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

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

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

Karl Dilkington

There are so many mugs on that table

Your short little theme song depresses me. It’s depressing for some reason.

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

Mike is the Best! This is my first time seeing the show. I'll be back! Oh, and Stephen is the Best too!

His porn name is the Haunted Pencil.

Great episode! I came away liking you both even more!! So glad I found this channel!!

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.

Ahh! The porn story!😂 ace

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

Is Mike aware Stephen’s already had a comedy special?

MECHANT!

Great episode! Hope you get to work together one day.

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

great episode

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

This was a fabulous episode. More folks that think of Mike B. As some one to learn from. The “working out” part is the most interesting.

Karl vs Steve great you tube video

Tractor sale

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.”

The height 'observation' must be endlessly tiresome for Steve, and to open an interview with it I feel probably doesn't put him in the best frame of mind from the off? Meh, what do I know, they seem like good chums. Anyway, love Steve! Thanks for making this.

Oye- Lanky

Haunted pencil

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

Look at him, eyes bulging with imagined riches.

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

He’s soooo funny

He’s soooo tall

Wow, that glass story 😅

They are so frikkin' good

When you look up the word DELIGHTFUL in the dictionary, there should be a picture of Stephen Merchant's smiling, Muppet face. Such a lovable goon!

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

Can't believe how relatable he is 😂 that chewing gum when plumber comes around and hiding his cut hand in pocket especially 🤣

Great guest bad interviewer

Wonderful episode. So gratifying to hear such interesting stories from Stephen Merchant and getting to be fly on the wall as you process how to elevate those stories. Looking forward to his special and more collaborations between the two of you.

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.

The best part of this episode is watching two great comedians try to work through how to make a joke land.

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!

I’ve had the biggest crush on Stephen for years. He’s so clever and self-deprecating. He’s a treasure.✨💖✨

Another great, interesting conversation!

I remember watching a training video years ago and the bloke showing us says he thinks this is the guy they copied to get the idea for Brent. I think he might have been right, he was similar although i think Brent is an exaggerated version of him.

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

Worst part of a great movie called logan

“I crave demons” is a great title for something

Steve is great. I love to hear him talk about comedy because he understands it as a professional and a fan.

If they don't start working on some project together soon, it will be a real shame.

Every time I watch this podcast, it is one of my favorite hours of the month. I don’t do it as frequently as I should, because I want to really let the conversation be my focus for that time. Whenever I get the time to be absorbed, though, it’s wonderful