Portal: Stephen Merchant

Stephen Merchant Steve at a 2007 awards show Stephen Merchant (born 24 November 1974 in Bristol, England) is a comedy writer and performer. He is best known as the 6'7" co-writer and co-director with Ricky Gervais of the The Office and Extras. Merchant and Gervais also co-presented a long-running radio show for Xfm, where they also met producer Karl Pilkington. The trio have since left Xfm and have done three series of their world-record breaking podcasts along with 3 additional holiday podcasts at the end of 2006. Merchant's other work includes directing a one-off comedy called The Last Chancers for Channel 4 starring Adam Buxton from Adam & Joe. He had a recurring role in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace as a chef, and voiced Mr.Phillips, the gym teacher, on the short lived Channel 4 cartoon, Bromwell High. In 2004, he worked as a Script Associate on the Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker sitcom Nathan Barley, and had a cameo in Green Wing. Merchant is also credited as an Executive Producer for the American version of The Office, and with Gervais wrote the 30 November 2006 episode "The Convict." Merchant can be currently heard on The Steve Show on BBC 6Music each Sunday from 3-5pm GMT. ...Full Biography

The Office	Extras	Xfm	Podcast	Video Podcast

Featured Picture Steve in 2007 photo shoot ...More Steve Pictures

Quotes "Man alive" -Frequently used interjection Xfm Radio Show (various) "I tried on the tuxedo I bought yesterday, I looked like James Bond, I'm not gonna lie to you" -Xfm Radio Show (14 December 2002) "He said you look like a combination of Blofeld and Oddjob. You look like blowjob." -Xfm Radio Show (14 December 2002) Downloads Stephen Merchant on 1 Leicester Square (26 Sept 2006) Steve with Simon Amstell on Xfm (13 August 2006) Ricky and Steve look around the Extras set (10 June 2006) ...More Downloads

Ricky draws Steve

Anecdote I went to buy a laptop computer... and everyone said "Go up Tottenham Court Road." And I reading in magazines and stuff, and they were saying "Haggle, make sure you haggle, you've got to - you're planning to haggle, get the best deal you can." And I found a shop which was selling the computer I wanted, and I went in there, and I had this whole plan in my mind of what was going to happen. He was going to say like "It's worth this." I'm going to go "Well look, I can get it cheaper here, I want to buy it from you, I'm going to haggle, da-da-da-da-da", and off I went. So I went in the shop, and I said "Yeah, I'm looking for this, interested in this Toshiba, how much is it?", he went "Oh, it's 1500 quid." I went "Sure, sure. I'll give you 1300". He went "It's 1500", and I said "Sure, but I'm willing to give you the 1300", he went "1500." And I was... I was done, already because he hadn't even begun to haggle. And I was assuming he'd at least go "1400", and we could start, but nothing. So now I was screwed, my whole plan went out the window. I said to him "The thing is, I can get this computer cheaper down the road, but, I like what you're providing here, I like the service, I've heard good stuff about you. Seriously, I can buy it for cheaper if I walk down the street, for 1400." And he went "Well... see you later then". And I was like "Right...", so I walked out the place, I said "Well I'm going to have to leave then", and I walked out the place and of course I wanted to get it from there, because it was still the cheapest, so I had to walk back in again! I went "Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. Um... I've just had some second thoughts, listen, I tell you what, I'll pay the 1500, can I get a free carry-case?", he went "The carry-case is free anyway." I said "I'll take it." ~S.M. (as told on Xfm Show 10 January 2004)