English funnyman Ricky Gervais is promoting the DVD release of Ghost Town, and sat down for a phone interview with CNN to talk class, English humor, and misanthropy. Gervais riffs on the differences between Americans and Brits, and makes a few sweeping generalizations about his countrymen.

“Ghost Town” earned generally good reviews and a decent box office upon its late-summer release, with the Boston Globe’s Ty Burr comparing Gervais to a Hollywood legend. “Someone once said about W.C. Fields that he had the rare ability to despise amusingly. I can imagine no greater compliment than to say that Ricky Gervais seems, at his best, like a young Fields,” Burr wrote.

That kind of misanthrope is the furthest thing from the Gervais of the phone interview, an engaging man who answers questions with patience and thoughtfulness. Asked why British actors play socially unpleasant roles so well, he ponders the question, makes asides to how often British actors play villains and “bumbling fops” and soon offers a disquisition on the differences between British and American culture.

“I think we play the loser well because England’s full of them,” he says. “We celebrate our losers, we celebrate our underdogs, we celebrate those people — [and then] we build them up and then we don’t like them anymore. Whereas Americans celebrate success. Americans are brought up to believe they can be the next president of the United States. British people are told it won’t happen to you. It sounds like a generalization, but it’s true.”

[From CNN]

There might be some truth to what Gervais is saying – judging solely from the British tabloids and newspapers, I do tend to think the British are meaner, and take more glee in tearing someone down. And there does seem to be a national characteristic of celebrating the underdog in England.

Continuing with his class-obsession, Gervais announces that he and his “The Office” co-creator Steven Merchant have just co-written a film about 1970s England. I think I might be the only person in the world to have never seen the original UK version of “The Office”, but I’ve seen Gervais give Steve Carell respect for where Carell has taken the American version. In this interview, Gervais goes even further, chatting about how much he’d like to work with Carell.

He adds that he just finished writing a film with Steven Merchant called “The Man from the Pru,” set in early-’70s England. “It’s about class, and it’s about can you escape being born living, growing up and dying in the same street,” he says. “I know that’s the same the world over … but it’s because Britain is so small and so diverse. You really couldn’t get out of your class before celebrity came along. The American class system always seemed a bit fairer to me, because it was built on achievement as opposed to blood.”

Since Gervais likes to write his own material, he’s careful about the roles he takes, even with Hollywood beckoning. “Ghost Town” was a good fit, he says, because he and [director] Koepp hit it off so well. “The whole thing was really collaborative,” he says. “I’m not usually an actor for hire, but this was great.”

Indeed, it’s the collaboration that made it, he says. He welcomes that kind of bouncing ideas back and forth, and says he’d love to do something with Steve Carell, who plays the American version of Brent, Michael Scott, on the U.S. version of “Office.” The two had a memorably hilarious exchange at this year’s often unfunny Emmy show.

“I would love to host anything with Steve Carell,” he says. “I would do a cat show with Steve Carell. I would do Computer Nerds’ Mr. Universe with Steve Carell. So if anyone asks me if I will host a show with Steve Carell, the answer’s yes.”

Perhaps that could happen soon: Gervais’ name is often bandied about in rumors about awards show hosting duties. However, he adds, he remains in the dark about it all.

[From CNN]

If any of you saw the Emmy telecast this year, you know that the Steve Carell/Ricky Gervais bit was the funniest thing ever – certainly the funniest thing in what was maybe the worst Emmy show *ever*. And I would pay big money to see The Cat Show starring Ricky Gervais and Steve Carell. It would be the biggest movie of the year! But knowing those two, there might be some dead cats at the end of filming, so the ASPCA would have to get involved. So let me put my two cents in – make Steve Carell and Ricky Gervais co-hosts of next year’s Emmys. That would be brilliant stunt-hosting!

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Ricky Gervais doing some last minute Christmas shopping in London on December 22nd. Images thanks to WENN.