Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais interview

'It's always about people, it's always about ego'. The 54-year-old comedian releases two films this year - but he remains firmly in the boss's chair.

In the sitcom Extras, Ricky Gervais's character, Andy Millman, has his comedy script accepted by the BBC. Any writer struggling for their big break would be overjoyed, but Millman keeps his cool in the initial meeting with the Beeb and is at pains to stress the comedy should be shown on BBC2. Instead of grabbing at anything, he insists it should not be shown in BBC1. After all, a comedy on BBC1 prime time can't be particularly clever or subversive can it? So what of comedy shows that are not only on BBC1 but, whisper it, on BBC1 on a Saturday night?

Specifically, what of a comedy that has been brought in to replace The Voice in the schedule? Can it be any good? This is not an hour of stand-up, which would have been a brave and welcome move. Instead, it's more of a variety show, hosted by Michael McIntyre. There will be sketches, singing, acrobatics, and pranks on the audience. It's Saturday night TV without a doubt.

Gervais splurges £2.75m on a 'little country retreat'

Ricky Gervais, 54, and his partner Jane Fallon, 55, have splashed out £2.75 million on a riverside house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, a short cruise downriver from Russell Brand's six-bedroom period home in Henley.

Ricky Gervais is returning - we should celebrate

The star of The Office has turned plenty of people off with his boorish public image, and even more with his non-PC stand-up. But his best-loved character still has much to offer.

Ricky Gervais on outrage culture

'Offence is the collateral damage of freedom of speech'

Ricky Gervais criticises "homogenised" gross-out movies

The Office creator says that Netflix has allowed him to be an "auteur" with his new film Special Correspondents set to be released on the streaming service this April.

This topical comedy show brings together young British comics, including Dane Baptiste, Ivo Graham, Rhys James, Ellie White and Jamie Demetriou. It feels like a scattershot ensemble, but makes slightly more sense when you learn this is being positioned as a reboot of The 11 O'Clock Show, the late-90s format that helped to shape the current comedy mainstream by employing everyone from Ricky Gervais to Sacha Baron Cohen, David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Charlie Brooker and Robert Popper.

Review: 'Outside Looking In Left' by Ed Byrne

Ed Byrne brings his show from the last Edinburgh fringe to the Warwick Arts Centre; a comfortable and rather jolly evening. Byrne causes no controversy, and in a comedy scene that is often filled with a Ricky Gervais-esque desire to be the most offensive as possible within ninety minutes, Byrne's show is a welcome relief.

Mackenzie Crook interview

Mackenzie Crook on the 'excitable' Ricky Gervais, the 'gruelling' Game of Thrones, and the mysterious childhood moment that changed his life.

The day I played David Bowie's hands in Extras

When Bowie appeared on Ricky Gervais's TV show in 2006, he needed someone to play the piano while he mimed. It would be his last appearance on TV and the song he played, Little Fat Man, would later be echoed in Where Are We Now?, a track on his 2013 album The Next Day.