"Ricky Gervais"

Summary

SmartLess – Episode Summary

Episode: “Ricky Gervais”
Hosts: Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, Will Arnett
Guest: Ricky Gervais (w/ a drop-in by Bradley Cooper)
Release Date: January 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode of SmartLess features the triumphant return of comedy legend Ricky Gervais. With characteristic wit, humility, and a sense of mischief, Ricky joins Jason, Sean, and Will for a wide-ranging, spirited, and self-deprecating conversation. Special surprise drop-in: Bradley Cooper, who helps kick off the episode with laughs and a discussion about British pastries, plastic surgery rumors, and friendship.
The discussion covers Ricky’s evolving career, comedic philosophy, views on cancel culture and offense, the art of sitcom creation, his love for animals, family roots, the making of The Office, and his latest ventures.

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Key Moments & Discussion Breakdown

1. Warm-Up & Surprise Guest

[02:00–07:30] The 'SmartLess' Chaos, Bradley Cooper Dropping In

• Bradley Cooper joins the hosts at the top, ribbing each other about pastries, guessing Sean’s breakfast, and poking fun at Will’s (and Ricky’s) middle names.
• Good-natured digs about plastic surgery rumors, how actors are perceived, and an affectionate, informal atmosphere.
• Will: “Bradley won because I gave him extra points. I was really magnanimous.” [04:16]
• Jason introduces Ricky as the “brightest new star” from England, playfully mispronouncing his name as “Ricky Gervas.”
• Bradley and Ricky greet each other for the first time:
  Bradley Cooper [08:11]: “Ricky, we've never met, but what a great thing to see you.”
  Ricky [08:14]: “Nice to meet you, man.”

2. Reintroducing Ricky – Revisiting Old Connections

[07:30–11:00] Friendship & Comic Heritage

• Reminiscing about how they met in the era of “The Invention of Lying.”
• Jason lavishes praise on Ricky’s work, especially The Office Christmas Special.
  • Jason: “You just… you're just it. I could eat it all day.” [09:24]
• Ricky’s self-deprecating response: “So now I've got to be nice to you.” [09:25]
• The group jokes about child actors’ looks, the perils of early fame, and genuine admiration for Ricky’s career.
• Will: “I just love the work you've done for animals and, and with your time and what you've done and really how you've inspired millions of people. This is the worst.” [11:51]
• The hosts ham up their fawning, with Ricky recognizing the ‘wind-up’: “I know you're not a great actor, but I could tell what you were trying to do.” [12:21]

3. The Pandemic, Friendship, and Podcasting

[12:52–14:30] Lockdown, Origins & Affable Tone

• Reflection on SmartLess as a ‘friends first’ project.
  • Jason: “I hope we never lose that.” [12:52]
• Ricky: “That's when you really remembered you had friends when you couldn't see them.” [13:11]
• Will: “You were one of our first, first batch and… it was five years ago.” [13:34]
• Ricky jokes about being brought in “to help these guys… five years later, ah right, they need my help again. A little vitamin R injection.” [13:59]

4. On Touring, Stand-Up, and Lifestyle

[14:30–19:41] Ricky's Comedic Evolution and Touring Life

• Jason notes Ricky is “coming out here less” (USA) due to remote media realities and Netflix’s global reach.
• Will: “You're also doing stand up so much more now than you were 15 years ago.” [15:09]
• Ricky: “I'm a stand up now… and I'll do the odd TV show and film when I have time. I just flipped it.” [15:24]
• On touring:
  • Ricky: “I do the most luxurious tour possible… three nights away at the most, four nights at home. I hop private all around Europe. Jane comes with me to all the good places… I make it a little weekend break.” [16:08–16:33]
• On getting older: “If I do two or three gigs in a row…I wake up, I think, was I run over last night?...It's age, it's like, I don't know what it's gonna be like for people to see me at 70…I'm already sort of grumpy.” [17:31]

5. Family, Early Life, and Honesty

[22:10–23:53] Canadian Roots, Family Dynamics, and Comic Honesty

• Ricky’s dad was Canadian, served in WWII, met his mother in England and never returned.
• Ricky: “When I was about 13, I said...‘Why am I so much younger than my brothers and sisters?’ And she just went, ‘You were a mistake.’ I laughed...that taught me that honesty is funny. Honesty has always been the funniest thing for me." [23:04]

6. Comedy, Offense, and Cancel Culture

[26:14–31:45] On Offense, Progress, and Navigating Taboo

• Jason: “Do you get the sense that the audience...that whole thing [about offense in comedy] is starting to soften?” [26:14]
• Ricky: “It is. It's cyclic…it’s not the first time it’s happened…they want to be, you know, quite rightly, more progressive than the last one. And sometimes, they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong...Comedy seems to be on the front line.” [26:36]
• Ricky: “People would rather someone say something awful and mean it than say something awful and be joking.” [27:23]
• On Jane as a sounding board: “I run things past her...I come up with an idea. I tell her. She says, ‘Please don’t say that in public.’ And I know...I can work on that. It’s got something.” [27:53]
• Sean: “You're probably touching on a lot of things people want to say themselves.” [29:30]
• Will: “That’s where I feel like a schoolboy, where, like, I'm getting away with saying the thing that the teacher...I'm not allowed to say.” [30:11]
• Ricky: “Most offense I’ve noticed comes from people mistaking the subject of a joke with the actual target.” [31:20]

7. The Comedic Persona and the Pathos of Characters

[31:45–35:15] Swagger vs Vulnerability Onstage & Onscreen

• Jason on Ricky’s range: “Your standup persona…there’s a swagger. Yet when you’re playing your most iconic characters…there’s a level of vulnerability…How do you…find the bullseye of humor in both?” [32:00]
• Ricky explains comedy’s power in showing that “we’re all idiots” and the power of persona:
  • “If I come out and go, right, I'm the best thing since sliced bread and then slip over. That's so much funnier.” [33:50]
• On ‘same status’ with audiences: “I talk about being fat and old and gonna die and going bald…so that’s how I keep…same status…us against the world.” [35:15]

8. Guest Stars, Satire, and Parodying Self

[35:17–39:19] Extras, Celebrity Cameos & Animated Felines

• Jason: “Are you able to make guest stars comfortable parodying themselves on Extras?” [35:17]
• Ricky: “The stars I approached...wanted to do it. They wanted to go, ‘Let me show the world I’ve got a sense of humor about myself.’” [35:35]
• On The Muppets, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and the fun of being the butt of the joke.
• Tease: Upcoming project “close to parodying myself.”
• Ricky reveals an upcoming animated show, Alley Cats: “A group of feral cats living in a disused basement…they’re the meanest, sweariest cats in the world…but you know they're losers as well.” [38:28]

9. The Office: Creation, Method, and International Adaptation

[40:19–46:13] Deep Dive into the Making of the UK Classic

• Will: “Did you have any idea what you were doing with The Office was special?” [40:38]
• Ricky: “I knew it was different.” [40:47]
• The show was “99% scripted,” with Ricky improvising at scene ends to keep it real: “The behavior was improvised, though.” [41:09]
• Casting: Based characters on real people from his school days.
• Jason: “How did you find that incredible actor…without any winking at all?”
  • Ricky on Mackenzie Crook (Gareth): “When Mackenzie walks through—he looks like a baby bird…suddenly him talking about ‘I could kill a man’—No, you couldn’t. You’d be eaten by a lizard.” [43:48]
• Adaptations:
  • Of the French version, Ricky: “In France, they put the stapler in a big cheese.” [46:06]
  • Jason: “He never sucks.” [46:19]

10. Creative Influence & Legacy

[48:41–50:59] Sitcom Heritage & The Classic Touch

• Jason: “Such a vacuum…six episodes…then it takes off.”
• Ricky credits Fawlty Towers and Spinal Tap: “Anything you say that I invented, I’ll tell you where I stole it.” [49:47]
• Jason/Will on how The Office inspired Arrested Development:
  • Will: “We watched your show and we were just crazy about it.” [50:03]
• Ricky: “Once voted best comedy of all time, weren’t you?”
  • Jason: “The best unwatched show.” [51:28]

11. Awards, Hosting, and Worldview

[51:41–54:50] Golden Globes Advice, Award Show Satire

• Jason: “Nominated for a Golden Globe...I just don’t want our patter to suck…”
• Ricky’s advice: “Just read the prompter, like, without any bits.” [52:45]
• On award show hosting: “You mustn’t take those things seriously…treat them like a night out.” [53:58]
• Ricky on British vs American awards: “The only reason [the Globes are] on telly is because it’s an industry award for really famous people. The teaching awards don’t get televised!” [54:12]

12. Touring, Specials, and Material

[55:40–58:01] Stand-Up Filming & Timeless Themes

• Will attended Ricky’s live taping: “You were really funny talking about hosting the Globes and what that was like.” [55:10]
• On filming stand-up: “I did 14 shows, I taped two. Traditionally, you want the venue where you can do a warm-up, and as intimate as you can.” [55:46]
• Jason: “Has the ratio [of sources] stayed the same—family, friends, headlines?” [57:36]
• Ricky: “It’s still Hitler, AIDS…Classics. Evergreen.” [57:50]

13. On Universality & New Work

[58:03–60:21] Timelessness, Mortality, and Comedy That Travels

• Ricky: “If I work up my show in England…it has to be about universal subjects…ego, bad days, getting old…timeless rather than topical.” [58:03]
• New special “Mortality” focuses on aging, self-deprecating themes: “It is about me getting old and grumpy and annoyed at stuff more and more…everyone goes through the phases of their life.” [58:43]
• Will: “All those best comedies...it is about these characters who are flawed…that's just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.” [59:08]

