Feature: Stephen Merchant’s Rise To Hollywood

I have never met Stephen Merchant, but it’s common knowledge that he is a very tall man. 6 ft 7 inches would tower a full eight inches over me, seven if you include the quiff at the front of my bonce… Stephen is huge, both in stature and in terms of his career. The man Merchant appears in the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release of HALL PASS, which arrives on the home formats on 4th July in the UK, and being very impressed, firstly by the size of this man, and the fact that he appears in a mainstream Hollywood movie, we thought that we would look at Stephen’s rise to Hollywood.

If you take a listen to Merchant speaking (have you seen those recent Barclay’s ads?), you will know that he is from the Bristol region of England, not too far from where I grew up (48 miles away in Gloucester), and even closer to our resident Bristolian Tom Fordy’s old stomping ground. A graduate (with a first class degree in Film and Literature no less) from the University of Warwick, Stephen started his media career there broadcasting on their radio network, but it was in 1997 when he made his first appearance on television, in an episode of BLOCKBUSTERS, a show that I remember watching religiously when I came in from school verey weekday. Sadly, the show was not presented by the legendary Bob Holness, but the equally legendary Michael Aspel. Steven appeared on his own on the show, battling two girls, one of whom bears an uncanny resemblence to one David Walliams. You’ll see what I mean in the video, from You Tube no less, below.

Following University, and having the experience of losing to a couple of girls on BLOCKBUSTERS, Stephen started working the comedy clubs of Bristol, appearing in a host of venues including the Comedy Box. He then DJed on Brit station Radio Caroline before heading to the bright lights of London to work at XFM, a place where he met their head of speech, one Ricky Gervais. Gervais hired Merchant as his assistant, and they eventually got their own Saturday afternoon radio show, which ran from January to August 1998. The two left the station together, and obviously got on because just a couple of years later THE OFFICE was born. The show ran for just two series and a couple of Christmas specials, but it’s legacy is legendary with countless versions, including a hugely successful American one, airing around the globe.

During the airing of the first season, Merchant and Gervais headed back to xFM where they presented a new show together, along with new recruit, producer Karl Pilkington. Merchant eventually served seven years on the station.

Following the end of the run of THE OFFICE, Merchant turned his hand to directing. THE LAST CHANCERS ran for 5 episodes and can be easily found on the E4 You Tube Channel. Merchant directed the pilot for the 2004 show, which revolved about a motley crew of Brighton-based twentysomethings and their attempts to make it big as a rock band.

After the success of THE OFFICE around the world, and after turning up in TV shows like THE GREEN WING and GARTH MARENGHI’S DARK PLACE, Merchant and Gervais set to work on their second TV project, EXTRAS. Like THE OFFICE, EXTRAS ran for just two series and two specials and gained similar success to their last TV effort, with cameo appearances from the likes of Kate Winslet, George Michael and erm, Barry from Eastenders.

Hollywood then came calling, and Stephen found himself making brief appearances in films like HOT FUZZ, RUN FATBOY RUN, TOOTH FAIRY and THE INVENTION OF LYING opposite – yes, Ricky (who also scripted).

In 2009, Stephen and Ricky set forth for unchartered territory, feature film direction. The two co-penned and directed the Reading set CEMETERY JUNCTION, a working class coming of age story set in the 1960’s. The film garnered reasonable acclaim around the world and ticked another box on the duo’s glowing, and indeed growing CV.

While Ricky went off to present the Golden Globes, also to controversial, but successful acclaim, Stephen hooked up with the legendary Farrelly Brothers, the duo that brought the likes of THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARK, DUMB AND DUMBER and KINGPIN to screens. HALL PASS features Stephen as ‘under the thumb’ Brit Gary, his highest profile role to date. While not appearing in the latter chunk of the movie, Stephen does get a few funny scenes early on, but it is his post-credits sequence which is getting all of the buzz. We won’t spoil that for you by posting video of it here…. just make sure you go and buy the DVD!!!

So, as you can see, Mr. Merchant has come a long way since those days at the Uni of Warwick and erm, BLOCKBUSTERS. For one of the tallest men in Hollywood, we hope that his career continues to shine and match his massive stature…. We love, salute and continue to look up to you sir!

HALL PASS is released on UK DVD and Blu-Ray on July 4th, 2011.

Here’s the trailer.