James wrote:I had no doubts about voting YES - I don't think he will ever top the genius of The Office, and his stand ups become stale after a couple of viewings, but he is clearly a superb comedy writer, even if he only exhibits one type of character in his acting, and I think his attitude towards catch phrase comedy is reassuring.
I thought the Extras Xmas Special was very good - it wasn't a laugh a minute type of thing, but Extras has never been too much like that, and I thought it told a good story and remained interesting despite its length.
I don't know where he goes from here though, and time will tell if he'll end up living by the principles of his anti-fame rant on Extras!
I remember Gervais saying on Jonathan Ross a while ago that his and Merchant's next project will be more of a drama. After seeing how brilliant Extras was in its serious moments, I have no doubt their next thing will be brilliant. Both Extras and The Office have so much hidden depth that just goes by unnoticed by a lot of people. It's brilliant.
However, I also agree his stand-up isn't all that great. He has his moments, but sometimes i feel he tries a bit too hard to be controversial, and comes out with stuff that just isn't that funny because it seems too fake and forced. But as other people have said, as a writer he is superb, and he is a surprisingly amazing actor too.
Yes indeed.
