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Extras Series II
- Written by: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant
- Starring: Ricky Gervais, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant
- Release Date: 26 March 2007
Gervais and Merchant at their complacent worst. yet, still far better than the rest
It's hardly surprising that, six years since The Office first aired, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant occasionally struggle to clear the bars they raised so high. With the second series of Extras, there's a feeling that the duo's much-loved themes of humiliation and wounded pride have become over-familiar. We're still laughing at struggling actor Andy Millman's (Gervais) vain attempts to maintain his integrity while starring in a "shit-com", but we're laughing because we expect, and even anticipate, the joke.
Extras II lacks the heart of The Office or even the sentimentality of the first series of Extras. This is mainly because the will they/won't they relationship between Andy and clueless best friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen) has been pared down to make room for Darren Lamb (Merchant), Millman's terminally incompetent agent.
Merchant's performance is undoubtedly funny, but it's funny in the same cartoonish way that the Little Britain sketches are on first viewing - relying on predictable character traits and well-worn slapstick to get an obvious laugh. At one point Lamb uses a whisk to help flush a troublesome turd in the middle of a date - a scene that's both crass and (more importantly) ripped off from Channel 4 comedy Green Wing. There's no need for the duo to pilfer from lesser comics or pander to the masses in this way. And it's ironic considering the fact that the series' running gag involves Gervais and Merchant rightfully bitching about the sell-out climate that currently prevails in UK comedy.
Despite all of this it's not hyperbole to say that Gervais and Merchant
deserve their place in comedy history. There's certainly no-one in contemporary
British comedy who comes close to besting them, even at their worst.
Henry Barnes
