Week 6: Extras, Season 1, Disc 1

My husband and I are currently baby poor (meaning that every spare dollar we have goes to daycare and diapers and tiny jars of things like “pureed pea and ground beef soufflé”). As such, we have no extra dimes for luxuries such as HBO. So, we watch the Sopranos and Entourage via Netflix rentals a year after we’ve heard all the spoilers already. It kind of sucks, but every once in a while we stumble across a gem that hasn’t had a lot of hype, like the lovely little pearl called Extras.

This show is the brainchild of Ricky Gervais, creator of the BBC’s original The Office series. In Extras, he plays essentially the same verbal-diarrhea-plagued character he did on The Office, only this time as a man making a living as a movie extra. It’s a great premise because every half-hour episode centers on a different movie set and has a different guest star. The first episode, entitled “Kate Winslet”, has a hilarious story line of Kate Winslet instructing the extras how to properly have dirty phone sex. All while she’s dressed in a nun’s habit. Brilliant.

The show is a lot of fun and Gervais is a master at developing socially awkward dialogue that makes you squirm in your seat. I love Ricky Gervais so much that I’m absolutely convinced that if I ever met him, I would become so completely baffled and tongue-tied that instead of saying all the hilarious, witty things I had planned, our meeting would instead go something like this:

RICKY: Oh, ‘ello, then. Nice to meet you.

ME: Ha ha ha ha! So funny!

RICKY: I just said ‘ello love. That wasn’t funny. It was jus’ a regular greeting. A salutation if you will.

ME: Wheeeeeee!

RICKY: [confused] What’s that?

ME: Duur, uh…

RICKY: [whispering to his companion] What’s this then? You didn’t tell me she was mental.

ME: No, ah…I not…mental.

RICKY: She’s a complete sodding retard, i’nt she? Look a’ that. She’s got drool runnin’ down the side of ‘er mouth.

ME: [trying to touch his face] No! I smart! I really smart, Ricky Gervais! Ricky Gervais!

RICKY: [winking to his companion] Oh, yes. Sure you are. You’re the bloody Noble prize winner, aren’t you, love? Got the trophy back at home, do ya? Right next to your white paper on splittin’ the atom?

ME: Glurspank!

RICKY: Let’s get out of here. I don’t want to get her retard germs on me.

ME: [after Ricky leaves] Bloody hell.