Extras

Please sing the title to the music of JT's "Sexy Back".

Hi all, sadly Extras is NOT coming back for a third season, but the award winning comedy duo of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have decided to give us one final send-off episode of the brilliantly funny, Extras. No details have been leaked yet, but as they did with the original The Office, they are planning on ending with a one-off show for our viewing pleasure.

Last week, Stephen Merchant, who gave the most brilliant performance for his role as agent Darren Lamb, received the comedy award at the Royal Television Society's awards ceremony.

Be on the lookout as Ricky and Stephen "bring Extras back"!

Extras, Extras, Read All About It!

So, it’s official, according to Ricky Gervais, it is “unlikely” that Season 2 of the fantastic British comedy Extras will be followed by a corresponding Season 3. Boo-hoo is all I have to say. And as I watched the opening sequence of this week’s episode, I felt the telling was in the tale. As Andy sits in Jonathon Ross’ hot seat, a foreshadowing of things to come sets the tone. (Jonathan Ross — known to everyone as “Wossy” — is the host of a very popular British talk show that I only saw once when Jim Carrey was on, and it was ludicrous. Jim Carrey is a ridiculous amount of fun, and Jonathan was a good sport as well.) One can only assume that Ricky has set his sights on other options.

Jonathan asks Andy if it will be more of the same or will he branch out. Andy replies he’d like to do some serious acting with the “greatest actor in the world,” Robert De Niro. Little did I know that Mr. De Niro was actually going to show up! That might have been the highlight for me.

Of course, the fat bit was funnier: Jonathan asks Andy about his struggle with his weight and Andy replies, “It’s not a struggle. The more I eat, the fatter I get.”

I’ll say here that this was, in my esteemed opinion, not as funny as last week’s ep, or frankly, any of the others. I never felt the heart in this one, and for me, it just felt sad. I’m sure I was just projecting the knowledge of the end of the world as we know it (or at least the end of Extras as we know it) onto the whole 27 minutes, but it was gloomy. Not to mention, most of the best jokes were on things wholly unmentionable here.

My favorite scene was the shot of Barry sitting in the anti-office of Darren’s office proper. He just sat there not even quite looking out into space, just sitting, as if thoughts were not even an option. I would have been happy with just that, but the joke went further when Andy walked into his agent’s office and Darren was having some under-the-desk fun. He explained that Barry had lent him his pen with a lady in a “lovely bathing costume,” that when you turn upside down, her “bathing costume” falls off. I love that Andy sat in the office with him and discussed what and why he was doing what he had been doing. Darren stood up with his knickers down, and we were reminded of Stephen Merchant’s brilliant comedic sense. And he’s not got a bad bum as well. Andy threatened to fire Darren if he screwed up getting him a meeting with De Niro. He stormed out of the office to find that Barry was admiring the lady in the pen in much the same way as Darren before him.

Robert Lindsay, best known for his work in the British sitcom, My Family, showed up here indignant that the dying boy’s mother would pick someone like Andy Millman over his own fantastic talent. Trying to reason it out he said, “Maybe she just didn’t see me.” Then when that didn't make him feel better, he insinuated she’d picked Andy by saying to herself, “I’ll definitely get a ‘yes’ from the nobody.” And though Andy didn't want to go see the sick boy in the hospital, he got offended.

Maggie’s dashing date turned out to be not so dashing at all. After a wonderful evening, he brought her home for a nightcap, only to find he lived with his parents and they’d struck up a bridge game with friends. Needless to say, the mother told them to keep it quiet, as they had to get up early in the morning, and asked Maggie some horrifyingly embarrassing questions about sleeping with her son. The mother’s tribute to Gertrude Stein’s “a rose is a rose is a rose” took the prize. Only for “rose” she used the big “O,” and I don’t mean Oprah! The poor girl went home to sit alone in her apartment, and not even Andy could be there for her, as he was now BFF with Wossy.

The montages were fantastic: Wossy and Andy romping around bare-backed in white shorts shooting each other with water guns juxtaposed with Maggie as an extra in a movie where she is a maid in a yoke trying to walk through about three feet of mud and falling down a lot.

Best line was when Andy was describing to the sick kid in the hospital why he likes Maggie: “She’s so stupid she amuses me.”

