Stephen Merchant

Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor.
Merchant is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais and Karl Pilkington, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office (2001–2003), co-writer and co-star of Extras (2005–2007) and co-host of The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook and television formats; the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. He is also known for his voice role as Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2.
Merchant appeared as himself in the BBC series Life's Too Short (2011–2013), which he co-wrote and co-directed. He also voiced the computer program ConRad on The Simpsons in the 2016 episode "The Girl Code", co-developed the Sky1 travel series An Idiot Abroad (2010–2011) and performs as a stand-up comedian. He starred in his first play, Richard Bean's The Mentalists, at London's Wyndham's Theatre from July to August 2015. His varied endeavors have earned him three BAFTA Awards, four British Comedy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Merchant had his first dramatic role in a film when he was cast as Caliban in the superhero film Logan (2017).
==Early life==
Merchant was born in Hanham, South Gloucestershire, the son of nursery nurse Jane Elaine (née Hibbs) and insurance representative Ronald John Merchant. He attended Hanham High School and later the University of Warwick in Coventry from 1993 to 1996, where he received a 2:1 Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Literature. Merchant was a former film reviewer on the student radio station Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career.
Members of Merchant's "posse" included film critic James King, Dan Warren, Neil the Maskell, and Geraint the Welshman. Recently, a number of tapes of The Steve Show have been rediscovered and are being distributed on various Merchant fan sites.
==Career==
===Pre-2001===
Merchant began his career performing stand-up comedy at Bristol's Comedy Box, where, he recalls, "The first week I did really well. The second week I died on my arse. I realised that stand-up was not that easy after all." He also appeared as a contestant on a 1997 episode of the TV game show Blockbusters and worked for a short time as a DJ for Radio Caroline.
Merchant met Ricky Gervais for the first time in 1997, when Gervais (then in the position of "Head of Speech" at the London radio station XFM London) hired Merchant as his assistant. (Gervais said later that he had called Merchant for an interview simply because it was the first CV handed to him.) Merchant and Gervais hosted a Saturday afternoon radio show together from January through to August 1998, when both of them left XFM as it was bought by the Capital Radio Group. In the same year, Merchant was a finalist at the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Awards.
Merchant worked for seven years at XFM 104.9. The Saturday show never had a large audience; Gervais says "It's a tin pot radio station... It's not even the biggest radio station in the building." He created the features 'Hip Hop Hooray', 'Make Ricky Gervais Laugh' and 'Song for the Ladies'. After leaving XFM, Merchant began a production course at the BBC. As part of his coursework, he enlisted Gervais to perform in a 30-minute short film, "Seedy Boss," which became the earliest inspiration for their sitcom The Office. They collaborated on a sitcom pilot called Golden Years featuring a manager suffering a mid-life crisis; the pilot aired on Channel 4's Comedy Lab series in September 1998, but failed to find further success.
===2001-2003 (The Office and return to XFM)===
In mid-2001, BBC Two aired the first series of The Office, co-written and co-directed by Merchant and Gervais and starring the latter as paper sales office manager David Brent; the show initially received low ratings. Beginning in September 2001, Merchant and Gervais returned to XFM as co-hosts of The Ricky Gervais Show, another Saturday afternoon programme, which led to their fruitful relationship with producer Karl Pilkington.
They took a break from the radio show in mid-2002 in order to film the second series of The Office, which aired that year; in addition to writing and directing the show, Merchant made a cameo performance in the episode "Charity" as a friend of Gareth Keenan's character and known by the name Oggy or Oggmonster. (Merchant's father also appears in multiple episodes as an office handyman named Gordon.) Merchant also directed a sitcom pilot called The Last Chancers, which aired on Comedy Lab in November 2002 and became a five-part series broadcast in December on E4.
Merchant and Gervais continued to host The Ricky Gervais Show through 2003, taking another break to film the Office Christmas special, which aired that December. The radio show went off the air indefinitely in January 2004. During 2004, Merchant appeared in a recurring role as a chef on Garth Marenghi's Darkplace and in a cameo on Green Wing, and served as a script associate on the Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker sitcom Nathan Barley. The same year, The Office aired in the U.S. to critical acclaim. It went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy which both Merchant and Gervais accepted. This was followed in 2005 by a 4th series of the radio show, consisting of six episodes.
