both don’t love an idea, it doesn’t go in. So what you’re left with is, everything in ‘The Office’ and everything in ‘Extras’ we both love.”

Now blessed with stardom, critical acclaim and coolness cred — he’s a guy Andy Millman would love to hang with — Gervais insists that he never sought fame, nor does he embrace it now.

“I live a very, very normal life,” he says. “I walk to work. I walk back from work. I’m at home at 6 o’clock, in my pajamas watching television.”

So how, then, did a chap who claims “I’ve never been insecure” come to mine his comedy from hollow self-esteem and bloated egos?

Just making use of indigenous material, he replies.

“I’m not in the Third World starving. I’m not in a war zone. So the worst thing that happens to me every day is that a waiter’s rude. Outside of health cares, what do we worry about every day? In a nice, safe, middle-class environment, what have any of us really got to worry about?”

Stars are a whole other matter. They get to be more vulnerable than anyone.

“Then, even the press can ruin your day. It’s not a report back from the doctor: ‘You’ve got a week to live.’ It’s a newspaper story: ‘You’re smug and fat.’

“Until I was famous, I never knew I was fat,” says Gervais, cackling at this phantom threat. Doing otherwise, he knows, would be a compromise.

DVD Review: 'Extras: The Complete First Season'
By Rick Porter
Zap2it
January 9, 2007

Ricky Gervais has got one hell of a laugh. It's a big, high-pitched cackle that seems out of character with the deadpan characters he's played on "The Office" and now "Extras," and it's all over the latter show's first-season DVD set.

The Gervais laugh is so prevalent on the DVD's outtakes, in fact, that you wonder how Gervais, producing partner/co-star Stephen Merchant and the rest of the cast and crew got any work done. Maybe that's why he only does six episodes per season -- there's simply not enough time, with the multitude of takes scuttled by Gervais' laughter, to do any more.

That's not really true, of course; it's a quality-control issue for Gervais and Merchant, who do about as well as they can in following up the gem that was the original version of "The Office." Gervais plays Andy Millman, a middle-aged guy who insists he's a "proper actor" despite only working in background parts.

As with "The Office," squirm-inducing humor is the order of the day on "Extras," with Andy and especially his friend and fellow background artist Maggie (Ashley Jensen, now on "Ugly Betty") frequently digging deep, deep holes with their ill-considered and -timed thoughts. It's great fun as well seeing stars like Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller and Samuel L. Jackson send up their own public personae. (And I imagine viewers across the pond got a little bit more out of Brit-centric episodes featuring "Eastenders" star Ross Kemp and comedian Les Dennis, though they're funny on their own.)

The "Extras" extras aren't terribly plentiful: a couple of featurettes, a deleted scene or two from each episode and an outtake reel on each disc. What is there, though, does a good enough job of explaining the making of the series. Gervais and Merchant riff on the difficulty of following up "The Office" in a featurette called "The Difficult Second Album," which also showcases how well the pair works together.

The other featurette, "Finding Leo," might be a put-on, but it's a funny one: After Jude Law backs out of appearing in an episode, Gervais embarks on a hapless, computer-assisted to track down the number for Leonardo DiCaprio or some other suitably A-list star, with Merchant offering some not-too-helpful guidance from behind the camera.

The deleted scenes are also better than the usual castoffs, and then there are those outtakes, where Gervais can't stop laughing at overlong silences, the word "knickers" and Dennis' mugging, among other things. A little of that stuff usually goes a long way with me, but somehow Gervais' breakups had me giggling right through. It must be the laugh.

'Side-kick' takes centre stage as Merchant beats Gervais to comedy title
By Eben Harrell
Scotsman.com News - Entertainment
December 14, 2006

The quiet man in Britain's most successful current comedy partnership has emerged from the shadows.

Stephen Merchant, who, with Ricky Gervais, created The Office and Extras, last night beat his partner to the title of Best Comedy Actor award at the British Comedy Awards in London.

Merchant, who rose to prominence as writer and director on The Office, won the award for his portrayal of Darren Lamb, the incompetent agent of Gervais's character, Andy Millman, in the BBC sitcom Extras.

Gervais had been nominated for the same award for his portrayal of Millman.

This was the first acting award for Merchant, who has won an Emmy and three BAFTAs for his writing. His acting career has enjoyed a meteoric rise since he was introduced to a TV audience in a cameo appearance as Oggy the Oggmonster in the second series of The Office.

