Stephen Merchant | 6 foot 7 and Co-created The Office | Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out Podcast

“I crave demons” is a great title for something

oh, he's done you again! PLAY A RECORD!

Another great, interesting conversation!

I picked this episode because I love Stephen (well, and Mike of course). It was great! I listened to podcast while grocery shopping but had to come find the you tube episode so I could comment! When Stephen had to explain to Mike what a “wash in the sink” was I knew instantly they grew up in totally different households!! There are other, more colourful names for this particular way of washing up too! lol!

Regarding the porn story, here's another perspective about why people don't laugh when Stephen turns the camera away: You've already set yourself up as feeling superior to them with the "how am I the loser?" situation when the fans comment on your looks. Then it's funny all the way up to you are turning the camera away. When you turn the camera away it comes across as you being mean and cruel and even more superior, which isn't so funny in that framing, so it's hard to find funny. You're punching down too much. It would be funnier to finish on more on the quandary over what to film and how. And then maybe add some made up comments from the fans of how bad it is, even though you, as a filmmaker, think you framed it well and fixed up some lighting issues.

Great guest bad interviewer

I always find him genuinely funny, hes so comfortably awkward 😂

They are so frikkin' good

He’s soooo tall

I love Steve Merchant. I'd love to hear a version of the porn house story where there isn't irony. There must be a point of view that he was all gung ho to get there and it was a bit of a let down to him or something that they were afraid of their neighbors. Lol

I wasn't unpopular. Other people just never thought about me.

Oye- Lanky

Loving this interview! In the outtakes story, which I’m referring to as “Good Country People” in my head, could Stephen address the people at home while he has the camera turned to the wall? “This is good stuff folks, as you can see, Hulga feels passionate about her astronaut. Now let’s look at a different angle.” The whole time, the cameras is facing the wall, people are commenting and criticizing him further, but he’s pretending not to notice. “Keep it up Stephen, let’s give the people what they want.” And, “Let’s let bygones be bygones. Don’t log off now, they’re just getting started.”

Karl vs Steve great you tube video

Honestly one of my favorite episodes. The rapport between them is great

I so love the pornstar story 😂😂
That payback was so deserved
The man's a genius!!

MECHANT!

Regarding Stephen’s party incident, I fell into a pool once. Also, on a separate occasion, my dog fell into the same pool! 😂

I love that story about interviewing porn stars, but I think Stephen's punchline is the problem. It's a funny as hell reaction, but what also happens, for me at least, is the impression he's being a poor sport. It seems like, on some level, he knows that, but I don't think he quite understands how it lands. He needs to acknowledge that he was the heel in that situation. These nice people invited him in, shared their stories, and even offered him a taste of their world, which to them was a gesture of generosity. His reaction was to kind of crap on it. They can't help that the internet is, well, the internet. People like that infest every corner of it. There's no escaping them. By pointing the camera at the wall, he was being rude to his hosts, not just the nameless asses watching.

One of the things I love about Mike's brand of storytelling comedy is that it finds its gold in the deeper examinations, not just the one-offs (though some of his one-offs are genius too). Obviously, Mike has made it clear time and again that he withholds certain details. Information is cherrypicked to make the story more focused, and more funny. His first thought was to remove the true set-up, and replace it with something more generic. But I feel like the authenticity of how Stephen ended up in that absurd situation helps sell the bit. So cutting the show-business aspect seems like it would undercut the humor even more. I personally think the best thing to do is lean even further into Stephen's authentic reaction, and how he was feeling. As Ira says, tell the story, and then relay the emotions that came up. To me, the most interesting thing about the story so far is how it's falling flat for audiences, how he loses them at some point. There's something missing, and if he wants to mine the gold out of the story, he needs to look inward to figure out what it is.

To me, this is a story about how the pursuit of showbiz got Stephen into that ridiculous situation, yet he betrayed the golden rule of showbiz in the end, because he'd bombed with the audience. That's funny.

His porn name is the Haunted Pencil.

You two have a great chemistry, could have listened to hours easily.

There are so many mugs on that table

STEPHEN SYRUP MEERCHANTT WOOO! He has such a syrupy voice. Keep up the good work at whatever this was.

Merchant is a treasure. I could listen to his stories for days.