If you’re a fan, like me, of the original UK show The Office, and you loyally listened to the Ricky Gervais podcasts, you know who Stephen Merchant is. You’ll love this article in the Observer.

Obsessed with comedy from a young age, one person Merchant admired was John Cleese, also tall, and from nearby Weston-Super-Mare. It was because of Cleese that Merchant wanted to go to Cambridge and join Footlights. However, in retrospect, he feels ‘lucky’ that Footlights didn’t work out. ‘I would probably have tried to be something I wasn’t – arch, erudite, wordy, pretentious, in a way I’m not.’