14. Animals, Family Loyalty, and Final Questions

[61:16–65:12] Animal Rights, Veganism, and Impossible Choices

• Jason asks what Ricky would choose to make a “documentary” about if not comedy:
  • Ricky: “I think animal rights is the first one.”
• Family story: “My brother punched a man just because he kicked the dog…and my mum went, ‘Fair enough.’” [62:02]
• Veganism: “I can’t really be saving dogs and eating sheep.”
• Final Would-You-Rather: Give voice to a pet or bring back a person from the dead?
  • Ricky: "It's gotta be my cat talking, hasn't it? It's gotta be my cat." [63:50]
  • Will: “What if your cat just said, ‘I just want you to fucking kick me’…that’s the only thing that gets me off?” [64:15]
  • Ricky: "Obviously, we're gonna cut this bit, right?...That's the opener!" [64:25, 64:30]
  • Cat’s name: “Pickle.” [64:47]

15. Closing Banter & Goodbyes

[65:29–68:59] Nicknames and Making Time for Friends

• Discussion on working-class names:
  • Ricky: “…in America…the top name to show you were from a lower class was Ricky.” [65:31]
• Hosts describe their dogs named after each other; more playfully self-deprecating back-and-forth.
• Will instructing Jason to "make an effort" to see Ricky next time. [68:03]
• Ricky (gratefully): "Thank you. That was absolutely a pleasure for me. I hope it was a pleasure for you and I understand I'm the first. First. Second guest." [68:21]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Ricky Gervais [13:11]: “That's when you really remembered you had friends when you couldn't see them.”
• Jason Bateman [09:24]: “You just… you're just it. I could eat it all day.”
• Ricky [23:04]: “You were a mistake.” [on his mother’s honesty] “That taught me that honesty is funny.”
• Ricky [27:23]: “People would rather someone say something awful and mean it than say something awful and be joking.”
• Ricky [31:20]: “Most offense comes from people mistaking the subject of a joke with the actual target.”
• Ricky [33:50]: “If I come out and go, right, I'm the best thing since Sliced bread and then slip over. That's so much funnier.”
• Will Arnett [30:11]: “That's where I feel like a schoolboy, where, like, I'm getting away with saying the thing that the teacher...I'm not allowed to say.”
• Jason Bateman [51:28]: “The best unwatched show.” [About Arrested Development]
• Ricky [52:45]: “Just say no whenever…Even when Arrested Development wouldn't give me a first class ticket, I was still arrogant.”
• Ricky [57:50]: “It's still Hitler, AIDS. Classics. Evergreen.”
• Will Arnett [60:21]: “Surrendered, you know what I mean?” [ribbing his Parisian audiences]
• Ricky [62:02]: “My mom was like horrified…and [my brother] went, ‘Yeah, he kicked the dog.’ And my mom went, ‘Oh, fair enough.’ And that was it. That was a life lesson.”
• Will Arnett [64:15]: “I just want you to fucking kick me. That's the only thing that gets me off, is getting kicked.” (Imagining Ricky's cat, if it could talk)
• Ricky [68:21]: “Thank you. That was absolutely a pleasure for me. I hope it was a pleasure for you and I understand I'm the first. First. Second guest.”

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Key Timestamps (MM:SS)

• 02:00 – Bradley Cooper joins as surprise guest
• 07:37 – Official intro for Ricky Gervais
• 13:11 – Reflection on pandemic and origins of SmartLess
• 16:08 – Ricky describes his touring lifestyle
• 23:04 – Honesty is funny; family anecdote
• 26:36 – Ricky on cancel culture cycles
• 31:20 – Mistaking subject vs. target of a joke
• 35:35 – Guest stars on Extras
• 39:19 – Alley Cats animated series discussion
• 40:47 – The Office: “I knew it was different.”
• 43:48 – Mackenzie Crook as Gareth
• 49:47 – Influences: Fawlty Towers, Spinal Tap
• 57:50 – “It's still Hitler, AIDS. Classics. Evergreen.”
• 62:02 – Animal rights and childhood lesson
• 63:50 – Would you rather: talking cat vs. bring back a person
• 68:21 – Ricky: “...first. First. Second guest.”

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Tone & Takeaways

This episode is true to the SmartLess brand: breezy, irreverent, unguarded, and deeply funny. Ricky Gervais is in top form—sharp, vulnerable, honest, and generous with insights on comedy, career, and life. The hosts’ affection and admiration for him are palpable, and Ricky's wit and humility shine through. The conversation is packed with hard-earned wisdom about why honesty matters, what truly makes people laugh, and how great comedy lasts by being universal and rooted in genuine experience.

For anyone who wants an unfiltered look at the mind of one of comedy’s most influential modern voices, and a lot of laughs—this is essential listening.

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Transcript

[Sean]

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[Ad Voice]

Choose to show up with the bold styling of the Mazda CX30.

[Ricky Gervais]

Awake up.

[Sean]

Happy, happy New Year.

[Jason Bateman]

Hey, Happy New Year to you.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. New Year. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

What are we doing New Year to you?

[Sean]

Everybody sleep okay? Anybody party last night?

[Jason Bateman]

Um, no. No.

[Will Arnett]

No. Is it New Year's Day?

[Sean]

Oh, sorry.

[Will Arnett]

It's not New Year's Day. Oh, sorry. Are you missing something? Are you sorry?

[Sean]

I don't know my calendar.

[Will Arnett]

Stop saying sorry. What is happening?

[Jason Bateman]

Is that your New Year's resolution is to say sorry for all the things you've done wrong in 2025?

[Ricky Gervais]

No.

[Jason Bateman]

How long would the list be of things you have to apologize.

[Will Arnett]

Do you guys mind if I just interrupt real quick and say welcome to a brand new smart list?

[Sean]

Oh, sorry.

[Will Arnett]

Go ahead.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Smart.

[Ad Voice 2]

Less.

[Will Arnett]

Smart, Smart less. Hi, guys. Are we rolling?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Willie, you look really handsome. You got someone just off camera. Who's. Who's the surprise listener? We've got a special guest.

[Will Arnett]

The.

[Jason Bateman]

The director and co star of the great film. Is this on? Is this thing on?

[Bradley Cooper]

Dude, I can't believe I'm got a little peek behind the curtain here.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow, man, this is amazing.

[Sean]

So cool to have you and so.

[Ricky Gervais]

Hi, Bradley.

[Will Arnett]

Well, it's such a.

[Bradley Cooper]

It's so fascinating.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, but haven't you done. You've done a. I feel like you've done a double. Or am I thinking of you and. And Dan.

[Sean]

Because he came down. He came to the.

[Bradley Cooper]

I did your hundredth episode.

[Jason Bateman]

What? But. But live. I remember you on stage.

[Bradley Cooper]

And then I came to the live.

[Jason Bateman]

But you've done this.

[Bradley Cooper]

But I don't remember like. But I don't. You know, seeing it. You know, seeing Sean and his habitat and you. And it's cool for the. For the listener.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean chewing. There he is.

[Bradley Cooper]

Sean's got a hat on glasses. Jason looks like the guy from the Maxell commercial.

[Jason Bateman]

I still have my DJs on.

[Will Arnett]

You know what? This is fun because we've never done this in intro with a surprise guest. So, Bradley, why don't you guess what Sean is eating? Don't tell him yet. Sean.

[Sean]

Oh, okay. Want me to show you?

[Will Arnett]

Or was it. Was There. Was there?

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. Show me. Give me a little hint.

[Sean]

I just chew like this.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh.

[Will Arnett]

Oh.

[Bradley Cooper]

Is that some sort of pie? Is that a glaze on top? A vanilla glaze?

[Jason Bateman]

It's a glaze, probably. Hey, it's 9:31. It's gotta be a glaze.

[Will Arnett]

All bets are off.

[Sean]

No, it's a cinnamon butter. Cinnamon sugar.

[Jason Bateman]

English muffin. Fourth grade graduates.

[Bradley Cooper]

Oh, did you make that? So butter cinnamon on an English muffin you just toasted.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yes.

[Sean]

So there's.

[Bradley Cooper]

And by the way, and for the listener. Great. You covered all of the surface of the muffin.

[Will Arnett]

Look at that. Look at that, guys. Oh, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

Hey, Bradley.

[Sean]

How are you?

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. What are you doing over there? Do you guys have a sleepover last night?

[Will Arnett]

We did. Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

We're living together now.

[Will Arnett]

We're back to back Delivery.

[Bradley Cooper]

We've gone 180. 360.

[Will Arnett]

360.

[Ricky Gervais]

Thanks.

[Bradley Cooper]

We just. We just came from press, so I was just like, going to run to say hello.

[Will Arnett]

We were just doing a bunch of press for the movie every day. And I love that. We just did this GQ game. We just did this. What was it?

[Bradley Cooper]

We just did this. You have to guess how well you.

[Will Arnett]

Know how well you know each other. Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Listener. They both. They both do look literally like they just came from a GQ shoot. They look gorgeous, these two.

[Will Arnett]

Thank you.

[Ricky Gervais]

You do you both.

[Will Arnett]

But we did. Bradley won because I gave him extra points. I was really magnanimous.

[Ricky Gervais]

What was the question?

[Will Arnett]

You were. You were generous too. No, the answers were, what's my middle name?

[Bradley Cooper]

The cons is like, yeah. It's like, yeah. By the way, do you know his sister's names?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait. Tannis and Chardonnay.

[Will Arnett]

No, Tannis is right. That's good.

[Jason Bateman]

Chamblee.

[Will Arnett]

Shanley.

[Jason Bateman]

Wow. That's it.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. That's good. Jb.

[Jason Bateman]

And your middle name, Will, is William Gordon Arnett.

[Bradley Cooper]

Almost boy.

[Jason Bateman]

Gary.

[Will Arnett]

Sean. Do you know my middle name?

[Ricky Gervais]

Go with it.

[Bradley Cooper]

Go with it.

[Sean]

Of course I know. Your middle name is Emerson.

[Ricky Gervais]

Okay.

[Bradley Cooper]

Nice.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, Is that right? Bradley, Yours. What's the first letter of yours? Bradley C. Channing.

[Bradley Cooper]

No.