Between Andy and Robert Lindsay, I’m not sure who embarrassed themselves more this week. Though when Andy asked the boy’s mother what she would “think is a good enough excuse” to get him out of having to say a few words at the boy’s impending funeral, he proved there’s few others as unaware of their grandiosity as good old Andy Millman.

It ended with Maggie and Andy going off to meet Darren and De Niro at the bar to kick back a few. I guess that’s a perfectly good way to end the series. They walked off into the sunset. If it does make its way back to the small screen, you can bet this blogger will be the happiest little blogger alive.

Thanks for reading, and try to enjoy the world without a little Extras.

If I were as clever as the writers on Extras, I would, well I guess we know what I wouldn’t be doing. But, I might make a witty remark about the absurd hilarity of Ricky Gervais’ humor. Suffice it to say, this ep was perhaps the cleverest of the bunch. You all know how I feel about Stephen Merchant, and he only made me love him more here. His ability to make everyone completely uncomfortable with no actual knowledge that he’s doing it is the crux for some of the most hilarious moments of the series. I laughed so loudly my neighbor stopped by to make sure I wasn’t being murdered. And I was — this show slayed me.

There’s no good place to start since the entire episode was pure genius. We were graced by Sir Ian McKellan’s presence and we got to see Germaine Greer, one of the most important feminists ever. This is the show in which Andy seeks to gain some respect by getting theater work. His foray into theater proves hysterical as he finds he is meant to be the gay lover of a man named Fran.

But before we get to that, in the tradition of Andy’s meetings with the homeless guy and the shopkeeper, this week, we bring you: the makeup girl! Not only does Andy fall over himself, but also in true form, Maggie sticks it to her friend while being completely oblivious about it.

My favorite moment probably came with Darren’s entrance as he falls over the chair... brilliant. He is the new Dick Van Dyke. Can you just see him with his own show? Maggie as his Laura Petrie? Daniel Radcliffe as little Ritchie? I think it’s time for a spin-off. Stephen, give the people what they want.

Other notable moments:

• Andy’s smooth moves on a woman leaving him coughing up carbon dioxide from a bottle of sparkling water.
• Andy finding out the play is gay.
• Andy being told Fran is going to kiss him at the end of the play.
• Andy excuse for not being kissed: “It’s too obvious.”
• Sir Ian’s hand pushing Andy’s head back on stage to kiss Fran.
• Sir Ian getting verklempt while talking about “pretending,” otherwise known as acting.
• Andy breaking every rule of acting when he breaks character, speaks to the audience and tells them the rest of the play.

How does Sir Ian do it? He pretends. “How did I know what to say?” Sir Ian asks Andy. He whispers, “The words were written down in a script.”
I hope James Lipton was watching as Sir Ian further explained his method: “Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian — wizard, you shall not pass — Sir Ian, Sir Ian, Sir Ian.”

It was pretty fantastic when Darren, taking the “player’s” lead, asks Maggie out. He’s not quite as smooth; he actually tells Maggie he wants to spend the night with her and would be willing to pay for it. Somehow, she accepts. “It’s worse than I thought — she’s hit rock bottom,” admonishes Andy. Darren gleefully says, “Yes, she has,” as he rubs his hands together, smirking with the thought of it.

That the two actually had a great time was amazing, and sweet. Until the bathroom. This was toilet humor taken to the next level. Darren came out of the bathroom and stood behind Maggie as she ate dessert because he had to wait for the toilet to fill up because its contents didn’t flush away completely. (Did anyone notice that he’s too tall to fit through the bathroom door?) The second flush didn’t finish it off, so he takes a whisk and goes to break it up. She leaves, probably the smartest thing she’s done. He gets poo in his eye.

Though I did wonder, why Maggie and Darren would miss the opening (and eventual closing) night of Andy’s play to have their date? It makes no sense to me that his best friend and agent would miss such an important event.

In tribute to David Bowie’s appearance a few weeks back, we got to hear "Boys Keep Swinging." And I loved the shout-out to Fran Healy of Travis! Ricky’s really got his finger on the musical pulse. (Remember Chris Martin last week?)

Best lines:

Bunny: “Guilt free — yumma yumma yumma!”
Sir Ian: “George, can you get us some Vaseline?”
Darren: “Gay is all the rage!”
Darren: “Sick to my stomach, still repulsed because of how good they were.”
Sir Ian: “You are aware that I am not actually a wizard.”
Darren: “If we’re talking about the honeys.... ”
Sir Ian: “Pretending is acting.”

