A late entrant to the world of comedy, Gervais only started to try to tap his talent for making people laugh in 1998, at the age of 36.
Before that, he had spent seven years spent as an entertainments manager for a student union.
And his initial ambitions were musical, playing in a failed Eighties band called Seona Dancing.
He later, briefly, managed the band Suede, before landing a job on London's XFM radio station where he started developing a taste for comedy, and a character called Seedy Boss who would later become The Office's David Brent.
Watch as the Ricky Gervais character is immortalised on the Slough trading estate
David Brent has been given his own sculpture – at a Premier Inn on the Slough Trading Estate.
The clay re-creation of Ricky Gervais’ character, marking 25 years since The Office UK first aired, was unveiled by Brent impersonator Tim Oliver.
It will be a permanent installation at the hotel, which was built on the site of the now-demolished Crossbow House – the building used for the exterior shots of Wernham Hogg in the comedy's opening credits.
The bust took 120 hours to put together and weighs 7kg.
A Premier Inn spokesperson said: ‘The exact site of the world’s most famous office, Wernham Hogg, is now a one of our hotels and so we’re thrilled to unveil this brilliant tribute to mark its place in British comedy history.
‘Ricky’s iconic character truly put Slough on the map, and it’s only fitting to honour him with this memorable statue, which we hope will be particularly popular with some of the millions of business travellers who stay with us each year.’
The hotel company also commissioned research of 2,000 adults which found David Brent’s Comic Relief dance was viewers’ favourite moments from the show.
It was followed by Dawn returning to the Christmas party to kiss Tim in the denouement of the festive special (15 per cent).
Next was Tim’s prank from the very first episode, encasing Gareth’s stapler in yellow jelly.
The study also voted The Office creators Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, as the best comedy writing duo of the 21st century – with their 16 per cent vote narrowly beating James Corden and Ruth Jones, writers of Gavin & Stacey, on 15 per cent.
Here's how the site of Wernham Hogg has changed over 25 years:
Pictures by Darren Smith / Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0
We do not currently hold contact details for Ricky Gervais's agent. If you are a comic or agent wanting your details to appear here, for a one-off fee of £59, email steve@chortle.co.uk.
We see you are using AdBlocker software. Chortle relies on advertisers to fund this website so it’s free for you, so we would ask that you disable it for this site. Our ads are non-intrusive and relevant. Help keep Chortle viable.
David Brent has been given his own sculpture – at a Premier Inn on the Slough Trading Estate.
