Gervais signs up to ITV's Flanimals
This is London

ITV has scored a coup by signing up Ricky Gervais to televise his best-selling children's book Flanimals.

The creator of The Office will narrate the series, as well as voice the parts of some of his monster characters.

Gervais, 45, has devised the Sunday evening ITV1 series of six 30-minute episodes for an adult as well as a younger audience.

Two animators who used to work with Aardman, the company behind Wallace and Gromit and Creature Comforts, are bringing to life the likes of Clunge Ambler and Puddloflaj with claymation techniques.

Flanimals will be the third show for Gervais, following the success of his debut The Office and his follow-up Extras, which were both on the BBC.

ITV's director of entertainment and comedy Paul Jackson announced: "I'm delighted to say that our next big comedy project is going to be with Ricky Gervais."

Jackson, the BBC's former Controller of Entertainment, added: "The hottest man in comedy is Ricky.

"He has always been sweet enough to tell me that I was the person that commissioned The Office.

"So when I started this new role he brought me his next project. I just love this project. This isn't going to be children's animation. It will go out sometime on Sunday evening for the family to watch. It will play in prime-time schedules.

"Think about Walking with Dinosaurs and Ricky doing hushed David Attenborough tones. He's got this world completely in his mind."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais claims new podcast record
June 22, 2006

Comedian Ricky Gervais claims to have beaten his own record for the most downloaded podcast ever.

His free weekly podcast landed a place in this year's Guinness Book of World Records with an average of 261,670 downloads per episode.

But that figure rose to 541,329 by the time the first series of The Ricky Gervais Show ended in February.

Gervais starred on the podcast along with The Office co-writer Stephen Merchant and producer Karl Pilkington.

'Little bald Manc'

The show largely consists of Gervais and Merchant teasing Pilkington for his idiotic ideas, including his regular Monkey News bulletin of news stories about apes.

At the start of the second series on 28 February, charges were introduced for the download, at £3.75 for the first six episodes or 95p per instalment.

No separate figures have been made available for the number of listeners who continued to subscribe once the charge was introduced.

Gervais, said: "I'm in the middle of filming Extras with some of the biggest stars on the planet; however none of them can compete with the little bald Manc [Pilkington] who I produce the podcast with."

A new series of The Ricky Gervais Show will be made available to buy on iTunes and Audible services in August.

Lucy Davis is getting married
inthenews.co.uk
June 18, 2006

Brit actress Lucy Davis has announced she is engaged to fellow actor boyfriend Owain Yeoman after a whirlwind six-month romance.

The pair met while they were both looking for work in Los Angeles and are planning to marry back home later this year.

"I'm delighted. We are engaged and hoping to get married in Britain in December when it fits in with our schedules," 33-year-old Lucy said, who was spotted this week in LA sporting a rather fancy diamond engagement ring.

The six months it took for Lucy to hook up with Owain, who had a role in ancient blockbuster Troy, is a lot shorter than the two series and couple of Christmas specials that it took her most famous on-screen character to find love.

In Ricky Gervais' The Office, Dawn and Tim, played by Martin Freeman, finally kissed and lived happily ever after she dumped her obnoxious boyfriend.

Lucy, who is comedian Jasper Carrott's daughter, moved to the US to break into Hollywood and has so far starred in a string of films, including a sequel to the big-screen version of comic-strip cat Garfield.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Bowie heads Extras' star line-up
June 8, 2006

David Bowie, Coldplay's Chris Martin and actor Orlando Bloom are among the stars set to appear in the second series of Ricky Gervais' Extras.

Sir Ian McKellen, Daniel Radcliffe and Germaine Greer have also landed cameo roles in the BBC Two show.

The series is based around extra Andy Millman, played by Gervais, an actor desperate to break into the big time.

Kate Winslet was among the guest stars in the first series, written by Gervais and comedy partner Stephen Merchant.

Award-winning:

Diana Rigg, Moira Stuart, Richard Briers, Ronnie Corbett and Stephen Fry are also included in the line-up for the sitcom's second series, which is due to air later this year.

A BBC spokeswoman said filming began earlier this week and plotlines had not yet been confirmed.

The first series picked up two prizes at the prestigious Rose d'Or TV awards in April, winning best sitcom and best sitcom actress for Ashley Jensen, who plays Gervais' sidekick Maggie.

But the show missed out on two Bafta awards, losing out to Armando Iannucci's political satire, The Thick Of It.

Gervais Strikes Deal With Cartoon Bosses
PR inside.com
June 6, 2006

British funnyman RICKY GERVAIS has reportedly signed a six figure contract to turn his children's book FLANIMALS into a TV cartoon.

The Flanimals include HONK, GRUNDIT, MUNTY FLUMPLE, and PUDDLOFLAJ among others, some of which are virtually impossible to pronounce.

And Gervais insists he was determined to think up names for the nonsensical characters which would confuse adults and enchant kids.

He says, "I went mental coming up with ridiculous words for them. "But I like the idea of parents not being able to pronounce words like psquirm." Flanimals will be screened next year (07) on British TV network ITV1.

British hit ‘The Office’ premieres in French - Television - MSNBC.com
Associated Press
June 1, 2006

PARIS - What could workers in France, land of the 35-hour work week and seemingly endless vacations, possibly complain about?

