86-595: The Ricky Gervais Show is a comedy radio show in the United Kingdom starring Ricky Gervais , Stephen Merchant , and Karl Pilkington , later adapted into a podcast and a television series . Although named after Gervais, it came to revolve mostly around the life and ideas of Karl Pilkington. The show started in August 2001 on Xfm , and aired in weekly periods for months at a time throughout 2002, 2003, 2004 and mid-2005. In November 2005, Guardian Unlimited offered
172-734: A "shambles". SuperNature shows continued through 2019 and 2020. Following significant cancellations and postponements as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic , the SuperNature tours resumed in August 2021. SuperNature received criticism for jokes about transgender people. It won the Best Stand-Up Show at the National Comedy Awards. Gervais' next comedy special, Armageddon , was released on Netflix on 25 December 2023. The special faced controversy for making
258-612: A 2015 BBC interview that the award was the gateway to America for him. The Office brand has since been remade for audiences in Sweden , France , Germany , Quebec , Brazil , Chile , The Czech Republic, Finland , India , Israel , Poland and the United States . Gervais and Merchant are producers of the American version, and they also co-wrote the episode " The Convict " for the show's third season. Gervais has said that
344-659: A Christmas special have aired; series one involves Pilkington visiting the Seven Wonders of the World . In the second show, he chooses to complete tasks from a bucket list provided by Gervais, and in the special, Warwick Davis joins Pilkington on a journey following Marco Polo 's route from Italy to China. In November 2011, Gervais filmed in London a 35-minute pilot episode for a potential comedy-drama series called Derek , which aired on Channel 4 on 12 April 2012. The pilot
430-455: A Comedy Series for his portrayal of Andy Millman in the second series of Extras . As Gervais was not present at the awards ceremony, the trophy was accepted on his behalf by Steve Carell , the actor who starred as regional manager Michael Scott —the counterpart to Gervais's David Brent—on the American adaptation of The Office . The Ricky Gervais Show is an animated TV show that debuted on US cable network HBO on 19 February 2010. In
516-701: A cameo role in Simon Pegg 's and Jessica Hynes 's sitcom Spaced as Dave, an estate agent who mistakenly places the advertisement for a property for a couple that turns out to be the premise of the show. Gervais has also guest-starred on Alias (in the third-season episode " Façade ") as Daniel Ryan, a former Royal Navy bomb-disposal specialist turned rogue Irish Republican Army bomb-maker. He has also made guest appearances on Sesame Street . Louis C.K. had Gervais play Dr Ben, his doctor, on two episodes of his series Louie . Gervais broke into his trademark hysterical laugh every time his character made Louie
602-695: A farm in Pain Court, Ontario , near Chatham, Ontario , who emigrated to the UK while on foreign duty during the Second World War . He worked as a labourer and hod carrier before he met Gervais's English mother, Eva Sophia (née House; 1925–2000). They met during a blackout and settled in Whitley in Reading , having four children over a sixteen-year period. Eva died at age 74 of lung cancer . Ricky
688-511: A full series of Derek that aired in early 2013. Derek was recommissioned for a second series, which premiered on 23 April 2014. Derek ended with a one-off final special, broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK on 22 December 2014. On 9 May 2018, it was announced that Netflix had given a production order for the first season of the comedy drama After Life . It was created and directed by Gervais, who also starred in it and executive-produced it with Duncan Hayes, with Charlie Hanson as producer;
774-832: A joke about cancer patients. The special later won for "Best Performance in Stand-Up Comedy on Television" at the 81st Golden Globe Awards , but Gervais didn't attend the ceremony. One of the first animations Gervais voiced was the character of Penguin in Robbie the Reindeer 's Legend of the Lost Tribe . He had a starring role in Disney's Valiant , with Ewan McGregor , John Cleese and Jim Broadbent , as pigeon Bugsy. Gervais guest-starred in an episode of The Simpsons entitled " Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife ". He
860-679: A mixed response, with positive reviews from the New York Daily News and the Associated Press , but also some negative comments from The Hollywood Reporter . His 2011 hosting of the awards was controversial for his jokes that were at the expense of many of the nominees, similar to the New York Friars Club roast-style jokes. His jibes were described as setting "a corrosive tone" by one critic, though some celebrities were seen crying from laughter, leaving