===U.S. series of The Office===
In March 2005, the American version of The Office premiered, with Merchant and Gervais credited as executive producers. They would later co-write the third-season episode "The Convict", and Merchant would go on to direct the fifth-season episode "Customer Survey".
===Podcast series===
In December 2005, with sponsorship by The Guardian, Merchant, Gervais and Pilkington began recording a weekly podcast (also called The Ricky Gervais Show). Throughout its first series (through 20 February 2006), the podcast was consistently ranked the most popular in the world, and was certified as the most-downloaded of all time by Guinness World Records. Two more series and three special installments (the "Podfather Trilogy") were recorded in 2006, with the final episode released on Christmas Eve. In late 2008, they recorded four more podcasts and began a series of audiobooks examining Pilkington's perspective on various subjects.
===Extras===
In July 2005, following a brief return of the XFM radio show (filling in for Adam and Joe), Gervais and Merchant's new sitcom Extras premiered on BBC2. The series features Merchant in a supporting role as Darren Lamb, the incompetent agent to struggling actor Andy Millman, played by Gervais. Series 2 of Extras aired in late 2006, followed by a Christmas special in December 2007; all three installments aired on HBO in the United States. Merchant won a 2006 British Comedy Award for Best TV Actor for his performance as Lamb.
===The Steve Show===
In January 2007, Merchant began hosting his own radio show on BBC 6 Music, airing weekly on Sunday afternoons. Instead of comedy, The Steve Show focused on music and particularly "new music", defined by Merchant as "music you've not heard before." Many of the songs on the show were suggested by listeners or co-presenters. The show also featured several of his friends, including his housemate, his childhood friend, as well as actor Rufus Gerrard-Wright (who also appeared in an episode of Extras). A spring search for a "she-J" resulted in the addition of former Byker Grove actor Sammy T. Dobson joining the ensemble. "The Steve Show" aired for four seasons and concluded in May 2009.
===Stand-up===
Merchant began performing stand-up comedy in the late 1990s to critical success, though he decided to focus more on his work with writing partner Ricky Gervais after the success of The Office. Merchant returned to stand-up with a nationwide tour of the United Kingdom in September 2011, under the title Hello Ladies. The tour, which ended in New York, was later released on DVD. In late 2012, the tour continued in Australia and New Zealand. Merchant performed his first-ever stand-up tour of Scandinavia in October 2014, performing in 11 different cities as part of a European festival circuit.
===Hello Ladies===
Merchant's sitcom Hello Ladies premiered on 29 September 2013 on HBO, in which he played Stuart Pritchard, a website designer in Los Angeles who unsuccessfully chases beautiful women. It was adapted from his stand-up show of the same name. Merchant's frequent partner Ricky Gervais was not involved in any part of the show which was instead written by Merchant, Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky. After its initial run of eight episodes, HBO did not renew the show for a second season but aired a special movie on 22 November 2014, that served as the series' last episode.
===Other work===
Merchant has played small roles in the films Hot Fuzz (2007), Run Fatboy Run (2007), and The Invention of Lying (2009). He has a supporting role in the 2010 film Tooth Fairy. On television, Merchant made a cameo appearance in a non-speaking role on the sixth-season premiere of 24; he also starred as a sports commentator in the unaired pilot No Skillz. In 2009, Merchant and Gervais collaborated on the film Cemetery Junction, set in working-class England in the 1970s, which received mixed to positive reviews on its release in 2010.
Later in 2010, Gervais and Merchant wrote, and had cameo roles in, Life's Too Short, a television show starring Warwick Davis. For television, Merchant and Gervais also produced An Idiot Abroad. In 2011, he lent his voice to the CGI film Gnomeo and Juliet and had a role in the Farrelly brothers' comedy Hall Pass. In 2013 he starred in I Give It a Year as the best man.
On 18 October 2013, he hosted an episode of the panel show Have I Got News for You and was featured in Short Poppies. In 2014 he made an appearance in Modern Family's "Las Vegas" episode.
