Ricky Gervais is celebrating 26 years since being made redundant and taking a chance on becoming a comedian aged 37.
The now 63-year-old actor, writer, producer, and director, is the mastermind behind some of the 21st century’s biggest TV and comedy moments, including The Office.
In December, it was announced that his most recent project, After Life, had become the most-watched British comedy in the world for the fourth year in a row, with a total global viewership of 140 million people.
But before he shot to fame with his dark and irreverent humour, he was an assistant events manager at the University of London Union (ULU), and then head of speech at alternative radio station Xfm.
In 1998, at the age of 37, he was made redundant from his job and found himself at a crossroads.
Writing on X/Twitter, Gervais marked the occasion on Thursday night (24 October).
“Twenty-six years ago, I was made redundant and given a few grand,” he began.
“I decided that if I was careful, I could live off the money for 6 months trying to become a comedian before I had to get another job. I was 37. Worth a punt.”
One fan asked the comedian the secrets behind his success, “In hindsight what would you put it down to? A combination of talent and being at the right place at the right time?”
Gervais added, “And hard work.”
Hailing from a working-class background in Reading, Gervais previously told The Guardian that he’d always been creative, but lazy.
“I suppose I was always creative. I did start 20 novels, and then went, ‘Ah, too hard,’ and went to the bar.”
Working on The Office with Stephen Merchant, a colleague he recruited at Xfm after his was the first CV he came across, the pair went on to international fame and success.
“I think you should know something about me first. I never tried hard at anything. I was born smart on a very working-class estate,” he said in the 2009 interview.
“A couple of people I knew went to university apart from me, but all the way through I was the smartest kid in the school. That’s luck, but I was proud of it. And I was also proud of doing well without trying.
“As you get older, and it took me a long time to realise it, that’s a disgusting attitude, revolting. It’s ignorant and it’s a tragic waste, and I realised that the work itself is the reward. The struggle itself is the reward.”