[Jason Bateman]

Curtis.

[Bradley Cooper]

No.

[Will Arnett]

No.

[Jason Bateman]

Chad.

[Will Arnett]

Close.

[Jason Bateman]

Come on, Sean.

[Sean]

No, it's Charles.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yes, it is.

[Jason Bateman]

Wait, are you Googling? Ch.

[Sean]

Oh, I know this.

[Jason Bateman]

God, I wish it was Chad. I'd call you Chad every.

[Will Arnett]

They were like, what's your favorite movie? What's your favorite.

[Jason Bateman]

They say, what is yours is with nail and I. And I yours. Bradley, yours is Ghost.

[Will Arnett]

Ghost.

[Bradley Cooper]

That's right.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

The director's cut.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, I. What's your favorite movie.

[Bradley Cooper]

You know, I, I, he knew that I couldn't answer it. Like, I, I don't really have one.

[Will Arnett]

He doesn't have one. He loves them all. Well, you have.

[Sean]

What's a couple of them.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

What.

[Bradley Cooper]

What are they, like an elephant man, Apocalypse now, you know?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah. Beverly Hills Cop. Beverly Hills Cop. Three Stooges. And they said, what, what is one thing here. Here's what they said. What's one thing about Bradley that you. That people don't know? Yeah. And I said, well, there's a lot. And then I was gonna say. I was gonna say, because we keep reading, people, everybody thinks that Bradley's had plastic surgery. Everybody keeps saying that. I'm like, what people don't know is that he hasn't.

[Jason Bateman]

That he hasn't.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, of course he hasn't.

[Bradley Cooper]

I get, like, people cut. Like, some people came up to me the last couple weeks, and they're like.

[Will Arnett]

Oh, you look good.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

But it's a crazy. It did make me think. And then I was like. I was like, oh, I didn't want to get. But then I'm like, I should have. It made me mad because I'm like, people say that all the time. And I'm like, it's such a hilarious thing. Everybody thinks that they know, you know, you read stuff, and.

[Jason Bateman]

And I've been cut to ribbons. But look at. Look how it's worth it.

[Ricky Gervais]

Look at this.

[Ad Voice 2]

Huh?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Bradley Cooper]

What look is that?

[Jason Bateman]

What did you get? This is. I was asleep 45 minutes ago, and we've got a young aspiring guest, you know, that I didn't need to do a lot of research for because this person hasn't done a bunch. So I'm just kind of ready, you know?

[Will Arnett]

Wow. I mean, your guest must feel great about that.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. Bradley, we actually might need a little bit of help. Give us five more minutes here and help us with this. It's a very exciting comedic voice coming out of the uk he's received some great momentum from his last couple of standup specials. Got a new one on Netflix. Now he's a fan of the ufc, David Bowie, Animals of all kinds. Let's. Let's get him out, guys. Give a warm welcome to England's brightest new star. I want to get this pronunciation right. Ricky Gervas.

[Ricky Gervais]

Ricky Gervas.

[Jason Bateman]

Is that right? Do I have it right, sir?

[Will Arnett]

Look who's back. It's like reunion night. Ricky's back. Bradley's back.

[Jason Bateman]

Everybody's doubling up. Good morning, Ricky.

[Ricky Gervais]

Hi.

[Jason Bateman]

Hi.

[Will Arnett]

Good morning.

[Ricky Gervais]

Sound good?

[Jason Bateman]

Christ, look at the row of BAFTAs behind him. Good.

[Will Arnett]

I know.

[Jason Bateman]

Are those real?

[Ricky Gervais]

No, it's a. It's a green screen.

[Sean]

Ricky, can you do. Can you do the podcast and just make sure your camera is covering all the awards before you hop on?

[Jason Bateman]

If we widen out, we'll see more.

[Bradley Cooper]

Ricky, we've never met, but.

[Ricky Gervais]

Hi.

[Bradley Cooper]

What a great thing to see you.

[Ricky Gervais]

Nice to meet you, man.

[Jason Bateman]

You two have not met?

[Will Arnett]

No. Wow.

[Ricky Gervais]

I don't know anyone I love. I. I think. I think I met Jason and Will and my first even brush with Hollywood about 20 years ago. And that's. I just kept them as friends and didn't add anything to that.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah. I love all your shows, man.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, thank you, man. Cheers.

[Bradley Cooper]

I loved Extras.

[Jason Bateman]

What? What? What isn't good that Ricky's done?

[Will Arnett]

All right, guys, Bradley's gotta.

[Jason Bateman]

Love you, Bradley. Bye, buddy.

[Will Arnett]

Bye, dude.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, Ricky, I was. I was on a plane, an overseas plane, so I had a lot of time on my hands and I went into their little entertainment offerings there on the plane and I climbed into Office Christmas, the Christmas special. Fuck, I ate that up so deeply, making a real idiot of myself and the folks next to me. Just. I know you don't want to talk about the Office anymore, and I'm not asking any questions. Questions about it. There's no question here. It's just. You just. You're just it. I just love your. What you do. I could. I could. I could eat it all day.

[Ricky Gervais]

So.

[Jason Bateman]

Thank you.

[Ricky Gervais]

That's lovely. Thank you very much. That's just. So now I've got to be nice to you.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, that's my strategy.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. But.

[Will Arnett]

But Ricky, did it look like Jason was reading that off a script?

[Ricky Gervais]

Did it?

[Will Arnett]

No.

[Ricky Gervais]

I know he can't read. It was a child star. He didn't need an education. He didn't need anything to fall back on.

[Jason Bateman]

Nothing.

[Ricky Gervais]

So. And he's. He's kept his looks. Cuz sometimes child stars, they start looking weird. Yeah.

[Sean]

Give it a couple more years, they.

[Ricky Gervais]

Sort of turn into like a weird little monkey. But he's. He's still nearly handsome.

[Jason Bateman]

I better take my hair off and you save me this.

[Ricky Gervais]

I watched the film with you in actually. Carry On. I loved it. I thought you. Great. Oh, you did. You did sort of menacing really well because obviously I find you funny. And there was. I could still. You could have made a joke at any point, but it was. It was really good. It was quite. It was quite chilling.

[Jason Bateman]

Any drama is always one line of dialogue at the end. Of every scene from becoming a comedy.

[Ricky Gervais]

I know, I know. Well, I sort of turned down a lot of. Not big dramas, but things I thought, well, they just laugh. I turned down. They wanted me to play Winston Churchill and I was going, they just laugh. They're not gonn. They're not going to be lost.

[Will Arnett]

I'd give anything. I would have given anything.

[Ricky Gervais]

It would have been terrible. I'd have hated every minute of it as well, because I'd have had to have every day. The baldwig. Actually, if I leave it a couple of years, I won't need that. But it would have been. It would have been three hours in makeup and puffing a cigar and never.

[Jason Bateman]

What was that? Was it intolerable or. No. What was a Quentin Tarantino film where Mike Myers played a German soldier? Inglourious bastards.

[Sean]

Glorious.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, right, right. And. And I started to smile when I saw him and then realize, oh, wait, I shouldn't be. But it's fine. You get right past it. And your, your acting talent, like you never tell jokes. Your. Your acting talent is just incredible. And so you could, you could seamlessly and effortlessly.

[Will Arnett]

I agree, I agree.

[Jason Bateman]

Somebody dramatic. I mean, it'd be right.

[Ricky Gervais]

You got to stop this now because I don't know whether this is a wind up or not. I'm just waiting. Was all the time you were saying that, I was looking at Will. I was thinking, what's Will going to say now?

[Will Arnett]

I just love the work. I just love the work you've done for animals and, and with your time and what you've done and really how you've inspired millions of people. This is the worst.

[Ricky Gervais]

This is the worst case scenario ever.

[Will Arnett]

Oh.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, God.

[Will Arnett]

And just how, how thoughtful you are. And I think for me, that just really. I don't know, Scott. I'm.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm.

[Will Arnett]

I can barely. I'm. I'm.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, you're wetting up. I can tell.

[Will Arnett]

People say that my crying sounds like laughing.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. I know you're not a great actor, but I could tell what you were trying to do.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, do you have any praise for Ricky?

[Sean]

I do. I sent him an email after I saw Afterlife and I thought it was. It was great. I was late to the party, watching.

[Jason Bateman]

No notes.

[Sean]

No notes.

[Jason Bateman]

No notes at all?

[Sean]

No, no. I thought it was one of the best shows I'd seen, I've ever seen. I mean, is it loud?

[Ricky Gervais]

How is this biggest entertainment podcast in the world?

[Jason Bateman]

I have zero idea. I'm in pajamas.

[Sean]

Yeah, we haven't covered anything yet.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, I was Thinking about that on the walk out to, to, to, to. To plug my computer in. And all I. Thinking about. I'm thinking I'm about to chat with my, my two best friends and Ricky Gervais. Like, that's. I'm not thinking about this going out to X number of people. And I think that's a really great thing. I hope we never lose that.

[Ricky Gervais]

In fact, we did a Will and Will and I and Ted and Mitch did a few of these in lockdown and it was just, it was, it was lovely because you were. That's when you really remembered you had friends when you couldn't see them.

[Jason Bateman]

That's the, that's how this whole thing started. Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, is that when you start.

[Ad Voice 2]

Oh, go.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

It was just in lockdown, didn't I.

[Will Arnett]

You did, yeah. You were one of our. End of 2020. You were one of our first, you were in our first, first batch and.

[Sean]

Gosh, that doesn't seem that long ago.

[Will Arnett]

I know, five years ago. It was five years ago. And I said, well, I did that.

[Ricky Gervais]

I thought, listen, let's. Let's help these guys.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

And then sure, five years later. Ah, right, they need my help again. Yeah, let's. A little leg up, a little injection. Yeah, a little.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, of course.

[Ricky Gervais]

A little vitamin R injection.

