Gervais began his stand-up career in the late 1990s. He has performed five multi-national stand-up comedy tours, and he wrote the "Flanimals" book series. Gervais, Merchant, and Karl Pilkington created the podcast "The Ricky Gervais Show", which has spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington and produced by Gervais and Merchant. Gervais has also starred in the Hollywood films "Ghost Town", the "Night at the Museum" trilogy, "For Your Consideration", and "Muppets Most Wanted". He wrote, directed, and starred in "The Invention of Lying" and the Netflix-released "Special Correspondents". He hosted the Golden Globe Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, and again in 2020. Gervais also appeared on the game show "Child Support". Currently, Gervais is credited as the creator, executive producer, director, and writer for the Netflix comedy series "After Life", where he plays the lead role of Tony Johnson.