946-533: A podcast, with no further association with XFM. Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington broadcast two hour-long holiday specials on Radio 2 during the 2005 holiday season, the first airing on Christmas Eve and the second on New Year's Eve. Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington recorded a two-hour radio show as part of the test transmissions for the new radio station NME Radio. The episode aired on Monday 9 June 2008, 12pm (BST). According to Emily Bell , editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited , Gervais and Merchant had approached
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#17327986835041032-473: A pop star in the 1980s as the singer of the new-wave act Seona Dancing , and managed the then-unknown band Suede before turning to comedy. The band did find success in the Philippines after the song " More to Lose " found tremendous success. He appeared on The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 between 1998 and 2000, garnering a reputation as an outspoken and sharp-witted social provocateur. In 2000, he
1118-431: A reluctant Karl Pilkington travels around the world, with his reactions to people and places recorded. Occasionally, Gervais and Merchant call to surprise him with a new place to visit or task to do. Pilkington reports back mostly complaining about the situation. Gervais says there is no planning; a camera crew follows his friend around filming for many hours, which Gervais edits down to an hour each episode. Two series and
1204-493: A topical slot that replaced Ali G 's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999, in which his character used as many expletives as was possible and produced an inordinate number of politically incorrect statements. Among the other regular featured comedians on the show was Mackenzie Crook , later a co-star of The Office . Two years later, Gervais went on to present his comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais , which
1290-711: A year later. Both shows were recorded for release on DVD and television broadcast. The third part of the themed live trilogy, Fame , took place in 2007. It started in Glasgow in January and ended in Sheffield in April. Blackpool reported selling out of tickets within 45 minutes of them going on sale. Newsnight Review 's panel saw Animals during its Bloomsbury run and covered it in January 2003. They were not favourable, with Private Eye editor Ian Hislop saying it
1376-1027: Is a British academic and journalist. She is Professor of Professional Practice at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (Columbia School of Journalism) and the Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism , part of the CSJ, in New York City. Before taking up her academic post at the Tow Center in 2010, Bell had worked for The Guardian and Observer newspapers since 1990. Born in King's Lynn, Norfolk, Bell read jurisprudence at Christ Church, Oxford , and graduated in 1987. She began her career on Big Farm Weekly that year, and then joined Campaign ,
1462-568: Is an English comedian, actor, writer, producer, director and musician. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms The Office (2001–2003), Extras (2005–2007), and Life's Too Short (2011–2013) with Stephen Merchant . He also created, wrote and starred in Derek (2012–2014) and After Life (2019–2022). He has won seven BAFTA Awards , five British Comedy Awards , two Emmy Awards , four Golden Globe Awards , and
1548-444: Is because The Guardian agreed to pay for the bandwidth for 12 episodes, and any further episodes would have to be paid for out of their personal finances. Series three of the podcasts was released on 22 August 2006. This season saw the return of Karl's Diary as well as a new feature based on Pilkington's attempts at Poetry. All other features were abandoned, with the rest of each episode focusing instead on conversation. The season had
1634-559: Is described by Gervais as being about "the life of a showbiz dwarf " and as "a cross between Extras and The Office ". The show stars actor Davis playing a fictionalised version of himself, as well as Gervais and Merchant. Premium cable channel HBO, which co-produced the series with the BBC, had the US rights and began airing the series on 19 February 2012. An Idiot Abroad is a travel documentary produced by Gervais and Stephen Merchant in which
1720-531: Is solely written and directed by Gervais and features him in the title role of Derek Noakes, a 49-year-old retirement home worker, who "loves animals, Rolf Harris , Jesus , Deal or No Deal , Million Pound Drop , and Britain's Got Talent ." The character first appeared in a 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe sketch as an aspiring comedian who loves animals and still lives with his mother. Gervais's co-host Karl Pilkington makes his acting debut as Derek's friend and facilities-caretaker Dougie who also works in
1806-514: Is the only British comic to write and star in a Simpsons episode. The episode was the highest-rated in Sky One 's history; it revolved around the angle that Gervais was the episode's sole writer (and the first guest star on the show to also receive a writing credit for the episode of his appearance). Gervais clarified the extent of his input in a joint interview (with Christopher Guest) for Dazed and Confused magazine (January 2006): "No, all I did
