1 00:00:03,728 --> 00:00:06,880 I think possibly the funniest thing Ricky has ever done 2 00:00:06,968 --> 00:00:11,758 is running onto the stage in a tennis outfit 3 00:00:11,848 --> 00:00:14,283 in the play A Month Of Summers. 4 00:00:19,648 --> 00:00:21,002 GERVAIS: Oh, God! 5 00:00:21,688 --> 00:00:24,567 We wanted the play to look like one of those 1950s 6 00:00:24,648 --> 00:00:28,243 homoerotic coming-of-age type things. 7 00:00:28,328 --> 00:00:34,119 And so we thought it would be hilarious that I was in that white, tight T-shirt. 8 00:00:34,608 --> 00:00:36,758 Come on, Fran. You're like... 9 00:00:36,928 --> 00:00:37,998 God, it's... 10 00:00:38,088 --> 00:00:39,920 At one point, I'm sitting cross-legged 11 00:00:40,008 --> 00:00:43,683 and I look like a cross between Buddha and a little frog. 12 00:00:44,208 --> 00:00:47,644 - Are you still talking about the sea? - Of course, what else? 13 00:00:47,728 --> 00:00:49,082 You're mad. 14 00:00:51,208 --> 00:00:53,040 I'm going back to the beach house. 15 00:00:54,208 --> 00:00:56,324 When we sat down to work on that idea for the play, 16 00:00:56,408 --> 00:00:58,797 we agonised over what would be the subject matter, 17 00:00:58,888 --> 00:01:04,201 but particularly the sort of acting style that you get in those very po-faced plays. 18 00:01:04,288 --> 00:01:06,484 You know, people sat around being very earnest 19 00:01:06,568 --> 00:01:08,639 about characters that you've never seen. 20 00:01:08,728 --> 00:01:10,287 Do you remember the first time we came here? 21 00:01:10,368 --> 00:01:13,167 - Yeah, with Paul. - Yeah. 22 00:01:14,648 --> 00:01:20,360 Andy Millman is a little bit edgy about the idea of being thought of as gay. 23 00:01:20,488 --> 00:01:24,277 Well, actually, he's sort of like a fish out of water, really, 24 00:01:24,368 --> 00:01:27,281 because, um, he wants to move away from his past 25 00:01:27,368 --> 00:01:30,998 and his sort of thuggish, homophobic mates 26 00:01:31,088 --> 00:01:34,240 who might not have the artistic aspirations that he has. 27 00:01:34,328 --> 00:01:38,561 And yet, when he tries to do something for the wrong reasons, 28 00:01:38,648 --> 00:01:41,401 get a bit of credibility doing this gay story... 29 00:01:41,488 --> 00:01:42,762 You're mad. 30 00:01:42,848 --> 00:01:45,840 ...he's not comfortable with that either. 31 00:01:45,928 --> 00:01:49,523 I think that whole series is about him being, you know, caught between different worlds... 32 00:01:49,608 --> 00:01:52,327 He's a little bit of a hypocrite, as I think most of us are in some way. 33 00:01:52,408 --> 00:01:54,081 I think so, yeah. 34 00:01:54,168 --> 00:01:58,207 If we were to draw a graph of my process, of my method, 35 00:01:58,288 --> 00:02:01,997 it would be something like this. Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian, action! 36 00:02:02,088 --> 00:02:07,083 "Wizard, you shall not pass!" Cut. Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian. 37 00:02:09,168 --> 00:02:11,125 MERCHANT: Sir Ian McKellen was extraordinary. 38 00:02:11,208 --> 00:02:13,643 People often talk about the great Shakespearean actors 39 00:02:13,728 --> 00:02:15,639 and how they were mesmerising on stage. 40 00:02:15,728 --> 00:02:19,005 And I'd never really understood what that was and it wasn't until we were sat there, 41 00:02:19,088 --> 00:02:22,877 filming those sequences, where he's just talking rubbish about acting, 42 00:02:22,968 --> 00:02:26,245 that I, personally, was just transfixed by him. I mean, he just... 43 00:02:26,328 --> 00:02:29,002 There's just something about the way that man performs. 44 00:02:29,088 --> 00:02:32,797 There's something about his charisma, about the way he just hypnotises you. 45 00:02:32,888 --> 00:02:37,166 I imagined what it would be like to be a wizard 46 00:02:37,248 --> 00:02:40,798 and then I pretended 47 00:02:40,888 --> 00:02:43,277 and acted in that way on the day. 48 00:02:47,408 --> 00:02:49,877 - Yeah. - And how did I know what to say? 49 00:02:49,968 --> 00:02:53,324 (WHISPERING) The words were written down for me in a script. 50 00:02:53,408 --> 00:02:56,719 How did I know where to stand? People told me. 51 00:02:57,288 --> 00:02:59,677 We've also got quite a lot of business in that episode... 52 00:02:59,768 --> 00:03:01,600 I mean, I love bits of comic business, 53 00:03:01,688 --> 00:03:03,759 and I don't think we, perhaps, did enough of that in the past, 54 00:03:03,848 --> 00:03:06,283 enough sort of pratfalling and clumsiness and stuff. 55 00:03:06,368 --> 00:03:07,642 So I'm hitting chairs... 56 00:03:07,728 --> 00:03:12,325 - Andy. - Oh, for fuck's sake! The fuck! 57 00:03:13,808 --> 00:03:19,360 It's nice to do physical comedy, but it needs to be justified. 