[Will Arnett]

Listen, man, we're. We're happy, we're happy that you're on here helping us out and your backdrop with your dusty old awards from 20 years ago. You know what I mean? It's just for us.

[Ricky Gervais]

How dare you.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, look at the most.

[Jason Bateman]

I feel like I.

[Will Arnett]

Most of them have rusted out.

[Jason Bateman]

I used to see you a bit more.

[Will Arnett]

It's like going to a museum. It's amazing. You know, this is so educational.

[Jason Bateman]

Have you not been coming out here lately? I seem to. I used to see you a lot more. Used to like dinners. Will. And.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, the truth is I. I've still got a place there in New York and. Yeah, from like for the last 20 years in, it come out like, it's got like six, seven, eight times a year. Whenever I had something out the second series, I'd come out. I do the chat show sort of thing, New York, fly to la, do that and. But I, I think not. Not just because of COVID but since COVID sort of things have changed. Really? Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

You can do everything from home.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, yeah, and. And Netflix, they've got like 300 million subscribers. They send an email. I don't have to. I don't have to go on a chat show and play Table tennis in a snorkel, you know, but you're also.

[Will Arnett]

Doing, but, but Ricky, you're, you're also doing, you're also doing stand up so much more now than you were 15 years ago.

[Ricky Gervais]

That's absolutely right.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Right. So that's, it's kind of changed the way that you interact with your fans a little bit.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, I think I started off, yeah, writing the director and the being in stuff and I, I'd fit in a little stand up tour when I could between writing and you know, and then I think humanity was the first one. I hadn't done it for like seven years. And after humanity I thought, oh no, this is my job. I'm a stand up now who. I'll do the odd TV show and film when I have time. And it just, I just flipped it. And I think in the last eight years I've done four tours and four specials and it felt like I'm fitting other stuff in and I want that to continue. Well, to, you know, to a certain degree is. It does get, you don't mind the.

[Jason Bateman]

Travel, all that touring. That's, there's a lot more travel with that than doing the acting stuff. Right.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

But I honestly, I do the most luxurious tour possible. It's like I do two or three nights away at the most and four nights at home. I, you know, I hop, I hop private all around Europe. You know, I do three trips to North America and get it all done then with, you know, the biggest venues I can play.

[Jason Bateman]

And Jane go with you? No.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yes, she does, yes. All the good places she comes to, America, Canada, all the lovely places in Europe. She does, she doesn't, just doesn't come to the, some of the seaside towns of England out of season. But yeah, no, again I make it a little weekend break. So I'll play Prague arena and we'll go the night before we have dinner, we'll walk around all day and then I'll pop to the arena and do a gig and then we fly home. And so it's like, you know, 46 hours of holiday and two hours of work. So it couldn't be better. But still the last few years, if I do two or three gigs in a row, I wake up, I think was I run over last night? I am absolutely exhausted. It's age, it's like also I think I don't know what it's like it'd be like for people to see me at 70. I'm already sort of grumpy and I shuffle around. Sorry, you're not angry.

[Jason Bateman]

Sorry, you're not yet 70.

[Ricky Gervais]

I remember the first time I met you, right? It was the. In the makeup trailer on the invention of lying.

[Jason Bateman]

Invention of lying.

[Ricky Gervais]

And I said something like, so you're 40? And you went, I think you were 37 or something. You went, you think I'm 40? You were like that. You couldn't believe that someone thought you were impressive, two years older than you. And then someone else came and said, he thinks I'm 40.

[Jason Bateman]

Why, do I sound like Mrs. Doubtfire? Yeah, you bastard.

[Ricky Gervais]

It was like that. It was like. And then I think you mentioned it again. I'm 38.

[Jason Bateman]

You don't. So, yeah, I get it. Like, there's no way you miss being on a set for 12 hours a day.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, come on.

[Ricky Gervais]

Honestly, I do. Because. No, honestly, the thought, I will do it again, but the thought of doing it again, like, eight weeks up at the crack of dawn. Eight weeks. So at the moment, I'm just finished a tour, but I'm starting again straight away in January. I'm doing warmups for the next tour, which will be two years. I'm just finishing the first season of an animation I've been working on for two years, but I've been doing that with having a nap every day as well. So I do all my work. I work 10 till 12, have lunch, come home, I get 40 minutes, nap, and then I. So you can't do that on set. That's out of the question.

[Jason Bateman]

You can do it.

[Will Arnett]

I'm a big napper. And funnily enough, because, you know, Winston Churchill famously took a nap every day, even during the war, he get free full pajamas between the sheets. So we call it Mark Chapel, whom you all know, Chappie, we call it taking a Churchill. So I, as often as I can take a Churchill.

[Jason Bateman]

Churchill this morning.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, it's great, isn't it? It's just the best. I look forward to it because I wake up tired. I wake up at seven, think, oh, I'll have a nap in five hours. Do you know what I mean? It just gets me through that first five hours.

[Will Arnett]

Are you a good sleeper, Ricky? Like, do you go to bed early, wake up early? Do you get eight hours, all that kind of stuff?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, I do. I probably do. I think I've had a bad night. If I don't get eight and a half hours, I'd say, oh, good.

[Will Arnett]

Good for you.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Sean]

And you know, you have to get up, like, I know that feeling. Like it's seven o' clock in the Morning. Like I should get up because that's what people do.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Sean]

But if I had the choice I would just stay here. But I have to, I should get up.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well that, that's always been the case. In fact I've got earlier as I've got older again, I think it's in Covid. I used to get up at half nine and think, oh, I gotta do. And now I, now I can't not get up at like 7, 7:30, but I feel like I want to. I could easily if I didn't wake up, I just keep, keep going. Yeah, be lovely. But as soon as I look at the clock and go right, that's it, you've had.

[Will Arnett]

I'm 6, I'm 6am Every day. I can't help. And I was just in London again for a couple of days and I, I, it's dark right now until about 8:30 in the morning. So you know, now I've got like two and a half hours of dark after I've woken up and I'm like, fuck. It really fucked me up.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah, I bet. I seem to, I don't usually beat the sunrise, that's pretty rare.

[Will Arnett]

But Ricky, I will say this about you talking about going to the cities and I know that about you. I love that you go and you really like that. You and Jane go for a meal and you walk around and last summer I think we might have texted about.

[Sean]

This.

[Will Arnett]

You went to Toronto and did a gig in Toronto.

[Ricky Gervais]

One of my favorite, it's my favorite.

[Will Arnett]

Place and you talked about how it was your favorite and you love going to the island, Toronto Island. Oh, I love person I know in my family because Canadians are so proud in the nicest way. They're like my dad, my dad's like, hey, your buddy Ricky came in, they went and he loves the Toronto island day. Like they love it.

[Jason Bateman]

Is that the name of a comedy spot or is that a. Literally, it's a park.

[Will Arnett]

It's like a park, It's a beautiful island.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's like an island where, where residents live and it's, it's so lovely and you just get the, the little boat over for like the ferry, $10 or whatever it is. And I stay in Yorkville. I just love walking around Yorkville. And then I, I hopped to Montreal and I love Vancouver as well. I love Vancouver. I've only been to a few, but I've been to I think Vancouver, Banff, Toronto and Montreal. And that is my Canadian experience. And I'm from, my dad was from Kitchener Right. It was. He was. It was sort of near London, Ontario, sort of near Chatham. It was called something like. Oh, Pont something.

[Jason Bateman]

And he was a World War II vet.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, he was. He volunteered. Right. So he. Yeah, Canadian. He joined the Canadian army to volunteer and he got stationed to Europe and I think he spent most of his time in Britain. He drove. I didn't talk about it much to him, but he drove tanks. He delivered tanks to the front.

[Jason Bateman]

Jesus.

[Ricky Gervais]

He was. Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And that's where he met your mom when he was over there?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, he met my mum, got her pregnant. Yeah. And just stayed and just stayed in my. I think my. My oldest brother was born 44. He's Larry's. He died recently. And my sister, 47. And my next brother, 1950. So I was 11 years old after all that. I don't know what happened there.

[Jason Bateman]

Your mom admitted it was a mistake.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah. When I was about 13, I said to her, I said, why am I so much younger than my brothers and sisters? And she just went, you were a mistake. And I laughed and that. And that taught me that honesty is funny. Honesty has always been the funniest thing for me. People who just say the first thing comes out and they mean it, that always makes me laugh. That's why anger's funny, because you can't help it. It's a. It's a visceral reaction. Oh, if someone does that, I want to laugh. It could be anything. If someone bumps their head and they go, ow. Like that, I want to go, that's the funniest thing I've seen today. But I've got to make sure they haven't got concussion, they're not bleeding. But then I ask people their permission. If someone falls over. I go, can I laugh now?

[Jason Bateman]

And we will be right back.

[Sean]

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[Sean]

And now back to the show.

[Jason Bateman]

Now, what I love is that you're always so beautifully unapologetic about leading your audience with like, this is okay to laugh at. But you know, obviously we've gone through a section of years where people were a little bit uncomfortable about laughing at some of the things that were freaking hilarious. Do you get the sense that the audience that you're in front of now that, that that whole thing is starting to soften?

[Ricky Gervais]

And it is, it is. And it's, and it's cyclic. It's not the first time it's happened. I've. I've experienced it three or four times in my career, let alone my lifetime. But you know, these, these things, they come and go. They're like fashion really. And it's like it's generational and they kick out the. They want to be, you know, quite rightly, more progressive than the last one. And sometimes, sometimes they get it right, sometimes they get it wrong. Sometimes things were okay. Sometimes it's the best we've ever been. We don't need to change stuff. But they have to have a go, and I think we have to go through it. And I think that you sort of ride the waves and, you know, I mean, comedy seems to be at the. On the front line.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

Because, of course, people can go. People would rather someone say something awful and mean it than say some are awful and be joking. Like, sometimes they're angry that you would joke about a terrible thing. Sometimes people are angrier at someone joking about the terrible thing than the terrible thing because they know they can't do anything about that.

[Will Arnett]

Right.

