Gervais has contributed to the BAFTA-winning The Sketch Show (ITV), penning several sketches.
His mainstream-TV on-screen debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's Comedy Lab series of pilots.
His one-off show Golden Years focused on a David Bowie-obsessed character called Clive Meadows.

Gervais then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot that replaced Ali G's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999, in which his character used as many expletives as was possible and produced an inordinate number of politically incorrect statements.
Among the other regular featured comedians on the show was Mackenzie Crook, later a co-star of The Office.
Two years later, Gervais went on to present his own comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais.
It was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself.

Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for the BBC sketch show Bruiser and The Jim Tavare Show.
Gervais has contributed to the BAFTA-winning The Sketch Show (ITV), penning several sketches. His mainstream-TV on-screen debut came in September 1998 as part of Channel 4's Comedy Lab series of pilots. His one-off show Golden Years focused on a David Bowie-obsessed character called Clive Meadows.
Gervais then came to much wider national attention with an obnoxious, cutting persona featured in a topical slot that replaced Ali G's segments on the satirical Channel 4 comedy programme The 11 O'Clock Show in early 1999, in which his character used as many expletives as was possible and produced an inordinate number of politically incorrect statements. Among the other regular featured comedians on the show was Mackenzie Crook, later a co-star of The Office. Two years later, Gervais went on to present his own comedy chat show for Channel 4 called Meet Ricky Gervais. It was poorly received and has since been mocked by Gervais himself.
Throughout this time, Gervais also wrote for the BBC sketch show Bruiser and The Jim Tavare Show.
Ricky Gervais