- 3 hours ago
The comedian sat down with The Hollywood Reporter.
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00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, only 18 summers old, Ricky Gervais.
00:00:17Hello.
00:00:25That's really absurd.
00:00:27Comfy chair.
00:00:28That's not even in the film.
00:00:30I know.
00:00:31That's just a little viral we did for fun, yeah.
00:00:33Right.
00:00:34So, there's so much to talk about because you have multiple projects going, and like
00:00:39I said, he's kicking off the Humanity tour back to stand-up, back on your stand-up roots,
00:00:45basically.
00:00:46And this is your fifth one, and he's starting that tomorrow at Madison Square Garden.
00:00:49But let's start with David Brent, and I did like the hashtag Brent's Back.
00:00:56What made you want to take such an iconic character?
00:00:59And I know that as actors, a lot of times when you make someone that famous and you become
00:01:04known for it, it kind of follows you around through your career, and you've done a lot
00:01:09of work spacing yourself throughout the variety of shows and movies, but why bring him back?
00:01:14I never thought of that, though.
00:01:17That's not why I stopped The Office when I did, because I was worried about being typecast.
00:01:22I stopped it because I wanted to do other stuff, and I thought, you know, that was enough.
00:01:27And I said I'd never bring The Office back, and I never would.
00:01:30Having said that, it never really went away.
00:01:33You know, I ended my version in 2003 with a special, but then I started work on, you know,
00:01:40the remakes, the American one being the biggest and most famous, but there were seven or eight
00:01:44others.
00:01:45We've just finished another one, a finished version.
00:01:48So that's like nine.
00:01:50It's crazy.
00:01:51And, you know, every day I was doing something for it, even if it was, you know, okaying a
00:01:57clip for a quiz machine or something.
00:02:00And then on the ten year anniversary of The Office, which was in 2013, there was a bit
00:02:08of a thing going on in England that BBC put out a special edition where, you know, they
00:02:14had interviews about the thing, sort of, I love David Brent type thing.
00:02:18And I did a thing for Comic Relief, which was a little sketch, and I had to think about
00:02:25what Brent would be doing now, and I had him still working as a rep in Slough, and he was
00:02:30on the periphery of entertainment.
00:02:32He'd sort of given up his dream, but he was managing a local rap act.
00:02:36He thought it was the local Simon Cowell.
00:02:38And he was meant to be paying for him to do a demo, and he worms his way in to that.
00:02:42And he does one of his own tracks, Equality Street, which was an ad lib in episode four,
00:02:47series one of The Office, where I just say, we used to have a political reggae song called
00:02:51Equality Street.
00:02:52And I thought, I better write that.
00:02:54And so we did that and did a video, and that went viral.
00:02:58And I thought it'd be fun to do a gig as well.
00:03:02And so I knew a guy called Andy Burrows, who was the drummer of quite a big pop act in England
00:03:11called Razorlight.
00:03:12And he had a ready-made band, and so we rehearsed the songs, and we did a little gig.
00:03:18And it was a 500-seater, and there was 100,000 ticket requests, which was crazy.
00:03:25And I thought, hold on, though.
00:03:26Why has David Brent got this great band, and why are all these people coming to see him?
00:03:30This isn't in the narrative.
00:03:32So I built in, there were session musicians, and I was losing money on this gig.
00:03:39And that's what I thought, that's what he'd be doing now.
00:03:42He'd be paying to be famous.
00:03:44He'd be, you know.
00:03:46And I'm so glad I left it this long, because the world has changed enough.
00:03:51You know, in that 12 years, I worked in an office for 10 years.
00:03:55That's obviously the main influence, and I wrote about that.
00:03:58But apart from that, I'd watched a lot of docu-soaps of the 90s,
00:04:02where ordinary people got their 15 minutes of fame, and that was it.
00:04:06But now fame's different.
00:04:07Now it's insatiable.
00:04:08Now people live their life like an open wound to stay famous.
00:04:11People do anything to be famous these days.
00:04:13People do bad things to be famous, and they know they're rewarded for it.
00:04:17You know?
00:04:18You've got internet trolls that are invited on telly to be so-called journalists.
00:04:23But I mean, since the original Office, we've had Pop Idol, America's Got Talent.
00:04:30We've had The Apprentice, where the host is now president.
00:04:35You know?
00:04:38And so it was great.
00:04:40And so what's different in this movie is that our sympathies are with David Brent,
00:04:44because by today's standards, he's not as bad as we thought he was.
00:04:53Right.
00:04:54Yeah.
00:04:55And that's kind of a miracle.
00:04:56That took some doing, because at the time, he was at that combination of just cringy and
00:05:01not getting it.
00:05:02Yeah.
00:05:03But now it seems almost quaint.
00:05:04But he was your embarrassing uncle.
00:05:07Right.
00:05:08They didn't have their own TV shows in 2000.
00:05:10Do you know what I mean?
00:05:11Yeah.
00:05:12And now they do.
00:05:13And there's also an edge to it, that David Brent isn't a bad person.
00:05:16He is an early narcissist, and he does want to be loved.
00:05:19But he's not evil.
00:05:20Right.
00:05:21Do you know what I mean?
00:05:22He's not mean.
00:05:23He's not, you know?
00:05:24And so, see, in the movie as well, he's sort of out of place in the office.
00:05:29He's almost bullied with a new alpha male.
00:05:31You know, those people who do get on The Apprentice by saying things like, I would destroy anyone
00:05:35who stands in my way.
00:05:36When did that become a good thing to brag about?
00:05:38Right.
00:05:39Do you know what I mean?
00:05:40It's really odd.
00:05:41Yeah.
00:05:42Yeah.
00:05:43And so, when you were trying to imagine him in this stage of his career, and you put all
00:05:52this together, was it, did you have to, because he's still a little bit of the same person,
00:05:59but...
00:06:00He is.
00:06:01And so, I did...
00:06:02There's a few changes.
00:06:03You can't just do exactly the same thing and try and make him look...
00:06:06I mean, he was 39, 40, which is...
00:06:08I always play my age.
00:06:10It's easier than trying to do stuff.
00:06:13Do you know what I mean?
00:06:14Yes.
00:06:15Any time saved in the makeup chair.
00:06:18Yeah.
00:06:19So, he was 39, 40.
00:06:21You would say the peak of his powers, you know?
00:06:24And now he's 55, and he's not the boss anymore.
00:06:28And so, I knew that was instantly a little bit sadder.
00:06:31And I knew I did want to show that he wasn't so bad, but playing him, he was almost the
00:06:38same.
00:06:39It was like putting on an old pair of slippers.
00:06:41It just fitted.
00:06:42But I gave him one little change, and that was he had a sort of nervous laugh, because
00:06:47I wanted to show that he'd had a bit of a breakdown.
00:06:50I wanted to show that fame had treated him badly.
00:06:53So, he came back with just a little bit in trouble.
00:06:56Do you know what I mean?
00:06:57Yeah.
00:06:58Absolutely.
00:06:59And it's touched on in the series, several times when people are doing exactly what you're
00:07:04saying, where they note that the times have changed, and like, oh, here you are back,
00:07:08seeking more of the same.
00:07:09And they're much meaner to him.
00:07:11I wanted that to be quite an important theme as well, because I don't think this fame is
00:07:16good for people.
00:07:17Those people that, they go into, you know, we see it in England with things like Celebrity
00:07:21Big Brother, where, you know, a sort of C-list or D-list celebrity who's had a bit of a fall
00:07:28from grace, often through no fault of their own, you know, they say things like, I want
00:07:32to show the public a different side of me.
00:07:34And I'm screaming, why do you care what the public, they want you to fail again.
00:07:38This is entertainment for them.
00:07:39This is not good for you.
00:07:40This is not therapy.
00:07:41So, I wanted to show that it was that sort of, he'd been sold a lie that fame could sort
00:07:47it out.
00:07:48You know, it's always that second, but no, it'd be different this time.
00:07:51And I suppose, deep down, I wanted to leave people with a flavour that he doesn't need it.
00:08:01You can just be, he's just not happy with himself.
00:08:05Right.
00:08:06And as once he gets happy with himself, he's alright, you know, so.
00:08:10Well, and that's the tail end of that arc of the movie.
00:08:14I guess we're going to call it a movie, right?
00:08:16And, but before he gets there, before we get to that element of really feeling sorry
00:08:23for him, there is at the beginning, he's, you can kind of feel him like putting the shoes
00:08:29back on of what it's like to, when the document, when BBC was doing the documentary, and he
00:08:33felt good again.
00:08:34And it is, you know, I did want to put a little bit of bravado in there, which again, we touched
00:08:39upon in the office where he was trying to be cool, and then he begs for his job back,
00:08:42you know?
00:08:43Right.
00:08:44And I did want it to look like, you know, does he really think this is going to be good?
00:08:48Right.
00:08:49I think people, people have that delusion that if they say everything's good, then
00:08:54it is.
00:08:55But it isn't.
00:08:56Right.
00:08:57You know?
00:08:58Yeah.
00:08:59And he's trying to heal himself, but he's doing it in the wrong way.
00:09:02Mm-hm.
00:09:03So it is, there is quite a serious side, and it is sort of about fame again.
00:09:07I've been obsessed with that for all my career, really.
00:09:11And it's also about people.
00:09:12It's like saying, you know, we're all idiots.
00:09:15Right.
00:09:16That's not a bad thing.
00:09:17Right.
00:09:18It's whether you're, whether you're an evil idiot or a nice idiot, I think.
00:09:23Well, yeah.
00:09:24Yeah.
00:09:25And there's not an evil idiot part of it.
00:09:28There is the nice idiot part.
00:09:30We should probably roll a clip where David is, at the beginning of this, talking about
00:09:35kind of coming back, and he's being interviewed on camera.
00:09:38Let's run that.
00:09:39He's talking about women.
00:09:40I've been out with all sorts of girls.
00:09:49Rich girls.
00:09:50Poor girls.
00:09:51White girls.
00:09:52You know?
00:09:53Thin girls.
00:09:54Fat girls.