David Brent, played by Gervais, berated him as a "goggle-eyed freak" and he ran off in tears. But now Merchant has got his revenge, beating Gervais for his brilliant portrayal of what critics described as a "doltish, greedy agent".

On the show, Merchant bumbles through contract discussions on behalf of Gervais's Millman character: after five years, he had failed to score his client a single speaking role.

A clip of his character ogling a fountain pen that reveals a naked woman has been viewed about 5,000 times after it was posted on the YouTube website.

Merchant, 32, has described acting in the series as being "like dressing up when you're a kid", and he has preferred to stay behind the camera as writer and director.

He is also the co-producer of the Emmy-winning American version of The Office, along with Gervais. But now Merchant is being offered a range of serious roles and is about to appear in a television remake of Brideshead Revisited. He also has a small part in the new series of the hit American TV show 24.

In a radio interview earlier this month, Merchant said it was unfair that he should be pitted against his long-time collaborator, Gervais, when other double-acts were given single billing.

David Mitchell and Robert Webb were nominated together as Best Comedy Actor for Peep Show, while Ant and Dec were jointly nominated for Best Comedy Entertainment Personality - a category in which they lost out to Harry Hill.

Merchant has always been magnanimous about his co-star and collaborator. In an interview last month, when asked whether he was frustrated that Gervais has traditionally been the public face of the duo, he replied: "Not at all. Ricky [has always been] very generous in interviews, always quick to say it is a collaborative thing."

The future of Extras, which has featured cameo roles for a host of A-list celebrities, including Orlando Bloom, Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Ross, is now in doubt, with rumours that Merchant and Gervais are quitting after two series, as they did with The Office.

Born in 1974, Merchant, who stands 6ft 7in tall, was brought up in Bristol, where he admired another lofty comedian, John Cleese.

In 1997, he applied for a job as Gervais's assistant at the then-fledgling alternative radio station XFM. The double act began after 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."

Extra Extras
News 2006 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide
December 13, 2006

Ricky Gervais is planning a third series of Extras – and he wants Arnold Schwarzenegger to star in it.

The comic has previously hinted he would end the show after two series, as he did with The Office. But in an interview today he said that ‘there is still some mileage’ in the storyline.

And he added that his wish-list of guest stars also included Meryl Streep, Bruce Willis, Dick van Dyke and Mickey Rooney. ‘They are icons for me,’ he said.

Ricky, 45, told the Mirror: ‘People seem to like it and I think that there's some mileage in it.

‘My wish list for guests to appear in another series is as long as your arm, but Governor Schwarzenegger has to be there.’

He believes big names are happy to appear in Extras because it became ‘talked about TV’ when it aired on HBO. Gervais said: ‘You get a kind of kudos and people have faith in you.’

Film Interview – Ricky Gervais / ‘Night At The Museum’
The Event Guide - Articles
December 13, 2006

Jokerman

Having conquered the small screen, Ricky Gervais has finally answered Hollywood’s call. “It’s ridiculous, the stuff I’ve been offered,” he tells Paul Byrne, in an exclusive interview.

From an early age, Ricky Gervais was taught by parents the importance of answering back. This was a family, after all, who liked to take the Mick out of one another, constantly, and only those with a sharp tongue were going to survive. His dad, Jerry, a French-Canadian, had met Ricky’s mum, red-haired English rose Eva, during a blackout, and the two settled in Reading. The youngest of four children, Ricky was, his mum flatly informed him, “a mistake”. “It was that kind of family,” smiles the 45-year old comedian today. “You said what was on your mind, and if you could say it with a little humour attached, nothing was off-bounds really. So, that must be where I got my particular sense of humour from.”

After it debuted in 2001, Ricky Gervais’ particular sense of humour saw his sitcom debut, ‘The Office’, quickly take over that little box in the corner. It would go on to win two Golden Globes in 2004, and soon Gervais’ mantlepiece also had to take the weight of assorted Grammys, BAFTAs and Britsh Comedy Awards. The DVD of the first series of ‘The Office’ rapidly became the biggest-selling TV DVD of all time, and just as the American version – led by ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin’’s Steve Carrell – began to take off, Gervais and his working partner Stephen Merchant returned with ‘Extras’, a sitcom set amongst those much-abused nobodies of the filmmaking world desperate to snatch a little limelight.

