Comedy in the Community
Ricky Gervais is best known for his portrayal of David Brent, the oafish pantomime boss from the award-winning TV series The Office. Surrounded by a cast of bewildered colleagues, he would frequently take out his guitar and start playing. The series came to an end but the bad guitar playing sessions spawned a stand-alone video entitled Learn Guitar With David Brent, which generated over 21 million hits on YouTube.
This summer, he is taking to the road as David Brent on tour in a show called Foregone Conclusion, which promises more of the same. Meanwhile, Muppets fans will have seen him co-starring alongside Kermit as the dastardly Dominic Badguy, in the movie Muppets Most Wanted. He was recently quoted as saying he could barely believe his luck. ‘Every year I watch The Muppet Christmas Carol, and I’m jealous of Michael Caine getting to hang out with the Muppets. Now I’m getting to do it myself. Making this movie wasn’t like a career move – it was like I’d won a prize. I had to keep pinching myself.’
He has just finished the second series of Derek, in which he plays Derek Noakes, a man with a childlike naivety and lack of intelligence who works in the fictional Broad Hill Retirement Home. It is a comedy, although when the first series was aired, opinion was divided between those who saw it as a brave way to tackle a difficult subject and those who thought it mawkish.
Gervais says the series is essentially a message of kindness and that there is no political agenda behind the Channel 4 hit. ‘It’s not political, it just sits well with the stories you hear about bad care homes.’
But Gervais has made Broad Hill the best care home in the world. ‘I’ve tried to make this a bit more fairytale but you still see little bits and pieces of nastiness here and there. The subject is clearly a group of outsiders,’ he explains, ‘thrown together and making the best of a cruel world. The theme’s probably kindness, but within that you explore everything, because it’s a fake documentary.
‘People say, “is it a comedy or a drama?” and I say, well, what’s real life? Is your life a comedy with sad bits, or is it dramatic with some funny moments? There is more sincerity [than The Office and Extras], which sometimes confuses people because they’re waiting for the undercutting joke.’
For Gervais, writing and performing Derek has tapped into his new fascination. ‘The Office was a study in fame, about a normal person getting his 15 minutes and thinking it’d change his life. Extras, of course, was about fame. I wanted to go back to the ordinary people, which are my favourite thing to write about. If you like, I’ve got re-addicted to normal people. There’s nothing like writing for ordinary people and most people are like Hannah, Vicky, Kev, Jeff and Dougie. They’re not like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.’
Fans of the first series of Derek will see some familiar faces such as Hannah (Kerry Godliman) and Kev (David Earl). But there are also some newcomers. Colin Hoult joins as Jeff, the resident baddy in this otherwise oasis of kindness. ‘He is a threat for this lovely little nest of loveliness… I wanted some evil within.’
From a writing perspective, he says that the second series of any new show is where his characters get a chance to develop. ‘The second series is always my favourite, certainly as a writer and director because you can hit the ground running. The first series there’s a lot of set up. With a second series, you can just go, “right, you know what these people are like, now let’s see them do this; let’s see Derek on a date”. Technically it’s a lot more exciting because you write a first series blind. You don’t know which actors are going to play the parts, then you find them and suddenly you’re writing for a specific person. It’s so much fun writing for the people you know are going to act it out.’
He says that if he were to remake The Office it would be completely different. ‘I’m a different person now. I could have done The Office again and steeped things in irony and have flawed characters we’re laughing at. Or I could study the blind spot again, which is the staple of British comedy, laughing at the difference between how characters see themselves and how we see them. David Brent is probably the ultimate – he has no selfawareness. All you can do is what you enjoy and what you’re passionate about. If it turns out as if you meant it, at the time, you’re bulletproof.’
Essentially he tries to follow the dictum: Write about what you know. ‘I worked in an office for 10 years, and I wrote about it. I did the media, then wrote about it. Derek comes from my family, who are all care workers. I’ve got 30 years of anecdotes; my mum, sister, sister-in-law, my nieces and nephews are all in the care world.’
Gervais believes he shares some similarities with Derek. ‘He’s not burdened by peer pressure. He’s sort of us; he’s certainly me, when I was eight or nine, before I started worrying about what was cool. It’s like when you ask a pop star their favourite songs, they probably say a rapper you’ve never heard of. They can’t say, “you know what, Sting’s done a couple of good ones”.’
Gervais, one of our best-loved comedians, is honest on his opinions of fame. ‘I feared fame when I came into this and I knew it would be an upshot of what I did, if I was successful, and it fascinated me. In a recent survey asking 10-year-olds what they want to be when they grow up, they said “famous”. It’s ridiculous. Now it’s a profession: it’s called fame.’
