Ricky Gervais failed to mention co-creator Stephen Merchant during a 25th anniversary celebration of the hit workplace comedy The Office, prompting speculation about a rift between the two former close friends.
Contrasting Celebrations
Gervais, who played the iconic role of David Brent, marked the anniversary with a countdown of Brent's best 25 moments in an hour-long show on his YouTube channel. Notably, he did not acknowledge Merchant throughout the programme. Meanwhile, the BBC aired a 30-minute special featuring actors Martin Freeman and Mackenzie Crook, who spoke warmly about working with both Gervais and Merchant, recalling days on set filled with laughter.
Merchant's Response
Co-writer Merchant posted an interview clip on Instagram discussing the making of the show, emphasizing it was a team effort. He said: “The ambition for us was lets make something that will be our favourite thing. All the writing on The Office was sort of done jointly…we would sit in a room together and kind of spitball a lot together.” He added that they often improvised into a dictaphone and reviewed what worked the next day.
Gervais and Merchant were once close collaborators on all their TV, radio, and podcast projects, starting with XFM before creating The Office, Extras, and Life's Too Short. Gervais now works primarily with Netflix and focused his anniversary celebrations around Brent.
Number One Moment: The Dance
Gervais said the top moment from the show was Brent's dance in the Comic Relief episode, a scene that could have been dangerous. He revealed: “It probably is the most famous single thing I've ever done…three takes cut together…I remember after I filmed it, I was sat in a corner on a chair and they were fanning me. I was the blobbiest I've ever been…there was a small chance of heart failure.” He added, “Tom Cruise jumps off buildings. Do I want to do a little dance? It would f***ing kill me now.”
Monetisation and Inspiration
Gervais admitted he was monetising The Office clips “at last” on his YouTube page. He also shared that the premise was partly inspired by a job interview at a temp agency where a man with a ponytail tried to win over Gervais and a friend by lying to an employer. “I thought ‘I’ll have that’ and it was the first scene of the whole series,” he said.
Making Cast Members Laugh
Gervais spoke about deliberately trying to make other cast members laugh, showing a clip of himself as Brent making Martin Freeman laugh for 25 takes. He said: “This gets in not just because of the scene which is funny, but more for the behind the scenes, where I was trying to make Martin laugh. I think this is the record number of takes.”
Previous Comments on Relationship
In an interview with The Times in January, Merchant said there had been no big fallout with Gervais but they were no longer close. At the time he said: “We’re not in touch a great deal these days. But even at our closest we were living quite separate lives.”
