Ricky Gervais: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

1. David Brent - The Office And Life On The Road

What else was going to be here? The Office is Gervais’ crowning achievement and at its heart is his performance as the cringey boss from Slough (although don't mistake that for his stomping ground - he can go as far as Reading). It’s awkward comedy perfected, and it works so well because he can find a balance betweend the character's obliviousness and desperation to play up how good a boss he is to the cameras. There’s so many great quotes, but this is probably my favourite:

In Life On The Road the character veers more into caricature, but he’s importantly still funny and you get a real sense of how genuinely pathetic he is. Any repetition issues with the plot aren’t enough to hurt one of the greatest comedy characters of all time.

We’re not always laughing though. Here’s five performances that even Brent would cringe at.