Judging by the hilarious French adaptation of the classic British comedy “The Office,” pretty much the same things as their English counterparts: a lunatic boss, exasperating co-workers and generalized boredom.

“Le Bureau,” which premiered last week on Canal Plus, is the first time that the BBC comedy (which in early 2005 also spawned an American version on NBC, starring Steve Carell) has been translated into a different language.

While plot lines and much of the dialogue survive, cultural references have been adapted to the Gallic context.

Gone are the quintessentially British allusions to endless pints of beer, replaced by talk of the occasional bottle of Champagne. Cheese is another new French tweak. In the original, the office prankster embeds his nemesis’ stapler in orange Jell-O; in “Le Bureau,” he hides a hunk of pungent fromage in his colleague’s desk drawer.

“Le Bureau” also downplays the original’s treatment of sexual harassment, which was a recurring theme.

The reason?

“In France, we don’t think of it as harassment, but rather something quite nice,” said Nicolas, who co-wrote the French adaptation. He and his partner, Bruno, only go by their first names.

Wernham Hogg, the fictitious paper-supply company from the British series (which, in NBC’s version, is called Dunder Mifflin and is based in Scranton, Pa.), becomes Cogirep in “Le Bureau.” (Its motto: “Passionnement Papier,” or “Passionately Paper.”)

The office itself is as dreary as its British counterpart: The mishmash of bulky furniture — of ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s vintages — looks like it crawled there to die. Yellowing files perch dangerously on all flat surfaces, and overhead fluorescent lights cast an unflattering pall.

Who's the boss?

Veteran actor Francois Berleand plays Gilles Triquet, the Gallic incarnation of David Brent, the British “boss from hell” (who was played by “The Office” co-creator Ricky Gervais).

Though almost as deranged and delusional as his English counterpart, Triquet is somehow more dashing — or at least a tad less repulsive — than slimy Brent. Triquet’s suits seem to fit better and his ties — while still questionable — are less eye-popping. Chalk it up to innate French panache.

Still, Triquet makes just as many faux pas.

A closet bigot, he can’t resist stereotyping his black and Arab employees. In the first episode, he calls Laetitia, the young French receptionist of North African origin, “the warmth of the Orient, the spice route, the snake charmer.”

Through Triquet’s cringe-worthy remarks, the French writers sought to deliberately poke fun at the racism corroding France’s egalitarian principles. As “Le Bureau” highlights, racial minorities often have a tougher time finding jobs and housing than whites.

“We just tried to show things as they are, without sugarcoating anything,” said Bruno.

The main plot of “The Office” — a debate over whether to downsize — required no tweaking. Office closures are a French fact of life, with high labor costs prompting firms to shift jobs abroad and unemployment rates averaging more than 9 percent.

Another day at the office Nicolas and Bruno maintained the original’s mockumentary feel — with wildly pitching hand-held camerawork and one-on-one character interviews.

Shunning a studio set, they shot “Le Bureau” on location in a real office building in the depressed Parisian suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois, a postindustrial wasteland near where last year’s riots started. (During the shoot, rampaging youths torched a nearby car dealership.)

Bruno and Nicolas replicated real office life as closely as possible. They shot from nine to five, with actors making the daily commute from Paris on public transport. The whole cast was required to punch in — and stay the whole day — regardless of whether they appeared in the scenes being shot.

“They mostly spent their time surfing the Internet,” Nicolas said, adding that a few cast members are now unbeatable at online bridge.

Whittling away time in front of a computer screen was a novel one for the actors, many of whom had never set foot in an office.

But a handful of real white-collar workers, who play minor characters and extras, showed them the ropes.

“They were fluent in business-speak and had the office routine down pat,” said Nicolas. “It was spooky.”

A second French season is already in the works — and the writer-director duo say at least one show will focus on a French perennial: strikes.

The Sun Online - News: Ricky hit by water bombs
By Lucy Hagan
May 18, 2006

TV COMIC Ricky Gervais failed to see the funny side when he was water-bombed by students.

Pranksters targeted The Office star as he jogged past a university.

But they were horrified when 44-year-old Ricky marched in to the UCL campus near his home in Bloomsbury, London.

A student said: “It was really hot and some people were making water balloons. They shouted to him but he ignored them, so they chucked a water balloon at him to get his attention.

“They thought he’d see the joke but he marched up to the door and rang the bell.”

He said: “I went to check it wasn’t some old woman emptying her chamber pot but all I found were some spotty students. I gave them a ticking off as a joke but they looked terrified so I felt guilty afterwards.”

The star, filming a second series of Extras, has admitted he has to run daily, saying: “If I didn’t, what would I look like? I’d be 20 stone.”

Sky Showbiz - US Beckons Extras Star
May 16, 2006

We loved her as kooky Maggie in Extras...

And it seems the Americans were pretty impressed too, because Ashley Jenson has won a top role in a US sitcom.

The comedy actress, who plays Ricky Gervais' pal in his hit British comedy series, will star in ABC's Ugly Betty.

She'll take the part of Christina, the best friend of lead character Betty, who is played by actress America Fererra, 22.

Ashley, 36, will have to move to New York after filming of the second series of Extras wraps.

An insider told the Daily Mirror: "This is a major break. She is over the moon."

It's thought that Ashley originally planned to do an American accent for her new role, but will now stick to her native Scottish tones.

