Ricky Gervais
My dad was a laborer. And he used to get up at 5:30 every morning. He worked for 50 years of his life, in all weathers for, by showbiz standards, petty cash. I remind myself of that when I feel a little bit spoiled or hard done by.Collection: Morning
Science is constantly proved all the time. If we take something like any fiction, any holy book, and destroyed it, in a thousand years' time, that wouldn't come back just as it was. Whereas if we took every science book and every fact and destroyed them all, in a thousand years they'd all be back because all the same tests would be the same result.Collection: Science
I'm a fan of the kind of political correctness that is about not promoting prejudice. But some people in America are offended by equality because when you've had privilege for so long, equality feels like oppression.Collection: Equality
I'd much rather eat exactly what I want, and then burn it off, than diet.Collection: Diet
Humor is to get us over terrible things.Collection: Humor
I don't care whether people say, ''The Office' is rubbish, 'Extras' is worse, 'Flanimals' is a waste of time. He's not funny; he never has been. I hate him.' I don't mind that at all. In fact, not only do I expect it, I celebrate it, because I think the haters are really important.Collection: Funny
I think it's important to hold a mirror up to society and yourself.Collection: Society
There's no difference between fame and infamy now. There's a new school of professional famous people that don't do anything. They don't create anything.Collection: Famous
Fame is an upshot of what I do. If you're a successful comedian or actor, then you're a famous one. But it's not the driving force. It's a by-product.Collection: Famous
When I was about to be famous, I feared it on a few levels. I feared it because I didn't want people to lump me in with those people who'd do anything to be famous. I didn't like the word 'celebrity.' I feared intrusion, you know? Make me famous, and suddenly you can go through my trash bins.Collection: Famous
If I just cut out the food, I'd have a six-pack. I'd look like Matthew McConaughey.Collection: Food
I think you can make fun of anything except things people can't help. They can't help their race or their sex or their age, so you ridicule their pretension or their ego instead. You can ridicule ideas - ideas don't have feelings. You can ridicule an idea that someone holds without hurting them.Collection: Age
If you spend your days doing what you love, it is impossible to fail. So I go about my days trying to bring something into the world that wasn't in the world before. And then everyone gets furious about it. And then I sit back and say, 'I did that!'
I think I'm pretty self-aware.
Look, just tell me where that lemon came from and I'll shut up and go away.
When I go to work, I don't want to make depressing, gritty, urban stories that are depressing to watch. I want to give people something to enjoy. When people think I'm a control freak and an ogre - which I am - it's only because I want my work to be accessible and Everyman, in a way.
When I was growing up, I didn't like cheese. I had to wean myself onto cheese.
Let's be honest here: Twitter, for me, is 90 per cent a marketing tool.
Stephen Merchant looks like a Muppet. I mean, he looks like Beaker.
I don't do karaoke. I don't dance, even at weddings. I'm the grumpy one sitting down drinking wine.
The second series is always my favourite as a writer/director; you can hit the ground running... so that's fun.
I love UFC, vigilante films, and any acts of merciless heroism.
Ego is hilarious - especially the vanity of a comedian. As soon as you see one start worrying about how cool he is or about how many stadiums he can fill, he stops being funny.
I like the ironic pomposity of a stand-up comedian. Like all those comedians thinking they can bring down Coca-Cola. They forget to be funny.
I don't do one-liners, because you don't learn anything about that comedian.
Making people laugh is easy for me. I'm quite proud of that. But I'm prouder of silencing an audience for a minute because they're thinking about something.
People now live their lives like an open wound to be famous - they do bad things because they're rewarded for it.
Luckily, even when people are shouting lies, the truth is undamaged. Science doesn't matter what you believe.
The great thing about being an artist is, we want our work to be seen.
I'm influenced by those '40s, '50s, and '60s films: things like 'The Apartment' - I was a big fan of Billy Wilder.
I like grown-up comedy, where it's about character and attitude and life as opposed to obvious gross-out and jokes.
With Netflix, I browse; I watch documentaries about things I'd never dream of, but I think, 'I might as well.'
I don't know what Trump has to do to lose his supporters. It's like a religion. He's a school bully.
If I've only got a career if I bring David Brent back, you can have it.
I was never ambitious. I was never ambitious at school.
How many times have we seen reality celebrities fall from grace - often through no fault of their own - and then go on a show like 'Celebrity Big Brother' and say, 'I want to show the public a different side of me.' And I'm screaming at the telly going, 'This is not therapy. This is voyeurism!'
To be fair to David Brent, he wants to be famous for doing something, for being a musician, but he's just not good enough.
I was very protective of my privacy. I didn't want people to write bad things about me that weren't true, because that's just not fair. Fifty percent of everything written about me is wrong.
I didn't like noisy cinemas when I wasn't famous.
It's funny because I was offered film parts the first week after 'The Office' went out. I was sent a script, and I said, 'Who's the lead?' They said, 'We want you to be.' And I said: 'Well, who's going to go and see that? You want John Cusack.'
I didn't know I was poor, growing up, because everyone was in the same boat. I couldn't have bikes. It never really bothered me, but I could have any book. I loved school; I loved learning. Yeah, I never cared for possessions. I still don't, really.
As an artist, you want as many people as possible to see your work with no interference. And usually, I've gone onto fringe channels: BBC Two, HBO, Channel 4.
I've avoided doing a network comedy, because I wouldn't get my own way. Even though it would get more viewers, it wouldn't be mine.
I stand by 'I'm not going to do 'The Office' again.' That would be weird: all the same people sitting at the same desks at a paper merchant's in Slough.
I think Spielberg is a master. I think 'Jaws' invented a genre.
I always do a little bit of improv. I did some of 'The Office,' a tiny bit in 'Extras,' a bit more in 'Derek.'
I think comedies should be short. I don't want to be self-indulgent; I don't want a two-hour comedy.
You can be watching the greatest film in the world, and if you hear your neighbor getting into a fight, you're at the window.
I've been lucky enough to be able to choose exactly where I want to live.
I think all art - even one as lowly as making jokes about celebrities - is there to make a connection.