Youtube Irony

I can't really explain this without giving it away so I'll just say here's some irony via youtube (or maybe "serendipity" is a better word):



Incidentally, the interviewer at the beginning is Steve Merchant, co-creator of The Office.

Steve Merchant on Letterman

Steve Merchant, co-writer, co-director of "The Office" appeared on the Late Show Thursday and talked about being tall.

Steve's on to promote his new stand-up tour as well as the series "Life's Too Short". As someone who's seen "Life's Too Short", I can say it is awful. On the other hand, Steve's produced a new season of "An Idiot Abroad" (now airing on Science Channel) and that one IS a show that humans might enjoy.

MECHANT!

I'm a big Smerch fan so it was nice to see him on Late Night. He talks about "An Idiot Abroad", "The Ricky Gervais Show", the Golden Globes and even touches on his XFM (radio) days.

His walk on music was "6 Foot 7 Foot 8 Foot Bunch" which goes, uh, "Six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunch" (so it's not just a clever name). Steve is 6 foot, 7. My prediction for the walk-on music was "Black or White" by Michael Jackson.

An Idiot Abroad Episode 0

The zeroeth episode of the new series "An Idiot Abroad" starring Karl Pilkington has been posted online. The show chronicles Karl Pilkington ("a shaved monkey") as he travels the globe and experiences the Seven Wonders of the World.

Sorry for the screen width cut off, just double click to watch it on youtube. Warning: NSFW.

Maybe We Ain't That Young Anymore

Cemetery Junction (2010)

The first film from writers/directors Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais, "Cemetery Junction" has been eagerly anticipated by me for a few years.

Set in England in the 1970's it's a slightly different type of "coming of age" film in which the characters are in their early to mid 20's and not teenagers. Drinking, getting into fights and still living in their home town, they suddenly realize that they're not young anymore and it's time to do something with their lives.

For Merchant/Gervais it's a slight departure in that it's not a straight forward comedy but focuses rather on drama, romance and relationships. It's also, as was already mentioned, not a typical coming of age film as it borrows from "Rebel Without a Cause", "The Apartment" or possibly "Swingers" more so than, say, "The Breakfast Club" but also with some "Saturday Night Fever" thrown in (or so I'm told). It's also a departure as neither Ricky or Steve plays one of the main characters though Ricky has a bit part, Steve has a small cameo and there is even a (brief) appearance by Karl Pilkington.

It's quite a good movie and although it took a while to get into, by the end I was quite into the characters and story. The soundtrack is a big factor - the climax of the movie feature's Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song" played over the film in its entirety. Ralph Fiennes is quite good as usual and Emma Watson ("Punch-Drunk Love", "Equilibrium", "Synecdoche, New York") gives another understated but excellent performance.

Although it's better than 99% of everything that comes out of Hollywood I can sort of see why it wasn't released in the US and I've had to wait for this long for it to come out on DVD. The thick British accents get to be quite hard to understand at times and I, yes even I, was reduced to turning on the closed captioning. Still, it's a non-issue if you're used to reading subtitles on the occasional foreign film.

It's a little bit unfair to how good the movie is and how much work and effort it took to make but the movie itself is a little overshadowed by the Director's Commentary which is one of the funniest DVD commentaries I've ever heard. As a Gervais/Merchant fan it's probably to be expected but they are hilarious in their ridiculous banter. The only funnier commentary that comes to mind is the "This Is Spinal Tap" commentary where the band all discuss the movie in-character but that's a high standard to reach.

All in all, a 9 out of 5.

The Office... EXTRAS

Here are some Office DVD Extra Feature clips that I hadn't seen before that I thought were really good.

David Brent Goes for a Drive / Archbishop of Canterbury

"Ricky had had one of his great 'IDEAS', as I like to call them..."

If You Don't Know Me By Now (Bloopers)

I love how he clearly knows how ridiculous everything he's doing is. Because he's right.

David Brent Date #2 with Director's Commentary

"Desperate bloke up for it. Any chance?"

Ricky Gervais on The Tonight Show, New HBO Clip

It's always worth noting when Ricky Gervais appears on The Tonight Show as he's one of the funniest guests. Not one to pass up a good opportunity(or twelve), he is relentless with jokes about NBC and Conan's uncertain future.

A special, almost surreal, moment for me is when he and Conan talk about Karl Pilkington on national television. That's 'Worlds Colliding' for my life experience. He also showed a new promotional clip for the new HBO show "The Ricky Gervais Show" which features a classic Ricky and Steve Merchant improv bit.

There is no reason to divide this into 4 parts other than purely for commercials...

Part 1:

[Removed Broken Video Link]

Part 2:

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Part 3:

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Part 4:

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HBO Promo Clip:

[Removed Broken Video Link]

Ricky's on mainly to promote the fact that he's hosting Golden Globes which will be this Sunday.

Forrest Gump

In the video PSA found here, Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant discuss the importance of hiring actors in Hollywood with physical handicaps.

Weighty issues discussed with sensitivity, wisdom and an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.

Lay The Plaque Down

When I first heard that Stephen Merchant was doing a film with The Rock called "Tooth Fairy", and that the title wasn't just a poetic flourish or even a metaphor - the Rock actually plays the Tooth Fairy - I thought, "WTF?". But now, after having a few months to think about it, I think, "WTF?".

As you may or may not know, Steve Merchant is the co-creator, co-writer, co-director of "The Office" and "Extras" together with Ricky Gervais and also co-presenter of the (amazing) Ricky Gervais Show radio programme (British spelling!) and (inconsistent) Ricky Gervais Podcasts. He's also a 6-foot-7 goggle-eyed, bespectacled bean pole.

The first trailer was just released and it is a Disney movie. There's no getting around that. And it'll probably be very average. However, I will have to see it, being such a huge Merchant fan. Here it is:

[Original Video Broken]

Notice that in the trailer he doesn't get any billing or say a single line. Classic.

"The Invention of Lying" starring Merchant's writing partner Ricky Gervais opens today as well. From what I've seen, I'm not holding out much hope that that's going to be great either but, again, I'll at least see it.