Ricky Gervais bits and pieces
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Here's a rough clip of Gervais in GTA IV.
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nekokate



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Location: West Yorkshire, UK

PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Haha! I wonder if you can get up and shoot him. I'm really pissed off that I won't be able to play this cos I only have a PS2 that's covered in dust.
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maycm
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 9:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

He looks too slim to me......by request perhaps?
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PostPosted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Ricky Gervais talks about 'This Side of the Truth'.
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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 2:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's an 'offending' video from SNL

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nekokate



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PostPosted: Mon May 19, 2008 3:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, that parody went on far too long.
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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 8:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here's an interview with Gervais on Q104 radio

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nekokate



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PostPosted: Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A new hour-long Gervais podcast with Merchant and Pilkington has been released today on iTunes. Hooray! Oooh! Chimpanzee that!
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 01, 2008 1:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

RICKY GERVAIS has written to Gordon Brown urging him to halt the use of genuine bearskin in the ceremonial hats worn by Buckingham Palace guards.

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Gervais in a painfully non-political political appeal? He must be wanting to hang out with Sting and Bono... if he had any balls he'd be writing to Brown to ask him to stop letting innocent civilians being murdered by British troops in Afghanistan! But he's part of the establishment now, so that just wouldn't do...
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 3:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ricky Gervais - Interview
Moviehole.net
British funny man, satirist and writer Ricky Gervais rose to international prominence in the acclaimed British sitcom ''The Office''. His follow-up series, ''Extras'', received widespread critical acclaim. A brilliantly sardonic observer of social mores, he is now the star of the Hollywood movie, ''Ghost Town'', that premiered at the recent Toronto Film Festival. Here he plays a selfish dentist who almost dies during a routine procedure and finds himself surrounded by ghosts who need his help.

It was quite the challenge to keep a straight face during this meeting, but Gervais talked about the film and admitted that he'd rather write than perform. Paul Fischer had a front row seat at this special audience with a comic icon.

Question: So Ricky I understand that you only agreed to do Ghost Town on the condition that you didn't have to kiss anybody.

Gervais: No. What I thought was - the ending was this Hollywood thing. And I thought, "Well, that doesn't solve anything. I don't like those schmaltzy endings where you think, "Oh, they kiss, and then the rest of their life's all right." So I just thought it was better if they - if you did it just slightly more subliminally, really. I did say, "No nudity." You don't want to see this with a shirt off. No, we did work on the ending. And I thought I liked it more that - it was a line, because one of my favourite films is The Apartment. And in that, she just says, "Shut up and deal." That's what I wanted. And we came up with - "It hurts when I smile." "I can fix that." And I thought that was a much nicer ending. I just think that at last, for people to see that - and they go, "That's different." And they wouldn't even have noticed if you hadn't said it. But I think they go in, and they think, "There's something slightly different about this film." And that's what I always want to do. I think, "It should be slightly different at least. Even for its own sake, it should be slightly different," because otherwise - you know, just watch another film that probably does it better than you.

Question: Why did this character speak to you, that you wanted this to be your first lead in a movie?

Gervais: It looked like me on the page. When I first read it - and I'd read a lot of scripts, and I turned them all down mainly because I was busy. I felt, "This is the best script I've read in five years." And it was an interesting character. I laughed. This curmudgeonly awful, rich, successful, clever man, going around saying, "You're all idiots" appealed to me. And I've always liked those wisecrackers that sort of laughed in the face of adversity and it didn't do `em any good. That's the important thing. They're still the loser. Groucho Marx. Woody Allen, Bob Hope. They might be getting these things off their chest, but they're still losing. And I really like that and I like that about Pincus. It's slightly more emotional than some of the broader comedies, in the fact that it's quite heartwarming. I felt a bit sorry for him, as well. And that was important. There was a thing where we went back and we came up with him just making cocoa. It's really sweet, and he's - his little pajamas are laid out. And he's a man who wants order. But he's missing out on something. And he sort of knows it, deep down. That always appeals to me. Pathos, and - comedy plus, I call it. [LAUGHTER]

Question: I read somewhere where you said you don't see yourself as an actor. You more want to direct and write. Did that change, now?

