Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant is the peerless comedy-duo whose brilliant eye for comedy and drama surprised and shocked the world a few years ago with the Award-winning The Office, who later transformed itself into one of TV-comedy-history's most memorable and successful series. This is their Difficult Second Album, and its such a fantastic volume two of their already stunning career. Gervais takes the role as Andy Millman, a pretty straight-forward everyday man whose situation finds him seeking for more to life as he and his friend Maggie (Ashley Jensen) both work as extras, or supporting artists if you like, and Merchant takes a supporting character as Darren Lamb, his literally useless agent.
Extras is such a fantastic show in every aspect, and the transaction between comedy and drama is purely class, the way you'll find the celebrity-parts (oh, it's just Patrick Stewart, Kate Winslet, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, David Bowie and Robert De Niro to mention some) egoism and embarrassing self-awareness adds realism to it, and it's sort of every fan's nightmare to see their favorite actor/actress act themselves into embarrassing situations. 'Extras' is something very few artists can pull off, it's a follow-up that adds depth to something already brilliant by not only making the funny bits even more subtle and the gags even more layered, but adding emotional resonance with outstanding pace. 'Extras' can't really be compared with the Office, it's worth more in its own right and it's downright one of the most incredible shows of all time.
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