The comedy actor Ricky Gervais worships: “Like getting a call from God”
Ricky Gervais has created a persona of aggression and indifference, but that doesn’t mean that he can’t get starstruck.
Even if standup comedy is a medium in which artists inherently try to provoke their audiences, Gervais has built a reputation for taking things too far. In an era where people are more informed and aware of one another’s sensitivities than ever before, he seems to take pleasure in being deliberately offensive and joking about subjects that would generally be considered taboo.
While this style of humour has certainly made him some enemies, he’s a figure who is admired by many within the comedy world, having co-created one of the most influential television shows of the 21st century with The Office, which both launched the careers of its entire cast and inspired an even more popular American remake with Steve Carell. He’s also been actively involved in directing and writing his own films, including The Invention of Lying and Special Correspondents.
Gervais may have prioritised working on films in which he has complete creative control, but that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t sign up to work with one of his heroes, and so, after being approached by the legendary cult filmmaker Christopher Guest, he agreed to appear in his mockumentary, For Your Consideration.
The comedian likened being asked by Guest to act in the film as “like getting a call from God, saying, ‘do you want to look round heaven?'”
It’s a rather unusual comment, considering how on the record Gervais is about his atheism, but it nonetheless indicates the level of respect he has for Guest. The British actor, writer, director, and comedian made his first big break as a co-writer and co-star in This Is Spinal Tap, the classic mockumentary directed by his lifelong friend, Rob Reiner and continued to utilse the format to make satirical films focused on highly specific subcultures, including Waiting for Guffman, A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, Mascots, and the aforementioned For Your Consideration.
Looking at his use of strong ensemble casts and authentic, awkward humour, it’s easy to see how his work would have been a strong influence on Gervais, who himself pioneered the mockumentary subgenre with The Office, however, there are notable differences between the two artists as well.
Gervais’ work tends to take place in what is a somewhat recognisable version of reality, even if it is an exaggerated one, whereas Guest’s films imagine slightly more outlandish scenarios. In terms of approach and style as well, the latter usually holds an optimistic view of people and likes to highlight the best of what they can do, whereas the former’s humour is far more pessimistic and holds a negative view of mankind in general. While Guest did get a great performance out of Gervais in For Your Consideration, it did not lead to an expanded collaboration between them in subsequent projects.
Nonetheless, now is a better time than ever for them to consider working together again, and while neither is at the height of popularity that they had when they were just starting out, both have made legacy programming that has been rediscovered by a younger audience on streaming, and might be able to play off of audience nostalgia were they to stage a comeback of some sort.
