Stephen Merchant: ‘The Office’ to ‘The Outlaws’

<p>It has now been more than 20 years since Stephen Merchant and his comedy partner Ricky Gervais changed TV comedy forever with their original British version of ‘The Office.’ Now, after co-starring with Gervais in ‘Extras’ and creating his own HBO comedy series ‘Hello Ladies,’ Merchant is back with ‘The Outlaws,’ a surprisingly intense crime thriller—with plenty of laughs throughout—that co-stars Christopher Walken and just landed on <a href="https://amzn.to/3D1Tm4i" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Amazon Prime Video</a>. In this episode, Merchant talks about creating that series with an ex-convict and how they got Walken to paint over an original Banksy piece in the finale. He also tells stories about the early days of ‘The Office,’ what he thought about the even more successful American version, his complicated relationship with Gervais and a lot more.&nbsp;</p><p><br></p><p>Follow Stephen Merchant on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenMerchant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@StephenMerchant</a> and Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/stephenmerchant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@stephenmerchant</a></p><p>Follow Matt Wilstein on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/mattwilstein" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@mattwilstein</a></p><p>Follow The Last Laugh on Instagram <a href="https://www.instagram.com/lastlaughpod/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@lastlaughpod</a></p><p><br></p><p>Highlights from this episode and others at <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/keyword/the-last-laugh" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Daily Beast</a></p> &#10;&nbsp;<br /><hr><p style='color: grey; font - size: 0.75em; '>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.</p>