T.W.
Monday 31st December 2007 5:30pm
15,786 posts
I don't think Gervais and Merchant were using WTWB to be snobbish about mainstream, conventional comedy. Interviewed on the second series of Extras DVD, they make it quite clear that they don't have anything massively against knockabout, broad comedy (although it's clearly not their cup of tea.) The point they were trying to make with Andy Millman was about the price you pay for 'selling out' your original vision simply to satisfy the lowest common denominator.
And though WTWB is broad, sterotypical rubbish, Gervais And Merchant had to include some workable gags in writing those scenes to lend a convincing air to the show.
Interestingly, Gervais says that some people, seeing him in the street, have shouted the catchphrase, "Are you having a laugh?" without any sense of irony.