When Gervais and Merchant decided to hook up with their long-time producer Karl Pilkington for a series of podcasts, they quickly established a world record for downloads. Gervais also unleashed his childrens’ books, ‘Flaminals’, upon the world - making The New York Times bestsellers list – just as ‘The Simpsons’’ creator Matt Groening invited him to write and star in an episode (this year’s ‘Homer Simpson: This Is Your Wife’). Is it any wonder he was voted Comedy’s Most Powerful Man. “I find all that a little disconcerting,” says Gervais. “That sounds like I’ve been really, really trying, when all I’ve been doing is having fun. I would never do anything for either the money or the glory. I’ve been offered so many ridiculous things, and ridiculous amounts of money to do them, but I never do anything that I don’t feel good about.”

Indeed, when one advertising agency saw their offer of £1million being turned down by Gervais, they doubled it. Gervais was also offered parts in ‘Pirates Of The Caribbean’, ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ and ‘Mission: Impossible 3’, but, again, turned them all down. He also turned down the chance to play George Clooney’s butler in a planned big-screen update of ‘Magnum P.I’. “That’s a personal favourite of mine,” Gervais nods, referring to the latter. “See, it’s ridiculous, the stuff I’ve been offered, and as much as I would have made a lot of money, and I would have probably enjoyed a few years of Hollywood high life out of it all, I know in my heart I would have been rubbish in all of them. Absolute rubbish. I just don’t see the point in taking on a role unless you truly believe that you can bring something special to it. If ten other roly-poly English comedians could do the part just as well, well, what’s the point?”

Indeed. In the end, Gervais was somewhat forced into finally making the leap into Hollywood movies. Having starred in the very first episode of ‘Extras’, Ben Stiller sent his new British chum an email. “It came out of the blue,” says Gervais, “and simply said, ‘I’m doing a film, there’s a part for you – do you want to return the favour? No pressure’. I did want to return the favour, but I really wanted to wait until I read the script. Luckily, I loved it. Because if I hadn’t, I would have pretended to be ill or something, and just not done it.”

The movie in question, ‘Night At The Museum’, is the reason I’m meeting Gervais. Looking more like a plumber than a movie star, he has, it would seem, neither dressed up nor down for today’s interview. He looks like he simply swung by on his way to the bookies. It’s endearing, as is Gervais’ readiness to answer any question I throw at him as frankly and honestly as possible.

In the movie, Stiller plays the new nightguard at New York’s Museum of Natural History who discovers that, at night, the exhibits come alive and run amok. Gervais plays the stuffy, oblivious museum proprietor, Dr. McPhee, whilst Robin Williams is surprisingly sedate as a forlorn Teddy Roosevelt, Owen Wilson gets to be Owen Wilson as a miniature cowboy and Steve Coogan gets to be Steve Coogan as a miniature Roman guard. It’s ‘Jumanji’ meets ‘Small Soldiers’, and, as special effects-laden family films go, it’s actually got a surprising amount of heart. Oh, and Mickey Rooney and Dick Van Dyke cheekily playing against type, as a pair of cantankerous nightguards.

“I do think this is a definite cut above the rest,” says Gervais. “And that’s not something you can ever be sure of, as an actor. You give it your best shot, but, ultimately, this is all down to the director, and the choices he makes. Once you walk away from the set, you never know what’s going to happen to your part…how much they’re going to use, or if it’s going to end up on the cutting room floor. That’s not something I’m used to, as, when it comes to ‘The Office’ and ‘Extras’, I agonise over every little detail, right down to the font used on the credits. It was kind of fun to be just a cog this time round though.”

Having turned down “about 80 big movies” over the last few years, Gervais has always stated that he’s not really an actor. It’s writing and directing that he loves. So, what’s with all these cameos in big Hollywood movies then, with Christopher Guest’s ‘For Your Consideration’ and Matthew Vaughn’ ‘Stardust’ – co-starring Robert De Niro - due in 2007? “It’s funny, isn’t it? I’ve jumped straight into cameo. I haven’t done twenty years of working my way up and then just doing cameos, I went straight to cameo. That’s to do with my laziness. The first thing I did, I wrote it and starred in it. Again, I just wanted to cut out all this flapping around. But with Christopher Guest, my favourite comedy film of all time is ‘This Is Spinal Tap’ – it influenced ‘The Office’. There are some things you don’t say no to. The second one, Robert De Niro. ‘Do you want to spend a day with Robert De Niro?’ ‘Eh, yes’. And this is my first one. “Again, it ticked all the boxes. I don’t think I’d be here talking to you today if I didn’t like ‘Night At The Museum’.”