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#17327986835041892-462: The Golden Globes ". He continued his Humanity show throughout 2017 and into 2018. He appeared at SF Sketchfest as part of the tour, which devoted a night in honour of him, alongside comedic legend and mentor Christopher Guest . His next tour and Netflix special SuperNature was announced in late 2018, where Gervais warned people not to travel to see "work in progress" as it would be
1978-530: The Guardian with the idea of the show. Bell said that they had switched to a podcast format for greater control over content and access to a larger audience. The first 12 episodes were released free of charge through the Guardian Unlimited website. The first series of podcasts began on 5 December 2005, and a new episode was released each Monday for the next twelve weeks. The show relies heavily on
2064-510: The Guide To... series. As of May 2011, there are 12 'Guides': to Medicine, Natural History, Arts, Philosophy, The English, Society, Law & Order, The Future, The Human Body, The Earth, The World Cup 2010 and Comic Relief . The conversations typically begin on topic and go out on tangents about other subjects. In 2021, Gervais launched a paid-for audio series, Absolutely Mental , of his conversations with philosopher Sam Harris . Season 2
2150-502: The Rose d'Or twice (2006 and 2019). In 2003, The Observer named Gervais one of the 50 funniest performers in British comedy. In 2007, he was placed at No. 11 on Channel 4 's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups, and at No. 3 in their 2010 list. In 2010, he was included in the Time 100 list of World's Most Influential People. Gervais initially worked in the music industry. He attempted a career as
2236-667: The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow . The DVD was released on 15 November 2010. In November 2009, he headlined the sixth annual New York Comedy Festival at Carnegie Hall . In 2013, Gervais announced that his next stand-up show would be called Humanity . In December 2014, he said he was too busy to do the tour due to producing two films. In May 2016, Gervais performed stand-up in London, starting with some low key warm-ups with cast members from Derek . He said: "Finally, I'm going to do some stand-up. The first in about six years if you don't count hosting
2322-610: The UK Singles Chart . Despite not being successful in the UK, Seona Dancing did manage to score a hit in the Philippines with "More to Lose". Gervais also worked as the manager for Suede before they became successful in the 1990s. In 2013, Gervais performed a live tour as David Brent along with his band Foregone Conclusion , Brent's fictional band in The Office . He and the band performed songs written under
2408-592: The University of London Union (ULU), then was head of speech at the alternative radio station Xfm . Needing an assistant, he interviewed the first person whose curriculum vitae he read: Stephen Merchant . In 1998 Gervais's position was made redundant when the station was taken over by the Capital Radio group. Around this time he was also a regular contributor to Mary Anne Hobbs 's Radio 1 show, performing vox pop interviews in unlikely locations. After
2494-480: The iTunes Store . This series was released all at once as an Audiobook , almost two hours in length and split into four half-hour episodes. All episodes were recorded at the same time. There are no contests or any interaction from the listeners as the previous series contained. A new series, called The Ricky Gervais Guide to... featured the trio discussing various topics in their entirety during 50 min episodes. The first volume The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Medicine
2580-493: The 2-hour Saturday afternoon broadcast. The show began airing again in November 2003 and broadcast for 12 weeks until January 2004 when Gervais and Merchant went on hiatus to film series 1 of their new show, Extras . Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington returned to XFM following the completion of Extras series 1. This time, they recorded only 6 shows before Gervais and Merchant left XFM for good. The show would later continue as
2666-516: The 2009 romantic comedy film The Invention of Lying and the 2016 Netflix -released comedy film Special Correspondents . He hosted the Golden Globe Awards five times, in 2010 , 2011 , 2012 , 2016 , and 2020 . Gervais was born on 25 June 1961 at Battle Hospital in Reading, Berkshire . Gervais's father was Lawrence Raymond "Jerry" Gervais (1919–2002), a Franco-Ontarian of French Canadian and Iroquois descent raised on
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2752-463: The American and British pilot episode with Japanese elements (although in an exaggerated way). "It's funny", Gervais laughs at the end, "because it's racist". Gervais hosted the 67th , 68th , 69th , 73rd and 77th Golden Globe Awards . His appearance in 2010 made him the first master of ceremonies since 1995. He stated: "I have resisted many other offers like this, but there are just some things you don't turn down." His performance as host received
