Ricky Gervais Discusses Friendship with David Bowie - Jim Norton & Sam Roberts

Jim Norton & Sam Roberts host a SiriusXM Town Hall with Ricky Gervais. He discusses his relationship with the late David Bowie.
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[@MeAndThemThemAndMe]

You can see and hear the fondness in his memories.

[@Im_Light]

I LOVE how Ricky Rervais makes eye contact with people. It shows not only his confidence but his respect for other people. What a guy!

[@doyourownresearch7297]

he is a functioning adult and that blows your mind so?

[@Joshualuv13]

I luv how Ricky and Bowie became friends.Both great sorts 👍As a long life fan of Bowie’s if I was in same room I’d pass out let alone be able to hold down a conversation lol

[@DrSooze-iw5em]

Gervais in his young singing days in the early 80s looks just like Bowie...

[@martinprocter2955]

and tries to sound like him too :D

[@Adrianovaz2007]

"I get an email from David, he's David, he can do that" I'm now imagining Bowie like "Hmm, today I will email person X" and his email provider instantly gets X's email, just because he's David Bowie.

[@simenlekang3374]

His Bowie impression is spot on, amazing

[@danielphillips5229]

Thanks for sharing your stories Gervais!

[@Songbirdstress]

David liked Ricky a lot. He told the "proper job", Rock God story on his website in the forum. It was obvious he was happy to have Ricky as a new bro mance.

[@shayZero]

"Okay...i'll just knock up a quick fucking Life on Mars for ya!" Thats my favourite Bowie story. I think and laugh about it often

[@PrivateAckbar]

It's sweet because Ricky was trying to tell his idol in the politest way that he wanted something that sounded like the earlier albums he loved more.

[@fattidiliberta]

[@patriciawright8786]

You never saw "THE ROCK-GOD" David Bowie in concert. I did at 17 yrs old. I have seen Led Zeppelin, the Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, on, & on. Bowie, was many things to many people, but he was most assuredly 'A ROCK-GOD', pal. He also had a great sense of humor, & was a GENIUS! Why speak when you have no idea what your saying?

[@patriciawright8786]

No need to get your coat. You can stay, & I will calm down a bit.

[@fortylove68]

Great Fucking story. Great life Ricky is living. God bless.

[@oldtimer7635]

"God bless." He's also an atheist! ; )

[@stephenpitkin5492]

I just love how Ricky democratizes celebrity and just draws you into the world of his friends and family.

[@snigdhajyotidas3057]

ROCK-GOD - Bowie in one word.

[@martinprocter2955]

its popular Rock, but I'd say his music is more rock than pop to be fair

[@fortylove68]

Two words perhaps?

[@TEFFTPATTERN]

Hello darkness my old friend

[@thefoxyllama]

i sense a garfunkel joke

[@lucapaci6629]

Beautiful Soul

[@Jez2008UK]

Wow, what wonderful stories :) Thanks Ricky for sharing that !

[@shonacole2124]

So amazing

[@euananstice4747]

lol Ricky has told the exact same story word for word on a video with over 1 million views

[@oldtimer7635]

So?

[@johnhouse9983]

Yellowbeard. Who else knows. "meet me in the pump room"

[@NxDoyle]

I used to love Ricky. Had all his DVD's, listened to all the XFM shows and podcasts year after year. But something has happened in the last few years, either to him, but definitely to the way I view him. My suspicion that something had changed came around the time of Ricky & Steve's last collaboration. I don't know if it was Life's Too Short or the second Idiot Abroad. In interviews, both long and short form, Ricky started referring to the biggest successes of his career in terms that suggested they were solo ventures. Interview after interview he'd go on about when _I_ made The Office and _I_ made Extras and as time went on, he started talking about 'auteuring' one's work. Until the middle of 2017, it was merely suspicion. Then I heard two interviews that confirmed, for me at least, that Ricky was not only becoming overweening and self-aggrandizing, he was deliberately engaging in career revisionism. In a couple of short British interviews he went on about playing Madison Square Garden. Now, I don't know how many Brits know this, I don't even know how many Americans know it, but MSG is not a single house venue. There is the main venue, with a capacity of just over 20,000. And there is the MSG Theater (more correctly called "The Theater at Madison Square Garden"), which holds about 5,500. Ricky, when not in America, conveniently drops 'Theater' when talking about the Garden. I _want_ to say I don't know why he does this, because playing to 5,500 people as a stand up is no mean feat. Although it's definitely not on the same level as Louis CK, who sold out the big room on four nights a few years back. The big kick in the head for me with Ricky was after his appearance at The Oxford Union in mid-2017. It was a little weird, because I knew going in that I wanted him to mention Steve, even if it were in passing, or just to say when _we_ made The Office. By the time the Q&A started, he was all me me me, confirming to the pattern of the last few years. Then one of the questions, a triple-barreled doozie, included an explicit request for Ricky to say if/when he might once again collaborate with Steve. And then Ricky pretty much lost me as a long-standing and very loyal fan. He totally ignored that strand of the question. Steve has been asked about working with Ricky again and has given the diplomatic "pursuing different projects" answer, while being very careful to say that David Brent: Life on the Road is 1) _not_ an Office reunion and 2) has nothing to do with him. Very wise, really. The Brent movie is not worth your time, but worse, Ricky has killed the legacy of one of Britain's great comedy characters. He really should have taken a look at how Armando Iannucci, Steve Coogan etc. have so deftly handled or curated the legacy of Alan Partridge. Long comment, no real malice. I don't hate Ricky, because why would I? But as long as he wanks on like he has the last few years, I can't like him.

