Stephen Merchant on Blockbusters!

Stephen Merchant from the Office and Extras is defeated on the gameshow Blockbusters by Roopam and Claire (the Thelma and Louise of Blockbusters) hosted by Michael Aspel. 1997.
For Stephen's commentary on his Radio 6 Show see • Video .

[@chriswatts83]

Steve's still got that £15, never spent it.

[@SuperOldShows]

I can't believe they ripped off Rockbusters like this.

[@bladeashby2722]

Fitting that the first question Steve gets right and it's related to money

[@dizzymenace]

he was in blockbusters, then in rockbusters

[@ZooRoo999]

Hiya - I recorded it because i was on it! I'm Roopam.

[@carlwod]

"yazoo" "yaz" "wheres your cutoff point" "you wouldnt have got it right on block busters" "wouldnt have said it on blockbusters"

[@ZooRoo999]

Hiya - I was watching "The Office" and the Og Monster came on... I knew I recognised him, and couldn't figure it out for ages, then it clicked and I dug out my old VHS recording of Blockbusters...

[@trachtaire]

I want Ricky to be there, after each clue going... "It doesn't work Michael! Don't talk shite!"

[@rageagainstmonica]

No wonder he hated Rockbusters so much, it must have brought back harrowing memories.

[@psrrsp]

Cryptic clue 'n that

[@RafaelLSmith]

Big Steve Merchant is such a playa, I bet he nailed both these ladys after the show

[@anjena]

Haha! The question about Yaz. Straight from The Office quiz night episode. "Yazoo! ...Where's your cut-off point?"

[@Gemma1blabla]

"good luck with your writing career and all those artistic things..." HAHAHAHAH

[@crinbob]

Does anyone know how that tall bloke with blonde hair and glasses is getting on? He said he wanted to be a DJ and writer. Just wondered if he realised his dreams.

[@jamescassin3772]

Steve went on to do several projects with Ricky Gervais and was a radio DJ

[@user-co4qu7oc9b]

+crinbob Do you know him now? :P

[@xxczerxx]

Funny how he never mentioned it back in the XFM days on that competition I can't quite remember the name of. Steve seems so serious here!

[@themightyquinn94]

Laughed out loud at the DJing bit after hearing that story about the wedding

[@unspeakable28]

This is so funny to watch, never knew about it. Can see where story of Ricky the office temp being on blockbusters, even the question about Yazz . Brilliant.

[@SuperSized16]

haha I loved the fact that this features in a subplot in The Office

[@ZooRoo999]

It was filmed over two shows - so we all went home in between then came back the next day in fresh clobber! Obviously Steve must have relaxed a bit too much!

[@Reziiin]

15 pounds and a fountain pen. Fuck yeah!

[@bobafetting6373]

Which Y was... Which Y had a hit single with ''The Only Way Is Up'' and sang with Plastic Population? Yazoo! Yazz Yup You said Yazoo I know. What's your cut-off point? Yazz..... But you said Yazoo first. You would have got it wrong on Blockbusters I wouldn't have said that on Blockbusters you would have got it right then

[@joebrennan230]

Oh my god!

[@mightybison15]

Oh my god I bet Ricky ripped the shit out of him for this 😂

[@Braddurs]

I don't remember him ever mentioning he was on Blockbusters whenever they played Rockbusters on XFM

[@BggProductions]

Good for you! And thanks a million for uploading this :)

[@seaport7421]

Look at those glasses! Aw, he's adorable. Love him. The look he gives at 1:37 cracks me up.

[@ZooRoo999]

Stephen, however, has realised his dreams of writing comedy, DJ-ing and "all those artistic things". I wonder if he ever uses his 'Blockbusters' pen and sighs wistfully, thinking of those days?

[@andrew8907]

Amazing that he achieved exactly what he wanted

[@ZooRoo999]

Not yet, but I've some some cool stuff... I haven't worked with street children in India yet, but I have had a children's book published there by an educational charity which promotes literacy, so am doing something to help. I now own and run a children's nursery. I may not have any BAFTA's, but I'm enjoying life ;-)

[@Gatsoman123]

so nice to see that he's done everyting he wanted to do

[@Kimbahley]

Aww he's so adorable! But yeah, now I get what Ricky and Karl mean when they say he's 'sorted out his looks' over the years.

[@teacup1197]

Oh he was just ADORABLE!

[@ThePantheons]

Love to hear the clip of you on the Smerch radio show talking about it!!!!

[@Docipede]

I remember in an old Charlie Brooker column, Michael Aspel being described as 'A man so bland that he poos boiled eggs'.

[@LukePettit]

They did it over 2 days. They made him come back the next day just for one question.

[@samuelmclean2390]

Hey I'd love to see a video of you talking about the experience and seeing Stephen Merchant in his early days!

[@mabjs1986]

I can't believe they made him go and change shirts between filming the episodes, only for him to come back and fail to answer another question.

[@Anththefuture]

lovin the way he says "yazz" at 1.16

[@monerz4566]

Wonder how he is going now I wonder if he ever did become a writer

[@ZooRoo999]

I've added a link to the video description. Somebody kindly posted it on youtube a couple of years ago!

[@NatS3703]

just so you know he did mention it back in the Old xfm shows when it was just him and Rick but to be fair- looking at him at this age- you can see why he didnt find it too proud to be of

[@Sophageddon]

Where's the cut off point?

[@bicolouredprawn]

Indeed, in fact there are a lot of things like that, if you also listen to their old XFM shows, you notice some of their conversations contain ideas that have cropped up in Extras, The Office and Ricky's stand-up shows. Its interesting to see the beginnings of their ideas.

