Ricky Gervais's early days and golden years

Came across a show Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant wrote before The Office called Golden Years, about a man who becomes a David Bowie impersonator.

You can see how much they scavenged from this for The Office and even Extras – as well as how much better Extras would have been if Gervais had allowed himself to play a deluded idiot again, instead of always rolling his eyes at the idiocy that surrounds him. I appreciate that he wanted to put some distance between himself and David Brent, but the result was a character with no real centre of gravity, no charisma, and no real potential for development.

Here's part one of Golden Years (the other two parts are on YouTube, as well):