Will David Brent play Glastonbury? “It could happen” says Ricky Gervais
“I got hooked again when I brought him back for Comic Relief last year. I love David Brent and he’s never really gone away – I’ve always been managing the estate of David Brent whether it be the American Office or the Israeli remake"
The Ricky Gervais rumour mill has been working over time recently and the latest news to thrill the Twittersphere is that his alter ego in The Office – vainglorious middle-manager David Brent – is to play Glastonbury.
“All that happened is someone said ‘would you consider Glastonbury?’" explained Gervais, when RadioTimes.com decided it was time to put the question to the man himself: "and I said – ‘who knows?’”
“It could happen. It would be amazing for Ricky Gervais but I don’t know if I can justify David Brent playing Glastonbury because David Brent can’t become a real pop star. He can’t play venues outside the story.”
“It’s a bit odd,” he continued, clearly tickled – “he sells out venues faster than the Rolling Stones at the moment!” Indeed, the five live gigs he’s playing as Brent next month sold out in 15 seconds. There were 80,000 ticket requests for the 500-seat shows he performed last year and Wembley Arena recently came calling.
Gervais also revealed why – after a decade of clamouring from Office devotees – he finally decided to resurrect David Brent.
“I got hooked again when I brought him back for Comic Relief last year. I love David Brent and he’s never really gone away – I’ve always been managing the estate of David Brent whether it be the American Office or the Israeli remake.
"But I wanted to do so much other stuff; I didn’t want to just keep doing The Office. And now I have – and now it’s pure fun. Yet it’s also got to be serious again. I can’t just do it as a vanity project or because the BBC and Netflix are up for anything I do. I don’t know whether to do an on-the-road special or make that the whole series. I was thinking that it could be called Life On The Road – which is a song he does – and it could be him on tour trying to make it.”
“I love the instant tragedy of 50 year-old wannabe pop star in a shiny suit. It’s even worse than it was when he was in The Office!”
Series two of Derek begins on Wednesday 23rd April at 10pm on Channel 4
