I think Dustin Hoffman has been in at least three of my favorite movies of all time with things like 'Tootsie,' 'Marathon Man.' Getting a bit more arthouse and darker, 'The Graduate' - incredible, barrier-breaking movie, 'The Graduate.'
— Ricky Gervais
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.
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.'
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.
I lift weights. Then I put them down again.
Let's be honest here: Twitter, for me, is 90 per cent a marketing tool.
If I've only got a career if I bring David Brent back, you can have it.
I wanted to be clever, but being funny came first. That's how you know someone is clever. They don't come out and tell you pi to 13 places - they tell you a joke.
With Netflix, I browse; I watch documentaries about things I'd never dream of, but I think, 'I might as well.'
The great thing about being an artist is, we want our work to be seen.
I'm an optimist.
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 love UFC, vigilante films, and any acts of merciless heroism.
Karl Pilkington has the roundest head, I think, in the world. It's not technically a deformity, but I've never seen anything quite that spherical.
I really just want to make Karl Pilkington the new messiah.
Proper stupidity is fascinating.
The second series is always my favourite as a writer/director; you can hit the ground running... so that's fun.
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 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.
I didn't like noisy cinemas when I wasn't famous.
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 don't know why other people are concerned about other people's lives that much.
I was never ambitious. I was never ambitious at school.
I think I'm pretty self-aware.
I don't know what Trump has to do to lose his supporters. It's like a religion. He's a school bully.
I like grown-up comedy, where it's about character and attitude and life as opposed to obvious gross-out and jokes.
Luckily, even when people are shouting lies, the truth is undamaged. Science doesn't matter what you believe.
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.
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.
The only thing that really depresses me is animal cruelty.
Stephen Merchant looks like a Muppet. I mean, he looks like Beaker.
I see my real job now as - never mind 'The Office,' 'Extras,' film career, Emmys - I want everyone in the world to know who Karl Pilkington is.
I've got re-addicted to normal people, which is the loveliest thing to write about.
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.
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.
Everything I do is somehow rooted in humanity. It's always about people; it's always about ego. It's always about desperation. It's quite existential. You know, 'Am I leading a good life?' That might be because I'm an atheist, and I think this is all we've got, so you better be nice. And have fun.
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.
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!'
When I see a headline 'Guess who's going out with who?' I don't guess, and I don't click.
My career, I look at it in a Darwinian framework. I'm going to do exactly what I want, and I'm going to survive, or I'm not. I'm not going to pander. I'm not going to change things. I'm not going to do focus groups. I'll live and die by the sword. I don't care. Because I couldn't live with myself.
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.
Even I can't talk about myself for an hour.
I'm influenced by those '40s, '50s, and '60s films: things like 'The Apartment' - I was a big fan of Billy Wilder.
People now live their lives like an open wound to be famous - they do bad things because they're rewarded for it.
I don't do one-liners, because you don't learn anything about that comedian.
I'm a fang-toothed, blob-nosed, slouchy slob.
Oh, let's face it: I hate everything in others.
All of my friends are oddities.
The best script in the world doesn't work perfectly when you actually act it out. That's a law. That's a given. So you have to play with everything. And the more fun you have with it, the better the finished product.
What makes 'Derek' a different kind of sitcom - if it is even a sitcom - is its sincerity.