00:09:55I went out with a very big lady.
00:09:59Lovely.
00:10:00Bubbly.
00:10:01Beautiful eyes.
00:10:02All my mates were like, oh, Brent, if she lost weight, she'd be an absolute stunner.
00:10:06And she did lose weight.
00:10:07And, um, and she wasn't a stunner.
00:10:09Which was very disappointing.
00:10:11Um, a surprise to everyone.
00:10:13I think she left it a bit late in life and lost it way too quickly.
00:10:17So she was left with that sort of wattle thing.
00:10:20You know?
00:10:21And she wasn't bubbly anymore.
00:10:23A bit grumpy.
00:10:24You know?
00:10:25Always hungry.
00:10:26So, that's an example of him.
00:10:35He's saying awful things, but accidentally.
00:10:38He's trying to do the right thing.
00:10:40And he gets...
00:10:41Because he's childlike.
00:10:42But he's a...
00:10:43He's...
00:10:44I think he's good childlike.
00:10:45Do you know what I mean?
00:10:46Right.
00:10:47He's not the evil that you just...
00:10:48He's not the evil man-boy who wants everything his own way and destroys other people's toys.
00:10:52No, he's not.
00:10:53He's not that one.
00:10:54Um, he's just, again, he's nervous.
00:10:57Mm-hmm.
00:10:58He's nervous.
00:10:59He's nervous around everything.
00:11:00He wants people to know he's a nice guy.
00:11:02So he thinks the best way to do that is just to say, I'm a nice guy.
00:11:05Right.
00:11:06You know?
00:11:07He wants to walk into a room and say, I am not a racist.
00:11:08Right.
00:11:09You know?
00:11:10It's about that sort of white middle class angst around any difference.
00:11:13Because he is a nice bloke.
00:11:14Right.
00:11:15But, um, he's nervous.
00:11:16So sometimes he says the wrong thing.
00:11:18Right.
00:11:19But he's...
00:11:20He's never malicious.
00:11:21Well, it's...
00:11:22In this part where he has that very familiar David Brent-ism.
00:11:27You can see that from the original Office.
00:11:30And then in the movie it morphs a little bit more.
00:11:35But you've covered this ground in a way that you obviously have a lot to say about this.
00:11:40And you and I have talked before that the extras, which I, as a TV critic, think is probably
00:11:45one of your best things you've ever done.
00:11:48And part of my appeal was to say, I wish it was more known and got the acolytes.
00:11:57But he did actually win an Emmy for it.
00:11:59So that kind of undermines that part.
00:12:01But that was a fantastic look at fame and be careful what you wish for.
00:12:06Yeah.
00:12:07And there's echoes of this in here as well.
00:12:10I think there is...
00:12:11I feared fame when I first started doing this.
00:12:15And it came...
00:12:16I came to it late and almost accidentally and, I suppose, organically.
00:12:22I got a little radio job when I was about 37, 38, after I'd worked in an office for 10 years.
00:12:29And then I started popping up.
00:12:31And then it sort of grew from now.
00:12:34I got a little bit on a thing called the 11 o'clock show.
00:12:37And then the office came.
00:12:39But I knew...
00:12:40I knew if I was, you know, a famous actor or comedian, that I'd be, you know, recognised.
00:12:49But I wanted people to know that was an upshot of it.
00:12:51I wasn't doing it to be famous.
00:12:52And I sort of feared it.
00:12:54I didn't sign that...
00:12:55I didn't sign that contract, you know, with the devil, make me famous and you can go through my bins.
00:13:01Do you know what I mean?
00:13:02Right.
00:13:03And I sort of worried...
00:13:04I think I worried about it because I thought, oh, you know, they say horrible things about famous people.
00:13:11And you don't want to have horrible things said about you.
00:13:15And now it's like war off a duck's back because it's...
00:13:17Do you know what I mean?
00:13:18Right.
00:13:19It happens all the time.
00:13:20Twitter, which is like reading every toilet wall in the world at once.
00:13:25Right.
00:13:26And you shouldn't know those things about you.
00:13:28You know, you shouldn't hear things about you in normal life.
00:13:31Right.
00:13:32You shouldn't be famous.
00:13:33It's odd to be famous.
00:13:34And I sort of feared that.
00:13:35And for the first few years, I thought, oh, that's not fair because I thought reputation is everything.
00:13:39And now I realise it's not.
00:13:41Reputation is what strangers think of you.
00:13:43Right.
00:13:44And who you really are is what your friends and family think of you.
00:13:46And they stay forever.
00:13:47So I just don't care now.
00:13:49And the other thing...
00:13:50How long did it take you to get that confidence?
00:13:52Well, it wasn't confidence.
00:13:54It was...
00:13:55Realisation.
00:13:56It was realisation.
00:13:57It was observational, you know.
00:13:59The first bad review, I thought, oh, my God.
00:14:02And I thought, oh, no, I'm still alive.
00:14:04Do you know what I mean?
00:14:05Right.
00:14:06And then you hear more and more and you think...
00:14:08And people say, I didn't like that.
00:14:10And I want to go, I'm not giving the money back.
00:14:12You know, it's also subjective that the only real thing is what you do with it, you know.
00:14:22But I suppose probably the last few years, because it is horrible to hear nasty things about you, but it's virtual.
00:14:35It's really virtual.
00:14:37And, you know, I can't complain.
00:14:40Right.
00:14:41You know, it's been...
00:14:42It's been good.
00:14:43Well, you could.
00:14:44Well, I could.
00:14:45I could, yeah.
00:14:46No, but I...
00:14:47You know, there are some people that have a real hard time, and I really haven't.
00:14:50Right.
00:14:51You know.
00:14:52But I did fear it.
00:14:53And I think I...
00:14:54I think I probably overreacted, because it's fine.
00:14:58It's just fine, you know.
00:15:00Right.
00:15:01And that element that's in the extras, which I think you...
00:15:04Like, if you haven't seen extras for anybody who hasn't done it, what he's talking about here is completely wrapped up there.
00:15:10And as I said to you backstage and have written before, it is one of the greatest endings to a series you'll ever see.
00:15:16Poignant.
00:15:17Spot on.
00:15:18Great acting.
00:15:19And you won the acting award for that.
00:15:21And in this, when we revisit Brent now, as he's moving on, he hasn't yet come to the full realization that Andy Millman does it in extras.
00:15:32But he's so excited to be back in the spotlight.
00:15:36It's difficult with Brent, because they were sort of opposite sides of the same coin, because David Brent has always been the sort of satisfied fool.
00:15:48Quite a delusional character. We're laughing at the blind spot. We're laughing at the difference between how he sees himself and how we see him.
00:15:54Yeah.
00:15:55Andy Millman is the dissatisfied Socrates.
00:15:57Yeah.
00:15:58He knows he's at the bottom line. He doesn't like it.
00:16:00Yeah.
00:16:01You know. And so, to make Brent too aware kills David Brent as the character.
00:16:08Yeah.
00:16:09That's the problem with David Brent. It's a minefield.
00:16:12Right.
00:16:13Whereas Andy, you can keep getting him annoyed, and he just gets angrier.
00:16:16Right.
00:16:17With David Brent, he's got to keep falling over, and not realize that, why does he keep falling over?
00:16:22But, that's where fame comes in, because it's a true observation.
00:16:27People do it every day. Half the population fall over to be famous every day, and they get back up, and they think, this will be different.
00:16:34Right.
00:16:35We've had a whole generation now of people watching people be famous for being famous.
00:16:40Yeah.
00:16:41And doing anything to be famous. And so, why are they going to train to be a doctor?
00:16:45When they look at a family who's on telly making millions for just running around.
00:16:49Right.
00:16:50Do you know what I mean?
00:16:51All too well.
00:16:52I think we're going to run out of doctors, because everyone's trying to be a singer.
00:16:58You're going to have a heart attack, and someone's going to come and go, there's no doctors, but we can sing.
00:17:04Well, before David Brent is clearly not self-aware enough, he still runs into things, and he still runs into his own self.
00:17:12We have a clip here where, in David Brent, Life on the Road, where he, you know, in a nutshell for this movie, he's going after this goal and continuing his lifelong desire to be a rock star.
00:17:26He's, as you said earlier, basically paying for it to happen.
00:17:29Yeah.
00:17:30And it's a series of terrible and saddening realizations along the road in life.
00:17:34And on this clip, and David, and I do want to talk about songwriting and music, because I know it's really passionate for you.
00:17:41And I think the secret sauce in this movie is the actual writing of the songs and the singing of the songs, because you actually have a really good voice.
00:17:50Everybody should know that.
00:17:51But the creating of the songs in this, because as David goes out on the road, you'll find out that him singing the songs is painful.
00:18:01And here's a song called Don't Make Fun of the Disabled.
00:18:08People often say to me, they say, oi Brent, you know, you're a philosopher, you're a leader of men, you're a great comedic mind, but is there anything you won't joke about?
00:18:18And I always say, yes, they're handicapped.
00:18:21No, I will not laugh at them, or with them, just to be sure.
00:18:28Also, you might get in trouble, and that's in this, it's sort of a warning.
00:18:31Part of the problem is the fact that he explains every single lyric.
00:18:36Lyric.
00:18:37We can't just play a song.
00:18:38No.
00:18:39They don't really need explaining, do they?
00:18:41And we have to sit there with our instruments waiting for the song to start.
00:18:46That's, that's so...
00:18:48Excruciating.
00:18:49Yeah.
00:18:50Oh, please, don't make fun of the disabled.
00:18:57There's nothing funny about those.
00:19:02Whether mental in the head, or mental in the legs.
00:19:08We've been in a lot of bands together, and I'd say David is sort of the personification of all of our most embarrassing moments ever.
00:19:19Being in bands, yeah, magnified by about a hundred, yeah.
00:19:28Please be kind to the ones with feeble minds.
00:19:34Help the awkward through a door.
00:19:39Hold their hand, if they've got one, understand.
00:19:45You might have to feed the worst ones through a straw.
00:19:55It's basically a head on a pillow.