Ricky Gervais among the 2006 WIRED Rave Award Winners
May 16, 2006

Podcast: Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington, The Ricky Gervais Show

All 2006 Rave Awards winners are featured in WIRED's June issue, on newsstands May 23.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Ricky Gervais: Comedy phenomenon
April 29, 2006

The Office star Ricky Gervais has received an honorary award at the annual Rose d'Or television festival in the Swiss city of Lucerne.

For a self-confessed sloth, Ricky Gervais has become remarkably ubiquitous.

From sitcoms to podcasts, children's books to stand-up tours, the award-winning comedian clearly has the Midas Touch.

More than two million Sky One viewers watched the Simpsons episode he wrote and appeared in, while his hit comedy The Office has spawned spin-offs in America and France.

His other BBC sitcom Extras, meanwhile, won two prizes at the Rose d'Or festival, while Gervais received an honorary award for his "exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business".

Not bad for an unsuccessful musician who only found his niche in comedy at the age of 36.

PRESENTING ROLE

Born in Reading in 1961, Gervais grew up on a council estate as the youngest of four siblings.

He studied biology at the University College of London, switching to philosophy because he thought it would be less work.

Upon graduation he tried his hand at music, becoming lead singer of 1980s group Seona Dancing.

He also managed the band Suede but left before they hit the big time.

After trying and giving up stand-up, Gervais was hired to be head of speech on independent radio station Xfm when it launched in 1997.

It led to a presenting role which gave him an opportunity to hone his comedy skills.

His TV breakthrough came on Channel 4's The 11 O'Clock Show, playing an ignorant and bigoted reporter.

After a short-lived chat show, Meet Ricky Gervais, the actor teamed up with former Xfm colleague Stephen Merchant to write The Office.

'COMEDY OF RECOGNITION'

Set in a fictional paper merchants in Slough, the sitcom revolved around its incompetent manager David Brent, played by Gervais, and his discontented, under motivated staff.

"It's a comedy of recognition and observation and everyone can see something in it," he has said.

The show, which ran for two series and two Christmas specials, won six Baftas, two British Comedy Awards and two Golden Globes.

A US version starring Steve Carell in the David Brent role is nearing the end of its second season.

Extras, a sitcom about two struggling bit-part actors and the celebrities they encounter, followed in 2005.

Gervais has also enjoyed success with children's picture book Flanimals, stand-up comedy shows Animals and Politics, and created one of most downloaded podcasts on the internet.

Last year he appeared at the Live 8 concert in London's Hyde Park, landed a role in Hollywood film For Your Consideration and was invited by Simpsons creator Matt Groening to write an episode for the long-running cartoon show.

Earlier this week Channel 4 announced he would appear in a four-part series in June interviewing four of his comedy heroes.

'TEPID RESPONSE'

With a second series of Extras now in development, Gervais has become one of the hottest properties in the comedy business.

Not everyone, however, has been won over by this ebullient, self-deprecating Englishman.

In September the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre objected to a prostate cancer advert in which he appeared that featured a doctor inserting a finger inside a man's rectum.

And in an article earlier this week, the New York Times claimed his Simpsons episode had received "a tepid response" in the US.

Gervais, though, is unlikely to be affected by such criticisms.

"It's better to do only one good thing in life than 18 average ones," he has said.

"So many people end up regretting their lives, but at the end of day you realise so little actually matters."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais to meet more comedy idols
April 27, 2006

The Office creator Ricky Gervais is to interview four of his comedy heroes in a Channel 4 series due for transmission in June.

The four-part series follows a one-off special in January that saw the Extras star meet Larry David, creator of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld.

Garry Shandling and Spinal Tap writer Christopher Guest have been confirmed, with two more stars to be announced.

Gervais has a cameo role in Guest's next film, For Your Consideration.

Channel 4 said the "wide-ranging" conversations would see Gervais and his interviewees "compare notes on their influences, their different paths to stardom and the approaches they bring to creating intelligent, durable and mould-breaking comedy".

'UNPRECEDENTED'

"Garry Shandling is one of the most influential comedians of the last 25 years," said Gervais. "He granted me a very rare interview.

"So why did I tell him he looks like Bingo from The Banana Splits?"

"We're thrilled that Ricky has committed for these films," said Channel 4's Andrew Mackenzie.

"The access he's getting to global comedy stars is unprecedented."

Gervais is currently working on the second series of BBC Two sitcom Extras with writing partner Stephen Merchant.

Ricky Gervais serious about his nonsense
By Lana Berkowitz
Houston Chronicle
April 19, 2006

HOUSTON -- Ricky Gervais is riding high after the success of The Office and Extras.

He's touting his latest nonsense book, More Flanimals (Putnam, $15.99). He swapped an animated wife with Homer on The Simpsons and completed filming Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller and For Your Consideration with Christopher Guest.

Yet, one of his favorite topics is Karl Pilkington. Pilkington stars in Gervais' popular podcasts produced with buddy Stephen Merchant.

Pilkington is either one of the greatest comedic creations or one of the oddest men in the world. Pilkington ponders the silliest questions Gervais asks and comes up with something completely off-point -- and sometimes quite offensive.

"He's one of those people who sort of made his mind up when he about 12," Gervais says. "I do feel when I'm with Karl that I'm the writer on a wildlife program. He sees the world differently."

More Flanimals continues where 2004's Flanimals left off describing creatures that sprang from Gervais' imagination. It's meant to be a fake science book revealing flanimals' futile existence.

