Ricky Gervais
Date of birth
25th June, 1961
Occupation
Actor
Sex
Male
Height
1.73
Ricky Gervais (born 25.6.1961) Ricky Gervais is an English comedian, actor and scriptwriter.
Childhood: Ricky Gervais was born in Reading, Berkshire, to Jerry and Eva Gervais. He has two brothers, Larry and Bob and a sister, Marsha.
In the past, Gervais has compared his family upbringing to The Waltons and has said that the family members made fun of each other regularly.
After leaving Ashmead School, Gervais attended University College London, studying Biology and then Philosophy. It was at UCL that he met his future wife, Jane Fallon, the TV producer and screenwriter.
Musical Career: In 1983, Ricky Gervais and Bill Macrae formed the pop band Seona Dancing. They signed to London Records and released two singles. 'More To Lose' and 'Bitter Heart' both failed to set the world alight and the band's career ended promptly.
Radio Career: Gervais landed a job at Xfm London as 'head of speech'. When he looked for an assistant, the first CV that was given to him was that of Stephen Merchant, who he hired after conducting a job interview in the local pub. When Xfm was bought by Capital Radio, Gervais was made redundant.
Gervais and Merchant went on to contribute sketches for Radio 1's The Breezeblock show from 1999-2000.
In 2001, the pair returned to Xfm to present a Saturday morning show, along with Karl Pilkington. In 2005, The Guardian offered 12 free weekly podcasts, hosted by Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington. The unexpected success of the podcasts saw them fast become the most popular podcast in the world and achieved a spot in the Guinness World Record list as the world's most downloaded podcast.
Television Career: Ricky Gervais' mainstream television debut came when his show Golden Years was broadcast as part of Channel 4's 'Comedy Lab' series in 1998. He then landed a regular slot on The 11 O'clock Show, replacing the section filled by Ali G.
Gervais went on to present a comedy chat show entitled Meet Ricky Gervais but the series flopped and even Gervais himself laughs about its poor quality.
Ricky has written for a number of TV sitcoms, including Simon Pegg's Spaced and The Jim Tavare Show. In 2006, he became the only British comedian to have written and starred in an episode of The Simpsons.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant worked together on the highly successful spoof docu-soap The Office. Screened by the BBC, the series also starred Martin Freeman, Lucy Davis and Mackenzie Crook. The popularity of the series was noted by American comedy writers who bought the rights to the script and created their own version, with Steve Carrell playing the David Brent character.
Gervais continued the success of The Office and went on to make Extras, a sitcom based on the experience of actors working as background extras. The series featured a number of high profile star guests, including Kate Winslet, Vinnie Jones, Samuel L. Jackson, Orlando Bloom, Sir Ian McKellan and Stephen Fry. A 2007 Christmas Special starred Clive Owen, George Michael, Jonathan Ross and Gordon Ramsey. The show won a Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy in 2008.
Stand-up Comedy: Gervais has performed a number of highly successful stand-up tours, focusing on a different subject on each tour. His first tour was with the show Animals, in 2003, followed the next year by Politics. In 2007, he toured the show Fame, which sold out within 45 minutes of the tickets going on sale.
Author: In 2004, Ricky Gervais published a children's book entitled Flanimals, in which he created a number of fictional animal characters. The book was hugely successful and he followed it up with More Flanimals, Flanimals of the Deep and Day of the Bletching.
In 2006, a book entitled The World of Karl Pilkington was released, featuring extracts of conversation between Karl Pilkington, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
Film Career: Gervais has appeared in a number of roles, in films such as The Night at the Museum, starring Ben Stiller and the cartoon Valiant, which also featured the voice of Ewan McGregor.
In 2008, Gervais took on his first major starring role in Ghost Town, which was released, to a mixed reception, in 2008.
Jerry Seinfeld Tops Highest Earning Comedians List, Again
By Ed Biggs in Movies / TV / Theatre on 21 December 2018
With the exception of 2016, Seinfeld has been the highest-earning comedian in the world for the last 12 years.
