Ricky Gervais: Roasting Celebrities At The Golden Globes & Giving Millions To Animal Charities

The Romesh Ranganathan Show

Ranga Bee & Platform Media

Society & Culture, Comedy

4.6 • 715 Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2026

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As co-creator of era-defining titles such as The Office and Extras, followed by hits including Derek and After Life, Ricky Gervais has left his mark as one of the most successful comedians on the planet. Speaking to Romesh, he explains why writing and workshopping stand-up comedy remains one of his greatest loves, how hosting the Golden Globes could have ended his career, and why he cares more about other people’s opinions than it might seem. Ricky also shares stories behind his love for animals – including why he's donated huge sums of money to animal charities from his recent tours. A Ranga Bee Production in partnership with Listen. 00:00 Crying 01:55 Best Intro Ever 03:00 Why Do Anything? 05:15 "You're A National Treasure Romesh" 09:25 Standup Comedy & Shaping Jokes 17:50 Nerves 19:00 Self Censorship 20:25 Being Relatable 26:00 Anger & Honesty 28:50 Cat DJ 30:15 Donating To Animal Charities 34:00 Veganism & Health 39:45 Romesh's Dad's Funeral 43:20 Tracksuit Bottoms: Disrespectful? 44:20 Podcast Pioneer 50:00 Social Media: Search, Don't Scroll 53:00 Fans & Cults 1:00:00 Harry Hill & Joe Wilkinson 1:01:30 Pushing It Too Far 1:02:20 Marketing & Controversy 1:09:50 Shanthi's Question 1:10:40 Upsetting Tom Hanks & Tim Allen 1:13:00 "It Could Have Been The End Of My Career" 1:18:00 Sometimes I Don't Care 1:21:00 Misquoted 1:24:20 Alley Cats 1:27:15 Kidney Transplant 1:28:32 Ricky's Shares The Name Of His Next Tour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I want to get super deep, man.
0:01.3	Yeah.
0:01.6	I'd love one or both of us to cry.
0:03.8	That would really.
0:04.9	I can cry easily.
0:05.8	Can you? Yeah. Can you? Yeah. No, genuinely, can you? Well, I'm acting. Yeah. I don't just get, I don't make myself upset for no. Jane, what? I don't want to be depressed at the minute. Why? just to show you I can do it.
0:20.8	No, but when you...
0:21.6	No, but when you cry...
0:24.4	If you cry, depressed at the minute. Why? Just to show you I can do it.
0:21.6	No, but when you... No, but when you cry, if you cry on a thing...
0:25.8	Yeah.
0:26.7	Is the way that you do it to get actually sad?
0:29.5	I don't know.
0:30.4	I don't know what way around it is.
0:32.6	Because I can do it and I can think about it
0:34.3	and I know it's coming and I can get there.
0:37.2	There must be something real about it. I'll think about it and I know it's coming and I can get there, there must be something
0:38.4	real about it. I'll tell you why. Because when I've done it and it's sort of justified, it's a sad
0:43.9	scene, I can only do it once. I really, yeah. So there is something about you sort of feel better
0:50.1	and now you're faking it. So there must be something real about the, when you first do it.
0:55.5	And the tears come. So your body doesn't know that's still, that works, that's working.
1:00.9	So there's something real physiologically about it. I don't, and I don't quite understand it.
	...

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