"They die ironic deaths. They die impossible deaths," Gervais says. "They sit around and introspect, which of course animals don't do."

He's in the talking stages about a flanimals TV special similar to Walking With Dinosaurs with clay animation splunges, coddleflops and sprots. Book three, Flanimals of the Deep, also is in the works.

"I might do some Aesop's fables with flanimals instead of animals," Gervais says. "But of course the morals will be just twisted. . . . Everything's like: So never ever trust anyone ever."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais sets cartoon ratings high
April 25, 2006

A total of 2.2 million viewers watched on Sunday, more than double the usual number of viewers for a new edition of the programme.

Gervais voiced the part of a British office manager who lived with Marge Simpson during a reality show.

He was invited to become involved by Simpsons creator Matt Groening, a major fan of Gervais' series The Office.

It was the first time that a British writer had been invited to compose an episode.

International success:

The episode - entitled Homer Simpson: This Is Your Wife - also becomes Sky One's second most-watched programme of all-time.

An episode of Friends from 2000 attracted the digital channel's biggest audience of 2.8m viewers.

The Simpsons is an international hit and is currently in its 17th series in the US.

Earlier this month, it was confirmed that a film version of The Simpsons would be released in July 2007.

US rejects 'real' Simpsons | This is London
By Stephen Hull, Metro
March 28, 2006

It started as a quaint British tribute to America's great TV export The Simpsons - but the US producers liked it so much they've included it in one of the shows.

A 'real-life' version of the opening credits, which has been running on Sky One for weeks, was broadcast on the other side of the Atlantic for the first time on Sunday.

It was slotted into an episode, called 'Homer Simpson, This Is Your Wife,' written by Office star Ricky Gervais. The comedian also turns up as a guest voice in the episode.

But reaction to the sequence from die-hard Simpsons fans was muted. On the official website's messageboards, fans were unimpressed.

'The girl portraying Lisa is horrendous,' wrote one. 'I was expecting a blonde girl in a red tube dress and pearl necklace dangling around her neck. I think Britain screwed it up.

Matt's Pick - Sunday, March 26, 2006
TV Guide

The Simpsons (Fox, 8:00 ET / 7:00 CT) First he gave at The Office. Now Ricky Gervais gets some extra attention as a schlub who trades spouses with Homer for a reality show.

Talking With Ricky Gervais
By Dana Meltzer
TV Guide - March 20 - 26, 2006

For a Brit, Ricky Gervais sure is spending lots of time Stateside. This spring, the DJ-turned-funnyman will be busy writing an episode of NBC's remake of his BBC hit The Office, producing podcasts for his Web site and guest-starring opposite Homer and Marge in this week's episode of The Simpsons. We caught up with Gervais to see he's juggling it all.

Why The Simpsons?

It's been my favorite show for years because it's funny, it's got heart, and it's some of the best satire out there. I felt like I'd won a competition when they asked me to write an episode.

When did they approach you?

I met the Simpsons crew the day after The Office won a couple of Golden Globes in 2004. They were quoting The Office to me, they knew it so well! I came over in May 2005 to record it. Then it takes nine months to be drawn and colored.

Any scoop on what happens in the episode?

My character and his wife go on Wife Swap with the Simpsons. I fall in love with Marge and try to woo her with the most cringeworthy love song ever. It's great fun.

Creator Matt Groening said you were good enough to be a regular on The Simpsons. Think you'll ever return to Springfield?

But this could be the worst episode ever! It's like taking over for a football coach who won the Super Bowl. So we'll see. But I'd write an episode of The Simpsons for free.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Rose D'Or honour for TV's Gervais
March 15, 2006

The award recognises an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business.

Festival boss Georges Luks called Gervais, 44, "a comedy phenomenon".

"Ricky Gervais is hugely talented, spectacularly successful and seriously funny. We look forward to seeing him on stage in Lucerne."

Gervais, whose latest show Extras is nominated in the sitcom category, will receive the tribute at a gala ceremony on 29 April.

Previous recipients of the award include comedy duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders and John De Mol, founder of Endemol.

Extras goes head-to-head with the US remake of Gervais' global hit The Office at the festival, which runs from 25-30 April in Switzerland.

In its original format The Office gained Gervais a huge international following for his role as David Brent.

Other British comedy shows which have gained nominations at the 46th Rose D'Or festival include The Catherine Tate Show, The Thick of It and Channel 4's The IT Crowd.

A series of awards for individual performers will also be presented, including best comedian, best sitcom actor and actress and best gameshow host.

Last year's big British winner was Little Britain, which won the awards for best comedy and best male comedy performance for its stars Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

Strictly Come Dancing and sitcom Nighty Night were also successful, along with Zoe Wanamaker, best female comedy performer for her role in My Family.

'Office' auteur turns to animal kingdom
By Jill Lawless
Associated Press
March 10, 2006

LONDON - Ricky Gervais is busy.

The writer-performer who immortalized the understimulating workplace in the British TV comedy "The Office" might just be the hardest-working man in show business.

He's developing a second series of his sitcom, "Extras," has written an episode of the U.S. version of "The Office," appears in Christopher Guest's forthcoming ensemble movie, "For Your Consideration," and wrote and starred in an episode of his favorite show, "The Simpsons."

His weekly podcast has just entered the Guinness Book of Records as the most-downloaded ever. He has an acclaimed standup show, and he's a best-selling children's author.

