I can’t wait for “Extras,” the new Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant comedy on HBO. But I don’t have HBO, so I guess I will have to wait a few months for it to come out on DVD.
In “Extras,” Gervais plays Andy Millman, a luckless actor trying desperately to move from anonymous extra to a character with actual dialogue. His biggest problem? A knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.
His inept agent, who spends most of his time trying to talk Andy out of being an actor instead of finding work for him, is played by Merchant, whose goofy looks and silly actions can steal a scene.
Andy’s sidekick Maggie is also an extra. She’s man-crazy and only has stupid and/or insensitive things to say.
According to the New York Daily News, “the show’s secret weapon is its fabulous premise, which puts Andy and Maggie on the set of a new film, and in the orbit of a new star, each episode.”
This Sunday it will see Kate Winslet playing a cynical version of herself. The movie in which she and the extras are playing this week is about a nun hiding refugees during World War II. Winslet says she’s only doing the film to win an Oscar, and that there are already too many Holocaust movies.
“I mean, how many have there been? We get it. It was grim. Move on,” she says.
Oh, snap. This is going to be awesome. I can’t wait for the painful awkward silences.
The premiere is Sunday after “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” If you’ve got HBO, watch for me and let me know how it turns out.
*More David Brent quotes here.