Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais (born June 25, 1961) is a comic writer and performer who grew up in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. Gervais has recently achieved mainstream fame, enjoying success with his award-winning BBC2 television programme The Office, which he co-wrote and co-directed with long-term friend and collaborator Stephen Merchant. As well as writing and directing the show, Gervais also played the lead role of David Brent. In 2005, Gervais returned to BBC Television with his new sitcom, Extras.

Career

Radio

After various odd job, including working in an office, a stint as events manager at the University of London Union 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 in 1996, though he was sacked when the station was taken over by the Capital Radio group. He was also music advisor for the popular BBC drama This Life at this time, thanks to the show's producer: Jane Fallon.

Related Topics:
University of London Union - 1990s - Suede - London - XFM - Capital Radio - This Life

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Gervais returned to XFM for a Saturday afternoon radio show that first went on the air in November 2001 and ran intermittently until January 2004 with breaks ranging between 1-3 months between new shows. After that, Gervais took 18 months off to work on his new television show Extras, write Flanimals, and perform his live show: Politics. He returned to the airwaves on 28 May 2005 to host the show once again with Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant. 42 episodes of the radio show are archived at xfm.co.uk/ricky.

Related Topics:
November - 2001 - January - 2004 - Extras - Flanimals - Karl Pilkington - Stephen Merchant

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Gervais is currently considering doing a run of new episodes similar to his XFM radio show (including Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant), as stated in an e-mail message sent from his official site on 7 September 2005. Plans are for the show to be made available exclusively online as weekly thirty minute podcasts, without music.

Related Topics:
7 September - 2005

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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 featuring 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.

Related Topics:
David Bowie - Ali G - Channel 4 - The 11 O'Clock Show - 1999 - Chat show

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Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for the long-lost BBC sketch show "Bruiser", 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 with an appearance by Ben Stiller. It features cameos from Patrick Stewart and Kate Winslet amongst others. Gervais's main character, Andy Millman, is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than David Brent, and the programme has not been made in the style of a mockumentary, as was The Office.

Related Topics:
BBC - Simon Pegg - Spaced - The Office - Stephen Merchant - 21 July - 2005 - Ben Stiller - Patrick Stewart - Kate Winslet - Mockumentary

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The Office

The first, six-episode series of The Office aired in the UK in July/August 2001 to little fanfare or attention, but word-of-mouth, repeats and DVDs http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/comedy/funnybusiness.htm helped spread the word, building up huge momentum and anticipation for the second series, also made up of six episodes, in September 2002. The second series topped the BBC2 ratings, and the show then switched to the larger BBC1 channel in December 2003 for its final two special episodes.

Related Topics:
2001 - 2002 - BBC2 - BBC1 - 2003

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Extras

Gervais also toured the UK in 2003 with his stand-up show Animals, with one show recorded for DVD release and television broadcast. The Politics tour then followed a year later, and the third part of the themed live trilogy, Science, will hit the road in late 2005.

Related Topics:
Stand-up - DVD - 2005

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