When it came to the casting of Christopher Guest’s awards-season satire ‘For Your Consideration’, the part of movie producer Martin Gibb was described in the original script as ‘a Ricky Gervais type’. Is he flattered or insulted that Ricky Gervais is a type? “It doesn’t bother me, because I’ve never been one of those people who feels that I’ve got to put on a thousand different wigs and do a thousand different voices to show them I’m versatile. Why would I care? This thing about Woody Allen – ‘Oh, he’s a one trick pony’. It’s ridiculous to say. It’s amazing what he does. It’s like saying, ‘Rolls Royce – hmm, they’ve made another car’. Yeah, but it’s a brilliant car. You want to do what you do well, and I don’t want to be a romantic lead because I couldn’t watch it. It would make me sick. I would be ill. I don’t want to be butch, I don’t want to be cool, it would make me ill. But I can be a putz, and I can be funny, and I can inject a little bit of realism.”

As for the pressure to live up to his own reputation, Gervais argues that, as long as he only does work that he himself would want to see, that’s all that matters. Which is why he’s got two interview specials on Channel 4 over Christmas, talking with Christopher Guest on Christmas Day at 10pm, and Garry Shandling on St. Stephen’s Day at 11.15pm. “I know which side me bread’s buttered. The bottom line is, am I the best person for this job, and rarely you are. Hence, I’ve only done a couple of films.”

Our time is nearly up, so, a few short, sharp questions. Such as, will there be a third series of ‘Extras’? “Right now, I don’t think so. I have no burning desire to make another one, but who’s to say that won’t change. We made just the right amount with ‘The Office’, but, plainly, ‘Extras’ could go on. We’ll have to wait and see. If I can convince Mel Gibson to star in one, I’ll go for it.”

What about Gervais’ strong reputation for corpsing during scenes, breaking into laughter and forcing yet another take – one scene in ‘The Office’ took a staggering 47 takes. Is he wary on a big Hollywood movie set of wasting time? “Well, that’s what happened here. I was only on the set three days, but, thanks to my corpsing, the movie went ten million over-budget. And that comes out of my wages. So, I only got two million in the end… Truthfully, as a director on television, I’d never give out to anyone for corpsing. It’s flattering that someone finds the material, or the scene, that funny. If you can’t accept that, you shouldn’t be working in comedy.”

Does Ricky ever feel like he’s a contestant on Jim’ll Fix It, and that his request to work alongside some of the world’s biggest stars has been given the thumbs up by Mr. Saville? “Absolutely. It does feel like that. I feel that Hollywood got together because maybe I haven’t got long to live, and they’ve said, ‘Let him do what he wants. He likes ‘The Simpsons’? Let him write one. He’ll never get to see it’. So, yeah, it does feel like that. But that could all go away by me saying yes to everything. And that’s the tricky bit. And you mustn’t take it too seriously. You mustn’t think, you know what, maybe I could be a romantic lead? Yeah, I could play thirty. What’s the lighting like? You’re finished then, you’re over, you’re a joke.”

His good friend, David Bowie, spoke to Gervais about the horror of realising, halfway through his ‘Serious Moonlight’ tour, that he was now playing to Phil Collins fans when what he really wanted were Iggy Pop fans. Ricky Gervais probably has quite a few Phil Collins fans now too, given the success he’s had. “Well, here’s the thing. There’s nothing wrong with something you do becoming successful. ‘The Office’ became bigger than I ever dreamed, but we didn’t aim at that, and that’s the big difference. It’s aiming at getting a lot of people that’s the problem, because you try to second guess, you try to make it more harmless, you make it more safe, and, you know, I want some people not to like what I do. I’ve got a bit of a door policy on the club, otherwise, what’s the point? “

“You make the work for like-minded people, okay. You make it for yourself, and then you can be sure that if you don’t compromise, and you don’t aim it at the biggest demographic that you can, and you don’t just try to be the biggest thing in England for a year, then something like ‘The Office’ happens. Because there’s someone who will appreciate that around the world. They’ll think that you made it for them. There’s six billion people on the planet; don’t just aim at being big in Britain. Don’t aim at anything, but certainly don’t water it down, or fear offending someone, because that’s where good art comes from. John Cleese said, ‘Some people deserve to be offended – why pander to them?’.

Lastly, Ricky’s late mother, Eva, had shocking red hair. Irish roots? “Could be. Certainly Irish or Scottish. Which would explain the humour. And the drink.”

