Ricky Gervais, welcome to The Daily Social Distancing Show.
Hi. How's it going?
(chuckles)
Um, before we talk about the show coming back
for season three on Netflix-- congratulations on that--
I just want to talk to you about... about life.
Like, where is Ricky? What is Ricky doing?
Like, you always seem like the most interesting person I know,
who's always doing random things.
Are you just... are you just staying in the house?
-Is that you now? -Yeah, well, I'm-I'm doing what I'm told.
I'm-I'm going, you know, with my hour's exercise a day,
and luckily, we've got a garden, so, um, you know,
I can play badminton and ping-pong.
Uh, I'm a writer-- I can do that.
Apart from the tour being postponed,
it hasn't made a lot of difference to me.
I never liked people coming to the house,
so that's-that's good.
This is good. I don't have to get dressed
and go to a studio.
I can just do it... (laughs)
So I've probably done more publicity for the show
than I usually do.
I'm always drinking wine by 6:00, watching Netflix,
so the evenings literally haven't changed.
Um, but you know what?
Joking aside, you won't hear me complain,
not when there's nurses doing 14-hour shifts,
risking their lives.
You know, I mean, it's, like...
I-I-I know I've got it easy compared to most,
so, uh, I'm, uh, I'm just getting on with it,
'cause, you know, what can you do?
We're always, like, reading news about different countries,
and, you know, one thing I've learned, you know,
whether it was from South Africa or moving to the U.S.,
is oftentimes the news doesn't match up
with what's actually happening in the country.
And I wondered, like, what is...
what is the sentiment in the UK right now?
We read things about Boris, we read things about the country
being confused by "stay alert" or "stay at home,"
we're reading about how the UK's responding--
what's the actual sentiment or the mood that you're feeling
from your friends and people in the country?
Well, I think... I think everyone feels like,
you know, they're in the same boat,
and I think most people want it to be over,
and I think everyone I know's doing the right thing.
Um, and, uh, you know, people haven't seen their families
for six weeks.
I mean, I think the big thing is,
apart from the risk and worry about your family
and yourself and everything like that,
I think people wish they could have a date.
It's like, it turns them to kids.
We keep going, "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
And no one knows. No one knows...
"When will it be over?" We don't know.
"What will happen? Will it come back?"
We don't know. "Can you get it twice?"
We don't... No one knows anything.
So I do feel... I do feel for the people
that have got to go out there and talk to the nation
and tell them something.
And-and the truth is, they don't know.
And, you know, I-I think that's the... that's the problem.
If someone says, "It's over, um, September 1,"
people go, "Okay, fine.
See... see you September 1."
But it's just not that easy.
Do you... Are you guys also experiencing,
like, just a wave of misinformation now?
Because it feels like, you know, I-I don't know if you're feeling
the same thing-- I know it's online,
but I don't know if it's the same in the UK.
Like, I feel... I feel like I always thought
something like coronavirus or aliens or whatever
would happen to us, and then we'd come together
as human beings.
I truly have been shocked at how, like, the virus
has become politicized. Like, people literally...
some people just don't believe in the virus,
-some people do, some... -Well, of course.
Everyone needs someone to blame, everyone...
"It's your... this is your fault,"
and, of course, people use it.
And, uh, and you're right.
You'd think that it would be like an alien invasion
where it was humanity against this thing, but no.
I mean, the first thing I noticed
was people fighting each other for toilet rolls.
And I... What...
This was, like, day one.
-(laughing) -These are the sort of people that if a...
if-if the plane crashed, they'd start eating each other.
And I'd go, "We've got sandwiches.
"We've got... Don't eat each other yet.
It's fine. Give us..."
But, I mean, also, toilet rolls?
Toilet... I-I would give my last toilet roll
for a bottle of wine if it was the end of the Earth.
H-Honestly. I'd be drunk,
and I'd be wiping my ass on the grass.
Who cares about toilet rolls?
That was day one!
Fights in-in the...
Wh-What are you doing?
Our society broke down about the first day,
and then people went, "Okay. Okay.
This... We can... We can do this."
Yeah, a lot of people... It's-it's interesting,
'cause, you know, one thing you've always said
about yourself is, like, you...
you don't like getting involved in politics.
You've never been a soapbox person.
You've never been somebody who's like,
"Ah, this is Ricky Gervais."
You-you love telling jokes.
You love making fun of people and life and everything.
Making TV shows.
But it fe... You've gotten more political over the years
or talking about it because it's gotten crazier.
And one of your tweets...
One of your tweets went-went viral.
One of your old tweets.
It seemed like you predicted the future.