Might the 44-year-old Englishman be just the slightest bit driven?

"Everyone wants to leave their mark on the world, I suppose," Gervais said during an interview in his own office. "This is mine. It's the modern, slightly more sophisticated equivalent of me writing on a wall, 'Ricky Gervais woz 'ere.'"

Gervais' latest project is "More Flanimals," his second kids' volume, published this month in the United States. A sequel to the best-selling "Flanimals," the book explores the cuddly, funny yet cruelly Darwinian world of sprot tumblers, splunges, clunge amblers and other colorfully named creatures.

Their lives - described in the tone of a scientific field guide and the playfully absurdist vocabulary of Lewis Carroll or Edward Lear - are full of futility, senseless violence and death. Kids love it. "Flanimals" and its successor have sold almost 750,000 copies in Britain and inspired a range of CDs, T-shirts and collectibles.

"As far as children's books go, it's pretty subversive," said Stephen Page, head of the books' British publisher, Faber and Faber.

"One of the great strengths of it is it's not some concocted brand, some idea that has been made to measure. It's the creative genius of Ricky."

Gervais said that the books were a natural follow-up to "The Office," which exposed workplace dynamics in excruciatingly funny detail.

"I put just about everything I know about human nature into 'The Office,'" he said. "This is what was left." Gervais likened creating the Flanimals' characters, inspired by creatures he created to amuse a nephew and illustrated by Rob Steen, to "therapy, like spring-cleaning your head."

"I've always been fascinated with nature and science," he said. "I've found that to find things weirder than real nature and real science, you have to go into the realms of surrealism. There's nothing more amazing and incredible than evolution, or the circuitry system, or cross-pollination in plants. It's phenomenal. It's incredible. You couldn't make it up. It's fun to deconstruct that, and just get really ridiculous.

"It's a parallel universe where things aren't quite what they should be."

Gervais' own office - one of a warren of rooms above a shop on a London side street - contains little more than a large desk and a cardboard cutout of Homer Simpson. Yellow Post-it notes outlining "Extras" plot points cover one wall. It's the domain of a busy artist, not a TV star.

Yet Gervais is a star, famous worldwide as nightmare boss David Brent in "The Office," the mockumentary-style sitcom aired by the British Broadcasting Corp. between 2001 and 2003.

Set in a paper company in the unfashionable English town of Slough, it has been hailed as the best British comedy since "Fawlty Towers." Brent - a deluded boor who thinks he's "basically a chilled-out entertainer" - may be the greatest comic monster since John Cleese's sociopath hotelier, Basil Fawlty.

Millions of viewers responded to the show's depiction of workplace boredom, petty struggles and tentative office romance. The show has been broadcast in 80 countries, and a U.S. version starring Steve Carell is a surprise hit. A French version - "Le Bureau" - is in the works.

"It's all about recognition," Gervais said. "And I'd go one step further - I think it's about empathy. Even though you may watch David Brent and go, 'Oh God,' I think whether you feel you are like that or not, you put yourself in his shoes and realize there are certain aspects of David Brent in all of us."

Gervais attributes the success of "The Office" to the uncompromising way it was created. It was his first big break, after years spent working as a talent booker for a university student union, but was intentionally nonpopulist. Shot in unglamorous gray hues, it has no laugh track and few obvious jokes.

"I knew 'The Office' was an acquired taste before I did it, and I know more people hate 'The Office' than love it," Gervais said.

"Before I started, I said I'd rather be a million people's favorite show than 20 million people's 19th-favorite show. You want something to resonate, and the more it resonates, the more you've added to the world."

The notion of a legacy is important to Gervais. The man who maintained a student's frugal lifestyle into his mid-30s is now so hot he finds himself turning down wildly lucrative offers. He said no to a part in "Mission: Impossible III," and recalls with amazement being offered $1 million to film a liquor commercial.

"I said no," he recalled. "They came back with 2 million. They thought I was negotiating. I never regretted saying no. That would hang around, it would be there. I just want to be proud of everything I do."

At the moment, he's proud of his "Simpsons" episode, which sees Homer and Marge participating in a "Wife Swap"-style reality show.

Gervais thinks "The Simpsons" is the greatest show on television, and writing for it "was the most daunting thing I'd ever done."

"It's the only thing I'm a nerd about," he said. "I'm Comic Book Guy for 'The Simpsons.'"

Although he is a confessed Luddite, Gervais is enthusiastic about the half-hour podcasts he has recorded for The Guardian newspaper. The series of loose-limbed chats involving Gervais, "Office" co-writer Stephen Merchant and radio producer-comic foil Karl Pilkington recently entered the Guinness Book of Records for the most-downloaded podcasts of all time.

The Guinness certificate hangs on Gervais' office wall, although he notes that podcasting is "so in its infancy it's rather like Alexander Graham Bell having the biggest phone bill that year."

On the net: Ricky Gervais.com

Ricky Gervais Added to ‘Guinness Book of Records’
By WENN
March 6, 2006

HOLLYWOOD - British funnyman Ricky Gervais has been added to the Guinness Book of Records after scoring the world's most successful podcast.

More than 500,000 fans a week have been downloading the Internet snippet and The Office creator is tremendously flattered.

“We had our picture taken, I got a certificate and I put it on my wall, like a kid who brings home a picture. It's so great to be in it."

