Published: 29 November, 2012
EXCLUSIVE by RICHARD OSLEY

RICKY Gervais told an audience in Hampstead last night that Britain had the “worst press in the world” and its negative approach sometimes made him want to quit London for New York.

The comic actor – star and writer of The Office, Extras and a string of hit Hollywood films – was at Burgh House for one of the historic mansion’s Lifelines talks.

He was interviewed on stage about his life and works by the New Journal’s Dan Carrier before taking questions from the intimate gathering.

“I love New York,” he said. “Up until this year, I thought: No, I’m going to sit it out here.

"I love England but we have the worst press in the world here. They are awful.”

He said that finding fame through comedy did not mean he had made a “deal with the devil” that allowed reporters to snoop through his rubbish bins.

“The attitude is just different in America – and I’m talking about the areas of New York I know,” Mr Gervais, 51, said.

“You open the paper there and it’s all fun and ‘look at this good news’. It makes you want to skip.

"Open a paper when you get back to England and it’s ‘ha, ha, ha, everything is bad’.

"I love England but I do love New York too. I’ve never felt more at home as a foreigner there.”

Although known for his sitcoms – “I couldn’t be prouder of The Office”, he said – the conversation at Burgh House ran deeper than a succession of jokes.

After telling how animal cruelty was one of the things that saddened him the most, he was urged to set up an “Animals In Need” or a “Wet Nose Day” telethon to raise money.

“Let’s do it,” he said. “I do love all animals.

I do get criticised. I tweeted once about dogs being skinned alive in China – I have to put it out of my mind before I can sleep at night – and somebody tweeted back: ‘What about the children of Darfur?’

"I thought, why can’t we care about both of them?”

Mr Gervais, who lives close to Burgh House and accepted an invitation from writer Matthew Lewin to appear, said his care for animals meant he found deciding where he stood on testing difficult.

Mr Gervais moved to Hampstead with his partner Jane Fallon, a best-selling author, after a period living near Russell Square and a life running events at a university.

When dreams of a music career began to fade, he got into radio and was later picked up by Channel 4.

In his two-hour meeting last night (Wednesday), he defended his forthright atheism, adding: “You shouldn’t really need the word atheism – you don’t have a word to say that Humpty Dumpty doesn’t exist.

"I say to people, I believe in one less God than you.

"I think some religions preach love and understanding but can be racist and sexist.

"Most people who believe in God aren’t like that. I don’t believe there is a God – but there is something very different in having a personal Jesus for comfort and having one that tells you to kill people.”

He said he believed strongly that freedom of speech needed protecting and that just because some people might feel they were offended by edgy comedy, it didn’t mean everyone was outraged by it.

He said “humour is an intellectual pursuit” and only risked becoming cruel when “it stops being intellectual and becomes personal or people setting out to hurt people’s feelings”.

Finally, asked what he would change about Hampstead if he was Mayor of London for a day, Mr Gervais struggled to find an answer.

“Parking, is that too boring?” he said. “It’s hard. Hampstead is great, perfect.”

Former poet laureate Andrew Motion is due to be the next famous figure interviewed in Burgh House’s Lifelines series.

My year as a CNJ delivery man…

RICKY Gervais revealed that he and his partner Jane Fallon spent a year delivering the Camden New Journal door to door before they hit the big time.

“28 years old I was – and it was a job that helped us keep the wolf from the door back then,” he said.

“I was saying I wanted to be a musician but not making any money so after a few years took on odd jobs.

"That included delivering the Camden New Journal with my girlfriend – we did it together.”