- Hi, I'm Ricky Gervais and today I'll be doing
the Wired Autocomplete Interview from home.
[cheerful melodic music]
Let's see what the internet wants to know,
so these are frequently asked questions about me,
I don't know why anyone wants to know these things,
but let's go on, I'll answer some, if I know the answer.
Where Ricky Gervais?
Where does Ricky Gervais come from?
I mean, do they mean biologically or what's that?
My Dad
gave half of his genetic material,
my Mum gave half of hers, I come from Reading,
which is I don't know what you'd call it,
it's a big town 40 miles outside London.
Where is Ricky Gervais house Hampstead.
Right, obviously, imagine if I just said the address.
That's close enough, it's in Hampstead, yeah.
Why Ricky Gervais?
Why doesn't Ricky Gervais drive?
Laziness, I guess, I've never bothered.
I've lived in London since I was, you know, 19,
so the Tube or buses was easier or take a cab.
I wish I could, but I can't be bothered to learn,
I think that of everything, I wish I could speak French,
but I can't be bothered to learn,
so laziness.
But you can't drink and drive, so what's the point?
Why did Ricky Gervais roast Hollywood?
I think it's what I was paid to do, you know,
I'm a court jester, I make a decision,
I've done it five times over the last 10 years
and every time it's like
do you pander to the 200 people in the room
or the 200 million people watching at home?
There's no competition, the people at home
aren't winning awards, they're not millionaires,
what's in it for them
to watch the richest, most privileged people
in the world just win an award,
well, no, I try to make it a spectator sport,
so that's why, they can take it.
How Ricky Gervais?
How can I meet Ricky Gervais?
You can't, I've got armed guards
and electrified fences and lasers,
I've got a moat around this castle with alligators.
How rich is Ricky Gervais?
Well, I've got a moat with alligators, that's how rich,
I haven't got a moat with alligators.
None of your business.
How does Ricky Gervais pronounce his name?
Ricky Gervais.
If you did it sort of like phonetically,
it'd be like J, it's be a J apostrophe,
V-A-Z-E, Jvaze,
I don't know if that's correct pronunciation,
it's French obviously, of Gervais?
Dunno.
Oh, I've heard everything from Jarvis, Jervis, Gervis,
the most common one is they make the S sound
with sort of a Z sound, so they'll go Gervais,
I think that's the most common, particularly in America,
Jarvaze, but I say Gervais.
Is Ricky Gervais a US citizen?
No, I'm not, I'm a British citizen,
nothing more to add to that really.
Is Ricky Gervais wealthy?
Well,
alright, yeah, don't worry about me,
I'm doing alright, yeah.
Is Ricky Gervais related to David Bowie?
Well, yeah, I suppose so distantly,
we're all related, aren't we?
But no, not in the immediate sense,
I haven't worked it out,
but we're all related, aren't we really?
I mean, we're great apes.
I think I looked like him when I was younger a little bit,
or I tried to anyway, I've got his teeth as well.
I suppose we talk similar
to an American.
Is Ricky Gervais married to Jane Fallon?
Not legally, not in the eyes of God.
We are really, but we haven't done the paperwork
or had a wedding, no.
Is Ricky Gervais canceled?
Every day I reckon, every day by someone,
but luckily it means nothing.
What Ricky Gervais?
What inspired Ricky Gervais "After Life?"
I was on tour with "Humanity"
and I was only doing like 90 minutes' work a day
and I felt a bit guilty
and I thought I should probably do another TV series.
Unlike all the other ones I've done,
where the character came first,
like David Brent existed before "The Office,"
Derek existed before "Derek," et cetera,
this one, the idea came to me rather like a movie idea,
like a high concept movie idea
and I thought imagine a man
who didn't care about living anymore
and one day was gonna commit suicide,
he could do what he wanted, 'cause he didn't care,
if he could just have one last hurrah,
he could do and say what the [bleep] he wanted
and he's always got suicide to fall back on,
so it was like a superpower,
like nothing could hurt him, he was invincible
and then the next thing I thought,
oh, why would he nearly kill himself?
Oh, 'cause he lost everything
and what would be losing everything?
I thought well, for me it'd be your soul mate,
your life partner
and I suppose that's when it got a little more serious,
but the big concept
was imagine you could say and do everything,
'cause you didn't care whether you lived or died,
that was the idea.
What made Ricky Gervais famous?
I guess being in "The Office," but I don't know really,
I think you're famous
to different people for different things,
like kids recognize me from the "Night at the Museum"
and "The Muppets" and then some people recognize me
just because I don't even think they know I'm a comedian,
they notice me because I do lots of animal activism
and they're into that, so I don't know,
but I'd say what follows me round would be
the creator of "The Office" or David Brent, yeah.
What did Ricky Gervais say to Mel Gibson?