[@jonnybgood9162]

Nx Doyle very interesting comment you did talk a lot of sense i hope youre wrong though . Life on the road even though i dont want to admit it did spoil the incredibly well written and executed, the office sitcoms legacy in my eyes a little bit which breaks my heart

[@yoya4766]

That's an unusually detailed review of why you dislike him now. I'd say the two probably had a disagreement and there is some legal reason he isn't supposed to mention Steve. Whilst their talk is staged to sound friendly and innocuous in truth a lot of money is involved. Yes RG uses the exact same rehearsed stories everywhere, like all the stars do. It's a script they daren't veer from. It was different when they started out, RG was not a comedian but it just mushroomed but now the stakes are much higher.

[@michaelmelro6641]

Life on the road isn't supposed to be a recreation of The Office. How can you get the EXACT same Brent, when you take him out of the office setting and away from all of the people that he interacted with in that office. We are simply seeing David Brent in a different light. Plus, if youre such a big fan you must have seen the hundreds of interviews he did and award shows he attended with Steve, right? How much content do two people need to prove that they worked on things together. Steve Merchant had his own show and started in movies. Steve Merchant isn't any less rich from the royalties he splits with Ricky. It's the whole Lennon/McCartney bullshit. Both got the credit they deserved for the individual songs they wrote and the ones they wrote together. And you must remember that Ricky, is the one who brought Steve along. Ricky hired that lanky, spectacled bastard lol. It gets to a point where these men gotta branch out on their own and that point has been gone for a while. Ricky is much more naturally funny, he is the better director for sure and is way more marketable than Steve Merchant. Frankly Steven, is in the position of thanking Ricky, not the other away around. I admit that Ricky wouldn't have got as much great work done without Steven's own genius, but Ricky is the driving force and Im sure Steven doesnt take this shite as seriously as his fans do. So please, start liking Ricky again.

[@alecjohnson5269]

Bowie = rock genius = irreplaceable

[@AB-wz6pb]

Jim from 2:33 to 2:37

[@andrewhayes5724]

Yeah, a huge fan, but can't pronounce "Bowie" correctly.

[@Pe6ek]

Bauii.

[@vernonhedge4530]

Looked liked Ricky, dinnhe?

[@flapsofham8773]

Jew Fro.

[@celljr6374]

The worst fro

[@anzalone138]

why does Ricky keep pronouncing david bowie name wrong.

[@TheTomster333]

Some Brits can't help it

[@TheTomster333]

I always try to say it right and i'm British

[@TheWheezerPump]

It's the way we always pronounced it, from ay one.

[@cfcolly]

I always said it like he is here, I Realise it's cos I was listening to ricky on the radio when I was 15 and discovered Bowie. Ricky taught me to say it wrong....

[@seamusin1697]

C Molles More often than not, his last name is pronounced that way in the UK. I have even heard Australian commentators refer to him as such. I don't think it is necessarily wrong, especially when considering that Bowie drew inspiration for the name from Jim Bowie, for whom the knife is named after, who pronounced his name more like Bo-owie. Given that it was his stage name and not his real one, I don't think David was bothered all that much by it.

[@kabukiarmadillo]

Weirdly, I've always that that RG looks and sounds like Bowie's less-famous, puffy brother.

[@SebBrandenberg]

Oh no, he pronounces the first syllable of Bowie's name like the sound a dog makes. Hate that.

[@cornjobb]

oh dear. poor little thing.

[@Songbirdstress]

David liked Ricky a lot. He told the "proper job", Rock God story on his website in the forum. It was obvious he was happy to have Ricky as a new bro mance.