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BACKGROUND Gervais's father is of Québécois descent and grew up in Quebec , Canada and came to the UK on duty during the Second World War , where he met his wife. Raised as the youngest of four siblings, Ricky Gervais has described his childhood as nice and "normal". Gervais received his early education at Reading's Ashmead School. He then went on to in 1985. This came as a great surprise to the band, who had actually broken up the previous year. CAREER Radio After various odd jobs, including working in an office, a stint as events manager at the University Of London Union followed in the early 1990s. Through this, Gervais went on to briefly manage the British rock group Suede in their pre-record contract days before taking a job at London radio station XFM in 1996, though he was made redundant when the station was taken over by the Capital Radio group in 1998. He was also music advisor for the popular BBC drama '' This Life '' at this time thanks to the show's producer Jane Fallon. It was during his time at XFM that he met Stephen Merchant, who would later become his collaborator in much of his later work. Gervais returned to XFM for a Saturday afternoon radio show that first went on the air in November 2001 and ran intermittently until January 2004 with breaks ranging between 1-3 months between new shows. After that, Gervais took 18 months off to work on his new television show '' Extras '', write '' Flanimals '', and perform his live show ''Politics''. He returned to the airwaves on 28 May 2005 to host the show once again with Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant . 48 episodes of the radio show are archived at xfm.co.uk/ricky . Television Gervais' mainstream TV debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's "Comedy Lab" series of pilots. His one-off show, "Golden Years", focused on a David Bowie -obsessed character called Clive Meadows. He then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot which replaced Ali G 's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme '' The 11 O'Clock Show '' in early 1999. Gervais later went on to present his own comedy Chat Show for Channel 4 called '' Meet Ricky Gervais '' two years later which was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself. Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for '' Bruiser '', the long-lost BBC sketch show, and cameoed in Simon Pegg 's sitcom '' Spaced ''. A home-made pilot for '' The Office '', made with Xfm cohort Stephen Merchant , surfaced in 1999/2000, and was bought up by the BBC . After that, ''Extras'' first aired from 21 July 2005 with an appearance by Ben Stiller . It features cameos from Patrick Stewart , Kate Winslet (who is also from Reading ), Ross Kemp , Vinnie Jones , Les Dennis and Samuel L Jackson . Gervais's main character, Andy Millman, is more self-aware and intentionally humorous than David Brent, and the programme has not been made in the style of a Mockumentary , as was ''The Office'' (although it is filmed in a similar style without a laughter track). ''The Office'' See Also: The Office (UK) The first, six-episode series of ''The Office'' aired in the UK in July/August 2001 to little fanfare or attention but word-of-mouth, repeats and DVDs helped spread the word [http://www.offthetelly.co.uk/comedy/funnybusiness.htm , building up huge momentum and anticipation for the second series, also made up of six episodes, in September 2002. The second series topped the BBC2 ratings, and the show then switched to the larger BBC1 channel in December 2003 for its final two special episodes. ''Extras'' See Also: Extras (sitcom) A six-episode sitcom about extras working on movies. Written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Aired in the UK in July 2005 and the US in September 2005. A second series is planned. Stand-up Gervais also toured the UK in 2003 with his Stand-up show ''Animals''. The ''Politics'' tour then followed a year later. Both of these shows were recorded for release on DVD and television broadcast. The third part of the themed live trilogy, ''Science'', will hit the road in 2006. Books Gervais released a children's book in 2004, entitled '' Flanimals ''. After the success of this book, he released its sequel '' More Flanimals '' in 2005. Podcast See Also: The Ricky Gervais Show Recently, Gervais has produced a run of 12 new episodes of ''. The podcast is now in its second series due to "overwhelming popular demand" but is now available at a different host with a small fee. The podcast continues to be amongst the most popular on Audible.co.uk and ITunes . ACCOLADES In 2003, Gervais was listed in '' The Observer '' as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy. In a 2005 poll to find '' The Comedian's Comedian '', he was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders. Gervais has received a plethora of awards for his work on ''The Office'', most notably two Golden Globes (one for acting, one for the show itself), as well as numerous British Academy Television Awards and British Comedy Awards, amongst others. His rise in the USA is largely attributed to his success at the Golden Globes . On March 15 , 2006 , it was announced that Gervais would receive an honorary award at the annual Rose D'Or ceremony in Switzerland on April 29 . The award is given to "an individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the global entertainment business." {Link without Title} OTHER WORK : “You know, so many times when I’m watching your shows I’m going, ‘I wish I would have thought of that, oh yeah.’” (''Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David'', Channel 4 , 2006)]] Gervais wrote and guest-starred in an episode of '' film, '' For Your Consideration ''. He is currently adapting his book '' Flanimals '' for the big screen, and is slated to take on a Voice Acting role in the film. {Link without Title} On 5 January , 2006 , he interviewed Larry David in a one off special, ''Ricky Gervais Meets... Larry David''. On February 6 the same year, it was announced that Gervais and Merchant were to write an episode for the third season of the US version of ''The Office''. {Link without Title} On 20 February , 2006 , after performing twelve free podcasts with Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington, it was announced that all future episodes would be available from Audible.com at a "nominal fee". The reason for the commercialisation of the podcast was due to the significant cost of producing and online hosting for a weekly half hour show, and because Karl Pilkington is currently unemployed after leaving his job as a production manager at UK station XFM. In 2005 Gervais appeared at the Live 8 event held in Hyde Park. He produced a series of short films for the cause and also introduced another act. This event is the only time, and 'the only time' that Gervais has ever performed the ledgendary Brent dance from the Comic Relief episode of The Office. TARGET OF FRAUD A gang of criminals stole £200,000 from his bank account by pasting a picture of him from his Office DVD onto a dead man's Passport and using an insider from the bank to transfer the funds. When they tried to use the money to buy Bullion , they were apprehended by police officers, and subsequently arrested. They were later sentenced to between two and two and a half years in Prison . {Link without Title} CONTROVERSY In September 2005 Gervais caused controversy by recording a 2005 , the Radio Advertising Clearance Centre made a U-turn and announced that the advert could be broadcast before 9pm, but stipulated that a "squish" noise should be removed. {Link without Title} TRIVIA
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