Ricky Gervais, Comedian, Writer, Director
Richard "Ricky" Gervais born June 25, 1961, in Reading, Berkshire is an Emmy, Golden Globe and three-time BAFTA winning English comic writer and performer.
Ricky grew up in the Reading's southern suburb of Whitley, on a council estate, famous for the Whitley "Whiff" from the then nearby sewage works.
Gervais was a relative late bloomer who found mainstream fame with his BBC Two television
programme The Office, which he co-wrote and co-directed with his friend and long-time collaborator Stephen Merchant.
Gervais played the starring role of David Brent the self obsessive philosophising but helplessly out of touch manager.
The show was a massive success and was exported (albeit with a different cast) to the USA.
In 2005, Gervais returned to BBC Television with his new sitcom, Extras which has recently finished its second series.
Starting Out
Of Canadian and English parents (Gervais's father came to the UK during the second world war from Quebec) Ricky is the youngest of four siblings.
Gervais has described his childhood as nice and "normal" attending Reading's Ashmead School. He went to University College London in 1979
to study biology, later switching to study philosophy graduating with a 2:2.
It was in London that he met his long-term partner Jane Fallon. He was also fronted the New Romantic group Seona Dancing.
The group released two singles failed to make the UK top 40 "Bitter Heart", and "More To Lose", the latter became
a massive hit in the Philippines in 1985. The band had broken up the previous year.
Various jobs filled the following years including a stint as events manager at the University of London Union.
Gervais infamously managed the British rock group Suede for a brief period prior to the band's Nude record contract days and before their breakthrough hit "Metal Mickey"
After two brushes with success some of it was brushing off on Ricky, or was some success brushing off of Ricky?
Radio
Ricky joined London radio station Xfm in 1996, where he met Stephen Merchant, who would later become his collaborator
in much of his work. Karl Pilkington produced Gervais & Merchant's radio show and recently collaborated with their record breaking podcasts.
Although he quit XFM in 1998 Gervais returned for a Saturday 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.
Following that, Gervais took 18 months off to pursue his new television show Extras, write Flanimals,
and perform his live show Politics.
The trio returned to the airwaves on 28 May 2005 to host the show once again.
48 episodes of the radio show are archived at www.xfm.co.uk/ricky.
Television
A home-made pilot for The Office, made with Xfm cohort Stephen Merchant, first came about in 1999/2000, and was bought up
by the BBC.
The first, six-episode series of The Office hit our screens in the UK in July/August 2001. The series had not been hyped up
prior to it's broadcast, but word-of-mouth, and repeats and subsequent DVD releases made it a huge hit.
The huge success of the first series created great anticipation for the second series, also made up of six
episodes, in September 2002. The second series topped the BBC Two ratings, and the show
was switched to BBC One for its final two special episodes in December 2003.
Following The Office, Ricky's next series was Extras which was first screened from 21 July 2005 with an appearance by Ben Stiller.
Each episode featured cameos from other well known starts such as Patrick Stewart, Kate Winslet (who is also from Reading),
Ross Kemp, Vinnie Jones, Les Dennis and Samuel L Jackson. Gervais's main character,
Andy Millman, a struggling extra trying to get his break. Andy is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than David Brent,
and the programme was not been made in the mockumentary style of The Office but did feature some similar cringe worthy moments.
The second series began on 14 September 2006 in the UK saw Andy's dream part fulfilled as he lands a comedy role but the compromised character Andy is forced to play by the programme's producers is at odds with Andy's credibility or so he thinks.
THE second series features cameos from Daniel Radcliffe, Orlando Bloom, Sir Ian McKellen, Chris Martin, Keith Chegwin, Robert De Niro, and Jonathan Ross.
Stand-up
On the back of the success of his TV and Radio popularity Gervais toured the UK in 2003 with his stand-up show titled "Animals".
The "Politics" tour came close on its heels the following year. Both shows were recorded for release on
DVD and television broadcast. The third part of the themed live trilogy, "Science" is due to hit the road in 2007.
Books
Keeping himself ever busy Gervais released a children's book entitled Flanimals in 2004.
The book was a success and was followed by its sequel More Flanimals in 2005. In late 2006, the third
Flanimals book Flanimals of the Deep was released. "The World of Karl Pilkington" presented by Ricky has also been recently.
The Ricky Gervais Show
Ricky's latest project "The Ricky Gervais Show", features Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant in a series of 12 podcasts.
In a innovative broadcasting move the show is available exclusively from the Guardian Unlimited website
in thirty minute podcasts.
The first episode was made available on December 5, 2005. By January 2006, it had become the
world's most downloaded podcast as certified by the Guinness Book of World Records. With over
8 million downloads, The Ricky Gervais Podcast became overwhelmingly popular. All podcasts are
available for purchase from iTunes.com and Audible.co.uk. Ricky returned to Guardian Unlimited
in late 2006 for three more seasonal podcasts (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas).
Doing The Crouch
Awards
All his hard work has not gone unnoticed!
Gervais received a flood of awards for his work on The Office, most notably two Golden Globes (one for acting, one for the show itself),
as well as numerous British Academy Television Awards and British Comedy Awards, amongst others. His rise in the USA is largely attributed
to his success at the Golden Globes.
On March 15, 2006, it was announced that Gervais would receive an honorary award at the annual Rose d'Or ceremony in Switzerland on April 29, 2006.
The award is given to "an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business."
Prostate Cancer
Other Stuff
In 2006, Gervais became the first guest star on The Simpsons to also write the episode in
which he guest-starred titled "Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife".
Gervais is due to appear in the Christopher Guest film, For Your Consideration.
Ricky is currently adapting his book Flanimals for ITV1, collaborating with Aardman to create a six-part series.
This is despite Gervais suggesting that he had been in negotiations to turn Flanimals into a feature film.
Gervais will also appear as a museum official in Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller.
Search For Ricky
