There is one striking stage direction in The Mentalists which he may prefer to be in silhouette: “Ted strips completely and sits in the shower tray.” Is this going to be his full-frontal debut? “I don’t think we are going to be as explicit as you might want me to be,” he grins. “No one needs to leave the theatre with that burned onto the back of their eyes. There are things that you can see that you can never unsee.” He suggests that boxer shorts or a towel may be the compromise.
There is currently no sign of him settling down and starting a family, though touching on the subject does prompt the longest pause during the interview: “It is a concern. My hobby growing up was writing. I still enjoy it as much as I did then and it is very hard to put that on hold and go ‘let’s start a family’. I dread to think what a shrink would say about the urge to create these worlds you can be the puppetmaster of.” His childhood was happy. Is he scared he might not be able to replicate his own youth? He fixes me with that distinctive bespectacled stare before breaking into a self-deprecating riff: “‘Look Steve, you are not fulfilling your obligations to keep the species alive!’ I’ve never felt conventional. Even from a young age I never felt I had to do what other people did.”
Merchant does not seem to have found the right woman yet either. The press has reported a number of relationships over the years, most notably with Rose Byrne, who appeared with him in the romcom I Give It a Year, but he finds that being in the public eye people jump to conclusions. It was assumed that he had been dating actress Hayley Atwell, because they were pictured together leaving the Groucho Club in 2013, but apparently not: “For some reason I’m in a relationship with Hayley that I’m not in. I think it’s largely based on if there’s a photograph of you with someone you must be dating them, there’s no other possible way there could be any other reason.”
He is hoping to do more stand-up in the future, but is diplomatic when it comes to choosing whether he prefers the comedy scene in London or LA: “I can’t say London is the best scene in the world. I love America’s Louis CK, Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro. But the sheer number of comedy nights here is testament to how much good stuff is out there. I will always try out material here. The clubs are great and I’m more at home with the rhythms.”
While Gervais prefers New York, Merchant has taken to LA, so they rarely see each other but do speak on the phone. Merchant’s accent is still distinctly West Country but in America his Englishness makes him stick out almost as much as his height. “In London they think I’m a yokel. In Hollywood they think I’m a mixture of James Bond, Hugh Grant and Prince William.” Gervais seems to embrace fame, while Merchant is more of an introverted extrovert. Maybe he realised early in his life that he was unable to keep a low profile so is prepared to go in the other direction. He recently appeared on American TV in Lip Sync Battle, the show he executive-produces in which celebrities mime to pop classics. Merchant led from the front with Christina Aguilera’s Dirrty, sporting union jack vest and leather chaps.
He did not look as if he had been forced into it. “No, but there are people I’ve hung out with who want to be the centre of attention all the time. I’m not like that. I think because I’ve always been tall I’ve always got attention whether I wanted it or not. What I have is not an urge for attention, more a show-must-go-on mindset. If you tell me I have to lip-sync I’m going to commit to it. If I’ve got to make a fool of myself I will.”
The Mentalists is at Wyndham’s Theatre, WC2 July 3-September 26, tickets here. A version of this article first appeared in The Evening Standard here.
Picture from The Mentalists by Helen Maybanks.
