Specs Appeal

Best known as the co-creator, along with Ricky Gervais of The Office, Extras and An Idiot Abroad, Stephen Merchant has of late undertaken his first stand-up tour, Hello Ladies, which shortly arrives in Dublin. How have the dates been going for him so far?

“The audiences have been great and the reviews are really positive... but I won’t ever do it again,” Merchant laughs. “It’s exhausting. There’s so much travel. Why is sitting in a car or on a train so tiring? This is my debut stand-up show and final farewell tour at the same time.”
Though Merchant started out in comedy as a stand-up after leaving college, he ceased gigging regularly once he found success as a writer-director. As such, I wonder if he felt any nerves about taking to the stage again?
“I wasn’t nervous exactly because I began my career as a stand-up,” he notes. “I used to gig regularly after I left university but once The Office took off I gave it up. Then more recently I woke up and I had the itch again, so I started doing five or ten-minute slots here and there, and I’ve been pottering around the circuit for a few years now. This tour is the result of that itch.”
Merchant and Gervais have been quite open about the influences on their comedy writing, citing the likes of The Larry Sanders Show, Seinfeld and This Is Spinal Tap. Their trademark style is naturalistic, with a notable emphasis on social awkwardness. While the big stylistic inspirations for The Office and Extras are well-known, I wonder who are Stephen’s biggest stand-up influences?
“Mainly Woody Allen,” he replies. “I used to listen to tapes of his routines and I just loved how personal they were and how much he made fun of himself. That’s something I try to do in my show: humiliate myself for the sake of the audience. If the audience feel better than me by the end of the show I’m happy.”
And why is the show called Hello Ladies?
“It’s about my ill-fated search for a wife,” explains Stephen. “I’ve been hunting for 20 years and I’m still looking. My sex life is very funny, which is good news for the audience but not for me.”
Recently, of course, Stephen’s new sitcom Life’s Too Short commenced its run on BBC Two.
“Yes, Life’s Too Short is the new sitcom I’ve made with Ricky Gervais. It follows the fortunes of the dwarf actor Warwick Davis, who is playing a fictional version of himself. He has to contend with a divorce, a failing career, a giant tax bill and being only 3’6”. It features cameos from people like Johnny Depp and Liam Neeson. We like to give new talent a chance.”
How did Stephen find the process of making the show, and how does he think it will be received?
“It was a pleasure to make, mainly because Warwick is so exceptional,” he enthuses. “He’s a great actor, terrific at comedy and drama, tremendous at the physical humour as well. He throws himself about with such abandon. I think people will be amazed at how good he is. Frankly they should send him the BAFTA right now. As for how it will be received, that’s impossible to know. We just try to make something we think is funny and hope other people do as well. As Pulitzer-prize winner Herbert Bayard Swope once said: ‘I cannot give you the formula for success but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: try to please everybody.’”
Asked if he currently has any other projects bubbling away with Mr. Gervais, Merchant replies, “No, at the moment we’re just focused on Life’s Too Short.” Of course, in recent times the duo have enjoyed even further success with The Ricky Gervais Show, the animated adaptations of their massively popular podcasts with Karl Pilkington, and An Idiot Abroad, which finds the irrepressible Pilkington journeying to various foreign locations.
Why does he think the various Pilkington projects have proved to be such hits?
“People have really fallen in love with Karl,” he responds. “I think it’s because he’s not pretentious or phoney in any way. He knows who he is and what he thinks and reacts to everything with total honesty. That’s refreshing on TV because most people on the box are desperately trying to seem clever or witty or sexy or whatever. As it stands, he says he won’t do anymore An Idiot Abroad... but then he said that after the first series.”
I remember talking to Jason Byrne a while back and him saying that he’d interviewed Stephen in Edinburgh. I wonder if there are any Irish stand-ups Merchant is a particular fan of?
“I grew up adoring Dave Allen. He was so smart and sophisticated, way ahead of his time. I think Dara Ó Briain is great. I went to see him at Hammersmith Apollo in London before I started my tour and learned a lot about how to interact with the audience in big venues. And I think both Jason and Ed Byrne are constantly wonderful.”
What does he think has been the best comedy series of the past few years?
“I can’t tell you because I never watch other comedy shows,” he shrugs. “I mainly watch drama series like The Killing or The Wire. Or documentaries about complicated science problems. Basically I’m a pretentious wanker.”
It’s now ten years since The Office. Does Merchant have a favourite moment or episode from the show?
“My favourite moment is when Tim takes off his microphone at the end of series two, and asks Dawn out,” he answers. “I think we were really inspired the day we came up with that. It’s a scene that could only happen because The Office was a fake documentary: a perfect blend of form and content. God, I really am a pretentious wanker.”
Finally, is it true that famously tall Stephen is in fact seven foot five?
“Yes.”

Stephen Merchant performs Hello Ladies at Vicar St., Dublin on November 22 and 23.