Half his act was taken up with tales of trying to pull by boasting about his awards. We all squirmed as he told a bloke in the crowd that his missus would be better off with a guy with Baftas than a nobody like him. "I'm a barrister," the man said. Cue painful silence as Merchant failed to find anything to come back with.

Painful silence?? It was hilarious! And yes he mentioned his awards a lot, but as a sarcastic "these things mean nothing for helping pulling girls".

If you went expecting to watch a comedian, you would think he's very good. If you went expecting someone who's written masterpieces such as The Office and Extras, you may be slightly disappointed. But to compare Merchant to previous work in a different branch of comedy is unfair and unjust.

I'm not gonna get angry by this review because regardless of what this guy thinks, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I went with 5 other people who also thought he was very good, and there was possibly more laughter for his act than any other. So, does it really matter if he gets bad reviews? For me, no because I loved it and that is all that matters to me.

Thats just a reminder that reviewers are not always going to give the same review as you would.

And remember that he writes for The Sun, so his opinion is pretty irrelevant anyway.

Probably just trying to cause a stir or something anyway.

True. The Sun puts massive spin on some non-stories to make them stories.

They also steal news and features from elsewhere on a regular basis and claim it as their own. Check out this story today for example: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/article850683.ece

If you've got the Radio Times you might well recognise that list (the sun has basically taken their top 25 list and turned it into their own 'top 20').

Stephen seems like he would do better in a situation where he could *bounce* off other people, I can't imagine him in stand-up. I would definitely go to see him, however! Lucky duck-

Quote: feckless @ March 20, 2008, 10:50 PM

Stephen seems like he would do better in a situation where he could *bounce* off other people, I can't imagine him in stand-up.

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Have to be a high ceiling.

Quote: David Chapman @ March 20, 2008, 11:29 PM

Have to be a high ceiling.

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The best visual of the week!

As Steve Merchant said on his radio show a couple of weeks ago, he's "getting into" stand-up, by no means claiming to be established. He had Richard Herring on as a guest and was thanking him for helping him develop his act.

Everyone should give him a chance. He's not going to have the sheer confidence of Gervais to leap straight into selling out major venues. But he has the modesty to accept that he needs to learn his craft. Ultimately he may turn out as a better stand-up than Ricky.

Quote: Tim Walker @ March 21, 2008, 11:26 AM

As Steve Merchant said on his radio show a couple of weeks ago, he's "getting into" stand-up, by no means claiming to be established. He had Richard Herring on as a guest and was thanking him for helping him develop his act.

Everyone should give him a chance. He's not going to have the sheer confidence of Gervais to leap straight into selling out major venues. But he has the modesty to accept that he needs to learn his craft. Ultimately he may turn out as a better stand-up than Ricky.

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Gotta love how he is polar opposite of Gervais (personzlity wise, not bashing his stand-up). THey are the yin and yang of comedy.

LOL, I found a video of Steve Merchant rapping!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mB6wXGYgmAE

Quote: SharkyArthur @ November 7 2008, 12:40 AM GMT

LOL, I found a video of Steve Merchant rapping!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mB6wXGYgmAE

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The boy loves his rap/hip-hop.

I bought the 'Extras' special DVD yesterday. First time I had seen it since Christmas last year. His performance is incredibly assured compared with his previous outings.

As an aside, about this time last year, I was lucky enough to be his phone-in guest (Dr Tim) on his BBC 6 radio show (he had a prolonged cold and wanted medical advice - I texted in... blah blah...).

As well as having a fun chat on air, I chatted to him before and after on the phone. As a fellow Bristol boy he was a joy to chat to, and we talked a bit about writing et cetera ("Boring", as he called it.). He was immensely down-to-earth and the man is classy and intelligent, with a desire to improve his (undoubtable) talents.

Every success to Mr Merchant.

The same thing happened with me and Wogan.

I saw Merchant in about March or April at a small local gig. He was very good and the rest of the audience seemed to agree. He wasn't headlining, did a shortish set and was as good as most established acts I've seen. I know he did stand-up back in the day and he was confident, had presence and was very funny - verbally and physically. I don't know what the reviewer from The Sun was expecting, but I suspect that they haven't seen much live comedy.

I saw him back in August, thought he was great. He quickly commented on what we were all wondering - 'Now I can see many of you wondering why I'm doing stand up in Coventry, mainly because I don't have to share the profits with you know who'.

It was a good gig.

I also saw him around July time and thought he was very funny. I was in the front row and had to hold his glasses as he showed how hard it was for a visually impaired, extremely tall, geeky man tries to have sex. It was just so silly it was brilliant. He seemed quite humble and a little unsure of himself, but I really enjoyed it.