Gervais: Well, there's a reason for that. I mean, for me, the exciting thing is the idea. I love the creative process. And I've never stopped knowing that's why I like this. The acting thing I fell into because - you know, with David Brent, it was my role, and I think I was the best person for the job. Mostly, I'm not. You know, if I got offered 100 films, 90 of them would be arbitrary. And I'd know there were better people than me and if I think that--I can't go into a film thinking, "Well, someone else will be better for this." My first lead in a film, I was offered after the first episode of The Office went out. And a studio called me. They sent me the script. And I said, "Who's the lead?" They went, "You are." I went, "Well, who's gonna go and see that?" I said, "You want John Cusack." And they went silent and thought, "Why is this nobody talking himself out of a film?" And it's true. If you want someone to say the lines and stand in one place and do it well, every actor is better than me.

Question: But you also said no to smaller supporting roles, like Pirates of the Caribbean, if that rumor's true.

Gervais: Yeah. Well, I was offered that. But, I mean, I was busy, and I just thought - you know, I don't want to sit in a Winnebago for six months, to pop up as a comedy pirate. Now there's nothing wrong with that, but no one's ever said, "He's been in 19 films for two minutes. Let's get him his own starring role and let him direct it." You know, it doesn't happen like that. And I get no joy out of seeing my fat face on the screen. I get joy out of the work. I get joy out of the work. And I just - and I always - you know, and you get offered lovely things that would be fun. But I just think, "What's the best that can happen?"

Question: Is that why you limit yourself to only doing two series of each of these shows?

Gervais: Well, that - yeah, but there's a different reason for that as well. Because the intensity that we work at that - and we do everything, me and Steve. You know, we write, direct it, we sort of produce it. You know, that no one's even allowed in the edit. We hand over a finished product and you can't do that too long. It's just too intense. You'll run out of ideas. You'll repeat yourself, or the quality will go down. And, you know, I started late. I've got so many ideas, I don't want to die before I could do all these ideas.

Question: Just like in the film.

Gervais: Just like in the film, yeah.

Question: You said that when you read a script, there's always a better actor who can stand in one place and say the lines. What is there not a better actor than you, to do? What is it you feel you can do better than anyone?

Gervais: I think I can bring something else. I think that because I'm a writer-director, I can sometimes see the bigger picture if they care. But I also think that the roles I'm going to, and the people that want to hire me, sort of know what I do. And let's face it. You know, there are much better people, if they just wanted - you know. I cut lines.

Question: There are Hollywood rules that you've set up?

Gervais: I just think that sometimes there's lazy scriptwriting, or editing or direction. And I just think, it's as easy to get it right as get it wrong. If you're there, you know, you can just feel it. And like when we did The Office, we had a bigger list of don't's than do's when we were writing the office. We thought, "Right. Let's talk how people talk," for a start. Exposition. People come into a room going, "Hi, Tom. You know your sister, Sheila, who went to the Gambia?" What, we forgot to put that in the script, did we? It's sort of like, let's show, not tell. It's just little things like that. That stand out. And I just think there's enough poor television. It's easy to do television. It's easy to get something one the telly. I mean, people - if someone makes a bad TV show, they're promoted. Because they made a TV show. And I think, "No, no, no! Let's just - let's try and make good ones!" You know, I don't want to do things that are just fodder. I don't want to fill half an hour, and I don't want to do a film that's just because you have the money, or got a bit of lottery funding. You know, you want everything to be special and timeless, and last, and be fun.

Question: I take it there will be no more Extras.