Article Copyright World Entertainment News Network All Rights Reserved.

Gervais 'in awe' at star billing in the Simpsons
Daily Post
February 28, 2006

COMEDIAN Ricky Gervais says writing and starring in an episode of the Simpsons was such a dream come true for him it was "ridiculous".

The man behind The Office and Extras has penned a plotline which sees Homer and Marge picked for a reality show where they swap partners with another couple, and Marge going to live with Gervais' character. "It was like I'd won a competition," he told the New York Daily News.

"I'm genuinely worried that Hollywood got together and talked to my doctors and found out I've only got a few months to live and said, 'Just let him do what he wants to do'."

He said he had been "in awe" of the show for at least 10 years. "When I first got into comedy, my ambition was to get a joke on The Simpsons.

"So to write and star in one is ridiculous," said Gervais.

In his episode, which will be shown in the US in March, his character is so touched by Marge's kindness and attention that he develops a crush on her and proceeds to write and perform the "most excruciating love song".

Ricky Gervais tests the pay-for-podcast waters
By Timothy McNulty - Staff Writer
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
February 28, 2006

Ricky Gervais has written and starred in two critically acclaimed cable TV shows ("The Office" and "Extras"), done the same with an upcoming "Simpsons" episode and just filmed a movie with Christopher Guest of "Spinal Tap" and "Best in Show."

Yet the Englishman says his favorite creative outlet, outstripping all those accomplishments, is taping an Internet talk show in which he and his "Office" co-writer make fun of their thick-headed radio producer.

It is not only a favorite to him: The 12 episodes of the roughly half-hour show have been downloaded almost 3 million times, making it the most popular podcast ever, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The podcast has turned the show's unemployed radio producer, Karl Pilkington, into a Web icon for his odd takes on life, or, as co-writer Stephen Merchant called him, "a global village idiot."

Gervais says his love for the podcast comes from being at the forefront of a newish kind of entertainment, which he gets to deliver without filters to a huge audience worldwide.

"I don't want to be just an actor per se. It doesn't excite me to see my fat face on the screen. What excites me is a creative process and bringing something into the world that maybe only I could have done," Gervais said in a conference call last week.

He will take another stab at something new today, when he starts charging a fee to listen to the semi-weekly program. That's a big break with the short history of the podcast form, which largely started as a free, do-it-yourself alternative to commercial radio.

Podcast fans are used to getting most of their programs free (at Apple's iTunes and other sites) and listening to them when they like on their iPods and other digital media players. While there are a few fee-required podcasts out there -- such as Rush Limbaugh's $50 annual fee -- the decision to charge for the Gervais program will be a high-profile test of the pay-podcast market.

Now, fans will have to pay $2 per episode or nearly $7 for a four-episode season to hear what Pilkington has to say. From experience, they know he might talk about using dinosaurs for population control, washing dishes with his pants down or whether he would eat a kangaroo penis on a reality show. (Answer: He would not eat one for breakfast, but "could eat a nob at night." The phrase soon zoomed over the Internet, appearing in song parodies and T-shirts.)

Despite how the Gervais program does, analysts expect more mainstream podcasts to follow its lead, by turning back toward traditional radio models. People will either pay for popular content or, just like radio, they will have to get used to ads.

Other technologies are being used as content-for-fee outlets: CBS announced yesterday that it will begin charging up to $4 monthly for news and entertainment alerts sent to cell phones.

With more people getting used to podcasts -- Forrester Research Inc. expects them to reach more than 12 million households by 2010 -- advertising or subscription fees are going to find them somehow.

Asked about the charges, Gervais notes that his first 12 podcasts, hosted by The Guardian newspaper in England, were free. (They are available at www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais.) The producers of Gervais' show were charged a few English pence for every download, which turned into tens of thousands of pounds after 3 million fans listened to it.

"It was either charge for it or not do it ... because we couldn't actually host it," Gervais said.

The new podcasts are being hosted by Audible.com, a New Jersey-based audio book company, and will be available there or on the iTunes site.

In a way, Gervais said, being on the forefront of the pay-podcast model is like the creativity of his show itself.

"It's nice to be there at the beginning. It's sort of in its infancy at this level. . . . We're not doing it for the money, even though Karl Pilkington is unemployed and needs to get a bit of cash."

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais charges for podcast show
February 21, 2006

Comedian Ricky Gervais is to make fans pay for his popular podcast, having previously released episodes for free.

The weekly comedy show, which is among the most downloaded podcasts on the internet, will be sold via the Audible and iTunes services.

Twelve episodes had been made available without charge by The Guardian newspaper's website.

Stephen Merchant, who wrote The Office and Extras with Gervais, appeared alongside producer Karl Pilkington.

The show largely consists of Gervais and Merchant teasing Pilkington for his idiotic ideas, including his regular Monkey News bulletin of news stories about apes.

Fans will have to pay $6.95 (£4) for at least four instalments of the programme.

The show's producers have contacted the Guinness Book of Records to lay claim to the most downloaded podcast, with an average of 295,000 per episode.

A French version of The Office was recently announced, following the success of a US reworking of the BBC series.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais to front cancer benefit
February 13, 2006

Comic star Ricky Gervais is to appear at a benefit concert in aid of teenage cancer sufferers next month. The Office star will head a comedy night at a week of shows at London's Royal Albert Hall, along with a line-up of rock acts.

