When ShortList met Ricky Gervais

“I’ve never tiptoed around the subject, not even in America,” he says with conviction. “I say it on TV in America; I say it on radio in America. I nail it to the mast. I did Inside The Actors Studio and the students were taken aback. They asked: ‘Don’t you think that coming out as an atheist will damage your career?’ And I went: ‘What am I meant to do? Lie?’ In the circles I move in, people haven’t got that prejudice.”

It may be atheistic, but The Invention Of Lying is not necessarily anti-religion. When Mark Bellison learns to lie, he learns it can be used to comfort people, not just for personal gain. Something close to Gervais’s heart.

“I’ve been an atheist all my life,” he continues, “but I always knew that if my mum asked me when she was dying if there was a heaven I’d say yes. I’d lie. I think that’s how religion started – as a good lie. If you’re not an atheist you can watch this film without getting angry. I watch films about angels, love ’em. I don’t think you have to treat something that comes down on one side as propaganda.”

The film is splattered with A-list cameos; Christopher Guest, Ed Norton, Jason Bateman and Philip Seymour Hoffman all make brief but bright appearances. The story of Seymour Hoffman’s involvement illustrates just how far up the entertainment ladder the one-time University Of London Student Union events manager has climbed.

He recounts the tale, stifling a chuckle: “I’d never met Philip and his agent was telling me he was really busy, so I asked if I could email him. I sent him this email that said: ‘Dear Philip, will you please appear in my new film? There is very little money involved as I spent the budget on testicular implants, but don’t look upon them as my testicles, look at them as our testicles.’ Apparently he liked the email and said yes. And he was great, really funny.”

Being in the same room as the likes of Guest, Bateman, Larry David and Ben Stiller would be enough for a fully paid-up fan of US comedy like Gervais, but being on a level footing with them, respected by them and working with them brings him all the pleasure of being an eight-handed, large-pocketed kid in a sweet shop. As proud as he is of his UK success, making it in the US is equally, if not more, fulfilling.

“America is my sort of mecca,” he says. “All my favourite shows have come from there, from Laurel & Hardy to the Marx Brothers, Cheers, M*A*S*H and Curb Your Enthusiasm. So yeah, if I do want to make it anywhere, it’s in the US.”

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