Gervais: No. No. I don't think so, no. It's - you know, at the beginning I was saying, "Never say never," like The Office. But I think we did it. I think we nailed it on the special and it'd be going back for a slightly less wanted uncle. And I just think, you know, we should leave it. It's done. I'm really happy with that ending.

Question: Pretty sad, though.

Gervais: Well, you say that. But if I did another one, you'd probably wish I hadn't. Everyone thinks they want a third series. Always lets you down.

Question: Ricky, may I ask, did you get a reaction from the British Prime Minister from your letter? I read that you wrote a letter.

Gervais: No, I haven't yet. Oh, I forgot to put it in a stamped, addressed envelope. I just said, "Can we stop killing bears to make hats for guards at Buckingham Palace?" It just seems a little bit over the top. To kill - it takes a whole bear to make a hat.

Question: You're kidding!

Gervais: Yeah - it's Canadian black bears. They get one hide. They shoot a bear. Sometimes they orphan -

Question: What kind of bears are they?

Gervais: A Canadian black bear.

Question: As a suggestion, what would they do for their hats?

Gervais: Synthetic. It was - they're not - they're ceremonial, for Christ's sake. Who's at the gates of Buckingham Palace going, "That fur looks a bit off. I want my money back. Who's the twat in the useless hat? I'm off."

Question: Especially in England, you're a star. How do people treat you on the street?

Question: Is it that you can actually walk on the street?

Gervais: Yeah. part of it was a little bit - I was a little bit phobic, because it's weird to be famous. And it's worse on your doorstep, as well. So it gave me the creeps a little bit for a while. But now I've got a big house with a big gate, and shutters.

Question: How do you deal with the fame?

Gervais: I'm getting a bit better at it. But I try and ignore it. I try and live a normal life. But - I mean, you can't, because I don't want to be out, and I don't go out to parties, and I don't - the fame for me has never been the best bit. It's always been the worst bit. You know, everything about this is better than being recognized. Genuinely. The work's great. The money's good. I love nice reviews, I love the awards. I love jumping queues at the airport. But it feels weird. It's not natural, it's not right. And I knew when I went into it, it was an upshot of what I did. You know, if The Office--if you're a successful actor, you're a famous person. But I just want people to know that - you know, why you do it. I remember one of the first interviews I did, I was very prickly about the whole subject. "And I don't want to be lumped in with people who just do anything to be famous. Like, you know, I know there's a difference between Robert DeNiro and a Big Brother winner. And I want to firmly be in that first camp. You know, someone who's doing a trade, and wants to be successful in it." And this journalist said, "So what would you give advice to anyone else who wants to be famous?" And I went, "I'd tell them to go out and kill a prostitute." Yeah, it didn't go down well then, either.

Question: Especially if they killed a prostitute.

Gervais: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. "Ricky told me. Jesus and Ricky told me."

Question: Are you finding that, Ricky, with This Side of the Truth--is it like a cocktail party? You're directing, obviously, that film, aren't you?

Gervais: Yeah. No, I slipped into it pretty well, because I know what I'm doing. You know, again, it's a comedy-plus idea, and I know what I want. if somebody asked me to direct The Matrix, I wouldn't know where to start. I'd be in real trouble. But I know where I am with this comedy-plus, as I call it. It's keeping an eye on the idea. And if you're there - as I say, it's as easy to get it right as get it wrong.

Question: How's that going?

Gervais: It's great. We're halfway through it, and we're in the middle of a dub, and putting the music on. And, you know, it's great. And again, the thing that I'm proudest most about it, is it's slightly different. You know, there's not a film quite like it. And I don't think there's a film like this around at the moment. I mean, you go back to the '40s, and you'll find things a bit like it. Of course, there's lots of more modern sensibilities in there. The humor's changed a little bit. It's a bit spikier than something Jimmy Stewart would have done. But it's nice to play against type. It's nice to be an antidote to things. And this isn't a film aimed at 12-year-old boys who like smut. It's a grown-up comedy, you know?

