Ricky Gervais

Two hours after Donald Trump won the U.S. election in 2016 we conducted our prearranged phone interview with funny bastard Ricky to discuss his latest film David Brent: Life On The Road. Here's what unfolded...

- SANTI PINTADO

Hey, Ricky, clearly we’ve got you at a very surreal time – Donald Trump is actually going to be U.S. President! What’s your take on him?

Well, he’s got more in common with David Brent than he has JFK. He’s an entertainer, a reality TV show host and a billionaire who wants to be famous. I don’t know how he’d be as a President. He might be fine, he might not do crazy things. My one hope was that if he got in, we’d say, “Oh, he’s a businessman — he’s not going to start a war because it would be bad business”, but actually, he’s not a great businessman — he’s been bankrupt three times. 

If David Brent met Donald Trump, what would happen? 

David Brent loves famous people, so he’d be in awe. That’s the problem with the world — people would get giddy if they met a famous dictator. They might hate what he did but when they meet him they’d go, “Ooh, oh look, oh look, it’s Mussolini! I’ve seen you on the tele.” It’s a worrying thing and the problem in politics — famous people can get votes because most people think, “Well, if they’re on tele all the time, they must be all right.” David Brent would want to sort of impress Trump. He wouldn’t say anything inappropriate to him — he says some inappropriate things, obviously, but… well, how can you say anything inappropriate to Trump? What could you say where Trump hasn’t said a worse thing?

If Trump can be US President, perhaps the fictional David Brent could be British Prime Minister?