Ricky Gervais

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Ricky Gervais (2010)

Ricky Dene Gervais ([ dʒə (ɹ) ˈveɪz ]; born June 25, 1961 in Reading , Berkshire ) is a British comedian , radio host , actor , writer , director and film producer .

Life

Gervais was best known for the award-winning BBC Two series The Office , in which he played the lead role (David Brent) and in which he wrote and directed the screenplay with his longtime friend and work colleague Stephen Merchant . In 2005, the second Merchant / Gervais production, the sitcom Extras , also ran on BBC Two.

Gervais is also the author of a series of children's books about the Flanimals and has written an episode of the television series The Simpsons .

Gervais is partnered with writer Jane Fallon and is an atheist .

Career

radio

After several transitional and temporary jobs, including an office job and briefly as manager of the rock band Suede (before they got a record deal), Gervais began his career as a radio presenter at the London radio station XFM in 1996 , but lost this job as the channel for Capital Radio group was taken over. At XFM, Gervais met Stephen Merchant . Together with Karl Pilkington , the three developed a comedy format. In November 2001, Gervais, now known through The Office , returned to XFM for a Saturday night radio show. The show ran intermittently until January 2004. After that, Gervais took 18 months off for other projects until he hosted the show again on May 28, 2005 together with Pilkington and Merchant. Since 2006 further editions have been published as podcasts on the Internet.

watch TV

Gervais makes his television debut in September 1998 in the Channel 4 telecast Comedy Lab . A wider audience, he was by his comedy segment on the show The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 in early 1999, in which he Ali G replaced. Two years later, Gervais received his own comedy talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais , which, however, did not go down well with the audience and has since been mocked by Gervais. A self-produced series pilot film by The Office in 1999 and 2000 , produced together with his XFM colleague Stephen Merchant, was bought by the BBC a little later .

The Office

The first six episodes of the first season of The Office were initially seen by a small audience in July and August 2001. Word of mouth, reruns, and DVD releases, however, created a much larger audience for the second season, also consisting of six episodes that aired in September 2002. The second season was so successful that the show switched from BBC Two to BBC One for the last two episodes (Christmas specials) in December 2003 . The Office also provided the template for various adaptations abroad - including the German series Stromberg and the US version Das Büro with Steve Carell .

Extras

Gervais and Merchant's second comedy project is Extras , a co-production of the BBC and HBO . It first aired on the BBC on July 21, 2005 and was shown on HBO in the fall of 2005. The sitcom features internationally known actors and musicians such as Ben Stiller , Patrick Stewart , David Bowie , Ian McKellen , Daniel Radcliffe and Kate Winslet . As in The Office , Gervais plays the leading role, the extras and later sitcom actor Andy Millman. Merchant and Gervais are the directors, writers and producers of the series.

Life's Too Short

The sitcom, filmed in a style similar to The Office, was penned by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. The idea originally came from Warwick Davis , who plays a fictionalized version of himself in the series. According to Gervais, the series is about "the life of a showbiz dwarf". He and Merchant can be seen in guest appearances themselves. The series first aired on November 10, 2011 on BBC Two. The broadcaster HBO, which produced the series together with the BBC, secured the US rights and aired the series in 2012.

Derek

In April 2012, the pilot for Gervai's new dramedy television series Derek , in which he plays a carer in a nursing home, was shown. The remaining six episodes aired on Channel 4 in early 2013 and a second season was commissioned.

After life

In March 2019, the first season of After Life appeared on Netflix. The idea, direction and script come from Gervais, who also takes on the lead role of the fictional local journalist Tony Johnson, who tries to come to terms with the death of his wife in the series. The second season also appeared on Netflix in April 2020.

Stand up

In 2003 Gervais toured the UK with his stand-up comedy program Animals . The recorded show was also televised and released on DVD. The Politics Tour followed a year later . In 2007 he went on tour under the title Fame and in 2009 with Science . Both tours, like their predecessors, were released on DVD. Parts of the fame show can also be seen in the computer game Grand Theft Auto IV , where Gervais appears in the Comedy Club (digitized via motion capturing ).

Books

So far , Gervais has written four children's books about the monster Flanimals he devised . Published are Flanimals , More Flanimals , Flanimals. The Story so Far and Flanimals of the Deep .

Video games

Ricky Gervais' virtual alter ego is also featured in Grand Theft Auto IV . There he appears in a comedy club.

music

Gervais was a member of the Seona Dancing music group in the early 1980s, which released two singles - Bitter Heart and More to Lose - but was unsuccessful.

Filmography

As an actor

Awards

Ricky Gervais at the 2007 British Academy Film Awards

In 2003, Gervais was voted one of the 50 funniest British comedians by The Observer .

In a 2005 poll, The Comedian's Comedian , Gervais was named one of the UK's 50 best comedians all-time by fellow comedians and others in the comedy industry.

Gervais has received a number of awards for his work on The Office , including a Golden Globe , as well as several BAFTAs and British Comedy Awards . In April 2006, the Rose d'Or award followed . In 2007 he received the Emmy for best leading actor in a comedy series for the comedy project Extras .

Gervais was also honored for his literary work. He won the Galaxy British Book Award 2007 for the fourth volume in the Flanimals series, Flanimals of the Deep .

Others

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Camilla Long: Ricky Gervais: Bad parents should be sterilized. Fact. The Times , archived from the original on October 28, 2010 ; accessed on March 12, 2013 (English, subscription required).
  2. ↑ After Life | Netflix Official Site. Retrieved March 6, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Stoles for Fashion. PETA , archived from the original on March 28, 2013 ; Retrieved March 12, 2013 .
  4. ^ WSPA petition against bullfighting. World Society for the Protection of Animals , archived from the original on June 4, 2010 ; Retrieved March 12, 2013 .
  5. ↑ RICKY'S BACK! ( Memento of October 29, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at hfpa.org, October 26, 2015 (accessed October 27, 2015).
  6. ↑ A quote by Ricky Gervais. Retrieved February 7, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Gervais, Ricky
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Gervais, Ricky Dene (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British comedian, radio host, actor and film producer
DATE OF BIRTH June 25, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Reading , Berkshire , United Kingdom