My worst moment: Before Stephen Merchant was famous for ‘The Office,’ his stand-up comedy act sometimes bombed

In “The Outlaws,” the British series created by and starring Stephen Merchant (now in its second season on Amazon), a group of people guilty of minor crimes must take part in a community service program in Bristol — only they somehow find themselves caught up in a scenario far more complicated than they anticipated. Christopher Walken also stars.

“When I first got into the business,” Merchant said, “I remember someone at the BBC saying to me: ‘In a good comedy or good drama, you should chase your characters up a tree and then throw rocks at them.’ So Season 1 was chasing them up the tree and Season 2 is throwing rocks at them and anything else we can find lying around. Really turning up the heat. The stakes are higher, and the jeopardy and the threats are more extreme.”

Merchant first gained fame as the co-creator of the original British version of “The Office” with Ricky Gervais. He and Gervais teamed up again on “Extras” and “Life’s Too Short.” As an actor, Merchant also starred in his own series “Hello Ladies” and his other on-screen