Andy stars in a PSA in which he asks the question, “What would you rather, your child die of thirst or dysentery?” A question very similar to the ones Maggie asks of him from time to time. Chris Martin from Coldplay is up next on the PSA bandwagon and proves even more inappropriate than Andy and his friends. Chris banters about whether or not the dying children could hold his band’s new CD in a promotional spot. Then he tries to wiggle his way onto Andy’s show. Once accomplished, Chris is fed up, “Can we get on with this? I’ve got to do AIDS and Alzheimer’s and landmines this afternoon. And I want to get back for Deal or No Deal. Plus, Gwyneth’s making drumsticks.”

Understandably, Andy doesn’t want to have Chris on "When the Whistle Blows" promoting his album, because people will think he’s sold out once again, and they wouldn’t be wrong. But the more flamboyant producer trumps him and has Chris on the show. Andy’s sad face comes while watching Chris perform.

Did anyone else catch when Barry comes in and shakes Andy’s hand? I believe Andy refers to Barry as Shaun, (the actor’s real name). Of course, the accents are so strong sometimes that I’m not sure if that’s what I heard, but I rewound a few times.

The Frock Shoppe:
— Andy asking whether they can return the dress if Maggie’s arm sweat makes the stitches come apart.
— Did you know that 2,500 pounds is nearly $5,000? However, Maggie looked fantastic in the dress.
— When asked whom Maggie is wearing, she replies, “Maggie, Maggie Jacobs."

Maggie telling Andy’s old girlfriend that he lost his virginity at 28, and that he broke up with her because she was boring. That same ex winning a BAFTA and shouting out to the audience at what age Andy lost his virginity.

The doll:
— Darren coming in late to the awards, making a ruckus and bringing the prototype of the Ray doll.
— Andy, “Who’s gonna buy that?”
— Darren, “Like I told you, stupid people.”
— Darren making the Ray doll say the dreaded catchphrase during a dedication to the late Len Shearman.
— The presenter coming over to the table, grabbing the doll and breaking its head off and stomping it to death, then referring to it as “tacky s--t.”
— Getting a standing ovation.

Ronnie to the extremely tall Darren, “He saw your head over the cubicle door.”
Andy to the very short Ronnie, “He saw your head under the cubicle door.”

When Ronnie asks whether he can attend the Welsh BAFTAs, he’s told: “Expect a call for the Welsh.” Andy wonders about himself, but the BAFTA guy says, “We’re into the more respected comedians.” In perfect Darren style, the clumsy agent’s response, “Makes sense.” Stephen Merchant’s deadpan delivery is the best part of this show. He just completely cracks me up.

I loved hearing Chris Martin sing the Cat Stevens outro….

We had to put up with the “Are you havin' a laugh?” phrase far too many times during this show, though it was funny to see Chris Martin say it. I wonder if Gwyneth gave him acting pointers for his big role? We know she can cook drumsticks.

Only two more episodes remain in Season 2. Next week, Sir Ian McKellen.

Subtitled: Are Celebrities Out of Control?

Extras gets funnier every time I see it. It is so good, I had to watch it twice and I believe I laughed even harder the second go-round. Did you know that HBO is airing this show up to a day before it is programmed? I like this idea. I can watch on Saturday and let the juices meld and then write on Sunday, having watched it a second, hilarious time.

Stories get out of hand as Andy’s restaurant faux pas turns into a horrible media scandal. When he tries to fix it, he refuses to apologize the entire time, and the spin becomes negative again since he had gotten into a fight with a dwarf and had knocked him unconscious.

The episode guest was Daniel Radcliffe, whose naughty little Cub Scout routine was out of control. In a scene where he is dressed as Harry Potter, Daniel says to Maggie, “I’ve done it with a girl, I mean intercourse-wise.” He tries to have it off with every girl on the set — not exactly the Harry Potter we’ve all come to love.

Later, his further attempt to interest Maggie in a "shag" in which he used "sign language," shall we say, cracked me up and preceded the funniest scene in the show. Daniel ends up pulling out an unraveled condom to show Andy his readiness and ends up flinging it into Dame Diana Rigg’s hair. She proceeds to teach him some manners and it is all the funnier as she hasn’t bothered to take the “johnny” off her head throughout the entire conversation.