00:19:57Head on a pillow.
00:19:59Head on a pillow.
00:20:01Oh, please, don't make fun of the disabled.
00:20:08There's nothing funny about those.
00:20:13Whether mental in the head, or mental in the legs.
00:20:20Doesn't mean their sorrow doesn't show.
00:20:25Oh, no, no, no.
00:20:30Oh, no, no, no.
00:20:41That's for that little guy there.
00:20:43Well done.
00:20:44Welcome.
00:20:45That's the song that we've entered for any consideration for best music in lyrics.
00:21:04I don't know.
00:21:05I'm not sure.
00:21:06That's going to win.
00:21:07In other case, things like I would always go on and stuff, like Titanic and stuff.
00:21:15It's basically a head on a pillow.
00:21:20Yeah.
00:21:21I'll tell you, we did some proper gigs.
00:21:25And you have an entire album of this whole thing.
00:21:30And we've got a real album, yeah.
00:21:31And we played, like, arenas.
00:21:34And when you have 5,000 people sing along to it's basically a head on a pillow, that is a thrill.
00:21:42Yeah.
00:21:43That is a thrill.
00:21:44It's tremendous.
00:21:45We'll talk a little bit about, and those of you who have seen this, or any of those of you who haven't, there are so many great songs in here where it's David wanting to be a rock star.
00:21:57Basically, he wanted to make all the most, he really wants to prove how sensitive he is to these songs.
00:22:02And it's painful.
00:22:03Of course.
00:22:04Yeah.
00:22:05He's going through that phase where he wants the best of both worlds.
00:22:08So, they're not bad songs.
00:22:13The joke isn't they're not comedy songs as such.
00:22:16Well, that one is, I suppose.
00:22:18But he means them.
00:22:19He doesn't think there's anything funny about them.
00:22:21So, you know, he'd do a song called Native American where he thinks he's the first person ever to sort out the plight of a Native American.
00:22:27Yeah.
00:22:28And then he gets it off Wikipedia and he gets it all wrong.
00:22:31You know, he just, he brings up scalping that he's probably seen in a 50s western or something, you know.
00:22:36And, you know, it's something like Free Love Freeway.
00:22:40It's a cracking song about crossing America, picking up chicks.
00:22:42But then you realize this is being sung by a 55-year-old tampon rep who's never been outside Slough.
00:22:47So, it's the back story that makes it.
00:22:50I mean, if you listen to the album, you probably...
00:22:53The double album.
00:22:54Yeah.
00:22:55If you didn't know it was a spoof, you might be a bit confused.
00:22:58But, yeah, once you know where he's coming from, it all sort of falls into place.
00:23:03Now, how much joy did you take in writing those songs and also actually performing them and making the album?
00:23:10Well, as a failed musician, a real musician...
00:23:14Well, I suppose you've got to be a real musician to do this, but you know what I mean.
00:23:18A real rock star taking yourself seriously without irony.
00:23:23It was a joy.
00:23:24It was an absolute joy.
00:23:26In fact, there's points when we were sort of laying it down, because we do it for real, you know?
00:23:30Yeah.
00:23:31And, you know, using the strings.
00:23:33And I was thinking, oh, why is this a spoof?
00:23:35This is a really good song, you know?
00:23:37Yeah.
00:23:38Why have I ruined it, you know?
00:23:39Right, right.
00:23:40But, no, I know which side me bread's buttered.
00:23:43And when I bring out an album under my own name of Ricky Gervais sings the ballads, you've got to shoot me then.
00:23:49Because that's when I've lost it all.
00:23:52But it was great fun.
00:23:54And, you know, you have to do it as well as you can.
00:23:59Right.
00:24:00Because I think anything less would diminish the joke a little bit.
00:24:03I think the fact that it's a vanity project, he would try his hardest.
00:24:07You know, he's stealing from everyone, from Bruce, you know, from Bowie, from, you know, Tom Petty.
00:24:13And he just happens to be, like, thank fuck it's Friday.
00:24:16Yeah.
00:24:17That's like a Stones track or something.
00:24:18Yeah.
00:24:19But Jagger didn't sing about getting his dry cleaning done on a Sunday.
00:24:22Right.
00:24:23You know?
00:24:24So he's bogged down in the admin.
00:24:25Right.
00:24:26You know?
00:24:27Right.
00:24:28And I like that you don't, because it's clear that your love of music and deep knowledge of it,
00:24:34you don't do a big wink at the references that are so clearly there in the song structures.
00:24:41No.
00:24:43When I usually write, I try and write in the style.
00:24:47And some songs have a direct influence.
00:24:50Like Lady Gypsy, one of my favourite songs when I was, like, 14 or 15,
00:24:55was a song by Cat Stevens called The Boy With A Moon And Star On His Head.
00:25:04And it starts off,
00:25:05A gardener's daughter stopped me on my way on the day I was to wed.
00:25:10And it's all that sort of oldie English folk thing.
00:25:13Right, right.
00:25:14And so that's what I started off with, you know,
00:25:15When I Had Known Only 18 Summers.
00:25:16Yeah.
00:25:17You can't just say, in a folk song, you can't say I was 18.
00:25:19No.
00:25:20You've got to say, When I Had Known Only 18 Summers.
00:25:22You know?
00:25:23Yeah.
00:25:24So I do, you know, try and get into that.
00:25:27It's almost a pastiche of, but then you have to make it quite subtle and hide it a little bit.
00:25:32And, as I say, you know, Free Love Freeway could be a Tom Petty song.
00:25:35Right.
00:25:36Slough is a bit Bowie meets Radiohead.
00:25:40Yeah.
00:25:41So, you know, you do all those things and do it for real.
00:25:45But what's interesting about it is, because it's pretty clear, obviously, you know musicians, you know David Bowie.
00:25:55All those stories have come out.
00:25:57People who are fans of yours already know all that stuff.
00:26:00You were, maybe you didn't end up becoming a big rock star, but you were in the game, and it takes time to be in the game.
00:26:06It seems like that that love of doing the music is there.
00:26:09So, I kind of want to circle back when you said, if I make an album and Ricky Gervais sings these songs, shoot me.
00:26:15Well, I could, but then I don't think I could look myself in the eyes and go back to being a comedian.
00:26:22Because I think that's me becoming David Brent.
00:26:25If I think that I am a real rock star, you know, then it's all over.
00:26:32As much as I'd love to be a real rock star, it's out of the question, you know?
00:26:38Or I can't do both.
00:26:40You can't be a comedian who is basically a clown, and you're there for people to laugh at, and then think you're sexy or cool.
00:26:48It doesn't work.
00:26:50You're finished.
00:26:52You've got to choose one or the other.
00:26:55But I'm serious about this, because you are really good at it.
00:26:59If you took the sexy and the rock star and the famous out, I mean, Hugh Laurie has made a jazz album.
00:27:05People love jazz.
00:27:06And it was, oh, you're laughing now.
00:27:08It was pretty good, actually.
00:27:09Right?
00:27:10I haven't heard it.
00:27:11Jazz is different.
00:27:12That's it.
00:27:13Okay.
00:27:14Yeah.
00:27:15Jazz is already funny.
00:27:16Okay.
00:27:17Yeah.
00:27:18Well, the thing about watching this, and maybe it's just me, because I also love music, watching
00:27:32that you could tell how passionate you were about the music and structuring these things.
00:27:37Yeah, you have to, well, yeah.
00:27:38I mean, as I say, in character, I've got to be more passionate than I was when I was being a rock star.
00:27:47I probably didn't take being a rock star when I was trying to be one as seriously as I take David Brent trying to be one,
00:27:52because it makes sense to me, you know, particularly when you've got that veil of irony.
00:27:57It's almost easier, because I've got to get out of jail free card.
00:28:00I'm not being serious.
00:28:01Right.
00:28:02Whereas when you're a real musician, you've got to worry about what people think of the song.
00:28:05Do you know what I mean?
00:28:06Right.
00:28:07So it's even worse, you know.
00:28:08In fact, when I was writing real songs, they're probably more embarrassing than these, because I meant it.
00:28:13Do you know what I mean?
00:28:14Sure.
00:28:15Sure.
00:28:16So pretension.
00:28:17Yeah.
00:28:18I've got, you can't get out of being, that's it, you know.
00:28:22And I was 20.
00:28:23And also, we're only talking about this now, because I'm famous for something else.
00:28:26It really was, it started and finished in a year.
00:28:29Right.
00:28:30It was done.
00:28:31There's a couple of photos that they get out, you know.
00:28:33Yeah.
00:28:34I've seen them.
00:28:35You've seen them, yeah.
00:28:36Yeah.
00:28:37Yeah.
00:28:38And also, because it is, I think people, partly they know I was a failed musician.
00:28:44And partly, it's a cool thing to be.
00:28:47Right.
00:28:48So they think, oh, is this you living vicariously through David Brent?
00:28:50And it's honestly not, you know.
00:28:53They didn't ask that after Ghost Town.
00:28:55Oh, do you want to be a dentist?
00:28:57Do you want to be a dentist, really?
00:28:59You know?
00:29:00Right.
00:29:01It's just another tool.
00:29:02Right.
00:29:03I can play the guitar and I can sing, and it came in useful.
00:29:06And, again, you're right about what you know.
00:29:08So, I suppose David Brent was a little bit, you know, there for the grace of God go I.
00:29:13You know, if I'd have carried on trying until I was 55, as opposed to giving up, you know,
00:29:20it might have been a little bit more awkward.
00:29:22But you'd do it now, though, right?
00:29:23You'd come and you'd sing a song right now if we made you, right?
00:29:26Not as my, not as, as David Brent.
00:29:28As David Brent?
00:29:29Yeah, yeah.
00:29:30How about we have him sing a song?
00:29:39Yeah, there we go.
00:29:41You've got to pretend I'm David Brent, though, because otherwise it's just, if it's just me doing this.
00:29:49Let me get into character.
00:29:51Okay.
00:29:52Yeah, there it is.
00:29:53Right.
00:29:56I'll do Slough.
