Gervais: 'Comedians must be underdogs'

Ricky Gervais has said that comedians stop being funny if they become too concerned with looking good.

The star and co-writer/director of The Invention Of Lying told Metro that all the best comedians were happy to be the underdog.

Gervais said: "I still think of myself as a comedian acting, as opposed to an actor. And I think a comedian has to let the world know that he doesn't take himself seriously.

"As soon as a comedian starts to care about the way he looks, he ceases to be funny. You've got to be the underdog."

He added: "All my favourite people, like Laurel and Hardy, I love them because they're precarious; they fall over for your amusement.

"It's that long line of comedians, like Bob Hope and Woody Allen. He knows his lot is bad, and we laugh with him. He's angry and surrounded by idiots. At the end of the day, they're still the loser you like."