Ricky Gervais

Video: Gervais makes a surprise call to Karl Pilkington

An Idiot Abroad star Karl Pilkington was not best pleased when 5 Live's Richard Bacon and comedian Ricky Gervais made a surprise call on his day off.

Pilkington, in the midst of tiling his kitchen, demanded to know where the money from his comedy travel series had gone.

Stewart Francis: on touring

The deadpan Canadian comic talks about supporting Ricky Gervais on tour, the art of the one-liner and why he has no truck with Twitter.

Friday with Graham Norton better than Jonathan Ross

Friday Night With Graham Norton was a distinct improvement on the Jonathan Ross version. No sign of the Four Poofs or their Piano. No back-slapping with Ricky Gervais...

PhoneShop is an abysmal new sitcom written by Phil Bowker, a senior comedy executive. If nothing else, it gives budding comedy writers a window into Bowker's comic sensibilities, should they ever pitch a script to him. He evidently thinks shouting is a substitute for funny dialogue, and that swaggering, sub-Ali G patois is intrinsically hilarious.

Set in the ruthless environs of a high-street mobile phone retailer, it's stocked with irritating, unlikeable characters, one of whom exhibits the precise mannerisms of David Brent.

Ricky Gervais actually script-edited the pilot last year, but that's no reason for actor Tom Bennett to pay slavish tribute to him. It's a small mercy he isn't playing the needy, buffoonish boss character.

Woefully unfunny, charmless and inept, PhoneShop is the kind of comedy that dribbles contempt at its presumed audience of easily pleased young adults. Please, resist it in droves.

When a new sitcom gets a big tick from comedy aristocrats like Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, you approach it with enormous expectations. And while PhoneShop includes some sharp lines and clever ideas, it's also irritating, which blurs out much of the good stuff. Double act Ashley (Andrew Brooke) and Jerwayne (Javone Prince) both talk like Ali G, but have nothing especially funny to say. Their schtick is to bully the freshly recruited, drippy salesman, Christopher (Tom Bennett), who they call Newman. This quickly gets boring but their dynamic never evolves beyond lions-picking-on-an-antelope. If you can be bothered it might be worth one more look but at best this series opener feels like an ill-cast early draft.

Harry Enfield: 'Ricky Gervais nearly ended my career'

Harry Enfield has admitted that he feared the rise of Ricky Gervais had finished off his own career.

Ricky Gervais has a royal flush

The Queen may have it all but funnyman Ricky Gervais has given her what she's no doubt always longed for - a beer mat signed by him.

Ricky Gervais: 'TV directing not appreciated'

Ricky Gervais has claimed that television directing should be taken more seriously.

Stephen Merchant interview

The Office's Stephen Merchant: "Ricky Gervais needs to eat more vegetables".