[Ricky Gervais]

But they can tell someone off for laughing at someone terrible.

[Jason Bateman]

Is Jane still your most trusted sort of barometer of that which is funny or not? Like, do you trust her laugh the best?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. Well, I do run things past her because I'm excited. I think we're just a vessel for ideas. I don't sit down and go, I've got to have a great idea, because it doesn't happen. You live your life, and then something comes in your head and you go, oh, thank you. And I usually have. I'm going jogging, and I come up with an idea. Oh, that's a good joke. And I run home and I tell Jane. I go, look, I've got an idea. I tell her. She says, please don't say that in public. And I know that somewhat I can work on that. It's got something.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, but, I mean, I know you're joking, but you're also being serious. Is it because you trust your ability to match performance to content, that it would make it somewhat palatable? And like. Yes, I get it's offensive, but I know I can deliver it in a way where I. Yeah, yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

There's lots of things. One, I like the challenge.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

You know, there's no. I can. I can point out funny things, but there's. You know, it's. They're like found objects. Where's the added value? What have I done to it? So the harder dive.

[Jason Bateman]

The.

[Ricky Gervais]

The thing that tantalizes me more is, can I make a terrible thing funny? How do I do that? How do I make them, you know? And I deal with taboo subjects on purpose because I sort of want to take the audience to a place that hasn't been before. So you're already. As soon as I approach a subject, I can feel that, what's he gonna say about that? It's the elephant in the room. Sometimes pointing out the elephant in the room is funny enough. It's like, just even.

[Sean]

And you're probably touching on a lot of things that people want to say themselves. Or thought themselves.

[Ricky Gervais]

I think that's exactly it. I think it's exactly it. And you know when you see an impressionist and they do an impression of a person and then you can do the impression of that person of the impression.

[Sean]

Yeah, totally.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's like I've reduced it for them to go, well, this is the meme. This is, this is that terrible thing you don't know how to approach. This is a good way to do it. And it's a discussion.

[Will Arnett]

It's the thing that excites you about it, Ricky, Because I think that I see it a lot in your comedy and it's something that kind of excites me too. I'm not a stand up. But that you. This idea, I can relate to the sort of the idea that getting into subject matter that is taboo or dangerous or that people don't want to talk about and figure out a way to sort of shed a light on it, make a joke about it and do it in a way that you can kind of work around really hard parameters. That's exciting. I feel like a school, that's where I feel like a schoolboy, where, like I'm getting away with saying the thing that the teacher that I'm not allowed to say. So how do I get to it, that's okay. And still get my pointer, you know what I mean?

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, that's the thing. Obviously you want everyone to laugh, right? Yeah. You can't second guess. You can't try and make anything so anodyne that everyone likes it because that won't happen either. Most people go, this is horrible. This is anodyne. So you've got to polarize by mistake. If you're doing anything that's slightly interesting, slightly contentious, as many people are going to hate it as like it because everyone's different. So you just do what you think is right and funny. And I do want to, I do want everyone to like it, but if they don't, there's nothing I can do about it. You know, some people say, like journalists, they say things like, is there anything you won't joke about? And I want to go, is there anything you won't write about? It depends on what you say. It's mad. And most offense I've noticed comes from people mistaking the subject of a joke with the actual target. They see a joke about a contentious joke and think, well, that's gotta be that. That can only be bad and it's just not true. Because we discuss bad things all the time and we come down on the right side. So I'm just doing it and hoping there's a punchline as well. There's just. There's nothing wrong with that at all.

[Jason Bateman]

Talk a little bit about the difference. You do many things incredibly well, but one of the things I really marvel at is that your standup Persona, and I don't mean to say that it's contrived, so Persona is probably the wrong.

[Ricky Gervais]

Word, but it is to a certain degree.

[Jason Bateman]

But there's a swagger that you have on stage when it's richer pays off.

[Will Arnett]

That you could possibly have in real life.

[Jason Bateman]

But it's part of the joy that I love that there's just no fucks given or no apologies, not in an asshole way, but just. I just love going on that ride. Yet when you're playing some of your most iconic characters, Andy Millman or David Brent, like, there is a. There's a level of vulnerability and insecurity and brokenness to them that is so heartwarming and earning and lovely. Like, how do you. How are you able to find the bullseye of humor in both of those polarizing kind of strategies? You know, ones with swagger.

[Ricky Gervais]

As long as it's a. Yeah. As long as it's a realistic portrayal, it doesn't matter what it is. And because, you know, people are complex, so even my villains, I sort of give them a bit of redemption or a bit of backstory or why are they like that? And I think you find that with everyone, everyone who's. Who's sort of like a little bit nasty or arrogant, it's because somewhat bad happened to them, probably, or they've never had a hug. You know, there's usually a reason to it. And we're all like that. And we all go around thinking, oh, we all live in our head because we walk around thinking, oh, everyone. Everyone is thinking, I'm a loser. I've got to act a bit, because look at them, they're great. But they're living in their head, too. They've got all the same insecurities and all as you, sort of. So I think that the comedy at its best is saying, we're all idiots. Let's just admit it and get on with it. So even when I do the swagger on, that is a bit of a Persona because I've gotta have that. I've gotta have that faux arrogance. So me falling down is funnier?

[Will Arnett]

Yes.

[Ricky Gervais]

If I just come out and clown and go, oh, slipping over, boring. If I come out and go, right, I'm the best thing since Sliced bread and then slip over. That's so much funnier. That's so much funner in life and in character. And the other thing is, I've got to keep comedians stand ups and certainly British stand ups. We're jesters, we're court jesters. We're down in the mud with the other peasants laughing at the King. We're low status now. How do I keep low status? Because everyone knows how much we earn now. So I've got to keep. I can't fake it. I can't pretend. I can't go, oh, I was on the bus the other day going to claim a welfare check. You're a liar. Right? So I can't do it like that. So I keep my low status in two ways. One, I show them that it's not all glam. All the silly things I've done, all the mistakes I've made, all the faux pas I've made in Hollywood, all the, you know, all the ways the press have called me an idiot and caught me out. And the other way I do it is I talk about things where they're better off than me. I talk about being fat and old and gonna die and going bald and my ball's distending and you know what I mean? So they're. So that's how I keep. In a way. I don't think that I keep low status. I try and keep same status. That's what I want to do. I want it to be us against the world.

[Jason Bateman]

And are you able to.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Are you able to tap into some of this sort of explanation and theology when you're trying to court folks on the extras to sort of, you know, when they come out and they parody themselves a bit like, are you able to sort of make them feel comfortable, like we're all idiots? I'm an idiot. Come on and have fun at your yourself.

[Ricky Gervais]

I found that the, the stars that I approached, right, that was like a day after them. They wanted to do it. They wanted to go, let, let me show the world I've got a sense of humor about myself. Because there's so many rumors about these people. They want 12 white kittens in their trailer. They want the trailer to be big. They, someone else has to flush the toilet. They want to go, let me, let me show them I'm normal. Let me show them I'm an idiot.

[Sean]

All right? And.

[Ricky Gervais]

And some of them made it worse. Some of them went, oh, no, do this, do this, do this. I did this once. It's cathartic. It's like a day off for them, you know, And I think that's fun. And I sort of. I've played it, you know, myself a couple of times when I've been the other side, like Curb Enthusiasm, where I was thinking, oh, I've got a parody myself here and it is fun. You do it anyway. If you write yourself apart, you've got a. You've got a parry, you know, a little bit and. But it's, it's nothing new. It was nothing new that the Muppets used to do it. When I was a kid, I used to watch the Muppet show and they would have on big stars and they would be the idiot. The Muppets won. The Muppets won over.

[Sean]

It's like being interviewed by Jiminy Glick when Marty Short is Jiminy Glick.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, my God. I was interviewed by him and I just loved it.

[Sean]

You can't compete. Like, the worst thing you could do is compete. Try to one up him. It's like, no, just.

[Ricky Gervais]

No, you can't. I was just, I just was laughing. I wanted to hug him. I wanted to go, right, I wish, I want to say, I wish this was real. I wish you were like this all the time. But I felt that I did a Muppet film, right, and Constantine was the evil Russian frog and I just wanted, I wished he was real. I wish I could take Constantine. I did all my press stuff with Constantine because it was so good having. Yeah, I like being, I like being, you know, the lower status. You know, it's good to play the arrogant idiot who wins, but it's much, it's much more fun to. I like it when I'm insulted in fiction. I love, I love me being the butt of the joke.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, so how about. Could that possibly be a new angle on whatever sort of filmed entertainment, like scripted entertainment, you might be doing this? Because, you know, fans like us, like, we love the stand up stuff, but we want more. We want it all. We want what? Like what, is it going to be another show? Is it going to be another movie? Is there anything close to the.

[Will Arnett]

To the.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, there is something that's, that's, that's close to parodying myself that I'm going to get around to one day.

[Sean]

I can't.

[Jason Bateman]

Anything.

[Ricky Gervais]

You talk about the title. I've got the idea, but I can't even discuss it now because it would.

[Jason Bateman]

Be maybe shooting in the next 12 months.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. Oh, you'd. Oh, you lot would be roped straight in as my only friends.

[Jason Bateman]

We're available.

[Ricky Gervais]

You're in. Yeah, you're in it and. But I've just finished a thing called Nearly. It's like, it's like two years and it still isn't quite finished and it won't be out till the end of next year. Doesn't animation take a long time? Yeah, but it's a six part thing about. It's called Alley Cats and we're a group of sort of feral cats living in a disused basement and we watch TV and go out and cause havoc and it's, it's a lot of it is improv as well. There's the storylines, but they're the sort of, you know, the meanest, sweariest cats in the world. But you know that they're losers as well. They're the bottom of the pile. It's all about sort of like survival and it is all about that thing that, that when you're the bottom of the pile and you know, you can, you can be angry, you can lash out because there's, there's a reason you.

