Talk about television eating itself, I've spent the last few days trying to get my head around the final episode of Extras. Was Ricky Gervais's tirade against the modern obsession with fame biting the hand that feeds him and having his Christmas cake and eating it? Opinion seems to be divided. Some loved it, some have said there was something hypocritical about Gervais's closing rant, suggesting that he is extremely fortunate in being secure enough to criticise the culture of celebrity, whereas the Z listers who claw their way up the greasy pole with barely enough talent to find their way to the television studio are only trying to earn a crust. And who can blame them for that?

The actual programme was always going to be too inward-looking to be as powerful or touching as the final episode of The Office, when Tim and Dawn walked off into the sitcom sunset. But there were some great gags in it. Telling the paparazzi where George Michael was on Hampstead Heath when he was told that George was doing the Catherine Tate special was a beautiful touch of art imitating life – did Gervais actually know George really was doing the Tate show when he wrote the scene? (and by the way, did George's face look kind of odd on Tate's show?)

Other moments were not so effective. This was supposed to be the sitcom that took Andy Millman, hardly a tortured soul, into a new dark place. And what was that dark place? Not Dave Pelzer-type misery. Not even Tony Soprano-type angst. One where you can't get a table at the Ivy without booking three months in advance. The dark place where you have to appear on Dr Who – one of the the most lauded dramas in years – to keep your profile up. That is hardly as dark as bereavement or not being able to feed and house your family. And as for the Reality-TV-as-Victorian-Freakshow rant at the end, commentators have been saying precisely that since the first series of big Brother aired in 2001. People know it already. The real trouble is that they know it and keep watching it and no fictional sitcom character saying "Shame on you" is going to change that. This was real hall of mirrors stuff. What is the fundamental difference between someone raising their profile by appearing on Extras and someone raising their profile by appearing on Big Brother?

Maggie's character was supposed to portray a dark side too, but, although great at times, she was fabulously inconsistent. One moment she was showing true integrity and standing up to Clive Owen's abuse, the next she was an idiot pretending to be Millman's PA who thought that Ridley Scott was actually "Wrigley Scott".

As for this idea that it is possible to fight back against fame, there are very few people able to resist the lure of true populist success. The only name that springs immediately to mind is stand-up comedian Daniel Kitson, who won the 2002 Perrier Award but then turned down endless TV offers, preferring to gig to a small coterie of fans who "get him". Luckily Kitson is gifted enough to be able to make a living, but I have still heard rumours of him talking to TV companies about possible projects in the past, so given the right vehicle even he might be sucked into the celebrity beast.

The greatest irony of all of this is that Andy Millman's predicament is precisely the same as Ricky Gervais's real-life fix. Gervais wants to make people laugh and I get the increasing feeling that he also wants to be taken seriously. But maybe his real strength is making the nation split its sides. Gervais says he wants to write more dramatic work, so the real test comes now. Somehow I can't see him taking part in Big Brother if his future projects fail, but neither can I see him walking away from comedy altogether. The clown might want to play Hamlet but I would imagine he'll miss having a laugh too much to give the clowning up completely. And after all, I'd much rather have another series of Extras than another series of To The Manor Born.

Oh, and by the way, Stephen Merchant was as hilarious as ever. Particularly when falling over the BBC security gate. Also, was it just a coincidence that Merchant, Shaun Williamson and Dean Gaffney's characters ended up working in Carphone Warehouse – the company that used to sponsor Big Brother?

Interested to hear that Little Britain's David Walliams is due to play Frankie Howerd in a BBC4 drama next year. Though not that surprised. Apart from the fact that Walliams is hot property at the moment – he has also just signed a lucrative deal to write children's books, following in the footsteps of Madonna, Ricky Gervais and the Duchess of York – this was a part he was born to play. When he first met Matt Lucas at Bristol University in the nineties they bonded over Walliams' bang-on "ooh, er, no, missus" impression of Howerd.

It is funny how people are often fated to play certain roles. Matt Lucas, by coincidence, has been rumoured to be in the frame to play Benny Hill in a telly biopic, and that's another role that seems to make perfect sense. I can see it now – Lucas running around a suburban park being chased by bikini-clad dolly birds.

