Love his humor or hate it, Ricky Gervais is a human just like the rest of us. He just happens to be a human with a very unlikely tie to the dearly-departed rock icon David Bowie.
And much like what seems like just about everyone who came into contact with David Bowie he was devastated to hear of his passing.
How the two came to be friends is a story unto itself.
Turns out that David Bowie caught Gervais’ performance on The Office and felt the need to send him an email which read, “I watched. I laughed. What do I do now?”
It would be at that point that I would have just died from the sheer glow I was feeling, but Gervais ended up turning it into a very special friendship. A friendship that endured of its biggest comedy highlights when Bowie made a guest appearance on the HBO/BBC show Extras and serenaded Gervias, aka Andy Millman, hilariously calling him a “chubby little loser.”
The Hollywood Reporter caught up with Gervais shortly after hosting the Golden Globes when he learned of Bowie’s death…
After the show I saw the tweets and was trying to find out if it were a hoax — and it wasn’t. Our relationship was bizarre and surreal, and I felt so privileged to know him. I never forgot he was my hero, even when he became my friend. I somehow divorced the two concepts in my head. When I talked to people, I talked about this rock star who changed my whole outlook. He put my life in color. He made me believe: You can do anything; you’re a working-class kid in Reading; creativity is freedom. Ability is a poor man’s wealth. I loved everything he did. He never let me down, even at the end. I’ve never seen a more dignified ending.
I was looking at an email he sent me a few weeks ago. It was as funny and fresh and smart as any in the last 10 years I knew him. That’s integrity. That’s f—ing privacy. All this about being one of the most worshipped artists in the world — he never fell for it. I remember the first time I went to see him, I didn’t know what to say. “You’re here for Mr. Jones?” I smiled — of course I was. Right then, David Bowie didn’t exist. His apartment was as amazing as you’d imagine. There was a 3D Picasso-esque sculpture in the middle — beautiful. He said, “My daughter likes to hit that with a hammer.”
He goes to tell a few more anecdotes that have a lot of inspiration in common with all of the others that have been spreading across the Internet since Bowie’s passing. Once again showing just what a tremendous man the world lost on January 10, 2016.
Do yourself a favor and read the rest of his tribute here.
H/T UPROXX