Ricky Gervais recently posted on X a clip from an episode of ‘Extras,’ featuring David Bowie as a guest star and recalled writing a song with the late singer for the part. The caption of the video read:
“I still can’t believe I co-wrote a song with David Bowie.”
Meanwhile, the video attached to the tweet showed Bowie singing a song called ‘Little Fat Man,’ with lyrics like ‘The clown no one laughs at/They all just wish he’d die.’ These lyrics came up in the scene after Gervais’ character Andy Millman, an aspiring actor working as an extra, told the singer about his failing sitcom show by saying:
“I was just saying that I’m an entertainer too. I’m in a sitcom. [It’s just] riff-raff everywhere. It’s getting six million viewers. It’s not exactly how I meant it to be because the BBC have interfered and sort of chased ratings and made it lowest common denominator sort of comedy. Catchphrases and wigs… And I think I’ve sold out, to be honest, but…”
The Song’s Creation
The episode with Bowie belonged to the second season of ‘Extras,’ which came out in September 2006. A stage show including the song in the setlist at Madison Square Garden followed it in 2007, with the late vocalist introducing the actor on stage.
Gervais recalled that performance in a chat with Radio X show after David Bowie’s death in 2016:
“Yeah, he sang ‘Little Fat Man.’ I think I co-wrote a song with Bowie; that’s mental, isn’t it?”
He also mentioned how they created the song as follows:
“When I sent him the lyrics to that, ’cause he did the music to that, I sent him the lyrics, and I called him up and said, ‘Have you got the lyrics?’, he went ‘Yeah,’ I said erm, ‘Give me some like retro like erm, ‘Life on Mars.’ He went, ‘Oh yeah. I’ll knock up a quick f**king ‘Life on Mars’ for you, shall I?'”
Bowie And Gervais’ First Meeting
Bowie and Gervais first met during the airing of ‘The Office’ in the UK in 2001 after general director Greg Dyke offered to introduce him and Jane Fallon to the singer following a performance at BBC TV Centre. The actor mentioned how things went at the time in an interview with The Telegraph in 2021:
“I said, ‘Oh, I don’t want to pester him.’ He said, ‘No, come on’. Then he shouted, ‘Salman! We’re going to say hello to David.’ So there I was, with the head honcho of the Beeb and Salman Rushdie, chatting to Bowie in his dressing room.”
You can check out Ricky Gervais’ tweet about the late musician below.
I still can’t believe I co-wrote a song with David Bowie. pic.twitter.com/VgYEfZyDVb
— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) November 3, 2023
