Stephen Merchant
b'When Stephen Merchant grew to 6\\u20197\\u201d as a teenager, he had a hard time blending in with the crowd, which was something he longed for. \\u201cLots 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\\xa0not\\xa0to stand out, trying to seem shorter, to be one of the crowd.\\u201d\\n\\nDespite the unwanted attention, being tall helped Stephen develop his comedic sense\\u2014\\u201cIf people were just going to point at me for being tall, they might as well point and go, \\u2018Oh, it\\u2019s that tall funny guy.\\u2019\\u201d By the time he got to university, he decided to make a career out of standup comedy.\\n\\nStephen put in the time experiencing the highest highs and crushing lows of life as a standup, but his career really took off after he teamed up with Ricky Gervais for the hit U.K. comedy series\\xa0The Office.\\xa0The 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\\xa0Extras\\xa0and HBO\\u2019s\\xa0Hello Ladies, Stephen\\u2019s taking matters into his own hands, writing solo for the first time ever for the film\\xa0Fighting with My Family, based on a real story about a wresting family in England with big aspirations to reach the WWE.\\n\\nStephen joins\\xa0Off Camera\\xa0to talk about the expectations that come with a hit television show, why he went back to standup after a long hiatus, and how he turned his awkward dating experiences into art.'