With Maggie we’re only one step away from “Who’s on first.” Her sense of dumbfoundedness is constant. She asks Andy to explain things we all get right away. He can only reply, “Just think — your own thoughts; just stay out of mine.”

Maggie’s unlucky in love and says the only man interested in her is a teenage boy. Andy helpfully replies, yes, but “he’s a film star and he has his own condom.”

Andy and the kid in the restaurant — hysterical — like the homeless man. His social blunders are now on stage for all to see. Everything he does is on display. Ah, the joy of celebrity. The journalist who pops up from behind the garbage cans and answers all of his own questions, tripping Andy along the way, is something the new star is just going to have to get used to.

I’m not sure I understand Andy’s relationship with Darren. Why does he continue on with this guy? Darren is completely insensitive and a terrible agent to boot, so why does Andy put up with him? Low self-esteem would be my guess. He still doesn’t think he can get better. Darren’s constant promotion of Barry, who was once on EastEnders, only further rubs the mud in Andy’s face about all of his foibles. One of the funnier moments was delivered by Barry reading the article condemning Andy for making fun of the kid in the restaurant. The "glug" gag was fantastic.

I believe Stephen Merchant may be the funniest bloke on this show.
Darren’s finer moments included:

— Warrick and the scene in which Darren asks him about the size of his house.
— Confusing Halle Berry and Harry Potter., and going on the telly to try to put out the fire on Andy’s Down’s syndrome faux pas (and, his stepping in it the whole time).
— Donating all of Andy’s salary from the Harry Potter film to a charity of the boy’s mother's choosing.
— When the movie falls through, donating half of Andy’s When the Whistle Blows salary.

— When Harry breaks up with Maggie and then holds up his opened condom to twist the knife, it was on-the-floor-cramping-from-the-pain kind of the laughing.

Absolutely funniest line:
Warrick, “What do you think I have this ring for?”
Andy, “I don’t know, you’re a hobbit?

Next week, Chris Martin from Coldplay. Yum!

The best thing that can be said for Andy’s new show, When the Whistle Blows, is that it has a catchy theme song. It inspires weirdos to approach him and the elite to write lurid songs about him.

What do you get when you mingle the description of a crappy show with the word "sitcom"? Wish I could write it here. Darren Lamb, par for the course, tries to make Andy feel better and only depresses him more. The only good review of his show is from the paper that didn’t bother to write about it; it was that bad.

Did you know that Ashley Jenson, who plays Maggie, also has a recurring role on the American sitcom Ugly Betty? But it’s her naïveté here that makes her the more charming. She’s Andy’s only real friend, but she has an innocence about her that makes her quite unaware how much she hurts him. It happens quite often, to much comic relief.

The scene with the homeless guy is priceless for so many reasons. One) because the homeless guy keeps abreast of all the latest celebrity gossip and two) because Andy is not only reluctant to give the guy the 20 quid (about $40) he has in his pocket versus the eight pence of change, but also that when he is given the money back he wants to know what the homeless guy will say about the event. In the end, he only gives the money to the guy because he is worried what will be said about him if he stiffs him.

The woman moving into his building looked very familiar, but I’ve had scant luck finding her name. Anyone out there know? Needless to say, I cracked up when Maggie and Andy got caught in a scheme to impress her. Andy, knowing he has been caught, walks away, leaving Maggie standing there getting the evil eye. When Maggie says, “Andy, am I coming with you?” Fantastic.

Later, Maggie misses the boat about how to cheer him up. She suggests Andy could be on Celebrity Love Island to which he replies, “Why would I want to be on a show where every time I watch it, I pray for a tsunami?” He’s concerned he will become a total loser who drinks himself to death; Maggie says not to worry about the pub: “The fat will kill you first.” Though she means to cheer him up, she has managed to insult him again.

The agent and Barry arrive at the pub to read a glowing review for Andy’s show, though as the agent reads that the lead character is a lovable roly-poly toad, Andy is humiliated by his agent’s incompetence; the review is for The Wind in The Willows.

Andy is accosted by a couple who love his new show. You get the sense that these are not the type of people Andy would want to like his show, but are exactly the type that make up the 6.2 million viewers who helped rack up his ratings. The best line in the show came when Andy, fed up with the Charles Manson-y fan, returns to his table and tells them all to drink up, he’s “just been spotted by someone from The Hills Have Eyes.”

