It's very true to life,
the story that they're taking Andy Millman through.
We always knew we wanted to make Andy
a bit famous eventually, for a couple of reasons.
One, it injects the sitcom with a new dimension.
And two, it gives you a chance to really parallel your own experiences.
The two guys have experienced it for themselves now,
obviously since the success of The Office,
what people have to go through in the street if they've got a well-known face.
I've been recognised by homeless people, and I did think, "Oh, God..."
Well, you know, you're surprised.
- Spare any change? - Sorry, mate.
- Okay. Have a nice day. - Cheers.
- And good luck with the show, Andy! - Cheers. How does he know who I am?
Where does he watch the show, through Dixons' window?
I was walking along once, and it was about 10:30 at night,
and this... I don't know what the PC term is.
- It's tramp, isn't it? - Tramp. Hobo.
- Hobo. - Bum.
Bum!
Recognised me and went, "Oh!"
He said, "I've just been nicking your DVDs from HMV."
He said, "I just swing it over the barrier as I walk out."
I went, "Oh, well done."
- Don't give people clues as to how to do it. - Oh, no.
When Andy gets asked for an autograph and he can't remember the person's name,
that's happened to me a couple of times.
I don't want to spell your name wrong.
- How are you spelling it? - Oh, it's just the usual.
Okay, let's go for it.
I'd been working with someone for a couple of days,
and they said, "Oh, can I have your autograph?"
And I went, "Who is it to?" And they went, "Me."
And I went, "How are you spelling your name?"
And they went, "R-O-B."
(CHUCKLING)
And I went, "Oh, you're Rob. Oh, right."
(MUTTERING)
Rubbish.
Barry, don't look round, right,
there's a couple of birds over there without drinks.
- I think you know what to do. - Oh, yes. Excuse me.
There's a couple of girls over there not drinking.
So I think you should probably tell them to either buy something or get out.
No, sorry. That's a mistake. No, I didn't mean that. Sorry.
The relationship of Shaun and the agent is really quite disturbing.
You just wonder what they get up to in their time away from the office, as it were.
- How's it going? - Not so good, actually.
Things aren't quite panning out as I'd hoped.
Let's not talk about that now. Let's not bring the mood down now.
- A couple of sorts like this are up for it. - What do you mean, up for it?
It's quite a sweet relationship, really. The agent has got a heart.
No matter how strange the character comes across, he has got a heart.
And he's quite attached to Barry, I think, and feels quite sorry for him.
So... And he's always trying to put Barry,
or Shaun, in front of Andy Millman to get him work.
- Are you definitely gonna do this? Yeah? - Yeah.
- You're definitely gonna go on and... - Yes.
Yeah.
- Forget it, Barry, he's gonna do it, mate. - Fuck.
I know. I'm as annoyed as you are, man.
With me, he's the idiot. With Barry, he's sort of in charge.
So it's swapping dynamics that's fun. And that happens with Andy.
When I'm with the agent or Maggie or Barry, I'm king. They're all idiots.
58,008. Boobs!
- Let me have a wee look. - Yeah, have a look.
58,008...
BOTH: Boobs.
But when I get confronted with something and there's some jeopardy,
a director or a producer or...
Or someone, as it were, superior to you, Stephen Fry for instance.
Yeah, I'm on the back foot because there's always someone better than you.
And it's just fun to... We do that in our life all the time.
Sometimes we're in control, sometimes we're not.
You're trying to bribe me to sit next to David Bowie now?
I'm giving you 20 quid to sit there in those spare seats.
No.
50?
- 50 quid? - Yeah.
Let's see it.
- You got a 10? I've only got 20s. - No.
Well, it's either 40 or 60, then.
- 60, then. - 60, then.
One of the most exciting things for us is casting,
and it's casting new people, it's finding new talent.
We don't want to just use someone else's little black book.
We don't want to borrow people from loads of other sitcoms.
In this one, David Earl, who plays the obsessive fan...
- God, it's you. - Hi.
We absolutely love. We just saw a little tape of him
doing a couple of little characters and we were mesmerised.
Can you do the catchphrase?
- I'd rather not. - Do the catchphrase.
- No. It's just a bit... - Do the catchphrase.
Just do the catchphrase!
- Okay, okay. Are you having a laugh? - Do it properly.
Are you having a laugh? Is he having laugh?
I love everything about it.
He had no agent, he wasn't a professional actor or whatever,
he'd just sent in this tape to us, and that's so thrilling.
And when you watch that performance, I just think it's genuinely brilliant.
I mean, there's so many little nuances to it, little bits of detail.
- Do you live near here? - Yeah.
- Where? - Just quite near here...
No, what street?
(CHUCKLING)
Fucking maniac.
It's quite nice at the end when I go back there
and I need to be with someone that recognises me,
and he's got all his mates, who are just equally nerdy,
but they're enjoying their life.