60 SECONDS: Stephen Merchant
By Andrew Williams
Metro.co.uk
December 11, 2006

Stephen Merchant is best known for co-writing The Office and Extras, which has won both Bafta and Emmy awards. He's been nominated for a British Comedy Award for Best Comedy Actor in the same category as Ricky Gervais. The winner is announced on Wednesday. Extras: The Illustrated Scripts Series One & Two is published by Sphere, priced £14.99.

You’ve said you’d only do two series of Extras. What are you up to now?

I’m enjoying sitting around doing nothing. I’d like to do that for the rest of my life but it’s not economically viable. Ricky and I are taking a break. There’s still life in Extras – it’s just a matter of if we’re inclined to do it. We get quite bored and like doing something different.

You were on screen a lot more in Extras than The Office. Did you enjoy acting more?

I’m not comfortable acting because I can’t remember my lines and have to write them down and hide them around the set. I find it difficult to walk and remember lines, which is why I’m sitting down a lot in Extras. It is fun, though. But I’d prefer to be sitting round the house in my pants.

You must get recognised more now. How are you with that?

I’m disappointed. It’s mainly thirtysomething blokes and spotty teenagers who come up to me. I was hoping it would be Playboy Bunny-types. But who doesn’t like someone coming up to them in the street and calling them a genius?

Apparently, you’re a bit of a heart-throb among lady comedy fans on the Internet.

I haven’t seen any evidence of that – they should make themselves known and I will happily exploit their goodwill. I don’t know what credentials you need to be a heart-throb. If you’re in the world of Marty Feldman and Woody Allen, it’s not hard. But it’s not like I’ve won a poll between Take That and me. Let’s face it – most comedians are freaks.

The cliche is they’re all suicidal and miserable. Are they?

I wouldn’t want to hang around in a gang of comedians because they’re always trying to out-joke each other. They don’t seem to be able to have a sensible conversation. I’d rather hang out with neuroscientists, poets or philosophers – the sort of people I find a natural affinity with.

Some reviews of series two of Extras weren’t very flattering. Does criticism bother you?

Critics have a view of what they’re expecting the show to be and if it doesn’t fit in with that then they’re not keen. My feeling is, watch the show and see if it makes you laugh. My favourite films are The King Of Comedy and After Hours, which weren’t well thought of at the time. I admire people who plough their own furrow. Sometimes the press like it and sometimes they don’t.

You and Ricky are up for these comedy awards against each other. Are you competitive?

We’re up as individuals against Mitchell and Webb, who are together, which I find a bit unfair. It reminds me of when I was on Blockbusters on my own versus a team of two. I never had a chance. It hasn’t caused any problems between me and Ricky. He’s got so many awards, he’s not fussed.

Who was your favourite celebrity to work with in Extras?

It was obviously a thrill to act opposite Robert De Niro. He was a little bit nervous but I think I calmed him down. It was great to meet David Bowie because I’m a fan. He’s much more down to earth than you’d expect. Everyone was a joy, though. They came in, seemed to have a good time and went home again.

Did you have a big list of celebs left over who you didn’t manage to use?

We heard of other people who might be interested but it’s governed by who’d be funny in a particular scenario rather than just being in it because they’re famous.

Who are your favourite double acts?

Laurel and Hardy, Morecambe and Wise... the warmth of Laurel and Hardy and their sense of interdependence is something that’s in Extras – Ricky and Ashley Jensen or me and Shaun Williamson, it’s variations on Laurel and Hardy. I’d love to do a classic variety show like Morecambe and Wise again because of the warmth. If Eric Morecambe comes on TV, you just know things are going to be OK for half an hour. I love that quality in those old-school comics.

You've written an episode for the American version of The Office. How was that?

We don’t have much involvement with the US version but I’m a really big fan of it. I’m as excited to watch them as I hope people were to watch ours. They’ve already done twice as many episodes as we did, if not more, and haven’t followed our story. They’ve done their own thing. The other characters in The Office are more fleshed out because they’ve got more time to do it than we did.

When you wrote your episode, did you imagine it as writing their characters or your version?

We tried to do it as theirs but there were times we wrote them as ours and just changed the names. It’s hard to get away from our version, which is why we’re not involved with the US one. We’d have done a weird hybrid. In our episode, a reformed criminal starts working at the office, which causes much anxiety for the Michael Scott/David Brent character, with hopefully hilarious consequences, ha ha ha.

You’re 6ft 7in. Is that a blessing or a curse?

