The big interview: Stephen Merchant

There was no such justice for Ricky Gervais’s audience, which included Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, both on the receiving end of the comedian’s barbed wit. The media frenzy that followed was astonishing, with bloggers and commentators across the world wading in to slam Gervais for what they saw as a deeply offensive performance.

Stephen Merchant’s name was left free of the opprobrium. Left out, it transpires, unjustly. Merchant might not have been on stage at the Globes, but he deserved to share both the spoils and the flak.

“When we were writing it, we actually thought it seemed a bit tame,” says Merchant in his familiar Bristolian burr.

That’s right. Gervais was up there on the stage, but, as with everything from The Office to Extras and the movie they made together Cemetery Junction, the writing was a joint effort.

So when Gervais said: “It’s going to be a night of partying and heavy drinking. Or as Charlie Sheen calls it, ‘breakfast’,” Merchant was not only there in spirit, he was also backstage.

“We just thought it seemed to be in the classic tradition of British sarcasm. We thought it was funny and I was really proud of the jokes we wrote. On the night it felt very exciting, very rock ‘n’ roll. Even though I was cowering backstage in the dressing rooms,” says Merchant, displaying that brilliantly caustic wit that has given rise to a whole new style of comedy, self-deprecating, arrogant, self aware yet totally unaware all at once.

Although that night he may have been “cowering backstage”, the unfeasibly tall Merchant, who stands at a shade over 6ft 7ins, has not exactly hidden in the shadows while his shorter friend has taken all the limelight. In The Office, he had a cameo as Gareth’s friend Oggy The Ogg Monster and in the follow-up TV series played Darren Lamb, the less-than-useless agent of Ricky Gervais’ Andy Millman. This autumn sees Merchant take centre stage in his first solo stand-up show since The Office.

Given his penchant for cheeky humour and for saying the unsayable, I decide that Merchant might warm to me if I start our interview with a shot at the type of humour in which he specialises - by being a little cheeky. I tell him that I’ve spotted a grammatical error on his website. “Oh right, what is it?” says Merchant, a little more seriously than I expected. Have you ever found yourself halfway into a hole and no real way out other than perhaps to keep digging in the dumb hope you might come out the other side?

I tell Merchant about the mistake on his webpage, he says: “Great, well thanks for that, bye.”

It hangs in the air. Is he actually about to hang up? He doesn’t, but don’t try to play a master of the genre at his own game appears to be the lesson. Whether it’s due to setting off on this wrong footing I don’t know, but throughout the interview Merchant is perfectly amenable, answering all questions with interest, but he never becomes warm.

Michael Parkinson said that he loved interviewing Marlene Dietrich, but she was always very clear that she was there to do a job – promote whatever it was she was there to discuss – and not to be your friend.

Merchant is in the same mould. He’s not being deliberately difficult or cold, it’s just instead of talking about comedy he’d rather be doing it, reading about it, or thinking about it. When he heads out on tour this autumn, playing two nights at Sheffield City Hall in September, he will be returning to stand-up following several years’ break.

In 1998 Merchant was a finalist in a national newspaper Open Mic award. It didn’t lead to stand-up stardom and he kept trying to carve a career in writing and comedy. He’d first come across Gervais the previous year when they worked together at radio station XFM and, though he continued to occasionally dabble in stand-up comedy, he all but left it behind when TV writing with Gervais became his main role in life. So why return to it now? It appears to be a mainly intellectual pursuit.

“There are some people who talk about the thrill and the buzz they get, or how they feel complete on stage, but I really don’t feel like that,” says Merchant. “For me it’s fascinating to look at it and try to understand why something might work one night and not work another. Stand-up is like an amazing, intricate puzzle; that’s what appeals to me about it.

“When you are writing a movie or TV show, you have no way of knowing if or how it works, but there is that element of danger when it comes to stand-up, because you know immediately whether or not it works.”

The characters we have seen him play, the roles he has written for himself, are cripplingly desperate and lacking in self-confidence. Merchant himself is a quiet and self-assured type. He describes his show as “funny, honest and confessional”. You don’t go on stage and bare parts of your soul without having plenty of confidence.

“I’m not really nervous, I think there might be an element of nerves when I get on stage, but I’m actually just really looking forward to it. I’ve had a couple of try-out nights and there’s been a good response, I’ve enjoyed it.”

As the co-creator of one of the most successful British television comedy series of all time, Merchant has earned his confidence.

One wonders, however, if despite all his accomplishments, he worries about emulating the global success of his more recognisable writing partner. Although they ought really to take equal credit for The Office and Extras, because Gervais was always front of camera, it is he who takes the lion’s share of the adulation and has been courted by the American studios.

“I’m really proud of everything Ricky has done, there is absolutely no question of competing between us. I’m not in competition with anyone. Ricky might be playing Madison Square Gardens or whatever, but I’m really happy to play a venue in Swindon. I’ve just never felt frustrated about that and Ricky has always really encouraged me.

“What really appeals to me is the idea of competing with some of my comedy heroes. One of my big heroes is Woody Allen – I always felt that somehow I could share his perspective when he spoke about bad dates and struggling with the cosmos and that’s the sort of thing I’m aiming for in my stand-up, a sense of connection.”

Speaking about Gervais is the only time that Merchant appears to soften, referring to the man who played David Brent as a big brother figure in his life. Merchant is 14 years his junior.

There is a tale, shared by Merchant and Gervais on a podcast, in which they discuss the early meetings they had with the BBC about The Office. The two of them insisted on directing the show themselves and had to fight tooth and nail to keep creative control. The story goes that at one point Gervais almost threatened to walk out on the BBC and the much younger Merchant found himself playing peacekeeper.

Did it really happen that way?

“At the time he was 36, the age I am now, and it wasn’t that he had been desperately trying to get this show made for years, so he wasn’t desperate. There was a sense of us doing it our way or not at all.” Merchant pauses for thought. He is fiercely loyal to Gervais.

“He was a loose cannon,” he says, quickly adding: “Not in a ranting, raving kind of a way, he just knew what was important to the show. The fact is, he’s like a child who has had too much tartrazine. When we’re doing the podcast, we had to make sure there were no shiny objects in his eyeline to distract him and I suppose I’m more level headed.”

It suddenly all makes perfect sense. Gervais is the hyperactive one, happy in front of a crowd. Merchant is the quiet assassin, happy to stay behind in the dressing room, coming up with the killer one-liners. Put the two together and you have an awesome pairing. Merchant on his own will be a fascinating prospect.

* Stephen Merchant plays Sheffield City Hall on September 23 and 24. Call the box office on 0114 2789 789 or go online at www. sheffieldcityhall.co.uk