Oh, I think I know what they mean,
when he was at the podium,
like the last time I introduced him,
I said what does sugar[bleep] even mean?
I think that's what they're referring to,
they must have bleeped out the word, [bleep].
What was Ricky Gervais drinking?
I think that means at the Golden Globes as well, doesn't it?
It was a beer, a standard beer, I think it was Fosters,
because I think that's like,
you know, 3.6 or something,
so you can drink those all night and not be drunk,
that's how professional I am,
I will only drink beer all night when I'm working.
What did Ricky Gervais do?
I think that's in general on the internet,
like if my name's trending, people go what did he do now?
What did he say, who did he annoy?
It depends, it depends what date you're watching this,
what did I do?
I didn't [bleep], sorry.
Did Ricky Gervais?
Did Ricky Gervais cancel his tour?
No, no, it's all postponed.
I've never canceled a gig, I've never canceled a gig,
I've been ill, I've been up there, I've been up there dying.
One gig, I had sort of flu and I was there
and I was coughing, the worst thing you have,
I mean, I had a temperature, I felt sick, nauseous,
I had to be near a toilet, but the worst thing is a cough,
'cause you can [bleep] up a punchline.
I was drinking sort of like cough medicine
and I was having, you know, cold remedies,
still had a beer, a little beer, that never hurt anyone.
But no, I haven't canceled a tour, I've postponed.
What did Antonio Banderas sat to Ricky Gervais?
I've no idea.
Oh, didn't I introduce him like as a joke once,
that I didn't know what he was,
I didn't know what he was saying?
So I don't know what he said to me,
I couldn't understand him.
What did Ricky Gervais study?
Well, everything I guess at school,
I went to university to study biology,
I got to university and I thought why have I done this?
This is real work, this is a proper science and stuff,
I've got 40 hours a week, nine o'clock lectures,
this is not, I came to university to join a band.
After a few weeks of that I did philosophy,
which was seven hours a week
and I got my degree in philosophy.
When Ricky Gervais?
When is Ricky Gervais "Humanity" on Netflix?
It's on now, so these questions are three years old,
they're just getting that,
imagine someone did that, right, three years ago
and then watching this and they're going,
oh, great, thanks, thanks for answering me, it's on now.
When did Ricky Gervais get Ollie?
Autumn of 2016 on "The Jonathan Ross Show,"
which is like our Jimmy Fallon or whatever,
he knew that we'd recently lost our cat, Colin,
he checked with my girlfriend, Jane,
that we'd want a new cat, so it wasn't just a gifted cat
and he kept it secret from me and then on air,
he said he'd got a cat for me
and he gave me lovely little Ollie
and she died a few weeks ago,
she would've been 17 on July the 9th.
When did Ricky Gervais start comedy?
I've always been doing it, I've always been annoying people
from the age of about six or seven,
I just wasn't getting paid for it, until I was about 38.
Who Ricky Gervais?
Who did Ricky Gervais say was coming for you?
Oh, again that's the Globes,
when I said this isn't just about the people
in front of the camera, people behind the scenes here,
producers, execs, from all different backgrounds,
but they've all got one thing in common,
they're terrified of Ronan Farrow, he's coming for you.
Who did Ricky Gervais make fun of?
Everyone,
everyone.
Who does Ricky Gervais support football?
England, I don't really have a team,
I haven't had a team, probably in my twenties
was my last time I ever said I supported a team
but England, the only time I watch soccer,
as you make us say now,
'cause you've stolen the term, football
for a ball that you don't kick,
you hold it in your hand, it should be called handball.
Football, we had football, we kicked the ball,
it's called football.
Why did we have to change our name to soccer?
We had football.
So yeah, England.
Does Ricky Gervais play guitar?
I do, yeah, one there.
I've played since I was about 14,
I sort of taught myself, I'm okay.
I did it to be a songwriter,
I didn't do it to be a guitarist, I did it to write songs,
so as soon as I knew three chords, I was writing songs,
but then so was Bob Dylan and he's amazing.
Does Ricky Gervais like Steve Carell?
Yeah, I do, he's brilliant, lovely man as well,
lovely family man, just good at his job,
I know I tease him publicly, but he knows
and he sent me a lovely email
about "After Life" one and two.
Yeah, I do like Steve Carell, lovely, talented, hardworking,
brilliant, funny, clever actor, so yes.
Can Ricky Gervais?
Can Ricky Gervais tap dance?
Oh, I know why, "Muppets" movie, where we're doing a dance,
that's the magic of movies.
Can Ricky Gervais speak French?
I can order a beer in most European languages.
I'd have to say no, no, I can't speak French.
Thank you very much for your questions
from the internet over the last 10 years,
people waiting patiently for the answer.
I've been Ricky Gervais.