Jerry Seinfeld has once again been named the highest-paid comedian of the year, topping Forbes’ 2018 list of the highest-earning figures in comedy with an income of $57.5 million.
Despite his iconic sitcom ending nearly 20 years ago, the 64 year old star raked in his money primarily through his lucrative 2017 Netflix deal, plus dividends from his agreement with Hulu to stream all nine seasons of ‘Seinfeld’ and his internet series ‘Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee’. The list measures all income from 1st June 2017 to 1st June 2018.
Indeed, Seinfeld has finished top of every single Forbes list of the highest-paid comedians ever since the publication started the feature back in 2006 – with the exception of 2016, when actor Kevin Hart finished top.
Continue reading: Jerry Seinfeld Tops Highest Earning Comedians List, Again
Ricky Gervais Reveals Impressive Cast List For New Netflix Comedy Show
By Charlotte Court in Movies / TV / Theatre on 05 July 2018
The comedian has teamed up with the streaming giant for six-part series, After Life
Almost 17 years to the day since critically-acclaimed stand-out series the Office put Ricky Gervais squarely on the mainstream comedy map, the British funny man has announced filming is to begin on a new six-part show, After Life.
Just like the Office, where Gervais played themain character, socially-inept David Brent, the 57-year-old stand-up comedian will star in his new show and has recruited a number of familiar faces from previous projects to help him.
Continue reading: Ricky Gervais Reveals Impressive Cast List For New Netflix Comedy Show
Ricky Gervais Gives Hilarious Video 'Interview' With Jimmy Kimmel
By Holly Mosley in Movies / TV / Theatre on 10 January 2018
He echoed some David Brent sentiments in the pre-recorded video message.
There is honestly nothing not to like about Ricky Gervais. He's hilarious, big on animal rights, does loads for charity and - as he proved on his latest 'interview' on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' - extremely modest. Okay, scratch that last part. Thirteen years on from the premiere of 'The Office', he's still doing a David Brent.
To promote his new ABC game show 'Child Support', the 56-year-old comedian posted a pre-recorded message to the 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' producers because he wasn't able to be there in person. With it came a series of flattering questions for Jimmy to ask Ricky, in between the pauses of his pre-recorded answers.
Continue reading: Ricky Gervais Gives Hilarious Video 'Interview' With Jimmy Kimmel
Friday The 13th: The Best Twitter Tributes
By Holly Williams in Bizarre / Weird Wonderful on 13 January 2017
From Ricky Gervais to Alice Cooper.
It's Friday the 13th! The most superstitious date of the year that usually occurs at least twice. Plenty of people have been Tweeting about this date, from hilarious memes and memorable gifs to multiple references to Jason Voorhees and the slasher movie franchise.
Here are our favourite Tweets from today:
Continue reading: Friday The 13th: The Best Twitter Tributes
Ricky Gervais at the 2016 GQ Men of the Year Awards in association with Hugo Boss held at the Tate Modern, Bankside, United Kingdom - Tuesday 6th September 2016
Ricky Gervais seen at BBC Radio 2 studios - London, United Kingdom - Saturday 27th August 2016
Ricky Gervais performing on stage as David Brent with his band Foregone Conclusion at the UK premiere of 'David Brent: Life on the Road'. London, United Kingdom - Wednesday 10th August 2016
David Brent - Lady Gypsy
Ricky Gervais has a new film coming out and the main focus of the film is his old character from The Office. As we all know, David Brent always thought of himself as a bit of a popstar and now he's willing to go to any lengths to make those dreams come true.
Having written a number of songs over his life time, Lady Gypsy is one that is obviously close to him as the subject matter is incredibly personal. David's set to release an album and tour the UK with his band 'Foregone Conclusion'.
David's band includes a rapper called Dom but Lady Gypsy is one of the songs from their material that does not feature him.
Continue: David Brent - Lady Gypsy
David Brent: Life on the Road Trailer
Since becoming infamous after appearing on the popular reality/documentary show, The Office, David Brent has been just dreaming of the day he can give up conventional work and live life on the road with his band Forgone Conclusion.
