Stephen Merchant has disclosed that he seldom communicates with his former creative partner Ricky Gervais these days, despite the pair having produced one of Britain's most celebrated comedies together.
The 51-year-old comedian, who co-created The Office with Mr Gervais in 2001, told The Times that their relationship has always been characterised by distance, even during their most productive years.
"We're not in touch a great deal these days but even at our closest we were living quite separate lives," Mr Merchant explained.
He recalled how Mr Gervais, now 64, would joke about their 13 or 14-year age gap, noting that while Mr Merchant was out discovering his favourite nightclub, Mr Gervais was finding his favourite comfortable chair.
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Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais first crossed paths in 1997
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The duo first crossed paths in 1997 when Mr Merchant applied for a position as Mr Gervais's assistant at XFM radio station.
Their collaboration soon blossomed into one of British television's most successful creative partnerships, beginning with The Office, a mockumentary following employees at the fictional Wernham Hogg paper company in Slough.
Mr Gervais took the lead role of hapless manager David Brent, while Mr Merchant made a brief appearance as a character known as The Oggmonster.
The pair went on to produce a string of acclaimed projects together, including Extras in 2005, the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, and travel series An Idiot Abroad featuring Karl Pilkington.
Stephen Merchant said that their relationship has always been characterised by distance
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Their final joint venture was Life's Too Short, which concluded in 2013, marking over a decade since they last collaborated professionally.
Mr Merchant was unequivocal that the groundbreaking sitcom, which has been remade in 13 countries including the United States, will never be revived.
"After we ended The Office, Ricky and I realised that we couldn't compete with it and so we had to do something completely different," he told The Times.
When asked whether the pair might reunite professionally, Mr Merchant left the door slightly ajar.
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Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais are the creative duo behind The Office (UK), the 2001 mockumentary that revolutionized modern television comedy
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"Would we work together again? Well, never say never, but we wouldn't revive The Office," he said.
The comedian acknowledged that The Office's phenomenal success created its own challenges, admitting he spent years competing with himself following the show's initial triumph.
He compared the situation to Noel Gallagher not listening to the countless cover versions of Wonderwall being performed around the world.
Speculation about a rift between the comedy duo intensified in 2020 following the release of Mr Gervais's Netflix series After Life, which depicts a widower struggling to cope with his wife's death.
Mr Merchant had responded to a social media question about least favourite television tropes by posting: "Watching old home movies of dead child/wife = inability to move on."
Many observers interpreted the comment as a thinly veiled criticism of After Life, which prominently features such scenes, with some declaring the creative partnership was finished.
However, Mr Merchant has firmly rejected suggestions the tweet was aimed at his former collaborator.
"Whenever people stop working as closely together as they were, people immediately assume it's 'knives out'," he said.
Stephen Merchant was accused of dissing Mr Gervais' Netflix series 'Afterlife'
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Mr Merchant revealed he had not even watched After Life when he posted the tweet, making the accusation all the more baffling to him.
"Why would I? It was such a strange idea to me, that I'd take a swipe at Ricky by doing a tweet, and [make] an abstract criticism of his show," he said.
The Netflix series, which stars Mr Gervais as a man whose life falls apart following his wife's death, went on to become the world's most-watched British sitcom.
Mr Gervais himself addressed the falling out rumours in 2020, stating he deliberately avoids responding to such speculation because "it annoys them".
He insisted there was no bad blood, explaining that he had always pursued his own projects and his former collaborators were now doing the same.