Question: Would you return to television?

Gervais: Yeah. Of course. Yeah. What have you got? [LAUGHTER] No, I would. I haven't left television behind. It's just a coincidence that I did, like, you know, all those things in a row. And then - all those things. Two. And then, you know, there's sort of three films in a row that I'm doing. But that's a coincidence, really. But no, I certainly haven't left television behind. I just don't have any time at the moment.

Question: What about The Office for the big screen. Possibly? Or never ever.

Gervais: Never. Never. They want us to do a live show of it. Bizarre! A fake doc--a fake documentary, now at the theatre. No. No, I won't do it. I think there's a German one, I think they're making.

Question: Are you surprised the American version of The Office has become as huge as it -

Gervais: Well, yes, because, you know, any remake died, the last 30 years. Every remake has fallen by the wayside, either before it got to production, or taken off on the third episode. But I'm not surprised that America gets it. Because - two reasons. The office isn't as quintessentially English as you first might think. It's about universal subjects. It's about - you know, wasting your life. It's quite existential. A bad boss. Boy meets girl. And also, all my influences are American. Everything I've ever loved. From Laurel and Hardy, the Simpsons, Woody Allen, Marx Brothers, through sit-com. Through things like Taxi, Cheers, M*A*S*H, right up to the present day with great stuff like Arrested Development and Curb Your Enthusiasm. All my influences have been American. So I'm not surprised in that sense. But I'm surprised how successful the English version was. I mean, it's ridiculous, you'd never have dreamt it. But, it was sort of there. The seed of the idea is there for the taking, because I say, it's an everyman sort of concept.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


Here's Gervais on Wednesday's Daily Show.
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 21, 2008 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote


Ricky Gervais gets a grilling over his less than perfect smile
By Caroline Graham
20th September 2008

It was the sort of cringe-making moment that David Brent is agonisingly famous for. But this time Ricky Gervais, creator of The Office, was on the receiving end. The British comic – now a Hollywood success thanks to his new movie Ghost Town – was asked by an American journalist about the horrible-looking false teeth he wore for the film.

‘No, actually,’ he told the embarrassed interviewer. ‘They are my own.’

In the movie, Gervais, 47, plays a dentist with the remarkable name of Bertram Pincus who ‘dies’ for seven minutes during routine surgery and then wakes up to discover he can see ghosts. But Gervais says the Americans lost their sense of humour when it came to the delicate matter of his real teeth.

He said: ‘Everywhere I go, American journalists are asking me about my “horrid” teeth. One journalist said to me, “Now, in this film, you have an amazing set of horrible-looking fake dentist teeth.” I told him, “No, actually, they are my own,” and there was this long pause.

‘He was horrified that I could have such horrible real teeth. It’s like the biggest difference between the Brits and the Americans, they are obsessed with perfect teeth. ‘I was like, “Don’t worry about it. I mean, what do you think, that I woke up one day and just put these in? I’m English!” ‘He went bright red and said, “I just can’t believe you haven’t had them fixed.”’

Gervais, who says he refuses to ‘go Hollywood’ and have his teeth crowned, suffered the ignominy of having his teeth electronically ‘fixed’ when Extras, his follow-up to The Office, launched in America.

He said: ‘The suits behind the channel decided my face and teeth just weren’t up to par so they Photo-shopped my crooked teeth for the poster and made them bright white and straight. My skin was tanned about two shades darker and my hair was made just so. They airbrushed my head out of recognition. I think my teeth are OK by British standards but the Americans clearly think I’m manky. They probably think I wear a fat suit, too.’

In Ghost Town, Gervais stars with David Duchovny’s wife Téa Leoni and Greg Kinnear. He is currently shooting another movie called This Side Of The Truth with Hollywood beauty Jennifer Garner about a world where people lack the gene for lying. And tonight his Extras: Christmas Special is in line for six Emmys, the US television equivalent of the Oscars, at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

Of his success in the States, Gervais says: ‘When the British version of The Office started airing in America, it was ridiculous. I was offered a slew of movie roles. Those offers were premature. I wanted to wait until I had something that I was really proud of and Ghost Town is it.’