00:30:01Do Slough, yeah.
00:30:02Because it's actually quite a nice song.
00:30:04And, yeah, okay.
00:30:07Do people know what Slough is about?
00:30:09Do you know what they, we, yeah, you know what Slough's like, yeah.
00:30:12It was, we made it Scranton for the, but I think they, that's better than Slough, I think.
00:30:18Just like they made the actor's teeth better in the remake.
00:30:21They made, okay, this is Slough.
00:30:24And when David Brent introduced this, he says, you know, this is a song about the best place in the world.
00:30:30And everything in this song is factually accurate.
00:30:33So, okay, here we go.
00:30:35Right.
00:30:36Pretend I'm David Brent.
00:30:38Here we go.
00:30:39Right.
00:30:40Oh, my God.
00:30:41I haven't played for ages and I've got delicate, I've got Trump hands.
00:30:44Not.
00:30:45They haven't done a day's work in their life.
00:30:48They're so soft.
00:30:49Hold on.
00:30:50Right.
00:30:51Right.
00:30:52Is that coming out there?
00:30:54Yeah.
00:30:55More convenient than a Tesco Express.
00:31:11Close to Windsor, but the property's less.
00:31:14It keeps the businesses of Britain great.
00:31:17It's got Europe's biggest trading estate.
00:31:21It doesn't matter where you're from.
00:31:24You want to work, then come along.
00:31:28The station's just got a new floor.
00:31:31And the motorway runs by your door.
00:31:36And you know just where you're heading.
00:31:41It's equidistant between London and Reading.
00:31:47Oh, sly.
00:31:51My kind of town.
00:31:54I don't know how.
00:31:58Anyone could put you down.
00:32:01Oh, sly.
00:32:04My kind of town.
00:32:08I don't know how.
00:32:12Anyone could put you down.
00:32:15To the west you've got Taplow and Bray.
00:32:19You've got Hillingdon the other way.
00:32:22It's a brilliant place to live and work.
00:32:25It was in Bucks, now officially it's Berks.
00:32:29Don't believe what the critics say.
00:32:32Like it's soulless and boring and grey.
00:32:35See for yourself what you're waiting for.
00:32:39We're on the bath road.
00:32:41That's the A4.
00:32:44And you know just where you're heading.
00:32:48It's equidistant between London and Reading.
00:32:54And you know just where you're heading in.
00:32:55Oh, sly.
00:32:59My kind of town.
00:33:02I don't know how.
00:33:07Anyone could put you down.
00:33:09Oh, sly.
00:33:12My kind of town.
00:33:16I don't know how
00:33:20And anyone could put you down
00:33:42Too delicate.
00:33:44Too delicate.
00:33:45But bigger.
00:33:46Bigger than the president.
00:33:47Bigger.
00:33:48Not much.
00:33:49Not much.
00:33:50Well, so in the David Brent Life on the Road,
00:33:53he, not to ruin it for you who haven't watched it,
00:33:56you can imagine it goes sideways.
00:33:58It goes terribly sideways for him.
00:34:00But as it arcs towards its end,
00:34:03I'm wondering, there is a little bit of a revelation for Brent in this.
00:34:08And do you, it's also, I found it very melancholy and sad,
00:34:14almost in the same way that Extras was at the end as well.
00:34:17Well, I think he found out what I sort of would want him to know,
00:34:21if he was a friend of mine or a brother or an uncle,
00:34:25that he doesn't have to be on stage to be liked.
00:34:31And, you know, someone who was the thorn on his side to that point was sort of nice and brutally honest,
00:34:40but parently brutally honest.
00:34:44And you can see he's not totally happy with it.
00:34:49And again, you know, he's got a hard shower when he says,
00:34:54you know, I can live without being famous, but I couldn't have lived without trying.
00:34:59Right. It's a great moment in the movie.
00:35:02And he's not perfectly, he's not healed, but he's getting there.
00:35:08And then something that he wasn't looking for was under his nose.
00:35:11And that's someone who likes him for who he is.
00:35:13Right.
00:35:14And all those things that are more important than being a rock star.
00:35:18Right.
00:35:19Do you know what I mean?
00:35:20Absolutely.
00:35:21Did you ever, did you ever, since you have this deal with an ongoing relationship with Netflix,
00:35:27did you ever think, or was it just too much effort to take that story and make it say like a 10 episode series?
00:35:34I don't know.
00:35:35I don't know.
00:35:36I think I just wanted to revisit him for sort of like, you know,
00:35:41catching up on an old friend of the fans and sort of end it really.
00:35:46I never say never, but I think too much.
00:35:50I've never done, never done that many anyway of any series.
00:35:53So, you know, but I think it's, it's a bit on the edge of sad versus comedy already, you know?
00:36:03Yeah.
00:36:04And I think we visit him at 60 and he's a rep and he's trying to be a rock star.
00:36:07I just think there might not be any comedy.
00:36:10It might be too tragic.
00:36:11Do you know what I mean?
00:36:12Right.
00:36:13It might be too tragic.
00:36:14Yeah.
00:36:15Although you leave, although it does, in fairness, it does end with some positive notes.
00:36:19I wonder, I mean, so are we saying that?
00:36:21Well, I am positive.
00:36:22I am positive.
00:36:23Despite all the things I, you know, talk about and what you whinge about the world and all
00:36:28the awful things, I am an optimist.
00:36:30Yeah.
00:36:31And this reputation of being like a shot comedian or being cruel.
00:36:36Right.
00:36:37I don't, I've never seen it.
00:36:39Right.
00:36:40I've never seen that in myself.
00:36:41I think it's, you know, because you deal in taboo subjects and the Golden Globes, you know?
00:36:47Yeah.
00:36:48But I mean, I was teasing some millionaires.
00:36:51Yeah.
00:36:52That wasn't a room full of wounded soldiers.
00:36:54Right.
00:36:55I mean, and it's like, and I'm, and I'm one of them, but I was playing an outsider because
00:37:05it's nauseating to go out there and go, all right, Brad, hey, George, thanks for letting
00:37:09me use your viola.
00:37:10Yeah.
00:37:11You know, people at home aren't winning awards.
00:37:12So you, you, you, you, it was a, I tried to make it more of a spectator sport.
00:37:17Right.
00:37:18But I, I, I don't, I, I don't think there is any cruelty in my comedy or drama or anything.
00:37:23I, I, um, my favorite show growing up was the Waltons.
00:37:26Right.
00:37:27Do you know what I mean?
00:37:28Right.
00:37:29Um, and, and my standup, even in my standup, I deal with taboo subjects and I talk about
00:37:35this in this new one of humanity, but I try and explain a joke about a bad thing.
00:37:39Mm-hm.
00:37:40Isn't necessarily a bad thing.
00:37:41It's not the same as the bad thing.
00:37:43It's not a bad thing to joke about it.
00:37:45It depends what the joke is.
00:37:47It doesn't have to be pro or anti the bad thing.
00:37:50It can just be, you know, we talk about things all the time and we haven't got a side.
00:37:54Right.
00:37:55We're just discussing them.
00:37:56And that's what a joke is often.
00:37:57A joke is, it's best discussing something, not coming down on one side or the other because
00:38:02that's rallying.
00:38:03I try and keep politics and, you know, I think a joke has to stand up on its comedic values.
00:38:09Not on whether the person agrees with it or not.
00:38:11Right.
00:38:12Do you know what I'm saying?
00:38:13Absolutely.
00:38:14And do you think that, because your career has been fascinating for some of the turns
00:38:19it's taken, some of the, and in some ways, some of the perception that's out there doesn't,
00:38:27obviously, as you said, doesn't jive with who you are in real life.
00:38:30I think you've done a really good job on social media to sort of show that side of you, the
00:38:35animal rights side of it and then like all the good causes.
00:38:39Yeah.
00:38:40Yeah.
00:38:41Well, I suppose it's because people think whatever they see of you that that is you.
00:38:49Right.
00:38:50Like, you know, with stand up, particularly my early, my first four stand ups, it was a
00:38:56persona.
00:38:57I was playing sort of like a pub boar who said the wrong thing, got things wrong.
00:39:02Right.
00:39:03You know, almost, not quite Archie Bunker, but you know that sort of, you know, there
00:39:08was a veil of irony to it.
00:39:10Yeah.
00:39:11And it's great now because people get it and so I'm still doing those things but the audience
00:39:15knows that I'm not like that, just like you do with friends, just like you say awful
00:39:18things with friends and they know you're not like that.
00:39:21Right.
00:39:22And so that's nice for the people to know your real self and you can almost go further in
00:39:28your comedy, you know.
00:39:30And it's funny because, you know, with everything that happened in the last couple of years,
00:39:35when I started warming this show up, I was worried about playing that persona.
00:39:40Yeah.
00:39:41Because there are too many people that would agree with the wrong reasons.
00:39:44Right.
00:39:45Do you know what I mean?
00:39:46Yeah.
00:39:47You don't want the wrong round of applause.
00:39:48Right.
00:39:49You're doing irony.
00:39:50Right.
00:39:51You know?
00:39:52Yeah.
00:39:53And that's, well, I mean, it brings us to what you're doing and now.
00:39:56But you've done enough in your, well, you can't, I mean, what's there's a saying about
00:40:01you can't, like, you can't spend your whole life telling people, hey, that's not really
00:40:04me.
00:40:05If they don't get it, they don't get it.
00:40:06That's their problem.
00:40:07Yeah.
00:40:08I mean, you can't legislate against stupidity but you do your best.
00:40:10Yeah.
00:40:11You know, if every joke must get 99% hit rate and there might be one person who doesn't
00:40:18like it or doesn't get it or, but you can't worry about that because, you know, you're
00:40:22going to, everything offends someone somewhere.
00:40:25And I've often said, and I'm trying to get this out there, that just because you're offended
00:40:29doesn't mean you're right.
00:40:30Right.
00:40:31You know?
00:40:32It's, some people are offended by equality.
00:40:34Yeah.
00:40:35Do you know?
00:40:36Right.
00:40:37Right.