The Cure will play their first gig with a new line-up and their only confirmed appearance of the year so far.

It will be the sixth year that concerts have been held to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust (TCT) charity.

'Making a difference':

Rock bands Bloc Party and Razorlight will also be headlining two of the nights, while a tribute to late DJ Tommy Vance will feature Judas Priest and the Scorpions.

The concerts, which are co-produced by The Who's Roger Daltrey, are due to begin on 27 March, and will culminate with The Cure's headline spot on 1 April.

Tickets are going on sale from 14 February.

Gervais, star and co-writer of BBC comedy series Extra, last appeared at the TCT benefit in 2004.

Other past performers at the concerts include Oasis, Coldplay, Madness and Franz Ferdinand.

Steve Coogan, the stars of Little Britain and Peter Kay have performed at the benefit's comedy night in previous years.

Roger Daltrey said: "There is no doubt in my mind that these shows really are making a difference to the lives of thousands of teenagers with cancer.

"From its inception, the event has always been supported by top artists at the cutting edge of music and comedy," added the musician.

Gervais shows dedication - and downloads - are what you need
By Mark Brown
The Guardian
February 7, 2006

Ricky Gervais' favourite is the world's worst joss stick disaster - it may have killed seven people but that didn't stop it getting into the Guinness book of World Records.

Now Gervais himself is to enter the record books. After his Baftas and Golden Globes he was presented with a certificate yesterday proving he is a world-record breaker for the most downloaded podcast.

Since he and his writing partner, Stephen Merchant, and the hapless producer, Karl Pilkington, began producing the half-hourly podcast for download on the Guardian's website in December, 2.9m downloads have been made - an average of 294,755 per episode. Essentially a radio programme without records or jingles, it involves chat about random subjects from how to make money to the roundness of Karl's head. "It is my favourite thing at the moment. It's gone worldwide, we're big in the US, Australia, Canada, England. [Pause] Iceland."

Gervais also professes to be a fan of world records: "I read it when I was younger, I love the book. I always used to go to the animals first, the biggest this or the strongest that." Unless there is a bigger downloaded podcast before April, Gervais will appear in the 2007 edition - possibly on the same page as the world's first email, sent in 1971 by the man who also came up with the idea of using @ for addresses, Roy Tomlinson. Gervais' appearance would confirm that podcasting, once of interest only to the nerdiest of internet nerds, is big and getting bigger.

Gervais picked up his award yesterday, not at the Grosvenor House hotel, but in the public foyer of the Guardian's offices in central London. He admitted his podcast had had a bit of a head start. "It's a bit like Alexander Graham Bell getting the biggest telephone bill," he said.

Gervais said he was to take a break from podcasting and concentrate on the second series of his TV hit Extras. The comedian also revealed yesterday he is to write another episode of The Office - but only for US audiences. Gervais and Merchant have agreed to pen an episode of the US version of the show, starring Steve Carell in the David Brent role, which has been signed up for a third season by the NBC network. The podcast, meanwhile, is available at the Guardian's website.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Gervais writing US Office episode
February 7, 2006

Ricky Gervais is to swap Slough for Scranton, Pennsylvania, as he has agreed to write another episode of The Office - but only for the US series.

Gervais and co-writer Stephen Merchant will pen an episode for the US remake of their BBC show, his spokesman said.

The comedy, starring Steve Carell in Gervais' manager role, is to return for a third US series after attracting an average of 10 million viewers.

Gervais recently wrote and appeared in an episode of The Simpsons.

US network NBC has commissioned another 22 episodes of The Office.

The American version re-locates the action from a dreary office block in Slough to an equally uninspiring working environment in Pennsylvania.

Gervais and Merchant have acted as executive producers on the remake, but have not previously written an episode.

The US version has not used the same scripts and storylines as the original.

Tough day at Le Bureau?
Chortle.co.uk
February 6, 2006

France is to make its own version of The Office.

The BBC has licensed the format of Ricky Gervais’s comedy to broadcaster Canal+, which has made its own six-episode series.

Le Bureau is based on the original UK scripts written by Gervais and Stephen Merchant.

David Brent becomes Gilles Triquet, who will be played by Francois Berleand. Paper company Wernham Hogg becomes Cogirep, and its based in Villepinte rather than Slough.

France is the second country to make its own version of The Office after the US, where the NBC has just ordered a third series after ratings picked up from a sluggish start. However, the original programme is seen in more than 80 countries.

Gervais, said: 'I'm still genuinely shocked at The Office's appeal in other countries. We didn't write it with a world market in mind. In fact, we never thought it would be a huge hit in Britain.

'We wrote it for ourselves and like-minded people. There are a lot more of those people that we could have imagined. But I won't be happy till I see an Inuit doing the dance.'

Colin Jarvis, director of formats at BBC Worldwide added: 'This is an exciting move for The Office. We'll be watching closely to see how the humour and interaction between the beleaguered staff and the overzealous boss play out in a completely different language and culture. But the move paves the way for a whole set of David Brents to appear across the world.'

Filming has just finished on the series, which is due to air in the spring.

Movie news - 'Museum' Exhibits Interest in Gervais
By Daniel Fienberg
January 30, 2006

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com)- Between Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke and Mickey Rooney, the leads in the upcoming 20th Century Fox release "Night at the Museum" have starred in some of the most successful comedies in film and television history.