58 00:03:19,448 --> 00:03:24,602 We don't just want a plank hanging round, or someone falling off a chair. 59 00:03:24,688 --> 00:03:29,762 We almost want it to be an upshot of their own, um, I don't know, 60 00:03:29,848 --> 00:03:31,282 ego or pretension. 61 00:03:31,368 --> 00:03:33,439 Do you know what, er, time we finish tonight? 62 00:03:33,528 --> 00:03:35,997 - I don't know. About 10:00-ish, I think. -10:00, hey... 63 00:03:42,408 --> 00:03:43,921 (SPLUTTERING) 64 00:03:45,528 --> 00:03:49,681 GERVAIS: I think it's the most sitcomy we've ever been as well. 65 00:03:49,968 --> 00:03:51,800 Just wanted to know what time we finished. 66 00:03:51,888 --> 00:03:54,198 GERVAIS: There was echoes of When The Whistle Blows. 67 00:03:54,288 --> 00:03:55,323 That was unlucky. 68 00:03:55,408 --> 00:03:59,288 Even down to the "Get some Vaseline" joke where I'm caught in my shorts. 69 00:03:59,368 --> 00:04:02,360 I mean, if you have Sir Ian McKellen in a room 70 00:04:02,448 --> 00:04:05,486 with Rick in his underwear and you don't do that joke, 71 00:04:05,568 --> 00:04:07,400 you're, you know... It's a crime against comedy. 72 00:04:07,488 --> 00:04:08,808 - No. He can't kiss me on the lips. - Why is that? 73 00:04:08,888 --> 00:04:10,526 - Cold sore. - Where? 74 00:04:10,608 --> 00:04:13,168 - Yeah, opening night. Sod's law. - What, let me see. 75 00:04:13,248 --> 00:04:15,683 - You can't really... It's underneath. - No! 76 00:04:15,768 --> 00:04:17,520 - Don't you worry about that. - I do worry about that. 77 00:04:17,608 --> 00:04:20,487 We'll soon sort that out. Old theatre trick. Yeah. 78 00:04:20,568 --> 00:04:23,208 George, can you get us some Vaseline? 79 00:04:26,688 --> 00:04:32,366 I also obviously had a great time doing the sequence with the lavatory, and Ashley. 80 00:04:32,448 --> 00:04:36,123 We sort of thought it would be fun to put them on a date together 81 00:04:36,208 --> 00:04:38,199 because they're a very unlikely couple. 82 00:04:38,288 --> 00:04:40,757 And it sort of maybe sent the audience down the wrong road, 83 00:04:40,848 --> 00:04:43,806 that they'd think we were gonna end up together. 84 00:04:43,888 --> 00:04:47,722 - Are you okay? - Yeah, just waiting for the cistern to refill. 85 00:04:48,888 --> 00:04:50,242 Just left a bit of... 86 00:04:50,448 --> 00:04:54,726 Didn't, you know, flush away completely. So... Anyway... 87 00:04:55,248 --> 00:04:58,320 My parents told me they can't watch that scene. They refuse to watch it. 88 00:04:58,408 --> 00:04:59,728 And I find it quite unpleasant. 89 00:04:59,808 --> 00:05:00,923 Don't worry about it. 90 00:05:01,008 --> 00:05:03,238 Do you know, I don't want you to have to see it. 91 00:05:03,328 --> 00:05:06,047 I don't want you to have to worry about it. 92 00:05:06,128 --> 00:05:09,325 MERCHANT: But it just seemed to us just a lovely piece of, again, business. 93 00:05:09,408 --> 00:05:12,605 You know, what it the worst thing you could do on a date? 94 00:05:12,688 --> 00:05:14,122 - That's up there. - That's up there. 95 00:05:18,048 --> 00:05:20,039 I was just mashing it up. 96 00:05:20,688 --> 00:05:22,838 (EXCLAIMS) 97 00:05:23,008 --> 00:05:26,717 I found it a little bit difficult having more acting to do in this series 98 00:05:26,808 --> 00:05:30,642 because I don't naturally take to remembering lines. 99 00:05:30,728 --> 00:05:34,881 Often, I've sat down because I've got the lines hidden around the set. 100 00:05:35,008 --> 00:05:38,478 I'm very dependent on Ricky guiding me in that performance. 101 00:05:38,568 --> 00:05:41,924 I've got no real sense of what I'm doing as I'm saying lines. 102 00:05:42,008 --> 00:05:43,885 I don't know what my face is doing... 103 00:05:43,968 --> 00:05:46,847 Maybe that comedy award should be mine, then. 104 00:05:47,408 --> 00:05:52,118 Well, maybe if you'd put in a little bit more work, you'd have... 105 00:05:52,448 --> 00:05:55,281 You know, maybe if you'd been in the country... 106 00:05:55,368 --> 00:05:58,326 They had to give it to someone who actually could be bothered to turn up. 107 00:05:58,408 --> 00:06:02,641 Nice. Very well done. Well done. Good one. 108 00:06:02,728 --> 00:06:04,401 I was about to compliment you, so I won't now. 109 00:06:04,488 --> 00:06:07,560 No, I was gonna say that I rely on you because I trust your opinions. 110 00:06:07,648 --> 00:06:10,322 - But now I'm not gonna say that. - Too late. 111 00:06:11,008 --> 00:06:13,079 Caught me. Caught me, eh? 112 00:06:13,848 --> 00:06:16,727 That's why he's brilliant. That's why he's got the BAFTAs and the Globes. 113 00:06:16,808 --> 00:06:19,243 - The Emmy. - What? 114 00:06:19,328 --> 00:06:21,001 - And the Emmy. - Right. 115 00:06:22,128 --> 00:06:23,482 Come on.