In January 2011, Merchant appeared alongside many other comedians at the 'Free Fringe Benefit' at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London, in a show of stand-up to benefit the Free Fringe at the Edinburgh Comedy Festival.
Merchant is the voice of Wheatley in Valve's 2011 video game Portal 2, a role which earned him widespread acclaim among reviewers. He has stated that the project was "exhausting", he is also "very pleased by the response people have had to it. What I was really pleased by how people seemed to respond to it in the way they do with a movie they've enjoyed, or a TV show they've enjoyed." In 2013, he reprised this role as the voice of the Ap-Sap in Team Fortress 2, a weapon based on the Wheatley core.
Merchant has provided the voice-over since 2009 of advertisements for Barclays and Waterstones. In 2014, he starred in two commercials for Newcastle Brown Ale and for the Cadillac 2015 ATS Coupe.
He is an executive producer for the Spike show Lip Sync Battle and in July 2015 Merchant opened his first play The Mentalists by Richard Bean alongside Steffan Rhodri in London's West End. He appeared in three episodes of The Big Bang Theory as Dave Gibbs, a guy Amy dates after she breaks up with Sheldon.
He has portrayed George Washington and Abraham Lincoln on the Comedy Central series Drunk History. Through the show's first four seasons, Merchant is the only actor to play the same historical figure (Lincoln) twice.
He hosted a special Celebrity edition of the cult UK game show The Crystal Maze, on Channel 4 on 16 October 2016 — all in the aid of the network's Stand Up to Cancer campaign, in partnership with Cancer Research UK.
In 2017, Merchant played Caliban in The Wolverine sequel Logan. Merchant, along with John Krasinski and Allyson Seeger, are executive producers of Dream Corp, LLC, an upcoming animated series created by Daniel Stessen on Adult Swim. The series was announced as a pilot in May 2014, and a full season was approved in November 2015. Jon Gries of Lost fame will portray a principal character.
==Personal life==
Merchant lives in Nichols Canyon, California, in a home once owned by Ellen DeGeneres. He has a second home in London. He has used his unsuccessful experiences in dating for his comedy act.
Merchant stands 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) tall, and Gervais once likened his dance moves to an "upright lizard being given electroshock treatment" while also describing him as a "stick insect with glasses" or Beaker from The Muppet Show. Karl Pilkington has described Merchant's dancing as a "bit of weird art" in the past but has since "got used to him", while Russell Brand likened him to a "graceful grasshopper". Merchant has commented that he prefers to liken himself to fellow tall man and English football player Peter Crouch, who is also 6 feet 7 inches (201 cm) tall; he impersonated Crouch in a BBC sketch broadcast as part of the pre-match build-up to England's opening game at the 2006 World Cup.
Before the 2010 General Election, Merchant was one of 48 celebrities who signed a letter warning against Conservative Party policy toward the BBC.
==Filmography==
===Film===
Year	Title 	Role 	Notes
2007	Hot Fuzz 	Peter Ian Staker 	
2007	Run Fatboy Run 	Man with Broken Leg	
2009	The Invention of Lying 	Man at the Door 	
2010	Tooth Fairy 	Tracy 	
2010	Cemetery Junction 	Dougie Boden 	Also co-director, writer and executive producer
2010	Jackboots on Whitehall 	Tom (voice) 	
2010	Burke and Hare 	Holyrood Footman 	
2011	Gnomeo and Juliet 	Paris (voice) 	
2011	Hall Pass 	Gary Putney 	
2013	Movie 43 	Donald 	Segment: "Truth or Dare"
2013	I Give It a Year 	Danny 	
2017	Logan 	Caliban 	
2017	Table 19 	Walter Thimble 	
2017	Beauty and the Beast 	Monsieur Toilette 	Cameo; Deleted scene
2018	Sherlock Gnomes 	Paris (voice) 	
2018	The Girl in the Spider's Web	Frans Balder 	
2019	Fighting with My Family 	Hugh 	Also director, writer and executive producerCompleted
2019	Jojo Rabbit 	Captain Deertz 	Post-production
===Television===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1999 	Comedy Lab 	James (voice) 	Episode: "Golden Years"; also writer
2000 	Meet Ricky Gervais 	Various roles 	Also writer
2001–2003 	The Office (UK) 	Paul Shepherd (voice) / Nathan (aka "The Oggmonster", "Oggy")	3 episodes; also co-creator, writer and director
2004 	Garth Marenghi's Darkplace 	Chef 	2 episodes
2004 	Green Wing 	Lab Technician 	Episode: "Tests"
2005 	Bromwell High 	Mr. Phillips (voice) 	13 episodes
2005–2007 	Extras 	Darren Lamb 	11 episodes; also co-creator, writer, director and executive producer
2005–2013 	The Office (US) 	 	Executive producer and directed episode: "Customer Survey"
2007 	24 	CTU Technician 	Episode: "Day 6: 6:00 a.m.-7:00 a.m."
