"The first time I was informed that I had copied Ricky Gervais was in 2003" -- Stewart Lee about Ricky Gervais From Stewart Lee's " How I Escaped My Certain Fate  -  The Life and Deaths of a Stand-Up Comedian " (2010) On the back of the success of The Office, Ricky was suddenly able to do his first full-length solo stand-up shows, to large and enthusiastic audiences. It was drawn to my attention that he always praised me and Sean Lock in interviews, and cited us as his main inspirations. Ricky was preparing his second live tour, 2004’s Politics, when I drifted back onto the circuit. I hadn’t seen any of his stand-up. The first time I was informed that I had copied Ricky Gervais was at The Amused Moose in Soho, sometime in late 2003 or early 2004. A mother and her daughter, who had enjoyed my set but never seen me before, said that I was ‘clearly very influenced by Ricky Gervais’, with the implication that they had rumbled me and I really ought to find my...

The idea and ongoing thesis for Gervais' Extras were taken from the 1999 award winning Australian 'mockumentary' short film The Extra starring Peter Phelps and Julia Zemiro: Gervais' former friend , actor/writer/comedian Robin Ince   - (who appeared in Gervais' The Office (copied from The Day Today ) - and Stephen Merchant met with The Extra's Australian director, Darren Ashton , in early 2000s prior to Ince and Ashton co-writing the upcoming Ashton helmed feature, Razzle Dazzle .   In Elm St, Berkhamsted, 30 miles north of London, Ashton screened Merchant and Ince his short film The Extra - about a hapless wannabe TV extra who dreams of the big time and becoming a 'real actor'. The original idea came from the film's Producer, Adam Wells and TV ad-man Mark Sharman during a ruinously long 22 hour shoot for a McDonald's breakfast burger. The hopeful extras had to endure a seemingly endless night of filming while waiting in a makeshift, seedy and...