2838-427: The American channel HBO and on the British channel Channel 4 on 23 April 2010. The show consists of past audiobooks with animation, drawn in a style similar to classic era Hanna-Barbera cartoons, describing jokes in a literal context. Series one, two and three are available on DVD and streaming services. Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( / dʒ ər ˈ v eɪ z / jər- VAYZ ; born 25 June 1961)
2924-509: The BBC on 21 July 2005; directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, the sitcom ran for twelve episodes and starred Gervais as Andy Millman, a background artist . Millman is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than Gervais's The Office character David Brent. Guest stars on the first series of Extras include Ross Kemp , Les Dennis , Patrick Stewart , Vinnie Jones , Samuel L. Jackson , Ben Stiller , Kate Winslet and Francesca Martinez . A second series began on 14 September 2006 in
3010-701: The Brent character, including "Equality Street" and " Free Love Freeway ". Gervais also produced a series of YouTube videos, 'Learn Guitar with David Brent', featuring acoustic guitar versions of nine songs. In 2016, as part of the Life on the Road film promotion, Gervais published the David Brent Songbook of 15 songs, which he also recorded for the album Life on the Road as David Brent and Foregone Conclusion. Gervais worked as an assistant events manager for
3096-431: The UK and featured appearances by Daniel Radcliffe , Dame Diana Rigg , Orlando Bloom , Sir Ian McKellen , Chris Martin , Keith Chegwin , Robert Lindsay , Warwick Davis , Ronnie Corbett , Stephen Fry , Richard Briers , Patricia Potter , Sophia Myles , Moira Stuart , David Bowie , Robert De Niro and Jonathan Ross . A Christmas special of Extras aired on 27 December 2007 in the UK and on 16 December 2007 in
3182-548: The UK, the first series began airing on 23 April 2010 on Channel 4. The show was developed using original podcast recordings from The Ricky Gervais Show starring Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington. After receiving an enthusiastic following in the US, HBO recommissioned the show for a second series, which aired in 2011, and a third series which started airing in April 2012. Life's Too Short began airing on BBC Two on 10 November 2011. Gervais and Stephen Merchant wrote this sitcom from an idea by Warwick Davis . It
3268-511: The US, featuring guest appearances by George Michael , Clive Owen , Gordon Ramsay , Jonathan Ross and David Tennant . A Rolling Stone article remarks that, in making Extras , Gervais was influenced by Larry David 's Curb Your Enthusiasm , particularly in the format of celebrities making fools of themselves or subverting their public personas. In 2007, Gervais won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in
3354-544: The actors in it, I love my character, I love the town, I love the themes… I love the dog!" Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. His first successful show was at the Café Royal as part of the 2001 Edinburgh Festival Fringe . Titled Rubbernecker , it also featured Jimmy Carr , Robin Ince and Stephen Merchant. Gervais toured the UK in 2003 with his stand-up show Animals . The Politics tour followed
3440-518: The butt of a joke. In early 2015, Gervais guest-starred in Galavant , a four-week comedy mini-series, as Xanax the magician. It aired on ABC and Gervais got to show off his singing skills. Gervais made a cameo appearance on Saturday Night Live in a Digital Short, during which he joked that The Office was adapted from a Japanese programme of the same name (with Steve Carell reprising his role as Michael Scott). The sketch re-creates scenes from
3526-452: The episode " Training " is his favourite, where Brent plays his guitar and sings. In 2021, on the show's 20th anniversary, he suggested the show would not have been produced in 2021 due to cancel culture : "I mean, now it would be cancelled. I'm looking forward to when they pick out one thing and try to cancel it. Someone said they might try to cancel it one day, and I say, 'Good let them cancel it—I've been paid!'" Extras had its debut on
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3612-415: The episode, Gervais plays a dolphin named Billy Finn who gives Peter Griffin a Mercedes-Benz hood ornament, and Peter half-heartedly promises a favour to him. Soon, Billy moves to Quahog but outstays his welcome at Peter's. Peter tries to reunite Billy with his ex-wife in hopes that he will return to the ocean. The episode also featured Lucy Davis , with whom Gervais starred in The Office . Gervais had
3698-545: The final few shows, suggested that he did not wish to continue. Gervais and Merchant insisted they would not return if Pilkington did not agree to remain with the show. During the hiatus, Pilkington signed on with Gervais and Merchant's talent agent, and negotiated a deal with XFM to get Mondays off in exchange for continuing to do The Ricky Gervais Show on Saturdays. This was a frequent topic of contention during this run with Gervais repeatedly accusing Pilkington of being lazy for demanding an entire day off in exchange for producing
