In 2006, fresh off the success of The Office and in the middle of the short lived series Extras, Ricky Gervais got to meet one of his idols: Seinfeld co-creator Larry David. The meeting was filmed as part of his similarly short lived show Meet Ricky Gervais for Channel 4. Only six episodes ever aired.
Meanwhile, Larry David was a couple years into his own sophomore hit in Curb Your Enthusiasm.
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Ricky Gervais Meets Larry David
Ricky Gervais has been vocal about the influence Larry David has had on his own work.
You can sense Gervais’ nervousness in meeting David while he sits getting his make-up done, waiting for the meeting to begin as he talks a bit rapidly, knee shaking.
“I know that he doesn’t like interviews, or, I know that he’s quite a grumpy man,” he says, laughing. “You know that he’s seen the Extras and Office, don’t you?”
It takes a producer assuring him that David knows who Gervais is and knows his work that he seems to calm down.
David does show his trepidations a bit.
“Now, the onus is pretty much on you for most of this, isn’t it? You know, you’re the interviewer, right? So I’m the guy who should be really relaxed about this. I don’t want to have to feel like I’m on a date here, right? I’m not on a date.”
Later he explains, “The only reason I’m doing it is because it’s in England, and nobody I know will be watching. So there’s a great freedom to that.”
Of course, that’s if you don’t consider the Internet…Ahem, yes, well.
The two get along fantastically, and the usually guarded Larry David allows Ricky Gervais to speak to him like an old friend.
Maybe it’s because he seems him as a peer, and perhaps something of an equal. Whatever the case, it makes for great watching.
Ricky Gervais on Curb Your Enthusiasm
Gervais would later appear on the season eight Curb Your Enthusiasm episode “The Hero” where he played a more conceited and affected version of himself.
Watch a clip from that episode below, where David and Gervais trade backhanded compliments about their respective shows, and we are reminded of the important throat warming powers of a scarf on a theatrical voice.
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