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 new sitcom, Extras. In 2006, Gervais became the first guest star on The Simpsons to also write an episode, which aired 26 March 2006. And besides writing and directing sitcoms, Gervais and Merchant hosted a radio show, and now a podcast, with Karl Pilkington.

Childhood

He grew up in Whitley, on a council estate. As a child Gervais liked Go-Karts and Science (specifically Chemistry).

Career

Seona Dancing

Main article: Seona Dancing

He 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

After various odd jobs, including working in an office, a stint as events manager at the University College London Union (ULU) followed in the early 1990s. Through this, Gervais went on to briefly manage the British rock group Suede in their pre-record contract days before taking 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 took the first CV on the pile, which was Stephen Merchant's, invited him for an interview, took him to a pub around the corner from the then Xfm offices on Charlotte St. on Goodge St., and told Steve that he didn't know what his own job was but if he 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 what short time they had working together that the foundations of The Office were laid, as Gervais would entertain Merchant and others with a character he called 'Seedy Boss'; 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.

However, 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 and this is how they came to meet Karl Pilkington. 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 such as their television shows 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 up by the BBC. After that, Extras first aired from 21 July 2005.

Stand Up

Gervais also performed stand-up in the UK in 2003 with his show Animals. The Politics show then 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, Science, will unfold in 2007.

Books

Gervais released a children's book in 2004, entitled Flanimals. After 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 Rob Steen

External links

• RickyGervais.com Official Site
• Ricky's Xfm page
• Ricky Gervais on Gervaisworld