I can remember two decades ago Spandau Ballet's Martin and Gary Kemp being interviewed in the music press and going on about their fascination with the Kray Twins. Sure enough they ended up playing the East End gangsters in a movie a few years later. Why no-one has cast Eric and Ernie-fans Reeves and Mortimer in a Morecambe and Wise biopic is beyond me. Though then again maybe potential producers saw their acting in Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and decided that physical similarity isn't everything.

So what other comedians-as-comedians biopics can we expect in the future? Well, Jack Dee as Les Dawson must come at some point. And who else could play Norman Wisdom but Lee Evans? Robert De Niro famously piled on the pounds to play ageing boxer Jake La Motta in Raging Bull. Dee and Evans could go straight onto the set after a light breakfast.

Interesting to see that Dawn French decided not to interview Ricky Gervais for her new series Boys Who Do Comedy. That's a serious omission for a series that offers a pretty comprehensive overview of the art of comedy and includes interviews with over 30 male mirth-makers. French reportedly said she didn't ask Ricky because "he’s been very unkind to me and to Len and he’s been quite personal."

This is certainly some evidence to back this up. There are gags at the expense of French's size in his Fame show and in Extras there was the scene when his character Andy Millman was asked to name a funny black British comedian and – despite the fact that he is standing under a picture of Lenny Henry – he can't come up with any.

So these digs have clearly touched a nerve. Yet I don't think Gervais was really being maliciously personal. He was just doing what many comedians do in attacking establishment figures from the previous generation (French and Henry are only a handful of years older than Gervais, but they are certainly from a different comedy era). However, wouldn't it have been brilliant if French had confronted Gervais on camera about the cruelty of his remarks?

Insult seems to be the name of the game in comedy these days. If you ever get to see this year's British Comedy Awards on television you'll see host Jonathan Ross putting the boot into various stars. Green Wing's Stephen Mangan was cruelly mocked for doing the Barclaycard ads, while in one of his intros Ross said something on the lines of "This is no laughing matter...like the Peter Serafinowicz Show". Ouch. And then miaow.

But is it really bullying? Ross's kind of showbiz bitchiness comes from the American tradition of "roasts" – very different to the footballing use of the term, this is when a star is celebrated by being mocked. Somehow Ross seems to get away with it – most of the time – whereas others cannot quite pull it off. Ricky Gervais can get away with it when he takes the mickey out of his tennis-circuit mates – David Baddiel, Jimmy Carr, etc – but going outside that chum circle is riskier.

Of course, Gervais may not be concerned about appearing in Dawn French's series – he'd probably say that telly documentaries are transient while Golden Globes are permanent. But he should be – given that she has nabbed everyone from Robin Williams to Russell Brand, Matt Lucas and David Walliams his absence sticks out like a Hartlepool canoeist in Panama.

Funny old British Comedy Awards this year. Firstly was there really film in the cameras, given that it wasn't being broadcast live as usual? Secondly the gossipy women behind me seemed more interested in Lily Allen's weight loss and Faye Dunaway's hair (extensions?) than whether Hot Fuzz was a better movie than Borat. Thirdly, there were no big-name winners, with Little Britain and Ricky Gervais having a year off and leaving the way clear for cult sitcoms Peep Show and Gavin & Stacey to clean up.

Some of the categories still bothered me though. As for that Best Film Award, for instance, it has never been explained what the eligibility is. If they have to be British films how come The Simpsons Movie triumphed? Does the C4 connection make it eligible? If it was for any film at all, where were Knocked Up or Superbad?

As for Best Stand-up, Alan Carr's victory shunts him into the premier league and he is definitely a rising star. But why on earth wasn't Russell Brand even nominated? I can understand why his various TV vehicles did not make the grade, but one thing that is consistently said about the sex-fixated, bouffant-haired stick insect is that even people who hate him on TV have had to revise their opinions upwards after seeing him in full flow onstage. And let's face it, he's been just about everywhere else in the last week, from Have I Got News For You to The Royal Variety Performance.

It was a very odd omission that stuck out as much as a naked man in Oxford Street on a winter's day. You'd have thought they would have tried to shoehorn Brand into the show somehow, maybe creating a new award for Best Use Of Long Words In A Dot Cotton Voice. Even if they weren't too keen on his act, his presence would have certainly notched up a few more tabloid column inches. And given that the programme wasn't being aired surely they needed all the publicity they could get....