It’s largely a curse. It’s hard to get shoes, trousers, shirts… I said in an interview that I like Pepsi and my agent got sent a couple of crates of the stuff, so now I’d like to say I’m a fan of Bentleys and Armani. If they could produce custom-made versions of their products for me, that would be nice.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Office star marries at St Paul's

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Actress Lucy Davis (C) is kissed by husband Owain Yeoman (L) and father comedian Jasper Carrot outside St. Paul's Cathedral in London after her wedding December 9, 2006. Davis and Yeoman were able to marry at St. Paul's as Lucy's father has an Order of the British Empire (OBE). REUTERS/Stephen Hird (BRITAIN)

Lucy's Lovely Day
Sky Showbiz
December 11, 2006

It's most girl's dream to have a big white wedding and for one lucky lady this dream came true.

Lucy Davis, daughter of comedian Jasper Carrott, had the ideal wedding and more.

The Office star tied the knot in that modest location - St Paul's Cathedral.

Usually available for royal weddings only, the actress was allowed to marry there because Jasp has an OBE.

All 300 guests arrived in true London style, in red Routemaster double-decker buses and black taxis.

Lucy's former co-stars Mackenzie Crook and Martin Freeman, as well as The Office co-writer Stephen Merchant, helped celebrate her marriage to Welsh actor Owain Yeoman.

The couple were engaged in June and Jasper said his new son-in-law had asked him for permission to marry his daughter:

"When you have a 6'4" gladiator from Troy who's knocked seven bells out of Brad Pitt you don't say no to him."

After saying 'I do' the newlyweds posed for photographers outside the cathedral, before being whisked off for their party in a black cab.

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Neighbours not amused by star Ricky's pool plan
Hampstead and Highgate Express
December 8, 2006

Funnyman Ricky Gervais has not left his Hampstead neighbours laughing over plans for extras at his new home.

The international award-winning writer and comedian has submitted plans to Camden Council to dig out a basement at his house in Willoughby Road.

The star of The Office wants to install a swimming pool and games room complete with golf simulator.

And fearful of the legendary wrath of his Hampstead neighbours Mr Gervais personally presented his plans to them before sending them in to the council.

But his neighbours still fear the disruption the works will cause.

Martin Humphery, vice president of the Heath and Hampstead Society, who lives next door, said: "He has been very good about it. He has showed us the plans, but there is going to be a lot of work going on.

"Mr Gervais has been a very good neighbour so far but the work will cause a great deal of disturbance and mess to his neighbours.

"There is no change in the footprint of the house, so I am happy from that point of view."

The funnyman coughed up more than £2 million for the house in September.

Rumours are the comedian wants somewhere to settle down with his girlfriend of 20 years, leaving the rock and roll lifestyle behind him.

As well as his hit TV shows The Office and Extras; Mr Gervais has raked in a fortune from a US version of The Office.

Mr Humphery told a meeting of the Primrose Hill Community Association on Tuesday night that Hampstead house prices were being driven up by a "few extremely rich individuals paying over the odds for houses."

Referring to his new neighbour Mr Humphery said: "The house next door was sold for an enormous amount of money, to a rich individual who paid half a million over the odds."

After the meeting Mr Humphery said: "The general point is that houses are selling above the asking price in Hampstead and this is being driven by some mega-rich people, which is driving up land values.

"Ricky Gervais is part of the long-standing wave of people in the entertainment business and artists moving to Hampstead and he is very welcome."

Mr Gervais has joined the Hampstead trend for digging down to create more space because planning laws restrict the building of roof extensions in the Hampstead conservation area.

The Hampstead Conservation Area Advisory Committee (CAAC) and the Heath and Hampstead Society Residents groups fear the downward trend will divert many of the underground streams, which flow under Hampstead.

Mr Humphery said: "The CAAC is concerned that when we get a concentration of these basements, and luckily there isn't on Willoughby Road yet, it is bound to affect the underground water course, which may result in flooding elsewhere."

The comedian is expected to move into the house in January. A workman with tape measure in hand answered the door on Wednesday morning when the Ham&High called.

Asked if Mr Gervais was at home he answered: "Ricky Gervais - that's certainly not the client I am talking to. Are you havin' a laugh?"

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Wired News: Ricky Gervais Gets His Game On
By John Gaudiosi
December 6, 2006

In The Office, the hilarious BBC sitcom he created, Ricky Gervais played a boorish middle manager whose idea of entertainment was goofing around with a stuffed monkey.