3784-401: The final one released on 4 April 2006. The series saw the return of Karl's Diary and Rockbusters. With the start of series two, the formerly free Ricky Gervais Show shifted to a pay model. As a result, the show is now classified as an audiobook . It is available through Audible and the iTunes Store with individual episodes. The reason for this addition, according to Ricky on the podcast,
3870-595: The first series of The Office , Gervais and Merchant returned to Xfm in November 2001 for a Saturday radio show, where they began working with Karl Pilkington , who produced the shows and later collaborated with them on their series of podcasts . In October 2017, Gervais began hosting the weekly radio show Ricky Gervais Is Deadly Sirius on Sirius XM , which ran until 2019. On 5 December 2005, Guardian Unlimited began offering free weekly podcasts, including The Ricky Gervais Show featuring Gervais, Merchant and Karl Pilkington. Throughout January and February 2006
3956-566: The magazine for the advertising business, in 1988. In 1990, Bell joined The Observer as a business reporter becoming Media Business Editor in 1995, deputy business editor, and then Business Editor during 1998. In June 2000, Bell became executive editor of the Media Guardian website, and editor-in-chief of Guardian Unlimited in February 2001. In September 2006, Bell was appointed to the board of Guardian Newspapers Ltd and assumed
4042-413: The moment, we watch I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here... we watch all those reality TV shows— The Office came out of those docu-soaps". Gervais, a longstanding Simpsons fan, presented a segment to mark the show's 20th anniversary on BBC Two 's The Culture Show on 16 June 2007. In 2012, Gervais made a guest appearance on Family Guy in the episode titled " Be Careful What You Fish For ". In
4128-424: The new series, The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Society , was recorded on 6 September 2009, and released on 3 November 2009. The second audiobook of the new series, The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Law and Order, was released on 1 December 2009. A third audiobook, entitled The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Future , was released on 29 December 2009. A fourth audiobook, entitled The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Human Body
4214-657: The opening monologue that it would be his final appearance as host, though he made a similar declaration during his first hosting performance in 2010. Gervais was a guest judge on Jerry Seinfeld 's NBC show The Marriage Ref alongside Larry David and Madonna . He has also been a regular guest on Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee . Talking Funny , which first aired on 28 April 2011, starred Gervais and fellow standup comedians Louis C.K. , Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld having an informal round-table discussion on stand-up comedy. This one off HBO special
4300-464: The overall reaction to be 'mixed'. Gervais responded: "They are my friends, but I had to play the outsider." His 2020 hosting performance, particularly the opening monologue, garnered both praise and criticism from the public and press. He later responded to the negative media coverage by tweeting : "I always knew that there were morons in the world that took jokes seriously, but I'm surprised that some journalists do." He also stated several times during
4386-504: The people who help them, who themselves are losers and have their own problems. It's about a bunch of people with nothing, but making the most of it, and they're together." He chose to set the sitcom in a retirement home after he watched Secret Millionaire —"It was always these people with huge problems who were helping other people. I thought about having Derek help old people because no one cares about old people in this country ... I think it's perfect for now." Channel 4 commissioned
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#17327986835044472-670: The podcast The Ricky Gervais Show , which has spawned various spin-offs including An Idiot Abroad (2010–2012), starring Pilkington and produced by Gervais and Merchant. In 2016, he wrote, directed and starred in the comedy film David Brent: Life on the Road . Gervais has also starred in the Hollywood films For Your Consideration (2006), the Night at the Museum film series trilogy (2006–2014), Ghost Town (2008), and Muppets Most Wanted (2014). He wrote, directed, and starred in
4558-693: The podcast was consistently ranked the number 1 podcast in the world. It appeared in the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most-downloaded podcast, with an average 261,670 downloads per episode during its first month. Two more series, each with six podcasts, were released between February and September 2006. In late 2006, three more free podcasts were released. Together called "The Podfather Trilogy", they debuted individually at Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. These three were known by Gervais and Merchant as "The Fourth Season". In October 2007 another free full-length podcast