[Jason Bateman]

Get away with a lot because you're not. There's nothing perfect about you.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, I think that's, that's funny, isn't it? Because that's one of the big differences between sort of drama and comedy. You know, the lead in a comedy is a putz, whereas the lead in a drama is perfect. He can't slip, he can't hit his head. Good point. You know, he can get shot, but then he's got to go. It's just a flesh wound. Right. I can't do the voice. Will. Do the, do the butch voice, will ya? The butch voice. Do that butch voice. You learn when you got your.

[Will Arnett]

When my balls dropped. Hey, listen, hey, Rick, Rick, listen. When this summer did you do, did you. When you were doing the Office, which is a great extended Jason's earlier point. Is it a, it is a great acting triumph that, that series for you playing David Brent and, and I'm sure you got asked him fucking million times and I'm sorry.

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They all are.

[Jason Bateman]

He never sucks.

[Will Arnett]

No, I know.

[Sean]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

And, and did you, did you. How much of that was. And then when you're first making that, of course it's kind of like, you know, they made the Internet without the Internet. You know what I mean? You made the Office without knowing. With no reaction. You made it in a vacuum that first season.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

There's no reaction. So you're doing it. Did you have any idea that you were, what you were doing was, was, was special or working or working?

[Ricky Gervais]

I Knew it was different. I knew you did know it was different.

[Jason Bateman]

Do you think it was gonna spoil.

[Will Arnett]

Were you guys improvising? Were you improvising a lot?

[Ricky Gervais]

No, I was. I was the only one that really improvised at all. And I did that at the beginning and the end of the scenes or just to make the actors think a little bit and make it real or do something different to.

[Jason Bateman]

To.

[Ricky Gervais]

To make them laugh or. Or whatever, or just some put them.

[Jason Bateman]

On their back foot.

[Ricky Gervais]

But it was. I'd say it was 99 scripted. And what we found, and I've always found this, actually, but the behavior was.

[Will Arnett]

Was. Was improvised, though. Do you know what I mean?

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, sort of. You know, I. I did want to be an actor's medium. I remember saying to. Like, sometimes the. The DOP might go, oh, it'd be good if he came in and sit there. I go, no, no, I said, come in and sit where you would. And I said, we're film it. It's like wildlife. But, you know, we had to stage it a bit because there had to be, of course, because we didn't cheat. So, you know, some documentaries.

[Jason Bateman]

But you wanted cameras to react, right?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. It's what? Well, it's one camera. So if someone went through a door, we wouldn't cut to a camera there waiting for them. We'd follow them through the door. So it was all possible. So we probably cheated less than real documentaries in a way, which was a bit of naivety, but I think it came across. But we had to find people who got it, just that they had to say these things. And I do remember that, you know, we were meticulous. No, do it like this.

[Will Arnett]

No.

[Ricky Gervais]

Cause it's got, you know, we saw the whole picture. So we would make them. There were sort of multiple takes for them to get it, you know, how we wanted it.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you find that the cast bought into it early on, or did it take some convincing? Cause they didn't have the reaction from the audience either, you know?

[Ricky Gervais]

No, no, I. I think. Well, it was finding them. It was the. Once we'd done this sort, because it's the first thing I did, and I sort of cast it with someone in my mind. Like I had these characters. Like, Gareth was based on a kid I went to school with, right, when I was like, 14, 15, and he was in the Territorial Army. And he spoke like that, right? And he. He said, this is a true quote of this guy. I won't say his name. He said, when you're captured by cannibals, right? And you're in the pot and they're cooking you. They show you pornographic pictures so you get an erection and there's more meat, right? And so. And once, right, I. I did this in some of my stand up, I. As a joke. I was talking to him once and I told him when we were a little bit older, I told him that. I said, if you get a crab drunk, it walks forwards. And he came back off holiday, right? He's been on holiday with his parents. And he said, you're talking shit, Gervais. I did it to a crab in my beer. And it just walked sideways still. Right, so this was the sort of. So Gareth was based on him and he was quite.

[Jason Bateman]

How did you find that incredible actor that could hit that tone without any winking at all? He was just. What was that?

[Ricky Gervais]

What made it even better was this guy was quite a sporty guy. He played cricket, football. He was big. And I was looking for this guy. I was looking for a guy who came in and talked about killing a man and all this. And then when Mackenzie Crook walks through and he's about seven stone and looks like a baby bird, it was even funnier because suddenly him talking about, I could kill a man. Yeah, if I was in the jungle. No, you couldn't. You definitely couldn't survive. You'd be eaten by a lizard. Immediately. There's surprises with. But we cast and cast and cast and I remember it was like, you know, 2000. And in England at that time, you either got these people who talk like that. It was like, you know, they were like that. They were sort of like, you know, this and that and. Or they wore bonnets and spoke like the Royal family. There was no one who acted in between. And comedy was sort of quite heightened. Everyone still talk funnily like that. And so you had to tone it down. And once we found the people that could do that, they could do anything. They could just do it. They could just act naturally and do.

[Jason Bateman]

Did you have success? I mean, I love the American Office as well, but as far as I'm concerned, can't touch what you guys did in England. Were you able to have at least the amount of success comedically, tone wise with the other international iterations of the show? Because you've done it 16 times. Did I read around the world?

[Ricky Gervais]

I think, yeah. Well, I usually. On all the others, you know, I okayed it. I'd see a rough thing. I'd see they'd cast a fat 50 year old as Bren. I thought, they're doing it right. And I often watch the first pie that some of. I haven't, I haven't seen a minute of them. I've seen clips, but, you know, and they have to make it. There are, there was funny one. There was a, there was a French one. And you know, when Tim puts Gareth's stapler in jelly.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

They, in France, they put it in a big cheese. It's that easy. How do we translate? This would be like cheese.

[Will Arnett]

I thought you were gonna say they went on strike in the pilot and then they just came back. Episode four. Right.

[Ricky Gervais]

We're doing satire now.

[Will Arnett]

Hey, listen, man, we're having fun.

[Jason Bateman]

We'll be right back.

[Sean]

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[Sean]

And back to the show.

[Jason Bateman]

What a great success, though. That. That. I mean, I'm sure you felt like you were in such a. Such a vacuum there in England, and you're doing, what, only six episodes a year? And. But then it. Then it takes off.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's. Yeah, well, we got that. I was a big fan of Fawlty Towers. That was. That was the first time that I saw, like, this. This is my. This is so perfect. And they honed the script. You know, often British sitcoms were written by, you know, people banging out on a typewriter over the weekend, and they'd, you know, they do loads. And this was like, you know, 12 episodes. So perfectly, like, possibly the most perfect farce ever committed to TV. 40 towers. I thought that that's. That's what we do. We do it. We. This is boutique. This is.

[Jason Bateman]

But that was a sitcom, right? Shot proscenium style, right? Multiple cameras, audience, studio. Like, yeah, you. But you did the opposite of that in that it was single camera, very quiet. There was a lot of humor in the. In the. In the discomfort of silence and awkward beats.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, I stole that from Spinal Tap. Anything you say that I invented, I'll tell you where I stole it.

[Jason Bateman]

Okay, well, we all do.

[Ricky Gervais]

All of us.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, all of us.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah.

[Will Arnett]

My God, we were inspired. Jason and I were inspired when we were just shooting Arrested Development in the first season, and we were.

[Jason Bateman]

We watched your show.

[Will Arnett]

Watch your show, and we were just. We were crazy about it. We were like, holy, look what these guys are doing. Like, we were blown away.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Truly, I give you all credit.

[Ricky Gervais]

I mean, because, as, you know, a huge fan of all of yours.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, then, like, I think we told the story last time you were on. Then it was like, we got word to us that you might be interested in actually coming over and doing an episode of our show. And Will, wasn't there, like, some sort of, like, ridiculous argument high up at the studio level with them, like, wondering, yeah, should we really buy him a first class ticket to come over? I think, like, the phrase was, he's not gonna put new people in the Tent, like it's not worth the plane ticket to bring him.

[Ricky Gervais]

Remember, like, they're right. They were right, wasn't there?

[Jason Bateman]

That, like, ridiculous.

[Will Arnett]

No, because Ricky. No, because he wanted like 12 kittens in his trailer. When Ricky made that point earlier, he was just reading off his own writer, you know.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. Arrested Development, or Arrested, as Will calls it.

[Will Arnett]

Like, he always kept me.

[Ricky Gervais]

Did you just get. I think it was. I think you were voted for like five years. When it was, how long it was on, you were always voted best comedy of all time, weren't you?

[Jason Bateman]

The best unwatched show.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, and then we got a little bit of awards attention and we got to stay on a little bit longer. And speaking of awards, we've got. We're going to ask you for some advice.

[Will Arnett]

Ricky. Ricky's going to be blown away by this. You ready?

[Jason Bateman]

We've got a nice, nice bit of love from your friend.

[Ricky Gervais]

No, I know you've been. You've nominated for a Golden Globe.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah. So I think we're gonna get up there on stage, maybe present at a. At a minimum.

[Ricky Gervais]

I think you've got a great chance. I think you've got a great chance because this is really fun. You've got all the big guests. You're like, you're huge. It's friendly. You're. You're very. You're not Hollywood in that, but you're very. You're very Hollywood, the three of you. I mean, you're, you know, three people at the top of their game. I think you've got a very good chance.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm trying to. We don't. I just don't want our patter to, like. I hope they don't write us some weird pattern.

[Ricky Gervais]

Just say no whenever. Even when, even when Arrested Development wouldn't give me a first class ticket, I was still arrogant. And when I was handing out awards, I said, I'm not doing it with anyone. I'm not going out with someone I've never met doing a bit of shtick. I said, I want to come out as me and I'm just going to do the thing. And they let me do it.

[Sean]

And yeah, the best thing, like, it's too, is the default is just to just read the prompter, like without any bits.