But in real life, the brain behind the onscreen buffoonery embraces new technology with a savvy that's certainly unknown to his Office character, David Brent. Gervais produces one of the web's most popular podcasts, lends his voice talent to Vivendi Games' Scarface: The World Is Yours and marvels at the way NBC's version of his Brit sitcom has taken off through digital distribution.

Gervais took some time recently to talk with Wired News about video games, technology and the ever-increasing role interactive entertainment plays in the world today.

Wired News: What do you think of the recent trend of video game publishers turning classic films like The Godfather and Scarface into video games?

Ricky Gervais: That's always happened when something is successful in any art form.... Films are made into novels and novels are made into films.... It's reducing something like Mario Puzo's and Francis Coppola's epic opera into a shooting-them-when-you-see-them-pop-up-on-screen. But my favorite games are shoot'em-up games. I don't have the patience for the strategy games like Tomb Raider, where I have no idea what I'm doing. At least with shooter games you know the basics. It is what it is.

WN: What games did you play growing up?

Gervais: I've played games like Space Invaders, which is a shooter game. I also loved to play Tank Commander, which was the first one that looked a little bit real. Even though the tank was a computerized mesh outline, that was sophisticated in 1979. I've loved all of the House of the Dead arcade games. It's nice to have a gun in your hand shooting zombies.

WN: Did you play video games at home or at the arcade?

Gervais: I played the games at the pub or the student union. I'd blow my 10p and that would be enough for me. If I get too good at pinball, I leave balls behind because I just don't have the attention span. I couldn't play a video game for an hour. I like to shoot a few zombies or go around Gran Turismo once or twice. I can play golf on the links for four hours and make the ball go where I want it too, but I can't get lost in front of a little television screen. I can't suspend my disbelief.

Until we actually have the virtual suits and it's like The Matrix, I'm not investing too much time in it. When I was growing up, they said that in the year 2000 we wouldn't have to walk to work because the pavements would move and we'd all have jetpacks. So they lied to me once and they'll probably lie to me again. That's the problem with films is that they're ahead of technology. Present-day technology is just about catching up with '60s films, where the '60s view of the future would be.

I was talking to Joel Cerner when I was in L.A. recently and we were both on our cells. And then it cut out and he had to call me from a landline. And then I had to get on a landline. And I said, "This doesn't happen on 24, does it?" Jack Bauer never gets on a chair and says, "Can you hear me now?" So I'm annoyed when things aren't like they are in the future in film.

WN: You mentioned you played Gran Turismo.

Gervais: I've spent five minutes bumping into a wall with Gran Turismo. This is what a baby I am. I still have the same exploratory skills of a toddler. So I'm driving around, and if I'm not winning, I go, "I wonder if I can mow those people down. I wonder if you can go behind that mountain?" And of course you can't.

WN: What was it like bringing your character to life in Scarface?

Gervais: It was a quirky little job. I was being paid to swear in a pretend gangster situation, so it was safe, and it was only a few blocks from my house. The cast was great as well.... It was fun. And getting paid to swear is a funny situation.

WN: Did they give you freedom to get creative in the recording booth?

Gervais: There are only so many ways you can say, "Put the f*****g gun down!" It was funny and we played with it a little bit. I think I did a good job. I mean I stick out like a sore thumb. There are all of these core people, and then a little fat bloke with an English accent will pop up. And they go, "Where'd he come from, what's he doing there?"

WN: Did they show you what your video game character looked like?

Gervais: Absolutely not, but I'd be surprised if he's not fat.

WN: Do you have any aspirations to get more involved in video games?

Gervais: No, I want to actually go in there like Tron or I'm not interested. If they can actually get me in there, I want it to be at least as good as The Matrix.

WN: NBC has been turning everything from Law & Order to ER into video games. Do you think The Office would work as a video game?

Gervais: Yeah, only if it was a shooter. That would be cool. It would be like From Dusk to Dawn. It would start off as a little comedy in a paper merchant's and then someone would turn into a vampire and Michael Scott would have to shoot his face off. That's what I want to see.

WN: A recent episode of The Office integrated the Call of Duty video game into the plot line. Did you have anything to do with that?

Gervais: No, I had nothing to do with that. Until I bring out a video game of my own, I won't try to get it placed in The Office. And my latest perfume will be featured as well. Michael Scott will go, "Hey, you know what I like? I love the new smell of Fatty. It hides the stench of sweat." And he splashes it on and then holds it up in front of the camera for a little bit too long.

