Ricky Gervais - Gervais Helps Chile Survivor Laugh Through Disaster

British funnyman RICKY GERVAIS was stunned to receive an email from a survivor of the recent Chilean earthquake who credited the comic's work with helping him through the disaster.

A tremor hit the South American country last month (27Feb10), leaving hundreds dead and many more homeless.

And one Chilean resident has personally thanked Gervais for keeping his spirits up during the ordeal - revealing he passed the time by listening to the comedian's audio shows on his iPod.

In a post on his personal blog, Gervais explains his agent received a note from the victim, Max, writing, "Got this amazing email via my agent from a guy in Chile..."

He then quoted the letter, which reads, "I want Ricky Gervais to know this: I'm from Chile, where we just had an enormous earthquake, tons of people died and over a million people's homes were hit hard. Personally I wasn't struck as hard, but I was left without electricity and running water for three days. I had enough food and bottled water to last me at least a week, so that wasn't a problem; and a battery-operated radio to listen to news about the earthquake.

"This is where Ricky comes along. I was horribly bored, I had nothing to do (apart from listening to the news, which gets a bit depressing)."

Max then explains his delight as he found his iPod fully charged and loaded with the star's comedy audio skits.

He adds, "Ricky Gervais' audio work really helped me get through the days while keeping me in a good mood, thinking about things other than the horrible destruction of my country... (it) really made the difference to me in that moment of despair. Thanks Ricky and the gang for keeping me laughing and sane for three days. For ever grateful, Max."

Gervais appealed for help for the survivors of the earthquake by placing a link to the Red Cross charity website on his blog and added: "Good luck Max."