4644-457: The podcasts of the series had been downloaded nearly 18 million times. As of March 2011, the podcast has been downloaded over 300 million times. A cult following for the Xfm radio shows and podcasts has ensued in the following years, starting since their original airings and maintaining a strong amount of fans, the most popular forum used to discuss the show being the subreddit "r/rickygervais" on
4730-460: The popular news and media platform Reddit , with roughly 175,000 members as of November 2024. Gervais and Merchant first worked together in radio on the London-based alternative radio station Xfm London . Their show was broadcast from January to August 1998 from 4–6pm on Sundays, and only featured Gervais and Merchant (before their collaboration on The Office ). The show's original format
4816-417: The retirement home. British comedian Kerry Godliman plays Derek's best friend Hannah and David Earl plays Kev. Gervais said that the series is about "kindness [being] more important than anything else". He added: "It's about the forgotten—everyone's forgotten. It's all these arbitrary people who didn't know each other, and they're in there now because they're in the last years of their life. And it's about
4902-461: The same pricing implementation as season two, although the file quality was increased. At the end of the sixth episode, Gervais and Merchant agreed to put the show on an indefinite hiatus. Three free podcasts were announced. The first was released on 31 October 2006, to coincide with Halloween , the next was on 23 November, coinciding with Thanksgiving , and the last was released on 24 December 2006, to coincide with Christmas . A special podcast
4988-455: The second series of The Office complete, Gervais, Merchant, and Pilkington returned to XFM in August of 2002 to resume their 2-hour Saturday afternoon broadcasts. Though Pilkington's name was still not being used in promotional materials, the format mainly centered on his contributions with Gervais and Merchant reacting to his comments, a format that would endure through the remainder of the radio broadcasts and podcasts, concluding in 2012. This
5074-415: The series premiered on 8 March 2019. On 3 April 2019, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which launched on 24 April 2020. In May 2020, it was announced that Gervais had signed a new deal with Netflix, including a third season of After Life . Before the announcement Gervais said, "For the first time ever, I would do a series three, because the world's so rich. I love the characters, I love all
5160-460: The series was an audio clip from a previous edition of Monkey News, synchronised with a flash animation. The fourth video podcast features a controversial audio advertisement for The Prostate Cancer Charity and Gervais talking about his Aerial Award . The fifth is Gervais and Merchant making Pilkington watch Brokeback Mountain . The sixth podcast was another conversation over Pilkington's book The World of Karl Pilkington . The seventh podcast
5246-517: The show as a podcast series of 12 shows. An animated series based on the podcast and adapted for television debuted for HBO in the United States and Channel 4 in the UK in 2010. It was one of the most successful shows in the early years of the podcast industry and received a "most downloaded podcast" certification from Guinness World Records in 2006. According to the BBC , by September 2006,
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#17327986835045332-486: The two mostly talked to each other, with the links between songs comprising only about 30 minutes of the show's 2-hour run time. As Pilkington's personality moved to the forefront, the talk portion of the show expanded to roughly an hour per 2-hour broadcast. While the show relied largely upon a stream-of-consciousness format, Pilkington made attempts to keep things more conventional by insisting on running contests and airing pre-recorded segments and regular "features". With
5418-432: The wit and bizarre theories of Pilkington, who was then unemployed, having left his job as radio producer at XFM. The podcast focuses more on Pilkington as a primary figure of humour in the show in various ways, including questions directed at him that have been emailed in, either by fans of the show or by Gervais and Merchant themselves. Series two of the podcast began on 28 February 2006. It consisted of six episodes with
5504-544: The word, building up momentum and anticipation for the second series, also comprising six episodes. Following the success of The Office 's second series, Gervais was named the most powerful person in TV comedy by Radio Times . In 2004, The Office won the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy as well as Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Gervais, who said in
5590-520: Was "cobbled together ... banal ... a bit flat". After this, Gervais closed each show by calling Hislop an "ugly little pug-faced cunt". Fame was the subject of some controversy in January 2007 when Gervais included a routine, ostensibly about how people will do anything to become famous, referring to the murder of prostitutes in Ipswich . Gervais's fourth show was entitled Science , and commenced with an eleven-date tour in August 2009 at