2010–2012 	The Ricky Gervais Show 	Himself (voice) 	39 episodes; also co-creator and executive producer
2011–2013 	An Idiot Abroad 	Himself 	16 episodes; also executive producer
2011–2013 	Life's Too Short 	Himself 	8 episodes; also co-creator, writer and director
2011 	Ronnie Corbett's Comedy Britain 	Himself 	Executive producer
2013 	Hello Ladies 	Stuart Pritchard 	8 episodes; also co-creator, co-writer and director
2013–2015 	Drunk History 	Abraham Lincoln / George Washington 	3 episodes
2014 	Modern Family 	Higgins 	Episode: "Las Vegas"
2014 	Robot Chicken 	Alfred Pennyworth / 210 Up Narrator / Kirk Fogg (voices) 	Episode: "Stone Cold Steve Cold Stone"
2014 	Hello Ladies: The Movie 	Stuart Pritchard 	Television film; also writer, director and executive producer
2014 	Short Poppies 	Insurance Broker 	Episode: "Terry Pole"
2015 	The Big Bang Theory 	Dave Gibbs 	3 episodes
2016 	The Simpsons 	Conrad (voice) 	Episode: "The Girl Code"
2016 	Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie	Barron Hilton 	Television film
2016 	American Dad! 	Scientist (voice) 	Episode: "The 200"
2016 	The Crystal Maze 	Himself (host) 	Television special
2016-present	Dream Corp, LLC 	T.E.R.R.Y. 	20 episodes; also executive producer
2018 	Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway 	Himself (star guest announcer) 	1 episode
2018 	The Good Place 	Neil, the accountant 	1 episode
===Video games===
Year	Title 	Voice role 	Notes
2011	Portal 2 	Wheatley 	
2013	Team Fortress 2	Wheatley (as the AP-SAP)	Uncredited
2015	Lego Dimensions	Wheatley 	
==Awards==
Awarding Body/Event 	Awarded
BAFTA Awards 	
* 2002 Situation Comedy Award The Office
* 2003 Situation Comedy Award The Office
* 2004 Situation Comedy Award The Office
British Comedy Award 	
* 2001 Best New Television Comedy The Office (UK)
* 2002 Best Television Comedy The Office (UK)
* 2004 Writer of the Year Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
* 2006 Best TV Comedy Actor Extras
Broadcasting Press Guild 	
* 2002 Best Writer The Office
* 2003 Best Writer The Office
Emmy 	
* 2006 Emmy Outstanding Comedy Series The Office (U.S.)
WGA Award 	
* 2007 Best Comedy Series The Office
Peabody Awards 	
* 2004 Peabody Award The Office (UK)
Television Critics Association 	
* 2004 Individual Achievement in Comedy The Office (UK)
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences	
* 2011 Outstanding Character Performance as Wheatley (Portal 2)
Spike Video Game Awards 	
* 2011 Best Performance by a Human Male as Wheatley (Portal 2)
==External links==
*Official website
*Stephen Merchant on IMDb
*Interviewed on BBC Radio Five Live
*Xfm: Biography
*Tall man, taller success story – interview in The Telegraph – 8 August 2005
*Interview with Barbara Ellen in The Observer Magazine – 5 November 2006
*An Englishman abroad
*Stephen Merchant interview
*Stephen Merchant interviewed by Sophie Elmhirst on New Statesman.
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