Ricky Gervais

Stars come out for BBC2's Office night

BBC2 will dedicate an entire evening to airing the first series of The Office later this month, including new footage of Ricky Gervais and the team talking about its impact alongside comedy stars such as Friends' Matthew Perry and Spinal Tap's Christopher Guest.

A good day at the office

An interview with Ricky Gervais in the Financial Times.

Ricky Gervais's The Office: the perfect TV comedy?

The fact that The Office being remade in yet another country, for the sixth time and on this occasion in Israel, confirms once more the universality of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's comic creation. That and the fact that, by now, they must be so stupendously rich that their recent Comic Relief sketch could only have been a tame understatement.

Are Mathew Horne and James Corden the next Morecambe and Wise? On the strength of this, probably not - and the quicker Corden starts writing the next Gavin & Stacey series, the better.

What differentiates this from other sketch shows is that some parts were shot in front of a studio audience and it was directed by Kathy Burke - a comedy god. But it's the usual hit-and-miss affair of sketches that work (superheroes meeting off-duty, a camp war correspondent and a brilliant Ricky Gervais impersonation) and those that don't.

There's a surprising amount of naked flesh as the lads seem to get their kit off at the drop of a hat. The duo's popularity should help them ride this one out but as their awkward stint presenting the Brits showed, being mates is one thing - creating that effortless on-screen chemistry is a lot, lot harder than Ant and Dec make it look.

Corden & Horne, surely? If we're talking comedy double acts, that's got to have a far better ring to it than Horne & Corden, wouldn't you say?

Anyway, no matter - what we have here is another brand new sketch series, this time featuring the pair, aka Matthew and James, who co-hosted The Brits with Kylie last month, and whom the nation knows best for the excellent Gavin & Stacey (which Corden also co-wrote).

This new show of theirs, it's worth noting, is aimed at an audience that's comfortable with a fair bit of crudity, but it has to be said that even the near-the-knuckle material is funny first and rude second, if you get my drift.

And if nothing else, episode one is worth watching just for Corden's brilliant Ricky Gervais impression.

A brand-new sketch show from Gavin and Stacey stars Mathew Horne and James Corden. OK, we admit that on the evidence of their BRIT Awards double-act, there's not a great deal to suggest Gavin & Smithy off Gavin & Stacey's move into sketch show territory is going to be much cop. Even Smithy's joke about bunking up with Kylie was, essentially, the same gag he cracked about Keira Knightley at an awards bash last August. Then again, characters such as a pair of rubbish magicians and a lovely pop at Ricky Gervais inspire some faith in the lads. File under 'promising', then...

Al Murray is so convincing as the Pub Landlord that, like Ricky Gervais, you start to worry where the actor ends and the role begins. That's why it is such a wonderful surprise to see him playing so many different characters in this new sketch show. One of the best is the gentleman safe breaker who, having been caught, talks his way out of arrest. Better still is the airline pilot who rambles on over the intercom about his sex-change operation. A couple of sketches are based on great ideas - one being the trailer for an ITV drama starring Ray Winstone as Ghandi. And for lovers of old-fashioned vaudeville who yearn for the days of Dick Emery, Murray plays a Nazi dressed in pink who can't wait to get down to some serious interrogating.

Gervais planning Extras one-off

Comedian Ricky Gervais has admitted he is planning a one-hour special of his hit TV comedy Extras.

Prank-call show Fonejacker has to be the funniest thing on the telly right now. I like the Iraqi man wanting to join the British Army. The recruitment officer is very helpful: he even thinks that Iraq may well be a Commonwealth country.

What, because you occupy it now? says the Iraqi. Erm, we don't occupy it now ... Well, I suppose ... can't really get into all that with you, sir.

It makes you squirm like an eel. But cringing is the new laughing - no, not new, it has been since Ali G, and Ricky Gervais. And this is so beautifully performed - by one man: Kayvan Novak.

Few stand-up tours sell out faster than rock concerts, but such was Ricky Gervais's celebrity in 2007 that tickets for his Fame show were gone in less than an hour at many venues. The third part of his stand-up trilogy (after Animals and Politics), this act is as mischievous as you'd expect from the man who so effectively punctured famous egos in Extras.