Ricky Gervais
- Profession: Actor
- Place/Date of Birth: Reading, Berkshire, 25 June 2020
Ricky hails as Rocky - 30/12/02
Comedian Ricky Gervais admitted today that he winced at his "gruesome" boxing victory over Grant Bovey after watching it on TV.
The unlikely contest ended in a win on points for the 41-year-old star of BBC2 comedy The Office. It involved three hard-fought rounds of one and a half minutes each with Anthea Turner’s 40-year-old husband. Spectators at the fight at the BBC Television centre included Gervais’s girlfriend and cast members from The Office. The pre-recorded fight was broadcast on BBC2 last night and also showed the weeks of training both men went through. Gervais’s victory over Bovey landed him £5,000 to donate to his chosen charity, Macmillan Nurses. Frank and Eugene Maloney trained the comedian.
Ricky to make his big screen debut - 28/11/02
Ricky Gervais is making his cinema debut - in a hard-hitting advertising campaign aimed at tackling prejudice against disabled workers.
The star of the hit comedy show The Office appears as a David Brent-like character who finds ridiculous reasons for not employing people with disabilities. Fans of the last series saw office boss Brent hire a woman who used a wheelchair, but she ended up being the butt of his jokes. "I had never written and directed anything for cinema before so that was exciting. The thought of my big fat face 20 foot high obviously appealed to me, that’ll put them off their popcorn!" said Gervais. The commercial for jobability.com, a web site for disabled jobseekers, will appear on cinema screens next month.
Our favourite office boy to star in organised punch up - 21/10/02
Ricky Gervais has been asked to take part in a new BBC show called ’The Fight’ in which he will be throwing punches at Anthea Turners husband Grant Bovey. Sounds interesting...
’The Fight’ originated into a series after a charity show called ’Reel Boxers’ which saw Les Dennis take on Bob Mortimer in a boxing ring. (Can the Beeb show a re-run of that one please?!). Bob won - and suggested the idea be turned into a show - which will see a new pair of celebs trying to punch each others lights out each week. The celebrities will have a few weeks of training before entering the ring - so they will not be expected to go straight into the ring with no training - although the amount of jostling that most celebs have done with the paparazzi suggests otherwise.
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Ricky began to get a bit of recognition when he started appearing on The 11 O’Clock Show, where his unorthodox monlogues and strange interviewing technique began to attract attention. Ricky shot to wider fame with his excellent satirical comedy The Office which took Best New TV Comedy at the British Comedy Awards. Millions of luckless proles forced to work in dreary offices will be forever grateful to Ricky for finding the humour in their tragic plight. Thanks mate. Not to mention the sheer horror of working anywhere near Staines.
Since then Ricky has gone from strength to strength, releasing two successful comedy DVDs - ’Animals’ and ’Politics’; The Office has launched the careers of MacKenzie Crook (Pirates of the Caribbean) and Martin Freeman (forthcoming film The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy), and Ricky has giggled his way through interviews with buddy Jonathan Ross, and guesting on Xfm. New series Extras is already well in the pipeline. Not to mention those Golden Globes, the BAFTAs, and many other awards that must be proudly displayed on his mantlepiece.
November 2007