5676-570: Was Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington announcing the new series of the show beginning on 22 August. In August 2012, Gervais produced a pilot for a new series of video podcasts, titled Learn English with Ricky Gervais . The show features Gervais and Pilkington engaging in English dialogue, and translated captions have been provided in many languages by his fans. The Ricky Gervais Show audiobooks have been developed into The Ricky Gervais Show , an animated series which premiered on 19 February 2010, on
5762-403: Was a conversation between Pilkington and Gervais, with Gervais enthusing about the idea of Pilkington becoming a human crab or having massive reconstructive surgery . The second podcast served as an advertisement for Pilkington and Gervais's new book, The World of Karl Pilkington (a series of excerpts from the previous podcasts and various musings and drawings produced by Karl). The third on
5848-465: Was a keen racist.' And the vicar said, 'I can't say that!' So Bob went, 'Oh, OK then... she liked gardening.'" Gervais attended Whitley Park Infants and Junior Schools and received his secondary education at Ashmead Comprehensive School . After a gap year , which he spent working as a gardener at the University of Reading , he attended University College London (UCL) in 1980. He intended to study biology but changed to philosophy after two weeks, and
5934-405: Was a mistake ". Gervais has spoken of his appreciation for his family's extreme sense of humour. He told BBC Radio 4 's Desert Island Discs that he and his brother Bob spent most of their mother's funeral "crying with laughter". They had been asked by the vicar to tell him something about their mother prior to the service, with Gervais saying, "My brother, just winding up the vicar, said, 'She
6020-483: Was about a story Pilkington told in series one, episode one, about his bizarre journey in an abandoned asylum and rehabilitation clinic. The eighth video shows Gervais showing the viewer around the various sets during the filming of the second series of Extras , followed by Pilkington giving his opinion on Gervais's latest book, Flanimals of the Deep . The ninth was Pilkington talking about Gervais's cat; Ollie. The tenth
6106-502: Was added to advertisements for the show as he took on a more prominent role in the show. The last show for XFM aired on 2 July 2005, after which they chose to switch the show's format from radio to podcasting. The show ran between September 2001 and May 2002 before Gervais and Merchant went on hiatus to film the second series of The Office . Initially, Pilkington's on-air presence was relatively minimal. Gervais and Merchant only occasionally called for him to weigh in with his thoughts, while
6192-642: Was also launched in 2021, followed by season 3 in March 2022. Gervais has contributed to the BAFTA -winning The Sketch Show (ITV), penning several sketches. His mainstream-TV on-screen 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. Gervais then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in
6278-507: Was awarded an upper second-class honours degree in the subject from University College London in 1983. During his time there, he met Jane Fallon , with whom he has been in a relationship since 1982. In 1983, during his final year as a student at University College London, Gervais and his best friend Bill Macrae formed the new wave pop duo Seona Dancing . They were signed by London Records , which released two of their singles—" More to Lose " and " Bitter Heart ". The songs failed to make
6364-474: Was given a Channel 4 spoof talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais . He achieved greater mainstream fame the following year with his BBC television mock documentary series The Office, followed by Extras in 2005. He also wrote the Flanimals book series. Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. He has performed five multi-national stand-up comedy tours. Gervais, Merchant and Karl Pilkington created
6450-518: Was made available as a giveaway to people who went to see Gervais' stand-up tour Fame, which played from January to April 2007. It was later released for free to the public in October of that year. On 25 November 2007, Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington released a free podcast. Originally released as an extra on the audio CD release of series one, it was later made available free through iTunes. Four more episodes were released on 15 September 2008 through
6536-543: Was more interactive, with features, guests, phone-ins, and audience interaction through listeners' letters. Gervais and Merchant returned to Xfm in August 2001, after the first series of The Office had been broadcast, with Pilkington brought in as producer. The show was originally just billed as Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, and Pilkington's presence was not acknowledged on posters or other advertisements. Gervais and Merchant would speak to Pilkington about his thoughts on whatever they were talking about. In 2003, Pilkington
