Hey folks Sam Jones here. Welcome to another edition of Off-camera, the show where I get to talk to iconic, creative, curious artists, and find out how they got that way.

And in this episode, I sit down with writer, director, actor, producer, comedian, Stephen Merchant.

When Stephen Merchant grew to six foot seven inches as a teenager, he had a hard time blending him with

the crowd, which is something he longed for.

As he tells it, lots of kids in school would dye their hair pink, get lots of piercings, or do things to

stand out, whereas I spent all my time trying not to stand out, trying to seem shorter to be one of

the crowd.

Well, despite the unwanted attention,

being tall helps Stephen develop his comedic sense.

As he says, if people were going to just point at me for being tall,

they might as well point at me and go,

oh, it's that tall funny guy. By the time he got to university, he decided to make a career out of stand-up comedy.

Stephen put in the time experiencing the highest highs and crushing lows of life as a stand-up.

But his career really took off after he teamed up with Ricky Dervace for the hit UK comedy series The Office.

The two met while doing radio for XFM London and their chemistry was instantaneous and undeniable.

After years collaborating with Gervais and others on projects like extras and HBO's Hello Ladies.

Stephen's taking matters into his own hands,

writing solo for the first time ever

for his current film,

Fighting with My Family,

based on a real story about a wrestling family in England

with big aspirations to reach the WWE.

...