00:40:38Did you, did you think that, I mean, I don't know when you gave up trying to sort of reconcile?
00:40:45He just nodded at that.
00:40:46There was no, there was no, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, we know, yeah, yeah.
00:40:51But did, when did you give up trying to sort of say, explain it all?
00:40:57Because, I mean, you can do it.
00:40:58Well, I don't know if I have given up.
00:41:00I just try and do it within the work now as opposed to, you know, in the paper or on Twitter.
00:41:05True.
00:41:06You know?
00:41:07Now I do it in the work.
00:41:08My work is almost explaining.
00:41:10It comes with, it comes with a little explanation, I think, you know?
00:41:14Yeah.
00:41:15And so I've tried, I've tried to put the, put the small print in the gags.
00:41:19Yeah.
00:41:20So this is great, it's great.
00:41:22That's, I think this is my best show ever because of that.
00:41:25I go out and confront all these myths and legends and this nonsense and this, this, you know,
00:41:31I, I, I, I even discussed the fact that, you know, people don't respect facts anymore.
00:41:36Mm-hmm.
00:41:37Um.
00:41:38We, we, we're, we're familiar with that.
00:41:39It's, it's crazy.
00:41:40Because, you know, everyone knows my opinion is worth as much as your opinion.
00:41:44But now there's this myth that my opinion is worth as much as your fact.
00:41:48Mm-hmm.
00:41:49It's true.
00:41:50It's, it's, and it's, and it's going to send us back into the dark ages.
00:41:53Mm-hmm.
00:41:54It's ludicrous.
00:41:59I'm, I'm wondering a couple of things.
00:42:01Uh, you know, you are, you are a humanist.
00:42:04You've been, uh, espousing humanism when an actual thing.
00:42:07And now you have the tour called Humanity and all that's coming together.
00:42:11It's also, um, as you noted, uh, this seems to be a little bit more personal tour where people
00:42:16are seeing you less as, um, someone playing a role and, and more just as Ricky Gervais.
00:42:20Yeah.
00:42:21Well, they know what I'm doing now.
00:42:22They know that I'm not slipping in out of character.
00:42:25I'm always me.
00:42:26Right.
00:42:27And I make, I make jokes that are either on the nose or ironic or satirical or, but they
00:42:33know what I'm doing.
00:42:34Right.
00:42:35They just know me.
00:42:36Cause they know me.
00:42:37Just like, you know, your friend when your friend's doing it.
00:42:39Right.
00:42:40And when he's kidding and, you know, and someone else might not.
00:42:41Right.
00:42:42But you know when he's kidding cause you know him.
00:42:44Mm-hmm.
00:42:45I've got that luxury.
00:42:46I've been around so long and that everyone knows what I'm doing now.
00:42:50So that's great.
00:42:51Um, uh, uh, so I suppose, um, I've forgotten your question.
00:42:58Well, well, let's say, how about this?
00:43:01Because the bigger, the bigger issue now as you do this Humanity Tour and what you just
00:43:05talked about, uh, having an opinion and having facts, uh, the gigantic orange elephant in the
00:43:12room here is that you're, you're, you're coming to America.
00:43:14You're, you're kicking off the, the North American part of this tour.
00:43:17Yeah.
00:43:18How, how are you trying to, when you're, there was a whole nation, there's a whole part of
00:43:23a nation that didn't get this joke.
00:43:25So what do you do now?
00:43:26I discuss things, I discuss things in, uh, always in principle and in the nebulous.
00:43:32I never, I'm never partisan.
00:43:34I never go party political.
00:43:36I never say this guy's bad, this guy's bad.
00:43:39I, I do it by example.
00:43:41Um, uh, and so I think comedy is an intellectual pursuit.
00:43:45And I think as soon as you, I think as soon as you start bringing emotion into it, you're
00:43:51dividing the room and it's not that some people agree with you or they won't.
00:43:56It doesn't matter.
00:43:57In fact, if they all agree with you, you failed in a way and if they all disagree with you,
00:44:02you failed.
00:44:03I, I just think that, um, I talk about it in principle.
00:44:07I, you know, um, uh, I, I don't think I, I don't think I mentioned his name.
00:44:12Right.
00:44:13Was it, but was it harder, is it harder knowing that, that, that kind of, I mean, yeah, well,
00:44:19you can't, you, I mean, you can't, you can't compare Trump to, to David Brent because, because
00:44:25David Brent is actually a really sweet person and underneath, I don't, and you know what
00:44:29I mean?
00:44:30Well, yeah.
00:44:31He's not trying to harm people willfully.
00:44:32No, I've often said that Trump has more in common with David Brent than he has JFK because
00:44:35he's, he's a sort of, a narcissist man child who wants to be famous and, and loved.
00:44:40And that, and that's him deep down, whatever else he does and whatever is, I mean, I don't
00:44:44even know his policies, you know, I, um, uh, but, um, I, I, I suppose I always look at,
00:44:51um, uh, uh, I think it's about character, you know?
00:44:57And, and I, go ahead.
00:44:59Yeah.
00:45:00Well, um, I, I think that in, in comedy and in fiction, any fiction, we create our own heroes
00:45:08and villains as role play for the soul. So no one really gets hurt. Do you know what
00:45:13I mean?
00:45:14Yeah.
00:45:15Whereas in real life, people do get hurt. So it's very different when you talk about politics
00:45:20and it's, and it's really meaningful. It's hard to be sort of funny.
00:45:26Right.
00:45:27Because you know what I mean?
00:45:28It's too, it's just, it's just on the nose. It's there's, there's right and wrong in sort
00:45:33of politics. Whereas in comedy, there isn't. It's, is it a good joke or not?
00:45:38Mm-hmm.
00:45:39Do you see what I'm saying?
00:45:40Yeah.
00:45:41Yeah, it's difficult to explain.
00:45:42Did, did any material you were creating for Humanity Tour, um, have, uh, did you have
00:45:47to rejigger it in any way as you looked from the outside into this country and the, and
00:45:52the election?
00:45:53I haven't, honestly, I haven't, I never, I never worry about that. I never worry about
00:45:56what's fashionable, what's happening. Everything stands on its own two feet. Um,
00:46:02I mean, the big difference between stand-up and, and writing a movie or a sitcom is with,
00:46:08with writing a, a movie or sitcom, you do your best, you get your best guess and you
00:46:12put it out there and that's it. You know, there's nothing you can do now. You can't
00:46:15change it. If someone says, I don't like it, you go, I can't change it.
00:46:18Right.
00:46:19Whereas stand-up, the audience sort of chooses what's right and wrong because they laugh.
00:46:24Mm-hmm.
00:46:25The more you do it, the, the, you hone that laugh and you make this one that didn't laugh
00:46:30funnier or you lose it. And so, you know, after 50 gigs, that hour and a half, they're
00:46:36laughing all the time.
00:46:37Right.
00:46:38It's almost like, it's more like evolution than, and it's more like science than art because
00:46:43it either works or it doesn't. So I never, I never pander, I never worry. I do my, you
00:46:48know, I, I don't change, uh, pedophile to pedophile. I, I know the audience. There's a
00:46:55lot, there's a lot, a lot of that in it. Um, you know.
00:46:59Fair warning.
00:47:00Fair warning.
00:47:01Fair warning.
00:47:02But did, I, I mean, just, just, I'm wondering if, if, as you were, what were, what were your
00:47:07private thoughts, not as a, the jokes that we're gonna, we're gonna hear, uh, on the
00:47:11Humanity Tour, but what were you thinking when you were, just as a person, a person of
00:47:16the world, a humanist, sitting down saying, I'm in a country that has Brexit, uh, Brexit
00:47:21and I'm looking across at what's happening in America.
00:47:23It was a shock. Brexit was a shock.
00:47:25Mm-hmm.
00:47:26I thought that was odd.
00:47:27Um, but it was, it was odd. I mean, I, I talk about this, you know,
00:47:30in the show that, um, I don't even know why there was a referendum about that.
00:47:35You know, I think this, I, I, it didn't need to happen.
00:47:40Mm-hmm.
00:47:41I don't, most people didn't know what they were voting for.
00:47:42Yeah.
00:47:43I went after it, often people were saying, I didn't know, I thought, I thought it
00:47:47wouldn't win, so I, what, so you voted for the other side.
00:47:49What are you thinking?
00:47:50What are you worried about hurting people's feelings, you know?
00:47:52Yeah.
00:47:53Um, and I, I think, you know, you can't whinge about democracy, but, um, I think democracy
00:47:59works when people know what they're voting for.
00:48:06Yeah.
00:48:07Uh, and I do a joke in the show, I'm sorry to ruin it for people, but I do say that,
00:48:13you know, this, um, uh, the Twitter generation has made popularity more important than truth,
00:48:19in a way, and that was picked up by politicians, and they just want to do what's popular, not
00:48:24what's right, and so we shouldn't have other referendum, and people say, oh, oh, we want,
00:48:28let's ask the average person, and I say, no, let's not ask the average person.
00:48:33In England, we still, on bottles of bleach, we still have, do not drink.
00:48:39Right.
00:48:40And I say, let's take those off, let's take those labels off for two years, and then have
00:48:49a referendum.
00:48:50Right.
00:48:51Yeah.
00:48:52Very good.
00:48:53Excellent.
00:48:54All right, well, we have questions from the audience, so I'm sure we'll be good.
00:49:00Listen, this is, I know you're filming this.
00:49:03I'm not personally, but they are.
00:49:05If I went for a quick wee, could you edit this?
00:49:09Or just leave it, leave the chair.
00:49:11Can I, can I have a quick wee?
00:49:12Yeah.
00:49:21That might be a first in the 92nd Street Y history.
00:49:24I like that the man is entitled to do that.
00:50:24Did they turn the mic off?
00:50:29It'd be like the end of the Jinx, just me in there, confessing to a horrible murder.
00:50:35That's actually, I had to start about that.
00:50:37They did, they did turn the mic off.
00:50:39I actually did not think about that.
00:50:41Oh dear.