Derek is broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesdays at 10pm.
This summer, he is taking to the road as David Brent on tour in a show called Foregone Conclusion, which promises more of the same. Meanwhile, Muppets fans will have seen him co-starring alongside Kermit as the dastardly Dominic Badguy, in the movie Muppets Most Wanted. He was recently quoted as saying he could barely believe his luck. ‘Every year I watch The Muppet Christmas Carol, and I’m jealous of Michael Caine getting to hang out with the Muppets. Now I’m getting to do it myself. Making this movie wasn’t like a career move – it was like I’d won a prize. I had to keep pinching myself.’
He has just finished the second series of Derek, in which he plays Derek Noakes, a man with a childlike naivety and lack of intelligence who works in the fictional Broad Hill Retirement Home. It is a comedy, although when the first series was aired, opinion was divided between those who saw it as a brave way to tackle a difficult subject and those who thought it mawkish.
Gervais says the series is essentially a message of kindness and that there is no political agenda behind the Channel 4 hit. ‘It’s not political, it just sits well with the stories you hear about bad care homes.’
But Gervais has made Broad Hill the best care home in the world. ‘I’ve tried to make this a bit more fairytale but you still see little bits and pieces of nastiness here and there. The subject is clearly a group of outsiders,’ he explains, ‘thrown together and making the best of a cruel world. The theme’s probably kindness, but within that you explore everything, because it’s a fake documentary.
‘People say, “is it a comedy or a drama?” and I say, well, what’s real life? Is your life a comedy with sad bits, or is it dramatic with some funny moments? There is more sincerity [than The Office and Extras], which sometimes confuses people because they’re waiting for the undercutting joke.’
For Gervais, writing and performing Derek has tapped into his new fascination. ‘The Office was a study in fame, about a normal person getting his 15 minutes and thinking it’d change his life. Extras, of course, was about fame. I wanted to go back to the ordinary people, which are my favourite thing to write about. If you like, I’ve got re-addicted to normal people. There’s nothing like writing for ordinary people and most people are like Hannah, Vicky, Kev, Jeff and Dougie. They’re not like Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp.’
Fans of the first series of Derek will see some familiar faces such as Hannah (Kerry Godliman) and Kev (David Earl). But there are also some newcomers. Colin Hoult joins as Jeff, the resident baddy in this otherwise oasis of kindness. ‘He is a threat for this lovely little nest of loveliness… I wanted some evil within.’From a writing perspective, he says that the second series of any new show is where his characters get a chance to develop. ‘The second series is always my favourite, certainly as a writer and director because you can hit the ground running. The first series there’s a lot of set up. With a second series, you can just go, “right, you know what these people are like, now let’s see them do this; let’s see Derek on a date”. Technically it’s a lot more exciting because you write a first series blind. You don’t know which actors are going to play the parts, then you find them and suddenly you’re writing for a specific person. It’s so much fun writing for the people you know are going to act it out.’
He says that if he were to remake The Office it would be completely different. ‘I’m a different person now. I could have done The Office again and steeped things in irony and have flawed characters we’re laughing at. Or I could study the blind spot again, which is the staple of British comedy, laughing at the difference between how characters see themselves and how we see them. David Brent is probably the ultimate – he has no selfawareness. All you can do is what you enjoy and what you’re passionate about. If it turns out as if you meant it, at the time, you’re bulletproof.’
Essentially he tries to follow the dictum: Write about what you know. ‘I worked in an office for 10 years, and I wrote about it. I did the media, then wrote about it. Derek comes from my family, who are all care workers. I’ve got 30 years of anecdotes; my mum, sister, sister-in-law, my nieces and nephews are all in the care world.’
Gervais believes he shares some similarities with Derek. ‘He’s not burdened by peer pressure. He’s sort of us; he’s certainly me, when I was eight or nine, before I started worrying about what was cool. It’s like when you ask a pop star their favourite songs, they probably say a rapper you’ve never heard of. They can’t say, “you know what, Sting’s done a couple of good ones”.’
Gervais, one of our best-loved comedians, is honest on his opinions of fame. ‘I feared fame when I came into this and I knew it would be an upshot of what I did, if I was successful, and it fascinated me. In a recent survey asking 10-year-olds what they want to be when they grow up, they said “famous”. It’s ridiculous. Now it’s a profession: it’s called fame.’
Derek is broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesdays at 10pm.