6622-399: Was poorly received and cancelled after six episodes, and Gervais has since mocked it. Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for the BBC sketch show Bruiser and The Jim Tavare Show . The Office started when Stephen Merchant had to make his short film while on a BBC production course. In August 1999 he made a docu-soap parody, set in an office, with help from Ash Atalla who
6708-461: Was put down a load of observations on an email and they made it look like a Simpsons script. I'm going to get the credit, but I think everyone in the industry knows it was a joint effort". Asked in a separate interview about how his idea for the episode (in which Homer swaps Marge on a game show) came about, Gervais replied: "I've always been fascinated with reality game shows but I think it was my girlfriend's idea. We watch Celebrity Big Brother at
6794-497: Was released as a free podcast on 6 March 2011 in aid of Red Nose Day (18 March 2011). A special one-off podcast titled A Day in the Life of Karl was released on 28 October 2010. On 24 March 2006, an "irregular run of free video podcasts " was launched through the iTunes podcast directory. The video podcasts do not follow the format of the earlier audio shows and the content varies greatly from podcast to podcast. The first video
6880-526: Was released on 26 January 2010. The fifth and final audiobook of the second season, entitled The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Earth was released on 23 February 2010. On 12 June 2010 The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The World Cup released. This was followed later that year by a podcast entitled "A day in the Life of Karl Pilkington" following a format more associated with the Ricky Gervais Show podcasts. The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Comic Relief
6966-462: Was released on 31 December 2008. This was followed by The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Natural History on 21 January 2009. This in turn was followed by The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The Arts on 18 February 2009. The 4th episode, The Ricky Gervais Guide to... Philosophy aired on 17 March while the 5th and final episode of season 1, The Ricky Gervais Guide to... The English followed on 21 April (2 days prior to St. George's Day ). The first episode of
7052-424: Was released through iTunes, after being originally given out for free during a performance of Gervais's Fame stand-up tour in London. On 25 November 2007 Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington released another free podcast of just over one hour. In August 2008, Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington recorded their fifth series of audiobooks , totalling four chapters, which were released on 16 September 2008, and described as
7138-620: Was shown a 7-minute video called 'The Seedy Boss'. Thus the character of David Brent was created. Merchant passed this tape on to the BBC's Head of Entertainment Paul Jackson at the Edinburgh Fringe , who then passed it on to Head of Comedy Jon Plowman , who eventually commissioned a full-pilot script from Merchant and Gervais. The first six-episode series of The Office aired in the UK in July and August 2001 to little fanfare or attention. Word-of-mouth, repeats and DVDs helped spread
7224-470: Was the longest stretch of XFM shows, running 51 weeks until August 2003 when Gervais and Merchant again went on hiatus, this time to record the final episode of The Office . During the year, Gervais and Merchant began saying on-air that Pilkington had become the star of the show and theorized that most listeners were tuning in to hear his anecdotes and perspectives. Pilkington, however, grew increasingly frustrated with Gervais's antagonism towards him, and over
7310-413: Was the youngest child; his siblings are: schoolteacher Larry (1945–2019), Marsha, a teacher for special needs children (1948–), and painter–decorator Bob (1950–). Prompted by Bob, Gervais began to question the existence of God from about age eight. Gervais has mentioned in interviews that, as an 11-year-old, he asked why his siblings were so much older than he was; his mother bluntly told him that he "
7396-849: Was well received by critics & audience alike. In 2013, Gervais guest starred in David Blaine : Real or Magic , a television special where Blaine proceeded to run a large needle through his forearm in front of Gervais. In January 2006, Gervais interviewed Larry David in a one-off special, Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David . On 25 and 26 December 2006 he interviewed Christopher Guest and Garry Shandling which aired on Channel 4. There are no plans for further episodes of Meets... , although editions with Monty Python co-founder John Cleese and The Simpsons creator Matt Groening were recorded in 2006 for broadcast in 2007. A source claimed, "The Shandling experience put him off for good". Emily Bell Emily Jane Bell (born 14 September 1965)
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