Stephen Merchant, a comedian from Bristol, has always been fascinated by the idea of ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. He has written stories about normal people who experience something that "jolts them out of their life and gives them a way of reframing it." Merchant's early career was better known than the success that followed, as he met Ricky Gervais when he got a job as his assistant on the radio station XFM. They went on to write and direct The Office in 2001, quietly changing expectations of British comedy for ever.
Merchant's life has been changing, with staging posts along the way, such as his first interview for the Guardian, an award show, and a meeting in Hollywood. As the temperature has increased, so has his wealth, with the Mirror reporting that at 49, Merchant is the UK's highest earning comedian with a net worth of £26.6m.
Merchant enjoys the work, finding it very nutritious intellectually and enjoys it to the point where friends have accused him of being a workaholic. Recently, he has been going back to standup, waiting around in the back room of a pub to perform 20 minutes of material. He sees a documentary recently about Jerry Seinfeld, and chuckles at the memory of a heckler calling up at him.
Last month, Seinfeld joined comics like Ricky Gervais and John Cleese in condemning "cancel culture," blaming the apparent death of TV comedy on "the extreme left and PC crap and people worrying so much about offending other people."