Ricky Gervais

A rare moment where Ricky isn't laughing.

Ricky Gervais (born 25 June 1961) is an English comic writer and performer from Reading, Berkshire, England. Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his award-winning BBC2 television programme The Office, which he co-wrote and co-directed with long-time friend and collaborator Stephen Merchant. In 2005, Gervais and Merchant returned with a new sitcom, Extras. In 2006, Gervais became the first guest star on The Simpsons to also write an episode, which aired 26 March 2006. In addition to writing and directing sitcoms, Gervais and Merchant formerly hosted a radio show and have recorded a number of podcasts with their friend Karl Pilkington.

Background

Childhood

Gervais came from humble beginnings, a working class family living in Whitley, Reading on a council estate. His father Jerry, a French-Canadian from London, Ontario, Canada, emigrated to England during World War II where he met his wife, Eva. Jerry worked as a labouror and Eva was a housewife. Gervais is the youngest of four siblings and he has often remarked about how he thinks he was an accident, since he is 11 years younger than his next eldest sibling.

Gervais speaks fondly of his upbringing; he often remarks that although they were not wealthy, as a child he always got what he wanted for Christmas as his mother would “get it out the catalogue and pay for it the first year.” From an early age Gervais developed an interest in science. He received a microscope set at the age of 10 or 11 and he once swapped one of his brother’s Elvis records for some chemicals.

A common childhood anecdote told by Gervais involves a go-cart he received as a Christmas present when he was a young child. He recalled that he would “be up and down the garden for hours,” playing with his go-cart. One day he returned home to find it was gone and when he asked his mother about it she said "Your Dad swapped it." His father had traded the go-cart to a man named Jimmy Dublin for a wheelbarrow. Gervais often went on holidays in a caravan with his mum and nan to Bogner Regis. On one of these holidays Gervais bragged to a mate that he had a go-cart. His mother overheard this and opened the window of the caravan to say “Don’t lie.”

Atheism

At the age of 8, Gervais became an atheist after his brother asked him why he believed in God. His mother’s reaction to the question caused him to question his beliefs and he says, “Within an hour, I was an atheist.” Gervais has always been outspoken about his atheism. In June 2008 he became an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society. He will also join Richard Dawkins in December 2008 as a special guest star for Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People: A Rational Celebration for Christmas, hosted by his friend, Robin Ince.

Ricky laughing.

University

Gervais attended Ashmead School before moving to University College London, changing from Biology to Philosophy, because Biology was "too much work." It was at UCL where Gervais met his long-term girlfriend Jane Fallon, with whom he has been together since the mid 1980s.

After his time at university in the late 1980s Gervais shared a small, one room flat with his girlfriend. It was at this time when the infamous story of “pissing in the sink” occurred. Since the flat had a communal toilet downstairs, Gervais would stand on his tiptoes at night to wee in the sink, rather than walk to the toilet. Jane’s one request was for him to, “At least take the dishes out first.” Gervais first told this story on Xfm and has since told the story as an encore for his standup tour and on various chat shows.

Another variation of the “pissing in the sink” story is the “pissing on Jane” story. At the age of 26, while at a party in Brighton at Jane’s parent’s house, Gervais had too much to drink He recalled that he was lying on the floor trying to trip people at the party and back at her parent’s place he spent 45 minutes on the bathroom floor singing “Right by Your Side” by the Eurythmics. Later, in the middle of the night, he woke up and confused the bed with the toilet. This woke up his girlfriend who immediately yelled, “Ricky!” to which he responded, “What?!” In his sleepy and drunk state, he did not feel she needed to wake him up after he had pissed on her. He instantly regretted telling the story on 08 December 2001.

Career

Seona Dancing

Main article: Seona Dancing

Ricky was the lead singer of the New Romantic group Seona Dancing. The group released two singles that failed to break the top 40 in the UK: Bitter Heart, and More To Lose, which became a massive hit in the Philippines in 1985. This came as a great surprise to the band, who had actually broken up the previous year.

"You're an idiot. Play a record."

Before Xfm

In the early 1990s, Ricky did various odd jobs including working in an office, and a stint as events manager at the University College London Union (ULU). Whilst in this job, he, along with Events Managers of two other London colleges, assisted British band Suede in booking gigs and gaining recognition. By his own admission, he was a bit-part player in the bands' early success, as he handed their first demo tape to Saul Galphern of Nude Records, with whom Suede signed. Gervais, along with the two other managers, were fired by Suede after they hired a full-time manager. Gervais was not bitter, and cited the firing as "business, innit." After this, he took a job at London radio station Xfm. He was also music advisor for the popular BBC drama This Life at this time thanks to the show's producer Jane Fallon.

