Armed with an infectious laugh, acidic wit, a keen sense of human interaction, and what David Bowie once described as “a pug nosed face,” Ricky Gervais has, in half a decade, ascended to the top of the comedy heap. He achieved international acclaim for his brilliant BBC comedy The Office, followed it up with the HBO-approved celebrity satire Extras and made memorable supporting appearances in For Your Consideration and Stardust. Surprising, then, to think that Gervais is only now making his real Hollywood leap with a starring role in David Koepp’s haunted romantic comedy Ghost Town. EYE WEEKLY caught up with the comic/actor — or tried — during a roundtable interview at TIFF last week.

You are a master of —
[Interjects.] I already like it. Earlier a journalist asked, “In this film, you have amazing manky teeth. Where’d you get those?” I said “They’re my own teeth.” She went red, so I said, “Don’t worry about it.” Unbelievable. What do you think: I walk around and put these in? I’m English. Go on.

You’ve mastered the comedy of bad communication. Where does that come from?
Well, one of the big things with The Office was that I wanted to make it very natural because it was a fake documentary. We were slaves to the realism. I think that the biggest crime in TV is the way people talk to each other: they stand sideways, they get close and do their line and then somebody else smoothly does their line. That’s not the case in life. We mess up, we digress, we fluff our lines, we do all that. So we put that in and I think that makes it a more pleasing piece of voyeurism. It’s like you’re eavesdropping on something that really happened. And I think the emotional payback is so much greater the more real it is, even if it’s against the fantasy backdrop of ghosts.

Was it a natural progression for you to go from television to making movies?
No, it wasn’t actually. It’s almost like a parallel career. What I see myself as is someone who writes and directs comedy or drama and writes and performs stand-up. Being a hired actor is very nice and flattering and all those things, but it’s not like I’m pursuing it. I was offered 100 movies before I took this one. I never wanted to be an actor. I never thought of myself as an actor and let’s face it, I’m not a great actor. I know where I am and I know what I’m good at. But I do have fun doing it. I love acting now more than ever. After this experience I love acting. But nothing is more fun than [Office co-creator and Gervais’ writing partner] Steve Merchant and me sitting in a room laughing about what we just said. Nothing comes close.

And getting to work with some of your idols, such as David Bowie on Extras, must be fun too.
Of course, but not as exciting as getting the idea to work with one of your idols. And that’s the truth. You know, it was amazing working with Bowie and all that. But the exciting thing is that I wrote that. I did a song with David Bowie!

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1