It’s hard for a man trapped in a 6’7″ frame to be lost in the shadows but that certainly seems to have been the case with Stephen Merchant, a whimsically amusing man from the south west of England who is best known as the creative talent behind Ricky Gervais.
After all, the short, tubby, occasionally bearded funnyman isn’t really all that funny, is he? It only makes sense that there should be a mastermind in the partnership that created some memorable laughs in of The Office, Extras (not so much in Life’s Too Short, though) should be fantastic value live. There’s a good chance to find out in the new DVD release Stephen Merchant Live – Hello Ladies, a recording of a one-off live performance.
He’s certainly a good performer, able to hold a convincing and amusing conversation with members of the audience; in fact, the moments where audience interaction is invited rank among the highlights of this DVD of a show which relies too much on pauses, looks and other forms of emphasis and not enough on genuine laughs.
Describing his comedy partner as “you know who” or “his nibs” is funny enough, as is the explanation of Merchant’s reasons for wanting to do stand-up (basically to avoid sharing anything with Gervais) and there are funny lines, notably “you can’t reason with a crack whore” (you’ll have to wait and see…) and “meet back at you” (the story of a group of girls using Merchant as a landmark in Trafalgar Square of all places).
Even the way in which he introduces geeky elements such as Venn diagrams, Pythagoras’ Theorum and other mathematical and statistical nerd stuff is pleasing, and the use of a slide-show to underline how he has sidelined by newspaper and magazines desperate to bask in the Gervais-shaped glow of success over the years (photographed at the Golden Globes with no head; referred to as “Stephen Mitchell” in a magazine interview with Gervais) is laugh-out-loud funny.
Sadly none of the funny stuff really goes anywhere, and you can tell that he’s running out of steam half way through when his otherwise mild-mannered routine suddenly throws in the “c” word. There is a school of thought that says that swearing throughout your routine will fill theatres. There is another that says that swear words are best used rarely for comic effect. My own feeling is that comedy should be for everyone – it is an important mirror on the world around us and should be accessible to all, something that means altering language somewhat. Comedy is a powerful medium, something that a man of Merchant’s ability surely appreciates – sadly this episode casts a shadow across the rest of a show that could genuinely be funny with a bit more work.
For all the close calls throughout this DVD, however, it might as well have been called Stephen Merchant: Ooh Arrr! – far too much playing up to West Country stereotypes, geek stereotypes, side-kick stereotypes… this is a missed opportunity at the end of the day.
Yes, there are laughs, and if you’re a fan of the Merchant/Gervais oeuvre or any of Gervais’ solo work then you’ll find material here that tickles you.
Released on November 14th, you can order Stephen Merchant Live – Hello Ladies from Amazon for £12.93 on DVD or £17.49 on Blu-ray.