Xfm

In 1997, Gervais was hired by Xfm as 'Head of Speech'. Upon starting the job, Gervais insisted he have an assistant. He jokes that took top CV on the pile, which was Stephen Merchant's. Ricky invited young Steve for an interview, took him to a pub around the corner from the then-Xfm offices on Charlotte St., and told Steve that if Steve did all the work he'd make sure Steve would have a good time. Steve was hired but soon quit when he realised Gervais was going to get them both sacked through his incompetence. Steve moved to a producer's course at the BBC, while Ricky stayed on, only to be made redundant when the station was taken over by the Capital Radio group in 1998. But it was in that short time working together that their friendship and the foundations of The Office were laid. Gervais' character called 'Seedy Boss' had been in-office entertainment, and was an early version of David Brent. When Steve needed a subject for a film he was making on his BBC course, he returned to Xfm and made a short film of Gervais as 'Seedy Boss'. This film would later be used to pitch The Office to the BBC.

From January to August 1998, Ricky and Steve had their own show on Xfm on Sunday afternoons. Whereas later incarnations of their radio shows would be purely conversational, the show's original format was busier and more interactive, with features, guests, phone-ins, and audience interaction through listener's letters. The show ended when the station was taken over by Capital.

In September 2001, following the success of The Office, Ricky and Steve returned to Xfm for a Saturday afternoon radio show. This time they insisted they have a producer. The man who pushed their buttons was Karl Pilkington, and they discovered his genius. The new show ran intermittently until January 2004 with breaks ranging between one and three months to allow for Ricky and Steve to work on other projects like The Office and Extras, and Ricky's stand up. Ricky, Steve and Karl returned to the airwaves on 28 May 2005 to host six more episodes of the show.

Podcasts

Main article: The Ricky Gervais Show

Television

Gervais' mainstream TV debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's "Comedy Lab" series of pilots. His one-off show "Golden Years" focused on a David Bowie-obsessed character called Clive Meadows. He then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot which replaced Ali G's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999. Gervais later went on to present his own comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais two years later which was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself.

Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for Bruiser, the long-lost BBC sketch show, and cameoed in Simon Pegg's sitcom Spaced. A home-made pilot for The Office made with Xfm cohort Stephen Merchant surfaced in 1999/2000, and was bought by the BBC. The first series of The Office garnered low ratings, but through word of mouth and critical acclaim, rated highly during its repeat run. A second series was commissioned and went on to achieve higher ratings and critical acclaim. Two Christmas specials were then aired, to even higher ratings. The show remains the highest selling British comedy DVD ever. After that, Extras first aired from 21 July 2005.

FAME

Stand Up

Gervais performed stand-up in the UK in 2003 with his show Animals. His Politics show followed a year later. Both of these shows were recorded for release on DVD and television broadcast. The third and final part of the themed live trilogy was Fame in 2007. FAME sold out throughout the UK in under 10 minutes.

Ricky took FAME to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where he created controversy through his high pricing of tickets (£37.50), and his presence alone seemed counter to the purpose of the Fringe Festival, ie, for new and unknown acts to be seen.

In July 2008 Gervais performed a total of 7 gigs in Los Angeles and New York for his Out Of England tour. He warmed up for 2 charity shows in Brentwood before taking his act to The Kodak Theater in Hollywood and Madison Square Garden in New York. The show was a combination of his three previous shows and was filmed for an HBO special.

Books

Gervais released a children's book in 2004 entitled Flanimals. Following the success of this book, he released its sequel More Flanimals in 2005. Flanimals of the Deep was published on the 5 October 2006. Flanimals is illustrated by Ricky's friend Rob Steen.

Films

Gervais' first film role was in 2005 in the animated feature Valiant where he did the voice for the character Bugsy. In 2006 Gervais appeared briefly in the Christopher Guest film For Your Consideration as Martin Gibb, a slick studio executive for the film within a film, Home for Thanksgiving. Gervais also had a small role in the film Night at the Museum in 2006, where he played the museum curator, Dr. McPhee, opposite Ben Stiller. Gervais rounded out his small cameo roles in 2007 when he appeared in the film Stardust as Ferdy the Fence with Robert DeNiro and Michelle Pfeiffer.

In 2008 Gervais appeared in his first leading role when he played the misanthropic dentist, Bertram Pincus, in the romantic comedy Ghost Town. Gervais then went on to co-write, direct, and star in the upcoming film This Side of the Truth where he plays Mark. In this high concept comedy, in which the gene for lying never evolved in humans, Gervais plays the first man that can lie. It is currently in post production and is expected to open in spring of 2009.

Other upcoming projects for Gervais include Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian, Flanimals, and The Man from the Pru which was co-written by Stephen Merchant.

External links

• RickyGervais.com Official Site
• Ricky's Xfm page