00:50:42This first question from the audience might be apropos from what just happened, but do
00:50:46you have a special place where you write?
00:50:51Well, I've got, I've got an office in my house and I've got an office near my house and they've
00:50:59probably seen less writing than me on planes or trains or going for a run, you know?
00:51:07Yeah.
00:51:08I rarely sit down to decide to write something.
00:51:10It just sort of comes and I've always, you know, and I rarely write things down, particularly
00:51:14in stand-up.
00:51:15I do it in my head.
00:51:16I'll go for a run and I'll come back and I'll have like a little idea.
00:51:21I tell Jane it.
00:51:23She says, please don't do that in public.
00:51:26And I know it's good.
00:51:28Uh-huh.
00:51:29And how, well, that's interesting too.
00:51:32I mean...
00:51:33But no, when I'm writing a script I have to eventually put it into the laptop, which
00:51:40is the boring bit for me.
00:51:42Right.
00:51:43I wish I could just download my thoughts because the admin is the boring bit.
00:51:48Do you know what I mean?
00:51:49Yeah.
00:51:50It's...
00:51:51I want just pure fun in my life.
00:51:53Right.
00:51:54Right.
00:51:55You know?
00:51:56For you, what's more fun?
00:51:57Is it writing a stand-up special where you're going to do all the jokes or is it putting together
00:52:00a narrative or a scripted series?
00:52:02Until this year, putting together a narrative, doing a sitcom or doing a movie or doing a sketch
00:52:09of it, and this year it's flipped.
00:52:12Because of humanity?
00:52:13Because of humanity.
00:52:14Okay.
00:52:15It's my favourite thing in the world now.
00:52:17I honestly can't get enough of it.
00:52:19It's taken me this long to realise what a privilege it is to just go out there and talk.
00:52:24I approached it differently.
00:52:26My first four I sort of wrote it.
00:52:28I wrote it like a writer, director and an actor.
00:52:30Yeah.
00:52:31And this time I walked out and I was a stand-up.
00:52:35Yeah.
00:52:36And I love being a stand-up.
00:52:37I could almost give everything else up.
00:52:41And I know that it never fails either.
00:52:45It never fails.
00:52:46As I say, it's a science.
00:52:47Because you do it until it's good, then it's good.
00:52:50Right.
00:52:51And then you do it.
00:52:52Right.
00:52:53You know?
00:52:54It's...
00:52:55And honestly, it's...
00:52:58No, no, no.
00:53:00You know, what's great is, again, it's sort of people come out to see you and it's you.
00:53:05It's your thing.
00:53:06It's a cottage industry.
00:53:07Yeah.
00:53:08It's your ideas.
00:53:09You choose the venue.
00:53:10You choose the hotel you stay in.
00:53:12Right.
00:53:13You choose how you get there.
00:53:14You say what you want.
00:53:15You...
00:53:16Do you know what I mean?
00:53:17Yeah.
00:53:18You've already earned the money before you turn up.
00:53:20Right.
00:53:21There's no admin.
00:53:22There's no anyone in between.
00:53:24And I'm joking aside.
00:53:25That isn't...
00:53:26I don't...
00:53:27It's really not about that.
00:53:28But it is about the freedom.
00:53:29And the privilege.
00:53:30Right.
00:53:31And the fact you can change it every night.
00:53:33Yeah.
00:53:34And the fact that it's really important.
00:53:36And the fact you can't download going out to see someone illegally.
00:53:39Right.
00:53:40That's important.
00:53:41You know.
00:53:42Well, two things about that.
00:53:43One, you've said that you probably are not going to release a recorded version of it
00:53:47because so that you can do it for longer.
00:53:49You've said that.
00:53:50Well, I'm going to...
00:53:51I'm going to...
00:53:52I like to say I'm going to milk it.
00:53:53Yeah.
00:53:54Well, that's...
00:53:55That's basically what I was saying.
00:53:56Well, it's so funny because I...
00:53:57And my first stand-up was Animals.
00:53:59The first stand-up I ever did.
00:54:012002.
00:54:02Mm-hmm.
00:54:03And I did 16 gigs in London and put it on the DVD because DVD was everything.
00:54:07Yeah.
00:54:08And the DVD was the big thing.
00:54:10Right.
00:54:11And then I think Politics I did maybe twice as many.
00:54:16Then Fame and Science, I think I did 100 gigs in arenas.
00:54:20And, yeah, so...
00:54:24And that became more and more important.
00:54:26And Live is more and more important now than the DVD market.
00:54:29But I still haven't...
00:54:33I really haven't done America much, you know.
00:54:36I've done New York, L.A., Chicago.
00:54:39I'm doing Canada for the first time.
00:54:41Right.
00:54:42And it's a huge...
00:54:43It's a big world.
00:54:44And I'm doing Scandinavia and Europe now for the...
00:54:47I've done them a little bit before, but I think I'll do this...
00:54:50I think I'll do more of this one than ever,
00:54:52but I still do want to, you know, put it out on Netflix or...
00:54:57Right.
00:54:58Well, you...
00:54:59Because I can't go everywhere.
00:55:00Right.
00:55:01You know, I can't go...
00:55:02And as much as I love it...
00:55:03Not every place has a five-star hotel, as you say.
00:55:04That's...
00:55:05Honestly, I put that on the release when I was going to do it.
00:55:08I said, humanity coming to a town near you,
00:55:12if a town near you has an arena and a five-star hotel with a helipad.
00:55:20Oh, with a helipad!
00:55:22Wow.
00:55:23But, you know, and I have...
00:55:27I do choose, you know, nice places to go and stay and make the most of it.
00:55:33And there's some places I can't get to.
00:55:35And in London, like, I'm doing...
00:55:38I'm doing, I think, three weeks at the Hammersmith Apollo, right?
00:55:42Because I live there.
00:55:43Right.
00:55:44Whereas when I go to Sweden, I've got to play an arena...
00:55:47Right.
00:55:48...to get everyone there.
00:55:50Because I can't live there for three weeks.
00:55:52Right.
00:55:53Well, I could.
00:55:54Lovely.
00:55:55It's lovely.
00:55:56But, basically, if everyone could come to me,
00:55:59I'd play a theatre this size for a year.
00:56:01Right.
00:56:02Because that's better for comedy.
00:56:03Right.
00:56:04It is better for comedy.
00:56:05That might actually happen.
00:56:06That could happen.
00:56:07Just me here for one year.
00:56:08You were in residence.
00:56:09Yeah.
00:56:10Just make sure it's not in Vegas.
00:56:11Just make sure...
00:56:12Yeah.
00:56:13Yeah.
00:56:14Don't do that.
00:56:15So, basically, I'm loving it more than I ever did.
00:56:16And I don't know why.
00:56:17I just think I'm good at it now.
00:56:18And I really appreciate the audience.
00:56:20The reviews have been fantastic.
00:56:22That helps.
00:56:23That does help.
00:56:24That's nice.
00:56:25It's more of a relief.
00:56:26Right.
00:56:27Because it doesn't affect me.
00:56:28No.
00:56:29You know, they're already sold out at this level.
00:56:30Right.
00:56:31You've already...
00:56:32No, what I mean is early days, you do worry about views
00:56:33because it sells tickets.
00:56:34Sure.
00:56:35But now they buy the ticket before they've seen it.
00:56:36Yeah.
00:56:37And it's sold out.
00:56:38So, I don't have to worry about that.
00:56:39But you do want to make sure they were justified
00:56:43in buying it.
00:56:44Do you know what I mean?
00:56:45Yeah.
00:56:46Absolutely.
00:56:47I mean, you want that...
00:56:49You want it to be amazing.
00:56:50You want to be carried down the street saying,
00:56:51that's the best stand-up ever.
00:56:53You really do.
00:56:54Yeah.
00:56:55Well, oddly, you did say this might be your last one.
00:56:57Is that true now?
00:56:58You said you're having so much fun doing this.
00:57:00This is the best thing you've done in a long time.
00:57:01But you also said, maybe this is my last one.
00:57:03Is that true?
00:57:04Well, I thought it would be because, again, I thought,
00:57:06oh, my God, I'm going to do all these gigs.
00:57:08I'm going to put everything into it.
00:57:10And then I'm just going to die.
00:57:11Right?
00:57:12It's like a dark turn.
00:57:13But now I'm loving it so much, I don't want to die anymore.
00:57:16Okay.
00:57:17I want to do another one.
00:57:18Okay.
00:57:19I do want to do another one because...
00:57:20And that's the other reason I think it's good.
00:57:23I think it's the best I've done.
00:57:25One, because the audience know me,
00:57:27so I can go much further and they get it and it's great.
00:57:30Mm-hm.
00:57:31But two, I think it's because I've reached that age,
00:57:34I've got old people's rights.
00:57:38I can say what I want.
00:57:39Do you know like your granddad would say anything he wanted?
00:57:43Yeah.
00:57:44And no one would have hit him because he was old?
00:57:46Yeah.
00:57:47I'm like that now.
00:57:49Who's ever gone for a wee before during a...?
00:57:52I know.
00:57:53I didn't notice that.
00:57:54I've got old people's rights.
00:57:57At least, you know, I did say you were very comfortable
00:57:59in being able to get up on stage.
00:58:00Well, it was the second wee I had, but no one noticed.
00:58:04Okay.
00:58:05Another question from the crowd is,
00:58:06if you had the opportunity to live during any period
00:58:09in human history, when would it be?
00:58:11Oh.
00:58:14Oh, wow.
00:58:15Well, I couldn't go back before they had...
00:58:20Five-star hotels?
00:58:21Five-star hotels.
00:58:22Five-star hotels.
00:58:23Or really good Novocaine for dentistry.
00:58:28So I can't go past like 1965, really.
00:58:33I don't even know where that's coming from, but...
00:58:37So is it to live or just to visit?
00:58:39No, it's to live.
00:58:40Yeah.
00:58:41To live?
00:58:42Uh-huh.
00:58:43To live during any period in human history.
00:58:44When would it be?
00:58:45And what can I take back?
00:58:46Am I just landing like army naked and I've got nothing?
