When ShortList met Ricky Gervais

Words: Andrew Dickens

No wonder Ricky Gervais smiles so much. He’s the biggest thing in comedy, he sprouts awards like some kind of trophy tree and he’s our most successful comic export since Peter Sellers. He’s a national treasure who didn’t so much crack the US as took a pneumatic drill to it, finding success as a screenwriter, actor, stand-up and children’s author. He’s in a happy long-term relationship and gets to work with his mates. He has every reason to be happy. Everything he touches turns to gold, which makes me quite nervous about shaking his hand when we meet. Mind you, a quick amputation and I’ll be driving a much nicer car.

It turns out his Midas touch is purely metaphorical and my limbs remain 100 per cent human flesh. It’s good to find that Gervais is still human, too. With great piles of money, millions of fans and the cool kind of celebrity friends, you’d almost forgive a hint of veracity in his mock self-aggrandising. Why not mention the silverware at every possible opportunity? Why not ride a Segway and avoid eye contact with members of the public?

Thankfully, when he enters the room, he does it on foot. He’s exactly what you’d expect. He’s wearing his usual black T-shirt (as am I, making us look like, in Gervais’s words, “an ageing boy band”), black jeans and trainers. The only trapping of wealth is a very nice, and presumably expensive, watch, but even that isn’t flash. TV’s Ricky Gervais is the real Ricky Gervais. He is that mischievous, funny, brutally honest bloke you see. He’s like your funny mate, the one you swear is the funniest bloke on the planet, except in this case it’s true.

THE 'L' WORD

That brutal honesty has got him into hot water at times, but it also makes him the perfect man for his latest film, The Invention Of Lying, set in a world where nobody has ever told a lie. It’s a concept I ask him to explain without using any words associated with the truth or lying.

“Oh, well that’s impossible,” he says. “We had trouble doing that in the film, of course, because we couldn’t say ‘lying’. You couldn’t ad lib because when you ad lib you say things like ‘no, honestly’, and you don’t need to say that in this world,” he explains. “OK, well I’ve got to explain it to you, so here goes. The film is set in a world where the human race has not evolved the gene for telling a… Oh God.” The head goes back and the trademark laugh erupts.

Feeling slightly pleased with myself that I’ve left Ricky Gervais lost for words, I switch the question and ask him to explain the film using as many words for lying and the truth as possible. This would be easier, or at least possible.

“The film is set in a world where the human race has not evolved the gene for lying, and in a world without that, there is no flattery, no deceit, no art as we know it. So, obviously everyone tells the absolute truth,” he begins before starting to giggle again. “Jesus, this is like a Radio 4 panel show. The pressure’s on. I fear interviews enough as it is, let alone when I’m being tested as well. This is the Mensa interview for ShortList. Right, the world is quite harsh and brutal but they can’t help it, it’s their nature. If you’re a chubby little loser like Mark Bellison [Gervais’s character in the film] you’re at the bottom of the pile and beaten up throughout the film. One day, Mark learns how to lie, and of course everybody believes him, even if it contradicts physical evidence. So I’m sort of invincible in the film. There ensues the story and hilarity.”

Gervais is a big believer in films being, first and foremost, entertainment. That’s why The Office and Extras were so neatly and happily wrapped up, like the perfect feel-good parcel. He also claims that his films aren’t there to get his views across, but it’s interesting that this world without lies is a world without religion. Gervais is refreshingly open about his atheism, which can be risky in a country as pious as the US, but again his honesty prevails.

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