After working his way up the ranks at the Paper Merchants Wernham Hogg, David was one of their office managers but now finds himself employed at Lavichem as a sales rep. In David's mind, he and his band will never be too old to make it and NOW is the time for them to hit the road and show the UK what they have to offer.
With underwhelming ticket sales, Forgone Conclusion find themselves on a 'toilet tour' of the UK, not only are they far from playing the packed venues that David envisions for a band of their quality, they're also broke meaning David must withdraw his pension funds to finance the band. Joining the band on tour is rapper Dom Johnson who is also far from convinced that Brent has the lyrical skill to break them both to the big time.
Continue: David Brent: Life on the Road Trailer
David Brent: Life On The Road Trailer
The UK was introduced to David Brent when the BBC decided to make a real life documentary that looked at the employees of a paper company called Wernham Hogg. Brent was the branch manager and was either loved or loathed by his employees. Since then, every office can identify a character they'd call their own David Brent. It's been 15 years since then and David is just as upbeat as ever. Now a sales rep for a company called Lavichem, the wannabe musician is still keen to pursue his once hobby and tour the UK.
Continue: David Brent: Life On The Road Trailer
Ricky Gervais Set To Host The Golden Globes For Fourth Time
By Elinor Cosgrave in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 27 October 2015
Ricky Gervais has been named as the host of the Golden Globes Award Ceremony, scheduled to take place in January 2016.
Ricky Gervais is hosting the Golden Globes once again. The news was announced on Monday (26th October) by the Hollywood Press Association, the ceremony’s co-producer, and confirmed by Gervais on social media.
Read More: Ricky Gervais Steals The Show By Pretending To Win An Emmy.
Continue reading: Ricky Gervais Set To Host The Golden Globes For Fourth Time
Ricky Gervais Defends Queen Elizabeth Over Nazi Salute Image
By Elinor Cosgrave in Lifestyle / Showbiz on 18 July 2015
Ricky Gervais has spoken out about the 80-year-old image in which Queen Elizabeth, then aged 7, was pictured doing a Nazi salute.
Ricky Gervais has defended Queen Elizabeth II after a British tabloid published photographs of the monarch doing a Nazi style salute in 1933, when she was seven years old. Gervais took to Twitter to criticise The Sun for not providing a context for the image, taken from a 17-second home video footage, and further emphasised the Queen’s young age when she was captured doing this now unacceptable gesture.
Read More: The Office Spin-Off Movie Approved.
Continue reading: Ricky Gervais Defends Queen Elizabeth Over Nazi Salute Image
'Downton Abbey', Emma Thompson And 'Wolf Hall' Lead A Very British Year At The Emmy Awards
By Stephanie Chase in Movies / TV / Theatre on 17 July 2015
British period dramas ‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Wolf Hall’ have each scored three nods at this year’s Emmy Awards.
‘Downton Abbey’ and ‘Wolf Hall’ have led the British nominations at this year's Emmy Awards, with both dramas picking up three nods each. While HBO series ‘Game Of Thrones’ might have dominated this year’s nominations with 24 nods, British stars have also flourished with actors Joanne Froggatt, Emma Thompson and Ricky Gervais among the nominees.
ITV drama ‘Downton Abbey’ received three nominations including Outstanding Drama Series, Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama for Jim Carter and Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama for Joanne Froggatt, who plays maid Anna Bates. Froggatt was nominated in the same category last year, but lost out to ‘Breaking Bad’s’ Anna Gunn.
Continue reading: 'Downton Abbey', Emma Thompson And 'Wolf Hall' Lead A Very British Year At The Emmy Awards
Ricky Gervais - Ricky Gervais at SiriusXM to talk about his Netflix original series Derek in New York. - Ny, New York, United States - Sunday 8th June 2014
Ricky Gervais - Ricky Gervais and Jane Fallon London, England - leave The Ivy restaurant in London's West End Thursday 16th September 2010