00:58:49Because I can't take back...
00:58:51Say laser guns.
00:58:52They don't exist.
00:58:53It's like I come from the future to here.
00:58:56No.
00:58:57What's the rules?
00:58:58Very seriously.
00:58:59I want to know the rules before I commit.
00:59:01Right.
00:59:02Raphael didn't put any rules here.
00:59:03I'm assuming you're landing and then you're a part of whatever...
00:59:05So they don't know I'm from the future.
00:59:07No, they don't.
00:59:08I've got a...
00:59:09It's not a time travel question.
00:59:11You were just there.
00:59:12Oh, I was just born there.
00:59:13Yes.
00:59:14Yeah, you're not...
00:59:15Well, I mean, it's partly time travel, but you're just there.
00:59:17So I have absolutely no knowledge of now or what's going to...
00:59:20Exactly.
00:59:23That's not...
00:59:24That's ridiculous.
00:59:27Right.
00:59:30I reckon...
00:59:31I reckon...
00:59:34Wow.
00:59:3530s fashion suits my sort of shape.
00:59:41A portly little 30s gentleman.
00:59:43I reckon I'd have liked the 60s.
00:59:46I was just born too late.
00:59:48I was born 61.
00:59:49So I reckon born 50 would have been great.
00:59:53That's not far enough back, is it?
00:59:54No.
00:59:55They wanted to say I'm a caveman, didn't they?
00:59:59What would I like?
01:00:00What would I like?
01:00:03This...
01:00:04You can edit this.
01:00:08I do like...
01:00:10Oh, Victorian times is good as well.
01:00:12That's science.
01:00:13Yeah.
01:00:14Oh, I was a bit of a scientist.
01:00:15You would have never...
01:00:16You would have never...
01:00:17Like, made it past 20.
01:00:18Oh.
01:00:19Oh, yeah.
01:00:20I'd have died, wouldn't I?
01:00:21I'd have died of something.
01:00:22Yeah.
01:00:23Pretty badly.
01:00:24I wouldn't have been a great poet, would I?
01:00:26We don't know that.
01:00:27No, the class I came from, I'd have been hung for stealing a sheep.
01:00:31Yeah.
01:00:33A dark end.
01:00:34And for any...
01:00:35Anywhere in history, I'd end up either with the plague or being hung for stealing a sheep.
01:00:44So 60s.
01:00:45I'm going to say, I'm going to say, I want to be 18 to 28 in the 60s.
01:00:51And I'd have died at 28.
01:00:54From drugs.
01:00:55All right.
01:00:56Okay.
01:00:57All right.
01:00:58I'm going to be...
01:00:59I'm going to die at 28.
01:01:00What a great series.
01:01:01I came back to that and I'd die at 28.
01:01:03And then I'm...
01:01:04It's like Quantum Leap, but I die at 28.
01:01:06It's an anthology series.
01:01:07It's great.
01:01:08It's brilliant.
01:01:09Oh, I've done it again.
01:01:10Now you've got a show to do now.
01:01:11It's great.
01:01:12You've got a show to do.
01:01:13Oh, dear.
01:01:14Have you ever had an audition...
01:01:16Have you ever had to audition for anything?
01:01:18I know that partly is true.
01:01:19If so, do you have any audition horror stories?
01:01:22I...
01:01:23You know what?
01:01:24I...
01:01:25I auditioned...
01:01:27I think I've auditioned twice that I didn't write.
01:01:34The first time, I was sent to do an advert.
01:01:38I was just starting out.
01:01:41Um...
01:01:42And I went to do an advert.
01:01:44And I was in the waiting room.
01:01:46And there was people I sort of vaguely recognised from telly.
01:01:50And they were saying,
01:01:51I haven't worked since February.
01:01:53And it just got me depressed.
01:01:55Yeah.
01:01:56And then I had to go in and...
01:01:57I shout...
01:01:58I don't know, pretend to be a yoghurt or something.
01:02:00And I came...
01:02:01I just...
01:02:02I called my agent and said,
01:02:03I never want to do this again.
01:02:05Yeah.
01:02:06And then...
01:02:07Uh...
01:02:08The other time, I went along for an audition.
01:02:10For...
01:02:11Uh...
01:02:12A part in a Shakespeare play.
01:02:14I was a fool in a Shakespeare play.
01:02:16And I've never...
01:02:17I've never read Shakespeare.
01:02:18I did it for O Level.
01:02:19I didn't...
01:02:20You know, I didn't get it.
01:02:21I didn't understand it.
01:02:22I read it.
01:02:23And they were laughing...
01:02:24They were cracking up.
01:02:25Like, this was the best...
01:02:26I was thinking, I'm just...
01:02:27I don't know why this is funny.
01:02:28I didn't get it.
01:02:29Right?
01:02:30And I was...
01:02:31I was sort of doing it my way.
01:02:32And they were...
01:02:33The director was laughing.
01:02:34They were going,
01:02:35I don't know what...
01:02:36I don't know what the words meant.
01:02:37Right?
01:02:38And...
01:02:39Um...
01:02:40And they said,
01:02:41You've got the part.
01:02:42And I was sort of...
01:02:43A little bit famous.
01:02:44I think...
01:02:45And they got the part.
01:02:46Again, I called my agent and said,
01:02:47I've just given me the part,
01:02:48but I don't want it,
01:02:49because I don't know why it was funny.
01:02:50Yeah.
01:02:51So, two auditions.
01:02:52One I got and turned down.
01:02:54One I didn't get.
01:02:55And that...
01:02:56I think that is the two auditions
01:02:57I've ever gone for.
01:02:58Did you fire your agent after that?
01:02:59No, no, no.
01:03:00He's here tonight.
01:03:01Oh, sorry.
01:03:02I should have said that.
01:03:03Another...
01:03:04Took another turn for the worse there.
01:03:05He didn't pay.
01:03:06Oh.
01:03:07When...
01:03:08When you're on set filming,
01:03:12do you laugh?
01:03:14Are the crew laughing?
01:03:16And two,
01:03:17how do you test your jokes?
01:03:19When I'm on set,
01:03:20do you mean during...
01:03:21Well, I laugh...
01:03:22Yes.
01:03:23I laugh all the time.
01:03:24I laugh all the time.
01:03:25I've got to cut it and...
01:03:26I may be mental.
01:03:27No, but I do.
01:03:28I find things funny.
01:03:30Like, um...
01:03:31And I'm 0-60.
01:03:32I can be laughing
01:03:33and then someone can annoy me.
01:03:34Right.
01:03:35Like, I can be in a restaurant laughing
01:03:36and then someone go...
01:03:37And I go,
01:03:38We're moving, Jane.
01:03:39We're moving.
01:03:40Like that.
01:03:41So...
01:03:42Total hypocrite.
01:03:43Um...
01:03:44So, yeah.
01:03:45Everything's funny
01:03:46and everything's annoying.
01:03:47Um...
01:03:48Uh...
01:03:49But I suppose when I'm filming,
01:03:50I'm in charge,
01:03:51which is...
01:03:52Which is the pressure's off.
01:03:53Mm-hmm.
01:03:54And, uh...
01:03:55I like to say I laugh
01:03:56and ruin the take.
01:03:57And some of the other actors go,
01:03:58Well, if the director's ruining the take,
01:03:59then we can.
01:04:00But really, it's just
01:04:01because I find it funny
01:04:02and I ruin the take.
01:04:03Um...
01:04:04And I also think it goes on the screen.
01:04:05Mm-hmm.
01:04:06I think a really good, happy set
01:04:08where you've had a laugh all day.
01:04:10Um...
01:04:11And don't forget,
01:04:12if you're laughing,
01:04:13it means something's funny.
01:04:14Right.
01:04:15Which is a good sign.
01:04:16Right.
01:04:17Um...
01:04:18It probably wouldn't be the same
01:04:19if I was doing Schindler's List,
01:04:20but...
01:04:21Well, I'm...
01:04:22When you're doing comedy,
01:04:24it's meant to be funny.
01:04:25Right.
01:04:26So, um...
01:04:27Uh...
01:04:28And I do.
01:04:29I do...
01:04:30I do laugh all the time.
01:04:31And you...
01:04:32And the crew laughing?
01:04:33Yes.
01:04:34They are.
01:04:35But not...
01:04:36Not when it's near lunchtime.
01:04:38Right.
01:04:39And it's the fifth take
01:04:40side.
01:04:41Then this smile goes off their face
01:04:42when they're holding the boom.
01:04:43And we've...
01:04:44It's the ninth corpse.
01:04:45You know?
01:04:46Um...
01:04:47But I think I...
01:04:48I think I do run a fun set.
01:04:49Yeah.
01:04:50Mm-hmm.
01:04:51And I enjoy it.
01:04:52And I like...
01:04:53Luckily, everything I've done,
01:04:54every day I go,
01:04:55oh, we're doing that scene today.
01:04:56If I don't look forward to a scene,
01:04:58I'll change it.
01:04:59Mm-hmm.
01:05:00You know?
01:05:01Right.
01:05:02So, it's...
01:05:03I want...
01:05:04I want the best of all worlds.
01:05:05I want it to be funny.
01:05:06Uh...
01:05:07You know?
01:05:08I want the results to be good.
01:05:09I've had the best time doing it.
01:05:10And I think...
01:05:11You can't fail if that...
01:05:13If you've had...
01:05:14If you've filled your life
01:05:15with fun things,
01:05:17then the result's the same.
01:05:19You're dead.
01:05:20Yeah.
01:05:21So...
01:05:22But it's better to have been
01:05:24laughing and then die
01:05:26than not laughing and then die.
01:05:28Right.
01:05:35And I'm assuming that the...
01:05:36That will never make it
01:05:37on a Hallmark card.
01:05:38I'm assuming the answer to the...
01:05:43Who do you run your jokes by?
01:05:45That's Jane.
01:05:46First...
01:05:47First...
01:05:48Yeah.
01:05:49I'd have thought so.
01:05:50Mm-hmm.
