Gervais to headline city's comedy festival

Ricky Gervais is to headline the New York Comedy Festival this November.

The Office star will play one night only in the 2,800-seat Carnegie Hall – his first live show since his three-night run at the Madison Square Garden in July last year.

The show will be a follow-up to his last HBO special, and be titled Out Of England 2.

Gervais said: ‘Headlining one of the most prestigious comedy festivals in the world is an amazing honour for me. The fact that it's at the beautiful and historic Carnegie Hall makes it all the more wonderful.

‘It's just down the road from my apartment. I can walk to work. I won’t walk obviously. I'll take a limo. But I could walk if I had to.’

Bill Maher and Tracy Morgan will also be appearing at The New York Comedy Festival, which will feature more than 150 comedians performing over five days, November 4 to 8.

Meanwhile, filming began yesterday on Gervais’s new film Cemetery Junction, which he co-wrote with Stephen Merchant.

Gervais also stars in the film, set in Reading in the Seventies, alongside Ralph Fiennes and Emily Watson.

He said: ‘Cemetery Junction is going to be glossy and glorious, full of humour, romance and drama, as well as our usual observations on the truth and absurdity of real life.’

Published: 17 Jun 2009