Ricky Gervais on ‘Special Correspondents,’ David Brent and Bad Reviews

Well, it changed your life.
Right. But I didn’t go to film school. I wasn’t slogging around doing standup for 10 years. I had a normal job in an office. I was a middle manager in an office for 10 years, which I based The Office on. I actually even shot my own little demo in my real office, because I thought the script would never stand on the page. Comedy is meant to be performed; it’s not meant to be read in a script. “Middle-aged man says joke, isn’t funny. No one laughs. He touches his tie, looks at the camera awkwardly. Walks away slowly.” Now, does that not jump out of the page? So I had to show them, and when they saw it, they went, “Yeah.”

On a personal level, The Office was the first thing I ever tried my hardest at in life. I was one of those sort of academic kids who was pretty smart so I didn’t try hard. I got through because I knew I could. I winged it. God, I wish I could go back and try my hardest at everything. So I did with The Office, and I got an A for it. And I got addicted. I knew that I’d done well there, even before the good and bad reviews.

You recently posted the first review of The Office on Twitter.
I do it every now and again to remind people. It just said, “A summer stinker. This will never make it. This is boring. Gervais often fluffs his lines.” Which is my favorite. Right? Like I fluffed my lines accidentally. While I was editing it, I left that in? [Laughs]. Oh God. But it was a very slow burner. It polarized people and still does. Some people think it’s the most boring show ever. Some people think it’s great, and there’s everything in between.

Then you did Extras.
I did that show because I wanted to play the opposite character. Brent was a study of delusion, whereas Andy Millman was the opposite. If Brent was the satisfied, Andy Millman was the dissatisfied Socrates. He knew that he was surrounded by idiots and he hated it and he couldn’t believe why he wasn’t getting on. So that was the other side of the coin. I was almost a straight man in that. You have to keep changing. And then, obviously, Derek was even more fringe and weirder. It confused people more.

“I’m happy to be sub-Dickens. Aren’t we all sub-Dickens?”

Did the reviews get any better?
Well, Extras was “bloated.” One person said it was “sub-Dickens,” and I was thinking, “That’s not a very bad insult.”

No, it’s not.
I’m happy to be sub-Dickens. Aren’t we all sub-Dickens? It’s like, “He’s no Einstein!” And then, Idiot Abroad was, “Oh, this is exploiting his friend, who’s obviously got mental problems.” No, he’s in on it. He’s my co-producer. And then Derek. … Derek was getting slagged off before they’d seen it. The English press was saying it was offensive before they’d seen it. I had time to write a little thing in the first episode with the press reaction of the first episode, where someone says to Derek, “Is Derek autistic?” I had time to write in some of the bad reviews of the first episode. Think of that [laughs]. And then, when it got nominated for an Emmy and Golden Globes, people just went quiet.

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