01:05:51And then I might call someone,
01:05:53if someone else involved,
01:05:54like it's an actor I've written a part for.
01:05:57But yeah.
01:05:58It is...
01:05:59It is Jane.
01:06:00Mm-hmm.
01:06:01Yeah.
01:06:02Yeah.
01:06:03Is there any...
01:06:04Is there any other friend, bloke, as you say,
01:06:07who you might run it by that's...
01:06:09Well, um...
01:06:10Uh...
01:06:11What...
01:06:12You know, your friends are always working on other things,
01:06:14so if it comes up...
01:06:16Um...
01:06:17I, uh...
01:06:18Uh...
01:06:19Like the last thing I was doing when I was writing, um...
01:06:23It also depends if you're already cast...
01:06:25Mm-hmm.
01:06:26...or not.
01:06:27Right.
01:06:28The second series of anything is the most fun.
01:06:30Because you've got the set-up,
01:06:31you know who you're writing for.
01:06:33Mm-hmm.
01:06:34And you've done all the admin.
01:06:35And so that's the most fun when you're, you know,
01:06:38the actors who did a great job the first time,
01:06:41you hand out the stuff.
01:06:42That's real fun.
01:06:43Right.
01:06:44Sort of the read-through of the second series of something
01:06:47is the most fun it gets.
01:06:48And then, you know, and the special.
01:06:50So, uh...
01:06:51Um...
01:06:52No, I tell people who's around who's interested, really,
01:06:54but, um...
01:06:55Nothing gives me an adrenaline rush like coming up with an idea.
01:06:57Mm-hmm.
01:06:58Honestly, I...
01:06:59I can't sleep.
01:07:00And if I think of it before I go to bed,
01:07:02I've got to work it over so I don't forget it when I wake up.
01:07:06And that's a lovely thing to wake up to.
01:07:08Oh, that idea.
01:07:09Right.
01:07:10You know?
01:07:11And it doesn't get any better than when it's in your head, really.
01:07:14It...
01:07:15And then you've just got to ruin it as little as possible.
01:07:18Honestly, when I first started this,
01:07:20I thought I was a writer, right?
01:07:22Mm-hmm.
01:07:23And I probably only directed,
01:07:25because I realised that I could protect the writing.
01:07:28And then I produced to protect the directing.
01:07:31Right, right.
01:07:32So it's all to protect the idea.
01:07:34Everything...
01:07:35And I play that guy
01:07:37because I know how to do that guy in my head.
01:07:39Right.
01:07:40And you can't play everyone.
01:07:41Or Peter Sellers could, but I can't.
01:07:43Right.
01:07:44But you know what I mean?
01:07:45Yeah.
01:07:46It's trying to realise the vision with 60 other people.
01:07:53Right.
01:07:54That's the challenge.
01:07:55And that answer probably sums up why you do most of your own stuff.
01:07:59It's your material.
01:08:00Yeah, and even collaborations.
01:08:02I try and get...
01:08:03You try and get your own way.
01:08:04You try and do it, you know, and...
01:08:06And, you know, when you say you've done it yourself,
01:08:10you mean you did it yourself with 60 people...
01:08:12Right.
01:08:13...helping you do the thing you want to do.
01:08:15Yeah.
01:08:16It's amazing.
01:08:17Yeah.
01:08:18So, you know, a stand-up is yourself.
01:08:20Yeah.
01:08:21You know, that's...
01:08:23There's nothing quite like stand-up outside writing a novel.
01:08:27Right.
01:08:28That is the last bastion of self-censorship.
01:08:30Yeah.
01:08:31And your ideas is what they hear.
01:08:32Yeah.
01:08:33And that's incredible.
01:08:34Yeah.
01:08:35I mean, that's nothing like that,
01:08:37as I say, apart from the novel maybe.
01:08:39Well, this one I want you to think about,
01:08:42because I think it's a good question,
01:08:45and a deep, thoughtful answer would be great.
01:08:48So it's not, is it?
01:08:50No, but...
01:08:51No, it is, actually.
01:08:54Okay.
01:08:55The top part I can't vouch for, but the question actually.
01:08:57It says, from Gervais Twonks on Twitter.
01:09:00Oh, no, yes.
01:09:01Okay.
01:09:02Yeah.
01:09:03The question...
01:09:04That part I don't know.
01:09:05The question is, when the Humanity Tour ends,
01:09:07what do you plan on doing next?
01:09:09And instead of just taking that as like,
01:09:10oh, my next job is...
01:09:11I mean, if you...
01:09:12Maybe you can take that answer and say,
01:09:14I want to just add on to that question and say,
01:09:16are there things that you might be thinking of
01:09:18that scare you a little bit?
01:09:20So tell us what you're going to do and that.
01:09:22Okay.
01:09:23I've...
01:09:24I said I'd put this year aside and not do anything,
01:09:27and I've kept to that,
01:09:28and I've booked everything in right up to the end of October,
01:09:31so I couldn't do anything else.
01:09:32Right.
01:09:33But once the gig's up and running within three days
01:09:36and the gig's going great,
01:09:38I feel guilty about having the whole day to myself.
01:09:42And my girlfriend's saying,
01:09:43you're doing a world tour.
01:09:45I'm going, yeah, but that's only an hour a night.
01:09:47You know?
01:09:48And I think it's because I was so lazy and unambitious
01:09:51and I didn't get a job till I was 28,
01:09:53that I felt that I had my retirement
01:09:56for the first third of my life.
01:10:01Right.
01:10:02And now I just want to fill the days with ideas.
01:10:06And I had about five projects
01:10:11and I think I've narrowed it down...
01:10:14I think I've narrowed it down to one thing
01:10:16that is probably a sitcom.
01:10:19Okay.
01:10:20And I've written five pages on tour.
01:10:26You know, that's it, you know?
01:10:27So I don't even know if that'll win.
01:10:29But this...
01:10:31I almost immediately want to start another tour.
01:10:34After Humanity and I've rung that dry
01:10:36and it's on Netflix or wherever.
01:10:38Right.
01:10:39I want to start doing warm-ups again
01:10:41and do another tour.
01:10:42And I want to make it even better than that one.
01:10:44Because honestly, I'm obsessed with stand-up now.
01:10:49Wow.
01:10:50And I'm also making a little behind-the-scenes...
01:10:53documentary about humanity.
01:10:56Yeah, yeah.
01:10:57I was going to say movie, but that's way too highfalutin.
01:10:59No, but I mean...
01:11:02Yeah, a little documentary.
01:11:03So you took the five and down to the one,
01:11:05which is a sitcom.
01:11:06Is it...
01:11:07What can you tell us about that, if anything?
01:11:08Or is it all going to change by the time we see it?
01:11:10Well, the only thing...
01:11:13I probably shouldn't, but...
01:11:15Yes, you should.
01:11:16Well, I play a...
01:11:18Wow.
01:11:19The idea is I get separated from my wife
01:11:24and I have to move in with a sort of like a...
01:11:27an absolute loser relative.
01:11:31And I've sort of lost everything.
01:11:33She's got the house.
01:11:34I haven't got a job because she was sort of...
01:11:36She kept me.
01:11:37I was a bit of a kept man.
01:11:38And I've got to start dating again.
01:11:40So it's horrendous.
01:11:41It's 55.
01:11:42I've got to start from scratch.
01:11:44But all I want is her back.
01:11:46And it's called attached.
01:11:47And so it's about me trying to cope
01:11:50without this lifelong sort of partner
01:11:55and how the real world is harsh.
01:11:58Right.
01:11:59How the real world is a lot...
01:12:00Do you know what I mean?
01:12:01It's going to be harsh.
01:12:05And is it...
01:12:06Was there a fear...
01:12:07Is there a fear in that?
01:12:08Because you're so successful now
01:12:09and you've got certain things
01:12:10that you're really, really good at
01:12:12and certain...
01:12:13And you've branched out enough
01:12:14where no one can say,
01:12:15Oh, he did the same thing all the time.
01:12:16You've branched out enough
01:12:17where you can do it.
01:12:18But is there anything left
01:12:19where you think,
01:12:20I would be afraid to do that?
01:12:21Maybe Shakespeare since you don't know...
01:12:22Yeah.
01:12:23Oh, yeah.
01:12:24That's out of the question.
01:12:25Right.
01:12:26Is there something fear-based?
01:12:27Yeah.
01:12:28Me taking myself seriously.
01:12:30Me being cool or anything.
01:12:35I could do something.
01:12:37You know, I couldn't play...
01:12:39I couldn't play the maverick cop
01:12:43whose daughter's kidnapped.
01:12:45Do you know what I mean?
01:12:47I couldn't play it.
01:12:48I couldn't...
01:12:49Right.
01:12:50I'd want to change the lyric to
01:12:52keep her.
01:12:53She's annoying.
01:12:54You know, I...
01:12:55I don't think...
01:12:56I just...
01:12:57I take a look at myself in the mirror
01:12:59trying to be...
01:13:00I go, no.
01:13:01This isn't right.
01:13:02You need Brad Pitt for this.
01:13:04Right, right.
01:13:05I've been offered things
01:13:06and turned them down
01:13:07because I said, well,
01:13:08serious things.
01:13:09And I go, well, people laugh
01:13:10as soon as I walk on stage.
01:13:12They laugh.
01:13:13Right.
01:13:14So, even acting,
01:13:16taking myself seriously,
01:13:18where I'm not a flawed character
01:13:19in some way would scare me.
01:13:21Yeah.
01:13:22I have to be...
01:13:23I have to somehow,
01:13:25at the root of it,
01:13:27be a putz.
01:13:30I think.
01:13:31That's interesting.
01:13:32I'm good at it.
01:13:33Yeah.
01:13:34Well, I think you've proved tonight
01:13:35that you're good at it
01:13:36and you have a tour.
01:13:37Not that you were a putz tonight.
01:13:38I didn't do it that well, actually.
01:13:39Thanks.
01:13:40Cheers.
01:13:41So, ladies and gentlemen,
01:13:42Ricky Gervais.
01:13:43you're welcome.
01:13:47Thank you, Mr.
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