- This is Ralph. - Hello, mate. You all right?
- Walnut. - Hiya.
- And this is Count Fuckula. - All right.
- Why do they call you that? - Because if I see something,
I've got to fuck it. I never stop.
GERVAIS: They're having a good time, they're not hurting anyone.
They're just a little bit different. A little bit weird, a little bit strange.
- Reminded me a lot of when I first met Steve. - In what way? Sorry, in what way?
I'm saying, sort of nerds and freaks and weirdoes...
But how does that remind you of me? I don't understand how that...
I don't understand why the two would...
Well, no, you're forgetting something. You weren't always this cool.
That's true.
When I first met you, you were a bit of a loser.
- Well, not as cool. - No!
Yeah, who got the Comedy Award this year?
Oh, God. Look, David Bowie.
I think one of the highlights of the whole two series was working with David Bowie.
I mean, he's been a hero of mine for 25 years.
Mr Bowie, can I just say that we're both very big fans?
I can't hear you, love. Come over here.
GERVAIS: It surprised me that he's such a normal bloke, you forget.
I was talking to him on the phone back and forth
about the song and the lyrics and what we needed.
It was very casual, you know. He called, left a message, I called him back,
he went, "Hello?" I went, "Is that David?"
He went, "Yeah. Oh, excuse me, I'm just eating a banana."
And just to think of David Bowie eating a banana...
'Cause we always think of him at home, he's still got the stripe,
he's got the Ziggy hair, the platforms. So he's going, "Oh, I'm a little bit peckish.
"I know, what's a little morsel that's got both protein and carbohydrates?
"It's a banana."
- You know, and he's this... - Exactly.
He's not a space alien.
He's a bloke from London who's done brilliantly well.
What do you do?
- I'm in a sitcom. -It's called When The Whistle Blows.
- Have you seen it? - I haven't, no. Is it any good?
- MAN: No. It's shit. - Oh, just riff-raff everywhere.
We actually enjoyed having normal conversations with him
about pasta and the congestion charge.
- You know, he's... - He's got some very strong views.
About pasta.
"They should extend it to Kensington. It's crazy."
- I think I've sold out, to be honest, but... - Yeah.
It's difficult, innit? When they...
To keep your integrity when you're going for that first...
# The little fat man who sold his soul
The little?
# Little fat man who sold his dream #
He's so funny as well. He's so funny and clever and erudite,
and his humour's so dry that he'll just suck you in.
He'll just start telling you these ridiculous things, and you go, "Really?"
And he's lying, he's just making stuff up, and he does it with such a straight face.
He's a really good comic performer.
What made me want to do a British sitcom?
Well, as you probably know, my background's in serious acting
before I started doing the writing-singing thing.
So something like doing the Extras is a piece of cake for me, really.
And it was fun working with Rick, showing him pointers,
maybe new ways of approaching comedy
that he hadn't really thought about before, I think.
# He's so depressed at being hated
# Fatty takes his own life
- Fatty? Fatso? - Fatso, I like fatso.
Yeah, let's go with fatso.
When we came up with the idea of doing a song,
he said he would do the lyrics with Stephen,
and I said, "That would be great. I'd love that to happen," and I'd do the melody.
But then I'd give him some jokes for future episodes of Extras.
So I gave him a couple of my better things. There's one
that I think he's doing in the Sir Ian McKellen show.
It's, "Yeah, you and whose army?"
(CHUCKLING) Which, it's like... That's an example of the kind of thing that I've got.
And there were a couple more.
"If you keep looking like that, your face will stay like it."
That's... That's really quite a zinger, isn't it?
And that's the kind of thing, you see? So I've been writing jokes for him.
And he assures me they'll be in the future episodes.
So it's been very fulfilling, this whole experience.
ALL: # He's banal and facile He's a fat waste of space
# See his pug-nosed face
# Pug, pug, pug, pug
Again!
ALL: # See his pug-nosed face
# Yeah
# Pug, pug, pug, pug #
The only frustration with working with someone who you consider a living genius
is you feel like somehow you want to be able to crawl inside their head and figure out
what makes them tick, and how they write those songs and things.
And, of course, there's no way you can, so...
Are you talking about me? Or are you talking about David Bowie?
- David Bowie. - Oh, sorry.
-"Living genius", those are the keywords. - I could tell you how I work. I could tell you.
No, I was talking about David Bowie, "living genius".
Yeah, I know, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah. He is, too.
What you've got to bear in mind is, it's not for you to presume that you're a genius,
that's always for other people to say, Rick. You can't...
Oh, shut up.
No, I'm saying you may not be a living genius.
I may not be?
It's not for us to say, is it? If other people want to say it, that's fine.
- No, I'm saying they're not saying it. - Oh, shut up.