If you look up the definition of “Renaissance man,” you might just find a photo of Ricky Gervais staring back at you — smiling, of course. Comedian, actor, writer, producer, series creator, director, songwriter and children’s book author (yeah, you read that last one right). And if seven BAFTAs, two Emmys, four Golden Globes and inclusion in the Guinness Book of World Records (for his podcast becoming the most downloaded ever) wasn’t enough, he’s getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 30.
His first thought was concern that he’d have to get down on all fours: “I need help getting up, so that’d be embarrassing with photographers there,” he laughs. Although that list of diverse creative talents continues to grow, he finds it surprising when I call him an overachiever. “It’s funny because I just think I’m the laziest person in the world. I don’t wanna do anything. I’m not impressed with anything I do anymore.” He pauses for a moment, as he rethinks what he just said. “Well, that’s not true. I’m impressed if I do a good shot at tennis. I go, ‘Oh, how did you get your fat little body over to that shot? That was really good, Rick.’”
Gervais’ wide range of skills and his ability to succeed in each of them boils down to one thing: he only does things that he thinks would be fun, which is a path less traveled by many people in the entertainment business.
“I’ve always wanted to just have fun from [the time I was] a child. I’ve always wanted to keep that,” he says. “I think every child is creative, and I think they have it knocked out of them. Like people say to them, ‘Well, that does no good. That doesn’t earn you money.’ I think creativity is playing. I think that’s all it is. I approach it like that. I have an idea; I get an adrenaline rush. I think, ‘That could be good’ or ‘Some people will hate it.’ I get excited. And then it’s like, how good that you get at your craft is how little you ruin that idea because that’s as good as an idea gets is when it’s in your head. That’s why I do everything myself, because I suppose I want to be responsible. I want the blame and the credit. Making it is the fun for me.”
“Trouble” doesn’t elude this Brit. In fact, it’s not unusual for him to step right into it. He’s aware of that. One of his first run-ins with controversy dates back to 2007, when he toured the U.K. with his show “Fame” and made an ill-timed joke about the real-life killing of five prostitutes in Suffolk. More recently, he has come under fire for jokes in his standup specials that come across to many as anti-gay and anti-trans.
“I’ve always said that most offends come from when people mistake the subject of a joke with the actual target. And they’re not necessarily the same, but because everyone’s human and everyone’s got a thing they don’t like you to joke about,” he explains and then stops. “I do 20 jokes. They’re all about a contentious or taboo subject. And everyone laughs at 19 and they don’t laugh at the one that affects them. And they can’t help that. They can’t help that,” he repeats slowly. “I think jokes shouldn’t be personal. I think comedy is an intellectual pursuit, but it’s hard to get over that because we remind people of things in jokes. And no one wants to be reminded of bad things. I sort of like that contention. I like that people feel slightly uneasy when I start a joke, and they worry about what it is.”
And that pretty much is the feeling many get when listening to his standup. There are no off-the-cuff comments. Everything he says has been thoroughly thought through and considered. When he started university many moons ago, his plan was to study biology. Along the way, it changed to philosophy. It’s that way of thinking, of analyzing, of avoiding ambiguity by answering a question with a question that can be seen when he is interviewed on talk shows. He thinks about things very deeply and then weaves in his own brand of a humorous outlook on it. Take, for example, two of his dark comedy series, “Derek” and “After Life,” and his film “The Invention of Lying.”
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“I’ve always sort of cared about the big subjects, really, and I’ve always cared about people,” he explains. “Everything I do sort of has to do with humanity. It’s to do with everything from morality to body language, just how people act, what people are worried about, all their fears. … It’s like I’m taking them by the hand through a scary forest, and they come out the other side and it’s all sunny, and they go, ‘Oh, that was all right’ or ‘I see that. That was clever, wasn’t it?’”
He is very aware of his reputation and image, which precedes him, but says most of it “is marketing.” He uses his experience hosting the Golden Globes as an example. “The marketing thing is that, ‘It’s live. He could say anything. Oh, my God. He’s brutal. Oh, he doesn’t care about anything.’ All those are untrue. I write those jokes. I look at them from every angle. I make sure they’re bulletproof. I go out with a beer, I pretend to be a loose cannon, but I’m not. I’m never drunk. I have like a sip. And I can justify anything. I’m never that brutal. It just seems like it.”
He remembers back to the first time he hosted the Globes in 2010. “The press of America was like I murdered someone,” he recalls. “This myth that I don’t care about anything … I desperately care what people think of my words and my art and all those things. It’s just that you have to know that some people will hate it. Once you realize there as many people out there that will hate you as like you, you are cool. I know what’s gonna happen with my next standup — the same people are gonna hate it, and the same people are gonna love it. Because everyone’s different. And you have to polarize,” he adds. “If you don’t polarize, you have to do something so anodyne, you might as well not do anything. So you just have to be ready for the waves. You are a sailor; you chose to get on the boat. There’s going to be waves. You can’t get out and go, ‘I didn’t know it was gonna be all bumpy.’ I know it’s gonna be bumpy, so I prepare for it. I put on good boots and I put on waterproof mac. And I learn to steer.”
As far as the censorship of comedians who some think go too far, Gervais says: “Everyone’s allowed not to like you, not to like your stuff, not to buy your tickets, not to go to see your films. That’s different to a Hollywood studio telling people they shouldn’t tweet their personal beliefs because it damages the product. Censorship isn’t deciding to turn your own TV off, it’s someone coming round and making you turn your own TV off. And I think that’s what some people sort of mistake for censorship. I make my own decision. When is that joke good enough to be hated? Is that joke worth being hated for? And usually I go, ‘No, I can make it more palatable,’ or’ I can make it more understandable.’ Or, I can just not ruin their day.”
I finish up our conversation by asking Gervais if there is anything in his entire life that has brought him so much joy that he would love to relive it. His heartfelt response can’t help but make you go “aww.”
“The first thing I thought of was: I haven’t got a dog at the moment, and I was brought up with dogs and cats. Me and Jane, we go for a walk every day just to meet dogs wherever we are. New York or London. And then you start meeting the same dogs and they know you, and then the dog recognizes you from a hundred yards. And I go, ‘Hello.’ And it’s like, I don’t know what it is. It’s like some sort of happy pill. So a dog, — just watching a dog makes me happy. If a dog’s playing, I just slow down. It’s just pure joy.”
From Variety US