He's the boss

Gervais named most powerful man in comedy

Ricky Gervais has been named the most powerful person in British television comedy.

He's topped a list created by the Radio Times for his work with The Office.

The magazine considered viewing figures, the views of comedy experts, financial information and track records to compile the list.

However, the list is based only on the last 12 months, so it contains few long-established stars - with Rowan Atkinson, Billy Connolly and Ben Elton all absent.

Paul Whitehouse, Jonathan Ross, Peter Kay, Jasper Carrott and Chris Evans all made the top 50 list.

The magazine said: "Ricky Gervais owned TV comedy in 2002," describing him and writing partner Stephen Merchant as "the most potent duo in television".

Next week's comedy-themed edition of the magazine features four separate covers: Ricky Gervais and Jonathan Ross; Ant and Dec; Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal; and Paul Whitehouse and Jack Dee.

 

THE TOP TEN

1. Ricky Gervais

2. Steve Coogan

3. Graham Norton

4= BBC1 controller Lorraine Heggessey

4= BBC2 controller Jane Root

6. Talkback Productions

7. Paul Whitehouse

8. Sacha Baron Cohen

9.C4 head of entertainment Danielle Lux

10. Jonathan Ross


Published: 6 Jan 2003

Live comedy picks

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.