You said the fact they have to put "do not drink bleach"
on containers lets you know that Donald Trump
can become president.
And then he had his own bleach thing.
And, I mean, you saw how that blew up.
And I'd say that tweet wasn't political.
It was about ignorance and stupidity
and the nutty state, and people...
You know, and then it became political, obviously.
Um, but, again, I don't think
it's that I've become more political.
It's the...
If people aren't acting like they should,
if people in power aren't doing
what you think is the right thing,
you have to be an adult.
I don't want to be an adult.
I want ev... I want other people to run the country correctly
and do all the right things.
Then I can muck around. I can be an idiot.
I can... I want to be the one getting told off for stuff.
I don't want to be the teacher standing there going,
"Right, you can't do that."
That's not my job. That's no good for me.
I want to be the idiot in the back of the class
getting in trouble for doing the wrong thing.
And-and when the world's in danger,
you can't do that.
You have to start being sensible,
and it really annoys me. (laughs)
One thing that we can't deny is Ricky Gervais has more heart
than most people would like to admit,
and it comes through in your shows.
You know, um, After Life is yet another example of a show
where people cry, people laugh, people experience, like,
a range of emotions that are really human.
And, you know, for those who don't know,
it's-it's a story of a man played by yourself
who has lost his-his, uh, his partner.
And she's gone, but she's left him messages
about how to, uh, you know, carry on in life.
And then he goes, "I'm gonna be an asshole to the world."
And what's interesting
is the world slowly starts softening him up.
And it's been renewed for season three,
so congratulations on that.
I know that's... A lot of fans are happy about it.
But tell me a little bit about, like, not just the show
but why we always see so much heart
in the shows that you create.
Because it-it doesn't seem like that would be Ricky Gervais,
but that seems like a common thread
in everything you make.
Yeah, everything I've done has been about humanity, really.
I think comedy is best.
It says we're all idiots.
And, so, that's all right.
It's-it's, uh...
But things...
But some things are more important
than, you know, being smart and clever,
like being kind, you know?
And, uh, I've al...
Everything I've done has been quite existential.
You know, The Office was about being 40
and are you doing the right thing?
And Derek was about the end of your life
and, you know, are you leaving the world
in as good a state as you found it?
You know, what...
And everything's always about "what's the point?"
And this is explicitly existential.
He's lost everything.
Even the title, After Life, is sort of a play on words
'cause he doesn't... he doesn't believe in an afterlife,
so he-he doesn't even...
He hasn't even got that, that his-his wife's in heaven.
He hasn't got that. He-he says a line where he says,
"I know she's nowhere,
"but I'd rather be nowhere with her
than somewhere without her."
And, so, he's given up.
He doesn't want to live without her,
and that's the other side of the...
the play on words, really, with After Life.
He thinks this is after his life has ended.
He thinks he lost himself.
And, uh, after the first series,
I've never had a reaction like it.
I don't just mean the size of the reaction.
I mean the emotional connection.
People would come up to me on the street and say,
"Oh, I lost my brother three weeks ago"
or "I lost my mom before I watched it,
and it really helped."
And I-I realized that everyone's grieving.
Everyone's grieving recently or-or now,
and-and you don't get over it.
Yeah, it-it almost feels prescient
to the time we live in now, I won't lie.
It-it... It feels like that's what we're all experiencing
on a... on a larger level.
The world...
For the first time in history, as you said,
we're all experiencing a shared grief
-in way that even world wars didn't create. -Yeah.
Everyone in the world
is experiencing some effect from lockdown,
some effect from losing somebody,
some effect from losing their life,
the way they live, their family, and it feels like the show...
-It talks about a similar feeling. -I think you're right.
I think that, uh, most people,
it's made them start realizing
what the most important things in life are.
And, uh, I-I think it also, uh, makes you appreciate
the-the mundane things in life.
I mean, the show is all about those things can save you.
You know? Um, he's got to walk the dog.
It keeps him alive.
He's got to talk to people.
It keeps him alive.
You know, those little things.
I'm missing things I didn't do.
I didn't walk around the shops. I can't wait.
I didn't go and buy a newspaper. I can't wait.
Sit outside a café.
I-I want to do those things I didn't even do.
So, yeah, you-you want... You want those...
You want your... You want your life back.
That's what you want.
Yeah, I think that's all everybody wants.
Uh, Ricky, thank you so much for the time, man.
-Good luck out there. Uh, stay safe indoors. -Cheers.
Enjoy the wine. And, uh, hopefully I'll see you in person
-sooner than later, my friend. -Yeah, can't wait.