Ricky Gervais may be one of the most famous comedians on the planet. Through television, stand-up and film, Ricky has pretty much conquered the English speaking world. ...
Ricky Gervais Shows and Performances
The big question: which version of The Office do Ricky and Stephen prefer?
Stephen recalls one of his favourite scenes from The Office.
Ricky and Stephen discuss the pressures of taking on The Office for an American audience.
March 28, 2012
January 19, 2012
January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012
January 16, 2012
January 10, 2012
December 9, 2011
December 2, 2011
November 30, 2011
November 10, 2011
November 4, 2011
October 31, 2011
July 28, 2011
July 25, 2011
July 18, 2011
July 7, 2011
June 24, 2011
June 6, 2011
April 14, 2011
April 6, 2011
Full Biography
Ricky Gervais may be one of the most famous comedians on the planet. Through television, stand-up and film, Ricky has pretty much conquered the English speaking world.
Starting in music, which featured stints as a pop singer with a top 70 single and an executive for London's Xfm radio station, Ricky got his TV break on Channel 4's 11 O'Clock Show.
Although performing under his own name, he created a foul mouthed politically incorrect persona. The rest of the country took notice of Ricky in 2001 when The Office first aired.
Written and directed by both Ricky and his long time partner Stephen Merchant, whom he first met at Xfm, the pair retained creative control for the project which has since been remade in America, France, Germany, French Canada, Chile and Israel.
Ricky Gervais made his first successful performance as a stand up at the Edinburgh Festival in 2001 alongside Jimmy Carr, Robin Ince and Stephen Merchant in a show called Rubbernecker.
After the success of The Office, Ricky toured his first solo show called Animals in 2003.
He delivered the show in the form of a lecture, complete with lectern and slides, on all the different nuances of animals in his own shocked and questioning style.
He is baffled over a book all about homosexuality in animals, and another book which claims that God created the animals....
He followed a year later with Politics and then in 2007 with Fame. His most recent show, Science, toured in 2009. Also in 2009, he headlined the New York Comedy Festival.
The Office ran for two incredibly successful series and two Christmas specials.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant then worked together on Extras, a sitcom about an actor trying to make it in the TV industry. This was also very well received and again ran for two series with one Christmas special.
In addition to these shows, Ricky has has an HBO animated series called The Ricky Gervais Show, presented a radio show alongside Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington which then yielded a very successful podcast.
The trio have a new series called An Idiot Abroad on Sky One.
Ricky has starred in eight feature films including one, Cemetery Junction that was written and directed by Ricky and Merchant.
In total, Ricky has received 25 awards, including 7 BAFTAs, 4 Emmys and 3 Golden Globes. He has also had the highest of accolades, an appearance in The Simpsons.
Ricky Gervais has made the jumps from radio to TV to films to America seamlessly. He continues to be involved in new projects and you can bet he's got something spectacular planned for the future. Not bad for a bloke from Reading.
Did You Know?:
All the different versions of The Office are set in a paper merchants, apart from the German one which is in insurance and the Israeli version which sells office supplies. The French Canadian David Brent is called David Gervais.