Ricky Gervais has revealed how being made redundant aged 37 helped him attain his dream career.
The 64-year-old found mainstream success with the 2001 comedy series The Office, which he co-wrote with Stephen Merchant, and has gone on to star in numerous hit shows like Extras and After Life.
The comedian has also embarked on several stand-up tours and even broke records by making £1.41 million in May 2023 from just one gig he performed in Los Angeles as part of his Armageddon show.
On Tuesday, Gervais marked the 27th anniversary of the day he lost his job, revealing how he decided he would give himself several months to try to make it as a comedian.
“It’s now 27 years since I was made redundant and given a few grand,” he wrote alongside a black and white throwback photo of him on Instagram.
“I decided that if I was careful, I could live off the money for 6 months trying to become a comedian before I had to get another job. I was 37.”
Gervais - who is set to star in a new animated Netflix comedy - concluded by quipping: “Worth a punt.”
Before finding fame as a comedian, Gervais was an assistant events manager at the University of London Union.
He also worked at the radio station Xfm and was made redundant in 1998 when the station was taken over by the Capital Radio group.
Gervais, who was raised on a working class estate in Reading, previously said he had been “creative” from a young age but lacked the drive to follow through on his ambitions.
“I suppose I was always creative. I did start 20 novels, and then went, 'Ah, too hard,' and went to the bar,” he told The Guardian.
“I never tried hard at anything. I was born smart on a very working-class estate. A couple of people I knew went to university apart from me, but all the way through I was the smartest kid in the school. That's luck, but I was proud of it. And I was also proud of doing well without trying.”
He added: “As you get older, and it took me a long time to realise it, that's a disgusting attitude, revolting. It's ignorant and it's a tragic waste, and I realised that the work itself is the reward. The struggle itself is the reward.”
Gervais, who is worth an estimated £120 million, lives in a £14.5 million mansion in the affluent north London area of Hampstead with his long-term partner Jane Fallon.
