Stephen Merchant (‘The Outlaws’): From BAFTAs to Emmys?
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Stephen Merchant could be set for an Emmys return after amassing a whopping 19 Emmy nominations across an illustrious career as a writer, director, producer, and actor. This year, he’ll be in the mix for further nominations for his work on his hit Amazon Prime Video series “The Outlaws,” which he co-created with Elgin James.
The crime-comedy, which some over here in the UK have described as Britain’s answer to “Ozark,” follows the misadventures of several strangers who are thrown together to undertake a community payback sentence. Led by Merchant’s hapless, hopeless divorcee lawyer, Gregory Dillard, the group stumbles across a huge sum of money that belongs to someone very dangerous (Claes Bang‘s gangster).
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The cast is full of stand-out performances, including from the legendary Christopher Walken, but Merchant leads the pack with his expert comedic skills. Merchant is a master of the awkward, self-deprecating humor he excels in and while his writing, directing, and producing are all to be admired, it’s his performance here that really brings him into his own. And critics agree.
Jack Seale (The Guardian) claimed that “everything Stephen Merchant does is hilarious,” writing “one of Merchant’s strengths as a writer-director was always that his shows could draw on at least one hysterical comic performance, by Stephen Merchant. Here, everything he does as Greg, a physically calamitous divorcee, is hilarious or heartwarming, or both at once, as when he stands up too quickly in a nightclub and gets his head stuck in a chandelier.”
Nicole Gallucci (Mashable) observed: “Casting director Amy Hubbard struck gold with this entire crew, and while their collective chemistry is off the charts, standout comedic performances include Merchant’s laughably awkward Greg.”
Allison Keene (Paste Magazine) explained: “Those who are familiar with Merchant’s other TV work will note the signature style he brings to his writing, not only in making himself and his appearance the butt of many jokes, but the easy humor that patches over what are often pretty bleak situations. When Merchant’s character Greg, a hapless lawyer, trades ‘which one of us is more pathetic’ examples with Lady Gabby, his ‘I’m living in a flat for divorcees where they make you pay six months in advance in case you, you know, off yourself’ is the trump card. But it’s said with such a smile and perky countenance that it blunts the edge of Greg’s true sadness—a balance that defines the whole series.”
However, he is currently ranked just outside of our predicted six nominees for Best Comedy Actor: Jason Segel (“Shrinking”), Martin Short and Steve Martin (both “Only Murders in the Building”), Bill Hader (“Barry”), Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear”), and Jason Sudeikis (“Ted Lasso”).
But don’t count Merchant out just yet. Although he is only 48, he has been a key player on the TV scene for so long with so many important, beloved projects that he feels like a veteran. He is clearly a very well-respected TV creative that Emmy voters admire, so they may take a look at this project and want to finally give him that first, long overdue acting bid.
Merchant has previously appeared in hilarious supporting roles, including the original version of “The Office” and “Extras,” both of which he co-created with longtime collaborator Ricky Gervais. But with “The Outlaws,” he takes center stage in the lead role and owns the show completely. Of those aforementioned 19 Emmy nominations, not one of them came for his acting. They mostly came for producing shows such as “Extras,” “The Office,” and “Lip Sync Battle,” while he has also been nominated for writing several times. With this acclaimed performance in “The Outlaws,” however, it’s time for him to receive that first acting Emmy bid.
Emmy voters can’t resist a multi-hyphenate. They often nominate actors who star in shows that they also wrote and created, such as Phoebe Waller-Bridge for “Fleabag” (won Best Comedy Actress in 2019), Quinta Brunson for “Abbott Elementary” (nominated for Best Comedy Actress last year), Jason Sudeikis for “Ted Lasso” (won Best Comedy Actor in 2022 and 2021), Bill Hader for “Barry” (won Best Comedy Actor in 2018 and 2019), Ramy Youssef for “Ramy” (nominated for Best Comedy Actor in 2020), Donald Glover for “Atlanta” (won Best Comedy Actor in 2017), and Merchant’s pal Gervais for “Extras” (won Best Comedy Actor in 2007). There are plenty of other examples, too. Far too many to list them all, in fact — that’s how much the Emmys respect multi-hyphenates like Merchant, so he could join this exhaustive list.
And Merchant’s specific performance for this second season of “The Outlaws has received” some very recent awards recognition — he was nominated at this year’s BAFTA TV awards for Best Comedy Actor, losing out to Lenny Rush for “Am I Being Unreasonable?” He was also nominated for Best Comedy Writing (losing to Lisa McGee for “Derry Girls”) so there is awards precedence there for voters to reward Merchant for his extensive work on this show. Emmy voters may just decide to do the same as the BAFTAs did and give him multiple nominations for the same project, as they’ve done to so many others so much before. Merchant is deserving of the same treatment.
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