------------------

If I'd been in Gervais' shoes I'd have made the point that even with those teeth I was still massively more successful than the perfectly dentured hack!
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 20, 2008 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote


"I get no joy from seeing my fat face on the telly, although I don't think anyone believes me on that"
18 October 2008
By Claire Black

"THAT'S A F***ING TERRIBLE METAPHOR and I want to take it back immediately." I've just asked Ricky Gervais – a man whose comedy sits somewhere between social awkwardness and excruciating embarrassment – whether he worries about having a blind spot, about pushing the joke too far? In explaining that, no, he doesn't because the only person he's trying to please is himself, Gervais uses this analogy.
"Christopher Guest (of Spinal Tap fame] said to me once, 'What happens when we lose it and no-one tells us?' And I said it doesn't matter. Who cares? It's like worrying about getting Alzheimer's – who cares? Do you know what I mean?"

But before I answer, he's off on one, berating himself in a kind of high-speed Socratic dialogue with gags. "That's a terribly naive thing to say because there's a process – it's terrible for your family. I wish I hadn't used it now. I apologise to anyone who has anyone in their family who has Alzheimer's. It's the most shallow, ridiculous thing I've ever said and I've said a few. F*** me. 'Oh yeah, Rick, you doing a bad film is just like my dad having Alzheimer's. It's the worry of the world. What if Rick loses it? It's something on everyone's mind as they get old.' "

And there, in a nutshell, is Mr Ricky Gervais, self-proclaimed "king of comedy" – or was he kidding about that too? I mean it, I could stop right here because, captured in that duff analogy and resultant retraction, is the dichotomy and dilemma of Ricky Gervais. There's the man people like to think Ricky Gervais is – arrogant, self-obsessed, utterly lacking in humility – and the man I suspect Ricky Gervais really is – intellectual, philosophical about comedy and seriously funny.

It's partly his own fault. He first played the "arrogance card", as he calls it, to hide his embarrassment at award ceremonies where he hoovered up, well, an embarrassing number of awards. Then he got some laughs so he kept doing it. Then, most revealingly, someone took a pop at him for it and that sealed it.

"I wanted to do it even more because I was annoying someone," he says, serious-faced. "If people are annoyed by something on the telly, turn it off. If I don't like someone on the telly, I turn it off and don't let them ruin my day." His voice has gone up an octave by the time he finishes this sentence and the full stop is the Gervais laugh: part Scooby-Doo, part hyena, part baboon. You know the one.

Then there are the characters for which Gervais is best known. David Brent in The Office, Andy Millman in Extras, even Gervais doing stand-up – they're unintentionally, hilariously (or infuriatingly, depending on your sense of humour) arrogant. Gervais does it so well it's hard not to believe he's really like that.

He tells me it goes back to when he moved on from filling in for Ali G on the 11 O'Clock Show to presenting Meet Ricky Gervais, a kind of spoof chat show. He doesn't regret it exactly, but he does acknowledge he made a mistake. "I was playing the bigoted character – the homophobic racist who was funny for the wrong reasons," he says. "I shouldn't have used my own name. I know I got the wrong fans. By that, I mean the people who clap when I make an ironic joke about gypsies. Whoa, no no no, I'm the idiot."

It's taken a long time for the right people to understand, Gervais says, and still some don't. "You can't legislate against stupidity. There's only so many nods and winks you can give and then you're ruining the satire. I suppose, at first, it might have been easier for me to call myself Billy Bigot, but really, can't you get this? Isn't it enough that I'm making jokes about famine that you know it must be a joke?"