[Jason Bateman]

Right?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, I think I complained every time I got there. I said something like, I've come a long way for this and I didn't win. I was usually up for an award. I tell you what, I, you know, I've been nominated 25 Emmys and I've won two now. That is just taking the mickey in it. That is like, get him over here again. Get him over here again. Let him think he's gonna win again. Get him over. And at least I thought, oh, you're right. I used to hand out an award. At least I used to get up there somehow.

[Jason Bateman]

Your host. But your hosting of the Globes, what did you do five or six years was just priceless.

[Sean]

Ricky, do you, do you watch it at all anymore? The Globes?

[Ricky Gervais]

The Globe. I don't. I don't think I've ever watched an awards ceremony I wasn't at. Well, first, for a start, the Globes and the Oscars and all those in America. I'm in bed, right? Like they're 3:00am yeah.

[Sean]

Here.

[Will Arnett]

Right.

[Ricky Gervais]

So that's out of the question. I sometimes check out. I check out the monologue, if it's a comedian, you know, So I thought, I thought, yeah. Oh, yeah, whatever. But no, I don't, I, I mean, I don't know. It's changed. You can't take it seriously. You mustn't take those things seriously.

[Will Arnett]

No, you can't.

[Ricky Gervais]

You've got to treat them like a. A night out, meeting your friends or a job or, you know, it's like. It's an industry award.

[Jason Bateman]

I like meeting all those people, all those fancy folks.

[Will Arnett]

It's.

[Jason Bateman]

It's nice to see.

[Ricky Gervais]

The only reason it's on telly is because it's an industry award for really famous people. The teaching awards don't get televised, do they? They don't do it for science awards. Really important awards.

[Jason Bateman]

I love. They put a bunch of booze on the table, too. They try to get everybody hammered. So when they go up there, they do something interesting.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, that's, that's, that's the great thing about the Golden Globes. That's the good and bad thing about the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes is better to be at, and the Emma's is probably better to host because at least they're all in their seats and they're listening. And you can do your. I've never hosted the Emmys because that is too much work and you have.

[Jason Bateman]

To rehearse, but there's no rehearsal hosting the Globes.

[Ricky Gervais]

I know. Rehearsal. No, I, I talk about this in my special. 30th of December.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, I came in, I came inside. I. Rick, I saw you.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, you saw it just before. Yeah, I think I filmed it before.

[Will Arnett]

You filmed it? And I saw, I went. I saw Ricky at the Palladium in London. Chappie and I went over and watched.

[Jason Bateman]

It was great.

[Will Arnett]

It was brilliant, man. It was.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, thank you.

[Will Arnett]

It was brilliant. It was brilliant, brilliant. And yeah, you talk about it was fun and the, the audience was so psyched and you were really funny talking about, like hosting the Globes and what that was like.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, I talked about some behind the scenes, just like, like what it was like for me and, and what happened. And there's a couple of really funny stories, but I can't, I can't tell you.

[Will Arnett]

Don't, don't know because I need to watch.

[Jason Bateman]

Was that. Was the, Was the show that Will went to. Is that the one that you filmed? How do you decide which one to film?

[Ricky Gervais]

It was this. It was the. It. What? It was the venue and maybe the week, but not the, not the night.

[Will Arnett]

Right.

[Ricky Gervais]

Because I, I did about. I did like, I think I did 14 shows and I taped two of them. I don't think.

[Jason Bateman]

How is that traditionally decided? Is it. Usually you want to film one of the later shows because you're still working on the material.

[Ricky Gervais]

You want it to be. You want it to be ready. You want it to be ready, and you want to be as soon as possible while it's still fresh and you're still sort of, you know, into it and, you know, loving it. So it was within the last sort of like five or six shows, actually. You want it to be a venue that you can do a night before, warm up in the same venue, and you want it to be as intimate as you can without it looking.

[Sean]

You have to wear the same outfit.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, I was gonna say the same outfit. Well, that's fine. I do that anyway. I could do it tonight. I haven't. I haven't changed my hairstyle in 22 years, so it's not a problem.

[Will Arnett]

That.

[Ricky Gervais]

And you do. You do two just in case. And usually you sort of. You make sure you nail it on the first one and make sure you've got everything. And then the second one, you just have fun and in the cold light of day. The first one is always the best. Yeah, of course, because it's more self indulgent. The second one, you're going, I'm in a lovely time. They're laughing. I'm riffing, I'm riffing. Then you get into the studio and go, well, people at home aren't there, so they just want to hear what you had to say clearly. And it's always that first one that wins every time. But it. No, I even do Things on the night that I have number four little things I try out and. Cause you can always edit it out so, you know, I film too much and crunch it down. I probably do 70 minutes and it comes out at 65. Just so things didn't hit so much or, you know, or two jokes about the same thing. I let go that just sound. That sound too much or cruel or whatever, or something that wasn't ready. I'll go, I won't put that in. I'll work that up. That'll be in the next special. So.

[Jason Bateman]

And as far as your material goes, have you found that the sourcing of the ideas that you get has changed over the years? Is the ratio kind of stayed the same as far as like pulling from like family and friends, funny ideas and news ideas and.

[Sean]

Or it's still.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's still. It's still Hitler, aids.

[Sean]

In that order.

[Ricky Gervais]

Classics yourself.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, classics.

[Ricky Gervais]

Evergreen. Evergreen.

[Will Arnett]

The stuff that got us here. You know what I mean?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah. You know. Well, also that translates as well. So if I. If I work up my show in England, I've done 50 shows in England and it's all about what was on telly last night or our prime minister or you have to go about universal subjects. And joking aside, my use of universal subjects are usually things like what it's like, you know, ego, bad days getting old or, you know, so I try to be more timeless than topical.

[Jason Bateman]

Right. So this one, this one called mortality is that the theme of the whole thing is sort of mortality is again.

[Ricky Gervais]

It'S a jump off, you know, it is about me getting old and grumpy and, you know, getting annoyed at stuff more and more. Again, it's quite classic. You know, everyone goes through the phases of their life.

[Jason Bateman]

Sure.

[Ricky Gervais]

You know, I think is about. It's not. It's not zeitgeisty, but it is clearly about now. But I hope it. I hope it lasts.

[Will Arnett]

But I will say, Ricky, that's one of the things again about sort of the Office and your standup, which is. And you just said. I was about to jump in and say that it's not zeitge. And that's what gives it. All those best comedies aren't because they do have that evergreen theme. They do. It is about these characters who are flawed. The relationships between people, certainly in the dynamics of the Office, between the different things. I mean, that is just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, I think so. I think if you go classic, sometimes I even go retro. Like this project. I'm working on now alicat. It's like 2D retro. I want it to be Hanna Barbera mixed with sort of 60s Disney. So if you look at it in 20 years, you don't go, oh, what were they thinking of then? It just looks classic. It's already sort of classic. It's already, it's already stood the test of time, the way it looks, you know, So I do, yeah, I am quite conscious of it sort of being universal and timeless and because you notice as well if you suddenly it's going well, but you, you get to Paris and you go, well, I can't do that bit. I can't do that bit. They won't know he is. I can't do it. It's really sort of demoralizing. So, you know, and they know, they.

[Will Arnett]

Surrendered, you know what I mean? So you don't need to tell, you.

[Sean]

Know what I mean?

[Will Arnett]

You don't need to do that joke. You don't have to, you don't have to remind them, you know.

[Ricky Gervais]

What, when did you, you, did you enter the war? Before or after? My dad volunteered in 19.

[Will Arnett]

Trying to think, boy, it's been funny. I, I did change my number, so I don't remember getting a thank you. So maybe that came, maybe that got. Wow.

[Jason Bateman]

Ricky, if with all of your, your, your, your influence, your access and, and, and, and credibility, capital, all that stuff, if you could, you could point all of that towards something that is not, not comedy, not stand up, not movies or television, stuff like that, like a documentary or something like that. What would the audience be surprised that you would. If you had to shine a light on something, would it be like animal rights? Like a documentary on animal rights?

[Ricky Gervais]

Well, that's the first one, I suppose. I think that.

[Jason Bateman]

And where'd that come from? Did you have the, did you have like a pets as a. When you were a little kid and.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah, it was, it was, it was always quite important. You know, pets were like, you know, member of the family, you know, growing up as sort of like a, just a working class family in England. It was all about the kids and pets. I remember when I was, I was about 15 and my brother, as you know, you know, 26, 27 at the time, he came over with a couple of his kids, right? And the kids came running into the house to my mum and they went, nanny, nanny, daddy just punched a man in the face and knocked him over in the park.

[Jason Bateman]

Right, right.

[Ricky Gervais]

And my mom was like horrified, right? And then Bob comes walking in and she went, they said, you Punched a man in the face. And Bob went, yeah, he kicked the dog. And my mom went, oh, fair enough. And that was it. And that was like. That was a life lesson. It's like some. Some things are all right. Sometimes violence is justified. It was always about, you know, I've always. I've always thought animals were unconditionally sort of perfect and beautiful and should be treated well. It's all about. It's about empathy, isn't it, really? And I know you guys are the same. I've never understood animal cruelty. And then the older you get, the more you find out, well, there's so much animal cruelty you didn't know was going on, and you're sort of like you're cashing in on it without knowing. And so that's why I became vegan as well, because the terrible cruelty in the sort of farm industry. And, you know, and I thought, oh, I can't. I can't really. I can't really be saving dogs and eating sheep. And so, yeah, you just, you know, if, if.

[Jason Bateman]

If you had to make a choice between bringing one person back to life, one. It could be any person, historical figure, family member, whatever it is, or give voice to one animal that is alive right now. Like, your pet could talk or you could bring back a person. What would you pick?

[Ricky Gervais]

That's really good. Well, it would be. Oh, my God. They're both pretty irresistible, aren't they? Yeah, it's too risky. And it. Bringing someone back, because you might bring back that. Oh, I'd love to.

[Bradley Cooper]

Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

You might bring back Einstein. And he keeps going. It's boring. Yeah, I know. E equals MC squared. I know. I've got it. I've got it.