The same people who harass him at the pub and seem like a total nuisance become a warm posse after Andy is utterly humiliated not only by David Bowie, and by everyone else at the swank club where they go to get away from the riffraff, but also by his nemesis Greg (played spot on by Shaun Pye). He rubs his high-falutin’ morals in Andy’s face.

After the awkward embarrassment of having David Bowie, earlier referred to and revered as a genius, sing Andy’s praises (that’s tongue in cheek for those of you counting at home), Andy returns to the pub, where The Hills Have Eyes boy and his cohorts make him feel like the star he should feel like. They may not be his cup of tea, but they make him feel welcome, whereas the chic elite just used him as fodder for their own entertainment.

I have to admit that that moment of sadness returned again this week. Here is a man who has struggled to get to this point, only for it to blow up in his face. What’s worse than the show being panned by critics is that it has a huge audience gained by racking down the humor to the lowest common denominator — using gag jokes and catchphrases. I feel there is more to our Andy Millman, but he lives in a world where he has yet to consider and accept his place in life. Watching is usually very funny, but at moments quite painful to endure.

The season premiere of Extras opens on a promised star, Orlando Bloom, in a scene that looks a lot like a British version of The War of the Roses.

When the astonishingly good-looking, or so he thinks, Orlando Bloom finds out that Maggie doesn’t think he is all that, he sets out to prove how attractive he is, and in the meantime dishes on Johnny Depp. Orlando’s best line? “Willie Wonka — Johnny Wanker”.

Andy has a crisis of identity when he realizes that the sitcom he wrote is not turning out the way he had expected. He is a man surrounded by complete idiots. His agent, Darren Lamb, the incomparable Stephen Merchant, spends more time trying to get his protégé Barry, whose sense of dignity gets called into question, into Andy’s role in the show than he does working with his other client. His friend Maggie doesn’t remember that his show begins shooting that night, and his producers think big glasses are funny. The agent reminds me very much of Gareth from The Office. Incidentally, Stephen was Ricky Gervais’ writing partner on The Office. I think Darren may be my favorite character, as you can always count on him to come in at the worst moments and say the absolute most inappropriate things.

Andy’s sitcom, When the Whistle Blows, is horrible. What’s worse is that Andy knows it. Andy becomes more and more unraveled as the replacement actor, Keith, can’t deliver a simple line, can’t find his mark and looks directly into the camera over and over again. Andy gives up completely only to find that not only can Keith not act, but he’s a racist in more ways than one.

What’s great about this show is that even though we are watching something awkward and at times uncomfortable, it works because we actually feel for the characters. I don’t know about you, but I either want to dress just like Maggie and go have a pint with her, or get her on Extreme Makeover. I can’t decide. But, either way, I want to help her. She’s so sweet and naive and daft and lovely.

Andy has a depth to him that comes only in small moments. I watched the show a second time just to get a sense of what was happening underneath the basic story line, and Ricky Gervais manages to emote on such a subtle level, you often miss it the first time around.

Maggie meets up with a snooty former extra (now an actress), who rubs in her good fortune, making Maggie feel like a loser. She finally gets her comeuppance when Orlando begs her to kiss him so that he can prove how sexy he is, and she finally complies, “If it’s going to make you shut up.” Orlando completes the kiss, and with her actress friend looking on, Maggie says, “Not my cup of tea." Orlando is left besotted, and the actress is left wishing he had kissed her.

I loved when Orlando talked about the lists in the magazines, especially the Top 10 Fantasy Snogs for women: He’s No. 1 and JD is No. 4. How is that possible? Good for him for having a laugh at himself!

It was a little hard to watch Andy take off his glasses in the wings after his first scene, and hear Cat Stevens, or Yusuf Islam, if you prefer, sing Tea for the Tillerman.

This show is imbued with morsels of emotion, though they’re rare. But I think it’s a gem.

Ricky Gervais brings his popular new comedy, Extras, back to the small screen Sunday in the premiere episode of the second season. This season will pack a powerful punch as HBO has cast quite a line-up of superstars including Bowie, Orlando Bloom and Sir Ian McKlellan. Even little Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, shows up playing a very naughty boy.