Darren Lamb

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Darren Lamb is the name of a fictional theatrical agent portrayed by Stephen Merchant on the BBC Two television sitcom Extras, written and directed by both Merchant and his frequent collaborator Ricky Gervais. He is a frequent figure of fun on the show, largely due to his hideous incompetence at his job.

He is utterly incapable of breaking an act, and his usual negotiating tactic is to agree with whatever anyone else says or, more likely, suggest someone other than his client for the part. He's very good at deducting his 12.5% pay deduction, however (despite the fact that, frequently having done nothing to contribute to his act's success, he is usually forced to resort to begging for it). His lack of professional skills is typified by one occasion when he inadvertently left his office phone unplugged for two days without noticing. He is also known to make inappropriate remarks at the least helpful of times. Lamb works part-time at the Carphone Warehouse, but in Episode 4 of Series 2, he mentions he only works on Saturdays while "Narinda" is pregnant.

Despite these (and more) overwhelming examples of incompetence, Lamb is nevertheless the agent of the series' protagonist, the long-suffering Andy Millman (Ricky Gervais), who is more than aware of his agent's utter uselessness but nevertheless feels compelled to retain him out of a slightly perverse mixture of loyalty and pity. Lamb is also the agent of Shaun Williamson, formerly "Barry Evans" from the popular British soap opera EastEnders, who left the show in order to seek wealthier pastures. As Lamb is his agent, Williamson's efforts were spectacularly unsuccessful, and it is perhaps indicative of Williamson's chances of future success that even Lamb doesn't seem to know his name, referring to him merely as "Barry off EastEnders" or simply "Barry" in reference to his character and sometimes deviations of this, such as "Barr" or "B".