Extras: Where the elite meet to self-depre-keet. (It works with a British accent. Really.) Ricky Gervais, who launched his scathing HBO showbiz satire with cameos by an imperious Ben Stiller and a slatternly Kate Winslet, has now handed the bloody scourge to rock stars. In these previews, Coldplay’s Chris Martin plays Coldplay’s Chris Martin as a dead-eyed opportunist hawking his greatest hits album at a charity shoot for third-world poverty. ”Let’s get on with it,” snaps Martin (pictured, right, with a bewigged Gervais), ”I’ve got AIDS and Alzheimer’s after this, and Gwyneth’s making drumsticks.”
But that’s but sauce to the goose — the goose, in this case, being David Bowie, Rock Star Cameo extraordinaire. A conversation with Gervais’ sad-sack writer/actor, Andy Millman, launches Bowie into reverie. He turns to a Simpsons-convenient piano and begins composing a song called ”Little Fat Man,” which soon expands into a giant singalong.
Ah, Gervais, maestro of humiliation. What a brilliant strategy he’s concocted, having celebs act vicious, superficial and small on his show to inoculate themselves against any and all past and future charges of viciousness, superficiality and smallness. Meanwhile, Gervais gets his cameos and his laughs, and we get the supreme satisfaction of seeing the mighty at their pettiest. Praise his pug-nosed face!
Question, Popwatchers: Do you find celebrities more credible if they’re willing to depict themselves as awful people? Or do you simply suspect they really are awful people? Note: If you are a celebrity posting on the board, please don’t just flame people indiscriminately (I’m looking at you, Bea Arthur), but identify yourself for purposes of mockery.
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Loove Extras!
Scotty, why didn’t you mention WHEN it comes back exactly.
Oy with the oversights (still waiting for Madonna’s b-day haiku) already!
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I personally love it when famous people play “themselves” on tv and them make themselves into the jerks people often assume them to be. The cameos on Entourage and the Sopranos have probably been the most fun, with Jon Favreau painting himself as an ideas stealing scamster, Paul Haggis painting himself as anal retentive, and Seth Green portraying himself as the loudmouth jackass we assume he is in real life.
The only one missing is the Kevin Smith cameo where he plays himself as an uber sensitive oaf who cries his eyes out every time someone says something mean about one of his productions.
Thing is that if these celebs portray themselves as the jackasses people frequently claim them to be, it demonstrates just how ridiculous some of these claims are. And besides, the best jokes are always ones we make about ourselves. Scott Brown’s self depriciative musings are my favorite reads in the morning. How about some cameos from the EW staff?
This series of “Extras” is soooooooo much better than Series 1. I often felt the first series lacked direction, but this one is well-focused, funny, and poignant. Daniel Radcliffe’s appearance has been the best so far.
I personally think people shouldn’t be able to laugh at others if they can’t laugh at themselves. So I’m all for celebs who have a go at themselves.
I guess this season will have nothing to do with actual extras. According to the plot Gervais’s character has become successful. This seems to mirror him creating “The Office”.
The Ben Stiller cameo was by far the best in the 1st season.
I knew Chris Martin was funny when I saw a video of Coldplay on UTube performing Can’t Get You Out of My Head. I dare you to make it through the whole video.
Didn’t Coldplay also have a funny cameo in “Shaun of the Dead”? From my recollection, they were helping to put together an aid benefit concert for zombies, and the scene was pretty funny.
No way- Patrick Stewart touting his totally unoriginal screenplay was absolutely the best cameo from last season, hands down. “I play this character with telekinetic powers like Professor Xavier in X-men, only in real life…”
I liked Extras but missed the Patrick Stewart Ep. Anyone know if it’s available on itunes or anything? Having not seen the Patrick Stewart cameo, Ben Stiller gets my vote for season 1.
Them lines about watching “dodgeball” to escape the harsh realities of civil war was pretty funny.
I’ve only seen one episode of this show-the one with Diana Rigg and Daniel Radcliffe and I thought it was hillarious. Sadly, I have absolutely no way of seeing this show outside of Youtube (where the episode i HAVE seen was). Anyone know of a place I can get the first series on a region ONE dvd?
I’ve caught all of Extras through file-sharing, naughty me. The first season was an ambling collection of vinettes that sped to a tight conclusion. The best thing about this second, I think— besides what ends up on Diana Rigg’s head —is the kind of alternate reality Office that the show-within-the-show becomes, a by-the-numbers workplace comedy called When The Whistle Blows. It’s really quite wonderfully horrible.
Curious to see how Gervais & Merchant turn the screw in the last two episodes of this second season… especially what their plans are for Maggie. No word on a third season. If it does go that long, it’ll have more of a shelf-life than the original Office. Not sure if that would be a good thing.
Season 2 starts on HBO in January. They are currently showing reruns of Season 1, and if you have HBO on Demand you can watch them anytime.
I’ve only caught the first episode of the new season, with Orlando Bloom, and it was very funny, especially the way he went off on Johnny Depp at every opportunity ; “Willy Wonka? Johnny Wanker!”.
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