[@my7ub3]

thankyou for uploading this, its brilliant 'yazz'

[@NickinFilm]

Go Roopam. You Kicked his lanky ass

[@blondegraemey]

Nice to see David Walliams of Little Britain fame on the left there.

[@Swild80]

I love the way he says Yazz!

[@TheCheweeRevolutions]

you'd never imagine him to be such a hilarious wit looking at him here. he's a right gork!

[@ZooRoo999]

@Joshua Hunt thank you! I'll keep it in mind as a future career! :)

[@gasparagusproductions3563]

He was doing well at the beginning!

[@yaxxee]

He has spoken about this on one of their radio/podcast shows :)

[@Braddurs]

Ahhh right I've still not heard all the podcasts and I must have missed it or forgotten it in the XFM recordings

[@lukeyami]

i remember this episode

[@frampoid]

Funny how he never mentioned this on the radio shows.

[@MJLondn]

yay roopam! great to hear you with steve, reunited!!

[@ZooRoo999]

But that's me you're talking about. 12 years ago.

[@dasfelixkp]

notice that Brent asks Ricky (the temp) one of the questions when talking about Blockbusters in 'the office"

[@JeopardyandWheelFan]

This was the only version of Blockbusters to use a different theme song. It sounds similar to the original theme song but for some reason, BBC didn't want to use the exact same theme maybe to avoid having to pay royalties because of its license fee so that's probably why they made a new theme song as close as possible to the original but different enough.

[@K0K4NE]

thanks for putting the result in the comments section. d'oh

[@DDELE7]

The reason it's a two vs one game was to see ( in the original American adaptation ) if the old saying is true, that two heads are really better than one. However there was a brief revival of this show in the late eighties where there were only one on one games.

[@SazVlogs]

OMG THIS IS SO OLD HE LOOKS SO DIFFERENT :O

[@ZooRoo999]

Thank you!

[@sammyash1]

yaz was one of the questions offered up by ricky the temp guy to david brent on the office 'yazoo, yaz! where's your cut off point'

[@DragonsRule02]

That's just adorable, really.

[@jcpadmore]

LOL Steve's face right at the end...looks like he's saying "Fuck you all, losers!" inside his head. Classic.

[@jecndojtb]

For the first 5 minutes the on,y thought in my mind was "GOD DAMMIT STEVE, HOW THE HELL DID YOU NOT GUESS THAT!!!"

[@lg362]

he did mention it, on a sesh with clare sturges and ricky, not karl

[@MJLondn]

WHERE THE HELL DID YOU GET THIS?!!! amazing find!!!!

[@BeRussFour]

So this is how they got the idea to have Blockbusters mentioned in season one of The Office. Brilliant!

[@SLIPKN0Tvids]

8:44 i like the way we see steve jerk at that moment, yet her buzzer goes off. LOL

[@ZooRoo999]

This was version on BBC2. It only ran for one season, and had Michael aspell hosting rather than the charming Bob Holness.

[@ThePantheons]

thank you!!!

[@ddstar]

I love when steve hits the buzzer, he puts his entire body into it... ROFL.

[@YataSamurai]

does anyone know which date this episode of Blockbusters was first aired on tv?

[@FabulousCooki]

God the graphics are MIND BLOWING!

[@johnyexhale]

cheers for this! brilliant

[@FranMSK]

Who could have predicted watching this twelve years ago that this man would go on to co-star in a Hollywood film with the Rock?

[@gasparagusproductions3563]

That last statement was incredibly ironic!

[@ZooRoo999]

This was a BBC2 version that only ran for one series. It was for all ages, rather than youngsters... I don't think many people saw it!

[@phizzy56]

now i see where they got the inspiritation for the story line about ricky the temp being on 'blockbusters' during series one of 'the office'...even the yaz bit, haha.

[@terraniux19]

All right! Stephen Merchant is from Bristol!

[@ZooRoo999]

I'm here, lmao! I find this all very funny ;-)

[@TripeHoundRedux]

Oh well done, you pasted him good and proper. :)

[@roxyqueen2]

why was steve outnumbered? thanks for uploading!

[@mrmariofull]

I hope that someone animates this and replaces Steve with Wheatley

[@BggProductions]

Also, you totally owned this game!

[@dan11009]

its crazy that he was actually on blockbusters..... and a few years later carl was doing rockbusters

[@mikeybiy]

he got everything he wanted to do, and rightly so. what a guy!

[@UnoriginalCinema]

I just heard you in Steve's 6 Music show.

[@thompo27]

That actually made me laugh out loud!!

[@mabjs1986]

To even up the 2 vs 1 they designed it so the pair required a minimum of 5 correct answers (vs. the single player's 4) to complete the board.

[@departed94]

So young!

[@mrfundah]

haha putting fings in envelopes he cracks me up

[@mackcity]

Was this before he was famous? I'm in Australia, he and Ricky are just starting to be heard out this way :s

[@Faz-86]

Id love to hear what RickyGervais would make of this, make a podcast just about this please!

[@speedmetal99]

great that when he says that he writes comedies you would have though, 'who's this nerd'. now he is a highly decorated writer of one of the best contempory comedies around,..

[@CISElite]

I've thrown a kettle over a pub, what's Stephen ever done?

[@ZooRoo999]

Yes, that's me! ;-)

[@AW06]

these r the questions that the new guy asks brent in the office lol must have wrote them in from memory

[@sarwatt23]

the fountain pen is the icing on the shit cake, poor steve ahaha

[@dunkiep]

Didn't know aspel hosted this after bob holness. Was this on ITV as well?