When he says it like this it makes sense but when he's in full flow, sometimes I don't know. Or maybe I know, but I don't always find it funny. Happily we're on safer ground today, talking about his new film, Ghost Town, a shiny Hollywood rom-com that gives Gervais his first leading man role, alongside Tea Leoni and Greg Kinnear.

Bertram Pincus (Gervais) is a misanthropic, socially inept dentist who, after a near-death experience, develops the ability to see dead people. The film is funny and even poignant at moments. Gervais does his dyspeptic shtick with ease and there's a nod to Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit and a wink towards 1940s screwball comedy.

I tell him I liked the film; he says an earnest-sounding thanks, then explains why, after years of turning down movies, he said yes to this one. "The thing I like about it most is that it's a real Hollywood movie," he says flashing those pointy teeth. Gervais was offered films from the moment the first episode of The Office was shown back in 2001. "Ridiculous," he says, so he said no to everything other than working with Christopher Guest ("my hero"), with Ben Stiller on Night at the Museum and Robert De Niro in Stardust. They were cameo parts, not that well received, but they suited Gervais. He got Stiller and De Niro to appear in Extras as a result. The other offers were "awful, awful Britcoms" or films where he couldn't see why they needed him.

"I never regret saying no. I say no," – he's saying the word as though he's telling off a puppy, stress on the 'nnnn-o' – "until I get another knock. No to everything, forget it. I'm suspicious if I haven't had the idea. People come to me with the best idea in the world but I think, 'Well, I haven't had that idea so I don't know'."

Gervais says things like this as though that's how everyone feels, as though everyone is as sure of themselves as he is. I think he believes that. It's why his talk of trusting no-one more than himself, of pleasing only himself, sounds perfectly right to him and more than a little bit pompous to everyone else.

While he was shooting Ghost Town, he was picking up tips for his next film, which he has co-written and directed, as well as starred in. This Side of Truth, which has Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and current American darling Tina Fey in the cast, is about a world where a writer (Gervais) is the first person to lie. Once that's done, there's another cinematic project with his most constant collaborator, Stephen Merchant, called The Man From the Pru. Writing, directing, starring – does he have control issues?

"It's no more effort," he says, smiling. "When I'm acting I'm saying, 'Let's do it like this.'

"The writing's the fun bit, so for the same time you have all the input, it's your baby and you get paid three times for the same hours."

Money. It's another thing that fuels the anti-Gervais camp. As well as assuaging his control issues, the fact that he owns all of his work means he's made a lot of money. As The Office format has been sold to countries around the world, royalty cheques have made their way to Gervais. There's the multi-million-pound pad in Hampstead which he shares with long-term partner Jane Fallon, once a TV producer, now a bestselling novelist. And now an apartment on the Upper East Side of New York which Gervais describes as "the best city in the world". Not bad for the man who was 36 when he got his first job at a radio station, Xfm. Before that, he'd been the events manager at the student union of the University of London, where he'd studied philosophy.

Gervais's success leads his critics to whine about him having lost his common touch. He's got too much money, he's not ordinary anymore, he doesn't know what it's like to be just like us. Maybe that's why he's so popular in America. Here, we want to knock him for it, but it doesn't seem to worry Gervais much. He's got bigger concerns.

The phrase Gervais says most often is "Who cares?" It might sound flippant but it's not, because Gervais really is bothered about who does. His art – "I used to be ashamed to call it that but I'm not anymore" – is about connecting to people, about making them laugh but also about making them think.

And in that is the explanation of the misfit characters. "I like redemption," he says. "I never understood it, growing up. The prodigal son story? Never understood it, I worried about it. I phoned up Russell Brand recently and I was teasing him about it – 'why do you get a round of applause when you say you haven't taken heroin for a while? I've never taken heroin, where's my applause?'"

Redemption appeals because it's optimistic, it allows for hope. "The biggest arsehole in the world saying, 'I'm sorry' because the nice one has won," he says, describing the scenario he likes best. "Not only are they on the same side now, but the nice one's won. The nice one did some good in the world.