[Sean]

Shut up, me.

[Ricky Gervais]

Why does that.

[Jason Bateman]

Yeah, now he's got to catch up.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's gotta be my cat talking, hasn't it? It's gotta be my cat.

[Jason Bateman]

You've just got the one pet. Yeah, one cat.

[Ricky Gervais]

What if my cat was really boring?

[Will Arnett]

Oh, God.

[Jason Bateman]

Or had an attitude? Yeah, it's a real pain.

[Ricky Gervais]

I know you're sleeping, but we can talk now.

[Will Arnett]

What if your cat just said, I've been. This whole time, I've been all over you because I'm a sadist. I just want you to fucking kick me.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, God.

[Will Arnett]

I just. That's what gets me off. I just wanna get. Get kicked. And you spend all this time telling people not to kick, and that's the only thing that gets me off, is getting kicked.

[Ricky Gervais]

Obviously, we're gonna cut this bit, right? We're definitely gonna Cut this bit.

[Will Arnett]

Keeping this bit leading with it.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, that's the opener.

[Jason Bateman]

It's the only thing.

[Ricky Gervais]

I'm not gonna sleep now. I'm not gonna sleep now. What? Oh, God.

[Jason Bateman]

Right, so now you got a chatty cat.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

And, and, and. All right, I think that's a. That's a good decision. What's the cat's name?

[Ricky Gervais]

She's called Pickle.

[Jason Bateman]

Are you sure?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah. No, I've. I've had lots of cats. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

But so if you had to give voice to one, it's going to be Pickle.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's got to be Pickle because you're.

[Sean]

Lucky.

[Ricky Gervais]

Your current cat is your favorite and you just. You probably forget how much you love the other ones and you go, oh, my God. This is. You know. Yeah, you'd to. They become a member of the family.

[Jason Bateman]

You know, what's the life, Sean?

[Will Arnett]

Hang on one second. Sean. Sean, what's your. What's your dog's name?

[Sean]

Ricky.

[Ricky Gervais]

Excellent.

[Sean]

Look at that. Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

I've always known that my name should either be a child or a dog.

[Sean]

Dog.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's. It doesn't really suit for sure a man in his 60s, does it, Ricky?

[Jason Bateman]

Never Richard.

[Sean]

Ever when he's bad.

[Ricky Gervais]

No, it was Ricky. Ricky Dean Gervais. It was. Apparently it was a thing what shows lower class from a name most in America. And the top name to show you were from a lower class was Ricky.

[Will Arnett]

Really?

[Sean]

Oh, really?

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, apparently.

[Sean]

That's funny.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Somebody is having a. Having a. Having a gag on you. They sent you. Sean.

[Will Arnett]

What do you think, Ricky, your dog would say if he could talk today?

[Sean]

How do I get out of here?

[Jason Bateman]

How about stop curling my hair?

[Sean]

Yeah, well, I crimp it. I just crimp it. I don't curl it.

[Ricky Gervais]

I crimp it.

[Will Arnett]

Ricky is such a big, beautiful dog.

[Jason Bateman]

And, Ricky, you're a beautiful guest.

[Will Arnett]

When's the special? When's the special? What's the date?

[Jason Bateman]

The special's out.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's out.

[Will Arnett]

It's out now. It's out now.

[Ricky Gervais]

It's already out the charts. It's already made number one. And fade out. This is absolutely pointless, this.

[Will Arnett]

Okay, you ready? I'm going to do this. So, Ricky, Ricky, your Special came out December 30th. It's already number one across the world.

[Jason Bateman]

I don't know how we booked you.

[Will Arnett]

What incredible success. And congrats on all the nominations. Yeah, let's do one.

[Ricky Gervais]

Just in case you say, say. Oh, Ricky, just after your special came out, you had your testicles removed. From cancer. Just in case, let's do every scenario.

[Sean]

Yeah, just like, write them down.

[Ricky Gervais]

I see. I'm all right with.

[Sean]

I'm.

[Ricky Gervais]

I'm all right with testicular cancer. Now, when you're about 50, that you, you. You forget about it. It's asshole. It goes, don't worry about your testicles, mate, but we've got to check your ass now I'm out of the woods. My testicles are safe. They're absolutely safe. Well, there's a fear of them getting trodden on these days.

[Jason Bateman]

Safely tucked in your socks.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

We love you and thank you and please say hello next time you're out here.

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Well, I did last time.

[Jason Bateman]

Oh, I wasn't there. Where was I?

[Ricky Gervais]

Oh, you weren't.

[Will Arnett]

This.

[Ricky Gervais]

No. When was that? That was the last time I played the bowl. When we all came to Ted's house.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ricky Gervais]

Two years ago.

[Will Arnett]

It was a while ago. Yeah, a while ago.

[Ricky Gervais]

I will. I'll say. You were in England recently, weren't you? You didn't say hi.

[Jason Bateman]

I'm not. It's. It's.

[Ricky Gervais]

You're.

[Jason Bateman]

It's Will that has the sleepovers at your house, not me.

[Will Arnett]

Wow.

[Jason Bateman]

I need friends. I don't have any friends. I got these two. Help me out.

[Ricky Gervais]

I know you're all busy. You're all too busy. We're all too busy. I'm too old. I'm too old and grumpy and antisocial, and you're too busy. That's.

[Jason Bateman]

We'd be perfect. I'm just like a cat. I don't talk. I'm sitting.

[Will Arnett]

You know what, Jason? You know what it's called? It's called making an effort. You make an effort. I go there and I make an effort. I reach out to Ricky and I say, what are you doing? He says, I'm busy. I'm gonna come see your show. It's called making an effort. Okay, Ricky, thank you so much.

[Jason Bateman]

Teach me, Willie. Teach me.

[Will Arnett]

All right.

[Jason Bateman]

All right. Have a great rest of the day.

[Will Arnett]

Bye bye.

[Ricky Gervais]

Thank you. That was absolutely a pleasure for me. I hope it was a pleasure for you and I understand I'm the first. First. Second guest.

[Jason Bateman]

The first.

[Will Arnett]

You are the first guest.

[Ricky Gervais]

First guest. To do. To.

[Jason Bateman]

To do first repeat. The first.

[Will Arnett]

First repeat.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah. That's the word I was looking for. I'm getting tired.

[Jason Bateman]

The money's the same, though, so don't look for an increase in your check.

[Will Arnett]

I wait, is it. It's yes after half past nine, isn't it?

[Ricky Gervais]

It's yeah, no, sorry.

[Will Arnett]

Half past six.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, half past six.

[Ad Voice 3]

That's.

[Ricky Gervais]

I've only got two hours before I think about bedtime.

[Jason Bateman]

Dinner time. Say hi to Jane at the dinner table for us, please.

[Ricky Gervais]

I'm going up there to eat now.

[Will Arnett]

Now.

[Ricky Gervais]

Thank you.

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, love to Jane. Great to see you guys.

[Jason Bateman]

Thanks, Ricky. Bye, buddy. Bye. The great. Our first returns. Our first return. And that's. That's the bar. That's the bar, yeah, right there. You don't get to come back unless you're Ricky Gervais. Good. You know.

[Sean]

You know, I don't remember him going into so much detail about the Office. It's really cool to hear that. And I know, you know, like, because you don't want.

[Jason Bateman]

You guys saw that. I, I seriously, I was on the plane a couple weeks ago. I hadn't seen it since we watched it. Willie.

[Will Arnett]

It's. It's been, it's been a minute. But you know what? In that time, I will say. I will say. And really, you know, and I know Ricky was part of it and, and credit to Greg Daniels and my sh. And all those brilliant people that we love over the Office and all the performers, the American Office. Very funny. And I, I ended up watching the bulk of it during COVID because I missed. So there were gaps in it and fucking hell. I mean, first of all, Steve Carell was, you know, because Ricky cast such a huge shadow, right? What he did on.

[Jason Bateman]

I remember thinking, like, who is this guy Steve Carell thinking that he can do what Ricky Gervaisa. And he made it his own.

[Will Arnett]

He just did it different. He made it his own and he drilled it and, oh, so good. And it's tough.

[Jason Bateman]

Those are big shoes to fill. Everybody's characters were so specific and everyone in the American office came, made it their own, kicked the door down, and I think inarguably became a bigger success than the British one. One.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Will Arnett]

I think. Who knows?

[Sean]

But like you said, it's so hard to write a part and a tone and a voice of a character and then have an actor match that. Like, what are the odds of that?

[Will Arnett]

Yeah, yeah. I loved. Yeah. I also love Martin Freeman. I'm such a fan of Martin Freeman's and he was so good and, And I love that show that he did. The responder respond. I think I mentioned it before. It's a BBC show set in Liverpool. He plays a cop. That came out two years ago. He's unbelievable.

[Jason Bateman]

Well, you just fire up Britbox and. And you just start knocking down shows kind of yeah, No, I know.

[Will Arnett]

Are you doing a plug for the. For the Brit box? I mean, I'll do it.

[Jason Bateman]

Do I have Brit box?

[Will Arnett]

No, you have. You are.

[Ricky Gervais]

Yeah.

[Jason Bateman]

Do I just. I just. I guess it's a certain channel. I gotta find it.

[Will Arnett]

It's a fun callback. That's a fun callback. To Do I have to be. You know.

[Jason Bateman]

Sean, do you have one yet?

[Sean]

Well, I was thinking of. To be. To be.

[Ricky Gervais]

To buy.

[Jason Bateman]

No. No. It's too much of a reach.

[Sean]

Okay. What about sort of. Well, their shows are so. Their shows are so. Those are shows. You know, all those shows.

[Will Arnett]

Like, this is gonna be so good.

[Sean]

And they're so rare that they're really hard to come by.

[Will Arnett]

Smart. Smart less Smartless is 100% organic and artisanally handcrafted by Rob Armjarv, Bennett Barbico and Michael Grantieri. Smart Less.

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