The Difficult Second Album — 6 years ago
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant follow up the brilliant The Office with the slightly different Extras which moves from an office to film sets. Both focus on the boredom of people who wish that they were doing something else. I’ve always felt that The Office was a drama disguised as a comedy and with the arc of the series it managed to cover both comedy and genuine human emotions in both the main and supporting characters. With “Extras” it’s simplified with a smaller core cast and a more episodic structure. Still funny, but in a very dark and understated way. Gervais is more toned down but the moments of inappropriate comments, uncomfortable situations, and memorable characters remain. With a wonderful chemistry between Ricky Gervais and Ashley Jensen it’s a worthy, but different followup to “The Office”.












