HBO Orders Stephen Merchant Pilot!

That’s right, watch out US you’re getting more SMerch! HBO have officially confirmed they’ve ordered a brand new Stephen Merchant pilot! Check it out!

HBO are known for their connection with Ricky Gervais; they’ve hosted a number of his stand up specials as well as his one off stand-up comedy discussion show Talking Falking. Now it seems HBO have decided to expand their foray into British comedy, by striking a deal with Gervais’ long time collaborator Stephen Merchant for a comedy pilot.

The pilot will be named after Merchants stand up comedy tour, Hello Ladies, and will be based around much the same themes. According to Deadline, Merchant will play a fictionalised version of himself “searching for the woman of his dreams in Los Angeles. Half as charming as he thinks he is — and twice as desperate — he’s obsessed with infiltrating the glamorous world of beautiful people. Unfortunately the beautiful people won’t let him in.”

The pilot will also utilise the talets of Bad Teacher/The Office writers Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky in a writing/producing capacity.

Personally, I loved Merchant’s Hello Ladies stand up show – I thought the material was very good and his perfomance was even better. To be made into a comedy series I’m not so sure. I think it has legs, but it’ll be interesting to see whether it will maintain the same integrity as the orginal version of the Office or the Extra’s did. Will it just become another bog-standard American comedy show? I hope not.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments section below – it’d be awesome to hear from you!

Not seen the stand up and want to have a sneak peak at what the comedy series will be about? Well, UK customers can get the stand up DVD on Blu-Ray for just £7.79!

via Deadline