Speaking to reporters in advance of his latest project, Steve Martin's reboot of "The Pink Panther," "Night at the Museum" director Shawn Levy threw in one additional piece of casting, "The Office" star Ricky Gervais.

"Ben did his show, 'Extras,' in an infamous cameo and Ricky is returning the favor by playing a very uptight museum director," Levy explains.

"Night at the Museum" is starting production in New York and will continue in Vancouver. The movie focuses on a bumbling security guard at the Museum of Natural History who discovers that the museum's exhibits come to life every night. The film will be a mixture of live action and CG elements and it represents the biggest production yet for Levy, whose credits include "Cheaper by the Dozen" and "Big Fat Liar."

"The scale is terrifying," Levy says. "Doing 'Pink Panther' was appropriately scary, it was a big movie -- three, four countries, very expensive, all of that -- but 'Night at the Museum' is certainly my biggest movie to day and involves this lexicon of visual effects language and process that is entirely new, but I'm a fairly quick study and I'm getting my head around it."

Although he's worked with both children and animals in the past, Levy also knows he'll have something different on his hands with a cast of wacky, improv-oriented comics.

"It will be an unruly set, to say the least," Levy laughs.

Following Hollywood decorum, Levy declines to give a specific for the film's box office, though when a reporter tosses out a hypothetical $90 million figure, he doesn't shy away.

"Somewhere in that range," he admits. "Isn't that what people generally say? It's a big one."

"Night at the Museum" is moving toward a release around the winter holidays. "The Pink Panther" will be in theaters on Friday, Feb. 10.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Simpsons creator praises Gervais
January 4, 2006

The Simpsons creator Matt Groening said Ricky Gervais did such a good job writing an episode of the hit US comedy show that he wants him to do more. The Office star wrote and appears in the episode, which is due to be screened in the US in the spring.

Groening said Gervais was good enough to be a regular character, according to reports in the UK press.

"He caught our tone exactly, and then added his own Ricky Gervais/David Brent patheticness," Groening said.

'Dream'

"Everything you could ever possibly want from Ricky Gervais you get.

"It's possible we'll collaborate again... he should be a regular character. In fact, he should have his own cartoon series."

Gervais' character in The Simpsons is based on David Brent from The Office sitcom.

He moves into The Simpson household with Marge as the family take part in an episode of Wife Swap, while Homer moves in with his wife.

Gervais was invited to pen the episode by Groening, who is a fan of The Office.

He described writing the episode as a "dream come true".

TheSimpsons.com

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Office star Gervais tops charts with podcast
December 14, 2005

LONDON (Reuters) - Ricky Gervais, creator and star of the hit BBC comedy "The Office," has topped the charts in the United States and Britain with his podcast, a booming new format that lets users download audio or video programming.

Gervais' podcast also features his "Office" co-writer Stephen Merchant and their former radio producer Karl Pilkington, as the trio take on a succession of offbeat topics from vampires to a regular segment called "Monkey News."

The free half-hour show -- essentially a radio program that can be downloaded to a computer or portable audio player -- now occupies the top spot on the podcast charts of the U.S. and UK iTunes Music Stores run by Apple Computer, whose popular iPod digital music player was the basis for the podcast name.

"The Ricky Gervais Show" has been downloaded more than 180,000 times in the last week from the Web site of UK newspaper the Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/rickygervais).

"When I heard that we were the number one podcast, my first thought was that it wasn't a fair fight as The Office is shown in over 80 countries around the world," Gervais told the Guardian. "Steve's first thought was: 'why aren't we charging for it?', and Karl's first thought was: 'Is a chimp allowed to win the lottery?'"

Other popular podcasts include "Tiki Bar TV", described as "forbidden cocktails & swingin' babes in swank bachelor pad," which is also in the iTunes top 10 in both the UK and the United States.

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Gervais radio show to be podcast
BBC NEWS - Entertainment
November 28, 2005

Award winning comedian Ricky Gervais to present a series of weekly podcast shows that will be available for download over the internet.

The Office star will host a weekly independent talk show to be podcast by the Guardian Unlimited website.

"I want to do a radio show where I can say what I want, when I want and that's free for anybody who can be bothered to listen," said Gervais.

The show reunites Gervais and Stephen Merchant with producer Karl Pilkington.

Pilkington previously worked with Gervais and Merchant on their Saturday afternoon show on Xfm.

"I suppose we are trying to create an exclusive club," Gervais told the Guardian Unlimited website. "We'd prefer this to be a few people's favourite show than a huge same-y, ineffectual broadcast."

Gervais and Merchant, with whom he co-wrote The Office and recent hit sitcom Extras, met in radio and co-hosted a show on commercial radio station Xfm for two years.

They returned to the London station for a six-week stint this summer.

The show will be available on the website from 5 December. Guardian Unlimited editor-in-chief Emily Bell called Gervais and Merchant's humour "perfect for our audience, both here and in the US".

Trial success:

Podcasting has become an increasingly popular medium for radio audiences. The BBC began a seven-month podcasting trial in May.

Around 20 programmes are taking part in the trial, including Radio 4's Today programme and Five Live's Sportsweek.

The trial allows users to save audio files from the BBC's website to their personal computers.

Files can then be downloaded to portable MP3 player, which can be played at any time.

Radio 4's In Our Time, hosted by Melvyn Bragg, became the most popular podcast in September averaging 30,000 download requests a week.