Ricky Gervais has been immortalised in an Asterix cartoon.
The comedian has been turned into a Roman centurion called Extraneus – a possible nod to his sitcom Extras – in the new book Asterix In Lusitania.
One of the writers of the comic, Didier Conrad, said it came about ‘because our publisher's a big fan’.
‘As it happened, we love him too,’ he told the website Bleeding Cool. ‘So it came naturally.’
Lusitania was an ancient Roman province encompassing most of modern-day Portugal and a large portion of Western Spain – and Conran conceded that Gervais ‘doesn't really have much to do with’ the area, ‘so it was about having fun’.
But he added it ‘wouldn't entirely be out of character’ for an English character to be in Spain given the British Empire’s colonialism was similar to the Romans.
As is traditional for any Roman centurion in the series, Extraneus gets beaten up by both Asterix and Obelix.
Asterix In Lusitania – co-written by Fabcaro – was published in the UK yesterday, the same day Gervais recorded his latest stand-up show Mortality as a Netflix special.
Writing ons social media, the comic said the taping at the London Palladium ‘couldn’t have gone any better’.
'I said all the words in the right order and the audience laughed louder and longer than I could have hoped for,’ he said. ‘Genuinely one of my favourite ever gigs.’
Tonight’s show at the same venue will also be recorded for the streamer… ‘just in case’.
• Asterix In Lusitania is published by Sphere and available from Amazon priced £11.03 in hardback – or from uk.bookshop.org, below, which supports independent bookstores.