WN: Do you like the increasing role technology plays in entertainment today?

Gervais: I'm excited about it. It's another choice and another opportunity for consumers. As an artist, it gives more freedom. I've embraced podcasting because I've eliminated the middleman. Now I go into a room with Steve Merchant and Karl Pilkington and I chat about what I want. We upload it to the internet and put it out there. Sometimes we put it out for free; other times we charge for it. No one tells us what to do, and that's exciting. It's nice to own your own labor and steer your own destiny.

Things like MySpace and YouTube, I think people are spending more time on there than they are flicking around TV now. It's a whole new world. Bands and artists who might not have the clout yet to compete with the big boys in the established market, they can put something on there and through word of mouth, and sheer amount of members, they can get 10 million downloads. It can only get bigger.

WN: What are your thoughts about the amount of time people are spending playing video games instead of watching TV?

Gervais: I think it's bad that now there's another reason that kids aren't going out into the sunlight. Soon, teenagers will lose the use of their eyes. I don't know the social or damaging effects of video games versus TV versus playing on your bike, but these surveys show that kids are getting fatter because they're not getting exercise. They're getting six hours (a day) of TV and video games.

But then there was a book that was brought out in England this summer called The Dangerous Book for Boys. And it was all about fishing and making catapults and finding chemicals in your kitchen that you could make bombs with. It was a best seller. That was probably parents buying it, telling kids that making bombs and catapults was better than having them play video games. Go in the kitchen, find some stuff and blow up some shit. Just get out of the house. I think I'm exaggerating about the bombs. I'll probably get sued by the authors.

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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Merchant lands BBC 6 Music slot
Extras star Stephen Merchant is to host a music show on BBC 6 Music next year. November 30, 2006

The writer, director and actor, best known for creating TV shows The Office and Extras with Ricky Gervais, will begin his DJ stint on 14 January.

The show will air on Sunday afternoons. Merchant used to host a radio show on Xfm with Gervais and Karl Pilkington.

"I love making people listen to the tunes that excite me - but obviously if things are not working, I'll just stick on C'Mon Eileen," he said.

Lesley Douglas, controller of Radio 2 and 6 Music, said Merchant was "a great talent".

"His wit, warmth and love of music makes him a perfect presenter for 6 Music," she said.

Cameo role:

Besides Extras, Merchant also stars in the hugely popular weekly podcast series The Ricky Gervais Show alongside Gervais and Pilkington.

The show largely consists of Gervais and Merchant teasing Pilkington for his idiotic ideas, including his regular Monkey News bulletin of news stories about apes.

Merchant is also set to have a cameo role in TV drama 24 - but his comedy sidekick Gervais will not appear as he is "too recognisable".

The TV star, who played an incompetent actor's agent in Extras, will be seen handing a piece of paper to a member of staff at the Counter-Terrorism Unit.

Merchant began his career in radio, first hosting shows on university radio before becoming a breakfast DJ in his home town of Bristol.

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Ricky Gervais to be interviewed by Bob Dylan
November 27, 2006

Comedian and co-creator of the hit shows Extras and The Office, Ricky Gervais, is to be interviewed by music legend Bob Dylan on his US radio show next year.

The following was posted on Ricky's website; "An invitation from Bob Dylan. Yes, Bob Dylan.

"Bob Dylan has asked Ricky on to his radio show in America. Ricky will pre-record their chat when he visits New York later in the year ready for broadcast early in 2007."

Dylan's The Theme Time Radio Hour show starts broadcasting on BBC in the new year.

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BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Extras star lands 24 cameo role
November 21, 2006

Extras star Stephen Merchant is to have a cameo role in TV drama 24 - but his comedy sidekick Ricky Gervais will not appear as he is "too recognizable".

Merchant, who played an incompetent agent in the BBC sitcom, will be seen handing a piece of paper to a member of staff at the Counter-Terrorism Unit.

But Gervais was asked to record a spoof scene, which producers want to release on DVD, his spokeswoman has confirmed.

He appears as an official who is upset when someone steals an idea of his.

The Bafta-winning actor and comedian is seen whispering under his breath that a mission should be given to Special Agent Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland.

Then he appears incredulous when someone else makes a similar suggestion and takes the credit for the idea.

Executive producer Jon Cassar told the New York Post he hoped that Gervais would agree to let the scene appear as a bonus on the DVD release of the sixth season.

Fox is due to show the first episode of that series in the US on 14 January.