Self-conscious about his 201 centimetres (6 ft 7 in) height, Merchant was inspired to get into comedy by the 6 feet 4 inches (193 cm) John Cleese.

A number of tapes of The Steve Show have been rediscovered and distributed on various Merchant fan sites. His group there included film critic James King. He worked as a film reviewer on the student radio station Radio Warwick, where he began his broadcasting career. He attended Hanham Secondary School and later the University of Warwick in Coventry from 1993 to 1996, where he received a 2:1 for his BA in Film and Literature. Stephen James Merchant was born in the Hanham suburb of Bristol on 24 November 1974, the son of nursery nurse Jane Elaine (née Hibbs) and plumber and builder Ronald John Merchant. John Cleese had grown up in Weston-super-Mare, not far from Bristol, where I grew up, and he was tall and he was very funny and very British and it's almost like I thought, 'Well if they want tall people from the West Country, I can do that.'' That was my overriding passion from my mid-teens. 'I don't remember where I got this grand idea that I could somehow be John Cleese. He has received numerous accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, three BAFTA Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and four British Comedy Awards. He also appeared as the mutant Caliban in the superhero film Logan (2017). He starred in his first play, Richard Bean's The Mentalists, at London's Wyndham's Theatre in 2015. Merchant has also performed as a stand-up comedian, which led to his writing and starring in the HBO series Hello Ladies (2013–2014), which was based on his stand-up material.

Merchant co-developed the Sky1 travel series An Idiot Abroad (2010–2011) and co-created Lip Sync Battle (2015–present).

He also provided the voice of the robotic 'Intelligence Dampening Core' Wheatley in the 2011 video game Portal 2. With Gervais and Karl Pilkington, he hosted The Ricky Gervais Show in its radio, podcast, audiobook, and television formats the radio version won a bronze Sony Award. Alongside Ricky Gervais, he was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series The Office (2001–2003), and co-writer, co-director, and co-star of both Extras (2005–2007) and Life's Too Short (2011–2013). Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, writer, director, actor and presenter.

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