I shed a tear when David Brent was sacked on The Office. It was ‘Comic Relief Day’ for crying out loud. Thankfully, his creator Ricky Gervais is faring better. He’s been headhunted by his fantasy employers of late: Christopher Guest and Matt Groening. Gervais talks to UKULA about starring in the Spinal Tap director’s latest mockumentary and writing his way into Marge Simpson’s bed.

You're better known for turning films down than taking them on. What made you say “yes” to Christopher Guest?
For your Consideration is the first film I’ve accepted and it’s probably because Christopher Guest is the single biggest influence on my comedy.

How was the experience?
It was about the best three days you could ever wish for. Christopher Guest is just very good and clever and warm with his comedy. The film was totally ad-libbed, which both scared me and excited me; it’s still rare to see low-key naturalistic acting in British comedy – they’re still stuck in the seventies.

Don’t you think British comedy has been shaken up by The Office?
There’s nothing in The Office that hasn’t been done before, it’s just that we put it all together into the one thing. The fake documentary and naturalistic acting had been done in Spinal Tap… the fact that there was no laughter track – well there’s no laughter track in films. The existential sort of themes of life we had in The Office… they’d been done in novels and films.

At the end of the day, I don’t think The Office changes much at all. I still think there’ll be people doing catchphrase comedy, people doing live studio audiences and people getting a laugh out of putting wigs on. What The Office does change is that maybe people going into comedy will have soaked up new things to some extent.

Did you create your own character in Guest’s film?
I came up with the character and Christopher told me his name and what he did. I play movie director Martin Gibb and I run a studio called Sunfish Classics that’s making a film.

What is the film about?
I suppose it’s all about actors’ egos; it’s very much the sort of thing that I’ve explored in [my second TV series] Extras, how whatever they say, their monstrous ego overwhelms them.

You said that you spent just three days working on the film, was the whole thing shot in that space of time?
The whole film took only three weeks. It’s a low-budget film; it’s all about the performances. Christopher sketches out the trajectory of the film, the theme of the film, and he’s got everything ready for the actors. We come in and make stuff up and bounce stuff off each other.

How did you find improvising?
The term ‘improv’ is a really dirty word as far as I’m concerned. I see improv comedy live and, ooh, it’s much more fun to do than watch. If they rhyme in a song they get a round of applause, because of the tension in the audience thinking ‘oh please be funny.’ I thought I’d never do improv, but working with Christopher Guest’s a different kettle of fish.

Is the pressure taken off when you’re improvising in a film with the chance to do new takes, as opposed to being live on stage?
No, there’s a lot more pressure to get it right, because if you’re doing it live, you can stumble through it and get a laugh, and then get out quick. But with the film, the pressure on Christopher now, to make sure it is a film and not just a connection of sketches, is overwhelming. I should have sort of planned my part more, but you find your way.

I gave Christopher too much of course – in the can. If I had three goes I’d try and give him something different every time. So it was probably a nightmare for him in the editing room.

You also worked with Matt Groening’s team recently on an episode of The Simpsons; did you come up with the concept only or did you actually write the episode?
I wrote the script. I wrote my ideas and sent them to the team and they said, “Yeah, that’s great... and what about this?” It was a co-write, but I get the credit!

In your episode, a David Brent-like character does a wife-swap with Homer Simpson for a reality TV show. How did you come up with that?
I’ve always been fascinated with reality game shows but I think it was my girlfriend’s idea. We watch Celebrity Big Brother at the moment, we watch, I’m a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here… we watch all those reality TV shows – The Office came out of those docu-soaps.

Like for the rest of the population, for me reality TV shows are a guilty pleasure – even things like Pop Idol and X-Factor, where the people in the preliminary rounds are bordering on the mentally ill. I mean, they shouldn’t go on television; they should go see a doctor.

What does it take for you to agree to work for somebody else?
I never ask about the money. I say “yes” or “no” and then discuss that. People came with an offer of an advert in America for £1,000,000. That’s ridiculous: £1,000,000 for a day’s work. I thought – well it is a lot of money for a day’s work, but it’s not really a day’s work, because that advert could be around for a year and it looks like I’ve done a thousand days’ work. It chips away at your credibility. I just try and do things that I enjoy now, or that I’m proud of.

You were rated 76% gay in Attitude Magazine’s “How Gay Are You?” quiz… another proud moment?
Yeah, I think I got 50 points out of 5 for one answer. They asked me if I had champagne in my fridge and I said “yes, it was given to me by George Michael last night.” I was handing over a lifetime achievement at the Q Awards and they gave him this big magnum of champagne. He said he didn’t drink champagne and would I like it? And then that very next day, they asked me the question. So yeah, I’d got myself some seriously needed gay points, otherwise I’d only have had 26.

The Attitude quiz was one of the most entertaining articles I’ve read about you. What have you enjoyed reading about yourself?
One thing I’m reading – which is sort of about myself – at the moment is a book called The Office that’s just been written by Ben Waters. I think he knows more about The Officethan I do. It’s funny reading someone else’s perception of what we were trying to do and everything. It’s actually fascinating for me. I mean I approach things quite academically, you know, I do deconstruct things, but you never talk like that about comedy. You sort of remember what’s influenced you or, you know… if what you’re doing is funny; it’s funny. This book really is like an academic work about the themes in The Office, so obviously I enjoy that.

How accurate is Waters in his conclusions about your comedy?
It’s difficult for me to say that because obviously it’s so flattering, I can’t turn round and go “Yeah, he’s right, yes he’s right, that’s what I’ve been doing, yes it’s brilliant.”

How does criticism affect you?
If it’s an intelligent piece, it never bothers me. But it’s when they get something wrong… if some one’s slagging it off and they go “and why set The Office in a paper merchant’s in Swindon?” I go “well at least get where it’s set right!” But you’ve got to be liked and disliked. If every one sort of likes you, how boring is that? It means you’re not doing anything, that you’re not making a blip on the radar. I know there are as many people who hate The Office, passionately, as love it passionately, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.