Desert Island Discs

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Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

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Desert Island Discs: Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor

Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor

Stephen Merchant shares the soundtrack of his life with Lauren Laverne.

Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury he would want to take to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Stephen Merchant first came to fame with the TV sitcom The Office, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Ricky Gervais. He continued to work with Gervais on the series Extras, Life is Short and An Idiot Abroad.  His comedy hero as a young man was John Cleese and as a fellow tall West Country boy, he felt he would try his hand at a comedy career.  

As a teenager, he worked at Radio Bristol, was a wedding DJ and enjoyed drama at school. While at Warwick University, he created his own radio programme, The Steve Show. Those radio production skills encouraged him to send in his CV to a new London radio station, XFM, where the head of speech was Ricky Gervais.  Following a successful interview – conducted in a pub – Stephen became Ricky’s assistant.

Stephen left XFM to join a BBC training scheme.  It was the short film he made with Ricky as part of his course which would eventually lead to the creation of The Office. 

Alongside his successful comedy partnership with Gervais, Stephen has pursued his acting and writing ambitions and this year wrote and directed his first film, Fighting with my Family, based on a family of wrestlers. His performance as a stand-up led to his HBO series Hello Ladies, and he starred in his first stage play, Richard Bean's The Mentalists, in London in 2015. 

His work has earned him two Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTAs, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four British Comedy Awards.

DISC ONE:  Whole of The Moon by The Waterboys
DISC TWO: Raspberry Beret by Prince 
DISC THREE:  Babies by Pulp 
DISC FOUR:  Regulate  (Jammin' Remix) by Warren G featuring Nate Dogg and Michael McDonald 
DISC FIVE: Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen 
DISC SIX:  A Case of You by Joni Mitchell
DISC SEVEN:  Change of the Guard by Kamasi Washington
DISC EIGHT: Love Letter by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds
    
BOOK CHOICE:  Roger's Profanisaurus by Viz and Roger Mellie
LUXURY ITEM:  A piano 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE:  Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen  

Presenter:  Lauren Laverne
Producer:  Cathy Drysdale

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Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor

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