"That's the thing, I want to know my balance of good to bad is right. I'm an atheist but I want God to say, 'Well, let's take a look, oh you're way in the black – well done'. That's what I want."

An atheist comedian with religious fantasies and what sounds suspiciously like a moral code to me.

"It is. I mean, what else is there? I don't just want to be funny because it's not important enough. Anyone can be funny. Falling over is funny ... but then what?"

Gervais is interested in "comedy plus" – laughs for sure, but something more too.

"I get no joy from seeing my fat face on the telly. I didn't do it for the money, I certainly didn't do it for the fame, it's probably the worst bit of it, although I don't think anyone believes me on that.

"I do it because I love that feeling – I love that feeling of saying I've had an idea. I love it. That's what's fun for me. I think everyone needs to be creative. For me, it's coming up with funny things that will hopefully make people laugh – or, more importantly, make them think. That's the best, that's the ultimate."

Gervais has only been in show business for eight years ("it's hardly Tarby, is it?") but in that time he's picked up Golden Globes, BAFTAs, Emmys, British Comedy Awards. He's sold millions of DVDs and holds the world record for the most internet downloads for the podcast he makes with Merchant. His live tour, Fame, was the fastest-selling live tour in history and now he's a Hollywood leading man. You can see why he irritates some people.

In conversation, Gervais isn't annoying; he's funny and generous. He looks just as he does on screen. His hair may be a shade darker, his black suit and white T-shirt ensemble a kind of media-type uniform, but the laugh is as you hear it on screen, the incisors just as sharp.

At 47, he's barely changed since he first emerged into the limelight. It's another reason that you can't really imagine him as anyone other than Ricky Gervais. Even in the footage of him as a new romantic pop star wannabe (in his final year of university, Gervais was the lead singer in short-lived band, Seona Dancing) he looks like a slimmer Ricky Gervais mocking a new romantic pop star wannabe. His speech is the same. He sounds just like David Brent and Andy Millman and Bertram Pincus – slightly faltering with some long pauses to prompt laughs.

It makes me wonder about Ricky Gervais as a boy – was he just a younger, smaller version of who he is now? Gervais grew up in Reading, the youngest of four, in a "typical working-class family". His dad was a labourer and his mum a housewife. So was being funny part of family life?

"Yes, absolutely," he says. "It was the whole point of growing up, really. Outside the health of your family and a decent job of work, it was having a laugh that was important. You had to have a laugh. You weren't allowed to be a bore. They (his parents] didn't care what their kids turned out like so long as they weren't boring."

Another sketch illustrates:

"Is your kid in jail again?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Is he still funny?"

"Oh yeah, he's still funny."

"Armed robbery, good on him, at least he's not boring, like that other one."

"What, the librarian?"

"Yeah."

And was he funny then like he is now?

"My fascination with character means that I've always been a people watcher. Even as a kid, I wondered why that man looked different. Growing up, it was impressions of teachers or impressions of other kids. As soon as I could deconstruct someone I was doing it."

Deconstruction, connection, creativity – Gervais is a serious funny man. "Oh, just don't make me sound pretentious," he says, sounding like a man who knows that, in the face of something more complicated, less easily packaged into soundbites, terms such as pretentiousness or arrogance will do.

They're not right, though. So what is?

He plumps for the term comedian to describe himself, even though in his head he's a writer/director. "Writer/director of what?" he asks. "It confuses people. So it's 'funny bloke'."

That will do.
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Joined: 25 Apr 2006

PostPosted: Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote



Appearance tonight on Film 2008 with Jonathan Ross.
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seshme



Joined: 02 May 2008

PostPosted: Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:20 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

When complimenting a film Ross always says to his actor guests especially on his chat show 'If I don't like a film I just don't say anything'.

I noticed on the chat show on Friday and here he never says he likes his pal's film... Smile
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