TV: Extras, Season One, Part One

I love Ricky Gervais. He’s coming very close to knocking out a Top Five Fake Boyfriend if he keeps doing what he’s doing. And seeing as I just replaced someone in the Top Five a couple weeks ago (poor James Marsters but YAY for Gordon Ramsay!), this is huge news. I may have to boot My Main Man Michael Vartan or dreamy CNN anchor Anderson Cooper. Because there is nothing better than a wonderfully funny man. And Ricky Gervais is a wonderfully funny man to the nth power.

I already raved about his podcasts, which I plan on listening to again during our planeride to Scotland. I already raved about his original version of “The Office”. And now I can rave about “Extras”, the latest series concocted by the twisted minds of Ricky Gervais and and Stephen Merchant, his partner-in-crime. The first disk of the series features Kate Winslet, Ben Stiller and Ross Kemp starring as themselves while Ricky’s character (Andy) is merely an extra on the set of the big movies being made. Hilarity ensues because Gervais is so brillant at playing brash and vulnerable all at the same time. Merchant is terrific as Andy’s bumbling agent, and they had the foresight to cast the wonderfully zany Ashley Jensen as his fellow extra cohort.

This show is laugh out loud funny and I love actors that can poke fun at themselves (Winslet, in particular, was wickedly HILARIOUS and Stiller was the very essence of every character he has ever played). On the second disc, which I’ll view after we get back from our vacation, the actors featured will be Les Dennis, Samuel L. Jackson and Patrick Stewart.

And even better are the outtakes, because you get to hear Gervais laughing – and he’s got an amazing laugh. Oh yeah, if Season Two of “Extras” is half as good, he’s definitely going onto the Top Five list.